Walidah Imarisha on the history of Blacks in Oregon and race relations in the United States. Samantha Taylor and Del Criscenzo ask Walidah about the peculiar history of African Americans in Oregon and Portland and openly talk about the "isms" that continue to impact our society. Walidah is a historian, a reporter, a poet, a spoken word artist, a documentary film maker, a writer and a community organizer. She teaches for the Black Studies department at Portland State University and in the Women’s Studies Department at Oregon State University. This Spring term you can take her class on the History of the Black Panther Party at PSU, and a class on race, gender and empire in Disney films at OSU. Walidah has written a multitude of essays on the issue of race and race relations, on Hip Hop as well on relevant topics impacting the Black community. She is also a performer and part of the poetry duo called Good Sista, Bad Sista. Lastly she is a member of Decolonize PDX, which is a Portland based collective of radical people of color.
- KBOO