About this Event
An Elders' Call to Calm, Courage, and Community is a morning of intergenerational porch talk—rooted, intimate, and steadying. Not a panel. Not a performance. A space to breathe together, make meaning, and remember how Black community has always carried itself forward: with care, with courage, and with a clear-eyed love.
We’ll meet at Black Garnet Books, where the shelves hold our stories and the air holds possibility. Breakfast is on us—come for the nourishment and the fellowship. Bring your full self. Leave with your spirit fed and your shoulders a little lighter.
Hosted by the African American Leadership Forum, this gathering centers trusted Black elders whose lived leadership spans movements, spiritual care, community advocacy, healing, and lifelong service. They’ll share stories and guidance grounded in what we need right now: the kind of wisdom to steady our collective nervous systems while ordering our next steps in a moment calling us all to the edge of comfort and safety.
Facilitated by Junauda Petrus
Guiding the conversation is Junauda Petrus, author of Can We Please Give the Police Department to the Grandmothers—a visionary call to reimagine safety through care, elders, and community power. Junauda’s facilitation holds both the now and the next: she creates space where truth can land gently, where laughter can be medicine, and where we leave with more than inspiration. We leave with direction.
Who Should Attend
This gathering is for Black Minnesotans across the diaspora in the Twin Cities—young adults, professionals, organizers, caregivers, and elders—anyone seeking calm, clarity, and relational strength as we navigate the current social and political climate together.
What to Expect
A warm, close-in conversation in a Black-owned bookstore
Elder reflections rooted in lived experience and cultural knowledge
Simple, tangible practices for mind, body, and spirit resilience
Shared resources and community-rooted strategies
A morning that feels like a reset: fed, grounded, and ready to show up with care
At The Forum, we build with our people, listening deeply, centering Black wisdom, and imagining futures where Black leadership sets the blueprint. This gathering is part of that work: a two-hour time pocket where we honor the elders, tend the community, and keep moving toward the world we deserve.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Black Garnet Books, 1319 University Avenue West, Saint Paul, United States
USD 0.00
