Culture Currents

The 2009 Poetry Luchador/Wrestling Battle of ALL of the Sexes was a multi-generational, multi-lingual, multi-cultural mash-up of art, gender, poetry, wrestling, language and theatre brought to you by your favorite revolutionary poets, media-makers, poverty scholars and cultural workers at POOR Magazine.

"Selma" gives a window into the turbulent three-month voting rights campaign, a series of pivotal protest marches in 1965 that culminated with President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The movie offers a lens into King and imperiled activists’ attempts to travel a 54-mile highway from Selma to the Alabama state capital, Montgomery, in the face of blatant racism, brutality and de facto segregation.

All about the perfect play for the Bay and poets’ poetry of Black Resistance.

Freak Mode is one of the hardest female rappers on Chicago's underground circuit.

Micaya’s San Francisco Hip Hop Dancefest brings renowned dance companies from South Korea, Ireland, North America, the U.K. and Norway this weekend to the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre. Two of the groups from “across the pond” sat down to tell us a little bit about themselves: Bad Taste Cru from Ireland and Plague from the U.K.

In speaking with fathers, it is painfully obvious that “split parenting” is one of the most difficult and gut wrenching experiences anyone who loves his children can go through. It’s all too real, and we are left to find ways to make this potentially devastating situation not only tolerable but one in which adults can learn to communicate and children can somehow thrive.

On April 18, Wesley Burton was killed by a hit and run driver on Martin Luther King and 60th Street in North Oakland in the early morning hours after his show, Side Show Radio. This father, radio man, music producer, friend and comrade meant a lot to a lot of people. I wanted to talk with Davey D about his thoughts on Wesley Burton, who he has known for at least the last 20 years. Here’s Davey D in his own words.

Serena Williams just won her 21st Grand Slam. That’s the same number every other active women’s player has collected combined. In her last 28 matches, she is 28-0, and at the US Open this August, Ms. Williams will be favored to win the sport’s first calendar Grand Slam since Steffi Graf did it 27 years ago. At 33, Williams actually seems to be gaining strength. As a political symbol and an athletic powerhouse, Serena Williams is ‘the greatest’ in her sport.

In 2009-10, there were a number of demonstrations and rebellions protesting police terrorism in the Black community of Oakland, after the televised execution of Oscar Grant. The mainstream corporate media started tagging them as “violent” although most of the rage was aimed at cars and buildings, not people.

At POOR Magazine, where marginalized people come center stage to tell their stories, a crowd gathered in Mama Dee and Uncle Al’s Café in POOR’s headquarters for the Fifth Annual Poetry and Music Battle of ALL of the Sexes on Valentine’s Day 2012 to hear the powerful and passionate spoken words of many poets, including these first and second place winning poems.

Our focus this month is to look at ways that we as men, in particular fathers, can actively encourage and support children who are not necessarily a part of our immediate families. Children in our society are far too often undervalued, minimized and rendered nearly invisible. What can you do? Refuse to be passive and actively seek to uplift the spirits of young people around you.

You may have noticed that my monthly article offering helpful suggestions to fathers and would-be fathers has been on somewhat of a vacation – a vacation that’s taken me on a journey deep inside myself to look at the pervasive attacks and legalized annihilation being levied on our children and our families. An environment supporting “business as usual” murders as commonplace doesn’t lend itself to joyful inspiration.

I’ve been drawing all my life, drawing with everything but paint, but most of my art had no meaning. Other artists I have seen in the Bay View and other publications have inspired me to create this piece, which carries a message: The baby in handcuffs represents the young boys torn away from their mothers or society to be eternally incarcerated in men’s penitentiaries – thus the “SB260” on the breast plate.

July brings to mind many historic events, such as Frederick Douglass’ speech at an event July 5, 1852, commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity ..."

Augusta Collins is one of the local bluesmen we have floating around Oakland and the Bay. A few years back I came into contact with him while covering playwright Anita Woodley’s “Mama Juggs” play about her family dealing with breast cancer. Augusta had a singing part in the play that was really heartfelt. It is an honor to now catch up with the Oakland bluesman himself, Augusta Collins. Check out his new DVD “Game.”

Whether we call it discipline or creating expectations for their behavior, children want and deserve clear directions as to “how to be” in this world. Without this supportive feedback and grounding, they can find themselves mired in frustration, often leading to inappropriate acting out and causing discomfort to themselves as well as those around them.

Stand-up comedian Rain Pryor is the daughter of undeniably the most famous comedian in American history, Richard Pryor. And nine years after he passed away, she is the one on stage telling jokes. She is the star of the new documentary, “That Daughter’s Crazy,” which is about her life and being the biracial daughter of Richard Pryor. It will be screening at the San Francisco Black Film Festival on Friday, June 13, 4 p.m., at the Jazz Heritage Center.

An ever growing number of folks are finding love with partners outside their race and raising children of blended cultures. There is also an increase in the number of families and individuals adopting children of color who have no actual knowledge or involvement with their cultures. Regardless of the culture or ethnic background of the adults, it is critical that certain realities be kept in mind. Children of color have distinct cultural histories and mores that should be acknowledged and consistently reinforced.

March 2 is the deadline for new and returning community college students to apply for a Cal Grant for the 2011-2012 academic year. Cal Grant awards of up to $1,551 can be used to help students pay for fees, books, supplies and sometimes even rent while attending a California community college.

Seidah Williams, an organizer with the People’s Lunch Counter, says PLC provides an atmosphere that nurtures and develops self determination by the way of community and home gardening, holistic health and wellness, and political education. PLC's Black August Course honors fallen freedom fighters.