Reflections on Convergence: A Youth Perspective on Intersection IV

Re/Generations: Bridging the Centuries of Art & Activism    Part of a Greater Whole: Reflections on Intersection IV: Re/Generations by Caron Atlas (Part 1)    Reflections on Convergence: A Youth Perspective on Intersection IV by Jacqueline Johnson with Raul Matta (Part 2)    I Was Singing You by Alice Lovelace (Part 3)    more essays on the way

Part 2 of " Re/Generations: Bridging the Centuries of Art & Activism," essays in response to INTERSECTION IV: Re/Generations, an intergenerational, cross-cultural gathering investigating historical models and new directions in multicultural performing arts and activism. The conference/festival was organized by New WORLD Theater and took place at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, April 7-9, 2006.

In April 2006, New WORLD Theater organized an amazing event at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The Intersection IV: Re/Generations conference brought organizers, artists, scholars, arts professionals and youth from around North America (the U.S. and Mexico) together in one place. There were facilitated discussions of social-justice movements, the history and the present, and the struggles that all generations have experienced.

Youth Leadership

Thursday night, April 6, New WORLD Theater (NWT) and Youth Leadership in the Arts (YLA) co-hosted a Youth of Color and Allies Networking event, which was held at the UMass Fine Arts Center and open to the public. The event focused on diversity and the impact of military recruitment on students/people of color. It included a DJ, open-mic and wonderful food.

Raul and I are young activists who identify as people of color, and being able to take part in an activity led by youth that we have worked with in the past was very moving. I know that when I walked into the event, seeing people that I have worked with through NWT’s Project 2050 and YLA gave me joy and a sense of honor to be in their presence. As a young women of color, attending this event focused on youth of color reinforced the commitment that New WORLD Theater has for people like myself. It reinforced the greatness in the voices of young people.

Members of the Mango Tribe performance ensemble, who performed at the conference

People who arrived early to Intersection could experience what some of the youth organizers and friends of New WORLD Theater are doing in Western Massachusetts. This event allowed space for the young organizers to connect before heading into a weekend of plenaries and workshops focused on bridging the gap between "young and old." Thursday night was a good example of how young people could take the lead and it set a tone for the conference. It set the stage for young people and adults to work hand in hand with one another, and to see what it means to walk in one another's shoes. Even if we didn't know each other, the arena for our voices was open and ready to be filled. It created unity within the conference, and helped to express the need for solidarity amongst younger and older organizers.

I know, as a young person who comes from a household where my mother is a single parent, that having a support unit other than her always meant a lot to me. I needed adult leaders such as Beth Mattison (YLA), Uday Joshi (former coordinator of Project 2050) and Joann Comerford (American Friends Service Committee) to see where I was in my life, and what I needed from them in order to proceed in my work. Many of us found an identity for ourselves while doing social-justice work and figuring out what it meant to do work you have a passion for. This Thursday night event also showed that part of this work is just giving young people space and letting them put on an event that is their own creation.

With the focus on Friday being Youth Convergence, Thursday night was a nice introduction to the following day's activities.

The Importance of Convergence

A convergence is a simple act. For many years, I have done trainings around youth convergence – what it means to converge, and who we want to converge with. The focus I always had was coming to common ground with other generations, or even other young people my age: to deal with our pressing issues and issues that we see arising in our communities; to discuss what it means to come together with one another; to establish our thoughts and our ideas; and to share them so that we see where we’re all coming from, in each of our lives, and why these issues are important to us.

For example, I know that when I spoke on the opening plenary on Saturday morning with wonderful people such as Alice Lovelace, her issues and my issues were very different because of the places we come from in the world. She comes from a very urban area and I come from Northampton, which is a small town and a predominately white community. Many of the issues that I face as a young woman of color are not the most pressing issues of my community because of my race, age and socio-economic class. When converging with people like Alice, it becomes evident to me that, no matter the age or the communities we come from, our issues are different but equally important. In retrospect, even the young people that put on the event on Thursday night (mostly high school age) had pressing issues very different from mine. As time changes, “the issues” also need to change.

That is why we need one another to converge at such conferences as Intersection. There are not many chances for organizers and activists from around the country to come together, with time designated to expressing their feelings about the movement. In doing this work, we realize that we may share the same stories and struggles, but we might have very different approaches in what we are able to do. Intersection offered a space for organizers and artists to network, and to create more possibilities for communication.

A convergence is a simple act, but it takes numerous people with motivation and determination to create sustainability for a great social-justice movement. Convergence is imperative because it allows many groups of people to discuss issues that they want others to hear, about changes that they want to see happen, now and in the future.

Intergenerational Exchange, New Movements

Many of the weekend’s panels were a combination of young organizers and older organizers, all coming from different perspectives within social-justice movements. At times it became evident that there was an equal exchange between young people and older people, which is something that does not always happen, and it brought to light that the "veterans" were also learning from the emerging young activists.

Project 2050

The beauty of the weekend was that many of the older organizers were people who had started where some of these young people were finding themselves now. Alice Lovelace, Luis Rodriguez and Raul Salinas provided life experiences and represented people who had started from within the struggle. They also spoke about the fact that you can lose a lot doing this work, and that there has to be persistence within each individual struggle. The weekend helped to clarify what it means to be leaders who have so much experience to offer, and whose knowledge can be useful for people just getting started in organizing.

But young people are aware that the movements that they are taking on are movements that are not led by older people – that their thoughts, and many of the issues that they are being faced with, have to do with the intersection of class, race, gender, education and many other things. In fact, many of us young people are dealing with the outcomes of other movements that occurred many years before us. Long-time organizers acknowledged that it was important for the young people to continue the work around these issues, because they affect everyone. They also acknowledged the simple fact that they would not be around forever, and did not know when they would “march their last march.”

Years ago, when many of my older colleagues began social justice work, they were entwined by movements that already had been taking place. We are different: we are creating movements, not any better than theirs, but ones that we see as our own and have a true passion for, and that we know will affect our children and grandchildren and their children for years to come. No matter what the similarities, the new face of activism is something that young people are creating.

Youth & Their Organizations

A lot of the younger organizers spoke about the need to have a level playing field. Many of the organizations that young people are affiliated with, that are supposed to "empower" youth, are held back by what their funders (especially corporate funders) will agree to represent or support. The conference was an opportunity for young people to address this issue and how it affects the success of their organizations.

Many organizations themselves demonstrate the complexity of these social issues. Young people who are experienced in this work are affected by changes in organizational leadership. A large number of youth organizations are led by white people with college degrees, even when the focus is empowering people of color. More and more young people notice and become aware that their voices are not given the credibility of their directors, sometimes for no other reason than their credentials. Many times, the work that these young people are doing is their life. They are living these experiences and living the struggle, but seldom qualify for leadership roles within the hierarchies of power. It is not appropriate for the organizations working around social justice to feed into the machine that limits options, for color or classist reasons, or for ageist reasons.

Young people are, and should be, in charge of their organizations. A large part of the work happening around the country is youth empowerment, and Intersection brought many youth with influential positions within their organizations to the table for discussion. The Intersection conference helped young people express the need for support and freedom in the work they are doing.

Conclusion

Many people left the Intersection IV: Re/Generations conference with a world of new experience. Intersection provided a way for organizers of all ages to share experiences about the work that they love. They shared a space with other artists, educators and organizers, many of whom were strangers, who were fighting for the same causes, allowing everyone to leave with a sense of encouragement, and a new energy to help motivate their work.

This conference helped mobilize voices that are not always heard in the forefront of activist work. It allowed young people to take charge and feel proud and educated. It gave them the space to do their work with confidence. It is through these types of conferences that young people are able connect and get inspiration to continue the work in their own communities.

Thank you to New WORLD Theater for organizing this amazing event, that helped to create a safe space for individuals to exchange their life experiences and for focusing on the importance of bridging the gap between the generations of artists, activists and organizers.

Jacqueline Johnson is a 20-year-old who has been involved with New WORLD Theater’s Project 2050 for five consecutive years. She is currently matriculated at Mount Holyoke College, but has close ties to the University of Massachusetts. She is working at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Office in Northampton, Mass., on military education. She has worked with many youth programs across the valley for seven years now and hopes to combine her efforts with her community work into her academic work.

Raul Matta is a 21-year-old Holyoke Community College student. In 2005, Raul became the first youth fellow of the American Friends Service Committee. His work at AFSC focuses on Counter Recruitment. Through this work, Raul sends out a newsletter once a month about youth work happening in the area. He tables in high schools and trains youth groups and college students about the realities of military service and military recruiting. He has worked with AFSC, through the Help Increase the Peace Project (HIPP), for over seven years. HIPP is a nonviolence and youth leadership training program that helps youth address some of the common issues affecting young people in our country. HIPP develops these youth into trainers who can go out and train other youth on these pressing issues. In 2005, Raul won the Ozzy Klate Memorial Youth Award, given by the Men’s Resource Center for his community work.

Intersection Reflection

A collective poem created by Teen Exchange (The Teen Program of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, based in Takoma Park, Md.)

This poem was offered as text for a collaborative participatory performance at the closing of the Intersection IV: Re/Generations Youth Convergence, facilitated by Teen Exchange, with support from Elizabeth Johnson, associate artistic director of Dance Exchange. Teen Exchange led the group through a Build-A-Phrase process, from which they gathered movements and choreographed a phrase. It was layered over a sound improvisation led by New WORLD staff member and artist Irene Shaikly (a.k.a I-SHEA), with the text of this poem included.

She said even though we are young, we have wisdom
She said we need to be taken seriously
She said we should take ourselves seriously
She said we can better ourselves

She said being an activist takes time and balance
She said we are all striving to do our best
He said movies, camera, me – it’s just going to keep going
She said we don’t do art, we do culture
He said we can use video

He said, I don’t have to answer racism
The book said, unwilling workers – not slaves
She said this isn’t as good as we can get, the times have changed
She said we want to have an audience that can relate
He said you don’t need to be pimpin’ all over the world
She said to look beyond the surface; look deeper; don’t be normal

She said she needs respect
He said he needs support
He said you should talk to people you don’t normally talk to
She said she wanted everyone to be more involved, to understand
She said it’s important to get our voices out

She said in the end, I just want people to be equal
She said in the end, I just want people to understand
She said the end, there is a beginning.

Original CAN/API publication: November 2006