In Oakland, Over 75 Artists and Culture Workers Join Forces for Black Women's Safety

Maternal death rates, sex trafficking, domestic violence, police brutality — the sheer amount of violence Black women face in the U.S. is staggering. Addressing this directly, over 75 artists are teaming up Oct. 3–5 to drum up hope, create solidarity and a push for new legislation during Black Tulip Cultural Week of Action in Oakland.

The event series culminates in a day of performances and workshops at Lake Merritt, headlined by experimental R&B artist and activist Dawn Richard. In addition to being a creative powerhouse, she is one of the over 120 people taking legal action against Diddy for alleged sexual assault and abuse. She’ll be joined by Oakland vocalists Jada Imani and 3Lise, activist Tomisha Wilson, among others.

“It’s really about affirming our lives and also demanding a cultural shift,” says Anyka Howard, founder of Betti Ono Foundation, an arts organization that advocates for policy change. “We want to reclaim that public space and usher in an energetic force around not accepting or tolerating these conditions, especially in Oakland, especially in the Bay Area.”

Black Tulip Cultural Week of Action was organized by the Betti Ono Foundation. The events coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and kick off with a “Right-A-Thon and Write-In” led by Oakland Poet Laureate Ayodele Nzinga on Oct. 3.

At downtown Oakland’s Black Arts Movement House, where Nzinga serves as lead curator, attendees will get a series of prompts to inspire their writing — whether it’s poetry, song lyrics, prose or even letters to lawmakers. There will also be an option to join virtually, and the event will culminate in share-outs and poetry performances from Cat Brooks, gyzell garcia, Nicia De’Lovely and Asantewaa Boykin.

For Nzinga, the power of Black Tulip lies in joining forces with like-minded people at a time when Black women face discrimination on multiple fronts, as well as gaslighting from those who question their experiences. Even her social media posts promoting the event, she says, drew hate comments denying well-established facts about the impacts of racism and sexism.

“It is about sharing out instead of holding in,” Nzinga says. “And it is about conjuring, cradling the space where the power to push back can grow.”

At the First Friday street fair on Oct. 4 — whose theme this month is Health is Wealth — Betti Ono will have a booth on the corner of Telegraph Avenue and 23rd Street in collaboration with Oakland’s Dream Youth Clinic, which provides free health services and meals to young people, and SHADE Movement, which serves survivors of sex trafficking and domestic violence.

These two organizations and other gender justice groups, including Brave Bay Area, will hold workshops at the Oct. 5 Black Tulip Day of Art, Action and Advocacy at the Lake Merritt amphitheater on topics such as allyship and consent. That day will also include therapeutic art activities, such as a flower arranging station by XO Collective, and gifts to take home, like medicinal teas from Black-owned herbal shop Queen Hippie Gypsy.

Unfortunately, gender violence is something many of the event participants are all too familiar with. Tomisha Wilson is the sister of Nia Wilson, the 18-year-old aspiring artist who was murdered on a BART platform in 2018. Jada Imani turned her focus to advocating for violence prevention after her best friend, interdisciplinary artist Zoe Reidy Watts, was killed earlier this year, allegedly by her abusive boyfriend. This week, she organized a mural in Reidy Watts’ honor, and is in the process of establishing a community garden dedicated to her.

“The artists that we selected, we gravitated to them because they are healing artists. Their work is beautiful, it is life affirming,” says Maud Alcorn, Betti Ono’s arts and culture project manager.

In addition to raising awareness, the Betti Ono team has a political objective: to rally support for a statewide version of the Protect Black Women and Girls Act, which Illinois Congresswoman Robin Kelly introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this year. If passed, the bill would create a task force to study and strategize around disparities that Black women face in education, economic development, healthcare, employment, housing, justice and civil rights.

This isn’t the first time Betti Ono Foundation has advocated for policy: Since 2019, they’ve partnered with several other social justice organizations on the Not One More Girl campaign for public transit safety. The campaign spurred statewide legislation that requires transit agencies to collect data on harassment and roll out safety solutions with rider input.

As they turn their focus to the Protect Black Women and Girls Act, organizers hope Black women won’t have to carry on this fight alone. “The community-building portion of it is essential,” says Alcorn. “It’s the most important part of having not just Black women and girls saying, ‘Hey, our lives have value and are worth fighting for, are worth protecting.’ It’s also having our allies show up and say the same thing.”