![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Max Rameau
Takes Back the Land! Tour
Miami housing takeovers and defenses
Presentation and book signing
Portland State University
Friday, Nov. 13, 2009
6-8pm
With performances by
Mic Crenshaw
Walidah Imarisha of Good Sista/Bad Sista
FREE
All ages
Wheelchair accessible
Portland State University
Smith Memorial Union
1825 SW Broad way
Rm. 296 (second floor)
Portland, OR
Because housing is a right not a privilege!
Sponsored by PSU’s Black Studies, PSU’s Sociology Department, KBOO Radio, Th ePortland Housing Center
Max Rameau is the founder of the Miami-based organization Take Back the Land. In 2006, the organization seized control of a vacant and built a shantytown called Umoja Village. In 2007, when Miami had (and still has) the second highest foreclosure rate in the country, Max and Take Back the Land began a campaign of taking over bank-owned foreclosed homes and moving homeless families into them. Take Back the Land and Max Rameau have been featured in countless stories including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Mother Jones Magazine, CNN, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, Fox News and PBS' NOW program. And in Michael Moore’s newest film Capitalism: A Love Story. Take Back the Land specifically addresses issues of housing, race, land and self-determination
Other Presentations:
Portland Community College- Cascade
Thursday, Nov. 12
12 -1:30 pm
Moriarty Arts/Humanities Bldg, Rm. 104
705 N Killingsworth St.
Portland, OR
Oregon State University
Thursday, Nov. 12
7 pm
Location TBA
Corvallis, OR
Clark College
Friday, Nov. 13
11am to 1pm
Gaiser Student Center
1933 Fort Vancouver Way
Vancouver, WA
Portland State University
Friday, Nov. 13
SEE ABOVE
Portland Community College – Sylvania
Monday, Nov 16
1-3 pm
College Center, Cedar Room
12000 SW 49th Ave.
Portland, OR
University of Washington
Monday, Nov. 16
Location and Time TBA
Seattle, WA
Portland Community College – Rock Creek
Tuesday, Nov. 17
12-1-30 pm
Building 3, Rm 114
17705 NW Springville Rd.
Portland, OR
University of Oregon
Tuesday, Nov. 17
Time and Location TBA
Eugene, OR
Greetings All:
Got a little time this weekend? Why not show your support for the release of Sundiata Acoli by sending a letter to the NJ Parole Board. We've made it easy providing a sample letter below. All you have to do is take a moment and send it in.
AND SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/pa
Link it on your facebook
Don't underestimate how important your letters are. NJ police agencies are already on their job and we can't let this opportunity to support Sundiata slip by us. Here's a few talking points to get you started:
Letters that are especially useful are
1) Letters from New Jersey (but letters from EVERYWHERE are great)
2) Letters offering housing or work to Sundiata (he has both taken care of, but it will be impressive to the parole board to know the offers are being made)
3) Letters offering housing or work for Sundiata IN NEW YORK CITY
PLEASE MAIL YOUR LETTERS TO SAFC ATTORNEY:
Atty. Florence Morgan
120-46 Queens Blvd., Kew Gardens, NY 11415.
It is important we keep a record of the number of letters that are sent and the diversity among supporters of his release. SAFC will make a copy and forward letters to the board.
Feel free to personalize your letters with a brief introduction about who you are/what you do.
Please note also police agencies consistently refer to Sundiata as a domestic terrorist. Letters should also refute this claim by stating he is no threat to public safety but rather a beloved member of the community who is sorely missed. Letters to the parole board MUST refrain from describing Sundiata as a political prisoner.
Sundiata appreciates you! We do too!
If you have any questions, email us at TheSAFC@gmail.com.
Asante Sana! (Many Thanks)
___ Sample letter _________
Oct. 10, 2009
Chairwoman Volette C. Ross
New Jersey State Parole Board
P.O. Box 862
Trenton NJ 08625
Chairwoman Ross:
I am writing this letter concerning Sundiata Acoli, NJ#54859/Fed#39794-066, who is eligible for parole February of 2010. I strongly encourage you to grant his parole request.
Sundiata’s age is a strong reason to grant parole. In January 2010, Sundiata will be 73 years old. He has been incarcerated for 36 years and has served his sentence. Elderly prisoners’ recidivism rates are extremely low and they are highly unlike to commit a crime once released. In addition, elderly prisoners require more intensive medical care to remain healthy, which is an added cost to the prison system.
Sundiata’s prison record has been impeccable. Not only has he not had any violations or write-ups in decades, he is a talented painter, writer and educator. He has worked with high school and college classes across the country, providing information and insight, as well as providing support to other prisoners who want to further their education.
Sundiata himself has a very impressive educational and work background, having worked at NASA in the 1960s as a computer program. He left that job to travel to the South to register Blacks to vote during the Civil Rights movement.
Sundiata has expressed remorse for his involvement in the circumstance that has led to his incarceration. I believe with all of my heart that if he is released, he will be an asset to the community, one that is sorely needed.
Sundiata is a father and a grandfather, and his greatest desire is to get to watch his grandchildren grow up. Please help fulfill that desire.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Sincerely,
Up there now are our first two episodes, talking the idea of being post-racial, and the issues of housing, homelessness and race.
Our next show will air Oct. 23rd at 8 am at 90.7 FM KBOO radio, and we'll be speaking with award winning director Vagabond about his film Machetero and the ideas of terrorism, liberation, and art.
Good Sista/Bad Sista: Talking Mess airs the second and fourth Friday of every month 8-9 am on KBOO 90.7 FM or www.kboo.org.
Fri. 8/14: 8am-9am
Share
Have you ever wondered what it might be like if Good Sista/ Bad Sista had their own talk radio show?!
Well the two of us have wondered too! And this week will be our pilot hour for what we are considering as a twice a month endeavor. Show your love and support by tuning in!
We will even be taking phone calls.
Good Sist a/ Bad Sista: Talking Mess
Pilot Episode- Friday August 14th: 8am-9am
KBOO FM 90.7 Portland, OR
For our first installment we will be talking about our so-called "Post-Race America."
With recent events like Henry Louis Gates being arrested at his own home and hip-hop's Lil' Wayne recording a song called "Whip it like a Slave," are we really post race?"
History of the Black Panther Party
BST 411/511 CRN 14123/14124
Tuesdays 5:30 – 9:10 pm
Introduction to Race, Class and Gender
BST 207 001/CRN 14122
Tuesdays/Thursdays 12 – 1:50 pm
Lane Community College Peace Conference
Saturday May 30th, 2009
at the Cosmic Pizza
199 W 8th Ave; Eugene, OR
1:45-3:15 PM Walidah Imarisha & Turiya Autrya of Good Sista, Bad Sista – Arts and Activism workshop
5:00 - 6:00 PM Walidah Imarisha & Turiya Autrya of Good Sista, Bad Sista – “Performance Poetry for Social Change”
Conference general admission
Saturday General Admission $20.00
Saturday Student Admission $10.00
FRIDAY FREE TO All STUDENTS
SCHOLARSHIPS BASED UPON NEED, AVAILABLE TO ALL
FOR COMPLETE CONFERENCE INFORMATION, TICKET PURCHASE & REGISTRATION GO TO: www.lanecc.edu/peacecenter
Walidah Imarisha www.walidah.com www.goodsistabadsista.com
Race and the History of Incarceration
Summer Term/ 8 weeks
CRN 82989 BST 410 005
Wednesdays 5:30 - 9:10 pm
We will look at the history of incarceration in this country, through the lens of race and racism, starting with the beginnings of the prison system and police force and the connections between slavery and the Reconstruction period. We will come up through the years, focusing on prison as a means of social control for people of color and poor people, from Civil Rights to Black Power to the Reagan era. We will end by exploring grassroots responses and alternatives to the prison industrial complex, locally and globally.
Hip Hop Literature
Summer Term/ 8 weeks
CRN 82192 BST 410 004
Tues/Thurs 2:15 - 4:30 pm
This class will explore several novels and short stories of hip hop literature, including Paul Beatty’s White Boy Shuffle and Adam Mansbach’s Angry Black White Boy . We will analyze and examine the work through the lens of hip hop aesthetics, as well as through the lens of the history of hip hop, gender relations and the history of racial realities in the United States.
I hope that folks will be able to make it to support the youth, the organization and damnit, support me too!
Lovethrustruggle
Walidah
The Bad Sista
Organizing People Activating Leaders (OPAL) Fundraiser
Location:
The Laurelhurst Club
3721 Southeast Ankeny St.
Portland, OR 97214 US
When:
Thursday, May 21, 6:00PM
Please join us for an evening of celebration in support of OPAL programs and organizing work in the community!
The evening's festivities feature:
* spoken word performances from De La Salle High School students involved in the OPAL Voice For Empowerment program
* Performance poetry dynamic duo: Good Sista Bad Sista
http://www.goodsistabadsista.com/
* Yummy food and beverages, brew and excellent company!
Suggested donation is $5-$10 at the door.
We are looking forward to seeing you all there!
www.opalpdx.org
Protest for Mumia
Saturday, April 11, 2009
10 am
Pioneer Courthouse Square
Downtown Portland
more information at http://mumia.justfree.com
Award winning journalist/radio commentary/ political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal’s appeal to the US Supreme Court for a new guilt phase trial was denied April 6, 2009.
Abu-Jamal's appeal was based primarily on the US Supreme Court's 1986 "Batson v Kentucky" ruling which stated that a defendant deserves a new trial if it can be shown that the prosecutor used peremptory strikes to remove otherwise qualified jurors simply because of their race. At Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial, prosecutor Joseph McGill used 10 or 11 of his 15 strikes to remove otherwise acceptable black jurors.
Please come out to protest this gross miscarriage of justice, an injustice which is based in part on race and on Mumia’s unwavering and eloquent challenging of injustice around the world.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
10 am
Pioneer Courthouse Square
Downtown Portland
(flyer attached)
The US Supreme Court has not yet decided whether it will further consider the Philadelphia DA's appeal of the 2001/2008 rulings of two lower courts, which ruled that Abu-Jamal deserves a new sentencing hearing if the death penalty is to be re-instated. If the US Supreme Court rules in favor of the DA, Abu-Jamal can then be executed WITHOUT a new sentencing hearing.
Read more at: http://www.phillyimc.org/en/us-supr
Radio interview with Mumia in response to ruling:
http://www.prisonradio.org/mumia_interv
www.freemumia.org
It was really funny for me to be back in a high school auditorium too, watching a play. I haven't done that since I was in high school. Visions of Arsenic and Old Lace, which is the play I remember them putting on, filled my head, as my ass was flattened by the hard wooden seat. And that too was familiar. It was nice to go and know some of the teachers and some of the other students in the audience as well, just to be part of that community.
This has been one of the busiest terms I can remember, but definitely one of the most fulfilling. I realized that from now until June, there are so many culminations coming together for me. It's the culmination of my graduate degree (I just sent a rough draft of my completed manuscript to my advisor - fingers crossed for me that he won't make me do too much editing!), my teaching at the college level.
It's so strange to me that I am moving close to two years back in Portland. It doesn't feel like that long since I left Philly, and yet Philly seems so very far away. I just spoke on the phone with my good friend Sham from Philly, and we realized it had been at least a year since we had spoken in the flesh... A year... I remember when I was 11, a year was forever. It really does seem like the years move more quickly. I guess because I've lived more, they start to pour by - a year isn't so very much compared to 30 other years.
But this was a very good term, in terms of classes. The students I was able to work with, at the college, elementary school and the high school, are just phenomenal, really engaged and interested and committed, at all the different levels.
Now I am preparing for the class I teach in spring, Hurricane Katrina, just organizing my readings and reviewing, and getting ready. I hope it is a powerful class - I know it will be a heavy one. We ended in the prison class with students doing presentations about alternatives to incarceration, researching community programs and organizations. It seemed a positive way to end, a hopeful way. In the sci fi class, we had the students rewrite the end to the film Children of Men. They wrote such brilliant and insightful and thoughtful worlds, worlds that see more than just a lone white man as the hero. I hope to be able to end on a hopeful note with the Hurricane Katrina class, though I have to admit right now, I am not seeing so much of the hope myself...
Mumia also mentions the Human Rights Coalition, Fed-Up chapter, an amazing organization with several chapters in Pennsylvania that I was honored to be a member of when I was in Philly.
It was down in Eugene, Oregon, at the University of Oregon. Steve Morozumi who is the coordinator of the Multicultural Center there (big big ole props to Steve for holding it down so hard and so well for folks of color in Oregon!) hit Turiya and I up a little over a week ago and asked us if we wanted to perform on this bill. Of course we said hells yeah -- the funny thing was, I was already planning on being in Eugene this weekend to see my friends down that way, so it was definitely meant to be.
Unfortunately, Turiya got hella sick and so we couldn't do our Good Sista/Bad Sista thang but I rolled down on my own, got to hang out with my beautiful friends there (much love, Bay, Joy, Nik and Alicia!) and did the show. It was so incredible! I performed first of course. I always get nervous before a performance, I think it keeps a performer honest. But I was hella nervous, cause it's been a minute since I performed a full set for myself, and cause I knew that Umar and Boots were there.
I finished and felt good, the audience was giving a lot of beautiful energy. I walked off, and Umar was up next, but he said he wasn't going until we got another poem from me! Having one of the progenitors of hip hop and someone who I have listened to since i was 14 say that they wanted to hear another one of my poems was such an honor.
And of course Umar's set was incredible, it was so powerful to see this voice that I have known for a decade manifested in a person, spitting some beautiful poetry and some realness. Then Boots got up and did an acoustic set with an amazing guitarist Steve. I have seen a lot of Coup shows, and each one is different: dj, band, at a rally, and now acoustic. It was fun and beautiful.
Afterwards, there was a panel discussion with the three of us (and most folks stuck around for it! Crazy!) After I sat down, I looked to my left and saw Umar, who inspired me to even think of being a poet, and then on my right was Boots, who I consider one of the best lyricists in hip hop, and I was just speechless. And yall know that doesn't happen a lot!
Afterwards we all went out to dinner, the performers, the student organizers, our friends. It was amazing to be at a table with all these folks, and my friends who I have known since I was 14 or 15. Umar was asking how we all knew each other, and when we told him we met in high school, he said it was powerful that we were still all friends. And I realized how true that was, how much I have changed and how my friends have changed, and that we still find common ground and joy being with each other, and we all appreciated what an amazing incredible night it was.
Boots from the Coup, me looking so damn happy, Umar from the Last Poets, Steve from the Coup, Steve from the U of O
This workshop with them is actually the kind of opportunity I have been dreaming of having for years - working with a small dedicated group of talented smart students on a consistent ongoing basis where we get to explore social issues through writing. Just had to give up the idea of getting paid for it! =) For reals though it really did remind me how lucky I am to get to do this work, and to connect with such amazing folks.
It's part of a freedom school series called Why We Rage, and we will be performing with Boots from the Coup and Umar bin Hassan from the Last Poets! There will be a discussion after the performance. We just found out about it but I'm so excited, I think it'll be an incredible night!
Why We Rage
SATURDAY, Feb. 28th
5 -7:30 p.m.
featuring
Boots Riley from the rap group The Coup
Umar bin Hassan from The Last Poets
Good Sista/Bad Sista (Turiya Autry and Walidah Imarisha)
discussion after the performance
Snacks/refreshments provided!
Mills International Center
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
For more information, 541- 346- 4321 or stevenm@uoregon.edu
Walidah Imarisha www.walidah.com www.goodsistabadsista.com
It has been interesting this time… I feel a lot less invested. Call it senioritis, but maybe it’s also that the rest of my life is really taking me where I want to go. Even though I sometimes feel overwhelmed and stressed by all I do, everything I do, from teaching at the college to teaching fourth graders to high school, to performing, to writing, are all things that I love to do. I am feeling much more settled in my real life. I feel like I have a lot of what I have been searching for, and like the protaganist from The Alchemist, it was in front of me the whole time, I just wasn’t ready to see it yet.
What I’m working on now a lot of is vulnerability in my writing. As a performance poet, I tell a lot of personal things about myself. But they are often sanitized. As we all know, autobiography is often as much a creation as a novel, because not only is memory selective, we choose what sides of ourselves we want to share and show. I think I’m really struggling with being vulnerable when every sentence is hard to write, when it is a reality or a history or a part of you you would rather not see at all. Sharing something that is messy, that you haven’t processed or made peace with, that still wakes you up screaming in the night.
Our theme for this residency is aesthetic ambition. Which I didn’t really understand what the fuck that meant. It was interesting because we had the keynote address today, given by three different faculty and they all had really different conceptions of it. My advisor Matthew Shenoda was one of them, and really gave this powerful idea of pushing ourselves to understand the context and the history of our work, and that we are not divorced from the world but rather the world speaks through us, or, more poignantly, we have the opportunity to perhaps reshape and re-envision the world through our work. It’s really powerful to see him in the context of going to school here at Goddard, which is really as somewhere here said a “post hippie” experience. It’s sort of hippie means critic, and all of it conspires to erase the politicized ramifications and realities of the world we live in. I mean, I have continually pushed the idea here that who you are and your position is the world is directly related to what you write, and also how people see you.
Matthew mentioned that in his keynote, the idea that as a writer of color, you are fundamentally seen as suspect, as not objective, of having a hidden agenda lurking behind, and if you discuss issues of power and humanity, it confirms everyone’s idea that you are not “objective.” Objectivity of course being the sole purview of white men. One of the other faculty members, Neil Landau, was talking about this screenwriter Dave Kemp, I guess whose written a lot of big blockbuster movies like Jurassic Park and Spiderman. Someone had asked a question about mainstream appeal and how do you market the marketable in essence. Neil started off his response by saying that Dave was a white heterosexual man who was married with two kids. And he didn't follow that train of thought, but I thought it was an interesting response, the idea that he would reference Dave’s identity to prove that he was “normal” and therefore accessible to the “mainstream.” Which means the rest of us are not mainstream. But honestly, how many white heterosexual middle and upper class married men with two kids are there out there? Especially when we look at a global context? And why have we let them define themselves in that way? And why do we never question the idea of what the “mainstream” wants, or even who it is? I mean, I know why, but I just think we so rarely raise those questions, and so rarely think about different alternatives and realities where these things don’t have to be a fact.
Fact is another thing I have been struggling with. Before I came to Goddard, I felt like I clearly knew the difference between fiction and nonfiction. I feel now that those definitions are a stack of cards I’ve thrown up in the air. When is telling a story fabricating a story? When is a story based on real life retelling real life? the difference between authenticity and lying, the idea that there is a greater truth beyond the facts. We had a brief discussion about Margaret Seltzer’s book Love and Consequences, in which she purported to be a white woman raised by a foster family in the middle of the hood by black folks, and then it turned out that that was complete bullshit and she was some privileged white girl raised in a cushy suburb. But that book was huge, and (white) people loved it. Because it felt true to them. It supported their truth of race relations and reality. It was a fucked up book not just because she lied, but because she was inauthentic, because the black people she created were completely unbelievable, because it didn’t speak to a larger truth. But what does it mean that so many white people were able to accept that portrayal as true, to never question it?
For Immediate Release: Hip-Hop Will Not Tolerate Racism!
A Musical Response to the Shameful Actions of “Sheriff Joe”
Contact: Jill Garvey (jill@newcomm.org)
Center for New Community
312-266-0319 or 773-787-6353 (mobile)
On Tuesday, February 10, 2009 the Hip-Hop community, represented by artists both local and national, will lift our voices to call for an end to the ongoing racist attacks on Maricopa County residents. Join us at the Stray Cat 2433 E. University Drive, Tempe, AZ at 8pm for “Stop the Circus! (Fight for Tolerance, Stop Arpaio)”. The event will feature renowned musical artists from Chicago, Detroit, and New York in addition to local artists (bios below). There will also be statements of support read on behalf of many national/international luminaries that are closely monitoring the situation in Maricopa County.
On Wednesday, February 4, 2009 in a shocking display of anti-immigrant racism, the man who calls himself the "Toughest Sheriff in America" publicly chained and paraded 220 immigrant detainees through a gauntlet of media cameras from the Maricopa county jail to outdoor tents. The immigrants housed in the “tent city” will be surrounded by electrified fencing and subject to different disciplinary standards than other prisoners. Disobedience of Sheriff Joe’s “tent city” rules is punishable by chain-gang labor; eerily reminiscent of totalitarian regimes.
These detainees were singled out for public humiliation, and segregated from other inmates simply because of their race. These antics are not the exception, but rather the rule in dealing with the issue of immigration under the reign of “Sheriff Joe”. According to the Immigration Policy Center, “Over the past year and a half, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio…has transformed his police department into an immigration-enforcement agency…”, and upwards of 2,700 lawsuits have been filed against Arpaio for civil rights violations. Arpaio is quickly turning an embarrassing situation for Arizona into a national spectacle. At a time when many feel as though our nation is turning crucial corners on the issue of race relations, Joe Arpaio and the actions of his police force are keeping us chained to an era rife with racial profiling, xenophobia, and brutality.
"Any time you treat people differently for no reason, you…violate rights. We treat people equally in America…" -- Mary Rose Wilcox; Maricopa County Supervisor
"You're…giving the message that it's OK to treat them like circus animals. He didn't have to make a spectacle. He could've moved them on buses." -- Alessandra Soler Meetze; Executive Director of ACLU of Arizona
“Parading shackled detainees for public viewing is disgusting. The dire situation in Arizona is a shameful insult to the democratic freedoms of this country, and should draw cries of outrage from anyone who values the sacrifices our nation has made in the face of oppression.” –Verbal Kent; Gravel Records Recording Artist
Performers (All performers will be made available to media):
One Be Lo (Subteraneous/Fat Beats)
An excellent performer, at any given moment you might find his calendar booked with shows all over the U.S. and even overseas. He' has performed major festivals, hosted and shared the stage with artists such as Rakim, KRS-One, Wu-Tang, Ludacris, Lupe Fiasco, Dead Prez, and Immortal Technique, to name a few. For 3 years He's performed on the Vans Warped Tour, a mostly Rock tour, and he's performed throughout the B-Boy circuit.
Wordsworth (EMC)
Wordsworth is an underground Hip-Hop MC from Brooklyn, and a graduate of the State University of New York College at Old Westbury. Wordsworth recorded with his partner Punchline on A Tribe Called Quest's The Love Movement and on Mos Def and Talib Kweli's Black Star. He was also involved in the critically acclaimed MTV comedy sketch series Lyricist Lounge. He made his solo debut in September 2004 with Mirror Music. He also featured in a Slam Bush music video where he's Hip-Hop "battling" a nervous George W. Bush. Words is a member of the supergroup eMC, alongside Masta Ace, Punchline and Strick.
Verbal Kent
Verbal Kent has been recording and performing Hip-Hop music since 1998. He has released three solo albums, "What Box" (2003), "Move With the Walls" (2006), and "Fist Shaking" (2008). He is set to release his fourth opus entitled "Brave New Rap" on April 1st, 2009. For a decade Verbal has toured and shared the stage with Hip-Hop Legend's KRS-1, Redman, GZA, The Pharcyde, Sadat X, Cypress Hill, Boot Camp Click, and De La Soul. He has also performed alongside Rap's next generation, artists such as Sean Price, Ill Bill, Little Brother, Atmosphere, Mr Lif, Akrobatik, and many more. Kent has toured the U.S. and several European countries, including the UK, France, and Germany. Over the years he has been involved in events to help the community, fundraising and lending his services to humanitarian organizations such as Chances by Choice and The Chicago Alliance to Help Homelessness. Verbal Kent is currently the coordinator of the Center for New Community's Hip Hop Project, building coalitions in Phoenix and Chicago to respond to anti-immigrant activities that threaten multiracial communities.
Also Performing:
-G-Owens, Fiyah Station, Nobuddie, Bliss-
Writers Bench: Hosted by Wild Life Refuge
+special guests
“It’s Bigger than Hip-Hop!”—dead prez
-end-
Hurricane Katrina
BST 411/511 CRN 64412
Spring 2009
Portland State University
Black Studies Department
Tuesdays 5:30 – 9:10 pm
Instructor: Walidah Imarisha
This course will explore the situation in the Gulf Region in connection to Hurricane Katrina, focusing on New Orleans. Students will be challenged to explore Katrina as an “unnatural disaster,” looking through the lenses of race, class and gender inequality. A brief survey of the history of the region will explore one survivor’s statement that “It has been a state of emergency down here for about 500 years; you all are just noticing now.” We will end the class looking at local work to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Region.
So I decided to be spontaneous and Friday night I drove the hour and a half up to Olympia WA after the high school class I teach, to see my family Gabriel Teodros perform at not one but two shows. Even though I got home at 2 am and was hella tired, it was so the right thing to do. Gabe sent me the sweetest text the next day, which said, "Walidah you hella make my heart sing." I feel the same way every time I get to see Gabe perform or spend time with the brother. He is one of the most thoughtful, sweetest and most talented artists I know, and his music seriously just puts a smile on my face, whether I'm in the front row at a show, or driving around in my car. And plus he was also performing with Canary Sings at both shows, who are a hip hop sista duo who know how to lay it down and who bring so much energy to their shows, it was just awesome to watch.
The first show was at Evergreen College at a fundraiser for a dope program they run in WA in a juvenile jail, so the youth can do art and writing and work on self determination. Which was powerful. But the way the fundraiser happened was a "do over prom," and it was a little freaky when I walked in. For those of you not from the northwest who don't know the reputation of Evergreen, all I can say is the room smelt overwhelmingly of patchouli and the first person I saw was wearing tinfoil and glow sticks, and nothing else... That's all I'll say. That and I was one of three brown people in the audience. And they hassled me when I came in, until they realized I knew the performers. But Gabe and Canary Sings laid it down like professionals, I was hella proud of them, cause I don't know if I coulda done it.
The second show was like night and day though. It was across town in Olympia in this warehouse space, and it was a screening of Slingshot Hip Hop, a documentary about hip hop in Palestine, and a performance form artists who had been on tour. It was packed and people were so into the message and the reason of being there, standing in solidarity with the peoples of Palestine, standind up against the genocide, apartheid and occupation that is happening. And I got to see this dope poet Mark Gonzalez, who I haven't seen in like six or seven years, since this political spoken word tour called the End-Dependence tour. It's so great to be able to make those connections, and to see the good work people do, and how it all links up.
So I bounced back to Portland after that show, and though it was late and I was sleepy, I was riding high on the energy from the shows, and from the homey Gabe, so I was wide awake. The next morning, not so much. But I chugged some coffee and made it work, cause my oldest friend Bayla came up with her amazing brilliant adorable three year old daughter to visit from Eugene. We went to the science museum here OMSI, which has a whole crazy kids' room, with shit I wanted to play with, as a grown ass person! We were there for two hours, and Bayla's daughter didn't get to even a fourth of the stuff they had there. It was really amazing. And since there was so much to do, kids were pretty chill with each other, and there was very little fighting or crying... until it came time to leave and you had to drag them out of there! But it was so amazing to get to reconnect with Bayla, who is one of my supports who keeps me going, and who I don't get to see nearly enough.
All in all, it was an incredible weekend, I mean, how could it not be, moving from Cornel West, to Palestinian hip hop to best friends? Now all I gotta do is catch up on all the work I slacked on...
And thanks to Dalton, head of the Black Studies Department, I got to go to the reception for Cornel beforehand. Now, as a bad sista, I don't mingle well, and small talk is beyond my grasp. Turiya is the person who after performing people gravitate towards, I more stand in the corner looking surly. So this was a challenge for me. But it was great, there were a ton of folks, even two people I knew from various projects around town, and it was just nice to see so many black folks in one place in Portland!
Then Dalton came over and took me to Cornel, and introduced me. Cornel shook my hand and asked what I taught, and when I said I was teaching a class called Race and the History of Incarceration, he said, "I'm going to have to shake your hand again for that sista!" He was incredibly personable, and gracious and down to earth. His energy actually reminded me of Sonia Sanchez', just the way they both take such care and pay such attention to the person they are interacting with, not at all like they are this well known figure, but as if they are looking to learn and grow from their encounter with you. It's really beautiful to see.
And an amazing surprise too, the gospel choir at the high school I teach at performed before he spoke, and I knew several of the students, including Leandra, who started the environmental justice/spoken word group that I facilitate! It was my first time seeing her sing, and she had the solo, and she was incredible and phenomenal. I actually started crying, I was just so proud and so thankful for her, and for the energy of the people I've gotten to meet teaching.
Cornel spoke for more than an hour but it didn't feel that way. He has to be one of the most incredible orators I have ever seen. His cadence, pacing, elocution were just extraordinary. Again he reminded me of Sonia Sanchez, in that when I've heard both of them speak, my first thought is, "How do yall make everything that comes out of your mouth sound like prophetic poetry?" Truly amazing, and again his genuineness seemed so sincere and so urgent. I didn't agree with everything he said, and our politics are very different, but I respect greatly the work that he is doing.
And it was just good to be out. I realized with my hectic schedule, teaching four different classes at three different places and finishing up my own school, I take what little down time I have to lay in bed and watch a movie. But I was telling my friend Raymond on the phone tonight, this was a very different and in many ways much more satisfying reinvigoration of my energy than taking a nap or watching a mindless movie. I need to push myself to do it more often, and I'm just so lucky to have been given this opportunity.
