Art

Spoken word artists, other talent featured in South L.A.

WAVE NEWSPAPERS — The stage at the Proud Bird restaurant sparkled with talent March 16 when the National Association for Equal Justice in America (NAEJA) held its first talent show that showcased young spoken word artists, comedians and singers.

Published

5 years ago

March 31, 2019

Shirley Hawkins Contributing Writer

By Shirley Hawkins

LOS ANGELES — The stage at the Proud Bird restaurant sparkled with talent March 16 when the National Association for Equal Justice in America (NAEJA) held its first talent show that showcased young spoken word artists, comedians and singers.

“We wanted to attract more youth between the ages of 18 to 29 to join the organization,” said NAEJA President Royce Esters, who had been thinking about staging the talent show for two years.

Esters said that he wanted to showcase the creativity of young people and to present them with more opportunities. “If the youth are not going to school or enlisting to go into the service or working, they will spend their idol time selling dope, joining a gang or robbing,” Esters said.

Soof the Radio Kid kicked off the show by strumming his guitar and delivering an impassioned version of Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven” to the delight of the crowd.

He was followed by a dreadlocked Kyle Smith who had traveled from New Orleans to Los Angeles to break into the comedy field. Smith kept the crowd chuckling with a funny monologue titled “Eyebrows” about a girl’s whimsical eyebrows.

Smith was followed by Watts native Maceo Bradley, who was dressed in a gold bow tie and suspenders and recited a sobering poem titled “Drowning” about his former rap crew. He said that all three of his friends had met untimely deaths.

“I wrote this song yesterday,” said Bradley, who doubled as the evening’s master of ceremonies. “One of my rap friends drowned and the other two got shot,” he said.

He recited the lyrics.

“I been drinking water like I breathe it, I’ve been seeking peace because I need it, gunshots up the block, another body dropped, I’m surprised that I don’t have my wings yet.”

During a pause in the show, Soof the Radio Kid showed off his impressive dance moves by demonstrating how to do the Floss, a popular dance. Several audience members joined him on the dance floor as lively music filled the air.

Poet/rapper Taylor Made recited a poem called ‘King,’ about a young man trying to shrug off the turmoil of life so that he can thrive.

“It’s about the plight of the black male in American society and some of the issues that we go through as black males,” he said.

Anisa, a spoken word artist and fashion stylist who sported a bright yellow T-shirt, read a poem praising black women, followed by spoken word artist LaVeda, who read a poem about being in love with her friend’s boyfriend.

The Real Little Malcolm recited a poem about growing up in Compton and hearing the constant sound of gunshots.

Ketayama Stewart, a former school counselor and Brooklyn transplant, recited a poem titled “Ebony” about a young dark hued woman who struggled to accept her beauty.

“I wrote this song in 10 minutes about a former student,” Stewart said. “She was beautiful, but she was insecure. She wanted to straighten her hair and to lose weight. But the beauty she sas seeking was already inside her.”

Khzzari had the crowd groovin’ with a jazzy song called “Operation Smooth” about the beauty of love that was accompanied over a funky soundtrack.

Jessie Andrews, also known by his rap name Jay Plus, recited a poem called “The Black State of Mind.”

He said that he had driven to Los Angeles from Albany, New York to break into the music business and become a rapper.

“I’m living in my car right now,” said Andrews, who is hoping to break into the rap business soon.

Feragi, who wore waist long braids and a bright green dress, recited a touching poem about black womens’ beauty.

Nia Ling, a high school senior and artist who had traveled from Riverside, unveiled her painting titled “The Planet of Love” which she donated to the top winner.

Taking the stage next was Shani, who recited a poem about Kalief Browder, a young man from the Bronx who was incarcerated on Riker’s Island for allegedly stealing a backpack.

“He was facing 15 years, but he was sentenced to three years in prison,” Shani said, adding that Browder was innocent of the charges. “He spent two of those years in solitary confinement,” said Shani, who added that Browder eventually committed suicide.

“I wanted to touch the sky, but instead I’m touching walls. Kids waiting on college letters, but I’m waiting on trial. You have me educating myself on how to be successful suicidal,” she recited.

Browder hung himself on June 6, 2015.

“I wrote the poem because I believe that the criminal justice system needs a lot of change,” said Shani. “Every day we’re seeing black and brown individuals being incarcerated for crimes they didn’t commit and they are not seeing trial.”

The audience was entranced by the surprise addition of singer Maricio Donaldson, a Compton native and finalist on “American Idol” who sang a riveting rendition of “A Change is Gonna Come.”

After much deliberation, judges awarded the third place prize of $100 to Feragi, the $200 dollar prize to LaVeda, and the first place prize of $500 to Shani.

Pamela Richardson, chairperson of Labor and Industry for NAEJA, donated $500 to the first place winner. NAEJA supplied the rest of the prize money.

“I was very pleased with the talent show,” said Esters, who said he is already looking forward to the second annual event next year. “People from Rialto, San Bernardino and Riverside came. Everybody seemed to enjoy it.”

Royce Esters founded NAEJA in 1997, which is a nonprofit organization that works to eliminate discrimination, reform the justice and prison systems and award educational scholarships.

This article originally appeared in the Wave Newspapers.

Shirley Hawkins Contributing Writer

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Art

Marin County: A Snapshot of California’s Black History Is on Display

The Marin County Office of Education, located at 1111 Las Gallinas Ave in San Rafael, will host the extraordinary exhibit, “The Legacy of Marin City: A California Black History Story (1942-1960),” from Feb. 1 to May 31, 2024. The interactive, historical, and immersive exhibit featuring memorabilia from Black shipyard workers who migrated from the South to the West Coast to work at the Marinship shipyard will provide an enriching experience for students and school staff. Community organizations will also be invited to tour the exhibit.

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

Early photo of Marin City in the exhibit showing the first department store, barber shop, and liquor store. (Photo by Godfrey Lee)

By Post Staff

The interactive, historical, and immersive exhibit featuring memorabilia from Black shipyard workers who migrated from the South to the West Coast to work at the Marinship shipyard will provide an enriching experience for students and school staff. Community organizations will also be invited to tour the exhibit.

All will have the opportunity to visit and be guided by its curator Felecia Gaston.

The exhibit will include photographs, articles and artifacts about the Black experience in Marin City from 1942 to 1960 from the Felecia Gaston Collection, the Anne T. Kent California Room Collection, The Ruth Marion and Pirkle Jones Collection, The Bancroft Library, and the Daniel Ruark Collection.

It also features contemporary original artwork by Chuck D of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Public Enemy, clay sculptures by San Francisco-based artist Kaytea Petro, and art pieces made by Marin City youth in collaboration with Lynn Sondag, Associate Professor of Art at Dominican University of California.

The exhibit explores how Marin City residents endured housing inequities over the years and captures the history of plans to remove Black residents from the area after World War II. Throughout, it embodies the spirit of survival and endurance that emboldened the people who made Marin City home.

Felecia Gaston is the author of the commemorative book, ‘A Brand New Start…This is Home: The Story of World War II Marinship and the Legacy of Marin City.’ Thanks to the generous contribution of benefactors, a set of Felecia’s book will be placed in every public elementary, middle, and high school library in Marin.

In addition, educators and librarians at each school will have the opportunity to engage with Felecia in a review of best practices for utilizing the valuable primary sources within the book.

“Our goal is to provide students with the opportunity to learn from these significant and historical contributions to Marin County, California, and the United States,” said John Carroll, Marin County Superintendent of Schools.

“By engaging with Felecia’s book and then visiting the exhibit, students will be able to further connect their knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of this significant historical period,” Carroll continued.

Felecia Gaston adds, “The Marin County Office of Education’s decision to bring the Marin City Historical Traveling Exhibit and publication, ‘A Brand New Start…This is Home’ to young students is intentional and plays a substantial role in the educational world. It is imperative that our community knows the contributions of Marin City Black residents to Marin County. Our youth are best placed to lead this transformation.”

The Marin County Office of Education will host an Open House Reception of the exhibit’s debut on Feb. 1 from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.. All school staff, educators, librarians, and community members are encouraged to attend to preview the exhibit and connect with Felecia Gaston. To contact Gaston, email MarinCityLegacy@marinschools.org

Oakland Post

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Activism

Alternative Outcome to Slayings by Police Explored in One-Man Play

BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira. Set against the backdrop of a presidential election, the play explores how political and cultural leaders wield the myth of the dangerous Black man to manipulate the masses for personal gain. Piper penned the follow-up to his ground-breaking solo play, “Cops and Robbers,” after an impromptu cross-country Black history tour.

Published

2 months ago

February 16, 2024

Oakland Post

BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira.

Special to The Post

What would happen if police officers who have gotten off for killing unarmed Black people started turning up dead?

Piper penned the follow-up to his ground-breaking solo play, “Cops and Robbers,” after an impromptu cross-country Black history tour.

“My wife and I had been talking about it for years,” Ferreira said. They had taken their three children to Brazil several times and West Africa but had yet to explore their history as Black people in this country. “It was Juneteenth last year and I realized we had a few weeks to make it happen, so we just jumped in the car and left” Piper said.

Three weeks later the family had seen everything from the African American Museum of History and Culture in Wash., D.C., to the phenomenally preserved Whitney Plantation in Louisiana. They’d stood outside of the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., and paid their respects at the Africa Town cemetery – where the passengers of the Clotilda (the last known U.S. slave ship to smuggle captured Africans into this country) were buried near Mobile, Ala.

“We had the kids keep a journal of the trip and my wife and I took notes, but once we got back home, I knew I had to make the pen move,” he said.

Ferreira plays 21 characters in the 60-minute emotional roller coaster ride; personalities we all know. While brilliantly weaving in themes of revolution, treachery, and revenge, “Black Men Everywhere!” is surprisingly — more than anything else — a love story.

“I wrote the play for Black men and everyone who loves us,” Ferreira said. “The play is narrated by a sistah and performed in front of the deeply spiritual artwork of Nedra T. Williams, an Oakland priestess of Olokun. It’s called ‘Black Men Everywhere!’ but we don’t exist without the Black woman.”

For tickets, please go to: http://tinyurl.com/5dm3mhra

Oakland Post

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Art

City of Stockton Seeks Applications for Public Art Murals

The City of Stockton Arts Commission (SAC) has announced the opportunity for artist(s) and/or artist teams to apply to design and paint original artwork on City-owned property through a Public Art Mural Program. The deadline for applications is Friday, March 8, 2024, at 5 p.m. Applications and additional information are available online at www.stocktonca.gov/publicart.

Published

3 months ago

January 24, 2024

Oakland Post

The Public Art Mural Program incentivizes mural installations by providing city funding and the means of curating the City’s collection of murals.

City of Stockton

The deadline for applications is Friday, March 8, 2024, at 5 p.m. Applications and additional information are available online at www.stocktonca.gov/publicart.

The Public Art Mural Program incentivizes mural installations by providing city funding and the means of curating the City’s collection of murals.

This program has $50,000 in available funds for artist(s) and is also available for those who have already identified funds and would like to complete a mural project on city-owned property. Applications will be reviewed on a competitive basis and selected by the SAC.

To learn more about the Stockton Arts Commission (SAC) or qualifications and eligibility for Public Art Mural Program, please visit www.stocktonca.gov/publicart or call the Community Services Department at (209) 937-8206.