Black Girl in Suburbia is a documentary by filmmaker Melissa Lowery that examines the experiences of Black girls who live in predominantly white communities, such as Lake Oswego. We watched and discussed the film, as well as her work creating space for Black students in predominantly white schools in Portland and Beaverton.

Melissa Lowery is a wife and mother that lives in the Pacific Northwest.  She is an Equity and Liberation Strategist, and Director/Producer of the Documentary film, Black Girl In Suburbia. She always seeks to create better and equitable environments that honor the human dignity of each person through storytelling and dialogue. Melissa currently works at Central Catholic High School in Portland as the Director of Equity and Community Engagement.

On April 8, author Emilly Prado shared the evolving nature of finding her path as a writer, drawing upon her experiences as a first-generation Chicana, a college student, and a self-proclaimed troublemaker who struggled with school and mental health. We heard a reading from Funeral for Flaca and viewed archival childhood photographs to better understand how 13 year-old Emilly found strength through music and writing. 

Emilly Prado is an award-winning author and journalist, educator, and DJ based in Portland, Oregon. She is the author of the essay collection Funeral for Flaca, a winner of a 2022 Pacific Northwest Book Award, a 2021 bronze winner of the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in Essays, and several other honors. Her writing and photographs have appeared in more than 30 publications including NPR, Bitch Media, and Marie Claire. An alum of the Randolph College MFA, she teaches creative writing at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, and moonlights as DJ Mami Miami with Noche Libre, the Latinx DJ collective she co-founded in 2017. Learn more at www.emillyprado.com or on social media @emillygprado.

Thank you to everyone who attended our January Community meeting, either in person or online. If you missed it, you can watch it on our YouTube Channel.

Join us for our next Community Meeting on February 12: It Did Happen Here: An Antifascist Peoples History

Message and resources from amber boydston

Community, 

Thank you, again, for your presence, participation and also openness to diving deep with me during Respond to Racism’s Abolition Community meeting Monday January 8th. We continued to ring in the new year with a level of intentionality that I hope we can all sustain. 

To stay in touch with me, please follow my My Patreon and join to become a member and receive continuous Abolition education in the form of a book club, meditations, current articles, and much more! You can also follow me on my organization’s Spirited Justice Instagram page, as well as at www.spiritedjustice.org (updated completely mid-January 2024).

Listen to my recent interview with Equitable Giving Circle:  Amber’s interview on Capitalism with AJ from EGC. 

Below are redistribution opportunities, Abolition resources and the slideshow from the event, enjoy!

To Redistribute funds back into marginalized communities, please share through: 

Check to: Spirited Justice
222 NW Davis St. Ste 206
Portland, OR 97209

(amber boydston is my full name linked to my organization)

• Paypal: Spirited Justice Paypal Link
• Venmo: Spirited Justice Venmo Link
• Cashapp: Spirited Justice Cashapp Link

January 2024 Abolition Slideshow: 

Abolition Education Slideshow January 2024 spirited justice

Resources: 

• Community Abolition Syllabus 101
• 158 Resources for Understanding Racism
• Resources for Abolishing Policing
• PODCAST: abolition is for everybody : Let’s Talk: Copaganda w/Lewis Wallace
• Fractal Abolition: To build the world we want, and tear down the old one, we can and must start small
• PDX Free Fridge Locations 
• Trans Wardrobe Project

I look forward to our paths crossing again, I’ll be at future Respond to Racism Community meetings, and am excited to share the ways we are each growing in our lives with and for one another. 

With Liberation, 

amber elisa 

“All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you. The only lasting truth is change.” – Octavia Butler