FORWARDEVER MEDIA CENTER
Writer Alex
Haley writing The Autobiography of Malcolm X with Brother Malcolm.
"The
media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make
the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power.
Because they control the minds of the masses."
- Malcolm X
Mission
The Forwardever Media Center is 100% committed to providing unconventional writing workshops and media literacy training to "at-risk" Black youth, particularly males, ages 14 through 24. Working in partnership with The Mentoring Center in Oakland, CA., the Center's writing workshops, website internship, and film forums, help students develop critical thinking skills and discover their creative talents. We recruit youth for our programs from the California Youth Authority (the state's largest prison for youth) as well as from universities and high schools. This cross-pollination of young minds creates dynamic shared experiences.
Programs
Whatchusay Cinema–A monthly film forum hosted at schools or community centers in Northern California that explores issues such as race, class, gender, and society. Students are joined by a panel of activists, educators, athletes, entrepreneurs, etc. to rate the films and convene roundtable discussions about corresponding relevant issues in society. For info about film screenings and schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com
Writing Workshops–We offer intensive seminars in journalism, creative writing, cultural criticism, new media, film production, etc. These seminars are taught at the center, located at 1224 Preservation Park, Oakland, CA, 94612. They are also available on location, at schools, community and detention centers, churches, etc. For info about class schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com
Internships–Whatchusay.com offers competitive internships to young writers who have clearly demonstrated a passion for the craft of writing or media production. The 3-month internship covers news writing and reporting, feature writing, creative writing, media literacy and new media. Working in partnership with community based organizations, universities and international and national media outlets, we produce a pipeline of informed journalists of color who will go on to create their own independent media organizations or work for major media organizations.
More...March 4, 2008 11:06 AM
by James Morgan
So today I was searching online to see the new Boondocks episodes that I had been missing recently. I happened to find out that two episodes had been cut. "Why?" I wondered. I came to find out that in these two episodes series creator Aaron Mcgruder had taken satirical swipes at B.E.T. or as I like to call it "Black Exploitation Television."
I started to write a blog about the suppression of freedom of speech in the Black community but then I remembered something... B.E.T. is not owned by the Black community but a company known as Viacom.
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July 9, 2007 10:19 PM
By Pendarvis Harshaw
Somehow it all made sense: the only support I had to go to the Black and Male in America conference was from my aunt and my mother - while at the same time, my mother and my aunts brother or as some would call him "my uncle" - made as little as an effort as possible to see me while I stayed no more than 15 minutes from his home for four consecutive days. This exemplifies a number of the topics dealt with during the conferences about Black men, which was held June 14 through June 17, 2007 in Brooklyn New York.
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February 20, 2007 10:06 AM
With America's never-ending commodification of culture and oversimplification of race (read: "the one drop rule") its no wonder people of African descent don't want to be lumped into the simple category: "African American." The wave of Carribbean and African immigration early in the last century, established a set of tensions between West Indians and native born black that some believe persist to this day. But these days, blackfolk are too sophisticated in thier understanding of age-old divide and conquer tactics. Whatever differences existed seemed relatively minor in the face of our common history of slavery, colonialism, racial segregation, and economic struggle.
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January 17, 2007 8:39 AM
Kenya Taylor was fed up with the gang he rolled with in Visitacion Valley and wanted a change. Realizing that no good could come from the dangerous lifestyle he was living, he wanted out, made the decision to move to Louisiana near family, and buy a house.
On June 24, 2004, before he had a chance to follow through with his plans, 24-year-old Taylor was gunned down by a member of his own crew. That day, part of Terry Rollins' innocence was lost. Taylor was Rollins' cousin, best friend, and sole male role model.
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December 28, 2006 1:45 PM
By Ipeleng Kgositsile
Some people go to church regularly on Sundays. Others go to brunch. I'm one of the latter. I owe this to my childhood. As a little girl, church for me was Sunday Brunch at Wilson's, a soul food restaurant on 158th and Amsterdam in New York. Mommy loved their peach cobbler. I was head over heels about their fish and grits. When it comes to soul food in Oakland, one has some choices when it comes to Sunday Brunch. I decided to check out Maxwell's Lounge in Downtown Oakland. For nostalgia sake, I called up my New York crew in Oakland. Did I enjoy my experience?
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December 24, 2006 2:14 PM
US lawmaker Virgil Goode says he'll have the Bible in hand when he takes the oath of office in January. But he cringes at his new Muslim colleague's plan to swear on the Koran. Goode, a conservative Republican, has caused shock in Washington with his open hostility to Keith Ellison, an African-American who last month became the first Muslim elected to the US Congress. In a letter to voters in his district that found its way into US media, Goode portrayed Ellison as a threat to American values and rejected the use of the Koran at swearing-in ceremonies.
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July 30, 2006 9:23 AM
By Michelle Michelle
For the last couple of weeks or months I should say, this column has not appeared on whatchusay.com for awhile. I have been missing and only giving you, my dear people, limited information as to where I was hiding or running to. The truth of the matter is this: I failed an important test in life but gained knowledge that will last me a lifetime. I make a solid promise that I will never be gone away from you for as long as I was. I know I will have to work hard to prove to you my word is good. I don't mind working hard to earn back your trust...
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November 28, 2005 3:27 AM
By Michelle Michelle
Are Black Women Romance Intolerant?
The last time we spoke I told you about Dillon. It seems I may have spoken too fast about the brother having it together. Last week, a girl that Dillon claimed was a one night affair told him she was 9 months pregnant and was due in days. He claimed she was new to this country and was Asian. Her parents disliked him. When he told me that last statement, I began to believe in my mind that this was not a one night stand. Still, he stuck to his story. Apparently, she'd hid the pregnancy and had no where to go. I asked Dillon how he knew it was his baby. He said "he knew." Again that statement let me know there was more to the story and he wasn't being honest. This seems pretty straight and simple right? Not a reason to leave a brother right?
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October 8, 2005 2:59 AM
By Ipeleng Kgositsile
The party was hot. It was like a house party in someone's basement during high school. Not enough circulating air. Sweat for days. I looked like Whitney Houston in what's the name of that video where she's wearing all white and sitting in a pool of her own sweat by the end of the song? It's from the early-to-mid-nineties. Annoying. Can't remember the name of the song. Anyways, I danced my ass off. So did the hundreds of people who were there shaking their groove things. They sweated. I sweated. The walls were sweating. They were decorated with posters of revolutionaries such as Angela and Che and Steve Biko.
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August 1, 2005 12:16 PM
By Cheo Tyehimba
Questions like why are 32 percent of African-American males unemployed? Why are nearly 40 percent of African-American males connected to the criminal justice system via probation, parole or prison? Why are so many Black boys dropping out of school? Why do so many Black men die earlier than their counterparts of diseases that are treatable and curable? At a town hall conference about the state of African-American men, more than 200 people by way of a standing ovation confirmed the popular phrase "Barbara Lee Speaks for Me" as they leaped to their feet to recognize her for raising serious questions about the plight of African-American men.
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July 31, 2005 11:07 AM
The media have been full of it this year, with such headlines as "Hispanics Now Largest Minority," "America's Ethnic Shift".."Latinos pass blacks unless you count black Latinos"…"Hispanics Pass Blacks…" We even hear late-night TV host Jay Leno ‘joke' to his musician (a Black man) that since Latinos are now the largest minority--not African Americans--he and the musician are minorities together.
As Latino/a teachers, activists, community people, students, artists and writers, we stand fiercely opposed to anyone making those statistics a reason to forget the unique historical experience of African Americans, the almost unimaginable inhumanity of slavery lasting centuries, the vast distance that remains on their long walk to freedom.
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May 26, 2005 8:16 AM
By Alicia Benjamin-Samuels
If you are concerned at all about the decline of public school education in America, you'll want to see the documentary I am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School. But beware. You may shed some tears as you watch the radiant children of this North Philadelphia neighborhood happily walking and running to school on the first day of school with such hope and excitement. You'll feel great sadness as you guess that many of them will not graduate from high school—not because they can't do the work—but because the madness and trauma of their everyday lives will prevent them.
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