Racial Justice Poster Project

Artist Statement 

This piece is titled “We dance to the beat of a thousand prayers.” It is an ode to the resilient collective cultural wealth and experience that is held in Oakland, one of the most diverse cities on the West Coast. The piece depicts dancers of Pomo, Khmer and Black heritages, set against a background of political protest and tear gas, dancing in unison towards liberation. In the midst of chaos, we witness poetry, dance, and paint rising in opposition to and defiance of the new “normal.” Oakland, as we all know, has seen decades of allied struggles for liberation, like the ones we see in Palestine, Congo, and Sudan today. 

A remarkable moment of uprising and resistance took place after the extrajudicial killing of Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day, 2009. The streets of Oakland were filled immediately with crowds of people who had seen the violence happen, frame by frame, in video footage that was captured by eyewitnesses and shared widely. In response to the protests, we witnessed the Oakland Police Department becoming a militarized police force – part of a larger global trend of increased coordination between militaries and local law enforcement that increased with the War on Terror. The use of sonic, chemical, and other “less than lethal” tactics on Oakland residents mirrors the excessive state violence that has been and is currently being used to oppress people in Palestine’s Occupied Territories. 

Turf Dancing, one of the most iconic styles of dancing that originated in Oakland, is the central figure of this poster because it was young Black men with boomboxes, dreadlocks, and scraper bikes who stood tall against the Oakland Police Department’s oppressive response to the uprising that followed Oscar Grant’s killing. Despite the tear gas, smoke, and sound weapons, they danced and raised their fists for justice. 

Another figure in this piece is the often-overlooked Khmer community. Khmer people came to Oakland primarily as refugees who fled the genocide that was taking place in their homelands as a result of Western intervention and colonialism. Here in Oakland, Khmer and Southeast Asian communities have not only thrived culturally, they have become central influencers of Oakland’s cultural and political landscape. The Khmer dancer signifies the enduring sacrifice made to safeguard culture in the face of migration, conflict, and systemic homogenization.  

The Native American dancer with Pomo traditional dance attire represents how Native people are still systemically and politically invisible to public perception, even though our communities have been at the forefront of every major social justice struggle in this country’s history. Despite overcoming genocide, slavery, forced displacement and persecution, the local Native Community in Oakland has reclaimed its space inch by inch, and dares to move beyond survival in a quest for freedom.