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
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.
Children’s Film Festival Seattle
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
In a Dense City Landscape, Can Trees and Development Coexist?
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.
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…)
