Friday, March 29, 2024
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Culture Currents

Cultural happenings in SF and beyond.

Honoring Kobe Bryant during Black History Month

Makeshift memorials to Kobe have popped up all over the country, underscoring how eager people have been to honor the 41-year-old NBA legend who Magic Johnson dubbed in death as the greatest player in Los Angeles Lakers history.

Hidden History Black Museum opens in Los Angeles

The new Hidden History Museum owns the narrative.

The Screening Room

The Screening Room, a new local startup TV show, features up-and-coming filmmakers with interviews about their films, the filmmaking journey and future outlook. We were honored to have the lovely Sheila V. Harris as our host in a recent episode of The Screening Room. She interviewed two local filmmakers, Karen Ruiz, a native San Franciscan, and Rock Hemlock, originally from Dallas, Texas.

Why our schools need community volunteers

This holiday season, many are wondering what we can possibly do to get involved and create real change in our communities. One way to make a difference at the local level is to become a volunteer in public schools, especially schools that are under-resourced and can really use the support. Anyone who has stepped inside a school knows teachers and principals simply cannot do it alone. It takes a whole team of caring adults to educate a child.

Nipsey Hu$$le, a rose from concrete

“It was like he was sent by God to give some love to bring us together because that’s what his lyrics were saying, always. He’s not shy to tell the truth even though it might not look good. He wasn’t scared of anything,” said Nipsey’s Eritrean father, Dawit Asghedom. “[God] sent him to send a message, then said, ‘It looks like your time is up because you have completed what I sent you to do. We all have a plan, but God has his own plan. So he had completed what he needed to be doing and he did it early so [God] probably wanted to take him early too.”

In ‘The Case of the Wrong Man,’ director Camila de Moraes brings to light...

“The Case of the Wrong Man” was screened at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, California. It is a Brazilian documentary, and is, according to the synopsis, “the story of a young Black worker, Júlio César de Melo Pinto, who was executed by police in the 1980s in Porto Alegre.” Porto Alegre is a city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Due to this area’s climate, European immigrant colonists who arrived in the 20th century found it easy to adapt to.

San Francisco Peer-Run Warm Line – here to support the community!

Everyone in the Bay Area is welcome to call and discuss whatever life brings – anxiety, discrimination, housing issues, money concerns, depression, interpersonal conflicts, grief or loss, hearing voices, loneliness, substance use problems or just needing someone to talk to – Warm Line counselors are available via phone and live online chat.

Curtis Family C-notes hits big stage!

With ongoing love transfusions for humanity the Curtis Family C-notes brings their unifying musical activism to feed the soul, and from Day One of the pandemic, accompanied by food for the body from Mother Brown’s.

Celebrate Dr. Hannibal Williams for making a difference – keep his legacy alive

Liberation House, the first residential facility for treatment of drug and alcohol addiction that reached out to Afro-American men, is another example of its founder, Dr. Williams, making a difference. During its 30 years of operation, Liberation House was an extremely successful drug and alcohol rehabilitation program which successfully helped thousands of men from every walk of life attain their sobriety.

What is David Banner’s God Box? Let him tell you May 4 at Laney...

“Why would I allow myself to drift when I can direct it? I was born with the instructions. Right and exact, consciousness, inner guidance, knowing, choosing how to act in every situation. I create me. Believe it. Turning thoughts into things. Turning vibrations I feel into thoughts. Impulses I receive …”

Attempted ivory tower assassination of Malcolm X: an interview wit’ Jared Ball, editor of...

Malcolm X is one of the best known figures of the human rights struggle and one of the most attacked by institutions that serve the elite. A new book – “A Lie of Reinvention” – defends his legacy against an attempted ivory tower assassination. Editor Jared Ball says Manning Marable's book on Malcolm "is a corporate product, a simple commodity to be traded, but for more than money; it is a carefully constructed ideological assault on history, on radical politics, on historical and cultural memory, on the very idea of revolution."

Lift Ev’ry Voice … and Act for Reparations Now!

May our Divine Mother-Father Creator of and in All – and Beloved Ancients and Ancestors from yesteryears and yesterdays – find you and (y)our extended Family in sacred Spirit, healing and thriving. WE are hoping to be in the magnificent presence of those of you around the Bay Area soon … possibly, at upcoming events like International Workers’ Day on 1 May (at the Port of Oakland); the 19th Annual MALCOLM X Jazz & Art Fest on 18 May (at San Antonio Park, Oakland); African Liberation Day on 25 May (in Oakland); and other venues. Asé.

‘Things that Make White People Uncomfortable,’ a book review

At age 11, in Independence, Louisiana, Michael Bennett lifted a tractor with his bare hands to keep it from falling on his grandfather. His astonished cousins stared, motionless, till one finally said, “You strong as fuck!”

Brenda M. Wright, much loved and missed

U.S. military families, the Wrights and Tibbs of Columbus, Georgia, mourn the passing of Brenda M. Wright, wife of U.S. Army Veteran Joe N. Wright and daughter of U.S. Army Veteran Bruce Tibbs Sr. Three children, Damon, Candis and Chad, were born to Joe and Brenda Wright’s 43-year lifelong relationship and 38-year marriage.

Hip hop and culture: ‘High Power’ by Grand Opus

Since the late ‘70s, hip hop culture has been an instrument of empowerment for communities without a voice to fully express themselves via the language of art. Grand Opus’ sophomore album “High Power” contains a perfect blend of thought provoking lyricism and hard hitting beats that make hip hop come alive and communicate a powerful message of empowerment and hope to the Black community.

Lady Mem’fis passes, leaving fans and family ‘Expressions of a Legacy’

Lady Mem’fis, also known as Jacqueline Ruth Johnson, passed away Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019, at 6:12 a.m. at Home Sweet Home in Daly City, California, age 73. Memorial service is Friday, Feb. 22, 11 a.m., at San Francisco Christian Center. The repast will be 1 to 3:15 p.m. at the African American Art and Culture Complex.

August Wilson’s ‘How I Learned What I Learned’ closes Sunday

August Wilson, playwright, was very much at home in the SF Bay. I will never forget his workshop production of “Jitney” at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, where he encouraged a woman who criticized the absence of substantive women characters in his plays to write her own. Wilson said his journey was personal, yet there was room on the stage for multiple voices and perspectives.

Transportation gentrification: How Bus Rapid Transit is displacing East Oakland

We youth scholars from Deecolonize Academy and POOR Magazine submitted 14 Freedom of Information Act requests to 14 departments in the City of Oakland, only to receive a series of messages from two of the departments saying, “We have no documents,” and no word from the others. On Jan. 16, we will be making a demand to the City of Oakland and AC Transit that, with the money they received for BRT, they support Oakland residents to be able to stay here as reparations for the millions of dollars they are receiving to displace us out of here.

Art and the African Diaspora: Five SFIAF artists feature Black culture

Five artists who identify with the African Diaspora are presenting work at this year’s San Francisco International Arts Festival that takes place at the Fort Mason Center from May 23 to June 2. In interviews with the San Francisco Bay View, they each go into detail about how their respective projects shed light on and teach about the myriad legacies of the Diaspora.

Parent with ACEs: Is it time to change your parenting playbook?

A recent UCLA study shows that the children of parents with four or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), such as abuse or neglect, are twice as likely to develop ADHD, which makes it more likely children will become hyperactive and unable to pay attention or control their impulses.