Straight outta Detroit: winding down from the NLG Law for the People Convention

Well!

I just got back from the Detroit Convention. Five days of constant contact with Guilder folks and especially with TUPOCCers. It is energizing to come out of our meetings together, our conversations in the hallways and taxi rides.

At the TUPOCC Organizing Meeting, this past Friday, we transitioned into what I feel is a new era for TUPOCC. We ratified leadership and committee structures. We discussed our thoughts on the history and future of our caucus. And we elected our incoming co-chair Tory Gavito.

I just added 31 new names to our membership. A strong fistful of these new TUPOCCrs were so inspired by this Convention, they helped raise nearly $5,000 for the NLG in TUPOCC's name.

WE are stronger than ever. We are organized and organizing. We keep stepping up collectively and individually to subvert institutionalized racism and foster a community of radical legal activists of color. If there's one thing I'm most excited about it's the fact that we had folks of color from the generation before us, who came to our meetings and felt inspired by the NLG in a way they hadn't felt in a really long time. When we have law students, legal workers, and attorneys coming together, strategizing and knowledge-sharing across the lines of race and age, it is impossible for TUPOCC to stall. We are moving toward something the Guild has never seen.

In the coming days I'll post more about our work (and play) in Detroit. For now, it's time to get some rest, finally.

Onward!

Detroit Convention: on tap for Thursday...

The Convention is underway here in Detroit, in a mammoth building that only the weighty hand of American capitalism could design. The Rennaisance Center has the likeness of a freeway system on the inside, so whatever you plan on doing at the NLG Convention, make sure you know where the room is and make sure you've given yourself time to get there.

There's a TUPOCC table in the "Ambassador" lobby, so be on the look out -- to pick up fliers, materials, and to connect with TUPOCC members!

This afternoon, at 1pm, a couple of us TUPOCCers are heading to a panel on ICE raids; it's not the only event this weekend dedicated to strategizing around the raids and their community-wide impact. Check out the workshop schedule at http://nlg.org/convention.

Tonight's keynote address is of particular interest to TUPOCC members and allies. The legendary activist Grace Lee Boggs will be address the Convention tonight. The scheduled time is 6:45-8:45PM. She won't be speaking the entire time -- probably just 30 minutes of it.

Here's a link to Grace Lee Boggs' essay 2050 Will Be What We Make It:

Living for Change; 2050 Will Be What We Make It

January 04, 2001
by Grace Lee Boggs

As we enter the 21st century, I believe we are in the early stages of the second American democratic revolution in my lifetime.

The first began 45 years ago with the Montgomery Bus Boycott triggered by the Emmett Till lynching. Now, in the wake of the Supreme Court coup awarding the presidency to Bush, Americans in all walks of life are questioning the legitimacy of the American political system and wondering how to create a "government of, by and for the people" to replace the "government of, by and for corporations" that we have now.

The revolution, as Karl Marx once wrote, sometimes needs the whip of the counter-revolution.

TUPOCC @ Detroit Convention: Locations announced!

We now have the rooms listed for TUPOCC events at the 2008 NLG Law for the People Convention!

TUPOCC Organizing Meeting
- FRI, 7:30-9:00PM, at the Ambassador 1 room

TUPOCC PARTY! hosted by Detroit Summer
- FRI, 9ish-midnight, at the 555 Gallery (4882 Grand River Ave.)

TUPOCC Workshop: Study and Struggle: Organizing across generational lines
- SAT, 9:00AM-12:00PM, at the Ambassador 1 room

Major Panel: Legal and Political Strategies to Support the Liberation of Palestine
- FRI, 10:00-11:30AM, at the Ambassador 1 room

Constituency Panel: Displacement and Occupation of our Cities: Understanding Post-Fascist Amerika
- FRI, 10:00-11:30AM, at the Ambassador 2 room

Workshop: Women of Color, Labor Activism and Rights
- SAT, 1:00-2:15PM, at the Richard A room

Major Panel: Alternatives to Prison Profiferation
- SAT, 2:30-4:00PM, at the Ambassador 2 room

TUPOCC at the NLG Convention 2008: Study and Struggle: Organizing across generational lines

TUPOCC SKILLS TRAINING WORKSHOP
Study and Struggle: Organizing across generational lines
Saturday October 18, 2008, 9:00am-12:00pm

"And here in this country, it has been my own observation that when you get into a conversation on racism and discrimination and segregation, you will find young people more incensed over it, they feel more filled with an urge to eliminate it." --Malcolm X

Fact is our public schools are looking more like jails and their jails and prisons are capturing more of our young people. Fact is youth organizing and older people of color having their back can change these conditions. Join us as we welcome youth organizers from Detroit Summer and veteran anti-racist organizer Ron Scott to lead our TUPOCC skill-building session addressing inter-generational politics and power. Our presenters have tackled issues of criminalization of youth, militarization of schools, the school to prison pipeline, and police brutality head-on and will share their knowledge from first hand experience in effective youth and inter-generational organizing. The presentation will provide ways for radical lawyers, legal worker and law students (us) to engage in these struggles, and win!

Detroit Summer is a multi-racial, inter-generational collective in Detroit, working to transform ourselves and our communities by confronting the problems we face with creativity and critical thinking.

Ron Scott is a Co-Founder of the Detroit Branch of the Black Panther Party; is a member of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality; the Detroit Council of Elders; and the National Lawyers Guild. He is an Emmy Award-winning producer who has completed documentary projects on current affairs, cultural icons, entertainment, and politics in North American the Caribbean.

•Links for more on Detroit Summer
•Ron Scott's blog at Detroit News
•Grace Lee Boggs on Detroit Summer