Let’s show our local NAACP some love for all the wonderful things they do for our community. Every year they host the MLK Jr March, MLK Youth Day, multiple forums with local elected officials and candidates, Juneteenth at the London Nelson Center, and monthly meetings on a variety of topics to keep us all sharp. They are sponsoring or co-sponsoring three of the events in this very newsletter!
Many SURJ members are also members of the NAACP and you can be, too! If you support the advancement of colored people, please join at NAACP Santa Cruz or make a one-time donation HERE. Thanks! We all benefit.
White People, We Have Work to Do – a SURJ National online webinar
Wednesday • Feb 7 • 5:00 PM
Feeling your heart rate rise over the chaos of 2024 already? Don’t face the fear and dread alone! One of the surest ways to cut through the anxiety of these times is taking action together in community: join SURJ members in conversation about our plans for 2024 to stop authoritarianism, defend the election, and go on offense in 2025 to advance an agenda of racial and economic justice. White people have an important role to play this year. If far right authoritarianism takes the White House and Congress in 2024, it will be because of the support of a largely white base. We have a responsibility to make sure other white people reject far right calls for division and instead see their fates as tied up with other working people. Our POC partners are getting their people in formation, and we need to do our part. SURJ is the largest organization in the country explicitly organizing white people for justice– and we’ve got a plan to win this year and beyond. Join us to learn more.
Live captioning and ASL interpretation will be available during this event.
Register for this important webinar here!
Tommy Orange – Wandering Stars, in conversation with Leila Mottley
Thursday • Feb 29 • 7:00 PM • Ticketed event • wheelchair accessible
Veterans Memorial Building • 846 Front St • Santa Cruz
Award-winning author Tommy Orange will be in conversation with bestselling author Leila Mottley (Nightcrawling) about his new novel, Wandering Stars. The eagerly awaited follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-finalist breakout bestseller There There—winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award, the John Leonard Prize, the American Book Award, and one of the New York Times‘s 10 Best Books of 2018—Wandering Stars traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through to the shattering aftermath of Orvil Red Feather’s shooting in There There.
This event is cosponsored by Bookshop Santa Cruz and The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz.
Tickets and more info here
Gospel Night
Saturday • Feb 17 • Doors 6:30, Show 7:00 PM • wheelchair accessible
Resource Center for Nonviolence • 612 Ocean St • Santa Cruz
Welcome to the Santa Cruz NAACP Annual Gospel Celebration! Join us at 612 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz, CA, USA for an uplifting and soulful event. Get ready to experience the power of gospel music and celebrate the rich cultural heritage of our community. Come and enjoy inspiring performances by talented gospel artists, as their voices fill the air with joy and harmony. This in-person event promises to be an unforgettable evening of music, faith, and unity. We look forward to seeing you there!
Tickets available at Eventbrite
Soundscape Salon – Performance & Discussion
Saturday • Feb 10 • 1:00 – 2:30 PM • $25 suggested donation, no one turned away
Peace United Church of Christ • 900 High St • Santa Cruz • wheelchair accessible
Musical Soulmates Performers Collaborative presents an afternoon of musical performances and discussion highlighting the influence of Black American composers and musicians on European Classical composers.
Featuring:
Victoria Theodore, Piano
Guests from Musical Soulmates Suzuki Piano Studio performing St Louis Blues by WC Handy
Kate Saphir Alm, Piano
Shannon D’Antonio, Violin
Bhavananda Lodkey,Poetic Embodiment
Solmaaz Adeli,Mezzo-Soprano
Victoria Theodore, a Classically trained pianist, singer/songwriter, composer, music director, and educator, performed with Stevie Wonder for 7 years, with Beyoncé for 6, including her “Formation World Tour”, and with Lin-Manuel Miranda for his projects “Tick Tick Boom” and “Freestyle Love Supreme”. She is currently in the midst of composing two musicals, “MARIAN” and “CO-FOUNDERS”, and composing, releasing music, and touring with her band EnSpirits, formed with her partner Dave Tweedie
Union Divided – Black Musicians’ Fight for Labor Equality, by Leta Miller
Tuesday • Feb 6 • 7:00 PM • FREE
Bookshop Santa Cruz • Downtown • wheelchair accessible
Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes Leta Miller, Professor of Music Emerita at UC Santa Cruz, for a reading and signing of her new book, Union Divided: Black Musicians’ Fight for Labor Equality, an in-depth account of the Black locals within the American Federation of Musicians. Broad in scope and rich in detail, Union Divided illuminates the complex working world of unionized Black musicians and the American Federation of Musician’s journey to racial inclusion.
For more information and to register in advance, click here
This event is cosponsored by NAACP Santa Cruz County Branch
Native Plant Care at Casade Ranch
Friday • Feb 2 • 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM • FREE
Cascade Ranch • 3100 Cabrillo Hwy • Pescadero • NOT wheelchair friendly
Please join Amah Mutsun Land Trust to help rescue the native plants from the annual Oxalis invasion!
Since 2021, Amah Mutsun Land Trust has worked in partnership with Pie Ranch and State Parks to propagate native plants at Cascade Ranch on Año Nuevo Point. Unfortunately, due to the agricultural history of the area, our native plant beds are infested with a particularly vigorous exotic invasive plant called Bermuda buttercup or sourgrass (Oxalis pes-caprae), which originally came from South Africa.
We are seeking help from a large group of volunteers to remove as much Oxalis as possible from our native plant beds at this event.
Spend time outdoors, meet new people, learn about invasive plants and the work of Amah Mutsun Land Trust, 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.
Learn more and register for this event on Eventbrite!
What Actually Happened in 1619 – the Origins of Slavery in North America
Thursday • Feb 1 • 6:30 – 8:00 PM • FREE
Music Recital Hall • UCSC • Santa Cruz • wheelchair accessible
From the moment the New York Times started to roll out installments of The 1619 Project in 2019, this painstakingly researched and groundbreaking long-form origin story heightened ongoing discussion about slavery and its painful legacy in the United States.
But why was that year a turning point for the institution of slavery in America? This question lies at the heart of “What Actually Happened In 1619,” a panel discussion that uses The 1619 Project as a jumping off point for a deeper dive into the happenings and consequences of that year. This panel brings together three historians who have done extensive research on slavery: UCSC History Professor Gregory O’Malley, Elise Mitchell, Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellow in History at Princeton University, and UC Merced Associate Professor of History Kevin Dawson.
This event is presented by the Humanities Institute and co-sponsored by Bookshop Santa Cruz
Register here
40th Annual MLK, Jr Memorial Convocation with Bryant Terry
Wednesday • January 31 • 6:30 PM, doors at 6:00 • FREE • wheelchair accessible
Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium • 307 Church St • Santa Cruz
This annual convocation celebrates the life and dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with presentations about equality, freedom, justice, and opportunity. This year we welcome chef, food justice activist, publisher, and author, Bryant Terry.
How can we provide healthy food options for all Americans, regardless of race, geography, or income? What can each of us do to eat healthier? And how will our choices affect everything from the environment to social justice? In this interactive talk, Bryant Terry shows us how the food we eat can reduce the impacts of poverty and structural racism while increasing sustainability for all. Through a multisensory approach that fuses song, cooking, and personal history, Terry explores how to improve access to fresh food in our communities and demonstrates how simple (and delicious) making better food choices can be.
Click here for more information.
Martin Luther King, Jr Commemorative Events in January!
The NAACP Santa Cruz County Branch will honor and celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with two events.
The annual Youth Day on Saturday, January 13 will feature entertainment and activities for youth.
The March + Commemorative Gathering will begin with a march through downtown Santa Cruz and wind up at the Civic Auditorium for a program of speakers and music.
They are still looking for volunteer traffic monitors for the March, groups to join in the March and to table at the Civic Auditorium afterward, as well as sponsors. Please see the NAACP Santa Cruz website for more information and to sign up!
Showing Up for Racial Justice-Santa Cruz County, CA 
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