Therapeutic Justice Project: Voices Rising

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Voices Rising

- by Stacey Prince

On May 29 Liz Goodwin, Anne Phillips and I attended the seventh event by Voices Rising. This organization was founded by poet/performer/event producer Storme Webber, with fantastic programmatic support including graphics, marketing, organizing, and photography from Naomi Ishisaka. Voices Rising has become the premiere showcase for LGBTQ artists of color in the Pacific Northwest. This time their performance took place at Southside Commons, a renovated church in Columbia City that has become home to several progressive nonprofit and grassroots organizations dedicated to social, racial and economic justice.

The performance featured artists from Seattle, California and Chicago who combined spoken word with music, song, and video. It was a powerful, moving, and electrifying night. Here is one audience member comment that captures well the essence of the night:

Voices Rising is an essential cultural event highlighting the truth and culture, spirit and art of people that are marginalized even within an already marginalized community. Queer folks of color must be heard in order to bring to light a fuller diversity within the queer community and culture.

Reprinted here with permission is one piece that was performed by Malkia Cyril, an artist, activist and journalist from Oakland, California.

The Redemption of My Criminal Body

by Malkia Amala Cyril aka Red Son Rise
June 2009

run run my momma say mourner run
beautiful butch and black
welcome the Native son
Oh Pirates yes they rob I
this black woman’s body I got been
cannon shot and systematically spread
over centuries of dead gospel lined with living truth
the way I hurt is living proof that I was
raped as a child
but I’d still rather be nine
so I could be three sides of three dimensions at the same time
cause/we been cannibalized burned alive beaten alive till God cried out
we been hog tied convicted before we was tried by
stacked juries laced with white power tracks
I wanna paint y’all in color but can’t find you in black
And I need y’all back homeys to show me how
I lost my soft places between then and now

Oh Pirates yes they rob I
Stole I to the merchant ship
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit

To read entire post click here.

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About Us

Therapeutic Justice Project is a multidisciplinary collective of healers, advocates and activists dedicated to social justice. Our vision is to integrate social justice with health and mental health services at all levels including psychotherapy, service delivery, professional development, community/organizational support, and systemic change. In psychotherapy, our mission is to develop and implement a model that moves clients from unconscious to conscious, from an individual to a societal perspective, from depression and helplessness to activism and empowerment. We also aim to integrate therapeutic healing within social movement work. Socially, our intention is to make systematic change through community organizing, policy change, transformative dialogue, education, and special initiatives.

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Announcements

Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment - now available!!!

The long-awaited book Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment, from Olympia’s Dr. Leticia Nieto, provides a breakthrough in the fields of liberation and cultural studies. It presents a powerful analysis of the psychological dynamics of oppression and privilege, and shows readers how to develop skills to promote social justice. It includes personal stories, exercises, visualizations and poetry. The book has roots in developmental psychology, theater, and liberation pedagogy. It was developed through collaboration among Leticia Nieto, Garth R. Johnson, Liz Goodwin, Margot Boyer, and Laurel Collier Smith. Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment is now available on Amazon.com, and Elliott Bay Books. More information is online at http://www.beyondinclusionbeyondempowerment.com/.

Fremont Community Therapy Project

The Fremont Community Therapy Project, a feminist, multicultural, queer-friendly, trauma-oriented clinic offering high-quality, low-cost psychological services is in need of assistance. While we are open for new assessment requests, we are currently experiencing a huge influx of requests for psychotherapy, to the point where we now have a 12-week wait list for psychotherapy.

We would like to be able to refer folks on this list, if possible, so that people are not stuck waiting for care for three months. Most of the people who seek our services have a complex trauma history. Thus, we are looking for therapists who share our values, and who would be willing to accept the referral of a person who you would see at our fees, which range from 20-45/session. Most of them require a longer-term commitment from a therapist (typically people remain at FCTP for up to four years). If you're willing to accept a referral from us, please contact Laura Brown, FCTP Director, at 206-633-2405 ext 1, or email Laura at lsbrownphd@cs.com.