Event Date: April 6, 2013
Time: 1:00pm – 4:00pm
Location: Merritt College 12500 Campus Dr, Oakland, California 94619
“Say it Loud, I’m Black & Proud, When I say BLACK I mean RED & BROWN”
The “Say it Loud, I’m Black & Proud, When I say Black I mean Red and Brown 2nd Town-hall” is sponsored by The Oscar Grant Foundation, Merritt College Puente Program, and Merritt College African-American Studies Program. The panel will discuss the issue of Police Brutality in our community, Community Unity as a defense to Police Brutality, Community Organizing, and how Gun Violence affect on our community.
The Town-hall will start with Native spiritual dance, Aztec Dancers, and African Libation.
Panel Members:
NATIVE COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVE:
Lakota Harden (Minnecoujou/Yankton Lakota and HoChunk) is an orator, activist, community organizer, workshop facilitator, radio host and poet. She has dedicated her life, as a daughter of seven generations of Lakota leaders, to liberation and justice. She has continued her activism over the years, working with the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), Women of All Red Nations (WARN) and the Black Hills Alliance. Harden began collaborating with the Oakland-based Todos Alliance-Building Institute and the Oakland Men’s Project. She conducts trainings nationwide for adults who work with youth, across lines of gender, race and age to stop violence. As part of these projects, Harden conducts workshops on unlearning racism, sexism and other social oppressions.
LATINO COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVE:
Minister Abel Muhammad has a unique insight into the issues of the Latino community, having served as director of Centro Sin Fronteras Immigrant Legal Assistance program, working for the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration’s voter education campaigns, and traveling to Cuba in 1995 with Rev. Lucius Walker and Pastors for Peace. He has spoken at churches, mosques, universities, and numerous panels about the need for the unity of oppressed people and the demand for social justice. Coordinating Latino outreach, Minister Abel helped organize Latino participation in the Millions More Movement in 2005.
HIP-HOP ARTIST REPRESENTATIVE:
Jasiri X As President of LYRICS Inc. (Leading Young Rappers in Career Success), Jasiri successfully navigates communication with today’s youth via speaking (and teaching to adults) the language of Hip Hop and showing the pros and cons of this growing phenomenon. He is also a founding member of One HOOD, a group comprised of strong black men determined to heal the wounds of the community with a proactive approach. A Hip-Hop artist and political activist, he brings to Hip-Hop a message of raw truth. Politics, classism, racism, and police brutality, is expressed poetically and powerfully through his lyrics.
OAKLAND COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVE:
Minister Keith Muhammad is a student Minister of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. He serves the Oakland community as representative of Minister Farrakhan at Muhammad Mosque #26B where he also established the Muhammad University of Islam, instructing children K-12 in history and religious studies. The murder of Oscar Grant inspired him to organize weekly town hall meetings to encourage the community to unite, fight, and stand for justice.
HIP-HOP RAPtivist REPRESENTATIVE:
Ras Ceylon Coming straight out of the West Coast (Bay Area & Southern California) Ras Ceylon is an emcee, educator and organizer bringing revolutionary music; a hip-hop meets reggae dynamic and explosively conscious lyrics. In addition to music, Ras Ceylon is an Oakland community activist working to empower youth on a number of issues around social justice and education. Also having worked and lived internationally in places such as Jamaica and Sri Lanka it is clear that Ras Ceylon lives the message he speaks about in his music.
http://rasceylon.blogspot.com/
TWITTER @RasCeylon
MUSIC http://rasceylon.bandcamp.com/
TUMBLR http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/ras%20ceylon
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ras-Ceylon/91677385259
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE:
Lubna Morrar– Palestinian Merritt College Student
Tim Killings President of Laney College BSU
Castlemont High School Students
Special Hip-Hop performance by Jasiri X and Ras Ceylon, Spoken Word performance by Jazz Monique Hudson
