#BlackLivesMatter
We are taking the time to listen to, learn from and engage in the important conversations going on within our society around racism. As an organization we typically are not a part of political discussions but the call for deep change within the very bones of our society is one to which we all must respond.
The sewing community we serve is a quilt of many different cultures. In service, we are careful to listen to the needs of those requesting machines, reminding ourselves that we cannot possibly know the experience of others unless we listen. And so we listen carefully, doing our best not to impose our own ideas about what we think a group needs, rather relying on the group to help us understand how to serve them.
We are challenging our own thinking while striving to recognize and address our unconscious biases. We are educating ourselves by listening to the voices of the Black community. We must call out the structure of white privilege that is woven throughout our society: identify it, name it and work to dismantle it.
The Sewing Machine Project has developed an incredible community over our 15 years and we celebrate the sewers we serve as well as our supporters who see the beauty in creating change through sewing. We see diverse groups sitting together to sew and finding their commonality. We have the privilege to see sewing change lives.
But until all lives have an equal voice and place in our society, there will be work to do. We pledge to educate ourselves and to apply what we learn to The Sewing Machine Project. We pledge to listen, knowing there is always room to do better.
Thanks for these important words Margaret. The Sewing Machine Project reaches out, connects and empowers so many in so many places around our community, the US and around the planet. Thanks for the role you play in listening. The world is a better place because you and all at the SMP do it so well.
Came to your site to inquire about Machine donation for my project in Liberia, West Africa and is moved by your participation in social justice issues within your society. Most often it is missionaries coming to our African communities telling us what to and how to do things without regards to our culture and while ignoring the racial injustice in their communities. Gleefully answering to being called master by poor, uninformed black people because they can get away with it.
Thanks for acknowledging the. Criminalization of Blackness through systemic racism. #Black Lives Matters.
I am so impressed with this project.
Thank you for “thinking outside the box” and your commitment to others.
I am 77 years old and have been sewing since I was 12 thanks to my grandmother, my mother and my sewing teachers.
Where are the Louisisana groups located?
Thank you….
Melody 🧵😷🧵
Hi Melody,
Thank you for reaching out. Much of our work in New Orleans since Katrina has been with individuals and the Mardi Gras Indians. We have also sent machines to a 4H group in Jennings, LA. We’ve worked with schools in New Orleans as well as the city’s rec department. At the moment, most of our deliveries go to the Mardi Gras Indians but we are always open to groups that want to use sewing to mend their community.