John L. Jackson Jr. is an associate professor of communication and anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. His books include Racial Paranoia: The Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness (2008), Real Black: Adventures in Racial Sincerity (2005), and Harlemworld: Doing Race and Class in Contemporary Black America (2001). He will be writing about racial politics, religion, and contemporary popular culture.

December 6, 2008

Spike Lee on Spike Lee

This was the final week of classes for an undergraduate course on Spike Lee that I co-taught with Professor Salamishah Tillet here at the University of Pennsylvania, and Spike Lee was gracious enough to cap off the semester by visiting the class a couple of days ago and answering the students’ questions.

The course, Race Films: Spike Lee and his Interlocutors, was an examination of Spike Lee’s films from a variety of critical perspectives. The syllabus tried to frame our approach:

“This course requires students to think critically about historical and contemporary cinematic representations of race, class, gender, sexuality, and the urban landscape. The class will examine various Spike Lee films for their aestheticization of broader social and cultural phenomena as well as their engagement with larger theoretical and political concerns. Students will be asked to watch the films closely, placing them in explicit conversation with the concepts and arguments that emerge from assigned readings and classroom discussions. By the end of the semester, students should have a richer understanding of not only Spike Lee’s oeuvre but also of how his filmic offerings are ‘read’ from a variety of analytical and political vantage points—as well as across a wide range of genres and disciplines.”

Tillet and I initially wanted the course to be a seminar or small lecture (12 to 25 students), but there was such interest in the topic that we decided to open it up — to almost 100 undergraduates.

We asked students to read across the humanities and the social sciences, using the work of an eclectic group of scholars (such as Guthrie Ramsey, Laura Mulvey, bell hooks, William Julius Wilson, Wahneema Lubiano, Roland Barthes, Barbara Smith, Michael Eric Dyson, Manning Marable, Oscar Gandy, Mark Anthony Neal, Renee Romano, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Taylor Branck, and Kara Keeling) to provide different contexts and subtexts for our engagements with Spike Lee’s films.

We also asked outside speakers to assist us in unpacking specific themes. For example, Kenneth Shropshire helped us to make sense of Spike Lee’s deployments of professional sports. Marc Lamont Hill examined Lee’s representations of urban violence. Imani Perry offered a poignant interpretation of Lee’s political investments in Southern history. Jason Sokol gave us the critical tools to dissect Lee’s rendition of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 1960s. Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw asked students to look at the controversial debates about art and aesthetics that often serve as a subtle, but important, backdrop for Spike’s films. And Aishah Shahidah Simmons deconstructed Lee’s filmic renditions of homosexuality. The entire semester was quite an ambitious intellectual ride.

Spike Lee also happened to release another film this September, Miracle at St. Anna, which was based on a James McBride novel about a a group of black soldiers trapped in an Italian village during World War II. (The students are writing their final papers on some aspect of that film.)

But the highlight of the semester had to be Spike Lee spending two hours with the undergraduates this week, answering their questions and responding with a few of his own.

The students pushed him on a lot of themes, including his much-criticized treatment of female sexuality/subjectivity (from Nola Darling in She’s Gotta Have It to Renata in Miracle at St. Anna), his fascination with professional sports (conspicuous in just about every single “Spike Lee Joint” ever made), his spat with Clint Eastwood earlier this year about representations of race in World War II films, his portrayal of white ethnic communities, and on and on.

When it was all done, I kept telling Lee how great a job he did. He laughed, and asked me if I thought he was going to be terrible. I didn’t, but sometimes celebrities don’t take such events very seriously. Or they get defensive when students ask hard questions, when students do anything but genuflect obsequiously. But Lee didn’t ask for that.

The students challenged him, respectfully, and he tried to answer them without mincing words or dodging potentially controversial issues — and without simply defending himself or his work from “attacks.” The students really appreciated that. And so did their professors. Spike Lee, thank you.

Stop Enactment of Proposition 8

LOS ANGELES (Nov. 14, 2008) – Civil rights groups today filed a petition with the California Supreme Court to stop the enactment of Proposition 8 because it would mandate discrimination against a minority group and did not follow the process required for fundamental revisions to the California Constitution.

In the petition, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Equal Justice Society, California NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. argue that in order to protect the fundamental rights of all Californians, a higher standard is required to overturn the right to marry. Minority communities cannot be stripped of their fundamental rights by a simple majority vote.

“We would be making a grave mistake to view Proposition 8 as just affecting the LGBT community,” said Eva Paterson, president of the Equal Justice Society. “If the Supreme Court allows Proposition 8 to take effect, it would represent a threat to the rights of people of color and all minorities.”

The petition filed by Raymond C. Marshall of Bingham McCutchen and Prof. Tobias Barrington Wolff of University of Pennsylvania Law School on behalf of leading African American, Latino, and Asian American groups echo the arguments made in the November 5 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights: Proposition 8 prevents the courts from exercising their essential constitutional role of enforcing the equal protection rights of minorities.

The California Constitution requires that any measure attempting to revise the underlying principles of the constitution must first be approved by a two-thirds vote of the legislature before being submitted to the voters. Proposition 8 was not approved through that constitutionally required process.

“Proposition 8 contradicts the most basic protection guaranteed by the California Constitution, which is the right to equal protection of the laws,” said John Trasviña, President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “We can not allow the Constitution to sanction discrimination against one group of people.”

“Direct democracy cannot override the California Constitution, which requires more than a majority vote to deprive a minority group of their fundamental rights,” said John A. Payton, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

“We cannot become a society that picks and chooses who is entitled to equal rights,” said Alice A. Huffman, president of the California State NAACP. “We should include all people from all walks of life in the entitlement to all freedoms now enjoyed by the majority of our population As a civil rights advocate, we will continue the fight of eliminating roadblocks to freedom.”

“Consistent with core equal protection principles, minority communities must not be stripped of their fundamental rights by bare majority rule,” said Karin Wang, Vice-President of Programs for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. “California went down this path before when the majority population chose to bar interracial marriages involving an unpopular minority: Asian immigrants. The state Constitution exists exactly for this reason – to protect the fundamental rights of minority communities.”

“Let’s not forget the landmark 1967 case of Loving v. Virginia, which allowed two people of different races to marry,” said Paterson of the Equal Justice Society. “People then believed it was acceptable to keep Mildred Loving from marrying a white man because of their ideas of who should marry whom. We must not return to those times.”

The court has precedent for invalidating an improper voter initiative. In 1990, the court overruled an initiative that would have added a provision to the California Constitution stating that the “Constitution shall not be construed by the courts to afford greater rights to criminal defendants than those afforded by the Constitution of the United States.” That measure was invalid because it improperly attempted to strip California’s courts of their role as independent interpreters of the state’s constitution.

A copy of the writ petition filed today is available at http://equaljusticesociety.org/prop8 and http://www.apalc.org.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (naacpldf.org) was founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall. Although LDF’s primary purpose was to provide legal assistance to poor African Americans, its work over the years has brought greater justice to all Americans.

Founded in 1968, MALDEF (maldef.org), the nation’s leading Latino legal civil rights organization, promotes and protects the rights of Latinos through litigation, advocacy, community education and outreach, leadership development, and higher education scholarships.

The Asian Pacific American Legal Center (apalc.org) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for civil rights, providing legal services and education, and building coalitions to positively influence and impact Asian Pacific Americans and to create a more equitable and harmonious society. APALC is affiliated with the Asian American Justice Center, the Asian American Institute in Chicago, and the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco.

The Equal Justice Society (equaljusticesociety.org) is a national strategy group heightening conscious on race in the law and popular discourse. Using a three-pronged strategy of law and public policy advocacy, cross-disciplinary convenings and strategic public communications, EJS seeks to restore race equity issues to the national consciousness, build effective progressive alliances, and advance the discourse on the positive role of government.

-30-

Contact:
Keith Kamisugi, Equal Justice Society
kkamisugi@equaljusticesociety.org
415-876-0589

NOTE TO EDITORS: Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and Korean spokespeople available.

The Equal Justice Society is a national strategy group heightening conscious on race in the law and popular discourse. Using strategies including law, public policy, communications, convenings and the arts, EJS seeks to restore race equity issues to the national consciousness, build effective progressive alliances and create a discourse on the positive role of government. Our more than 4,000 supporters throughout the country include advocates, attorneys, jurists, scholars, social scientists and communicators.

Equal Justice Society, 220 Sansome St, 14th Flr, San Francisco, CA 94104, Ph (415) 288-8700

In response to the passage of a same-sex marriage ban -Proposition 8- in California, Sykes has recently come out as a proud Black gay woman. Here is a clip of Skyes’ surprise appearance at a rally in Las Vegas. She was in town performing at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

To say that I’m elated is an understatement. I am elated because while I, as a Black feminist lesbian, know many Black lesbians throughout this country and internationally (Europe, Africa, South America); there aren’t many high profile OUT Black lesbians. I hoping that more high profile Black lesbians and gays will face their fears; break their silence; and COME OUT. We need all hands on deck, not only in California, but throughout the United States. Marriage Equality for all should be a right and not a privilege.

I can’t believe that in response to the despicable racism of the mainstream White LGBT community that (some) Black queer folks are trying to say that marriage “isn’t our issue”… Sun Dawtah’s response (please read below) addresses this insanity…

I get that Black folk only make up 6.7% of California’s population; and as a result are not responsible for the passage of Prop 8. I feel strongly that, once again (and again and again) White LGBT folks must be CALLED OUT and CHALLENGED on their ongoing and relentless racism. And yet, if we, Black folks (regardless of our sexual orientation), don’t CALL OUT and CHALLENGE homophobia and heterosexism in our non-monolithic communities, then Black LGBT folks will still not be safe.

I feel like we, Black folks, as a non-monolithic community, are unwilling to simultaneously address multiple oppressions. I would argue that it’s much easier to challenge racism than it is to challenge sexism, misogyny, homophobia, and heterosexism in Black communities because it (White institutional and individual racism) is not within the metaphorical Black family.

I want to be clear that the racism of the White mainstream LGBT community is despicable, grotesque, horrifying and unacceptable, and at the same exact time their racism doesn’t mean that I, as a Black feminist lesbian, am going to opt out of fighting for a civic and legal right that all people (regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity) should have, regardless of how I feel about marriage…

It is only in the context of patriarchy, homophobia and heterosexism, that Marriage equality for all is complex.

Until millions more heterosexual people (regardless of their race/ethnicity) take up the issue of homophobia and heterosexism in their families, places of worship, schools, jobs, etc., it will be an UPHILL battle — similar to the reality that men must take up the issue of sexism and misogyny with their peers and White people must take up the issue of racism and White supremacy with their peers.

Black women’s herstory has taught me I/we can’t wait for one form of oppression to end before addressing another form of oppression. We must simultaneously fight against all oppressions.

No One Is Free While Others Are Oppressed.

In Struggle, In Peace

Aishah Shahidah Simmons

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Sun Dawtah
Date: Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 6:13 AM
Subject: Re: Why Prop 8 Passed
To:

“We need more light about each other. Light creates understanding. Understanding creates love. Love creates patience. And patience creates unity” – El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (Malcolm X)

I agree. Below is my response to a post on a SGL Ifa practitioner’s group I’m subscribed to. To date only 3 (myself plus 2 others) have responded. That screams volumes to me.

— On Sat, 11/8/08, obeeah13 wrote:
From: obeeah13
Subject: [SocietyofTwoSpiritedOrisaPractitioners] what’s everyone’s opion of…..
To: SocietyofTwoSpiritedOrisaPractitioners@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, November 8, 2008, 1:28 PM

The passing of prop 8 & 102 (gay marriage ban) deeply saddened me, even so, was that majority of the votes came from the black community. How does everyone feel about this?

— On Sun, 11/9/08, sun dawtah wrote:
From: sun dawtah
Subject: [SocietyofTwoSpiritedOrisaPractitioners] what’s everyone’s opion of…..
To: SocietyofTwoSpiritedOrisaPractitioners@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, November 9, 2008, 9:33 AM

I was also disappointed and have been equally distressed by the divisive turn of events. From the singling out of black and brown communities by the media and the recounting of racial epithets being spewed by some gay protesters at black passersby in West Hollywood; to discussions in the blogosphere, where some within the SGL community have expressed an unwillingness to build coalition around marriage equality because of racism within the gay community. Jasmyne Cannick basically states in her lastest post (and featured L.A. Times op-ed piece) that marriage equality is a white gay male issue. For me, this harkens back to the time when sista’s in the black liberation movement didn’t address issues of misogyny or rejected feminism as a way to support “the revolution”.

Racism is real in the LGBT community, somehow folks are going to have to build coalition. We in the SGL community can not afford to maintain toxic relations within our respective places of worship or stand by as theocracy marches on the move. The issues of racism and homophobia have to be addressed see article posted on http://www.myspace.com/draptophilia

Celebrating Obama While Mourning Proposition 8…

I still find myself pinching myself to see if this is in fact real. I haven’t felt this way since I was an international observer for the elections in 94 (exactly 30 years after my mother, Gwendolyn Robinson/Zoharah Simmons, at the age of 19, went to Missisissppi in 1964 where for 18-months she was the project director of the Laurel Project) when Nelson Mandela became president. I turned 25 during that his/herstoric time in South Africa. While I will never ever forget what I experienced (consistently overwhelmed with emotions)/witnessed there…I must share that this feels just as if not all the more special and I know it is because I am an African-American woman.

I am also very reminded that as a Black feminist lesbian I must work very hard, in concert with so many others, to dismantle patriarchy and heterosexism in both my own non-monolithic community as well as in the world. I’m a bit alarmed about the (community) conversations about Black manhood… Black masculinity (in the absence of Black womanhood) as it relates to President-Elect (love it!) Obama.

I’m alarmed and outraged that while record numbers of African-American and Latino voters came out in Calfornia to vote for Obama, 70% (of the 6.7%) African-Americans who supported proposition 8 and more than half of Latino voters supported it as well. This is very, very unacceptable and I firmly believe that we must publicly (in our families, schools, churches, mosques, organizations, temples, etc.) make the argument why this is not acceptable..

I’m reminded of the sobering reality that South Africa has one of the highest rape rates in the world, post apartheid; Black South African lesbians have been both raped and murdered execution style; Algerian women are not safe post French Colonialm… these women fought side by side in both of these struggles and then once “liberation” was achieved they were pushed back, maligned and assaulted…

I am not wanting to rain on this parade at all. I just want to learn from the herstories and contemporary realities of my sisters throughout the world… This is why I was so moved by President-Elect (love it) Obama ended his powerful, humble acceptance speech on the life of Anne Nixon Cooper, a 106 year old African-American woman… He included the word gay in his acceptance speech… No, he doesn’t (publicly?) support gay marraige but he acknowledged our existence and that was/is a very important step…

I believe those of us, who are progressive African-American and Latino, must hold our communities accountable to their ongoing political and spiritual oppression of lgbt people. if it’s not us (Black and Latino folk), then the Black and Latino perpetrators of homophobia and heterosexism, will easily write it (LGBT) off as a white issue. Not to mention the his/herstoric and contemporary racism of White LGBT folks, which makes it all the more easy for many folks of Color to not address homophobia and heterosexism in our communities and in the world in the name of racism of White folks. Additionally there will be this debate about racism vs. homophobia, which is absurd– because I can’t nor I won’t chosse between racism, sexism or homophobia… I am explicitly clear that no one is free while others are oppressed. Anyway, I (hope) I am preaching to the choir. I’m just alarmed about the role that African-Americans and Latinos played with proposition 8…

I know there are many debates in progressive circles about Marriage (straight or gay). I get that and respect those debates. However, as long as straight people are allowed to get legally married, then I firmly believe that if I want to get married to a woman, I should have the civil and legal right to do it. And it is, in my humble opinion the one of the biggest contradictions for African-Americans to play an active role (in the name of God/Allah?) in oppressing and disenfranchising both countless members of their own community as well as beyond their community.

Personally, I do beleive there are many more pressing issues than gay marriage. However, at the same time, if we don’t see and make the public connections between these forms of oppression, which I firmly believe are rooted in patriarchy and control of pepole’s sexuality (not only in terms of identity but also in terms of practice), then we, especially all bio women, regardless of their sexuality, gay men, and transpeople are vulnerable.

A Luta Continua

www.kevinpowellforcongress.org

Six years have gone by since we first heard the allegations that R. Kelly had filmed himself having sex with an underage girl. During that time we have seen the videotape being hawked on street corners in Black communities, as if the dehumanization of one of our own was not at stake. We have seen entertainers rally around him and watched his career reach new heights despite the grave possibility that he had molested and urinated on a 13-year old girl. We saw African Americans purchase millions of his records despite the long history of such charges swirling around the singer. Worst of all, we have witnessed the sad vision of Black people cheering his acquittal with a fervor usually reserved for community heroes and shaken our heads at the stunning lack of outrage over the verdict in the broader Black community.

Over these years, justice has been delayed and it has been denied. Perhaps a jury can accept R. Kelly’s absurd defense and find “reasonable doubt” despite the fact that the film was shot in his home and featured a man who was identical to him. Perhaps they doubted that the young woman in the courtroom was, in fact, the same person featured in the ten year old video. But there is no doubt about this: some young Black woman was filmed being degraded and exploited by a much older Black man, some daughter of our community was left unprotected, and somewhere another Black woman is being molested, abused or raped and our callous handling of this case will make it that much more difficult for her to come forward and be believed. And each of us is responsible for it.

We have proudly seen the community take to the streets in defense of Black men who have been the victims of police violence or racist attacks, but that righteous outrage only highlights the silence surrounding this verdict.

We believe that our judgment has been clouded by celebrity-worship; we believe that we are a community in crisis and that our addiction to sexism has reached such an extreme that many of us cannot even recognize child molestation when we see it.

We recognize the absolute necessity for Black men to speak in a single, unified voice and state something that should be absolutely obvious: that the women of our community are full human beings, that we cannot and will not tolerate the poisonous hatred of women that has already damaged our families, relationships and culture.

We believe that our daughters are precious and they deserve our protection. We believe that Black men must take responsibility for our contributions to this terrible state of affairs and make an effort to change our lives and our communities.

This is about more than R. Kelly’s claims to innocence. *It is about our survival as a community*. Until we believe that our daughters, sisters, mothers, wives and friends are worthy of justice, until we believe that rape, domestic violence and the casual sexism that permeates our culture are absolutely unacceptable, until we recognize that the first priority of any community is the protection of its young, we will remain in this tragic dead-end.

We ask that you:

o Sign your name if you are a Black male who supports this statement:

http://www.petitiononline.com/rkelly/petition.html

o Forward this statement to your entire network and ask other Black males to sign as well

o Make a personal pledge to never support R. Kelly again in any form or fashion, unless he publicly apologizes for his behavior and gets help for his long-standing sexual conduct, in his private life and in his music

o Make a commitment in your own life to never to hit, beat, molest, rape, or exploit Black females in any way and, if you have, to take ownership for your behavior, seek emotional and spiritual help, and, over time, become a voice against all forms of Black female exploitation

o Challenge other Black males, no matter their age, class or educational background, or status in life, if they engage in behavior and language that is exploitative and or disrespectful to Black females in any way. If you say nothing, you become just as guilty.

o Learn to listen to the voices, concerns, needs, criticisms, and challenges of Black females, because they are our equals, and because in listening we will learn a new and different kind of Black manhood.

We support the work of scholars, activists and organizations that are helping to redefine Black manhood in healthy ways. Additional resources are listed below.

Books:
Who’s Gonna Take the Weight, Kevin Powell
New Black Man, Mark Anthony Neal
Deals with the Devil and Other Reasons to Riot, Pearl Cleage
Traps: African American Men on Gender and Sexuality, Rudolph Byrd and Beverly Guy-Sheftall

Films:
I Am A Man: Black Masculinity in America, by Byron Hurt
Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, by Byron Hurt
NO! The Rape Documentary, by Aishah Shahidah Simmons

Organizations
The 2025 Campaign: www.2025bmb.org
Men Stopping Violence: www.menstoppingviolence.org

I am very proud to be a signatory to this statement, which supports my comrade in the movements to end violence against women and girls; and friend, social change agent Kevin Powell for his run, as a Democrat, for a seat in the United States Congress in the 10th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York.

“There comes a time when women must stand together to accomplish difficult tasks. Election year 2008 is one of those times. We are faced with the challenge of reclaiming our country and the promise of equality that it represents. It is time to honor the sacrifices of our elders and keep the promises we made to our children by choosing ethical, visionary, active leadership for our country.

In that spirit, we welcome Kevin Powell.

A long-time resident of Brooklyn, New York, Kevin is an activist, writer, and organizer who has dedicated his life to public service. Kevin is running as a Democrat for Congress in Brooklyn, New York’s 10th Congressional District. He is opposing Edolphus Towns, a legislator who has a 25-year record of non-engagement with and non-support for the community he pledged to serve.

Kevin Powell is different. He recognizes how hungry people are for real and meaningful change. He also recognizes that no one can do it alone. It is critical to elect dedicated public servants who will help bring an end to the war; who will support meaningful education reform; who will create sustainable environmental policy; who will work to see Katrina survivors restored to wholeness; who will ensure a stable and fair economy; who is determined to provide quality and accessible healthcare for all; and who will look beyond the criminal justice system for solutions to our social challenges.

Kevin Powell knows what it means to be in trenches. Time and again he’s demonstrated that he is unafraid to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done. He will come to Congress ready to work, willing to serve, and able to accomplish better policy for Brooklyn in particular and for our country as a whole.

It is vitally important that progressive women support candidates like Kevin Powell. He is a man who has demonstrated the courage to look deeply inward at his own challenges-including his own past issues with sexism and violence. While seeking help to deal with his own issues, he has publicly acknowledged his shortcomings, in his writings, in his speeches, and in his alliances with multiple female-led causes and concerns. Keep in mind that all this began many years before every politician seemed to be making televised confessions.

As a result of his own past personal struggles, as well as his commitment to growth and healing, Kevin has become an outspoken critic of violence against women and girls. He was humbled and honored to serve as part of the United Nations’ Secretary-General’s “Unite To End Violence Against Women” campaign across the globe. He continues to work closely with Amnesty International in that organization’s effort to prevent violence against girls in schools-both in America and abroad.

But of course solving women’s issues require an equal-opportunity effort. For more than a decade, Kevin has worked with males of all different backgrounds to unpack and dismantle their rage and confusion through his male empowerment tours, town hall meetings, and workshops. Through these experiences, Kevin has gained the trust, respect and support of men and women in his own community and throughout the country.

Women know how much is at stake in this election. We also know that every leader, no matter how inspired and inspiring, needs a dedicated team. At this important time, we need your donations, we need your voice, and most of all we need your heart and commitment. Kevin promises to give back nothing less than a complete dedication to serve his constituents and fight for a better country for all Americans.

We the undersigned women stand with Kevin Powell as he stands with and supports us, and supports our agenda, our issues, our leadership, and our voices at this critical stage in American history.

You can learn more about Kevin, his platform, and his vision, by visiting www.kevinpowellforcongress.org

And PLEASE make a $25 donation to Kevin Powell for Congress TODAY,”

Olubunmi Adebanjo, M.B.A.
JD Candidate, Cardiff Law School
Mother, Entrepreneur & Realtor

Malaika Adero
Senior Editor, Vice President
Atria Books/Simon and Schuster

Yaminah Ahmad
Editor in Chief, The Atlanta Voice

Marva Allen
CEO, Hue-Man Bookstore & Cafe

Margaret Ambrosino
Fundraiser

Milady Andrews-Morgan
Senior Vice President
The Buzz International Group

Kupenda Auset (aka Joette Harland Crosby)
Owner/Producer, House of Life

asha bandele
Writer

Monifa Bandele
Executive Director, Change the Game
National Co-coordinator, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

Valerie Bell
Mother of Sean Bell
The Sean Bell Benefit Fund

Kia Bennett
Radio Host, Singer, Songwriter, Urban Music Network Marketer
XM Satellite Radio

Beverly Bond
Deejay, Writer/Blogger, Founder of Black Girls Rock! Inc.

Patricia Norris Bonds
Retired
Librarian, Duke Ellington School of the Arts

Barbara Brown
Partner
Styles of Glory Salon

Darlene Brown
Life Skills Coach/Mentor
Divine Empowerment

Lashan Browning
Owner/CEO Nola Productions, Inc.

Anita Bryant
CEO/Co-Founder
A-Marketing/Sista Factory

Jennifer “JLove” Calderon
Author, Educator, Activist

Lauren Carara
Production Assistant
ILM

Susan Chapman

Avis Charles, Managing Director
Avis Charles Associates
London, England, UK

Rosa Clemente
Hip Hop activist, Journalist, Mother

Dr. Johnnetta Cole
President Emerita, Spelman College and Bennett College for Women

Jamilah Barnes Creekmur
VP, Sales & Marketing, AllHipHop.com
Partner & President, JBC Consulting Group

Marlo David
PhD Candidate, University of Florida
African-American Literature and Women’s Studies

Eisa Davis
Artist

Michaela angela Davis
Urbanista/Cultural Critic/Writer

Thulani Davis
Writer

Laura Dawn
Creative Director, MoveOn.org

Kerry DeBruce
KLAD Creative
Art Director

Tomika DePriest
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Kadidja Diallo, M.S.Ed.
Doctoral Candidate/Research Assistant
Steinhardt School of Education
New York University

Martha Diaz
Community Organizer, Educator, Filmmaker and Social Entrepreneur

Ejeris Dixon
Anti-Violence Organizer

Kameelah A. Dixon
Educator

Nicole Duncan-Smith
Author, Strategic Marketing Guru,
Hip-Hop Daughter, and Proprietor of The Duncan Holdings Group

Ashara Ekundayo
Cultural Activist, Producer, Curator
BluBlak Media, LLC, FreeSpeechTV

DeAnna E. Evans
Minister, Writer, Activist

Kenya M. Fairley
Director of Residential Services
Family Crisis Center of Prince George’s County, Inc.
Brentwood, Maryland

Jenaye M. Flamer
Political Consultant

Erica Ford
Community Activist & Social Entrepreneur

Katisha Freeman
Operations Coordinator, Work@Home, GE Money
Survivor of Domestic Violence

Maryemma Graham, PhD
Literary critic, activist

Toni Scott Grant
Scott Phree

Beverly Guy-Sheftall
Professor of Women’s Studies
Spelman College

Melissa Harris-Lacewell
Associate Professor of Politics/African American Studies
Princeton University

Shanqua Harrison
Controller
Warm Spirit Wellness Consultant – SUNPleasures.com

Taryn Lee Hunter, M.B.A.
Assistant Director of Recruitment and Outreach
Welcome Center, Hunter College

Esther Iverem
Journalist and Author
SeeingBlack.com

Lisa N. Jackson
Evangelist
Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church

Shani Jamila
WPFW Pacifica Radio

Toby S. Jenkins, PhD
Director, Paul Robeson Cultural Center
Penn State University

Teri Johnson
Owner, Travelista.tv

Kellie Jones
scholar and curator
Associate Professor, Columbia University

Kimberly Kane
On-air Talent, Radio Personality

Marisa King-Redwood
President and CEO, The Buzz International Group

Lucy Koteen
Brooklyn community activist

Danielle Lewis
Entrepreneur/ Producer/Actress/Dancer

Maēshay K. Lewis
Program Director
Center for Black Literature
Medgar Evers College, CUNY

Tina Lowry, MS
Programmer, PhD student,
Biomedical Informatics
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

Blue Maas, BSN, DVM, PhD
Secretary II, Iowa State University

Katrina Mathis
Entrepreneur

Cheryl L. McCullers
Producer
375 Productions, LLC

Debra McGhie
Housekeeper, Personal Organizer

Raniece L. Medley, Esq.

Joan Morgan
Author and Cultural Critic

Monique S. Myles
Marketing Executive
Black Enterprise

Elizabeth N. Ngonzi
President
Amazing Taste, LLC

Tasheea T. Nicholson
CEO and Lead Consultant
SocialBFly, LLC

Sharland Norris
Business Consultant

Lynn Nottage
Award Winning Playwright

Lisa Patlis
Founder, Principal
Patlis Productions

MaryKay Penn
The Institute for African-American Folk Culture, Inc.

Davina Perez
Social Worker

Erica Perkins
Founder and CEO, Worldwide Dime, Inc.

Jessica Pinkney
Event Planner

Ai-Jen Poo
Community/Labor Organizer

Aarian Pope-Punter, MS
Recruitment Manager, Communications Specialist, Mother of Two
Mentoring USA

Candace D. Reese
Corporate & Philanthropic Management, PR
Professional Speaker
Envision Global

Ursula Reshoft-Hegewisch
Chair, The Fort Greene Association

Rha Goddess
Artist, Activist, Social Entrepreneur

Eisa Ulen Richardson
Author of Crystelle Mourning
www.EisaUlen.com

Michealene Cristini Risley
Author, Filmmaker and Child Rights Activist

Dawnelle Dixon Robinson
MAcc Candidate, Alabama State University
East Asia Institute for Business Research & Culture

Robyn Rodgers AKA DJ Reborn
Musical Director, Youth Mentor

Ariel Rosen
Manhattan, NY

Lisa Russell
Producer/Director, Myth of The Motherland

Karen Tappin Saunderson
Karen’s Body Beautiful

Deirdre Schifeling
Political Consultant

Cidra M. Sebastien

Shelley Serdahely
Executive Director
Men Stopping Violence
Decatur, GA

Ilyasah Shabazz
Author of Growing Up X
Arts & Culture Consultant, City of Mount Vernon
Executive Producer, SHARE theXperience

April R. Silver
Founder and President, Akila Worksongs, LLC

Dara Silverman
Community organizer

Aishah Shahidah Simmons
Producer/Director, NO! The Rape Documentary

Alexis J. Smith
Principal & Lead Consultant
Alexis Smith & Next Generation Professional Services

Joy L. Smith, M.S.Ed
EOF Academic Counselor & Instructor
New Jersey City University (Jersey City, NJ)

Lisa “Cynical” Smith
Producer/ Director, Bucktown USA Entertainment, LLC

Gloria Steinem
Author, Activist, Feminist

Deanna J. Sutton
Founder/Editorial Director
Sutton Media/Clutch Magazine

Leslie Talbot
Education Consultant

Susan L. Taylor

Lisa Teasley
Author

Lauren Teverbaugh
Medical Student, University of Illinois at Chicago

Geneva S. Thomas
Graduate Student, New York University
African American Women, Costume and Performance Studies

Andrea Holmes Thompkins
Mother, Producer, Mentor
President & CEO
ACE Media Corp.

Nicole Valentine, Esq.
Corporate Attorney & Business Development Consultant

Rev. Dr. Iyanla Vanzant
Author, Spiritual Life Coach

Kisha Walker
The Sean Bell Benefit Fund

Akanke Washington
Real Estate Investor, Acupuncturist, Mother

Thomasetta Harper Waters
Vice President Marketing
Freeman Consulting Group

Chana Wells
Owner, COO
Hon Gerusue Construction & Management

Jameka S. Whitten
Co-Director & Vice President, Mosaic Literary Center
CEO, JSW Media Group

Deborah Willis, PhD
University Professor
Chair, Department of Photography & Imaging
New York University-Tisch School of the Arts

Leslie Willis-Lowry
Archivist, Educator, Fiber Artist
Victims Advocate to End Gun Violence

“Aishah Shahidah Simmons and I met over ten years ago in Washington, DC when she was dating an old friend. We spent a Saturday night with friends dancing at the Hung Jury and talking about our future goals. I remember thinking that she was intensely passionate and I followed her career. I had not seen Aishah since that fun night until I ran into her this past fall when she attended the event to celebrate Katherine Acey’s 20th Anniversary with the Astraea Foundation. I knew that I wanted to talk with Aishah about her work and journey to becoming an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker, television and radio producer, published writer, international lecturer, and activist living in Philadelphia…

What is your passion?
My passion is centralizing the margins of society. Making the invisible, visible. Documenting the lives of women of color globally. I am an activist. The camera lens is my medium to make social change irresistible.

What motivates you to do your work? What do you hope to accomplish by doing this work?
Injustice in the world motivates me. Injustice fuels my passion to make change. Anytime when I feel that I can’t do it, there is an issue that I feel needs to be addressed. An issue very dear to my heart is violence against WOMEN.

I am survivor of violence. It is personal. I know more women here in the United States and abroad who have been impacted by violence than those who have not. Whether it was being the victim of violence or witnessing domestic violence and other forms of violence. It has impacted so many women…

Click here to read the interview in its entirety. http://www.passionlife.net/artmay08.html

Second Annual Detroit Women of Color International Film Festival

After an exceptionally successful debut film festival in 2007, Amakisi Unlimited, LLC, will present the Detroit Women of Color International Film Festival for its sophomore run at the Charles Wright Museum of African American History (315 East Warren Ave., Detroit Michigan, 48201).

The festival will be held on Friday, July 11, 2008 from 6:00pm until 10:00pm and on Saturday, July 12, 2008 from 12:00pm until 10:00pm. Tickets are $15 for one day and $25 for both days.

The Detroit Women of Color International film festival showcases the culturally diverse voices of women through film. DWC celebrates women from African American, Continental African, Caribbean, Latino, Native American, Arab, and Asian communities. The featured films are exciting, innovative works by and about women of color.

DWC presents exceptional films and videos ranging from racial identity, sexuality, science fiction, relationships, politics and history to empowerment, healing, Hip Hop, cultural traditions, spirituality and love.

Here’s a sneak preview into some of DWC08’s featured films:

Malik Booth’s The Best Kept Secret is a powerful short film that focuses on a topic that touches a secret that many women dread.

The film Water by Deepah Mehta was so controversial that the sets were burned and the filmmaker was forced to go to another country to complete the film. Water is a profoundly moving and a compelling, vibrant story of India’s “widow houses”, where women of all ages are taken to live separate from society following the deaths of their husbands.

The DWC goes global with the powerful documentary The Shape of Water. Informative stories of powerful, visionary women with new cultures and a passion for change, confront the destructive development of the Third World.

Canadian filmmaker Claudia Molina films Dancing Waters in Venezuela. Dancing Waters is beautiful story of a daughter watching her mother transcend death into the goddess Yemoja.

The Souls of Black Girls is a provocative documentary by Daphne Valerius with social commentary by Chuck D, Regina King, Jada Pinkett Smith, Gwen Ifill and Michaela Angela Davis. These powerful individuals confront the burning topic of women of color self-image disorder as a result of media images.

Six African-Native Americans from various regions of the U.S. reflect on the personal and complex issues of Native and African heritage, ethnic identity and racism within communities of color in the film American Red and Black by Alicia Woods.

Gloria Rolando’s Eyes of the Rainbow deals with the life of Assata Shakur, the Black Panther and Black Liberation Army leader who escaped from prison and was given political asylum in Cuba, where she has lived for close to 15 years.

Gabrielle by Stephanie Jones is a brilliant, simple short film that explores the premise of a soul brought to life. Gabrielle is faced with the choice of incarnation or death after seeing a brief retrospect of her life.

Sweet without Sugar written and directed by Detroit native Dara Frazier. Yolanda Wells (Michelle Joan Papillion) isn’t exactly where she wants to be in life. Her job at one of the top casting agencies in New York City is only a means to pays the bills. Her college sweetheart, Mark has become distant. The highlight of her life is baking desserts with her grandmother (Johnnie Mae, “Law & Order: SVU”) on the weekends.

Everything changes when Yolanda finds out that she has diabetes, the same disease that caused her father’s early death. She must learn to let go of bad habits and relationships to embrace a new life.

This film was directed by Erik Kilpatrick (White Shadow, New Jack City, Cornbread Earl & Me.) It was written and produced by Dara Frazier, winner of the Best African American Filmmaker Award at the Brooklyn Film Festival for her short film “la Revolution.” This film is supported by the American Diabetes Association.

The delicious film Caramel is a romantic comedy centered on the lives of five Lebanese women.

Growing List of DWC08 Sponsors:

Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
CVS
WDET 101.9FM
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (Tau Alpha Kappa),
Cinema Café’
The Michigan Citizen
Destiny Bound Services
Affluent Mag

For more information about this exciting film festival, please visit http://dwcfilmfest.tripod.com Or, you may contact Oya at 313.544.8493 or amakisi @ gmail.com