SFWAR 2012: Please Support As I Walk Against Rape.

hello everyone. thanks for your readership and words. may this reach you doing well! i'm sure most of you are feeling the change in the air, in our personal lives, the earth, and social arenas. may the winds of change blow positive transformation and blessings your way.

and i've been riding the winds of change so religiously that i'm only getting around to promoting the San Francisco Walk Against Rape here a whole WEEK before it happens :P

last year my goal was $1500, and because of you incredible people who passionately believe in justice and healing, i was able to blow away that goal for a whopping **$1800**, and whoa... next thing i knew i was receiving an award for being the top individual fundraiser! not quite what i was planning for, but of course, a pleasant surprise and honor. wish all of you were there to accept it with me, cuz my contribution was $50, and Y'ALL handled the rest!!

giving how late i'm kicking this off, i'm not going to be as ambitious as asking to reach a goal of $1500, i'm going to split that in half and aim for $750. I'm at $285 now, i think this is definitely doable.

i'm aware that its fundraising season, and that we are all trying to make ends meet, just know that $60 = a one hour shift on the 24-hour rape crisis hotline, so even $10 could provide a crucial 10 minutes in someone's life. If you can spare more, $120 is the cost of a rape prevention presentation for teens. And when all is said and done *any* donation makes a difference. To support these and other services, and to help build healthy communities free of sexual assault, please click here to make a donation, or click on the widget to the right. 

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/richard-wright-1/7th-annual-walk-against-rape

and again, thanks for supporting me in my 5th year of walking for SFWAR! It has been transformational, and I am thankful to be a conduit to help create change with the help of my community members. Together we can help get survivors crucial services and help dismantle rape culture. Let the winds of change continue to bring healing, justice, and a more humane society for all of us.

blessings,
richard
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/richard-wright-1/7th-annual-walk-against-rape

PS: For more info about the walk, the movement, SFWAR's services and more, click here: http://www.sfwar.org/programs.html

Some Gems From Sitting With Alice Walker Today (Happy International Women's Day!)

Wow. It's been an incredible week. Heard Angela Davis & Grace Lee Boggs speak on revolution last weekend at the Empowering Women Of Color Conference, and now spent International Women's Day with Alice Walker. She led a sit at the East Bay Meditation Center for the POC sit evening, and also read new poems on revolution. Wow. In my spiritual tradition, the Orisha tradition from West Africa, this year belongs to Oya, who is the Warrior Woman Of The Winds Of Change; the principle of Transformation. Sitting with all of these elder woman warriors who speak of personal and social transformation... has been an incredible, blessed gift. Maferefun Oya.

And Alice Walker... her presence is so deeply peaceful and wise. Much less to hear her poetry after meditating... the already profound words permeate your consciousness on a whole other level. I'm so grateful. She will be sitting for 5 more Thursdays at the East Bay Meditation Center POC sit night.

and now, some gems. enjoy.

Alice Walker On Wanting The Self & Meditation: "There is such a lot to be said about learning to want yourself. no matter who does or does not want us, or me or you, want yourself. if you want yourself, you are already winning, because you know what is worth having. and want your true self, not your phony self. the phony self doesn't really exist, its just a figment of somebody's...humor. so want yourself as you are- and that's why meditation is so divine... because you get to sit there, with you. and finally you have to agree... it's not that bad."

Alice Walker On Ancestors: "All of us in this room, if you go back far enough you will come across somebody who stood up when everybody else was saying sit down, shut up and don't move. You had an ancestor that said, I will stand thank you. I will stand."

Alice Walker on Teaching Youth Meditation & Ancestors: "I think that sitting is basic to liberation. and i truly believe that if you sit with sufficient patience, humility, and openness that your ancestors will show up. that has been my experience....if you teach them how to meditate, they will then lead themselves, the inner spirit will attract the ancestral forces that they need to be guided by....that has been my experience... some of the best times of my life... its not like a search, its just like an openness, like you are preparing for a guest. You are preparing for an ancestor. You are preparing for wisdom. and your job is to hold your seat. and some of it can be very scary, but you just hold your seat."

Alice Walker on Joy: "What brings me joy? Everything. Everything but the bad things. I'm naturally joyful. and it took decades of depression for me to realize it."

Alice Walker on Womanism: "You notice how this word has 'man' right in the middle of it. That is one reason i like it. He is there, front and center. But he is surrounded."

The crowd laughed raucously for the last one, and others too :) and duly noted! hmmmm... womanism does comprise of feminisms from communities of color, maybe i should change my blog to wo.men.ist....

Happy International Women's Day! And thank you Alice Walker for one of the most profound ones yet. <3

Empowering Women Of Color Conference 2012 @ Berkeley This Weekend.

Amazing, radical workshops, healing bodywork on more will be available at this conference, happening on the Berkeley campus. Click here for a list of workshops, and register! The 1st day is free and open to the public, and whoooo: March 2, "On Revolution: A Conversation Between Grace Lee Boggs and Angela Davis" from 4-6pm in Pauley Ballroom. What?!? I will be there, trust! I was honored for the second year in a row to be asked to speak on the Male Feminist Of Color panel on the 2nd day, Saturday 10:20 - 11:15 in the Pauley Ballroom. Truly an honor, and i'm looking forward to linking up with other men of color who believe in this path. We need each other dammit! In any case, come through, its really a profoundly powerful and important event, regardless of gender. Bless....

BAM!!!!

Sometimes a really good jpeg starts circulating on that Facebook thingie. This ones DEFINES flipping the script in the most amazing way. Real talk!! Take responsibility mens!!!

Shit MANarchists Say

hilarious! the mega-meme manifests as an insider scoop on some Occupy Oakland / Decolonize Oakland activist politics... sigh....

"racism and sexism are just like, byproducts of capitalism, so if you just focus on capitalism, it will take care of that shit for you...."

Jay-Z Drops The B-Word After Having A Daughter. Yay! And....?

i am glad that Jay-Z is quite literally taking this baby step towards accountability, and i'm sure this will have some ripple in hip hop community around fatherhood/manhood and misogyny... but he's gonna also have to swear not to have scantilly clad women depicted as brainless objects decorating his videos as well, and use his influence to send healthy messages to our children. his daughter may not hear him say b, but can still learn that she is supposed to be an object for male pleasure, and that her appearance is more important than her soul and intellect from his videos.

I also wonder what Beyoncé thinks about the fact that for however long as she and Jay-Z have been married, it took the birth of their daughter for him to make this step. What does that make her?

Tricia Rose breaks it down for really real, in a commentary in the Guardian.

Sean Carter, who performs under the name Jay-Z, has apparently vowed never again to use the word bitch in the wake of the birth of his daughter, Blue Ivy Carter. And while I celebrate and congratulate his new fatherhood, this vow didn't impress me.

It doesn't begin to address his role in contributing to and profiting from the global power of a hyper-sexist brand of hip-hop masculinity. I need to hear quite a bit more about how he feels about this legacy and its impact on millions of black girls and boys before getting all teary-eyed.

Sure, hip-hop didn't invent sexism, nor has it been the only musical genre to profit from promoting it. The vast territory that is popular music is a treasure trove of sexist ideas and images. And it is also true that racist, rightwing critics have targeted hip-hop as a way to continue the demonisation of black men while remaining silent on countless other sexist images, sounds and stories that define US culture.

also, Lisa Belkin from the Huffington Post brilliantly explores how "Jay-Z is not the first man to realize he has been a misogynistic jerk only after he has a daughter", chronicling stuff like male CEOs who decide to close the gap between higher paid male employees and female employees by a few more fractions of a percentage. She hilariously starts out her piece asking the question: "Ladies, do you feel more respected this morning?"

Well, i'm glad that at least its starting some good dialogue.

_______________________________________________________

Update: Jay-Z says to New York Daily News "that poem and that story are fake." The UK Star editors however stick to their story saying that "It is not made up or fictitious at all. We bought the interview from a reporter in the U.S. who conducted the interview with Beyonce before the birth." The Huffington Post reports.

Wonder if an iota of introspection occurred with this very influential couple around this rumor. Best celebrity hoax ever. I'm still glad that it started some good dialogue.