Sanctuary and Deliverance Unveiling

To see more photos of the unveiling, please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/rutabegus/sets/72157625392115758/show/

To see more photos from the 2010 International Festival, visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/rutabegus/sets/72157625392511234/

Poetry was Slammin' at the International Festival

The poets had their say at the International Festival at Ross Beatty High School in Cassopolis. Kareemah El Amin hosted a poetry slam featuring 5 of her friends. The audience was dazzled!

Kareemah offered a two-day workshop in June where we learned poetry starters, wrote, and created two collaborative poems. The workshop was a great opportunity for participants to connect with Kareemah on a personal basis, and to see and understand how artists work.

Jake rides the train at the International Festival

Jake Webster offered two chapbook workshops in August. And then, although it wasn't planned, Jake generously generously invited us to visit his studio in Elkhart. During the visit, the 20 chapbooks that had been created in the workshops were bound with plastic spindles. Jake also shared his sculpture and drawings, his work philosophy and ethic. The aspiring artists and poets in the group found this invaluable. The 20 chapbooks created in the workshops were displayed at the Festival.

Poetry Slam

Kareemah El Amin, Jake Webster and Steve, Poetic Wisdom & Keys, Jaqueline Kelly Cogdell, David Caspar, and Chairman Ralph showed up to do some slamming and romancing at the 10th Annual International Festival.

Chairman Ralph

P-Wiz rhymes about Time

Poetry Slam Workshops

Do you write poetry?
Rap? Into hip hop?
Do you like to perform?
We need you!

Please join Kareemah El Amin’s Poetry Slam Workshops!

Kareemah El-Amin is an acclaimed filmmaker, playwright, director, producer, poet and singer. She hosts 98.3’s the Straight No Chaser Team, billed as the hottest underground radio show on the airwaves. Kareemah hosts the monthly x-Pression Session, poetry readings by featured artists at the Livery in Benton Harbor. Her first film, "The Thin I'm In" was invited to 13 film festivals and The Hollywood Black Film Festival. Since then, she has written and directed the provocative docudrama, "The White Girl Thang," the four minute short film, "Black Barbie Beauty," and a feature length documentary, "The Catalyst Trip: A Journey of Transformation."

WORKSHOPS
Wednesday, June 23rd and Wednesday, June 30th
From 10 am till noon
At Ross Beatty High School, 22721 Diamond Cove Road.
Workshops are free and open to students Jr. High and up) and adults!

Participants will contribute poetry to be published in a chapbook.
Participants will be invited to perform along with Kareemah at the Ninth Annual International Festival:
Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010
Ross Beatty High School from 1—5 pm.

For more information, contact Ruth Andrews, 269-445-0269

Historical Mural Project Begins in Cassopolis

Sanctuary and Deliverance, a mural project on the Underground Railroad in Cass County, has hit the wall. The wall, located on South Broadway in Cassopolis, is being prepared for the 25x75 mural of the 1847 Kentucky Raid on Cass County. There have been several donors and volunteers on this part of the set-up; if you are interested in the next step: base coating the wall, a volunteer workday has been set for May 13th 10am -5pm . For more information call Ruth Andrews, Lead Artist, at 269.445.0269.

One section of the mural will depict Joseph Sanford of Boone County, KY. Dr. Veta Tucker, Professor of English and Africian American Studies and Chair of the Michigan Freedom Trail Commission , writes of Joseph Sanford's experience:

"On Easter Sunday in 1847 when everything on the farm was quiet, Joseph Sanford and some of his friends left John Graves' farm in Boone County, Kentucky hoping never to come back. Joseph's wife and son and some of the others who left with Joseph that night lived on John Graves' brother's farm in nearby Kenton County. To avoid walking down the open roads, the freedom-seekers walked through the dark woods. It took them longer than usual to walk the twelve miles to Covington, Kentucky, but they made it before daylight. When they went down to the riverbank, there was no one there to row them across the Ohio River. They spotted a skiff, and all thirteen of them climbed in. The skiff was so overloaded that the water almost poured in the sides, but by sitting very still, they rowed across the river to the Ohio shore just as the sun came up. Joseph was very afraid that he would cross the path of someone who had seen him in Cincinnati before because he had driven his 'master's' wagon many times to Cincinnati to sell farm produce. Instead of familiar faces, however, the freedom-seekers met strangers they had never seen before. The strangers were slave-catchers who pretended to help Joseph Sanford and the others find a safe place to hide."

Our blog: www.kentuckyraidmural.blogspot.com. will have more history and updates as well as information about our inclusion in the National Gallery of Writing. Sanctuary and Deliverance has been approved to participate in the collection of stories and reactions to the mural painting. The National Gallery of Writing is another way to get involved in local history. This gallery is for oral histories that have been passed down about the operation of the Underground Railroad in Cass County and is sponsored by the Minority Coalition. We are interested in stories that have been handed down, as well as responses to the Kentucky Raid of 1847 mural project that is starting!

Designing the Mural

I grew up fascinated by the flowing lines Al Capp used to create the Lil' Abner comic strip. The summer I was 17 my family spent a month camping in Mexico; we saw the fascinating murals of Diego Rivera. When I was in college I discovered the work of Jacob Lawrence. In Sanctuary and Deliverance, I attempt to capture the fluidity of Al Capp, the narrative power and hypnotic repetition of form of Diego Rivera, and the blunt way of expressing oppression and suffering, as well as the dynamic color combinations, of Jacob Lawrence.

This is the fifth mural I've designed; it is by far the most ambitious project.

I'm grateful for our committee. They keep me challenged, and help me see the story through the eyes of our community. They've made many suggestions which have changed the mural for the better.

I'm also grateful to my apprentice Kendall Rucker, and to my advisors Jerry Schlundt and George Purlee.

Sanctuary and Deliverance

I’ve been asked to blog about my work on Sanctuary and Deliverance, our community mural project.

I’m, Ruth Andrews, the lead artist, and I'm also the person who conceived the project. Before I talk about the art, I’d like to establish what this project means to me, and I hope, to you.

We have embarked on a heroic quest. Sanctuary and Deliverance seeks to unite divergent views into a single community narrative, a mural. To do justice to this ambitious project, the wall we are going to paint is 900 square feet beginning 12 feet off the ground and continuing upward for another 15 feet. We are very grateful that Becky Maier of Village Floral and Attorney Stephen Woods are fully supportive of the project, and have donated their wall.

Cass County has long been an inclusive community that demands fair treatment for everyone. This is who we are; feisty and creative. We have not achieved racial equality, and we have not given up. The mission of the Minority Coalition, project sponsor, is to increase racial harmony. The mural will be a catalyst for examining our current status.

The mural committee was fortunate to receive a planning grant which allowed us to spend a year figuring out how to achieve our goals. We began by studying the various accounts of the Kentucky Raid, looking at original sources when possible. We discovered there is no single authoritative account, further, that most accounts were written by white men. These accounts failed to capture the drama experienced by the primary participants - the African American freedom seekers. We decided the mural would highlight the African American perspective.

Our perspective was greatly aided by Kentucky at Sunrise, a diorama by about the Kentucky Raid conceived by African American playwright Von Washington. This drama was performed, with the help of 30 community members, at the 2009 International Festival in Cassopolis.

In my next blog I’ll talk about murals, and the design process. We welcome your responses!

Cassopolis – The Minority Coalition of Cass County will sponsor a Black History Breakfast on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010 at the Cassopolis VFW, 131 S. Broadway, Cassopolis. The featured speaker is Sonya Hollins, whose topic is “Who?: Our Duty to Local, Forgotten Trailblazers.”

Sonya Bernard-Hollins is a native of Kalamazoo. She has had a passion for writing and history since her first introduction to Ebony Magazine at her grandmother's house. The introduction to the inspiring news of African Americans led her on a mission to work as a journalist who not only reports news,
but helps document the achievements of others; particularly African Americans in the past and present.

She graduated from Western Michigan University in 1993 with a degree in English with an emphasis in journalism. Her professional writing experience has led her to work for various newspapers and magazines in the midwest as reporter, columnist and editor.

Sonya has earned awards and recognitions from such organizations as Gannett News, Michigan Press Association, Associated Press of Michigan, Business Women Association-Unity Chapter; A. Philip Randolph Institute-Battle Creek Chapter; and Newspaper Association of America. Her research in black history has led to various projects including the self published work in conjunction with her husband, Sean entitled, "Here I Stand: One City's History." Sonya and Sean have four children and reside in Kalamazoo.

The doors will open at 7:30 am, and the program begins at 8:15. Following Ms. Hollins’ presentation, Dr. Veta Tucker will discuss Sanctuary and Deliverance, a mural project underwritten by the Michigan Humanities Council. And Dr. Alisea McLeod will present National Writing Day.
The breakfast menu includes bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes, grits, biscuits, fruit, milk, juice, coffee and tea. Donations are welcome. The breakfast is free and open to the public. For more information contact the Minority Coalition at 269-476-2

Responsible Government:
Investing in the Well-being of Black Fathers, Families and Communities

"African American fathers are a strong support to the health and well-being of the family unit. Government should and must play an active role in supporting African American families. This report shows that by investing in the well-being of our Black fathers, we will strengthen the Black family and provide pathways out of poverty and greater opportunities for all."
- Rep. Barbara Lee, Chairwoman, Congressional Black Caucus

A nation’s wealth and thus its future can be measured by the well-being of its children. If we measure the wealth of the United States by the well-being of our children, the message is troubling. The United States has the highest child poverty rate among 24 industrialized countries. Within this statistic is an even more troubling picture of "two worlds of childhood," where Black, Latino, and Native American children experience significantly higher poverty rates than White and Asian children. Children who grow up in poverty face tough odds for positive outcomes in almost every aspect of life-economic, educational and social. While this is true for all children in poverty, research shows that the odds are even steeper for African American children.

Debate continues among the general public and within African American communities as to where responsibility lies for bettering these outcomes and promoting vital, self-sufficient families and communities. Must the government do more? Must Black fathers and families do more? This paper suggests that the optimal answer is yes to both questions.

The report focuses on mutual and interlocking responsibility - in particular, the need for government to address the bigger picture of embedded racial inequities that produce accumulated barriers for African American men, families and communities, and the need for disconnected African American men to embrace familial and civic responsibilities and opportunities, thereby strengthening their communities and younger generations. Fathers’ positive involvement in their children’s lives and men’s positive involvement in their communities are irreplaceable contributions to the strength of African American communities, and thus the strength of our nation.

How men make decisions about fatherhood, become involved fathers, make decisions around marriage, and contribute positively to their communities is inextricably tied to the structural barriers that they face. Too many African American men have to make these decisions within what Catholic Charities USA calls "overlapping threats to the common good" - poverty and racism.4 This paper summarizes the policies and practices that contribute to inequitable outcomes for African American families, even when these policies and practices are not explicitly race-focused. It also examines the consequences of the message that low opportunity imparts to struggling African Americans about "how the world works" - or doesn’t - for their families and communities. It acknowledges the ultimately self-defeating decisions some individuals may make within a milieu of seemingly few options.

The report documents the progress we can make as a nation when the commitment to mutual responsibility flourishes. Because of recent intentional changes in social policy with regard to fathers -- changes which have received bipartisan support -- measurable strides have been made in the last 15 years in terms of men’s involvement with their children and fulfillment of their financial obligations. These are documented below. Yet, the report also documents how much there is left to do - measures which can take direction from the successes already demonstrated.

This information is timely, in view of H.R.2979: The Julia Carson Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act of 2009.ii Its discussion can be informed by what has been learned from almost two decades of government supports for working families, the impact of welfare reform, and the growth of the Responsible Fatherhood movement. These issues are situated within a context in which African American families have been and are still differentially affected by social policy and practice.

The simplified conceptual platform for this report is offered by Figure 1, which depicts the interlocking and inter-generational nature of these structural, cultural, and policy issues.
Prepared with the support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation by Paula Dressel of JustPartners, Inc., and Stacey Bouchet of Bouchet and Associates Strategic Consulting. The authors thank the following people for their input: Helen Mitchell, William Julius Wilson, Vivian Gadsden, Margaret Simms, Obie Clayton, Ron Mincy, Kirk Harris, Delia Carmen, and Ira Barbell. The findings and conclusions presented here are those of the authors alone. As such, they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation or those providing input.