2022 Check-in: Black History Month, Coalition to Decarcerate IL, Seguimos Aquí
With nearly two months into 2022, we wanted to recap how we got here:
2020 reminded us of the limitless nature of our collective power, while proving that a mass conscious shift towards abolition and Black liberation, and away from capitalist logic and white supremacy was possible.
2021 continued that exponential growth, allowing us and others to tap into new found energy, resources, and attention on age-old problems with holistic, structural, and community-based solutions.
2022 has been a time of healing, reflection, and preparation. We not only celebrate Black history in all of its layers, complexities, and beauty, but build off that legacy to imagine and actualize greater possibilities on the path to Black liberation.
Happy Black History Month. Happy Black History Year.
Coalition to Decarcerate Illinois
The Coalition to Decarcerate IL is a group of loved ones of the incarcerated, currently and formerly incarcerated individuals, activists, and creatives working towards abolition and fighting for the rights and dignity of currently incarcerated individuals and their loved ones. Since 2020, SoapBox has been organizing with and documenting the coalition's work. Learn more and get involved by visiting their site and following them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Seguimos Aquí was an official selection in the PrideArts Film Festival in Chicago and will have its Texas premiere at the Houston Latino Film Festival at the end of March!
We hope to have more festival selections throughout the year and early 2023. Our half hour documentary follows four LGBTQ+ identifying Latinx Chicagoans -- LaSaia Wade, Reyna Ortiz, Luis Lira, and Nissa Conde -- navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, interpersonal struggles, and community triumphs throughout a turbulent yet powerful 2020.
SOAPBOX EDITORIAL - New article on our film Seguimos Aquí including some background on one of the main characters of the film, Nissa Conde, by our very own David A. Moran. Want to write for SoapBox Editorial? Drop us a line! Read more at Editorial.SoapBoxPO.com.
SOAPBOX IN THE NEWS - Late last year David and Caullen were guests on BnB alum Sophie James' podcast Unpaid Emotional Labor to chop it up on all things media, influence, grassroots organizing, and, of course, The Bachelor. Follow her podcast on Instagram and become a Patreon patron to give it a listen or watch!
We make this work possible when community supports community. Consider making a monthly or one-time, tax-deductible donation to SoapBox and support our sustainability and growth. Together, let’s making “giving back” unnecessary by abolishing hierarchal structures of inequity and violence and create new interrelated ecosystems of care, community, and abundance
SoapBox Productions and Organizing is a film and social activism nonprofit specializing in multimedia storytelling for structural social change. We pair art and media with grassroots organizing efforts by developing, documenting, and promoting racial, economic, and social justice initiatives with community collaborators. Our mission is to utilize media to power and sustain social movements for a more equitable and creative world.
