Thoughts of a ghetto intellectual ™

Ghana Innovation Goes Global with Artivist Senam Okudzeto

2012-01-07T22:04:00.000-05:00

Child of orange_seller_in_Bolga_Market_Bolgatanga (Northern Ghana)

Black artists and the creative process fascinate me. Probably, I suspect, because I'm not all that creative. I stumbled upon this lecture about art, globalization and hybridity by Senam Okudzeto, a Ghanaian artist and activist. Senam is the founder of something called Art in Social Structures. Her talk is titled "Art, ego and effectiveness: constructive challenges for social sculpture in the age of social networking." Once the lecture gets going, Senam shares lots of compelling stories about art, architecture, and innovation in Ghana; some of the challenges that impact Ghana's artistic landscape; and open-ended suggestions as to how this landscape might expand and enrich our notions of globalization. She shares images of what she calls "at risk architecture." These are little-known structures in Ghana that are of important historical value, but in disrepair and in danger of being lost due to lack of funding for maintenance. She also talks about the cultural practice of burying deceased family members in the walls of homes (I was intrigued by this practice, but I was unable to find any mention of it online) and she concludes with a brilliant discussion of a local innovation--a metal stand used by Ghanaian market women to display their oranges (in the local language of Akan, an orange seller is called ankaa wura). Its a smart conversation about an ubiquitous object that, according to Senam, only appeared in Ghana within the last 20 years. Compellingly, she transforms these localized utilitarian objects into globalized objects of artistic consumption. Versions of the orange stands now circulate around the world as a part of her art exhibits.

Police Arrest About 500 Protesters on Brooklyn Bridge - NYTimes.com

2011-10-01T23:00:00.002-04:00

Fleeting fad or transformative moment? Can US citizens count on "No Fly" support from NATO against the Evil American Empire's global dictatorship?

Police Arrest About 500 Protesters on Brooklyn Bridge - NYTimes.com

Also dig:

Remembering Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai | Here & Now

2011-09-27T09:03:00.003-04:00

I had the great honor of seeing this courageous woman, Wangari Maathia, in person about five years ago. I can't recall the details of what she said that day but I definitely remember being impressed by her gracefulness, her humbleness, and the sense that she somehow seemed bigger than the room that housed her. The official cause of her death was cancer but I have to wonder if the beatings and death threats somehow contributed to her illness. Dr. Wangari was a fierce envoy of Mother Earth, she defied the brutal fists of patriarchy, and she was a consistent critic of corruption (on this last point I think she was too dismissive of neo-colonialism and how the west undermines African self-reliance). We wish Wangari Maathai a peaceful Homegoing to the Ancestral Realm. Axé!

You can listen to her discussing her memoir Unbowed on the show Here & Now.

Image source: daylife

Also dig:

‪Tottenham rebellion for dummies

2011-08-09T09:28:00.007-04:00

Black London Residents Make it Plain

1. peaceful protest a police station regarding a shooting.
2. cops brazenly rough up a 16 year oldish woman who approaches some them.
3. crowd retaliates.

I don't call it rioting I call it an insurrection of the people!

Also dig:

No, Mr. President, compromise is not fundamentally American, belligerence is fundamentally American

2011-07-26T09:52:00.033-04:00

Today, during his speech on the budget controversy, President Obama invoked Lincoln to say America is a nation of compromise. Really? Not sure were he got that from but the indigenous people and my African Ancestors tell a very different story.

Obama's revisionism sounds something like this:

Slave master: We are taking you to America and enslaving you.

African: Lets compromise.

Slave master: OK.

The reality is that Native Americans and Africans experienced unbending denigration and oppression--both of which they fiercely resisted. This nation was built on principles like Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine. "Compromises" like the Tilden-Hayes Compromise and the 3/5ths Compromise perpetuated white supremacy and black subordination.

Image Source: Brand Book Tees

Looming catastrophe in Somalia or "scarcity scare"?

2011-07-23T19:08:00.010-04:00

Update #3 (7/26/2011) ‪What can be done to make the Horn of Africa self- sufficient?

Update #2 (7/26/2011) The NGO CARE urgently seeking donations.

Update #1 (7/24/2011)- Just discovered a piece linking US foreign policy malfeasance to Somalia famine (dap @ Prof. James Small) --> Somalia: the Real Causes of Famine by Michel Chossudovsky

There is now a steady stream of media reports warning that the Horn of Africa is, yet again, in the midst of a catastrophic famine. According to these reports, millions of Africans in Somalia and neighboring nations are in desperate need of food rations. The BBC laments that despite these dire predictions little is being done to mobilize a comprehensive response; they have put the number of those who need urgent assistance at 14.5 million.[1]

Image via Wikipedia

SOLDIER OF ETHIOPIAN NATIONAL DEFENSE FORCE, 2006

UNICEF reports that 2 million children in the Horn are at risk and that 500,000 of those children need immediate attention or they will face certain death.[2] According to these accounts, harsh weather, "Islamic militants," and a weak national government are some of the factors that have converged to produce a bleak situation in Somalia. Others complain that violent militias make aid delivery a risky activity [3]. Predictably these accounts are often supported with stereotypical images helpless adults and bone-thin African children with swollen bellies.

TransAfrica recognizes that the current crisis in Somalia is compounded by the lingering effects of the Cold War. During that time, the U.S. supported—both militarily and economically—the autocratic rule of General Siad Barre. The entrenchment of the Barre regime created violent conflict throughout the country and a civil war which led to the eventual overthrow of the government in 1991.[4]

Of course, none of these reports make mention of the proxy war in Somalia--instigated by George W. Bush [5] and now sponsored by Barack Obama--being fought with Drones, illegal detention camps,[6] and Ethiopian troops backed by the United States. And no African should forget the ongoing aggressions against so-called Somali "pirates."[7][8]

How are western military objectives, western NGOs and foreign aid schemes contributing to instability and food shortages in the region? None of the mainstream media reports about this latest cycle of famines raises these important questions. Libertarian, Bob Adelmann, calls the reports of a looming famine "scarcity scare"--a conspiratorial tactic used to justify a one-world government (Note: Adelmann also believes that global warming is part of the conspiracy. I don't share this view. GI).[9] TransAfrica, an NGO that advocates for equitable US-Africa relations, has not been the same since the departure its founder, Randall Robinson,[10] but at least they attempt to link famine in the Horn of Africa with the "lingering effects of the Cold War." Not a very strong statement but at least its a starting point for a more comprehensive understanding of the politics of famine. You can read their statement, which includes a list of NGOs that are actively aiding Somalia @ United Nations States M ust Step Up and Fully Fund the Somali Relief Fund | TransAfrica

Notes:

[1] BBC NEWS | Africa | Somali catastrophe 'largely unnoticed'

[2] allAfrica.com: Resources » Hunger Crisis Hits Horn of Africa

[3] Somali militants vow to block aid groups | Deseret News

[4] TransAfrica

[5] Saline Lone, writing in 2006, predicted correctly that US policy in Somalia would only serve to embolden radical Islam in that region: "An insurgency by Somalis, millions of whom live in Kenya and Ethiopia, will surely ensue, and attract thousands of new anti-U.S. militants and terrorists." Read his essay @ In Somalia, a reckless U.S. proxy war - Opinion - International Herald Tribune - The New York Times

[6] The CIA's Secret Sites in Somalia | The Nation

[7] BBC NEWS | Africa | US captain rescued from pirates

[8] Watch this clip, Pirates of Somalia, for some insights into how western policies help create "piracy" --> ‪PIRATES of SOMALIA Trailer‬‏ - YouTube

[9] Using the Food Crisis

[10] Quitting America

Also dig:

Rethinking Malcolm: What was Marable thinking? by Abdul Alkamilat

2011-07-22T18:49:00.002-04:00

Abdul Alkamilat has written a strong critique of Manning Marable's post-humously published book Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention.[1] There are many insightful points in the essay. Take, for example, Alkamilat's critique of the Marable's self-professed claim of "humanizing" Malcolm X:

Of course we have been here before with books trying to redefine major historical figures under the pretext of making them more human. This is usually done with innuendo, hearsay and gossip supported by state surveillance reports, all amounting to nothing that can be supported with responsibly sourced data or withstand academic peer review.

The main trend uniting these books is their focus on redirecting the force of revolutionary nationalism towards social democracy reform of a kind that finds its home in the capitalist Democratic Party or towards the figure’s personal or sexual identity, being as influential as political identity. Such work has been written about, among others, Nat Turner (Styron 1976), Paul Robeson (Duberman 1989), Martin Luther King (Garrow 1987, Dyson 2000) and Malcolm X (Perry 1991, Lee 1992). As a generational deviation, this trend is exposed in the 2008 book, “Betrayal,” by Houston Baker. Marable’s book somewhat differs from this trend but nevertheless fits the genre.

Right and exact.

The real aim of "humanizing" Malcolm is distorting him just enough to make him tolerable for white readers. The glowing reviews from the mainstream press seems to affirm this strategy.

I agree with many of Alkamilat's points. However, I disagree with the theoretical frame--"revolutionary nationalism." Malcolm certainly made lots of references to revolution, socialism, and nationalism but he was not a Marxist.

...our Ancestors did not wait around for Marx to exploit contradictions inherent in the system of white domination, rather we creatively exploited them to our own revolutionary ends...GI

I think that limitation of Abdul's critique reflects a general tendency of the black left to concede too much of our theoretical labor to dead white men. So, for example, in Abdul's article we are forced to keep a formal Marxist definition of "dialectical materialism" in our heads to fully grasp his analysis. To that I say that our Ancestors did not wait around for Marx to exploit contradictions inherent in the system of white domination, rather we creatively exploited them to our own revolutionary ends. All that to say I think we need to revisit the history and practice of black/Afrikan struggle with the aim of working out African-centered theories (i.e. theories based on our concrete practices) about revolutionary change. GI

You can read Abdul Alkamilat's entire essay @ Rethinking Malcolm: What was Marable thinking? | San Francisco Bay View

Battle of the Malcolm X biographies: "A life of reinvention" or a book of distortions?

2011-07-20T03:42:00.025-04:00

Is the Malcolm X that inspired a generation of African Americans and lovers of freedom, justice and equality all over the world a "myth"?

"Malcolm changed!" they say. As if that was some kinda earth shattering revelation.

Really?

So did all of us, including those who actually worked with Malcolm--people like Earl Grant, John Henrik Clarke[1][2] and Peter Bailey[3]--believe that Malcolm was flawless, that he was incapable of making mistakes, that he never re-evaluated his outlook?

No.

This is a fiction invented by Prof. Manning Marable [4]who then sets himself up to "humanize" Malcolm[5] (what this really means is making Malcolm palatable to a wider white audience with slanders such as the claim that Malcolm, during his Detroit Red days, sexually stimulated a white male patron for cash and that he cheated on his wife Betty) and to "correct" the very myth that he conjured up. Anyone who criticizes Marable's effort to "humanize" Malcolm is castigated for "idolizing" or "deifying" him (Malcolm).[6] These fallacious claims are a disservice to Brother Malcolm's memory and what Malcolm actually taught and insulting to those who actually knew him best.

This short audio (see link at bottom of post) by Attorney Gregory Reed, owner of the "lost" chapters of the Autobiography of Malcolm X, affirms my view that Malcolm X that I have grown to love is not mythic. He was a man. He was human. He made mistakes. Brother Malcolm had flaws just like the rest of us humans. Many of us already understood that. Malcolm told us that. The reading by Brother Gregory Reed affirms the deeply reflective side of Malcolm X.[7] He mentions his wasted years in prison and his "sense of urgency" to "transform" the condition of Black people and Americans generally.

He says that his life is a "mirror" of Black-White relations in America and that the "Negro" problem is a challenge to America's "conscience." By that I think he means that the white majority has been guilty of many centuries of gross abuse of African Americans and that America (i.e. white people) must acknowledge this abuse and make sincere efforts to reverse the damage (psychological, economic, cultural, etc.) that has been done.

Malcolm believed that if his life could serve as an example of how Africans in America can achieve "self esteem, self help, self determination, and self reliance"--principles he first learned from his mother Louise Little and father Earl Little, both prominent members of Marcus Garvey's movement the Universal Negro Improvement Association and later as a star pupil of Elijah Muhammad--then he will have fulfilled his purpose. And, I would add, that the problem has never been that African Americans have not desired to be self-determining but rather that the United States Government has viciously undermined our efforts.

Have a listen at the link below and let me know your impressions. GI

W.E. A.L.L. B.E.: Attorney Gregory Reed Reading From The Missing Chapters Of The Autobiography Of Malcolm X

Notes:

[1] Malcolm X Man and His Times, edited by John Henrik Clarke

[2] A Great and Mighty Walk

[3] Interchange: A. Peter Bailey

[4] Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

[5] See especially Abdul Alkamilat on the dubious aims of humanizing.
[6] Malcolm and NOI members were certainly guilty of deification...of Elijah Muhammad. But that is another story for another time.
[7] Marable expressed his "disappointment" with Reed who only allowed him a very brief look at the "lost" chapters. See The Undiscovered Malcolm X: Stunning New Info on the Assassination @ Democracy Now

Also dig:

Malcolm X and Manning Marable

Bombing for "democracy" in Libya‬‏? One million Libyans say no!

2011-07-02T09:46:00.003-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

A Million People March (BBC says "tens of thousands") in Tripoli to support their leader Gaddafi. The rally is not likely to get much analysis in the western media because the USA-AFRICOM/NATO excuse for removing Gaddafi is that he is "killing his own people" and, presumably, most Libyans want him out--or so we are told. We are not supposed to notice that Gaddafi still has solid support in Libya. Of course none of this is about "the people" or "democracy," its about oil, lots of it and propping up compliant leaders in Libya or a partitioned Libya. And while its distressing to watch the first black president waging a senseless war in an African nation, its not surprising. All American presidents routinely violate the human rights of its citizens [1] and the global community in the service of elite white power.

I stand with Gaddafi...

...and for those Africans who say that Libya is none of our concern, that Libyans are Arabs and anti-black. Remember that your nation might be next if AFRICOM decides they want your resources.

Notes:

1. Despite centuries of black struggle, African Americans were not full citizens in the USA until the 1970s when the Equal Employment and Opportunities Act was passed. Post civil rights, the prison system has become the new slavery plantation. And many Native Americans still live in poverty on "reservations."

Related articles

Is Karma the New/Old "N" Word? Ask the Black Untouchables of India

2011-06-30T08:38:00.012-04:00

Dalit Riders, taking it to the streets, against Hindu caste system (source: http://www.myspace.com/bfnindia/blog/140163894)

The Black "Untouchables" or Dalits of India are arguably the most oppressed people on the planet. In part 3 of a lecture by Dr. Velu Annamalai, he says that karma--a key concept in Hinduism and Buddhism--was invented by Aryan invaders to promote white supremacy and create a permanent black underclass in India [1]

Is Karma--a seemingly commonsense notion of reaping what you sow--the new (actually old) "N" word?

"What the Aryans did [by inventing the Hindu religion], they made us [the Untouchables/Dalits] completely dumb for 3,000 years." Dr. Velu Annamalai

If Dr. Annamalai is correct then it would seem that the karma concept has been the source of the Untouchables' deplorable plight--literally justifying their gross degradation.[2]

According to the African American historian, Runoko Rashidi, there are over 160 million Untouchables in India; [3] they are increasingly becoming more vocal in their opposition to the caste system. [4] What can we do to help? Well for starters we might rethink our uncritical use of the "k"-word and the suffering that it sanctions.

Ohmmmmmmm.

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;ttgggg&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Notes:

[1] According to some sources, the Ancestors of the Untouchables were known as Dravidians. Their original home was the Indus Valley located in modern day Pakistan.

[2] "Two hands and a leg amputated. The remaining limb yet to heal, has turned gangrenous and may also have to be removed. His kidneys have been damaged due to excessive bleeding and he can hardly eat and digest any food. And yet defiance still sparkles in the eyes of Bant Singh, a Dalit agricultural labour activist." Punjab Dalit Solidarity: Bant Singh: Dalit, Defiant, Decapitated (dap @ fara)
[3] http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/caste.html
[4] The Dalit Panthers who fight for their rights‬‏ (dap @ Cam)

Tags: india, hindu, slavery, untouchables

African or American? Black Identity in New York City, 1784-1861 | Reviews in History

2011-06-27T13:40:00.000-04:00

This looks to be an important read. Are we African or American? Can we be both simultaneously? Does one identity cancel the other? What has this debate looked like historically? GI

African or American? Black Identity in New York City, 1784-1861 (A review)

by Leslie Alexander

Chicago, IL, University of Illinois Press, 2008, ISBN: 9780252033360; 288pp.; Price: £33.00;

Reviewer: Bronwen Everill, Kings College London

Citation: Bronwen Everill, review of African or American? Black Identity in New York City, 1784-1861, (review no. 770)URL: http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/770
Date accessed: Mon 20 June 2011 3:07:44 BST

In March 2008, candidate Barack Obama made a speech in Philadelphia articulating his own views on race in the politics of the presidential campaign. In it, he stated that ‘at various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either “too black” or “not black enough”.’(1) Clearly, issues of political and racial identity for African Americans are still both highly relevant and highly contentious today. This makes Leslie Alexander’s tightly knit narrative of the development of two broad African American political identities an important contribution to the growing historiography. It joins such recent titles such as James Sidbury’s Becoming African in America (2), Patrick Rael’s Black Identity and Black Protest in the Antebellum North (3) and Leslie Harris’s In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863.(4) Alexander describes the purpose of her research as examining the conflict between ‘moral uplift’ and African heritage and emigration in the development of political activism and nascent Black Nationalism in New York City. She uses political activists’ speeches from throughout the period, as well as ongoing newspaper discourses, as her primary way into the politics of the black community.

Read more @ Reviews in History

See also:

tags: identity, african american, new york

Snake Gods in the Vodoun ("Voodoo") religion

2011-06-26T09:10:00.003-04:00

I just got back from a study-tour in Ghana-Benin. I have been to Ghana roughly 7 times and Benin 3 times. This trip was a bit different in that I was co-supervising students from my place of employment, Winston-Salem State University. I will share some images from the trip as time permits. GI

Vodoun (so-called "Voodoo") [1] python shrine in Ouidah, Benin.

In the Judeo-Christian western world, snakes are often feared and associated with evil. There are a few exceptions to this general rule. For example, there are white American Charismatics (ACs), mostly in the Appalachians region of the American South, who use live snakes during worship. However, there are a few differences between the ACs and Vodoun snake worshipers. First, AC snake handlers use poisonous snakes[2]. Vodoun devotees use non-poisonous python snakes. Second, as I understand it, ACs do not believe in the divinity of snakes. Rather they view the snake's ability of kill worshipers and the worshiper's life or death fate while handling these venomous snakes as a example of Gods power and as literal manifestations of biblical narrative. But in many parts of the world, including some parts of Africa, snakes are revered as divinities (called "Loas" in Vodou), sacred protectors, and admired for their elegant movements. Vodoun devotees and Aboriginal Australians perform dances that mimic snake movements.[3]

Notes

[1] The more widely known spelling "Voodoo" is considered racist and/or offensive by some Vodoun devotees. Vodoun (there are several alternate spellings) means "spirit" or "God."
[2] In Jesus' Name: Taking Up Serpents

[3] The Vodoun dance is called Yanvalou. See here and here.

Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee: Leonard Peltier Remembers Geronimo Pratt

2011-06-18T10:06:00.000-04:00

Greetings to all my friends and compatriots,

Everyone it seems knows something about Geronimo Pratt. To all of us, to every human being on the planet, he was a beacon of principle that we should all aspire to emulate. To those directly involved in the struggle, he was one of those gifted, tough as nails warriors who not only had the vision to know what was right, but the strength and courage to stick to his convictions no matter the cost. When he had to be, he was a terror to his enemies.

To me, he was a friend and an ally. I met him in jail of course, so many years ago. He always had so much of my respect.

Read more @ Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee

(Dap @ bermudaradical.wordpress.com)

In Defense of Malcolm X

2011-05-15T07:44:00.001-04:00

Davey D, Jared Ball, and Kwame Zulu Shabazz discuss Manning Marable's controversial biography of Malcolm X. Have a listen @ Hard Knock Radio - April 11, 2011 at 4:00pm | KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley: Listener Sponsored Free Speech Radio

tags: manning marable, Malcolm X, sex

also dig:

Obama's "rebels" bad at rebelling but good at killing "black" africans

2011-04-08T03:59:00.000-04:00

Lynch Law and Summary Executions in Rebel-Held Libya

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

“Dozens of Chadians have been ‘singled out’ and ‘executed,’ falsely accused of acting as mercenaries for Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, according to Chad.”

The African nation of Chad has called on Libya’s Euro-American “humanitarian” overseers to protect Chadian citizens from lynching at the hands of rebels backed by the West. The government in N’Djamena, which certainly has no interest in antagonizing the Euro-American juggernaut that has assumed a “responsibility to protect” whomever it designates as “civilians” in the territory of its northern neighbor, issued a formal request for “international coalition forces involved in Libya and international human rights organizations to stop these abuses against Chadians and other migrant Africa workers." Dozens of Chadians have been “singled out” and “executed,” falsely accused of acting as mercenaries for Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, according to Chad, 300,000 of whose citizens were among the 1.5 million black African migrant laborers in Libya at the time of the February revolt.

Numerous reports from migrant workers who escaped from rebel-held areas indicate hundreds of black Africans have been lynched, including black Libyan citizens. (See “Race and Arab Nationalism in Libya,” BAR, March 9.) A Turkish oil worker related an especially horrific account to NPR: “We left behind our friends from Chad. We left behind their bodies,” he said. “We had 70 or 80 people from Chad working for our company. They cut them dead with pruning shears and axes, attacking them, saying you're providing troops for Gadhafi. The Sudanese, the Chadians were massacred. We saw it ourselves.”

Read more @ Black Agenda Report

image source: www.toonpool.com

tags: barack obama, libya, neo-colonialism

Also dig:

Slanderous new book on Malcolm X?

2011-04-07T06:39:00.001-04:00

I agree with Malcolm X's daughters. I love Malcolm X and I love Manning Marable so I have been struggling for over a year trying to understand why Dr. Marable made these very questionable editorial decisions. How would Dr. Marable feel if someone published a letter about the intimate details of his sexual relations with his wife and then called such a story scholarly and newsworthy? I am really having difficulty getting my head around why Dr. Marable and his publishers felt this was acceptable. Is this yet another divide-and-conquer tactic by people who oppose Afrikan freedom, justice and equality? Time will tell. GI

Malcolm X's daughters unhappy with new book

NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Two of Malcolm X's daughters are unhappy that a new biography alleges their parents' marriage was strained and that their mother — and possibly their father — were unfaithful.
The marriage "was definitely faithful and devoted because my father was a man of impeccable integrity, and I think that most people, if they're not clear on anything, they're clear that he was moral and ethical and had impeccable character," Ilyasah Shabazz said Wednesday.

Ilyasah and Malaak Shabazz spoke to The Associated Press about "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention." Author Manning Marable, a highly respected scholar who worked for more than 20 years on the book, died last week of complications of pneumonia just before publication. Malcolm X's daughters did not speak to Marable for the book, which draws upon thousands of interviews, government documents and private papers.

Tags: Malcolm X, El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, Betty Shabazz, Manning Marable

Also dig:

Obama kills children in Libya

2011-04-04T19:32:00.002-04:00

Obama is now officially a baby killer in Libya. He joins the esteemed company of Ronald Reagan whom he admires so much. In 1986, Ronald Reagan ordered a bombing run in Tripoli that killed Gaddafi's 3 year old daughter.

Read the story @ BBC News - Libya: Coalition air strike 'killed seven civilians'

Reunited and it feels so good.

Also dig:

Tags: barack obama, libya, muammar gaddafi, ronald reagan, weapons of mass destruction, missile diplomacy

"The myth of the black love deficit"

2011-04-04T11:51:00.002-04:00

Great class today! We wrapped our dialogue on Black Love and Beauty. Today we discussed a short essay by Lerone Bennett Jr. called The Roots of Black Love. Bennett challenges "the myth of the Black Love deficit"-- commonly held views that plantation slavery and Jim Crow destroyed black intimacy and led directly to contemporary social challenges in the Black community like single-parent households, high divorce rates, absent fathers and so on. Last week we discussed effeminization, sexuality, hair politics, hyper-masculinity, the "cool pose" and Malcolm X on self love and loving Africa.

You can read the Bennett essay @ Ebony - Google Books

Tags: Black Love, african american,

Also dig:

"My Last Will and Testament": A Love Letter to Black People by Mary McCleod Bethune

Who's your Mama? African Eve

2011-04-03T01:31:00.000-04:00

a breathtaking presentation of the story of the genesis of humankind as it evolved from one African woman . . . and her daughters . . . and her Granddaughters.

Read more and view the African Eve video @ www.terryhowcott.com

Image Source: http://faculty.mdc.edu/jmcnair/EDG2701%20All%20Classes/Race.html

tags: genetics, biological anthropology, race

also dig:

Black Radical Quote of the Day #1- Queen Mother Moore (1898-1996)

2011-03-22T03:31:00.000-04:00

"Those who seek temporary security rather than basic liberty deserve neither.... We began to talk about wanting to be first class citizens. We didn't want to be second class citizens. You would have sworn that second class was in the Constitution. Also that citizens have to fight for rights. Imagine a citizen having to fight for civil rights! The very thought of it is repulsive. And I resent it and I reject this citizenship that was imposed on me. From the bottom of my heart I reject it. This is the thing that motivates me and keeps me going."

Sonia Sanchez with Queen Mother Moore (photo credit: http://www.margaretrandall.org)

tags: queen mother moore, black freedom movement, pan african, pan-African cultural nationalism, african women

Also dig:

Africans, Hitler, and the Holocaust

2011-03-18T20:34:00.000-04:00

Many of us never would know that Black people were murdered - exterminated - and sterilized (and we can assume assaulted and victimized in myriad ways) during the holocaust.

Read post @ www.terryhowcott.com – Ravaged Cultures

tags: holocaust, germany, imperialism

See also:

R. Kelly...the pan-Africanist?

2011-03-16T15:28:00.000-04:00

If only we can get an African-owned pan-African record label.

R. Kelly backs African supergroup tipped for global stardom

(CNN) -- Eight African musical superstars have joined forces, on a mission to share their continent's music with a global audience.

They have formed a pan-African supergroup, called ONE8, which has been tipped as one to watch this year by U.S.-based Billboard magazine -- the music industry's bible on what's hot and what's not.
The group is set to release its debut album next month.

The ambitious project has brought together diverse musicians from eight African countries, many of whom are huge in their homeland but relatively unknown elsewhere.

"It's new urban Africa, it's fresh, it's liberating and most importantly it's positive," said ONE8's Amani, a Kenyan singer who won the MTV African Music Award for Best Female Artist in 2009.

"There is a more optimistic and positive generation now in Africa and you can feel that in the music, you can feel that in the culture," she added.

"I think it's time that the world got introduced to that vibe right now because it's different."
Besides Amani, ONE8 consists of Nigerian R&B singer 2Face, Zambian singer JK, Ugandan hip-hop star Navio, Tanzanian bongo superstar Alikiba, Ghanaian hip-hop trio 4X4, singer Fally Ipupa, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabonese rapper Movaizhaleine.

The group made its debut in November last year when U.S. singer R. Kelly wrote and produced its first single, "Hands Across the World."

Read entire story @ CNN.com

Also dig:

Black brilliance is a perennial threat white supremacy

2011-03-14T22:41:00.005-04:00

One of the greatest Americans of any era, Mr. Paul Robeson. Robeson was constantly harassed, driven to a nervous breakdown and poisoned by the US govt. Read about this incredible human being and Freedom Fighter @ www.terryhowcott.com – Ravaged Cultures

tags: african american, black freedom movement, communism, heroes, paul robeson, terry howcott

image credit: cpsr.cs.uchicago.edu

See also:

"Black" Africans hiding from racist "rebels" in Libya

2011-03-14T05:55:00.002-04:00

Aljazeera report on Black immigrants stuck in Libya and in fear of their lives. Early on I felt Gaddafi might be at least partially responsible for fomenting this situation, but I don't think I can blame Gaddafi for these assaults. The immigrants were apparently making a go of it until anti-Gaddafi factions began generalized racist attacks on "blacks" perceived to be Gaddafi supporters.

One interviewee seems to agree with the rumors claiming Gaddafi hired what some in the media have called "black African mercenaries." But I take that to mean that Gaddafi has recruited lots of reinforcements, including black reinforcements. "Blacks" in Libya have become easy targets of anti-Gaddafi rage. These racist attacks aside, I think it is worth noting that, as far as I can tell--and it is impossible to know for certain-- most of the dead in Libya are not "black" Africans, they are "Arabs" and "Berbers." View the video @ YouTube - Libya: Scared and in Hiding

Also see:

Hiplife and the Power of the African Gods

2011-03-13T09:49:00.006-04:00

image source: http://www.ghanaflash.com/

Great video by hiplife (Ghanaian hiphop) artist Obour [1][2][3]. Click here to view video from Facebook.

The video has lots of evocative imagery about the power of African spirituality[4] (along with Japanese Samurai and Indian Hindu images). It strikes me as a counterpoint to an annoying trend in Nollywood (Nigerian) films which featured stereotypical depictions of African Traditional Religions being used for evil or to inflict harm. The "evil" African religion was always triumphed over by the benevolent power of the Holy Ghost [5][6].

I am also reminded of a recent conversation I had with a Ghanaian friend:

ghetto intellectual: So you mean you would never go to a [traditional religion] shrine?

Akos: Eiiii! Kwame, you talk about such things too much! People go to the shrines to do evil.

GI: You mean the shrines are only for evil?

Akos: Yes!

GI: Africans go to the shrine to ask for long life. Is that bad?

Akos: No.

GI: Africans go to the shrine to request bountiful crops. Is that bad?

Akos: No.

GI: Africans go to the shrine to pray for good health. Is that bad?

Akos: No.

GI: You see? I think you will agree that African religion is not always used for bad. Also note the implication that our Ancestors were engaged in evil acts before the coming of the white man and Christianity.

Akos: Yes...I even recall my grandmother leaving food at a shrine for good health. I'm not sure if the Gods actually ate the food, but I see your point. African religion was not always used for evil.

GI: Yes. All religions have been used for good and bad. Christianity is no different. In fact the whites annihilated people all over the planet in the name of the Christian God.

Now I don't imagine that "Akos" is planning on abandoning Christianity. But I think its really important that we challenge these negative depictions of indigenous African ritual life that have been internalized and perpetuated by us Africans. It is good to see Obour taking up the challenge too.

Notes:

[1] Official Website of Obour
[2] Another great tune by Obour, in collaboration with Samini (then known as "Batman"), is Konkontiba (Tadpole). This tune is about a tadpole growing into a frog--a clever metaphor that is actually a critique of ageism or the gerontocracy (overrule of elders) in Ghana. The message is that young people should be given a chance to do big things.
[3] Obour "Youth for presidency campaign"
[4] Another good vid is Congo-based: Baloji feat Konono n 1 - Karibu ya bintou
[5] MARRIED TO A WITCH is one of numerous examples of "good" Christianity/"bad" African religion themes. It also happens to be an entertaining movie so check it out.

[6] For a good critique of this tendency in Nollywood, have a look at the essay The Near Nullity of Nollywood - Making African Movies by Unoma Azuah. Note the essay is a few years old. Nollyhood is slowly moving away from this theme. I should note too that from what I have heard, Yoruba language films depict African spirituality in a far more favorable light.

tags: African traditional religion, Christianity, film, media, nollywood, stereotypes, Nigeria, ghana, gerontocracy

Opera Diva, Shirley Verrett, makes her transition

2011-03-09T00:46:00.004-05:00

I don't actually know anything about opera but I did want to mark the passing of this remarkable woman, Shirley Verrett, who happened to be a distant cousin of mine. Ms. Verrett made her transition on 5 November 2010. She was 79.

she looks a bit like my mom in this pic

If viewing from Facebook, click here.

tags: shirley verrett, music, new orleans, los angeles

Also see:

Pan African Genetics: The children of Kwame and Fathia Nkrumah

2011-03-06T19:55:00.006-05:00

(Photo credit: kwame zulu shabazz) Children of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Fathia Nkrumah (nee Rizk). From left to right: Francis Nkrumah, Gamal Nkrumah, Fakry Halim Rizk (brother of Nkrumah's wife Fathia), Samia Yaba Nkrumah, Sekou Nkrumah. I took this photo at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park during the interment of Nkrumah's wife, Fathia.

The children of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Fathia Nkrumah (nee Rizk) attending the funeral for Fathia who made her transition in 2007. Fathia was a Coptic Christian from Egypt. Nkrumah was so dedicated to African unity that even his marriage was, in part, a political statement about unifying North Africa and Africa south of the Sahara--pan Africanism in miniature, to turn a phrase from Karl Marx. Nkrumah's marriage to Fathia caused quite an uproar in Ghana, but she eventually gained the respect of Ghanaian citizens.

Their daughter, Samia, formerly residing in Italy, has recently returned to Ghana and is a parliamentarian for Nkroful, Western Region, the birthplace of her father. Samia is, I believe, the only parliamentarian from the Convention People's Party (CPP) to win a seat in govt. this election cycle. The once invincible CPP party was founded by Kwame Nkrumah, but it has no political influence in Ghana currently. Samia has vowed to help reinvigorate the CPP and carry on the pan-African aims of her father. kzs


Samia Nkrumah (photo credit: voice of nana fosu)

Fathia Nkrumah, W.E.B. Du Bois, Kwame Nkrumah

Fathia, W.E.B. Du Bois, Kwame Nkrumah, Shirley Graham Du Bois

Fathia Nkrumah in Egypt

tags: egypt, Fathia Nkrumah, ghana, kwame nkrumah, samia nkrumah

See also:

The ties that bind Ghanaians and Africans in America

2011-03-06T15:58:00.007-05:00

Wishing Ghana a Happy 54th birthday! Ghana was the first nation south of the Sahara to gain independence from colonialism. Well, technically, Sudan gained its independence on 1 January, 1956, I think. I have never been quite clear as to why we always cite Ghana. Perhaps it has something to do with Sudan's dual identity as both "Arab-African" and "Black-African." Ghana's identity is less ambiguous.

Anywho, below is a great essay penned by the Vice President of Ghana, John Mahama. That alone should be reason to celebrate. It is very rare for an African leader to weigh in on the pan-African ties that bind Africa and Africans in America. And, as fate would have it, the African leader who has been most vocal about African unity in recent years is the embattled leader of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi. GI

Malcolm X and Maya Angelou in Ghana

Published on The Root (http://www.theroot.com)

Your Take: The Bridge Between Ghana and Black America

By: John Dramani Mahama, Vice President of Ghana

As Ghana celebrates its independence from colonial rule 54 years ago, its vice president takes time to note the link between his country's liberation struggle and the U.S. civil rights movement.

At the stroke of midnight on March 6, 1957, as the new day began, so, too, began a new nation. It was the moment at which the Union Jack was replaced with a flag of red, gold and green with a distinctive black star at is center. The British-ruled Gold Coast was now a self-ruled country, Ghana -- the first sub-Saharan nation to claim its independence from colonialism.

It was a historic event, heralded as the force that urged other sub-Saharan African nations forward in their quests for liberation. What is not as widely discussed is the impact that Ghana's independence also had on America's civil rights movement, or the impact that black America had on Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the man who would ultimately lead his country to freedom.

Most African intellectuals of that era completed their tertiary and postgraduate education in Europe. It was customary, if not expected. Ever the visionary, Nkrumah set his sights on America. He enrolled in Lincoln University, which has the distinction of being one of America's oldest historically black colleges. There he studied economics, sociology and theology; he also received an informal education in the politics of race and the plight of black people in America.

When Nkrumah was not in school in Philadelphia, he lived in Harlem, N.Y., where he earned a meager living by working such odd jobs as selling fish on the streets and waiting tables on merchant ships. Nkrumah frequented black churches in Harlem and Philadelphia. He aligned himself with black political organizations such as the NAACP, where he met and began working with the scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, who quickly became a mentor to Nkrumah.

Upon completing his studies at Lincoln University, Nkrumah attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned master's degrees in education and philosophy. It was there that an already politicized Kwame Nkrumah began to shape his ideas of Pan-Africanism as well as his vision for a liberated and unified continent, a place to which all people of African descent in the Diaspora could return, and a place they could consider home.

Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican activist who advocated black self-reliance in the United States, was another instrumental figure in Nkrumah's life and education. "But I think," Nkrumah noted in his autobiography, "that of all the literature that I studied, the book that did more than any other to fire my enthusiasm was Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey. Garvey, with his philosophy of 'Africa for Africans' and his 'Back to Africa' movement, did much to inspire the Negroes of America in the 1920s."

Read the entire essay @ Independence & Black America

image source: creative life works

tags: ghana, african american, pan african, John Dramani Mahama, kwame nkrumah, w.e.b. du bois

See also:

Libya, Getting it Right: A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective | Black Agenda Report

2011-03-03T08:29:00.002-05:00

Is Gaddafi : (1) a friend or a (2) foe of the pan-Afrikan world? (3) Is he just opportunistic? Or is he (4) a complicated amalgam of all of these? This essay argues for # 1 but I am leaning more towards #4. GI

Muammar Gaddafi during happier times throwing up deuces

Libya, Getting it Right: A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective

by Gerald A. Perreira

Thousands of Indians, Egyptians, Chinese, Filipinos, Turks, Germans, English, Italians, Malaysians, Koreans and a host of other nationalities are lining up at the borders and the airport to leave Libya. It begs the question: What were they doing in Libya in the first place? Unemployment figures, according to the Western media and Al Jazeera, are at 30%. If this is so, then why all these foreign workers?

For those of us who have lived and worked in Libya, there are many complexities to the current situation that have been completely overlooked by the Western media and 'Westoxicated' analysts, who have nothing other than a Eurocentric perspective to draw on. Let us be clear - there is no possibility of understanding what is happening in Libya within a Eurocentric framework. Westerners are incapable of understanding a system unless the system emanates from or is attached in some way to the West. Libya's system and the battle now taking place on its soil, stands completely outside of the Western imagination.

News coverage by the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera has been oversimplified and misleading. An array of anti-Qaddafi spokespersons, most living outside Libya, have been paraded in front of us – each one clearly a counter-revolutionary and less credible than the last. Despite the clear and irrefutable evidence from the beginning of these protests that Muammar Qaddafi had considerable support both inside Libya and internationally, not one pro-Qaddafi voice has been allowed to air. The media and their selected commentators have done their best to manufacture an opinion that Libya is essentially the same as Egypt and Tunisia and that Qaddafi is just another tyrant amassing large sums of money in Swiss bank accounts. But no matter how hard they try, they cannot make Qaddafi into a Mubarak or Libya into Egypt.

“Libya's system and the battle now taking place on its soil, stands completely outside of the Western imagination.”

The first question is: Is the revolt taking place in Libya fuelled by a concern over economic issues such as poverty and unemployment as the media would have us believe? Let us examine the facts.

Under the revolutionary leadership of Muammar Qaddafi, Libya has attained the highest standard of living in Africa. In 2007, in an article which appeared in the African Executive Magazine, Norah Owaraga noted that Libya, “unlike other oil producing countries such as Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, utilized the revenue from its oil to develop its country. The standard of living of the people of Libya is one of the highest in Africa, falling in the category of countries with a GNP per capita of between USD 2,200 and 6,000.”

Read entire essay @ Black Agenda Report

tags: libya, black africa, arab africa, cultural imperialism

See also:

Kevin Alexander Gray: Obama and Egyptian Liberation

2011-02-17T03:34:00.002-05:00

This piece by Kevin Alexander Gray was written before Mubarak stepped down but its still a good read. The question I have is this: Can a black imperial president (Obama) ever be anything other than hypocritical? GI

President Barack Obama needs to stop being two-faced on Egypt.

On one side of his public face he gives the impression of pressing Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak to consider his legacy and “leave power in a way that would give his country the best chance for peace and democracy.”

But then he sent presidential envoy Frank Wisner to Cairo, who later publicly urged Mubarak to remain in power, saying, “President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical.”

In the realpolitik world of Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton it made sense to send someone Mubarak knew to deliver their message. Wisner’s Washington-based law firm, Patton Boggs works for the dictator's government.

After being called out on the Egyptian streets for Wisner’s comments the Administration put out that his comments “were his own” as though Wisner were some “disavowed” member of the mythical “IMF” - Impossible Missions Force.

Yet tossing Wisner into the fray is consistent with Clinton’s initial expression of “confidence in the stability of his [Mubarak] regime” and Vice-President Joe Biden saying, “I would not refer to him as a dictator.”

Even so, it leaves Obama (and the rest of world) where we started out – what’s the United States’ response to the unraveling of neo-colonialism?

Obama should consider his own legacy and let the American people know whose side he’s on: the dictator’s, or those who clamor courageously for democracy.

The most often used word coming from the Obama Administration is “transition” which suggests they are biding their time. Which boils down to what Egyptians protesters clearly see, feel and hear. That U.S. officials “speak about their own interest, not ours.” Another said: “Tell America that we get to choose our president . . . not them.” Yet another opined: “We believe America is against us.”

Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has blasted Obama’s stance by saying: “To ask a dictator to implement democratic measures after thirty years in power is an oxymoron. It will not end until he leaves.”

Read More @ Counterpunch

Journey through Kuumba (Creativity) by Nzingah — Kickstarter

2011-01-30T10:13:00.001-05:00

Please give generously to this great art program for "at risk" Florida youth, led by Nzingah Oniwosan.

If viewing from FB, click here to view video.

tags: art, kuumba, florida, youth

Where is Phylicia Simone Barnes? Young black teen missing in Baltimore

2011-01-19T08:50:00.003-05:00

Missing Person: Phylicia Simone Barnes, 16 year old female. Last seen @ 6500 block of Eberle Dr. If located call 911.

**BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT**
seeks your help in locating a missing "at risk" person:

Phylicia Simone Barnes
F/B/16/1-12-94)
5'8 / 120 LBS

Last seen: 6500 block of Eberle Dr.

The Baltimore Police Department needs your help in locating a the above listed missing person. She was last seen on 28 DEC 10 at 1330 hrs. She was last seen at 6520 Eberle Dr. Apt. 101. She was wearing navy blue pea coat with hood, turquoise thermal shirt, blue jeans, white slippers/boots, and a caramel colored purse.

Anyone with information, please contact 911.

***

African American teen, Phylicia Simone Barnes, has been missing since Christmas Day, 2010, from the Baltimore area. Local police officials have publicly aired their dissatisfaction with the dearth of national media coverage of the case and have suggested that racism might explain the lack of national interest.[1] Research on racism in the news media seems to verify these concerns [2][3]. Understandably Ms. Barnes's mother is downplaying the racism issue; she views it as a distraction from the efforts to find her missing daughter.[4] GI

Ghetto Notes:

[1] Police: National Media Needed in Search for Missing North Carolina Teen Phylicia Barnes
[2] Mass Media and Racism by Stephen Balkaran
[3] Racism and Mainstream Media by John Cohen
[4] Hulu - NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams: Search Continues for Phylicia Barnes

Media criticized on response to case of missing N.C. teen

Story not getting much play because she's black? Mother pleads for help

NBC News and news services
updated 1/18/2011 8:58:37 PM ET 2011-01-19T01:58:37

MONROE, N.C. — The mother of a missing North Carolina teen is pleading for information about her 16-year-old daughter in a case police say might have gained more media attention if the girl had been white.

Phylicia Simone Barnes disappeared while spending Christmas break with relatives in Baltimore, her mother, Janice Sallis of Monroe, N.C., told NBC News on Tuesday.

She last talked to Phylicia on Christmas Day, just three days before she disappeared from her half-sister's apartment in northwest Baltimore.

"I told her how sad that I was because all of the children were gone and that next year, they're not going to be able to go because I was lonely without them. And she said, 'Mommy, I miss you, too,'" Sallis said.

Her disappearance has been reported in local media, NBC's TODAY show and CNN. But a Baltimore police official told NBC News that had the missing person been white, the case might have received even more media attention, perhaps aiding investigators in finding a suspect.

"I think the question has to be asked. It's not my position, I don't know what goes into these decisions, but this is Baltimore's Natalee Holloway case," said Anthony Guglielmi, spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department. Holloway, then 18, disappeared in 2005 while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba. Her remains have never been found.

Guglielmi said he and "the commander of the homicide unit had been prepared to go on CNN's Nancy Grace but got bumped for an hour-long report on a missing Texas cheerleader," The Baltimore Sun reported.

"Day two, day three, when we were putting information out about Phylicia's disappearance, we were talking about birds falling out of the sky in Arkansas," Guglielmi said in an interview with CNN, The Charlotte Observer reported. "And this girl's in danger. And she needs help. And it was very frustrating for my office to see an anemic response from our national media partners."

Nearly 100 officers — from city, state and federal agencies — joined in the search for Phylicia, a popular, straight-A student who was reported missing Dec. 28. There has been no sign of her since. No cell phone calls or use, no use of her credit cards, and no updates to her Facebook page.

Guglielmi said detectives believe the teen may have been abducted, in part because of items she left at the apartment. Police described the apartment as a flop-house for college students. Janice Sallis told a North Carolina newspaper that at least 20 men had stayed at the house during her child's stay,

"We're doing everything we can do," Guglielmi told The Baltimore Sun. "We're basically at square one with the investigation. It's not like we have forensic evidence to guide us. The key here will be community intelligence."

Barnes is from Monroe, N.C., about 25 miles southeast of Charlotte. Her mother said her daughter was on track to graduate early from a charter school and had been applying to colleges.

Two congressmen also pleaded to the public to help solve the disappearance. Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Larry Kissell of North Carolina issued a joint statement asking the public to contact Baltimore police immediately with any information about Barnes' whereabouts.

Source: Missing teen: Ignored because she's black? msnbc.com

Missing teen Phylicia Simone Barnes

tags: baltimore, missing but not forgotten, north carolina

"God, you are darker!": the fear of blackness in the land of the blacks (Sudan)

2011-01-18T06:09:00.001-05:00

I pinched this from the good folks at Afro Spear. Its a short essay, written by a Sudanese sister, about the preference in Sudan for light complexion and straight hair. This is a near-universal challenge for African people. GI


Abang Othow, South Sudanese model (image source: http://abagond.wordpress.com)

Dark-Skin and Afros- Our worst nightmare

I’m not going to generalize this to all Africans. I’m going to speak about my nation. Inferiority complex is implanted in every Sudanese. We constantly bring ourselvesdown. We dislike ourselves. We are always trying to be something we are not. We view ourselves as inferior and others as superior. We need to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery!

The dream of the average Sudanese girl is to marry well and have a lighter skin. Lighter skin is viewed as beautiful (Sudan is not the only one in this case!). We bleach our skins, use lightening creams and use harmful skin-damaging products as long as we become “lighter”.

Also dig:

tags: aesthetics, race, Sudan, internalized racism

How America Killed Africa: The assassination of Patrice Lumumba remembered

2011-01-17T22:07:00.006-05:00

Whenever I read about the US government's assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first democratic leader of Congo, I get very angry. America must eventually stand before the World Court or some other authority and answer for its many crimes against Africa, African Americans, and Black World generally. GI

Patrice Lumumba (2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961). Photo credit: life.com

January 16, 2011
An Assassination’s Long Shadow
By ADAM HOCHSCHILD (for the New York Times)

San Francisco

TODAY, millions of people on another continent are observing the 50th anniversary of an event few Americans remember, the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. A slight, goateed man with black, half-framed glasses, the 35-year-old Lumumba was the first democratically chosen leader of the vast country, nearly as large as the United States east of the Mississippi, now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This treasure house of natural resources had been a colony of Belgium, which for decades had made no plans for independence. But after clashes with Congolese nationalists, the Belgians hastily arranged the first national election in 1960, and in June of that year King Baudouin arrived to formally give the territory its freedom.

“It is now up to you, gentlemen,” he arrogantly told Congolese dignitaries, “to show that you are worthy of our confidence.”

The Belgians, and their European and American fellow investors, expected to continue collecting profits from Congo’s factories, plantations and lucrative mines, which produced diamonds, gold, uranium, copper and more. But they had not planned on Lumumba.

A dramatic, angry speech he gave in reply to Baudouin brought Congolese legislators to their feet cheering, left the king startled and frowning and caught the world’s attention. Lumumba spoke forcefully of the violence and humiliations of colonialism, from the ruthless theft of African land to the way that French-speaking colonists talked to Africans as adults do to children, using the familiar “tu” instead of the formal “vous.” Political independence was not enough, he said; Africans had to also benefit from the great wealth in their soil.

With no experience of self-rule and an empty treasury, his huge country was soon in turmoil. After failing to get aid from the United States, Lumumba declared he would turn to the Soviet Union. Thousands of Belgian officials who lingered on did their best to sabotage things: their code word for Lumumba in military radio transmissions was “Satan.” Shortly after he took office as prime minister, the C.I.A., with White House approval, ordered his assassination and dispatched an undercover agent with poison.

The would-be poisoners could not get close enough to Lumumba to do the job, so instead the United States and Belgium covertly funneled cash and aid to rival politicians who seized power and arrested the prime minister. Fearful of revolt by Lumumba’s supporters if he died in their hands, the new Congolese leaders ordered him flown to the copper-rich Katanga region in the country’s south, whose secession Belgium had just helped orchestrate. There, on Jan. 17, 1961, after being beaten and tortured, he was shot. It was a chilling moment that set off street demonstrations in many countries.

Read entire essay @ In Congo, an Assassination’s Long Shadow - NYTimes.com

tags: congo, central intelligence agency, belgium, geopolitics

Also dig:

World's first recorded Afrocentric statement was uttered by a white man

2011-01-08T19:10:00.011-05:00

Constantin-François Volney (Afrocentric scholars generally know him as Count Volney) was a member of the ~~marauders~~ scientific team that accompanied Napolean Bonaparte's invasion/expedition of/to Egypt in 1798.[1] Volney, as it turns out, was a keen observer.

What did he say?

He said the ancient Egyptians were Africans and that Africa was the root all other civilized life on the planet. He remarked on the irony of Afrophobic Europeans when it was Africans who gave civilization to the world.

Why is this the first recorded Afrocentric statement?

(1) "Africa is the mother of civilization" is a classic Afrocentric statement.

(2) Relinking stereotypically black Africans with ancient Egypt is a key aim of Afrocentric thought.

(3) Blacks or Africans did not see themselves as a single people (pan-African). This idea originated with Europeans (and perhaps Arabs before them) who saw Blacks/Africans as a single inferior group. Enslaved Africans and so-called "free blacks" in the New World take up the idea in the 1700s and use it as a weapon of collective resistance. The notion of a collective African identity does not take root among Africans in Africa until several decades later. GI

The Ruins, Or, A Survey of the Revolutions of Empires (Or Ruins of Empire) by Constantin-François Volney

It was there, that a people, now obsolete and forgotten, discovered the elementary principles of science and of the arts, at a period when all others lived in an uncivilized slate of barbarism; it was there that a race, (now regarded as the refuse and outcast of society, because forsooth their hair is naturally frizzled and wooly, and their skin black,) studied the laws and phenomena of nature, and borrowed from thence the archetype and model of those civil and religious systems, which still obtain, with some variation, in every nation of the globe.

[1] Napoleon and the Scientific Expedition to Egypt | Linda Hall Library

You can download the entire book here.

Picture Credit: Virtualology

tags: afrocentric, constantine volney, egypt, france

Also see:

"My Last Will and Testament": A Love Letter to Black People by Mary McCleod Bethune

2011-01-07T06:06:00.001-05:00

Mary McCleod Bethune (1875-1955). Educator, Freedom Fighter, Founder in 1904 of what is now Bethune-Cookman University

Read essay @ Google Books (dap @ Elder Akile)

Also see:

tags: bethune-cookman university, black freedom movement, education, hbcu, mary mccleod bethune

The Association of Black Anthropologists "Focus on Haiti"

2011-01-05T00:33:00.005-05:00

Anténor Firmin. Ayisyen anthropologist and revolutionary (1850-1911). Image credit: Black Scholars Index

Peace. I have been intending to plug this new webpage on Ayiti (Haiti) maintained by the Association of Black Anthropologists (ABA), so here it is. Have a look and let them know what you think. GI

View webpage @ Focus on Haiti

also dig:

tags: haiti, anthropology, association of black anthropologists

Theme song for Nia (Purpose), day 5 of Kwanzaa: The Creator Has a Master Plan

2010-12-30T09:18:00.002-05:00

Pharoah Sanders (source: all about jazz)

Peace all. For day 5 of Kwanzaa, Nia (Purpose), the Ancestors sent along this theme song, The Creator Has a Master Plan, by jazz great Mr. Pharoah Sanders. I choose this pic of Pharaoh because it reminds me of my uncle, Mr. Herbert Verrette, of New Orleans. Uncle Herbert was himself a great artist but because of many bad breaks he shined shoes for most of his life. GI

To view videos from Facebook Notes, click here.

Here is a live version by the Donald Smith/Salim Washington ensemble.

tags: herbert verrette, jazz, kwanzaa, music, new orleans, nia, pharoah sanders

Support science for our youth!

2010-12-29T17:36:00.002-05:00

Image source: Jupiter Images

Ruby Olisemeka needs your support. She has put together a science program for children called Green Scientist. Her aim is to use the Green Scientist module in the US and, eventually, in Africa. Her initiative is up for competitive funding. All you have to do is take a look at the summary here and, if you like it, click to vote for her project. Voting ends in less than 3 days. GI

GREEN SCIENTIST

Goals

Teach and expose young children to basic Science and Sustainability concepts in a fun, hands on and creative way.

Description

Explore everything! Connect topics, have fun! Love science, love creation add a teensy dash of alchemy and voila! Green scientist. The program is designed or children ages 4-7, however we have begun to include children ages 7-11. The green scientists program is principally a hands on learning experience and all experiments are designed to mainly use sustainable products and recyclable products, for instance when we paint we opt for milk paints or make our own from materials in the kitchen and garden. As well as striving to use a minimum of 65% sustainable/recyclable/reusable materials for experiments, every experiment must tie into a ecological or sustainable concept. For example when we study pH we relate it to planetary water systems that are undergoing pH shifts, we make our own indicators from materials sourced in a garden or supermarket. The program is taught in modules, first module which includes up to a 150+ experiments and activities (and counting) is entitled foundations. The square being the ultimate symbol for a foundation, we use the symbolism of Aristotle‘s square, earth, water, air and fire as topic start points. These four "elements" are in essence the foundation of what we call material existence, you see this when the "elements" are rewritten as solid, liquid, gas and energy. Experiments revolve around understanding each "element" and how they intersect to bring us a superior quality of life. For instance fire experiments revolve around understanding the EM spectrum, sustainable energy harvesting, basic electronics; earth experiments revolve around botany, sustainable agriculture & geology. All students are currently at module 1, there are 7 modules in total. Yes it‘s a lot of fun, and we have only just started!

Obama takes break from imperialism to extend Kwanzaa greetings

2010-12-28T05:48:00.009-05:00

The Obama's (source: infotainment news)

Editor's note: I feel kinda weird posting a pic of a beautiful Black family and then criticizing the Black man of the (white) house but duty calls. GI
***
These statements are obviously more symbolic than meaningful. His 2010 message is very short. If you remove the obligatory description of Kwanzaa its a whopping two sentences long. Very short for a professor president. The 2009 statement was more substantive and George Bush's 2008 statement is the only one that actually mentions African culture (Bush could care less about Kwanzaa which just goes to show you that the messages don't mean much). [1]

The point of Kwanzaa is not that we are all Americans but rather that we celebrate and honor our African heritage. But this statement pretty much sums up Obama's limitations. He did a similar trick in Ghana. The transatlantic slave trade suddenly became the Jewish Holocaust.[2] Likewise Kwanzaa gets reduced to "American" and "American" really means white. And if we are all just an undifferentiated mass of "Americans" then African Americans have no special grievances.

Second, the implication is disingenuous. Obama doesn't serve the interests of Americans. He serves at the behest of wealthy elite white people like all other presidents.That formula will never change until we, African Americans, get up the courage to build a viable third party.

African Americans imagine that jazz concerts[3] at the White House or official Kwanzaa statements means that we are "in," that Obama's ascendancy is an indicator of black progress. But I think his presidency has been harmful in the sense that we are more likely to condone things like grossly belligerent foreign policy objectives and we concede any sort of progressive domestic agenda for fear undermining the first black President.[4]

NOTES

[1] Obama 2009, Bush 2008 Kwanzaa statements.

[2] Obama discusses the African American experience of slavery with Anderson Cooper in Ghana.
[3] YouTube - The First Lady Introduces the White House Jazz Studio

[4] This paragraph was inserted on 28 December after the original post. kzs

Statement by the President and First Lady on Kwanzaa

Michelle and I extend our warmest thoughts and wishes to all those who are celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season. Today [26 December] is the first of a joyful seven-day celebration of African American culture and heritage. The seven principles of Kwanzaa -- Unity, Self Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith -- are some of the very values that make us Americans.

As families across America and around the world light the Kinara today in the spirit of umoja or unity, our family sends our well wishes and blessings for a happy and healthy new year.

source: The White House

tags: kwanzaa, barack obama, afrocentric, ancestors, ghana, slavery

Also dig:

OJ'd in NY: Patterson gives white supremacy the gubernatorial middle finger

2010-12-25T21:50:00.001-05:00

The finger

NY governor commutes prison sentence in fatal shooting - CNN.com

By Jesse Solomon, CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: John White says of his sentence being commuted: "It's a blessed day"
Gov. Paterson said he wanted to lessen the suffering after "this tragic event"
John White shot Daniel Cicciaro in 2006 during an altercation at his home
The shooting stemmed from a dispute between White's son and a group of white youths

New York (CNN) -- Gov. David A. Paterson commuted the prison sentence Thursday of a man convicted of killing an unarmed teenage boy during a racially charged confrontation, officials said.
John White was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the shooting death of 17-year-old Daniel Cicciaro and was sentenced to up to four years in prison.

"It's a blessed day, it truly is," White told CNN affiliate WPIX. "I want to thank my savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I also want to thank the governor for making this happen today."
He had served approximately five months in prison before Paterson allowed his release on Thursday, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas J. Spota.
Paterson said in a written statement: "My decision today may be an affront to some and a joy to others, but my objective is only to seek to ameliorate the profound suffering that occurred as a result of this tragic event."

But the move was criticized by prosecutors who helped put White behind bars.
"I strongly believe the governor should have had the decency and the compassion to at least contact the victim's family to allow them to be heard before commuting the defendant's sentence," said Spota, whose office prosecuted White.

Read entire story @ CNN.com

tags: the finger, white supremacy, new york, david a. patterson, gubernatorial nullification

The Invention of "Illegal" Humans: a Recipe for Imperialism in Haiti

2010-12-24T17:27:00.007-05:00

"Illegal Aliens are undocumented Humans" (source: Life)

A recipe for American imperialism in Ayiti (Haiti)

1. deny our people democracy and freedom in their own nation by way of numerous occupations.

2. steal their resources.

3. kidnap their president.

4. once you have caused optimal havoc,

5. ship Ayisyens (Haitians) back to the mess you helped create.

For added flavor:

6. A Black president can select G.W.Bush and Bill Clinton to supervise the "rebuilding" effort.

Yes comrades, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.GI

Neo-Washington Consensus. Enemies of Haitian Progress

(dap @ JP for story below)

60,000 Haitians apply for temporary stay in U.S. - CTV News

The Associated Press

Updated: Mon. Dec. 20 2010 9:17 PM ET

MIAMI — Haitian advocates angrily called on the Obama administration on Monday to stop detaining Haitians with criminal records and halt deportations scheduled next month, saying those flights amount to a death sentence amid a cholera outbreak in the earthquake-ravaged country.

The U.S. government's abrupt decision to resume deporting Haitians also will deter others without criminal records from applying to temporarily stay and work in the U.S., cutting off a lifeline to quake survivors, they said at a rally in Miami's Little Haiti.

"Without letting us know they'll resume deportations to Haiti, at a time when Haiti is living under its gravest crisis, it's so unfair," said Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami. "It's supposed to be a progressive government. We're gravely disappointed by this."

More than 61,000 Haitians have applied for temporary protected status, which allows illegal immigrants from countries experiencing armed conflict or environmental disasters to stay and work in the U.S. for 18 months. Only those who were already living in the U.S. illegally when the earthquake struck Jan. 12 are eligible.

More than half the applications have come from Florida, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Officials have said they expected 70,000 to 100,000 Haitians to apply before the Jan. 18 deadline.

Meanwhile, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Dec. 10 that deportations are set to resume next month for Haitians who have completed their criminal sentences, in co-ordination with Haiti's government.

Partly driving the U.S. government's decision was the fact that U.S. law prohibits immigrants from being detained indefinitely, except in extreme circumstances, said ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez. If detainees cannot be returned home, they must be released.

The U.S. anticipates deporting about 700 Haitians with criminal records in 2011, Gonzalez said.

Read full story @ CTV

tags: haiti, illegal immigration, imperialism, immigration

also dig:

Trillions for fake white wars but pennies to educate our young, gifted and black

2010-12-24T08:53:00.001-05:00

"Money for education not war!" photo: credit

This is CRIMINAL! May the Gods punish the warmongers. GI

DPS teacher shortage makes learning tough in district, teachers say | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

By CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

More than three months into the school year, a teacher shortage is shaking Detroit Public Schools, causing a cascade of problems from overcrowded classes to report cards with no grades to the sudden transfer of students, some with autism.

Growing class sizes a problem across Michigan schools

Some teachers complain that they have 40-50 students in classrooms, making it difficult to control students and difficult for kids to learn.

"I've won awards. I am a champion teacher," said Gwendolyn Guerrant, a 24-year veteran who said she averages more than 40 students in her five classes at Central High School. "This is the first time I've felt inadequate."

Class sizes are rising across the state because of budget cuts. But the overcrowding in Detroit appears to be more severe and springs from different problems, including massive teacher retirements and school reorganizations. While other districts are able to quickly fill openings, DPS has been unable to attract enough teachers for specialized classes.

The teachers union expressed concern to DPS emergency financial manager Robert Bobb in June about the need to fill vacancies. That's when more than 800 of DPS's roughly 5,000 teachers retired under a state program that offered incentives to highly paid teachers to leave.

DPS has responded by holding job fairs, using uncertified substitutes as teachers or having other teachers fill vacant posts during breaks. Officials now say the district is down to 36 teacher vacancies.

Bobb said the confusion is "definitely settling down." He has backed down from plans to close three schools in January, a spokesman said this week.

Funk up your X-mas

2010-12-23T22:26:00.001-05:00

I know some of y'all ain't quite ready for Kwanzaa, so I figured the least I could do is funk up your X-mas with some Kurtis Blow.

One luv my peoples. And don't say the Ghetto Intellectual never gave you nuthin'. GI

If viewing from Facebook Notes, click here.

tags: christmas, christmas rappin, hiphop, holidays, Kurtis Blow

"The Roots of Black Love"

2010-12-22T01:34:00.000-05:00

Image source: Black Love Poster

Lerone Bennett Jr. debunks the "myth of the Black Love deficit" @ Ebony - Google Books

Also dig:

Ashamed to be an American? I am

2010-12-19T12:37:00.002-05:00

Shame!

...You should be too. Let us collectively "kill" America and invent something more humane, more just, more noble. Yes we can. GI

To view video from FB notes, click here.

I pinched this from our comrades @ Monkey Smash Heaven

tags: fall of america, imperialism, slavery, military industrial complex, war on terror, violence, apple pie

Blacks doubt death in small Southern town is a suicide--they want answers now: Final Call

2010-12-18T12:03:00.005-05:00

See update at bottom of post. GI

FinalCall.com News

National News
Blacks doubt death in small Southern town is a suicide--they want answers now
By Jesse Muhammad -Staff writer-
Updated Dec 14, 2010 - 2:57:58 PM

Family, political leaders, activists want further investigation into hanging death of young man

(FinalCall.com) - The idea of a so-called post-racial America was widely discussed, debated and even seen as an achievement by some with Barack Obama's inauguration as president of the United States.

For Blacks in Greenwood, Mississippi, the notion that America has gotten beyond race isn't popular today. Many are angry over the recent mysterious hanging death of Frederick Jermaine Carter.

“This is 2010 and we still have Black people hanging from trees? They're saying he hung himself but I have doubt in my mind that he actually did that. That wasn't his character. This wasn't a suicide, this was a homicide,” said Sunflower, Miss., Mayor Michael Pembleton, Jr. to The Final Call.

The body of Mr. Carter, 26, was found Dec. 3 hanging from an oak tree in the predominately White North Greenwood area of Leflore County. The young man lived in neighboring Sunflower County, located several miles away.

Mr. Carter's stepfather told law enforcement that he was working in the area with his stepson when Mr. Carter wandered off.

County Sheriff Ricky Banks reportedly told the media the young man had a “mental condition and a history of wandering off.” He also publicly stated that he saw no signs at the scene pointing towards it being a crime or murder.

Mr. Banks said evidence shows Mr. Carter dragged an old frame of a nearby table, leaned it against the trunk of the tree and commenced to tying himself to the tree limb.

“The frame probably broke, possibly because Carter kicked it out from under himself,” Mr. Banks told reporters.

The preliminary autopsy results by the Leflore County Coroner's Office declared it a suicide.

The deceased man's family and community leaders don't accept the official explanations and are calling for further investigation.

“Because there has been no investigation on the part of the local officials into this as a crime, we're calling on the federal government to conduct an independent investigation. We want the U.S. Justice department to look into this,” attorney Valerie Hicks Powe told The Final Call in a phone interview on Dec. 13.

Ms. Powe, who is based in Birmingham, Ala., is the spokesperson for the victim's family. “A crime scene was never established. They never roped the scene off and this has not been treated as a crime. There is no reason to believe that he would commit suicide. We appreciate attention being brought to this because we need an outcry from the people,” she said.

Funeral services for Mr. Carter were scheduled for Dec. 18 at Ark of The Covenant Church in Moorhead, Miss.

One of the most gruesome lynchings in U.S history took place in Money, Miss., which approximately 10 miles north of Greenwood. In August 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was beaten, shot in the head, his eyes gouged out, and thrown into theTallahatchie River with a cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire after accusations of whistling a White woman. Two White males were acquitted in the case while the boy's mother held an open casket funeral that made national headlines. It was also a watershed moment for the civil rights movement as the horror the Southern violence and brutality was put before the world.

Unanswered questions and appeals for outside help

Loved one and relatives want answers to questions about the death of Mr. Carter and the story thus far does not ring true, they say.“He didn't have a mental problem. His problem was he tended to not defend himself against others in conflict but he wouldn't kill himself. The family is requesting a second autopsy and want to also have an autopsy done by someone out of the state of Mississippi,” says Mr. Pembleton, who is also a cousin of the victim.

State Senator David Jordan was able to obtain gruesome photos of Mr. Carter's body hanging from the tree. He went to the scene himself and is also skeptical of what is being reported.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions. He reportedly had rope in his pocket but didn't have anything to cut it with? Why wasn't the scene of the crime blocked off? That tree limb is nearly 12 feet high. I'm 6'2 and I can't see how I could maneuver to do that so how could a boy his height hang himself like that?” asks Mr. Jordan, who is also a Greenwood City Councilman.

Mr. Jordan met with the victim's mother, Brenda Carter, when he obtained the photos of her son. “She told me her son loved life too much to take his life. We want another autopsy now,” he said.

Wendol Lee, president of the Memphis-based Operation Help Civil Rights Group, said some 300 residents petitioned his group to get involved because of “paranoia related to the history of lynching.”

“The area where he was found hanging is an area that Black people do not go into according to what residents have told us. Blacks get harassed and stopped by the police in that area so why would this young man go way over there to kill himself? We believe someone took him over there and killed him,” said Mr. Lee, who also works with the National Action Network.

Read entire story @Blacks doubt death in small Southern town is a suicide--they want answers now: Final Call

See also:

tags: Frederick Jermaine Carter, lynching, mississippi

Update 12/18/2010-- I pinched this from the comments section of EOTM's Blog

By Solomon C. Osbourne

The list of young blacks found hanging in Mississippi, whose deaths have been hastily declared as suicides, seems to grow perpetually. In 2004, Roy Veal a black man who was fighting to keep whites from taking his family’s land in Wilkerson County was found hanging from a tree in Woodville, Mississippi. His death was ruled a suicide. In 2000, Raynard Johnson, a 17 year old black high school student, rumored to have been involved in an interracial dating relationship was found hanging from a tree in Kokomo, Mississippi. His death was ruled a suicide.

Between 1987 and 1993, twenty two (22) black men were found hanging in Mississippi jails. All of their deaths were declared to be suicides. All of us are aware of the history of blacks being lynched in Mississippi. Between 1882 and 1968 there were 539 blacks lynched in Mississippi. Their murders were not solved because law enforcement officials made no effort to bring their murderers to justice. In many cases law enforcements were complicit in the murders.

Finally, on September 18, 2010, a young Hispanic woman was found hanging from a tree near Philadelphia, Mississippi. Her death was declared a suicide. All of these death by hanging involving blacks and non-white should surely caused rational thinking people to ask questions. Insisting on a thorough and comprehensive investigation is the least any rational thinking person should do. The investigation of the recent hanging in Leflore County seems to be a rush to judgment, and the investigation seemed to be concerned with something other than uncovering the truth.

You're not sick, you're a capitalist

2010-12-18T10:34:00.009-05:00

image source: DS Comic

This CNN piece just confirms what many of us already know. Over-medication is a serious health issue. Unscrupulous drug manufacturers (also known as "Big Pharma")[1] are making up diseases and then using slick marketing techniques to compel you to buy the drugs they have concocted to "treat" the bogus disease,[2] which only leads to more ill-health.

Another variation of over-medication is what I call "dumping." Dumping consists of exploiting vulnerable people, say elders on Medicaid. The doctor or several doctors (Medicaid patients often get bounced around to different doctors) will simply prescribe far more drugs than a patient needs.

I have experienced "dumping" first hand. Several years ago I discovered that an elder neighbor had accumulated something like 36 bottles of drugs--17 different prescriptions. The details are fuzzy now but I am pretty sure he was taking all or most of the prescriptions. If I recall correctly, I was able to get the doctor to reduce the meds to 8, (4 for blood pressure). But all of this is just scratching the surface--just a few of the many examples of how capitalism-run-amok is killing us.

Oh, and a missing piece to the CNN story is the collusion of medical doctors. [3][4] GI

How to brand a disease -- and sell a cure - CNN.com

Quoting from CNN:

Just as Bernays sold pianos by selling the music room, pharmaceutical marketers now sell drugs by selling the diseases that they treat. The buzzword is "disease branding."

read essay @ How to brand a disease -- and sell a cure - CNN.com

[1] The Fear of Sicko (Democracy Now featuring Michael Moore)
[2] The Disease Mongering Machine
[3] Harvard Medical School in Ethics Quandary
[4] Brooklyn Arrests Are Part of "Largest Medicare Fraud Bust Ever"

Also dig:

tags: health, health care, elijah muhammad, nation of islam, how to eat to live, conspiracy, capitalism

Garvey's Ghost speaks on WikiLeaks and Empire

2010-12-16T10:17:00.006-05:00

Barack H. Obama and George W. Bush enjoying an intimate moment whilst looking out at Empire #thefoxandthewolf (Image source: wikipedia)

So it is with the reactions of those in power today in the US. WikiLeaks has exposed the dark lord for what it is and the organization, like the Jedi who posed an "existential" risk to the new Galactic Empire, must be wiped out. An "order 66" if you may.

Read essay @ Garvey's Ghost: Black Talk: WikiLeaks and Empire

tags: empire, wikileaks, star wars, the fox and the wolf, intimate moments, george w. bush, barack h. obama,

Congo (Fally Ipupa) meets African America (Olivia)

2010-12-16T08:44:00.004-05:00

Congo (Fally Ipupa) meets African America (Olivia). Congo IS African America. Know Ourstory. Go back to your roots (Sankɔfa). Pan Afrikan Unity is the only solution for the global Afrikan Family! Unite or Perish. If viewing from FB Notes click here.

Mapping Slavery

2010-12-15T19:21:00.004-05:00

Insightful New York Times essay by Susan Schulten on the role of maps in the American Civil War. Quoting from essay:

The 1860 Census was the last time the federal government took a count of the South’s vast slave population. Several months later, the United States Coast Survey—arguably the most important scientific agency in the nation at the time—issued two maps of slavery that drew on the Census data, the first of Virginia and the second of Southern states as a whole. Though many Americans knew that dependence on slave labor varied throughout the South, these maps uniquely captured the complexity of the institution and struck a chord with a public hungry for information about the rebellion.

Read full essay @ Visualizing Slavery - NYTimes.com

Also dig:

Disgruntled Black Employee quits WikiLeaks and starts AfroLeaks

2010-12-14T14:51:00.011-05:00

Image: source

Ok, I made that up.

But the real story is lame. Apparently, some upstarts @ WikiLeaks are unhappy with their boss, Julian Assange's, leadership style. Their rallying cry? "If you preach transparency to everyone else, you have to be transparent yourself." Their solution? Openleaks, a WikiLeaks rival.

Seriously?

Sounds kinda corny to me. But beyond corniness are these guys gonna volunteer for the thinly veiled US government-sponsored smear campaign? Are they gonna line up (or queue up for Brit readers) for bogus rape charges and jail time? Will they take the assassin's bullet? I think it would be smarter to keep Assange out front whilst you quietly do your work.

The other criticism of the upstarts is even more suspect--they are complaining that Assange is moving WikiLeaks along "too fast." Sounds vaguely familiar. Sort of like the Civil Rights movement detractors. "Slow down" they said. "We need more time." (No, i'm not comparing WikiLeaks to Civil Rights. I am just making a point about the conservative posturing of the Openleaks upstarts).

But that's what happens when you have a good business model (or, perhaps, when your underlings are paid off by the government?). Now everyone wants Leaks. I just read somewhere that a disgruntled woman at WikiLeaks has announced plans to start up FemiLeaks. Latino's will soon clamour for LatinoLeaks. Asians will demand AsianLeaks and so on.

But seriously, few people on the planet have been more oppressed by their own government than African Americans. Much of that oppression was brutal and is well documented (slavery, Ku Klux Klan, lynchings, Jim Crow, sun down towns, redlining, vagrancy laws, war on drugs, racial profiling, police brutality, Clarence Thomas). Some of it is still ongoing. But a lot of it was sponsored by COINTELPRO and remains "classified" information. If anyone on the planet merits "transparency" from their government it would be African Americans.

AfroLeaks might not be a bad idea after all.

Ok, I'm done. You can read the actual story @ WikiLeaks rival plans Monday launch after internal split, founders say - CNN.com

Also dig:

tags: wikileaks, civil rights, the United States, cointelpro, fbi,

Georgia USA Prisoner Strikers Demand End to Slave Labor

2010-12-14T01:46:00.004-05:00

List of Demands for the "Concerned Coalition"

The nation's prison population increased more than 450% in a generation beginning about 1981. It wasn't about crime rates, because those went up, and then back down. It wasn't about rates of drug use, since African Americans have the same rates of drug use as whites and Latinos. Since the 1980s, the nation has undertaken a well-documented policy of mass incarceration, focused primarily though not exclusively on African Americans. Bruce Dixon

I pinched this essay from Brother Bruce Dixon and the good folks at Black Agenda Report

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

The peaceful strike begun by inmates of several Georgia state prisons continued for a second day on Friday, according to family members of some of the participants. Copyrighted news stories [4] by AP, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and local TV stations in Macon and Atlanta quote state corrections who say several institutions were placed on lockdown beginning Thursday in anticipation of the inmate protest, on the initiative of wardens of those prisons.

GA Prisoner Strike Continues a Second Day, Corporate Media Mostly Ignores Them, Corrections Officials Decline Comment

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

Offices of the wardens at Hay's, Macon State, Telfair, and Augusta state all referred our inquiries to the Department of Corrections public affairs officer, who so far has declined to return our repeated calls.

The prisoner strike in Georgia is unique, sources among inmates and their families say, because it includes not just black prisoners, but Latinos and whites too, a departure from the usual sharp racial divisions that exist behind prison walls. Inmate families and other sources claim that when thousands of prisoners remained in their cells Thursday, authorities responded with violence and intimidation. Tactical officers rampaged through Telfair State Prison destroying inmate personal effects and severely beating at least six prisoners. Inmates in Macon State Prison say authorities cut the prisoners' hot water, and at Telfair the administration shut off heat Thursday when daytime temperatures were in the 30s. Prisoners responded by screening their cells with blankets, keeping prison authorities from performing an accurate count, a crucial aspect of prison operations.

As of Friday, inmates at several prisons say they are committed to continuing the strike. “We are going to ride it,” the inmate press release quotes one, “till the wheels fall off. We want our human rights.”

The peaceful inmate strike is being led from within the prison. Some of those thought to be its leaders have been placed under close confinement.

The nine specific demands made by Georgia's striking prisoners in two press releases pointedly reflect many of the systemic failures of the U.S. regime of mass incarceration, and the utter disconnection of U.S. prisons from any notions of protecting or serving the public interest. Prisoners are demanding, in their own words, decent living conditions, adequate medical care and nutrition, educational and self-improvement opportunities, just parole decisions, just parole decisions, an end to cruel and unusual punishments, and better access to their families.

It's a fact that Georgia prisons skimp on medical care and nutrition behind the walls, and that in Georgia's prisons recreational facilities are non-existent, and there are no educational programs available beyond GED, with the exception of a single program that trains inmates to be Baptist ministers. Inmates know that upon their release they will have no more education than they did when they went in, and will be legally excluded from Pell Grants and most kinds of educational assistance, they and their families potentially locked into a disadvantaged economic status for life.

Despite the single biggest predictor of successful reintegration into society being sustained contact with family and community, Georgia's prison authorities make visits and family contact needlessly difficult and expensive. Georgia no longer allows families to send funds via US postal money orders to inmates. It requires families to send money through J-Pay [5], a private company that rakes off nearly ten percent of all transfers. Telephone conversations between Georgia prisoners and their families are also a profit centers for another prison contractor, Global Tel-Link [6] which extracts about $55 a month for a weekly 15 minute phone call from cash-strapped families. It's hard to imagine why the state cannot operate reliable payment and phone systems for inmates and their families with public employees at lower cost, except that this would put contractors, who probably make hefty contributions to local politicians out of business.

Besides being big business, prisons are public policy [7]. The U.S. has less than five percent of the world's population, but accounts for almost a quarter of its prisoners. African Americans are one eighth this nation's population, but make up almost half the locked down. The nation's prison population increased more than 450% in a generation beginning about 1981. It wasn't about crime rates, because those went up, and then back down. It wasn't about rates of drug use, since African Americans have the same rates of drug use as whites and Latinos. Since the 1980s, the nation has undertaken a well-documented policy of mass incarceration, focused primarily though not exclusively on African Americans.

The good news is that public policies are ultimately the responsibility of the public to alter, to change or do do away with. America's policy of mass incarceration is overdue for real and sustained public scrutiny.
A movement has to be built [8] on both sides of the walls that will demand an end to the prison industry and to the American policy of mass incarceration. That movement will have to be outside the Republican and Democratic parties. Both are responsible for building this system, and both rely on it to sustain their careers. The best Democrats could do on the 100 to 1 crack to powder cocaine disparity this year, with a black president in the White House and thumping majorities in the House and Senate was to reduce it to 18 to 1, and then only by lengthening the sentences for powder cocaine. On this issue, Democrats and Republicans are part of the problem, not the solution.

As this article goes to print Saturday morning, it's not known whether the strike will continue a third day. With prison officials not talking, and corporate media ignoring prisoners not just this week but every day, outlets like Black Agenda Report [9] and the web site upon which you're reading this are among the chief means inmates and their families have of communicating with the public. The prisoners are asking the public to continue to call the Georgia Department of Corrections, and the individual prisons listed below to express concern for the welfare of the prisoners.

Prison is about corruption, power and isolation. You can help break the isolation by calling the wardens' offices at the following prisons. Prisons, naturally , are open Saturdays and Sundays too.

Macon State Prison is 478-472-3900.	Hays State Prison is at (706) 857-0400
Telfair State prison is 229-868-7721	Baldwin State Prison is at (478) 445- 5218
Valdosta State Prison is 229-333-7900	Smith State Prison is at (912) 654-5000
The Georgia Department of Corrections is at http://www.dcor.state.ga.us [10] and their phone number is 478-992-5246

Source: Black Agenda Report

Also dig:

HBCUs still making the grade but a few are failing

2010-12-12T19:57:00.009-05:00

Map source: YBP

11/12/2010- Update at bottom of post

So I am thinking that we might be setting the bar too low when we boast about being accredited. That said, the continued vibrancy of HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) is essential for African progress. Not just in the United States, but for African people worldwide.

Several Africans who studied @ HBCUs went on to lead their nations post-independence. They include [1]:

Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana) Lincoln University and University of Pennyslvania
Hastings Kamuzu Banda (Malawi) Wilberforce (Academy) University and Meharry Medical College
Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria) Howard University, Lincoln University and University of Pennsylvania

Ten HBCUs Get Accreditation Reaffirmed, Two Placed on Warning Status

by Reginald Stuart, December 8, 2010 (source: Diversity)

Ten HBCUs across the South had their accreditation reaffirmed Tuesday for another 10 years by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Commission on Colleges, the principal accreditation group for colleges across the region.

Two major colleges—Fisk University and Tennessee State University, both in Tennessee—were placed on “warning” status, a position that leaves their accreditation intact pending resolution of issues SACS raised during their review process. Warning is one step short of probation, a rating that could lead to a school losing accreditation.

Stillman College, a small private historically Black school in Alabama, was denied reaffirmation.

The SACS decisions were announced in Louisville late Tuesday as the Commission completed four days of meetings built around its annual convention.

The Commission placed its stamp of approval on Alabama State, Bethune Cookman, Grambling, North Carolina A&T, Prairie View, South Carolina State, Southern University-Baton Rouge, Xavier of New Orleans, Virginia Union and Winston Salem State University in North Carolina.

Read entire essay @ Diversity

Also dig:

Update: I just noticed that the map I posted indicates that there are two HBCUs in California. I'm from Los Angeles (Inglewood) and this is news to me. I used to refer to my Alma Mater, Compton Community College [2], as an unofficial HBCU. But I am certain there are no official HBCUs on the West Coast. I checked around and discovered that Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) in Los Angeles appears on some lists as an HBCU. So depending on who is doing the counting there is at least one HBCU in California. GI

[1] Source: HBCU kidz African Leader Profiles
[2] Compton College lost its accreditation for several years and eventually lost its autonomy. The campus is now run by El Camino College and goes by the name El Camino College Compton Educational Center.

Map of Charles Drew University. HBCU of the West

Elijah Muhammad vrs. The Pig

2010-12-10T05:57:00.002-05:00

Has the pig gotten a bad rap from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad? You decide.

Elijah Muhammad

"The pig is a mass of worms. Each mouthful you eat is not a nutritious food but a mass of small worms the naked eye cannot detect. Worms thrive in the hog. When these worms are digested into your system, they cause a high birth rate to hundreds of new worms called larvae which travels the blood stream of your system and lodge in your muscles. These worms even enter you brain, lungs or your spinal fluid. They cause muscular aches, fever and many other symptoms of sickness. The worm has an amazing ability to go undetected in your system for many years."

The Pig

"I was facing a terrible choice," the patient remembers, between going with the doctor's treatment idea, which he really didn't want to do, and looking outside the United States for worm eggs to ingest. He contacted researchers in various developing countries to ask if they could help him get his hands on some eggs. The researcher in Thailand was particularly helpful, and he got on a plane to visit with her. After he arrived, the doctor in Thailand extracted roundworm eggs from the stool of an 11-year-old infected girl. She gave the trichuris trichiura eggs to the patient, but he now faced another hurdle. The eggs needed to be cleaned in case the girl had hepatitis or some other infectious disease, and the eggs needed to mature for them to be helpful. It was up to him to clean the eggs and grow them in a process called "embryonation."

Read entire story @ Man finds extreme healing eating parasitic worms - CNN.com

Swine

Also dig:

Hiphop pigs

tags: pig, pork, how to eat to live, elijah muhammad, health

Barbara Sizemore breaks down Ourstory

2010-12-09T17:51:00.003-05:00

Dr. Barbara Sizemore 1927-2004

"Africans were here before the Europeans...[But our system of education] preserve[s] the myth of white superiority. Thats what our whole educational process is devoted to" Barbara Sizemore

If reading from Facebook Notes, view video here.

Also dig:

Washington Post Obituary
History Makers Bio
National Visionary Leadership Project (The full interview, part 1-10, is posted here in an easy to view format).
Barbara Sizemore on Test Preparation and Black Children (essay by Anne Bradley)

Tags: barbara sizemore, african american, education, they came before columbus, ivan van sertima

Missouri corrects record on 1923 college-town lynching

2010-12-09T03:37:00.002-05:00

NAACP Banner [source: Anna Renee]

Missouri corrects record on 1923 college-town lynching

Keynote speaker Patrick Huber, an associate professor of history at Missouri University of Science and Technology whose undergraduate thesis discussed the Scott lynching, said the killing was one of more than 4,000 racially motivated lynchings in this country from 1885 to 1923 -- including 75 in Missouri.

Read entire story @ Missouri corrects record on 1923 college-town lynching

Ghetto links:

tags: lynching, african american, ida b. wells

"Whats going on in our community and what should be done to stop all the violence and killings?"

2010-12-05T07:57:00.008-05:00

Jessie Washington, age 17. Burned alive in Waco Texas while white people smile and laugh (May 1916).
Update 12/6/2010. I have seen this pic many times and only now noticed that you can just make out 2- 4 men standing in a tree for a better view of the slaughter. Look just above the man lifting his hat. GI

Student of the Mind:

I understand that there is still racism that exist, but our young people are becoming murderers at such young ages and some parents aren't raising these children right. Recently, I experienced a loss in my family because of a gang initiation requiring two young men to kill two random people on the same night. Even before this recent incident, I noticed the downfall of some African American communities. Its only getting worse. Whats going on in our community and what should be done to stop all the violence and killings?

Ghetto Intellectual:

First we have to stop stereotyping black youth. Most black youth are not violent. I think we can acknowledge that violence is a problem in our communities while avoiding the promotion of stereotypes that do nothing to solve the problem. Second, some of us have grown more fearful of each other than we are of our oppressors. If you see a black youth who is out of order, talk to them and try to correct them.

My position is that the criminal justice system has as its primary aim the control and oppression of African Americans because we have been and continue to be a constant threat to the status quo of white elite domination. Black gang violence is directly linked to the white government-sponsored assaults on the Black Freedom Movement of the late 60s.

Thus we cannot adequately address violence in the black community until we have addressed violence in America--much of it sponsored by the United States government. We cannot address violence in the black community until we have addressed American belligerence abroad (imperialism)--all of it sponsored by the United States government. GI

Please review:

• Amos Wilson videos ,especially Black on Black Violence: the psychodynamics of Black self-annihilation in service of white domination (he has a book by the same title).

• Michelle Alexander The New Jim Crow
• Blakmon Slavery by another name

• The website Without Sanctuary

• Crips and Bloods: Made in America

• Black Wallstreet

• Violence: An American Tradition

• The Lynching of Jessie Washington

• COINTELPRO
• Khalil G. Muhammad The Condemnation of Blackness

tags: violence, gangs, african american, crime, criminal justice, imperialism

"SWAHILI METHOD FOR BEGINNERS"

2010-12-04T11:31:00.001-05:00

I stumbled upon what looks to be great website for learning Kiswahili. Back in the 60s there was talk about making Kiswahili an official pan-African language of communication. [1] Although Kiswahili has official status in the African Union and is still promoted by Maulana Karenga and other pan-Africanists, the pan-African language initiative is nearly dead. I still think its a useful idea that we might revisit. Currently there are probably over 100 million Kiswahili speakers on the African continent--primarily in East and Central Africa. But you can also study the language at West African institutions like the University of Ghana. Muriel and Tom Feelings [2] have published several children's books on Kiswahili [3][4].

Notes

[1] There is a misconception that Kiswahili is not really an African language. This is false. Kiswahili is 100% Bantu in structure with Arabic loans words. See The Swahili: reconstructing the history and language of an African society (p. 15)

[2] Tom Feelings (1933-2003) was an African American cartoonist and a political dissident in the 60s. He resided in Ghana along with Maya Angelou and others during the Nkrumah years. See American Africans in Ghana by Kevin Gaines and Middle Passages by James Campbell.

[3] Jambo Means Hello (see image above)

[4] Moja Means One

Also dig:

• The Kamusi Project

• Google in Kiswahili

• Africa is Rising: Kiswahili becomes Kenya's official language

tags: Swahili language, east africa, Languages of Africa, maulana karenga, bantu, arabic

Native American History in North Carolina

2010-11-15T08:42:00.004-05:00

Peace all. I just learned, mid November, that this is American Indian Heritage Month. That gives us some indication of the invisibility of Native Americans. If you are currently somewhere in the Americas or in some other region where the autochthonous people of the land were uprooted, I would encourage you to devote some time this month to learning something about the people on whose land you now reside. You can read and/or listen to a summary of Native American history in what is now known as North Carolina @ Documenting the American South.

Also Dig these:

      • Put down the turkey for a minute
      • Black Hawk's Surrender Speech
• The Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Nation
      • Thanksgiving: the National Day of Mourning
• A brief report of the new found land of Virginia

[image: source]

tags: first people, native american, indian, north carolina

When Is It Legal to Frame a Black Man for Murder? Anytime-if you are a prosecutor

2010-11-07T23:30:00.002-05:00

"If a prosecutor knowingly introduces false evidence at trial, that prosecutor is absolutely immune from lawsuit,"

This story blew me away. There are roughly 1 million things wrong with the American justice system. This is a major wrong. Apparently, prosecuting attorneys (who are mostly white) can knowingly introduce false evidence to convict defendants (who are disproportionately black and brown). Its the modern recipe for white supremacy.

Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

When Is It Legal to Frame a Man for Murder?

By Claire Suddath

Terry Harrington stands with family and friends outside the Clarinda Correctional Facility after Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack signed a reprieve for Harrington on April 17, 2003

Charlie Neibergall / AP

In July 1977, retired police captain John Schweer was shot and killed while working as a night watchman at an Oldsmobile dealership in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Two teenagers, Curtis McGhee and Terry Harrington, were convicted of the murder based on evidence they allege was knowingly fabricated by prosecutors.(Watch a 1937 newsreel of President Roosevelt confronting the Supreme Court.)

Pottawattamie County prosecutors David Richter and Joseph Hrvol presented a case that rested almost entirely on the testimony of a 16-year-old kid who was caught stealing cars and offered a $5,000 reward if he provided information about the murder. The witness misidentified the murder weapon, changed his story multiple times and fingered two other men before naming McGhee and Harrington in the crime. He even had to be coached by prosecutors about what to say during the trial so that his story matched the evidence. Richter and Hrvol revealed none of this at trial, nor the fact that they had previously suspected another man — one who had been positively identified by an eyewitness and had failed a polygraph test.

On Nov. 4, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments not over whether Richter and Hrvol had framed two men for murder, but whether they could be sued for it. In 2003, Iowa's supreme court overturned Harrington's conviction, while McGhee pled guilty to lesser charges and was released. Now both men are suing the Pottawattamie County prosecutors, claiming they coerced and coached witnesses, fabricated evidence and arrested them without probable cause.

But according to federal law supported by numerous legal precedents, prosecutors have immunity for anything they do during a trial. Richter and Hrvol say they were just doing their job. "If a prosecutor knowingly introduces false evidence at trial, that prosecutor is absolutely immune from lawsuit," explains Stephen Sanders, an attorney representing Richter and Hrvol. The rationale is that if prosecutors could be blamed for errors in a trial, they would become vulnerable targets for any litigious convict with an ax to grind.

"This means that some people who are genuinely wronged by a prosecutor [are not] able to recover," Sanders concedes. "But better that, the court says, than have prosecutors plagued by endless nuisance litigation or have them make decisions about whether or not to bring someone to trial based on whether they think they're going to get sued."

Sanders has a point: prosecutors build cases around eyewitnesses and uncooperative informants; holding them accountable for others' attempts to impede justice would hamper the entire judicial system. And yet, what of Harrington and McGhee? They were only 17 years old when they were convicted, and their story reads like something out of a John Grisham novel.

Read the full story @ Time

Malidoma Somé makes rare trip to Los Angeles November 17, 2010

2010-11-06T18:01:00.005-04:00

Krst Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science (photo: credit)

YouTube - Fertile Ground "Broken Branches" (1999)

2010-11-05T09:32:00.002-04:00

The moral of the story is
Before you chase your glory
You better know your roots,
they hold the truth
The real sun is in the sky
giving life all day to fertile ground

("Broken Branches" on the album Spiritual War)

If you can't view the video, click here.

"Lion King" Star, 11, Dies from Leukemia, but YOU might save a life. - CBS News (dap @ VirtuoSo)

2010-11-03T09:26:00.006-04:00

11 year-old Shannon Tavarez has lost her battle with cancer.

Quoting from CBS

For bone marrow transplants, minorities and those of mixed ancestry have a more difficult time finding good matches because there aren't as many people from those groups signed up as potential donors. Right now, 83 percent of African-American patients who need marrow transplants don't find matches after six months of searching.

50 cent getting his cheek swab on

Fam, we have lost a beautiful light. Please, please, please take a moment to get on the bone marrow registry. The procedure is painless--a non-invasive cheek swab. You might save a life! For details, see the National Marrow Donor Program official website, click here.

Here is the CBS story

(CBS/ AP) Shannon Tavarez, the 11-year-old who starred on Broadway in "The Lion King" and whose battle with leukemia won the hearts of many, including Alicia Keys, Rihanna and 50 Cent, has died.

Tavarez died Monday afternoon at Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park, on Long Island, said Katharina Harf, co-founder of the bone marrow donor center DKMS.

Adriana Douzos, a spokeswoman for the long-running, Tony winning show, also confirmed the death but declined further comment.

Tavarez, who played the young lion Nala, had received an umbilical-cord blood transplant in August. The procedure was performed as an alternative to a bone marrow transplant. Her doctor, Dr. Larry Wolfe, said that a perfect bone marrow match for Shannon could not be found.

Read entire story @ CBS News

tags: cancer, health care, african american

photo credit: here and here

See also:
• 50 Cent Urges Fans to Get Swabbed and Save Lives

Thoughts of a ghetto intellectual ™

Ghana Innovation Goes Global with Artivist Senam Okudzeto

Police Arrest About 500 Protesters on Brooklyn Bridge - NYTimes.com

Remembering Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai | Here & Now

‪Tottenham rebellion for dummies

Black London Residents Make it Plain 1. peaceful protest a police station regarding a shooting. 2. cops brazenly rough up a 16 year oldish woman who approaches some them. 3. crowd retaliates.

No, Mr. President, compromise is not fundamentally American, belligerence is fundamentally American

Today, during his speech on the budget controversy, President Obama invoked Lincoln to say America is a nation of compromise. Really? Not sure were he got that from but the indigenous people and my African Ancestors tell a very different story.

Also dig:

Looming catastrophe in Somalia or "scarcity scare"?

Rethinking Malcolm: What was Marable thinking? by Abdul Alkamilat

Notes:

[1] Alkamilat has compiled a list of reviews of Marable's book over @ his Malcolm X website ----> Brothermalcolm.net

[2] What is Afrocentrism? by Kwame Zulu Shabazz

Related articles

Battle of the Malcolm X biographies: "A life of reinvention" or a book of distortions?

Bombing for "democracy" in Libya‬‏? One million Libyans say no!

Is Karma the New/Old "N" Word? Ask the Black Untouchables of India

Also dig

African or American? Black Identity in New York City, 1784-1861 | Reviews in History

African or American? Black Identity in New York City, 1784-1861 (A review)

by Leslie Alexander

Snake Gods in the Vodoun ("Voodoo") religion

Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee: Leonard Peltier Remembers Geronimo Pratt

In Defense of Malcolm X

Obama's "rebels" bad at rebelling but good at killing "black" africans

Slanderous new book on Malcolm X?

Malcolm X's daughters unhappy with new book

NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP National Writer

Obama kills children in Libya

"The myth of the black love deficit"

Who's your Mama? African Eve

Black Radical Quote of the Day #1- Queen Mother Moore (1898-1996)

Africans, Hitler, and the Holocaust

R. Kelly...the pan-Africanist?

R. Kelly backs African supergroup tipped for global stardom

Black brilliance is a perennial threat white supremacy

"Black" Africans hiding from racist "rebels" in Libya

Hiplife and the Power of the African Gods

Opera Diva, Shirley Verrett, makes her transition

Pan African Genetics: The children of Kwame and Fathia Nkrumah

The ties that bind Ghanaians and Africans in America

Your Take: The Bridge Between Ghana and Black America

Libya, Getting it Right: A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective | Black Agenda Report

Kevin Alexander Gray: Obama and Egyptian Liberation

Journey through Kuumba (Creativity) by Nzingah — Kickstarter

Where is Phylicia Simone Barnes? Young black teen missing in Baltimore

Media criticized on response to case of missing N.C. teen

Story not getting much play because she's black? Mother pleads for help

"God, you are darker!": the fear of blackness in the land of the blacks (Sudan)

Dark-Skin and Afros- Our worst nightmare

How America Killed Africa: The assassination of Patrice Lumumba remembered

World's first recorded Afrocentric statement was uttered by a white man

"My Last Will and Testament": A Love Letter to Black People by Mary McCleod Bethune

The Association of Black Anthropologists "Focus on Haiti"

Theme song for Nia (Purpose), day 5 of Kwanzaa: The Creator Has a Master Plan

Support science for our youth!

Goals

Description

Links

Obama takes break from imperialism to extend Kwanzaa greetings

OJ'd in NY: Patterson gives white supremacy the gubernatorial middle finger

The Invention of "Illegal" Humans: a Recipe for Imperialism in Haiti

Trillions for fake white wars but pennies to educate our young, gifted and black

Funk up your X-mas

"The Roots of Black Love"

Ashamed to be an American? I am

Blacks doubt death in small Southern town is a suicide--they want answers now: Final Call

You're not sick, you're a capitalist

Garvey's Ghost speaks on WikiLeaks and Empire

Congo (Fally Ipupa) meets African America (Olivia)

Mapping Slavery

Disgruntled Black Employee quits WikiLeaks and starts AfroLeaks

Georgia USA Prisoner Strikers Demand End to Slave Labor

HBCUs still making the grade but a few are failing

Elijah Muhammad vrs. The Pig

Barbara Sizemore breaks down Ourstory

Missouri corrects record on 1923 college-town lynching

"Whats going on in our community and what should be done to stop all the violence and killings?"

"SWAHILI METHOD FOR BEGINNERS"

Black London Residents Make it Plain

1. peaceful protest a police station regarding a shooting.
2. cops brazenly rough up a 16 year oldish woman who approaches some them.
3. crowd retaliates.