Black Dialogue Brothers
L to R: Aubrey Labrie,Marvin X, Abdul Sabry
Al Young, Arthur Sheridan, Duke Williams
As students at San Francisco State College/now University, these brothers founded Black Dialogue Magazine, 1966,one of the classic publications of the Black Arts/Black Liberation Movement. Not pictured is Jose Goncalves, the poetry editor and founder of the Journal of Black Poetry. Also, Saadat Ahmed, Art editor/photographer. Contributors included writers and artists from across North America, including Amiri Baraka, Askia Toure, Sonia Sanchez, Sarah Webster Fabio, Larry Neal, Dorothy Ahmed, Jimmy Garrett, Ed Spriggs, Charles Fuller, Ed Bullins, Jane Clay, James T. Stewart, Eldridge Cleaver, et al.
Purpose
The purpose of this section is to foster dialogue in the Pan African village. It should be an intergenerational discussion, not dominated by any ideological position except truth based on facts rather than beliefs. Marcus Garvey said one can believe anything, but what do you know?
We open this Pan African dialogue on topics concerning the Crisis of the Sub-prime Negro, a Nigerian alleged "terrorist," Cuba and controversial Afro-Cuban writer Carlos Moore, with a response from North American African intellectuals and activists. Included is an exchange between the editor and publisher of Let Loose on the World, an anthology celebrating Amiri Baraka's 75th birthday, and Marvin X who reviewed the book. Marvin X also the subject of a forum on the Poetic Mission, moderated by Rudolph Lewis, editor, Chickenbones.com. And finally there is a conversation relating to the death of North American African women professors who taught at the University of California. Your response to any of the above topics are welcome. Editor
Inside:
The purpose of this section is to foster dialogue in the Pan African village. It should be an intergenerational discussion, not dominated by any ideological position except truth based on facts rather than beliefs. Marcus Garvey said one can believe anything, but what do you know?
We open this Pan African dialogue on topics concerning the Crisis of the Sub-prime Negro, a Nigerian alleged "terrorist," Cuba and controversial Afro-Cuban writer Carlos Moore, with a response from North American African intellectuals and activists. Included is an exchange between the editor and publisher of Let Loose on the World, an anthology celebrating Amiri Baraka's 75th birthday, and Marvin X who reviewed the book. Marvin X also the subject of a forum on the Poetic Mission, moderated by Rudolph Lewis, editor, Chickenbones.com. And finally there is a conversation relating to the death of North American African women professors who taught at the University of California. Your response to any of the above topics are welcome. Editor
Inside:
Cr
isis of the Sub-prime Negro
isis of the Sub-prime NegroJunious Ricardo Stanton
Discussion of Nigerian "terrorist"
Forum on the Poetic Mission
by Rudolph Lewis, editor Chickenbones.com
Cuba, Carlos Moore and North Ameri
can Africans 
Felipe Luciano on the history of racism in the Americas
Dialogue on Marvin X's Review of
Let Loose on the World (Louis Reyes Rivera and Ted Wilson)
Is the Univer
sity of California
Killing Black Women ?
The Sub-Prime Negro
As the son of a real estate broker, I cannot help but sympathize with home owners now losing their property as a result of ignorance and unscrupulous brokers and lenders. For most of my young life, I used to see Mom robbing Peter to pay Paul, partly the result of renters who refused to pay rent, and sometimes Mom would overstretch herself in speculating on buying and selling property. In the 70s, the high interest rates knocked nails in her coffin, in the 80s Crack came to seal her doom when renters no longer bothered to pay rent so she was unable to meet the mortgages on her property--in short, after leaving the projects to live in a black bourgeoisie neighborhood, she died broke. We have a real tragedy on our hands if it is true 50% of the Blacks who've bought homes recently did so through the sub-prime market and many will likely lose their property and perhaps become homeless. And we are not talking about poor ghetto blacks but many middle class blacks who somehow outsmarted themselves.
I know of people forced to move out of their mini mansions and condos into homes of relatives. Some are hiding their Humvees and SUVs, and of course this is affecting family relationships, even leading to separation and divorce since so many marriages are fragile at best, so any added tension will tip the scale.
Imagine the normal insecurity blacks suffer in this white supremacy society, now add the stress of a dead real estate market caused by the tricknology of shady brokers and lenders. During this holiday season, we pray for those persons and families who shall be victims of partner violence, if not street violence, as many desperate ones will murder and rob to enjoy the white supremacy Xmas.
Yes, we hope persons will exercise anger management as tempers flair and alcohol and drugs are consumed fanning the flames of our visit with Santa. Of course, domestic violence shall reach its climax on Superbowl Sunday when many wives and partners will be victims of irate males who go berserk when she stands in front of the tv screen for attention.
So, to you all, buyers be aware and lovers please care. Enjoy the season. Happy New Year!Dr. M/marvin x will conduct the next session of the Pan African Mental Health Peer Group to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy on Friday, January 8, 8pm at 1222 Dwight Way,Berkeley. .
Blacks Hurt Most By Mortgage Based Economic Crisis
Junious Ricardo Stanton
“Minority communities received a disproportionate share of sub-prime mortgages. As a result, they are suffering a disproportionate burden of the harm and losses. According to a De¯mos report, Beyond the Mortgage Meltdown (June 2008), in addition to being the target of mortgage companies specializing in sub-prime lending, minorities were steered away from safer, conventional loans by brokers who received incentives for jacking up the interest rate. Worst of all, African Americans who qualified for conventional mortgages were steered to riskier, and more profitable, sub-prime loans.
Households of color were more than three times as likely as white households to end up with riskier loans with features like exploding adjustable rates, deceptive teaser rates, and balloon payments. Good credit scores often made no difference, as profit incentives trumped sound policy. The line from redlining to sub-prime is direct, as is the culpability. Even many upper-income African Americans were steered into sub-prime mortgages.”
Sub-Prime as a Black Catastrophe
Melvin L. Oliver and Thomas M. Shapiro,
The American Prospect September 22, 2008
It’s no secret the bank and Hedge Fund induced economic collapse has been disastrous for the US economy as a whole. What has been ignored is the devastating effect Wall Street casino capitalism and race based usury policies have had on people of color, especially African-Americans. When it was first revealed subprime loans were a factor in the economic implosion the media played it as if subprime loans were the major cause and this was all the fault of the government for forcing banks to lend to non-credit worthy blacks and other poor people under the Community Reinvestment Act. Not so.
As the implosion rippled throughout the US economy and world, the corporate media then blamed it on poor folks who took out loans they couldn’t afford. Rarely did anyone point the finger at all the banks that made the loans to people they knew couldn’t afford to repay them who then bundled these dodgy loans into exotic sounding financial packages and sold them to unsuspecting investors around the world.
As usual the government was asleep at the wheel.. The SEC and Justice Department failed to do due diligence in investigating and prosecuting the banks and bond rating agencies: Moody’s, Standard and Poor and Finches who did the exact same thing they did during the Enron fiasco, they enabled the fraud by giving shaky financial bonds and products Triple A ratings. These bonds were tied to over leveraged derivatives, loans, and side bets called Credit Default Swaps that subsequently unraveled causing havoc and massive losses resulting in the potential collapse of the global economy.
In fact, several countries that invested heavily in these junk products are on the verge of default and total collapse: Iceland, Ireland, Greece and Spain. Other countries like England, the US and France, avoided collapse only by being bailed out by their central banks and the taxpayers.
In the meantime, African- Americans who bought into the Bu$h administration hype about an “ownership society”, real estate as a way to build wealth and the American Dream are seeing their wealth, homes and dreams disappear like smoke. From the late 1990's until 2008 people of color, Latinos and Blacks, were deliberately and systematically targeted by banks and mortgage companies for predatory high risk loans even when they qualified for conventional mortgages because the commissions on the subprime loans were higher. “Subprime mortgages have gone disproportionately to Hispanics and African Americans. In 2006, the rate of subprime mortgages for home purchase for Hispanics and Africans Americans was approximately double the white rate according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Twenty-six percent of mortgages for home purchase by whites were subprime. Recent studies suggest that creditworthiness—alone or in combination with factors other than race—cannot account for these disparities.
When researchers from the Federal Reserve and the Wharton School of Business conducted an analysis that took into account the percent of adults in a neighborhood who were a very high credit risk, they still found a positive relationship between the prevalence of subprime loans and the share of minorities in a neighborhood. An analysis by the Center for Responsible Lending found that even after taking into account individual credit scores and other characteristics, Hispanic and African American borrowers were more than 30% more likely to receive higher-rate subprime loans.
These and other studies, coupled with the long history of racial discrimination in lending, raise the prospect that discrimination may be a factor in the high rates of subprime loans among Hispanics and African Americans.” Subprime mortgages are nearly double for Hispanics and African Americans By Algernon Austin Economic Policy Institute. As a result of racially based predatory lending, people of color in general and African-Americans in particular are suffering as the value of their homes and community plummet, more homeowners go into default and foreclosure and they lose their homes altogether. The loss of their one major wealth building investment represents a monumental set back and devastating socio-economic reversal.
“The Center for Responsible Lending (and other groups) projects that 2.2 million borrowers who bought homes between 1998 and 2006 will lose their houses and up to $164 billion of wealth in the process. African American and Latino homeowners are twice as likely to suffer sub-prime-related home foreclosures as white homeowners are. Foreclosures are projected to affect one in 10 African American borrowers. In contrast, only about one in 25 white mortgage holders will be affected. African Americans and Latinos are not only more likely to have been caught in the sub-prime loan trap; they are also far more dependent, as a rule, on their homes as financial resources. The De¯mos report finds that home equity, at its current total value of $20 trillion, represents the biggest source of wealth for most Americans, and, as we have noted, it is even more important for African Americans.
The comparatively little bit of wealth accumulation in the African American community is concentrated largely in housing wealth. One recent estimate places the total loss of wealth among African American households at between $72 billion and $93 billion for sub-prime loans taken out during the past eight years.” Sub-Prime as a Black Catastrophe Melvin L. Oliver and Thomas M. Shapiro The American Prospect. The NAACP has filed suit against fourteen predatory lending institutions: Ameriquest, Fremont, Option One, WMC Mortgage, Long Beach Mortgage, BNC Mortgage, Accredited Home Lenders, Encore, First Franklin, HSBC, Washington Mutual.
But this practice was so widespread nationally by so many banks and mortgage companies many that have subsequently gone belly up and the court system is rigged in favor of the rich, the prospects of justice and restitution seem slim. Just as whites expropriated the labor, genius and skills of Africans during legalized slavery and the subsequent peonage system of share cropping and convict leasing; resulting in generations of Black poverty and destitution, modern exploiters and predators are stealing our hard earned wealth now. Just as their forefathers got away with it from the sixteenth to the mid twentieth century, it appears their heirs may get off Scott free as well.
Disc
ussion of My Son the Fanatic
Abdul Mutallab, Nigerian
suspected "terrorist"
More details emerged about contacts between Mr. Abdulmutallab’s father and the American Embassy in Nigeria. In October, presumably while in Yemen, Mr. Abdulmutallab spoke by telephone with his father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a prominent retired banker. His father was so alarmed by his son’s radical talk that he contacted Nigerian officials, who advised him to contact the United States Embassy. Mr. Mutallab visited the embassy on Nov. 19 and told officials his son had been radicalized, was missing and might be in Yemen, said a State Department spokesman, P. J. Crowley. Mr. Crowley said that Mr. Mutallab did not say he believed his son planned to attack Americans, but that he expressed general concern about his radical views.The information was taken seriously, Mr. Crowley said, but was judged insufficient to warrant revoking Mr. Abdulmutallab’s visa, although his file was flagged for investigation if he reapplied. Embassy officials representing several security agencies discussed the information on Nov. 20 and sent a cable to Washington. His name was added to a database of 550,000 names with suspicion of terrorism ties, but it did not go onto the 4,000-person no-fly list.
--from NY Times
For an understanding of the father/son relationship in the era of the Islamic revolution against imperialism/globalism, check out the review of the movie My Son the fanatic in the film review section. How much distance is there between sand-nigguhs and the real nigguhs?--Marvin X
My Son the Fanatic
see review in film section
"In the end the Negro will be the terrorist."--Amiri Baraka
ussion of My Son the FanaticAbdul Mutallab, Nigerian
suspected "terrorist"
More details emerged about contacts between Mr. Abdulmutallab’s father and the American Embassy in Nigeria. In October, presumably while in Yemen, Mr. Abdulmutallab spoke by telephone with his father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a prominent retired banker. His father was so alarmed by his son’s radical talk that he contacted Nigerian officials, who advised him to contact the United States Embassy. Mr. Mutallab visited the embassy on Nov. 19 and told officials his son had been radicalized, was missing and might be in Yemen, said a State Department spokesman, P. J. Crowley. Mr. Crowley said that Mr. Mutallab did not say he believed his son planned to attack Americans, but that he expressed general concern about his radical views.The information was taken seriously, Mr. Crowley said, but was judged insufficient to warrant revoking Mr. Abdulmutallab’s visa, although his file was flagged for investigation if he reapplied. Embassy officials representing several security agencies discussed the information on Nov. 20 and sent a cable to Washington. His name was added to a database of 550,000 names with suspicion of terrorism ties, but it did not go onto the 4,000-person no-fly list.
--from NY Times
For an understanding of the father/son relationship in the era of the Islamic revolution against imperialism/globalism, check out the review of the movie My Son the fanatic in the film review section. How much distance is there between sand-nigguhs and the real nigguhs?--Marvin X
My Son the Fanatic
see review in film section
"In the end the Negro will be the terrorist."--Amiri Baraka
From The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
More Terro
rist Okey-Doke
“Evidence is emerging that clearly indicates Abdulmutallab was more than just a Nigerian extremist carrying out his anger through an ill-conceived plot to ignite a powdery explosive substance on-board a flight to the United States. Eyewitness testimony pointing to a man helping the accused terrorist board without a passport, along with an unusual cameraman documenting the attempted attack on board the plane raise more than red flags- they point towards an intelligence operation, run as a drill, meant to conjure up public support for a number of fronts in the continuing ‘War on Terror.’” Topix Local News Pittsfield MA
The alleged plot to blow up North West airlines flight 253 on Christmas day is revealing more and more inconsistencies with the “official government version” each passing day. In fact the whole story is devolving into a sham. For those of you who were too busy scoffing down turkey, ham with all the fixins, cakes and pies, watching TV or unwrapping gifts, the corporate mind control apparatus told us a twenty-three year old Nigerian student named Umar Farouk Abdelmutallab who supposedly had been radicalized (brainwashed) by Islamic fanatics (according to the US mainstream media it’s always Muslim fanatics never Christian or Jewish) tied to a faction of Al Qaeda in Yemen; allegedly tried to blow up the plane during a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. It is alleged the young man attempted to blow up the plane using explosive powder laced inside his underwear! This is too goofy to be true. The plan failed when the explosives fizzled and fellow passengers supposedly intervened to put out the fire and apprehend the culprit. The kicker is according to some experts a blasting cap is needed for that type of explosive powder to detonate; so “the mission” was doomed to fail from the jump. To add insult to injury, a few days after the aborted bomb plot a group identifying itself as “Al Qaeda” in Yemen (you know the ubiquitous global bogey men the media always throws at us) took credit for the attack citing US military presence in Yemen as their reason.
I’m sorry but this is so fishy it has to be a false flag operation. A false flag operation is action by a person, group or nation designed to throw suspicion or blame on another party. A classic example of a false flag operation was the “Boston Tea Party”. Prior to the American Revolutionary War, a group of dissident white colonists dressed up as Native Americans, boarded English ships and threw the cargo of tea into the harbor. Any witnesses who saw it would blame the Native Americans but at any rate dressing like “Indians” helped disguise the true perpetrators. The US has engaged in countless false flag operations and deceptions over the years as a pretext to start wars or cover their crimes. A few years ago a formerly classified scheme from the 1960's called Operation Northwoods was revealed. It was an elaborate plan concocted by the US Joint Chiefs to foment public opinion against Cuba. The plot included various terrorist scenarios or staged events so the US would have a reason to invade the island of Cuba and depose Fidel Castro. By now most people know “al Qaeda” is really the creation of several intelligence agencies, secret police and government operatives working together in conjunction including: the US CIA, British MI6 the Israeli Mossad and Pakistani ISI.
In this particular case a Nigerian was selected as the chump or patsy and sent on a “mission” that would not have succeeded anyway if a blasing cap was required to set off the explosion because none was found on his person! It was a trick, a psychological operation to ramp up the fear level. It was designed to get Joe and Jane Sixpack so scared they allow the government to take away more of their rights.
This is where it gets really interesting. Following the bomb attempt and the “al Qaeda” statement claiming responsibility, it was revealed that a few months earlier, Umar Farouk Abdemutallab’s father went to the US Embassy and CIA station chief in Nigeria to alert them his son was acting strangely and had fallen under the influence of some “radicalized Muslims” in Yemen. The CIA supposedly checked it out, put Abdelmutallab on a terrorist watch list and shared the info with their counterparts at British MI6. Despite this, several months later, Abdelmutallab made his way to Amsterdam, purchased a one way ticket to the US with cash and was allowed to board the plane with no passport!!! If that isn’t a tell tail sign the fix was in, I don’t know what is.
Now instead of holding the people in the CIA, MI6, the Netherlands and airport responsible for their lapses and dropping the ball, everyone is going to have to suffer. Some US officials are calling for the open profiling of all Muslims, full body scan machines are being purchased and installed and going through them will become part of the “security” regimen when you fly. When will people wake and say enough is enough? When will folks figure out this is all a flim-flam? It’s like 9-11; no one ever gets fired, disciplined or court marshaled because of their failures yet ordinary citizens have to pay the price by abdicating our civil liberties and privacy and pay our tax dollars to fund boondoggles that profit the ruling elites and their cronies?! 9-11 was used as an excuse to launch a global war on Muslim countries that have geo-strategic importance and vast natural resources and to expand the police security state here in the US.
Obama is already using what happened on Christmas day as a threat to ramp up US military presence in Yemen. The US is currently propping up an oppressive leader there named Ali Abdullah Saleh who is being openly challenged by armed dissidents. These Yemeni freedom fighters are being demonized by the US. In the US media they are called terrorists, religious fanatics or “al Qaeda”. It’s just like in the 50's and 60's when the US called all freedom fighters or nationalists who opposed US intervention, hegemony or influence into their country’s affairs, “communists” as a way of demonizing, marginalizing and criminalizing them.
To put this in a global perspective, the US is already actively destabilizing the Horn of Africa as a justification to impose Africom a US military command it wants to post throughout the continent. The rational is “humanitarian aid” and “security”. Yeah right! The real goal is to make it easier for the US to control and steal the resources in Africa and prevent the Chinese from gaining access to them. For those not familiar with geography, Somalia is part of the Horn of African and is located just a few miles across the Red Sea from Yemen which is part of Southern Arabia. Eons ago, Arabia was part of Africa. Both Somalia and Yemen have proven deposits of petroleum the US wants to get their hands on!
I suspect Obama will use the fact Abdulmutallab is a Nigerian who was “radicalized” in Yemen as a pretext to escalate the war in Yemen and as a future ruse to go after Nigerian dissidents and activists who are waging a protracted struggle against British Petroleum and other multi-national oil companies in the Nigerian Delta region. Don’t believe the hype ,this is more “terrorism” okey-doke, a convenient scheme to expand the US Empire’s agenda.
Rehema Bah
I just dont understand all of this. I have been in Africa and seen how folk stand in line all day in the hot sun to get a visa. After purchasing my ticket to get on the plane, they damn near strip searched me because I was coded "alert" and I have done nothing like what they are saying about this young man. I just don't know. The media can feed us anything and we are supposed to swallow it, no matter how difficult.
Junious Ricardo Stanton
More Terro
rist Okey-Doke“Evidence is emerging that clearly indicates Abdulmutallab was more than just a Nigerian extremist carrying out his anger through an ill-conceived plot to ignite a powdery explosive substance on-board a flight to the United States. Eyewitness testimony pointing to a man helping the accused terrorist board without a passport, along with an unusual cameraman documenting the attempted attack on board the plane raise more than red flags- they point towards an intelligence operation, run as a drill, meant to conjure up public support for a number of fronts in the continuing ‘War on Terror.’” Topix Local News Pittsfield MA
The alleged plot to blow up North West airlines flight 253 on Christmas day is revealing more and more inconsistencies with the “official government version” each passing day. In fact the whole story is devolving into a sham. For those of you who were too busy scoffing down turkey, ham with all the fixins, cakes and pies, watching TV or unwrapping gifts, the corporate mind control apparatus told us a twenty-three year old Nigerian student named Umar Farouk Abdelmutallab who supposedly had been radicalized (brainwashed) by Islamic fanatics (according to the US mainstream media it’s always Muslim fanatics never Christian or Jewish) tied to a faction of Al Qaeda in Yemen; allegedly tried to blow up the plane during a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. It is alleged the young man attempted to blow up the plane using explosive powder laced inside his underwear! This is too goofy to be true. The plan failed when the explosives fizzled and fellow passengers supposedly intervened to put out the fire and apprehend the culprit. The kicker is according to some experts a blasting cap is needed for that type of explosive powder to detonate; so “the mission” was doomed to fail from the jump. To add insult to injury, a few days after the aborted bomb plot a group identifying itself as “Al Qaeda” in Yemen (you know the ubiquitous global bogey men the media always throws at us) took credit for the attack citing US military presence in Yemen as their reason.
I’m sorry but this is so fishy it has to be a false flag operation. A false flag operation is action by a person, group or nation designed to throw suspicion or blame on another party. A classic example of a false flag operation was the “Boston Tea Party”. Prior to the American Revolutionary War, a group of dissident white colonists dressed up as Native Americans, boarded English ships and threw the cargo of tea into the harbor. Any witnesses who saw it would blame the Native Americans but at any rate dressing like “Indians” helped disguise the true perpetrators. The US has engaged in countless false flag operations and deceptions over the years as a pretext to start wars or cover their crimes. A few years ago a formerly classified scheme from the 1960's called Operation Northwoods was revealed. It was an elaborate plan concocted by the US Joint Chiefs to foment public opinion against Cuba. The plot included various terrorist scenarios or staged events so the US would have a reason to invade the island of Cuba and depose Fidel Castro. By now most people know “al Qaeda” is really the creation of several intelligence agencies, secret police and government operatives working together in conjunction including: the US CIA, British MI6 the Israeli Mossad and Pakistani ISI.
In this particular case a Nigerian was selected as the chump or patsy and sent on a “mission” that would not have succeeded anyway if a blasing cap was required to set off the explosion because none was found on his person! It was a trick, a psychological operation to ramp up the fear level. It was designed to get Joe and Jane Sixpack so scared they allow the government to take away more of their rights.
This is where it gets really interesting. Following the bomb attempt and the “al Qaeda” statement claiming responsibility, it was revealed that a few months earlier, Umar Farouk Abdemutallab’s father went to the US Embassy and CIA station chief in Nigeria to alert them his son was acting strangely and had fallen under the influence of some “radicalized Muslims” in Yemen. The CIA supposedly checked it out, put Abdelmutallab on a terrorist watch list and shared the info with their counterparts at British MI6. Despite this, several months later, Abdelmutallab made his way to Amsterdam, purchased a one way ticket to the US with cash and was allowed to board the plane with no passport!!! If that isn’t a tell tail sign the fix was in, I don’t know what is.
Now instead of holding the people in the CIA, MI6, the Netherlands and airport responsible for their lapses and dropping the ball, everyone is going to have to suffer. Some US officials are calling for the open profiling of all Muslims, full body scan machines are being purchased and installed and going through them will become part of the “security” regimen when you fly. When will people wake and say enough is enough? When will folks figure out this is all a flim-flam? It’s like 9-11; no one ever gets fired, disciplined or court marshaled because of their failures yet ordinary citizens have to pay the price by abdicating our civil liberties and privacy and pay our tax dollars to fund boondoggles that profit the ruling elites and their cronies?! 9-11 was used as an excuse to launch a global war on Muslim countries that have geo-strategic importance and vast natural resources and to expand the police security state here in the US.
Obama is already using what happened on Christmas day as a threat to ramp up US military presence in Yemen. The US is currently propping up an oppressive leader there named Ali Abdullah Saleh who is being openly challenged by armed dissidents. These Yemeni freedom fighters are being demonized by the US. In the US media they are called terrorists, religious fanatics or “al Qaeda”. It’s just like in the 50's and 60's when the US called all freedom fighters or nationalists who opposed US intervention, hegemony or influence into their country’s affairs, “communists” as a way of demonizing, marginalizing and criminalizing them.
To put this in a global perspective, the US is already actively destabilizing the Horn of Africa as a justification to impose Africom a US military command it wants to post throughout the continent. The rational is “humanitarian aid” and “security”. Yeah right! The real goal is to make it easier for the US to control and steal the resources in Africa and prevent the Chinese from gaining access to them. For those not familiar with geography, Somalia is part of the Horn of African and is located just a few miles across the Red Sea from Yemen which is part of Southern Arabia. Eons ago, Arabia was part of Africa. Both Somalia and Yemen have proven deposits of petroleum the US wants to get their hands on!
I suspect Obama will use the fact Abdulmutallab is a Nigerian who was “radicalized” in Yemen as a pretext to escalate the war in Yemen and as a future ruse to go after Nigerian dissidents and activists who are waging a protracted struggle against British Petroleum and other multi-national oil companies in the Nigerian Delta region. Don’t believe the hype ,this is more “terrorism” okey-doke, a convenient scheme to expand the US Empire’s agenda.
Rehema Bah
I just dont understand all of this. I have been in Africa and seen how folk stand in line all day in the hot sun to get a visa. After purchasing my ticket to get on the plane, they damn near strip searched me because I was coded "alert" and I have done nothing like what they are saying about this young man. I just don't know. The media can feed us anything and we are supposed to swallow it, no matter how difficult.
Mar
vin X
vin XBeautiful Queen, Rehema, it will indeed take a rocket scientist to understand things going on in this world at this time--they are complex indeed, with people playing multiple roles to the degree we shall find it difficult distinguishing friends from enemies, truth from falsehood. But still yourself and do not be moved by events as reported in the media, for they are orchestrating like the true magicians they are.
Amiri Baraka
We shd remember the breech of security happened in Nigeria and Amsterdam. The anti Obama US media is trying to make it seem that it happened in the US! Amiri B
Phavia Kujichagulia
Terrorist America strikes again!!! There is no way on earth that brotha boarded a plane without a passport. We Melanites (non-whites) can barely board a plane with ALL of the required documents!!! Of course this is all a bunch of more racist BS designed to pump fear into Caucasians and cast suspicion on all Melanites . The ultimate goals, as always, are to (1) constantly increase America's military budget so it can continue to invade, exploit, dominate, and terrorize the planet; and most of all (2) maintain white supremacy! THESE ARE AMERICA'S TRUE & ONLY INTERE$T$!!! "Until we understand white supremacy, everything else will only confuse us!" - Dr. F. Cress Welsing.
Marvin X
Indeed, we are confused--Negroes are saying they will turn in their children too, as the father of Mutallab did. Of course if we are addicted to white supremacy, we will turn in our children to the devil. When I fled America to opposed the war in Vietnam, my father thought I should have joined the US military, so he was not totally against the FBI apprehending me. On the other hand, when the FBI came to my mother's house and showed her my picture (with Hurriyah), Mom told them she don't know nothing and leave her alone. And so we are back to the future. Some may remember Jimmy Garrett's play We Own the Night in which the son kills his reactionary mother because she wasn't down with the revolution, and of course in China the youth of Mao's cultural revolution killed their reactionary parents. And so we are now at the moment of truth: which side are you on, are you with the white supremists, the US/Zionists or with those attempting to disrupt their quiet hour at dinner while others starve, without clean drinking water. Now some of this Muslim ideology is out to lunch, it is as primitive as the white supremacy cave man dragging his woman into the cave with their dog trailing behind. The Muslims want to drag their women across the desert and bury her in the sand if she gives up her pussy that God/Allah gave to her, not the men. But I say if the Muslim brothers can rock the boat of white supremacy, let them do it. At the same time I am against their reactionary mythology/ideology as I am against white supremacy globalism. The universe shall find a synthesis in this dialectic situation. All contradictions will be resolved and the balance (Maat) established. Will you be ready when white power falls, asks Amiri Baraka? What kind of world shall you establish, what is your vision? You want to live under a Mugabe and Mbeki, or how about Obama and his drama? It's clear to me he has taken off his mask and is now wearing the persona of the devil. I must confess to my dogmatic revolutionary brothers, I was emotional in my support of him. Yes, indeed, one can be a white supremist in black face!But the world is not black or white (Manichaeanism). I absolutely support Hamas in Gaza and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt that has established the greatest opposition to Pharaoh Mubarak, and now Pharaoh Obama and the Zionists. I support Hezbollah in Lebanon because they were able to fight the Zionists/US entity to a standstill in the last war, even if they are supported by Iran which seems to be in the midst of a post-Islamic revolution as we speak. So yes, we must oppose white supremacy everywhere, even, and especially, in black face. Is the white man all bad and the black man all good? I am against oppression and domination, no matter who wears the mask of the devil.
Africa and Nigerians Protest State Terrorism Status
Nigeria: FG Okays Life Jail for Terrorists, Sponsors * Indications emerged, yesterday, that Federal Government might have parted ways with the Senate over its call on the United States of America to delete the name of Nigeria from the terror watch-list within seven days or incur a diplomatic row. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001080007.html*
Nigeria: Country May Cut Ties With U.S., Says Minister *
FEDERAL Executive Council (FEC) has described as highhanded and unfair, decision by the United States government to list the country among those to be watched over terror even as the government of Eritrea has pitched its tents with Nigeria in condemning the listing. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001070415.html*
Nigeria: Terror Watch List - PPA Blames FG * The Peoples Progressive Alliance, PPA, has criticised the Peoples Democratic Party led Federal Government for not doing enough to defend Nigeria in the face of the latest action by the US, which branded the country a terrorist nation. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001080027.html*
Nigeria: Blacklisting - U.S. Unfair to Nation - Aondoakaa * Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Chief Michael Aondoakaa, yesterday said he was hopeful that the United States of America (USA) will soon remove Nigeria from its list of terrorist countries, saying the blacklisting was an unfair action against Nigeria. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001080023.html*
Nigeria: Mutallab Joined Al-Qaeda in London - Yemen *
Yemen's deputy prime minister, Rashad al-Alimi, yesterday said Farouk Abdulmutallab, may have met with radical American-Yemeni cleric linked to al-Qaeda, Anwar al-Awlaki, before his failed attempt to bomb a United States (US) airliner last Christmas day. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001080010.html*
Nigeria: Major Nigerian Mosque Asks U.S. to Reconsider 'Blacklisting' *
Lahi-L-Fatih Society, NASFAT, has called on the US to review its decision to blacklist Nigeria as a terrorist country, describing the development as uncalled for. The organisation expressed concern over the latest decision from the American government, while advising America to conduct thorough investigations into the issue. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001070983.html*
Nigeria: Country Never Tolerates Terrorism, Says Onovo * Inspector General (IG) of Police, Ogbonna Onovo, on Wednesday said it was not possible for Al-Queda or any terrorist organisation to operate in Nigeria. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001070564.html*
Nigeria: Mutallab - Another Test for Country's Global Stature * If there was anything the post-Hillary Clinton's visit to Nigeria last year has shown, it is the extent to which the country has sunk in stature. But diplomats believe it goes beyond that to include her weakness, or outright inability, to dangle the carrot or wield the stick in the spirit of reciprocity, a term used in diplomatic circles to explain the relationship among independent nations. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001070461.html*
Nigeria: Yemeni Govt Says - Al-Qaeda Got Farouk in UK *
The young Nigerian terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, who is due to appear in an American court this morning for allegedly trying to bomb a jetliner, was recruited by the Al-Qaeda terror network during his stay in London, the Yemeni government said yesterday. It however said Farouk did meet with a radical Muslim cleric when he was in Yemen. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001080044.html*
Nigeria: The Nigerian Bomber and the Obama Administration - The Root of Terrorism Have Not Gone Away * In 1990 I vividly remember a white American customs official asking me at Dallas airport if I was a Nigerian and was I carrying drugs in my suitcase? For him, all Africans looked alike and nationality was unimportant. For me, it simply reinforced that all Africans were likely to be subjected to prejudice, racism and suspicion by certain elements of US officialdom regardless of class, age, or gender. Racial profiling has been around long before 9/11 and now with the arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmulltallab who dangerously tried to set himself alight on board flight 253 in Detroit on 25 December 2009, his dastardly act has profound ramifications for all Africans and the African continent. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001070918.html*
Nigeria: Terror - Eritrea Faults U.S. Decision on Country *
The Eritrean Government has described as "double standard", the placement of Nigeria on terrorism list by the American Government over Farouk's attempted bombing of American aircraft. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001070898.html*
Nigeria: The Unfolding Abdulmutallab Drama *
For once we cannot but agree with the position of the Federal Information Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili, whose Rebranding Nigeria campaign has been going through testy times, that "Abdulmutallab's behavior is not reflective of Nigeria and should, therefore, not be used as a yard stick to judge all Nigerians. It is unfair to discriminate against over 150 million people because of the behavior of one person." http://allafrica.com/stories/201001070784.html*
Africa: Africom - Latest U.S. Bid to Recolonise Continent *
AFRICAN revolutionaries now have to sleep with one eye open because the United States of America is not stopping at anything in its bid to establish Africom, a highly-equipped US army that will be permanently resident in Africa to oversee the country's imperialist interests. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001070715.html*
Nigeria: An Unlikely Terror Axis * In a world where concerns and values are increasingly being globalised, it is easy to hold states responsible for the actions of their citizens, especially when those actions threaten the global system of order and peaceful mobility. States that sponsor terrorism subscribe to or are guided by ideas that see merit in the deployment of illegitimate violence to draw attention either to themselves or some quaint eschatological world view. Such states were once categorised by former President George W. Bush Jr. as constituting an "axis of evil". The President Barack Obama administration has been a little more civil in its use of language. But it reaffirms its predecessor's commitment to put states that support terrorism out of business either ni http://allafrica.com/stories/201001070594.html*
Nigeria: Don't Transfer Aggression, OPC Warns *
President and founder of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, has urged the United States government not to indulge in what he described as miscarried aggression over the action of Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab who attempted to blow up an American aircraft last Christmas day. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001070592.html
In Defence of Abdul Mutallab of Nigeria – A Response
By Yushau A. Shuaib
January 2010
I extremely envy and admire the American and British governments and people for uniquely defending their citizens around the world, even when accused of criminality, they maintain the innocence of their citizens to ensure justice is done until decided otherwise by the court of law . Recently there was a case of Meredith Kercher, a British girl schooling in Rome who was killed by Amanda Knox, her American roommate over drug-induced sex game. The case was decided in Italy where the crime was committed.
The American and British press actively engaged one another in campaigns to support their respective citizens in the case. At the end the American lady Amanda Knox who is 22, was sentenced to 26 years in an Italian prison for killing Meredith. The debate still goes on in the British and American press.
The latest incident that gives us food for thought is that of Akmal Shaikh, a 53 years old British citizen, though of Asian origin who was executed by Chinese government for drug trafficking. Not only did the ordinary Britons and their press campaign for leniency in favour of the suspect, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown personally mounted a campaign that persuaded the European Union to strongly condemn the execution of British citizen who was put to death by lethal injection for trafficking four kilograms of heroin. Gordon Brown, as the leader spoke, wrote and pleaded with his counterpart in China before the execution, claiming that the convict suffered from bipolar disorder and was lured into carrying the drugs by the promise of a pop music career in China. The latest was a statement by EU deeply regretting that China did not heed repeated calls by Britain and the EU for clemency.
The essence for the above scenarios is to point out that there is pride in defending the integrity of a country and its citizens, even as suspects pending the determination of cases against them in competent Courts of jurisdiction.
The embarrassing attempted suicide bombing of a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam on Christmas Day by a young Nigerian; Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, caught the global community in unbelievable frenzy, because, Nigerians’ notoriety has never reached a level of suicide bombing. It is worthy to note that the father of the suspect is a respected banker and retired top public functionary in Nigeria who had alerted the relevant security agencies of his son’s untoward behaviour before the incident. This is an exemplary conducts which demonstrate that Nigerians and other Abdulmutallabs are not fanatical and insane to encourage or undertake unnecessary suicidal expedition.
It is very unfortunate that immediately the news was broken that the bomb suspect was a Muslim from Northern Nigeria, many self-pride bloggers and commentators with hidden agenda use the incidence to attack a section of the country and adherents of Islamic faith. So painful was their insinuation that they poured out balderdash to call for secession of the country and rained insults on the family of young Abdul Mutallab. In law, a suspect is presumed innocent until proven otherwise by a competent court, yet some Nigerians continued to sensationalise the incident with sectional and religious sentiments which exemplified our backwardness in public discourse. To one’s bewilderment, foreign media and analysts exhibit more constraint in associating the conduct of the child to the character of Nigeria just as President Barak Obama of USA, pointed out that the boy was trained and armed in a foreign land, Yemen.
One of the organisations that shamelessly coloured the incident with sectional and religious undertone was the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose official statement on the suspect was to urge governments around the world to pay more attention to northern Nigeria, claiming that the region is a threat to world peace and "fertile ground" for international terrorism. They also provoke ember of hatred by insinuating that "for decades, Christians have been murdered and raped in northern Nigeria with impunity.” In essence, they are appealing to foreign forces to invade the North as if there are no Christians in Northern Nigeria.
Won’t it sound unbecoming to associate social vices peculiar to some sections of the country to its people, because of the action of few who engage in international prostitution, drug trafficking, 419 fraudsters, armed robbery, kidnapping and the recruitment of young girls as baby-manufacturers in addition to ritual killings.
The cowardly Niger Delta militants who have similar attributes of Somalian Sea pirates who are notorious in kidnapping the rich for ransom, oil bunkering, piracy, gun running, killing and destruction of the environment, their victims are foreigners and local people alike.
The international community should realise that the MEND and their collaborators are the only criminally-inspired armed group in West Africa today that have attacked the interests of American, British and other nations exploring oil in Nigeria by kidnapping and killing their workers and destroying their investment such as infrastructures of Shell and Chevron among other oil companies operating in Nigeria.
Since 2006 when they started their armed struggle claiming to be fighting for a greater share of oil wealth for local communities, but unfortunately their members pocket ransom money and live ostentatious lives to the amazement of their kinsmen. They are so cowardly that they go with pseudo names while destroying their environment and damaging the reputation of peace-loving people of Niger Delta, a region that is now most scary and risky district for investment and tourism. Yet their states receive the highest allocations in the country, only for them to blackmail their leadership to share such resources with them or risk kidnapping and killing of innocent citizens.
The antic of MEND and their likes to create confusion in Nigeria make it compelling to explore likely conspiracy theories on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’ s unfortunate attempt. Covert operations with hidden agenda may not be discountenance as local and external undesirable elements might have manipulated the incidence to put Nigeria in spotlight for clandestine assault.
We may recall the 1954 ‘Lavon Affairs’ known as operation Susannah in which Israeli military intelligence planted bombs in Egyptian, American and British-owned targets in Egypt in the summer of 1954 in the hopes that Egyptians and Muslim Brotherhood would be blamed for the attack before the plot was exposed. We should also recall the lies of former President Bush and Tony Blair on Smoking Gun that Iraq possessed Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) to sway the international community to endorse an invasion of the Arab country so that the two countries can control vast oil resources and facilitate increased heavy military spending in the Middle East after creating confusion.
While we must all condemn the insane and unfathomable attempted suicidal mission that would have resulted in the death of 250 passengers from the action of the young bomber whose visage looks innocent and with humble mien, we need to critically examine and study tendencies and likely influence that could have manipulated the Nigerian child for the action. The unfolding revelations about the suspected suicide bomber from foreign media, his schoolmates, teachers and friends indicate a sorry state of his loneliness, introvert and detachment from his family. They all disclose his worthy lifestyle in schools as teetotaller, pious, religious, humble and a fan of Arsenal and Liverpool football clubs. He would rather donate his pocket money to the orphanage than buy souvenirs for himself. Likewise, he does not brag about his family’s wealth as he rejects flamboyant lifestyle. His clear social passion. Some children from similar background could have gone into drug addiction, trafficking, armed robbery among other social vices.
We also need to explore the possibility of excessive depression and some element of insanity as a result of loneliness which the un-die bomber claimed in some of his postings in social media. Such investigations become necessary, based on reports that his aggressive and violent tendency emerged abruptly after his graduation from Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University College London. He had all his adulthood outside the shores of Nigeria.
What I have attempted to do as a Nigerian with this piece is to point out that as Nigerians condemn in unequivocal terms the action of the young bomber, an isolated case indeed, the international community should unearth those who manipulated this innocent and lonely youngman to become vulnerable for exploitation. We are aware that innocent souls are easily misled and drugged to take actions unconsciously.
It is gratifying to note that the Father of the suspects, Abdulmutallab, a true and patriotic Nigerian had forewarned security agencies of his child emerging radicalisation which unfortunately was not heeded. The exemplary conducts of the father is a further demonstration that not all Nigerians are crook who will overlook or endorse negative tendencies of their ward like Niger delta militants who have been led astray.
The lesson to be learnt from the predicaments of Abdul Mutallab family is that parents should closely monitor and relate affectionately with their children to check control likely tendencies that may lead them to devilish paths.
Yushau A. Shuaib
mailto:yashuaib@yashuaib.com
University of Westminster, Harrow Campus,
London
RE: UMAR ABDULMUTALLAB -
In Defence of Abdul Mutallab of Nigeria – A Response
By Yushau A. Shuaib
January 2010
I extremely envy and admire the American and British governments and people for uniquely defending their citizens around the world, even when accused of criminality, they maintain the innocence of their citizens to ensure justice is done until decided otherwise by the court of law . Recently there was a case of Meredith Kercher, a British girl schooling in Rome who was killed by Amanda Knox, her American roommate over drug-induced sex game. The case was decided in Italy where the crime was committed.
The American and British press actively engaged one another in campaigns to support their respective citizens in the case. At the end the American lady Amanda Knox who is 22, was sentenced to 26 years in an Italian prison for killing Meredith. The debate still goes on in the British and American press.
The latest incident that gives us food for thought is that of Akmal Shaikh, a 53 years old British citizen, though of Asian origin who was executed by Chinese government for drug trafficking. Not only did the ordinary Britons and their press campaign for leniency in favour of the suspect, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown personally mounted a campaign that persuaded the European Union to strongly condemn the execution of British citizen who was put to death by lethal injection for trafficking four kilograms of heroin. Gordon Brown, as the leader spoke, wrote and pleaded with his counterpart in China before the execution, claiming that the convict suffered from bipolar disorder and was lured into carrying the drugs by the promise of a pop music career in China. The latest was a statement by EU deeply regretting that China did not heed repeated calls by Britain and the EU for clemency.
The essence for the above scenarios is to point out that there is pride in defending the integrity of a country and its citizens, even as suspects pending the determination of cases against them in competent Courts of jurisdiction.
The embarrassing attempted suicide bombing of a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam on Christmas Day by a young Nigerian; Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, caught the global community in unbelievable frenzy, because, Nigerians’ notoriety has never reached a level of suicide bombing. It is worthy to note that the father of the suspect is a respected banker and retired top public functionary in Nigeria who had alerted the relevant security agencies of his son’s untoward behaviour before the incident. This is an exemplary conducts which demonstrate that Nigerians and other Abdulmutallabs are not fanatical and insane to encourage or undertake unnecessary suicidal expedition.
It is very unfortunate that immediately the news was broken that the bomb suspect was a Muslim from Northern Nigeria, many self-pride bloggers and commentators with hidden agenda use the incidence to attack a section of the country and adherents of Islamic faith. So painful was their insinuation that they poured out balderdash to call for secession of the country and rained insults on the family of young Abdul Mutallab. In law, a suspect is presumed innocent until proven otherwise by a competent court, yet some Nigerians continued to sensationalise the incident with sectional and religious sentiments which exemplified our backwardness in public discourse. To one’s bewilderment, foreign media and analysts exhibit more constraint in associating the conduct of the child to the character of Nigeria just as President Barak Obama of USA, pointed out that the boy was trained and armed in a foreign land, Yemen.
One of the organisations that shamelessly coloured the incident with sectional and religious undertone was the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose official statement on the suspect was to urge governments around the world to pay more attention to northern Nigeria, claiming that the region is a threat to world peace and "fertile ground" for international terrorism. They also provoke ember of hatred by insinuating that "for decades, Christians have been murdered and raped in northern Nigeria with impunity.” In essence, they are appealing to foreign forces to invade the North as if there are no Christians in Northern Nigeria.
Won’t it sound unbecoming to associate social vices peculiar to some sections of the country to its people, because of the action of few who engage in international prostitution, drug trafficking, 419 fraudsters, armed robbery, kidnapping and the recruitment of young girls as baby-manufacturers in addition to ritual killings.
The cowardly Niger Delta militants who have similar attributes of Somalian Sea pirates who are notorious in kidnapping the rich for ransom, oil bunkering, piracy, gun running, killing and destruction of the environment, their victims are foreigners and local people alike.
The international community should realise that the MEND and their collaborators are the only criminally-inspired armed group in West Africa today that have attacked the interests of American, British and other nations exploring oil in Nigeria by kidnapping and killing their workers and destroying their investment such as infrastructures of Shell and Chevron among other oil companies operating in Nigeria.
Since 2006 when they started their armed struggle claiming to be fighting for a greater share of oil wealth for local communities, but unfortunately their members pocket ransom money and live ostentatious lives to the amazement of their kinsmen. They are so cowardly that they go with pseudo names while destroying their environment and damaging the reputation of peace-loving people of Niger Delta, a region that is now most scary and risky district for investment and tourism. Yet their states receive the highest allocations in the country, only for them to blackmail their leadership to share such resources with them or risk kidnapping and killing of innocent citizens.
The antic of MEND and their likes to create confusion in Nigeria make it compelling to explore likely conspiracy theories on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’ s unfortunate attempt. Covert operations with hidden agenda may not be discountenance as local and external undesirable elements might have manipulated the incidence to put Nigeria in spotlight for clandestine assault.
We may recall the 1954 ‘Lavon Affairs’ known as operation Susannah in which Israeli military intelligence planted bombs in Egyptian, American and British-owned targets in Egypt in the summer of 1954 in the hopes that Egyptians and Muslim Brotherhood would be blamed for the attack before the plot was exposed. We should also recall the lies of former President Bush and Tony Blair on Smoking Gun that Iraq possessed Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) to sway the international community to endorse an invasion of the Arab country so that the two countries can control vast oil resources and facilitate increased heavy military spending in the Middle East after creating confusion.
While we must all condemn the insane and unfathomable attempted suicidal mission that would have resulted in the death of 250 passengers from the action of the young bomber whose visage looks innocent and with humble mien, we need to critically examine and study tendencies and likely influence that could have manipulated the Nigerian child for the action. The unfolding revelations about the suspected suicide bomber from foreign media, his schoolmates, teachers and friends indicate a sorry state of his loneliness, introvert and detachment from his family. They all disclose his worthy lifestyle in schools as teetotaller, pious, religious, humble and a fan of Arsenal and Liverpool football clubs. He would rather donate his pocket money to the orphanage than buy souvenirs for himself. Likewise, he does not brag about his family’s wealth as he rejects flamboyant lifestyle. His clear social passion. Some children from similar background could have gone into drug addiction, trafficking, armed robbery among other social vices.
We also need to explore the possibility of excessive depression and some element of insanity as a result of loneliness which the un-die bomber claimed in some of his postings in social media. Such investigations become necessary, based on reports that his aggressive and violent tendency emerged abruptly after his graduation from Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University College London. He had all his adulthood outside the shores of Nigeria.
What I have attempted to do as a Nigerian with this piece is to point out that as Nigerians condemn in unequivocal terms the action of the young bomber, an isolated case indeed, the international community should unearth those who manipulated this innocent and lonely youngman to become vulnerable for exploitation. We are aware that innocent souls are easily misled and drugged to take actions unconsciously.
It is gratifying to note that the Father of the suspects, Abdulmutallab, a true and patriotic Nigerian had forewarned security agencies of his child emerging radicalisation which unfortunately was not heeded. The exemplary conducts of the father is a further demonstration that not all Nigerians are crook who will overlook or endorse negative tendencies of their ward like Niger delta militants who have been led astray.
The lesson to be learnt from the predicaments of Abdul Mutallab family is that parents should closely monitor and relate affectionately with their children to check control likely tendencies that may lead them to devilish paths.
Yushau A. Shuaib
mailto:yashuaib@yashuaib.com
University of Westminster, Harrow Campus,
London
RE: UMAR ABDULMUTALLAB -
CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA (CFN) CONDEMN
TERRORIST ATTEMPTS AND ACTIVITIES
Champions For Nigeria (CFN), an umbrella organisation of Nigerians in the Diaspora, incorporated in England and Wales, condemn all forms of terrorist activities. We express deep regret over the attempt by Nigerian-born Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab to blow up Flight 253 with explosive devices at the Detroit, Michigan, USA Airport on December 25, 2009
Nigerians all over the world are unanimous in their condemnation of this cowardly act. Such action is not representative of the character of Nigerian citizens. We are a peace-loving people who make positive contributions in whatever community we reside.
Champions For Nigeria would like to stress the point that this terrorist incident was an individual action, and does not represent the true character of more than 150 million Nigerians.Nigeria is definitely not a breeding ground for terrorism of any description; be it domestic or international.
We support the Nigerian government’s position, preparedness, and commitment to thwart any known or suspected acts of terrorism in our society by working with the governments of the United States of America, and other nations in snuffing out global terrorism.
Champions For Nigeria express our gratitude to God that the attempt to destroy innocent lives and property on Christmas; a day Christians worldwide celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, a peace-loving individual, was foiled.
We urge the international community to regard this incident as an isolated act of a misguided and radicalised Nigerian citizen who has allowed religious overzealousness to becloud his mind, without regard to the negative impact his actions would have on further tarnishing the global image of Nigeria.We would like to remind everyone that Nigerians generally are law-abiding citizens. We tolerate diverse political and religious views. We are productive, peaceful, and hard working. These attributes have been demonstrated by Dr Mutallab who, on sensing the strange behaviour of his son, quickly reported him to American Embassy officials and the Nigerian law enforcement authorities. Nigerians hereby promise to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in solidarity with the United States, and all responsible nations in the international community in the fight against global terrorism.
Long live Nigeria, Long Live CFN
Signed:Odimegwu Onwumere (Regional Coordinator, Nigeria)
Dr Ken Prince Asagwara (Regional Coordinator, Canada)
Benedicta Attoh (Eire)
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (Italy)
Joseph Ochia (Mexico)
Kola Afolabi (France)
Dr Ehi Agboaye (USA)
Dr Olayiwola Ajileye (Regional Coordinator, UK)
Bernard Imarhiagbe (Publicity Coordinator)
Akintokunbo A Adejumo (Global Coordinator)For CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA
The Poetic Mission: A for
um on the poet and the poetic mission
um on the poet and the poetic missionby Rudolph Lewis, editor
http://www.nathanielturner.com/
Overview
Recently (24 January 2009), Marvin X, a well known writer and one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement (BAM) sent out by email a provocative piece titled "Poetic Mission." On the surface the concern was the controversial investigation of the murder of the Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey. But "Poetic Mission" goes farther and makes an argument about the role of the poet and poetry.
Here are
excerpts from Marvin X's "Poetic Mission":
http://www.nathanielturner.com/
Overview
Recently (24 January 2009), Marvin X, a well known writer and one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement (BAM) sent out by email a provocative piece titled "Poetic Mission." On the surface the concern was the controversial investigation of the murder of the Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey. But "Poetic Mission" goes farther and makes an argument about the role of the poet and poetry.
Here are
excerpts from Marvin X's "Poetic Mission":The mission of the poet is to express the mind of a people, a culture, a civilization. He extends the myths and rituals, taking them to the outer limits like a Coltrane or Eric Dolphy tune, stretching, transcending all that is, was and will be. His tool is language, from which he cannot be limited by political correction or submission to the culture police on the left or the right. The poet is a healer in the time of sickness, inspiring wholeness and celebrating the positive. He must point out contradictions and lies. . . . The poet's mission was well defined in Mao's classic essay Talks on Art and Literature at Yenen Forum. The poet is either part of the problem or part of the solution—is he with the oppressor or the oppressed? Or we can recall the words of ancestor Paul Robeson, "The artist must become a freedom fighter." For whom does he write? Does he write to satisfy Pharaoh and his minions, or is his mission to liberate the suffering masses from ignorance, although he should never consider himself superior, since the teacher always learns from his students. If he listens, the poets will come to know the pain and trauma of his people and his duty is to relieve the pain and trauma with visions, plans and programs for the collective good. Healing words can start the prairie fire. The poetic challenge is to take people to new vistas of consciousness that reveal the soul, individual and communal, which are one. Language is a communal experience that is not the property of the poet. He can add to it with his imagination, but is there imagination without myth-ritual? What is the source of imagery except the collective myth of a culture or civilization. In time of struggle and crisis, the poet must become a propagandist who whips defeat into victory, sadness into joy. Truth is paramount—there are lives at stake, hence this is no game, no job for money, no position for public adoration, no ego trip. Call it revolution, change of the most radical form.
--Marvin X, "Poetic Mission."
Reading Marvin's "Poetic Mission" provoked a slew of questions, which I emailed to him and others in my address book. Poets Jerry Ward, Jr., Mary Weems, and C. Liegh McInnis (with a poem) responded. Marvin responded to a number of my questions, directly. Below I will I place them in a Q & A format. After which, I will present the other responses.
Reading Marvin's "Poetic Mission" provoked a slew of questions, which I emailed to him and others in my address book. Poets Jerry Ward, Jr., Mary Weems, and C. Liegh McInnis (with a poem) responded. Marvin responded to a number of my questions, directly. Below I will I place them in a Q & A format. After which, I will present the other responses.
Rudy: Maybe the subject should be "poetic missions." The heart of the problem for the poet is to discover what is the Mission, isn't it, if there is such a thing?
Marvin: Everyone, whether poet, scientist, lover, street sweeper, dope fiend, must ultimately define his/her life’s mission or purpose. This is why brother Ptah suggested and I included the 13th Step in my How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy. What is the mission of the poet—words can kill or heal. Sonia Sanchez says, “Will your book free us?” Apparently not since the stores are full of black books and we still ain’t free. The dope fiend must come to understand recovery is only a step—once clean and sober then what? Only to sit in meetings claiming sobriety while still drunk on recovery—so after recovery, then discovery of one’s mission. Remember that Nancy Wilson song, “I Never Been to Me”? So we can be poet, mother, wife, husband, yet never discover our true mission in life, and even when we discover our mission, we may be too fearful to execute it.
Rudy: Is the audience "the people" or is it the poet's sense of the people? Or is the poet's audience, his choir? Is the poet really a "truth sayer"?
Marvin: The people are real live people who we should encounter in their/our daily round, thus we hear their cries if we listen, for they will tell us all, if we listen. It is not some echo in our head, life is beyond imagination (the poet’s sense of the people). They will tell you their joy and suffering as they have told me while I was “selling Obama T shirts. The “people” told me again and again the ritual they planned for inauguration day, they told me their joy and happiness, no matter what intellectuals think. So it is my job to express their joy in this world of sadness and dread. It was the same with the murder of Oscar Grant. The people told me of losing their loved ones to homicide, yet received no attention because it was a black on black crime. They said even the police showed no real concern. Thus we must be guilty of selective suffering. If a white man kills us, we protest. When we kill us, nothing happens. The murderer still walks the streets and everybody knows he’s the killer, but we say nothing out of fear, so families suffer grief and trauma alone, in silence. These people are not some abstraction, some imaginary sense of the people, not his choir. The poet is either about truth or he is about lies, the choice is his.
Rudy: Does not the poet often obfuscate (or exaggerate) the truth, maybe for good reasons, maybe for awful consequences? I suspect that neither poems nor poets have a special Mission. It is a romantic notion that has outlived its times.
Marvin: All art is exaggeration. What is music but the exaggeration of natural sounds, birds, bees, water, wind, rain, thunder. The poet often takes poetic license with events, especially for dramatic effect. The poet, the musician, the painter must decide to join the revolution, as they did during the 60s and earlier, throughout time. This is not a romantic notion. How can the conscious poet ignore the suffering of his people when he sees they are ignorant, suffering poverty and disease? The poet must decide to aid them or leave them alone and praise the king, pharaoh or whomever he decides to clown for, shuffle and dance. For thousands of years the poetic mission has been to cry for freedom and justice. We know the source of art for art’s sake—simply art of the master class, the rulers and oppressors who pass by the man on the roadside, robbed and half dead.
Marvin: All art is exaggeration. What is music but the exaggeration of natural sounds, birds, bees, water, wind, rain, thunder. The poet often takes poetic license with events, especially for dramatic effect. The poet, the musician, the painter must decide to join the revolution, as they did during the 60s and earlier, throughout time. This is not a romantic notion. How can the conscious poet ignore the suffering of his people when he sees they are ignorant, suffering poverty and disease? The poet must decide to aid them or leave them alone and praise the king, pharaoh or whomever he decides to clown for, shuffle and dance. For thousands of years the poetic mission has been to cry for freedom and justice. We know the source of art for art’s sake—simply art of the master class, the rulers and oppressors who pass by the man on the roadside, robbed and half dead.
Rudy: Poems can be sledge hammers (hurtful) or they can be subtle (very subtle), like Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, Praise song for the day? Which ones indeed carry more truth? Which ones are more effective in getting us where we want to go?
Marvin: As is well known, my style is the sledge hammer (Kalamu ya Salaam) or to write with venom (Dr. Julia Hare--although I say it's the anti-toxin, full strength!). The youth on the streets of Oakland who read my books say, “You’re very blunt.” Indeed, it is a style reflecting my lifestyle (you’re too rough to be a pimp, said a prostitute). And yet I am in awe of the feminine style. It is so gentle, subtle, smooth like a razor cutting to the heart. I am amazed at the feminine approach or style, especially in writing. But Elizabeth Alexander’s inaugural poem was too soft for me, bored me to tears. Alice Walker’s as well. Now the poetic message from Rev. Lowery was great. It moved the soul, my soul, it had the language of the people, not that academic bullshit language of Alexander’s. See my “A Day We Never Thought” on the inauguration. But all these poems are a matter of style, not truth. Some like it soft, some like it hard. Some like Miller Lite, some like OLE English 800. We can get to the truth many ways, just get there.
Rudy:Is poetry the same as propaganda, which some associate with out right lies and distortions? How do we reconcile the two?
Marvin: All art is propaganda of one class or another, one group or another. Alexander’s poem is bourgeoisie art to me. Would I be allowed to read my poems on such an occasion? The bourgeoisie runs from me on sight, no need to say boo. Although the Oakland Post Newspaper claimed they were going to run “A Day We Never Thought.” I did not try to be the sledge hammer with this poem. I wanted to express the joy of the ancestors, the living and the yet unborn. Oh, Happy Day. Finally, the poet is not limited to one approach. He is able to don the feminine persona when necessary. It is his duty to know the spirit of male and female, and the non-gender of the spirit world?
Rudy: As you know many of the poems of the BAM period are relics and say more abut the mindset of the period or the poet, for instance, some of the poems of Nikki Giovanni or poems of Sonia Sanchez. The poets themselves might argue that they are not relevant for today. Or they would denounce or apologize for them as the expression of youth, and not really the Truth.
Rudy:Is poetry the same as propaganda, which some associate with out right lies and distortions? How do we reconcile the two?
Marvin: All art is propaganda of one class or another, one group or another. Alexander’s poem is bourgeoisie art to me. Would I be allowed to read my poems on such an occasion? The bourgeoisie runs from me on sight, no need to say boo. Although the Oakland Post Newspaper claimed they were going to run “A Day We Never Thought.” I did not try to be the sledge hammer with this poem. I wanted to express the joy of the ancestors, the living and the yet unborn. Oh, Happy Day. Finally, the poet is not limited to one approach. He is able to don the feminine persona when necessary. It is his duty to know the spirit of male and female, and the non-gender of the spirit world?
Rudy: As you know many of the poems of the BAM period are relics and say more abut the mindset of the period or the poet, for instance, some of the poems of Nikki Giovanni or poems of Sonia Sanchez. The poets themselves might argue that they are not relevant for today. Or they would denounce or apologize for them as the expression of youth, and not really the Truth.
Marvin: The mission of the Black Arts Movement was truth. There is still truth in the BAM poems, yes, forty years later. There is truth in Baraka’s Toilet, Dutchman, and the poems of Nikki and Sonia. Yes, these poets might say their poems are not relevant but they are not truthful. The Dutchman is real. “If Bessie Smith had killed some white people, she wouldn’t need to sing the blues. She could have talked very straight and plain about the world—no metaphor, no innuendo….” And Sonia’s lines are still relevant even if she finds them distasteful, such as “What a white woman got cept her white pussy?” Are the above words youth or truth? Of course time causes a maturation of thought. All the things I thought at twenty, some of them I no longer think, but there is still much truth in my early writings. Khalid Muhammad used to tell me to hell with my current writings, he loved my early books such as Fly To Allah and Woman, Man’s Best Friend. These are the books that awakened his consciousness, he told me more than once. Baraka, the man who taught me how to say motherfucker, now objects the use of the term, except in a moment of passion. As for myself, all words are holy and sacred, none are obscene. What is obscene, saying motherfucker or actually fucking your mother, sister, daughter, son? There are those persons here in the Bay who object to my language, yet they have been indicted for incest and child molestation. Simply because these/us BAM poets have reached old age does not negate the truth of our early writings. Of course the rappers took our language to another level that may indeed transcend truth for pussy and dick nonsense.
Rudy: Is poetry not also a personal statement that says more about the person at the time of writing, than it does the Truth? Take for instance your poem in response to the slaughter in Gaza.
Marvin: My poem “Who Are These Jews” is basic truth. And if it’s true for me, it’s true for you. But the essence of the poem was said by Jesus 2000 years ago, John 8:44. Was Jesus lying then, am I lying now? At what point do we come out of denial and admit we got some devils up in here? Why should Hamas recognize the existence of Israel, does Israel recognize the existence of Hamas, the democratic victory of Hamas?
Rudy: How do the "people" really know when the poem or the poet has really failed to speak to the real needs of the people?
Marvin: Are the people deaf, dumb and blind? Have you not read a poem or book that changed your life? The people tell me all the time my writings transform their lives. Truth transforms, lies do not, not for the better. Lies lead to destruction, truth to construction of people and society.
Responses
Jerry Ward
THE TRUTH is not an entity but a conflicted set of conditions, phenomena which our human minds might envision or speculate about but never fully grasp. In that sense, poetry seeks to represent an insight about a truth. What is made of a truth in a poem varies among readers and most certainly between different generations of readers, particularly if the poem is topical. You are right in suggesting that we ought to talk about the missions of poetry. When I write a poem, I do have a mission in my head, but my readers may or may not perceive what that mission was intended to be or to do. Knowing that poems have both limits and unforeseen consequences, I believe my work is designed to move readers to have fresh thoughts. The act of reading a poem involves change, of course, but whether the reader gets the point is a matter of chance.—Jerry *
Mary Weems
Poetry is an art and like all art its success/impact/power is up to the interpretation of each audience member who engages it. What constitutes a good poem or a powerful poem or a truth telling poem varies based upon interpretation . . . there is no one meaning, no one way of expressing whatever inspires a poet to write. Also, poets write for a variety of purposes . . . some, like me (Harlem Renaissance poets, Black Arts Movement Poets, Socially conscious Spoken Word artists), use our poetic voices most often as political acts to speak out against the injustices of the day, to speak truth to power—historically, this is one of the reasons many poets have been considered dangerous to various power regimes resulting in imprisonment, exile, and censorship. Some poets believe the role of the poet is to make the mundane memorable, to record various degrees of beauty based upon their interpretation of what that is, to describe the world they are living in for future generations, without regard for politics, protest, or social justice. Some poets believe it's all about performance, giving the audience what they want to hear for popularity purposes, to win Slam poetry competitions. Some poets are introspective to the point of confessing, zeroing in on their personal trials, tribulations, and successes. I am not one to publicly dis a poet because a poem that says nothing or little to me, could mean the world to someone else who is able to step inside the poem and make meaning based upon the experiences they bring to what the poet has written. A poem that doesn't make me feel anything, though it may be technically flawless, is not a good poem to me, but— There is no one way to be a poet, there is no one purpose, there's only folks who have a gift for metaphor, simile, rhyme, rhythm, imagery, trope, allegory, for seeing the world through a particular lens—doing our best to do what we do because we have to . . . Mary
“W
hat Good Are Poems?”
hat Good Are Poems?” By C. Liegh McInnis
Can a poem be as affective as a .357?
Can the images of a poem spray buck shot holes
into the body of a greenback stuffed sheet wearing shoat?
Can a poem be thrown as a brick through the window of a grocery store
so that we may pillage and plunder its shelves for food for the hungry?
Can a poem be laid on top of a poem, be laid on top of a poem,
be laid on top of a poem until we have built a shelter for the homeless?
Does a poem need a million dollar war chest or a foundation grant
to be mightier than the sword?
What good does a poem do a spoiled, bloated belly?
Can a poem clothe the naked? Can a poem improve an ACT score?
Can a poem pay the rent?
Can poems assassinate Negro turncoats
who have sold their souls to racist rags?
Can poems cut short the lives of serpentine superintendents
who slyly suffocate African babies in Euro-excrement
disguised as Caucasian curriculums?
Poems are the sperms of revolution.
We need poets to stop adding extra syrup and saccharine
to their sonnets so as to appease the pale palates of people
who have not the stomach for the truth.
We need poets to stop masturbating away their talents into literary napkins.
We need poets to start impregnating thoughts of Black magnolias
bursting through white cement into the minds of Raven virgin souls
who without it toil in the reproductive process of self-aversion.
Poems are the sperms of revolution.
Are you making love to your people, or are you fornicating away your existence?
Cuba, Carlos Moore and North American Africans
YouTube - LET IT BURN - The Coming Destruction of the USA?
Robert F. Williams discussing his sojourn in Cuba, China, Africa
Cuba, Carlos Moore and North American Africans
We have known the writings of Carlos Moore since the 60s. He is one of the first persons to inform us about the condition of Afro-Cubans. Robert Williams had a somewhat negative experience in Cuba during his exile from American racism, as did Eldridge Cleaver. The truth is that the Cuban revolution did not officially recognize its Africanity until the war in Angola where many Cuban soldiers fought and died with their African brothers against white supremacy colonialism.
On the other hand, Minister Farrakhan once said that wherever he went on the planet earth, the black man was on the bottom, whether in a Christian, Muslim, Communist, Socialist, or Capitalist nation. Even in Africa itself, the African is on the bottom, dominated by neo-colonialists in black face, robbed of the mineral riches of our Motherland for the benefit of white supremacy globalists, including Chinese.
We applaud the Cuban revolution for resisting white supremacy domination, and we hope they will fully recover from the residue of racism in their hearts.
The following are statements from Carlos Moore, a pro-government Cuban writer and from North American African writers, artists and activists. Let this be the beginning of a dialogue on Cuba. We've yet to include the opinion of Asata Shakur and Huey P. Newton, although we understand he pledged to say nothing when he departed Cuba. I know we're mature enough to practice unity, criticism, unity with our revolutionary comrades. I am including a statemen by Felipe of the Last Poets on the racial history of the Americas.
Editor
RE: Race in America, the Grand Denial
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Marvin: The madness started in 1508 when the first black man stepped foot on the island of Borinquen (Puerto Rico) under the Spanish flag. We were here long before the Brits took over the slave trade from the Spanish in the battle called the Great Armada in 1588. It was 111 years from 1508 to 1619, roughly 3 generations, that black people populated and cultivated Puerto Rico, Cuba, Hispaniola, Mexico, all of Central and South America.
Their intercultural/interracial exchange with indigenous people was a result of Spanish genocide through sickness and murder. The good ole Church, seeing the red man die, demanded that Africans be kidnapped and brought to these shores to work the land.
The Congolese were brought to Puerto Rico and Cuba, the Nigerians to Cuba, the Angolans to Brazil, the Guineans to Hispaniola, with all kinds of mixtures in between. Interestingly enough, many of the Black Latinos were Muslim and to this day, we manifest Islamic culture from every word we speak that starts with al to the high pitched jibaro vocal style singing that goes back to the muezzin Islamic call to prayer.
You will hear often in Latin songs "Salaam aleikum" or "Shale Maleikum" which is how the slaves popularized the greeting. We were here long before 1619, we were black, strong and family oriented because the Spanish and Portugese brought whole families over. Once they realized that rebellion was the consequence of slavery vs. black family, they told the British to switch the script: destroy the family, divide the tribe, deny the male the right to fight back, kill him. So the natural instinct to defend and protect is channeled against ourselves which is why so many "natural warriors" are in jail. Peace be unto you, my brother, my friend. Abrazos and.... Best regards, Felipe
Afro-Cubans push back
by Carlos Moore Dear brother Marvin:
I applaud your decision to initiate a sober, objective and dispassionate discussion regarding the plight of the black majority in Cuba. For decades, as you know, I have dedicated myself to bringing awareness on this serious issue to black progressives all over the world. Now, at last, a section of the Black Left has began to take a much more critical view of events in Cuba, and that can only help to consolidate a real pan-african vision that includes us all. Again, dear brother, thank you for being an objective voice appealing to reason rather than passion, facts rather than ideological credo.Warm fraternal regards to you and all of the brothers and sisters who arehelping you in that noble endeavor.
Carlos MOORE
Prominent black Americans condemn Cuba on racism
A group of prominent black Americans has for the first time publicly condemned Cuba's rights record, demanding Havana stop its "callous disregard'' for black Cubans and declaring that "racism in Cuba . . . must be confronted."
"We know first-hand the experiences and consequences of denying civil freedoms on the basis of race," the group said in a statement Monday. "For that reason, we are even more obligated to voice our opinion on what is happening to our Cuban brethren."
Among the 60 signers were Princeton professor Cornel West, actress Ruby Dee Davis, film director Melvin Van Peebles, former South Florida congresswoman Carrie Meek and Dr. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of President Barack Obama's church in Chicago.
African-American group challenges Cuba on race
Why the delayed outcry?
"All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.''
Edmund Burke
A group of 60 African-American leaders, influenced by Brazil's Abdias Nascimiento, a self-proclaimed admirer of Fidel Castro, condemned racism in Cuba. Congratulations.
•
Claim of Cuban racism rejected
Pro-government Cuban writers and artists Friday rejected allegations by African-Americans of racism and repression on the island, calling the charges ``delusional'' and part of ``an anti-Cuban campaign.''
The reply came as four Afro-Cuban dissidents thanked the Americans for their support, and four prominent academics from the English-speaking Caribbean condemned Cuba's ``continued racial prejudice.''
The allegations issued Monday by 60 African-Americans touched a raw nerve because it was the first time that U.S. blacks, historically supportive of the Castro government, criticized the island's civil rights record and supported Afro-Cuban dissidents.
carlosmoore2000@gmail.com
In a landmark ``Statement of Conscience by African Americans,'' 60 prominent black American scholars, artists and professionals have condemned the Cuban regime's apparent crackdown on the country's budding civil-rights movement.
``Racism in Cuba, and anywhere else in the world, is unacceptable and must be confronted,'' said the document, which also called for the immediate release of Dr. Darsi Ferrer, a black civil-rights leader imprisoned in July.
The U.S. State Department estimates Afro-Cubans make up 62 percent of the Cuban population, with many informed observers saying the figure is closer to 70 percent. Traditionally, African Americans have sided with the Castro regime and unilaterally condemned the United States, which, in the past, explicitly sought to topple the Cuban government. But this public rebuke of Castro's racial policies may well indicate a tide change and a more-balanced attitude.
Representing a wide spectrum of political opinion, the document was signed by Cornel West, Princeton University scholar; Ruby Dee, famed actress; Susan Taylor, former Essence magazine editor and current president of the National CARES Mentoring Movement; Julianne Malveaux, Bennett College president; Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, UCLA vice chancellor; the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor emeritus of Chicago's Trinity Church; retired U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek; Kathleen Cleaver, former Black Panther activist; Ron Walters, former presidential campaign manager for Jesse Jackson and current director of the African American Leadership Institute; movie director Melvin Van Peebles; and Betty Ferguson, former Miami-Dade County commissioner.
Deepening inequalities
What could have caused that reversal? Changing demographics in America and the election of a black U.S. president seem to have spurred African-American curiosity about the fate of Afro-Latins south of the border. Through that process, many U.S. blacks have realized that Castro, once admired for thumbing his nose at America, is now an 82-year-old dictator struggling to prolong five decades of absolute power through terror and policies that deepen racial inequalities in Cuba.
Victoria Ruiz, U.S. representative of the islandwide civil-rights group, Citizens Committee for Racial Integration, says Cuba's black movement -- vigorously suppressed in the 1960s, at the early stage of the revolution -- was resurrected in the 1990s. She complains that young, black Cubans suffer aggressive racial profiling by police. She claims that about 70 percent of Afro-Cubans are believed to be unemployed, a staggering figure by any standard. And 85 percent of Cuba's jail population is estimated to be black, Ruiz reports.
Prominent black Americans condemn Cuba on racism
A group of prominent black Americans has for the first time publicly condemned Cuba's rights record, demanding Havana stop its "callous disregard'' for black Cubans and declaring that "racism in Cuba . . . must be confronted."
"We know first-hand the experiences and consequences of denying civil freedoms on the basis of race," the group said in a statement Monday. "For that reason, we are even more obligated to voice our opinion on what is happening to our Cuban brethren."
Among the 60 signers were Princeton professor Cornel West, actress Ruby Dee Davis, film director Melvin Van Peebles, former South Florida congresswoman Carrie Meek and Dr. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of President Barack Obama's church in Chicago.
African-American group challenges Cuba on race
Why the delayed outcry?
"All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.''
Edmund Burke
A group of 60 African-American leaders, influenced by Brazil's Abdias Nascimiento, a self-proclaimed admirer of Fidel Castro, condemned racism in Cuba. Congratulations.
•
Claim of Cuban racism rejected
Pro-government Cuban writers and artists Friday rejected allegations by African-Americans of racism and repression on the island, calling the charges ``delusional'' and part of ``an anti-Cuban campaign.''
The reply came as four Afro-Cuban dissidents thanked the Americans for their support, and four prominent academics from the English-speaking Caribbean condemned Cuba's ``continued racial prejudice.''
The allegations issued Monday by 60 African-Americans touched a raw nerve because it was the first time that U.S. blacks, historically supportive of the Castro government, criticized the island's civil rights record and supported Afro-Cuban dissidents.
carlosmoore2000@gmail.com
In a landmark ``Statement of Conscience by African Americans,'' 60 prominent black American scholars, artists and professionals have condemned the Cuban regime's apparent crackdown on the country's budding civil-rights movement.
``Racism in Cuba, and anywhere else in the world, is unacceptable and must be confronted,'' said the document, which also called for the immediate release of Dr. Darsi Ferrer, a black civil-rights leader imprisoned in July.
The U.S. State Department estimates Afro-Cubans make up 62 percent of the Cuban population, with many informed observers saying the figure is closer to 70 percent. Traditionally, African Americans have sided with the Castro regime and unilaterally condemned the United States, which, in the past, explicitly sought to topple the Cuban government. But this public rebuke of Castro's racial policies may well indicate a tide change and a more-balanced attitude.
Representing a wide spectrum of political opinion, the document was signed by Cornel West, Princeton University scholar; Ruby Dee, famed actress; Susan Taylor, former Essence magazine editor and current president of the National CARES Mentoring Movement; Julianne Malveaux, Bennett College president; Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, UCLA vice chancellor; the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor emeritus of Chicago's Trinity Church; retired U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek; Kathleen Cleaver, former Black Panther activist; Ron Walters, former presidential campaign manager for Jesse Jackson and current director of the African American Leadership Institute; movie director Melvin Van Peebles; and Betty Ferguson, former Miami-Dade County commissioner.
Deepening inequalities
What could have caused that reversal? Changing demographics in America and the election of a black U.S. president seem to have spurred African-American curiosity about the fate of Afro-Latins south of the border. Through that process, many U.S. blacks have realized that Castro, once admired for thumbing his nose at America, is now an 82-year-old dictator struggling to prolong five decades of absolute power through terror and policies that deepen racial inequalities in Cuba.
Victoria Ruiz, U.S. representative of the islandwide civil-rights group, Citizens Committee for Racial Integration, says Cuba's black movement -- vigorously suppressed in the 1960s, at the early stage of the revolution -- was resurrected in the 1990s. She complains that young, black Cubans suffer aggressive racial profiling by police. She claims that about 70 percent of Afro-Cubans are believed to be unemployed, a staggering figure by any standard. And 85 percent of Cuba's jail population is estimated to be black, Ruiz reports.
Representing 25-odd different groups, black dissidents in Cuba argue that racial disparities on the island are worsened by the Obama administration's recent decision to allow Cuban Americans to freely send remittances (worth an estimated $1.5 billion yearly) to their relatives. More than 85 percent of Cuban Americans are white, they say, so the beneficiaries in Cuba of the new remittances policy will also be white. ``These remittances could morph into start-up investment capital for its recipients, thus creating a de facto new race-class inside of Cuba,'' says Enrique Patterson, U.S. spokesman for the Progressive Circle Party, a major multiracial, black-led dissident group.
Clearly, Cuba's black-led, multiracial opposition movement is an open embarrassment to the Castro regime. But it is also a disquieting development for the traditionally right-wing, anti-Castro organizations around the world that have long claimed to be the heralds of the battle for ``freedom and democracy'' in Cuba. Taken by surprise by this new and apparently growing opposition force in the island, many white exiles are exhibiting confusion and frustration. When not openly hostile, the right-wing representatives of the predominantly white Cuban-American exile community seem unsure how to respond.
Cuba's new opposition has made no moves to elicit their support either, said Ruiz, whose Citizens Committee for Racial Integration, a multiracial organization, is led by the moderate black intellectual Juan Madrazo Luna. The Progressive Circle Party, another large dissident movement led by Afro-Cuban academic Manuel Cuesta Morúa, a self-identified Social Democrat, has shown no inclinations it desires such support either.
Patterson believes that it may very well be the absence of right-wing exile support for these social-democratic oriented and multiracial movements that now spurs African Americans to rush to their defense. ``Therefore, the time has come for Washington to directly engage the island's majority about matters that will affect bilateral relations in the future,'' he said.
Carlos Moore, ethnologist and political scientist, is author of Pichón: Race and Revolution in Castro's Cuba.
Human Rights in Cuba:
A missed shot on the wrong flank
by Pedro de la Hoz
THE December 1 edition of Miami’s El Nuevo Herald published a full report on an "African-American Statement in Support of Civil Rights in Cuba," which accuses our country of currently being a racist society, drawing on an alleged increase in civil and human rights abuses of Cuban activists with the courage to raise their voices against the island’s racist system. It stated that "those isolated and courageous defenders of civil rights have been subjected to unprovoked violence, intimidation on the part of the authorities and imprisonment."
THE December 1 edition of Miami’s El Nuevo Herald published a full report on an "African-American Statement in Support of Civil Rights in Cuba," which accuses our country of currently being a racist society, drawing on an alleged increase in civil and human rights abuses of Cuban activists with the courage to raise their voices against the island’s racist system. It stated that "those isolated and courageous defenders of civil rights have been subjected to unprovoked violence, intimidation on the part of the authorities and imprisonment."
The documents had been hastily circulated a few hours before to procure signatures that would give visibility to something cooked up by Carlos Moore, an individual of Cuban origin who, for years now, has presented himself as a "specialist on racial issues" and has made a living in the United States and Brazil at the cost of manipulating Cuban realities. Prior to its publication, Moore had managed to con a respectable activist from the African-Brazilian movement, making him believe that legal action taken by the Cuban authorities against one of the beneficiaries of funds from the anti-Cuba policies of various U.S. administrations, was because the subject is black. He kidded other people who received the statement into believing the same story. Someone of the prestige of the African-American poet and playwright Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) commented on the communiqué as follows: "Moore has been promoting this type of vicious provocations since the 60s… Apparently certain African Americans who signed his petition are unaware of Moore’s historical pull."
James Early, another outstanding figure who has traveled to Cuba on many occasions and who works in the Smithsonian Institute, stated that he did not trust Moore’s motives for involving himself in the issue of race in Cuba and stressed that "the letter is not in line with what I and other African-American activists found in our recent visit from September 14 to 22, during which we had frank and open conversations with Cuban citizens and government officials." Early also noted that "Cuban citizens and their political representatives are discussing how to improve their socialist revolution." So eloquent is the letter in the method it uses to distort racial issues, that one of its signatories addressed the media on Monday, December 7. Makani Themba-Nixon, director of the Praxis Project, asked for his name to be withdrawn from the documents, on the grounds that the accusatory letter against Cuba "is being manipulated to help to detract legitimacy from the important social project that is underway in that nation." A group of Cuban intellectuals, solely directed by our consciences and in a personal capacity, came together to share our point of view on the issue with African-American colleagues. Because this is about airing, in all seriousness and with arguments, human rights in our country, and about making it known that the statement issued in the United States is a missed shot on the wrong flank.
Translated by Granma InternationalFrom: North American African Activists, Intellectuals and Artists
To U.S. Citizens: WE STAND WITH CUBA
RE: CONTINUED SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN REVOLUTION
http://www.petitiononline.com/withcuba/petition.html
For endorsement and inquiries just e-mail: blackeducator@africamail.com
We, the undersigned, express our continuing solidarity with the Cuban Revolution.Cuban expatriate Carlos Moore and the other signers of the December 1, 2009ACTING ON OUR CONSCIENCE: DECLARATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN SUPPORT FOR THECIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE IN CUBA do not speak for or represent the vast majority of Black radicals/progressives, nor the sentiment of the masses ofAfrican Americans in the United States.
This December 1st Declaration ironically makes no mention of the 50 year US blockade against Cuba, and how it seeks to derail the progress made by Cuba thus far toward eradicating the racism created by its former colonizers - Spain and the United States.We are disappointed that the signers of the Declaration, many whom have made important contributions to the African American struggles against racism and for democracy, connected their charge of racism to the claims of Dr. Darsi Ferrer Ramirez and Carlos Moore, two known opponents of Cuba's revolutionary system.
Apparently, like many opportunists both Carlos Moore and Dr. Darsi Ferrer Ramirez, who resides in Cuba, saw the opportunity to solicit supportfor their position from this select group of high profile and "credible"sectors of the African American community. This action is divisive and misguided.We, the undersigned, believe that the Carlos Moore originated petition is designed to create a wedge in the African American support base for Cuba.
Moore's petition is also an attempt to dismiss Cuba as a modern example of how socialism is a practical system that ensures an equitable distribution of its resources for ALL Cubans.For more than forty years, Carlos Moore has opportunistically roamed the globe spreading lies and slander about Cuba. Like Moore, Dr. Darsi Ferrer,who ran into trouble when he attempted to set up a medical clinic outside the state run medical system, has also sought to use race to undermine the gains, institutions and anti-racist direction brought about by the Cuban Revolution.
In 2006, Dr. Ferrer went to the US interest-section and was given a US-monitored email account (i.e. access to a CIA manipulated portal). Dr. Ferrer's reactionary blog along with links to reactionary websites such as Capital Hill Cubans, Blog for Cuba and kill castro.com can be found at http://blogacionpordarsiferrer.blogspot.com/ . Moore, and the signers of the Declaration, ignore the decades-long struggle waged by the Cuban government against all forms of racism. This includes ignoring/denying Cuba's internationalist support of African, Caribbean andAfrican American liberation struggles. Moreover, Moore and his followers ignore the historical and present-day fact that Afro Cubans have not been a mere passive force, but have been and are central in the struggles to make and advance the Cuban Revolution.
This attack on Cuba is an attack on a country that stood fast to its democratic, socialist, anti-racist and internationalist principles despite the great pressures from US and world imperialism, which has forced other countries to abandon these positions.It is clearly no coincidence that this attack on Cuba, comes at a time whenso many throughout the US and internationally are being victimized by thepolicies and crises of capitalism and are seeing responses in Cuba and othercountries throughout Latin America that seek to address the needs of themasses of people and not the banks and ruling classes as is being done inthe US.This attack on Cuba is an attack on efforts to forge Black and Brown workingclass unity as the cornerstone of the democratic and socialist revolutionsdeveloping throughout Latin America. It also furthers the US efforts todivide African Americans and Latinos as the major growing challenge tooppressive US domestic and foreign policies.For five hundred years prior to the Cuban Revolution, racism was the norm inCuban society. To expect that it would completely disappear even in fiftyyears is a pipe dream.Indeed, as Fidel Castro, noted in 2003 in a dialogue in Havana with Cubanand foreign teachers:"Even in societies like Cuba, that arose from a radical social revolutionwhere the people had reached full and total legal equality and a level ofrevolutionary education that threw down the subjective component ofdiscrimination, it still exists in another form."Fidel, as noted in the December 2, 2009 "Message From Cuba To Afro-AmericanIntellectuals and Artists," described this as objective discrimination, aphenomenon associated with poverty and a historical monopoly on knowledge.The criticisms about the presence of racism in Cuba are being addressedwithin the framework of the Cuban Government and civil society. There is andhas been fierce debates and policy changes INSIDE these structures when itcomes to eradicating 500 years of racism in Cuba.Cuba's policies against any form of discrimination and in favor of equalityare grounded in the Cuban Constitution. According to Afro Cubans:"As never before in the history of our nation, black and mestizo Cubans havefound opportunities for social and personal development in transformativeprocesses that have been ongoing for the past half a century. Theseopportunities are conveyed through policies and programs that made possiblethe initiation of what Cuban Anthropologist Don Fernando Ortiz, called thenon- deferrable integration phase of Cuban society." (Message from Cuba toAfrican American Intellectuals and Artists, 12/2/09)The people of Cuba, in electing their representatives to the NationalAssembly, have chosen a very diverse group, including dozens of Black Cubansprominently working in many key roles. Indeed, the National Assembly of Cubais so racially diverse that if Cuba was "suffering" from racism, how didthese brothers and sisters get elected? Unlike when the Congressional BlackCaucus was formed in 1970, this effort came out of the necessity here in theUnited States to continually defend the hard won Civil liberties and therights to equal opportunities waged for centuries by African Americans.Unlike the signers of the December 1, 2009 Declaration, we have notforgotten that in the struggles against colonialism and apartheid, whenAfrica called, Cuba answered. Unlike otherfriends of Africa, Cuba provided assistance to the people of SouthernAfrica, without brokering one deal for access to resources or anything else.Cuba‘s solidarity with the people of Southern Africa in the 1987/88 Battleof Cuito Cuanavale in Angola was the decisive turning point in the defeat ofapartheid. We remember and applaud Cuba's provision of teachers,technicians, doctors and other medical personnel along with free medicaltraining to the young people of Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa andAsia. During the past forty years, more than 35,000 African youth have beentrained free of charge while studying in Cuban medical and technical schools as well as universities.
We the undersigned believe that the true callous disregard for the rights of citizens is taking place here in the United States, with Hurricane Katrinabeing the most glaring proof. In contrast Cuba was among the first countriesto offer human and material aid during this crisis in 2005, aid that was inturn rejected by the U.S. government. The U.S. Government continues to spendbillions of dollars on war abroad while neglecting African Americans and thepoor who are generally subjected to substandard health care and education,the lack of decent and affordable housing, urban street violence and policebrutality, crippling unemployment and jobs that people need to livedecently.Cuba is the ONLY country in the world to provide free medical training toUnited States students wishing to become doctors; providing fullscholarships that include tuition, room, board and ALL incidentals. Many ofthese students are African Americans whose dreams of becoming doctors inorder to serve their communities would never have been realized.We the undersigned call on African Americans to stand up in support of theCuban Revolution and call on the U.S. Government to end its blockade on theCuban people. We also call for African Americans to build a united front inthe United States that addresses the ongoing historical callous disregardfor the rights of African Americans and all people who are subjected togross negligence in America.We call on the signers of Carlos Moore's Declaration to withdraw their names as an act of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution and recognition of the valiant and consistent efforts by Cuba to eradicate racism.In closing we reaffirm our respect for the Cuban people's right to self-determination and sovereignty.
We the undersigned STAND WITH CUBA!Long Live The Cuban Revolution!We the undersigned believe that the true callous disregard for the rights of citizens is taking place here in the United States, with Hurricane Katrinabeing the most glaring proof. In contrast Cuba was among the first countriesto offer human and material aid during this crisis in 2005, aid that was inturn rejected by the U.S. government. The U.S. Government continues to spendbillions of dollars on war abroad while neglecting African Americans and thepoor who are generally subjected to substandard health care and education,the lack of decent and affordable housing, urban street violence and policebrutality, crippling unemployment and jobs that people need to livedecently.Cuba is the ONLY country in the world to provide free medical training toUnited States students wishing to become doctors; providing fullscholarships that include tuition, room, board and ALL incidentals. Many ofthese students are African Americans whose dreams of becoming doctors inorder to serve their communities would never have been realized.We the undersigned call on African Americans to stand up in support of theCuban Revolution and call on the U.S. Government to end its blockade on theCuban people. We also call for African Americans to build a united front inthe United States that addresses the ongoing historical callous disregardfor the rights of African Americans and all people who are subjected togross negligence in America.We call on the signers of Carlos Moore's Declaration to withdraw their names as an act of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution and recognition of the valiant and consistent efforts by Cuba to eradicate racism.In closing we reaffirm our respect for the Cuban people's right to self-determination and sovereignty.
Abayomi Azikiwe, DetroitEditor, Pan-African News Wire
S. E. Anderson- Brooklyn, NYActivist/Educator/ Black Left Unity Network*
Kazembe Balagun, New York, NYWriter/activist/ Outreach Coordinator -Brecht Forum
blackmanwithalibrary.com
Amina & Amiri Baraka, Newark, NJActivists/Writers/ Educators
The Rev. Luis Barrios, PhD, New York, NY
Afro-Boricua- Human Rights Activist, Priest & Professor
Department of Latin American Studies
John Jay College of Criminal Justice- City University of New York
Judy Bourne, JD, US Virgin Islands Activist Attorney
Jean Damu, San Francisco, CA
Journalist Lena Delgado de Torres, Binghamton, NY Doctoral Candidate, Sociology Department Binghamton University
James Early, Washington, DC Board Member of TransAfrica, Institute for Policy Studies and US-CubaCultural Exchange and Director of Cultural Heritage Policy at the Center forFolklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution
Herman and Iyaluua Ferguson- North Carolina/New YorkActivists/Educators /Malcolm X Commemoration Committee
Franklin Flores, New York, NYArtist/Activist, Casa De Las Americas NYC
Joan P. Gibbs, Esq.- Brooklyn, NYNational Conference of Black Lawyers
Gerald Horne, JD, PhD- Austin, TX,Activist/Historian/ Author
Basir Mchawi, Bronx, NYChair of the International African Arts Festival
Rosemari Mealy, JD, PhD- Brooklyn, NYEducator/Activist/ Author of Fidel and Malcolm X: Memories of a Meeting
Saladin Muhammad- Rocky Mount, NCBlack Workers For Justice
Tony Menelik Van Der Meer- Boston, MA
Activist/Educator • Africana Studies Department University of Massachusetts Boston
Norman Richmond, Toronto, Canada Activist/Radio Journalist
Prof. Harold Rogers, Chicago, Il Chair, Emeritus, African American Studies Dept
City Colleges of Chicago
Aishah D. Sales, Adjunct Professor, Peekskill, NY Dept. of Mathematics Westchester Community College (SUNY)
William W. Sales, Jr., PhD.- Peekskill, NY Associate Professor Africana Studies Department Seton Hall University
Brenda Stokely, Brooklyn, NY Million Worker March Movement, Labor/Community and Anti-war Activists
Tim Thomas, Oakland, CA Community Building Program ManagerHabitat for Humanity East Bay
Willie Thompson, San Francisco, CA Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, City College of San Francisco
Askia Toure, Boston, MA Activist/Poet Tontongi, Boston, MA
Editor of the Review Tanbou, Boston, Massachusetts
Roy Walker- Chicago, IL Advocate of Philosophical Consciencism
Michael Tarif Warren, Brooklyn, New York
Activist Attorney
Hank Williams- New York CityFreedom Road Socialist Org/OSCL and CUNY Graduate Center
Marvin X, editor/publisher Black Bird Press
Dialogue on Marvin X's Review of
Let Loose on the World
Let Loose on the World
Ted Wilson, publisher
Brother Marvin,
As publisher and chair of the committee I echo every thing stated by Louis. To this I add Baraka is not pass 75. There are writers and artists in other disciplines on the east coast as well as west cost who, for one reason or another, did not make this book. Consider this. It is entirely possible to collect and publish a Volume II and it would not be based on east/west; U.S./ International: english/multi-lingual. It can be an organizing force for us all over the world. It is a matter of putting in the work and raising the money. We can do whatever we want. The struggle continues. Let this project unite us and not be a dividing force. Call me 973.420.9923 any reasonable hour.
Peace. Brother Ted
Remember! Internal reparations is serious business and necessary for progress.
Louis Reyes Rivera, Editor
Brother Marvin,
As publisher and chair of the committee I echo every thing stated by Louis. To this I add Baraka is not pass 75. There are writers and artists in other disciplines on the east coast as well as west cost who, for one reason or another, did not make this book. Consider this. It is entirely possible to collect and publish a Volume II and it would not be based on east/west; U.S./ International: english/multi-lingual. It can be an organizing force for us all over the world. It is a matter of putting in the work and raising the money. We can do whatever we want. The struggle continues. Let this project unite us and not be a dividing force. Call me 973.420.9923 any reasonable hour.
Peace. Brother Ted
Remember! Internal reparations is serious business and necessary for progress.
Louis Reyes Rivera, Editor
Marvin X: I do appreciate the promotional blurb you sent out regarding Let Loose on the World, but, quiet as it's kept, it wasn't much of a review; a good promo, yes... Inside of the blurb was a short slap on the back of Ted's head (and maybe mine, for that matter) which I would appreciate being turned into a full fledged dialogue. To wit, the following statement from your promo: [and I quote] "So think of these people and the numerous ones included and excluded from this anthology. Am I the only one from the West coast included? You "Negroes" need to stop that East coast provincialism. We love Baraka out here as well!" [end of quote] I thought that was an unfair remark and one that fosters the very provincialism you take issue with... You forget or obviate the following concrete conditions: (a) we were doing all of this in a virtual ad hoc manner; what the others on the committee did to reach out I cannot say. I can testify to this much: when I was asked to oversee the poetry section, I immediately went into my address book and invited everyone I knew (including yourself and other West Coast People I know about; several of the ones I contacted were also in two other anthologies I had previously edited, Bum Rush The Page (with Tony Medina) and The Bandana Republic (with Bruce George). (b) like it or not, I don't know everyone on the planet, nor do I have everyone's email addresses, but folks like yourself and Quincy Troupe (who was also invited) do know others AND TO WHOM you could have easily relayed the invitation. To come back later and accuse folks of provincialism is itself quite provincial and reminiscent of (1) the East/West conflict within the Panther Party that, though clearly fostered by surreptitious agents, helped to speed up its eventual demise, courtesy of the Panther hierarchy itself; and, (2) the Crip/Blood foolishness of bleeding one another while the authorities that engender such conflicts remain unscathed. In short, your comment testifies to the fact that we haven't learned much from either the 1960s (NOI/Chicago vs. New York and Panthers vs. US) or the 1980s (Crips vs. Bloods vs. Latin Kings, et al) in spite of the fact that we all know about COINTELPRO, standard anti-Garveyism and, of all things, Washington vs. Du Bois. I ask you this: how about a full fledged blog discussing the exact and particular histor(ies) of all these instances in which our own short sighted views and levels of ignorance feed into disunity. What is it that we ignore or don't know about that helps to foster a wall of indifference between all of us? What lessons can we learn from the particulars that would help our youth understand what they're truly up against? Isn't it true that we bear an old saying among us regarding our common enemy (i.e., while we sleepin', he's schemin')? Like, we got damn near 520 years of clearly recorded game playing against us, with every trick in the book pulled on us, yet, instead of sharing that, we take potshots at one another (literally and figuratively). I say it's time for new law (against pot shooting) and a clearer basis for understanding how to secure against the new games still awaiting us. A public dialogue that takes up key historical questions would go a long way towards pulling our youngsters coattails to which books they should be reading and programs they should be implementing and policies they should be formulating. And we can begin with that question: is there really an East/West Coast contention or is that hyped by media and our own ignorance of each other? What's the history behind it? How much of it is manipulated by "others"? What should be our objective in light of our different locations? How should we approach one another before drawing conclusions about each other? What really happened between Oakland and New York, back in that day? And who was behind the splits? In terms of the anthology you plugged, had you asked any of the editors about a West Coast reach-out, would you have gotten a cold shoulder or a warm reception towards the fullest inclusion? Had you gotten the cold shoulder, you'd be on solid ground with the slap behind the back of the head. But had you bothered to ask me, I'd have shared my contacts with you and I would have definitely encouraged you to spread that word. I can't speak for anyone else. All I know are two things: (1) I don't play exclusion or region or province; and, (2) I sent out an e-blast to over 300 writers across the country. It was on them to help spread the word and to contribute to the booksong. How many of your contacts did you reach out to? Were they rejected? By whom? Let's blog a consensus of our past instead of reaching back to grab hold of its pitfalls, even if that means reassessing how we've been taught or conditioned to view our heroes and sheroes. We need our own wikipedia of struggle and faultlines. And we can begin with the list of folks you sent this to.
Marvin X
Louis, first of all, the Left has no sense of humor--I must listen to right wing bigots like Russ Limbaugh to laught at their sick, insane white supremacy bullshit. Stop being so damn uptight. Relax, we been on this road a long time, what did you say, 500 years. And as per East coast/West coast, 3,000 miles is a long distance, almost as long as the distance between lower Egypt and the souce of the Nile, 4000 miles away up the Nile Valley in Congo. So the west coast is clearly not in the mind of East coast people, nor is East coast in the mind of West coast people. We know the arrogance of East coast, the ego tripping. And we know West coast people live in La la land, yet both areas have made contributions to our national advancement, whether it is the Black Arts or the Black liberation Movement, which are the same. I am sure you will agree on this. There has been much cross fertilization. Black arts east came west and black arts west came east. And the Black Panther Party developed in both places, with differences in atttitude, consciousness and political perspective.
Much of what you've said in your email was discussed at the recent memorial service of Mamadou Lumumba last Saturday. The two Black Panther Parties were represented. The first Pather party was the Black Panther Party of Northern California, represented by Mamadou, Isaac Moore, Ernie Allen and others, an outgrowth of RAM. The second was the Black Panther Party of Self Defense, represented by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. The memorial for Mamadou morphed into a discussion of this history, especially after Bobby Seale make his remarks--and they were done in a dignified and diplomatic manner--since people still have strong feelings about the conflict between the two parties. But this was good dialogue and it was encouraged by Baba Lumumba, Mamadou's brother. As the discussion ended, I asked the young brothers present to stand and give us their thoughts on the discussion. What they loved most was learning of the sacrifice our generation made on behalf our freedom. So yes, Louis, this dialogue must continue in the coming days. The youth need it and demand it. They called upon us to establish the Revolutionary Elders Council, and so we must, coast to coast, so we can pass the baton to them properly--so they can hear and understand both sides of the story as they heard at Mamadou's memorial. They heard both sides of events in the Bay area's black liberation history--and so we need a east coast/west coast dialogue to get beyond "the east coast was Eldridge Cleaver's/the west coast Huey's--and some of this anguish and tension still remains to this day, yet unresolved--yet we want hip hop youth to resolve their differences--why don't we show by example.
I can go on and on, but as per your anthology, we could have made a conscious attempt to make it a national anthology. Sometimes in our rush to do a project we are blind to the grand vision
It was probably only in hindsight that we realized the Black Arts Movement was a national movement, not just east coast/west coast. Or that the Liberation movement had all types, Marxists, Muslims, NOI, Sunnis, Sufis, Yorubas, Buddhists, Socialists, Christians. And what if we have all tried to do what Malcolm X taught, unify. Why didn't/couldn't the two Panther parties come together at some point, or Malcolm and Martin, for that matter. We know the Devil enters at this people and is still at work as we write. But we can overcome the Devil if we put in check the little white man running around inside of us.
My "review" was just something off the top of my head to help promote the book. With all the writers involved, surely every one of them can write a review or promotional piece. I take your remarks in the spirit of dialogue and unity because we are in unity whether we want to be or not. Ask the white man when he comes for our asses if there is a distinction between you and me, east coast/west coast. Let's keep talking.
Peace,
Marvin X
Louis, first of all, the Left has no sense of humor--I must listen to right wing bigots like Russ Limbaugh to laught at their sick, insane white supremacy bullshit. Stop being so damn uptight. Relax, we been on this road a long time, what did you say, 500 years. And as per East coast/West coast, 3,000 miles is a long distance, almost as long as the distance between lower Egypt and the souce of the Nile, 4000 miles away up the Nile Valley in Congo. So the west coast is clearly not in the mind of East coast people, nor is East coast in the mind of West coast people. We know the arrogance of East coast, the ego tripping. And we know West coast people live in La la land, yet both areas have made contributions to our national advancement, whether it is the Black Arts or the Black liberation Movement, which are the same. I am sure you will agree on this. There has been much cross fertilization. Black arts east came west and black arts west came east. And the Black Panther Party developed in both places, with differences in atttitude, consciousness and political perspective.
Much of what you've said in your email was discussed at the recent memorial service of Mamadou Lumumba last Saturday. The two Black Panther Parties were represented. The first Pather party was the Black Panther Party of Northern California, represented by Mamadou, Isaac Moore, Ernie Allen and others, an outgrowth of RAM. The second was the Black Panther Party of Self Defense, represented by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. The memorial for Mamadou morphed into a discussion of this history, especially after Bobby Seale make his remarks--and they were done in a dignified and diplomatic manner--since people still have strong feelings about the conflict between the two parties. But this was good dialogue and it was encouraged by Baba Lumumba, Mamadou's brother. As the discussion ended, I asked the young brothers present to stand and give us their thoughts on the discussion. What they loved most was learning of the sacrifice our generation made on behalf our freedom. So yes, Louis, this dialogue must continue in the coming days. The youth need it and demand it. They called upon us to establish the Revolutionary Elders Council, and so we must, coast to coast, so we can pass the baton to them properly--so they can hear and understand both sides of the story as they heard at Mamadou's memorial. They heard both sides of events in the Bay area's black liberation history--and so we need a east coast/west coast dialogue to get beyond "the east coast was Eldridge Cleaver's/the west coast Huey's--and some of this anguish and tension still remains to this day, yet unresolved--yet we want hip hop youth to resolve their differences--why don't we show by example.
I can go on and on, but as per your anthology, we could have made a conscious attempt to make it a national anthology. Sometimes in our rush to do a project we are blind to the grand vision
It was probably only in hindsight that we realized the Black Arts Movement was a national movement, not just east coast/west coast. Or that the Liberation movement had all types, Marxists, Muslims, NOI, Sunnis, Sufis, Yorubas, Buddhists, Socialists, Christians. And what if we have all tried to do what Malcolm X taught, unify. Why didn't/couldn't the two Panther parties come together at some point, or Malcolm and Martin, for that matter. We know the Devil enters at this people and is still at work as we write. But we can overcome the Devil if we put in check the little white man running around inside of us.
My "review" was just something off the top of my head to help promote the book. With all the writers involved, surely every one of them can write a review or promotional piece. I take your remarks in the spirit of dialogue and unity because we are in unity whether we want to be or not. Ask the white man when he comes for our asses if there is a distinction between you and me, east coast/west coast. Let's keep talking.
Peace,
Marvin X
Is the University of California Kill
ing Black Women Professors?
ing Black Women Professors?
Above, late University of California Professors L to R: Barbara Christian, VeVe
Clark, June Jordan and Sherley A. Williams. What a crop of genius women gone
to the ancestors.
Cara Stanley
Good morning, I believe the issue of Black women dying in their prime is more complicated than a hostile white environment. America is a hostile environment for Black people. I think how we as Black women are socialized plays a tremendous role in our dying far too soon. We are taught at an early age to forego our own needs, wants and desires for the good of the community. The politics of respectability place a heavy burden on the backs of Black women along with the tacit responsibility of being strong for everyone in every situation. I did not know Sherley Williams, but I did know June, Barbara and VeVe.
What I do know as a Black Cal graduate and Cal staff member for the past twenty years, is that these three sisters loved Black people. They took it upon themselves to support and mentor others in ways that many of their colleagues did not. They internalized the legacy of Race women and modeled commitment to and responsibility for the greater community.
What I think killed them, was how we as a larger community, admired and loved them from afar, yet we allowed them to not take care of themselves. We tend to glamorize the Black women soldiers without supporting and loving them. Black women are visible only when they are serving someone else or when we are dead. In our daily living, we are ignored, pushed aside, and treated as not being worthy of nurturing, loving or resting.
Otherwise, why we would sit silent as Black women die from AIDS, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, high blood pressure, obesity etc. Where is the call to save the endangered Black women? Why aren't Jesse and Al marching to bring attention to the health crisis of Black women? If you think I am over dramatizing the issue, I ask one simple question, Why are our Black men in the same environments not dying in similar ways?
Gender plays an important role in the way we live as Black people in America . I challenge us to love one another as Black people. Let's make sure that we love ourselves enough to take time to make sure that we are healthy, sleeping, eating good diets, exercising and getting help with our depression. We are constantly in the pressure cooker of racist micro-aggressions and we need to manage them in productive ways. Alcohol , sex and drugs are not solutions, they just take the edge off. It is with love for Barbara, June and VeVe, and Black people that I write this. Ache,
--CaraGender plays an important role in the way we live as Black people in America . I challenge us to love one another as Black people. Let's make sure that we love ourselves enough to take time to make sure that we are healthy, sleeping, eating good diets, exercising and getting help with our depression. We are constantly in the pressure cooker of racist micro-aggressions and we need to manage them in productive ways. Alcohol , sex and drugs are not solutions, they just take the edge off. It is with love for Barbara, June and VeVe, and Black people that I write this. Ache,
Marvin X Replies to Cara Stanley:
Cara, thank you so much for your kind words. I hesitate to reply before digesting them thoroughly since there is much truth in your remarks. Of course all black people live and work in a generally hostile environment, even though many would claim they have a "good job" free of racism--for the most part, this is simply denial.
As per working with white people, very few of them have deconstructed their white supremacy thinking and behavior, thus we are sometimes subtle victims of their dominating actions, resulting in us contracting their dis-eases, leading, yes, to death.
Black men are not dying in academia because in many cases they have been excluded, so they have the luxury of dying in the streets like common dogs. Even our high profile brothers go out this way. Yes, women have a tremendous burden, aside from being women, they must often dawn the persona of men, especially when forced to be the sole parent. And clearly, strong black women find it difficult to secure a mate who is their equal, who understands them intellectually and spiritually, and who is determined to stand and stay with them until death do us part.
But conscious women and men must of necessity go far beyond the call of duty in teaching and mentoring. And yes, it is many times a thankless job, yet we push on with unconditional love, simply because it is our duty to "teach the uncivilized." But we are often guilty, men and women, of not following that adage: physician heal thyself.
In our love of community, we ignore self love and healing. We sacrifice everything until we are physically and mentally exhausted--the body tired and diseased because we are lazy with caring for self, rejuvenating self, taking time for RR, continuously ignoring the fact that our health is our wealth.
As a man, I am guilty of neglecting myself, especially when it comes to exercise and socializing. I am addicted to sitting on my behind at the computer, even when a walk in the woods is at my doorstep. This is laziness pure and simple.
As per women, I have lost female friends and lovers who died from smoking, drugs, alcohol and other addictions. As a result, I am traumatized when I see a woman with a cigarette in her mouth. And the fact that HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death among black women 24 to 34 is agonizing, especially since I have three daughters in this age range.
But as you say, where is the alarm bells for the health epidemic in our community, especially among our women. We seem to think our problems will be solved by singing Silent Night. In truth, they will only be solved by individual and collective action, by all of us standing together as a conscious force for radical healing and liberation.
We cannot isolate ourselves in academia, rather we must reach out to the community in general, letting them know we are one and indivisible. We who are educators must be like the professor in Akila and the Bee, determinded to assist the ghetto child while in the process healing himself. Peace,
We cannot isolate ourselves in academia, rather we must reach out to the community in general, letting them know we are one and indivisible. We who are educators must be like the professor in Akila and the Bee, determinded to assist the ghetto child while in the process healing himself. Peace,
Marvin X
