Thursday, January 7, 2010

Examples of Cultural Rights Movement Organizations

The Cultural Rights Movement has three major objectives:
  1. To embrace, value and respect African American culture and how it can be integrated into the totality of American culture.
  2. To embrace, value and respect everyone's cultural traditions, values and history.
  3. To start a regional, national and global movement among all cultures of the world that want to assert our rights as human beings and to change government policies that does not include our cultural rights.

Here are some of the Organizations, Movements and Sites that share our Cultural Rights Movement mission and objectives:

Check out their websites and support the organization and movement of your choice!

Take a STAND, SPEAK UP AND SPEAK OUT each and everyday!

Friday, January 1, 2010

It's Time to Speak Up and Speak Out for Cultural Rights!

Happy New Year Everyone,


It's finally here -- 2010! This will definitely be a very pivotal year in America and the world! For some reason during the past year, our country has not moved forward with regards to appreciating and better understanding the rights of people particularly among all the various ethnic populations in the United States.
At some point in time in all of our professional careers, we will have to SPEAK UP AND SPEAK OUT on issues or organizations that deny the rights of the average citizen. Yet also as professionals, we cannot take a stand and protest on everything simply because we have to make a living.

Yet a few years ago in 2004, I decided to join a protest in South Los Angeles when I worked for Charles Drew University of Science & Medicine. The protest and march was in support for NOT CLOSING DREW HOSPITAL AND TRAUMA CLINIC. At the time, there was much social, medical, cultural and political debate in the community and the city (L.A. and South Central) as to the whether the hospital should stay open or close because of all the problems they were experiencing at the hospital. I joined the march along with so many others simply because it would be wrong to let this very important clinic to close in this part of the city which desperately needed trauma care and a hospital. This community is a predominately African American and Latino. Therefore, shutting down this hospital and trauma center would make it more difficult for local citizens to receive medical care.







So here are a few pictures from that 2004 protest and march. Politicians such as the Maxine Waters and former mayor Hahn along with Jesse Jackson Sr. participated in this event. Ironically, although the hospital closed a few years later and it is now scheduled to reopen in 2011 with the support from the University of California!



I can't tell you how rewarding it felt and still feels that I participated in this CULTURAL RIGHTS EVENT! You never know what may happen until you decide to participate. That's what I learned from this event!!
My book is scheduled to launch in February and if you want to read my daily TWEETS, check out my twitter site at: www.twitter.com/culturalrights.