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Fortification

Movements for justice are expanding and shifting around us. We must take care of each other and ourselves in these times of resistance and backlash. In recent conversations mapping movement and how faith communities can be of use, organizer Elandria Williams used the language of political and spiritual ‘fortification’ as a key need of justice seekers, activists and spiritually-rooted organizers at this time. We are using this frame to help us name the kinds of work that folks across the country are so thirsty for. We are excited to return with Fortification: a podcast about the spiritual lives and spiritual sustenance of leaders in social justice movements including one-on-one conversations between Caitlin Breedlove, Vice President, Movement Leadership at Auburn Seminary and movement leaders, organizers and activists. Fortification is a joint project of Auburn Seminary and Side with Love, a campaign of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
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Now displaying: May, 2019
May 29, 2019

Our hearty conversation between Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray and Caitlin Breedlove dives into humility, leadership, risk and institutional opportunity and threats. Check it out!

Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray was elected President of the Unitarian Universalist Association on June 24, 2017. Prior to her election, she served as Lead Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix, Arizona. Susan played a critical role in the long-term campaign to end the constitutional violations of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Susan received a Masters of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School and a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is a lifelong UU who grew up at in the St. Louis area. She lives now in Cambridge, MA with her husband, Brian and their son.

Referenced in this conversation:

Puente Arizona

The Great Turning by Joanna Macy

intro music by Abhimanyu Janamanchi. production by Nora Rasman.

May 22, 2019

We are thrilled to be bringing you this necessary reflection and invitation from Jessica Byrd in conversation with Caitlin Breedlove for our next episode.

Jessica Byrd is the Founder and Chief Doer of the Three Point squad. She founded Three Point Strategies in 2015 to provide a home for electoral strategy that centers racial justice and is transformational rather than transactional.

Jessica has worked on campaigns in 43 states and you can find her at the side of the most exciting races to elect Black women in the country, training hundreds of leaders, and building tools to serve the Movement.

referenced in this episode:

The Movement for Black Lives Electoral Justice Project

Action St. Louis and the work & leadership of Kayla Reed 

Stacey Abrams

intro music by Abhimanyu Janamanchi. production by Nora Rasman.

May 15, 2019

In this episode Caitlin connects and speaks with organizer, researcher and lawyer Andrea Ritchie.

Andrea Ritchie is a Black lesbian immigrant and police misconduct attorney and organizer who has engaged in extensive research, writing, and advocacy around criminalization of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of color over the past two decades. She recently published Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color now available from Beacon Press. 

Ritchie is a nationally recognized expert and sought after commentator on policing issues. She is currently Researcher-in-Residence on Race, Gender, Sexuality and Criminalization at the Social Justice Institute of the Barnard Center for Research on Women. In 2014 she was awarded a Senior Soros Justice Fellowship to engage in documentation and advocacy around profiling and policing of women of color – trans and not trans, queer and not queer. 

Referenced in this episode: 

Andrea's Books: Invisible No More & Queer Injustice

Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality against Black Women by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw and Andrea J. Ritchie

adrienne maree brown

Mariame Kaba

The Mandate by Mary Hooks

Octavia's Brood by Walidah Imarisha and adrienne maree brown

Alexis Pauline Gumbs

intro music by Abhimanyu Janamanchi. production by Nora Rasman.

May 8, 2019

We're back and we are so excited to be bringing you part two of this juicy conversation to launch our third season between Caitlin Breedlove and Susan Raffo. See our first part of the conversation in the May 1 episode. 

More about Susan: I am a queer woman on the other side of menopause who was raised white and uses she/her pronouns. My ancestral lineages represent the colonizer and the colonized. I am descended from southern and western european people and from people native to this land. I have experienced early and deep grief and loss and I have experienced different kinds of violence directed towards my body as well as the people around me. I am also loved really, really well. These are some of the things that inform how I do my work. I have almost always lived in midwestern spaces. I come from a mixed class background. I am currently able-bodied but have been in family with and continue to be in family with people living with disabilities. As a bodyworker, I feel pretty fiercely (and oh how many mistakes I make) about constantly uprooting ableism in this work. I am a mother, oh how I love being a mother. And I love the butch Brazilian woman I’ve lived with for a quarter of a century. I believe that identity is not an individual thing but a collective thing, meaning, my identities are as much about the people I share them with as it is about the things I name here. I work as a bodyworker, a cultural worker and a writer. You can find my blog and other things here: www.susanraffo.com.

referenced in this episode

Heteropatriarchy & the Three Pillars of White Supremacy by Andrea Smith 

The Peoples Movement Center 

Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life by Diane Wilson

Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown 

Southerners on New Ground 

Revolutionary Mothering and the work of Alexis Pauline Gumbs

tell us your thoughts about fortification in this short survey. thank you!

intro music by Abhimanyu Janamanchi. production by Nora Rasman.

May 1, 2019

We're back and we are so excited to be bringing you this juicy conversation to launch our third season between Caitlin Breedlove and Susan Raffo.

More about Susan: I am a queer woman on the other side of menopause who was raised white and uses she/her pronouns. My ancestral lineages represent the colonizer and the colonized. I am descended from southern and western european people and from people native to this land. I have experienced early and deep grief and loss and I have experienced different kinds of violence directed towards my body as well as the people around me. I am also loved really, really well. These are some of the things that inform how I do my work. I have almost always lived in midwestern spaces. I come from a mixed class background. I am currently able-bodied but have been in family with and continue to be in family with people living with disabilities. As a bodyworker, I feel pretty fiercely (and oh how many mistakes I make) about constantly uprooting ableism in this work. I am a mother, oh how I love being a mother. And I love the butch Brazilian woman I’ve lived with for a quarter of a century. I believe that identity is not an individual thing but a collective thing, meaning, my identities are as much about the people I share them with as it is about the things I name here. I work as a bodyworker, a cultural worker and a writer. You can find my blog and other things here: www.susanraffo.com.

referenced in this episode

Heteropatriarchy & the Three Pillars of White Supremacy by Andrea Smith 

The Peoples Movement Center 

Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life by Diane Wilson

Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown 

Southerners on New Ground 

Revolutionary Mothering and the work of Alexis Pauline Gumbs

tell us your thoughts about fortification in this short survey. thank you!

intro music by Abhimanyu Janamanchi. production by Nora Rasman.

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