Here’s an update for you from the ‘Black Arts Movement 27 City National Tour’ team:
Dear Mayor elect Libby Shaaf and Oakland
City Councilwomen Desley Brooks and Lynette Gibson McElhaney
On
behalf of the Black Arts Movement, we congratulate you all for
declaring support of the Black Arts Movement 50th Anniversary. Because of our role as artistic freedom fighters (Paul Robeson) we have often been marginalized, books banned, language censored, denied employment, especially by those in academia and other sectors of society who have taken on the role of culture police.
Your letters of
support indicates a level of understanding that we
appreciate. We are confident the City of Oakland will provide us with the necessary funding to make our Oakland celebration a success. We especially appreciate your call for age-appropriate Black Arts Movement literature in the schools. I must add, BAM literature must reach parents as well.
While
we have the BAM Isaiah 61 Project in partnership with
Paul Cobb and the Post News Group, and will make every effort to provide literature to the incarcerated, we agree with Paul, "Crack a book before you are booked for Crack!" We know BAM literature can inspire our children with cultural consciousness, purpose and direction as they navigate their perilous mental landscape, not to mention this world full of pitfalls and land mines they must overcome.
Your endorsement of
the Black Arts Movement District
along 14th Street is outstanding. Growing up on 7th Street in West Oakland, along with Paul Cobb, we feel the creation of a BAM District would allow Oakland's North American Africans to experience the culture and art we enjoyed on 7th Street, Harlem of the West.
Trust me, your letters of support should silence the doubters
that such a project will be realized in their lifetime.
Sincerely,
Marvin X. Jackmon, M.A.
Project Director
BAM 27 City Tour
 Mayor Elect Libby Schaaf endorsesThe Black Arts Movement  BAM Executive Board Member Conway Jones with Mayor Elect Libby Schaaf “Oakland is lucky to have an incredibly talented and diverse art community. The African American Arts Movement is a vital, historically significant part of the Oakland Arts Community. With its focus on justice, equality, and self-realization, the message of black artists is crucial to support. From rage to celebration, art allows expression, and expression is essential to a community as varied as Oakland. The recent 1% for Public Art that I authored ensures that new art will be a priority in Oakland in the future. I agree with Post Publisher Paul Cobb that BAM 50th Anniversary celebration should encompass all cultural genres: visual, literary, and performance. Age-appropriate books for African American students about the Black Arts Movement will literally bring the lesson home for families to share and aspire to.”
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St. Louis Rams players show solidarity with Ferguson protesters
The most memorable thing about the St. Louis Rams on Sunday may not be their brutal 52-to-0 shellacking of the Oakland Raiders.
When the Missouri-based NFL team entered Sunday’s game some players symbolically recreated the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” rallying cry of Ferguson protesters who have been active in that city since the police shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, on August 9.
Supporters of Brown have maintained that he had his hands up and was surrendering when Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed him. Wilson and Ferguson authorities dispute that account, claiming that Brown attacked police and posed a deadly threat that day. A grand jury chose not to indict Wilson in the death of Brown last week and the officer has since decided to resign from the police department.
On Sunday, Rams stars Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin, Jared Cook, Chris Givens, and Kenny Britt all participated in the action,
as they exited their home field tunnel to start the game. This is not
the first time a Rams home game has been the site for activism on behalf
of Brown. At a Rams-49ers Monday Night Football game in October protesters unfurling signs which read: “Black Lives Matter”
These Rams players’ show of solidarity was reminiscent of when Miami Heat players posed in hoodies to honor Trayvon Martin back in 2012. When the Los Angeles Clippers wanted to display their displeasure with their owner, Donald Sterling, after racist remarks he’d made privately went viral earlier this year, they purposely wore their warm-up shirts inside out and discarded their team jackets in the center of the court.
In the wake of the grand jury decision in the Brown case, a number of professional athletes have expressed their outrage via social media. New Orleans Saints’ tight end Benjamin Watson penned an open letter this week on the topic which was posted to Facebook and quickly went viral.
“I’M ANGRY because the stories of injustice that have been passed down for generations seem to be continuing before our very eyes,” Watson wrote. He added that he was frustrated by pop culture’s glorification of confrontations between police and citizens,” he wrote. “I’M FEARFUL because in the back of my mind I know that although I’m a law abiding citizen I could still be looked upon as a ‘threat’ to those who don’t know me. So I will continue to have to go the extra mile to earn the benefit of the doubt.”
When the Missouri-based NFL team entered Sunday’s game some players symbolically recreated the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” rallying cry of Ferguson protesters who have been active in that city since the police shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, on August 9.
Supporters of Brown have maintained that he had his hands up and was surrendering when Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed him. Wilson and Ferguson authorities dispute that account, claiming that Brown attacked police and posed a deadly threat that day. A grand jury chose not to indict Wilson in the death of Brown last week and the officer has since decided to resign from the police department.
RELATED: Why we can’t feel black men’s pain
These Rams players’ show of solidarity was reminiscent of when Miami Heat players posed in hoodies to honor Trayvon Martin back in 2012. When the Los Angeles Clippers wanted to display their displeasure with their owner, Donald Sterling, after racist remarks he’d made privately went viral earlier this year, they purposely wore their warm-up shirts inside out and discarded their team jackets in the center of the court.
In the wake of the grand jury decision in the Brown case, a number of professional athletes have expressed their outrage via social media. New Orleans Saints’ tight end Benjamin Watson penned an open letter this week on the topic which was posted to Facebook and quickly went viral.
“I’M ANGRY because the stories of injustice that have been passed down for generations seem to be continuing before our very eyes,” Watson wrote. He added that he was frustrated by pop culture’s glorification of confrontations between police and citizens,” he wrote. “I’M FEARFUL because in the back of my mind I know that although I’m a law abiding citizen I could still be looked upon as a ‘threat’ to those who don’t know me. So I will continue to have to go the extra mile to earn the benefit of the doubt.”
