/ EMBODY THE MESSAGE / / FACEBOOK / TWITTER / PHOTOS / SUBSCRIBE / DONATE / WE WILL NOT BE SILENT is an artist / activist collaborative language project that has been in existence since 2006. Through the creative use of language embodied on shirts and emboldened on signs held up in public spaces, we respond to current social justice issues, encouraging creative, direct public-actions where many people can participate. Read more Archive Stand Against Trump: NO ALLEGIANCE TO A DEADLY FORCE This is New York City... Silence is not an option. It has been announced that Donald Trump will be a special guest at the New York State Republican Gala to be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in NYC-- a $1,000 per person black-tie dinner. WE WILL NOT BE SILENT as vicious racism, misogyny, and xenophobia are given a platform to speak. Instead, we will carry messages into the public square claiming our unshakable allegiance to love, to justice, and to human rights. OUR HUMANITY IS RESTORED BY LOVE On March 20, 2006, ten years ago, I walked through NYC with four other women, artists and activists, carrying an American flag on which the words NO ALLEGIANCE TO WAR, TORTURE AND LIES were sewn. We traveled through the city stopping at the U.N., Wall Street, the World Trade Center site and the Times Square Military Recruitment Center. We unified ourselves under a second powerful message printed on our shirts, the words WE WILL NOT BE SILENT, a declaration originally dating back to the WHITE ROSE, a student-resistance movement in Nazi Germany. DRESSED NOT TO KILL: March 18, 2016 Join us in reflection as we view the Laura Poitras exhibition. On Friday, March 18th we will meet at the Whitney Museum of American Art DRESSED NOT TO KILL, embodying WE WILL NOT BE SILENT messages created over ten years to express no allegiance to pervasive racism and inequality, to endless war, to the crime of torture and brutality and to a government that lies. SAVE THE DATES: March 18th and19th WE WILL BE HEARD: TEN YEARS LATER: 2006-2016 In a nation with racism, slavery and the destruction of indigenous populations at its foundation, and predicated on perpetuating terror leading us into endless war and plunder, for all that, we will not be silent. We will not forget that within the borders of the U.S., racist crimes against all our humanity are perpetrated every day by militarized police forces, and go un-prosecuted. We will amplify a message of resistance to the pervasive racism embedded throughout U.S. policies, foreign and domestic. On March 19th it is all peoples' struggle for justice and liberation across all borders and within the United States, waged with a radical love, that is the great force in the world to be celebrated. Ten Years Activating Public Space On March 20, 2006, artists and activists gathered in the streets of New York City. Their shirts displayed the words WE WILL NOT BE SILENT as they carried a large American flag with its own message, NO ALLEGIANCE TO WAR, TORTURE AND LIES. The group had been inspired to act in response to the policies of the Bush Regime on that third year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. At the same time, they learned the history of THE WHITE ROSE activists who resisted in Nazi Germany and their mandate WE WILL NOT BE SILENT. THE WHITE ROSE legacy of dissent and their mandate, in the struggle toward an ethical humanity, was thus carried forward. NEWS: Time to Stand Up Against Islamophobia Miru Kim was profiled and questioned by the NYPD for no other reason than that she was wearing the WE WILL NOT BE SILENT in Arabic language t-shirt. She spoke out and let the public know and Friday people came out in public, in solidarity and to stand against this absurd use of authority. The media took note. Read the article featured in the Style section of MTV News, which addresses the relationship between art, fashion and social justice. THEY WILL NOT TAKE THIS SHIRT OFF OUR BACKS "Are they gonna call me a potential terrorist because I am wearing a shirt with Arabic on it? ... The officer was a huge guy, very intimidating, and he kept asking "what does it say on your shirt," "what do you mean we will not be silent." Miru Kim, September 23, 2015 "Miru Kim was out walking her dog, a large Canaan-mix named Guinness, shortly before 2:00 p.m. near the 9/11 Memorial. She was about to enter her apartment building when she says two NYPD officers asked her to come out into the street." Summer workshop for young women takes to the streets We Will Not Be Silent held a workshop series at the Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute as part of its summer program for young women. The Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute encourages young women to engage as agents of change in their world by connecting with others and through activism in their communities. The We Will Not Be Silent workshop series focused on the meaning of COURAGE and how to embody it, starting with Sophie Scholl of The White Rose, a non-violent student resistance group in Nazi Germany, from which we take the imperative, WE WILL NOT BE SILENT. #CarryTheNames #ReclaimMLK Together, in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. we will continue to raise our voices during this "winter of resistance", calling for justice, calling out these names - Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Aiyana Jones, John Crawford, Akai Gurley, Shaniqua Proctor, Mike Brown, along with so many others. As part of the national call to action to #ReclaimMLK, we will carry the memory of over 170 people, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., brutalized by the tyranny of violence, perpetrated in a country where racism and police brutality are pervasive. We will hold their names high for the world to see. We will read their stories aloud for all to hear. #CarryTheNames #GrandCentral 24-Hour Action We will bear witness, with the names and stories of over 150 people killed or brutalized with impunity. MIKE BROWN was walking home. ANTHONY BAEZ was playing football. AIYANA JONES was sleeping on the couch. AKAI GURLEY was taking the stairs. EVERY SINGLE DAY is a risk for Black and Brown people, coming and going, living daily life in a culture of racist violence and police brutality. WHO WILL BE NEXT? Action Alert: Stand Against Tyranny Together, we will carry over 100 names, along with the names of Eric Garner and Mike Brown, all of whom have been subjected to the tyranny of racist violence that has existed across the United States throughout its history. We will hold their names high for the world to see. We will not forget. We will call out the names one by one, and have a moment of silence for the countless lives lost to police brutality. Their blood stains the fabric of our society and remains as evidence of crimes committed against humanity. WE WANT AN INDICTMENT #Ferguson/Video from Ferguson Watch the short documentary, From the Bronx to Ferguson, by Hip Hop Saves Lives and Negus World. The filmmakers joined WE WILL NOT BE SILENT in Ferguson to document some of the protests in St.Louis and Ferguson throughout A Weekend of Resistance and to follow us as we delivered 770 UNARMED CIVILIAN t-shirts in an act of solidarity. From Ferguson, MO to Times Square, NY We continue to carry in our hearts the people we met along the way as we handed out 770 UNARMED CIVILIAN t-shirts in Ferguson and St. Louis, each a gift in solidarity. The Power of the Present Moment... We were invited to meet with students from the Bronx at the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action, where the students took their action into the streets, and also with students in Manhattan at the High School for New Design. We have also been in the streets of Brooklyn where people have spontaneously engaged in conversations in response to our signs. We will bring their messages of solidarity from NYC to Ferguson when we go there in early October. We will also carry with us the solidarity and support from all over which arose immediately after the campaign was launched twenty-eight days ago and continues to grow. From Brooklyn to Ferguson... Help us raise enough funds to print 1,000 UNARMED CIVILIAN t-shirts to bring to Ferguson and beyond. Imagine.. 1,000 UNARMED CIVILIANS standing against police brutality, against militarism and, at the core of it all, against racism. From the Bronx to Ferguson... Dare to Dream: As the WE WILL NOT BE SILENT project and UNARMED CIVILIAN in Ferguson Campaign was being presented to five middle school classes at the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action in the Bronx, we discovered that the campaign reached its initial monetary goal. This occurred immediately after the students watched our Kickstarter video. All the students broke out in loud cheers expressing their solidarity and personal investment in seeing this effort succeed. These young people know first-hand how the militarization of local police forces are a direct form of oppression and present a grave danger in their lives and in their community. Many of the students related to the power of the UNARMED CIVILIAN in Ferguson Campaign. UPDATE #2 UNARMED CIVILIAN in Ferguson Almost seventy percent of the money needed to print the first 500 UNARMED CIVILIAN t-shirts for the people of Ferguson has been raised with donations from $10 to $1,000. We will place the order as soon as we reach our goal of $5,500. We hope this will be possible in the next few days. UPDATE #1 UNARMED CIVILIAN in Ferguson In less than six days of the campaign, people have responded with a sense of immediacy to quickly raise $3,490 of $5,500, our stated goal... we are over half-way there. UNARMED CIVILIAN in Ferguson, Missouri With your help, we will launch an initiative to print 500* UNARMED CIVILIAN t-shirts to bring to Ferguson, Missouri, which we will distribute publicly in an act of solidarity. We will document this action, share the footage, and amplify the voices of the people we meet in Ferguson through our social networks. March of the Dead: Gaza On July 31, 2014, we gathered to mourn Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli military forces. We read some of their names aloud. We marched silently from Bryant Park to the Israeli Consulate in New York City wearing names of those who were murdered. The March of The Dead continues. Some of us wore death masks to represent the massacre of civilian populations throughout Gaza. At the site of the Israeli Consulate eight masked activists were arrested. Actions around the world continue in solidarity with the people of Palestine. Bill de Blasio... Can you find Palestine on the map? Apparently, Bill de Blasio cannot find Palestine on the map... but it's never too late to learn. Please choose a map of Palestine and send it to Mayor de Blasio with a personal note, urging him to accept this open invitation to visit Palestine. George Bush is coming to NYC... George W. Bush has been invited to speak at the National Retail Federation's "Big Show" in NYC, our city... WE WILL NOT FORGET... WAR... TORTURE... LIES... Lynne Stewart: Revolutionary Human Spirit On December 31, 2013, in solidarity with Pussy Riot, we carried the message to the steps of Federal Hall... On this day we also learned of the release of radical human rights attorney and political prisoner, Lynne Stewart. Inspired by Lynne's revolutionary human spirit we will continue the struggle toward justice with love and courage... Carry the message... To Wall Street December 19th, 23rd & 31st Before the bells toll... Before the ball drops... Beware Inequality. IF YOU SEE SOMETHING... BILLIONS FOR BONUSES, BILLIONS CUT FROM FOOD STAMPS...SAY SOMETHING Reclaim Food... March Against Monsanto On October 12, 2013, March Against Monsanto protests were held in hundreds of cities around the world.In New York City, we gathered in solidarity, demanding an end to Monsanto's continuing destruction of our food system and planet. For all those who Love Lynne... Lynne Stewart's health is in rapid decline. We must take collective action creating a highly public presence in Washington, D.C. A Compassionate Release was recommended months ago by Warden Jody R. Upton, under whose watch Lynne has been incarcerated at Carswell Federal Prison. Compassionate Release papers remain sitting on the desk of Director, Charles E. Samuels, Jr. of the Federal Bureau of Prisons waiting to be signed. Love Struggle People gathered on May 15, 2013, in Foley Square to call for Lynne Stewart's release. We will not rest until Lynne is home. We will continue to make this call from Carswell, TX, where Lynne is being unjustly held, to New York City, Lynne's home, to Washington D.C., at the office of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. A Long Vigil for a Long Struggle... Together we will create a public presence in front of the very courts that persecuted Lynne Stewart. We will stand for love, courage and solidarity to make the call for Lynne to return home. Reclaim Compassion... Release Lynne Stewart On April 26, 2013, people gathered outside the gates of the U.S. Federal Prison in Carswell, Texas where Lynne Stewart is being held. We will be part of this wave of humanity...to get justice done to bring Lynne home. We will not delay. Time is of the essence. Come stand together May 8thin Times Square, NYC 4-7pm and May 15th in Foley Sq. Noon-6pm... The Bush Library: A Crime Against The Mind On Thursday, April 25, 2013, while we stood in the designated "no speech" zone where dissent, once again, would be rendered invisible across a highway from the Bush Library, we gazed out through white death masks, still waiting for justice to be served. We were people who came together once more, from all over the country, to create "The March of the Dead", now in response to the opening of the Bush Library in Dallas, Texas. Divest for the Future... Climate Change Kills... A powerful movement around this country and the world is spreading. We should not wait for our government to oppose the interests of those profiting from the fossil-fuel industry and act in the interest of life on the planet. As McKibben states, "we know what the future holds unless we resist." We will not be silent in the face of this crisis. No Allegiance to War, Torture and Lies... Ten years ago, on the evening of March 19, 2003, to the horror of many people throughout the United States and the world, the U.S. military, under the command of George W. Bush, began the devastating military operation “Shock and Awe”... What does Misogyny mean? On March 8, 2013, International Women's Day, we were there to deliver the message.... WE WILL NOT BE SILENT: END MISOGYNY. Together we read NOTES TO THE FUTURE, a compilation of quotes by women throughout history. We then marched through New York City streets for all to see. FILL THE PUBLIC SQUARE... ZERO TOLERANCE: END MISOGYNY International Women's Day, March 8, 2013 RAISE THE VOICES OF WOMEN... Union Square, NYC 14th Street and Broadway Gather at 4:00pm END MISOGYNY People came together in Times Square, NYC to create a great presence, calling for an end to violence. Then we marched through the city in a single file procession, carrying signs held high, emboldened with messages in black and white... V-DAY We Will Be Heard: The Right to End Violence Together we will respond to the call for ONE BILLION RISING, a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls. The Right to Stop Indefinite Detention We are looking at a continuous pattern of escalating abuses of power, employing a constellation of methods, including indefinite detention, torture, increasing surveillance and extrajudicial assassinations by unmanned drones. WHAT WILL WE DO? The Right to Free Speech Standing for Free Speech, February 5, 2013 at a press conference at Brooklyn College organized by Students for Justice In Palestine... HALLMARK MOMENTS, HOLLYWOOD AND ABUSES OF POWER What happened on Inauguration Day... The Right to Question... Hurricane Sandy Support Effort The day after Hurricane Sandy devastated our neighborhoods in New York City, we immediately joined direct relief efforts responding to some of the dire needs of people affected by the storm... AGAINST VIOLENCE Slideshow of images from action in New York City, on December 19, 2012. We came together; strangers standing side by side to mourn and to ask ourselves: WHAT WILL WE DO? WILL WE TAKE A DIFFERENT PATH? RECLAIM THE FUTURE... REDISTRIBUTE How can we honestly talk about climate change, corporate greed and institutionalized poverty with our neighbors? Language Project in Art Exhibit... RECLAIM LANGUAGE Language Project exhibiting in a group show at Green County Council on the Arts in Catskill, NY. Photographs from OCCUPY THE LANDSCAPE, the 22 - mile Human Rights walk from Woodstock to Catskill, May Day in NYC, Occupy National Gathering in Philadelphia, 99 - Mile March with Guitarmy, and One - Year Anniversary of OWS in NYC. Wake... Still Here... QUESTION AUTHORITY This slideshow is a compilation of photographs showing scenes of police deployments beginning with the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, Washington in 1999 to the most recent OCCUPY WALL STREET protests in New York City, through September 17, 2012. TAKE THE PATH OF MOST RESISTANCE... Over this past year, throughout the Occupy Wall Street movement, we've seen people from around the world speak out against abuse of power and corporate greed... EVERY STEP WE TAKE... Occupy the Landscape Slideshow On May 26, 2012, people gathered on a path to walk 22 miles from Woodstock through Saugerties to Catskill, NY carrying a collection of Human Rights. Coming Attractions: Occupy the Landscape "Each alone, each part of another Your steps shall ring Shall raise the cloud..." Patti Smith Occupy the Landscape: A 22 - Mile Walk ROUTE: WOODSTOCK TO SAUGERTIES TO CATSKILL, NY Walk for Human Rights and Social & Economic Justice