Dr. jah elyse sayers of People's Riisearch and Riis Beach Bloc Association will be joining us to discuss a people's history of Riis focused on Black, trans, queer, and working-class congregation on the ever-changing coastline.
Join Dr. jah elyse sayers of People's Riisearch and the Riis Beach Bloc Association for A people's history of Riis focused on Black, trans, queer, and working-class congregation on the ever-changing coastline. We'll walk the length of Riis Park in order to dive into the queer movements of people, sea & sand; how capital shapes it; how plants stabilize it; how flowers give us beauty and vibes; and the people’s infrastructures for queer movement & gathering ever-emerging.
This will be a relatively shorter hike covering the entirety of Riis up til the border with Tilden. We will be walking mostly on beach and boardwalk, stopping at many different points for interactive experiential historical, geographical and botanical learning.
This walk will be more focused on the humans who have made Riis the haven it is, and specifically communities who are Black, trans, queer and working class. That said, we will discuss the plant life growing amidst these living cultural hubs, learn about flower essences, and create an essence together to embed these histories and struggles into medicinal form.
jah elyse sayers (they/them) directs their creative energy toward liberatory placemaking through research, writing, artmaking, teaching, and building. Their work blends political education, community organizing, and participatory research, and their current book project offers a political geography of erosion and queer placemaking at the People's Beach and Jacob Riis Park. jah is the initiator and a member of the People’s Riisearch Group–a team of community-based researchers caring for histories, futures, and the now of queer Riis–and an initiating member of the Riis Beach Bloc Association–a queer civic group and space for sharing knowledge and resources toward community and environmental care at queer Riis Beach.
Register here