JACK Presents Reparations365: From Memory to Movement

A year-long series running February 2017 - January 2018 Inspired by Ta-Nehisi Coates' 2014 article, "A Case for Reparations," the Brooklyn-based cultural hub JACK launches Reparations365: From Memory To Movement, a year-long series of performances, workshops and discussions around the topic of distributive justice for Black Americans.

Beginning in February 2017, in the midst of JACK's fifth anniversary season, the series will consist of at least 12 public offerings featuring a convergence of scholars, artists and activists. Through the series, participants will discover multiple ways to engage with the topic, all with an intention of offering tangible take-ways for participants and a concrete movement forward.

LOCATION: JACK | 505 ½ Waverly Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238 | C or G train to Clinton-Washington

BACKGROUND

The transatlantic slave trade has forever shaped the lives of global peoples in systematic and personal ways. Millions of Africans and their descendants have experienced trauma to their bodies, minds, hearts, homes, families and work as a result of the atrocities inherent to the design and execution of the slave trade. Those who participatEd Loudly, quietly, actively and passively in the systematic enslavement of African peoples and the economy rooted in their degradation and denunciation have exponentially benefited and accumulated an extraordinary debt.

Questions, debates and energy around the topic are resurgent -- through the writing of Ta-Nehisi Coates, Georgetown University's reparations efforts, the platform of The Movement for Black Lives and the United Nations call for the U.S. to consider reparations. Momentum towards action is brewing.

The series reflects JACK's desire to contribute to the co-creation of a more just society, and to offer our space for conversation and imagination about how to get there. JACK is situated in a diverse neighborhood among other diverse neighborhoods - all of which are rich with Blackness and have varying degrees of trials, tensions and triumphs concerning black humanity, displacement, legacy and self-determination. This and many other factors affirm that the reparations series is well suited to our beloved Brooklyn.

JACK's commitment to this topic was in motion well before the recent U.S. presidential election. Now, in the aftermath of the campaign, the idea of reparations feels both absolutely improbable and absolutely necessary.

SERIES PROGRAMMING

The performances will feature a host of artists in dance, theater and music exploring the topic of repairing racial injustice. Choreographer Marguerite Hemmings launches the series on February 2 and 3 with her piece to make ready again, created explicitly around the theme of reparations and Black liberation. Further performance events will be put together by JACK staff and several Co-Curators, including Carl Hancock Rux, an OBIE-winning writer, performer and playwright.

The series will also include several panel discussions and community conversations curated with the participation of our neighbors and members of the artistic and activist community in New York. Topics will include: historical reparations efforts for Black Americans in the United States, intersectionality with reparations efforts by Indigenous peoples and others, and past successes in achieving reparations for particular movements or peoples.

To ensure that the series leads to concrete action, JACK will convene The People's Think-Tank, a pop-up research and advocacy group that will assess, synthesize and push for action on proposals that arise during the year-long series.

EVENTS CURRENTLY PROGRAMMED

Marguerite Hemmings:
to make ready again
February 2 - 3, 2017 at 8 pm
Tickets: $12 advance/$15 door

Choreographer Marguerite Hemmings - whose work reflects the rich history of African diasporan social dance, with an emphasis on dancehall/reggae culture and music - presents the latest piece in her multimedia endeavor 'we free,' a series that focuses on what liberation means for the millennial generation. Hemmings describes to make ready again (referring to the etymology of the word "reparation") as "a non-performance. . . a call to a very very very obvious collective action."

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION: Why reparations?
Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 7 pm

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION: What would reparations look like?
Monday, March 20 at 7 pm

Check the JACK website in the coming months for listings of further events.

SUPPORT

JACK has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the series. The campaign, for $10,000 in support, runs through March 15, with rewards that include a studio tour with MacArthur "genius" Mimi Lien and tickets to the Broadway hit, "Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812." More info can be found here: www.jackny.org

This series is made possible by a Humanities New York Action Grant, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and from many individual donors.

JACK's programming is made possible by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and Councilmember Laurie Cumbo, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, The DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, the Mental Insight Foundation and The Lida Foundation.