On Thursday, May 9, The Land We Live On hosted a launch event in the place now known as freeport, maine to kick off our epic collective journey.
Participants heard from members of Atlantic Black Box, Wabanaki REACH, Indigo Arts Alliance, Community Change Inc., In Kinship Collective, The Third Place, Pejepscot Portage Mapping Project, York History Partners, and Maine Black Community Development.
“Indigo Arts Alliance’s partnership with the Walk for Historical and Ecological Recovery honors our organizational values to ensure that Black and Brown histories and cultures are at the center of equity work through community building done in reciprocity with other local organizations.”
“We’re excited about WHERE’s grounding in public and collective gathering in specific places and how this combines with geographic reach. There’s potential to see patterns among local land justice and historical recovery efforts, and still resist easy generalization. It connects our way of building relationship—slow and steady—with a bigger movement-building potential. We get to be in creative community with aligned groups working at different sizes and scales. And as an artist collective, we center embodiment in our learning journey towards Wabanaki sovereignty, so we’re really looking forward to walking!”
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Images by Junes Thete of Redbird Media Group
Musical performances by…
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George Loring
George Loring is a Penobscot musician, singer/songwriter, guitarist, actor, and martial combat enthusiast. Having grown up on Indian Island, today George lives in Bangor where he performs as both an acoustic solo act and as lead vocals and rhythm guitar in the group Just Honey. George is co-founder of HoneyBuzz Studio, located in Bangor, which specializes in live sound and music for virtually any type of small to mid-sized event.
On June 1, George Loring will be performing at The Stage Door, located at the Penobscot Theatre Company. Every Monday, from 5:00 – 8:00 pm, you can find him playing in downtown Bangor at 2 Feet Brewing. For upcoming gig dates, videos, and information about Just Honey, check out Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and here. For bookings, email George at gloring5269@gmail.com or honeybuzzmusic@gmail.com.
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Michael Kebede
Michael Kebede is Policy Counsel at the ACLU of Maine. In his role there, Michael has worked on hundreds of bills in the Maine State Legislature. He works to pass many bills that would improve the civil rights and liberties of Maine’s people, improves others, and kills even more. In 2021, Michael authored and helped negotiate the strongest ban on law enforcement uses of facial surveillance in the nation. He has also led the ACLU of Maine's work on criminal records sealing; youth justice; indigenous sovereignty; removing police from schools; and curbing the police state.
Before joining the ACLU, Michael was a consumer rights advocate at Maine Equal Justice. He earned his law degree from Boston College Law School, his master’s from the University of Oxford in Socio-Legal Research, and his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in Anthropology and Social Thought and Political Economy. In his free time, Michael enjoys playing banjo.
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Samuel James
Samuel James is a musician, journalist, and storyteller. As a storyteller, he has been featured on This American Life and The Moth Radio Hour. His other work with The Moth includes Mainstage storyteller, interviewer, Radio Hour host, and contributor to the books The Moth Presents: All These Wonders and How to Tell a Story.
As a musician, James has been touring internationally for more than 15 years, performing in the Black American Folk Tradition. He has released 7 albums, scored film soundtracks and museum exhibits. His award-winning songwriting has been compared to Leonard Cohen's and his guitar virtuosity to that of Jimi Hendrix.
James’ monthly column Racisms can be found in The Bollard and his weekly newsletter Banned Histories of Race in America is on Substack. He’s the creator and host of the podcast 99 Years, exploring the deliberate creation of the whitest state in the nation.
Gratitudes
Atlantic Black Box & Partners are deeply grateful to the following individuals, groups, & businesses for their generous and nourishing contributions to the WHERE2024 Launch event:
Carol & Joe Wishcamper
Kathleen Sullivan
Kathy Schneider Smith
Eric C. Smith
The Land We Live On
Redbird Media Group
Rebecca Lambert
Margot & Roger Milliken
Linda & John Coleman
David Emery
CJ Dirago
Orange Bike Brewery
Bow Street Market
Black Betty’s Bistro
Wildflours Gluten Free Bakery
Bread & Friends
Two Fat Cats
Tandem Bakery
ABB Youth Club