Black Bird Press News & Review: June 2014

Monday, June 30, 2014

The Honorable Ras J. Baraka, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey and poet Marvin X

Ras J. Baraka, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey and poet/author Marvin X. "When I become mayor we become mayor!" Mayor elect will be inaugurated Tuesday, July 1, 12 Noon, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Evelyn Williams, a Ras Baraka supporter, told Marvin X at campaign headquarters, "We rising up!"

Mrs. Amina Baraka, revolutionary artist/activist and mother of Ras, said, "People coming at me like I'm the first lady. He's my son, so don't call me first lady. And don't try to use me to get to him. Send your resumes to him, not me!"

National Association of Black Storytellers Contest

NATIONAL BLACK STORYTELLING CONTEST SEEKS COMMUNITY HEROES Who are our unsung, unknown and uncrowned heroes/ sheroes who have had and are having a profound impact on our lives? The National Association of Black Storytellers, Inc. (NABS) encourages our community members to tell family, neighborhood and historical stories, and to enter video narratives into the 2nd annual NABS National Storytelling Contest.

The call is to create, Storytelling record and share an original story inspired by the NABS’ statement, entitled “The Need to Crown our Heroes/Sheroes.” The competition has a youth and an adult category. Winners in each category will receive a cash prize, along with an opportunity to perform, during the 32nd Annual National Black Storytelling Festival and Conference, to be held in Chicago, IL, November 12-16, 2014. This annual national event draws attendees from across the country.

NABS believes stories are transformative. When we share the courageous victories of our people we pass on invaluable lessons of faith, determination and endurance. We create and sustain a culture that freely speaks out for the rights of freedoms, justice and equality. This call to action is in keeping with the NABS mission to promote and perpetuate the art of Black Storytelling -- an art form, which embodies the history, heritage, and culture of African Americans.

NABS is calling all members of the community to encourage one another by making their heroes and sheroes known to the world by recalling and sharing original family stories and oral histories. Storytelling Contest deadline, September 21, 2014.

To read the official NABS statement in its entirety and review guidelines to enter the second annual National Storytelling Contest, as well as register to attend this year’s Festival, please visit www.NABSinc.org

NABS is the authentic voice of Black Storytelling. The contest is sponsored by In FACT, Inc. and the NABS Past Presidents Advisory Council.

This information has been distributed through BlackPR.com and BlackNews.com

Sunday, June 29, 2014

ISIS declares Islamic State in Iraq

Power concedes nothing without a demand, Ancestor Frederick Douglass told us. As America nears her Balkanization, with every ethnic group seizing territory as the United States shall be no more, yes, white will settle for a part, Mexicans or Indigenous people getting theirs de facto, California is long gone--welcome to Mexicali! But what does the so called Negro want, the North American African, what part of the American pie does he want--nothing more than a job. No land, no territory, not even the urban turf he is so willing to kill his brother over, but dare not touch a white man. When popo comes, Negro gangsters drop their guns and run in a hurry. So much for turf, and yet the question of turf shall linger til the last North American African is ushered into the concentration camps, now called prisons and jails, the appropriate term will come later, especially if he fails to claim his independence, while all around him people shall be claiming theirs, even gays and lesbians fly their flag to demand respect. Where is the Black Flag--Garvey gave you the Red, Black and Green--don't see it flying in the hood. Negroes get mad at the Confederate flag flying, well, Negro, Pan African or whoever in the hell you are, fly your damn flag and demand respect due independent human beings, not chattel slaves in suits and ties. And don't talk about the white man in black face as President. We knew his type throughout Africa's independence and the neo-coloialism that followed. Obama may be unique in American history, but not African history, not Caribbean history. He is a well known type, the bootlicker for the white man, the Butler, shoe shine boy, delivery man, running dog for imperialism now called Globalism. You've gotten nothing from Prez caused you ain't demanded nothing of him! And in the end, it ain't about him but about you. Are you clear on what you want? As Amiri Baraka said in one of his LoKus, "The problem with you is you don't know the problem."

Whoever these Isis characters are, at least they know what they want and are going after it, not sitting around like a frog on a lily pad!

--Marvin X

BAGHDAD (AP) — The al-Qaida breakaway group that has seized much of northern Syria and huge tracks of neighboring Iraq formally declared the creation of an Islamic state on Sunday in the territory under its control.

The spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, made the announcement in an audio statement posted online. Islamic extremists have long dreamed of recreating the Islamic state, or caliphate, that ruled over the Middle East for hundreds of years.

Abu Mohammed al-Adnani said the group's chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is the new leader, or caliph, of the Islamic state. He called on those living in the areas under the organization's control to swear allegiance to al-Baghdadi and support him.

"The legality of all emirates, groups, states and organizations becomes null by the expansion of the caliph's authority and the arrival of its troops to their areas," al-Adnani said.

He said that with the creation of the caliphate, the group was changing its name to just the Islamic State, dropping the mention of Iraq and the Levant.

It was unclear what immediate practical impact the declaration would have on the ground in Syria and Iraq, or among the wider global jihadi community.