Dreams vs Walls 'Immigrant stories through Hip Hop'

Where:
La Peña Cultural Center
3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705

Saturday
7:00pm until 1:00am

Summary:

Join us for an Immigration panel discussion THIS SATURDAY
featuring Bay Area Hip Hop artists, activists & community organizers.
Dreams vs Walls 'Immigrant stories through the voice of Hip Hop'--JUNE 9th! at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley.
7-8pm followed by performers.

Details:

Steelo Entertainment & La Pena Present
-----------------DREAMS vs. WALLS---------------
-----Giving voice to the voiceless-----
Immigrant stories through the voice of Hip Hop.

Performing live
Raw-G
Dj Leydis
Steelo
Brwn Bflo
Rico Pabon
Favi
Ariel Luckey
DJ Julicio ::::::Plus surprise guest:::::

Live painting by Desi Wome
Hosted by Jada Simone

Photography exhibit by Morgan Parrick

:::::::::::7-8pm::::::::::
PANEL DISCUSSION 'Immigrant stories through the voice of Hip Hop'
FEATURING: JEFF CHANG (Author of Can't Stop Won't Stop : A history of the Hip Hop generation)
CHRISTIAN RODRIGUES (Activist/film maker)
SOMOS ONE(Hip Hop artist/educator)Brwn Bflo
DJ LEYDIS (Hip Hop artists - Cuba)
STEELO (Hip Hop artist-Mexico)
FAVI (Hip Hop artist)
ARIEL LUCKEY (Artist/activist)

Moderated by: RAW-G

_____________________________
FOLLOWED BY PERFORMANCES.

Video and photography support by:
Babylon's Train & Rising Star productions.

ADVANCE TICKETS @ http://lapena.org/event/2139
Doors 7pm :: All ages
3105 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley Ca.

(Unfortunately Arianna Puello postponed her performance due to
personal matters)

______________________________________________________

From illegal alien to undocumented immigrant to.....?

It's 2012. Americans should not be using the words "illegal" or "alien" to describe people. It's time to dispel misinformed myths about immigrants. Americans are growing up hearing about "illegal aliens" from the media, and being further misled by conservative family members' biased ideas about immigrants.
People who are not from immigrant families often have little to no understanding of the reasons why people leave their home countries, or the conflicts and realities that immigrants to the U.S. face.

It needs to be understood that most immigrants are refugees, having been forced to flee from the pressures of political oppression, war, hunger and poverty on a scale that is hard for the some to imagine. These people are survivors, and they are coming here to start their lives over with little resources or options in order to secure a safe future for their children.
They do not enjoy many of the rights and privileges that most U.S. citizens are formally guaranteed, including protection from the law. For all of hip hop culture's aversion to the police, can you imagine having an emergency and no option to call 911?

Although they work and pay taxes, contributing 6-7 billion dollars a year to Social Security, undocumented immigrants are they are not able to claim any of this money back (Porter 2005). It is amazing to see immigrant communities flourishing despite such odds, which are even more stacked in conservative states where a general environment of xenophobia and intolerance is the norm. In many cities, the constant threat of deportation causes mixed-status families to live in fear of being torn apart.

Undocumented immigrants must be understood in context and their stories must be heard in order to ensure that these voices emerge from the shadows to help shape the future of a country where perhaps truth, understanding.