November 2014 Newsletter
November 2014
Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center Newsletter
produced by: Black Workers For Justice's Hip Hop 4 Justice edited by: Mari Caldwell-Robinson & Tiffany Debnam Contact Information: Address: 4200 Lake Ridge Rd, Raleigh NC 27604 (919) 231-2660 – Anytime (919) 876-7187 – Day email: fruitoflaborwcc@netscape.com website: www.fruitoflabor.org
NOVEMBER 2014 CALENDAR
FRUIT OF LABOR
World Cultural Center celebrating "Art with An Empowering Message" Check out our "15th Anniversary" showing of artistic political posters and paintings ...
Join us for our Art Exhibition Opening with fellowshiping and music on
Sat. November 8th at 11am-1pm ....
2pm Sat. November 15, 2014
WORLD CULTURAL CINEMA
features ....U.S. Censored & Banned....
" Salt of the Earth" ....(drama about organizing workers in a union in 1930's-40's,role of women community challenging
wealthy mining corporation's exploitation, "divide &conquer"tactics & racism) Valuable lessons for today!
@ Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center
*.2 pm Movie/ Fun, Refreshments , Fellowship and discussion @ FOLWCC RSVP 24 hours before the screening and we’ll have a lunch waiting for you!
Call for details 919-876-7187 or e-mail usfruitoflaborwcc@netscape.com *Please RSVP 24 hours before the events! Thanks!
www.fruitoflabor.org
COMING Novemberr 2014 Programs/ Events!!!!!
*HipHop4Justice "
10am Sat. Nov.8
youth meeting
at FOLWCC
- November 21-23: "NC Climate Justice Summit - November 21-23, 2014 Haw River State Park NC. The first statewide gathering of youth and adult community leaders focused on connecting the dots between social justice issues and climate justice. We will explore how climate change impacts our food, water, energy, housing, transportation, health and economy in NC and how to strengthen our community resilience in the face of these impacts. Get more information & register at ACESPACE.ORG/NCCLIMATEJUSTICESUMMIT"
Thurs.November 27Family Day ( don't eat to much turkey)
*Friday December 12thru-
Sunday December 14
"10th Bi-Annual Southern Human Rights Organzing Conference" in Savanah, GA (for more info.
888-949-9754 or
662-334-1122)
CALL FOLWCC TO CAR POOL with us@ 919-876-7187
*Sunday Dec. 28th 3pm"Annual Community
FOLWCC KWANZAA
CELEBRATION" ! @ the FOLWCC Call 919-876-7187
CALL FOLWCC FOR " RENTALS
FOR YOUR FAMILY GATHERINGS,, FRIENDS /ORGANIZATIONS,HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS &"SPECIAL EVENTS"
WE WOULD LOVE TO HOST YOU.....
OVER THE HOLIDAYS !
CALL 919-876-7187
www.fruitoflabor.org
In the late 1960's and 1970's up until his untimely death in the 1990's , Brother " Curtis Mayfield" and his musical group the lengendary " Impressions " woke us all up with his own brand of funk/ R & B and social / political commentary. Their music spoke to African- American life, deadly drug/thug life, our highest aspirations and dreams and Black peoples struggle for human rights and social justice. Please take time out to listen to and read on.....
Curtis Mayfield http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Mayfield http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDSYTU5e39Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPLRiDhVIQA&index=32&list=RDVDSYTU5e39Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1xmXOP3lhM http://www.tmponline.org/2012/06/03/keep-on-pushin-the-warrior-music-and-political-soul-of-curtis-mayfield-1942-1999/
Ferguson Week of Resistance
After months of planning Hands up United, Organization of Black Struggle, Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment and many others created Ferguson October: Week of Resistance. From October 10-13 people of all ages and race gathered around Ferguson, Missouri to discuss and build momentum for a nationwide movement against police brutality. Friday, October 10 was the arrival for most organizers. This day included meet ups and some protesting at the police department. On Saturday, October 11 we all met downtown St. Louis on 15th St and Market for The Justice for All: National March and Rally. As I walked up I was greeted by newspapers, pamphlets and flyers from different organizations. People came from all over the states to march in unity. This was also a good place of networking and promoting. Some organizations were color coded or had on t-shirts to promote their cause. They had banners and buttons with clever saying about social justice, police brutality and equal rights. We started walking at 12, I was surrounded by people chanting “No Justice, NO Peace”, “Send that Killer cop to Jail”. There were camera crews recording and taking pictures. I People were holding signs that said “From Palestine to Ferguson, “Justice for Mike brown”, “Black lives Matter’. We ended up in the park where everyone stop to network and rest. The march was liberating, we were able to scream, shout and cry. You can feel the tension in atmosphere between the community and law enforcement. They were angry, they didn’t feel safe and they wanted justice. Later in the day we went to a discussion hosted by Organization of Black Struggle. The meeting was downtown in a room located in a church. The room was packed, people were sitting on the floor and standing up on the walls. We met to strategize about the next step in fighting against police brutality and the system that treats black lives differently. Many people agreed that we needed to control our own media. That the media misrepresented Ferguson and things like social media and livestream gave us a way to spread our message. A representative from Black Lives Matter talked about healing and how we needed to speak about our fear and anger. She mention how important it was for each one of us to take time to rest our bodies. That sometimes as organizers we get pulled into the movement and we don’t set time aside to breathe and to process the emotions we are feeling. We all knew psychologically the events in Ferguson were affecting the local community mentally and the black and brown community nationally. The week of resistance ended for me on Sunday, October 12 at the Black Women Caucus: Fighting on the Frontline in Florissant Avenue. The Caucus was hosted by Hand up United at their local office in Missouri. They provided breakfast and space for women organizers to discuss the obstacles we face. Over 100 were present in the room and it was the first time I felt at place. It was room filled with young and older women discussing our place in this movement and even our personal fights with being respected. I can remember the quote an older local women, she said that “This is fight driven by black young women and that women have always ran the movement”. We then heard from a local organization called Lost Voices. Lost voices is an organization made up of young and older black women that came together after Mike Brown death. They formed a community of women that supported and provided resources for each other and other people protesting in the streets. They shared stories of local members providing sheets so they could be warm while protesting outside. Daycare services for the mothers that wanted to march, but didn’t have sitters. One of the ladies is a chef and she provided nourishment so they want be hungry while outside. The Women Caucus meeting provided a place to network and planned for future events. This weekends does not end the fight for Mike brown and the end of police brutality.
Written by: Mari Caldwell-Robinson
Artist News:
Actress Lupita Nyong'o Joins Community! Seeks Preservation Of Virginia Slave-Trade History
AP | By STEVE SZKOTAK
Posted: 10/24/2014
LUPITA NYONGO
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — "Twelve Years a Slave" actress Lupita Nyong'o is lending her star power to the opposition to a minor league baseball stadium in what was once the center of Richmond's thriving slave-trading center.
Nyong'o has been posting anti-stadium opinions on social media to her millions of followers, and has personally appealed to Mayor Dwight C. Jones to withdraw support of the stadium that is the centerpiece of an economic development project.
"Evidence of America's slave history simply must be preserved, as the legacy of slavery affects all American people," she wrote in a letter dated Oct. 19 to Jones.
In response, Jones invited Nyong'o to visit the former capital of the Confederacy to see Shockoe Bottom and plans to preserve its slave-trading past.
"Our plans show where we want to invest in that history and lift that history up for future generations to learn from," Jones wrote.
The stadium-centered project is proposed for Shockoe Bottom, the city's oldest neighborhood and once the bustling center of the slave-trade. By some estimates, more 300,000 men, women and children were jailed, bought and sold in the Bottom and shipped throughout the Southern states in the decades leading to the Civil War.
The stadium proposal has unleashed pent-up frustration among those who believe the city has literally buried that shameful chapter of its history. The area is now home to nightclubs, restaurants, former tobacco warehouses transformed into townhouses and parking lots.
Nyong'o has a "12 Years a Slave" connection to the neighborhood. The celebrated film depicts the life of Solomon Northrup, who is kidnapped and sold into slavery. He is initially held in a Shockoe Bottom jail where slaves were chained before they were sold to growers in the Deep South.
Nyong'o was recruited for the campaign by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which listed Shockoe Bottom in June as one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.
"We see Shockoe Bottom as not just a state of Virginia treasure, but a national treasure," the trust's president, Stephanie Meeks, said in an interview Tuesday. The campaign, she said, is part of the trust's efforts to raise awareness about often-overlooked historic resources related to the experiences of black, Hispanic and other minority Americans.
While she stressed that the trust is not opposed to development, Shockoe Bottom's history should be acknowledged and recognized.
"Much of what was there has been destroyed and what is there is buried," Meeks said. "We'd like to have a comprehensive archaeological exploration of this site."
Meeks said the trust reached out to "some friends in the film industry" who suggested Nyong'o might be interested in the Shockoe Bottom campaign.
"She chose communicating to her nearly 4 million followers through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter," Meeks said. The idea was to raise the issue to "the national consciousness and a national discussion."
Nyong'o has been briefed on the issue and has posted her own comments.
The stadium was proposed as part of a development that would include a slavery museum, hotel and apartments.
___
Steve Szkotak can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sszkotakap.
"Jackson ,MS City Workers Union challenge southern low wages..... ....Organizing, educating & mobilizing to confront the bosses beats bureaucratic games any day!"
You all should know that the Jackson, Mississippi city workers, also affiliated with CWA won a significant minimum wage increase from the current $7.25, starting with $8.75 this month, then $9.17 by Oct. 2015, and then to $10.65 by Oct., 2016. Passed by the Jackson City Council with only one dissenting – who thought workers should get much more—was initially opposed by Jackson’s new Mayor Tony Yarber who wanted to use the funds for the salaries for his administrative heads.
Following former progressive activist Mayor Chokwe Lumumba’s untimely death, a special municipal election resulted in Yarber’s win over Chokwe Antar Lumumba by some 1,500 votes. Yarber was supported by some “liberals,” the local white power structure, “conservatives,” and a large group of black clergy. Progressives and the rest of us supported Chokwe Antar. Jackson is 80% African American. The next municipal election is 2 ½ years away and people are organizing.
Keep up the mobilization and organizing !
ORGANIZE THE SOUTH !
Bill Chandler Executive Director Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA) P.O. Box 1104 Jackson, MS 39215-1104 601-968-5182 (voice) 601-968-5183 (fax) b.chandler@yourmira.org
The University of Memphis: Campus Workers United
Southern low wage workers organizing and fighting for a living wage had a significant victory last month ! The University of Memphis workers have been organizing over the past few years their own rank and file workers union " Campus Workers United".Their union have been engaging workers in efforts to improve the terms and conditions in their workplace." Campus Workers United " struggle for justice has made advances. The Tenn. University President recently announced the university's new policy to raise base pay from the minimum wage of $ 7.25 to $10.10 per hour. This comes after 4 years of worker organizing with student and community-faith partners.
Read more........Here are some links to the news.
On UCW's website: http://ucw-cwa.org/story/workers-university-memphis-win-critical-step-towards-living-wage
Local papers: http://m.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2014/10/20/university-of-memphis-raises-minimum-wage-for.html?r=full
http://www.commercialappeal.com/business/employment/u-of-m-seeks-1010-base-wage-for-its-workers_84463191
And full text in the campus paper:
http://www.dailyhelmsman.com/news/view.php/852028/Administration-attempting-to-raise-minim
"New Youth Party Demands West Finance Ebola Fight".....
Ebola
..... inspired formation of “an alternative party of young people of color” in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. In its first major demonstration, set for October 16, the Young people’s Freedom and Justice Party is “demanding that the U.S. government and the western world provide the funding for drugs for treatment” of Ebola “and that they move with all deliberate speed,” said Sara Osman, one of the organizers. The party is comprised of college and high school students as well as youths who are not in school.
"Rally Makes Connection Between African American and Palestinian Struggles for freedom and self-determination".....says hip hop activist and artist " M-1"
On October 11, hundreds of youth gathered at the Malcolm X and Betty Shabbaz Center, in Harlem, to affirm their solidarity with the struggle for self -determination for Palestinians under the racist Israeli apartheid regime in the Middle East. “The World Stands with Palestine” rally highlighted parallels in the plight of Blacks in the U.S. and Palestinians under oppressive Isreali occupation. The Malcolm X Center, which BWFJ's Hip Hop For Justice Crew visited several years ago ,is housed on the site of Malcolm X’s assassination, in 1965. “Malcolm was an African-American " internationalist", said hip hop artist and activist M-1. “To have the rally in the historic former Harlem , New York City 168th Street "Audubon Ballroom" is a powerful monument to our peoples solidarity against racism and exploitation and unity with all the oppressed people around the world !