Native Black Californians and enslaved Black Californians completely disenfranchised

150th Anniversary
California Colored Convention
Community Rally

California State Capitol
Capitol Mall @ 10th Street
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Noon - 4:00 p.m.

Sacramento, CA - 150 years ago the California Colored Convention Movement began as a method to address racial discrimination. Our kick-off Community Rally for the 150th Anniversary will feature regional, local and national community groups who work toward a more
inclusive State of California.

Our Community Rally will include a special message urging Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency to Stanley Williams. Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams has been nominated several times for Nobel Prizes in Peace & Literature -- for his anti-violence, anti-gang work and intervention books about gang life.

In 1850, first California Governor Peter Burnett proposed in his inaugural address to export all Black folk out of the State of California and he led the charge to develop racial discriminatory laws that continue to have an adverse impact upon Black Californians. Today, we call upon California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to consider adopting public policy that has a positive impact on the standard of living of all Californians.

Central to our ‘ancient future’ California Colored Convention Movement is an acknowledgement of spiritual blessings recognizing the long difficult road to gather at this historic moment of universal order.

We celebrate a certain victory, as foretold by our elders and ancestors. One standard for all humanity is certainly a notion to embrace and celebrate.

Native Black Californians and enslaved Black Californians were completely disenfranchised by
specific "Black Laws" enacted during early statehood. We were no longer able to testify in court, homestead land, send our to children to public school or vote. Early California Legislative action made many state public policy a difficult road, Black citizens continue to travel.

California's first Black church was organized in 1850, Sacramento. Not only did California have the distinction of having the first African Methodist Episcopal church in the western United States it hosted the California Colored Convention Movement, beginning November 20, 1855. This movement facilitated a much broader movement. Today, we are committed, organized and have a structured methodology to begin the long road to empower all citizens.

Our 150th Anniversary of the California Colored Convention Movement will provide detailed primary source documentation of our ancestors scientific methodology towards analyzing our unique path to ‘form a more perfect union’ as we demonstrate continuity contributing toward the forward flow of humanity.

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