The Way I Have Seen It: So I Vote
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Category Archives: How I Saw It
Mobilizing or Organizing After the Marches or Rallies
How I See It by Bob Lloyd
There are mobilizers and there are organizers. The demonstrations you have seen and participated in for George Floyd here and across the globe have been successful mobilization events. What is needed now is grassroot organization.
The map on the left are the communities in Spokane where this discussion needs to take place. Suggestions of what you can do in your community are at this link: Mobilizing to Organizing
Sunday June 7, 2020 started off at 10:30 am with meditation and yoga exercises at the Red Wagon. At 2:00 pm the NAACP had one of the largest outside rallies in Spokane’s history. The tone of this rally was set by Kurtis Robinson, Kiantha Duncan, and Le’Taxione. Kurtis Robinson welcomed a large standing crowd at the Lilac Bowl. Kiantha Duncan followed asking everyone to sit down on the grass and center themselves. She had three messages that she wanted to deliver to three groups of people. She thanked all who showed up to nonviolently express their outrage and disappointment with police brutality throughout the country. If there were those who came looking for trouble with signs with hateful speech, she wanted them to take those signs and sit on them. Then she called upon all law enforcement agents to obey the law and treat all demonstrators with respect and human dignity. My observation was that there were no visible signs of law enforcement. Le’Taxione told the audience that he was not speaking to make anybody feel good, he was there to express his strong objections to brutality and the status quo. But he made it quite clear he and the youth he brought would not allow anybody to hijack this peaceful demonstration. If so, they would be escorted out of town. These photographs bear witness to the unified desire that everyone should receive equal justice.
After your demonstrations at the Red Wagon or City Hall you could:
- Ask 5 of your new or trusted friends for their email addresses and mobile phone numbers so you can set up a meeting regularly via Zoom to discuss strategies and planned measurable actions. Assign someone to send information about the measurable actions you plan to info@4comculture.com so they can be shared at the website 4comculture.com. Hopefully when the city opens up and you can have meetings in public places such as coffee shops you will be able to have these discussions face-to-face.
- If you can find 4 people that will accompany you to an arterial in your neighborhood each could stand on a corner displaying their signs for an hour or more
- Walk up and down the block or cul-de-sac where you live with your sign and handout sharing why you march and what others can do to help. This is something you can do alone.
- Stand in front of the house you live in with your sign and have a discussion about why you march with anybody that will join you. Have two socially distant chairs nearby.
Being Black I am always visible! I am asking you to shed your invisibility.
History Lesson On Organizing
Kwame Ture: Converting the Unconscious to Conscious
2019 Spokane Students Striking Over Climate
How We See It: She Is Trusted
Make phone calls or knock on doors to share your support.
Invite your friends and relatives to a Fill Out Your Ballot Party.
Get a sign for your yard, a t-shirt or button to show your support.
This message is the unsolicited opinion of the editors of 4comculture.com.
Open Letter to Mayor Condon and the Spokane City Council
How I Saw It: My Path To Tolerance
“A Path To Tolerance”, selections from over a decade of quiet observations, will be on exhibit at the EWU Downtown Gallery in Cheney Washington. It includes the exhibit “If You Really Knew Me”.
Below is a review of “If You Really Knew Me” by Jeff Mooring.
I am seldom moved enough to feel compelled to write about art. Somewhere in my head it’s the equivalent of trying to tell someone about a great song, instead of just playing it for them or droning on and on about a game that happened days ago. But compelled I am. The art in this case is the exceptionally well-conceived and executed work of a longtime friend Mr. Robert Lloyd.
Let me start by saying it’s one thing to capture the beauty and energy of a subject which he’s done, but Mr. Lloyd has surpassed that with his vivid, brilliantly colored, larger than life portraits of several women. His subjects, these eye-catching women, are of varying races, ages and stations in life. It’s my understanding that Robert achieved this dazzling effect with some high-tech, modern day alchemy of photography and computer technology. The details of which are far beyond my pay grade and simply don’t matter much when standing in front of these works. But imagine if you would, you stand being transfixed by each portrait and then you’re made aware, as they say in the TV infomercials, “but wait there’s more”. With a quick and easy loading of an app called “Cherry Pix” you can simply aim your phone at a portrait and the image comes to life and you get to hear the story of triumph behind each and every one of these beautiful souls.
The technology I believe is called augmented reality. The film clips were captured, edited and packaged by a local team at Community Minded TV and this collaboration was backed by an entity called The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture. It all comes together seamlessly due to exceptional talents and craftsmanship to be one of the most moving experiences in art that I’ve seen in my 30 some odd years of viewing.
The show titled “If You Really Knew Me” is on exhibit at the East Central Community Center, 500 S. Stone, with plans to travel. Do yourself a favor and make some, take some time… to see this exceptional effort with stories and images that are moving and interconnected in ways that I won’t spoil for you. It costs nothing to enter and may well give you an experience of relating to the lives of these beautiful women that you won’t soon forget, and you’ll feel compelled to tell others about, as have I. If You Really Knew Me by Robert Lloyd
Jeff Mooring
2017 Homeless Count
Homelessness is a national issue. This photo was taken in Washington DC September 2017.
This point-in-time count is a snapshot of people who are homeless in Spokane, counted by local teams on one night in January, a statistic that is limited by a variety of factors and not considered the complete picture. Because more homeless people were in shelters, and fewer were outside in hard-to-find places, it was easier to get a count, according to McCann and city officials. That might apply particularly to the chronically homeless, who are more likely to use emergency shelters.
In particular, the city’s super-tight rental market – with an estimated vacancy rate of 0.7 percent – makes it very hard for people to find affordable housing and pushes the homeless numbers upward. Nearly 500 people are qualified for federal housing vouchers but can’t find a place to use them in town, said Dawn Kinder, the director of the city’s Community, Housing and Human Services Department.
This year’s count showed:
1,090 homeless individuals, an 11 percent increase over last year. Eighty-seven percent of all people counted were in shelters. Around three-quarters of those were in emergency shelters, and one quarter were in transitional housing.
Spokane Demonstrates Against Allsup Invitation
Rev. Walter Kendricks, Pres. of SCAR (Spokane Community Against Racism)
Cecily Wright, Chairwoman of the Spokane County Republican Party, invited James Allsup, alt-right provocateur and member of Identity Evropa, to speak before Republican legislators and office holders at a Northwest Grassroots meeting in the Spokane Valley. The Rev. Walter Kendricks MC’d a demonstration at the Spokane County Courthouse where speakers expressed their disapproval and to asked for the resignation of these Republican politicians. The demonstrators also condemned all those who invited him, listened to him, and did not walk out or stand up against white supremacists and their message.
This Is How I Saw It: Our Concerned Citizens
Photos by Robert J. Lloyd
See the Spokesman Review article by Chad Sokol:
Spokane GOP chairwoman defends alt-right provocateur James Allsup at tea party meeting
This Is How Allsup Is To Be Seen:
Here is what Allsup is about
“We cannot podcast, livestream, or tweet our way to victory,” said Allsup. “We can only change consciousness so much before we have to start changing the political infrastructure.”
This change, according to Allsup, started with taking over vacant seats in Republican offices. “The Republican party is comprised largely of white, aging, baby-boomers,” he said. “And as baby-boomers age out, the positions they hold will become vacant all throughout society and somebody will have to fill them.
This doesn’t just include elected offices but state representatives, county commissioners, precinct officers, and county party chairs as well. Allsup himself was a precinct officer; he said it takes up about five hours of his time per week.”
For all the publicity alt-right groups receive for cross burnings and tiki-torch protests, their ultimate goal is to become invisible, inserting themselves into the mainstream political process. Groups like I.E. adopt the business casual uniforms of polo shirts and khakis, and have strict rules against using “vulgar language” or mentioning “divisive topics” like National Socialism or the Third Reich. The rule prohibiting “vulgar language” states that “in order to foster a more positive culture for our people’s future, the use of crude and unbecoming language is not permitted. This includes, without limitation, excessive cursing, and any use of vulgar racial epithets.”
From: My Weekend With White Nationalists by Samuel Argyle June 18, 2018
How I Saw It: On July 30th
Would you like to visit our group before you start a coffee group like ours?
First Thursday Meeting At East Central Community Center Aug 2nd 10 AM 500 S Stone St.
Information on First Thursday Coffee Discussion
ROBERT LLOYD Exhibition East Central Community Ctr.
In This exhibit was first seen at the Spokane downtown library from January through March. Now we will be moving two E. Central Community Center we were able find it’s permanent home. But it will be made available to other institutions and galleries if you’re interested contact Robert Lloyd at rdlloyd@comcast.net.
Coming soon to East Central Community Ctr. 500 S. Stone.
If You Really Knew Me you’d know that I’m the Black guy photographing your events and meetings. If You Really Knew Me you’d know I am a supporter of community building (4comculture.com). If You Really Knew Me you’d know I taught my photography students that good photographs have four components.
This exhibition has
- Impact – size 4 x 5 feet
- Technique – cutting edge technology: CherryPIX video
- Design/Composition – bold colors, striking brush strokes and textures, interaction
- Content – in depth storytelling, stereotype blowing, media mixing, community building
If you would like to take part and meet new friends, you’ll visit East Central Community Ctr. 500 S. Stone Spokane WA for First Thur each month at10 AM coffee discussion.
IF YOU REALLY KNEW ME Stories of Survivors and Warriors.
EXHIBITION
This exhibit we’ll be House & display at the E. Central Community Ctr. May.
This will be a traveling exhibit and can be made available for exhibitions at your gallery or institution. contact Robert Lloyd at rdlloyd@comcast.net
Photographs by Robert Lloyd
Video by Doug Dalton and DaShawn Bedford
Wendy Levy for The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture
A collaborative, interactive photography exhibition in honor of Human Trafficking Awareness month in Spokane, these photographs were created with local women survivors and warriors. We hope these images and stories raise awareness, engagement and political will, so all those still in risk may find safety and freedom.
A project of The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture, The Spokane Human Rights Commission, Community-Minded Television,The Jonah Project and Spokane Arts Supply