By Brian Dunlap
FROM: Beyond Baroque

Yesterday, Beyond Baroque, Los Angeles’ oldest literary venue, hosted numerous acclaimed scholars and artists for an outdoor community talk and vigil addressing racism & Police violence.

On their Facebook page, Bayond Baroque posted the following:

UCLA scholars Dr. Bob Meyers and Thabisile Griffin will provide urgently needed talks on the history of policing and the necessity of police abolition. Artistic luminaries Liz Craft and Pentti Monkkonen will show artworks confronting these same pressing issues. We hope to see you there!

Hundreds of community neighbors joined us to help further this moment of collective action for justice, “Shouldering Through The Sunken Place” – Scholars, Poets & Artists on Racism and Police Violence.” Held on the community garden managed and cultivated by Safe Place for Youth (S.P.Y)), the event featured our Executive Director, Quentin Ring; elders from the First Baptist Church, a historic black church in Venice; Dr. Bob Myers (UCLA), who gave a talk on the “Phenomenology of Rebellion;” and scholar Thabasile Griffin, who discussed historical examples of rebellion against racial injustice. Pentti Monkkonen and Liz Craft presented a unique protest art illustrating those ideas. Finally, the great Los Angeles poet Conney Williams read a pair of searing poems. An amazing display of solidarity and unity in these very difficult times.