#WWAV at CLPP’s Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom Conference this weekend!

By WWAVBlog on April 8, 2016 • ( Leave a comment )

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We see a familiar high bun on this poster!

This weekend 3 WWAV staff members, Nia Weeks (Director of Policy & Advocacy), Nakita Shavers (Reproductive & Sexual Health Program Coordinator) and Mwende Katwiwa (Programs Assistant) will be traveling to Amherst, M.A. for the annual Civil Liberties and Public Policies (C.L.P.P) Conference Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom!

If you are in the area, make sure you check them out at the following sessions in addition to Mwende’s performance during the opening plenary on Saturday morning at

SATURDAY APRIL 9th, 2016

3:15-4:45pm – Say Her Name: Shifting Strategies in Movements for Police Accountability and Reproductive Justice

Numerous Black women have been killed by or after encounters with police, yet Black women have been erased from the national conversation on police killings. How is state violence experienced by Black women, girls, and gender nonconforming people in ways that are similar and different to other members of our communities? How do individual incidents reflect long standing patterns of gender and sexuality-specific policing and criminalization of race, poverty and place? What is the role of law enforcement in regulating racially gendered bodies and sexualities in the carceral state? How does bringing Black women’s experiences to the center of the current discourse around racial profiling, police violence, mass incarceration expand our understanding of the issues and shift our strategies and demands? Join us for a collective conversation, skill share, and strategy session around these questions and more!

5:15-6:45pm – Sex Work and Reproductive Justice
Speakers: Nakita Shavers, Sienna Baskin, Zil Goldstein

People in the sex trade face unique barriers when accessing healthcare, housing, and freedom from incarceration. Reproductive oppression is institutionalized for people engaged in (or perceived to be engaged in) sex work, from Stop and Frisk and Crimes Against Nature laws to efforts to restrict access to social or health services based on current or former sex work. Join activists working to challenge and re-frame narratives around sex work and address the healthcare inaccess, criminalization, and aggressive policies targeting some of the most marginalized people in our communities.

Location:

Franklin Patterson Hall West Lecture Hall

5:15-6:45pm – Remembering the Voice of the Body in our Organizing Work

Speakers (click to view): Farah Diaz-Tello, nia weeks, Christa Douaihy, Esq., Lill Hewko

An opportunity for people, no matter their physical ability, to explore how using an embodied approach to connection can deepen our capacity to learn, grow, and thrive. We will use active listening, play, rhythm, movement inquiry, and collaborative practice to tune into the innate intelligence of the body, allowing its voice to inform our decision making within the workshop. We will then reflect on how these skills can translate into our lives as activists, leaders, teachers, students, and community members.

Location: Franklin Patterson Hall 103

SUNDAY APRIL 10th, 2016

9-10:30am – State Violence and Criminalized Communities
Speakers : Andrea Ritchie, nia weeks, Mwende “FreeQuency” Katwiwa
State-sanctioned violence through increased incarceration, policing and police brutality, and surveillance has deliberately targeted communities of color, especially youth, people engaged in street economies, and LGBTQ communities. Join this panel of activists representing organizations from New Orleans to New York that have mobilized against criminalization and policing to explore the intersections of reproductive justice and state violence. Community-driven work discussed will include Stop and Frisk policies and #BlackLivesMatter organizing.

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