Seattle Asian Art Museum, Seattle – Sunday, April 27th – 12:00 PM
Community Speaks
Do you have a story to share about self-determination or empowerment?
In our lives we have all experienced times when we felt powerless—when we felt like we didn’t have any control over what was happening to us. What was happening? How did you gain your sense of self-determination? Are you still on this journey, like so many of us are?
We invite South Asians to share experiences of self-determination and empowerment at Community Speaks. Community Speaks is a creative community forum where people share your stories, expressed through any form of media (spoken, video, paintings, written, photography, dance, movement). We are also happy to accommodate people who would like to share their story but wish to remain anonymous. Community Speaks is on Sunday, April 27, 12PM – 2PM.
Interested in sharing your story? Contact Neena (kmneena@gmail.com) or Kiran (kirandhillon77@gmail.com) by April 6, 2014. We will help facilitate your participation in this forum.
Community Speaks began as a forum for people impacted by violence to break the isolation they have experienced by sharing their story. Many people have shared their story–young people, elders, all genders, and various South Asian ethnic backgrounds.
Community Speaks is co-sponsored by API Chaya. API Chaya will be launching a community blog at Community Speaks this year! Please see below for the call for blog participants.
Calling all South Asian, Pacific Islander and Asian writers!
API Chaya is inviting you to become a part of an online community blog called Jaago. This will be an online space of empowerment and action where we can speak out against rape culture and how we are impacted as women and queer folks in marginalized communities. Jaago, originally a group formed in memory of Jyoti, the victim of a horrific rape in New Delhi, led South Asian communities in discussions to address rape culture and mobilizations to end sexual violence.
Jaago will be working in collaboration with other groups addressing rape culture and its many intersections. Our community blog further exists to provide a platform for South Asian and API people to connect online and off, and encourage collaborative action. We envision this blog as a forum for a variety of voices and organizations, as we create a space to provide resources, reflect, and strategize in the movement to expose and combat rape and rape culture in South Asian and API communities. We want to transform the pain and rage of lived and relived victimization in our community into healing, connection, and leadership.
If you are interested in becoming a writer for Jaago, please email jaago@apichaya.org with brief bio, your thoughts on rape culture, and what you would like to write about by March 31, 2014. If you would like to submit a blog post related to Community Speaks, please indicate in your subject line “Community Speaks” and we will put your post on a page dedicated to this event. You are welcome to share your blog post at Community Speaks!
The mission of API Chaya is to organize communities; to educate, train, and offer technical assistance; and to provide comprehensive culturally relevant services on domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking to Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander community members, service providers, survivors, and their families. Visit apichaya.org for more information!