Silicon Valley African Film Festival presented by Black Leadership Kitchen Cabinet of Silicon Valley held its annual Black Family Day on Saturday afternoon in Downtown San José.
The event aimed to celebrate Black heritage, health and wellness, according to its website.
The two organizations worked in partnership with the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, according to the same website.
Jahmal Williams, co-chair of the Black Leadership Kitchen Cabinet, said the organization is a coalition of community members focused on policy advocacy work and community building.
Williams said the focus of his work adapts to the changing times.
“As the Democratic demographics have changed, and as the cost of living has increased, there have been less structures in place to make sure that the Black community here is situated place-based, has a neighborhood, a community that speaks to them and speaks to us in our heritage,” he said.
Black Family Day puts on live performances, food, family and children’s activities, Black-owned vendors, raffles and giveaways according to its website.
Williams said Black Family Day started six years ago to help support and uplift the Black community in San José.
Tomara Hall, San José resident and assistant associate to the senior project manager of the African American Cultural Center, said that the event has changed over the years.
“The people who started this event wanted to bring resources to the Black community and they said, ‘Let's do it in a fun way and let's do it in an engaging way. Let's just (create) a kind of festival’ and we decided to do this,” Hall said.
She said that during its inception, the event aimed to bring the community together and it evolved into Black Family Day over time.
Hall said Black History Month serves as a reminder that enslaved people founded this country without compensation.
“Black History Month is just a reminder for everyone, not just Black people that the culture, the society and everything that we benefit from came from the work of our ancestors … enslaved people, mostly of African descent founded this country without being compensated,” Hall said.
Hall said that many developments in technology that are widely adopted originated from Black people. Examples include GPS navigation, computer technologies, feminine products, the ice cream scooper and items as ubiquitous as potato chips, she said.
“Black history is knowing where we came from, knowing how we got here, but also knowing how we can sustain ourselves and build upon all the contributions you've already been given,” Hall said.
Melody Hanes represents the Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Services working for the Cultural Communities Wellness Program.
“You don't have to wait till Black History Month to appreciate what Black people contribute to society,” Hanes said.
Hanes said there is a lot of stigma associated with mental health problems, especially within the Black community. She said part of her work focuses on clearing up the idea in and out of the Black community.
She said this idea dates back to the power imbalance and abuse that the Black community has suffered at the hands of the European colonizers in the history of our country.
“Because of the effects of slavery and racism, (Europeans) didn't want to take care of us,” Hanes said. “So we can't have mental health issues because that means they (would) have to take care of us. So we have to be strong. We have to be able to go above and beyond regardless of the circumstances.”
Hanes said this narrative was established because Black people were seen as less than human and their sufferings were not acknowledged.
The goal of the community wellness program is to connect people to the resources they need, Hanes said. She said her program ensures that Black people are connected to appropriate services, such as education, and provides one-on-one support, workshops and outreach.
Tomara Hall said Santa Clara County provides mental health services like therapy and clinical resources. She said they also provide more holistic health services such as COVID masks and tests, and youth programming.
Williams said that Black Family day is not exclusively for the BIPOC community.
“I would invite anybody to come through next year in 2025 and really celebrate Black Family and Black joy with us, anybody in the county,” Williams said.
