Maafa Awareness Month

The month set aside here in the San Francisco Bay Area to reflect on the legacy of slavery, its residual psychological effects and how America can heal from the trauma approaches. Save the date, Sunday, Oct. 7, for the invitational sunrise ceremony at San Francisco Ocean Beach. The commemoration is for people of African descent. Related events are open to the entire community. Visit www.maafasfbayarea.com for information or send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Virginia Hamilton

‘The People Who Could Fly'

There are certain stories that state a truth so profoundly tied to the soul of who we are as Africans in America or Africans in the Diaspora that no matter how many times one hears it, it reaffirms one anew. We need these kinds of stories, the type of stories that speak to Black resistance and faith, Black selfhood and oneness, Black wisdom and belief that freedom is not a philosophical contingency plan but a reality one can actualize just by speaking the right words. Isn't that powerful! Imagine if our children, silently pulling triggers, realized the power of words - the right words chosen to not only transform but create or manifest truth.

Oprah's book club called it "the secret," and gurus are getting fat selling books and DVDs and on gigs called speaking tours. That Africans possessed the magic necessary to liberate themselves is no secret; it was just forgotten.

Now comes the reissue of Virginia Hamilton's "The People Who Could Fly." Africans bled off the pages and into the sky. The inside binding has feathers embossed that shine when the paper catches the light. It's a beautiful book.

"They flew like blackbirds over the fields. Black shiny wings flappin against the blue up there," Hamilton writes. However, once these bold proud Africans were captured or sold into slavery, "they forgot about flyin when they could no longer breathe the sweet scent of Africa. Say the people who could fly kept their power, although they shed their wings."

"The People Who Could Fly" tells of this reawakening spirit. Sarah, an enslaved woman, tired, crying baby strapped to her back, sun burning her face, the cotton sack heavy, asks her elder, Toby, "Is it time?" he replies, "Soon."

‘An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President’

A preview of Charles Reynolds' film which examines the roots of violence in Oakland, "No Coloreds in Oakland," and a conversation with Dr. DeGrury-Leary take place at Grand Avenue SDA Church, 278 Grand Ave., Oakland, Sunday, Sept. 23, at 4 p.m. Reynolds said his "film is not an elaborate excusatory game of pin the blame on the white man. This film is meant to spawn a movement of Black empowerment and inner-city unification that ever churns toward the main objectives of self sufficiency, ownership and intellectual mobility via Black and other communicative networks."

Tickets for the fundraiser, which are $25 and $15, may be purchased online at NoColoredsInOakland.com. For more information, call (510) 436-2852 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Randall Robinson, author of ‘The Debt' and founder of TransAfrica Forum

Marcus Book Stores presents Randall Robinson in Oakland, Thursday, Sept. 20, 6:30 p.m., at Allen Temple Baptist Church, 8501 International Blvd, Oakland. It's Robinson's only Bay Area appearance.

In this latest book, "An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President," Robinson chronicles the convulsive saga of Haiti, from Columbus' arrival in 1492 to the fearlessness of the slave revolutionaries who defeated the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804, ending slavery and wresting from France the most valuable colony of any European power, to the 2004 U.S.-led operation removing from power Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first democratically-elected president, along with his entire government.

The celebrated civil rights and anti-apartheid activist now lives on the island of St. Kitts in the Caribbean. During our Diaspora Talks during Maafa Awareness Month, in October, Tiyesha and Marty Payne will show footage and talk about their recent trip to this island. Stay tuned.

Tickets are $5 general; a $30 admission includes a copy of the book and an invitation to meet the author. For patrons 12 and under, admission is free. Tickets are available at Marcus Books in Oakland, 3900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, (510) 652-2344, or at Marcus Books in San Francisco, 1714 Fillmore St., (415) 346-4222.

Zimbabwean Healing with Mandaza Kandemwa

The African Diaspora community is invited to a Dare, or a traditional Shona group, that comes together for healing and peacemaking this Sunday, Sept. 16, 1:30 to 4 p.m., at Wo'se Community Church of the Sacred African Way, 8924 Holly St., Oakland. For information, call (510) 569-8953 or (510) 499-3508. The ritual is free, although donations are welcome.

Muziki Roberson Project at the Black New World

The quartet Muziki Roberson Project, featuring Duane "Muziki" Roberson on piano, Dave Ellis on saxophone, Aaron Germain on bass and Babatunde Lea on drums, with special guest Dwight Tribble, vocalist, comes to the Black New World on Thursday, Sept. 20. The Black New World Social Aid and Pleasure Club is located at 836 Pine St. in West Oakland. Visit www.blacknewworld.com for show times. I had a great interview with Roberson; look for it next week and on-line.

Jimi Evins's ‘Splash/New Works'

Visual artist Jimi Evins' exhibit, "Splash/ New Works," is up through Sept. 30 at The Club at The Claremont, 41 Tunnel Road, Berkeley. Call (510) 549-8512.

Earthdance Northern California

Earthdance, the Global Dance Festival for Peace, has grown to become the world's largest simultaneous music and dance event. Founded in 1997, with 22 cities and 18 countries participating, Earthdance events have occurred in over 240 cities in over 50 countries, with locations ranging from the club-lands of New York to the rainforests of Brazil.

Every year, in alignment with the International Day of Peace, over 200,000 people unite in dance with hundreds of thousands more joining online in support of global peace and humanitarian aims. The defining moment of each Earthdance event is a synchronized link-up at 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, when every event around the world plays a specially produced song called "The Prayer for Peace" at exactly the same time.

This year, at Earthdance in Northern California on Friday-Monday, Sept. 14-17, The Coup is performing along with Les Nubians, Sila and the Afro-Funk Experience, among others. For information, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Tickets are $150 in advance; it jumps up $30 dollars the day of. "Presale" is a three day pass that includes camping. The Earthdance Festival office is (541) 488-5468. It's $70 for Sunday only. Children 12 and under are free.

Earthdance has been described by the music industry as the "Dance Aid" for the new millennium. The aim of the event is to bring together global communities to create a synchronized global festival and dance event to help fund humanitarian causes and develop an environment of peace throughout the global community. Visit the Earthdance International Website at: http://www.earthdance.org to see what cities are participating in 2007, to find out which charities are being supported and to find out more about the global webcast.

‘Black Radical: The Education of an American Revolutionary, 1946-1968'

Nelson Peery will be at City Lights Books on Thursday, Sept. 20, 7 p.m., celebrating his new book, "Black Radical: The Education of an American Revolutionary," published by New Press. This fascinating follow-up to "Black Fire," Peery's 1994 memoir of his political awakening as a U.S. soldier in the all-Black 93rd Infantry Division in World War II, begins with his involvement in the Communist Party in 1946.

His course through the turbulent history of post- World War II race relations and McCarthy-era excesses leads him to the conviction that "the concrete expression of anti-Communism in America was anti-Black." In 1949, he accepted a party transfer to Cleveland, where he continued to work as a bricklayer and organized his life around the party, only to be expelled after internecine quarrels and anti-Communist crusades.

Believing that "nothing could be done without a serious Communist Party," Peery became active in the drive to re-establish a Marxist-Leninist Communist Party. In New York (1959-1963) and Los Angeles (from 1964), he continued his bricklaying while becoming a founding member of the Communist Labor Party.

His politically active mother, six supportive brothers and fiercely disapproving father assume vivid roles. Many anecdotes show off Peery's storytelling ability, as when he arranges a meeting between Leadbelly and the Dean of Canterbury and colludes in accused spy Gerhardt Eisler's escape to East Germany. Some readers may chafe at Peery's avowedly Marxist terminology, but "the development of [his] revolutionary consciousness" is absorbing, says Publisher's Weekly.

"Black Radical: The Education of an American Revolutionary, 1946-1968" by Nelson Peery, 2007 Edition, is an absorbing firsthand account of an African American's struggle for equality in the decades after World War II, by a writer the Washington Post calls "Wolfean and Whitmanesque." "Black Fire," the celebrated first volume of Nelson Peery's riveting memoirs, is also available at City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Ave. at Broadway, San Francisco, (415) 362-8193. The book store is open daily 10 a.m. to midnight.

Wosé/ Ilé Omodé School 21st Anniversary Fundraiser

The Eighth Annual Jazz & Arts Festival is Saturday, Sept. 29, 3-9 p.m., at The Wosé Community House of Amen Ra, 8924 Holly St., Oakland. Tickets for the event and raffle are $15. For information, call (510) 654-2620 or (510) 632-8230. This year the event is also a memorial and tribute to musician and composer John Coltrane (Sept. 28, 1926 - July 17, 1967). Featured are jazz Harpist from The Hood Destiny Muhammad and renowned jazz violinist Tarika Lewis' Ensemble; David Goodlett, "Jua" and Mamma Africa; the jazz artistry of the Vulindlela Ijiola Wobogo Ensemble; jazz, R&B and gospel by the Hatfield Brothers; and spoken word artist Kinara Sankofa with Rudi Mwongozi presenting his new SONWA (Sound Of New World Afrikah) CD release, "Keys to the Treasures of Heaven and Earth." There will be free door prizes, food, refreshments, art and plant auctions and vendors.

Robert Colescott Retrospective

The Robert Colescott exhibit opens on Thursday, Sept. 20, 6-9 p.m., at the Meridian Gallery, 535 Powell St., San Francisco. Visit www.meridiangallery.org. For information, call (415) 398-7229 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core

Larry Ochs Sax & Drumming Core with special guests Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura will perform at 21 Grand in Oakland at 8 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 13. Personnel that evening will be Ochs on saxophones, Scott Amendola on drums, Don Robinson on drums, Fujii on synthesizer and piano and Tamura on trumpet. The New Sax & Drumming Core CD, "Up From Under," will also be available at the concert, but it is not yet available anywhere else. October is the street date. Visit www.rova.org and www.ochs.cc.

Mo'Rockin Project at Anna's Jazz Island

Friday, Sept. 14, 8 p.m., the Mo'Rockin' Project, featuring Southside Chicago-raised trumpeter Khalil Shaheed and Moroccan-born multi-instrumentalist Yassir Chadly, performs at Anna's Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way, downtown Berkeley. Reservations are recommended. Call (510) 841-5299 after 5 p.m. and visit www.AnnasJazzIsland.com.

Robin Gregory Trio

Other interesting acts at Anna's this weekend include singer Robin Gregory and her trio - Roy Brown on piano, Ron Belcher on bass and Randy Moore on drums - on Saturday, Sept. 15, 8 p.m.

The Chilean saxophone ensemble Cuarteto Latinoamericano de Saxofones and Quejerema will perform at Anna's the next night, Sunday, Sept. 16. They will also be at La Peña Cultural Center, 3150 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, on Saturday, Sept. 22, 8:30 p.m.

The John Santos Quintet CD Release Party

Papa Mambo CD Release Party Family Celebration and Tardeada is Sunday, Sept. 16, 2-6 p.m., at EastSide Arts Alliance, 2277 International Blvd., Oakland, for $5. All proceeds benefit EastSide youth programs. Featured that evening are Orestes Vilato, John Calloway, Saul Sierra and Marco Diaz with many special guests: Bill Ortiz, Maria Marquez, Orlando Torriente, Harold Muñiz, Anthony Blea, Javier Navarrette, Barbara Valladares, Beatriz Godinez Muñiz and Elena Pinderhughes. For more information, visit www.eastsideartsalliance.org or call (510) 533-6629.

Bay View Arts Editor Wanda Sabir can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Visit her website, www.wandaspicks.com, for an expanded version of Wanda's Picks and for exciting "web exclusives."

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