 Pat Parker, Avacha, Tui, and a lot of the sisters that I see here are like my mentors and women that I looked up to as I was growing up, baby dyke in San Francisco, coming here in the military, being a Vietnam war baby, having a process, all my brothers and sisters going to And not understanding and not having that connection with the community when I first got here I thought 7th Street was downtown Oakland That's because we only made it to 7th Street for our lunch breaks at night We used to process in a 12-hour period about a thousand men going to Vietnam every day So I've chosen two poems to read from Pat's And the first one I wrote a little intro to you can help me on All I want you to do is say ice cream you scream we all scream for ice cream Let's try it ice cream you scream we all scream for ice cream Houston 3rd Ward born Texas torn California reborn our sister Pat Parker Rose Defiant a seeker of truth a Poet who reflected our turbulent times Ice cream you scream we all scream for ice cream Pat Parker screamed Against injustice as she forged her way. She screamed against the pangs and arrows of Misfortune ice cream you scream we all scream for ice cream torn out of a lone-start state of mind Pat screamed against the repression against women. She screamed for us to come together Ice cream you scream we all scream for ice cream in my memory Pat stands tall proud a woman Who held her own a woman who taught me? very important lesson To defy the odds to actually mambo in the jive face of adversity I Speak you scream we all scream for ice cream You know they say you can't lose with the blues and so I'm gonna share with you the Pat Parker blue ice cream blues Boom he Feeling good Feeling sad because they caught me and they swung me Into the blue Scream scream Vanilla and chocolate Child, what do you need? Brown or white? Oh that good good taste makes it All right, boo-doo-boo-doo boom it was a bright sunny morning When I jumped out of my sack Boo-doo-boo-doo boom gonna sell some ice cream and then I'm rolling right back He feeling sad cause they caught I swung the blues down on only 15 cents Little child with a dime Well, I guess you can have it for that Because leaving a child out of this ought to be a crime boo-doo-boo-doo boom ice cream scream Good taste makes it all Went down to my job one day and the boss man called me aside to say Gonna have to cut you loose my friend because you ain't bringing in enough Dividend ice cream that good and I'd be so defiant like the inspiration that Pat gave us all and I'm gonna share with you my piece what my Mentor calls my masterpiece my maestro piece it goes something like this To pata to pata to pata to pata to pata to pata to pata to diggity to grow MMM the word weave rumbera Aki don't de Kiera I weave phonemes producing word flows and sounds like my hands Coming down Beating conga rhythm patterns around a message Like a rapper unwraps the reel I Spit about what I know and feel but I'm not just about a rhyme or talking in time Lo mio es un inspiracion de corazon Like a spark to light your heart Imploring open minds to think about it. Yo check it out cause truth be told we are all one Bonded by the same force of life energies and I am speaking to The truth in history and education defying any manipulation for dissemination of misinformation To be used in the separation of peoples of nations from the first skill to a rada tone tone like African voices Coming from the drum life From a heartbeat that lives on in the rhythms and rhymes of every song Ju Ju Mozambique bomba plena and congo indigenous jazz hip hop to rumba wawanko all given life By the trunks of trees and skins of goats spanning the distance from Africa's cradle to America's coast Skin on skin like tradition responds to the corp because rhythms rhythms live in us all and I and I Messenger I be like red beans and rice and yo, that's con gris con gris. That's me I am the red beans Platano Maduro to stone avocado Bustello flavor that wakes up your taste buds with salsa I am the sonera donde quiera true to my cultura con su linda emozura Puerto Rico. Yo nunca dejaré de amarte But in my struggles and strife I am minor to no one in this life for I am a survivor Abla locura que no tiene cura y si la tiene muy poco dura cantando tocando mi tambor Declamando mi poesía mi forma es sencilla pero conciente voy por la vía de la vida con sabiduría ablándole a la gente now could you Understand the journey of my blood from Portuguese ships to la isla del encanto Con los ojos de mi abuela la sonrisa de mi padre el corazón de mi madre a proud body who chants in Europe Who implores in Spanish have a maria purísima who chants to the Buddhist And sings to the black gospel of please Be patient with me God is not through with me yet East coast west coast musical upbringing Activism protesting experiences mingle with the roads taken I Drum from the barrios of San Francisco Oaktown to New York City to the streets of Miami where I swayed with the palms and Floated in the open arms of yema ya en la playa A key y donde quiera soy semia de la tierra I am MM the word we've room better Ah-ha ahi y coge lo que va a susto ah-ha ahi Y coge lo que va a susto y saca malanga tira camino tú lo pelas yo lo cocino rumba macumba que yo mente tengo Contando mi plena que yo me amanezcu a ha A y coge lo que va a susto ah-ha ahi Y coge lo que va a susto y saca malanga tira camino tú lo pelas yo lo cocino rumba macumba que yo mente tengo cantando Esta plena que yo me amanezcu a ha ahi Y coge lo que va a susto ah-ha ahi I love the spirit of Pat in this room. I love and feel your love for this beautiful black woman, you know, whom we were so proud to have known and and had in our life but I'm so very proud that we can keep her legacy alive. Thank you so much.