Civil Rights Heroes

More about our featured panelists:

Miya Iwataki helped build Serve the People programs inspired by the Black Panther Party with JACS Asian Involvement in Little Tokyo, the Asian Movement center during the 1970s.  An advocate for women, she became director of the first Asian Women’s Center; was sponsored by the United Nations NGO to UN Decade for Women Convention in Nairobi, Kenya. A founding member of National Coalition for Redress/Reparations, she helped lead the grassroots campaign for Japanese American Reparations; worked for Rep. Mervyn Dymally, chair of Congressional Black Caucus; and produced East Wind, a weekly program on KPFK-FM Radio.  

The Third World solidarity of the 70s, and the long fight for Justice and Reparations has informed and inspired her work with legacy Black Reparations organizations and activists in the struggle for Justice and Black Reparations today – with Nikkei Progressives.

Martha Gonzalez is a Grammy award winning Chicana musician, composer and feminist music scholar. Born and raised in East Los Angeles Gonzalez was recently awarded a United States Artist Fellowship in 2020 in music and a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022. Although trained in the extensive and varied musical genres of Mexican culture from birth, Gonzalez has earned most of her musical successes with the Grammy Award (2013) winning Chicano rock band Quetzal.

Shonda Buchanan. For the last 25 years, award-winning author Shonda Buchanan (Black Indian) has been on the hunt for the impact of Nina Simone’s life, work and artistry on the world. This search has culminated in Shonda’s forthcoming book of poetry, The Lost Songs of Nina Simone, to be published in 2024. The poems collected in the book are a case of inquiry into Simone’s Civil Rights work, her personal and professional struggles, as well as the world’s adoration and interaction with the iconic concert pianist.

Rudy Ortega, Jr. is the President of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, a native sovereign nation of northern Los Angeles County. As the elected leader of his Tribe, Ortega Jr. oversees the governmental body and manages affairs pertaining to the rights of all Fernandeño Tataviam tarahat (people).

Currently, Ortega Jr. is a member of the Santa Clarita Watershed Recreation and
Conservation Authority, Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, Santa
Monica Mountains Conservancy appointed by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., and a
Commission member of the Climate Emergency Mobilization Committee appointed
by Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Ronna Magy. Principles of community organizing and  coalition building learned in both UC Berkeley’s MSW program and the student and women’s movements have guided Ronna Magy’s life and work. Continuing to mobilize people, she recently organized panels of senior queer women poets for the Circa Queer History and Outwrite Festivals. Ronna’s recent poetry is forthcoming or has appeared in Rise Up Review, The Los Angeles Press, Wild Crone Wisdom, Poetry Super Highway, Persimmon Tree, Writing in a Woman’s Voice and Writers Resist. She’s authored texts on English as a Second Language, the workplace culture, citizenship, and reading and writing. 

Palabras Literary Salon on the theme “visionaries”

Our upcoming Palabras Literary Salon is a special West Hollywood edition hosted as part of our Celebrating Civil Rights Heroes event on Saturday January 20, 2024. This salon is at 3:30pm-5pm, featuring Sean Hill on the theme “visionaries.”

Save the date: Our March edition will return to Boyle Heights at Latinx with Plants. Sunday March 17th, 2pm.

Palabras is a BIPOC-centered literary salon where all are welcomed to attend and listen to our BIPOC poets and writers. If you want a brief introduction to our vibe, check us out on this recording of KPFK’s Poets Cafe radio show. and more info is on the Palabras webpage.