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Free online summit celebrates African American Wisdom
It can be discouraging, even heartbreaking, to hear about the pain and suffering our global family members are experiencing — in our neighborhoods, home towns and all over the world.
With so much focus on all that’s wrong with our world, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that we have visionaries, community leaders and citizens who are performing great acts of love, compassion and service every single day — forging new pathways and presenting innovative solutions for these challenging times.
And so many of these who exemplify humanity’s extraordinary potential draw their soul-powered strength, creativity and brilliance from African American wisdom.
This special event provides a truly unique way to participate in Black History Month… as we’ll be honoring history AND visioning our future. Members of every race will come together to address the injustices and traumas while also celebrating the positive steps being taken to create a society where EVERYONE thrives.
Additionally, we’ll cherish the unique flavors, traditions and spiritual wisdom that African Americans (and others of the African Diaspora) contribute to our society throughout the year, through wise leadership, profound artistry, words of truth and inspired actions that transcend what we believe to be possible.
Too often, we define our conversation about African Americans around the challenges of racism and injustice, which — while important — can distract us from appreciating the amazing gifts, blessings and knowledge that have emerged from this rich culture.
Some of America’s greatest leaders — in realms from social change to spirituality to entertainment to business — have emerged out of a history of oppression.
In The African American Wisdom Summit, bright lights will be sharing their secrets to success as well as the practices and traditions that sustained them during the most challenging moments on their personal journeys.
Speakers include:
- LeVar Burton shares on the power of merging education and entertainment as well as the responsibility to spread the love of reading to new generations.
- Cynthia James brings to light the importance of Radical Self Care while healing wounds of self-worth and histories of personal and collective community trauma.
- Sonya Renee Taylor reveals how radical self love is essential for global justice work.
- Luisah Teish takes you on an ancestral journey to help you crack the code of your inherited genius.
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Shariff Abdullah, Founder & Executive Director, Commonway Institute, Topic: Your Role in Creating A World for All
Moving Toward Global Unity
It’s difficult to talk about the huge racial divide taking place in America and across the planet, however this is THE most important conversation we as humanity can be having. During The African American Wisdom Summit, we’ll not only be opening up an honest dialogue and global conversation on race, we’ll also be identifying clear ways for you to create sustainable changes.
This global gathering is not only for African Americans, but for every citizen of the world who wishes to be blessed, transformed and bear witness to the flowering of real genius, great love, and profound wisdom.
During this groundbreaking month-long event, you’ll discover:
- Accessible, soul-powered practices you can use in your daily life to support personal and collective healing and evolution
- A deeper awareness of the the African American experience and the unspoken power dynamics People of Color face every day
- Inspirational stories of individuals making positive shifts (large and small!) despite facing racism
- Self-care, creativity and other restorative practices that can help you sustain inspired action in social justice work
- Effective ways to integrate the wisdom that is naturally, organically and authentically within you and your community
- The importance of economic empowerment for individuals, families and communities
- Innovative insights for social healing, bridging divides and fostering unity and collaboration
- A fascinating look at the embodied, holistic, spiritual healing traditions of Africa and the African diaspora
- The history of the use of music and dance to raise the vibration of the body in spiritual rituals, economic endeavors and political resistance
- All the joy, the passion and the beauty of being African American, and how that is reflected in our world
Women of Color Cook Eat & Talk: How White Allies Can Help Undo Racism
6 – 8 p.m. Thursday Feb. 11
Sherman Street Church,
1000 Sherman St. SE 49507
Free & Open to All!
Our Kitchen Table is merging two of its mainstay event series, Cook, Eat & Talk and Women of Color
Convenings into one series offered quarterly during 2016. Women of Color Cook, Eat & Talk kicks off with an exciting program facilitated by two veterans of the Civil Rights era who remain very active in their own fields today. The event organizers invite any and all community members to enjoy what is bound to be an empowering evening.
Lila Cabbil worked alongside Rosa Parks as the program director in the organization founded by Mrs. Parks to honor her husband (an activist), The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute. She has worked in the tradition of Mrs. Parks for more than 40 years, and is
now President Emeritus of the Institute. Lila was born in Durham, North Carolina and raised in Detroit. She continues to work for racial justice, environmental justice, water rights and food justice in Detroit. Lila co-edited the book, Accountability and White
Anti-racist Organizing, which was published in 2010.
Barbara Roos traveled to Mississippi to stand with African Americans working for civil rights, specifically voting rights. Then a filmmaker with the University of Michigan, she helped document the times, with the hope that the local people involved would be able to learn to create their own media. She joined academia from an award-winning career in public broadcasting, both television and radio. She founded Grand Valley State University’s Film & Video Program, where she was a professor until just last year. Barbara currently facilitates a script writing workshop through the WKTV Digital Cinema Guild.
To begin the program, OKT cooking coaches will demo a healthy recipe and serve samples. Following the dialogue, OKT invites participants to remain for a session of Yoga Nidra, a relaxation practice offering deep rest and opportunity to set deep intentions as we work to create a better world together.
Our Kitchen Table presents its event at no cost to community members thanks to a grant from the W K Kellogg Foundation, which has again been renewed for the 2016 calendar year.
2016 Community Calendar of Free Events!
OKT is happy to announce another full year of enlightening and socially engaged events. All events are open to the public at no charge. OKT may be adding more garden education events as the growing season progresses so check back here and on our Facebook page. Better yet, contact us if you’d like to receive our monthly e-newsletter.
GVSU hosting community workshop with Patrisse Cullors Wednesday
Today, Our Kitchen Table remembers the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. May we all move forward in that spirit of justice and compassion throughout 2016.
In conjunction with GVSU Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Week Celebration, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Patrisse Cullors, will facilitate a dialogue with local community activists about organizing for social justice from 3 to 4 p.m.on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 at Grand Valley State University Pere Marquette Room, Kirkhof Center, Allendale campus.
Community activists and organizers who would like to attend should RSVP to Melissa Baker-Boosamra, GVSU Office of Student Life (bakerbme@gvsu.edu). Your RSVP will also grant you a parking pass.
Following the community workshop, Ms. Cullors will present a 4:30 p.m. keynote presentation in the Grand River Room, Kirkhof Center, Allendale campus, which will be simulcast to an audience at Eberhard Center, Telecommunications Auditorium, Pew Campus, Grand Rapids.
On Saturday Jan. 28, Our Kitchen Table will host a group of GVSU students as part of the commemoration’s MLK Jr. Day of Service and Solidarity. For a list of all the week’s events, click here.
MLK Jr. Day of Service and Solidarity to include OKT Food Justice class
Patrisse Cullors, a founder of Black Lives Matter, will speak at GVSU on Jan. 20.
Grand Valley State University’s Community Service Learning Center is putting a broader spin on this year’s service day commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.’s work for civil rights. For one, it has an updated name, MLK Jr. Day of Service and Solidarity. Traditionally, the event has had the goal of educating students about the Civil Rights movement and inspiring them to serve their communities in the spirit of social change. In addition, students will have opportunity to experience solidarity through some of the service projects being offered.
Our Kitchen Table is offering one of those opportunities. One group of Grand Valley students involved in the day’s activities will travel to OKT’s offices at Garfield Park where they will engage in a three-hour Food Justice class. OKT’s goal is to raise awareness of the Food Justice movement and enlist students to play an active role in it.
The MLK Jr. Day of Service and Solidarity is one event in a week-long commemoration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Patrisse Cullors the Los Angeles-based social activist who, with two other people, started BlackLivesMatter in 2013 will give a presentation on Wednesday, Jan. 20, at the Kirkhof Center on the Allendale Campus, which will be simulcast to an audience in the Eberhard Center on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus.
Touré, well-known author and social commentator, will present the keynote speech on Monday Jan. 18 in the Fieldhouse on the Allendale Campus. Click here for a full schedule of events.
Food justice series continues Dec. 12 & 19
A dozen or so community members have come out for the first two sessions of OKT’s food justice series, The Food Justice Movement: Moving Forward. The group, which includes OKT constituents, people from the Grand Rapids Food Co-op Initiative, Access of West Michigan and Calvin College has enjoyed great conversations. We are excited to see these folks delving into the issues of food justice and looking for ways to incorporate it into their work and lives.
Please join us for weeks three and four of this free series, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday Dec. 12 and 19 at Garfield Park Lodge, 334 Burton St. SE 49507. The first two sessions covered food justice definitions and how the current food system came to be. Session three will address, Why food justice is about overcoming racism, sexism consumerism and other “-isms.” Session four’s dialogue will encompass What the Food Justice Movement is doing to create a better world and defining our part in it, here in Grand Rapids.
Reading material for the class will include the book Our Food, Our Right and the OKT Food Justice Series. You can view the PowerPoints and handouts from sessions one and two on OKT’s website. Please email OKTable1@gmail.com to let us know you are coming!
OKT launches first monthly e-newsletter
To cut back on the amount of email sent to our valued constituents, Our Kitchen Table is now sending a monthly e-newsletter instead of a weekly email blast. The December issue went out today. If you did not receive it, the content is posted below. If you’d like to be added to our email list in order to learn about our upcoming, free events and the work we are doing in Grand Rapids, contact us today!
OKT cooking coaches share healthy eating strategies
OKT cooking coaches, Toni Scott, Alynn Guerra, Marcia Carothers and Isis Love have been staying very busy sharing healthy eating strategies not only with OKT constituents but also parents and students at various Grand Rapids Public School’s buildings, residents of Liz’s House and patrons of Molina Healthcare, Family Network Pantry and Gilda’s House. Ms. Guerra holds her sessions for Spanish-speaking groups.
Each Cook, Eat and Talk event demonstrates how to prepare an easy, affordable, nutritious, in-season menu option. While participants enjoy tasty samples, the cooking coaches take them through a four-page lesson journal, in Spanish and English, that inspires dialogue on making healthier food choices and introduces food justice principles.
All of our cooking coaches are food gardeners, as well. Toni grew up gardening and grows her own food as part of a healthy eating plan that helps her deal with MS. She spends a lot of time cooking healthy alternatives for her family, neighbors and congregation. Marcia and Isis are both dedicated vegans and bring a vegetarian flair to the dishes they share. Alynn is a print-maker by trade. Much of the work she creates at her Red Hydrant Pressstudio addresses food justice, environmental justice and other justice issues.
Food justice series continues Dec. 12 & 19
A dozen or so community members have come out for the first two sessions of OKT’s food justice series, The Food Justice Movement: Moving Forward. The group, which includes OKT constituents, people from the Grand Rapids Food Co-op Initiative, Access of West Michigan and Calvin College has enjoyed great conversations. We are excited to see these folks delving into the issues of food justice and looking for ways to incorporate it into their work and lives.
Please join us for weeks three and four of this free series, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday Dec. 12 and 19 at Garfield Park Lodge, 334 Burton St. SE 49507. The first two sessions covered food justice definitions and how the current food system came to be. Session three will address, Why food justice is about overcoming racism, sexism consumerism and other “-isms.” Session four’s dialogue will encompass What the Food Justice Movement is doing to create a better world and defining our part in it, here in Grand Rapids.
Reading material for the class will include the book Our Food, Our Right and the OKT Food Justice Series. You can view the PowerPoints and handouts from sessions one and two on OKT’s website. Please email OKTable1@gmail.com to let us know you are coming!
Place your bulk whole foods order by Dec. 9
Bridge Cards are accepted for your food order!
The Southeast Area Farmers’ Market offers monthly opportunity to purchase bulk whole foods, e.g. dry beans, whole grain flours, nuts and seeds, pasta, rice and more. Items are ordered from Country Life Natural Foods, a supplier to Michigan food co-ops. View the entire PDF Catalog here. If you’d like to place an order, email it to Christina Flier, SEAFM@OKTjustice.org by Dec. 9. Pay at the pick-up, Dec 21 at Garfield Park Lodge, 334 Burton St. SE 49507.
Food Justice class meets Saturday
Please join OKT for week 2 of its free, four-session class series that explores what is food justice is, why we need it and what we can do in Grand Rapids to make it happen. The class, “The Food Justice Movement: Moving Forward,” will meet 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturdays Nov. 21, Dec. 12 and Dec. 19 at Garfield Park Lodge, 334 Burton St. SE 49507.
OKT staff member, Stelle Slootmaker, is facilitating this dialogue that covers:
- Defining food justice and food sovereignty–what does it all mean?
- How the current food system came to be and the injustices it promotes (food apartheid, exploitation of workers and animals, environmental destruction, nutrient-poor foods, et al.)
- Why food justice is about overcoming racism, sexism consumerism and
other “-isms.” - What the Food Justice Movement is doing to create a better world and defining our part in it, here in Grand Rapids.
Reading material for the class will include the book Our Food, Our Right and the OKT Food Justice Series.
- You can view the PowerPoint from class 1 here:
1 The Food Justice Movement Moving Forward
- You can download the handout here. Handout 1 Food Justice
Please email OKTable1@gmail.com to let us know you are coming!
Our Kitchen Table 