On September 4th, writers throughout the country will host readings to raise money for Immigrant Families Together.

Poet Emma Bolden and I are organizing the Writers for Migrant Justice reading in Birmingham, which will take place on September 4th from 5:00-6:30 pm at @discobirmingham.

We want to make sure that Birmingham shows up and makes an impact in this devastation and dehumanization launched against immigrant bodies whose crime is derived from the fact of their foreignness. And from the xenophobia and racism that makes such criminalization possible.

How This Works: Donate Online or At the Reading

We're asking readers to sign up and either ask sponsors to make donations or make a donation to sponsor themselves. A sponsor who donates $50 or more can choose a poem to be read at the reading.

Sponsors can donate online using the Writers for Migrant Justice page. Please ask your sponsor to write "Birmingham" in the comments section so that we can track donations.

We will also collect donations at the reading in the form of cash or checks made out to "Immigrant Families Together." You'll also be able to donate electronically via Venmo and the Writers for Migrant Justice GoFundMe page.

Until then, here’s the Facebook page which remains far more interesting and important than any cute kitten meme currently doing the rounds. (Peace kittens, I love you—but migrant lives matter more to me than the multiple feel-good vessels we use to ignore them.)