Session Length: 2 hours

Session Format:
Live Performance Art--30 minutes
Panel Discussion--30 minutes
Open Forum--30 minutes
Open Mic--30 minutes

Session Facilitators: Michael Otieno Molina, Nkrumah Dixon, TBD

Session Description:

Openning with New Orleans native performance artist Michael Otieno Molina's live expression excerpt of The Second Line, a jazz novel fusing spoken word, short story, blues, and hip hop and set against a backdrop of video footage from pre and post Katrina New Orleans, this session offers a uniquely hopeful and nuanced perspective on the history of New Orleans, the current state of recovery, and on the city's future. The Second Line is told by Papa Fat, the griot of the Good Favor Social Aid and Pleasure Club. Papa Fat's narrative follows a bus ride through the city as the essence of New Orleans emerges from the everyday people who ride the RTA bus, known as St. R[I]TA. The Second Line offers many entry points into deliberations on class, gender, race, capitalism, environmental justice, and the creative visualization of a better world. After the performance piece, a panel of New Orleans and National activists will participate in a facilitated discussion about the history, current reality, and a hopeful future for New Orleans, on how what is happening in New Orleans reflects threats to social justice across America, and on what opportunities New Orleans offers for activists from across the country to educate and inspire people in their own communities. The floor will then be opened for a participant discussion on what local struggles they bring into the room, and how we might better support each other's work. The session will end with an open mic and a closing performance excerpt from The Second Line.