S.O.N.G.

2009 ~ THE SOUTHERN RIGHT TO HOMECOMING, HOMESTAYING , AND TRANSFORMING THE SOUTH:

AN END OF THE YEAR LOVE LETTER FROM SONG KIN

“I haven’t come this far to want to assimilate. I want to live a full life as a Transgender person, as myself, with dignity. That is why I love SONG.”
-De Sube, SONG Virginia member

SONG firmly believes in the right to return of all people of the Gulf Coast, as well as the right to return, to stay, and to live in dignity and liberation for every LGTBQ Southern person. We vision a world where our LGBTQ Southern Kin can live the lives we dream of: with communities healed and nourished in body, land, work, and spirit. We believe in creating a South where we do not have to suffer and die in isolation, silence, oppression, poverty, and despair. We believe in a liberated South for ALL oppressed people…and we have a plan.

This year the needs of our communities to build autonomous spaces for ourselves, as well as reclaiming our right to public spaces and resources is more crucial than ever. All over the world, we see a renewed interest in building local and regional communities—and the promise of creating true and liberated sustainability in these communities. This is clearly the moment for SONG. For too long, we have been told that LGBTQ people cannot be truly and deeply organized to win concrete gains for our communities. We KNOW this is not true, and this year our members have showed how ready we are to take back control of our lives and self-determination—on behalf of our selves, our ancestors, and our children. We believe this year has been greatly successful in moving us deeper into that plan.

Here’s how:
Build General Leadership and Membership throughout the South through accessible events, gatherings, sharing food, campouts and retreats to gather LGBTQ folks and our kindred to (This is how we have moved our membership from 150 to 700 in 2.5 years!) Build Deeper Circles of Leaders through…

• the Amantes (Project Leader) program which creates a space for SONG to support a set of independent projects of members outside the general work..like the Mobile HomeComing Project, where member Alexis Pauline Gumbs is collecting stories with African-American LGBTQ Elders..
• Bull City SONG (Durham SONG affiliate) the first SONG Affiliate..local members creating their own community events, cultural events, listening work, and new projects to build in Durham, NC and surrounding areas!
• Atlanta Organizing Mentorship Circle, a circle of folks in our base engaged in a 6 month process to raise political consciousness and grow as organizers and think together about building in Atlanta
• and the Traveling Organizing School which concentrates on building political consciousness, organizing skills, and resiliency/sustainability skills for LGBTQ organizers in Southern small towns and rural communities (we have trained over 130 SONG members in this program since its inception!)

Local Leaders Create Campaigns and Projects Which Transform the South It will not be a few people, but rather many local leaders that come out of leader circles that create the spaces, projects and campaigns that will change the way we connect, relate, eat, work, and live in the South. This is how we KNOW we can transform the region—through the steady, concrete, and passionate work of local SONG members in local Southern communities!

This year marks our transition into a new strategic planning that we are incredibly excited about: it will be officially released in 2010, but we want to say that will involve even deeper work in local communities through affiliates and autonomous spaces. Since even the greatest global organizing started somewhere local, we think it might as well be the South! We are incredibly excited to have SONG rise even further to meet the passion and needs of our 700 person membership…who continues to get even more involved in our work. Here are some concrete examples of what our members, staff and board have made happen in 2009:

• First Southern, LGBTQ Multi-lingual (Spanish-English), majority small town and rural, Organizing School in VA
• First Organizing School in connection with Affiliate in Durham, NC for folks from all over NC
• Atlanta Derby (Queer Field Day!)
• Georgia Campout
• Kick-off of Amantes Program (more to come in 2009) with first Amantes project
• Joining of the ‘San Antonio 12’—a national coalition of majority LGBTQ People of Color and Working Class-led groups..in order to transform National LGBTQ work!
• Training with other coalition groups at Creating Change Conference on Challenging White Supremacy, Organizing LGBTQ people of color, and First Nations/Sovereignty issues
• Kickoff of 6 month Organizing Mentorship Circle program in Atlanta, GA
• Supporting of the first, SONG Affiliate—Bull City SONG—in Durham, NC

The next level of SONG’s plan, to support local affiliates to create projects and campaigns to transform the South, is so badly needed in OUR South. SONG needs you to co-create the next level of the dream that our Elders had when they started SONG.

Our liberation organizations are like people: we are told we can do it by ourselves, but we do not stand alone—we need each other to make it.

We decide which organizations we need and want to survive.

We vision a South where SONG is vibrant, growing, building, and living; we know you do too. Please decide that you don’t want to imagine a South or a Nation without SONG today. SONG cannot give to, and connect people, without resources. We are a little organization with a deep impact: if the people need us, then the people must keep us going. Please give our communities the gift of SONG in 2010 by giving today thru mail or online at

In Love and Solidarity, SONG Leadership

The SONG Mentorship Circle is presented by Southerners On New Ground (SONG), in collaboration with local LGBTQ activists all around the Metro Atlanta Area

A 6-Month long Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer-led & centered Co-Mentorship training for people committed or interested in social justice work that is cross-issue, anti-oppression, and meets at the crossroads of race, class, culture, gender and sexuality, towards encouraging the local capacity, unity and interconnection of people in the state of GA.

This program will meet twice (2) per month (every other week or so) for a period of 6 months to:

People of color, people with disabilities, and immigrant folks are specially welcome…

Please complete this application by Friday, October 16st, 2009 and return to BT@southernersonnewground.org
0r send to us at: 250 Georgia Ave., Ste. 201, Atlanta, GA, 30312

Mentorship Circle application[1]

As you all know, SONG has recently relocated it’s office to Atlanta, Georgia.

Our beautiful new office is located in the Georgia-Hill Neighborhood Center… so please note our new address, and be patient with us as we continue to update you all with more information related to SONG’s new nest

250 Georgia Avenue / Suite 201
Atlanta, GA 30312

Phone Numbers:

office phone ~ 404.549.8628
fax ~ 404.5498642

Emails:

Caitlin ~ caitlin@southernersonnewground.org
Paulina ~ paulina@southernersonnewground.org
Erika ~ erika@southernersonnewground.org

If you would like to donate to SONG, and / or become a monthly donor, please go to our secure Groundspring online donation page by clicking below:

[PLEASE NOTE WE ARE WORKING TO UPDATE OUR WEBSITE....]

SONG mourns the murder of Mr. Jimmy McCollough (AKA Ms. Devera) on April 14, 2009. A known Drag Queen and Gender non-conforming LGBT man in the community in Fayetteville, NC, Mr. McCollough was presumably simply working the streets on the night he was murdered, trying to pay his bills. Signs point to his death as a hate crime. Like too many in our communities, he was a gender non-conforming person of color in the South, known to be a sex worker, and a presence in the community. SONG continues to be committed to working for a day when folks like Mr. McCollough are not victims of violence, and when lives and livelihoods such as his as seen as just as important and precious as any other life.

Message from transgender community leader Janice Covington, written on the morning of April 14:
“This morning, April 14, 2009, the murdered body of Image Devereux (Ms. Jimmy) was found on Joseph Street behind the old Club Spektrum in Fayetteville, N.C. She was a local Drag Queen who many of us knew as a friend. She will be missed but not forgotten. My prayers go out to her family.”

If you know of any local organizing based in Fayetteville, NC that SONG could reach out to about this case, and efforts to organize around it please email us at: Caitlin@southernersonnewground.org

(Information from Q Notes)

Go to Q-notes website: for more information

Building the Kindred in Hard Times: A QLGBT Gathering
SONG + Left Turn + Charis = Magic

SONG is a Southern LGBTQ organization that supports organizing across race, class, gender, culture, and sexuality. Our office has just moved to Atlanta, and it’s Spring, and we’re in a recession. What do those things have in common? It is a great time to talk about what it means to all of us to be in QLGBT community, and what we want community to be-what are strategies for surviving and thriving collectively? What do we need to have in our lives to be held in community and get all of our needs met?

This is also a gathering for SONG to partner with Charis Circle to celebrate the release of Left Turn Magazine issue #32, “Igniting the Kindred: Visions of Queer Radicalism.” This issue is full of the stories and ideas of Queer and Trans people on the Left. We are very proud that SONG members and Atlanta leaders wrote for this issue, and we want to celebrate them as writers, story-keepers, and historians of our communities.

You should come if:
· You want to learn more about SONG’s work and SONG’s presence in Atlanta (and you want to see the new, cute short SONG video, featuring ATL queers!)
· You are a meat-eater, vegetarian, or vegan and you want to eat a great dinner and talk about building transformative LGBTQ community!
· You want to read issue #32 of Left Turn Magazine, and learn more about Left Turn magazine
· You want to see more community organizing happen in the LGBTQ communities of Atlanta!
· You want to wear an exciting Queer outfit because it is Spring! (Spring is the Theme!)
Thursday, April 23, 2009, 7:00-9:00pm (Dinner at 7, program at 7:30).
Charis Circle and Charis Books, 1189 Euclid Ave NE,Atlanta, GA
404-524-0304 kerrie@chariscircle.org

LONGING & DESIRE: SONG Queer People of Color Gathering 2009!!

Friday, February 27 – Sunday, March 1
Camp Sister Spirit Folks School in Mississippi
444 East Side Drive / Ovett, Mississippi (MS) 39464
[Application Deadline: February 7th, 2009]

“The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.”
~ Audre Lorde

SONG’s work is about wholeness, about community, and about political unity and work that can unite us beyond our differences, and we understand that as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Two-Spirit people of color in the South, we not only often share experiences, but also realities, truths, spiritual wonders, and visions for our communities that expand beyond heart-break, isolation, fear, shame and guilt. We reach for our longings and desire, and in so doing, we are free… please join us for a weekend of building relationships across our region, and reflecting on our own communities, and our shared visions for them.

This gathering is being planned and held down by a working group of SONG members and staff.

The Goals of the SONG Queer People of Color Gathering are:

* Create a place to meet and connect with other Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Two-Sprit folks of color in the South.
* Carve out a space where we are able to bring our whole selves, and build community with each other.
* Create a space to share our share our stories; share our thoughts on organizing opportunities in the South, as well as connecting around potential work following the gathering.
* Build with each other beyond identity, and towards a dialogue of shared values, and strategic organizing work that impacts our communities, and each of us.

How do I apply to attend?
All you have to do is fill out the application form (below), and someone from SONG will contact you to follow up with you about registration, access, dietary needs & logistics.

If you have any questions, or want to learn more about SONG please call Paulina @ 919.323.2057, email at paulina@southernersonnewground.org

To learn more about Camp Sister Spirit visit their website at www.campsisterspirit.com

Application

LONGING & DESIRE: SONG Queer People of Color Gathering Application
Friday, February 27 – Sunday, March 1
[Application Deadline: February 7th, 2009]

Please fill out your application, and email it to: kindred@southernersonnewground.org
There is a suggested $25 registration fee* and space is limited, so please apply to reply ASAP.
[Spanish & ASL interpretation can be provided upon request please let us know if you have specific language needs ASAP]

* PLEASE contact us if the registration fee is an issue / no one will be turned away due to lack of funds!!
Please note that SONG is planning on covering all food & lodging costs for folks registered.

[All the information you provide us with assists us in better planning this gathering. Thanks!]

Name:

Age:

Gender and / or Gender Identity:

Sexuality:

Email:

Address:

Phone:

Organization [if any]:

Are you currently a member of SONG?:

What communities do you belong to? [ex. immigrant / black lesbian / healers & cultural workers, etc.]

What are your thoughts on your own connections with other Queer People of Color?

How are you involved in organizing in your own community?

What are your own hopes for this gathering?

With hopes of a new day, SONG members greet the inauguration of our new president. We lead with hopes for his presidency, not our fears. We hope that he will follow through on not only what he promised, but that he will use his thoughtful mind, his discipline, and his dignity to come to clarity around what is right with LGBTQ people, people in Gaza, and Immigrants in this country; as well as using his power in the service of all oppressed people. We give thanks for the groundswell of people who made this possible through organizing.

We all need a chance to find our dignity, again, President Obama, it is one of the main reasons we organize. We look forward to a day when we all have access to it!

From Organizing Schools to the largest gathering of Southern LGBTQ people in over a decade, SONG has had a great year. Want to read more about what was up in 2008?
Click here: 2008 Love Letter to read our End of the Year Love Letter.

———————————————————————————–
Did you see the movie ‘MILK’ this season? Are you going to? Regardless of our opinions on the film, it is being seen by many audiences and we should be part of the conversation.
Click this link for ‘Living My Life Like Its Golden: SONG Harvey Milk Study Guide’ to get some conversations started! Living My Life Like It’s Golden: SONG Harvey Milk Study Guide

Have other ideas about what the movie brings up? Email them to us at: caitlin@southernersonnewground.org

IGNITING THE KINDRED: A SONG ORGANIZING SCHOOL

It is a time to focus on Surviving and Thriving Hard Times: this means understanding what is going on, and learning from past and current times about how to respond. In 2008, we are in a time of economic recession that means great struggle around housing and basic resources for our communities and family. We are in a time of global battle over access to water, food, and other basic resources. We are in a time of newly trained organizers in every state in the US, and a national conversation about what community organizing is and will be, in light of the elections. We are also in a time of spiritual and emotional struggle: in our relationships, our organizations, and our movements remain deeply divided, and without resources and capacity to re-generate and sustain ourselves. SONG works across lines of race, class, culture, gender and sexuality to strengthen and build our power to work together. Though our base is primarily LGBTQ, we hold our allegiance to the Southern struggle for justice as a whole. For more than 2 years, since Hurricane Katrina, we have been working hard on creation, vision, listening and innovation for our region. As we see it, this moment gives SONG as a collective organization 2 options: Not knowing what to do, and continuing to do the same thing, or Not knowing what to do, and trying something new—risking that it may or may not work. We have chosen the latter. We hope that others will do the same in their own way. For more than 2 years, we have worked on this Organizing School, to meet the conditions of the current moment. By meeting the current moment, we mean that we vision a region and a country where local communities are setting up our own infrastructures (what connects or links people collectively so they can get things done) in sustainable and well ways—these infrastructures are capable of meeting needs for basic resources; as well as capable of transforming trauma and pain, and multiplying and amplifying our resiliency and strength. The Organizing School is only one step in this process. The rest is up to ALL of us together. Folks have asked us to know more about the School, and now we are releasing more detail than we ever have before, in the hopes that what we have learned, mistakes we have made, and work we are trying out might help others in their work in critical times. This work involves the voices (directly and indirectly) of over 100 people in the South. It has had many different versions and formats. This is the latest. We share this with the knowledge that being part of a movement comes first before being a non-profit that fiercely guards information and material. We hope it is helpful to you in some way. We ask only that you credit those more than 100 SONG people when you borrow from it or use it.

In Solidarity,
SONG Organizing School Team (Paulina Hernandez, Cara Page, Suzanne Pharr, and Caitlin Breedlove

PLEASE CLICK BELOW TO DOWNLOAD AGENDA FOR THE SCHOOL AND CORE VALUES OF OUR TEAM. TO APPLY FOR THE SCHOOL ITSELF SEE THE POST BELOW..WE ARE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS PAST THE DEADLINE ON A CASE BY CASE BASIS, AS WELL AS A SET NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS OUTSIDE LITTLE ROCK

public-agenda-for-igniting-the-kindred-song-organizing-school.doc

core-values-for-our-work-together.doc

A 4-day advanced training for people committed to social justice work that is cross-issue, anti-oppression, and meets at the crossroads of race, class, culture, gender and sexuality, towards building the local capacity, unity and interconnection of people
in the greater Little Rock, Arkansas area.

It’s all going down:
Thursday November 13- Sunday November 16, 2008
With additional opportunities to choose other small workshops that fit your specific needs taking place between
Tuesday, November 11 & Wednesday 12, 2008
(so save the date & tell your FOLK!!)

If you are interested?? Want to know more information?? Want to apply??
In the Little Rock, Arkansas area, contact CAR:
Phone: 501.244.9690 / Email: obrian_30@yahoo.com / www.artisticrevolution.org

To contact SONG:
Phone: 919.286.3230 // Email: kindred@southernersonnewground.org
Check out our website: www.southernersonnewground.org

Application Deadline: Saturday, October 25th, 2008