Tragedy

Mestre Moa do Katende was murdered in Salvador on Sunday October 7th.

He was stabbed twelve times by a supporter of Brasilian Presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro, after the two had a disagreement about politics. Mestre Moa had supported a different candidate.

A tremendous loss. One more Black man victim of racism and intolerance.

Indigenous People's Day 2018

I suggest reading Loaded: a disarming history of the second amendment, by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, which i recently borrowed from the library of the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center.
It includes the following two quotations:

So if ever built, what will the United States Native American Genocide Memorial Museum contain: What will it exhibit?
It will be one room, a fifty-foot square with the same large photo filling the walls, ceiling and floor.
There will be only one visitor allowed at any one time.
There will be no furniture.
The one visitor will have to stand or sit on the floor.
Or lie on the floor if they feel the need.
That visitor must remain in that room for one hour.
There will be no music.
The only soundtrack will be random gunshots from rifles used throughout American history.
Reverberation.
What will the photo be?
It will be an Indian baby, shredded by a Gatling gun, lying dead and bloody in the snow.

Sherman Alexie, from You don't have to say you love me

In 1818, President James Monroe ordered Andrew Jackson, by then a major general in the U.S. Army, to lead three thousand soldiers into Florida, at the time part of the Spanish empire, to crush the Muskogee-led Indigenous Seminole guerrilla resistance. The Seminoles did not agree to hand over any Africans who had escaped from their enslavers.

As we reflect on this history of colonial violence, which is a part of learning Capoeira, we are also called to action. Indigenous writer Rebecca Nagle wrote a piece in Indian Country Today urging us to demand that the clothing company Yandy cancel its line of 'sexy' 'native' costumes.

Similarly, there is a small campaign here in Bellingham to ask that WECU reconsider officially recognizing Columbus Day in its mailings, calendars, and general communications with the public, and instead identify it as Indigenous People's Day.

WECU's contacts are:

Contact Center Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00am – 6:00pm
Local: 360-676-1168
Toll Free:  800-525-8703
Fax:  360-756-7800
TTY:  800-833-6388

Back to school in 2018

WWU is back in session!
we'll be training on Mondays starting at 6pm in the Viking Union, room 464. take the elevator to the 4th floor and go to the end of the hallway.
We will also be training on Thursdays starting at 6pm in PAC room 24. From the main entrance, take the elevator down to LL2. Room 24 is directly across from the elevator.

Roda at the 2018 Afro-Brasilian Festival. Photo Credit: Eythan Frost.
There will be warm weather and long days again! and we'll be ready play outside.

Thank you is just not enough

Another year, another time in which words fail us to express our appreciation, admiration, and respect for the many people involved in putting on the Afro-Brazilian Festival.

First of all, we start with the acknowledgement that we are learning this artform on the ancestral land of the Lummi and Nooksack people - may we always struggle to live in right relationship with the original inhabitants of this land.

Thanks to all the people who struggled to make Capoeira survive, among them Mestre Silvinho and ContraMestre Kojo. And a special shout-out to Charles Hargrett, for starting all of this in the Pacific Northwest back in 1996, and for being a great example for us all.

Thank you to Amanda, Leika, Rena and Bill for an amzing evening on Friday learning about the connections between sugar, colonialism, food, and our present condition of health disparities.

Thanks to all the people who worked behind the scenes to work with WWU to make this happen, to make the poster [design by Rosanna Razor], to provide the food, to pick up the chairs and tables...

Thank you to the amazing teachers - Manimou Camara and Jade Power Sotomayor (and friends, and family) - who gave up a part of their weekend to come to Bellingham and share their art with us.
And thanks to all the Angoleir@s who travelled near and far to join us from Vancouver (BC), Seattle, Portland and Corvallis (OR), and one new friend from Xalapa (Mexico)! Your presence, your energy, renew our belief in the power of Community.

"Capoeira Angola is working on 'self' and building 'community' in the process!" -CM KOJO

Roda at the closing of morning class in Carver Gym
Photo Credit: Eythan Frost from the AS Review

CM Kojo leading music class in Red Square

Roda in the PAC plaza.
Photo credit to Camila Hellmeister

Photo credit to Camila Hellmeister

Photo Credit: Eythan Frost from the AS Review

Photo Credit: Eythan Frost from the AS Review

Photo credit to Camila Hellmeister

Free Tokitae!

2018 Afro-Brasilian Festival!

Mark your calendars!

Saturday May 12th, in WWU's Carver Gym! 

10 to 12am: Capoeira Angola class with Mestre Silvinho and ContraMestre Kojo; 
1 to 2pm: Puerto Rican Bomba class with Jade Power Sotomayor; 
2:15 to 3:15: concurrent west African drumming class with Manimou Camara and berimbau class with ContraMestre Kojo; 
3:30 to 4:30: West African Dance class with Manimou Camara; 
4:45 to ... : Capoeira Angola Roda 

Free for students! $5 per class for the general public.

Mestre Silvinho!
Photo credit: photoyozee

>Many thanks to:
WWU Music Department
WWU Dance Department
WWU Anthropology Department
AS Activities Fund
Community Food Co-op
Whatcom Peace and Justice Center
and the many, many people who help make this possible!dit:

Nenhuma Angoleira a menos!