DEFENDER Volume II, Issue II
Laney College
Est. 2007
Oakland, California
February 2008
Laney Commemorates
Black History Month
Month-long series of events to raise students’ awareness
Calendar of Events Page 2
Fourth Annual ‘Say it Loud’ Fashion Show Page 4
Honoring the real King Page 6
Crossword Puzzle Page 8
Tenth Annual Black Caucus Leadership Conference Page 5
Artist fights stereotypes
Page 7
Ancestral Nationality
Page 7
Former Laney English faculty shares memoir
Page 7
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Week 1: Jan. 31–Feb. 3
LANEY BLACK STUDENT UNION
Thursday, Jan. 31 Poetry Series I: Blue Moon Thursday at Holla Back Open Mic
Poetry readings and spoken word at one of the hottest open mics in the Bay Area.. Presenter: Time: Location:
More info:
Reggie General 8-10 p.m. Eastside Cultural Center. 2277 International Blvd. Oakland. 94601 Myspace.com/ HollaBackESA
Donald Lacy’s one man-tackling race and identity with comedy and social commentary returns to Laney for onenight only. Presenter: Donald Lacy Time: 8-10 p.m. Location: Laney Theater More info: Colorstuck.com
Saturday, February 2 Say it Loud! Fashion Show
Combining Hip Hop and the 70s, this funky fashion show is like no other. Time: 8–10 P.M. Location: Laney Theater More info: laneybsu@gmail.com
Week 2: Feb. 4–Feb. 10
Monday, February 4 Student-led Forum Series I: Africans vs. African-Americans Discussions on contemporary issues within the African Diaspora. Laney BSU 12–1 P.M. Student Center 403
Tuesday, February 5 Art Gallery Reception Time: Presenter: Location: More info:
Monday, February 11 Student-led Forum Series II: Black Male/Female Relationships The second of a three part series of student led discussions on contemporary issues within the African Diaspora. Presenter: Time: Location:
Laney BSU 12–1 P.M. Student Center 403
Tuesday, February 12 Speaker Series I: ‘Ticket to Exile” reading Adam David Miller, poet and retired English professor
Friday, Feb. 1 Color Struck
Presenter: Time: Location:
Week 3: Feb. 11–Feb. 14
4:30-7:30 PM
Laney Art Gallery and Laney BSU June Steingart Gallery, Tower Dr. Leslee Stratford lstratford@peralta.edu
Presenter:
Time: Location: More info:
Laney Library, PAAAA and Laney BSU 12:30-2 PM Laney T-450 Margaret Traylor
Friday, Feb. 15 & Saturday, Feb. 16 10th Annual Black Caucus Leadership Conference
Laney students will focus on leadership skill development at the Black Caucus of the California Student Association of Community Colleges’ 10th annual leadership conference, “Sankofa: Honoring our past celebrating the present, building our future. Students from across the California Community College system will explore leadership concepts that empower student leaders of African ancestry; discuss successful models/practices that build community outreach and involvement; and address advocacy and organizational development of Afro-centric organizations at the community college level. Presenter: Location:
More info:
CalSACC Black Caucus El Camino College in Torrance, CA Black Caucus President Marlene C. Hurd at 510-776-0680 mchurd@sbcglobal.net
February 2008
Week 4: Feb. 18-Feb. 23
Wednesday, February 20 Poetry Series II: Mack Dennis’ One–Man Play
An afternoon with Mack Dennis. Oakland poet will perform his oneman performance. Time: Location: More info:
12–1 P.M. Laney Forum laneybsu@gmail.com
Thursday, February 21 Speaker Series II: “Honoring Malcolm”
Amir Abdul-Malik, Masjid Al-Islam of Oakland speaks on the life of revolutionary El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X) Presenter: Time: Location:
Club Knowledge 12-1 PM Laney Quad
Week 5: Feb. 25-Feb. 29 Monday, February 25 Student-led Forum Series III: “Light Skin vs. Dark Skin” The final of a series of student led discussions on contemporary issues within the African Diaspora. Presenter: Time: Location:
Laney BSU 12–1 P.M. Student Center 403
Additional Activities
Feb. 1-Feb. 29 Milton Bowens Art on Exhibit Time: Location:
More info:
M–TH, 11 A.M–5 P.M. June Steingart Gallery, Tower milton510.com
Laney BSU Library Display Location:
More info:
Laney Library Display Cases laneyBSU@gmail.com
Date: To Be Announced African Flag Raising Ceremony Location: More info:
Laney Flagpole laneyBSU@gmail.com
MYSPACE.COM/LANEYBSU
February 2008
LANEY BLACK STUDENT UNION
Defender / 3
Don Dorsey
HARAMBEE
Black Caucus 2007–2008 Executive Board and Conference Planning Committee: Northern Region Chair Kathleen Madden, Treasurer Charles Perkins, President Marlene C. Hurd, Secretary Reginald James, and Parliamentarian Muja’hid AbdulBari.
El Camino College Hosts Black Caucus Leadership Conference Two hundred–fifty community college students of African Descent from throughout California expected to attend By Brother Reggie
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DEFENDER EDITOR
undreds of community college students of African Descent are expected to attend the 10th Annual Black Caucus Leadership Conference being held at El Camino College in Torrance Feb. 15-16, 2008. This year’s conference theme is “Sankofa: Honoring our past, celebrating the present, building our future,” commemorating the organization’s history and growing legacy. The first two conferences were held at El Camino College in 1999 and 2000. “When you look at all of the past conferences and the development of our organization, the historical significance of this conference is amazing,” said Black Caucus President Marlene C. Hurd, who was elected at last year’s conference at Laney College in Oakland. “It is as if we are revisiting all our past struggles, accomplishments, and confer-
ence themes, and are in the future now, but we still have work to do.” The conference features a weekend filled with inspiring keynote speakers, enlightening entertainment and empowering presentations.
‘It is as if we are revisiting all our past struggles, accomplishments, and conference themes.” MARLENE C. HURD California Assembly Member Mervyn Dymally (D–Compton) will be the keynote speaker at dinner Friday evening. It is expected he will address the 2006 takeover of Compton College by El Camino College. California Community Colleges Board of Governor’s Member Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith of Oakland will be the keynote speaker Saturday morning at the Soulful Breakfast.Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D–Los Angeles) will be the keynote speaker
during lunch on Saturday afternoon. She previously spoke at the 5th annual conference in Compton. Education sessions empower student leaders of African ancestry, feature successful models and practices that build community on campus and foster community outreach and involvement, and address organizational development issues of Afro-centric organizations at community colleges. “The conference occurs each year during Black History Month and is scheduled during the Presidents Day weekend so students can have a substantive leadership and cultural experience without missing classes,” said Black Caucus Advisor Don Dorsey. “It is an amazing opportunity for our students to gain knowledge about their history and culture,” said Hurd, “and it is so powerful that they will go back to their campuses to get involved.” For more info email Marlene C. Hurd at mchurd@sbcglobal.net.
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LANEY BLACK STUDENT UNION
‘Say it Loud’ at Laney
February 2008
‘Say it loud takes you on a hip-trip back to the 70’s, where the look sound, and attitude was colorful, loud and proud.’ MARK ELLIOT
Fashion show fuses Hip Hop with 70s funk and fashion By Brother Reggie
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DEFENDER EDITOR
ave you ever seen an Afro so big its owner couldn’t walk through the door? Or how about a dashiki so colorfully loud and proud that you thought you were back in the motherland? If you answered ‘Yes!’ to either of these questions, you are more than likely a product of the 70’s. Now for those who missed this era, don’t fret; your chance to experience a fantastic funky voyage has arrived. The 4th “Say it Loud” Youth Fashion Show comes to the Laney College Theatre Feb. 2 at 8 p.m. for Black History Month, fusing bell-bottoms, dashikis and soulful 70’s sounds. There will be really big Afros too. “ ‘Say it Loud!’ takes you on a hip-trip back to the 70’s, where the look, sound, and attitude was colorful, loud and proud.” said Mark Elliott, the show’s producer. The shows theme draws the infamous Black Power call-and-response anthem in which James Brown sang the lyrics, “Say it Loud,” to cries of “I’m Black and I’m proud.” Director Mario Benton and Elliott capture the vibe using fly fashion, cool skits and classic soul music from the likes of James Brown, Curtis Mayfield
Photo Courtesy of Mario B. Productions
Young Afro-centric models will star in the 4th Annual ‘Say it Loud’ Fashion Show Feb. 2 in the Laney Theater. The show combines Hip Hop, funk, and fashion. and Aretha Franklin. The combination of funky grooves and hip threads creates a show hipper than any other 70’s show around. “This show is designed to bridge the
‘This show is designed to bridge the generation gap between young and old, mixing hip hop with old school as a new breed of fashionable entertainment.” Mario Benton generation gap between young and old, mixing hip hop with old school as a new breed of fashionable entertainment,” said Benton. “We want to bring back a sense of unity and pride in our community.” The soulful fashion extravaganza introduces a cast of proud inner city youth, who participate in the Mario B. Youth Modeling Program, to the world of
fashion. The program, which was founded in 2001, has enrolled over 300 students from throughout the Bay Area. The program is currently supported by Youth Uprising Center in East Oakland, where students learn basic modeling technique, runway sills, photography, and fashion design. This year’s production is being cosponsored by Destiny Arts and the Laney Black Student Union (BSU). “We are all about bridging gaps and connecting peoples,” said BSU VicePresident Andrea Spearman. “I can’t wait to see the reaction from Laney students to the mixture of 70’s culture and today’s youth.” Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show begins at 8 p.m. Advance tickets $10. $15 at the door. For more info, call 510-978-8170 or 510- 472-0782 or email newbreed2me@yahoo.com or mariobpro@yahoo.com.
February 2008
LANEY BLACK STUDENT UNION
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‘Eye Gotcha Covered’
Photos by Izchel Moreno
COURTESY OF THE LANEY TOWER
Laney fine arts graduate Milton Bowens multi-media exhibit “Eye Gotcha Covered” examines contemporary and historical views of African Americans in the media. The exhibit is sponsored by the June Steingart Art Gallery in the Tower building. The gallery is open Monday–Thursday from 11 A.M.–5 P.M. A reception will take place Feb. 5 from 4:30 P.M.–7:30 P.M. The Laney BSU is co–sponsoring this exhibit.
Editor Reginald James Deputy Editor Andrea Spearman News Editor Marlene C. Hurd Opinion Editor Lamar Caldwell Circulation Manager Justin Thompson
DEFENDER
The Defender is the monthly newsletter of the Laney Black Student Union (BSU). We want for writers, photographers and editors who want to sharpen their skills while telling the people the real deal.
RE–ESTABLISHED 2007
Contribute: We accept poetry, articles and letters to the editor. Please limit letters to 150 words. Please email your submissions to laneybsu@gmail.com or visit Myspace.com/ LaneyBSU for more information..
LANEY BLACK STUDENT UNION
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Former Laney English faculty shares memoir
February 2008
‘Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.’ M Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Graphic by Reginald James
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a revolutionary, not just a dreamer. The “Real King’ was a servant of the people and was guided by divine inspiration to empower the oppressed.
Photo Courtesy of Adam David Miller
Author and poet Adam David Miller shares his life experiences in “Ticket to Exile.”
By Margaret Traylor
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SPECIAL TO THE DEFENDER
dam David Miller, poet, writer, editor/publisher, and former laney College English instructor will read from his recently published and highly acclaimed memoir, “Ticket to Exile,” 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Wed. Feb. 3 in Tower 450. Miller’s reading celebrates Black History Month at Laney College. Refreshments will be served. “Ticket to Exile” chronicles African American family life and culture of the segregated South during the 1920s and 1930s in Orangeburg, South Carolina. This coming of age story explores a life dominated by legal racism and governed by a strict code of race relations, little more than half a century after the emancipation of blacks from slavery. Miller, a smart, intuitive and sensitive adolescent, violates the code and pays for this life-threatening breach with exile. Miller’s reading is sponsored by the Laney College Library, the Laney Black Student Union and the Peralta Association of African American Affairs. For more information, contact Margaret Traylor at 464-3502.
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BSU honors King Student-led event at Laney focuses on real MLK being ‘not just a dreamer,’ but a revolutionary By Brother Justin
our people and the world today.” The idea of doing an event about the “real” King was inspired by what the BSU sees as very year, celebrations are held the corporate takeover of King’s message. throughout the world to honor the Opposed to focusing on the so-called “I Have life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, a Dream” speech, the BSU wants to raise Jr. . Unfortunately, no campus in the Peralta awareness of his other positions–after August Community College District ever organizes 1963–and how it’s relevant today. any programs; until now. “King would be organizing opposition The Laney Black to the War in Iraq, ‘King would be organizing Student Union (BSU), against police bruopposition to the War in Iraq, tality,” said James, in collaboration with Club Knowledge, against police brutality, and he “and he would be for hosted “The Real would be for our reparations.’ our reparations.” King: More than a Reginald James The BSU sees Dreamer,” Jan. 22 at King’s legacy as an noon in the cafeteria. The event was origi- example of the need for Black people to be nally scheduled to take place in the quad, but inspired, unified and organized. moved in doors due to the rainy weather. “King would want the descendants of forThe shining event featured readings of mer slaves to organize themselves,” said BSU Dr. King’s speeches and quotes, as well as Vice-President Andrea Spearman. “Then he poetry inspired by Dr. King’s message, life would want them to join with the descenand legacy. And his work. dants of slaveowners, and all people; so we “Most people see King’s birthday as a day unite as one people with one aim, guided off or even a day just to get holiday pay,” by one God.” said interim Laney BSU President Reginald The BSU expects King will be honored at James. “But his work means so much more Laney for years to come.
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DEFENDER STAFF WRITER
www.myspace.com/LaneyBSU
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February 2008 ANEY LACK TUDENT NION Defender/ 7 “Mental bondage is invisible violence. Formal physical slavery has ended in the United States. Mental slavery continues to this present day....it is worse than physical slavery....the person who is in mental bondage will be “self-contained”. Not only will that person fail to challenge beliefs and patterns of thought which control him, he will defend and protect those beliefs and patterns of thought virtually with his last dying effort.” –Asa Hillard (8/22/1933-8/12/2007
Ancestral Nationality By Dr. Mujahidun Sumchai
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SPECIAL TO THE DEFENDER
n the minds and hearts of all Americans, especially African Americans, are the painful connections and liberation truths of the past and yet we are not victims. We are living our victory. The present American heart and mind is in recovery, trying to find the language and behaviour that makes our truths of today new for tomorrow. The American future is both sure on one hand and uncertain on the other. All Americans but especially African Americans are in needs of new ideas that respect and honor our cultural traditions, norms, values and way of life. Our ways of knowing, being, truthing and universing are culecopolsomatic as we seek survival-purpose justice-solutions. America’s behavioral aesthetics are transforming. We are looking for a new medicine language, which includes a bunker government for some, a black president, a democratic society, education that leaves no child behind with highly qualified teachers in the classroom and a country without racism, classism, sexism, ageism and mindism–– forever more. Our actions and words must have the ability to hold Culecopolsologic (CEPS) healing conversations or else we stay injured and in pain. Today’s CEPS healing conversations must respect and honor our ancestral nationality. Our ancestral gene pool is our biological reality that shall not be denied–except perhaps in error. We would not be here but for our fathers and mother’s and their parents. Today’s healing conversation must also respect and honor the geophysical place in which we act out our daily life and living, of community, work, education, family relations, personal and professional relations, art and science. Ancestral nationality is the embodiment of
the new American medicine language. In instead of using skin color descriptive characterizations when talking and writing about others and ourselves we could use ancestral nationality. A person might write or say: • African Dominican • African American • European American • Asian African American • African European American European • European African American • Mexican American • Pacific Islander American • African Asian • European Pacific Islander • American African • European African • Asian African • Pacific Islander African • Irish American • Italian American • Greek American • American Irish • American Italian • American Greek • Japanese American • American Japanese • African American Mexican • French American • American French • French African • German American • American German • German African • African American German The applications are endless and limitless within the finite populations of our country, our planet and our imaginations. Skin color descriptive characterization in speech and writing is the last hinge on the door of racism both internationally and domestically. Albert Einstein once said, “Problems generated by one way of thinking can not be
Skin color descriptive characterization in speech and writing is the last hinge on the door of racism both internationally and domestically. solved by that same way of thinking.” Race and racism are a problem that is the result of a certain way of thinking. Thinking precedes action in most instances of our daily life and living. If we think a certain way we act a certain way. Ancestral nationality is a new way of thinking and being in America. Our time for healing is a gift, it isn’t quick and sometimes it appears as if there are no results. We change slowly each and every day with small moves and deep breaths. What if ancestral nationality could be a helpful innovation in our thinking, being, truthing, universing and healing? W. E. B. Du Bois said in 1903, “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line, –– the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.” In Du Bois’s day and time (the 20th century) these idea were appropriate for the slowly changing American landscape. We are more than a century later and still too many people are thinking in the century past. We need another way of thinking and being about this American dilemma with its peculiar institutions and badges of color. The American challenge of the 21st century is ancestral nationality, so that the respect and honor we must show for our mothers and fathers and country helps us to change ever so slowly with small moves and deep breaths. The late Stephen Jay Gould quotes Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle, “If the misery of our poor be caused not by nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
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LANEY BLACK STUDENT UNION
“DEFENDER” Marcus Garvey
February 2008
Black History Crossword Puzzle
1887-1940
“A people without knowledge of their past is like a tree without roots.”
10 Reasons to Join the BSU
–Black is beautiful! –Get help graduating and transferring –Peer support system –Make a difference in your community –Network with other Black students –Learn about your beautiful history –Develop your organizing skills –Hands-on experience in your major/field –Discover resources for Black students –Control your campus
Answers in Spring DEFENDER
Answers to January Crossword Puzzle 2. Tindley 4. Farmer 6. Allensworth 9. Roots
Across 12. Fergusson 13. Banneker 14. Poole 15. Greensboro
BSU MEETINGS Every Monday
12:30 PM – 2 PM Student Center ‘Liberty Hall’ Room 403
1. Johnson 3. Payne 5. Birmingham 7. Howard
Down
8. Roosevelt 10. DuBois 11. Lynching
Holla Back Open Mic Series
Every Thursday at 8 P.M. Eastside Cultural Center 2277 International Blvd. Myspace.com/ HollaBackESA