Culture Currents

On Nov. 6, a majority of the voters in California voted to amend the Three Strikes Law. In Cali alone, according to the film “Cruel and Unusual,” there are over 4,000 people locked up doing life under Three Strikes for nonviolent offenses. The Documentary Film Fest is featuring “Cruel and Unusual” on Nov. 11, 12 and 15 in San Francisco and Berkeley.

In the world of jazz, John Coltrane is viewed as a spiritually driven supremely gifted sax player, one of the greatest horn players to ever live. So when I ran into Gary Golio’s book “Spirit Seeker,” I was interested in seeing if he was trying to exploit our beloved St. John Coltrane or if he was trying to bring another generation into the knowledge of Coltrane’s legacy. He did the latter, masterfully.

Recently I went to the Marin Veterans’ Memorial Center in San Rafael, where the famed Shaolin Warriors of China were to give a performance in display of their hand-to-hand and weapons martial skills. The performance was designed to be a dazzling display of gung-fu couched in a “theatrical display” of a “sacred and deadly art.”

Amidst the San Francisco Giants' parade festivities, Sergio Romo, the World Series hero, with a smile that could shame James Franco, parted his jacket to reveal a T-shirt that read, “I just look illegal.” The crowd erupted with joy. Just like in the ninth inning of the final game against the Detroit Tigers, Romo delivered the goods.

The Sacramento Chapter of the Black Panther Party hosted a gathering of former Panthers from across the country Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 to celebrate Black Panther History Month. The program included book signings and presentations by Elbert “Big Man” Howard, Aaron Dixon, Meres Sia Gilbert and Steve McCuthen. Black Panther historical archivist Billy X served as moderator for the event.

The legendary Sifu Bill Owens has trained 121 black belts in the 40 years since he founded Cascos Martial Arts Academy at 7415 MacArthur Blvd, Oakland. He himself is a world renowned champion as well as a teacher of a range of martial arts from Karate and Wun Hop Kuen Do to Filipino Stick Fighting and Brazilian Capoiera. Right now he needs 60 new students. Stop by or call him at (510) 638-9990.

The earlier children are encouraged to be physically active, the more likely they’ll stay active as they get older, providing a strong foundation for a lifetime of health. Young kids need 60 minutes of active play every day, but it doesn’t have to be all at once. It can be as simple as incorporating fitness into everyday activities.

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."

In Janesville, vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s home town, as jobs disappear and families are stretched to their breaking point, citizens and politicians are embroiled in an ideological battle about how to turn things around. Attend a free screening of “As Goes Janesville” at the San Francisco Main Library, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 5:30-6:30 p.m., followed by a panel discussion.

The long overdue First Annual Mission Latin Jazz Festival features a showcase of exceptional musicians and bands from the Mission District, the Bay Area, California, the U.S., Latin America and beyond. Come celebrate exceptional local, national and international Latin Jazz artists at Brava Theater, 2781 24th St., San Francisco, Oct. 13-14.

White people did not bring civilization to the Americas, nor did Black history begin with slavery. Runoko Rashidi is a world class historian. He will be making a historical tribute to Dr. Ivan Van Sertima and examining the early African presence in the Americas – before Columbus – in downtown Oakland at Geoffrey’s, 410 14th St., on Sunday, Oct. 14, from 1-4 p.m.

If you’re a native San Franciscan, you know the sound. It’s as sweet as the smell of BBQ ribs and cornbread and sweet potato pie when the city had soul food restaurants all over with Black folks cooking in black kitchens on black grills with black pots and pans bubbling music in the background, in the foreground – all over.

Marilyn Thomas, a second-year master’s in public health student at San Francisco University, has been chosen as the 2012 Trustee Emeritus Ali C. Razi Scholar. The designation is given to the highest-scoring recipient of the William Randolph Hearst/CSU Board of Trustees’ Awards, and Marilyn is the first student from SF State to receive this honor.

Judith Jamison looked regal on stage with Farai Chideya last month in The Forum Conversations at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Her message seemed to be one of preparedness and presence – being, as our sister Ayana Vanzant says, in spirit. Muslims call this the sirata-l-mustaqim or the path of the rightly guided.

We need more business owners working from their apartments, vans or cars, vacant lots, and boarded up shops and storefronts. Keep in mind on your journey down the entrepreneur road, that wealth originates from within, first. To gain access to cash, sometimes you have to look to untraditional sources online which give artists and entrepreneurs a helping hand.

Author and African-centered business woman Akua Agusi is doing the work that a lot of us are too busy to concentrate on when we talk about educating our people as to what is really going in the world, educating our babies first. By creating African-centered books for young people about our Black heroes and sheroes, she is allowing us the opportunity to see ourselves early on in life as coming from a legacy.

“The Streetz Gon’ Cry” is a very vivid and descriptive fictional account of life in one of the nation’s gang bang meccas: South Central Los Angeles. This independently published work of literary art was recently authored by Anthony Barrow and Tracey “Big Tray Deee” Davis from Snoop’s group, Tha Eastsidaz, while prisoners at the California Men’s Colony.

We’ve been “white maled!” Thank God for the ‘60s and ‘70s Black Power and Pride movements and for artists like James Brown who exorcized centuries of shame from our race with one song, “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud.” Be Black, buy Black, think Black and support the future Gabby Douglases of the world by voting every day with your dollars. Buy Black Wednesdays business of the month is True Vibe Records.

“Long Distance Revolutionary,” the new documentary about political prisoner and prolific writer Mumia Abu Jamal, will have its international premiere in the Bay Area on Oct. 6 and 8 at the Mill Valley Film Festival. There have been a number of documentaries done about the case of Mumia Abu Jamal, but this one puts his life at the center of the discussion.

San Francisco Trolley Dances, now in its ninth year, is an annual outdoor festival linking dance, public transit and San Francisco’s neighborhoods. This year, the free, site-specific event comes to Bayview Hunters Point. Trolley Dances director and curator Kim Epifano and Campo Santo founder and director Sean San José told Allison Frost about Trolley Dances and what makes this year’s show a must-see.