Tuesday, December 31, 2013

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: Freedom Riders: The Music



 The riders caught the imagination of the nation and drew hundreds from all over the country to the Deep South to show their solidarity, making Jackson ground zero for the movement. Eventually, three hundred served time in Parchman: It became a badge of honor for the riders and a symbol of shame for Mississippi.

“How do you boil down the story to its essence and make sure it is the same story and not historically inaccurate?”

RATCo Gettysburg Performance: "I Shall Be Free"

I hope lots of people see this.
This is a fantastic interpretation of this song, talk about talent.

 
RATCo Selma is run by a core group of volunteers, many with professional theatre training and experience.  The youth in the program come mainly from disadvantaged situations, but the program is open to all. 
http://freedomfoundation.org/programs/ratco/ratco-selma/ 

On Don Lemon, Race & "Respectability"

Some Jsmooth sarcasm from the summer of 2013, that burns J.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Gladys Knight discusses a gambling problem.

Straight Talk from The Godmother of Soul

 

We're with you Gladys stay strong.




Sister Rosetta Tharpe played Carnegie Hall this day 1938

Sometimes know as The Godmother of Rock

  1. On December 23, 1938, Sister Tharpe performed in John Hammond's famous Spirituals to Swing Concert at Carnegie Hall. Her performance was controversial  and revolutionary in several respects. Performing gospel music in front of secular audiences and alongside blues and jazz musicians was highly unusual, and within conservative religious circles the mere fact of a woman performing guitar music was frowned upon. 






    The Story Of Sister Rosetta Tharpe 01




    see also; Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Black Media Mine

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Carter Godwin Woodson (December 19, 1875 – April 3, 1950)

Birthday- December 19, 1875

"Carter G. Woodson was the son of former slaves James and Eliza Riddle Woodson. His father had helped the Union soldiers during the Civil War, and afterwards he moved his family to West Virginia where a high school for blacks was being built. Coming from a large, poor family, Carter could not regularly attend school, but through self-instruction he was able to master the fundamentals of common school subjects by the time he was 17.
In 1895, at the age of 20, Woodson entered Douglass High School where he received his diploma in less than two years. From 1897 to 1900, he began teaching in Fayette County, and he later became the principal of his own alma mater. Woodson finally received his bachelor's degree from Berea College in Kentucky. From 1903 to 1907 he was a school supervisor in the Philippines. He then attended the University of Chicago where he received his master's in 1908, and in 1912, he received his Ph.D. in history from Harvard University.
In 1915, Woodson and Jesse E. Moorland co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). The organization was the platform that launched Woodson's mission to raise awareness and recognize the importance of Black history. He believed that publishing scientific history about the black race would produce facts that would prove to the world that Africa and its people had played a crucial role in the development of civilization. Thus he established a scholarly journal, The Journal of Negro History, a year after he formed the ASNLH.
Seeing the need to spread the news about Black history to the general public as well as scholars, Woodson and the ASNLH pioneered the celebration of "Negro History Week" in 1926, which has since been extended to the entire month of February. Even with the monumental duties connected with the association, Woodson still found time to write extensive and scholarly works such as “The History of the Negro Church” (1922), "The Mis-Education of the Negro" (1933) and many other books that continue to have wide readership today. Woodson's other far-reaching activities included the organization in 1920 of the Associated Publishers, the oldest African American publishing company in the United States.
Woodson is buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland-Silver Hill, Md. His Washington, D.C., home has been preserved as the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site."
from
http://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/woodson.html


A century of Negro migration (1918)


by C.G. Woodson

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

"Cyberspace Sanctuary" on "The Blake Radio Network"


This is an archived program that I particularly liked from the "Cyberspace Sanctuary"
 series by Junius Ricardo Stanton on the Blake Radio Network. Listen and you'll get
 an idea of what direction Neil Blake is trying to move this essential Network in.




Discover Internet Internet Radio with Rainbow Soul on BlogTalkRadio

"Junious Ricardo Stanton interviews Internet media pioneer Neil Blake
the founder and CEO of the Blake Radio Network. Neil shares news about
the latest developments as his network implements technology that will
allow listeners to download Blake Radio Network programming apps to
their iphones, Android smart phones and tablets. Neil also discusses
the historic and emerging trends and developments in Internet radio.
Listen as Neil reveals how the Blake Radio Network continues to grow
audience by carving out a niche for discerning listeners around the
world."

Dice Raw Documentary

A message to young people of color...
Don't get caught in the Prison Industrial trap.

To the rest of us...
We have to work to create circumstances that protect our young folks...
 

Monday, November 25, 2013

Preserve the Sea Island Culture

The Sapelo Island Culture threatened with extinction.


If you dig a pit for me, you dig one for yourself.
                                                       Geechee proverb.
                        



Sunday, November 24, 2013

Words from the Recent Past.

Soul!

 

I was revisiting the Kwame Ture Channel link on Black Media Mine
and I happened to take a look at this video. I just have to share it with you.

Monday, November 11, 2013

The 761st Tank Battalion - Patton's Panthers - "Come Out Fighting"

Let's not forget our heroes of the past 
and let's not forget that the apple never falls far from the tree.
This following video is a testament to the fact that no matter
what others may think, the African American will remain
capable of as high a calibre of performance, in any endeavor,
compared to any person in the world.  

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Ernie Chambers, The Man Who Sued God, Still Militant - Nebraska

Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers

I included this video to get your attention, which obviously was the reason for the law suit in the first place. Now that we have your attention, if you don't already know something about State Senator Chambers, now is a good time to find out.





 I'm tempted to include Nebraska State Senator Chambers' bio but I think I'll just present what I have here and hope that you'll be inspired to do more research on this incredibly dynamic individual. If you have the time be sure not to miss any of the material that I am including and do share it with those whom you think will benefit from it.

Ernie, Still Militant 

 



Ernie Chambers in the sixties was no less dynamic. 
See the following video documentary to see what he had to say back then.

"A Time for Burning" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 2005.

"A Time for Burning" is a 1966 American documentary film which explores the attempts of the minister of Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska, to persuade his all-white congregation to reach out to "negro" Lutherans in the city's north side. The film was directed by San Francisco filmmaker William C. Jersey, was nominated as Best Documentary Feature in the 1967 Academy Awards, and introduced America to a young Ernie Chambers. The film was commissioned by the Lutheran Church.


There used to be a link to the film on line now we can only find a clip of Ernie Chambers speaking.


A Time For Burning Clip  With Ernie Chambers


Interview with film directoe William Jersey




Finally listen to this Mother Jones interview with Senator Chambers

Ernie Chambers,  the longest standing state senator in Nebraska political history.
from Mother Jones Radio: 06-01-22: Ernie Chambers interview

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

BlackPast.org Blog: Early Black British

BlackPast.org Blog: Early Black British: People in Britain of African descent generally refer to themselves as Black British. This includes people from former British colonies in Africa...

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

DR. RUNOKO RASHIDI: The Original Man - The History Of The Ancient Black ...




"Runoko Rashidi (born 1954) is a historian, essayist, author and public
lecturer based in Los Angeles, California. He authored Introduction to
the Study of African Classical Civilizations (1993) and is editor of
Unchained African Voices, a collection of poetry and prose by Death Row
inmates at California's San Quentin maximum-scurity prison.

Rashidi's work focuses on his views concerning African foundations of
world civilizations. Several scholars dispute his assertions of genetic
ties between ancient African populations and indigenous and "black"
populations in the modern world.  He has conducted field research
and educational group tours to India, aboriginal Australia, the Fiji
Islands and Southeast Asia, Egypt and Brazil.

Rashidi is frequently a featured writer and speaker and lectures on
topics including ancient Egypt, his belief in an African presence in
prehistoric America, Africans in antiquity, and the African presence in
Asia and other parts of the world."
(from Wikipedia)

Sunday, October 20, 2013

PALMARES: THE NEGRO NUMANTIA

PALMARES: THE NEGRO NUMANTIA
 One of the most glorious achievements in the history of the Iberian Peninsula was the long and desperate defence of Numantia against the Roman legionaries sent to effect the destruction of the city. When the beleaguered inhabitants could no longer maintain themselves, owing to the shortage of food supplies, they burned the city, and those who were not killed in battle with the Romans committed suicide. Scipio Æmilianus, the Roman leader, entered Numantia to find nothing but burning embers and piles of corpses.

 This incident has an almost exact parallel in the history of Brazil, only this time the heroes were Negroes, defending the capital of one of the earliest and one of the strangest Negro republics in the history of the world. The Portuguese, who were the first to introduce Negro slavery into Europe, did not long delay in carrying the institution to their colony of Brazil. It was in 1574 that the first slave ship reached there. Thereafter, great numbers of Negroes were brought, especially to northern Brazil, in the equatorial belt, to work in the profitable sugar fields. No region of the Americas was so accessible to the slave trade, for the Brazilian coast juts out into the Atlantic Ocean directly opposite the Gulf of Guinea in Africa, whence most of the slaves were procured.

 It is profitless here to go into the question of the treatment of the slaves by their Portuguese masters. Some were badly treated, and took the chance of flight to the interior forest lands, rather than submit any longer. Various causes prompted yet others to escape from the colonial plantations. Thus many a quilombo, or Negro village of the forest, was formed. By far the most famous of these was the quilombo of Palmares, whose history is the subject of this article. In 1650, forty determined Negroes of the province of Pernambuco, all of them natives of Guinea, rose against their masters, taking as much as they could in the way of arms and provisions, and fled to the neighboring forest. There they founded a quilombo on the site of a well-known Negro village of earlier days, which the Dutch had destroyed. The tale of their escape was told throughout the province, with the result that it was not long before the population of the new quilombo was greatly increased. Slaves and freemen were eager to join their brethren in the forest. It seemed prudent, however, to go farther away from the white settlements, lest the very strength of the Negro town should invite annihilation or re-enslavement by the planters. Thus it was that the inland site of Palmares, not far from present-day Anadia, was chosen.

 A town was founded, and all seemed well except for one thing, an essential to permanence was lacking, for there were no women. A detachment of Negroes was sent on the romantic mission of procuring wives for the colony. This party marched to the nearest plantations, and, without stopping to discriminate, took all the women it could find, black, mulatto, and white. Palmares was now on a secure footing indeed. At first, the inhabitants lived by a species of banditry, robbing the whites whenever they could. Gradually, a more settled type of life developed. The Negroes began to engage in agriculture, and at length entered into something approximating peaceful relations with the Portuguese settlements. Trade took the place of warfare, although fear of the overgrown quilombo was perhaps as much the motive on the part of the whites as the desire for profits. A rustic republic of an admirable type was formed for the maintenance of internal order and external safety.

 Combining republican and monarchical features, they elected a chief, or king, called the Zombe, who ruled with absolute authority during the term of his life. The right of candidacy was restricted to a group recognized as composing the bravest men of the community. Any man in the state might aspire to this dignity, provided he had Negro blood in his veins. There were other officials, both of a military and of a civil character. In the interests of good order, the Zombes made laws imposing the death penalty for murder, adultery, and robbery. Slavery existed, and in this respect there was a curious custom. Every Negro who had won his freedom from the white man, by whatever method, as for example by a successful flight to Palmares, remained a free man. Those who were captured while in a state of slavery, however, became slaves in Palmares. Thus the reward of freedom was offered to those who should escape from the planters, and a punishment was held out to those who would not, or could not, do so.

 In course of time, the Negro republic expanded until it included a number of towns. Palmares alone is said to have had a population of 20,000, and the number of fighting men in the whole republic was some 10,000. The capital city, Palmares, was surrounded by wooden walls, made of the trunks of large trees. The city was entered by means of three huge gates, on the tops of which were great platforms, always well guarded. For nearly half a century the little republic prospered. It was perhaps only natural that the Portuguese settlers should wish to destroy it, for it represented an alien force and an ever present danger, certainly so far as their profits from the use of slave labor went. At any rate, in the year 1696, Governor Caetano de Mello of Pernambuco decided upon an expedition against Palmares. A strong force was sent, but it was met by the Negroes and totally defeated. A veritable army of some 7,000 men was now gathered, and placed under the command of a competent soldier named Bernardo Vieira. This time, the Portuguese troops were well provided with artillery, with which the Negro republic could not be expected to cope. Palmares was reached, but it was in no mnood for surrender, and it was necessary to begin a regular siege of the city. The defence was desperate. After the Portuguese artillery had breached the walls in three places, their infantry attacked in force. They entered the city, but had to take it, foot by foot. At last, the defenders came to the center of Palmares, where a high cliff impeded further retreat. Death or surrender were now the only alternatives.

 Seeing that his cause was lost beyond repair, the Zombe hurled himself over the cliff, and his action was followed by the most distinguished of his fighting men. Some prisoners were indeed taken, but it is perhaps a tribute to Palmares, though a gruesome one, that they were all put to death; it was not safe to enslave these men, despite the value of their labor. Thus passed Palmares, the Negro Numantia, most famous and greatest of the Brazilian quilombos.


Author: Charles E. Chapman - Assistant Professor of History,
University of California
Source: The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Jan., 1918), pp. 29-32Published by: Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2713791

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Umar Abdullah Johnson on Hidden Colours

Who Speaks For The Negro?

Who Speaks for the Negro?
by Robert Penn Warren 
 This body of work is a must -see if you are interested in the voices of
African-Americans of the 1950s and 60s There is not much for me to say
other than go see for yourself and don't hesitate to share this info with
others that you think will appreciate it. Be prepared to make time
to listen to many hours of recorded interviews with prominent people
who were active in the movement for civil rights and equal opportunity.

These individuals are among those interviewed.


James Baldwin, Carroll Barber, Wiley Branton, Bridgeport (Conn.) men, Stokely Carmichael, Joe Carter, Septima Poinsette Clark, Felton Grandison Clark, Kenneth Bancroft Clark, Dan W. Dodson, Ralph Ellison, Will D. Campbell, 
James Farmer, Jr., James Forman, Milton A. Galamison, Richard Gunn, Clarie Collins Harvey, William Hastie, Aaron Henry, Jackson State College students, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Montgomery Wordsworth King, Martin Luther King Jr., James M. Lawson, Jr., Gilbert Moses and Richard Murphy, Robert Moses, William Stuart Nelson, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Gloria St. Clair Hayes Richardson, Carl T. Rowan, Bayard Rustin, Kelly Miller Smith, William Stringfellow, Tougaloo College students, Ruth Turner, Wyatt Tee Walker, John Hervey Wheeler,  Roy Wilkins, Avon N. Williams, Jr., Stephen Wright, Malcolm X, Andrew Young, Whitney Young, 
Lolis Elie, Nils Douglas and Robert Collins
Ezell Blair, Stokely Carmichael, Lucy Thornton and Jean Wheeler


The Who Speaks for the Negro?  website is a digital archive of materials related to the book of the same name published by Robert Penn Warren in 1965.  The original materials are held at the University of Kentucky and Yale University Libraries.  We are indebted to both of these institutions for their willingness to share their collections in order to create a full digital record of Warren’s research for the book.  Robert Penn Warren’s children, Gabriel Warren and Rosanna Warren, have generously given their permission for this material to be made available publicly.

The archive consists of digitized versions of the original reel-to-reel recordings that Warren compiled for each of his interviewees as well as print materials related to the project.  All of the print materials appear on the website in two versions: an image of the original document which is not searchable and a re-transcribed document which is searchable.  When a search is implemented, the searched word or phrase will be highlighted within the re-typed document; the user will need to scroll through the document to find the highlighted search term.



Thursday, October 17, 2013

Black in Latin America ( Episode 2 ) Cuba The Next Revolution



It took millions of Africans to build up the world.
It would not have happened without them.
Never let that fact slip your mind,
No matter where you were raised

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

The migration of Black people from the Caribbean to Europe

This is an excellent post in the Afro-Europe Blog.
Most of the people stolen from Africa were first brought
to the Caribbean Islands and from there they went to the
Americas or later Europe. This is a bit of their story.
The migration of Black people from the Caribbean to Europe

Paul Robeson in "Song of Freedom" 1936

Song of Freedom, a 1936 British film starring Paul Robeson, may best represent the opportunity Robeson was looking for to "give a true picture of many aspects of the life of the coloured man in the West. Hitherto on the screen, he has been characterized or presented only as a comedy character. This film shows him as a real man." Robeson was also given final cut approval on the film, an unprecedented option at the time for an actor of any race.


Friday, October 4, 2013

Colonel Tye Black Loyalist Revolutionary War Hero


The Black Loyalists 

"With eyes cast downward, each man feels the fear and strain of anticipation. All but one. He stands erect. His eyes remain forward and unblinking. The officer stands before each black man, asking their names and from whence they came. He comes to the last man.
“What do they call you?” the officer asks.
“Tye,” the man answers.
“That is all? Nothing more?”
“It is all I care to keep.”
“Where are you from?”
“Does it matter?” the man asks, his voice rich and unwavering.
The officer stares long into the face of the runaway slave. He slowly nods before moving to stand beside his sergeant.
“A shabby lot as any I seen,” the sergeant offers in a thick Scottish accent.
“Aye,” the lieutenant says, “that they are.” He turns and looks once more at the one who calls himself Tye. “But not that one. There is a fire in his eyes that speaks the desire in his heart. And I dare say we shall see the results when he is given a musket.” He faces his sergeant. “Show them their bunks. I must delay no longer if I hope to sup with Major Leslie.”".........see full story by Harry Schenawolf

DR. CHEIKH ANTA DIOP: The African Origins Of Humanity - The Historical A...

Monday, September 30, 2013

Historical Geographies: Britain profits from the slave trade - part 1

Historical Geographies: Britain profits from the slave trade - part 1: Extract from  Caribbean Britain: The Cultural and Biographical Directory by Marjorie H Morgan © 2013 Throughout Britain there a...

Historical Geographies: Caribbeans in World War One – Part 2

"The War Office made it an official policy that black colonial troops could not fight against Europeans. Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War suggested that the black soldiers would be too visible on the battlefield. An overriding concern was the physical fitness of the West Indians compared to the British troops. It was feared that the West Indians would surpass the white soldiers’ performance thus giving them too much personal conviction and thereby leading to more claims for self-government through out the British West Indies." 

Historical Geographies: Caribbeans in World War One – Part 2: Extract from  Caribbean Britain: The Cultural and Biographical Directory by Marjorie H Morgan © 2013 Caribbeans in World War On...

Monday, September 23, 2013

Stormnet Media Blitz: #Coding And Why You Need To Learn [Today!]

Stormnet Media Blitz: #Coding And Why You Need To Learn [Today!]: I have a secret to share. I went to the same school as Bill Gates. Not something you share much because the school is obscure and even in ...

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Dancing in the Street - A Rock And Roll History episode 1



This is a documentary that you should watch if you want a bit of history of
modern American Music.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

October is Black History Month in the UK

"The first UK Black History event was held in 1987. Set up by Akyaaba Addai Sebbo, who worked with Ken Livingstone at the Greater London Council, its aim was to mark the contributions of black people throughout history. Black History Month now runs throughout the month of October. As there has long been concern about the experience of black children in the UK, October - as the beginning of the academic year - felt like a good time to instill pride and a sense of identity for these children."

UK BHM 2013


If we African Americans and Canadians put some effort into studying and
sharing the info we find then African Diasporan History will advance that much
further. I hope to see some sharing going on over the pond this year
in October and next year in February. It would be really something if we
could keep it going from the beginning of October through February.

Africans in Britain

From the late Middle Ages, as Europeans began to make direct contact with Africa, the number of Africans and people of African descent in Britain began to increase. The most important cause of these migrations was probably the slave trade. British involvement in the trade began in the 16th century and had reached huge proportions by the 18th. Over a period of 400 years, Europeans transported many millions of Africans to labour in their colonies in the Americas. These migrations created the Black
diaspora.

This image, from the Gentleman's Magazine, shows Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (here called by the English version of his name, Job ben Solomon), the son of a Muslim imam from Gambia, and William Ansah Sessarakoo, a prince from Ghana. They were both tricked into slavery, but freed on account of their noble origins and education. Sessarakoo lived in England from 1749 to 1750.

Solomon travelled to England after spending time on a plantation in Maryland. He became something of a celebrity and was 'graciously received by nobility'. Dressed in an African gown, he was presented to the king and queen. After spending some time in England, he was taken back to Africa by the Royal African Company.

Gentleman's Magazine, June 1750, p. 273 


I could go on  with the links but I believe you get the picture,
please share and discuss the info you find with family and friends and
feel free to come back with other info, comments are welcome.




Sunday, September 15, 2013

September 15, 1963 - Birmingham Sunday - 53 Years Ago

The four girls killed in the bombing (Clockwise from top left,
Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley,
Carole Robertson and Denise McNair)
On a Sunday, 53 years ago
In Birmingham, Alabama, a senseless, racially motivated  attack occured on September 15, 1963. Members of the Ku Klux Klan dynamited the basement of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church during Sunday School and 4 little girls lost their lives, Addie Mae Collins (age 14), Denise McNair (age 11), Carole Robertson (age 14), and Cynthia Wesley (age 14) died and 22 other people were injured on that fateful Sunday.

The cowardly bigots of Birmingham showed us the stuff they were made of that day but what's more important was that they also demonstrated the strength of will, of all the Black people of that city who were not broken by this or any of the other atrocities perpetrated by these viscious racists. 


While it's important to remember these terroristic acts of bigotry and cowardice it is even more important to remember that the children of Birmingham were not simply victims. The children of Birmingham, in the face of grave personal peril, courageously played a vital role in the acquisition of their civil rights. They left a legacy, which must be acknowledged and continued in order for their acts to not have been done in vain.
Web Prospector

Birmingham’s Child Heroes      
By Steve Theunissen
(excerpt)
"And so it was that on May 2nd, more than one thousand Black students skipped school and congregated at the 16th Street Baptist church ready to march downtown. Police Chief Eugene “Bull” Connor marshaled his forces against them. Coming out of the church in waves of 50, the students were arrested and carted off in police vans. Soon, however, there were no vans left and the police had to recruit school busses. Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent goal of filling the jails was being realized.
The next day hundreds more children turned up at 16th Street Baptist, ready and willing to be carted off to jail."

see the complete article at 
https://blog.richmond.edu/heroes/2013/03/02/birminghams-child-heroes/

This Video begins with a moment of silence in memory of the victims.


Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Is your community slated for "gentrification"?

I read the following post in one of my favorite blogs, Go Shorty.Net The author is addressing a problem that is so common in our inner city communities these days. I'm hoping you'll read it and it will cause you to consider what we can do to halt the decay in our communities.

6 Reasons Why I’m Leery About Whole Foods Coming to Englewood
Last week, the news reported that Whole Foods Market, an expensive, upscale grocery store will be coming to Englewood, a neighborhood with high levels of poverty and poor eating habits.  It is also one of many communities designated as a food desert. 

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

FLAVARADIO316 Presents: Bootsy Collins Unsung

I really like this "Unsung Series" I'll be bringing you more of these we're
gonna have a lot of fun with these :) This first one is about Bootsy.

Monday, September 2, 2013

OPEN MIND Special: Race Relations in Crisis (1963/1992)

Guests: Malcolm X; Morrison, Alan; Walker, Wyatt Tee; Farmer, James (Original guests) 
Update Guests: Farmer, James and Walker, Wyatt Tee



Found on Internet Archive - click to see more

Friday, August 30, 2013

A Lifeline to Our Young People

This program is already a few years old but I believe it's still very relevant and addresses issues that are very much the concern in our Black communities today. If you're concerned about the situation of youth in your community then this program will offer the viewpoint of young people as well as several insightful  and creative solutions. PLEASE take an hour of your time and listen to this. (You don't have to stream you can download and put it on your ipod or phone) Then take the discussion to your local community meeting. The Childhood Matters Organization is an excellent role model if you want to start something to address the problems of youth in your community.

Childhood Matters: Bringing Peace, Hope, and Opportunity to Our Communities--August 8, 2010

Recently Oakland has been in the news pertaining to four eruptions of civil disobedience over the past two years, much of which involved youth. Yet little news coverage has reflected on the root causes of widespread inner-city anger in underserved communities. Join Nurse Rona guests for a discussion about bringing peace and hope to our communities and creating economic opportunities and youth leadership:
  • Maya Dillard Smith, strategic partnerships and investments director for Youth Uprising.
  • Jakada Imani, executive director of Ella Baker Center for Human Rights


Saturday, August 17, 2013

August 17, 2013 - Marcus Garvey 128th Birthday






Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH 
(17 August 1887 – 10 June 1940)

Political leader, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). He founded the Black Star Line, part of the Back-to-Africa movement, which promoted the return of the African diaspora to their ancestral lands.
Aug. 17, 2012 - Marcus Garvey would be 126 years old 




Garvey's Empire of Ethiopia.
-Marcus Garvey as head of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association and African Communities League of the World, believes
in a world-movement for the unification of political and economic interests of all
negroes everywhere. He believes that as Europe and America are the home of the
white man, and Asia of the yellow man, that Africa should be for the negro race.
This growing race consciousness was stimulated by the participation of two million
negroes in the world-war who now desire liberty and democracy as a race-a thing
for which they claim they were asked to fight in Europe. An international con-
vention composed of three thousand negro delegates met in New York in December
to frame a bill of rights for the negro race. They complained of many grievances such
as lynching, Jim-Crowism, disfranchisement, industrial exploitation, segregation, and
various other kinds of discrimination. The convention elected officials of this new
"supergovernment" of negroes, including Garvey as provisional president of Africa
and Dr. J. W. Eason as leader of the I5,000,000 negroes in the United States who
should obey his orders in all things pertaining to the negro race. The mayor of
Monrovia, the Liberian capital, was made "Pope of the Negro Race" and head of the
religious organization which is adapted from the model provided by the Catholic
church. He would decide, in case of America's entry into another war, whether the
negroes should participate. A $io,ooo,ooo commercial enterprise was also approved
to be called the Black Star Line, which has already bought three steamships to be
operated by negroes, and plying negro freight and passenger trade for the negroes'
own pecuniary benefit, between Africa, the West Indies, America, and later possibly
SouthAmerica.-TrumanHughesTalley, World'sWork, January, I92I. K.E.B.

Source: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 26, No. 6 (May, 1921)


According to the preamble of the 1929 constitution as amended, the UNIA is a "social, friendly, humanitarian, charitable, educational, institutional, constructive and expansive society, and is founded by persons desiring to do the utmost to work for the general uplift of the people of African ancestry of the world. And the members pledge themselves to do all in their power to conserve the rights of their noble race and to respect the rights of all mankind, believing always in the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God.


Marcus Garvey Speech 1921/

See the article;

Fly the Red, Black and Green Flag on Garvey's Birthday
By Ron Daniels




Monday, July 15, 2013

Hopefully we can rally around Trayvon Martin and bring out voters for the coming elections.





 It's clear to me that while many suppose that the outcry of injustice is coming from African Americans, there are many more voices than just our Black citizens speaking out in protest to the result of this trial. Many of us know that however this trial may have turned out technically that justice was somehow not served.

 We have all been watching this event from the beginning and we remember that the Sanford police were very quick to send Zimmerman home in spite of the fact that they knew that they had told Zimmerman to leave Martin to them and they knew it was Zimmerman who brought the weapon into the equation. In fact, it was only after a certain amout of protest that Zimmerman was brought up on charges. This was long after the opportunity to conduct a truly through investigation had passed. Here we have to ask ourselves, did race enter into the picture in the police investigation (or nonchalance of it)?

 We all can understand that a young person walking through his community minding his own business, is not supposed to wind up shot to death by an armed vigilante. What's worse though, is that somehow the fault for the killing is transfered to the person who was in fact the victim. We can all imagine the fear that Martin felt on discovering that some weird man was following him. What's more difficult is the fear that Zimmerman felt as he stalked Martin to the point of confrontation. So it's hard to believe that it wasn't in fact the unarmed Martin who was fighting in fear of his life. The only real witness to the contrary is the killer. I imagine that the defense lawyers used this lack of witnesses to good advantage but we all know that the instigator of this confrontation was Zimmerman and that somehow he must bare a greater amount of responsibility for the outcome. We all also know, that the chances are, if Martin had been able to disarm and kill Zimmerman a different set of rules would have been applied from the outset.

 In all of the recent protests of this trial, I see many Americans expressing their outrage at this obvious shortcome of justice. These are all people who want to see this broken system undergo a major overhaul so that we can move forward as a nation in an increasingly competetive world, rather than remain crippled by a self-defeating system that divides us and weakens the nation as a whole, by having us work at cross-purposes. Instead of using our resources to strengthen and build national unity among us too many politicians and business interests are serving their own self-interests at the expense of all of us.

 I hope that these protests will translate into voters and representatives that that will be more aware of where we are going in the upcoming elections.
Let's build on the policy of including all and drawing on our collective  strength rather than continuing down the path of death by division.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Trayvon Martin Murder Trial (America on Trial?)


 Once again we have a situation where a young Black man, who was essentially minding his own business, loses his life due to the fact that someone assumed that he was guilty of something or other just because he was where he was.  Where? It can be anywhere. Sean Bell and Amidou Diallo were somewhere in New York city, Oscar Grant was somewhere in the Bay Area, Robbie Tolan (injured) somewhere in Texas and Adolph Grimes somewhere in New Orleans the list goes on.  This type of killing is not limited to young men even though they fall victim to it more often than others. Our daughters, grandfathers as well as grandmothers are not immune.

  More often than not the killer is a policeman or a gang of policemen who commit the killing in the line of  "duty".  The Trayvon Martin case is a little different, in that Zimmerman had not even a pretext of authority to take a fiream and confront young Martin. It has never been all that difficult for white folks to get away with killing Black people but if Zimmerman does go free it will remain "open season" on all Black people.

  Now while it may appear that America is on trial I would have to say that we Black people are really the ones on trial. How much longer are we going to allow the senseless killing of our people to continue? No matter who the killer is, we have to organize ourselves to bring all the energy and resources that we have into play, in order to turn this situation around.  Anything less would be criminal and negligent on our own part. The time to stop this killing is now and the place is anywhere in America where we want to raise our families and secure our communities. If we don't resolve to bring it to an end, whatever the cost, it's not going to stop.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Save the Timbuktu Manuscripts, Again! Libraries in Exile.

Some Say, Africa Has No History? Not True, we say.

The question is do we want to help preserve that history? Recent events in Mali have again put the reknowned "Timbuktu Manuscripts" in jeopardy. Now we have the opportunity to contribute to the preservation of these precious documents.

See the following videos and texts.

 





300,000 ancient manuscripts were saved from rebels in Timbuktu, but now face a slow death by rot

TheNextWeb
It’s a story that almost sounds like the plot of a pulp novel: in the face of a marauding religious threat, and war, a local team secretly smuggled hundreds of thousands of manuscripts out of Timbuktu, preserving them for study and future generations.
Bribes, violence, conflict, and danger were endured to save around 300,000 manuscripts, taken from Timbuktu to Bamako. It was not an effort in vain. The location where many of the manuscripts had been stored was eventually overtaken by rebels, and before French troops managed to intervene sufficiently, the religious groups that had taken over the Malian town demanded that all the paper burned. To boot, they banned the holiday celebrating their existence.

'Libraries in Exile' fights to save priceless manuscripts in Mali 

Please follow the link above for mor info.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

"The Basin Street Revue" 1956 The Apollo Theatre


For African-American Music Appreciation Month we should remember that there's more to  African-American music than what we're hearing today. This movie I found on the internet archive is one of those gems that serves to remind us of our not too distant past. Filmed in 1956 at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem "The Basin Street Revue" gives us a clear picture of the music scene of that time.
Watch it, enjoy it, share it and download it and help to preserve the past in order to show our future generations.





Musical variety filmed at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York City.


This movie is part of the collection: Feature Films

Director: Joseph Kohn, Leonard Reed
Producer: Ben Frye
Production Company: Studio Films
Audio/Visual: sound, black & white
Keywords: ShortMusic
Contact Information: www.k-otic.com
Creative Commons license: Public Domain Mark 1.0


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Eulogy for Medgar Evers by Dr. T.R.M. Howard



Civil rights activist Dr. T.R.M. Howard gives the eulogy for Medgar Evers in June 1963 (about 2:20 minutes in). The announcer mistakenly describes him as a "reverend."


Medgar Wiley Evers (July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963) 
As the head of a mass movement in Mississippi, Howard a key nationally-known figure in the civil rights movement in the 1950s. He was the main mentor to not only Evers but Fannie Lou Hamer. Howard was one of the wealthiest blacks in Mississippi headed a large civil rights organization, the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, and was instrumental in finding witnesses and evidence in the Emmett Till case. He was president of the National Medical Association (the black counterpart of the AMA) and chairman of the board of the National Negro Business League (the black counterpart of the Chamber of Commerce).

The speaker following Howard is his friend Roy Wilkins, the head of the NAACP.

This audio is part of the collection: Community Audio

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The BBC Soul Deep series is very informative.


The BBC did a super series
Soul Deep - The Story Of Black Popular Music
These were all very well produced and they are worth watching.
They available on youtube so there isn't much I can say that
you can't see for yourself. 


Soul Deep: The Story of Black Popular Music episode 6 - From Ghetto to Fabulous

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Little Willie John

African-American Music Appreciation Month

Little Willie John Story Part 1 on the Chancellor of Soul's Soul Facts Show




LITTLE WILLIE JOHN STORY PART 2


Monday, May 20, 2013

President Obama Speaks at Morehouse Commencement




"President Obama touched on race, opportunity, tradition and commitment, carefully couched within familiar anecdotes and colloquialisms designed to give signs and signals to black America that he is still our guy."
Jarrett L. Carter  HuffPost

"Obama gets personal about race and manhood in Morehouse College speech"
By Philip Rucker Washington Post

Was President Obama Being Disrespectful to Morehouse Men? Some are Saying “Yes”

Saturday, May 11, 2013

The heart of Happy Hollow

All I can say is have fun with this book. Lots of good reading here.

Looking Back... How Newark welfare mothers brought about a necessary change in the community.

With No One To Help Us (1967)




Documantary demonstrating how the formation of a food-buying club by a group of
Newark welfare mothers brought about a necessary change in the community.
Nice images of African-American neighborhood in Newark.

This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Production Company: U. S. Office Of Economic Opportunity
Sponsor: Head Start Programs
Audio/Visual: sound, b&w
Keywords: need keyword
Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Thursday, May 9, 2013

The Attica prison Protest and Massacre


Attica: A Political Broadcast (November 8, 2011)
Some very telling dialog here.



On Sept. 13, 1971, New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ordered armed state troopers to raid the prison in Attica, New York, ending a prison uprising to protest inhumane conditions at the facility. Troopers then indiscriminately shot over 2,000 rounds of ammunition, killing 29 prisoners and 10 guards. Recently released audio recordings provide a glimpse into the bizarre savage rituals of US federal and local rulers coming together.

"I think the combination of age and a greater coming together is responsible for the speed of the passing time."
--Sam Melville, from a letter written shortly before he was killed by troopers in Attica

Complete audio of Rockefeller-Nixon Attica dialogue available at:
http://www.archive.org/details/AtticaUprisingTheRockefeller-nixonTapes


This movie is part of the collection: Community Video

Producer: junya
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: atticaprison uprisingrockefellernixonmassacre
Contact Information: https://www.youtube.com/user/justJunya
Creative Commons license: CC0 1.0 Universal