Black Voicing Rising: A Community Coversation & Panel Discussion

Black Voices Rising: A community conversation + panel discussion with social justice organizers re: the crucial "elevating whilst educating" role that Black grass roots artivists - poets have played + continue to play in social justice movements including the in-progress #BlackLivesMatter + #SayHerName movements.

Opens with a 15 min retrospective film looking at the role of griots in Africa and the tenacity of griot power - even in the face of deep traumas + violent oppression: the Middle Passage Holocaust (The Maafa); Global Enslavement; US Human Rights atrocities that persist right up to this very moment.

Includes an OPEN MIC POETRY CYPHER and concludes with a group poem - where poets will each write a few lines inspired by the panel discussion to share as a group poem to conclude the session.

Community Conversation Panelists: Thea Matthews (Millions March SF), Kin Folkz (SpectrumQueerMedia; Black Queer Lives Matter), Cat Brooks (ONYX Organizing and Anti Police Terror Project), Blackberri (Smithsonian Recordings Inductee);