Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2007 21:05:48 EDT
Dear Allies,
My name is Ruby Sales, founder and Director of
the SpiritHouse Project ,a National Justice
Project in DC. I am in Los Angeles as the
Producer of SisterAll 2: Our Name is Our Own. I
would am reaching out to sisters and allies to
invite your attendance and support of this timely
event. The information below expains the event. I
hope that this can be a multi-ethnic event,
breaking boundaries and building community.
Thanks!
SPIRITHOUSE PROJECT- a national DC social justice
organization www.spirithouseproject.org
&
LUCY FLORENCE CULTURAL CENTER - a premiere LA
entertainment center www.lucyflorence.com
Invites You to
SISTERALL TWO: OUR NAME IS OUR OWN
Friday and Saturday, April 6-7 & Friday, Saturday
and Sunday, April 13-14, 2007.
Reception 7pm and Performances 8pm on each night!
Sunday, April, 15, 2007 2PM -4PM Film screening
and discussion of NO, an exploration of sexual
violence and healing in the African American
community) with Aishah Shahidah Simmons
@Lucy Florence Cultural Center located at 3351 W. 43rd Street,
Leimert Park Community, Los Angeles, California.
Suggested Donation $15
SEATING IS LIMITED, PLEASE CALL 232- 293- 1356 FOR TICKETS
SisterAll Two: Our Name is Our Own is an
interlocking event that weaves together a collage
of individual and communal voices that humanize
women of color lives by raising our names out of
the muck and mire of mainstream popular
stereotypes. Our voices, coming from the
authentic and diverse corners, of our lives break
through the demeaning shackles and popular
stereotypes of whores, mammies, immoral and
amoral bitches, whores, welfare cheats, passive
love slaves, hoochie mamas, ghetto women and angry females.
This is an opportunity stand up with your sisters
of color while coming together across our
differences for an uplifting evening of music,
drama and poetry by nationally acclaimed
artists/activists of all ages, sexualities and
classes are using the arts as a vehicle to turn
popular culture on its head and to stand tall
saying, our name is our own- it is a powerful
witness of collective triumph over adversity and
dignity over vulgarity. It is the story of women
and communities who not only overcome but
transcend. We are a breed of artists who refuse
to root our voices and images in the slanderous
and long standing stereotypes created by mainstream society.
Friday and Saturday evening, April 6-7 featured artists will be:
Ruby Sales- acclaimed veteran of the Civil Rights
Movement- social critic, activist-public
theologian- history maker- social commentator-
winner of numerous awards and citations-Founder
and Director of the Spirit House Project is the
chronicler and co producer for SisterAll Two: Our Name is Our Own.
Staceyann Chin - dynamic
poet/writer/performer -the Nuyorican Poets Cafe
-one woman shows Off
Broadway -co-writer/performer in Russell
Simmons' Def Poetry Jam -published in the New
York Times, Washington Post, and Pittsburgh Daily -featured on 60 minutes.
Yasmeen - inspiring songstress -former member of
Sweet Honey in the Rock -sang with Jeff Majors
for five years -possesses the gift of blending
deep soul sounds -a spiritual carrier, a bridge to the new consciousness.
Aya De Leon - life affirming writer -chosen best
discovery in theatre by the San Francisco
Chronicle -ranks at the top of the slam
genre -poetry and drama that raises
consciousness to newer heights -appeared with
Tracy Chapman, Danny Glover, Bonnie Raitt, Mos Def, and others.
Ange Smith - highly sought after
musician/singer/entertainer in social justice
circles -sang at Teatro del Opera in Rome, Italy,
Newport Jazz Festival, and Word and World.
Michelle Armster - weaver of song and drama- ex
singer with Class Action- writer director of one
woman show Godâs Image Carved in Ebony: The
Testimony of Mrs. Amanda Berry Smith, the Singing
Pilgrim, â- seminarian and human rights
activist will narrate/bridge the April, `6-7 segment.
Cheryl Blankenship- higher education
administrator, systems and policy developer-
events managemer- manager of budgets over a
million dollars, is co producer and manager of SisterAll Two.
Friday and Saturday evening April 13-14
Bettie Mae Fikes - powerful singer who graced
Carnegie Hall, Newport Jazz Festival & Blues
Festivals -freedom singer, well known Veteran of
the Civil Rights Movement -performed for the '64
and '04 Democratic National
Conventions -performed with Joe Turner,
Lightin' Hopkins, Albert King, James Brown, Bob Dillon, Mavis Staples, others
D'Lo - prophetic Sri Lankan playwright and
performer -rooted in the Hindu tradition
-combines Bharatha Natayam (South Asian dance) and hip-hop.
Monica Dillon - super versatile, new breed
singer, pianist, composer, and producer from New
Orleans -repertoire includes blues, jazz,
gospel, R&B and contemporary adult -sound
compared to Nina Simone, Cassandra Wilson, Brenda Russell, Patrice Rushen.
Sunday, April 15, at 2pm
Aishah Shahidah Simmons screens her
internationally saluted
film/documentary: NO! (- producer, writer, and
director of this insightful feature length
documentary -winner of a juried award and an
audience choice award at the 2006 San Diego
Women's Film Festival. Aishah will be present
for a conversation.
SisterAll Two: Our Name is Our Own comes at a
very urgent time when the makers and shapers of
popular color vilify our names and lives through
foul and disrespectful language, images, and
stories. In doing so, they not only distort how
we see ourselves and how the world sees us. We
recognize these stereotypical and demeaning
images of us as sexualized, immoral and one
dimensional sexual objects represent an assault
on our race and gender and attempts to turn back
the gender and racial gains of the Civil Rights and Womenâs Movement.
Our rejection of these images as the cornerstone
of our history and art reaffirm our refusal to
continue to sit quietly and passively while
members of the establishment distort our names,
histories, and images for their economic and
social benefit. They do not have the power to
make us up or create us out of their imaginations
and self interests. The power to name ourselves
is in our hands. Without our permission, it cannot be stolen or bought.
SisterAll Two: Our Name is Our Own positions
itself in the long held understanding passed down
to us from generation to generation, that our
name is worth more than silver or gold. It is
the essence and spirit of our individual and community lives.
Ruby Sales says that stereotyping women of color
is not harmless. It is dangerous practice with
severe economic and social consequences that
creates fertile ground and justification for
exploitation, injustice and public policies that
rob us of our rights and places in society.
Thatâs why the voices of women of color telling
our stories through songs, films, poems, and
drama are more than entertainment. Our voices
set the record and liberate our lives from the
small and one dimensional territory of public lies.
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