Julie Perini's new film The Gentleman Bank Robber will show at Portland's own cinematic treasure The Hollywood Theater on Friday March 9th
The Gentleman Bank Robber is a portrait of revolutionary rita bo brown, a white working class butch from rural Oregon who became known as “The Gentleman Bank Robber” in the 1970s for combining her butch style of dress with a polite way of demanding funds from bank tellers. The film moves between everyday moments with bo in and around her current home in Oakland, California, and historical retelling of the events of bo’s extraordinary life through interviews with bo and her collaborators, archival materials, and rare social movement ephemera. The Gentleman Bank Robber weaves together personal and political perspectives on 20th century social movement histories, including queer liberation in the 1960s; militant, underground activity with the George Jackson Brigade in the 1970s, a revolutionary prison abolitionist group; political prisoner support work in the 1980s, and prison activist work into the present day. bo brown is a model for how to lead a life of committed activism while maintaining a sense of humor and humanity. We have DVDs available for sale! $25 postpaid for one copy. This is for home use, if you are a school or library, please order through our distributor Collective Eye.
If you have questions, feel free to write us at [email protected] Arresting Power TShirts and Totebags have the "Three Magic Phrases" printed in orange on black shirts. Available in Mens T Shirt sizes Small, Medium, Large, Xlarge, and in Totebags. $25 includes shipping and handling. email [email protected] to order. We also have buttons, that are free with purchase, or $2 for one.
The Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform will sponsor a march for justice and equality this Saturday starting at 10 a.m. and culminating with a rally at Maranatha Church. The event will be followed by a monthly meeting of the NAACP Portland Branch, which has changed its monthly meeting location this month only to the Maranatha Church.
The march will meet at 10 a.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. statue at the 1000 block of Northeast MLK Blvd. at Holladay Street near the Convention Center and meet with a rally at 11:45 a.m. The theme for event, which is permitted, "Advancing Justice and Equality for All Through the Strength to Love." The date coincides with the 7th anniversary of the death of Aaron Campbell, an unarmed African American man shot by Portland Police in 2010, as well as the transition to a new federal government that explicitly threatens the rights of communities of color. Campbell was shot in the back in 2010 after emergency services was dispatched for a mental health check. The city initially fired Ron Frashour, who shot Campbell, but in December 2015, an arbitrator forced the Portland Police Bureau to re-hire him. “I want to actually say to our community that there’s an opportunity to express your feelings, have your voice going in, continuing to be aware of things that are happening to our country, to our people, our community and realizing that as we come together as one we can accomplish a whole lot more than being divided or opposing one another,” the Rev. Dr. T. Allen Bethel told The Skanner News. We want to do what is going to be good for the whole community.” Bethel said speakers would discuss police accountability, housing and civil rights. “[The march] came about because the AMA felt there needed to be a march in inner Northeast Portland,” NAACP Portland branch president Jo Ann Hardesty told The Skanner. “There had been a lot of protest activities downtown, and some people just don’t go downtown.” Organizers said the march is open to seniors, children and people of color and there will be a community fair at Maranatha Church where organizations will distribute more information about how to get involved. Organizations endorsing the march include the NAACP Portland Branch, Urban League of Portland, Unite Oregon, Muslim Educational Trust, Japanese American Citizens League, Asians4BlackLives PDX, Portland's Resistance, Voz Workers' Rights Education Project, Right 2 Survive, Black Cultural Affairs Board at PSU, Portland Copwatch, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Sisters Of The Road, 350PDX, Showing Up for Racial Justice – Portland and others. Today at 3pm at Portland City Hall Don't Shoot PDX will again be protesting and testifying against the Portland Police Association union contract. They've been treated like shit by mayor Hales and if you can make it to support them, please do!
Also, keep an eye out for more actions, and more ways to support their good work that benefits ALL of us. Here's a link to the video from Sept 27th after being stood up and then finally meeting with Hales. https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=uqg4G3Newiw How exciting that Arresting Power is on Wikipedia - the people's encyclopedia and in the Top Ten Most Popular Websites!
We'd love you to add your thoughts, critique and what ever else at the page. Most of our posts about Portland's resistance to police violence are on our Facebook Page.
This idea started out there, and if you are interested in participating, please go here. Arresting Power: Resisting Police Violence in Portland, Oregon was released in 2015 as a response to the state-sanctioned murders of people of color in the US and in Portland specifically. It has been used as a tool to educate and organize folks nationally and internationally. We would like to see the movie screened every day in Portland for the next month. Here's how we'll make that happen: We have a DVD that contains the movie and an in-depth study guide that features educational materials, interview transcripts and additional resources and suggestions for further study and action. It also contains a transcript of a community panel featuring members of Portland Black Lives Matter, the All African People's Revolutionary Party and the Portland Chapter of the Black Panther Party. We think this video and supplementary materials could be helpful in starting dialog about policing, ways to support communities that are most affected by police violence and deepening work that has already begun. It can be shown to your co-workers, friends, family, book group, congregation or affinity group. Screen it at your favorite bar. Watch it in your living room with three friends. Have an outdoor screening and project it on the side of your house. You could pass a hat and send the donations to the Portland Black Lives Matter. Whatever you do with it, you are taking a step toward accountability and education, which is a very good thing. SO.. here's how it works. If you are a group or an individual that would like to screen the film, respond to this invitation. I will hand-deliver it to the first person/group on the list. Then after that, the DVD gets dropped off to the next person on the list. It's like a chain letter, but better. This film was created as a tool for inspiring revolutionary dialog and organizing. Let's get it into as many people's hands as we can! From the Justice for Keaton Otis Group:
Thursday, May 12 at 6 PM Maranatha Church, Portland 4222 NE 12th Ave, Portland, Oregon 97211 In place of the monthly vigil, we will be holding the 6 year memorial for Keaton Otis at Maranatha church May 12, 2016 at 6 pm. Please come to remember and honor Keaton, his father Fred Bryant, and recommit ourselves to justice for all victims of police violence in our community. Keaton Otis was a young Black man murdered by the Portland police over five years ago, May 12, 2010. The police admitted they stopped him for "looking like a gangster." They shot him 23 times after tazing him while he sat in the driver's seat. Later police said Keaton had a gun, but have yet to produce it. Keaton's father Fred Bryant held a monthly vigil on the 12th of every month since his son's murder on the spot where Keaton's life was taken. Fred Bryant did this for over three years, fighting for justice for his son, every single month in the rain, the dark, the heat, the snow. Fred Bryant passed away October 29, 2013. His family and community have committed to continuing the vigils every month on the 12th, until justice is achieved for Keaton, for Fred, for our whole community. #BlackLivesMatter FB page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-For-Keaton-Otis/127054844033835?ref=ts&fref=ts We here at Arresting Power are excited to be part of this schedule of events at Portland Community College, and wanted to share some of the events we are looking forward to.
Black Films Matter Cascade MAHB 10404/08, 12pm to 2pm A multimedia presentation on the significance of Black American Cinema of the 70s and changing the way we teach American Film History. Parental Advisory: NC-17. The Whitening of the Original People Cascade CH 21004/08, 2:30pm to 4:30pm Visual performance art exploring questions of identity through the lens of whiteness as it pertains to Native Americans. Whiteness in the Institutions of the Arts: Its Effects in Communities and How It Can Be Shifted Cascade CH 21004/11, 1pm to 2pm Panel talk will involve issues surrounding institutionalized whiteness in the art world and art education, and a path out of the dilemma. Questions on the topic will be gathered in advance from art students. Give Racism a Chance Cascade SU 20304/12, 6pm to 8pm One of the biggest obstacles people of color face is invisibility. We get accused of playing the "race card," people ignore the staggering statistics that prove inequity. In other words, people pretend that racism doesn't exist - my challenge is to acknowledge its existence and create constructive pathways to addressing the issues by holding "uncomfortable conversations." NW Writers Explore Whiteness, Its Causes and Impacts Cascade MAHB 10404/13, 1pm to 2pm Writers presenting from the forthcoming 2Leaf Press "White in America" anthology. A staged reading where the authors read jointly, interspersing excerpts of their writings thematically and somewhat dramatically. American Identity and White Supremacy Cascade TH 12204/15, 6pm to 8pm Our presentation examines how white supremacy exists as a vested interest for all white people under capitalism. It exhorts white people to, rather than make themselves "not racist," work for organized, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist goals in the historic example of Marilyn Buck and other revolutionaries. It's Not My Fault: Whites and Racism Cascade TLC04/19, 12pm to 1:30pmThe session seeks to explore how emotionality derails productive conversations about race, and explore the role whites can take. AWARE Meeting Cascade CH 20504/22, 12pm to 1:30pm CA-AWARE will show film about white anti-racist Ann Braden and discuss the role of whites in dismantling whiteness. Some Philosophical Roots of Whiteness Cascade TH 11204/29, 1pm to 2pm Whiteness has its roots in philosophies that influenced the development of the U.S.; after reviewing those philosophies, this event explores their influence and ends with a conversation on the manifestations of whiteness in philosophy still present today. More events and info can be found here. |