On the Saturday before Labor Day, Atlantans proved that the city’s
nickname “Hotlanta” is appropriate. The Woodruff Arts Center in
conjunction with The Collective Renaissance Guild and the Andrew Young
Foundation brought together civil rights leaders and contemporary
powerhouses to dialogue about the future of leadership and social
activism in the African American community. The result: The Power
Generation Conference 2009 was a historic and moving culmination of
icons — past and present — acknowledging the importance of
contributions already made and promising to increase their efforts to
address social ills.
Ludacris and Rev. Joseph E.
Lowery presented Jamie Foxx with the CRG’s prestigious Phoenix Award.
Onlookers erupted in laughter when Rev. Lowery complimented Foxx for
his extraordinary talent, particularly his Oscar-winning portrayal of
R&B great, Ray Charles, but counseled the former “In Living Color”
star about his use of profanity and sexual innuendo. “I do want to talk
to you about one or two of your raps. And that BET performance, I’ll
pray for you. You don’t need to embellish your gifts … you detract from
the message [when you contaminate it with cursing], ” said the
87-year-old former president of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
CRG’s mission is to expose, promote and infuse the arts, philanthropy
and social responsibility into the cultural landscape of the Power
Generation (aka Gen-X or the hip-hop generation), while educating and
providing models for subsequent generations. –roz edward
