ChurchGurl Foundation Honors Cathy D. Adams

Monday, December 2, 2013

8 p.m.

Yoshi's of Oakland

For More Information, visit:

churchgurlsrock.org

CATHY D. ADAMS

Cathy D. Adams is founder and president of one of the Bay Area's premier event management companies, CDA Consulting Group. She is also the founding president emeritus of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women-Oakland/Bay Area Chapter (NCBW/OBAC).

Cathy has worked in the community, informing and educating, and was instrumental in the founding concept for the NCBW/OBAC 'Sistahs Getting Real About HIV/AIDS' Campaign & World AIDS Forum, which will observe its tenth year anniversary on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2013.

A Commissioner on the Alameda County Commission on the Status of Women, Cathy is a graduate of Jackson State University Mississippi with a degree in Mass Communications.

In observance of her great work in the Bay Area community, the Church Gurls Foundation will honor the multi-award recipient with its 2013 Women Empowerment Award during an affair to be held on Monday, December 2, 2013 at Yoshi's Oakland in Jack London Square.

"12 Years A Slave" - The Movie that Every Free Black Man and Woman MUST See

After seeing the trailers, I said that I would not see "12 Years A Slave."  

Even though it is based on a true story, I thought, "this is too painful and I refuse to put myself through it."

And then I started thinking, "Do I really want to go to the office and have my white colleagues telling me about the movie?"  And that was all the motivation it took for me to put my own personal sensitivities aside and get to the theater.

If the Academy doesn't recognize this film and its amazing talent (especially Chiwetel Ejiofor who plays the main character, Solomon Northrup, a free black man who is kidnapped and sold into slavery), there is no hope for the film industry.  The director, Steve McQueen, is brilliant.  Give him his Oscar today.

Is it painful?  Brutally.  Will it make you angry?  Absolutely.  If it doesn't, check your pulse.  

I experienced every range of emotions possible, including a couple of chuckles during some scenes (watch for Alfre Woodard).  

But, it also reminds you that there were some good people, especially, the abolitionists, who did try to do the right thing, even when it might mean risking their own lives.

It is absolutely important that you see this movie.  You owe it your ancestors.   

In fact, I plan to see it again with my daughter who swears she can't handle it.  No African American who is over the age of 18, should get a "pass" to skip this one.  

Attendance is mandatory. 

SAN FRANCISCO NAACP 2013 FREEDOM FUND GALA

 Saturday, November 9, 2013, Hilton Hotel Union Square

 



Tavis Smiley, Keynote Speaker
Barbara Rodgers, Mistress of Ceremonies

(Photos Courtesy of Lance Burton/Planet Fillmore (C))

planet.fillmore@gmail.com

PORGY AND BESS IN SAN FRANCISCO - November 10 to December 8

https://www.shnsf.com/online/porgy

"The African Americans - Many Rivers to Cross" - Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s PBS Documentary

I have to preface this "review," by saying that I only caught the last half-hour of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s latest documentary on PBS.  

However, what I did see was what public television should be:  thought provoking, well-researched, well-told and important to be told.

And while portions of the 30 minutes I did catch were very uplifting (I absolutely loved seeing Black folks start their own communities, businesses and churches during Reconstruction), I was still terribly troubled by the images of black men hanging in the center of town.

Gates, in my opinion, never disappoints, or fails to educate.  The documentary touched on "Plessy v. Ferguson," and the interviews with African American scholars and historians, both Black and White, gave me hope that there are still academics who devote their lives' work to making sure African American history is researched, pursued and preserved with passion.

But, back to those men hanging in the town square.  

Honestly, as much as I love this type of programming, I'm always angry, frustrated and mad as hell at what our people have had to endure.  And continue to endure (lest we forget Trayvon Martin).

Still, it's important.  And if the people who lived through these turbulent times could deal with it, I can certainly endure watching what they went through - the past should not be forgotten.

That said, I'm not sure I'm ready for "12 Years A Slave."  I'm still having thoughts about "Django Unchained."

And, yes, I do plan to catch "Many Rivers to Cross" in its entirety.