Habari Gani? What’s the word? Imani! Faith
Faith is what sustained our ancestors’ belief in freedom and justice. Faith is the marrow of African soul. It is what keeps us rooted when all around us “things,” as writer Chinua Achebe says, “fall apart.”
Remember Our Girls
I have been thinking a lot recently about restorative justice practices and violence, physical, psychological and emotional violence and the harm to persons – immediate and long term, as well as the harm to their associate families and communities. Not much attention is paid to the survivors of violence unless the violence is by the state, yet, everyday people are making choices which harm innocent people. Why is the activist community silent when it comes to advocacy for these silenced survivors? Where is the outcry when someone is harmed by an attacker that looks like the attacked? Where are the annual vigils, cumulative lists . . . for these persons? If prison is obsolete, then what replaces the jail or prison when harm is done and community is silent– the victims and their families allowed to suffer in anonymity?
Immediately when a situation occurs where someone is harmed, all the resources and sympathy often go to the person who harmed another, not to the person harmed. There are fundraising campaigns and protest rallies. People show up at the courthouse too.
The decision to commit the violent act, the conscious choice is taken out of the hands of the person who did the act. He or she is an unwilling marionette manipulated by social forces beyond his or her control. My argument here is everyone has a choice and the person who does harm should be held accountable. What that looks like is up for debate.
We are all affected by the value given to black life. We know that in this society, black life is not valued the same as others. Look at the adoption rolls and foster care homes to see how much our babies are worth. Nonetheless, we can and should begin to consciously change the narrative that lets everyone—state and citizen, get away with mistreating black people, especially black girls and black women. The injury suffered by this population is underreported and under scrutinized. If it were not, more adults would participate and where absent, create systems that keep our girls and women safe. It is not enough to talk a good talk. Black women and girls are not safe in their homes, schools or neighborhoods. And this is not a black American phenomena—black girls and black women are abused internationally. Headmasters in rural schools are raping little girls. Uncles and Mamas’ boyfriends are raping little girls here and there. Considering how hypersexualized our society has become, I don’t know how parents can keep their girls safe. Perhaps girls should always travel in twos and never be alone in a room with a man or boy, no matter the relationship. Even in medical settings, mothers and guardians cannot trust their girls to technicians or physicians—do not leave your girl child with a man or woman (for that matter) while getting x-rays or other tests. Girls have been molested by technicians, men in white coats.
Yes, it is that serious. There are too many examples and with so many examples and so many girls and women being abused and staying silent and self-medicating, acting out, threatening and committing suicide, we should be alarmed. This is why Ms. Tarana Burke started the #MeToo Movement in 1998, this is why Ms. Anita Hill, JD (in 1991) did not let now Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas get away with anything. However, remember how Dr. Hill was greeted by the state. Bill Cosby might be in prison, but Harvey Weinstein is not and indicted Catholic priests are still presiding over congregations. So what else is new? Different ethical standards preside.
Until Black women and girls are seen as a priority in our community the way we are viewed and treated as a people will not change. I believe the Hon. Elijah Muhammad spoke about this; however, it is more than patriarchy and paternalism, power and privilege. Black women and girls are valued and should be protected because black women and girls are equal to men and boys (who should also be protected and kept safe). One sex is not more valuable than another; one sex is not more powerful than another; one sex is not endowed with certain rights over the other.
We are all created whole.
It would be good if strategies are devised in community by representative of those most affected—women and girls. It is their call. Through such team building others can then support their work with education and leadership trainings, workshops, forums . . . effectiveness monitored across all levels of interaction.
Ms. Tarana Burke says in her TED Women Talk, “Trauma stops possibility, that healing is not rooted in “performative pain.” She says she encourages survivors to “lean into joy [even when trying to find joy can feel insurmountable. Movement activates possibility.”
But back to the role of socially conscious leadership—folks with an audience and a constituency, speak up and recognize that bad things happen to innocent people and our concern should be for the innocent one first as we look to help the community recover from harm, this includes the one who made this choice to hurt another person with his or her hands or words. Prisons and jails are full of broken people, people who have harmed another person almost by reflex. What can we do out here to interrupt that critical, sometimes irreversible choice while keeping the more vulnerable in our community safe?
Celebration of the life of former San Francisco Arts Commission President and KGO Radio talk show host Ray Taliaferro
The Commonwealth Club will host a celebration of the life of former San Francisco Arts Commission President and KGO Radio talk show host Ray Taliaferro, a long-time member of the Club’s Board and Advisory Board.
It will be held on January 12 at 11 a.m., at the Club’s headquarters at 110 The Embarcadero in San Francisco. The memorial is open to the public and does not require reservations.
Dr. Gloria Duffy, President and CEO of the Club, noted, “We look forward to a joyful celebration for the late radio host, Club Board member and community leader.”
The Emcee will be former KGO radio news anchor Rosie Allen. Speakers will be friends and colleagues who knew the legendary broadcaster in his numerous capacities and from organizations with which he was affiliated during his 60-year career. Those invited or confirmed to speak include fellow KGO talk show host Ronn Owens, former Mayor Willie Brown, former Mayor Frank Jordan, former Supervisor Angela Alioto, former KPIX TV news anchor Barbara Rodgers and former KGO General Manager Mickey Luckoff. Taliaferro’s sons will also speak about their highly accomplished father.
Taliaferro’s nephew Reverend Fred Settle will offer the benediction and a reception will be held upon the conclusion of the speakers’ remarks. The event is free and open to the public. The family is requesting donations in Ray’s memory to the Dementia Society of America: https://www.dementiasociety.org
In addition to his decades as a talk show host, Taliaferro had a long and prominent role in community leadership and the civil rights movement. He was chair of the San Francisco Arts Commission for sixteen years, president of the San Francisco NAACP, president of the Northern California Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Trustee of the San Francisco War Memorial, master of ceremonies of the Monterey Blues Festival, and a founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Taliaferro was the first Black talk show host on a major American radio station. He was hired by KGO Radio in 1977 where he worked in several posts, both as an anchor and talk show host. He became famous for “The Early Show,” which was launched in 1986 and continued until 2011. Prior to KGO Radio, Taliaferro was a news anchor at San Francisco’s KRON TV and hosted a television show in Los Angeles at KHJ TV, now known as KCAL. His first position was at San Francisco’s KNEW Radio.
Taliaferro received numerous accolades throughout his life. He was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame in 2011 and the association’s Ray Taliaferro NABJ Entrepreneurial Spirit Award recognizing journalistic entrepreneurship is named in his honor. In 1994 the San Francisco Black Chamber of Commerce presented him with the Black Chamber Life Award. He received the 2007 Keeping the Blues Alive award from the Monterey Blues Festival for his work supporting the Festival over the years.
Taliaferro also became renowned for his public service and his support for a host of causes and nonprofits. From 1992 to 2000 he served as a Trustee of the City’s War Memorial and Performing Arts Center, appointed by Mayor Frank Jordan. He served as President of the San Francisco Arts Commission for 16 years. He was the Board president of the Northern California Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America from 1995 until 2000, co-hosting the annual Cure-A-Thon fundraiser for the Society on KGO. He served as the president of the San Francisco chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) between 1968 and 1971, and was an early member of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Taliaferro was an accomplished musician and pianist, and an early San Francisco civil rights leader. While still in his teens, he was appointed music minister at San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church. He played the songs requested by Dr. Martin Luther King when King preached at Third Baptist, and Taliaferro led a mass choir performance for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference at the Cow Palace Arena. He conducted the First Baptist Choir in a performance of Handel’s Messiah, with the San Francisco Symphony. As public relations chair for the San Francisco NAACP, Taliaferro was a leader of the successful effort to integrate jobs on Van Ness Avenue’s Auto Row.
Taliaferro was reported missing by his wife on November 10, 2018 during a visit to Southern Illinois. He was found dead on December 2, a mile from where he was last seen, at 5 pm on November 10th, when he stopped in to visit the West End Baptist Church, in Paducah, Kentucky and then disappeared.
29th Annual Celebration of African American Poets and Their Poetry
Calling all African Diaspora poets to contribute and participate in the annual celebration of African American Poets and Their Poetry at West Oakland Library, Sat., Feb. 2, 2019, 1-4 p.m. in the West Auditorium, 1801 Adeline Street, 510-238-7352. If anyone would like to be a part of the featured program, please send the poem(s) you would like considered and/or bring the work to the rehearsal Jan. 19, 10-12 pm at the WOBL. The theme this year is Black Migrations; however, all themes are welcome. Send work to info@wandaspicks.com or mail to the WOBL.
Community Panel on Voter Rights
A Special Conversation on “How to Restore Our Rights,” Thursday, January 17, 7-9 PM
46,000 people are on parole in California— and we can’t vote! There are millions throughout the United States who are similarly disenfranchised.
Featured panelists are: Desmond Meade, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition; Taina Vargas-Edmond, Initiate Justice; Norris Henderson, Voice Of The Experienced – New Orleans; Dauras Cyprian, All of Us or None
7–9 P.M. • Thursday, January 17, 2019 in Booth Auditorium • U.C. Berkeley School of Law, 2778 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704
Join us in the East Bay Area for a discussion and strategy session—building on recent victories in Florida and Louisiana—on felony disenfranchisement, jury service, running for political office, and other rights we need restored in California.
For more info, contact AOUON Senior Organizer Dauras Cyprian: dauras@prisonerswithchildren.org 415.625.7051
Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute Concert
IN THE NAME OF LOVE: THE 17th Annual Musical Tribute honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. presents: “RHYTHM AND BLUES AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT,” Sunday, January 20th, 2019, 7pm- Oakland Scottish Rite Center. Tickets range from $25- $60 for advanced purchases.
Visit https://www.livingjazz.org/mlk-tix Door prices range from $30-$65. Discounted tickets for children 12 & under. All seating is assigned. Doors open at 6pm. There is limited wheel chair accessible seating on ground floor are available online or by calling 510-858-5313.
The Tribute features vocalists: Jeanie Tracy, Kev Choice, Ms. Faye Carol, Terrie Odabi, Alvon Johnson with Kev Choice, piano; Scott Thompson, bass; Daria Johnson, drums; Alvon Johnson, guitar
The Mistress of Ceremonies is Konda Mason, Co-Founder and Founding CEO of Impact Hub Oakland. The Oakland Citizen Humanitarian Award awardee is this year is, Tomika Perkins, Operation Dignity. All proceeds benefit the Living Jazz Children’s Project.
On the Fly:
Pickin on Hate Benefit For Trans Lifeline at Ashkanez Music and Dance Center, 1317 San Pablo Avenue, in Berkeley. Visit http://www.ashkenaz.com/ or call Trans Lifeline is a grassroots hotline and microgrants organization offering direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis – for the trans community, by the trans community. Also at Ashkanez: Dwight “Black Cat” Carrier and the Zydeco Ro Doggs plus Dance Lesson with Ted Sherrod, Tues., Jan. 8, 8-11 p.m.; Adama Bilorou Dembele, Friday, January 11, 2019 9:00 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. Dr. King Celebrations in San Francisco: https://sf.funcheap.com/mlk-jr-celebrations-free-museum-days/ Oakland Symphony presents: TO BELONG HERE: NOTES FROM THE AFRICAN DIASPORA, Friday, January 25, 2019, 8 pm at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. Paradise Square at Berkeley Rep.
Auction of African American Artifacts
“The John Silverstein Collection of African American Social History,” according to Dr. Cheryl Finley, Cornell University, “is the most comprehensive and voluminous collection of photographs and related materials of its kind ever to be offered for sale at public auction in North America. Amassed over a ten-year period, beginning in 2008, the year that the charismatic Illinois senator, Barack Obama, was elected the first African American President of the United States, the Silverstein Collection is distinguished by its historical breadth – spanning the nineteenth-century daguerreotype to the early twenty-first-century digital print – and its attention to the trials and triumphs of black life in America, through the lens of social and political activism, especially of the 1960s and 1970s. A life-long collector and self-styled hunter-gatherer, Toronto-based John Silverstein paired his deep interest in history with his passion for social justice as he painstakingly assembled this collection over the internet, through auction and private sale, using extensive research and meticulous documentation. The result is a treasure trove ripe with rare and iconic photographs, albums, posters, books and documents that tell the story of why African American social and cultural history is so vital, especially today.”
To participate in the auction which takes place January 15, 2019, at Heritage Auctions in Dallas. Visit the online catelog: https://historical.ha.com/c/search-results.zx?No=0&Ns=Lot+No%7C0&N=49+793+794+792+2088+4294948247
The Art of Living Black @ The Richmond Art Center January 15-March 8
Co-founded by the late Jan Hart-Schuyers and the late Rae Louise Hayward, The Art of Living Black is a non-juried group Exhibition featuring work by artists of African descent. The Exhibition is held at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, California, 510.620.6772, and is accompanied by a self-guided open studios tour and satellite exhibitions.
The 23rd Annual Art of Living Black is organized by TAOLB Steering Committee in partnership with the Richmond Art Center. The Art Of Living Black Steering Committee is a dedicated group of established Bay Area artists touched by the vision of founders Jan Hart-Shuyers and Rae Louise Hayward. The group’s mission is to preserve and expand the vision of their beloved founders by supporting emerging, mid-career and established artists of African descent.
Open Studios: Saturday and Sunday, February 23 & 24 and March 2 & 3, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
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Spotlight Artist Talk are Saturday, February 2, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 2, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Featured Speakers – Joyce Gordon and Christine Harris in Conversation: Saturday, February 9, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Late registration is available after December 20 through end of business day (5:00 pm) on January 3, 2019. Artists who register after December 29 may not receive a listing in the Open Studios Guide.
August Wilson’s Last Play Creates a Multi-City collaboration with Marin Theatre Company, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Ubuntu Theatre Company
From the late August Wilson, one of America’s greatest playwrights and creator of award-winning titles like Fences and Jitney, comes this autobiographical tour de force. In his one-man show, Wilson takes us on a journey through his days as a young poet: his first few jobs, a stint in jail, the support of his lifelong friends, and his encounters with racism, music, and love as a struggling writer in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. Originally performed by Wilson himself, How I Learned What I Learned is a heartfelt theatrical memoir—charting one man’s journey of self-discovery through adversity, and what it means to be a black artist in America.
Marin Theatre Company: January 10 – February 3
Lorraine Hansberry Theatre: February 14 – February 24
Ubuntu Theater Project: March 2019
PERFORMANCES
OPENING NIGHT: Tuesday, January 15, 2019 at 7:30PM (MTC)
OPENING NIGHT: Friday, February 15, 2019 (LHT)
Evenings
Tuesday – Sunday, 7:30pm (MTC)
Thursday – Saturday, 8:00pm (LHT)
Matinees
Sunday (Preview), January 13, at 4:00pm
Thursday (Perspectives), January 24, at 1:00pm
Saturday, January 19 & 26 and February 2 & 9, at 2:00pm
Sunday, January 20 & 27 and February 3, at 2:00pm
Sunday, February 17 & 24 at 3:00pm (LHT)
WHERE
Marin Theatre Company | 397 Miller Ave | Mill Valley, CA 94941, (415) 388-5208
Lorraine Hansberry Theatre | 762 Fulton St | San Francisco, CA 94102, (415) 474-8800
Ubuntu Theater Project | 2020 4th Street | Berkeley, CA 94710; info@ubuntutheaterproject.com
Dance
ALTERNATIVA presents: FRESH FESTIVAL 2019
San Francisco’s 10th Annual Festival of Experimental Dance, Music and Performance
Friday, January 4 at 8 pm; Friday, January 11 at 8 pm; Friday, January 18 at 8pm; Friday, January 25 at 8pm at JOE GOODE ANNEX, 401 Alabama Street #150, San Francisco, CA, 94110
PERFORMANCE tickets are available at http://joegoode.org/box-office/ or 415-561-6565. MORE INFO: www.freshfestival.org
FRESH Performances feature radical and risk-taking dance, music and performance makers utilizing the stage as a platform for embodied research and new material.
WEEKEND ONE, JANUARY 4 & 5
Sara Shelton Mann, Byb Kongo Bibene and Chrysa Parkinson
Physical and performative responses to personal identity, social influence, cultural perceptions and political phenomena.
WEEKEND TWO, JANUARY 11 & 12
Monique Jenkinson and Mica Sigourney, Amara Tabor Smith, Kinetech Arts and Kim Epifano/Epiphany Productions
A spectrum and spectacle of perspectives in regard to the human body, the female body, bodies of water, gender games and climate change.
WEEKEND THREE, JANUARY 18 & 19
NAKA Dance Theater, led by José Navarrete and Debby Kajiyama, with special guests, ProyectoCASĀ (Tijuana), The Oracle (Mexico City) and PaM (Guadalajara).
Projects about borders – of skin, of forms, of maps, of mediums, of walls and cages, of accessibility and invisibility
WEEKEND FOUR, JANUARY 25 & 26
20th Anniversary of ALTERNATIVA, with FAKE Company
Reckoning (World Premiere) created by ALTERNATIVA and FRESH Festival Artistic Director Kathleen Hermesdorf in collaboration with FAKE Company (Berlin). Reckoning engages in highly visual, deeply physical, viscerally sonic and rigorously human improvisation and devised material. The original sound score by Albert Mathias is enhanced by musical and verbal input by the performers.