APAP Calendar

BLOGGERS NEEDED!

Interested in sharing your opinions about progressive politics? Want to highlight the great work of local community groups and individuals? Then join our blog team. Send us an email and we can sign you up. apafp AT apaforprogress DOT org.

Home

ryantakemiya's blog

A New World, a New Vision: ARC's Facing Race Heralds Re-Energized Movement

Wed, 11/19/2008 - 14:26

This post is late.   The Facing Race conference ended on Saturday, November 15th, four days ago.  And the reason I haven’t blogged about it until today is because I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking, reflecting, and internalizing the true significance of this event, and the age in which we live.  We stand now at a crossroads in history.  So much more has changed than simply a new president.  This goes beyond Barack Obama and racial politics.  I believe that the true weight of this event speaks directly to the heart of the times.


  • 2 comments
  • Read more

Facing Race Conference Heats Up Debate on Racial Justice Movement

Fri, 11/14/2008 - 23:49

Emphasis on cross-struggle organizing, sustainability, and building a critical mass for a new political era

We’re now in the 2nd day of the “Facing Race” conference, and the Racial Justice debate has heated up.  With 50 workshops spread over 3 sessions, with film screenings, and 3 plenary sessions, the Facing Race conference is the largest gathering of Racial Justice Activists in the nation.  With a staggering 900+ people in attendance, the conference got off to a solid start this morning with a plenary panel examining race in the presidential campaign.   

All the facilitators in each of the subsequent workshops immediately began addressing fundamental strategies for the movement, urging cross-struggle organizing, and urging people to build movements that leave no one group behind in this new and complex era of racial politics.  But the ongoing question at the conference seems to be about whether or not the movement will be able to continue


  • Add new comment
  • Read more

Facing Race Conference Kicks off in Oakland, CA

Fri, 11/14/2008 - 10:03

Largest gathering of racial justice activists in the country

 

The Applied Research Center’s national conference ‘Facing Race’ kicked off yesterday in Oakland California to explore the innovative strategies and successful models of racial justice activism and to “outline a vision for the future of racial justice.” 

 

The Facing Race conference is purportedly the largest gathering of racial justice activists in the country, and the packed ballroom of over 500 people clearly showed the continuing power of the racial justice movement in the 21st century, and the renewed importance of the movement after the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States.  APA for Progress is here to screen the documentary film “Vincent Who?” and to give those of you who couldn’t make it (or who couldn’t afford the $350 registration fee…ouch) a play-by-play of the conference, which features some of the nation’s leading all-star progressives (Jeff Chang!  Rinku Sen!). 

 

Last night, in the ballroom of the Oakland City Center Marriot downtown, the conference opened with a welcome from host Daisy Hernandez, Editor of “Colorlines” magazine, followed by a raucous, knee-slapping-hilarious keynote address by Native American writer and activist Sherman Alexie,


  • Add new comment
  • Read more