Beyond the Bars: Towards Freedom

Diana Melendez

11th Annual Beyond the Bars Conference, Towards Freedom: Violence, Safety and Abolition in 2021.

IMPORTANT NOTE for REGISTRATION 

There is a ticket for each day of the conference.  Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be streamed on youtube via our partners Haymarket Books. Sunday workshops will happen on zoom. You will be sent links for each day you register for.   

All times are EST. 

This year marks the 11th annual Beyond the Bars Conference, coming one year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in which multiple crises have unfolded, and the growth of social movements struggling for a more just and safe world have increased significantly.  Given this, we hope to create deep and thoughtful conversations about the many forms of violence that our society has experienced; to surface and examine the ways in which movements are pushing for community and public safety in ways that do not reenforce the carceral state; and to explore why abolition has become so prevalent in the conversations, strategies and demands in the work of transforming approaches to justice and safety. In addition, we will take time to honor and celebrate the leadership of women impacted by incarceration, and the leadership of Black women, and all that we have and can learn from their work.  And we will spend time building and amplifying the work of grassroots organizing.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE 

THURSDAY NIGHT MARCH 18th – Women Transcending: Building Collective Leadership (starts at 6:30pm) 

Join us as we celebrate the collective leadership of Women Transcending featuring the Women Transcending Collective Leadership Institute.  Performances by Impact Repertory Theatre and Meah Pace. Hosted by Fox Rich.

FRIDAY NIGHT MARCH 19th –  Celebrating Black Women’s Leadership, Then & Now (starts at 6:30pm) 

Join us for two conversations featuring Angela Davis, Barbara Ransby, Andrea James, LaTosha Brown, M Adams, Roberta Meyers Douglas, Fallon McClure, Fenika Miller and Tiffany Roberts. Perfomances by Aja Monet Meah Pace.  Hosted by Nkechi Taifa.

SATURDAY MARCH 20th- Uprooting Violence, Building Safe Communities (11:00-3:00pm)

Join us for three panels featuring Keenga-Yamahtta Taylor, Danielle Sered, Sonya Shah, Jose Saldana, Joo-Hyun Kang, Gina Dent, Dean Spade, Dawn Harrington, Ivan Calaff, Ash-Lee Henderson, Jonel Beauvais and Lex Steppling. Performance by the Peace Poets. Hosted by Nkechi Taifa. More information forthcoming. 

SUNDAY MARCH 21st- Towards Freedom: Building the Grassroots – Organizing Workshops (11:00-3:00pm) 

Join us for workshops from grassroots organizers. More information forthcoming.

Truth Commission: Poverty in All Its Forms Is Violence

Diana Melendez
MARCH 18 | 7:00PM EST Join the National Welfare Rights Union for a multi-racial panel where mothers and other caregivers will speak out about: their experiences of living in poverty; having their children removed by child welfare not because of abuse but because the families are impoverished (including water cut offs) or because their mothers were victims of domestic violence; the criminalization of poverty and its relationship to mass incarceration; how they have come together with others to fight back; the relationship between their conditions of poverty and systemic racism, the war economy, destruction of the environment and the violence and oppression of the market focused economy.

REGISTER HERE
https://peoplesforum.org/event/truthcommission/

NASW-NYS Events

Diana Melendez
Racial Justice Forum is a series of facilitated small mixed group discussions with the purpose of providing opportunities for self-reflection, training on how each of us can improve our anti-racism, as well as practice and preparation to have these conversations in life and practice.⁠Broader systemic change within the profession is not possible unless individual social workers do the work to confront, examine, and unlearn the racism we perpetuate. The Racial Justice Forum was created to promote change within ourselves and our communities, with the ultimate goal of making inclusiveness a habit practiced by the profession as a whole.⁠ Click here to register for our next Racial Justice Forum on March 25 at 6:45pm EST.
On March 23 at 6:00pm EST, we will hold our ninth Revolutionize Social Work Town Hall. This will be on the topic of racism and white supremacy in macro social work and particularly social work policy. 
How does social work policy continue to uphold white supremacy? Are our policies anti-oppressive? How does social work policy impact BIPOC social workers and clients? Who has the power to set the policy? Who should be at the table when policies are made?⁠ How have you experienced or observed racism in social work policy?
Over 3,500 social workers joined us live for our last Revolutionize Social Work town hall, and there are over 10,000 social workers on our anti-racist contact list. Join this world wide movement to create change within this profession, and hold the powers that protect and benefit from white supremacy in social work accountable.⁠
We want to be clear to our students – YOUR PERSPECTIVE IS STILL VALUED AND NEEDED! If you are a Black, Ingenious or Person of Color who has experienced and observed racism in social work practice we are here to listen to and amplify your voice. Whether it be as a client, intern, practitioner, or other. ⁠