Poetry, prayers, protest against gentrification and displacement planned for MLK Day

OG-Rev-0120-1, Poetry, prayers, protest against gentrification and displacement planned for MLK Day, Culture Currents

by Rev. Harry Williams

The plight of the unhoused in the San Francisco Bay Area has reached catastrophic proportions in recent years. Homeless shelters are filled to capacity. Children sleep in the back seats of abandoned cars. Babies run barefoot through tent cities. At the same time, median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco has risen to $3,600.

On Martin Luther King Day, Monday, Jan. 20, 2020, at 10:00 a.m., noted Bay Area grassroots leaders will host a protest rally at the Oakland City Church to highlight this issue.

Come, hear some of the Bay Area’s most prominent voices on the issue of housing justice: Tongo Eisen-Martin, poet, movement worker, and educator; Candice Elder, founder and CEO of East Oakland Collective; Benjamin Bac Sierra, professor at City College of San Francisco and San Francisco Mission District activist; Dr. Cesar Cruz, founder and director of Homies Empowerment; Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia, founder of Poor Magazine and Homefulness, revolutionary lecturer, journalist, poet and organizer; Nita B, organizer of the Bay Area Intifada and spokesperson for the Village; Aquiela M. Lewis-Ross, poet; Mattie Johnson, Gospel singer and anti-human trafficking activist; and Rev. Harry Louis Williams, aka “O.G. Rev,” author, community organizer and activist.

Community members will have the opportunity to meet, communicate and strategize over lunch at the conclusion of the service. The cost? FREE!

Oakland City Church is located at 2735 MacArthur Boulevard at the corner of Coolidge Avenue in Oakland.

On Dr. King Day, Jan. 20, 2020, come listen to those who are throat deep in the struggle for human dignity. There will be no power brokers or apologists – just the people.

For more information, write to bayfreedomring@yahoo.com or call Rev. Harry Williams at 510-508-4888. Visit his website, at www.theogrev.com.