Tag: W. Kamau Bell

Sunday, Oct. 4, the Bay Area Book Festival presents Berkeley #UNBOUND, an all-day, free, virtual mini-festival, kicked off with a ticketed keynote program on Saturday night, Oct. 3. Writing While Black for this October 2020 guarantees a superb abundance of boredom relief during the continuing COVID-19 reality.

Congratulations to Brothers in Pen for a fantastic book party and reading Oct. 20 at San Quentin State Prison. The work, whether fiction or poetry, creative nonfiction, memoir or dramatic lit, is stellar and the huge panel afterward, where the writers shared their creative process and the importance of art in their lives, was equally valuable and enlightening. That such beauty is possible behind bars is testament to the power of art to light darkness.

Without major financial help, this may be the last Bay View we can afford to print. Each month, the print edition costs $7,000 just for printing, distribution and mailing. Advertising income used to cover it, but no longer. Why do we do it? Why not publish only on the internet, as many influential news media do? The Bay View is the only publication in the U.S. that’s widely distributed in prison and the hood to those who are able to read the Bay View ONLY IN PRINT, enabling our folks to communicate and organize. How do we reach out to potential benefactors? Are you the one who knows a way?

Dimensions Dance Theatre presents its annual youth showcase, “The Village Matters,” on Sunday, May 7. Participants include Rites of Passage, Dimensions Extensions, LIKHA School of Philippine Dance, On Demand, BAY-Peace, Oakland Technical High School, Oakland High School, Bret Harte Middle School and Kipp Bridge Academy. The program also features guest artists Destiny Muhammad, “Harpist from the Hood,” and Batalá San Francisco.

In the film “Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race and America,” the activist quietly befriends the philosophical offspring of the white supremacists who made Dr. King’s job so hard from Bombingham to Selma. Daryl Davis, Black man, holds the unique distinction of being an expert on the Ku Klux Klan. We get to travel across the country with Davis as he introduces us to his people – white supremacists and racists. The question he poses, “How can you hate me when you don’t even know me?”

Black August begins with a campaign for the acquittal of Francisco Torres, the only member of the San Francisco 8 still charged. Go to www.freethesf8.org for messages to phone or fax to Attorney General Jerry Brown, urging him to drop the charges. Cisco’s hearing is Aug. 10 if the charges aren’t dropped.