ConverZations that Matter is a dialogue series honoring and acknowledging the wounds and suffering of America's historically oppressed peoples, while simultaneously posing a question of hope and possibility for the future--"What would healing look like?"

This series begins on September 30.

An Evening with Dr. Cornel West: Speaking Our Vision of Hope and Possibility Out Loud!

Thursday, September 30, 2010
The New York Times has called Princeton Professor Cornel West, "one of America's most provocative public intellectuals." Cornel West calls himself "a bluesman in the life of the mind." His book "Race Matters" is a contemporary classic. In his long-awaited memoir, "Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud," West offers a compelling exploration of faith, family, philosophy, love, and service. He is a mesmerizing speaker, a dynamic and insightful philosopher, and a committed social activist. With astute intellect and ferocious moral vision, he continuously challenges us to re-envision the possibilities of who we are.

The program includes a very special spoken word hip-hop tribute to Dr. West by several Bay Area artists including Drew Dellinger, Seasunz, and friends.
Photo of Cornel West by Brian Velenchencko.

EVENT DETAILS
Thursday, September 30, 2010
7-9 pm
The Regency Ballroom
1300 Van Ness Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94109
$20/$15 member price

Slavery's Legacy: What Would Healing Look Like? With Belvie Rooks and Thomas Norman DeWolf

Wednesday, October 13, 2010
April 12, 2011, marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War. As our nation commemorates the sesquicentennial, it's imperative that we ask, "What would healing look like?" What is possible beyond re-enactments of Civil War battles?

In 2001 Tom DeWolf discovered that he was descended from the most powerful slave-trading family in U.S. history. One of DeWolf's ancestors, Senator James DeWolf of Rhode Island--who was reportedly the second-richest man in America when he died in 1837--curried favor with President Thomas Jefferson in order to continue slave trading after the practice had been officially outlawed. DeWolf is the author of "Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-trading Family in U.S. History."

In 2007 Belvie Rooks stood in the Elmina slave dungeon in Ghana, trying to imagine what reaching the "door of no return" must have felt like for an enslaved African ancestor. Part of her family story is chronicled in "The Seed of Sally Good'n: A Black Family of Arkansas, 1833-1953."

Tom and Belvie have come to understand that daring to acknowledge the depth of the historical wound they share allows for deeper dialogue and the possibility of healing and reconciliation.

EVENT DETAILS
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
7-9 pm
CIIS Main Building
1453 Mission Street, San Francisco
$15/$10 member price
ONLINE REGISTRATION IS CLOSED - TICKETS AT THE DOOR

Finding Common Ground: Stretching the Boundaries

Wednesday, November 10, 2010
An intergenerational spoken word and performance dialogue with original Watts Prophet poet Amde Hamilton and a selection of the Bay Area's most amazing female poets, rappers, and spoken word artists, including:

Scorpio Blues, who has appeared on Def Poetry and is releasing an upcoming album called Scorpio Rising; and Danielle Drake-Burnett, the 2003 Oakland Grand Slam Champion.

Anthony Amde Hamilton, also known as "Father Amde," is a founding member of the Watts Prophets. Hamilton discovered the unique power of spoken word amid the upheaval of the late 1960s when he joined the now famous Watts Writers Workshop and created the Watts Prophets along with two other visionaries. In 2003 Quincy Jones recounted the impact that the Watts Prophets had on him: "I was drawn to the notion of hip-hop back in the 1970s with the Last Poets and the Watts Prophets, who were seminal figures in our culture just as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were to bebop in the 1940s." With their signature style, featuring jazz-inspired poems about poverty, violence, and racism, the Watts Prophets are widely recognized as fathers of rap and hip-hop.

For young women like Danielle Drake-Burnett and Scorpio Blues, the traditional divides of ethnicity, class, and gender provide the inspiration for new visions and models of cross-fertilization and creative possibility.

This will be an historic, cutting-edge collaboration.

EVENT DETAILS
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
7-9 pm
CIIS Main Building
$15/$10 member price

ONLINE REGISTRATION CLOSED - TICKETS AT THE DOOR

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