Uptown Notes

Last weekend, at the Malcolm X Grassroots Unity Brunch one of the topics covered was violence against LGBTQ people of color. I think it was Kenyon Farrow who mentioned the suicides of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover and Jaheem Herrera who are both Black boys who recently committed suicide because of peer bullying and hatred. Jewel Woods, of the Renaissance Male Project, writes a clear indictment of the ways that our schools allow torture and why boys of color are particularly at risk. What can we do to prevent torture in our schools and ensure a safe and whole development for all our children.

This Sunday’s Unity Brunch of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and The Women of Color Caucus will present a Film Screening and Panel discussion of the film No! The Rape Documentary. Guaranteed to be a powerful, insightful and uplifting. Come on out!

In the Welsh-Asante Aesthic model there is no form without function. In the production of SOARS, by A Long Walk Home you have a powerful art form that is not only stunning but begins the work of healing. Read more about it here.

Today CCNY will feature a lecture by Kwame Appiah on “Race and Genomics” as well as host a stop on the “Live from Death Row” tour. Great chance to think about race theoretically and practically.

This week, my dear friend Yusef Ramelize, took on the issue of homelessness. No, he didn’t decide to volunteer at a soup kitchen. No he didn’t decide to give out change to someone he saw as he was exiting the platform. No he didn’t email his friends and tell them they should join a “homelessness sucks” cause on facebook. He decided to raise awareness about the issue of homelessness by getting a first person experience. Yusef is going homeless for one week.

I was so moved by the trailer to Social Contracts by Laura Rahman that I had to post it and write a post. An insightful clip of documentary dealing with issues of sexual violence in the Black community.

Check out a free screening of G-trification a short film by Karra Duncan today (2/26) at 5:30pm at the Harlem School of the Arts during the Harlem International Film Festival. It’s a short, potent, and poignant commentary on transformation uptown.

Protest actions: Today a rally against the NY Post for their incendiary “political” cartoon. Student take back NYU and stream occupation live.

This is a repost of a powerful piece on Rihanna, Chris Brown, and Domestic Violence in the Black community. Taken from South Side Scholar.

Happy 100th anniversary NAACP… now change you name immediately!