The Southern Movement Assembly is taking a year of Soulstice; a time for Expansion, Change, and Action. We believe that the SMA, like many formations, should give significant time and attention to how we are growing in relation to our people and our principles. We have a responsibility to learn and reimagine our structures in alignment with our commitment to address the urgent movement needs of this time. We recognize that in order to EXPAND, we need to be CLEAR; in order to CHANGE, we need to be ROOTED in our foundations and history; in order to ACT, we need a collective PLAN and a PROCESS FOR IMPLEMENTATION.  We know that the strength of the SMA is the assembly process that is central to our organizing strategy and our representation.

After celebrating 10 years of the Southern Movement Assembly we have noticed that we are not immune to the issues that can divide our movements, such as hierarchy, white supremacy culture, capitalism, and organizing structures that replicate top-down patterns. In order to address these issues and provide clear opportunities of engagement and growth—we are building a path to recognize places where contradictions or conflict have risen, and agree on structure and decision making that will reflect our commitment to shared responsibility and our movement values. This work will enable us to move forward with clarity to carry out the Action plan we created together at SMA10. We are doing this because we love our people, and we care about what’s happening in the South, across the country, and within the Global South.