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October Picks Addendum

Lots going on this weekend and next. Keep checking back.

Film Festivals,  Black Sustainable Summit, Art Performance Showcases, First Amendment Lawsuit against the City of San Francisco, Virtual Exhibition at Museum of the African Diaspora

Listen to interviews at Wanda’a Picks Radio Show for the latest: blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks
Oct. 7, Oct. 14, Oct. 21, Oct. 28

The 2020 American Book Award winners will be formally recognized in an online event on Sunday, October 25, 2020, from 2:00–4:30 p.m.

Reservations: http://bit.ly/AmBkAward10-25-20

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SFPL YouTube Live: https://youtu.be/KlJOiwseuMg
The American Book Awards were created to provide recognition for outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America’s diverse literary community. The purpose of the awards is to recognize literary excellence without limitations or restrictions. There are no categories, no nominees, and therefore no losers. The award winners range from well-known and established writers to under-recognized authors and first works. There are no quotas for diversity, the winners list simply reflects it as a natural process. The Before Columbus Foundation views American culture as inclusive and has always considered the term “multicultural” to be not a description of various categories, groups, or “special interests,” but rather as the definition of all of American literature. The Awards are not bestowed by an industry organization, but rather are a writers’ award given by other writers.

The 2020 American Book Award Winners are:

Reginald Dwayne Betts
Felon: Poems (W.W. Norton)
Sara Borjas
Heart Like a Window, Mouth Like a Cliff (Noemi Press)
Neeli Cherkovski, Raymond Foye, Tate Swindell, editors
Collected Poems of Bob Kaufman (City Lights)
Staceyann Chin
Crossfire: A Litany for Survival (Haymarket)
Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Sabrina & Corina: Stories (One World)
Tara Fickle
The Race Card: From Gaming Technologies to Model Minorities (New York University Press)
Erika Lee
America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States (Basic Books)
Yoko Ogawa
The Memory Police (Pantheon)
Jake Skeets
Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers (Milkweed Editions)
George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker They Called Us Enemy (Top Shelf Productions)
Ocean Vuong
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (Penguin)
De’Shawn Charles Winslow
In West Mills (Bloomsbury Publishing)
Albert Woodfox with Leslie George
Solitary: My Story of Transformation and Hope (Grove Press)
Lifetime Achievement:
Eleanor W. Traylor

Editor Award:
The Panopticon Review, Kofi Natambu, editor

Publisher Award:
Commune Editions, Jasper Bernes, Joshua Clover, and Juliana Spahr, editors

Oral Literature Award:
Amalia Leticia Ortiz
Walter & Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Award:
Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy,
edited by Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll

State of Black World, Nov. 5


Thursday, November 5, 2020 — State of the Black World Conference V, a virtual national town hall meeting assessing the impact of the 2020 presidential election on Black America and the Pan African World.

More information to be announced. Visit ibw21.org and stay connected by following the Institute of the Black World 21st Century on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. @IBW21ST across all platforms.


Ancestral Souls Rising a worldwide power prayer event and lecture series on the “Nine Layers of the Soul” from October 31-November 8th


https://www.eventbrite.com/e/council-for-global-ancestral-reverence-presents-ancestral-souls-rising-tickets-124636468031?aff=erelexpmlt

The Council for Global Ancestral Reverence invites you to Ancestral Souls Rising a worldwide power prayer event and lecture series on the “Nine Layers of the Soul” from October 31-November 8th. The event celebration is part of the mission of the Council for Global Ancestral Reverence.

Please go to our Eventbrite active link and register for this important celebration for veneration and healing: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/council-for-global-ancestral-reverence-presents-ancestral-souls-rising-tickets-124636468031

The Council for Global Ancestral Reverence is an organization of Elders from across the African Diaspora who come together to elevate the women and men who have led us in struggle and prayer over the centuries.  We believe that Afrikan people must never forget the sacrifices that have been made to sustain the people of Afrikan descent.

This sustainably is done through unity in education, action and support for the cultural heritage of the people of the Black African Diaspora. The council is dedicated to the elevation of the ancestors for seven generations and then seven generations more, forever.

Our Mission: We commit to the council’s mission to ELEVATE our personal and communal ancestors, Educate about the power of Black Spirituality and Advocate for the freedom and dignity and humanity of the people of the diaspora (Black Lives Matter)

In the African Diaspora, there are many rich traditions that elevate and venerate the spirits of our ancestors.  One of the most powerful of these traditions is the gathering of the powerful to speak in unison to call the ancestors, to witness their lives well lived and to acknowledge to them, and others, that we remember them. We call their names and we keep them forever in our hearts.


Special to Wanda’s Picks, A Reflection on the 25th Annual MAAFA Commemoration Ritual


Dancing Tears And The Ancestral Plain
By Marcus “Zahir” Blevins

“…Who listens to the (soul) distressed when it calls on Him, and who relieves its suffering, and makes you (mankind) inheritors of the earth?” (HQ, 27:62)

I attended the 25th Annual Virtual Maafa Commemoration on October 11, 2020. It was a first-time experience and I found it to be an unexpectedly refreshing and enlightening one. I can only imagine what it must be like to attend the event at its original site on the beach, minus COVID-19, of course. But any part of the program that was physically inaccessible was made available to the public via social media; and the images of the beach, ocean, virtual throng of observers and performers, music, and remaining on-air offerings created an atmosphere of inclusiveness and worshipful reverence.

One performance in particular drove home to me the solemnity of the occasion and served as a catalyst for further inquiry and reflection. It was a simple offering through the gift of dance from Mahealani Uchiyama, and it was her soul-stirring performance that caused my mind to shift suddenly beyond the realm of merely expressive movements and into the domain of meaning and intent concerning the message behind the Maafa Commemoration Ceremony itself.

Mahea Uchiyama, Dancer, Choreographer, Musician, and Teacher https://www.mahea.com/

Māhealani Uchiyama danced across centuries of dread and dreams and oceanic terror. The outstretched arms of this tall, coffee-colored Princess energized us through the medium of her symmetrically choreographed, fluid strokes of pain and victory and continuity. And although the dance was broadcast live on social media, the realness and sincerity and virtuosity of movement and interpretation escaped the bounds of technology as her performance spilled out of the monitor into these cramped quarters I call home, laid bare my untouched, aching spirit, and thereby unleashed a cascading river of dancing tears that flowed from my eyes as effortlessly as the rising sun and with a fluidity that faithfully mocked her delicately crafted expressions.

Mahealani’s tribute came in the form of an adaptation of Melanie DeMore’s rendition of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” The Princess undoubtedly committed the entire piece to memory using her own brand of interpretive genius; through her movements every note sung or played, on strings, piano, drums, or cymbals or percussion was taken into consideration to help us conjure memories from the storied history of a resilient people. Her melodiously accentuated strokes carved paths through air and time to reveal yet another dimension as well—where the sweet chariots of the ancestors swing low in the waters of their vacuous haven to sustain us from that divine well of mercy and to infuse within us their own tears of triumph.

After taking in the remaining sights and sounds of the ceremony I found myself logging off the venue with a sense of profound peace, which prompted me to wonder whether or not the souls of our ancestors might moan or weep or cry? And, if so, might these expressions be communicated to or through us in the form of tears—as expressions of joy or sorrow or woe? As soon as I posed the question I remembered the truth had already manifested itself to me—it did so when I trained my tear-drenched, refracted gaze upon Mahealani Uchiyama and saw that this dancing Princess wasn’t dancing alone.

Watch the recorded event here at Facebook.com/maafabayarea: https://www.facebook.com/131523084166083/videos/460092188282153

 

 


We’re SIX days away from Election Week. Every day from now til Nov. 3 is election day. Make your voting plan NOW.

We don’t just vote. We build power. We organize. We strategize. We vote to build an unapologetic Black national agenda. We were 26 million strong in the streets, and we’re bringing that energy to the polls.

Build Black Power with Us

  • Watch our Black Women Lead panel today, Oct. 28 at 7pm ET on Facebook Live. Stay tuned for our second Black Women Lead panel on Friday, Oct. 30 at 5pm ET.
  • Make your voting plan NOW. Visit BlackVotersMatterFund.org/vote or call 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
  • Check out our Linktree for voter resources on early voting and more.
  • Read this beautiful Essence photo essay lifting up Black leaders behind the BREATHE Act and defund the police campaigns.
  • Share our posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using hashtags #RoadtoBlackNovember, #M4BL and #CountEveryVote.
  • Text DEFEND TO 90975 to receive our calls to action.

    Youth Justice Poetry SLAM

    This Friday October 30th at 6pm PST, we will be partnering with @justicelanow and @ReimagineLA to highlight the power of the youth vote and educate folks on Measure J in Los Angeles county while lifting up the importance of art in the movement through the open mic.

    You don’t want to miss this one. There will be a lot of knowledge to be shared!!!

    Tag three friends that you all want to attend with and tag three artists you think should win some money!!!

    To RSVP and/or get in the lineup to perform:

    Send an email to jared@youth4justice.org or DM to @King_Jaybo_

    Prizes   $$$250 1st place   $$150 2nd place   $100 3rd place

    Judges will be @bj_mims @ashlukadraws and one more TBA

    Keep up to speed – Follow us @YouthJusticeLA

Register in advance on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/23rd-gwendolyn-brooks-black-writers-
conference-2020-tickets-122767941217

By

July August 2020

Denise Adele Gums

We are losing so many loved ones this year. Beloved heroes like Rep. John Lewis (2/21/40-7/17/20) and his friend and mentor Rev. CT Vivian (7/30/24-7/17/20) and Rev. Joseph Lowery (10/6/21 – 3/27/20), Dean of the Civil Rights Movement.

Here in Oakland, we lost Wonder Woman Denise Adele Gums (10/26/53-7/22/2020). I met Denise when President Aristide was in exile. I think I sat next to her and after chatting at the event with her about Haitian politics, I knew this was a sister I wanted to know. Her work, grounded in Christ or God consciousness, like aforementioned honored ancestors, looked at African Diaspora unity. Denise saw the church as a sanctuary and its role one of liberation theology.

She wore colorful wraps, baubles on her wrists and hoops dangling from ears.  Denise’s smile, even masked, was palatable.  Oaktown to the core, the eldest of four, she attended Oakland public schools . . . then Bishop O’Dowd High School, class of 1971. She then attended Holy Names College.

A woman who knew how to have fun while working for systemic change, Denise worked as a community organizer and always knew where the pulse was on an issue. Denise was well-loved in the African immigrant community here and abroad and was first call for current events whether that was China’s treatment of African immigrants or Covid-19 in Congo. She got the information and immediately sent it out.

She was first to model African-centered face masks, riding the bus to Berkeley to support an African woman-owned business. A founding member of Bay Area Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) in 2006, Denise was a Race Woman, in the spirit of the Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

Muadi Mukenge, Board member of Priority Africa Network, and presenter at several Bay Area Friends of the Congo events says, “Denise was an ally in the struggle for women’s rights and for peace in the Congo. She attended many events and lent her voice and solidarity to the Congolese community. She is known by people from many African countries for her warmth and sense of justice.”

Pierre and Maria Labossiere, co-founders, Haiti Action Committee, write of that first meeting in 1982, “when Denise was emcee at an event for the late Father Gerard Jean-Juste then visiting from Florida. The community gathering was in support of Haitian refugees who were fighting for the right to political asylum. We became great friends that day and rarely has Denise missed an event or demonstration in support of the people of Haiti.”

Nunu Kidane, founder and director of Priority Africa Network, recalls Denise’s ties to African community, especially the Nigerian

Denise Adele Gums

community associations and elected officials.  “She was committed and intelligent,” Nunu says in a recent conversation. “I was impressed by the breath of her knowledge and strategic thinking.”

Melvin Phillips, neighbor and classmate, recalls Denise worked closely with the late Father Jay Matthews and Father Edgar Haasl; Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Pentecostal clergy and the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, in her role as community liaison for Clergy United of Oakland and the Bay Area Interdenominational Ministry Alliances. This was in the ‘70s and continued to the present. Denise helped in Black Panther Party co-founder, Bobby Seale’s campaign for Oakland Mayor and went to jail often while protesting for housing rights. Pierre said, she’d give her purse to one of them to hold for her until she was released. She made “Good Trouble.”

Gerald Lenoir, now Strategy Analyst, Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, recalls Denise fondly. He says, Denise was a big asset. She was a bridge between the church and the community and brought her cultural work to BAJI when he was founding director. A member of the St. Columba Catholic Church in West Oakland at that time—the choir took “good news” to other Catholic churches on Sunday mornings, so in demand were they (smile).  Denise shares a bit of that skill in a “We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest” freestyle tribute to Gerald at his retirement party in 2014 (video).

The last time I saw Denise she was standing at Lake Merritt smiling and waving as she documented our twice monthly (1st and 3rd Friday) car caravan. We waved at each other. Later she told me she crossed the street and explained to the curious men exercising near Embarcadero, the protest objectives: BLM, end police violence; Voter Rights; 2020 Census. I looked at my phone the day I learned she died, and saw two texts from July 20 in WhatsApp about Rep. Lewis date stamped 4:15 and 5:09 a.m. (Nunu and I both reflected on those last messages.)

Denise supported immigrant rights and African entrepreneurship. She loved film and volunteered at the Oakland International Film Festival. She worked at the American Red Cross training disaster relief volunteers. More recently she worked as a Special Education teacher; she loved children, especially those children she taught at Oakland Public Schools and worried about the effects of distance education and the digital divide in our community.

She is being interned at Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland. Visit the site for updates on funeral arrangements. You can also visit the website at Our Lady of Lourdes Church where Denise was a member. She is survived by her mom, Mrs. Thelma Gums and two sisters, Deborah and Karen Gums; aunts and an uncle, cousins and of course too many friends to count. She is preceded in death by her father, Mr. Louis Gums and brother Kevan Gums.

The public ceremony and celebration of Denise Gums’s life is Saturday, August 15, 2020, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. PT in Zoom. Check the Chapel of the Chimes for the details for the virtual ceremony. There will also be a private family memorial.  If anyone is interested in helping with burial costs, please contact Mr. Osagie A.D. Enabulele, Community Leader, 510-393-6262.

Radio Show Tribute
Wednesday, August 5, 8-10 AM PT we will host a special tribute to Denise Adele Gums on Wanda’s Picks Radio Show. Call into the studio and share a story: 347-237-4610 ext. 1. Visit blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks

Listen to the Tribute to Denise on Wanda’s Picks Radio Show


Car Caravan for Black Lives and Denise Adele Gums
Join us at August 7, 12-1 p.m. PT at Lake Merritt in Oakland, across from Our Lady of Lourdes Church, for our (1st and 3rd Friday monthly through Nov. 6) car caravan protest. Make sure you have signs on your vehicle. Add a photo of Denise. She can walk with us as we rally our people to register to vote and vote, complete the 2020 census and that we continue to celebrate and honor Black Lives as Denise Adele Gums did until her last breath.



Black August

Marcus Garvey’s Birthday, Aug. 17, 2020

Black August is a time of reflection on African Diaspora revolutionary politics, rebellions, resistance. We remember the lives of fallen comrades, especially those person, like George Jackson and Marilyn Buck and Safiya Bukari (now ancestors), behind enemy lines, bodies once confined but spirits free. We hosted a couple remarkable MAAFA Virtual Townhalls in June and July. The first, June 28, honored the legendary activist and artist, Beah Richards, whose centennial birthday was July 12 (1920-2020). We showed LisaGay Hamilton’s film, “Beah: A Black Woman Speaks,” which takes its title from her poem by the same title. The director joined us afterward for a discussion in Zoom. The second townhall, July 26, just a week ago, Melanie DeMore hosted a Gullah Stick-pounding workshop. If anyone is interested in joining us August 23, send a message through wandaspicks.com We post response narratives afterward in maafasanfranciscobayarea.blogspot.com/

August 1 is also Emancipation Day celebrated in the Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, Barbados in the Caribbean and in the London, UK, Miami, Florida.

100 years ago, Marcus Garvey’s UNIA-ACL hosted the Convention of Negro Peoples in New York, August 1-31 in 1920.  It was the largest gathering of Pan Africans ever. At this convention the Pan African flag was unveiled, Garvey was nominated the provisional president of a United States of Africa.

Watch: https://ibw21.org/events/080120-marcus-mosiah-garvey-virtual-forum/

All Of Us Or None

We are so excited to welcome home Patricia Wright whose sentence was commuted and she was released July 21, just after her birthday, July 17. Snatched from her family 24 years ago, son Alfey Ramdhan, just 11 or 12 at the time, recalls how hard it was growing up without the person he trusted the most. Photos show Patricia surrounded by siblings, children, grandchildren and friends. Everyone has on masks and some hold “Welcome Home” signs and flowers. She is the first woman released on a list of incarcerated women with health conditions that make them especially vulnerable to Covid-19. Alfey said he and siblings took his mom to the beach and watched her enjoy the fresh air and spray on her face. The family went to get dinner and had ice cream for dessert. Patricia went shopping for new clothes; however, she had to sit in the parking lot to get her bearings, so much had changed since she was last home. When asked how he and the rest of his family stayed so devoted to Patricia Wright and fighting for her release all these years, Alfey said everyone knew she was innocent, that she had nothing to do with the crime. And Patricia, her faith in her creator never wavered. We hope to catch up with Patricia soon to talk to her about freedom and her short and long term plans.

N’COBRA Virtual Conference July 30-Aug. 2, 2020

31st Annual N’COBRA Virtual Conference

The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA) is the premiere mass-based coalition of organizations and individuals organized for the sole purpose of obtaining reparations for African descendants in the United States.

The N’COBRA conference this year, July 30-August 1, is virtual and focuses on the youth and how the old guard can support an agenda that embraces the new without discarding its foundation or what came before. There are two short days (3 hours) and Sat. all day program that focuses on epigenetics and African American survival.  Youth 20 and younger are free and there are scholarships for youth 21 up whose admission is $15. Grown folk are $30 for admission. Visit https://www.ncobraonline.org/national-coalition-of-blacks-for-reparations-in-america-31st-annual-virtual-national-convention/

Wanda’s Picks Radio, July 29, 2020: http://tobtr.com/11783480

Listen to an interview on Wanda’s Picks Radio Show with Nana Jomoke at the N’COBRA conference and to Delfeayo Marsalis speak about a new non-profit – Keep NOLA Music Alive  – designed to help keep New Orleans music culture thriving during these uncertain times.

 
Party on Sunday, August 2, 2020 with Delfaeyo Marsalis

Delfeayo kicks off the KNOLA fundraising effort with a “Double-Nickel Birthday Bash” virtual performance Sunday, August 2, 3 p.m. PT/5 p.m. CDT/6 p.m. EDT marking his 55th birthday.


Oakland Public Schools Fundraiser Rebroadcast

Elevate Oakland, a music program for Oakland Public Schools hosted a virtual concert in July featuring Sheila E, Ledisi, Goapele and concluding with Stevie Wonder—it was beyond amazing. Angela Davis spoke about the power of art and imagination and creativity to sustainable change. Well, for those who missed the show, it is having an encore broadcast, Friday, August 1, 5 p.m. PT in YouTube. Visit:
https://www.elevateoakland.org/programs-artists-in-residence

Film Openings

Ocean Film Festival
17th Annual International Ocean Film Festival Goes Virtual with Reconnecting Summer 2020  Featuring all 54 Films, plus online panels, discussions and audience Q&A July 30 – August 9  www.intloceanfilmfest.org


River City Drumbeat (95 mins), directed by Marlon Johnson and Anne Flatté opens August 7-21 at Roxie Virtual Cinema
Drum Corps Director, Albert Shumate

Imani and Jailen, elder RCDC members, lead the team.


River City Drumbeat directors, Marlon Johnson and Anne Flatté 

River City Drumbeat captures Edward “Nardie” White’s thirty year run as leader of the dynamic Louisville, Kentucky River City Drum Corps and chronicles his passing of the baton to former student Albert Shumake. It is a beautiful story of a legacy using art to build character. River City shows how community is what matters in a child’s life. The drum is the heart, it is a mother’s love, the first voice, the most important voice a child hears or perhaps feels. White’s program builds men and women as it provides space for parents to grow into their roles. The music is awesome, we dance as we cheer and cry and marvel at these young leaders groomed and step into responsibility with ease and joy. Art is what will save us. It keeps us human. Listen to Albert Shumate talk about how River City Drum Corps saved his life, literally.

Radio Show Special on River City Drumbeat:

The directors, Marlon Johnson and Anne Flatté join Albert, on Wanda’s Picks, July 13: http://tobtr.com/11773949

Tickets Available at bit.ly/rcdatroxie  View the trailer here: https://www.rivercitydrumbeatmovie.com/

 

Bob Marley

Robert Nesta MARLEY @75

This is the 75th Anniversary of Bob Marley’s birth, February 6, 1945. His family has been celebrating all year. Friday, July 31, “Marley,” (145 min.), directed by Kevin Macdonald opens virtually and in select drive-ins around the country. Locally, the film screens at Smith Rafael Center and Cameo Cinema in the San Francisco Bay, Tower in Sacramento. Visit https://www.bluefoxentertainment.com/films/marley Watch & Share the Trailer

The film is a nuanced story of a man who spent a lifetime searching for sanctuary. Born of a white man and a Black girl-child, he never quite fit in except when he was playing music. He knew his white family and the factory they owned, although his white family did not know their Black brother. When they are introduced to his work, his sister says Bob’s work lifted the family name. Bob and his friends worked hard for their success—one person says that they were so hungry when they were boys, they would have to fill up on water and go to bed. This is one of the reasons why his mother left the country for the city.

There are archival scenes of older bands playing instruments they probably made, guitars, banjos. Bob and his friends made their instruments too. There is a great conversation with the record producers who noticed Bob’s writing style – it had depth. His topics weren’t shallow. Religion also gave Bob a sense of place—Rastafari aligned with his beliefs – there is a great scene where Emperor Haile Selassie visits Jamaica and when the door opens and he sees so many people awaiting his arrival he goes back into the cabin and closes the door.

I guess it is unnerving to be greeted as a god.

Intelligent, shy with trust issues Marley found within his creative voice a stage where he had a place. MacDonald’s Marley features interviews with Marley’s musician friends, children, lovers and producers, archival footage of Trenchtown ghetto where Marley lived, the studio that gave him and another friend shelter when his mom left for the US.

Outside of reading a book about Marley, this film is an audio tour of a remarkable life, albeit short.

He grew up with gangsters, but he wasn’t a gangster. He was poor, yet ended up with wealth which he shared. He was disciplined and old fashioned, even patriarchal regarding gender roles and expectations.

Marley is both genius and flawed, especially with his relationships with women. His relationship with his wife Rita Marley is complex, perhaps as complex as the politics of the music business. The search for a unique sound as the group performs covers of boy bands and become famous in Jamaica. I love the Lee Scratch Perry studio sessions and Peter Tosh with the Wailers and an interview regarding why he left the band.

Marley suffers exile for his art. His philosophy is simple– he wants people to live as brothers and sisters, regardless of their race.

The music is amazing and watching the Wailers in the small joints with the audience right next to the performers. Given the Covid-19 reality, this film and that time seem lifetimes ago. At the peak of his career Marley is diagnosed with cancer and the man doesn’t miss a beat, literally, to the point everyone forgets he had the diagnosis.

Marley wonders why his audiences are white, why don’t Black people attend his concerts until he performs at Madison Square Garden, the opening for the Commodores. The narrator said respect brought the audience to its feet when Marley took the stage. Also in 1980, earlier, Marley played in Zimbabwe. The country was changing power and wanted the Rasta man to attend but they couldn’t afford his fee. Marley shipped his sound equipment there and the concert was pretty amazing. Marley had already written a song which became a work the soldiers sang. When the men and women could not get into the concert, they pushed down the wall and the police sprayed tear gas on everyone, which meant the artists felt the burning in their eyes and throats and left the stage, while Bob, kept singing.

He was down for the people. We get to see Marley when he performs his last concert and later when he is in Switzerland  getting treatment for the cancer which has metastasized.  The funeral is beautiful as are the reflections as Marley is not getting well. It is a great story– Bob Marley lived so much life in 36 years.

With each ticket purchase, recipients will receive an exclusive Ziggy Marley song download pack. Additionally, all ticket purchases will be entered to win a grand prize package, including a yet to be released Bob Marley photo book, Marley vinyl and select other Marley merchandise.

Online Art Exhibition

Recovery ACT: Art, Culture, Technology @ Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th Street, Oakland, CA, and online: July 10  through August 29   http://www.rootsartistregistry.com/recoveryact.html

Gallery Featured Artists are: Alexandra Antoine, Alex Bershaw, Ellen Bepp, Rohan DeCosta, Patrick Dougher, David Graves, Kay Hickman, Al Johnson, Oding Muata, Eric Murphy, Najee Omar, Martin Segobia, Malik Seneferu, Amir Abdul-Shakur, Katie Sugarman, Lordy Rodriguez, William Rhodes, and Leisel Whitlock

Artist Talk: Friday, August 7th  6pm – 9pm (In gallery and via ZOOM)

Poetry Reading: Saturday, August 8th  2-4pm | Hosted by TeaRoots.org featuring Genny Lim (SF Jazz Poet Laureate), Wanda Sabir (Journalist), Michael Warr (Former Deputy Director, MoAD) and more.

Additional programs to be announced.  To Register for events, visit: https://recoveryactexhibit.eventbrite.com


More Webinars, Online ZOOM Meetings. . .

Paths to Empowerment: A Conversation about Cooperative Governance in Arts Organizations, Thursday, August 27, 2020, 7 p.m., Online (Zoom meeting)

Cost is free. Eventbrite RSVP required: www.eventbrite.com/e/paths-to-empowerment-a-convesation-about-cooperative-governance-tickets-114463810338

Facebook event: www.facebook.com/events/1617729515085813/

The Berkeley NAACP; the African American Holistic Resource Center (AAHRC), Community Leadership Committee; NAMI Contra Costa County; and the African American Steering Committee for Health and Wellness invite you to attend this webinar:

“BLACK BODIES IN BLUE”- PART II A WOMAN’S PERSPECTIVE, August 1, 2020, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM PT

REGISTRATION LINK: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3zS4JliWRHSJHJ7W5AXBSQ

Presenters:” Richmond Police Department, Chief Bisa French; BART Police Department, Sergeant Anisa McNack; Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, Sergeant Tya Modeste

President Obama and Rep. John Lewis. President Obama will deliver the eulogy on BET at 10:45 AM ET


Rep. John Lewis, Good Trouble

Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker, called him the moral conscious of Congress, Rep. John Robert Lewis from the little town of Troy, Alabama. Friday, July 17 was a seismic event—two major leaders, Rev. CT Vivian (95) and Rep. John Robert Lewis (80), made their transitions. The day before he passed with instructions to publish his letter in the NYT the day of his funeral, here is one final message ­­­____ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/john-lewis-civil-rights-america.html

As the carriage carried Rep. Lewis’s still body across the EP Bridge, a place where he led the 1965 march which came to be known as Bloody Sunday, I wondered, why at a time when monuments to civic criminals are being removed that EP Bridge still carries the name of an avowed racist? Why hasn’t this honorific been removed? A few days later, in Washington at the Rotunda, this sentiment was articulated.

Horse-drawn carriage carries the-body of civil rights leader, Rep. John Lewis

Every time EP’s name is evoked it honors its namesake. Such juxtaposition is a hypocrisy no more stark than this image– human rights greatest defender, John Lewis’s presence in a casket crossing in horse drawn carriage this place one last time.

Red rose petals on the ground recall all the blood that Sunday morning, a lot of it running down the face of a young John Lewis. Alabama residents should rename the bridge John Robert Lewis Bridge for a man whose life was a bridge for justice and freedom for his people.

For those young people 18 this year, too young to have known Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., this young son of former enslaved ancestors was King’s emissary. Rep. Lewis continued his hero’s walk to freedom traversing bridges like this first one philosophically and later materially all the days of his life as a Freedom Rider, SNCC President and later on as Atlanta City Council person and finally as Congressional leader for 7 terms (30 years). It was as if Dr. King never died, the oath he pledged at 18 just as prescient then as now at 80. He was an active member of this democratic society. He was a visible opponent to injustice. He used his pen to enact laws, his voice to say no to unethical policies and his body to interrupt or halt what he felt was detrimental to American people.

Register to vote and vote. Nothing is guaranteed except times passage and our eventual demise. We can take nothing for granted; there is no such thing as retirement—the devil is always busy.

JOhn Lewis Tribute at MLK Jr. Freedom Center, Aug. 28, 2020

 

 

The Black National Conference, August 28, 2020

 

White Nights, Black Paradise

White Nights, Black Paradise at Museum of African Diaspora, Aug. 29, 2020

 

PERFORMANCE & DISCUSSION | White Nights, Black Paradise, The Play

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WHEN: August 29, 2020 @ 12:00 pm – 2:30 pm
WHERE: Zoom Room
COST:  Pay What You Can

 

By

Wanda’s Picks May 2020

 Happy Mother’s Day! I especially want to remember the mothers who are not with their families this year due to physical distancing. I hope you are still able to connect with loved ones via technology.  We are going to have a special radio show Friday, May 8, featuring Mrs. Sadie Williams (96) in conversation with other mothers.

We have had a few really great programs highlighting events and projects you don’t want to miss:

Wanda’s Picks Radio Show Wed., April 29, 2020 Guests:
https://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks/2020/04/29/wandas-picks-radio-show

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

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Melanin Magic Sessions Take 10: A special series of shows featuring healers who will leave us with tools we can use to strengthen ourselves during a time when isolation is encouraged while the soul cries for communion.

We’d like to open the show with something about jazz, and McCoy Tyner and the improvisational nature of life– Black life and Muhammad B. Hanif, Charles Curtis Blackwell, and Damu Sudi Alii join us to talk about it.

1. Mina Morita, Artistic Director, Crowded Fire theatre, director, joins us to talk about Dustin Chin’s Snowflakes, or Rare White People, produced with UC Berkeley, Drama Department, as a radio drama, May 1-10, 2020. I attended the performance via Zoom last week and loved it, story, acting, design, choreography — a delightful story set in the future that leaves one wondering if there is any hope for the species known as “white people.” Is the dysfunction genetic, if so, perhaps all we can hope for in the future is a way to isolate them until they cease to exist.

2. We rebroadcast an interview with Delfeayo Marsalis on the release of a new CD that features his father, Ellis Marsalis (2017).

3. Jazz History Month concludes with a conversation with: Damu Sudi Alii, Charles Curtis Blackwell, Muhammad B. Hanif.  April 30, 2020 is International Jazz Heritage Day. Programming is 24 hours.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

In the first conversation Michael J. Satchell and his editor, Marvin X, share the story of Tariq, a great Moorish General. Satchell has published his screenplay to raise funds to make the movie. 

Then in our next half we speak to Dameion Brown, whom I met on stage in his role as the fictional Moorish General, Othello. Hadn’t planned it this way, but . . . . Tariq meet Othello (smile).

Dameion, whom I saw last night at the Marsh, agreed to join me this morning to talk about solitude (or isolation) and its benefits and how he learned to manage such called by other names like Administrative Segregation (Ad-Seg), a long name for “the hole” or solitary confinement. Eloquent and soft-spoken, I knew he’d drop a few jewels on us and he left the floor covers in salt.

The music was Archie Shepp’s Revolution and Duke Ellington & his Orchestra’s “La plus belle africaine”, Tivoli Garden Copenhagen 1969, Harry Carney baritone solo. 

1. Marvin X and Michael Satchell join us to talk about a new release, Tarik, a filmscript (2020).

Black Bird Press says, “It is proud to announce the release of Tarik, a filmscript by Michael Satchell. It is historical fiction on the life of General Tarik Ibn Ziyad who led his army of Moorish and Arab warriors into Spain, 711 A.D. It chronicles his childhood and adulthood as a warrior. Gibraltar is named in honor of him (Arabic: Gebal=Mountain, Tarik). Because of racism, Tarik returned to Africa after two years, although the Moors remained in Spain 700 years. The script depicts Tarik’s relationship with his childhood friend and later wife, Umm-Hakim, who accompanied his march into Spain with her own army.”

Michael Satchell worked on the script twenty years. Marvin X edited the script as a book. This limited edition is for possible backers. The estimated film budget is $150 million. Your support and donation of any amount will be appreciated. A donation of $99.95 is requested for the book. A script reading is planned ASAP. For more information, please contact Michael Satchell@ 415-756-2146, email satchellmichaelj@gmail.com

2. Dameion Brown had his first ever public performance as the title role in Othello at Marin Shakespeare Company in 2016, achieving what has never been done before by a first-time actor: the honor of “Best Lead Actor” from the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Since then, he has appeared in The Seagull at Utopia Theatre Project, Waafrika and The Farm at TheatreFirst (winning another BATCC award), Dance of the Holy Ghost with Ubuntu, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing last summer at Marin Shakespeare. He formally taught parenting classes at the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department for at-risk-youth. Now he is a teaching artist and mentor at the Alameda Juvenile Facility and Youth Prison at O.H. Close and Chad facilities in Stockton.

 

Wanda’s Picks Radio Show, Friday, April 24, 2020
https://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks/2020/04/24/wandas-picks-radio-show

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

Melanin Magic Sessions Take 9: A special series of shows featuring healers who will leave us with tools we can use to strengthen ourselves during a time when isolation is encouraged while the soul cries for communion.

We open the show with Tosin Aribisala, drummer, percussionist, singer, composer, who hails from Lagos, Nigeria. He joins us to talk about his single, released earlier this year, and Africa Rising (2016) and other projects.

This is the final Friday, National Poetry Month. It has been really lovely sharing the airwaves with poets throughout the country. Thanks so much to Kim McMillon, Ph.D., poet, playwright, scholar, for curating with her friend, Lucinda J. Clark is the founder of P.R.A. Publishing and the Poetry Matters Project from Augusta, GA. We close with a bang, an all women set featuring Bay Area poets: Joyce Young, Adrienne Oliver, Kathryn Takara, in Hawaii, and Karla Brundage.  Co-hosts, Kim and Wanda, will close the program with a poem.

Wanda’s Picks Radio Show, Wed., April 22, 2020
https://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks/2020/04/22/wandas-picks-radio-show

We open with guests: Deborah A. Wright, a retired Reference Librarian/Administrator from the College of Charleston’s Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture (Charleston, SC, USA; Dr. David L. Horne, the International Facilitator for the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) and the Pan African Diaspora Union (PADU), an international umbrella organization of Diasporans & Nvasekie N. Konneh, a Liberian writer, poet, magazine publisher, community and cultural activist. We will talk about SEHWAH Liberia, Inc., a local Liberian NGO and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) its United States based Pan African counterpart’s Proposal for COVID-19 Awareness and Food Assistance in Liberia beg. 4/20 so that families can stay safe during the crisis. Donations can be sent via Cash apps or Zelle @ $KDonzo or 571-237-9159, and Mr. Nvasekie Konneh 267-826-3952.

2.  Zarinah Shakir is the Producer/Host of the award winning Perspectives of Interfaith, a TV program taped and aired at the Arlington Independent Media studios in Arlington, VA over 16 years. It airs at DCTV, Washington,DC, Manhattan Neighbourhood Network and other markets.  She is also the former Producer/Host for six years of Islamic Perspectives, the longest running TV program about Islam and Muslims in the Washington, DC metro area.  Ms. Shakir joins us to talk about Ramadan, the Islamic month fasting which begins this week.

3. Queen Hollins, Earthlodge Center closes the show. Rafael Jesus Gonzalez‘s poetry for Earth Day is another highlight of today’s show.

Sankofa 2020: A Transcontinental Poetry Reading
By Wanda Sabir

Saturday, April 25, WO2WA hosted its first international poetry reading celebrating the release of its new anthology, Our Spirits Carry Our Voices: West Oakland to West Africa Poetry Exchange.  Almost four years ago, Karla Brundage, at Mills College at the time, created a vehicle to hold true reparations between Africans and African Americans. The boat, not unlike that folded from Aunt Ester Tyler’s Bill of Sale, was a vehicle made of parchment— In August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, the boat was for Citizen to take to the City of Bones, so that he could wash his soul (56). In Karla’s boat we folded words into notes on canvas carrying music across telepathic sound waves into cyberspace.

To go back home is more than a wish for many African descendants in the West. We think of Africa as home because this place, the place of our birth and our parents’ and their parents’ might be where we live, but it doesn’t always feel like home. African Americans feel tolerated at best, certainly not welcome, not since we got an upgrade and are no longer tax deductible. Now, this does not mean that Black labor is not economically viable or that slavery ended in 1865 with the passage of the Amendments 13,14,15.  Convict leasing might have ended, but Covid-19 shows us how little the thinking has changed as dead Black bodies are stacked in tents in open fields and the virus spreads unchecked in prisons and detainment centers throughout the nation even as borders reopen and normal is recalibrated.

So the idea, three years ago of going home, for the African Americans in the group, was a welcome idea.  Karla said

Karla Brundage, editor, Our Spirits Carry Our Voices

that she hadn’t thought about traveling to Ghana as a culmination of the project, but she was game and began planning the trip in 2017. We raised money in a variety of ways: we sold chapbooks with unique sewn covers, asked friends to sponsor us, hosted an Art Auction, a Speakeasy Poetry Reading. . .  lots of planning meetings and parties. I remember one time we met at Karla’s house at 7 a.m. on Mother’s Day for an Oakland-Accra via Skype meet-up, then on a bright day in May, we found ourselves at San Francisco International airport flying not sailing home.

After a stop in Amsterdam we arrived in Accra where the brothers met us with a school bus. It was nighttime, yet their smiles lit the evening with a special sunrise. You can read about the journey and the various places we went on the trip in Ghana in Our Spirits Carry Our Voices. Karla opens each section with a short essay which gives lovely context to the trip from Agoo Hostel in Accra to Cape Coast Slave Dungeon and One Africa Spa in Elmina Village.  We had quite the adventure.

It wasn’t my first time in Ghana, however, I usually travel alone, so it was fun with a group, both WO2WA and Ehalakasa. My favorite day was the morning we all met. That morning at Agoo Hotel it was really pouring rain. May-July is rainy season in West Africa, yet everyone came and we sat in the lounge and talked. We introduced ourselves to each other, shared stories, poetry and talked about the recent journey juxtaposed against another, more historic reference and how we returned.

Sankofa is a term everyone knew, because it is an Andinkra symbol, indigenous to the Akan, in Ghana. However, I am not sure if its impact was realized before we were seated next to each other. The Doors of No Return were swinging in the opposite direction. Until we arrived for many present, African Americans were an intellectual concept—not a flesh and blood reality. Really. The projections are not one-sided—

Ramadan started while we were in Ghana two years ago too. In Ghana, especially in Nima Village, Accra, when Ramadan starts there are no more late night parties at clubs. So before everything went into lockdown, we walked to a nearby restaurant with a band and met Karla’s friends from the US Consulate whom we’d met earlier that week on a tour.  The band was really good and we had fun dancing.

Zakiyyah fell into a hole on our walk there from Agoo –yes you heard correctly. We were walking along and then I looked back and she’d disappeared. There was a huge hole in the center of the sidewalk. We helped her out and she put ice on her hand at the club.  She felt well enough to stay. This would not be the last fall—I ended up in a hole too. I wrote a poem about it. It was dark and I didn’t know there was no ground there. I stepped off the bus into air.

Karla spent years in Africa, first as a Fulbright Scholar teaching in Zimbabwe, then more recently in Côte d’Ivoire where she taught at a high school. On holiday in Ghana, she went to a poetry event where she met Yibor Kojo Yibor or Sir Black, who co-founded Ehalakasa.

Coined from three terms: “Eha” which means Song in Ewe; “La” which means Sing in Ga; and “Kasa” which means Talk in Akan (Twi)— Sir Black and other members of the ensemble shout: “Ehalakasa!”  The audience respondes: “It lives in us!”  “It,” the solution to whatever ails family, community, society, lives in the collective wisdom of those gathered.  One could say, it’s equivalent is “All Power to the People.”

Ehalakasa poet teachers (like Youth Speaks in the Bay) give workshops in high schools, where the youth are taught how to write poetry, the form, a vehicle for their truth. The organization hosts a monthly Poetry Slam at the W.E.B. Dubois Center in Accra where the big poetry slam between the Americans and Africans took place in 2018. WO2WA and Ehalakasa made local headlines.

We read of captive African ancestors walking home and even flying to freedom; however, those technologies were a bit beyond our capabilities so like Aunt Ester WO2WA poets use paper—not necessarily a bill of sale but words, nonetheless . . . these words too made flesh.

For her community engagement project at Mills, Karla created this boat . . . a WO2WA waterway, an exchange utilizing a Japanese poetic form called Renshi.  Renshi— like a jazz riff, takes the last line of poetic verse, which becomes the first line of the respondent.  We were throwing linguistic preserves across colonized water, similar to Morse code, yet a bit more primal . . . familiar – the language echoing a refrain . . . ancestors’ on both sides of the Atlantic bridging what was assumed lost: DNA memory, a durable profundity.  Citizen asked for passage to the City of Bones to wash his soul—that paper boat, words . . . the right words were all he needed along with two+1 (for Esu) shiny pennies.

“Get on board little children. . . .”  For how many African descendants in the Diaspora is finding one’s way back more philosophical than an achievable reality? Poetry—Renshi to be precise, was the way home for us.

I remember the conversation that October in 2016 with Karla the day before the Maafa Commemoration. We were at the flower market in West Oakland buying white roses, carnations, daisies and other blooms for the Ancestors who’d be honored at the Ritual the next day. I hadn’t seen Karla since she’d been back from West Africa, and there she was—I think we planned to meet, but it was nice seeing her there. She agreed to recite a poem at the ceremony.  Besides buying flowers we were to talk about her project. I thought it was great and I encouraged her to continue with her plan even if advisors didn’t fully grasp the concept yet—West Oakland to West Africa, WHAT?! Clearly a concept only a Diaspora Citizen could birth.

Karla asked me to recommend poets I knew and to introduce her to the librarian at the West Oakland Library, where I have hosted poetry readings for the past 30 years. WO2WA workshops were at both Mills College and the West Oakland Library. The poets I recommended shared the call with other poets. Maestra Brundage then took the names of these poets and asked Sir Black aka Yibor Kojo Yibor to match American poets with West African poets, most, if not all Ehalakasa, members.

I think we had about eight topics to explore, at which time, the project was to end, but the African American poets were like, hold up, of course we have to travel to Africa to meet our poet partners. For many poets, this was their first time to the Motherland. What better way to travel home for the first time than to have friends there to meet you?

The love affair continues. One member of the WO2WA, Mama Makeda, now lives in Ghana. When the borders closed, she was stateside and is here now. With WhatsApp and Zoom we are now able to do more like have a virtual book tour, since Covid-19 made travel to Ghana in June for a performance at the National Theatre impossible.

WO2WA hosted its first transcontinental reading April 25 with hosts in Virginia and Accra, poets in Detroit, Brooklyn, Oakland, Alameda, Richmond, San Francisco and Hawaii. That Saturday, April 25 featured poets – WO2WA and Ehalakasa, had an opportunity to begin sharing the cloth woven with words that continues to carry our voices back and forth across the water. There was an open mic too. The next poetry reading is Saturday, May 23, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. PT. It is a free event, but donations are welcome. Sign up in advance for the open mic.  Buy a book, sales benefit Ehalakasa, which is developing a community center. You can purchase books on Amazon. For information visit the website: https://westoaklandtowestafrica.com/

Here is a video of Karla telling her story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gU1xyUh8hw

Anuj Nijhawan, co-founder of Shuffle

At the Weekend of Words! Friday, May 8-Sunday, May 10, Karla and Sir Black and Tyrice will be on a panel discussion the poetry exchange, Sat., May 9, 2020, 10 AM PT. https://wow.shuffle.do/talks/west-oakland-to-west-africa-facilitating-an-international-poetry-exchange/ 

Other highlights at the “Colossus: Home” reading on Sunday, May 10, 7 p.m. PT, the collection looks at “home” as a theme and the funds raised by the book, co-edited by Karla Brundage and Sara Biel will go to Moms 4 Housing. Visit: https://wow.shuffle.do/talks/colossus-home/

Wanda Sabir is facilitating the panel, “Writing for Social Justice,” Saturday, May 9, 4:45 p.m. PT, with Aya de Leon, Director, June Jordan’s Poetry for the People at UC Berkeley, and Kim Shuck, San Francisco Poet Laureate. Visit: https://wow.shuffle.do/talks/panel-writing-for-social-justice/ 

For the entire schedule visit: Weekend of Words!  https://wow.shuffle.do/

To listen to a recent radio interview with Karla Brundage, Colossus and Anuj Nijhawan, co-founder of Shuffle, https://wow.shuffle.do, presenter of Weekend of Words, visit Wanda’s Picks Radio, https://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks/2020/05/06/wandas-picks-radio-show


On the Fly:

Link: https://learn.nonprofitleadershipalliance.org/BLEHLecture/

City Lights Books: Afropessimism

Frank Wilderson III in conversation with Justin Desmangles, Thursday, May 28, 2020, 6:00 p.m. PST, Event will be held on Zoom. Click the link in the event description for info.

  

discussing the subject of his new book: Afropessimism, published by Liveright Books / W.W. Norton

This is a virtual event that will be hosted by City Lights on the Zoom platform. You will need access to a computer or other device that is capable of accessing the internet. If you have not used Zoom before, you may consider referencing Getting Started with Zoom.  (Click Here) to make reservations  Event is free, but reservations are required.  (Purchase AFROPESSIMISM here)

In the tradition of Edward Said’s Orientalism and Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks, Afropessimism is an unparalleled account of the non-analogous experience of being Black.

A seminal work that strikingly combines groundbreaking philosophy with searing flights of memoir, Afropessimism presents the tenets of an increasingly influential intellectual movement that theorizes blackness through the lens of perpetual slavery. Rather than interpreting slavery through a Marxist framework of class oppression, Frank B. Wilderson III, “a truly indispensable thinker” (Fred Moten), demonstrates that the social construct of slavery, as seen through pervasive, anti-black subjugation and violence, is hardly a relic of the past but an almost necessary force in our civilization that flourishes today, and that Black struggles cannot be conflated with the experiences of any other oppressed group. In mellifluous prose, Wilderson juxtaposes his seemingly idyllic upbringing in halcyon midcentury Minneapolis with the harshness that he would later encounter, whether in radicalized, late-1960s Berkeley or in the slums of Soweto. Following in the rich literary tradition of works by DuBois, Malcolm X and Baldwin, Afropessimism reverberates with wisdom and painful clarity in the fractured world we inhabit.

Professor and chair of African American studies at the University of California, Irvine, and author of Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile and Apartheid, Frank B. Wilderson III has received an NEA Literature Fellowship and a Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award for Creative Nonfiction, among other awards.

Justin Desmangles is chairman of the Before Columbus Foundation, administrator of the American Book Award, and host of the radio broadcast New Day Jazz, now in its fifteenth year.


 

Watch “The King and I” at BroadwayHD
https://www.broadwayhd.com/movies/AW2GtQ1Zpx3F9_4AqeuR

Join BroadwayHD, Playbill and The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization for an R&H Movie Night screening of the Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I on Friday, May 8 at 8pm ET! In this classic musical, British schoolteacher Anna Leonowens arrives in Siam in 1862 to instruct the royal children. But despite her sharp wit and strong will, nothing has prepared Anna for the lessons this rich and complicated new land has to teach her—or for the powerful connection she will forge with its imperious King. Featuring one of the finest scores ever written including “Whistle a Happy Tune,” “Getting to Know You,” and “Shall We Dance,” and featuring a company of more than 50 world-class performers, The King and I is a testament to the lavish heritage of gloriously romantic musical theatre. While you’re watching, make sure to use #RNHMovieNight on social media. While the film is complimentary for all to enjoy, please consider supporting The Actors Fund and its efforts to assist industry professionals impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more here: ActorsFund.org/TheKingAndI

 
Join CPE and our allies at Movement Generation, The Red Nation, and Arab Organizing and Resource Center for programs to help build power during the pandemic.
This week, Friday Night Forums continue!
Friday Night Forums feature anti-imperialist perspectives and lessons on organizing from around the world, with a focus on decolonizing Turtle Island.Sanctions on Iran
Friday, May 8, 5pm PDT
Register HereFeaturing:
Sima Shakhsari, University of Minnesota
Yousef Baker, California State University, Long Beachmoderated by Dena Al-Adeeb and Lara Kiswani.
Grounds for Healing, Rooted in Resistance
Thursday, May 14
4pm PDTRegister HereHow do Black landworkers relate to anti-imperialism, self-determination, and healthy futures during the global COVID-19 pandemic? Join CPE and Movement Generation for a webinar featuring Black landworkers in the Bay Area discussing the intersections of land, resistance, and well-being.Featuring:Joy Moore, food security activistWanda Stewart, Common Vision

Leslie Bennett, Pine House Edible Gardens

Malaika Parker, Hummingbird Urban Farming Collective

Moderated by: Deseree Fontent

 

Tonight: Mystery Shakespeare Theater 1592

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3fheuIHNSDyNiFtLA2N1uQ?fbclid=IwAR0309rEqxssdrUDJP0Gab2xcsdWja-cg00ifVOqbcNMJvavGH2wJym8y7U

graphic by Eric Ting.

The watch party inspired by Mystery Science Theater 3000 returns tonight with a surprise screening of a Shakespearean movie and live commentary from a panel of esteemed artists and Shakespearean experts.

Last time we took a shot at this, we screened an aggressively 80’s, Australian production of Twelfth Night featuring shoulder pads, sideburns, and all the swings. We all learned what “flax on a distaff” REALLY means. If you enjoyed the shenanigans (or if you missed it and you’re livid about it), we’re coming back for more.

Our intrepid group of panelists (actors Safiya Fredericks & Phil Wong, founder of the Theatre Nerd Shakespeare Pandemic Watch Party Alex Moggridge, and dramaturg Philippa Kelly) are back this Friday night to watch a classic Shakespeare film and provide hot takes… and a dollop of expert insight. Best of all, no one knows what they’re showing up to watch (hence: mystery).  Tonight, May 8, 6:00-8:00 PM.  Register here.

If you’re looking for a more traditional Shakespearean viewing experience check out our streaming suggestions below. 

Sean Dugan (left) as Prince Hal and James Carpenter as King Henry IV in a 2004 adaptation of both Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 directed by Mladen Kiselow. Carpenter’s first role at Cal Shakes (when it was Berkeley Shakespeare Festival) was playing Prince Hal in the 1987 production of Henry IV, Part 1; photo by Jay Yamada. 

Run the Canon:

Henry IV, Part 1

The second in a tetralogy of history plays (which also includes Richard II, Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V), Henry IV, Part 1 is just as much a story of fathers and sons as it is a chronicle of civil unrest. In this week’s poignant Run the Canon lecture, Philippa Kelly discusses the importance of history plays, the role of the crown, and the themes of authority, ambition, and remorse.

Have you missed Philippa’s previous lectures? Check out the whole library and catch up.

 

 

By

Wanda’s Picks April 2020

We remember McCoy Tyner, pianist and wonderful soul; Bill Withers and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We also remember Madam CJ Walker – (don’t miss the Netflix Series)

Maafa – Covid-19
I say Maafa – Covid-19 because if we aren’t careful we are going to allow this virus to take too many of our people either physically, emotionally and/or psychologically. Our elders are being denied visits with family as they are confined to their rooms. The sick are also isolated—no visitors. In hospice, family are not allowed access to their loved ones as in the past—one can’t spend the night or visit whenever one likes. Sister Sadie Williams’s son Dan died late March and she hadn’t been able to visit him because of Covid-19. His children did, but not his mom.

Covid-19 Meets CDRC’s Limited Geographic Options

California Coalition for Women Prisoners is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year and many of the women I met when I was going in visiting are free now—some released in time to die. However, there are many women who are still inside. Convicted as children, these women are not eligible for the legislation over the past decade that guaranteed juvenile offenders parole dates. Supposedly, there are no juveniles serving life sentences, yet that is not true. Women who are in their 30s now were convicted as children, some as young as 14-15.

Life without Possibility of Parole or LWOP means even if you are dying, you will not get out. At Central California Women’s Facility in the Central Valley, Chowchilla where the water is polluted and no one who can afford to buy their water drinks it –the air is not much better a nurse came down with the virus and all the other staff that came in contact with her were self-quarantined and one prisoner, yet, how do incarcerated persons’ quarantine in a crowded facility?

Friday, March 27, a day Californians and New Yorkers petitioned legislators to release people locked behind bars, Gov. Newsom signed parole 27 prisoners. These parole requests were from January-Dec. 2019, quite a few persons incarcerated as youth for 30-40 years. Most were men, none released for humanitarian reasons like those prisoners who are dying with not much time to live.

Patricia Wright before incarceration in 1997.

Patricia Wright was not one of the persons released last week. After being recommended for release during the last administration under Gov. Brown, Ms. Wright who has had fourth stage cancer since she was in Northern California at Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), now at the California Institute for Women (CIW) for a number of years the cancer is now in her liver. She has had a double mastectomy, brain surgery for tumors. I remember visiting her at CCWF and how she’d get out of her bed into her wheelchair and meet with the visiting team. Wearing lipstick, a pretty scarf during those visits when her hair had fallen out from chemo, she was always cheerful and optimistic.

We never thought she would still be behind bars.  Prison is no place for a woman as sick as she is especially with a Covid-19 pandemic.

The corona virus is on everyone’s mind, especially those of us who cannot put six feet between ourselves and the next person, those who do not have masks or gloves and disinfectant to wipe hard surfaces in common areas—I am speaking of those persons in prison and jail. I have been corresponding with several women for many years in California and recently the letters have become more urgent as women are afraid of what the pandemic means to their overall health and safety. The rules change daily as first the women have one hour of exercise a day and free calls to family twice a week to no time out of the cell – medications brought to them and menu changes— dinner was sandwiches Saturday, April 4.

I learned the next day, via an email, that the reason the women in her unit had sandwiches was because there were three more guards infected and women prisoners, so there was no one to prepare the meals. Sunday meals were back; however, no one was allowed out of her cell.

After reading the first email, I had to call my friend’s aunt to tell her that she would not be in touch anymore because of the “no phone calls.” I am happy some of the women have tablets so they can write and do their homework.  And that for those who do not have tablets, the mail room is still open. The fear is the guards will stop coming to work and there will be no one to run the prison; the women will just be locked in their cells without food and other supplies like toilet tissue, sanitary napkins, soap.  Guards were taking the paper supplies from prison orderlies who supplied the bathrooms and did the cleaning.

Obviously, paper goods stockpiling was not just a “free” world phenomena. However, we are not talking Charmin or Scott towels. When the paper goods started disappearing, women prisoners began to worry about having enough food on hand just in case administrators disappeared and they were on their own, so there was also a dash for canteen products, just in case.

Now with movement limited or stopped, I wonder how prisoners support themselves when they can’t work. Has the state made plans to take care of the needs of all the prisoners given this new situation? Are they going to get a stipend to take care of their needs? No one has addressed this yet in the “free” world we have unemployment benefits which include self-employment. Something needs to be in place for those people behind bars.

Melanie DeMore at the 15th Annual Fire Inside Program at the Women’s Building in SF. She holds a portrait of Patricia Wright as she looked then– bald, after masectomy, yet as she holds her bible, we see her faith continues unshaken. Photo credit: Scott Braley.

Back to Patricia Wright, who is dying— when one reviews her case, which was trumped up from the beginning, she should never have been locked up in the first place. From Schwarzenegger to Brown to now Newsom, her appeals for clemency have been denied. If she had had OJ Simpson’s money, the Los Angeles County DA, police and corrupt judges would not have had a case. From recanted statements to lost evidence to missing and manufactured documents, Patricia who is blind, should be home with her family these final days of her life. Convicted 17 years after the event occurred, that she was the target of police department persecution for a conviction is one more nail in the coffin called justice. The Innocence Project has taken her case. Read about her case in the 2007 issue of “Justice Denied”.

With vulnerable and elderly prisoners at the top of the list for release, we want the public to send letters to Governor Newsom and to the Parole Board to have Patricia Wright’s LWOP commuted to Life with . . . so she can be released, if such hoops still need to be jumped through.

She wrote me tonight and said she wasn’t feeling well. Her sister, Chantel told me that the chemo therapy that Patricia (68 now) has to leave the prison to go to a near-by hospital is really painful. It burns inside her veins.

The blind, terminally ill woman with Third Stage Breast and Ovarian Cancer also has Asthma, Chronic Kidney Disease, Hypertension, Osteoporosis, Thyroid Gland Disease, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, Degenerative Dis Disease of the Back, Chronic Recurrent Migraine Headaches, Chronic Venous Edema of the Lower Extremities.

Patricia Wright, inmate number, W79941, walks with the assistance of a cane and wheelchair and she is definitely not a threat to society. She is a rehabilitated devout Christian woman, with an excellent behavior record.  Patricia has a commutation request number COM 457-11 pending before Governor Gavin Newsom.  The California State Constitution gives Governor Newsom executive power to commute Patricia Wright’s sentence from LWOP to Life with the Possibility of Parole.  Please sign her petition asking Governor Gavin Newsom to commute Patricia Wright’s sentence to Life with the Possibility of Parole so Patricia can get her wish to go home and serve God with her family.  The petition is on Change.org

I got this letter from another woman prisoner at the Central CA Women’s Facility (CCWF) Friday, April 3, who though younger than Patricia is also very sick:

“Dear Wanda,

“I was in the clinic yesterday at eight (8) in the morning, when I saw an ambulance and immediately knew something was really wrong. I saw the inmate porters had masks on and I have one so I put it on. When I went to lab I saw everyone was putting masks on and [I was] worried but trying to stay calm.

“The nurse that took my blood asked me if I was high risk. She told me she was high risk and that she has been asked why she continues to work. She told me ‘Someone has to do it, right.” I started crying because [there are] people like her who continue to put their lives on the line to save others. I thanked her from my heart. I started crying, because I felt the fear and concern the world is in. She tried to comfort me with her words and gave me two Purell hand sanitizer wipes saying, ‘here take these you might need them.’

“Just that gesture alone, that simple act of humanity, her own fear trying to be minimized by being kind to me. I realized I was trying to calm my own by crying in front of this stranger that understood my concern being that I’m high risk medical.

“Later staff that have known me told me a nurse came in to 805 who tested positive. That they played cameras back and the other nurses that were around her were told to not come back (to self-quarantine). And that one inmate was quarantined. She was a nurse that’s training and I think on her first day.

“All this made me realize even more so the ugly reality of being in here while this virus has no mercy. I’m so scared for the world, but even more so for myself and everyone who is incarcerated. I can’t give or get the social distance needed. I’m high risk medical heart, kidney, asthma, COPD, with other medical that they are trying to figure out.

Medical in here is not prepared for something like this. We don’t have the space to social distance, they don’t have the equipment, or staff to deal with something of this magnitude. Look at the care we got before this virus.

We are not getting the proper cleaning supplies. We need the same like what people are using out there Lysol, bleach, paper towels etc…

“WE ARE HUMAN!!!

“I’m scared it’s not if the virus is going to come in here it’s when, the fact is it will. I can’t get on a cellphone and FaceTime my family to be comforted. I wasn’t sentenced to die in prison. The US Supreme Court said no death sentence to a juvenile offender and right now I feel like I’m being sentenced to death under the conditions I’m being made to live in. I won’t qualify for any releases they offer. I’m serving juvenile life without which says my life is not worth releasing.

“I’m so frustrated and scared and really I’m not the only one just some suffer in silence. Yesterday they went around announcing that everyone with 2 months or less will be paroled by next week. That is helping none with the overcrowding. We are still at 8 to a room that was made for 4.  I’ll write with more updates and whatever they give us. Stay safe.”

April 6, 2020

“Dear Wanda,

“Yesterday April 5th they made a recall of all the yards around 11:30 am. They said no inmate movement at all. Long story short in my building the CO’s came and got a girl that was 3 doors down from mine and from the building next door two others and quarantined them because they came in contact with a staff that tested positive, an RN from my understanding. Then they quarantined the 2 buildings.  We can’t go outside, because we are waiting to see if anyone tests positive. Food is served by the CO’s and delivered door to door. Medication is brought door to door. Majority of rooms still 8 to a room that was made for 4 no social distance afforded. All I can do is pray that we’re safe.

“I’m scared but trying to find peace of mind, I’m seeing mental health tomorrow and I might get on Zoloft or something mild for my nerves. I’m literally going gray. Everyone is on edge.

“They finally let us out to dayroom today and I was able to sync my tablet and call my family. Thank you for offering to contact my family.  I think because of my sentence I won’t qualify [for medical release, because there is no ‘compassionate release’ for the sick or dying with they are Life Without Parole (LWOP).]

“I wish the governor would consider all who are sick.”

“April 7, 2020

“Hi Wanda,

“My roommate says hello and thank you for all the advocating in our behalf.

“They took us off the quarantine yesterday at approximately 10:00 am. It’s getting real ugly in here. People are not respecting others and they use the situation to be mean.

“Yesterday I requested to see mental health and when I came back to my room one of the roommates started calling me all kinds of names saying I need to stay in the room and if I bring the virus to the room she’s going to fight me and kept going on and on in an ignorant way.

“I told her I was going to continue to do what I need to do for my health and I’m doing my own time, I did respond the same way she was talking to me because she kept going and going calling me names. And she was trying to bully and intimidate and I wasn’t going to allow it.

“I do understand her concern I’m scared myself however I need to care for my needs and in the past I’ve stayed quiet or not taken care of my needs in fear of what others might think or feel about me. That’s changed I’m loving me. And me asking for help is none of her concern.
I’m so frustrated.

“I do believe my ancestors are carrying me now this is all so scary for everyone, the world is suffering.

“Wanda yes if you can please send money to my books so I can buy food and hygiene and some stamps to my roommate.  Members of California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) and Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) sent me money to Union so I can get a quarterly package and someone else was going to put the rest $50 to complete it (I would get a lot for $100 in Union food and hygiene) however they were laid off and I understand. My family and so many others are going through the same thing only 1 brother working helping the rest which is a blessing.

“So where did you share the story I sent you? If it’s printed will you send me a copy to share with everyone here thank you.

“I will write more today the only update I have is *whenever they even think there is a positive they will take the precautions necessary to protect everyone- prison will go into a quarantine separation (no yard at all and only maybe dayroom),for the unit its in-lock down food and meds brought to them, for the inmate who might be positive or contact with a positive- quarantine in building — they cleared a hall that has air flow that’s not connected to the rest of the building.

“This I’ve got on my own investigation and observation. I will keep you posted.

“Stay safe and Well,

xoxo”


I got an urgent message from another woman I write at the California Institute for Women in Corona, CA

 

April 7, 2020

Hi Ms. Wanda,

thank you for all that you do. I may have some bad news and I am hoping you can be our voice to Sacramento. So they just completely locked us down. No phones, No canteen, and No Boxes. They say it due to another confirmed case in here… In fact they have two buildings completely quarantined, All of Miller and Harrison B.

I am almost out of soap and cleaning supplies. Plus I am definitely out of food. This is very upsetting. Everyone in here is extremely upset. If you do not hear from me again in the next few days then please let the public know, get in contact with the News media and let them know that they are not providing us women with our needs. I will write again soon, and I will keep you posted. Good thing you know a lot of people. This has been very hard on us women. Plus I’m worried about my roommate.

I decided to send this to you ’cause they are trying to cut out all our outside communication and that is not okay. They have Not provided us with masks and we barely have cleaning supplies. I know you get to speak on the Radio from time to time. what station do you come out on? Could you speak for us on there? We are not being treated like humans in here and they do not inform us as to why they are shutting us down?

I’m sorry for sending you this upsetting message but I want to make sure that the truth is being said and that it is not okay to do this to us Women. Again if you don’t hear from me then it is because they are not allowing us to communicate with the outside world.


Visit California Coalition for Women Prisoners to learn how you can help the more vulnerable women behind bars get out. Visit womenprisoners.org

Resources for those incarcerated from Legal Services for Prisoners with Children & All of Us or None: https://prisonerswithchildren.org/coronavirus/

To stay up-to-date on Covid-19 in prisons and jails globally, visit https://covid19behindbars.com/
Also read cases from the Civil Litigation Clearinghouse https://clearinghouse.net/results.php?searchSpecialCollection=62

The Marshall Project is tracking articles about Covid-19 across the judicial system:
https://www.themarshallproject.org/

Teens convicted as adults: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/California-once-sent-thousands-of-juveniles-to-14480958.php

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/They-killed-as-teens-and-went-to-San-Quentin-14483850.php

 

Bill Withers. Photo credit: Andrew Zukerman

Bill Withers
Bill Withers (July 4, 1938-April 4, 2020) is going to be missed. With songs that spoke to what matters in life like one’s grandmother who’d been born in slavery, optimism, and the fact that if we plan on surviving as a species we’re going to have to learn to “lean on each other.”
His song “Lean on Me” should be America’s new National Anthem. Perhaps this is the Covid-19 lesson, how interdependent the biological systems, visible and hidden, are. A germ—matter so tiny yet sturdy, it has brought nations to their collective knees while halting life as we know it. Free people are on house arrest and those arrested – freed. Those unhoused, sheltered, starving fed, penniless given alms. Sounds biblical, like one of those Hollywood film scenerios popular at this time of year. With Lent, Feb. 26-April 9, overlapping Passover, Apr. 8 – Apr. 16, Ramadan, April 23-May 23, coming in a close third perhaps all things happen in their proper season?

Withers sings:
“Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there’s always tomorrow

“Lean on me, when you’re not strong
And I’ll be your friend
I’ll help you carry on
For it won’t be long
‘Til I’m gonna need
Somebody to lean on

“Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you won’t let show

“You just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you’ll understand
We all need somebody to lean on

“If there is a load you have to bear
That you can’t carry
I’m right up the road
I’ll share your load

“If you just call me (call me)
If you need a friend (call me)”

The old normal was not working, so this new normal is an opportunity to get closer to each other in ways that matter—talking on the phone, using other electronic devices to deepen relationships. To “socialize at a distance” is not the same as “social distancing.” If you notice, Gov. Newsom, stopped staying the latter after he was corrected in his second or third press conference. Change the language change the impact on behavior. Stay emotionally connected to your kinship group(s). Find creative ways to be together. Just imagine we are living in one of Octavia Butler’s dystopias. Blackness is indestructible, but we have to be smart and safe. Wear the masks when you feel your safety is compromised, that is, six feet is not consistently possible like while shopping, at work. Shelter in place except for essential tasks like shopping or work or caretaking. African Diaspora people are having trouble getting with the physical distancing; however, it is necessary. Make sure you take mental health breaks from all the technology, especially information. Do not watch the news and read the paper all day long. Also, with Zoom and other cyber realities – control it, not the reverse, it you. Remember to turn off that screen and electrical device– take a break and get some sunshine. Go for a walk or bike ride. Paint, draw, sew, be creative.

Biased Medical Practice

In Charles M. Blow’s Op Ed in the April 1, 2020, “New York Times,” “Pre-existing health conditions leave one group particularly vulnerable”, the author reflects on the persistence of racial inequity in medicine. There was a reason why African ancestors in America built Black hospitals. At the end of segregation, these hospitals might have closed, but the care did not follow when all the great Black doctors went to white institutions where Black patients, no matter how wealthy, received poor care. Is there any wonder why Black folks still distrust the American medical system? Today, in the midst of a global pandemic Black folks are being refused care, like the Nigerian college student in Kalamazoo who died late March after trying to get a test 3X and was sent home misdiagnosed after he presented with all the symptoms: fever, shortness of breath, etc.

My friend’s daughter seen at a clinic in Oakland, was not tested last week when she had flu-like symptoms. She was first sent home from Kaiser Oakland and then from La Clinica de la Raza to perhaps infect her parents and children and husband. Why are providers so stingy with the test? Her mother had to drive the next day from Vallejo to Hayward for a test.  There are too many people in their home to just sit and wait. Why aren’t Black people offered tests? Why can’t all people take the test if that will make them feel safer and more comfortable?

I heard from my therapist that the government is now going to started making home tests available. The question is to whom? I also heard Gov. Newsom say that Stanford now has a Covid-19 blood test. He also owned the states slow response and inadequate response from protective gear for providers to the test and analysis of results.

Since when is the US government endowed with the right to limit health care access to a free people? Even slaves or imprisoned persons have the right to wellness and should have access to all the care options free people have.

If I have healthcare coverage and even if I do not, I have a right to treatment, and I have a say over what happens to my body. It is my body. In a Town Hall Tele Meeting with Barbara Lee on April 2, she said that currently a report giving the racial demographics is being developed. In this article the writer talks about treatment in NOLA and other southern cities and states where Black people are not responding well to treatment and dying. Many of the young men whom he mentions are young and have other medical conditions like diabetes and/or HIV or hypertension. With predictions about how many people will die and prescriptions that tell people to “socially distance” and “isolate” rather than “physically distance” or “socialize at a distance”, we are seeing fear generated as we settle into this new norm.

All of a sudden, when we call a person nowadays, they actually pick up and want to talk. We need to cherish this moment and never return to a time when we were too busy chasing waterfalls to show that we care. Love is all that matters . . . on the eve of the killing of Dr. King, April 4, 1968.

Still Bill Film and Interview with Co-Director

“Still Bill” (2007) directed by Damani Baker and Alex Vlast, is available on YouTube. I interviewed Damani 10 years ago when the film screened at the Oakland International Film Festival and then had a theatrical release in San Francisco. I hosted a special tribute for Bill Withers and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Sat., April 4.

Visit https://wandasabir.blogspot.com/2020/04/wandas-picks-radio-show-tribute-to-dr.html

National Poetry Month on Wanda’s Picks Radio Show

On Friday, April 3, I hosted a 2 hour National Poetry Month kick off with 20 poets, among them three poet laureates. We also remember the legacy of Rev. Dr. King with poetry and music. Visit https://wandasabir.blogspot.com/2020/04/wandas-picks-radio-show-tribute-to-dr.html  Each Friday in April, at 9:30 am PT we will feature poets and their poetry.

 

Melanin Magic Series on Wanda’s Picks Radio Show
Virtual African American Townhall Series continues: April 9, 16, 23 11-1 p.m. PT

Also on Wanda’s Picks Radio Show I am curating shows that speak to survival strategies for people of African Descent. I call the programs, Melanin Magic Sessions. We have had four thus far and continue Wed., April 8. There is a series of Virtual African American Townhall Series which look at the impact of Covid-19 on the psyche, the pocket book, education and legal rights. Panelists or facilitators address these areas with an opportunity for a conversation with the audience at the end. It is practical and we leave with tools and there is an opportunity for follow-up. These folks do not talk at us, they are working with us so we can have a healthy response to this phenomenon, Covid-19. I have Wanda Whitaker on Wanda’s Picks Radio show, April 1, to talk about the series.

Visit: https://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks/2020/04/01/wandas-picks-radio-show

The forums are 11 am to 1 p.m. PT each Thursday in April on Zoom. It is free but you have to register.  My suggestion is to register for all of them at once. The limit is 100 and if you want to catch it live, register in advance.  I found the information useful and practical and the presenters really engaging.

It is in Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/covid-19-crisis-a-virtual-african-american-town-hall-series-tickets-101345123994

Black Psychologists Respond to COVID-19 Pandemic

This Forum is continuing April 25, 10-11 AM PT and on Facebook Live through the National ABPsi. April 18, hosted by ABPsi Houston, the event reached capacity in Zoom, but next week the capacity will be 1000 guests.  Visit the National Association of Black Psychologists for information on next week’s forum.

 

 

 

The Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series
Monday, April 27
7:00 PM PST
Online
No registration necessary
Click the link below at 7 pm and you will enter the lecture:
http://learn.nonprofitleadershipalliance.org/BLEHLecture/

If you have any questions, please feel free to call us (765) 418 2137.

We look forward to seeing you this evening.

 

For a stronger democracy,

Roy Wilson, Ed.D
Executive Producer
Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series
Executive Director
Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center

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