Public Activation
Join Lizania Cruz, The Laundromat Project, and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration for an afternoon of art, story-sharing, and organizing at Bed-Stuy’s Restoration Plaza. The afternoon––full of participatory interventions––marks the closing event for Lizania Cruz’s Create Change Residency project with The Laundromat Project, We The News (2017-2019).
During the afternoon, the We The News newsstand will be activated, and free zines featuring im/migrant stories will be available for guests to take away. The day of activation aims to amplify the stories of Black im/migrants. The telling and sharing of their unique experiences will shine a light on an otherwise unseen landscape of Black migration––uniting, empowering, and building community.
Event Schedule:
- Ongoing | Music provided by Zane Rodulfo (Steelpan Duo)
- Ongoing 1:00–5:00pm | We The News newsstand is set up outside; free zines available
- Ongoing 2:00–5:00pm | Legal clinic with BAJI
- 2:30pm | Introduction to We The News and day’s events with artist Lizania Cruz
- 2:45pm | Meet BAJI and community partners from NYCHA and No New Jails
- 3:00–3:20pm | Reading by We The News participant Julissa Herrera
- 3:30–4:30pm | Panel discussion on archiving histories and the importance of preserving and telling our own stories, featuring Albert St. Jean (BAJI), Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Julissa Herrera. Moderated by Lizania Cruz
- 4:45pm | Closing and thanks
About We The News
In the midst of an era fueled by generalizations and incendiary rhetoric, how do we share immigrants’ stories in a way that is reflective and representative of their complexity and humanity? We the News aims to amplify these unique stories via a physical newsstand.
Through a series of story circles, immigrants share their diasporic experiences and anecdotes of their rituals and traditions. Each story circle is documented in a zine shared at the We the News newsstand.