The Agenda and How Sessions Work

Keep checking out this page. The agenda will receive periodic updates.

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Friday – May 23rd

5:00pm-8:00pm

  • Registration 
  • Film: “The Pontchartrain Park Pioneers”
  • Panel and Reception moderated by Gerber Porter with guest documentarian, Professor Clyde Robertson (both former residents of Pontchartrain Park).

8:30pm – until

RootsCamp After Dark!!! We’ll be hanging out at MonteCristo Cigar Bar & Bistro located at 7808 Howell Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70807, less than five minutes from Southern University. We shall Eat, Drink, Be Merry, and Smoke (or don’t – there’s a smoking and non-smoking side) at this beautiful black-owned establishment.

Saturday – May 24th

  • 8:30-9:30am – Coffee and Registration
  • 9:30-10:00am – Opening Session and Agenda Building (This is your ONLY chance to add to the agenda. There will be no open sessions after lunch.)
  • 10:00-11:00am – Breakout Session #1 (Up to 4 spots available for attendees to add to the agenda.)
  • 11:00-12:00pm – Breakout Session #2 (Up to 4 spots available for attendees to add to the agenda.)
  • 12:00-1:30pm – Lunch Panel Discussion: “Lessons from the Louisiana Black Panther Party” – The Black Panther party was a black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in the 1960’s. In addition to raising black consciousness, it had breakfast, education, and health programs. Louisiana’s chapter was very active. The panel will share Louisiana’s specific history, ideas from “Revolutionary Suicide,” and learning lessons that can be applied to organizing work in Louisiana today.
    • Moderator: Dawn Chanet Collins, Esquire
    • Panelists:
      • Brian Hunter, BPP Alumn
      • Malik Rahim, Active BPP Member
      • Jason Lawrence, BPP Alumn
      • Trent Smith, BPP Alumn
  • 1:30-2:00pm – Middle Session: Choose One 
    • Unsung Hero Spotlight – Former Officer Carl Cavalier. This brother risked his career and life to expose what happened to Ronald Green. Let’s give him his flowers.
      • OR 
    • The Art of Venting Whilst Practicing Self Care (because times right now are a whole lot) – This session will give each attendee an opportunity to shamelessly plug their frustrations on the mic as loudly as they want for thirty, that’s right…count them…thirty whole entire seconds. We will then close out with a 10-15 minute guided meditation. It’s what zen is all about, and we need a whole lot of it.
  • 2:00-3:00pm – Strategic Caucus Session #1
    • Black Caucus
    • Education Caucus – Led by Step Up Louisiana
  • 3:00-4:00pm – Strategic Caucus Session #2
    • Economic Justice Caucus – Led by Jan Moller of Invest in Louisiana
    • Criminal “Justice” Reform Caucus
    • Women’s Caucus – Led by Dawn Chanet Collins of SPAN and Melissa Flournoy and Angela Adkins of 10,000 Women (Yes, we will address the race question)
  • 4:00-5:00pm – Advocacy and Policy – On the anniversary of the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson decision, activist scholar Angela A. Allen-Bell, Esquire will use this advocacy and policy session to showcase ways Homer Plessy and the Citizen’s Committee approached social change. Those in attendance will be armed with strategies for achieving lawful and transformative change and for disrupting systems that harm. Her advocacy book, “The Summons: Advocacy Insights for Systemic and Transformative Change” will also be referenced. She will be available for book signing/purchase after her session. (Books are $25). (This is about policy change beyond exhausting ourselves at the state capital with folk who outnumber us in this red state. Work at the capitol is important but we must try other, sometimes more effective strategies.)  Professor Angela Allen-Bell is an American activist scholar and internationally recognized expert on the interplay between race and justice.
  • 5:00-5:30pm – Closing

      • Debrief
      • Participant Comments

 The Wall

The RootsCampLA “unconference” model is one in which the activists who register to attend the event create the majority of the agenda.  The tool we use to do this is called The Wall with designated time slots and rooms for presenters to choose from. Some years, The Wall looks fancy… some years… it looks very, very grassroot-ish as pictured below (smile), but the actual experience is AMAZING.
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