In attendance: Arya, Jackson (secretary), Jason, Jenny, Jess, Jessie, Payne, Salem, Simon
Start time: 7:05 PM
- Event Reviews – We had two events this weekend. On Friday night, we showed Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat here for our June movie night. Our turnout was modest, but everyone was engaged with the film. Discussion was a bit short, but that probably had to do with the movie itself running a bit later than 9:30.
On Saturday, Payne and Salem represented us with a table at Free Pride. Our brand-new canopy tent made its tabling debut, and Payne was very happy with how easy it was to set up and take down. Arya and Jess were also there representing the READ Network, and Jess got some pretty badass pictures of the READ folks doing some martial arts sparring on the mat they brought to the park. The Black Cats and READ folks present tonight thought that Free Pride was a pretty good time, despite also being very disorganized. (It sounds like their organizers had a lot of turnover from last year’s version, so we’re hoping those were just some rookie mistakes.) It definitely sounds like we’ll be going back next year if invited.
- Improving Tabling – Payne took a few minutes to talk about some things he wants that he thinks would improve future Black Cat tabling. He reiterated Nate’s idea from previous meetings about some kind of printed information/brochure that would do a better job of explaining what we do to people who want more information about us. He also mentioned that some other folks tabling had tarps (?) attached like side walls to their canopy tents to better keep excess sunlight and wind out of the tent, and thinks we should be doing something like that. Finally, Payne thinks we need more swag; he’d especially like to see us offering t-shirts.
- Know Your Rights Flyer – Jenny works with Progressive Victory. They’re talking about wanting to do some kind of anti-ICE/Know Your Rights handout for immigrant rights. Jackson shared with her the “red cards” that DSA has been handing out as a sample of what’s already out there. Payne also suggested looking into what the ACLU might already be distributing, as they’re often a good source of this material as well. There was also some discussion of where the best sites to distribute this material around town might be, as well as what languages besides Spanish might be most valuable to Lincoln’s immigrant/refugee communities.
- Fall Calendar – We started brainstorming ideas!
Payne wants to have some kind of discussion on the current state of civil rights; Salem suggested focusing on rights for the disabled; there was also some discussion of whether such an event should focus on LGBTQ or recent immigrants as well… This concept needs quite a bit of workshopping.
Jackson reported that a UNL art professor has offered to run a t-shirt screenprinting workshop in the fall. That suggestion was received with great enthusiasm from the folks on the porch, so we’re definitely going to move forward on that.
Arya is interested in having some kind of joint READ Network event hosted at the Black Cat House. READ has apparently done a number of discussions that would probably translate well for our space. The event format would possibly be a guided discussion or a workshop. Jackson has been wanting to offer some kind of assistance to READ for a while, and Arya has been wanting to introduce some of her friends to the Black Cat House. A joint event here would have the benefit of being completely public and easier to advertise, since READ trainings are by invitation only for security reasons. We hope this would help expose more people to the READ Network’s work. This event may have to happen on a Friday evening because READ’s schedule is often pretty packed on Saturday afternoons…
We will probably be bringing back our Columbus Day protest at the Federal Building in October.
Meeting adjourned: 8:26 PM