Hello OAG!
It’s been a loooong time since we sent out a newsletter, and that is exactly the subject for today.
I write to you all today to announce that OAG, Our American Generation, has disbanded as an organization. This is at first regretful, but ultimately hopeful news.
Nearly four years ago, myself & Sam Withers had independent but parallel visions to create an organization that engaged our generation with the myriad issues, campaigns, and knowledge that make up the Social Justice movement in the United States today.
We created this group, not with hope, but with certainty, that our young generation of Americans was not the apathetic, insensitive, technological-zombies that the world was expecting us to be. We knew that young folks would rise to the occasion, to the great responsibility that is life. OAG was created to be a platform, a tool, and a network to facilitate this emergence of social justice advocates. OAG was to be the healthy topsoil for a seed that was already planted.
The reason this message is ultimately hopeful is because our young seedling has sprung up from the topsoil and is now basking in the Sun, contemplating and absorbing the limitless rays of possibility. It is not coincidence that OAG’s final publication was concerning the Occupy movement, and the last newsletter we sent was encouraging you(th) to participate. It was in the streets, in the camps of Occupy, and in its consideration of system-wide struggle that this generation sprung into the next phase of its ever-diverse development.
And so we move on. OAG served its purpose in its time, from stellar research projects that took local social injustice head-on and in-depth, to a full year of inspiring OAG Thang’s, to educational and impactful events like Young Citizens United and Stop the School to Prison Pipeline. Not to mention our collaborative blog and publication, the Takeover, which garnered 85,000 hits since its inception, including 2,500 from around the country on the exciting day of the first Sit In against Sodexo.
The Takeover will be what lives on of OAG. Although our organization has disbanded, myself and some allies will continue to update and organize the Takeover. It will be slightly shifting its style and purpose to fit the new context. Here’s what you can expect out of the brand new Takeover:
- A clearing house for stories about Social Justice all over the country, and all across the world, from more diverse perspectives than ever before.
- Tools for sharing your own stories (editorial, poetry, commentary, outside articles).
- Tools for sharing your own events.
- New & improved organization of articles, including featured sections on the home page for Actions, Events, and original stories published to the Takevoer.
- We’ll continue to publish original work periodically in a Takeover Zine.
- We’ll continue to operate our Facebook Group & Page, which have continue to be useful tools for organizing even in the recent months.
Please join us at the Takeover and continue to utilize this great tool for collecting and disseminating information and events surrounding the Social Justice Movement.=
Finally, I want to send my love and gratitude out to everyone who has been involved and supportive over the years. We created a beautiful community, and engaged many youth with the social justice movement in a style never seen before. Nothing is lost in the dissolution of this project – I know we’ll continue to create this sort of beauty wherever we go! The struggle is still ahead – I’m sure I’ll see you(th) there!
Forever In Solidarity,
Scott Davis
Co-Founder, Director (2009-2011)
p.s. if you want to learn about a new project that OAG’s founders created, check out the Black Coffee Co-Op.
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