Helping Hands

East High students made news as the first of several Denver high-school groups to walk out in protest of police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri. Their actions not only stirred up discussion around town, but inspired a conversation at East, where students Mary Dowling and her friend, Ashia Ajani, began to brainstorm how they could help families and protesters in Ferguson. They came up with the idea for But Some of Us Are Brave, a fundraiser that started out small but, through networking and teamwork, became something much larger. Tonight’s event will reward those who come forward with donations of cash and supplies with live slam-poetry performances — by the Minor Disturbance youth slam team, Andrea Gibson, LadySpeech Sankofa and Suzi Q. Smith — as well as a student art auction and guest host Stephen Brackett of the Flobots.

“Our biggest goal is to provide aid — and not just the monetary kind, but also items of real substance,” Ajani says. “We heard that the Ferguson library was open to educate students during their time out of school, so we’d like to collect books to donate — especially those written by black authors, since Ferguson is disproportionately black.” Also on their collection list are canned foods, blankets, first-aid kits, toiletries, juice boxes and other useful items for people on the front lines. Bring all of the requested items you can spare and a $5 donation to the Black Actors Guild’s Atlas Theater, 1400 Williams Street. The show runs from 6 to 9 p.m.; find more information on the Facebook event page.
Fri., Dec. 19, 6-9 p.m., 2014