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“The Fierce Urgency Of Now” Marquette Park, Chicago | Photo by Steve Pavey
Dear friend,
Something is happening in this land. We’ve been on the road this week
marching, organizing, and worshipping in communities across Kansas, Indiana, and Illinois. From the Freedom Trail Caravans that traveled to the Fierce Urgency of Now historic march in Chicago to the Survival Revival in Kansas City, we’re witnessing communities rally together across lines of division to fight for each other rather than against each other.
None Of Us Are Free Until All Of Us Are. Our Freedom Caravans, led by Songs in the Key of Resistance cultural organizers, converged outside the Miami Correctional Facility to hold a vigil for 600 of our immigrant neighbors and more than 3000 people imprisoned inside. Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, and Christian leaders from across the country came together to SING DOWN THE WALLS - we prayed and sang out to demand justice and dignity for ALL our people divided by walls and mistreated inside. The children and the elders sang the dream of the future, where all are families are free!
Riding Into History: In August 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Chicago Freedom Movement marched into Marquette Park to confront entrenched segregation, redlining, and organized racial violence.
Sixty years later, we face renewed attacks on voting rights, expanding systems of criminalization and detention, and deepening economic inequality.
On Saturday, we retraced their steps. Dozens of multi faith organizations and hundreds of marchers from across Chicago and the nation converged on Marquette Park for a new commitment to continue the struggle. This commitment is powered by our collective moral and faith traditions, and it is built on decades of history of righteous struggle in Chicago and across the country.
We Will Protect Each Other: On August 1, Bethany Park in Kansas City, Kansas, was taken over by the city’s first Survival Revival. Hundreds of people gathered under the tent and in the shade. Lunch, fresh produce and non-perishable goods were available for all, as were toys, clothing, books and bubbles. Tail lights were repaired in the parking lot. Health checks and massages healed bodies, while song, scripture and spoken word healed our souls.
Organization, abolition, faith, and the struggle for community survival have always been central to the story of the United States. This week, it has been abundantly clear that this tradition lives on. In Kansas City, Indianapolis, Chicago, and beyond, we will protect each other.
In This Letter:
* Upcoming Events: Alton Survival Revival, Black August at Freedom Church of The Poor
* Reflections from the Freedom Trail Caravans: SKOR Leaders Oona Valles and Martín Urbach
* Resources: We’re Riding Into History, Ancestor's Watching, “The Unknown History of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Housing Movement”
* In the news: Chicago Coverage, Indiana Coverage, Survival Revival Coverage
In heart and struggle,
The Kairos Team
Alton, IL August 7th (TOMORROW)
Join us at the Alton Beloved Community People's Fair: A Survival Revival Friday, August 7, from 12:00–8:30 PM at Deliverance Temple.
This is more than an event—it's a day to connect with neighbors, access community resources, share a meal, learn together, and celebrate what it means to build a stronger, more connected Alton.
* ✨ Community Resource Fair
* 🤝 Interactive conversations & learning
* 🍽️ The Longest Table community dinner
* 🎶 Music, storytelling & celebration
Whether you come for an hour or stay all day, there's a place for you. Bring a friend, your family, or your organization. We'd love to see you there!
Register to host a at the Longest Table Meal ([link removed])
Black August with Freedom Church of the Poor
Black August has always been a sacred time of remembrance, resistance, political education, and preparation for struggle. Born inside California prisons in the 1970s after the assassinations of George Jackson, Jonathan Jackson, and the deaths of other incarcerated freedom fighters, Black August calls us to honor those targeted by systems of state violence while recommitting ourselves to the unfinished work of liberation.
This week, we will continue our season of Black August with Min. Ciara Taylor and Arnaé Batson to guide our study, reflection, and recommitment.
Bible Study
Wednesdays 6pm ET/ 3pm ET
Sunday Service
Sundays 6pm ET/ 3pm ET
JOIN FREEDOM CHURCH ([link removed])
Reflections from SKOR Leaders on the Freedom Caravans
Martín Urbach: “It was a blessing to facilitate songs of justice at this years’ march on Marquette Park and Survival Revivals. Singing, drumming, and sharing this collective pain in an intergenerational, multi-faith community is the way we pray and act for a better world; one which our children deserve. I was particularly humbled and excited by the commitment from the youth and elder leadership from our comrades from Atlanta and Detroit! May we continue songs in the key of resistance as long as we need to resist.”
Oona Valles: “I feel SO GRATEFUL to get to follow [the march to Marquette Park] with another invigorating day at KCK's Survival Revival, where we continued to musically pollinate hope and resistance in community. What a gift to witness the intersection of so many organizations, in their varied ways of meeting community's spiritual, physical, and political needs. One of my favorite moments was hearing and connecting with the various movements who've influenced us, and how we saw those legacies represented in the Revival. That moment of honoring those deep wells of inspiration felt like the resurrection of a cosmic rainbow coalition - feeling those ancestors moving through us toward each other. I hope to continue to witness the weaving of the beautiful tapestry that's coming together in KCK.”
** Song: We Are Riding Into History
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This song was written Arnaé Batson, with the Songs in the Key of Resistance Network, for The Fierce Urgency of Now: The National March into Marquette Park mobilization and the Freedom Trail Caravans, honoring the legacy of the 1966 Chicago Freedom Movement while calling a new generation into the unfinished struggle for justice. As multi faith communities journey together to Chicago by bus, this song reminds us that we are not simply traveling to an event—we are riding into history, carrying forward the work of those who marched before us and helping shape the future together.
** Song/Chant: Ancestors Watching
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This song/chant, shared by Jonathan Lykes, was taught to BYP100 members at the Atlanta National Coordinating Council Convening in December of 2015, where CFreedom, the inaugural co-chair of the New Orleans chapter, gave BYP100 the chant/song. Say Her Name was a trans- and femme-led national Movement for Black Lives campaign response to the Sandra Bland police murder that took place on July 13, 2015. This became an outcry chant to lift up the names and voices of Black femmes impacted by systemic violence. “Black girl magic” was a term popularized by Cashawn Thompson in 2013. She created the term to represent the joy, beauty, power, and resilience of Black people living on the margins. This chant declares the importance of Black magic, led by Black women, to be conjured up by movement organizers, tapping into a radical imagination, and created through faith, love, and joy.
Ancestors Watching appears as a resource in “We Pray Freedom: Rituals and Liturgies from Freedom Church of the Poor”, which celebrates it’s first publication anniversary this month. Get yours below.
READ MORE ABOUT THE RESOURCE ([link removed])
GET THE BOOK ([link removed])
** Article: “The Unknown History of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Housing Movement”
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Dr. Jeanne Theoharis and Erik Wallenberg explore an unsanitized version of the original march into Marquette Park. This version is a story, not of a beleaguered and naive King, but of a movement willing to use all the resources at disposal to remain steadfast in their struggle for equality.
READ THE ARTICLE ([link removed])
Media coverage from Chicago
NPR ([link removed])
The Chicago Tribune ([link removed])
Axios ([link removed])
The Chief Leader ([link removed])
Media coverage from Indiana
WIBC ([link removed])
Media coverage from Survival Revivals
Kansas City: KCTV 5 ([link removed])
Alton: River Bender ([link removed])
Alton: The Lovejoy Desk ([link removed])
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Support Our Work ([link removed])
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Kairos Center is fiscally sponsored by Global Impact, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your gift may be tax-deductible pursuant to §170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code.
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