One of the city’s oldest community-driven organizations will hold its 25th Anniversary Celebration Saturday at the Gateway Classic Foundation, 2012 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive.
The Organization for Black Struggle (OBS), a grassroots group founded in 1980 to address the socioeconomic needs and issues of the black working class, will commemorate its history with the theme “Torchbearer for Black Struggle: Still Building a Legacy for Liberation.” The Keynote speaker will be Thandabantu Iverson, a professor at Indiana University at Gary.
The event is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. n early enough for children to attend, a reflection of the group’s strong focus on the inclusion and welfare of youth.
OBS chairperson Jamala Rogers (and American columnist) said the anniversary theme reflects the wide range of issues that OBS has helped the community to fight over the years in an effort to make St. Louis an equal-opportunity city for African-American senior citizens, workers and youth.
“We have been involved with every major struggle that has challenged our community over the last 25 years,” Rogers said.
Those issues, Rogers said, include police brutality, a proposed community police oversight panel, disenfranchised voters, cultural awareness, coalition-building, the prison-industrial complex that profits from incarceration, prisoner abuse, education of women and youth, and the Ellen Reasonover case.
“We have been on the frontline fighting for humanity for all of St. Louis,” Rogers said.
Guest Speaker Iverson has a long history in the labor movement, Rogers said, and will share his experiences about the impact that oppression based on race, class and gender has on the movement.
Iverson, making his first speaking engagement in St. Louis, also has a history of advancing feminism in thought and practice and challenging male supremacy, Rogers said.
“We chose him to speak because he can specifically talk, in an inspirational way, about the things that we deal with as an organization,” she said.
At the event, a special award will be presented to Charles “Quincy” Troupe for his support of OBS over the years. Rogers will highlight the former state representative’s contributions to the organization and the legacy of liberation.
Rogers called on the St. Louis community to come out in droves to support Troupe and the organization’s mission to fight for political empowerment, economic justice and the cultural dignity of the African-American community.
“Now is the time for people to share in the celebration and to also give back to the community,” she said.
Past guest speakers include poet Amiri Baraka, Dr. Conrad Worrill of the National Black United Front, Loretta Ross from the Center for Human Rights and Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr.
OBS was formed in the wake of the FBI’s notorious CounterIntelligence Program (COINTELPRO), which deliberately attacked and unsettled the previous generation of black community groups, such as the Black Panther Party and Zulu 1200.
For more information on OBS or for ticket information for the 25th Anniversary Celebration Dinner, call 367.5959 or visit http://www.obs-onthemove.org.