Two years ago, I was a guest at the Highlander Center at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains. Little known by most Americans, the Highlander Center is the historic learning center for the modern civil rights movement. It was here that Rosa Parks and a young Martin Luther King, realized their deep, powerful convictions to champion social justice.

In the middle of this unassuming locale is a sign that simply states: “Action creates knowledge.” It is these three words that inspire the work we do in Urban VOICE. Our belief is that nothing changes for the better unless direct action is taken. So it is with this concept that we introduce our first edition of the Urban VOICE Update.

We hope you’ll be informed, entertained and involved with the things we do. Our mission is simple: it is to tell stories of social justice through the eyes of those who created progress. We also want to empower those with similar ideals by working with you in providing our media services as well as our training workshops.

We are filmmakers, writers, artists and concerned global citizens who believe that important issues affecting all of us remain on the table. Our hope is that through visual communication, we can help to change a paradigm that fears the unknown to one that seeks to understand and create answers for the common good.

-Boku Kodama