Continue reading »]]> Dr. Kristal Owens and The Empowerment Center along with New Light Temple Baptist Church and Pastor Phillip Battle Jr. is proud to present Ty Gray-EL’s “A Black Woman’s Smile-Why Some Do/Why Some Don’t”, the lecture series featuring the spiritually uplifting and powerfully motivating poetry of Pittsburg’s own, Mike Vick.

Your spirit will be moved and your soul will be stirred as you hear the gut-wrenching originally written slave narratives from the one who is being called the ‘VESSEL’ through which our ancestors speak.

Critics from across the country are proclaiming The Poetic Play “A Black Woman’s Smile-Why Some Do/Why Some Don’t” a tour-de-force.

Date and Time:
Saturday, June 23, 2012
4:00 – 6:00pm

Location:
Friends of Homewood Library
7101 Hamilton Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15208

Admission $20 Seniors/Children $12

What some are saying…

“A Black History program you will never forget.”
“Our ancestors have found a vessel through which to speak”
“Mike Vick is nothing but The Truth, so help me God.”
“I was moved to laughter, I was moved to tears; I was moved.”
“One thing for certain after listening to those slaves, you will be changed.”

Continue reading »]]> Our outrage and activism should be widened to include the 150 murders of Afrikan brothers in the US each week that are sadly committed by 93% of Afrikan brothers. We have to address the deep hatred by both white supremacy and black subservience (many people hate anything representing Afrikan) in the US. Poverty, disenfranchisement and mis-education are the enemies of the state of black America.

We have to teach, model and build institutions to employ, educate and enrich the lives of great people who deserve our untiring efforts to make a difference. So after the protests and emotionalism, there are a few good men and women who are steadfast on teaching life skills/rites of passage, creating legal opportunities to make money and providing information for consciousness raising. I have witnessed the men and women from Empowerment Center, week after week work with boys, ex-offenders and dispossessed to uproot the madness that have plague both blacks, whites and other people of color.

For more from Empowerment Center on the Trayvon Martin case, see “It Could Have Been Me.”

Kristal Owens

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Continue reading »]]> On April 27 & 28, 2012, Dr. Owens will present a lecture entitled: “Natural Health for You and Your Family” co-sponsored by the Graduate Student Association and The National Male Minority Health Project.

The Student Adlerian Society (SAS) of Bowie State University will be hosting their annual Spring Conference, “Creating Healthy Lifestyles in a Diverse Society.” This exciting event will take place April 27 – 28, 2012 at the Center of Learning and Technology at Bowie State University. Many dynamic presenters, along with information-packed educational sessions such as Mental Health Issues, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Nutrition, Economic Wellness, Self-Care, and Stress Management sessions will fill the agenda.

Continue reading »]]> A Couple’s Workshop

Featuring Dr. Kristal C. Owens, Dr. Shu Amen, Dr. Ama Giddens, Dr. Jamie Ballard, Vanessa Ballard, Dr. Heru Goodridge, and Bowie State University graduate students.

Download the registration form here.

Date:
Saturday, May 12, 2012

Time:
Program: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Registration begins at 9:30 a.m.
Raw food demonstration at noon

Location:
PCC Stride - Ft. Lincoln Complex
3rd Building with Circular Driveway
3005 Bladensburg Rd., NE
Washington, DC 20018
www.empowerment-center.org

FEATURED TOPICS:

• Finance and Marriage
• Effective Communication
• Food Inheritance
• Divine Union

Continue reading »]]> A Black-Studies Graduate Student Responds to the Killing of Trayvon Martin

March 20, 2012  | By Stacey Patton

The murder of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager from Sanford, Fla., who was gunned down by a neighborhood-watch volunteer who said he acted in self-defense, has sparked outrage and grief, especially among black Americans. The teen, who the shooter told police looked “suspicious,” was wearing a hoodie as he walked through the gated community where he lived. Mr. Martin was unarmed and was carrying a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea he had just brought at the 7-Eleven.

A thousand miles north, Dwayne Nash, a 35-year-old black graduate student who is in his fourth year at Northwestern University’s black-studies program, is still in shock. He’s sitting inside the Lenox Coffee near Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, where he is doing research for his dissertation on the history of the stop-and-frisk practices of New York City police officers and why young black and Hispanic males are so frequently the targets of those stops. Mr. Nash is dressed in a black pinstriped suit, a Burberry tie, a powder-blue shirt, and wing-tipped shoes, the kind of “conservative go-getter” outfit he says he used to wear when he worked for six years as a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office. Watching hundreds of black and Hispanic men and women walk through the courts in shackles for small criminal infractions was heartbreaking, he says, so he decided to attend graduate school to attack the problem from a different angle.

Mr. Nash was making plans to purchase a hoodie for the “Million Hoodie March” scheduled to take place Wednesday night in Union Square. He hasn’t owned a hoodie, he says, because “it is a dangerous thing for a black man to own.” Despite his background and his educational status, he says that his skin color makes him a potential victim, like Trayvon Martin.

Q. How did you react when you heard about the killing of Trayvon Martin?

A. My first thought was, I can’t believe another young black man has been shot down. I have hope that this kind of tragedy won’t keep happening, but I’m still horrified and shocked. As a former prosecutor, my second thought was that Trayvon’s body was going to be sent to the morgue and tested for drugs and alcohol because the state needed to know whether this kid was under the influence and if that could have possibly escalated his situation and caused his own death. I was shocked that George Zimmerman, the shooter, was not arrested or tested for drugs and alcohol, and that he was let go. The police arrived at the scene and saw a dead young black male’s body and shockingly there was no cause for concern. They saw no need to investigate that a white-skinned, burly man with a gun could have possibly been the aggressor. And Zimmerman has gotten the benefit of Florida’s “stand your ground law.” He’s using it both as a sword and a shield because his victim was a young black male.

Q. Your graduate work focuses on stop-and-frisk practices as a form of racial profiling. How is Martin’s death connected to your research?

A. Based on my research, I know that in New York City alone, 700,000 people are stopped and frisked on a yearly basis. Eighty-five percent of those people who are targets for police surveillance are black or Hispanic. Only about seven percent are even arrested. Whether we are stopped, searched, arrested, or shot, it’s all the same. We’re being automatically read as a threat, criminal, or suspicious at the very least.

Q. In the past few days students at colleges in Florida have organized protests in response to this incident. Do you see racial profiling as an important issue for scholars to address?

A. Racial profiling and the killing of Trayvon Martin is a higher-education issue. My scholarship, for example, is responsible for educating the public on these social phenomena. Racial profiling is a sensitive issue that has historically plagued this nation since its colonial foundation and throughout the civil-rights movement. It remains with us in the post-Obama era. It needs to be studied, dissected, and constantly examined.

The police response to Martin’s death was a form of racial profiling and the mainstream newspapers first framed the story as a white neighborhood watchman who killed a black boy. Later we find out that Zimmerman is Spanish-speaking, and now the media is saying he is a white Hispanic. These racial categorizations are showing us how people are being valued. We have to teach the public how to read between the lines. Trayvon’s murder provides an impetus for me to pursue my research and illuminate the areas that are often ignored. There are ordinary people in their own neighborhoods who are repeatedly stopped, arrested, and funneled through the criminal-justice system. These people are living the new Jim Crow and are fighting against it in criminal-court proceedings every day.

Q. As a former prosecutor and now as a young black male scholar in the ivory tower, do you think there’s a real possibility that you could someday suffer the same fate as Trayvon Martin?

A. I embody what W.E.B. Du Bois termed a “double consciousness.” I feel trapped. I have paid my dues to society and stayed out of trouble, have never been arrested. I’ve practiced law, and now I’m working on a Ph.D. about my history. But I understand the fact of blackness. I see myself through the eyes of others, and I know that despite my suit and tie, my education, and the positive energy in my heart to do good, I’m a black man who is perceived as a threat.

Instead of Trayvon Martin, it could have been me that was killed. I know my time is coming when I’m going to be surrounded by an unbelievable abyss of fear. I pray that a gun barrel is not pointed to my face and that I am not shot and killed for making an innocent gesture or for being in the wrong place at the wrong time because of my skin color. And the wrong place could be in my own home. There is no right place for me. There was no right place for Trayvon. He was walking home in the rain, doing nothing wrong. and he was read as suspicious.

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Would you like to learn more about diabetes?

Although diabetes is a serious problem for all Americans, Black women often experience a higher incidence of complications that can occur as a result of uncontrolled diabetes.  The Black Women’s Health Imperative (Imperative) has been awarded funding to develop and implement the “Health-Wise Woman Diabetes Self-Management Program” in Washington, DC.  This comprehensive self-management program is designed for Black women who have been diagnosed with diabetes or who may be at high risk of developing diabetes.  The Imperative is a national non-profit organization that is committed to advocating for and contributing to the health and well-being of Black women and their families.

A primary focus of the diabetes program is to provide health education, social and emotional support, and medical referrals for Black women to become empowered to take control and better manage their diabetes.  The information that will be provided may also help those who are at risk of developing diabetes  either prevent or delay the onset of the disease.  Another feature of the program is the provision of nutrition information and physical activity sessions.  We will also assist program participants obtain clinical referrals for health care providers who will be able to help participants better manage their diabetes.

The Imperative would like to invite Black women from neighborhoods throughout the District to participate in the diabetes program.  Women can participate in two ways:  (1) as a health educator or (2) as a program participant.  Women who are interested in serving as health educators will receive training in a number of key topics including diabetes education, healthy eating, menu planning, and the importance of physical activity.  These health educators will then work with Imperative staff and health experts to lead education sessions and serve as important resources for health information within their communities.  Women who are interested in attending the weekly sessions must be:  (1) Black, (2) aged 40 and older, and (3) diagnosed with diabetes or at risk for developing diabetes.  Women who are interested in serving as health educators can be any age and they do not have to be at risk of developing diabetes or have been diagnosed with diabetes.

For more information, please contact:

Dionne Otey, Health Program Manager
Black Women’s Health Imperative
Phone:  (202) 548-4000 ext. 118
dotey@blackwomenshealth.org
www.blackwomenshealth.org

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Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum & The Empowerment Center of Washington DC presents:

Ancestor’s Remembered: The Cream Shall Rise
Black History Month Program

Poetry and Slave Narrative Storytelling With The Minister of Poetry -Ty Gray-EL.

Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum and the Empowerment-Center are proud to present Ancestor’s Remembered-The Cream Shall Rise Black History Program featuring the Minister of Poetry, Ty Gray-EL.

The program brings you the critically acclaimed ‘Breath of My Ancestors/The Hurricane’ and ‘A Black Woman’s Smile’ the internationally proclaimed black woman’s anthem for the 21st century.

History and scripture tells us that when we honor our fathers and our mothers our days are lengthened upon the earth. Come and hear the uplifting words spoken by the people whose blood, sweat, tears and labor built this great country we live in. Come and celebrate the heritage of the people who brought civilization to the world.

This 90 minute heart-warming, eye-opening experience will positively change your life as you will not only be absolutely entertained, but you will be thoroughly educated. Our aim is to:

1. Stimulate an interest in African American history by revealing little-known, often-neglected facts left out of history books.
2. Use poetry and storytelling to motivate young and old to achieve.
3. Improve race relations by dispelling myths of racial inferiority.
4. Support and work in conjunction with other organizations seeking to improve the social and economic status of African Americans.

Download a high-res flyer

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Reconnecting Our Families

Bowie State University’s Counseling Center and the National Male Minority Health Project in collaboration with New Revival Center of Renewal’s Reentry Program along with the Collective Empowerment Group, the Empowerment Center and multiple community stakeholders are coming together the day before Father’s Day to discuss the issues of mass incarceration, the resultant disparities with respect to minority males and their ultimate reentry to society.

The Theme of the summit is “WE ARE ALL CONNECTED” and we can all be of mutual benefits to one another.

The Purpose of the summit will be to stimulate ‘solution based’ dialog around the disparities of male minority incarceration, mental health issues and physical health problems then transfer that dialog into plausible next-steps for solutions.

The Outcomes will be to provide collaborative support, information and resources to assist the families of those who are presently affected by the afore mentioned maladies. This collaborative effort is one step in the healing process that is so obviously necessary in our community. We know that hurt people, hurt people and it is time to heal.

Date and Time:
Saturday, June 16, 2012
9:00am to 4:00pm 

Location:

Bowie State University Campus

Download a high-res flyer

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Cultivate your green thumb this season with fresh food from your own garden! Join Empowerment Center for the George Washington Carver Grand Gardner Scientist of The Soil - G2S2 Urban Gardening Project. We’ll discuss:

• Plant Science
• Basic Nutritional Fundamentals
• Seedling Preparation
• Sprouting Methods
• Soil Preparation
• Vegetable and Fruit Planting Zone Schedule
• Compact Container Gardening; Square Foot Gardening

Date and Time:
Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 10:00 am

Location:
3005 Bladensburg Rd., NE
Washington, DC  20018

Download a high-res flyer

Plant Science Nutritional Fundamentals

Goddening Presentation (PowerPoint)