“Let’s Organize the ‘Hood:” The Memphis Black Power Conference

Memphis, Tennessee is the poorest big city in the USA, and the 171st (of the top 200) poorest cities in the world. Like many Black population centers, it has many problems: high unemployment and massive poverty, political corruption, racist redlining by banks, huge infant mortality levels, homelessness and hunger, gangbanging and street violence, and many others. What it does not have is a Black radical protest movement against these conditions, and the system of white racism and privilege that produced it. We need to educate, organize, and mobilize the Black community to fight for our own freedom and independence, instead of depending on the white power structure. Our very lives and that of our children, born and unborn, depend on this!

So, we are having this Black Power conference, not to just re-live the 1960’s, but to call our people together in a time of deep crisis. We are suffering, and we need answers to get out of it, and dismantle the system that causes it. We are having this conference to build a Black Autonomy Network of Black Community Organizers here in Memphis, and hopefully inspire other activists to build them in other parts of the country. It does not matter where you live in the country, or other parts of North America, you are still part of the larger family.

This summer, come to Memphis, TN. for “Let’s Organize the ‘Hood:” The Memphis Black Power Conference

Saturday, June 9, 2012 at the Java Complex, 1423 Elvis Presley Blvd., Memphis, TN.

10:00 am to 6:00 pm. All day teach-in on Black community organizing.

Clearly, the civil rights movement has failed to understand that we need a protest movement at this time, rather than bending over for politicians, while we and our families starve from poverty and unemployment. The Wall Street bankers and other white businessmen have been bailed out with hundreds of billions of dollars, but what about our communities, who are suffering from more bank redlining, foreclosures, and structural poverty than anyone in this society? Who is looking out for our interest? We have to look out for ourselves!

Regardless of what conservative and liberal politicians alike say, it is not our fault for our oppression, it’s theirs and their rich friends who profit from our misery! So we need to organize a new mass Black people’s movement, consider our own problems, seriously evaluate our future and move forward. We hope that you can join us in Memphis, TN. on June 9th for this strategy meeting, and that together we can begin to rescue our people, and re-write our legacy.

What can you do to help us put on “Let’s Organize the Hood: The Memphis Black Power conference?

Buy a ticket online to the event for $15, a saving of $5 off the $20 walkup “door” price to enter the event. We will then have your package waiting at the front desk when you arrive. If you cannot attend the event, then why not buy a ticket and allow another person to attend?

Donate money to the cause. Your $5, $10, $20 [and more] donation will allow us to purchase items to make the conference more enjoyable experience for all. Send your donations to our PayPal payment gateway at: organize.the.hood@gmail.com, or if you prefer the safety of surface mail, please send it to Lorenzo Komboa Ervin, Memphis Black Power Conference 2012, P.O. Box 16382, Memphis, TN. 38186-0382

If you live in Memphis, you can donate food and paper products. Please call (901) 907-0290, or send an email to us at organize.the.hood@gmail.com, tell us where it is located, and we will gladly come and pick it up. Thank you for your generosity.

Please let others know about the conference by sending articles to your local newspaper, or social media networks, by calling radio/tv talk shows, to encourage Black people to attend the event.

Lorenzo and JoNina Ervin
Memphis Black Power Conference
organize.the.hood@gmail.com

May201206

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