 Louis Reyes Rivera |
Louis Reyes Rivera …..Presente! Viewing, Funeral & Repast Information
Viewing will take place on Sunday, March 11th from 12:30 pm to 5:30 pm at Frank Bell Funeral Home, 536 Sterling Place, Brooklyn, N.Y. (at the southwest corner of Sterling Pl. & Classon Ave.)
(718) 399-2500
Nearest subway stop: #’s 2 or 3 to Eastern Parkway (Brooklyn Museum)
{Walking direction opposite street from Brooklyn Museum}
Funeral will be on Monday, March 12th at same place (Frank Bell Funeral Home) at 10 am.
Burial will be at Cypress Hills Cemetery oat 833 Jamaica Ave, Brooklyn, which is about 20 minutes from funeral parlor.
The repast will take place at Sista’s Place, 456 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, right after the burial at the cemetery. That is Louis’ home away from home, where he conducted his workshops and also performed with many of his groups over the years.
For tributes and links to biographical information, click here.
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Tribute by the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition:
We mourn the loss of our brother and comrade Louis Reyes Rivera, who read poetry so passionately and artistically for Mumia on numerous occasions. As Co-Chair of Writers for Mumia Louis hosted several events in New York City dedicated to Mumia’s freedom with his Co-Chair Sue Davis.
Louis had a long and rich history as a revolutionary artist, organizing cultural events, mentoring young artists, and performing. He had been a student leader at City College during the struggle for Open Admissions and he spoke of that history with great pride, continuing to build the people’s movements through his art.
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Tribute by Bob Lederer, WBAI producer:
To the above tributes, I would add first, that I was privileged to know and work with Louis since 2002, and he was a beautiful spirit and a powerful voice for liberation. And second, that for 8 years, Louis was the brilliant host of the political culture program on WBAI Radio that he titled “Perspective,” which brought a wide spectrum of politically conscious Black and Latino artists and activists to the airwaves and consistently urged Black-Latino unity.
That is, until he was unceremoniously removed from the airwaves with no due process in November 2010 by WBAI’s Interim Program Director, Tony Bates — the “interim” replacement for Bernard White, who had originally brought Louis to WBAI, and who himself had been removed in 2009 without due process. Louis, as a shop steward of WBAI’s Unpaid Staff Organizing Committee (the union representing unpaid staff until it was crushed by the management installed in 2009), and as a staff candidate for the WBAI Board earlier in 2010, had courageously exposed management’s consistent violations of workers’ rights, and successfully fought to roll back the censorship of his candidate statement.
It is indeed sad that such a fighter for people’s culture and workers’ rights was treated so shabbily by the current caretakers of “progressive radio,” and that he passed on before receiving the justice of reinstatement. This makes his loss doubly painful. And of course all too young to go at the age of 66.
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Reflections on the Continuum – At the Passing of Louis Reyes Rivera
Poem/Tribute by William Heerwagen, WBAI producer, “Jazz and Things”:
Every generation, every year, every month, each day and minute someone, somewhere has asked, is asking “How can this world go on? We’re losing all the strong ones.”
…the talented ones, the giving ones, the loving ones
…the knowing ones, the kind ones, the true ones
…the tell-you-the-truth-even-when-it-hurts ones
…the doers, the leaders, the followers
…the ones whom you knew were great and true before they left without enough honor
…the others who stayed out of the limelight, but truly did most of the hard, behind-the-scenes work which I did not do
…the ones who invited your potential to leap out of your mind, body and spirit
…the ones who always gave credit to others for the others’ efforts toward the good
…the ones who always just instinctively were part of that good, without even seeming to try
All praises to those who will pick up the gauntlet left us by our now-ancestors.
All praises to those who already have the banner of truth and justice, holding it high for all to see.
All praises to those who are and have been preparing generations of thinkers, lovers, doers – especially
when they are just learning to walk or to talk, and a little later when they’re struggling with school or social or
justice issues as teens or young adults.
All praises to those passing the strength, the knowledge, the instinct, the love from generation to generation.
All praises to those supporting, nourishing the doers.
All praises to you.
You, and perhaps I, will have to be the strong ones. You may already be. I will continue to strive to be one during our small spec of time here in this place.
Biographical Info and Video
For more on Louis’s bio, plus a video of his fantastic poem “Bullet Cry” about the assassination of Malcolm X, go to http://www.politeonsociety.com/2012/03/04/the-peoples-poet-make-his-transition-r-i-p-louis-reyes-rivera/. Also check out his bio sketch at http://www.nathanielturner.com/scatteredscripture6.htm
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