Two Showings:
Tuesday • Mar 19 • Resource Center for Nonviolence • 612 Ocean St • Santa Cruz
AND
Wednesday • Mar 20 • Capitola Library • 2005 Wharf Rd • Capitola
6:30 PM, doors at 6:00 • FREE • wheelchair accessible

B.L.A.C.K. On Screen is a five-documentary film series focusing on the themes behind our acronym BLACK: Building Legacies of Access in Communities of Kinship.

Through June, screenings will be the 3rd Tuesday at the Resource Center for Nonviolence and the 3rd Wednesday of the month at the Capitola Branch Library. Doors open at 6:00, screenings begin at 6:30. 

Tell Them We Are Rising is March’s film. Watch the trailer here.

Each screening will be followed by a discussion and/or Q&A. Some of the filmmakers will be participating. Stay tuned!

ABOUT THE FILM

The rich history of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) began before the end of slavery, flourished in the 20th century, and profoundly influenced the course of the nation for over 150 years — yet remains largely unknown. With Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities, the latest documentary from Stanley Nelson (Black Panthers, Freedom Riders) and Marco Williams, the powerful story of the rise, influence, and evolution of HBCUs comes to life.  

A haven for Black intellectuals, artists, and revolutionaries — and a path of promise toward the American dream — HBCUs have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every field while remaining unapologetically Black for more than 150 years. These institutions have nurtured some of the most influential Americans of our time, from Booker T. Washington to Martin Luther King, Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois to Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison to Oprah Winfrey, Alice Walker to Spike Lee to Common.  A key driver of Black social, political and economic progress, HBCUs were also a place of unprecedented freedom for African American students and a refuge from the rampant racism that raged outside the campus walls. Tell Them We Are Rising captures this important history to tell the dynamic story of Americans who refused to be denied a higher education and — in their resistance — created a set of institutions that would influence and shape the landscape of the country for centuries to come.

The series continues with:

March 20
Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities. Explores the pivotal role historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have played over the course of 150 years.

April 17
Against All Odds: The Fight for The Black Middle Class. Acclaimed journalist Bob Herbert asks, “Have Black Americans had a fair shot at the American dream?” He probes the harsh and often brutal discrimination that has made it extremely difficult for African-Americans to establish a middle-class standard of living, while also exploring the often heroic efforts of Black families to pursue the American Dream in the face of unrelenting barriers.

May 22
The Taking of Harris Neck: 80 years of Injustice for the Gullah People. The stunning marshlands of Harris Neck, Georgia have a tragic history. In 1942, the US government took 2687 acres of land inhabited by descendants of freed slaves to build an airbase. The government promised to give the land back after the war. Now 80 years later the community is still fighting to get their land back. The Taking of Harris Neck tells a story of trauma and racism – and the perseverance to overcome against all odds.

June 19
Descendant. Follows descendants of the survivors from the Clotilda, the last ship that carried enslaved Africans to the United States, as they reclaim their story.

Sunday • Mar 17 • 6:30 PM • $20 – $40  • wheelchair accessible
Resource Center for Nonviolence • 612 Ocean St  • Santa Cruz 

Join the RCNV for an evening with Bayo Akomolafe, a unique and visionary postactivist thinker who poses unconventional theories about how to respond to the collective challenges of our times.

The thought project of postactivism proceeds from, and is deeply rooted in, Indigenous traditions around the world, and invites us to recognize that we are part of the more-than-human world—a necessary acknowledgement to help shift our strategies of justice outside of human-centered systems of thought.

Bayo invites the opening of cracks, so that we may fall through and discover creative approaches that might involve dissolution over solutions, generative failure over linear success, and emergence over certainty.

For this evening, we will lose ourselves together in these cracks as we invite one another into deep listening, community co-creation, ceremony, song and the mystery.

For more information visit: Growing Village
Register here

with Pie Ranch and Amah Mutsun Land Trust
Saturday • March 9  •  9:30 – 2:30 PM • FREE
Cascade Ranch • 3100 Cabrillo Hwy • Pescadero • NOT wheelchair friendly

Join Pie Ranch and Amah Mutsun Land Trust to remove eucalyptus saplings and other invasive species from Cascade Creek on Año Nuevo Point!

Riparian (streamside) restoration is now more important than ever. Unfortunately, the riparian zone of Cascade Creek continues to be affected by the spread of invasive plant species, causing loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. With your help, we can work towards enhancing the ecosystem and increasing populations of native plants. In fact, healthy riparian ecosystems promote ecological and climate resilience both within and beyond riparian zones, promoting the sequestration of carbon and accrual of nitrogen in soil, as well as buffering organisms against extreme temperatures.

Spend time outdoors, meet new people, learn about invasive plants and creek habitats, and help us to care for the ancestral lands of the Quiroste Tribe. This event will also be a great opportunity to learn about how Indigenous perspectives and approaches to land stewardship are being revitalized in open spaces today.

To register for the event, please sign up through Eventbrite!

Starts Thursday • March 7 – 17 • In-person film events at the 
CineLux Green Valley Cinema • 1125 S Green Valley Rd • Watsonville

JOIN us in celebrating the best Latine films and stories!  Full schedule of events including all Film Showings, After Parties, Lowrider Exhibit, and Live Musical Performance by Legendary Nicaraguan Musician Carlos Mejía Godoy. 
 

TICKETS ON SALE NOW! 

MARCH 7-9: In-Person Film Programs at CineLux Green Valley Cinema, Watsonville

MARCH 10: Lowrider Art Exhibit & Car Show at the Porter Bldg., Watsonville (co-presented by Pajaro Valley Arts)

MARCH: 15: Short films + Live music performance by legendary Nicaraguan musician Carlos Mejía Godoy. At Oldemeyer Center, Seaside (co-presented by Palenke Arts)

MARCH 11-17: Film programs online at WFF Virtual Cinema

**SURJ SCC is especially thrilled to announce the world premiere screening of Watsonville Drag Story Time, a short documentary about the event that launched our Rainbow Defense Coalition in May 2023. It will show on Saturday, March 9, at 1:00 pm along with several other short films at the Cinelux Green Valley Cinema in Watsonville. Tickets to the film screening are available to purchase through the WFF website.**

If you are interested in joining the Rainbow Defense Coalition, please submit this RDC volunteer form.

with Vilashini Cooppan, Professor of Literature and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies

Thursday • Mar 7 •  7:00 PM •  FREE • wheelchair accessible
Cowell Ranch Hay Barn  • UCSC  •  Santa Cruz

Bookshop Santa Cruz and The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz welcome Peabody Award-winning journalist Michele Norris for a discussion of her new book Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity—a transformative dialogue on race and identity in America, unearthed through Norris’s decade-long work at The Race Card Project. This is event is cosponsored by NAACP Santa Cruz County.

The prompt seemed simple: Race. Your Thoughts. Six Words. Please Send.

The answers, though, have been challenging and complicated. In the twelve years since award-winning journalist Michele Norris first posed that question, over half a million people have submitted their stories to The Race Card Project inbox. The stories are shocking in their depth and candor, spanning the full spectrum of race, ethnicity, identity, and class.

Our Hidden Conversations reminds us that even during times of great division, honesty, grace, and a willing ear can provide a bridge toward empathy and maybe even understanding.

Michele Norris is one of America’s most trusted voices in journalism, earning several honors over a long career, including Peabody, Emmy, Dupont, and Goldsmith awards. She is a columnist for The Washington Post Opinion Section, the host of the Audible Original Podcast, Your Mama’s Kitchen, and from 2002 to 2012 she was a cohost of NPR’s All Things Considered.

Vilashini Cooppan is Professor of Literature and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at UCSC. She teaches and writes about comparative and world literature, the memory and legacies of colonial and racial violence, and literary theory. She is the author of Worlds Within: National Narratives and Global Connections in Postcolonial Writing (Stanford UP, 2009), numerous journal articles and book chapters, and has co-edited the forthcoming volume Autotheories: Transdisciplinary Experiments in Self-Theorizing.
 

Register here