Jackson and Salem met with someone who was new to our space. With so few Black Cats around, and little pressing business, we were cool with informal chat. We will get back to normal next week.

In attendance: Arya, Jackson (secretary), Jason, Jenny, Jess, Jessie, Payne, Salem, Simon
Start time: 7:05 PM

1. 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.

2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Jessie, Nate, Payne, Salem, Simon

Start time: 7:30 PM

(We got off to a very late start tonight because Payne and Salem just got back from their Civil Rights history trip to Alabama. They had a lot to share!)

1. Event Reviews – We’ve been a bit behind on these, with Salem and Payne missing the last several meetings. Salem and Payne were at Star City Pride on the 13th and 14th. They had a good time, while tabling for their church. They were able to hand out a few handbills for us. We’ll have to schedule tabling at Star City Pride much earlier next year.

Jackson opened up the space last Friday for a discussion group hosted by DSA Lincoln. He reports that the DSA folks seemed to enjoy the space. Jackson also checked out the Juneteenth festivities at Woods Park. It was very hot, but they had provided a nice canopy tent for all the local groups tabling there. Despite the weather, there were a lot of people out there. We’ll have to think about tabling there in upcoming years.

2. Upcoming Event – Our movie night for Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat is this Friday night. We should be ready for it.
3. Summer Tabling – Free Pride is this Saturday, and we have been welcomed to go and table there. We’ll have to round up some materials, but it’s something we definitely want to do.

Meeting adjourned: 8:10 PM

It was just Jackson and Simon tonight. With a very light agenda, we didn’t talk any business. We’ll get back to it next week.

In attendance: Audrey, Jackson (secretary), Jessie, Simon
Start time: 7:00 PM

1. Event Review – We hosted our discussion on protesting here on Saturday afternoon. Jackson reported that it was a small turnout of Black Cat regulars. We were probably too late/light on advertising for this event. Jackson still thought the discussion was engaging and productive.
2. Reimbursement – Jackson bought the pop-up canopy that he was asked to get for future tabling. He will be reimbursed $139.41.

We spent the rest of our time talking politics informally, especially with two new friends present.

Meeting adjourned: 8:30 PM

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Ty

Start time: 7:00 PM

1. Event Review – We had our Matewan movie night on Friday. Turnout was a bit low, but we had a couple of new people and everyone enjoyed the film. We had a decent discussion afterwards as well.
2. Ty and Marc – Ty and Marc are moving to Minnesota this weekend! We will miss them, but they promise to visit when they’re back in town.

Meeting adjourned: 7:20 PM

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Payne, Salem
Start time: 7:00 PM

1. Upcoming Event – Our Matewan movie night is this Friday. We’re ready for it!
2. Calendar Printing + Distro – Jackson got the summer calendars printed and will be reimbursed $59.53. Salem thinks they can put some up downtown tomorrow. We spent time discussing where each of us would put them up around town.
3. June Event – Jackson asked Salem if they have ideas for the online advertisement for our first summer event, since we’re already about a week and a half away. Salem will work on it.
4. Canopy – We’ve had informal discussions over the past few weeks about how we could probably make really good use of a canopy tent while tabling around town. Jackson is given pre-approval to go out and buy one for us.
5. Tabling – We spent the last part of the meeting discussing some of our summer tabling plans. It looks like Star City Pride is already fully booked and not accepting any more vendors. Jackson emailed an organizer about the possibility of us getting into a backup spot if a booked vendor withdraws. Payne and Salem might end up having to go for Payne’s church, and see if they can bring some BCH handbills.

We’re also definitely planning to do Free Pride and Disability Pride later in the summer, but we’re still looking for more details about those events. Jackson is also still looking into the Malone Center’s Juneteenth activities, but will probably need some help to pull that off as Payne and Salem are out of state that week.

Meeting adjourned: 8:30 PM

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Payne, Salem
Start time: 7:05 PM

1. Event Reviews – We had two events this weekend.

First, Payne gave his propaganda presentation here on Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t well attended, and we had some discussion about why that may have been. We were very slow getting it advertised online. Jackson also pointed out that presentations are easier to advertise and generally more attractive to audiences if the speaker is an expert. We were generally in agreement that we will want to prioritize getting experts to give presentations in the future.

Payne and Salem also tabled at Pepe Fest on Sunday afternoon. They gave out some buttons and stickers, and collected some email addresses for our newsletter. They felt that we were one of the less popular tables there, but Jackson is less concerned as we were a bit out of place in that space. (The event was advertised primarily as a space where small makers would be selling art, jewelry, and other wares.)

2. Library Donations – We added a few books from Ty and Marc, as well as a book that Ryan brought us at the yard sale.
3. Emails – Jackson reported on two emails we received in our “contact” account. Author Nico Lang wrote us to say that he’s giving a talk about trans youth at Sower Books on May 31st, inviting us to attend and asking us to help promote the event. We’ll share his flyer on our social media.

In the other message, Aaron from Lincoln DSA asked about the availability of our space on the evening of June 20th for one of their discussion groups. Our space is available, though Payne and Salem will be out of state. Jackson will write Aaron back and say that DSA is welcome to meet here.

4. June Meetings – Payne and Salem will probably be unavailable on Mondays at 7 PM throughout the month of June, although things are expected to get back to normal in July. Payne asked about the possibility of temporarily moving the weekly meetings, but Jackson is more concerned that advertising a temporary change for anyone else concerned is probably a bigger headache than it’s worth. With June’s meetings likely to be relatively light in importance, Jackson will continue to host at 7 PM in case anyone else shows up while Payne and Salem can stay in the loop via our Discord server.
5. Summer Calendar – We finalized it! At last!!

JUNE

Saturday, June 7th, 1-3 PM: Safety in Numbers: How Do We Protect Ourselves in a Protest?
A community discussion about defending our rights in rallies

Friday, June 27th, 7-10:30 PM: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
2024 documentary about the CIA using Black-American musicians to spy on African governments in 1960

JULY

Saturday, July 12th, 1-3 PM: Malcolm X in His Own Words (a reading discussion)
Celebrating the 100th birthday of the legendary human rights fighter from Omaha

Friday, July 18th, 7-10 PM: Movie Night: Pride (2014)
Queer youth and striking coal miners build solidarity during the Thatcher years of the 1980s

AUGUST

Friday, August 8th, 7-10 PM: Movie Night: White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
2007 documentary about the U.S. military’s 1945 atomic bombings of Japan includes interviews with Japanese survivors

Saturday, August 23rd, 1-3 PM: Winslow’s Wardrobe
FREE gender-affirming clothes for trans/queer folks just in time for Back to School!

Likely summer tabling that we need to follow up on next week, but we won’t bother advertising on the calendar:

We may be tabling at Star City Pride on June 13th and 14th
Tabling at Juneteenth? (June 21st, Noon-3PM, Woods Park – 33rd and J) [Note that Payne and Salem will be out of state…]
Disability Pride – Saturday, July 26th Antelope Park 9AM-1PM
Free Pride events potentially on June 28th?

Meeting adjourned: 9:00 PM

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Payne, Salem
Start time: 7:12 PM

1. Event Review/Reimbursement – 2025 Fundraiser

We had our annual yard sale fundraiser on Friday and Saturday, which was combined with our first-ever bake sale fundraiser. We suffered through two very hot days, and we managed to gross $1348.87 despite having kind of an off year in terms of the quantity and quality of items donated to the yard sale. As has been the case with the last couple of years, we will likely raise a little more money as Jackson will be listing some of the exceptional leftovers on the Facebook Marketplace.

The bake sale was fairly well received, but we produced far more baked goods than we could sell. It wasn’t realistic for us to measure exact sales, but Jackson estimates that the bake sale at least broke even considering the (admittedly excessive, in hindsight) cost of the ingredients and supplies that we had to buy and be reimbursed for. Because we are all broke, and the sale did well overall, Jackson recommended that we all get reimbursed for the things we had to buy for the bake sale. Jackson will be reimbursed $61.01, while Payne will be reimbursed $108.41. Salem was reimbursed $14.90 tonight, but more will be owed later (as they didn’t have all relevant receipts in hand tonight).

We are not sure if we will do another bake sale next year, but we did spend several minutes critiquing things that we will need to do better in case we do try again. Payne acknowledged that we will need to produce much less overall; our overall production should be no more than half of what was made this year, and the vegan offerings will be reduced even further as they performed much worse than we thought they might. Jackson pointed out that certain things like vegan chocolate chips, vegan butter, and using ziplock bags to hold the finished goods for sale were particularly too expensive and that they will have to be avoided in the future unless we can find them much cheaper. We will also need to avoid some of the mistakes that ruined the entire batch of vegan oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies and the first batch of vegan brownies. The suggested donations being expressed in a range was confusing and counter-productive; we should only do one price in the future. The prices themselves may have been too high for many of our would-be customers; it occurred to Jackson and Ty during the sale that our bake sale was more like a coffee shop, and that most of the people who frequent yard sales aren’t necessarily the type who buy their sweets at Starbucks…

The lemonade did moderately well, although we can also probably cut its production numbers similarly to the bake sale items. The tea and water did very poorly, so we probably won’t try those again. Payne suggested possibly serving Gatorade and lemonade next time.

2. Upcoming Events – We have our propaganda event on Saturday afternoon, and we’re tabling at Pepe Fest on Sunday afternoon.

We still haven’t advertised this event online! Payne brought a draft to the meeting, and Jackson will tweak it for publishing. Jackson will get the space cleaned up, but it’s a big job after the sale. Payne reported that he is working on the presentation; Jackson encourages him to shorten it, as most people struggle to keep their attention span when one person lectures for more than 45 minutes to an hour. Jackson thinks a 45 minute presentation is ideal, as our guests are more likely to absorb material that they can interact with via Q&A and/or discussion afterwards.

Salem and Payne are tabling at Pepe Fest on Sunday afternoon. We’ll gather materials for that on Saturday, when the room is in better shape. We will be giving away stickers, buttons, and zines.

3. Summer Calendar –

We may be tabling at Star City Pride on June 13th and 14th
Tabling at Juneteenth? (June 21st, Noon-3PM, Woods Park – 33rd and J) [Note that Payne and Salem will be out of state…]
Disability Pride – Saturday, July 26th Antelope Park 9AM-1PM
Free Pride events potentially on June 28th?
Payne and Salem out of state June 18th-22nd

Saturday, June 7th, 1-3 PM: Protest/Rally Etiquette and Safety in Early June
Friday, June 27th, 7-10 PM: Movie Night TBA

July – Malcolm X 100th birthday tribute? Jackson thinks a reading discussion may be ideal, to hear Malcolm in his own words. Jackson will look for an article or speech transcript.

Friday, August XX, 7-10 PM: Movie Night: White Light/Black Rain
Saturday, August XX, 1-3 PM: Winslow’s Wardrobe (Jackson needs to confirm the date with their folks)

Documentary idea: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (African-American music month); Jackson has seen it, and while he liked it he had concerns that the movie doesn’t explain a lot of things that a non-expert

Movie Night: Pride (2014)

July 18th is Nelson Mandela International Day

Salem suggested some kind of event with tips for staying cool with lower energy costs; Payne suggests adding some kind of staying safe in the heat component to it.

Meeting adjourned: 9:00 PM

In attendance: Dan (late), Jackson (secretary), Payne, Salem
Start time: 7:32 PM

1. Yard Sale/Bake Sale – It’s happening this week! We’re all kind of stressed out, but excited to get it done. We worked out some last-minute logistics.
2. Pepe Fest – We’ve been accepted to table at Pepe Fest. We’ll put some some stuff together for it next week after we’re done with the big fundraiser.
3. Summer Calendar

We may be tabling at Star City Pride on June 13th and 14th
Tabling at Juneteenth?
Disability Pride – Saturday, July 26th Antelope Park 9AM-1PM
Free Pride events?

Protest/Rally Etiquette and Safety in Early June

Documentary idea: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (African-American music month); Jackson has seen it, and while he liked it he had concerns that the movie doesn’t explain a lot of things that a non-expert

Movie Night: Pride (2014)

July 18th is Nelson Mandela International Day

Movies to commemorate the atomic bombing of Japan for August: Barefoot Gen, White Light/Black Rain

Malcolm X’s 100th birthday is in May; can we do something to honor that?

Salem suggested some kind of event with tips for staying cool with lower energy costs; Payne suggests adding some kind of staying safe in the heat component to it.

Meeting adjourned: 8:55 PM