Today, I attended the “Revolution and Religion: A Fight For Emancipation and the Role Religion” event hosted by Dr. Cornel West and Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, Bob Avakian. Here is a pictorial recap of my day:

The event took place at the historic Riverside Church — the same church Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his infamous 1967 speech titled “A Time to Break Silence,” in which Dr. King publicly condemned the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The event was attended by people from all over the United States (e.g. New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Ferguson, Atlanta, etc.), and I even met a couple who traveled all the way from the United Kingdom. Harry Belafonte was also in the building [although he left before Dr. West was able to speak].

For more than four hours, West and Avakian engaged the audience with a powerful dialogue about the current, intolerable state of the world and the things that we, as members of the hue-man race, must do in order to eradicate global white supremacy (racism) and our nation’s parasitic and divisive capitalistic system. This must be done so that we can actually create a future grounded love for all of humanity and void of racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination. It felt great being amongst an audience of like-minded people, who ultimately believe that transformative change is possible. So many great things were said by both speakers, and ultimately, their messages reaffirmed that I am doing the right thing by challenging William Morris’ institutionally racist employment practices, policies and procedures, as well as challenging institutionalized racism throughout Hollywood, our judicial system and ultimately, society as a whole.

And while waiting for the train to head back to Brooklyn, I saw the latest cover of TIME, in which the magazine mocks Obama’s “HOPE” campaign from the 2008 presidential election by putting Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell on the cover, with the word “CHANGE.” After seeing this, I almost lost hope for humanity again. Smdh!