Limited tickets available
Join together with Motus Theater and our JustUs project for great food, inspiring music, and challenging reflections on the state of the U.S. justice system as we gather in small groups to reflect together to envision a ‘more perfect Union’ on Constitution Day, September 17th. Special guests: director of The Center for African and African American Studies Dr. Reiland Rabaka; famed acapella musicians from Spirit of Grace; and Motus JustUs monologist, social activist and community change leader, Candice Bailey.
Reiland Rabaka is Professor of African, African American, and Caribbean Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies and the Founder and Director of the Center for African & African American Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is also a Research Fellow in the College of Human Sciences at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Professor Rabaka has published 17 books and more than 100 scholarly articles, book chapters, and essays, including most recently The Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism, Du Bois: A Critical Introduction, Civil Rights Music: The Soundtracks of the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power Music!: Protest Songs, Message Music, and the Black Power Movement, and The Hip Hop Movement. He is also a poet and musician.
Spirit of Grace consists of two sisters, Christin Grant and Larea Edwards, who regularly tour with Colorado's most famous experimental rap-rock band, the Flobots. With their original songs, Spirit of Grace hopes to bring encouragement, hope, and inspiration.
Candice Bailey is a local activist who has served on the Citizens’ Advisory Budget Committee and Community Police Task Force, as well as the Community Mobilization Team of Aurora’s Youth Violence Prevention Program. Bailey is president of the Colorado chapter of National Action Network, a civil rights organization.
The JustUs project was developed by Motus Theater in 2019 and premiered as a keynote at the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice Conference in front of 1,600 stakeholders. Since then, the JustUs monologues have been featured in several national and global conferences and have been read and embraced by religious, social justice, civic, and law enforcement leaders across the state. The powerful monologues explore themes such as racial profiling, inequality in the bond/bail system, human rights abuses in prisons, criminalizing substance abusers, and the systemic racism and poverty that pushes people into illicit economies.
Autobiographical monologues by Motus JustUs Monologists written in collaboration with Motus Theater Artistic Director, Kirsten Wilson. Performance presented by Motus Theater - creators of UndocuAmerica, JustUs, Women of Resolution, Rocks Karma Arrows, and the Shoebox Stories Podcast.