Robin D.G. Kelley, a UCLA history professor and nationally respected scholar in the Black Liberation Movement will keynote the 45th Anniversary Celebration of the Organization for Black Struggle and the Youth Council for Positive Development.
The event is at 4 p.m. Saturday January 25, 2025, at the Sheet Metal Workers Grand Hall at 2319 Chouteau Avenue.
Kelley’s book, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, remains relevant after 20 years, and helped shape the theme for this year’s celebration, “Freedom Dreams: Unblocking the Black Radical Imagination.”
Kelley will speak on the challenges the Trump administration will create for people of African descent.
“Robin Kelley is uniquely positioned to make an analysis of the current conditions in this country,” said Kalimu Endesha, OBS co-founder.
“From his study of American history, Kelley knows that the U.S. system of racial and gendered capitalism is not just dream crushers, they are literally killing people. We must be highly organized in our response.”
The Organization for Black Struggle was founded, along with its youth component, in 1980. Its creation was based on Black radical traditions and is influential in the political landscape impacting Black life locally and nationally.
This year’s anniversary celebration is both in-person and virtual. Bernie Hayes and Saidia Murphy will serve as celebrity emcees for the program. For more information on the dinner or the commemorative ad book, visit www.obs-stl.org.