BlackLivesMatter & Love is Love T-Shirt Campaigns

Dear SCP Members,

We are launching a two-part t-shirt campaign, and are asking you to participate prior to and at Convention: we are making the BlackLivesMatter t-shirts from the 2015 National Multicultural Conference and Summit available for purchase, as well as another t-shirt, Love is Love. Proceeds from the t-shirts will be donated to BlackLivesMatter and EqualityFlorida, respectively. We hope you will join us for this campaign. See below for the links to purchase t-shirts, and please note purchasing will close Thursday, July 28th at 5pm.

Following the mass shooting of primarily Latinx LGBTQ+ individuals at Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub, a collective of SCP students, ECPs, and professionals – independent of our academic and professional affiliations – was formed under the VP for Diversity and Social Interest of Division 17. It is the belief of this collective that counseling psychology needs to fully integrate social justice into its practices, policies, and actions.

We are, therefore, asking SCP members and student affiliates across career phases to stand with us to unequivocally show our commitment to social justice, as a foundational tenet of counseling psychology, and displaying our support for queer, trans, and gender nonconforming love. We all need to continue to speak up and to fight for the changes that are so desperately needed in our society, communities, institutions, and APA. We also need to firmly declare our personal and divisional commitment to social justice, diversity, and human rights.

As well, last year, we asked attendees at the National Multicultural Conference and Summit (NMCS) to purchase Black Lives Matter t-shirts. This year, we continue to mourn the loss of Black lives. Most recently, the highly publicized deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile traumatically testified to the violence disproportionately levied on Black people during interactions with police. We solemnly recognize that 25% of the 1484 people killed by police since the 2015 NMCS ended on January 16, 2015, were Black, a percentage that far exceeds the proportion of Black people in the US (Washington Post). Therefore, we ask that you continue to demonstrate your visible support of the #blacklivesmatter movement by purchasing and wearing a t-shirt during convention, as well as in your home communities.

Please Join Us:

1.   The following links will take you to our fundraiser websites.

a.     One is for the T-shirt that proclaims “Love is Love is Love” (written in Arabic, Spanish, and English — recognizing the three social identity groups primarily affected by the Orlando shooting). The Love is Love t-shirt is available for $17.00. At least $1 per t-shirt will be donated to EqualityFlorida (the more sold, the greater per t-shirt that can be donated!)

http://www.tommystees.com/store/fundraising-shop/love-is-love

b.     The other is for the BlackLivesMatter t-shirt, which is available for $10. At least $1 per t-shirt will be donated to BlackLivesMatter. (Again, the more sold, the greater per-t-shirt donation!)

http://www.tommystees.com/store/fundraising-shop/counseling-psychologists-for-change

2.   We are asking individuals interested in these messages to purchase the t-shirts and wear them throughout the 2016 APA Convention.

3.   However, we ask everyone with a Love is Love t-shirt to wear it on Saturday (8/6/15); in particular to the SCP Business Meeting (3:00PM – 3:50PM in the Sheraton Denver Hotel/Grand Ballroom 2).

Please purchase your shirt(s) ASAP, as the fundraiser will close on Thursday, July 28th at 5pmto allow for printing time. You can pick them up from Melanie Lantz in Denver, or contact Melanie ([email protected]) to make alternate arrangements.

Finally, even if you are not attending convention, please consider ordering a t-shirt to support this important cause. Wear it, take a picture, post it to Facebook – and tag Division 17. Even better, take and share photos of your work colleagues or entire cohort wearing the t-shirt together! (Contact Melanie to make arrangements to receive your purchased shirts if you will not be in Denver, which may involve shipping)

During this difficult time, we encourage all of our colleagues to speak up, support each other, encourage others to grow, be visible in your outrage, and stand with us for change.

NOTE: These views in this e-mail are our personal views.

In Solidarity,

– Committee for Social Change –

Brittan Davis
Dan Walinsky
Anneliese Singh
Saba Ali
Muninder Ahluwalia
Amy Reynolds
Laurel Watson
Nathan Smith
Melanie Lantz
Theo Burnes
Heidi Hutman
Janie Pinterits