Afeni Shakur Affiliated Roses in Concrete School Gets Immortalized in Karega Bailey’s "Hope Dealer"

One year ago, California-based emcee, award winning educator and spoken word poet, Karega Bailey made the extensive trek from Washington, D.C. to Oakland to begin his work as the Director of Special Education at Roses in Concrete School. As students finished their inaugural year, Bailey beautifully captured their experience in the video for “Hope Dealer” along with his SOL Development family.

Featuring SOL Development artist Lake Stovall, “Hope Dealer” is a source of healing for the many broken hearts around the world. It takes the viewer through a day in Bailey’s life, where educating and inspiring the next generation through music is his life’s work.

Bailey is a founding member of the Roses in Concrete school, a K-8 school in East Oakland. According to its website, it functions as a center of health within the neighborhoods surrounding it, providing wrap-around services in education, health, housing, and job training. The long-term goal is to create a model for urban education that prioritizes the needs of youth and families as the pathway to building healthy and sustainable communities across the U.S. and around the world.

The name of the school was inspired by a book of poetry based on the writings of Tupac Shakur, 1999’s The Rose That Grew from Concrete. The image of a rose in concrete brilliantly illustrates the idea that the tenacity and will of the rose can find a way to grow in the toxic environment of concrete.

In addition to his role as Director of Special Education, he also co-designed the arts program, which allowed him to relocate the entire SOL Development collective.

Students experienced classical ballet, education on the Black Panther Party (including visits from former Panther leader Erica Huggins and Minister of Culture Emery Douglass), robotics, and gardening. With dual emersion in Spanish and English programs, “Hope Dealer” provided the soundtrack to their unforgettable year.

Roses in Concrete was co-signed by Tupac Shakur’s mother, the late Afeni Skakur, who sadly passed away in May 2016. Before she died, Afeni visited the school and gave them her blessing. It’s an important part of Tupac’s long-lasting legacy.