Thanks for subscribing to WELLREAD. For the last six years we’ve been providing folks with the need to know (NTK) news, calls to actions and resources for how to stay engaged and resourced along the way. But now, we’ve added an option to “upgrade to paid” to help sustain our work. While we will never put our content behind a pay wall, we depend on the support of our community to keep us going. 💛

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The kids are not alright.

After another unnecessary mass shooting takes the lives of three children and three adults (the 125th mass shooting in 87 days of 2023), we are once again consumed by “thoughts and prayers”, outrage and grief.

The kids are not alright. But neither are we.

YES we need an assault ban, but the water runs deeper than that. Our all-American addiction to control and violence has set us up for this moment - when we are more afraid of education or freedom of expression or having to give up wealth and power than we are committed to protecting lives of our children, our neighbors or our shared future.

“We have not loved children enough in this country to change our relationships to violence.” says Kiese Laymon

How much longer will we let this go on? When will we choose to love enough to change our behavior and take action? Until then, I’m afraid we are destined to repeat history…until we choose to change it.

Kerri (she/her)

NTK (need to know)

• “Parents’ rights,” is not about all parents and all children and all the rights they might have. It is the heckler’s veto, in which a single parent — or any individual, really — can remove hundreds of books or shut down lessons on the basis of the political discomfort they feel. What the Republican Push for ‘Parents’ Rights’ Is Really About.

• The AR-15 thrives in times of tension and tragedy. This is how it came to dominate the marketplace – and loom so large in the American psyche. The gun that divides a nation.

• Death is not supposed to visit the lives of our daughters in pigtails or stalk our sons who still have gaps in their teeth. How Can We Be a Country That Does This to Our Children?

• Every time there is a school shooting, Republicans try to distract from the real problem with crap (this time, blaming trans people). That's because the GOP, and everybody who votes for them, are complicit in these murders. How Republicans get you to forget their complicity in the Nashville shooting

• By first transforming and reimagining ourselves, we all have an opportunity before us to truly transform our organizations and reimagine our work. Shawn Ginwright on letting go of myths and embracing truths.

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Solidarity

#TransWeek of Visibility and Action is back, and is prioritizing political education on this sticky web of anti-trans political violence. Trans people are at the center of extreme and far-reaching political attacks to police gender. This year, over 400 bills have been introduced in at least 34 states, mostly by conservative lawmakers. Congress is also attempting to ban trans women and girls from sports by adding discrimination into the Civil Rights Act itself. Trans Week is unpacking all these evil bans and bills to restrict trans folks and our lives. But perhaps the most important thing to remember is that our people, our athletes, our youth are under attack because #TRANSNESSisPOWER!

• Drag Bans: Drag bans police trans-ness, gender variance, and queer expression. They restrict and often criminalize drag performance and other types of performance by trans people including balls, comedy shows, concerts, pageants and plays.

• Healthcare Bans. Healthcare bans police access to gender affirming health care for trans folks, especially youth. Gender affirming care refers to any treatment that affirms a persons gender identity (in fact cis people are the largest consumers of gender affirming care via cosmetic procedures).

• Censorship and Forced Outing: Controlling information access is a centerpiece of fascist governments. These censorship bills are framed as ‘parental rights’ measures but don’t account for two critical points 1) many parents want their children to develop empathy through learning about diverse experiences and 2) youth have agency and autonomy and deserve to learn about diverse experiences.

• Bathroom Bans: These bans restrict trans and gender non confirming peoples access to restrooms, locker rooms and other public facilities. Barring trans people from the restroom is a way to ban trans people from public life and to situate trans bodies as a threat to others.

• Here’s how you can take action:

  • Demand lawmakers vote NO on drag bans, healthcare bans, curriculum bans and forced outing laws, bathroom bans

  • Educate family, friends and circles on the policing of queer expression and spaces, the importance of gender affirming healthcare, the experience of LGBTQ+ folks and their history.

  • Elevate local drag events, gender affirming care funds and organizations that center trans culture, history and safety.

Art and wisdom by @trans_week

Practicing Unlearning

Many of you are probably familiar with the article about White Supremacy Culture that has made its rounds in anti-racism and DEI circles and conversations. Originally written by Tema Okun it has been an essential tool and template in understanding how we’ve been inducted into dominant cultural norms (especially non consensual and questioned ones) and how they are holding us back from true freedom and belonging In this interview, Tema expands our understanding of dominant culture and offers guidance in how to use the tool and how NOT to use it. Here are some important takeaways:

• This assessment is not a checklist but an inquiry. It is not intended as a transaction but a transformational journey towards equity and culture shift.

• Context matters. These characteristics play out differently in different spaces and contexts. Consider the conditions

• Hold complexity. White supremacy serves to flatten and diminish our experiences. The work of culture shift is very nuanced and complex. Stay curious in your inquiry and consider how these norms might be holding you back.

• There are multiple ways to practice change. There is not one right way to transformation. Create space for the many different and diverse expressions of culture shift.

• Shame and blame never work. Nevertheless, many of us are likely to experience this in the process of unlearning and transforming ourselves, one another and culture at large.

• Its going to be messy. This document is meant to examine how we are getting in our own way so that we can imagine new pathways to practice and change.

• Self Focus. Use this document to reflect on your individual investment in these norms and what it looks like to practice something different.

• We do this work for love. That isn’t always easy…it requires setting boundaries, asking hard questions, speaking truths that people don’t want to hear etc. It matters that this work comes from love.

Art by Caroline J Sumlin, Source Deconstructed with Ryan Grim

On the 🗓️

EMBODIED SOCIAL JUSTICE CERTIFICATE: A one-of-a-kind, 3-month certificate program led by Rev angel Kyodo williams and faculty who are committed to collective liberation, increasing awareness and unlearning of oppressive social structures, and repairing belonging. Starts April 3rd!

FREE info session with Rev angel Kyodo williams and friends THIS THURSDAY at 7EST/4PST.

WE-NESS

Thanks for subscribing to WELLREAD. For the last six years we’ve been providing folks with the need to know (NTK) news, calls to actions and resources for how to stay engaged and resourced along the way. But now, we’ve added an option to “upgrade to paid” to help sustain our work. While we will never put our content behind a pay wall, we depend on the support of our community to keep us going. 💛