Beyond the Pure: Readings by Writers of Color
The sixth annual Twin Cities Black Film Festival will be held September 18-20, 2008. A schedule of events is online.
The 2008 Afrifest will be held August 14-17, 2008. A list of programs and activities is online.
The 2008 Twin Cities Pan-African Festival will be held on August 6-11, 2008.
The Experimental College (EXCO) &mdash a student organization at the University of Minnesota (partnered with Macalester College) that organizes and sponsors community education for social change &mdash is now offering two Africana Studies courses:
1. African American Art (meets Tuesdays from 6-8 pm in Blegen 110 for four weeks, starting June 24). This survey of African American Art will look at art and artists from the early 20th century to the late 20th century. Art from the Harlem Renaissance, Black Arts Movement, and artists such as Adrienne Piper, Kara Walker, Horace Pippin, Aaron Douglas, Archibald Motley, Jr. will be included. The instructor (Ava Herring herr0141@gmail.com) is a doctoral student at the U in art education.
2. Black Folk: Culture Defeats Holocaust, facilitated by Ray Tricomo (rtricomo@yahoo.com). Course Description: We will be covering the proverbial water front from African ecology to Pan-Africanism to improvised music and to a future without racism. Location: Oakdale Village, Oakdale, 6276 12th St. North Day/Time: Tuesday 6-8pm Dates: 4 weeks to start June 17. Ray is a longtime community activist, and has been offering this course for the past couple of years.
EXCO provides opportunities to students, faculty, and community members to facilitate or participate in classes together on topics of importance to them, especially those that they would not otherwise have in traditional university education.
June 19 is Juneteenth (also known as Emancipation Day or Freedom Day), a holiday that commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas. The 2008 Twin Cities Juneteenth Celebration and Festival will take place on Saturday, June 21, at several sites in Minneapolis.
On May 23, 2008 the documentary The Forgotten Struggle will be screened and discussed from 3:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. at the Old Main Building Auditorium #600, College of Saint Catherine-Minneapolis, 601 25th Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55454. This event is free & open to the public. The film chronicles the struggle to bring health care to the people of Somalia. A trailer for the documentary can be found on YouTube.
Film screening: Bunny Chow
Thursday, May 15, 7:30 PM
Repeat screening Saturday, May 17, 7:00 PM
In director John Barke's debut feature, up-and-coming comedians Kags, Joey, and Dave make it clear that life in the "new" Johannesburg is not just about hardship and townships. It's also about hanging out with friends and celebrating life on a raucous road trip to Oppi Kopp -- South Africa's largest music festival. Shot in a cinema verite style and using the street food "bunny chow" as a metaphor for contemporary Johannesburg's mix of races, cultures, and attitudes, Barker's edgy urban comedy asks us to envision a nation through the eyes of its future rather than the tragedy of its past. (Film info: 2006, South Africa, in Afrikaans, Tsotsi Taal, and English with English subtitles, 95 minutes.)
Tickets to the Walker Art Center's free screening on Thursday, May 15 are available at the Walker Art Center's Bazinet Garden Lobby desk. Tickets for the Saturday, May 17 screening are $8 ($6 for Walker members).
The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign National Student Conference will he held on campus March 14-16, 2008.
The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign is committed to uniting the poor across color lines as the leadership base for a broad movement to abolish poverty. It works to accomplish this through advancing economic human rights as named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, such as the rights to food, housing, health, education, communication, and a living wage job.
Major details of the conference:
For more information, call 612.82.2364, or email deeqppehrc@yahoo.com or heavenppehrc@yahoo.com.
Minneapolis' Pillsbury House Theatre is now presenting Same Difference, about two African American college roomates from very different backgrounds. Reviews can be found on the main page of Illusion Theater, where the play was previously staged.
William Mitchell College of Law is hosting a Black History Month event on Thursday, February 21, from noon to 1:30: Black Conservatives -- Myths and Realities.
Panelists:
In parts of South Sudan, bandits steal children from other communities like cattle. Hundreds of abductions in recent years have gone unpunished as these human-rights violations are overshadowed by other problems. The Save Yar Campaign has been working hard from Minneapolis since October to stop this wave of abductions. We took our campaign to Washington, D.C. and, with the support of Congress and federal departments, met with South Sudan's president.
Now it's time to carry this campaign to the place where the change has to occur: South Sudan. The campaign is preparing to send three University of Minnesota students to South Sudan to meet with government officials and tribal leaders to build a coalition aimed at ending child abduction and returning abducted children to their families. We'll meet with local researchers who can carry forward the campaign on the ground long-term.
We will undertake this trip with volunteer labor and donated lodging and ground transportation. But to make it happen, we need to raise the funds to cover airfare, visas, meals, and phone calls.
Join us for lunch this Saturday for a fun and delicious way to contribute to this grassroots campaign!
Come to Tam-Tam's African Restaurant in Minneapolis' Cedar-Riverside neighborhood this Saturday, February 16, anytime from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to sample sensational East African cuisine at this cutting-edge eatery; mix and mingle with fellow Minnesotans concerned with Africa; buy a Save Yar T-shirt; and pledge a specific part of the students' trip.
The Guthrie and Emigrant Theater are offering 50% off tickets for any remaining performance of Blue Door by Tanya Barfield, now playing at the Dowling Studio at the Guthrie.
Don't miss what the Pioneer Press called "a powerful way to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day... vivid... effective... thought-provoking... None of us will ever gain freedom until we recognize what binds us, because only then can we begin to loosen the chains."
The Star-Tribune calls playwright Tanya Barfield "an exciting new voice in American theater, and Blue Door amply displays her stunning grasp of language and solidly crafted characterization, as well as her unwillingness to settle for easy answers. Emigrant Theater and the Guthrie are to be commended for offering such a fine opportunity to experience her work."
Emigrant Theater was named Best Independent Theater of 2007 by City Pages.
Blue Door
by Tanya Barfield
directed by Jessica Finney
featuring Eric Avery & David Wiles
Left alone by his wife after refusing to join the Million Man March, an African-American math professor watches as the ghosts of his ancestors arrive and shatter the silence of his insomnia, drawing him into a spiral of history, a crisis of identity and culture, and a powerful exploration of what it means to be black, then and now.
Only 4 More Performances:
Friday, Jan. 25, 7:30pm
Saturday, Jan. 26, 1pm (with a post-play discussion)
Saturday, Jan. 26, 7:30pm
Sunday, Jan. 27, 1pm
Call the Guthrie box office at (612) 377-2224 and quote price code "HA."
Charlayne Hunter-Gault, a journalist with more than 40 years of experience in television, radio and print, will highlight the legacy of Dr. King's dream at the 18th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Breakfast on Monday, Jan. 21.
Hunter-Gault, the first black woman admitted to the University of Georgia and the first African-American reporter at the New Yorker, recently rejoined National Public Radio as a correspondent following six years as CNN's bureau chief in Johannesburg, South Africa. For two decades, she worked for PBS, where she served as national correspondent for "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer," and anchored the award-winning newsmagazine on human rights, "Rights and Wrongs."
The Emmy award-winning journalist will share her journey in America and beyond with breakfast guests at the annual holiday celebration. The event -- including musical performances from Melinda Doolittle of "American Idol" fame -- will be broadcast live on Twin Cities Public Television beginning at 8 a.m.
With a theme of "Answering the Call," the 2008 MLK Holiday Breakfast will feature a new community service component that will encourage the 2,000 breakfast guests as well as television viewers to fill out commitment cards pledging to volunteer in the community in the coming year. The effort, with support from Hands On Twin Cities, is expected to generate thousands of hours of volunteer service in the Twin Cities in 2008. Potential volunteers can learn more about service opportunities -- ranging from mentoring a child to serving meals -- at www.mlkbreakfast.org.
Each year, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and the General Mills Foundation host the annual MLK Jr. Holiday Breakfast, a Twin Cities tradition at the Minneapolis Convention Center that kicks off a day of metro-wide celebrations. The event honors Dr. King's contributions to the civil rights movement, which not only transformed American laws and life, but also inspired worldwide human rights reforms.
Although tickets for the breakfast at the Minneapolis Convention Center are sold out, the St. Paul Area Council of Churches again this year will host five simultaneous events in St. Paul and Duluth, where guests can enjoy breakfast and watch the live broadcast together. These community breakfasts -- held from 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. -- are free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Reservations are available online at the St. Paul Area Council of Churches Web site at www.spacc.org or by phone at 651-789-3877.
Ajak Mading and her sister Yar were abducted on October 3, 2007, from a village in southeastern Sudan. Ajak will turn two years old on Monday, January 14, but her parents still do not know where she and her sister are. The two girls are among hundreds of young children who have been abducted by armed groups in southeastern Sudan in the last two years because of their future value as brides. That the local government has taken no steps to find Yar and Ajak reflects how children's rights have been overshadowed by power struggles between ethnic groups in southeastern Sudan.
The University of Minnesota Human Rights Program and its Save Yar Campaign invite you to gather at noon Monday, January 14, in the Rotunda of the Minnesota State Capitol to commemorate Ajak's second birthday. Moreover we will issue an appeal to Sultan Ismail Konyi, the leading public official from the Murle ethnic group. (Yar and Ajak are believed to have been abducted by one of several remotely located armed groups of Murle ethnicity.) Sultan Konyi has publicly condemned child abduction, but we will call upon Sultan Konyi to take a personal role in working with local Murle leaders to find Yar, Ajak, and other young abductees, and to negotiate for their release.
The University of Minnesota Human Rights Program and student groups have taken up this cause in solidarity with Minnesota's growing African population including Gabriel Kou Solomon of St. Paul, the uncle of Yar and Ajak. U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum and U.S. Sens. Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar have issued official statements on this crisis: Visit www.save-yar.org for details. Monday's event will be attended by state and federal legislators and their aides. For more information on the event, contact Daniel Lynx Bernard, coordinator, Save Yar Campaign, dbernard@umn.edu.
Northwest Airlines is sponsoring a January 9, 2008 event about the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
"Courage to Live the Dream: Commitment, Community, Opportunity.
The Somali Institute for Peace and Justice, consisting of a group of Somali intellectuals, scholars, community leaders, and students, is holding the anniversary of Ethiopian Forces Occupation in Somalia on December 28, 2007 at 6:30pm, at the Zuhrah Shrine Center (2540 Park Av. S, Minneapolis, MN). Speakers include:
Professor Peter Erlinder
Professor Ismael Gorse
Professor Hassan Mohamud
Congressman Keith Ellison (Expected)
Professor Ahmed Samatar (Expected)
The Institute promotes an alternative academic and practical approach to Somali social and political problems, and encourages Somali and non-Somali scholars and intellectuals to participate in the search for solutions to problems Somalis face in America and at home. The Institute strives to promote greater education of non-Somalis about Somalia and the Horn of Africa.
The Shine Global film War/Dance opens at the Lagoon Landmark in Minneapolis on Friday, December 14.
War/Dance is the story of three Acholi children of northern Uganda who have been brutalized not only by a twenty-year civil war, but also by the terrorist organization the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). It follows the historic journey of three children from northern Uganda--Dominic, Rose, and Nancy--and their school in the Patongo refugee camp, the first school from the northern war zone to make it to the finals of Uganda's national music and dance competition.
Amidst unimaginable violence and grief, these children sing and dance: they sing with vitality; they sing without fear; they sing in protest and in celebration.
War/Dance has won more than 20 awards nationally and internationally including "Best Director" at Sundance. The film opened in Los Angeles and New York on November 9, and it was the top ranked film at the Dupont Theater when it premiered in DC on November 16. It is the first documentary made by Shine Global.
Shine Global, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) film production company dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of children worldwide through the production of documentary films and other media that raise social awareness and effect political change.
All contributions to Shine are used to produce films. Net profits are returned to the documented children through local non-governmental agencies.
For more information, visit Shine Global or the War/Dance blog.
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, a renowned Kenyan novelist, playwright, and essayist, and the current Director of the International Centre for Writing and Translation, University of California at Irvine, will give a public lecture and read from his latest novel, Wizard of the Crow, at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 27, in the Hoversten Chapel of Augsburg College.
The "Hip Hop Live!" tour is coming to Minneapolis on Sunday, November 11. It will feature "living legend Rakim, future legend Ghostface Killah and hometown hero Brother Ali." More information is available on the Hip Hop Live! website.
The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder has posted an interesting article about socio-economic class differences within the Twin Cities African American community.
An alliance of several Minnesota institutions will use a $2.45 million National Science Foundation grant in an attempt to attract more under-represented minorities to science and engineering programs.
The first Afrifest was held August 18-19, 2007. Hopefully it will be back next year!
At 7:00 PM on Tuesday, November 6, 2007, South African author Zakes Mda will read from his new book Cion. This event will take place in the Target Performance Hall of the Loft Literary Center.