The benefit features Dr. Raul Ruiz Miyares, a professor of Afro-Cuban culture and history at Casa del Caribe, Santiago de Cuba. His lecture, "Cuba & Africanismo: The Making of Revolutionary Culture", will include slides and a video. The benefit also includes: spoken word, an Afro-Cuban folkloric performance, a Caribbean dinner, and a Latin, World Beat dance party, all on Friday, May 2.6 p.m.
The letter expresses gratitude to the South African government, and people of South Africa, for hosting the Airistides. "We also heartily support the efforts of the South African government to assist President [Jean-Bertrand Aristide] and his family in quickly returning home," the signers state, noting that "Any delays to the Airistides' prompt travel to Haiti would be yet another disappointment to a people that have already experienced a long list of tragedies, disasters, and heartbreak."
The first Africans came to America in August, so obviously, it's our entire history - in so far as the celebration or acknowledgement was. It has to do with [Jonathan Jackson], George Jackson and prisons. I believe in a time when the United States has more people in prison than any other industrialized nation, the prediction that if the current rate of incarceration stays the way it is now, one in three men will be incarcerated or on parole in 2020, which is not very far. I think it is contingent on us to look at that - the re-enslavement of African Americans continuing. I think this benefit for Haiti is important, because of what Haiti represents - a nearby island that had a successful slave rebellion, it has always suffered from intrusions from America from as far back as the 1800s, so I think joining together the national and international struggles is important. It is important for African Americans to look at themselves locally, nationally and internationally - to see ourselves in the world. Black August 2003 offers an opportunity to do that.
"On questions of race, Brazil is enigmatic," [David Covin] says. "Brazil sees itself as a racial democracy, with opportunity for everyone. Yet the country portrays itself as white, and the bulk of the population of people of African descent is marginalized -- socially, politically and economically." Blacks are generally considered a majority of the Brazilian population, at least outside Brazil. The United Nations has estimated blacks make up as much as 73 percent of the population, compared to 12 percent in the United States. Brazil's official census, though, shows the black population at about 44 percent, a sign that Brazil's leadership and population place a premium on "whiteness," according to Covin.
The 28 year old [Bingham], who grew up in Alameda and attended Encinal High School, first became interested in speaking Spanish at the age of 10. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in Spanish Language and Literature, a co-worker informed her about the Latin American Medical Program in Cuba after she found it advertised on the Internet. She applied and got accepted in 2001. Kenya realizes that a lot of young people from the Bay Area and elsewhere in the U.S. still are unaware of the free medical program in Cuba, which was originally offered to 500 students in the U.S.. Some 200 applied and almost 100 are still enrolled. Kenya would encourage young people of color to apply for this program. "This is not some get rich quick scheme to get a free education and go and make money as a doctor. I am doing this to go back and serve the community," she said.
