Video Presentation and Dialogue
Van Jones

A Presentation and Discussion
on

Environmental Sustainability
and
Social Justice

1.5 hours DVD featuring Van Jones Speech Presented at June, 2007 Pachamama's Awakening the Dreamer Global Gathering
Discussion Follows

Mon. Jan. 14, 2008
7:00 - 9:15 PM
East Shore Unitarian
North Room
Fee: $5 -$10
Networking Begins at 6:30 PM

See Van Jones one Minute Shift Video - It's Not Too Late
 

Please join us for our January 14, 2008 Greater Seattle IONS Community Group (GSICG) Program. This event is aligned with IONS Shift in Action's Radical Spirit programming.

IONS defines radical spirit as exploring “the meeting point between consciousness and societal change, highlighting leaders who exemplify spiritual depth and passionate engagement in public processes, as well as offering practical steps to engage change work in life-enhancing ways.”

Our video presenter is Van Jones, social activist and President of the Ella Baker Center in Oakland CA.  He holds a B.A. from the University of Tennessee at Martin (1990) and a J.D. from Yale Law School (1993). He is a Fellow of The Institute of Noetic Sciences.  The Ella Baker Center is a strategy and action center working for justice, opportunity and peace in urban America.

Using the IONS framework, we will view the DVD of Van Jones’ June 2007 presentation on Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice given to Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium facilitators.  The purpose of the Symposium is that participants leave “committed and empowered to bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on the planet.”

Van’s stirring message has applicability and relevance way beyond the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium community.  Attendees at his presentation spent the rest of the conference reeling from the impact of being with him and his message. They are still reeling.

We will view Van’s presentation, reflect, learn and discuss social change for environmental sustainability and social justice.

We meet at the East Shore Unitarian Church in the North Room located at 12700 SE 32nd Street. The church is in the Factoria area of Bellevue, just off Richards Road near I-90. Driving directions are linked above.

Please arrive at 6:30 for networking. We will begin the program at 7:00 pm and end at 9:15 pm.

We look forward to a meaningful conversation with you on environmental sustainability and social justice.

We request participants to share meeting costs by donating $5.00-$10.00 for room rental.

Thank you for your interest and support of the IONS mission: Advancing the science of consciousness and human experience to serve individual and collective transformation. 

Support Van’s work with the Ella Baker Center.

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
344 40th Street
Oakland, CA     94609
(510) 428-3939
www.ellabakercenter.org

The Pachamama Alliance/Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream
PO Box 29191
San Francisco, CA   94129
(415) 561-4522
www.pachamama.org

For those who are interested in Social Justice and or Civit Rights, Van Jones Recommends Reading the Following.
 
Note: It is not necessary to preview this for the DVD presentation.

Following are four recommendations to begin our education that Van Jones made to the Pachamama staff. We have found them to be exceptionally useful and pass them along to you.

• Read Bearing the Cross by David Garrow (Biography of MLK, Jr.). Available in paperback.
   
• Watch Eyes on the Prize
  
  Note:http://www.blackside-inc.com
  
  Nearly two decades after its 1990 premiere, the groundbreaking second season of Eyes on the Prize returns to PBS as a special presentation of American Experience in February 2008. In honor of Black History Month, eight, one-hour episodes will air on four consecutive Sundays-February 3, 10, 17, and 24 on PBS. Two episodes will air each afternoon. Produced by Blackside, Eyes on the Prize II documents the journey of black Americans seeking justice, power, and identity, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s and shows the profound effect this movement had on all Americans.
  
  About Eyes on the Prize

Especially focus on Part II of the video series. Apparently Part I can be found more readily in libraries, and covers material that many of us are somewhat familiar with. Part II is the portion that Van is particularly advising us to track down and watch. Note: Eyes on the Prize was also re-released in as a DVD set by Blackside, Inc. http://www.blackside-inc.com and is available for purchase for $385. It is also available in some libraries and some people report having found reasonably priced copies online.

Please take seriously the invitation to make watching these documentaries a part of your own personal education.

(Note: some Facilitators and Regional Coordinators are organizing to obtain and view Eyes on the Prize together in their communities.)

Eyes on the Prize, Part II: America at the Racial Crossroads 1965-1985

Episode 7 – The Time Has Come (1964-1966)

Episode 8 – Two Societies (1965-1968)

Episode 9 – Power! (1966-1968)

Episode 10 – The Promised Land (1967-1968)

Episode 11 – Ain’t Gonna Shuffle No More (1964-1972)

Episode 12 – A Nation of Law? (1968-71)

Episode 13 – The Keys to the Kingdom (1974-1980)

Episode 14 – Back to the Movement (1979-mid 1980’s)

            Eyes on the Prize, Part I: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954-1964

                        Episode 1 – Awakenings (1954-1956)

                        Episode 2 – Fighting Back (1957-1962)

                        Episode 3 – Ain’t Scared of Your Jails (1960-1961)

                        Episode 4 – No Easy Walk (1961-193)

                        Episode 5 – Mississippi: Is this America? (1962-1964)

                        Episode 6 -  Bridge to Freedom (1965)

•  Read James Baldwin’s writings – any and all.
   

•  Read the poetry of Audre Lorde.

To see more on Awakening the Dreamer; Changing the Dream Symposium and locations and dates of Symposiums near you, Link Here. To see more on Van Jones, link here.