September, 2008

Bev Smith, Charles Ogletree to Moderate
Town Hall Meeting At New Orleans Confab

Press Release


Excitement is building as organizers across North and South America, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean are preparing to lead delegations to the State of the Black World Conference (SOBWC) in New Orleans, November 19-23, 2008. The Conference is timed to occur two weeks after an historic presidential election. While people of African descent are excited about the prospect of an Obama victory, most seasoned observers concur that a myriad of issues rooted in institutional racism and poverty will continue to plague Black people in America and the world whoever wins the White House. “The failure of government to respond effectively to the tragedy of Katrina mirrors a failure to act in Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti. Millions of our people around the world suffer because of these failures of vision and will,” remarked Rick Adams, Chairman of the Conference Planning Committee. “SOBWC will be our political convention, a time to collectively embrace priority policy proposals to present to the new administration.”

In that spirit, the opening event for SOBWC will be a National/International Town Hall Meeting, Thursday, November 20th, at the Ernest Morial Convention Center focused on the theme The Black Agenda and the Presidential Election. This marquee session will be moderated by Bev Smith, host of The Bev Smith Show on the American Urban Radio Networks (AURN), and Charles Ogletree, Harvard Law School Jesse Climenko Professor of Law.

The distinguished panelists include: Marc Morial, President/CEO National Urban League; Rev. Al Sharpton, President, National Action Network (NAN); Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, President, National Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; Ben Jealous, the new President/CEO, NAACP; Dr. Julianne Malveaux, President, Bennett College for Women; Dr. Ronald Walters, Professor of Government and Politics, University of Maryland; Dr. Elsie Scott,President/CEO, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation: Dr. Iva E. Carruthers General Secretary, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.; Atty. Faya Rose Sanders, Founder, Voting Rights Museum, Selma, Alabama; and, Dr. E. Faye Williams, President, National Congress of Black Women. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, Leader of the Nation of Islam, has also been invited to be a panelist for the Town Hall Meeting.

Centered on the theme - Return to the Source, Restoring Family, Rebuilding Community, Renewing the Struggle, SOBWC is being convened by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, under the leadership of veteran social and political activist Dr. Ron Daniels. A major goal of the conference is to focus national and international attention on New Orleans and the Gulf in support of the right to return of evacuees/displaced persons and their heroic struggle to reclaim and rebuild their homes and neighborhoods.

Dr. Daniels hopes SOBWC will attract hundreds of people from Black communities across the United States and people of African descent communities in Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe and Africa. “It is crystal clear that massive public and private investments in people, families and communities is what is required to rebuild communities like New Orleans in America and the Pan African World,” according to Dr. Daniels. “The only way that is going to happen is if there is a massive national and international movement anchored by institutions like IBW to demand social justice and social change. SOBWC will be a modest step in galvanizing such a movement,” he continued.

In addition to the Town Hall Meeting the program/schedule will include the Damu Smith Leadership Development and Organizer Training Institute; Katrina Policy Roundtables; a Special Session on Haiti; Pan African Policy Forum; Black Family Summit; a wide range of issue area Working Sessions; and Intergenerational Dialogues.

Members of the Conference National Planning Committee include Rick Adams, Co-convener of the West PA Black Political Assembly; Kimberley Richards, Peoples Institute for Survival and Beyond, Co-Chairperson; George Turner, Events Planner; Badi Murphy, Production Coordinator. Larry Hayes, National Association of Black Social Workers, and Walter Umrani, Millions More Movement are the New Orleans Liaisons. Carolyn McClair, CMPR Public Relations, is the Conference Administrator.

Persons interested in attending SOBWC should register now and make hotel and travel accommodations as soon as possible.

For further Information call: 888.774.2921 or email sobwc@ibw21.org or visit http://stateoftheblackworld.org/

ALL ROADS LEAD TO NEW ORLEANS!