UndocuNation: A Night of Art, Activism, and Immigrant Rights

CultureStrike and the Center for New Community are pleased to present the second UndocuNation artist showcase on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at the Neighborhood Theatre – 511 E. 36^th Street, Charlotte, NC 28205. Doors open at 6pm.

The event will feature performers such as hip-hop duo Los Rakas, emcee Jasiri X, spoken word artists Sacrificial Poets (Raleigh), singer-songwriter Laila Nur (Greensboro) and more. An art gallery will feature the work of Julio Salgado, Marco Saavedra, Felipe Baeza, Inocente and many other artists from around the country. Artist Favianna Rodriguez and poet Yosimar Reyes will host the event. Special guest speakers include founder of Define American, Jose Antonio Vargas.

On September 4, 2012, as a prelude to the showcase, artists and local activists, in partnership with the Latin American Coalition, will offer workshops on art and activism. Artists play a pivotal role in any social movement. The aesthetic, iconic images, moving prose and poems, and anthems keep the march of history moving forward. UndocuNation is a night devoted to celebrating the artists who have given their labor of love to immigrant rights and the cause of fighting fear and bigotry.

UndocuNation will provide a counter-narrative to the constant clip of anti-immigrant and racial-profiling laws that are proliferating across the country. In a year which the undocumented youth movement soared to new heights and the Supreme Court handed down a ruling on SB1070 that many considered to be at least a partial endorsement of racial profiling, artists kept us in pace with events and our imaginations open to new goals and victories for the movement.

During UndocuNation, we will reflect on the art that has carried us to where we are and begin to envision where it will take us next. Together, we will look forward, never backward, and build a bigger movement for human dignity and the rights of all people.

“We must challenge notions of exclusivity that permeate the immigration debate. UndocuNation is one way to shift the national imagination on what ‘America’ should look like,” said Favianna Rodriguez, co-Founder of CultureStrike and co-host of UndocuNation.