Shhhhhh listen with your heart
Brown Yellow, Red
voices of color
Rising us up from boxes
people put us in
Yes, I’m Black
feeling activist elders from all ethnic cultures
Combining communities
Through the arts
Black, Chicano, Asian, Native, Women Gay Arts Movements
From Manilatown to Motown
Homo-Hop to Krip-Hop
Koreatown, Chinatown to Chocolate City
Walking Down These Mean Streets
With Piri Tomas, Gil Scott Heron & Al Robles
Spoke political poetry
Real artists\activists
California Hotel residents learning from I Hotel legacy
Black elders strategizing with Asian elders
Robles left a foundation
Of self-reliance
planting seeds that left POOR with homefulness
collective ownership
Folk lyrics of justice by Chris Lijima
mixing with 2009 Hip-Hop by Blue Scholars
A Song For Ourselves
Burn Hollywood burn
as we write and film our stories
In post production for more than thirty years
No more ties to foundations that had ties to the economy of plantations
Untie the knots that keep our art and stories like
Manilatown Is In The Heart..
in endless production
Passing It On wrote Yuri Kochiyama
“Gave up dancing to become a revolutionary“ said Bill Sorro
When Will The Time Come? Sang Bambu
Rapping with Ten Thousand Carabaos in the Dark with Uncle Al Robles
Ted Nakamura, Trinh Minh-ha, Raeshem Nijhon
pointing their lenses on his/herstories for the big screen
Noemi Sohn, Mia Mingus mixing identity & politics of race, sex & disability
on paper in lecture halls and on protest lines
Grace Padaca serving her people and country in the Governor’s Mansion
Aiming to be the first disabled woman president of the Philippines
The smells of San Francisco
Black-eye Peas, Burritos, Lumpia MMMMMMMM
Forms a cloud of aroma around the Bay
Dissolving boundaries following your nose
Into different neighborhoods
Meeting the real policy makers cultural workers
Uncle Al's’ spirit will always be around Manilatown
Like the sounds of great jazz musicians
Echoing through the Fillmore at 2am
With Sakeone on the cheek cheek- turntables
Do you think I’m culturally 'voyeurism because I’m Black? Naw, it’s called giving respect
Remember Richard Aoki, a field marshal for The Black Panther Party
Not your average Asian, donated first defend weapons for police patrols to the BPP
Afro-Asian, Latino-Cuban, Puerto-Rican Tribes, Afro-Haitians
Jessie Jackson didn’t create the concept of the Rainbow coalition more like Fred Hampton
So I stand here in the oral tradition
Continue to learn from my elders
Beyond institutional walls
Paying respect to Al, Bill, Chris, Yuri ….
A rainbow of Revolutionary spirits in the sky going back home