Author: Omo Moses in Conversation with Belvie Rooks

The White Peril: A Black Family’s Struggle for Freedom from Jim Crow to Hip-Hop
Sunday, 2/2/2025
2:00 - 3:30
African American Center - 3rd Fl
Main Library
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100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
United States

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From the son of legendary civil rights organizer Robert P. Moses: a coming-of-age story about becoming Black in America that interweaves voices from 3 generations of the Moses family. Moses will be in conversation with longtime activist, Belvie Rooks.

Omo Moses, author of The White Peril: A Black Family's Struggle for Freedom from Jim Crow to Hip-Hop was born in 1972 in Tanzania, where his parents had fled to escape targeted harassment by the US government. He did not encounter white supremacy until the family moved back to America when he was 4. Here, he learned what it meant to be Black. Coming of age in a Black enclave of Cambridge, Massachusetts, he became a passionate basketball player and lived in the shadow of his father’s Civil Rights work but did not feel like a part of it until his college basketball career came to an unceremonious end. Unsure what to do next, he took up his father’s offer to go with him to Mississippi and teach math to Algebra Project students. Omo didn’t know it yet, but it was among those young people that he would find his purpose.

Book sales and signing to follow the conversation. 

Omo Moses is an activist, an educator, and a media maker. He is the Founder/CEO of MathTalk, an education technology company that creates products that inspire adults and kids everywhere, particularly those in economically distressed communities, to enjoy math. Moses is a member of the MSNBC Grio 100, a Huffington Post Person of the Day, and a Barr Foundation Fellow.

Belvie Rooks is an essayist, educator and human rights and social justice activist whose work weaves the worlds of spirituality, feminism and ecology.  She is editor and co-author with Dedan Gills of I Give You the Springtime of My Blushing Heart: A Poetic Love Song. The audiobook of this book of poetry was honored as "One of the 29 Best Poetry Books" in 2023, by Speechify.  Her work is also featured in the award-winning book, The Power of Love: A Transformed Heart Changes the World. She is an American Book Award winner as senior editor of Paris Connections: African American Artists in Paris, and co-producer (with Damani Baker and Danny Glover) of the award-winning film, The House on Coco Road (now on Netflix). In addition to her writing, Belvie is also co-founder with Dedan Gills of Growing a Global Heart. Belvie currently serves as strategic advisor and intergenerational co-facilitator for Pseads Institute, and previously served on the Boards of Bioneers, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the Institute for Noetic Sciences. She has also served as Core Faculty at Holy Names University's Sophia Center Program in Culture and Spirituality and Visiting Faculty at Naropa University's Graduate Program in Environmental Studies. For more on her life's work visit Inner Pathway.

Connect:

Omo Moses - Website | Omo Moses - LinkedIn

Photo of Omo Moses courtesy of Early Futures. 

 


Engage with your favorite writers and discover your next read.

Connect to engaging discussions and performances related to the Black community.

More Than a Month recognizes important events in Black history, honors community and national leaders and fosters steps towards collective change. Programming features authors, poets and craft classes. 

Attend programming, lectures and workshops intended for the BIPOC community.


This program is sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.


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