Saturday, June 29, 2013

Elizabeth Catlett's "Sojourner Truth," 13th & K in Sacramento Vandelized

I hadn't known there stood a regal representation of what must be one of our true champions for justice, Sojourner Truth, whose Ain't I a Woman, inspires many to date. Catlett, an artist par excellence who made her transition last year, completed this monument to truth and justice and righteousness in 1999. Vandelized in January, just weeks before Obama's entry into his second and final term.

Here in East Africa, folks are still jazzed about a black president, perhaps because he's is also Kenyan in ancestry (smile).

Marcus Books in San Francisco threatened with closure, the oldest black book store on the West Coast, and now this. I am not sure what to think about this country "tis of thee. . . sweet land of what? for whom?" Yes, this is a land where our fathers died, mothers cried and entire communities sighed and resisted.

We have to continue to resist and rebuild monuments such as the one Mrs. Catlett created. Ours is a legacy which we have to continue to lift up with buildings and institutions and monuments.  If pyramids are being flooded in Sudan along with the antiquities and treasures, then certainly the attack is also present in the Pan African Diaspora, specifically America.

On April 28, 2009, Isabella Baumfree became the first African American woman to be memorialized with a bust in the U.S. Capitol. Cicely Tyson recited the speech: Ain't I a Woman, and the First Lady Michelle Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made comments. See http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-first-lady-sojourner-truth-bust-unveiling






If we do not, we will eventually be no more. See the wonderful article about Mama Truth and Mama Catlett here: http://sacpedart.com/?p=3840

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