damali ayo • gazing through big black eyes

I’m Back!
damali returns to the stage to stir things up about racism once again.

I am writing today to announce that after a few months off the racism-lecture circuit, I am returning to the stage to continue this much needed dialogue.

This year, I hit a wall of intense burn-out. There were many factors involved in my decision in April to take my leave from the battle to fight racism, but over the last six months, I’ve watched where our country is going in the new-found “age of Obama.” What I’ve seen and experienced has been profound. This conversation is needed now more than ever. This is an incredible opportunity to examine the way racism works in our country.

Earlier this month as I was photographing some of the Panhandling for Reparations performers a nearby woman, who could not stop laughing, kept saying “things are changing...one of them is about to be president.” This summed up the situation so clearly. Yes one of “them” is about to be president, so soon, none of “them” will need to be listened to any longer.

But then, what made the the timber of this time so clear to me was a simple gesture that occurred while I was walking my dog in my neighborhood one afternoon.

A man yelled “nigger” at me.

And it was here that I realized the dual level of what we will be dealing with in this new “changed” time.

I need to be with you in this conversation continuing the work I do to help people find the tools to advance their understanding of race, and to connect and learn from each other.

Let’s do this together by bringing me to your community or school to present the tools of the I Can Fix It conversation, to talk about my experience as an artist and racism educator, and to help generate dialogue in your world. In appreciation for your welcoming me back, I would like to connect personally with anyone who brings me to talk. If you help to organize my visit to your community, I would include in that visit a personal chat over coffee with you and a group of your friends.

You might be asking, “what happened to CROW Clothing?” Well, the economy happened to CROW. Sadly we launched just as things started going downhill and we were not able to get the backing we needed to continue past our proof-of-concept phase. We were not alone, two other eco-clothing companies in Portland alone closed this summer as well. It was a wonderful effort, and brilliant experiment and all of us who were involved can leave saying that we created a “first” in the world- the first sliding-scale clothing company. For this we are proud.


If you would like to bring me to your school or community, drop a line to damali@damaliayo.com. I look forward to seeing you all once again.

Yours always,

damali

Please also JOIN THE NEW BLOG at http://damaliayo.blogspot.com

Hello Portland Folks,

It is an honor to invite you to a rare talk I am giving next week at PSU.

Kick off to:
Bitch Magazine’s “Feminist Perspectives in Pop Culture” lecture series

http://www.wrc.pdx.edu/shesheet/wordpress/?p=242

This will be a candid look at my life as a social change artist. I will share my motivations, my journey, childhood photos and talk about where I’ve been, where I’m going and how I think others can continue the work I’m doing. I would really love to see you there, at this special occasion and a wonderful open-hearted conversation.

September 30th Tuesday, 7pm
Portland State University
Smith Memorial Ballroom 1825 SW Broadway
the cost is $10 at the door, all proceeds going to bitch magazine, the sponsor.

Feel free to blog and cross-post this event.

Please also visit: http://fixracism.com for info on an exciting training I’m holding in October. I would love to have you be a part of it.

damali

Please Join Us in this Exciting Event!

This powerful and effective presentation gets people to challenge racism on a very plain and basic level that they cannot avoid. Sometimes controversial, always entertaining, this guide and the presentation has been used in communities around the globe. Now you can disseminate this guide yourself.

damali trains new speakers to give her talk on 10 practical solutions for how to create healthier, more productive racial interactions. The training will be in in Portland, Oregon. Friday, participants get to enjoy damali’s humor and style as they see her give the presentation in it’s full glory. Saturday we work together to insert our own stories and experiences into the presentation to make it your own. The following Saturday we reconvene after trying the presentation in the world, and discuss challenges, further questions, and receive certification. Facilitation and presentation skills will be covered. PowerPoint slides, audio and visuals will be given as part of the training. Participants will be given a certificate of completion and encouraged to bring the talk to schools and communities.

Dates (The training takes place over three sessions):
October 17, 6-9pm
October 18, 8am -1pm
October 25, 8am -1pm

Location: Portland, OR
If you would like to bring this training to your area and have an group of 10-20 people, we would love to come to you!

Cost: $250
Participants will be certified to give the I Can Fix It! presentation and can charge for this service. Scholarship are available.

Bring:
Your sense of humor, your stories and your heart.

Further information and APPLICATION available here:
Website:
http://fixracism.com/

Blog:
http://fixracism.blogspot.com/

Email:
speakercorps@fixracism.com

Catch Me If You Can!
damali’s Upcoming Speaking Engagements


Autumn has arrived full throttle in Portland and has me excited for a new year of talks, presentations and workshops. I can’t wait to get on the road and see all of you from the stages and classrooms of your communities.

A few highlights:

September 6th I will be speaking at the Portland Creative Conference, on the genius of fashion and my personal creative process as a designer, artist and creative thinker. You can attend the conference at a discounted rate because you know me. Just enter the code SPEAKER for your registration and you’ll get $30 off your fee. ($69 for the day). The day proves to be worth it with a host of amazing speakers inspiring you about the creative design process.

Bitch Magazine has asked me to kick of their inaugural season of the “B-word” speaker series. That talk will be at PSU on September 30th. Should be damali at her most open. Definitely worth catching.

I’m also excited to speak at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Februrary. More details on that as the date approaches.

But mostly, I’m excited to find out where else I can go this year, meaning to you! I would really love to re-visit some of the campuses I’ve met over the last few years and bring new talks and energy to your communities. I’d also love to visit some of the places and people on this list that I haven’t met yet. This year starts a new relationship between me and SpeakOut.org as well as a return to self-representation which means I have a lot more flexibility with my schedule. Please drop me a note if you are interested in having me come for a visit.

Below are some topics that I’d love to bring to your community.

PRESENTATIONS

The Good Fight:
My life as a Social Change Artist
damali shares her inspirational journey through her many creative solutions to societal problems. This talk gives you living flaga sense of how all issues are connected, from the US revolution, to racial issues and reparations, to fashion and eco living. This talk shows each member of the audience that there are many ways to make a difference in their world. It is truly an entertaining and inspiring evening.

Change You Can Wear:
The Economy’s First Sliding Scale Clothing Company
Why create an eco-friendly clothing company that sells clothes on a sliding scale? What kinds of challenges do you face in this process? Is it possible to create social change through the capitalist economy? Is fashion radical or is it oppressive? Is community real? damali examines all these questions as she shares her path to creation of CROW Clothing, a truly 21st century business that challenges all the rules.

Living the Green Life
damali shares her user-friendly strategies for living a life that is gentle on the earth, easy on the budget, and rewarding to the spirit. Not your typical take on “green talk” damali shows, from racism to recycling, why “living right is living well” in all aspects of your life.

TRAININGS

I Can Fix It! Speaker Corps
damali passes the race-relations torch by training new speakers to give her talk on 10 practical solutions for how to create healthier, more productive racial interactions. Trainings will include a kit with all needed powerpoint slides and audio. First training is October in Portland, OR. Apply Now You can also arrange for a Speaker Corps Training in your community.

How to Make Conceptual Art
Participants design their own conceptual art projects through this interactive team-oriented workshop.

Yoga
In addition to giving a talk to your community, damali shares her love and ten-year practice of yoga in an hour long class. damali welcomes all interested parties as she leads you through a basic yoga practice that will leave you feeling more energetic, stretched, refreshed, and centered.

More info on all of these presentations and more at damaliayo.com

I’d love to see you.
To bring damali ayo for a presentation or training please contact:
damali@damaliayo.com
OR
programs@speakoutnow.org

Speaking Engagements

September
6- Portland Creative Conference: Fashion Keynote, Portland OR
30- Bitch Magazine Feminism and Pop Culture Series, Portland State University, Portland OR

October
(tba)- I Can Fix It Training Corps, Portland, OR apply now
21- Rockford College, Illinois

February
9- National Underground Railroad Museum, Cincinnati, OH

Next up...Your School or Center. Let’s work together to bring me to you!

This was a really really nice note sent to me by a member of my list.
Thank you Tom!
You keep me inspired to keep looking for ways to get things moving in this world.

damali

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Dear damali, I have something beautiful to share with you.

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=148028

This is a clip of the Colbert Report from January, when the writers
strike was happening, and Colbert invited Andrew Young on the show to
talk about how Young and Colbert’s father settled a strike in the 60’s
in Charleston. It’s a beautiful example of mutual respect and
admiration to achieve resolution of a conflict, and if you’ve not seen
it, please do watch.

I sent it to you because I respect and admire you very much, for all
you’ve done in the past with art and activism. You’re an example to me
that one person can and does make a difference for positive change!

Congratulations on CROW, I know it is going to grow and flourish under
your guidance to become another reason for Americans to hope that
together we can and will fix what’s wrong with this nation. You totally
rock.

Sincerely,
Tom in Sheboygan

We’ve seen in the last primary cycle some ugly tactics used to created doubt in the mind of the American public. I actually saw an interview on 60 minutes where one man said “i heard that Obama doesn’t know the National Anthem, won’t put his hand on a bible and is a Musilm.”

The tactics and rumors are absolutely absurd and patently racist. The saddest part is that Americans are particularly prone to falling for that kind of deception.

The interviewer just looked at the man and said “You know that none of that is correct, right?” When asked about it, Obama had the same response....”Did you correct him?” His approach, though it may fail ultimately, is to opt for the honest truth and the real story. He refuses to play these spin-games and his supporters admire him deeply for it. The thing that scares me the most is that these are the leaders we have systematically destroyed over the course of our history. (I just watched an amazing documentary of Bobby Kennedy in action during the Universty of Alabama desegregation).

One of the things i found really interesting in the last week was an interview i saw on Charlie Rose with three British journalists. their comment on the “Obama in Muslim dress” picture was “We wished there were pictures of more American presidents like this.” They really saw it as a wonderful and diplomatic gesture worthy of a world leader.

They also said that Europe has “Obama Fever!” that he represents everything they love about america.

If only our own citizens were as smart......

Here are two new essays on the election by my favorite white anti-racist, Tim Wise:

Tim writes:
They are my two latest essays: the first addresses white support for Barack Obama and what it does (and, importantly, doesn’t) mean about race in the U.S. The second looks at, and responds to, the increasingly common refrain I’m hearing from many whites, to the effect that black support for Obama is reverse racism (I know, I know, sigh...). It also addresses more generally the difference between black and brown solidarity and white racial solidarity, for example, which is actually an important issue above and beyond this election, and which lots of white folks seem to have trouble with.

Anyway, thanks and pass ‘em around!


Uh-Obama: Racism, White Voters and the Myth of Color-Blindness
http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/Obama.html

Another Batch of White Whine: Obama, Black Voters and the Myth of Reverse Racism
http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/Obama2.html

Thanks Tim.
Your work makes my work so much easier some days.
and thank you to the white people who have stepped up to their responsibilities and risen to fight racism. I look forward to wholly passing this particular torch to you one day.

best,

damali

Hello all!

i was on the road last week for my birthday and sent this to my email list. now that i am back, i’m able to post it on my blog.....

the one birthday present i ask from you is that if i’ve made a difference in your life, let me know. Sometimes the good news doesn’t get through as much as the challenges and criticisms.

cheers!
damali

--------

February 26, 2008


Today is my birthday and as you know, I like to send you an offering of one kind or another on this day. Today’s offering is pretty simple as I’m sick in bed (although not my own bed, I’m giving two talks this week) and finding ways to keep change going even through the muscle aches.

I gave Rent-a-Negro.com a bit of a facelift. It needed it! So with some nips and tucks, I’ve brought it current. I added some pictures from the book and fixed the broken rental form link. It’s up and running again with a fresh new attitude. Check it out at http://rent-a-negro.com. Remember to refresh your browser or clear your cookies so you see the new version.

Also, I asked my genius assistants, Heather and Grant to assemble some cross-issue links that I could send out to the list. Though I’ve been fighting racism since I was 4, my true passion is connecting races across groups and social change across issues. We have to work together and work for each other if we are going to make any real progress in this world. So here is a *start* on getting our knowledge and support cross-polinated:

They aren’t in any specific order- since our issues are all connected and overlapping, so are these links.
If any of the links fail to work when you click them- google the title and you’ll find them! Thanks!!

NewsMap : A visual Look at the news http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm

Blackademics http://blackademics.org/

Reappropriate - political and pop culture criticism blog focusing on race and especially Asian and Pacific Islander issues http://www.reappropriate.com/index.php

Expanding the news lens through ethnic media http://news.ncmonline.com/news/

Every year, with the publication of its “Top Ten” Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories, Doctors Without Borders spotlights 10 humanitarian crisis that have received little or no attention from the media. http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/topten/index.cfm

Latino Pundit http://www.latinopundit.com/

Human Rights Campaign: http://www.hrc.org/ Essential LGBT resource

Rant Collective: anti-oppression principles and practices. http://www.rantcollective.net/article.php?id=17

So you think you’re an anti-racist? 6 critical paradigm shifts for well-intentioned white folks. http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/resources/paradigmshifts_race.html

10 codes of ethnics for white people in hip-hop. http://www.daveyd.com/commentarywhitelikeme.html

Going Green:A Guide to Eco-living and Activism from an African American Perspective http://blackandn2green.blogspot.com/2008/01/eco.html

Hip Hop Caucus: http://www.hiphopcaucus.org/ Good resource that has information about all of our causes

Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org/ Great resource on racism and immigration injustice, including info on current civil rights litigation and news stories about racial injustice

Sustainable South Bronx: http://www.ssbx.org/ Kick ass project in the south bronx that combines environmental justice and anti-racism

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights: http://ellabakercenter.org/ Combines racial justice with environmentalism.

1 Sky: http://www.1sky.org/ Provides info on environmental issues but also gives people ways to mobilize and participate

Of course, there are tons of more issues to include, so please don’t consider this a comprehensive list. Heather, Grant and I expand it daily. This i’s just a beginning of expanding the tree that we are all growing together. Consider it....inspiration! I’m sure you have plenty of links to add, so send them our way and we’ll keep a good list compiled. I”ll add them to my web site in a few weeks.

I hope you have a wonderful day and find a special way to pamper yourself today- give yourself a gift on my birthday!

warmly,

damali

I’ve made it to the hallowed halls of Wikipedia. I think this means that I officially exist.
Check out the Wikipedia entry on yours truly.

Catch damali on the Road!
(please contact the school if the venue is not listed)
Don’t see your Town? Request a Lecture.

2007

September
4 Hampshire College, Amherst, MA Robert Crown Center 7pm "I Can Fix It" lecture
13-14 Connecticut College, New London, CT
19 College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 3pm living flag on campus 5:30 dinner 8pm  "I Can Fix It" lecture

October
10 National Day of Panhandling for Reparations Join the Performance!
18 Suffolk County Community College
19 North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 7pm  "I Can Fix It" lecture
30 Bradley University, Peoria IL 7pm  "I Can Fix It" lecture

November
6 American International College Springfield MA 7pm "I Can Fix It" lecture
 reception and book signing to follow
8 Hudson Valley Community College, Troy NY
14 U of Wisconsin/River Falls 8pm  "I Can Fix It" lecture


2008

February
Tacoma Community College, Tacoma, WA 11:30 am  "I Can Fix It" lecture
 with lunch and book signing after