AFROPUNK has come and gone leaving shards of cowry shells and trampled kente cloth blowing in the breeze around Commodore Barry Park. Now that we’ve put away our gold and washed off our blue lipstick, we here at Progressive Pupil can’t thank you all enough for your support on the success of Activism Row.
All summer we’ve been waiting to share Activism Row with the world, and this weekend we finally got to watch that dream come true. The row became a small community within the community, with our participating organizations like Milk Not Jails setting up their ice cream shop at the mouth of the gate, BAJI providing face painting sessions for the onlookers and kids, and Brooklyn’s chapter of the NAACP handing out shirts to new members and sign. As the weekend rolled on, there was spontaneous support for all of the injustices caused by the police. Everyone went home with full mailing lists and it was great interacting with a lot of our Progressive Pupil online family in person. The response from the press has been just as wonderful, and we’d like to thank Ebony, Allhiphop.com, MSNBC and others for their attention and support.
BUT, just because AFROPUNK is over that doesn’t mean that our work is done. We hope to work with all of our partners again very soon and hope that you’ll join us for all of their upcoming events. Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) will begin its First Friday Freedom Film Series on September 5th, with a screening of the 2010 documentary Freedom Riders. Girls for Gender Equity would love us all to recognize and celebrate International Day of the Girl Child on October 11. Finally, we hope to see you at the People’s Climate March from September 20-21, sponsored by the Natural Resource Defense Council.
A special thanks goes to exalt youth, Peta, Milk not Jails, Girls for Gender Equity, the NRDC, the NAACP, and all of our Progressive Pupil volunteers and family. We had a great time, and we’re looking forward to another exciting AFROPUNK in 2015.
by Justin B. Jones
The Progress 