The Penieli dance group members weave their magic through their dancing at the East Palo Alto Center for Community Media's Stop the Hate Art Awards celebration on Sept. 27, 2024.
Photo by Ivan Temes
The Stop the Hate Art Awards Celebration, which was sponsored by the East Palo Alto Center for Community Media (EPACCM), attracted a wide range of contestants. The event was well-supported with music, dancing, refreshments and a first-hand commentary on East Palo Alto’s history.
The evening event, which was held at the EPACENTER on Friday, September 27, 2024, came about through a partnership between the East Palo Alto Center for Community Media headed by Executive Director Henrietta J. Burroughs and the EPACENTER, headed by Executive Director Nadine Rambeau.
The art celebration was held to announce the winners of the Stop the Hate: Reimagining Our Communities art contest, which was designed by the EPACCM to give visibility primarily to the diverse perspectives and experiences of the people who live and work within the East Palo Alto and Belle Haven communities. The residents in neighboring communities were also invited to participate.
Art Awards winners
Three local artists walked away with the top prizes for their powerful and diverse art work.
— Yusser Al-Qazwini won the first place $1000 award for her two paintings, Beating Witness, which depicts war and suffering in Palestine and the second showing Children’s Fear and thé Uncertainty of War.
— Jayden Oche earned the $500 second place prize for his poem Shadows of Hate, which he recited in a video presentation.
—Tatiana Sobomehin achieved third palace and $250 for her creative video Black Hair Science Rap. In her video, she said that “Hair is a way to tell your story through your beauty.”
You can see all of the artistic submissions here in the featured video that was shown during the evening’s presentation by clicking here.
As attendees arrived for the art awards celebration, they were treated to music provided by the Bella Luna Trio in the EPACENTER’s spacious courtyard, where they could eat and network.
When the program began, attendees were ushered into the EPACENTER’s theater where a large picture of one of the Stop the Hate promotional art photos was featured on the theater’s main screen
Q Smith, an East Palo Alto resident, sang two verses of the Black National Anthem at the start of the program. She was later followed by the Penieli Tongan youth dance group that performed one of their traditional dances.
In welcoming the audience, Nadine Rambeau said, “People have had concerns about the way they are treated and this a way to focus on the positive aspects.’” After her welcoming remarks, Rambeau introduced Burroughs, who introduced the evening’s program, which started with the singing of two verses of the Black National Anthem by East Palo Alto resident Q Smith.
In her remarks, Burroughs said that the evening’s event was being held during Hispanic Heritage Month on the last day of the United Against Hate Week, which was recognized this year from September 21 – September 27, 2024. Burroughs explained that the Covid 19 Pandemic had given rise to such an alarming number of hate crimes that legislatures around the country enacted more stringent laws to prosecute hate crimes and give more resources to hate crime victims.
To bring more attention to Stop Hate crimes, the State of California gave millions of dollars to non-profit media organizations throughout the state.
As the recipient of one of the state’s ethnic media grants, the EPACCM launched its Stop the Hate Media Campaign and made the Stop the Hate: Reimagining Our Communities Art Exhibition the centerpiece of the EPACCM’s Stop the Hate campaign.
Omowale Satterwhite was the keynote speaker and, as one of the prime organizers of East Palo Alto’s incorporation movement, he shared how on several, distinct occasions, the city’s residents, who are culturally and racially diverse, worked together harmoniously and united by a shared mission, to achieve major goals within the city.
The evening event attracted 17 art submissions from 10 local artists . All of the submitted artwork was shown in the 17 minute video that was shown during the evening.
Audience reactions
The top prize winner Al-Qazwini spoke movingly about the inspiration for her paintings.
Neither Jayden Oche or Tatiana Sobomehin were present to acknowledge their awards. But Sobomehin’s father, Olatunde Sobomehin, who is the executive director of Streetcode, was there and he said that his daughter was unable to be present because she is the captain of her school’s cheer leading team and her attendance at the practice was mandatory.
Kelly Harrison, an art teacher at CCRMS, who attended the event and whose 6th, 7th and 8th grade students submitted their art work in the contest, said her students were very creative in putting together their drawings for the contest.
Former East Palo Alto Mayor, Sharifa Wilson said, “We have come a long way.” — As a featured speaker in the video, Millicent Grant, the executive director of the East Palo Senior Center said, “My husband was killed by violence. We have to teach our children the importance of love.” — East Palo Alto City Councilmember Martha Barragan, who is a third grade teacher and in line to be East Palo Alto’s said that she was moved by the work of the youth, who can inspire us to lift our voices.
As the art awards event ended, attendees were given two things: post-its on which they were asked to write down their own positive visions for themselves and their communities and a piece of blank paper to write down what they would like to delete from their lives and their communities.
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