It was poetry at its best as the Center for Black Literature, Akila Worksongs, AfricanVoices magazine, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and Arts + Crafts joined forces to present “Celebrate Sonia.” “Celebrate Sonia” was the official New York City 80th birthday party for poetess, professor and activist Sonia Sanchez. The event was held, very appropriately, at Bedford Hall, in the heart of Bedford-Styvestant, Brooklyn.
Brooklyn is the new “in” spot for nightlife. The streets are laden with cafes, jazz clubs and enticing restaurants that beckon those who pass by to stop, enter and enjoy. Bedford Hall may very well epitomize the scene. It has a lot to offer besides the regular fare. Most welcoming is the comfy seating, not only at the bar but also throughout the spacious establishment, an excellent wait staff and, literally, finger-licking good chicken wings, fried to perfection, and then drenched in barbecue sauce.
Toni Blackman welcomed the standing-room-only crowd as the program began with the presentation of proclamations by Brooklyn Council Member Inez Barron. Blackman is the first Hip-Hop Cultural Envoy to travel with the U.S. State Department to countries such as Senegal, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Botswana and Swaziland, where she delivered lectures on hip-hop music and culture. A world traveler, Blackman has ventured throughout Europe, Brazil and Canada and toured southeast Asia as a part of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rhythm Road Abroad program. Her bio, which can be found on Wikipedia.com, credits her as having worked in the world’s most war-torn countries to promote reconciliation and rehabilitation in those regions.
Barron represents the 42nd District, which covers the East New York section of Brooklyn and the surrounding areas. Born in Fort Greene, Barron holds a BS degree in physiology and an MS degree in reading and special education. While having worked with the Department of Education for 36 years, she, along with her husband, Charles, has also been active in protesting civil rights disputes for nearly 50 years. Together they are committed and very vocal about organizing efforts to help the poor and develop leadership.
Next on the program were poetry performances by Nkosi Nkululeko and Yanni Young, participants of the Schomburg Junior Scholars program. Ursula Rucker, a Philadelphia-born poet, mother, activist and recording artist followed. Rucker has just competed her first book, “Drown the Devil,” a collaborative project of poems and photos dedicated to New Orleans with Pultizer Prize-winning photojournalist Clarence Williams. Taking the stage next was Haki R. Madhubuti, founder and president of Third World Press. Madhubuti is one of the architects of the Black Arts Movement and is credited as having been a pivotal figure in the development of a strong Black literary tradition. He has published more than 31 books, some under his former name, Don L. Lee. He is a recipient of National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships, the American Book Award and numerous other honors. He served as the Ida B. Wells-Barnett professor at DePaul University from 2010 to 2011.
Speaking most passionately was Jessica Care Moore, CEO of Moore Black Press and executive producer of “Black Women Rock!” Look for more information on her ballet, “Salt City,” directed by Cosby Fellow Aku Kadogo, in 2015. Her record company Words on Wax, in partnership with Talib Kweli of Javotti Media, will shortly release, “Black Tea: The Legend of Jessi James.” If the production is anything like her stand-up performance, the audience is in for a very special treat. Moore currently resides in downtown Detroit, “where I am proud to be raising my poet, drummer and hockey-playing son, King Moore.”
A special command performance was made by Abiodun Oyewole, cofounder of the Last Poets, in 1968, along with Umar Bin Hassan. Articulate, informed and committed, Oyewole remains a staunch reminder of the Third World struggle and how, if you only believe, you can rise above the insanity and evolve onto a higher plane of awareness. Check out his book, “On a Mission: Selected Poetry and a History of the Last Poets” (1996).
It was not the first 80th birthday celebration of a notable person for Eugene B. Redmond, emeritus professor of English, founding editor of Drumvoices Revue and former chairman of the Creative Writing Committee at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. In April 2008, he celebrated Maya Angelou’s 80th birthday with his photo exhibit entitled, “Eighty Moods of Maya.” Among Redmond’s honors are the American Book Award for “The Eye in the Ceiling,” the Sterling Brown Award from the American Literature Associations’ African American Literature and Culture Association, a Staying the Course Award from the ETA Creative Arts Foundation of Chicago and the St. Louis American Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Most recently Redmon’s “Arkansippi Memwars: Poetry, Prose & Chants, 1962-2012,” was released for publication.
The program also featured music from “Song of Sonia” and excerpts from “BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez,” a film by Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon. With that, glasses were raised for a champagne toast, as Sanchez took the stage to impart a few words of wisdom. A few words from Sonia Sanchez will take up pages, but the essence of it all is, “love thy neighbor, love thy parents and love thy self.”
Until next week … kisses.