Mrs. Solwazi, 72 year old athlete, brings more medals home to Fresno CA

72-Year-Old Local Athlete Brings More Medals Home to Fresno

Kemisole Solwazi Looks Back at Unexpected Start in U.S. Olympics

By Kyra Jenkins
The California Advocate —

Above, Kemisole Solwazi is shown with Olympic medals. As a 54-year-old exercise amateur in training, Kemisole Solwazi wasn't looking to be anything more than 'healthy' when a group of Olympic athletes approached her at the YMCA. They asked if she would be interested in training to be a sprint runner, something Solwazi thought was a joke, but she accepted their offer reasoning she had nothing to lose because at least she would get fit. Now over 16 years later with 10 world medals and too many U.S. medals to count, it seems the joke was on her. (Photo by California Advocate)
 

As a 54-year-old exercise amateur in training, Kemisole Solwazi wasn't looking to be anything more than 'healthy' when a group of Olympic athletes approached her at the YMCA.
They asked if she would be interested in training to be a sprint runner, something Solwazi thought was a joke, but she accepted their offer reasoning she had nothing to lose because at least she would get fit. Now over 16 years later with 10 world medals and too many U.S. medals to count, it seems the joke was on her.
"I knew nothing about distance, how to come out of the blocks [block training], I knew nothing.
I was what my coach considered to be 'raw talent on a junior high school level.' He decided to enroll me at city college, so the coach there could train me. I earnestly started working out…they said she's fast enough she can probably go to the master's competition."
Solwazi said after her Coach Randy Huntington saw she was competition, he put her on a track and distance running team called Kaiser Olympic. She first competed in the Central Valley Conference against women distance athletes and came in 10th out of over 200 runners back in 1996. "It was natural; I'm what they call a 'genetic athlete.'"
"My friend said genetic athletes are built by nature to do what they are capable of doing, it might be tennis, or running but by genes they are given an ability; mine was at a late stage," said Solwazi.
Within months, she competed at the U.S. national competition in New York where 82 countries were represented and she received gold medals in her first major competition.
Once she began to seriously train and compete against professional athletes who were in the running longer than she was, her family couldn't help but question her decision.
"I didn't think I was going to be a professional runner…some thought I was having a mid-life crisis."
Now 72-year-old Solwazi said she made the decision for her well-being and let the awards speak for themselves. She believes all things are designed to move and when you stop moving you're like a car sitting on blocks and you rust.
"I always tell people, it's not [the] medal or any kind of accolades, it's about my health. If it becomes unhealthy for me I will stop. If I don't do this I will be like my siblings with diabetes…the medals just come along with it. It's not ego or anything like that, it's a side line," said Solwazi.
Solwazi recently returned from Indiana where she competed in the U.S. Track & Field national competition. She returned in March with one gold medal and five other silver medals. She received silver medals for the 60 meter race, 2 mile race, one mile race, 200 meter race and 800 meter race. But the gold medal she proudly carried home was from the 400 meter race.
"The best race I had was the 400 meter because it was first and that's when I almost broke the record."
The competition presented a new challenge because she had never run indoors before; her coach told her in the past it was too steep.
"It did take an adjustment because of the curves and it slowed me down a bit but I came in second and that was OK. My specialty is 200 and 400 but this coach stretched me out. It was the first time I ran indoors ever. I ran from a 60 meter to 2 mile. I ran 60 meters in 10 seconds, but I can run it faster."
She was so excited during the competition that she received a yellow flag for starting too quickly. Solwazi said her feet just carried her to the finish line before she could realize it. "I calmed down and popped out and before I knew it I was at the finish line. The cameramen were right up on me, I had to jump to miss them."
She came in second place in the one-mile race against competitors in her age group.
Solwazi said she feels nervous before competing but she doesn't allow it to impact her performance.
"I feel a little nervous but I have a tendency to calm down right at the start, it's a focus. It's not the nerves that people talk about. It's more of a determination, kind of a fire, a strength..and I feel like I do whatever I have to do."
To Solwazi, competition does not have a face, name or place in the race; the only competition she faces is time because that's what decides the win. She said pure determination pushes her forward.
"No one else is important, there's just me and the clock. I have been trained to run 200 [meters] in 33 seconds, and make it in 32 seconds. Let me see if I can beat that clock. I don't see anyone."
The retired teacher from the west Fresno School District spends her time gardening and training when not not competing.
When back home her regimen consists of working out 5 days a week.
"I work out five times a week in distance running and track, and then two days at the gym. I try and give myself one or two days to rest in between."
Solwazi trains all over Fresno at a site called Killer Hill in Woodward Park.
"Once you run it you know what I'm talking about. You can start at the bottom of the hill and go straight up, even the high school goes there for training. It's called 'Killer Hill' because it almost kills you when you get up there."
Solwazi said she has been a runner all her life but was searching for an opportunity to live out her potential because she recognized it at a young age.
"There were tracks at Black high schools in Saint Louis where I grew up, but when I got to a white school they were hesitant about women running, so there wasn't a track team."
But nothing could keep her from competing in street races and also racing against her dog.
"I would beat the guys. Barry Minson never forgave me, he thought he was fast. He stayed mad at me for a long time."
Although Solwazi started her athletic career later in life she doesn't look back or wish she became an Olympic runner any sooner than the age of 54.
"I don't have any regrets, it [your dreams] may not be when you want it but it's right on time…I've learned your only as strong as your spirit and mind. Your body you can work with but what you are in your spirit and mind, nothing surpasses that," said Solwazi.
Solwazi is now looking forward to her upcoming competition in August

Safi interviews Marvin X onthe upcoming Black Arts Movement Conference, KPOO radio

safi@kpoo.com has sent you some files Greetings, Marvin-- Thank you so much for joining me in-studio at KPFA to discuss the upcoming Black Arts Movement Conference and our beloved Imamu Amiri Baraka. Attached is an .mp3 audio file -- 53.09 minutes. Hope all is well, and C U next week. By the way, do you have an audio recording of the Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness you presented at SFSU? May I have a copy of that? No justice, no peace... Available until 1 March, 2014 Files (97.3 MB total) MARVIN X ON IMAMU AND THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT CONFERENCE 2014 -- 53.09.mp3 Can't see the download button? You can still download your file.

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Fresno City College presents Marvin X in conversation with FCC professor emeritus Kehindi Solwazi, Monday, Feb 24, 11am

A conversation with the elders
Fresno City College
Room OAB 251Monday, February 24th
11am - 1 pm
Guests:
- Kehinde Solwazi
- Marvin X
A conversation between Mr. Solwazi and Marvin X on history, men's roles and unity in the community

Letter from Harvard Professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr. on the Black Arts Conference at University of California, Merced

 

To those attending the UC Merced Black Arts Movement Conference, February 28-March 2,2014, I write to salute you for a timely and important event. I grew up in Merced and attended elementary, Middle and High School classes before graduating from Merced High School in June 1971.I learned a lot about the struggle for justice and equality in Merced and throughout California and around the United States.

 

I was deeply influenced by people like Amiri Baraka and the global struggle they fought for decades. I owe all of these women and men everything for paving the way for me. Amiri died much too soon but his writings, teachings,and words of wisdom continue to inspire us today. As we celebrate his life we must also celebrate so many like him, including President Nelson Mandela, Dr.Martin Luther King Jr, Fanny Lou Hamer, Queen Mother Audley Moore, Rosa Parks and so many others who opened doors for us to pass through during critical times in our lives.

 

If we firmly believe in the mandate of each one teach one, then the legacy of Amiri Baraka will continue.

 

Yours in the struggle.

 

Professor Charles J.Ogletree Jr.,

Harvard Law School

Jesse Climenko Professor of Law

Director, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice

 

 

Voices of the Black Arts Movement Gala, Friday, Feb 28, 2014, University of California, Merced

Voices of the Black Arts Movement Gala

Merced Multicultural Center

645 W. Main Street

www.artsmerced.org

 

Friday, February 28 Program

Black Box Theatre

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

 

Kim McMillon

Thank you to supporters, and introduction of

veteran television journalist Belva Davis

 

Belva Davis

The Black Arts, Film, Theatre, and Community

 

Greg Morozumi

Voices of the Black Arts Movement Curator

 

 

The Black Arts Movement Pioneers

Askia Toure

Marvin X

Umar Bin Hassan

Emory Douglas

Juan Felipe Herrera

Genny Lim

Avotcja

Eugene Redmond

 

 

7:30 PM – 9:30 PM Show

 

Hosted by Belva Davis

 

Acknowledging the Ancestors

Poetess Kalamu Chaché and Lakiba Pittman

 

Performance by

Avotcja (Percussions)

Tarika Lewis (violin)

Tacuma (Drums)

 

Vocalist Michelle Alison

To Be Young Gift and Black written by Nina Simone and Weldon Irvine Jr.

 

(Poetry) by Marvin X, Tarika Lewis (violin), Tacuma King (percussion)

Earle Davis (Trumpet)

 

Umar Bin Hassan

The Last Poets

 

Judy Juanita

reads the poems of Carolyn M. Rodgers, a seminal poet of the Black Arts Movement

 

Genny Lim

Performs poetry with percussionist Marshall Trammell

 

UC Merced Hip Hop Movement

Dance and Rap Homage to Amiri Baraka and the Black Arts Movement

 

K.E.V. and Donjuan of Nu DeKades

Conscious Rap

 

Paul Harper 

Merced Rapper

DJ and Music

Africa in Brazil, Merritt College teach-back

Black Arts Movement Conference Program Highlights, UC Merced, Feb 28 thru March 2, 2014

Welcome from African Diaspora Student Association

Welcome to 50 Years On: The Black Arts Movement and Its Influences. This event is the result of the work of many people with a profound vision of black identity that moved past boundaries, limitations, and old belief systems of what it meant to be a Black American. We are standing on the shoulders of Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka, Jayne Cortez, Rhonda White-Warner, Lorraine Hansberry, Gwendolyn Brooks, Harold Cruse, and the ancestor spirits that have gone before to pave our way. This conference brings the living legends of the Black Arts Movement together
to stand in righteous fervor as we speak about a time in history from 1965 to
1976 that is representative of the Black Arts Movement. Through scholarship, literature, art and the power of the spoken word, this conference explores the Black Arts Movement as our past, present, and future. The ancestor spirits are calling,
“Be moved by the art, literature, culture, and our presence.” This conference is dedicated to those ancestral spirits guiding us all to the light.

Kim McMillon, President

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

Dr. Susan Amussen Dr. Christina Lux

2014 Academic Committee

Dr. Gregg Camfield Dr. Robin DeLugan Dr. Nigel Hatton Dr. Sean Malloy
Dr. Manuel Martin-Rodriguez

2014 Planning Committee

Necola Adama
Nadia Ahmed
Violet Barton
Gail Benedict
Devonyo Bills
Rocco Bowman
Jaron Brandon Alejandro Bunag Danielle Bermudez Poetess Kalamu Chache Tamara Cobb
Jim Crawford LaTriece Crawford Leighia Fleming Sylvia Fuller Jennifer Guerrero Eden Hailu
Nigel Hatton Brian Hernandez Demonte Hughes

Jefferson Kuoch-Seng Christina Lux
Wanda Lax
Kim McMillon
Katie Pham
Laura Phillips
Lakiba Pittman
Onar Primitivo 
Shellee Randol 
Jerome Rasberry, Jr. 
Juan Roman
Loretta Spence 
Kathryn Sunahara 
Jamie Sweet 
Shelby Takenouohi 
Ismael Verduzco 
Tena Williams 
Marvin X
Jared Zisser

2014 Keynote Speakers

Marvin X | Saturday Keynote Address

Poet, playwright, essayist, director, and lecturer, BA, MA, English, San Francisco State University, 1974-75. Marvin Ellis Jackmon was born on 29 May 1944 in Fowler, California. He grew up in Fresno and Oakland. Marvin X and Ed Bullins founded the Black Arts/West Theatre in San Francisco in 1966. In 1967, Marvin X and Eldridge Cleaver founded Black House, a political/cultural center in San Francisco.  Several of his plays were staged during that period in San Francisco, Oakland, New York, and by local companies across the United States. He was associate editor of Black Theatre Magazine, a publication of the New Lafayette Theatre, Harlem NY. His one-act play Flowers for the Trashman, first staged by the Drama Department at San Francisco State College, now University,1965, was included in the anthology Black Fire (1968); a musical version, Take Care of Business, was produced in 1972, music arranged by Sun Ra at Marvin's Black Educational Theatre, San Francisco.

Take Care of Business was published in The Drama Review, edited by Ed Bullins. Marvin X's most recent play is One Day in the Life, produced at his Recovery Theatre, San Francisco, 1996 thru 2002, the longest production of a Black Play in Northern California history. Ishmael Reed said, "It's the most powerful drama I've seen." In 1970 Marvin X was convicted, during the Vietnam War, for refusing induction and fled to Canada; eventually arrested in Honduras, he was returned to the United States, and sentenced to five months in prison. In his statement on being sentenced—later reprinted in Black Scholar (1971) and also in Clyde Taylor’s anthology, Vietnam and Black America (1973) - he argues that: “Any judge, any jury, is guilty of insanity that would have the nerve to judge and convict and imprison a black man because he did not appear in a courtroom on a charge of refusing to commit crimes against humanity, crimes against his own brothers and sisters, the peace-loving people of Vietnam.”

Ishmael Reed | Sunday Keynote Address

Ishmael Reed is the winner of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship (genius award), the renowned Los Angeles Times Robert Kirsch Lifetime Achievement Award and the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Award. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and finalist for two National Book Awards, he is Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley; and founder of the Before Columbus Foundation, which promotes multicultural American writing. The American Book Awards, sponsored by the foundation has been called The American League to the National Book Awards’ National League. He also founded PEN Oakland which issues the Josephine Miles Literary Awards. PEN Oakland has been called “The Blue Collar PEN” by The New York Times. Ishmael Reed is the author
of over twenty titles including the acclaimed novel Mumbo Jumbo, as well as essays, plays and poetry. Titles include: The Freelance Pallbearers; The Terrible Threes; The Last Days
Of Louisiana Red; Yellow Back Radio Broke Down; Reckless Eyeballing; Flight To Canada; Japanese By Spring, and Juice! He is also a Jazz pianist who has performed at Yoshi’s in San Francisco and producer of the CD “For All We Know,” which features David Murray and Roger Glenn. The late Max Roach called Reed “The Charlie Parker of American Fiction.” Though he wasn’t affiliated with the Black Arts Repertory Theater in Harlem, he has published the works of its founders, Askia Touré, and Charles Patterson. He published two books by the late Amiri Baraka.

Panel Session
Black Power and Black Arts Roundtable

Moderator: Dr. Nigel Hatton, University of California, Merced

Panelists:
Askia Toure 
Marvin X
Eugene Redmond
Umar Bin Hassan 
Avotcja
Judy Juanita
Dr. James Smethurst
Mike Sell

Women of the Black Arts Movement COB 102

Moderator: Belva Davis Panelists:
Avotcja
Judy Juanita
Poetess Kalamu Chaché Tarika Lewis
Dr. Ayodele Nzinga
Lakiba Pittman

Beginnings of the Hip Hop Movement

COB 120
COB 116

Rap/Freestyle Workshop
Umar Bin Hassan K.E.V
Donjuan

The Last Poets 
Nu DeKades

Richard Pryor, King of Comedy
Speaker: Cecil Brown

Cecil Brown breaks new ground detailing Pryor’s involvement in the Berkeley and Oakland political scene in the late 60s and his breakthroughs to a new, more improvisatory style of comedy.
“Although Richard Pryor is perhaps the most celebrated comedian in the history of the United States, few people know anything significant about
his life, particularly the time period that took him from Bill Cosby-type comic to the real Richard Pryor who taught us so much about the world and ourselves.”

Academic Panels

“Comprehended by My Permission:”
Emulating the Poetry of the Black Arts Movement in Diverse Classroom
Chair: Lauren Muller, City College of San Francisco
Panelists:

2:45PM - 4:05PM
COB 114

Lauren Muller City College of San Francisco. Maurisa Thompson University of California, Riverside.

Word, Sound and Power -
The Black Arts Across Media

COB 110

Chair: Dr. Anna Everett, University of California, Santa Barbara

Panelists:
Aldon Lynn Nielsen
Geoffrey Jacques Langston Hughes Dr. Anna Everett

Pennsylvania State University, “Sounding the Black Arts: Amiri Baraka on Record.”
University of California, Santa Barbara,
“‘Toward Freedom’s Goal’”:
The Panther and the Lash, and the Black Arts Movement.
University of California, Santa Barbara,
“The Black Arts Revolution Was Televised (and Filmed too).”

Women and the Black Arts Movement COB 127
Chair: Dr. De Anna J. Reese, California State University, Fresno

Panelists:
La Donna L. Forsgren Kelsey Winiarski
Jasmine Marshall Armstrong

University of California, Merced, “Sherley Anne Williams: The Subaltern Woman Speaks Catharsis in the Black Arts Movement.”

Academic Panels (continued) 2:45PM - 4:05PM Diáspora, Racismo y Mestizaje: COB 113
Presencia del Black Arts Movement en el Mundo Artístico y Literario Latinoamericano (Spanish Speaking)
Chair: Dr. Manuel Martín-Rodríguez, University of California, Merced

Panelists:
Mabel Orjuela Bowser
Gloria G. Durán Juana Rosas

University of California, Merced, “Opresión y lucha de la diáspora africana en los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica, en los textos de Manuel Zapata Olivella.”
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, University of California Merced, “Adrian Piper: por si no se había dado cuenta, soy negra.” California State University, Fresno, “La reivindicación de la mujer africana y su influencia en la ideología del mestizaje mexicano.”

Reading Black Arts in Words and Music COB 129

Chair: Dr. Nigel Hatton, University of California, Merced

Panelists:
Dr. J. Vern Cromartie 

Contra Costa College, “Black Social Movements Past and Present: A Comparative Analysis of the Black Arts Movement and the Hip Hop Movement.” 
Paul S. Rauch, Independent Scholar, “ISAs at Work in Institutional Racism: Reading William Attaway’s Blood on the Forge in Louis Althusser’s Ideological Critique.”

Interactive Workshops, Poetry & Panels 4:15PM - 5:45PM

Black Arts Poets COB 102
Moderator: Marvin X
Askia Toure, Umar Bin Hassan, Juan Felipe Herrera, Eugene Redmond, Genny Lim, Judy Juanita, Charlotte Hill O’Neal (aka Mama C), Poetess Kalamu Chache, Lakiba Pittman, Ayodele Nzinga
Music by: Tarika Lewis (Violin), Earle Davis (trumpet), Tacuma King (percussion)

Art, Politics, Culture and the Black Panther Party COB 114
4:15PM – 5:05PM Speaker: Emory Douglas
Emory Douglas was politically involved as Revolutionary Artist and then Minister of Culture for the Black Panther party, from February, 1967 until the Early 1980’s. Douglas’s art and design concepts were always seen on the front and back pages of the Black Panther Newspaper, reflecting the politics of the Black Panther Party and the concerns of the community.

The Beginnings of the Black Arts Movement COB 114
5:10PM – 6:00PM Speaker: Askia Touré
Askia M. Touré is recognized as one of the original articulators of the Black Arts movement. From the late 1960s through the mid 1970s, he served in various capacities: as a contributing editor for the magazine Black Dialogue, as an editor at large for the Journal of Black Poetry, and as a staff writer of Liberator Magazine and Soulbook with activist-playwright Amiri Baraka, and fellow poet-activist Larry Neal.

A Second Portrait of the Lion: COB 105
Amiri Baraka & the Education of Historically Black College
& University (HBCU) Students in the 21th Century (2 hours)
Moderator: Professor Malcolm Cash, Central State University
HBCU students critically examine Amiri Baraka’s writings of the Black Arts Movement on African American experience and their contemporary pertinence to the 21th century.

Activating the Actor: Bring Your Monologue! SSB 130
Actor: Adilah Barnes
This acting workshop intensive will give actors an opportunity to share their prepared monologues to gain feedback and direction. Focus will be given to intention, characterization, rhythm, transitions, blocking and interpretation of the text.

Theatre Night, COB 102 7:30PM - 9:30PM

Ras Baraka “The Poetry of Amiri Baraka”
Excerpt from Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman performed by San Francisco Recovery Theatre
Oaktown Blues Performed by Avotcja
Woman on the Cellphone by Marvin X, performed by Ayodele Nzinga
Excerpt from Counter Terrorism by Judy Juanita performed by Jacqui Pagobo
From the Pyramids to the Projects written and performed by Askia Toure Excerpt from I’m Black When I’m Singing, I’m Blue When I Ain’t
by Sonia Sanchez performed by Adilah Barnes
Excerpt from Mother Hubbard by Ishmael Reed, the song, “A World Without Men”performed by Mary Wilson

Program

Sunday, March 2, 2014
Arrivals & Registration 8:30AM – 11:30AM
Going Home Ceremony
9:00AM – 10:15AM
Vocalist Michelle Allison and poet Avotcja perform a Ceremony honoring the Ancestor Spirits of the Black Arts Movement
Musicians and audience are welcome to participate
Panel Sessions and Workshops
10:15AM – 11:30AM
Lunch
11:45AM – 1:00PM
Panel Sessions and Workshops
1:15PM – 2:45PM
Closing Ceremony
3:00PM – 3:30PM

Academic Panel Sessions 10:15AM - 11:30AM

Urban Space and Place in the Black Arts Movement
Chair: Robin DeLugan, University of California, Merced

COB 127

Gloria Jean Sewell-Murphy
Jasmine A. Tillman John H. Houchin
Aesthetics of Blackness

Founding Executive Director, Oakland (Municipal) Arts Council, “To Administer the Arts as Central to Life: Cultural Democracy, Renewal and the Black Arts Movement.” Georgia State University, “The City Too Busy to Create?: The Impact of Atlanta-Style Politics on Black Arts Institutions in Atlanta.”
Boston College, “Robert Macbeth, the New Lafayette Theatre and the Politics of Aesthetics in the Black Arts Movement.”
COB 129

Chair: Dr. Gregg Camfield, University of California Merced

Casey Rocheteau
Kim Bobier
Rev. Damon A. Powell

The New School for Social Research, “Black Death: The Long Riotous 1960’s, Henry Dumas, and Creative Rebirth.”
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, “Angela Libre: A Matrix of Mass Cultural Expression.”
Independent Scholar, “The Aesthetics of Blackness: The Significance of Theology, Aesthetics, and Blackness in the Black Arts Movement.”

Remixing Black Arts in the 21st Century COB 110
Chair: Cecil Brown, University of California, Berkeley

Rasheed Shabazz Kimberly McNair

University of California, Berkeley, “#BlackPower: Technology and the Black Arts Movement via Social Media.”
University of California, Berkeley,
“Black T-Shirt Culture in Social Movements From the Black Power Movement to the Obama Era.”

Theatre & Poetry Workshop 10:15AM - 11:30AM

William Grimes, the Runaway Slave COB 116
Written by Regina Mason and performed by Michael Lange
Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave is the first fugitive slave narrative in American history. Because Grimes wrote and published his narrative on his own, without deference to white editors, publishers, or sponsors, his Life has an immediacy, candor, and no-holds-barred realism unparalleled in the famous antebellum slave narratives of the period. Grimes’s autobiography represents a historic partnership between noted scholar of the African American slave narrative, William L. Andrews, and Regina Mason, Grimes’s great-great-great-granddaughter.
Oxford University Press, USA; Revised edition (July 31, 2008)

Black Arts, Poets, and Poetry
Interactive Workshop
Poetess Kalamu Chache
Charlotte Hill O’Neal (aka Mama C) Lakiba Pittman
Avotcja
K.E.V. /Nu Dekades
Donjuan/Nu Dekades
Multiculturalism – What Does It Really Mean?

COB 116

COB 105

Chair: Dr. Manuel Martin-Rodriguez, University of California, Merced

Panelists:
Juan Felipe Herrera Genny Lim
Al Young,
KEYNOTE ADDRESS

1:15PM - 2:00PM
COB 102

Interactive Workshops, Poetry & Panels 1:15PM - 2:45PM
The Black Panther Party & the Black Arts COB 116
Chair: Emory Douglas, former Minister of Culture

Panelists:
Billy Jennings 
Tarika Lewis 
Marvin X
Judy Juanita Charlotte O’Neal (Mama C)

The Battle for Black Studies COB 102

Chair: Cecil Brown, University of California, Berkeley

Panelists:
Jerry Varnado
Terry Collins
James (Jimmy) P. Garrett 
Dr. Nathan Hare, Father of Black Studies/Ethnic Studies
Eugene Redmond,

Poet Laureate of East St. Louis 

Molefe Asante speaks on the case of Dr. Monteiro (does not mention Dr. Muhammad Ahmed)

Dr. Molefe Asante, Mrs. Amina Baraka, Marvin X, Amiri Baraka, Jr. and Kenny Gamble

THE CASE OF DR. MONTEIRO I am innocent of any personal or professional attacks on Dr. Monteiro. Dr. Monteiro never asked me to support him. I have no email, letter, or voicemail from him. He knows why he could not ask for support but he has never said it publicly. Dr. Monteiro’s appointment was year-to-year as were the appointments of several other Temple faculty members whose contracts were not renewed. Dr. Monteiro was not fired from a tenured professorship; he was not reappointed to a year-to-year contract. His case is not like that of Professor Haki Madhubuti’s nor is it like the case of Professor Lewis Gordon who actually resigned to take another job. Dr. Monteiro cannot demonstrate any personal or professional attack. I have always believed that maturity in consciousness demands rational as well as emotional action. African American Studies at Temple University is strong and vibrant. We are celebrating our 25th year of the Doctoral Program with many former students returning to lecture. We are scheduled for a major Indaba in April. No Temple University faculty has signed a petition to save Dr. Monteiro’s job because they understand the circumstance. Malcolm X understood that you never try to defend the indefensible. Ethics and morality must prevail or there can be no excellence. My colleagues sanctioned by appointment to the Chair at Temple. I reluctantly took the post in order to restore Temple’s position in the field. This year we have fifteen students presenting at the Cheikh Anta Diop Conference as we have urged a new assertion of the Afrocentric vision of agency. Dr. Monteiro has grieved that there is race discrimination against him. This will play out in the normal university process despite the call for community action. So why would Blackbird and Black Agenda Report demonstrate such animus toward me when my history and record as an Afrocentric Pan Africanist are clear?