“No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes, if they know that that knowledge will help set you free.” — Assata Shakur

This Black August, we will gather to read and discuss four books that challenge the ways we think about our world, about Blackness, about Hawai‘i, and our places in the midst of all of it.

On Holy Ground: Commitment and Devotion to Sacred Lands by Luisah Teish and Leilani Birely (2013)

This collaborative book is written as a conversation between the authors, Leilani Birely and Luisah Teish whose genealogies link them to Hawai‘i and Africa, respectively, and who have grown up in spiritual cultures that have survived centuries of oppression and kept its regard for the sacredness of land at the forefront of their daily life and practices. Our present ecological crisis: global warming, water and air pollution, starvation, and war are all manifestations of our disregard for the Earth, Her gifts and Her children. This book implores us to insure the re-creation of our Earth-centered traditions and the evolution of a global and authentic spiritual practice. It contains the authors' personal stories, cultural myths and folktales, prayers, chants, rituals and exercises to help define a relationship to Mother Earth and Her Children through a dialogue between the African and Hawaiian diasporas.

Facilitator: Imani Altemus-Williams

Imani Altemus-Williams was raised in Honolulu, Hawai'i and is a recent graduate of the Sámi University of Applied Sciences where she received her master’s degree in Indigenous Journalism. With genealogical ties to what is now known as Louisiana, she wrote her thesis on the interrelation between storytelling and resistance for Black & Native peoples protecting Louisiana’s sacred lands. Along with freelance writing and co-producing a documentary about demilitarization in Hawai'i, Imani is passionate about collecting stories that illustrate the collective experiences of colonized peoples, by not only highlighting injustice, trauma and pain, but also their inherent resilience, strength and beauty.

$5 donation suggested