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We all know how important it is for our minds to consume good media, and with Black Media Appreciation Night rolling around again, here is our opportunity to return the love that so many Black journalists, artists and organizers have dished out to us over the years in the form of articles, broadcasts, songs and events.
Annually, we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Willie Ratcliff, publisher of the San Francisco Bay View newspaper, during the reception before Black Media Appreciation Night. Then we look at the work of people in and around the media world who focus on creating the text, audio and imagery for the education of Black people and our supporters.
In the past, we have honored the late great journalist recruiter Kevin Weston, the owners of the San Francisco Marcus Book Store, the contributors to The Black Panther newspaper, political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, the directors of the San Francisco Black Film Festival and the Oakland International Film Festival, djialli (griot) P. Kujichagulia, legendary Hip Hop journalist Davey D, KPOO broadcasters Melonie and Melorra, Africa Today host Walter Turner, KPFA and KCSM host Greg Bridges, filmmaker Kevin Epps and more.
This year, performers include political rapper M1 of the revolutionary rap group dead prez and the Afrobeat sounds of Sista Iminah Ahmad. We will honor publisher Amelia Ashley Ward of the San Francisco Sun Reporter, as well as legendary broadcaster, Pan African musician and internationally known poet Avoctja Jiltonilro, and the late KPFA Side Show radio broadcaster Wesley Burton, who lost his life in a late night car wreck after his radio air-shift earlier this year.
We are inviting and urging you to come out to support the people who care about reporting and making art so that your voice can be represented on the airwaves and screens across the planet. Are you somebody who sits on the sidelines, criticizing and applauding those of us in the real fight for human rights and self determination, or are you somebody who wants to actively play a part, even it is just in a quiet financial way, in keeping the proverbial ball rolling?
Here is your opportunity to prove to yourself and your community what you believe.
Black Media Appreciation Night 2015 is Saturday, Sept. 12, 6 p.m., at the African African American Art and Culture Complex, 762 Fulton in the heart of San Francisco's Fillmore district. See you there!
Photos, clockwise from top left, are of P. Kujichagulia, Greg Bridges (by Malaika H. Kambon at BMAN 2012; the others are at BMAN 2014), Karen and Gregory Johnson of Marcus Books, and Fleetwood with Davey D.
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