Northern California Interreligious Conference
4335 Virginia Avenue
Oakland, CA 94619
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
September 3, 2011
Contact:
Jackie Wright
415 525 0410
NCIC Supports “The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Jazz/Blue/Latin “Save Our Children” Peace Concert at Miracles of Faith Community Church” That Appeals to Women
& Launches Peaceful Path Public Service Announcements
Northern California Interreligious Conference & Community leaders will hold a free “Peace Concert” with area performers to celebrate Labor Day Weekend in the High Street Community making a special appeal for women to get involved on behalf of children.
Oakland, CA- The Northern California Interreligious Conference invites Mayor Jean Quan, the Oakland City Council, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, citizens of Oakland and the Bay Area to attend the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Jazz/Blue/Latin “Save Our Children” Peace Concert, September 4 at 3 p.m. at Miracles of Faith Community Church (ECLA), 4335 Virginia Avenue. Organizers are making a special appeal for women to get involved to speak out about the need for safety for their children.
The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Jazz/Blue/Latin “Save Our Children” Peace Concert features Ricardo Scales and Band, Ron Stewart & the Bay Area Blues Society, Nicolas Beard, Rhonda Benin & Soulful Strut, Paula Harris, and Jazz Latin Salsa Performer Alexa Webber Morales. It is the offshoot of several community gathers over the year that was catapulted by the “Take Back High Street Block by Block” March, Clean UP and Community Outreach launched on January 21, 2011 in protest of the violence taking the lives of young people in Oakland.
In January, the neighborhood rose up in arms to begin a neighborhood cleanup and march that culminated with a community commemoration of the work of Dr. Martin Luther Jr. at the Miracles of Faith Church. It was sponsored by High Street Coalition, the Northern California Interreligious Conference and supported by Oakland City Council members: Desley Brooks, Rebecca Kaplan, Libby Schaaf, Larry Reid and Ignacio De. La Fuente and Oakland City Auditor Courtney Ruby, the launch event was themed: “Together We’re Cleaning Up, Reaching Out and Changing Our Neighborhood Hand in Hand.”
“Change has to happen at the grassroots rubber meets the road level to be most effective,” said Reverend Phil Lawson, Vice President of the Northern California Interreligious Conference, a housing and immigrant rights advocate who also serves as Director of the EBHO (East Bay Housing Organizations). “That is why we are gathering the community and also why we have launched a public service campaign to remind people that peaceful solutions sustain life and benefit everyone. We are appealing especially to women to get involved for the sake of our children.”
“It’s important amid all of the messages in media including video games, over the Internet and in text messages of our youth’s phones that we also remind people to ‘give peace a chance,’” said Reverend Greggory L. Brown, President of the Northern California Interreligious Conference. “We’re hoping the media will pick up the “Peaceful Path” public service announcements, which are in some cases direct and candid. As the media has to report on the negative realities we often face, media must also be responsible and use the airwaves in service of the public interest and report positive events and concepts.”
Beyond media, NCIC leaders hope the “Save Our Children” Peace Conference will be a catalyst for women to begin to implore law enforcement and government agencies to do something about the violence and killings in the streets. “We want mothers, grandmothers, aunts, nieces, sisters, cousin to make a demand on law enforcement and government agencies to help save God’s children,” said Reverend Brown, “The power of women has made a difference in other parts of the country. It is time that mothers in the Bay Area no longer bear the grief without crying out for change as too many of our young people die needlessly.”
Examples of the public service announcements can be found on the Internet at
“We can’t just depend on the media to always do the right thing,” added Reverend Brown. “We must use the resources at hand and that is also why we will be seeking resources to develop a youth media center to serve the youth in the High Street area to develop peer to peer communication. In the meantime, we just ask the public to come and enjoy the phenomenal artists we have assembled for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Concert.”
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Editors Note: For day of point of contact, you can call Reverend Greggory L. Brown at 510 499-3700.
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