Please forward widely:
PRISON BARS CAN?T STOP THE FLOW
An Evening of Spoken Word, Art and Performance to Raise Funds for Turning the Tide
Saturday, December 7, 7:00 PM, West Side Peace Center, 3916 S. Sepulveda, Culver City
http://prisonbarscantstoptheflow.wordpress.com
Come have fun and help fund the continued and growing free distribution of TTT to hundreds locked down in CA and across the US.
You are invited to join slam-poetry champs Jerry Quickley and Matt Sedillo, spoken word artist Lindsey Cristofani, and rapper Double-Barrel, along with General T.A.C.O. of the Black Riders Liberation Party, and TTT founder Michael Novick at an evening of celebration of the 25th anniversary of ?Turning the Tide: Journal of Anti-Racist Action, Research & Education.? It?s a benefit event to raise the funds to continue printing and mailing the publication free to over 1700 prisoners.
The evening will include a buffet, a presentation of the ?Prison Nation? prison poster art show by Mary Sutton and Carol Wells of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, a display of prisoner letters and art by ?Break the Lock,? music and much more. Everyone who attends will also receive a special commemorative book featuring writings from all 25 years of TTT?s publication.
In the fall of 1988, Ronald Reagan was president, exposed for the Iran-Contra scandal after he circumvented a Congressional ban on aid to the Contras in Nicaragua through illegal deals with the Khomeini regime. 680,000 people were locked down in US jails and prisons, up 90% from the start of the decade. George H. W. Bush had won election as president, through the use of the racist ?Willie Horton? attack ad about prison furloughs. A ?British invasion? of white-power rock like Skrewdriver was catching on among Nazi boneheads. And in L.A., the first issue of ?Turning the Tide? appeared, on the occasion of the local trial of Tom Metzger, head of the White Aryan Resistance (WAR), for a triple cross-burning conducted by WAR and allies from the Nazi party, KKK and Aryan Nations.
Twenty-five years later, Metzger is retired to Michigan, Reagan is dead, and the prison and jail population in the US has more than tripled to over 2.2 million people. In the interim, L.A. rebelled against police impunity, the anti-globalization movement rocked the World Trade Organization, the EZLN rose up against NAFTA?s impact on the indigenous people of Mexico, the whistle was blown on the CIA-crack cocaine connection, the US launched ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, unregulated banks blew up a housing bubble that crashed the economy, and the Occupy Wall Street movement exposed wealth and income inequality. The first Black president has shown that Black faces in high places, and Democrats in the White House, uphold empire, repression, counter-insurgency and surveillance.
Through it all, Turning the Tide has continued providing a unique grassroots medium for the voices of prisoners and liberation movements, intelligence about fascist forces operating from above and below and how to fight them, campaigns to free all political prisoners, support for the prison hunger strikers, and more. TTT was one of the first publications to print the commentaries of Mumia Abu-Jamal and translate the Zapatistas? communiques. TTT has been sent free to thousands of prisoners over the years, currently to nearly 1700 every issue. Now as part of the Inter-Communal Solidarity Committee initiated by the Black Riders, it provides an on-line home to the Break the Lock project.
Come celebrate that record of solidarity, and help make it possible for the paper to continue publishing, reaching out to and sharing the words of hundreds of those locked down, often in isolation, behind prison walls.
You are invited to participate, at the West Side Peace Center, 3916 S. Sepulveda Blvd. in Culver City, CA (adjacent to the 405 Freeway, between Venice Boulevard and Washington Place). KPFK is the media sponsor. Admission to the event is in advance [ at the door] payable to Anti-Racist Action (or with a one-year subscription to Turning the Tide added). Larger donations of course would be gratefully accepted.
Advertise in the Commemorative Book:
A business-card size ad is .00;a quarter-page (3.5?5 inch) ad is .00; a half-page ad (either 7.5?5 or 3.5?10) is .00; and a full page ad (7.5x10inches) is 5.00.
You can pay for tickets, subscriptions and advertisements in the commemorative book online at: https://www.wepay.com/events/turning-the-tide-gala. Or you can call us at 323-636-7388 or email antiracistaction_la@yahoo.com to get tickets now.
Join us in celebrating 25 years of uninterrupted grassroots agitating, organizing and critical analysis, and in helping Turning the Tide: Journal of Anti-Racist Action, Research & Education continue going forward as a weapon of education and solidarity through prison walls, and a voice of uncompromising anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-fascism, anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, and commitment to human liberation and environmental sustainability. You can find pdfs of the last 7 years of TTT at www.antiracist.org.
Note: After criticisms were received, we decided to forego the planned anti-racist awards aspect of the event because of insufficient consideration and communication on our part about their purpose and impact. We apologize to the intended recipients, their communities and organizations for the late decision, and commend them for their contributions and commitment to anti-racist struggle.
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