Greetings, Project South Family!
As 2020 nears its end, we are sending you love and gratitude; we are wishing you good health and safety.
It has been a year of turmoil.
The furious global spread of the novel coronavirus halted our realities, leaving far too many deceased, ill and unable to afford care, laid off or closed down, trapped in crowded, unsanitary prisons and jails, and displaced by eviction.
The persistent pang of state violence stirred the spirit of our people, moving many to rise up, hit the streets, and demand police abolition in defense of Black lives – from the lives of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky to Rayshard Brooks not even a mile away from the building we call home. The whirlwind of U.S. politics threatened our rights to civic participation, aiming to lock our communities out of the voting polls and Census count, separating precious children from their families along the U.S. border with Mexico, and binding folks to a fascist administration regardless of the party in power. But 2020 has also been a year of triumph. During a year that called for widespread shut downs, our imagination opened up and our community power was only activated. We found strength and strategy in trusting what #WeBelieve. Locally, we stepped up to provide public health supplies, fresh food, and free testing for the people most affected by COVID-19. Regionally, we exposed the medical violence toward immigrant women and other violations at a Georgia detention center, a result of years of work and investigations calling on federal agencies to close it for good. And globally, we grew our relationships with freedom fighters who are facing the same injustices and who shared their stories and strategies with us through political education discussions. In the midst of the chaos of 2020, grassroots organizations and social movements kept the focus on creating change. This year constantly reminded us of what #WeBelieve: that everyday people can come together to identify and stop threats which consistently confront us, and that social movements in the South are powerful enough to contend with the most pressing and complicated social, economic, and political problems that we face today. #WeBelieve in our people, our power, our South. #WeBelieve in you, and we appreciate your membership as we move into 2021 and beyond, together. Stay tuned as we share highlights of 2020 with you over the next few weeks! Sincerely, The Project South Team | 
