All Roads Lead to Juneteenth 2009

The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America
Media Alert
Contact: Njere Alghanee, NCC
ncobrakazi@yahoo.com
404/587-2709

Atlanta, GA. NCOBRA, the National Coalition of Black for Reparations in America will convene its 20th Annual Conference in commemoration of Juneteenth (June 19, 1865), which became a celebration of jubilee for the enslaved Africans when the public notice of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 was finally delivered two years after it was proclaimed as an ending to slavery by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863.

Just as this proclamation of emancipation was to end slavery 146 years ago, today the residual effects of the past still plague modern day Africans born in America, who are the Afro- descendants that continue to experience disparities in education, health care, wealth / poverty, criminal punishment and human rights. “ As history is doomed to repeat itself ” , the debt of human respect, residual profits, and constitutional justice is due to the populations Afro-descendants who continue to languish on the bottom rungs of society in what is recognized as the ‘ most powerful nation in the world, the United States of America’.

Over 20 years ago, NCOBRA resurged a movement to revitalize the work of many Afro-descendants to demand reparations for the ’ genocidal war against Africans that created the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, chattel slavery, Jim Crow, lynching, inhumanities, exploitation of racism, and economic discrimination imposed upon our people past and present. Meanwhile, recognizing that the reparations movement has experienced ebbs and flows, NCOBRA nevertheless is gearing up to approach the United States government in these progressive political times with steadfast determination to win reparations through continuing to educate , mobilize , and empower our people at conferences, community based forums, media consortiums, and mass protests.

The theme of this year’s conference is “ “ Freedom! Reparations! Equality! Respect! , which echoes the battle cry of generations of Africans who were subjected to the longest crime against humanity in the history of mankind. Plans include: National Youth Leadership Summit; The Sankofa Experience; Inter-generational Empowerment Workshops for Action Planning; Plenaries; Panels; Rallies and Cultural and Spiritual Tributes. Invited presenters and Guests include: Baba Hannibal Afrik, Atty. Adjoa Aiyetoro; Dr. Marimba Ani, Alvin Brown, Joyce Ann Brown, Rep. John Conyers, Atty. Mawuli Davis, Dr. Joy DeGruy-Leary, Aty Kweku Duren, Bog Money Griff, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Dr. Maulana Karenga, Bro. Keidi of WLIB, Min Akbar Muhammad, Bro Ashahed Muhammad, Bro. Thomas Muhammad, Baba Kalonji Olusegun, Atty Deadria Farmer Paellman, Atty Rose Sanders, Atty Malik Zulu Shabazz, Baba Atty Dudley Thompson, Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, Dr. Conrad Worrill, Baba Obadele Williams, Brothas Keepa, FTP ( Free the People), MXGRM ( Malcolm X Grassroots Movement), NBPP ( New Black Panther Party) New Black Panther Vanguard, Youth Views and Youth Speak Truth of WRFG Radio ( Radio Free Georgia) World African Diaspora Union ( WADU)+ Elected Officials, and local Dallas, Texas activists.

This 20th Annual Conference will take place in Dallas, Texas at the Mount Tabor Family Life Center- 3700 Simpson Stuart Road, 75241 ( Across the street from Paul Quinn College). The “ Sankofa Experience” will take place on Juneteenth (6/19/09) at a historically preserved site and will re-enact the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, including the chattel era, auction blocks, and other horrific incidents experienced during the ‘Maafa’.

Media Check-in begins on Friday, June 19, 2009 at 10:00 AM. Contact : Sis. Njere Alghanee, NCOBRA National Co-Chair for more alerts, details. and interviews with presenters

Update on Pinnacle, the home of the Rastafari Movement

ROYAL RASTAFARI FAMILY

PINNACLE - UPDATE


Greetings:


June 16th, 2009 we’ll celebrate the Earth Strong (birthday) of the Founding Father of the Rastafarian Movement, Dr. Leonard Percival Howell at Pinnacle Groundation Site in Sligoville, St. Catherine. A press conference will be held that day to bring awareness to private and public sectors in Jamaica and abroad.


June 25th, 2009 at noon in the Spanish Town Magistrate’s Court the case with the St. Jago Hills Developers continues. Together, we will win as we protect the unity and promote the harmony.

In April 2009, Jamaica National Heritage Trust drafted a declaration for Pinnacle Site to be a National Monument, “Heritage Site.”Is this progress??? Some might say it is and some will say it is not.



I n I would like to think that it is progress. WE ARE NOT WHERE WE WANT TO BE BUT WE ARE NOT WHERE WE USED TO BE.


Give thanks to the Almighty Creator, the omnipotent, supreme one, my ancestors and all my Action Jackson brothers and Sisters who had a part to play behind and on the scene to make this a reality.


It is amazing, when we put our gifts/talents together we’ll all benefit for our good. I pray that we can work and focus on the goals ahead with conviction, respectability and continuity for the common good of our children children children.

“Love and “LIGHT”

Sister Catherine Howell
zungoo711@yahoo.com



For More Info and Bio on Hon. Percival Howell:
http://theblacklistpub.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?q=howell


And:
http://theblacklistpub.ning.com/forum/topics/global-news-release-on


Also on utterli:
http://www.utterli.com/u/utt/u-ODAzODE0Ng#utt-ODAzODE0Ng

PINNACLE HOME PAGE:
www.lphfoundation.org

About the Universal Negro Improvement Association & African Communities League

By H. E. Wesley Jr.

PCEC Director of Operations

The Right Excellent Marcus M. Garvey (1887-1940) was the founder and first President General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association & African Communities League. As such Marcus Garvey was a pivotal figure in the twentieth-century global African experience. The dramatic rise to international prominence in the decade from 1917 to 1927 propelled the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA) to becoming the largest mass-based protest movement among Black people in the history of the United States, if not the world. The Honorable Cleophus Miller Jr. is the current President General of the UNIA Inc., and the PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference (PCEC) is one of the ways he is codifying “Applied Garveyism in the 21st century. Using the 1920 International Convention of Negro People of the World as a backdrop .the UNIA & ACL will use PCEC to demonstrate that Africa is still the guiding star for the global African Family. PCEC is designed to formulate a package deal where the global African Family works as a collective seeking out a treatment that will reinstate the fact that Africa is for Africans, those at home and those afield. 

Mme. M. L. De Mena wrote this editorial for the “Negro World” on October 17, 1933 that depicts this 21st century effort. Using her power as an ancestor, she speaks to you, and asks you to become involved. She reminds you of what it took in Garvey’s day and what is required of you today. She wrote -- 

“The sacred few, the noble few, the gallant few, who ... from a burning heart and languishing soul ... felt the true zealousness and sublimity of race consciousness. The fundamentality of nationhood, the infancy of a great commonwealth, operated and governed by Negroes in yonder fragrant Africa's sunny fields. Yea a modern heaven and refuge, a substantial environment, a solace wherein all Negro generations will be called blessed. This is our abiding faith, the eternal creed, the renovated religion, that now appeals and aches within the breast of our hundreds of million Negroes under the ethics of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.”

 Isese Agbaye  

If the PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference is to become a reality the global African Family has to become informed about developing a new mindedness; a postcolonial new mind. It is not possible to change your way of thinking without having something to think about. His Royal Majesty Alayeluwa Oba Dr Adedayo Olusino Adekoya (Erinsiba 1) is the President-General, of the “Worldwide Isese Agbaye Community”. Isese Agbaye is offered herewith as a sort of appendix needed to serve three purposes.

1. “Worldwide Isese Agbaye Community offers the global African Community sources for many of the assertions concerning Africa’s past, her Holonomic whole system science of harmony, encompassing all disciplines from the science of religion to the religion of science.

2. PCEC is offered as an open ending linking a new beginning. The “Worldwide Isese Agbaye Community has the potential to expand on a few controversial points regarding the past, the present and the future.

3. Isese Agbaye provides a starting point for finding information as we focus more of our attention on long-term issues.

Whereas all this may be new to many of us, His Royal Majesty Alayeluwa Oba Dr Adedayo Olusino Adekoya (Erinsiba 1) put what is at stake this in perspective.

“I come here before you in absolute humility. After accepting and succumbing to the call of elders of our race to be an Oba, which happened after the successful participation of the team I led to the Orisa World Congress held at Ile Ife Nigeria in 2001 from where everything moved so fast that I almost got tired of catching up with them. I became the Oba Isese Agbaye there-after, and I later got my crown consecrated and blessed at the highest Obatala Shrine in the whole world at the Palace of Purity, Ideta, Ile Ife, the crucible where Obas are made from in Yoruba land and really in the world. This was when I was made the Oba Amero Obatala World wide by the World Obatala Council, Ile Ife, Nigeria. You, I believe have all made me what I am today and I thank you all. Though a very big challenge, I had tried my best to rise up to all expectations. 

After successfully overcoming the various challenges we faced at home in Africa, Nigeria and the grace that all Isese bestowed on us which has made me to overcome all obstacles that ranged from humiliations, attempted assassinations, imprisonment for trumped up charges, economic isolation and various other social pressures, all of which were based on religious bias, ISESE AGBAYE, is today the only legally recognized religion in Nigeria. This is because section 10 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clearly stated that the country is a non-secular state, and therefore all other religions, particularly the non-indigenous ones like Christianity and Islam could only operate through various associations, churches and organizations. ISESE AGBAYE on the other hand, while its members were expressing their fundamental rights to freedom of religion expression and association by which they thus decided to choose their own leader got challenged and the religion was taken to court technically became the only legally recognized religion in Nigeria the “Holy Land”. On March 05 2008, a magistrate court in Nigeria struck out the case against us in our favor for want of diligent prosecution. This has therefore made the case a reference point for citation thus entering the annals of the laws of the country. This is a great achievement and victory for all ISESE AGBAYE religion believers both at home, the Diasporas and for all mankind.  The centuries of sending Africans to strange continents across the oceans and deserts were terrible. Though it may not be totally possible to fully comprehend the impact of the unfortunate events of the massive forced exodus that happened during that period, I could, based on my professional training and experience as a medical practitioner both at the western and traditional African practitioner’s levels understand through empathic skills, partake effectively and somewhat efficiently to a very high extent, in the pains and sufferings of the times, and, of this times too, such that one can be a part of, and in fact lead in the implementation of the solutions that will form the way forward. 

I can appreciate the difficult situations we found ourselves in at arriving in the new continents spiritually and in so many other ways where very young inexperienced people were taken into slavery because what were needed then were able-bodied men that would work tirelessly for their masters. Very young women too were taken, as they were needed for procreation to produce more slaves as geometric profit for the buyers. The matured and aged were either killed or left behind to die for want. The opportunity thus offered by ISESE AGBAYE to re-link the people on the different continents stands to be fully praised, supported and encouraged by all. One should at this point give great credit to our ancestors who were able to maintain strands of the religion and spirituality in spite of all odds that they faced at those times. This has kept us going today. May their spirits continue to guide us.”

Why A PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference?

1972 was a year that found the UNIA & ACL struggling with the prospects of a name change. The idea was, by changing the name to the Universal African Improvement Association some how everything would improve for Black people. The Reverend J. C Tucker (from Detroit Michigan) was one of those who stood up in opposition to the name change. Rev. Tucker said – 

“What are the benefits that you expect to accrue by removing word, Negro, replacing it with African? The name of this organization is the Universal Negro Improvement Association. The operative word is improvement, and it is that word that you should focus. Your problem is defined by your economic and industrial standing in the world, therefore think on how to enhance the Negro, you will advance the African.” Rev. Tucker philosophized that Western civilization would forever victimize people of visible African descent regardless of what he or she called themselves, Negro, Nigerian, Jamaican, New Yorker, or wherever, until the African continent becomes a national whole, recognized for its political strength and industrial and economic activity. He said – “leave the name alone; Change your condition”. Rev. Tucker explained that he was not against the name change pre say, He said, “the UNIA & ACL and Black people in general, must come to realize that if we are to reach our objective of improving the Race, we must be able to look through muddy water and see dry land.” He said, “that sound like an impossibility to most of us but with faith in ourselves and our God, the UNIA & ACL. can and will reach our objectives. The motion was voted down.

The name remained the same and sadly so has our condition. With years to reflect, it turns out that changing the name of the organization was an example of instantaneous emphasis on short-term events; that leads to all kinds of hilarious misreadings. If the UNIA had changed its name to UAIA it would have proved to nothing more than an instantaneous reactionary activities.

Thirty-five years after Rev. Tucker made his proclamation in Philadelphia Pa, it is obvious the global African Family continues to latch on to neo-colonial rule. Indeed Black integrationists and agent tools of those who are expounding neo-colonial rule bitterly opposed the UNIA and Rev. Tuckers’ views. Their efforts have resulted in the blurring the pervasive reality that a Black skin is a Black skin and that being an offspring of a segmented continent, controlled and manipulated by others, dictates subnormal treatment even in areas where they form the numerical superiority. Integrationists accuse anyone with such views racists. Here we have a situation where the slavers or slaver sympathizer accusing the enslaved of racism.

Integrationists the world over, it would appear, have had some success in demeaning Marcus Garvey’s Race First policies selling them as racism. As such the global African Family in still view as the wretched of the earth. The PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference (PCEC) is not designed to preaching racism. It interprets the Marcus Garvey philosophy to contain the key to the survival and prosperity of people of African descent. It recognizes that the Black people of the world must help themselves as a collective whole. It maintains that unless and until this is done, there will continue to be underemployment, discrimination and injustice abroad; and exploitation, penury and general deprivation on the African continent. PCEC offers to the global African Family a path to conscious evolution.

While changing the form and content of education would be a major step towards conscious evolution, much has to be done outside of the schools as well. PCEC is constructed on the principal that Black people must come together to strengthen family ties, thanking God that we have overcome slavery and colonialism in a manner of speaking. PCEC is designed to bring Black people together to bask in the African sun, singing & shouting songs of praise, while we remember the blood and anguish of our ancestors in making such an event possible. And on the other hand, plotting a course toward a collective effort, advancing the Race towards a progressive African millennial vision for the future.

But how do we begin to do that considering the fact that the African Family is not now current on major technological issues. Much of the technological issues are considered as progress but in fact are mad, senseless, unthinking trail to disaster. PCEC can advance the Race towards a progressive African millennial vision for the future by bring a cross section of the African Family together to debate the issues in the villages, in governmental arenas, the media (especially television), and intellectual circles. There are those among us who have the leverage, the education and interest to move the Black Race forward to a new postcolonial mind. For whereas there is no simple way out of the African dilemma, there may well be a simple, constructive way to proceed.

One thing we know is, Black people's ideas are not as fixed as others are. Historically Black People were forced to adopt and change as a survival technique. PCEC will enhance that survival technique by bring ancient and contemporary knowledge to the conference table; increasing the availability of positive thoughts and decreases the availability of negative ones.

Africa is excellent as the venue for the PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference because of Africa’s exhaustless sources of vitality. She is indeed the “fruit” of the tree of life. Mother Africa will allow PCEC delegates to relax under the shadow of Africa’s leaves that have always been there for the service of the Black Race. Under the African sky PCEC will give the Black Race the opportunity to drink from the life-giving fountain assigned to the Black Race. We will bathe in Africa’s silvery spray, and be refreshed; walk on Africa’s golden sands, and feel that we are no longer exiles. 

PCEC will allow Africans across the globe to exchange the cross for the crown, and feel that the days of our humiliations are ended. The Conference will allow the family to lay down the staff and take the palm branch, and feel that the journey is done. We must pull off the garments of our warfare and put on the robes of triumph, and feel that the conflict is ended and the victory gained. We will exchange the toil-worn, dusty raiment of our pilgrimage for the glorious vesture of our African-ness in total. The PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference will offer a day of rest and triumph, and as Africans one and all say -- Let the promise be fulfilled which bears the train of matchless glories that Mother Africa, along with her scattered children deserve.

Yes we are talking about moving the postcolonial African mind away from our colonial way of thinking to a “new 21st century African mind. But in the process, we cannot sidestep certain facts i.e., the long-term impacts of Arab/Euro-American activities over the past thirteen centuries. On the other hand we cannot ignore the great African minds of old and traditions of African people who do not participate in the industrial society. Yes there are members of the global African Family who still-hunt and gather. Most of us are inclined to think that such family members are "primitive" and simply need to be introduced to mechanize agriculture to solve their "food problems." But is that all together true? In fact, hunters and gatherers and traditional farmers alike have superb, time-tested techniques for extracting food from hostile environments. 

It is the belief that what we do today is always better than what we did yesterday, that all forms of “progress” are desirable, inevitable, and irreversible But to disregard our ancient father’s knowledge in trying to solve the all-important food problem is the height of ignorance & arrogance: One of the oldest recommendations of our ancient parents was “Know Thyself”. The current condition that the global African family finds ourselves we cannot afford to be ignorance & arrogance about anything.

Consider this -- hunting-and-gathering peoples have classically harvested a wide variety of the animals available in their habitats. Euro-American trained herders and farmers today have based their activities on a continually narrowing resource base -- a few species of domestic animals and plants. This specialization has both advantages and disadvantages. In Africa the dependence of herders on cattle -- animals not native to Africa-have been a major factor in the gradual transformation of habitable land into desert due to the destructive use of the land. 

Imported cattle must have daily water in semiarid environments, so they must walk to wells or water holes. The daily trek uses energy that could be converted into beef, and the trampling damages already sparse vegetation and compacts the soil, making it less able to absorb water and more subject to erosion. The moist cowpats produced by cattle harden into a "fecal pavement" that further limits plant growth by smothering it. The pats heat up in the sun, killing the bacteria and fungi that normally break them down and release fertilizing nutrients. As grazing intensifies, the grasses and herbs the cattle prefer become less common, and less nourishing ones become more common, and the capacity of the range to support cattle declines. Partly as a result of these factors, the Sahara Desert marches inexorably southward, and people starve to death.

In contrast, most native African grazing (grass-eating) and browsing (shrub-eating) antelopes and other hoofed animals are much more efficient in their water use than cattle. Some native animals seem to get all the moisture they need from the plants they eat and never need to drink at all; others drink only occasionally. In either case daily treks to waterholes are not necessary. The native animals, conserving water by reabsorbing it in the hind end of their guts, produce dry fecal pellets, which drop through the vegetation and fertilize without smothering it.

Furthermore, the different species of African grazers and browsers eat different kinds of plants; for example, giraffes can eat the tops of thorny acacia trees that cannot be used by other species.

As a consequence of these differences, a mix of native animal species does not degrade a range physically or chemically the way cattle do. Observing this, and taking a cue from so-called "primitive" peoples, some Europeans have been experimenting with ranching not cattle but antelopes, giraffes, and other native African plant eaters.

On the Athi Plain of Kenya, there is a thriving twenty thousand-acre game ranch. Since 1978, antelopes, zebras, and giraffes have been harvested along with cattle. The cattle are being phased out to be replaced with a native bovine, the Cape buffalo. At the moment, having some cattle gives better control over the grazing regime, since the cattle can be herded from place to place where the range is ready for grazing.

David Hopcrafts says the ranch is more successful than he had hoped. The range is improving steadily, and the yield of meat is higher than could be obtained from herding cattle alone. Furthermore, the game animals are more resistant to local diseases than cattle, and large amounts of money aren't needed for pumps, pipes, dams, and other devices to supply water.

Switching gears again, while peeping into the past, maybe we need to bring Her Excellency Nana Yaa Asantewaa Queen of Edweso, Ghana into our PCEC discussion. Of her it was reported in the September/August 2008 NEW AFRICAN 

"Then there is the matter of the Golden Stool of Ashanti," the (British) governor went on.

"The queen [Victoria] is entitled to the stool; she must receive it. Where is the Golden Stool? I am the representative of the paramount power. Why have you relegated me to this ordinary chair? Why did you not take the opportunity of my coming to Kumasi to bring the Golden Stool for me to sit upon? You must bring the Golden Stool for me to sit upon this instant!"

The assembled Asantes heard this speech, which was an anathema of anarhemas to them, in absolute silence. They a11 got up one by one and went home. In the night, the chiefs held a secret meeting in Kumasi. Among those who attended was Nana Yaa Asantewaa, queen of Edweso, near Kumasi. She listened quietly as the men explained how difficult it would be to fight against the British. Unable to hold her anger any longer, she stood up and said:

"Now I see that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our king. If it were in the brave days of King Osei Tutu [founder of the Asante nation], Okomfo Anokye [who aided Osei Tutu to found the nation by bringing down the Golden Stool from the heavens], and Opoku Ware [who did most to consolidate the Asante kingdom after Osei Tutu's death], our chiefs would not sit down to see their king taken away without firing a shot. No European could have dared speak to the chiefs of Asante in the way the governor spoke to you this morning. Is it true that the bravery of Asante is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be! I must say this: if you, the men of Asante, will not go forward, then we will. We, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight the white men. We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields."

Nana Yaa Asantewaa understood the world had changing around her. She understood that changing the mindset of the men was not adequate to protect the masses. Picture Nana Yaa Asantewaa reaction if she was around to hear Franklin Delano Roosevelt the 32nd President of the United States; explain the New Deal that would in effect supply welfare checks to Black women who pushed their husbands to the curb. Thereby effectively destroying the Black Family. The idea behind Franklin Delano Roosevelt plan was to stop Garvey’s back to Africa Movement. (Remember that the ex-slaves were extremely industrious, many of the most progressive ideas in the United States of America were those coming from individuals of African descent. Think of it – what would Africa be like today if Garvey’s plans were allowed to succeed.) The welfare checks offered to Black women was part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt plan to disrupt the UNIA & ACL. He wanted to divert the minds of the ex-slaves away from Africa and self-reliance to welfare and abject poverty.

It would appear that the British governor and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were two sides of the same coin; proving that the only thing ex-slaves have to fear is Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his kin & kind. Today there is needs for the global African Family to review the life and times of Nana Yaa Asantewaa, and Marcus Garvey and seek out likeminded individuals-and formulate a PostColonial Conference. The idea is to plant the seeds for a new African mind and the develop a 21st century global African skills bank, that will overriding the default mind set instituted by offered by Roosevelt and British governor with their New Deal. Up till now a small amount of thought by the average African has gone into debunking the welfare mentality offered to the Black Race by Roosevelt, and reinforced by the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF, and now the World Trade Organization. 

The time has come for the global African Family to make an organized effort to educate all African minds to filter in what is good for the Race and, not filter out what is detrimental. , The default way of thought has to be overridden, especially in politics, culture and economic. African people must come to determine that Africa is for Africans at home and abroad. It sounds like an impossible task, but it is not.

The UNIA believes that you are one of the atoms which can be joined to the PCEC development team that will produce an implosion of consciousness among Africa’s children at home and abroad; thus facilitate solutions.

A final note -- PCEC was not formulated by a group of “grant writers” seeking funding from the World Bank or the IMF or the Bill Gates Foundation. The underpinning of this Conference, by necessity, has to be authentically African both culturally and economically. A successful PostColonial Cultural Economic Conference will demonstrate that together the global African Family is to accomplish much.

-- For further information --

PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference (PCEC)

Universal Negro Improvement Association  & ACL 

UNIA Cleveland Ohio Address

UNIA Parent Body, 4447 Lee Rd, Cleveland OH 44128

The Honorable Cleophus Miller Pres. Gen. UNIA Inc.

Phone 1-216-310-4749

PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference Raleigh Office

H. E. Wesley Jr., Director of Operations (PCEC)

E-mail: hwesley@bellsouth. net, Fax 1-919-834-7973

New York Offices

Kamau Khalfani, Field Director

24 Mill Street, Apt. 212

Paterson NJ 07501

Thelearningtree901@gmail. com

Mr. Byron Moore

Co-Director of Operations

Brooklyn, NY

Ms. Nefertari A. Ahmose

Minister of Information

Bronx NY

Nefertari_Ahmose@yahoo. com

Which Way Forward for the Black Left? A Critical Analysis of Obama’s Presidency & the State of Black Politics

Political Forum

 

      In Commemoration of Hubert Harrison:        
The Voice of Early 20th Century Harlem Radicalism

 
Which Way Forward for the Black Left?

 A Critical Analysis of Obama’s Presidency & the State of Black Politics

Sunday, May 31. 2009   
2 to 5 PM
                                  St. Mary’s Church, 521 West 126th Street                                               
(Between Amsterdam Avenue and Old Broadway)

 

New York City Council Proclamation Presented Posthumous to Hubert Harrison. Accepted by Harrison’s  Family:   Charles Richardson (Grandson);  Ilva Harrison (Grand-daughter); & Yvette Richardson (Great Grand-daughter).   (Remarks by Jeffrey B. Perry, Author  of “A Harrison Reader”& “Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism 1883 to 1918”).

 

Panelists: Cynthia McKinney, Presidential candidate 2008 and former US Congresswoman; Glen Ford, Executive Editor, Black Agenda Report;  Professor Tony Monterio, African American Studies Department, Temple  University; Margaret Kimberly, Senior Columnist, Black Agenda Report; Nellie Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council; Invited:  Author Adolph Reed, Jr (among his work 'Class Notes', and co-author of the forthcoming Renewing Black Intellectual History: The Ideological & Material Foundations of Black American Thought). Others to be announced!

 

*Tribute to the Lore & Legacy of Mamadou Chenyelu, Journalist, Publisher and Author of "Harlem Ain't Nothing But a Third World Country" who made his transition on April 4, 2009 in Silver Spring, Maryland after a long bout of illness.

 

 For additional information contact: Nellie Hester Bailey 212-663-5248 or email: harlemtenants@gmail.com or nelliehester@yahoo.com. Visit websites:www.harlemtenantscouncil.org

Adisadel Old Boys Association Pre-Centenary Memorial Weekend Extravaganza

Dear Friends,

I am writing in the capacity as the Media Relations and Communication officer of the North America chapter of Adisadel Old Boys Association (AOBA) otherwise known as “Santaclausians”

 As Adisadel College looks towards it's 100th birthday in 2010 it is worth noting that this institution has not only made itself felt but actually contributed its share to the development and progress of the nation in diverse ways.

Over the years, the School has turned out into the world a steady stream of keen, capable young men, filled with enthusiasm and dedicated to the service of the country and of mankind - men who have contributed and continue to contribute their quota to the enrichment of the life of the nation, in practically all fields of human endeavour. This can be attributed to the life-long preparations given to it's students through education.

In 1977, W. C. Tandoh rightly stated at the Speech and Prize Giving Day...

"Whatever a person decides to do in life demands preparation, the qualities of courage, zeal, dedication and devotion to duty. Each day is a new day that imposes on us new demands and new responsibilities; each dawn has to be faced with renewed vigour and determination. Our suitability for the challenges of each day rests on our sustained endeavours in the acquisition of knowledge and experience and on our preparedness to adapt and utilize them profitably to suit the varying circumstances of life..."
 
The remarkable visions of Adisadel founder, Rev. Nathaniel Temple Hamlyn will reach the centennial mark on January 4th, 2010. From its humble beginnings in 1910 with 29 students at Topp Yard in Cape Coast, the then SPG (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel) Grammar School now occupies a 4 kilometer square campus with almost 2000 students at Adisadel. Having lived by its motto of "Either the first or with the first", the achievements of the school and the making of Ghana are evident. There is ample evidence pointing to the fact that year- group awards of excellence as well as those of other Santaclausians have continuously motivated not only the staff to work much harder but also the students to burn the midnight oil.

Preparations are currently underway for a grand celebration of the school's 100 years of producing great men. The main centennial celebrations will be held on the school campus the weekend of July 17th and 18th. 2010.

We would like to take this opportunity to invite all well wishers of the school including members of this network to join us in this celebration. It is also worth noting that events are being planned all over the globe by Santaclausians in various parts of the world including USA, Canada and the UK.

Here in Washington DC please see embedded Flyers and additional information regarding the Adisadel Old Boys Association (AOBA North America) Congress to be held in Washington DC from May 22-24 2009. http://www.adisadelonline.com/

We will be most grateful if you will forward this announcement to your members and affiliates in the United States and Canada to attend this weekend extravaganza.

--
Samuel. N. O. Jacobs-Abbey
Programs Director/ Sub-Saharan Africa
Youth for Human Rights International
15198 Wentwood Ln
Woodbridge, VA, 22191
(571) 337-9185 (Cell)
samabbey@icchra.org
www.youthforhumanrights.org

TransAfrica Forum Action Alert: Human Rights Defenders Under Attack - Act Now!

TransAfrica Forum Action Alert on Behalf of Africa Action

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people", 
Martin Luther King Jr.

 Dear Friends,

 Today the government of Zimbabwe rearrested Jestina Mukoko and 15 others on trumped up charges of "banditry, terrorism and insurgency". The arrest follows the appearance of Jestina and her comrades before a Harare Magistrate at which they were formally indicted remanded in custody.

 We cannot be silent in the face of this outrageous attack on human rights defenders. The only crime committed by Jestina Mukoko, a long time civic leader in Zimbabwe and her co-accused is standing up against tyranny in Zimbabwe and speaking out in defense of human rights and democracy. As Martin taught us, it takes the silence of good people for abuses of this nature to persist. We call upon people of good conscience all over the world to add your voice in calling for the unconditional release of Jestina Mukoko and her comrades. Zimbabwe's compromised courts cannot be trusted to deliver justice to activists who have been targeted and victimized for their principled stand on human rights and democracy. There is no chance for these activists getting a fair trial under the unreconstructed judicial system in Zimbabwe.

State agents abducted Jestina and others back in October last year and they suffered torture and abuse in secret detention. Following loud protests from activists in Zimbabwe and around the world, Jestina and others surfaced form secret detention only to be released to the notorious Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison where they were held for two more months and only released on bail as part of a political deal by parties to Zimbabwe's new inclusive government. The re-arresting of Jestina Mukoko and other activists is a shame to the new inclusive government in Zimbabwe.

We call upon you to raise your voices again in support of these human rights defenders by taking the following actions:

 1. Call the Zimbabwe Embassy to the U.S.:  +1 202 332-7100

- and register your protest at the detention and ill-treatment of these human rights defenders and demand their immediate release.

2. Write to President Obama

- and ask him to pressure the Zimbabwe government to release Jestina Mukoko and her fellow activists

 Click here to send a message to President Obama.

Reports of horrible conditions and abuse in Zimbabwe's prisons are rampant we therefore must act with speed to secure the release of these human rights defenders.

Please act now!

In solidarity,

Staff @ Africa Action

TransAfrica Forum | 1629 K Street, NW, Suite 1100 | Washington, DC 20006 |
Phone: 202.223.1960 | Fax: 202.223.1966 | info@transafricaforum.org  
www.transafricaforum.org/

May 22-24 National Black Power Conference/ Atlanta/ Malcolm X Weekend

On Friday May 22nd Saturday May 23rd, and Sunday May 24th an historic conference will be held in Atlanta Georgia.  Besides serious education, the primary purpose of the conference is to unify disjointed Black activists, organizers and leaders around a universal agenda of Black Power.  

The 2009 National Black Power Conference is also an effort to consolidate a Black or African United Front (ie: Black Power Movement) to combat immediate and pressing problems in the Black Nation.  We seek to lay a base for long term defense and development around the critical and well defined interests of our people.  

The significance of this Black Power Conference being held on Malcolm X birthday weekend is in obvious homage to the prototype, dynamic Nationalist-prophet to whose legacy we humbly walk after.    
 
If you are concerned about political prisoners, gentrification, gang violence or issues specifically pertaining to Black Women-the National Black Power Conference is for you.    If you are a Garveyite, follower of Malcolm X, Moorish Disciple of Hon. Noble Drew Ali, or love the Honorable Elijah Muhammad or any other great Black ancestor- the Black Power Conference is for you.  If you are into teaching science, self defense, activism, spiritual matters, economic possibilities, politics, hip hop, arts and entertainment, education, history,  culture, health or any real and present key issues in the Black Nation-The Black Power Conference is for you. If you are a college activist, student revolutionary or young person trying to find your role in the liberation struggle- the Black Power Conference is for you.  If the treatment of ex- felons, police brutality, racism, or the status of Hip Hop, presidential politics or health is on your mind- the National Black Power Conference is for you.  If you believe in building a nation of your own and doing for self the Black Power Conference is for you.  If you want to hear conscious rap and see revolutionary conscious art –the Black Power Conference is for you.  If you want to feel the spirit of a Black Men’s only meeting again or are trying to organize around Black Family issues-  The Black Power Conference is for you.   If you are a Crip, Blood, Vice-Lord, El-Ruk’n, Disciple, Blackstone or other street organization who wants unity-this conference is for you.   If you are an activist, organizer, conscious teacher, revolutionary, military-defense person, nation builder, businessman, or just a brother or sister or parent that wants to see Black People Organized and fighting the good fight- the National Black Power Conference in Atlanta, Georgia May 22-24th is for you.  
 
Come and Join with Dr. Leonard Jeffries (CUNY-NY), Conference Convener - Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz (BPM-BLJ-NBPP), Professor Griff (PE), UNO The Prophet (Hip-Hop 4 Black Unity/NBPP) Dr. Khallid Al-Mansour, Chairwoman Njeree (NCOBRA), Kenny Gamble (Philly International), Dr. Charles Steele/Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Rahim Islam , Sister Darnide Cayo (Artists Village),  Winston Johnson (WINSONIC Technology), New Black Panther Party for Self Defense (NBPP),  Nation of Islam (NOI), Sister Pam Afrika (Move/Mumia), Millions More Movement (MMM), Hon. Mukassa Ricks (SNCC/BPP/AAPRP), Dr. Ali Muhammad (Phila)/International Indigenous Society (ISIS), Reverend Kenneth Glasgow, The Ordinary Peoples Society (T.O.P.S.), All African Peoples Revolutionary Party (AAPRP), National Black United Front (NBUF), Professor James Smalls (OAAU-NY), Kofi Taharka (NBUF) U.N.I.A., Chief Kamara/Sankore African Study Circle, Minister Hashim Nzingha (NBPP-ATL), Minister Divine Allah (City Council Candidate, NBPP-NJ, 5% Nation of Gods and Earths), Sis. Amirah Sankofa (NBPP-STL), Bro. Hannibal Rushadeen (NBPP-NY) Nuwaubian Nation, D.J. Greg Street (V103), Black Lawyers for Justice (BLJ) Attorney Chokwe Lumumba, CEO Mike Roberts, Minster Bryan Muhammad (MMM-Ft. Worth TX), Minister Derrick Muhammad (Houston-MMM) Republic of New Afrika, Reverend Joseph Lowery, CEMOTAP,  Dr. James McIntosh, Ashahed Muhammad (TEI-FCN NOI), Oscar Grant Organizers (Oak), Organizers from Paris, Texas, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM), UHURU Movement (IDPDUM), Attorney Yusef Muhammad (NOI-BLJ), Minister Abdul Rahman Muhammad (NOI), Bro. Kalonge/National Action Network (NAN), December 12th Movement (D12M), Megan Williams (WVA), Youth Saving Youth, Soulvivaz Nation, Jericho, Minister Najee Muhammad (NBPP-ATL), Justice Ali (NBPP-Dallas), Obi Egbuna  (Pan African Liberation Organization-PALO), Maroon Society, Attorney Mawuli Davis, Councilwoman Able Mable Thomas, Ed Brown (Brother of  Imam Jamil Al-Amin), Bro. Hodari Abdul Ali (WPFW-Wash DC), Bro. Karim Ali, Million Father March, Black Riders Liberation Party, Original Black Panther Party (BPP) In all over 50 Black Organizations will be represented.
 
Organizers from Florida, Dallas-Houston-Paris, TX, New York, Washington D.C., Virginia, Illinois, St. Louis, Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Alabama, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas, Maryland, California and many other states and even London and Africa will be present May 22nd, 23rd and 24th in Atlanta, Georgia at this historic first Black Power Convention in 30 years.  
 
Dynamic weekend workshops includes:  “Health and the Black Nation”; “Black Economics and Black Power”;  “For Sisters only: Black Women and the liberation movement”; “Black Men’s only meeting: The Million Man March and beyond”; “Is Hip Hop the cause of the destruction of the Black Community?”; “Prospects for a United States of Africa”; “Black Liberation Theology:  Can we all get along?”; ”Political Prisoners: Prisoners of War”; “Black Journalists on the frontline”; “Gang Summit”; “Self Defense and Black Power”; “Police Brutality: organizers speak up”; “Tips from the Black Nations top organizers”; “Reparations:  Report from our Leadership”; "Black Music, Arts, Entertainment of Black Power" by the legendary Kenny Gamble; “Legal issues facing the Black Population”
 
Major events each evening include:

Friday 5/22 keynote by Professor Leonard Jeffries and new leaders, “Blueprint for Black Power and Message to the Next Generation”,  Saturday 5/23 Town Hall meeting keynote by Conference convener Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz, “The Black Nation in a Time of Hope and Trouble”, Co-hosted by panel of National Black Leaders. Sunday’s 5/24 panel: “Tribute to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad” will feature pioneers and beneficiaries of the Messenger and his legacy.  The closing address will be delivered by Dr. Khallid Al-Mansour, “Islam, Christianity and Judaism at the Crossroads: Where do we go from here?”  
 
The cases of Imam Jamil Al-Amin, Mumia Abu-Jamal and Dr. Mutulu Shakur will be key issues in this conference, as these political prisoners are suffering in this hour from unjust incarceration.  The case of Malachi Z. York will be highlighted also.

If you are into Black Music, Arts and Entertainment, several panels will fit your needs as well as conscious arts, hip-hop and poetry performances throughout the conference!
 
The conference will be an excellent venue for organizers and networking in the liberation struggle.  If you are fighting issues in your local areas it is critical you make your way to Atlanta to link up with other brothers and sisters fighting these same problems.
 
Organizational booths and tables as well as vendors will be set up in the beautiful Black-Owned Crown Plaza Hotel in Marietta Georgia. The Crown Plaza Hotel, www.crownplaza.com/atlanta-marietta, who’s physical features offers many networking, organizing or relaxing opportunities, is just ten minutes from the Atlanta Airport and twenty minutes from downtown Atlanta.  Rooms are just $79.00 per night, but group rates and multi-night discounts are available under the Black Power Conference.  

For those whose financial situation necessitates other arrangements please call (404) 229-9983 for our revolutionary grassroots alternative conference housing.  The fee for the entire conference is $25.00 for all three days or just $10.00 per day.  No Black Man or Woman wishing to attend will be turned away.  It is wise to secure your tickets ASAP by going to:
Blackpowermovement.org to reserve tickets and/or donate to our very progressive cause.


Background
 
The original Black Power Conventions, which were first held in Washington D.C. in 1966, Newark, New Jersey in 1967 and Philadelphia in 1968 were very successful.  Original Conventions included immortal leadership such as the Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, Imam Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown), Honorable Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Imamu Amiri Baraka, Dr. Maulana Karenga, Rev. Jesse Jackson and other leading figures of the time.  A wide range of organizations, varying from revolutionary nationalist to civil rights groups and leaders attended.  In all, thousands attended and benefited.
 
These original Black Power Conventions were successful but ultimate ideals of the Black Power movement were never fully realized due to a vicious, multifaceted attack by the enemy, which included, but was not limited to the Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO), masterminded by the sinister FBI boss Jay Edgar Hoover.  An over focus on political hopes, infighting within Black organizations and other corrosive internal problems also played a role in thwarting the nationalistic and noble objectives of the original Black Power Conventions and the movement in general.
 
This National Black Power Conference May 22-24th in Atlanta Georgia, the first of a series of national and international Black Power Conferences, will be held in Atlanta Georgia.  Later this year in September (2009) a second, larger National Black Power Convention shall be held in New York City on the eleventh anniversary of the Million Youth March (9/5/1998).

Some may ask: “Who is it making such a call to convene such a conference and convention?”  We answer, “We are the students and the children of Dr. Khallid Abdul Muhammad, the man responsible for Black Power being on the tongues of the people in the modern era.”  Amongst many of his achievements, Dr. Khallid was the former NOI Supreme Captain, Min. Louis Farrakhan’s National Spokesman, Hip Hop lexicon legend, NBPP National Chairman, international revolutionary leader, lecturer, Master Teacher, et. al.  One of Dr. Khallid Muhammad’s foremost accomplishments was that he put Black Power back on our consciousness and national agenda. He told his student, Dr. Malik Zulu Shabazz, “Brother, the primary purpose of the Million Youth March is to put Black Power, revolution and Pan-Africanism back on the agenda.” In making his word bond, Dr. Khallid Muhammad convened the Million Youth March in Harlem New York, September 5th 1998.  The theme was, “Black Power into the year 2000”, and the logo was a strong Black fist with a Black glove supplied New York’s December 12th Movement (Million Youth March co-conveners).  Dr. Khallid Muhammad effectively organized a coalition of nationalist organizations and leaders and the cry of “Black Power!  Black Power!  Black Power” was soon heard at rallies, lectures and in the streets all over America for the first time since the 1970’s. More than a sloganeer- as an organizer, Dr. Khallid Muhammad spearheaded the national growth and expansion of the New Black Panther Party.  Under a Black Power, Revolutionary Pan-African/Nationalist ideology, Dr. Muhammad spread the New Black Panther Party from two cities to over 30 cities in just two years as Chairman.  Thus, Black Power itself became concrete and reintroduced its invaluable presence in many cities and ghettos throughout the nation via a new generation.  
 
We want to be clear: Dr. Khallid Abdul Muhammad resurrected Black Power and Black Nationalism in America and we always considered him and still maintain that was like a Black Power ‘Mujaddid’, or the great reformer of the Black Power Movement and Black Nationalism in the hells of North America.  The New Black Panther Party is, and has been, the largest, leading proponents and practitioners of Black Power for the last 11 years.
 
Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz, since he was an undergraduate student organizer at Howard University in 1988, has been Dr. Muhammad’s chief organizer and spokesman. Attorney Shabazz also is a successful successor in leadership to Muhammad’s chairmanship over the New Black Panther Party since the passing of Dr. Khallid in February 2001.  For most of the great events and battles of Dr. Muhammad's career, Shabazz was the chief organizer, working and laboring and planning at his side to make his agenda successful.  We who have been influenced by Dr. Khallid Muhammad have not given up the direct objective of making Black Power the primary ideology of the masses.
 
We, who are the most progressive New Black Panther Party leadership, are co-convening the Black Power Conferences because we see a serious need and desire to unit Black Organizations that are fighting in the liberation struggle.  Everywhere we travel, we see new signs that Nationalism has taken root amongst a new generation.  The Black Power Conferences of 2009 will seek to give a new generation of warriors and teachers a new voice and ultimately they will participate in a Black or African United Front or OAAU, Organization of All African Unity.
 
In December 2008, on the heels of the Barack Obama election, we initiated the Black Power Movement. Since that time we have seen an impressive response.  Over 2000 persons have pledged support to the Black Power Movement.  The National Black Power Conference in Atlanta May 22nd-24th will mark the opening agenda of the Black Power Movement and its 20 ministries.  The Black Power Conference will make clear that there is another option for Black People other than pinning all of our hopes exclusively on what happens in the White House.  Our solution is manifestly evident:  We must organize, build our movement, build our nation and learn from the mistakes of the last 30 years. We must do for ourselves, end the division, and unite for the complete and total liberation of our people.


Call (202) 397- 4577 or (404) 424-3560 Blackpowermovement.org to get on board and register yourself or your organization. Email:blackpowerconference@gmail.com

DETAILS:

2009 NATIONAL
BLACK POWER CONFERENCE.
       
What:     2009 National Black Power Conference Update

When:  Friday, May 22, Saturday, May 23, and Sunday, May 24, 2009  
              (Malcolm X  Birthday Weekend ) in Atlanta, Georgia.

Where:   Mike Roberts Crown Plaza Hotel, Marietta Georgia.  
               1775 Parkway Place Marietta Georgia
                www.crownplaza.com/atlanta-marietta
                Rooms at $79.00 per night and lower.  

Conference contacts:
 
 Phone         (202) 397-4577 and (404) 424- 3560
 Email:            blackpowerconference@gmail.com.  
 Websites:     www.blackpowermovement.org  www.newblackpanther.com  www.blfj.org  

VENDING:     Please email blackpowerconference@gmail.com

Sponsor:  Black Power Movement, New Black Panther Party, Black Lawyers for Justice

If you desire to attend or are an activist, organizational representative or leader we want to hear from you right away!

Posted by TheBlackList Pub
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Inventing an uncommon conversation about being free
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Afrikan Liberation Day 2009 - Nkrumah@100 (1909-2009)

Afrikan Freedom means Defeating Neo-colonialism

Thousands of Afrikan people are expected to join in this year’s Afrikan Liberation Day (ALD) commemoration activities. They include a series of educational workshops during April and May; a demonstration outside the offices of Royal Dutch Shell Oil 16th June 2009; with the main event taking place on Saturday 30th May 2009 at 12noon in St John’s Church hall, Meeting House Lane, Peckham, London SE1 2UN.

The theme for this year’s Afrikan Liberation Day commemoration is Afrikan Freedom means defeating Neo-colonialism: Nkrumah@100. All activities will be geared towards exploring the crucial role of Afrikan people in ridding the world of the current economic crisis– a perspective that, so far, has received little attention in the mainstream media.

ALD will feature a programme of activities for children and youth including Afrikan drumming and craft workshops; cultural artists and performers including, Afrikan dancers, poets and singers. International speakers on the day include brother Kwesi Pratt editor of Insight newspaper and Sister Mawete Teresa of Moyo Wa Taifa Pan-Afrikan women’s network both direct from Ghana.

Activities will include a panel discussion and a broad range of grass roots Afrikan community organisations will be giving messages of solidarity. The day will also feature cultural Afrikan and Caribbean food, book stalls and displays. Entry is free.

A member of this year’s organising committee, Brother Omowale said:
“Kwame Nkrumah is one of the greatest Afrikan leaders of all time. In this the centenary year since his birth, we have a duty to ensure that his strategy of Afrikan liberation is told. Our ancestors suffered intensely under slavery and colonialism and we continue to suffer now. The world’s economic system is built on the theft of Afrikan people’s resources, and if we want justice, we must all learn the truth, continuously expose it and organise around it. Attending this commemoration may be your first step to organising yourself for a better future. Come along to the events and see for yourself.”

To kick start the commemorations there will be a series of pre-Afrikan Liberation Day Workshops where Afrikan centred ideas on neo-colonialism and the current crisis of capitalism will be shared and discussed. These will take place:
· On the radio: Sunday 10th , 17th , 24th May 2007 at 10pm on Galaxy Radio 99.5fm and www.afiwestation.com,
· 44-46 Offley Road: Oval, London SW9 0LS on Friday 8th , 15th , 22nd and 29th May 2007 at 6.30pm

Contact Details:
Afrikan Liberation Day Organising Committee on 07940 005 907 or panascf@yahoo.co.uk or www.pascf.org.uk

Editor’s Notes:
1. The Afrikan Liberation Day Main Commemoration: London will be held on Saturday, 30th May 2009, 12noon - 7pm at: St John’s Church Hall, Meeting House Lane, Peckham, London SE 15 2UN (Nearest BR: Queen’s Road Peckham). Entry is free and all ages are welcome (a youth programme will be available).

2. The keynote speaker will be Kwesi Pratt a Ghanaian political activist and journalist.

3. The Afrikan Liberation Day Demonstration will be held on Tuesday 16th June 2009, 4pm – 7pm at: Royal Dutch Shell HQ, Waterloo, London, SE1 (Nearest Tube & BR: Waterloo).

4. Afrikan Liberation day was founded in Accra, Ghana, at the First Conference of Independent Afrika States. The conference ran from 15th to 22nd April 1958 and the first day of the conference - 15th April was declared, by the eight independent states present, Afrika Freedom Day. Its purpose was to mark the first occasion in modern history when independent Afrikan states met to plan the liberation process for colonised nations in Afrika.

From 1959 to 1963 as the process of Afrikan independence intensified, Afrika Freedom Day celebrations were held in Azania (South Afrika), Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Britain, China, the USA and the USSR. In Afrika, as a result of organised mass struggles an increasing number of states became independent.

It was in the context of these world-wide and continental developments that the Fourth Conference of Independent Afrikan States took place from 22nd to 25th May 1963.

The Organisation of Afrikan Unity (OAU) was founded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the final day of the conference - 25th May 1963. Since that date, conferences of the independent Afrikan states have been held annually as OAU and now AU conferences.

The OAU inaugural conference was a continuation of the Afrikan political unification and liberation process spearheaded by independent states, not the beginning as has been interpreted by some.

Today, Afrikan Liberation Day Commemorations are being organized in Afrika and all over the world including London and Birmingham.

REMEMBER: Carlos A. Cooks, The Ideological Son of Marcus Garvey, May 5, 1966.

Carlos A. Cooks, "The Ideological Son of Marcus Mosiah Garvey."

Carlos Cooks stated that "The culture of a people is best manifested by the homage they pay to those who led with dedication and devotion to freedom and cause."

Carlos A. Cooks, A True Blackman
by Robert Acemendeces Harris.

If, as the new saying goes, "truth is [really] on its way" then, perhaps, Black People can finally also be back on their way. Which way? The way out of all of the confusion, contradictions and cultural degeneration that has retarded the liberation of our people these last few years.

Truth is not an abstract, it refers to sincerity, honesty, conformity to fact, correctness, exactitude, et cetera. Carlos Cooks was truth personified. It is also the truth that, if one man can be singled out as, the individual personality, most responsible for the resurrection on Marcus Garvey's philosophy and program then that man is Carlos Cooks.

Carlos Cooks was to Black Nationalism what John Coltrane was to the so-called avant-grade "jazz", and what Aretha is to soul music; the prime progenitor among their respective peers.
The main difference was the fact that during his life time, Cooks never receive his proper recognition. This was mainly because he was denied national coverage -- by white and "Black" press -- and was bound by an oath (the sacri) not to seek publicity for himself.

But since programs are often personified within certain individuals, and either live beyond or die along with their respective advocates, AJASS believes that -- if we are really going to re-establish truth in our Liberation Struggle, then more of our people should know about the relevance of Carlos Cooks.

Carlos A. Cooks was born on June 23, 1913 in the Dominican Republic and died May 5th, 1966 in Harlem. During his 52 years on this planet, he passed through a phenomenal experience by spending his entire lifetime dedicated to the liberation of Africa, its universal communities, and all its peoples. This fact alone puts him among the ranks of the Hon. Marcus Garvey and the grand patriarch of the, movement, Hon. Edward Wilmot Blyden.

It was Carlos Cooks who administered the Advance Division of the UNIA after Garvey's deportation. He fought psychologically and physically -- to uplift Mr. Garvey's name from the gutters of ghetto minds. Brother Frank Rockwood of the Harlem UNIA branch can attest to this truth.

It was Carlos Cooks who coined the phrase "BUY BLACK" as an economic solvency in the various African Communities throughout America. Attorney Cora Walker, who successfully engineered the Harlem Co-op market can vouch for that.

It was Carlos Cooks who found the first so-titled African Nationalist organization. Check it out with Brothers and Sisters of the African Nationalist Pioneer Movement, they will tell you.

It was Carlos Cooks whom the late Malcolm X told many of us, that: "I respect Mr. Cooks because he is real Garveyite, a true Black Nationalist!" Since truth is supposed to be the only way, ask Sister Betty Shabazz about this.

It was Carlos Cooks who kept Garvey's UNIA Red, Black, and Green tricolors displayed daily and nightly. Go on over to the African Market at 125th Street near Lenox Avenue, ask for Brother Frank Jones 'cause he can tell you about it.

It was Carlos Cooks who maintained an African Nationalist Legion, mentally prepared and physically ready to join the African Liberation struggle. I don't know if the rest of the officials of the Republic of New Africa know this, but I'm sure that Brother Herman Ferguson does.

It was Cooks who continuously advocated armed retaliation against the cracker beasts who viciously murdered our Brothers and Sisters in the South. Truth is supposed to be on its way, so ask Brother Robert Williams.

It was Carlos Cooks who designated August 17th -- the birthday of Marcus Garvey -- as the first Black holiday, official or unofficial. And if you ask James Lawson (privately), the Brother will probably tell you the truth, too.

It was Carlos Cooks who first perfected an oratorical art of street speaking from his step-ladder, all over Harlem, but, especially on 125th Street and 7th Avenue. Brother Ed. "Porkchop" Davis and Brother Charles Kenyatta can verify that as the truth.

It was Carlos Cooks who first formed an independent school, complete with a course in Kiswahili at a time (1954) when many of our people didn't even know where Africa was, never mind what Swahili was. Brother Al Vann, of the African-American Teachers Association, can educate you to the truth about this.

It was Carlos Cooks who first defined the difference between the terms Black and/or African as opposed to "Negro" and fought to have the latter word abrogated as a racial classification. You can even ask Richard Moore (author of The Word Negro And Its Evil Use) about this. Or you can read the documentation of this in "BLACK NATIONALISM: A Search For Identity In America" by Prof. E. U. Essien-Udom of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He printed some truth about this particular issue.

It was Carlos Cooks who organized the Universal African Relief to send tons of cloths and medical supplies to our struggling fellow Africans in South West Africa and Angola -- over ten year ago. Ask Brother Hage Geingob of SWAPO or any of the other Brothers representing the liberation forces in Namibia (Southwest Africa). Their case is based on truth.

It was Carlos Cooks who first initiated the concept of natural hair as an issue of racial pride through his ANPM's MISS NATURAL STANDARD OF BEAUTY CONTEST. But just about everyone who comes in contact with AJASS knows this because our programs are based on truth and, so, we always let everyone know just where we're coming from. (Don't bother to ask the folks running the "Miss America Beauty Contest.)

FOR MORE ABOUT CARLOS A. COOKS:
Carlos Cooks and Black Nationalism from Garvey to Malcolm
by Robert Harris, Nyota Harris, Grandassa Harris (Editor)
Our Price: $9.95 + $0.85 special surcharge
Paperback (March 1992)
Majority Press; ISBN:0912469285
There are no other books about this remarkable man,
This is it.
GET IT NOW!

Posted by TheBlackList Pub
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Inventing an uncommon conversation about being free
==