Description from No Mess Chef: We started this journey in 2017 with the vision of providing healthy nutritious meals made from quality local ingredients. We support local farmers pasture raising their animals and using sustainable agricultural practices. We utilize the availability and accessibility of fresh local produce. We believe using quality ingredients is essential to making a quality product.
Description from Don’t Shoot PDX: Our organizational work and activism, including direct community education workshops, support the outreach of our continued advocacy as first respondents and has helped community members contribute through direct engagement and legislative value. There are a vast amount of policy based assets influenced and being harnessed in our strategic building of relationships and networks used toward the shift in culture and systemic discrimination. Activists from the front line need to be encouraged to continue frank and honest conversations about our connection with Ferguson and race in American and its influence within politics.
Description from Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB): This one-hour film chronicles the little known history of racism in Oregon and its movement for civil rights. Although this documentary reveals moments of highly disturbing racism in a state known for its diversity, it also reveals hopeful moments of inspiration and courage as Oregonians take a stand to bring important change to their State.
Partial Bio from Zoulful Muzic: Alonzo Chadwick & Zoulful Muzic is a group of incredibly talented & skilled musicians and singers who specialize in various genres of music. The likes of Soul, Funk, Jazz, R&B, Neo Soul, Blues, and gospel to name a few.
Partial Bio from Dr. Morris’ website: Monique W. Morris, Ed.D. is an award-winning author and social justice scholar with three decades of experience in the areas of education, civil rights, juvenile and social justice. Dr. Morris is the author of Sing A Rhythm, Dance A Blues: Education for the Liberation of Black and Brown Girls (The New Press, 2019), which explores a pedagogy to counter the criminalization of Black and Brown girls in schools. She is also the author of Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools (The New Press, 2016), Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-First Century (The New Press, 2014), Too Beautiful for Words (MWM Books, 2012) and worked with Kemba Smith on her book, Poster Child: The Kemba Smith Story (IBJ Book Publishing, 2011).
Image is the official book cover of Pushout by Monique W. Morris
Description from the Publisher: “Fifteen-year-old Diamond stopped going to school the day she was expelled for lashing out at peers who constantly harassed and teased her for something everyone on the staff had missed: she was being trafficked for sex. After months on the run, she was arrested and sent to a detention center for violating a court order to attend school. Black girls represent 16 percent of female students but almost half of all girls with a school-related arrest. The first trade book to tell these untold stories, PUSHOUT exposes a world of confined potential and supports the growing movement to address the policies, practices, and cultural illiteracy that push countless students out of school and into unhealthy, unstable, and often unsafe futures. For four years Monique W. Morris, author of Black Stats, chronicled the experiences of black girls across the country whose intricate lives are misunderstood, highly judged-by teachers, administrators, and the justice system-and degraded by the very institutions charged with helping them flourish. Morris shows how, despite obstacles, stigmas, stereotypes, and despair, black girls still find ways to breathe remarkable dignity into their lives in classrooms, juvenile facilities, and beyond”
Partial Biofrom Carrie Mae Weems’ website: Considered one of the most influential contemporary American artists, Carrie Mae Weems has investigated family relationships, cultural identity, sexism, class, political systems, and the consequences of power. Determined as ever to enter the picture—both literally and metaphorically—Weems has sustained an on-going dialogue within contemporary discourse for over thirty years. During this time, Carrie Mae Weems has developed a complex body of art employing photographs, text, fabric, audio, digital images, installation, and video.
BDNA Note: In lieu of our normal Thursday post, we are featuring information about Juneteenth, a sacred day for African Americans around the country. We encourage neighborhood allies to avoid cultural appropriation and instead support our Black community by donating, educating ourselves, and continuing to work towards a better future together.
Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.
On January 1, 1980, Juneteenth became an official state holiday in Texas through the efforts of Al Edwards, an African American state legislator. The successful passage of this bill marked Juneteenth as the first emancipation celebration granted official state recognition. Edwards has since actively sought to spread the observance of Juneteenth all across America.
On the night of March 13th, the Louisville Metro Police executed a warrant, looking for drugs they never found, reportedly trafficked by a person who did not live with Breonna or in her complex-and whom they already had in custody.
They sprayed her home with 20 rounds, shooting Breonna 8 times, killing her in her bed.
Neither the Louisville Metro Police nor Mayor Greg Fischer have given her mother any answers. “Not one person has talked to me. Not one person has explained anything to me,” Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, said in an interview. “I want justice for her. I want them to say her name. There’s no reason Breonna should be dead at all.”
