Regenerating Resistance: The Alliance Building Legacy of Greg Morozumi

Regenerating Resistance: The Alliance Building Legacy of Greg Morozumi 
August 21, 2023 - September 16, 2023 
2285 Gallery  : Eastside Arts Alliance

This exhibition celebrates the legacy of Greg Morozumi. 

As an activist, cultural organizer, artist, teacher and mentor, Greg has been a pillar to cultural movements and grassroots community organizing in the Bay Area for decades. Staying true to the belief that culture is a weapon in the struggle for liberation, Greg has led and organized third world cultural movements laying the foundation for institutions like the Eastside Arts Alliance. 

Through archival material pulled from the Community Archival Resource Project - an archive of third world history founded by Greg - this exhibition showcases artwork, essays, photographs, newspapers, political buttons, and postcards that speak to Greg’s legacy of building alliances amongst third world communities and leading with heart, power, and culture. 

Regenerating Resistance by Elena Serrano 

ORGANIZER

Greg’s love of learning, sharp analysis and life-long commitment to justice is because of his parents - his mom and dad raised him and his siblings surrounded by political discussions, books and music. The Vietnam War and the particular irony of Black and Brown soldiers killing Asians fighting for their own self-determination compelled Greg to immerse himself in understanding these conflicts, and he sought out discussions that were grounded in the context of US imperialism. Throughout his life, Greg has maintained an anti-imperialist worldview.

An unrelenting organizer, Greg specifically considers himself a cultural organizer - shaping movements that change the consciousness of our communities. He embraces the power of art to educate and liberate. Greg’s decades of work with Amiri Baraka, Malaquais Montoya, and Yuri Kochiyama fuel his own passion to dedicate his life to political struggle.

EastSide Arts Alliance came to be because of Greg’s understanding that the solidarity of Third World people is how we will claim the power to determine our own destinies. Working in our neighborhood of East Oakland, his vision was to help create a permanent institution where the stories and cultures of our neighborhood – South East Asian, Black, Latinx and Indigenous would prevail. Through visual art, music, theater, dance, poetry, and townhall forums we would learn from each other and see where there were points of unity.

Through cultural institutions like EastSide Cultural Center, folks found a trusted place to engage in principled struggle to build power together. Greg recognizes how powerful artists are - their work helps us to imagine different worlds and different ways to get there. No movement is possible without artists. 

EDUCATOR

Greg is always teaching. He does this mostly through sharing - sharing food, books, buttons, music.  Any good teacher must be generous, and Greg shares his knowledge with all of us.  One of today’s struggles is how to get folks to read. Inundated by 3 second bites bombarding our consciousness at all times, it’s near impossible to have the focused time for study, contemplation and discussion. Greg’s idea - open a bookstore: Bandung Books was born.

A Third World used and new bookstore, Bandung Books (open Wed-Sat 12AM-5PM) is named after the Bandung Conference that took place in Indonesia in 1955 and ushered in what became known as the Bandung Era.  African and Asian countries came together for the first time as a united front, one that was not dominated by the US and Western Europe.  By the end of that decade, the continents of Africa, Asia, and Latin America became known as the “Third World”.  This anti-colonial Third World coalition building is what EastSide’s work is dedicated to, and was critical to so many liberation struggles across the world. 

EastSide’s CARP (Community Archive Resource Project) - initially brought together with much of his own archive- is the foundation of Greg’s work as an educator and the foundation on which all of EastSide’s work is built. The driving force of the archives is the critical notion that we understand political struggles that came before us and how folks organized to change systems to act today.  Young people today organizing against police and prisons must know the history of that movement, like the campaign that was borne out of the shooting of Eleanor Bumpurs  - an abolitionist movement that Greg was a part of in NYC in the 1980s.  Greg is committed to making sure we have access to these histories.  

ARTIST + CURATOR

Greg is an innate artist who creates through multiple mediums - his sketches, altars, screenprints, and collages are just a few examples. Many folks don’t even know this about him - he would much rather we focus on other artists such as Emory Douglas, Andres Cisneros, & Elizabeth Catlett.  His decades-long work as a curator, for the Asian Resource Gallery and EastSide, exemplifies the integration of Greg’s artistry and his role as an educator, as he would often use his gallery exhibits to sharpen our understanding of current political struggles and their historical predecessor.  

His spirit is that of an artist.  This is why he understood how critical art is - the beauty of the music of David Murray being able to sustain us. The poster art of our annual Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival as something that inspires us.  The poetry of Sonia Sanchez as a rallying call to incite us.  Greg brings his artist's understanding to every single meeting, rally, reading, townhall, concert, and discussion and it has been a foundation in every single facet of EastSide’s work.

MENTOR

Regeneration - something like a chant we constantly hear from Greg. This is for the next generation - what are we giving them and how are they using it?  It’s critical to have the next generation always a part of everything at EastSide – from sitting at our collective table, to teaching, performing, and learning.  Always learning.  So many of us consider Greg to be a mentor - someone who challenges and inspires us, who pushes us to think more critically, more creatively, more collectively.