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Activist, Linda Sarsour Speaks Against Islamophobia and White Supremacy

Linda Sarsour, noted Palestinian-American civil rights leader and Executive Director of MPower Change spoke at Seattle’s Rainier Arts Center  on Islamophobia and White Supremacy in January, 2023.

The event was hosted by Valley and Mountain Fellowship’s Center for Faith, Art, and Justice in partnership with the United Church of Christ’s Join the Movement Toward Racial Justice. The event was part of the Set Us Free from Fear: Faith, White Supremacy, and Politics series. The series invited scholars, clergy, and activists working at the intersection of race and faith to share their wisdom to our broader communities.

Sarsour was co-chair of the 2017 Women’s March, the 2017 Day Without a  Woman, and the 2019 Women’s March. She is also a former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York.  She is the author of We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance, published in March, 2020.

Producers: Valley and Mountain Fellowship, United Church in Christ’s Join the Movement toward Racial Justice

Photo Linda Sarsour and Women’s Media Center

What Distinguishes Sephardic Jewish Communities?

The new graphic novel, We Are Not Strangers, is a story about the relationship of a Japanese American family and a Sephardic Jewish family leading up to and after WWII. 

The book’s author, Josh Tuininga, Densho Founder, Tom Ikeda and Dr. Devin Naar, University of Washington, Associate Professor of History & Jewish Studies will speak about the parallels and relationships between these communities on Monday, October 23rd at Third Place Books.

Dr. Devin Naar speaks about the characteristic culture of the Sephardic Jewish  group, largely from Mediterranean regions in the Jewish diaspora , in comparison to the Ashkenazi Jewish groups from Central and Eastern Europe.

Producers: Lucy Braginski and Yuko Kodama

Photo: Naar standing beside fragments from the Jewish cemetery of Salonica built into the old city walls (2014) | Photo by Argilo Mitilinou

 

Cornel West in Seattle

Dr. Cornel West spoke at the Rainier Arts Center on May 28th as part of the Valley and Mountain fellowship sponsored Set Us Free from Fear series.   You can listen to his address on The Prophetic Tradition in the Time of Neo Fascism.

Transforming Intergenerational Pain into Inspiration and Strength

 
Lauren Iida is a local artist, whose work adorns public spaces including the Washington State Convention Center, Plymouth Housing in Seattle and Uncle Bob’s place in Seattle’s Chinatown International District.  Her main medium is hand-cut paper. 
 
Iida’s Japanese American grandparents were incarcerated during WWII.  They were among 120,000  people of Japanese descent who were forcibly removed from the west coast into barracks in the deserts of the interior US.  She describes how she processes her family’s trauma, and how it’s inspired her artwork.
 
Iida is represented by ArtXchange Gallery. She’ll be unveiling a 30 foot paper memory net featuring symbolic objects from the book, Swimmers, written by Julie Otsuka, May 19th at 7 pm at the Seattle Public Library Central Branch in downtown Seattle. Otsuka will be speaking about the book.  Registration will be required for the event
 
Producer: Yuko Kodama
Photo: From
Lauren Iida

Lauren Iida

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sankofa Impact – Autherine Lucy

 

In 1956, Autherine Lucy, a Black student was expelled from University of Alabama within the first three days of starting a master’s program in Education.  Lucy had enrolled at the school just after the Supreme Court case, Brown vs Board of Education deemed segregation of public schools illegal. It wasn’t until 1988 that Lucy’s expulsion was annulled and she re-enrolled in the same program.  She graduated in 1992.

KBCS’s Ruthie Bly brings you this story about Autherine Lucy’s commitment to pursue her master’s degree.  This story is produced in partnership with Sankofa Impact. Sankofa Impact is a non-profit organization which hosts events and trips to engage community in informative and transformational discussion around the Black freedom struggle.

 
Producer: Ruthie Bly  Special Thanks to Valentina Cooper for help with editing this story.
Photo: Gene Herrick -AP News
 
 

Children’s Film Festival Seattle

 
Children’s Film Festival Seattle, is finishing up this weekend.  There’s still time for you to catch a flick with a kid, or to satiate your inner child.  The festival features over 150 films from dozens of countries. Showings are at Northwest Film Forum in Seattle’s Capitol Hill, or you can view all the films online through the end of the weekend.  
 
KBCS interviewed the Festival’s Director, Kendra Sherrill, about event highlights, and why an independent film festival for kids is important.  
 
Producer: Yuko Kodama
Photo: by Derek Edamura
Kendra Sherrill
Kendra Sherrill

NW African American Museum’s African American Cultural Experience Choir

The Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) is possibly the only museum in the country to house a choir.  NAAM was closed for renovation until January, 2023. During the pandemic, the African American Cultural Experience choir became the mobile arm of the museum. The choral group shares Black/US history  with the community through music that expresses the Black experience. 

Listen in on this excerpt of a KBCS interview with NAAM President and CEO, LaNesha DeBardelaben about the significance of this choir.  

Producer: Yuko Kodama Special thanks to Jalisa Bass for contributing to editing

Photo: NAAM

Music Clips: NAAM ACE Choir and KNKX

NW African American Museum's African American Cultural Ensemble singing

In a Dense City Landscape, Can Trees and Development Coexist?

 
In the face of rapid residential development, Seattle’s urban trees are in the crosshairs. 60% of the city’s urban canopy is on residential lots. Tree advocates say housing and trees can co-exist, but have yet to convince the Seattle’s Department of Construction and Inspection.
 
Producer: Martha Baskin
 

Supporting Families Through the Pandemic

 

Gerald Donaldson is a Family Support Worker at Leschi Elementary School in the Seattle Public School System. He assists families who need help, so the children at Leschi can thrive in school.

Donaldson describes the challenges through the pandemic (from our interview with him last spring), and gives a more recent update of where many of his families are in their support needs now.

 
Producer: Yuko Kodama
 
Photo: Yuko Kodama

Black Families Navigating the School System

Emijah Smith assists Black families in the region navigating the school systems.  Smith shares her own experiences in advocating for her loved ones and what led her on this path. (more…)