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On today's episode of The Confluence: The Gainey administration has announced a plan to assess the property tax exemptions of nonprofits, including some of the region's largest employers; advocates want city and county officials to be more compassionate when closing homeless encampments; Downtown business owners are at odds with teenagers who they say the teens are causing problems in the Golden Triangle; and we answer a question about the role of the king piece in chess. Today's guests include: Kiley Koscinski, city government reporter with WESA; Daniel Vitek, staff attorney with Community Justice Project; and Ashley Lynn Priore, founder and CEO of Queen's Gambit.
Join Robin D.G. Kelley for the Freedom Dreams discussion series. The first discussion features aja monet. Freedom Dreams is a classic in the study of the Black radical tradition that has just been released in a new 20th anniversary edition. In this live event series, Robin D. G. Kelley will explore the connections between radical imagination and movements for social transformation with pathbreaking artists and scholars. Speakers: aja monet is a surrealist blues poet, storyteller, and organizer born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She won the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam poetry award title in 20072007 and aja monet follows in the long legacy and tradition of poets participating and assembling in social movements. Her first full collection of poems is titled, My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter on Haymarket Books. Her poems explore gender, race, migration, and spirituality. In 20182018, she was nominated for a NAACP Literary Award for Poetry and in 20192019 was awarded the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award for Poetry for her cultural organizing work in South Florida. aja monet cofounded a political home for artists and organizers called, Smoke Signals Studio. She facilitates “Voices: Poetry for the People,” a workshop and collective in collaboration with Community Justice Project and Dream Defenders. She is currently working on her next full collection of poems entitled, Florida Water. aja Monet also serves as the new Artistic Creative Director for V-Day, a global movement to end violence against all women and girls. Robin D.G. Kelley is Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA. He is the author of Hammer and Hoe, Race Rebels, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, and Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, among other titles. His writing has been featured in the Journal of American History, American Historical Review, Black Music Research Journal, African Studies Review, New York Times, The Crisis, The Nation, and Voice Literary Supplement. Join the upcoming events in the Freedom Dreams Series: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/freedom-dreams-with-robin-dg-kelley-1288129 Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/BBoQI9HU1rk Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Alana Greer is the co-founder of the Community Justice Project (@cjpmiami) and drops into TSR HQ to educate us on the work she does as an activist and community justice lawyer, organizing for racial justice and human rights through her innovative legal work. R+T is Elizabeth’s non-drinking drinking roundup and Steph dives deeper into re-defining her relationship to tech. Produced by Dear Media.
In Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood, we meet poet Aja Monet, legal justice advocates Meena Jagannath and Alayah Glenn, and artist Eddie Arroyo to talk about how art and poetry are giving voice to urban communities fractured by gentrification. Arroyo's paintings reference photographs he takes to capture the character of vanishing cultural landmarks. Monet is founder of Smoke Signals Studio, a music space that's become a transformative gathering place in Little Haiti. Jagannath and Glenn are two of the activists that run the local Community Justice Project, a young grassroots initiative focused on addressing issues ranging from women’s and immigrant rights, to race and economic justice. These individuals represent the growing momentum of civic engagement across the United States. In the ways they animate their vision for Miami's possible future, we see infinite potential for creative interventionists to empower disenfranchised communities around the world. Sound Editor: Anamnesis Audio | Special Audio: Arsimmer McCoy Early Related episodes: Cultural Complexity in Little Haiti, Where Art Meets Activism, The Art of Capitalism, Andrea Bowers on Environmental Activism, Marinella Senatore on Modern Life, Tania Bruguera on Art Activism, Maria Alyokhina on Political Art Related Links: Smoke Signals Studio, Community Justice Project, Dream Defenders, Maroon Poetry Festival, Eddie Arroyo
“I believe that legal victories alone are not going to get us to where we need to be in terms of social change.” — Meena Jagannath Today’s guest is Meena Jagannath, Co-Founder and Co-Director at Community Justice Project. Meena has been a human rights advocate for nearly 20 years, working in places like India, Guatemala, and Haiti in addition to her work in communities around the U.S. A movement lawyer with an extensive background in activism, Meena also has a Master’s in International Affairs. She sits down with the Innovation City team to talk about her path to co-founding Community Justice Project, how it fits into the public-sector legal services ecosystem in Miami, and how their team supports a growing community of activists and organizers working on behalf of people who are often ignored by the city and other institutions of power.
Five years ago, while Meena Jagannath was working with women in Haiti after the destructive Hurricane ravaged the island, an opportunity presented itself here in Miami. Having never visited the city, she decided to take a chance and brought her expertise as a Human Rights lawyer and eventually co-founded the Community Justice Project, which is a group of community lawyers who represent community organizers and grassroots groups in low-income communities of color. She has been involved in such controversial and high profile cases such as the Michael Brown shooting and the tasering death of former Miami graffiti artist, Israel "Reefa" Hernandez-Llach. We spoke with Meena about the current state of affairs and challenges that are being faced from immigration to police authority and how the Community Justice Project plans to invite more people to the conversation through activism. We hope you enjoy the conversation, Jeanette & Alex For behind the scenes photos, show notes and more visit www.plantedinmiami.com. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest @plantedinmiami
Gender Based Crime in Haiti and the Work of the Rape Accountability and Prevention Project.Discussion with Meena Jagannath on gender based voilence in Haiti, its socio-economic contex, the legal and institutional obstacles in obtaining convictions and the work of the Rape Accountability and Prevention Project. Meena was a legal fellow at the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and coordinator of its Rape Accountability and Prevention Project from April 2011 through September 2012 for which she directed legal representation as well as national and international advocacy and organization of women’s grassroots groups in Haiti. Meena worked as a Staff Attorney for the Community Justice Project of Florida Legal Services in Miami before she co-founded the Community Justice Project in 2015 which advocates for racial and economic justice both through litigation and capacity building for grassroots organizing.For More Info:Truth Out.orgAlterNetCommon Dreams.org