On February 13th, Silent Cry Inc. held a community rally for Black History Month in honor of Albert L Philips Sr. and honored five law enforcement officers who are creating community through caring for community. We gave out community resources, food PPE, books, children's clothing, and more. To continue advocating on behalf of Silent Cry Inc., please contact your New York Senator Brian A. Benjamin at 212-222-7315 or email bbenjamin@nysenate.gov that you are in support of the Post-Traumatic Prison Disorder Shawanna W76337 Bill. 

When it comes to community grassroots organizing and coalition building for equity and inclusion, we must be mindful to never overlook smaller, less structurally developed advocacy groups, especially before we understand their on-the-ground impacts on the lives of people they serve. Shout out to Shawanna Vaughn and Silent Cry Inc. and The FARM, Inc H.O.L.L.A. Cobra Marching Band and more for their continued leadership and for being on the ground providing those resources that are most needed.

Follow Silent Cry Inc. on Instagram at @silent_cry_inc and on Twitter at @SilentcrySv. Go visit their website at ​https://silentcryinc.org/. 

CLAIMING THE VISUAL NARRATIVE

Claiming the Visual Narrative in Newark, NJ is a community arts project created by The Confined Arts (TCA) with the goal of developing representative imagery in Newark, a community that continues to be vulnerable to racially unjust narratives of the war on drugs.

• TCA aims to form a Newark-based grassroots Community Convening Cohort (CCC) consisting of Newark community stakeholders that will conceptualize and install a community-developed art project that represents the values and principles of Newark residents. Our methodology:
  • The CCC will also conduct participatory action research and participate in focus groups to better understand artistic needs for expression and representation within the Newark community and neighborhoods therein.
    
    
    

Overall goals for this project are: (1) to establish a process for creating and installing public art projects and will increase opportunities for community healing and relationship-building, (2) to form a cohort of community stakeholders who are committed to facilitating public arts projects that prioritizes community partnership, and (3) to develop a methodology and toolkit with recommendations for how to build community engagement through public art projects. Learn More Here

The Confined Arts has partnered with Yendor Productions, a Newark based organization that fosters hope and healing through access to the arts and cross-cultural programming, to host a community meeting where grass-roots Organizations, Artists, Activist, and other community stakeholders can discuss the role that public art and aesthetics can play in ending to the war on drugs and systemic racism in Newark. 

The Claiming the Visual Narrative Project  will be responding to the Salvation and Social Justice Coalition call to action, as we explore the role that public arts and aesthetics can play in abolishing the war on drugs in New Jersey, and specifically the Newark’s West Ward.

The Confined Arts will also be discussing media production opportunities that are available Spring 2021 for ARTISTS IN NEWARK through our partnership with the Newark Community Solution Center

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMpf-Cqpj4iEtKaYeivkHQoCOZADUT5UYXy 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Research shows evidence that incarceration has negative psychological effects on people in prison. These include: A dependence on institutional structure and contingencies. Hypervigilance, interpersonal distrust, and suspicion. Emotional over-control, alienation, and psychological distancing. Social withdrawal and isolation. Incorporation of exploitative norms of prison culture. Diminished sense of self-worth and personal value. And post-traumatic stress reactions to the pains of imprisonment (Haney, 2001). The deprived social environment of prison can potentially impede one’s social capacity to navigate various social obligations post-incarceration. ​