(public post)

**EDIT/REMINDER: hey all.....! the conversation between me & melz is kicking off in about 3 minutes - 5 pm EST. just a poke to tune into instagram right now if you have an account. if not, you'll be able to watch the archive, and i'll make sure to do a post here, summarizing everything that's happened. melz's takeover has been really beautiful - the community has also been AWESOME - and they've raised about four grand towards the crowdfund. YES!!!! so .....come over, listen, DONATE, discuss!!!! here's the link: https://www.instagram.com/amandapalmer/**OH AND GOOD MORNINGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

......

hey loves. 

it seems to me like one of the best ways to use my reach right now is simply to Pass the Mic. i did this all year when i had the privilege of being on the actual touring road and could literally hand the literal mic to activists and people-with-things-to-share while on the literal stage. now here we are. in an internet-centric, COVID-tinged global inferno, and i’m in a remote corner of the globe. but i have a desire to help and a platform, so it seems like the best thing to do right now is to just start sharing it, especially with black people in our community. i have plenty of my own discussions to lead and topics about my own behavior and accountability - past and present - to explore, but give me a moment, and let me start by, right now, letting other people speak. i think that is what is needed. 

if this works i would like to keep doing this - about once a week. please talk to me - and you each other, and to my guests. 

i am going to paste below what i just posted to instagram and facebook, but i want to make an additional plea to you, patrons, that you tune in if possible and engage. 

again; melz is a guest of ours, in our internet-community-house, and i want you to try to take time out of your day and life to, at the very least, thank them for crossing the bridge over to this very new (and let’s be honest, mostly white) space. 

ask them questions. show up. and if you can - please donate to their gofundme. it would mean a ton in very practical terms. 

another note: i don’t love instagram. i really don’t. and i do not like facebook. as you probably know, facebook owns instagram. if enough of you are engaged and paying attention, i will be able to port this concept over to the crowdcast so that we can avoid facebook properties altogether. right now, that’s where a lot of the eyeballs and traffic are. together, we can gradually help change that. 

on that note, here is a shadowbox thread on which to keep this discussion going. think about where you hold discussions. every time we use facebook, we are complicit. consider the alternatives. 

https://forum.theshadowbox.net/t/free-black-university-melz-instagram-takeover/3753

and here is the basic information about the takeover that i just posted to socials. 

INSTAGRAM TAKEOVER & CONVERSATION.

Dear Everybody - 

First of all, check it out, I’m using capitals. In other breaking news: for the next while, I’m going to be handing over my instagram-feed keys to Black community members so they can reach a bigger crowd & talk openly about what’s needed right now. My instagram handle is @amandapalmer.

So. Now. Starting tomorrow; Thurs June 11th @ 10-5 pm EST (3-10 pm UK) that account will be taken over by Melz Owusu (@freeblackuni on IG). Melz (who is non-binary & uses they/them pronouns) has a crowdfund & TEDx talk that was brought up over on the patreon community, and the message of Melz’s talk, “Decolonising the Curriculum”, couldn’t be more on point & needed at the moment.

Here's a link to that talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeKHOTDwZxU

Meanwhile, Melz has headed up a GoFundMe last week to get a Free Black University off the ground - “a hub for radical and transformative knowledge production”. It has reached over £30k of a £250,000 goal in the last week; It’s a great start but there’s a long way to go, and Melz’s message/work could use a boost. 

Here's the link to the gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-free-black-university

Melz is in London (Croydon) right now, and will be posting up live stories, links, info, taking questions, possibly doing their own live Q&A. then at 5pm EST, we will wrap up the takeover with an “Amanda & Melz in conversation” live IG - talking about what was posted, what came up, what’s going on. There will be a lot of space for Q&A from the crowd, so please engage, don’t just passively watch. I’m going to kick everything off by posting a few stories right now w/ links to Melz’s TEDx talk and GoFundMe link so that you can start doing some research of your own.

If you're not "on" instagram, you'll hopefully still be able to access the feed or the archive of the chat, and I'll post some of Melz's shares & info up to Patreon as well. And also, if this works, I'll try to take the concept over to crwdocast where it'll be more accessible (and not ib a platform owned by Facebook

This is a beta test - so please, treat our first takeover guest with utmost respect. The fact that Melz is willing to hop into this takeover and lead a conversation with this community is an honor, and I hope everybody tunes in, listens, and hopefully feels inspired to start connected, give them a follow, donate to the crowdfund, and become new carriers and allies of the Free Black University project, taking the ideas into the world. .

Let’s do.

What we can. 

Now. 

Love,

AFP

p.s. photo of Melz by Will Stanley.

------THE NEVER-ENDING AS ALWAYS---------

1. if you’re a patron, please click through to comment on this post. at the very least, if you’ve read it, indicate that by using the heart symbol.

2. see All the Things i've made so far on patreon: http://amandapalmer.net/patreon-things

3. JOIN THE COMMUNITY FORUM, find your people, and discuss everything: https://forum.theshadowbox.net/

4. new to my music and TOTALLY OVERWHELMED? TAKE A WALK THROUGH AMANDALANDA….we made a basic list of my greatest hits n stuff (at least up until a few years ago, this desperately needs updating) on this lovely page: http://amandalanda.amandapalmer.net/

5. general AFP/patreon-related questions? ask away, someone will answer: [email protected]