Arts and Culture

Op-Ed: Art as Healing

Published

8 years ago

July 18, 2016

By Cat Brooks
Black women carry so much.

We tend to our homes and our children. We work long hours and multiple jobs to keep the lights on. We ensure our husbands and lovers are cared for.

As our men are locked up, or murdered, we make ways out of no way to hold our families together, plan BBQs, holidays, birthdays and funerals.

We are experts at holding it down.

Last week, two Black mothers lost their children. A Black fiancé sat next to her dying love. A Black child watched the police shoot her daddy for the crime of complying with orders. Black wives saw their husbands in him.

Black women hugged their children tighter. My heart repeatedly broke for the mothers I know I can be at any given moment.

Far too often, the ugliness of the outside seeps into our homes. The pressure of not finding decent work or getting deserved promotions. The humiliation of bosses who talk to us like we aren’t human and who know we’ll take it because we need to pay the rent.

The frustration of working so hard to achieve the American dream but finding ourselves trapped in the nightmare of racism and oppression. The fear of traffic stops turning into funerals.

The ugliness seeps under doorways and rips families apart as coping mechanisms manifest as substance abuse, adultery, domestic violence and other unspoken tragedies.

We hold it together with the most creative of coping mechanisms.

I work it out through my art. On stage, I allow myself to feel the pain and rage and fear. I can leave it there, on the stage, and go home – mostly whole – to my family.

I often wonder how other Black women “work it out.” For some of us, it’s finding ways to accept the unacceptable. To un-see what is in front of us for fear of going blind. Sometimes the price of holding it together costs us everything.

Oakland-based actress Margo Hall is grateful for the opportunity to work it out as Rose in Cal Shakes’ current production of Fences, by August Wilson. As Fences’ lone woman character, Rose faces a difficult choice when her husband brings home another woman’s baby and asks her to raise it.

“Playing Rose allows me to represent all of the women who struggle with overbearing family decisions,” said Hall. “I was married for 18 years, just like Rose, when I decided to strike out on my own, with a 10-year-old son. Every time I perform, I work through that hard time in my life, to grieve and feel my light shine again.”

Margo and the production team spoke with African-American women at two of Cal Shakes’ community partners, Allen Temple Arms and Berkeley Food and Housing Project’s North County Women’s Center about the challenges and rewards of making family with our men.

Their stories are central in this production that tells the story of a Black family, that could be anywhere in America, at any point in time. You will see yourself and your loved ones. You will find a safe place to grieve, laugh and love.

The theater is a sanctuary.

I invite you to come and work it out.

Cat Brooks is an actress, writer and activist who lives in West Oakland with her daughter. Cal Shakes’ Fences runs from July 9-July 30. For more information visit calshakes.com

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Arts and Culture

Richmond Preps for Full Weekend of Cinco de Mayo Festivities

Cinco de Mayo festivities in Richmond and San Pablo are some of the bests in Bay, and organizers say that tradition will be alive and well at this weekend’s annual parade and festival. The action kicks off Saturday, May 4, with the 16th Annual Cinco de Mayo Richmond/San Pablo Peace & Unity Parade. The parade of floats, performances, and community organizations starts at 10 a.m. at 24th Street and Barrett Avenue and Richmond and ends at 12:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Church, 1845 Church Lane in San Pablo.

Published

3 days ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Scene from the 2023 Cinco de Mayo parade from Richmond to San Pablo. Photo courtesy The Richmond Standard.

By Mike Kinney

The Richmond Standard

Cinco de Mayo festivities in Richmond and San Pablo are some of the bests in Bay, and organizers say that tradition will be alive and well at this weekend’s annual parade and festival.

The action kicks off Saturday, May 4, with the 16th Annual Cinco de Mayo Richmond/San Pablo Peace & Unity Parade. The parade of floats, performances, and community organizations starts at 10 a.m. at 24th Street and Barrett Avenue and Richmond and ends at 12:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Church, 1845 Church Lane in San Pablo.

The parade’s Grand Marshall this year will be community organizer Diego Garcia, owner of Leftside Printing.

The festivities continue Sunday with the Cinco de Mayo Festival along 23rd Street, which last year drew over 100,000 people, according to the 23rd Street Merchants Association. This year’s festival will again run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. between the intersections of Rheem Avenue and Clinton Avenue. It will feature two entertainment stages, one sponsored by La Raza 93.3 FM at 23rd and Rheem, and another sponsored by Radio Lazer FM at 23rd and Clinton.

Both events are important for the city and the region’s Latino community.

San Pablo Mayor Genoveva Calloway, who co-chairs the parade alongside John Marquez, president of the Contra Costa Community College District Board of Trustees, says Saturday’s festivities are about bringing the Richmond and San Pablo communities together in unity.

“This truly connects the spectators and people in the parade as one,” Calloway said. “The parade showcases the real communities of Richmond and San Pablo – our nonprofits, schools, horse riders, classic cars and trucks, our local businesses. All of these people represent the heartbeat of our community.”

Rigo Mendoza, vice president of the 23rd Street Merchants Association, said that at its heart, Richmond’s Cinco de Mayo Festival celebrates the date the Mexican army’s victory over France at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

But John Marquez started up the popular festival to bring the community together and also to exhibit the community’s businesses and culture to visitors, Mendoza said. The gathering was also a way to promote peace in the community.

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Art

Mario Van Peebles’ ‘Outlaw Posse’ Screened at Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre

Published

3 days ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Film director Mario Van Peebles, who also stars in “Outlaw Posse,” appeared at a press conference held at RBA Creative on MacArthur Boulevard hosted by the Oakland International Film Festival. Photo By Carla Thomas.

By Carla Thomas

The Oakland International Film Festival hosted a screening of “Outlaw Posse” at the Grand Lake Theatre on Monday. Special guests included director/actor Mario Van Peebles and his co-star, Oakland native Scytorya Rhodes. The film is Peebles’ second western, the first being ‘Posse,’ 13 years ago. Filmmaker Van Peebles shared his passion for independent artistry and producing projects with his son, Mandela, who also starred in the film, along with Whoopi Goldberg and Cedric the Entertainer. Next week, The Post will publish an in-depth interview featuring Peebles’ reflections on his work, future projects, and continuing his father’s legacy and Rhodes on her grandfather, a real-life cowboy.

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Arts and Culture

Kedrick Armstrong: New Music Director for the Oakland Symphony

The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director. In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

Kedrick Armstrong is the new music director for the Oakland Symphony. Photo credit Scott Chernis.

By Post Staff

The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director.
In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.

Armstrong is the successor to previous music director and Conductor Michael Morgan, who passed away in 2021 after a 30-year tenure at the Symphony.

Armstrong will open the Oakland Symphony 2024-2025 season on October 18.

Armstrong, who is 29 and hails from Georgetown, South Carolina, is currently the creative partner and principal conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony.

The Chicago Tribune has praised Armstrong for his ability to “simply let the score speak for itself.” He enjoys a wide range of repertoire, spanning early music to premiering new works, using his joy and curiosity for all music to cultivate understanding and collaboration within diverse communities.
“I am deeply honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the new music director of the Oakland Symphony,” Armstrong said. “As a Black conductor, I find it humbling to stand on the shoulders of both Michael Morgan and Calvin Simmons,” the most recent and the first African American music directors of the Symphony, respectively.

Armstrong led three programs at the Symphony between 2022 and early 2024, which showcased his broad knowledge of the classical repertoire and enthusiasm for spotlighting diverse voices.
On his Oakland Symphony subscription debut on Feb. 16, Armstrong led the world premiere of “Here I Stand: Paul Robeson,” an oratorio by Carlos Simon on a libretto by Dan Harder, commissioned by the Oakland Symphony.

Armstrong was selected unanimously by the Oakland Symphony’s board of directors and musicians after an extensive two-year search. “The search committee was overwhelmed by Kedrick’s scholarship and curiosity about all kinds of music, from classical and jazz to gospel and hip-hop,” said. Dr. Mieko Hatano, executive director of the Oakland Symphony. “We are thrilled to have him join us at the Oakland Symphony.”