The 2024 BOLD National Gathering In Review: Part 1
*This series has been collectively created and curated by BOLD alumni, staff, and creative allies including Nikki MG, Aaron Jamal, Darian X, Brandon Forester, Jalera Remy, Ashley Chisholm, Yaa Kwayana, Zakiyah Ansari, D’Juan Owens, our beloved DP, and others.... Thank you for reading, following along, and sharing!
The 2024 BOLD National Gathering in Georgia was EPIC. It was historic, yet beaming beautiful Blackness into the future while centered in the present. We created big toroidal energy yáll! WHAT?!??!!!? If you were one of the 130 BOLD alumni in attendance, you would know exactly what we mean. Regardless if you were there this year or not, we are honored to share this special 5 part photo, blog, poetry, and alumni testimonial series with you so you can get a taste of the magic! We invite you to join us on our journey deeper into land stewardship, deeper into restoration, deeper into the woods of transformation…. And embark on the next chapter of Black Love, Black Power, Black Joy, Black Resilience, Black Excellence, and BOLD Marronage!
Caption: Gregory Beachum, BOLD Operations and Land Manager, leads a group of BOLD alumni into the pine forests on our 105 acre regenerative farmland in SouthEast Georgia.
Photos by Brandon Forester, BOLD Classes of 2012 & 2023
So let’s begin, shall we…
This BOLD National Gathering was overflowing with collective love and commitment to Black liberation and coordinated action. Our gratitude energy was particularly turned up because it was a gathering of
“FIRSTS.”
It was the
FIRST time we’d convened the National Gathering in person since February 2020 - right before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world as we knew it. As such, this time around, we hired an incredible team of Covid testers to be on-site and practiced intentional safety systems all week. Our system worked especially well because we organized an additional team of BOLD alumni experts to keep us all safe, lovingly dubbed
The Dora Milaje, inspired by Marvel’s Black Panther movies. #WakandaForever
Caption: Members of the BOLD Dora Milaje, led by Serena and D’Juan, gathering and preparing to keep our people safe during the #STOPCOPCITY peaceful march and rally in Atlanta.
Photo by Zakiyah Ansari, BOLD Alumni Class of 2016
Seriously though, the team systems we put in place allowed us to hold each other accountable and protect each other. By the way, we highly recommend
AttendSafe to any organizations planning events and ask you to pass on this incredible resource!
Photo Caption: BOLD National Gathering attendees proudly show off their daily covid-free test result bands from the week.
Another
FIRST for BOLD was deep and intentional time in breakouts based on regions of the US; our new regional organizers
Darian X, PG & Aaron Jamal spent time building connections, diving deeper into leading somatic practice, engagING in discussions around the state of the Black freedom movement from a BOLD perspective and began generating commitments to Cumbe formations. Organizing our alumni based on regions will allow us to refine and innovate our interventions in the Black freedom movement for the sake of a more powerful and coordinated Black left! We love it!!
Caption: BOLD organizers representing the Midwest, Northeast, and West Coast join in solidarity with BOLD southern regional organizers to #StopCopCity in Atlanta, GA. Pictured from left to right: Jennifer, Darian, Mawulisa, and Denise.
Photo by Brandon Forester, BOLD Alumni Classes of 2012 & 2023
It was also the
FIRST time at a gathering that BOLD alumni marched and rallied together with our allies to #StopCopCity in Atlanta and CeaseFire in Gaza. Huge shout out to
Community Movement Builders,
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance,
The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, and the
Movement for Black Lives for coordinating such a powerful action. Some of the highlights included a moving speech by powerhouse BOLD alum and M4BL leader
Mary Hooks who reminded us that as global citizens, we have the duty to fight and win against state-sanctioned violence everywhere - including in Atlanta, the 60+
Cop Cities being planned across the United States, and for Palestine!
Caption: Mary Hooks, M4BL and BOLD alumni class of 2015, speaks in front of Atlanta City Hall about the atrocity of Cop City and state sanctioned violence against Black, Brown, and Poor people everywhere.
Photo by Brandon Forester, BOLD Alumni Classes of 2012 & 2023
Caption: Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) member speaks about community values, alternative, and common sense practices to keep our people safe.
Photo by Brandon Forester, BOLD Alumni Classes of 2012 & 2023
Caption: Grassroots Global Justice member speaks and chants powerfully to evoke Indigenous ancestral power, people power, solidarity, and accountability together in transforming our world to serve all. Free The Land!
Photo By Brandon Forester, BOLD Alumni Class of 2012 & 2023
Caption: “Black Love, selfless love, love without contradictions - revolutionary love - is the rock upon which we found our house, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail.” - Black Liberation Army Coordinating Committee.
Photo by Brandon Forester, BOLD Alumni Classes of 2012 & 2023
Caption: BOLD, GGJ, M4BL, MXGM, and CMB gather in solidarity to stand for justice, peace, wellness, and safety nets - not police firing squads that murder innocent people. #RestInPowerTortuguita
Photo by Nikki MG, BOLD Alumni Classes of 2012 & 2015
As we marched through the streets of downtown Atlanta, shutting down traffic, and navigating the police - our multilingual chants only grew louder. Chants like “STOP COP CITY!” and “VIVA VIVA PALESTINA!” filled the atmosphere and summoned new people into the march. Between speeches by leaders representing students, Indigenous Peoples, LatinX, Asian Americans, and folks across the African diaspora - one thing was clear: The people are united in demanding our government officials divest from death. We demand a safe and free Earth. We demand major investments in public health, housing, education, and freedom of movement for all from Atlanta to Palestine. You can help us build people power to #StopCopCity & Free Palestine by studying and sharing the Black & Palestinian Solidarity Organizing Toolkit!
And while those three BOLD Nation “FIRSTS” were amazingly coordinated in their own right - perhaps the most inspiring and restorative
“FIRST” of the 2024 National Gathering was taking BOLD alumni to experience
their land deep in Southeastern Georgia.
Hopefully, by now, you’ve heard that BOLD closed on a small regenerative farm and retreat space in Georgia. Maaaaybe you’re one of the fortunate ones who have stepped foot on the land. Regardless, this is where we invite you to stay tuned for the next part of this series, where we’ll share more about the land and the magic that manifested there during the 2024 BOLD National Gathering. Get excited because we will be sharing curated exhibitions of photos from the National Gathering in this series too! The photos, by Atlanta-based photographer
Yaa Kwayana, are absolutely STUNNING. We have so much to share and reflect with you about!
Until next week….Black Love and Blessings!
