CHRONIC 2018 and OUR REVOLUTION South Carolina SCHEDULE
**** Schedule Update: Saturday will start at 8:30 am at the Koger Center. ***
Friday, October 19th
Lourie Center
1650 Park Circle
Columbia, SC 29201
Lourie Center
1650 Park Circle
Columbia, SC 29201
Saturday, October 20th
Koger Center for the Arts
1051 Greene Street
Columbia, SC 29201
Koger Center for the Arts
1051 Greene Street
Columbia, SC 29201
Some workshops and presenters locations are subject to change.
CHRONIC and OUR REVOLUTION SC WORKSHOP SUMMARIES
September 20, 2018
Session I
Time 8:30 am - 10:00 am
Environment & Social Justice – Room A
Labor: Why Organizing Unions and Workers in the SOUTH is Critical to Human Rights and People Power – Room B
This presentation & discussion on the urgent need to unite the many isolated and grassroots local community fightbacks into a national united front in order to strengthen our struggles against:
1) Police repression/brutality, environmental racism
2) Gentrification/lack of affordable housing/disempowerment
3) Voting rights, attacking workers/labor/human rights and unions, and
4) Poor quality schools, criminalization, etc.
Recent Victories and New Challenges in the Nuclear Heartland of the Carolinas – Room D
NIRS serves as an information and networking hub for a nationwide community of grassroots individuals and organizations who focus on nuclear energy and the radioactive waste it generates. This workshop will bring awareness of issues related to nuclear energy in the Carolinas, particularly as they affect our communities.
Living Justice – Room E
What does it look like to practice justice, peace, genuine revolution and fundamental change day to day, and how does one sustain such a regular practice? We will discover how to bring the energy and inspiration of your vision of justice into your daily life. We will create some methods of our own drawing back from our various traditions and reaching forward beyond our current reality. Share your hopes, concerns and find solutions that will feed our vision of and work for justice.
September 20, 2018
Session II
Time 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Phone Banking – Room A
The Now Generation’s Fight for Social Justice – Room B
Panelists and audience members will discuss what the fight for racial justice looks like today. The panelists will give their perspectives from their specific views and be asked how we can generate a unified agenda.
Recapturing The African Mind – Room D
This workshop will discuss the importance of a culturally based education, that it is essential to the development of a people. A meaningful education requires appropriate language and cultural aspects that support history, culture and tradition. To succeed, it is vital that people develop a sense of belonging; it is well documented as being an essential human need. To develop belonging people must find commonalities within their own lives and living situations. Providing people with the sense to know oneself and one’s heritage ensure a strong sense of identity and greater confidence.
Cannabis and Cannabinoid Science - Is it a Human Right? – Room E
What is cannabis therapeutics all about? Healing and the human body. What is nutrition? Cannabis is nutrition. What makes cannabis so important? It is the king of the plant world when it comes to cannabinoids. What are cannabinoids? Antioxidants, you may know the old term... vitamins. What about the laws of prohibition? Often referred to as the "war on drugs", which has become a war on people and the right for self-determination, especially in medicine! International law lists 50 plants that are essential for health and nutrition, cannabis is one of them and protected by such laws, but not people! Let us talk about research and the world status of such and understand why cannabis is a human rights issue…
September 20, 2018
Session III
Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Racism: How it Was, How it Is, And How It Could Be - Room A
(Back by popular demand.) This is an open discussion of individual beliefs, feelings, observances and causes.
Healthcare for All – Room B
Barriers, Borders & Bodies: Black and Brown Trans Women Under Siege – Room D
The purpose of this presentation is to end the silence shrouding the systemic violence enacted upon Trans bodies. The absence of a meaningful and sustained dialogue that considers the way that oppression and injustice impacts marginalized people who are also queer and trans, hinders our ability to create analytical methods, political practices, and visions of justice robust or rigorous enough to articulate and secure liberation for the least of us, and consequently for any of us. This silence also communicates to state and non-state actors that Trans people, and particularly those of color, are easy targets for oppressive and even fatal violence. This presentation will give an overview of the Trans homicide epidemic raging through the nation and highlight the unique dilemmas of the undocumented and asylum-seeking trans community, especially those currently being held in ICE detention.
September 20, 2018
Session III
Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Healing Trauma, Public Monuments, and Listening to the Land: Reflections on the Hopewell Treaty Oak and the EJI Memorial to Peace & Justice – Room E
The traumas of our shared past are held deeply in our bodies and find expression in our local communities and the national collective. One of the ways we seek reconciliation and restitution and struggle to heal the wounds inflicted both by ourselves and our ancestors is by erecting monuments to remember people and events we fear are or will be forgotten, and by placing placards, etched with words shaped by our present cultural and socio-political context, on brick walls and wooden frames. And, yet we remain divided, and the way forward remains unclear. Rather than places of unity and hope, our memorials and placards become places for yet more protest, violence, and division. What have we missed? In all our remembering, what, or who, have we forgotten? We propose that a crucial missing component in the resolution of traumas inflicted by one group of humans onto another is the Land itself.
Could it be that the Land provides a connective tissue between the opposed groups and can actively participate in healing and reconciliation? If the Land is addressed directly and deliberately as one would address a person, can it act as mediator, mender, and peacekeeper? Together, we will consider the role the Land plays in the traumas memorialized by these two monuments, the Hopewell Treaty Oak and the EJI Memorial to Peace & Justice. We will analyze the strategies and efficacies of these monuments in acknowledging and transforming the disrupted energies of both people and place, and suggest additional, and perhaps unconventional, activities that may be considered to further the work of healing both in ourselves and in the Land. To heal the Land is to heal ourselves. To heal ourselves is to heal the Land. We are intricately intertwined.
September 20, 2018
Session IV
Time 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Life Experience/Creative Writing Workshop
Creative writing is a tool used as a means of expressing a variety of feelings and emotions. Participants will/can write about what they may have experienced in terms of the various situations. The cleansing and/or understanding of the situation/crisis/problem etc. must begin with self. This is not an academic environment where one is worried about syntax, grammar, punctuation, spelling and other elements associated with academia. The participant will be able to examine the written work, discuss it, learn from it and move on to where they discern they need to be. It might very well serve as a much needed introduction to:
1) understanding one’s self
2) getting feedback from others
3) possibly seeking professional counseling.
September 20, 2018
Session IV
Time 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Demilitarize South Carolina: Call to Form Coalition – Room D
Our presentation will begin with a Palestine 101 workshop where attendees will engage in an interactive game that simulates current conditions for those living under Israeli occupation. Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss how the simulated 500+ checkpoints and roadblocks that restrict freedom of Palestinians is tied to those experiences of the stop-and-frisk policies that affect people of color in the U.S. By drawing the parallels between Israeli occupation and systemic forms of oppression in the U.S., we can delve briefly into internationalism solidarity. During this time, attendees will go beyond drawing the parallels to also understanding the crossroads between Palestine and other forms of liberation including Black and Latino liberation as well as Queerness.
Human Rights Cities – Room E
This session will introduce activists in South and North Carolina to the growing movement working to advance adoption of Human Rights Cities across the United States. Promoting protection of human rights at the city and county level will improve significantly the lives of local community members. The standards set forth in a proclaimed Human Rights City will also improve the lives of community members with limited or no access to healthcare, affordable housing or a strong public school system. Participants will learn about efforts in other cities to adopt Human Rights Cities.
Session I
Time 8:30 am - 10:00 am
Environment & Social Justice – Room A
- Rev. Leo Woodberry
Labor: Why Organizing Unions and Workers in the SOUTH is Critical to Human Rights and People Power – Room B
This presentation & discussion on the urgent need to unite the many isolated and grassroots local community fightbacks into a national united front in order to strengthen our struggles against:
1) Police repression/brutality, environmental racism
2) Gentrification/lack of affordable housing/disempowerment
3) Voting rights, attacking workers/labor/human rights and unions, and
4) Poor quality schools, criminalization, etc.
- Hoyt Wheeler
- Erin McKee
- Leonard Riley
- Shafeah M’Balia, Black Workers For Justice
Recent Victories and New Challenges in the Nuclear Heartland of the Carolinas – Room D
NIRS serves as an information and networking hub for a nationwide community of grassroots individuals and organizations who focus on nuclear energy and the radioactive waste it generates. This workshop will bring awareness of issues related to nuclear energy in the Carolinas, particularly as they affect our communities.
- Mary Olson, Radioactive Waste Specialist, Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS)
Living Justice – Room E
What does it look like to practice justice, peace, genuine revolution and fundamental change day to day, and how does one sustain such a regular practice? We will discover how to bring the energy and inspiration of your vision of justice into your daily life. We will create some methods of our own drawing back from our various traditions and reaching forward beyond our current reality. Share your hopes, concerns and find solutions that will feed our vision of and work for justice.
- George Friday, North Carolina Peace Action
September 20, 2018
Session II
Time 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Phone Banking – Room A
- Susan W. Smith
The Now Generation’s Fight for Social Justice – Room B
Panelists and audience members will discuss what the fight for racial justice looks like today. The panelists will give their perspectives from their specific views and be asked how we can generate a unified agenda.
- Marcurius Byrd
Recapturing The African Mind – Room D
This workshop will discuss the importance of a culturally based education, that it is essential to the development of a people. A meaningful education requires appropriate language and cultural aspects that support history, culture and tradition. To succeed, it is vital that people develop a sense of belonging; it is well documented as being an essential human need. To develop belonging people must find commonalities within their own lives and living situations. Providing people with the sense to know oneself and one’s heritage ensure a strong sense of identity and greater confidence.
- Dr. Bruce Bridges, Professor, Ph. D. African Studies, Lecturer
- Dr. Burnett Gallman
Cannabis and Cannabinoid Science - Is it a Human Right? – Room E
What is cannabis therapeutics all about? Healing and the human body. What is nutrition? Cannabis is nutrition. What makes cannabis so important? It is the king of the plant world when it comes to cannabinoids. What are cannabinoids? Antioxidants, you may know the old term... vitamins. What about the laws of prohibition? Often referred to as the "war on drugs", which has become a war on people and the right for self-determination, especially in medicine! International law lists 50 plants that are essential for health and nutrition, cannabis is one of them and protected by such laws, but not people! Let us talk about research and the world status of such and understand why cannabis is a human rights issue…
- Milton Byrd, Cannabis Expert
September 20, 2018
Session III
Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Racism: How it Was, How it Is, And How It Could Be - Room A
(Back by popular demand.) This is an open discussion of individual beliefs, feelings, observances and causes.
- Sioux Taylor
- Tootsie Eunice Holland
Healthcare for All – Room B
- Dr. James Fields
Barriers, Borders & Bodies: Black and Brown Trans Women Under Siege – Room D
The purpose of this presentation is to end the silence shrouding the systemic violence enacted upon Trans bodies. The absence of a meaningful and sustained dialogue that considers the way that oppression and injustice impacts marginalized people who are also queer and trans, hinders our ability to create analytical methods, political practices, and visions of justice robust or rigorous enough to articulate and secure liberation for the least of us, and consequently for any of us. This silence also communicates to state and non-state actors that Trans people, and particularly those of color, are easy targets for oppressive and even fatal violence. This presentation will give an overview of the Trans homicide epidemic raging through the nation and highlight the unique dilemmas of the undocumented and asylum-seeking trans community, especially those currently being held in ICE detention.
- Naomi Simmons-Thorne, UNITY Empowerment Resource Center Inc.
September 20, 2018
Session III
Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Healing Trauma, Public Monuments, and Listening to the Land: Reflections on the Hopewell Treaty Oak and the EJI Memorial to Peace & Justice – Room E
The traumas of our shared past are held deeply in our bodies and find expression in our local communities and the national collective. One of the ways we seek reconciliation and restitution and struggle to heal the wounds inflicted both by ourselves and our ancestors is by erecting monuments to remember people and events we fear are or will be forgotten, and by placing placards, etched with words shaped by our present cultural and socio-political context, on brick walls and wooden frames. And, yet we remain divided, and the way forward remains unclear. Rather than places of unity and hope, our memorials and placards become places for yet more protest, violence, and division. What have we missed? In all our remembering, what, or who, have we forgotten? We propose that a crucial missing component in the resolution of traumas inflicted by one group of humans onto another is the Land itself.
Could it be that the Land provides a connective tissue between the opposed groups and can actively participate in healing and reconciliation? If the Land is addressed directly and deliberately as one would address a person, can it act as mediator, mender, and peacekeeper? Together, we will consider the role the Land plays in the traumas memorialized by these two monuments, the Hopewell Treaty Oak and the EJI Memorial to Peace & Justice. We will analyze the strategies and efficacies of these monuments in acknowledging and transforming the disrupted energies of both people and place, and suggest additional, and perhaps unconventional, activities that may be considered to further the work of healing both in ourselves and in the Land. To heal the Land is to heal ourselves. To heal ourselves is to heal the Land. We are intricately intertwined.
- Amanda Dilday, Alchemilla's School of Embodied Herbalism
- Lance Howard, Clemson University
September 20, 2018
Session IV
Time 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Life Experience/Creative Writing Workshop
Creative writing is a tool used as a means of expressing a variety of feelings and emotions. Participants will/can write about what they may have experienced in terms of the various situations. The cleansing and/or understanding of the situation/crisis/problem etc. must begin with self. This is not an academic environment where one is worried about syntax, grammar, punctuation, spelling and other elements associated with academia. The participant will be able to examine the written work, discuss it, learn from it and move on to where they discern they need to be. It might very well serve as a much needed introduction to:
1) understanding one’s self
2) getting feedback from others
3) possibly seeking professional counseling.
- Omanii Abdullah, Retired Professor, Syracuse University, Poet, Author
September 20, 2018
Session IV
Time 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Demilitarize South Carolina: Call to Form Coalition – Room D
Our presentation will begin with a Palestine 101 workshop where attendees will engage in an interactive game that simulates current conditions for those living under Israeli occupation. Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss how the simulated 500+ checkpoints and roadblocks that restrict freedom of Palestinians is tied to those experiences of the stop-and-frisk policies that affect people of color in the U.S. By drawing the parallels between Israeli occupation and systemic forms of oppression in the U.S., we can delve briefly into internationalism solidarity. During this time, attendees will go beyond drawing the parallels to also understanding the crossroads between Palestine and other forms of liberation including Black and Latino liberation as well as Queerness.
- Students for Justice in Palestine
- Young Democratic Socialists of America
- The Party for Socialism and Liberation
Human Rights Cities – Room E
This session will introduce activists in South and North Carolina to the growing movement working to advance adoption of Human Rights Cities across the United States. Promoting protection of human rights at the city and county level will improve significantly the lives of local community members. The standards set forth in a proclaimed Human Rights City will also improve the lives of community members with limited or no access to healthcare, affordable housing or a strong public school system. Participants will learn about efforts in other cities to adopt Human Rights Cities.
- Rachel Fowler, Turn South: Southern Women for Change
Please take a look at our schedule for CHRONIC 2018. The agenda is subject to change, please be sure to check back for updates. All the times listed in the agenda are within the eastern time zone.
Please note that sessions, which are open to the general public will also be open to the press.
Please note that sessions, which are open to the general public will also be open to the press.
