The release party for Arise!, the first issue of Race, Poverty & the Environment (RP&E), published by Reimagine! drew a standing-room-only crowd to the Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oakland on January 8. Energy from the ongoing #BlackLivesMatter movement and the unprecedented outpouring at the Fall 2014 Climate March heightened the urgency of the evening’s speeches by several activists and organizers: Taj James from Movement Strategy Center; Carl Anthony, co-founder of RP&E; Alicia Garza from #BlackLivesMatter, Dalia Rubiano Yedidia and Maria Distancia from Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Kemba Shakur from Urban Releaf; and Robbie Clark from Causa Justa::Just Cause. Each speaker highlighted the connections among the issues that are bringing people to the streets—and the need for Movements Making Media to strengthen those connections, deepen the analysis and fuel our work.
As we celebrate 25 years of RP&E as a voice of the environmental justice movement, we are also marking a year since we launched the Reimagine! project as a new media model. Reimagine! is not driven by a single organization’s agenda, nor is it conceived as a media vehicle somehow separate from the events it reports. It's our effort to co-create a tool with and for our movements to make media.
In its first year, Reimagine! has built a core of 10 regular workers and has about two dozen supporting members and a starter base of subscribers. We have held four open editorial meetings with lively discussions on stories and trends among a cross-section of media-makers and activists; co-sponsored a dynamic panel on domestic workers’ organizing; and published our first issue, Arise!
Recently, we revamped this website to improve access to the legacy content of RP&E and provide a better platform for Reimagine! going forward.
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