cascadiadeafnation

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CDN Announcement:

We have spent time reflecting on a theme for 2021 during the month of December. We have voted on the theme and meaningful art reflecting our 2021 theme: "Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu" meaning, in our understanding of what liberation means to us, "Revolutionizing the meaning of the liberation of the person through whole people and communities".  Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu is a  Zulu language for Ubuntu. 

We felt it is time to learn more about African wisdom of liberation of humanity as a whole and of what it means to transform the injustices on all levels (societal, community, institutional/structural and systemic) through deconstruction processes of our current systems of oppression and more.

What this means for Cascadia Deaf Nation (CDN): CDN will center its stewardship projects, events, services and products on the theme this year. 

Through this theme, CDN will deliver empowerful messages to the IBPOC/BIPOC Deaf communities to guide them to rise above everything that held them back from actualizing their truest potentials as a whole.  Look for our upcoming vlogs about our theme and our stewardship plans for 2021.

Image description will be posted in the comment section.

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In honor of Indigenous Peoples Day, CDN Mutual Aid is now Solidarity Community Care Aid (SCCA). SCCA is a joint project of  Cascadia Deaf Nation (CDN) and Sharity Health Cooperative (SHC). To learn more about SCCA, check out: www.cascadiadeafnation.co/communitycare.

Announcements of CDN's new stewardship projects will soon follow.

[Image description begins]

(L to R) On the dark orange-red background block in white capitalized font: "In Honor of Indigenous Peoples Day,".

On the upper right block: a short video showing slow moving capture of trees with extended branches being reflected by the early morning sun rays. Running time: 29.6 seconds.

On lower left block: a medium dark orange background is complimented by CDN logo in a flag form of dark blue background with purple bodies forming an interdependent circle with different head colors (red, black, yellow, and brown) and a orange flaming heart in the middle. Dark lime green and white stripes are on the ends of the logo. In small normal bold black font, "Cascadia Deaf Nation".   In large capitalized font, " Solidarity Community Care Aid."

On the lower right block:  on the dark orange-red background in  large capitalized font, "CDN Mutual Aid is Now Solidarity Community Care Aid".

[Image description ends.]

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Racial justice vocabulary spotlight:

Reginald Bess offers insight on non BIPOC behaviors that support white supremacy based on his understanding of "Me and White Supremacy" in ASL.

Black Liberation Movement do matter.

https://youtu.be/eSzdaA7juQQ

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An Upcoming Virtual Event:

Do you enjoy watching dances by Deaf community members?

Check out Bay Area International Dance Festival 2020!

Urban Jazz Dance Company presents:

The 8th Annual Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival VIRTUAL!

August 14-16, 2020: Fri-Sat 6:00 PM (PST), Sun, 5:00 PM (PST)

Workshops Fri-Sat 10:00 AM-12:00 PM (PST)

Sun 10:00 AM-1:00 PM (PST)Location: 100% VIRTUAL

https://www.realurbanjazzdance.com/bay-area-international-deaf-dance-festival-virtual.html 

Suggested Donation: $5-25

(San Francisco) The Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival is back for its eighth year and 100% virtual!  

Highlighting the important contributions that Deaf and Hard of Hearing (HoH) artists make to our community, the Festival features three days of performances and workshops. 

Sunday’s performance is family-friendly. In addition to the Bay Area, this year the Festival welcomes Deaf artists from California specifically, San Diego and Los Angeles, across the USA and Internationally from India, Colombia, Venezuela, Canada and Mexico. 

The Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival is a fiscally sponsored project of Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco’s oldest alternative arts space, presenting groundbreaking works in the literary, performing, visual and interdisciplinary arts. www.theintersection.org.

In addition to performances, the festival will feature workshops in Classical Indian Dance, Cumbia Dance, Jazz, Contemporary Ballet, Flamenco and more different types of dance classes taught by International, National and Local Deaf, Hoh artists. These workshops will be taught for both Youth and Adult participants in VIRTUAL. 

For more detailed information on workshops, please visit our website.  All workshops and performances are open to both Deaf and Hearing community members in ANY location around the world.

Accessibility Details

All events will have ASL and English voice interpretations, International Sign interpretation and CART captioning. Saturday’s performance will have Spanish voice interpretation. 

Sunday’s 5 PM event will have Audio Descriptions by Gabriel Christian of Gravity Access Services (www.jesscurtisgravity.org/access) supported by a generous grant from the Haas Fund, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and the National Arts and Disability Center at the University of California Los Angeles and Ability Central.

ABOUT URBAN JAZZ DANCE COMPANY:

Urban Jazz Dance Company is a convergence of artistic forces, where raw energy is rooted in an athletic expression of freedom and passion, featuring the syncopation of urban jazz rhythms.  These dancers are a mix of trained deaf and hearing dancers from all over the world.  The mission of Urban Jazz Dance is to provide opportunities for Deaf and disabled artists to contribute to the arts and the larger society and to promote the educational awareness of Deaf issues through the performing arts. The company values the importance of play and performance to connect cultures of all races, ages, disability and backgrounds to live their dreams.

About Antoine Hunter, Director

Bay Area native, Antoine Hunter also known Purple Fire Crow is an award-winning Internationally-known African-American, Indigenous, Deaf, Disable, choreographer, dancer, actor, instructor, speaker, Producer and Deaf advocate. He creates opportunities for Disable, Deaf and hearing artists and produces Deaf-friendly events, and founded the Urban Jazz Dance Company and Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival.Antoine has received numerous grants and awards including the inaugural Jeanette Lomujo Bremond Award for Humanity, Isadora Duncan (Izzie) for Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival, and SF King of Carnaval. Antoine’s work has been performed globally, most recently in Turkey, UK and Russia. He has lectured across the U.S. including at Kennedy Center’s VSA, Harvard and Duke University, and the National Assembly of State Arts. In 2019 alone, his company Urban Jazz Dance Company, an ensemble of professional Deaf and Hearing dancers, performed for and engaged more than 4,200 schoolchildren. His shoe company DropLabs and Susan Paley just released an innovative product to help people feel music through their shoes. He is Vice President of Deaf Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency (DCARA's) Board. DCARA is a non-profit, community-based social service agency serving the deaf community. Established in 1962 as one of the first deaf-run agencies in the country. 

www.RealUrbanJazzDance.com

Image Description for the flyer:

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

Image of a poster with Purple background strip across the top with the bottom ¾ of the poster with a white background and various pictures and text.In the top purple strip white bold text as follows"BAY AREA INTERNATIONALDEAF DANCEFESTIVAL”

Picture overlayed across the banner of Zahna Simon leaping through air with her front leg reaching out into the white background below. She is wearing black shorts and sportsbra, long blonde hair is down and looks in action

On the left bottom of the picture in white bold text "AUGUST 14-16, 2020" To the right bottom of the picture "A VIRTUAL SHOWCASE"On the right is text in black "PRESENTED BY ANTOINE HUNTER’SURBAN JAZZ DANCE COMPANY"In purple bold text “WITH PERFORMANCES BY”

In black text a list of performers “Urban Jazz Dance Company (Bay Area)

Samantha Figgins (New York)Deaf Pride Dance Company (Bay Area)

Danzaluz (Venezuela)

Natasha Bacchus (Canada)

Irit Specktor (Los Angeles, California)

Carlos Javier Ortega Opisno (Colombia)

Matthew J Posh Schwartz (New York)

Proyecto Paz (Mexico/Bay Area)

Fusion in Motion (San Diego, California)

Lark Detweiler (Los Angeles, California)

Fusion in Motion (San Diego, California)

Shruti Neelesh Kelkar (India)

Visceral Roots Dance Company (Bay Area)

Listen With Your Eyes Dance Troupe (Arkansas)

And MORE local, national and international artists!

FRIDAY AUGUST 14 | 6 PM PST

SATURDAY AUGUST 15 | 6 PM PST

”In purple text: “RECOMMENDED DONATIONS: $5-25”

3 purple background logos in with white inside of sign language interpreter, closed captioning and audio descriptions.Below is a collage of 15 different pictures of the performers in the shape of a “D”. 

Going from left to right, descriptions are as follows:An artist portrait of a single dreadlock visible across his cheek and the rest of his hair in a low braid. Antoine has a full beard and is bare chested with his left hand raised artistically near his face. His right hand is gently supporting his left forearm.

Picture of a Young Black Woman smiles and poses with her hand on her hip with her left leg lifted to her side. Wearing a pink floral jumpsuit.

Lark, a young nonbinary person wearing a red sequined long sleeve crop top posing at a beachstands against the sky. Lark looks up and while extending their left elbow artistically toward the sky.

Blue-eyed woman looking directly at the camera, her face is partially hidden by a red flamenco abanico (fan). She is wearing an embroidered silk shawl.Two Dancers posed in black dark background. They pose in a modern stylistic way connected to each other, one in a ponche, the other with their head back.

----Next Line-----

Picture of 5 UJDC dancers reaching to the camera upwards. Background is on a stage with green strips of hanging fabric behind. They are wearing black leotards with wraps, from the left the colors of the wraps are purple, blue, green, blue and purple. 

Deynis, a Latinx presenting person wearing a black tank top, dancing barefoot crouched down on a stage wearing a dark sequined jacket and black pants.Black and white photo of headshots of all the dancers with bare shoulders. From left to right is one male and four females. 

----Next Line-----

Jewish male with brown pompadour hairstyle with blended blue green yellow blonde on sides of head, wearing black top, cape, and tights. Silver tree branch necklace while signing sign name: JPosh with right hand using the ILY 

Handshape Headshot of a Black presenting female with short hair wearing a green long shirt crossing their arms smiling directly at the camera.Three females and one male, looking straight into the camera, standing closely together, horizontally with right shoulders visibly and standing in front of a board full of multi-art decors that were glued on, and overlapping in some areas and some photos pasted on as well like a Betty Boop character photo, and a Marilyn Monroe photo. 

Starting from left to right: (far left side) 

A male, with dark brown thin cut beard and mustache, wearing a baseball hat with letterings of a baseball team, and wearing a burgundy colored polo shirt. (next left) 

A female with dark brown long thick curly hair pulled up in back, with bright red lipstick, wearing a yellow sleeveless turtleneck shirt and mixed brown and tan colored earrings. (in the middle) 

A female with light brown curly hair pulled back with long bangs pulled to the right side of face, wearing a blue tank top with a black tank top layered underneath, and soft mauve colored lipstick. (far right side) 

A female, with long blond braided hair hanging over left shoulder, wearing a black fedora style hat, silver hoop earrings and a cheetah-print short sleeve shirt. 

Professional portrait of Noelle taken from above. Noelle has long, curly brown hair and is smiling at the camera. They are wearing a black dance top with a mesh pattern of small rectangles over their chest.

----Next Line-----

Picture of 2 latinx presenting humans sitting in crossed legs position facing profile towards the camera in between folded up red and white striped lawn chairs. Background is outside. They are facing away from each other. On the left is a male wearing black shirt and black cap. On the right is wearing a red shirt, blue long skirt and dark hair half pulled back.

Carlos, a Latinx presenting person is leaning against a wall made of colorful flattened rocks. He is wearing a white sweater with a blue banana around his neck as he holds a wide brimmed straw and brown colored hat. 

Picture of an indian presenting female with dark hair smiling. She is wearing a white sari with yellow wrap and arms are in a dance pose.

[END IMAGE DESCRIPTION]

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What do you know about Frida?? Leticia Arellano shares the wisdom of Frida in this video.

LSM/ASL included.

"The book, “Viva Frida” includes Lengua de Señas Mexicana (LSM) and American Sign Language (ASL). For the full version, please click https://youtu.be/sIIyrMwxWKk and enjoy viewing. (Leticia A.)"

https://www.facebook.com/leticia.arellano.104/videos/10158329905171142/

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Do you identify as a BIPOC Deaf community member and want to have an online conversation in a safe space?

Check out this online closed safe space:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/363099300789691/

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Let's support Jesse Jones III to fight toxic cultures that keep reproducing harmful behaviors that dehumanize IBPOC/BIPOC Deaf professionals in these organizations to push for a culture of accountability to change on the structural level by signing the petition.

Transcript and [CC] included.

https://www.facebook.com/JesseJonesIII/videos/10100166971685183/

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Interested in learning about abolition and transformative justice?

Check out this upcoming online event on July 21st from 10-11 AM PDT. ASL interpretation and live captioning available.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/feminist-abolition-transformat…

Event cover image description: On gradient background (light blue to medium blue. Top to bottom), paint brushed colors with light pink, purple, yellow and light purple are complimenting the background. A womxn with long curly hair and dark sleeveless shirt smiling is on the left corner at the bottom. An image tea light candle (yellowish pink) is placed on the right of the womxn's shoulder. A womxn with beanie complimenting dark medium length curly hair is wearing striped tank top is smiling outwards on the right corner at the bottom. An image of origami is placed behind the womxn with the beanie.

Top to bottom: " Allied Media Conference (in purple font) (upper left corner)". On gradient triangle background in the middle (pink to purple): "Building An Asian American Feminist Movement. Abolition & Transformative Justice (in white font)".

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/feminist-abolition-transformative-justice-a-conversation-tickets-112221694108

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Let's be in solidarity with WA State Black Deaf/BIPOC communities to protest against nonprofit organizations (serving Deaf/Hard of Hearing/DeafBlind/DeafDisabled/ Deaf members of intersectional identities) that uphold racist, audist, audistocracist, and white supremacist cultures and demand for structural change without the influence of performative allyship.

Sign the petition to show that solidarity matters in co-creating necessary structural changes here:

https://campaigns.organizefor.org/petitions/demand-hearing-speech-deaf-center-to-address-systemic-racism-against-bart-williams-bipoc-deaf?source=facebook-share-button&time=1594417480&utm_source=facebook&share=9a089427-10e5-426c-a110-e900f179b0bf

Petition photo cover description: Two people of African descent are wearing black shirts and masks while looking outwards standing with the natural backdrop of green leaves and bushes in the daylight view.

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Transformative Think Tank Roundtable Event Announcement:

We realized that we need to have dialogue about the need to unpack the internalization of systems of oppression within BIPOC Deaf communities. We are inviting BIPOC Deaf community members specifically to engage in our [FREE] online roundtable discussion to talk about why and how it is important to unpack ourselves individually and collectively on July 18th from 2 PM-4 PM PDT/5 PM-7 PM EDT. BIPOC Deaf community members in North America (U.S. and Canada) are more than welcome to participate in the online roundtable event. The online roundtable discussion is reserved up to 15 participants excluding the online co-facilitators. Please sign up to save your seat on first come, first serve basis to receive video platform link. RSVP/Sign up here to save seat: https://stuff.li/QVJHeSwu by July 17th at 11 PM PDT/2 AM EDT **NOTICE** Please honor this space to be BIPOC Deaf space only.

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Special Announcement:

There will be the first online townhall meeting for Black Deaf community members on July 11th at 5 PM Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).

The goal is to address community issues that kept Black Deaf community members from receiving what they really need in WA state and what can be done to close those gaps or to bring social changes on both educational and structural/institutional levels.

Please email Ashanti Monts-Tréviska at amonts.treviska@cascadiadeafnation.co to receive Zoom link.

Please honor this closed space for Black Deaf community members who live in WA state only.

Image description of the flyer will be posted in the comment section.

Flyer credit: Sheila Hall-Price

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Want to interact with BIPOC Deaf community members to discuss variety of topics online?

Check out Deaf Is Not A Dirty Word here:

https://youtu.be/lNYlJwwGEqA

Transcript is included in the vlog.

FB page: https://www.facebook.com/deafisnotadirtyword/

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Empowerful message from one of our Stewards, Ashanti Monts-Tréviska:

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Image description: On the left side of dark blue background, two people hugging with each other to show community care (one is medium blue and other is light blue) with dark magenta background.  On the right side, a bit.ly link (https://bit.ly/3dkJaWi)  to access CDN Mutual Aid Donation page with moving arrows towards the link (changes to light pink, light blue, orange-red, and yellow colors frequently).

On the bottom left:   "Donate" (in white cursive font). On lime-green block: "to empower BIPOC Deaf communities during the challenging times" (in white font).

On the bottom right: CDN flag logo on the upper part of orange background.  "Cascadia Deaf Nation" (small black bold font). "Mutual Aid Donations" (in large bold black font).

CDN Mutual Aid Announcement

We have few inquiries about donating to CDN Mutual Aid to support BIPOC Deaf community members in BC, WA, and OR during crisis or challenging times. We are posting the donation page information below.

We were asked if some CDN would consider the possibility of serving Northern California. We are looking into it to see if it is possible or not. No guarantee.

Image/Video description will posted in the comment section

[cascadiadeafnation]

CDN Mutual Aid Announcement

We have few inquiries about donating to CDN Mutual Aid to support BIPOC Deaf community members in BC, WA, and OR during crisis or challenging times. We are posting the donation page information below.

We were asked if some CDN would consider the possibility of serving Northern California. We are looking into it to see if it is possible or not. No guarantee.

Image/Video description will posted in the comment section

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Image description:  On black background, an American with African colored flag (with green   left block with black stars  and red &  black stripes) facing downwards in portrait style. "Cascadia Deaf Nation (in light blue font) Honors (in red, green colors".

In the middle, a Juneteenth flag with divided colors of blue and red and a white star symbol complimented by bold white outer star shaped line around it.

"Juneteenth 2020" (in dark yellow font with black block background).