Repurposing and Greening Church Property for East Oakland
Russell Jeung | Professor, Ethnic Studies | San Francisco State University
Demetries Edwards | Lead Pastor | 23rd Avenue Church of God
Albert Hong | Co-Pastor | New Hope Covenant Church
Daniel Schmitz | Co Executive Director | Hope Avenue
Derek Wu | Graduate Student, Ethnic Studies | UC Berkeley
We galvanize existing collaborative efforts between an Asian American-led church, a historic Black church, and a secular nonprofit to further urban greening and youth development projects in East Oakland. These projects serve as models for other faith communities and advance theories of environmental activism, race relations, and secularization.
Keywords: Activism, African American, Asian American, Churches, Environment, Nonprofit, Youth
Spiritual Legacy of Fred Ho: Monkey as Matriarchal Socialist Spiritual Transformation
Brett Esaki
Assistant Professor of Practice
Arizona State University
Fred Ho was a major figure in Afro-Asian solidarity through music, community organizing, and scholarly contributions. In his theatrical production of Journey Beyond the West: The New Adventures of Monkey, Ho showcases a unique combination of music, martial arts, and spirituality. This proposed project consists of interviewing the writers, cast, crew, and musicians of his play, who are now in Brooklyn and Chicago along with archival research. Ho was notoriously dedicated to practical and political ideals. This project seeks to discover the experience of spiritual transformation, if any, of the writers, cast, crew, and musicians as they trained and performed the martial arts opera.
Keywords: African American, Asian American, Performance