Iran: Jihad til America is no more!

Iran’s Supreme Leader: Jihad Will Continue Until America is No More

 

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Iran’s Supreme Leader: Jihad Will Continue Until America is No More

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, all but said on Sunday that negotiations over the country’s illicit nuclear program are over and that the Islamic Republic’s ideals include destroying America.

“Those (Iranians) who want to promote negotiation and surrender to the oppressors and blame the Islamic Republic as a warmonger in reality commit treason,” Khamenei told a meeting of members of parliament, according to the regime’s Fars News Agency.

Khamenei emphasized that without a combative mindset, the regime cannot reach its higher Islamic role against the “oppressors’ front.”

“The reason for continuation of this battle is not the warmongering of the Islamic Republic. Logic and reason command that for Iran, in order to pass through a region full of pirates, needs to arm itself and must have the capability to defend itself,” he said.

“Today’s world is full of thieves and plunderers of human honor, dignity and morality who are equipped with knowledge, wealth and power, and under the pretence of humanity easily commit crimes and betray human ideals and start wars in different parts of the world.”

In response to a question by a parliamentarian on how long this battle will continue, Khamenei said,“Battle and jihad are endless because evil and its front continue to exist. … This battle will only end when the society can get rid of the oppressors’ front with America at the head of it, which has expanded its claws on human mind, body and thought. … This requires a difficult and lengthy struggle and need for great strides.”

Khamenei cited the scientific advancement of the country. “The accelerated scientific advancement of the last 12 years cannot stop under any circumstances,” he said, referring to the strides the regime has made toward becoming a nuclear power.

As reported on May 19 on The Daily Caller, Iran has put up new roadblocks to reaching a deal with the P5+1 world powers over its illicit nuclear program. The powers are the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany.

Three days of negotiations in the fourth round of Geneva meetings ended recently without concrete results when the Iranian team presented the country’s new “red lines” — diminishing any hope by the Obama administration to claim victory in its approach to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, according to reports from Iran.

The Obama administration had hoped that with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif showing an eagerness to solve the nuclear issue and address the West’s concerns, there would be a possibility for a negotiated solution. An interim agreement penned last November in Geneva was touted as a “historic nuclear deal.”

Under that agreement, Iran, in return for billions of dollars in sanctions relief, limited its enrichment activity to the 5 percent level with a current stockpile of over 10 tons (enough for six nuclear bombs), converted much of its 20 percent enriched stock to harmless oxide and agreed to allow more intrusive inspections of its nuclear plants by the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspections were limited to only agreed-upon facilities.

The Iranian delegation last week presented new red lines that could not be crossed, including the expansion of the country’s research and development for its nuclear program, the need of the country to continue enrichment, and the fact that the country’s ballistic missile program — despite U.N. sanctions — is not up for negotiation.

At the same time, IAEA officials met again with their Iranian counterparts last week in Tehran to discuss information on the work on detonators and needed collaboration by the regime to clear outstanding issues on its nuclear program as part of seven transparency steps Iran had agreed to fulfill by May 15, which has yet to take place.

Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and author of the award winning book “A Time to Betray” (Simon & Schuster, 2010). He serves on the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the advisory board of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI).

Black Bird Press News & Review: Two Poems for the People of Syria by Marvin X and Mohja Kahf

Black Bird Press News & Review: Two Poems for the People of Syria by Marvin X and Mohja Kahf

Memorial Day, a poem by Marvin X

I am a veteran
Not of foreign battlefields
Like my father in world war one
My uncles in world war two
And Korea
Or my friends from Vietnam
And even the Congo “police action”
But veteran none the less
Exiled and jailed because I refused
To visit Vietnam as a running dog for imperialism
So I visited Canada, Mexico and Belize
Then Federal prison for a minute
But veteran I am of the war in the hood
The war of domestic colonialism and neo-colonialism
White supremacy in black face war
Fighting for black power that turned white
Or was always white as in the other white people
So war it was and is
Every day without end no RR no respite just war
For colors like kindergarten children war
For turf warriors don’t own and run when popo comes
War for drugs and guns and women
War for hatred jealousy
Dante got a scholarship but couldn’t get on the plane
The boyz in the hood met him on the block and jacked him
Relieved him of his gear shot him in the head because he could read
Play basketball had all the pretty girls a square
The boyz wanted him dead like themselves
Wanted him to have a shrine with liquor bottles and teddy bears
And candles
Wanted his mama and daddy to weep and mourn at the funeral
Like all the other moms and dads and uncle aunts cousins
Why should he make it out the war zone
The blood and broken bones of war in the hood
No veterans day no benefits no mental health sessions
No conversation who cares who wants to know about the dead
In the hood
the warriors gone down in the ghetto night
We heard the Uzi at 3am and saw the body on the steps until 3 pm
When the coroner finally arrived as children passed from school
I am the veteran of ghetto wars of liberation that were aborted
And morphed into wars of self destruction
With drugs supplied from police vans
Guns diverted from the army base and sold 24/7 behind the Arab store.
Junior is 14 but the main arms merchant in the hood
He sells guns from his backpack
His daddy wants to know how he get all them guns
But Junior don’t tell cause he warrior
He’s lost more friends than I the elder
What can I tell him about death and blood and bones
He says he will get rich or die trying
But life is for love not money
And if he lives he will learn.
If he makes it out the war zone to another world
Where they murder in suits and suites
And golf courses and yachts
if he makes it even beyond this world
He will learn that love is better than money
For he was once on the auction block and sold as a thing
For money, yes, for the love of money but not for love
And so his memory is short and absent of truth
The war in the hood has tricked him into the slave past
Like a programmed monkey he acts out the slave auction
The sale of himself on the corner with his homeys
Trying to pose cool in the war zone
I will tell him the truth and maybe one day it will hit him like a bullet
In the head
It will hit him multiple times in the brain until he awakens to the real battle
In the turf of his mind.
And he will stand tall and deliver himself to the altar of truth to be a witness
Along with his homeys
They will take charge of their posts
They will indeed claim their turf and it will be theirs forever
Not for a moment in the night
But in the day and in the tomorrows
And the war will be over
No more sorrow no more blood and bones
No more shrines on the corner with liquor bottles teddy bears and candles.

--Marvin X
25 May 2007
Brooklyn NY

This poem appears in the anthology Stand Our Ground, edited by Euwarde Asayande, dedicated to Trayvon Martin and Merissa Axleander.

Angela Davis and Sonia Sanchez, A revolutionary conversation at Oakland Merriott

On Saturday, May 24, 2014, a rare conversation took place at Oakland's Merriott Hotel between two revolutionary divas, Sonia Sanchez and Angela Davis, hosted by Sara Lomax-Reese, owner  of WURD, a Philadelphia Black talk radio station. The conversation was entitled Embracing Our Culture Coast-to-Coast. Angela is an Oakland resident, Sonia lives in Philadelphia, but the three thousand miles difference in space and time, was not a factor in the conversation as the veteran revolutionary fighters shared their past in the struggle for Black liberation. Both ladies are from Birmingham, Alabama, both suffered the wretched conditions of the dirty south, their parents were among those North American Africans who were attracted by the Communist party. Angela said it was members of the Communist party who help lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement. Sonia said her father allowed the Black Communists to meet at his speakeasy. But when her family moved to New York, her dad tried to keep her from being involved in the Black Thang. Sonia became a member of CORE or the Congress of Racial Equality, essentially, she became an integrationist until she heard Malcolm X speak. He told her one day she would change her views. And she did, after which CORE members didn't want to her anything she had to say since it was prefaced with, "Brother Malcolm X said...."

 Two revolutionary Black women who have helped change our world: 

Sonia Sanchez and Angela Davis

 Sonia, Angela and Kim McMillan, producer (with Marvin X) of the UC Merced conference on the Black Arts Movement, 2014

 Sonia, Lakiba Pittman, Kim McMillan, Marvin X

Long-time revolutionary comrades: Angela Davis, Marvin X and Sonia Sanchez

Angela left Birmingham, attended school in New York, then went to study in Europe. When she heard about the birth of the Black Panthers in Oakland, she wanted to be there. Eventually she came back to the US but landed in southern California where she attempted to teach at UCLA, 1969, but was removed on orders of Gov. Ronald Reagan, who also had Marvin X removed from lecturing at Fresno State University. Recently, Angela returned to teach at UCLA and Sonia returned to a NYC  university that had removed her. Marvin X wonders if he will come full circle and return to lecture at Fresno State University. He's getting close, during February, he was invited to speak at Fresno City College.

The ladies spoke on there role in the liberation struggle. Angela told of getting strength from knowing the struggle wasn't about her but her community, than her individuality. No, she said, I was not prepared to be on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. How could I prepare for this? 

While teaching in Black Studies at San Francisco State College/now University, Sonia had a visit from the FBI for teaching such authors as W.E.B. DuBois, Richard Wright, and other "banned" authors, black listed or "white listed" by the US Government.  She repeatedly asked the FBI agent who could she possibly teach Black Studies and not mention the banned Black authors? Her poetry became more political after Amiri Baraka, aka LeRoi Jones, sent a letter to all Black artists urging them to establish the Black Arts Movement. Sonia wrote the proposal to fund Baraka's Black Arts Repertory Theatre in Harlem until the women artists were forced out of the theatre at gunpoint by two psychopathic brothers who couldn't stand "smart Black B's," she said. In spite of funds cut off, the Black Arts Movement became nationwide, working in tandem with the political movement. On the West Coast, it was Marvin X's Black Arts West Theatre, cofounded with playwright Ed Bullins. Sonia participated at the Black House, a political/cultural center established by Marvin X, Ed Bullins, Eldridge Cleaver and Ethna Wyatt. 

Host Sara Lomax-Reese asked the women how do they view our present condition. Sonia said we are in worse condition than fifty years ago with the high incarceration rate, school drop out rate and the persistent dire economic condition. And she was happy to see a Black President, even if he is a puppet for capitalism and slavery around the world. Angela agreed. She was happy too when Obama was elected but the struggle continues. He has shown us what is possible but we must continue to press him on our agenda items. 

Marvin X and WURL owner Sara Lomax-Reese

photo Johnnie Burrell

The event ended with a book signing and reception. Marvin X spoke with host Sara Lomax-Reese about sponsoring the 27 city tour of the Black Arts Movement. Sara told Marvin X don't think about coming to Philadelphia with the BAM tour without WURL being a sponsor!

Marvin X embracing his long-time friend and revolutionary comrade Sonia Sanchez. "I don't know why you didn't marry Sonia Sanchez thirty years ago, Marvin X!"--Amiri Baraka
photo Johnnie Burrell

 Ta'ala nasrob bismillahi! (Come let's drink in the name of Allah)

The staff of WURL was shocked to see Marvin X since rumors were spread of his demise in February.

A local brother informed WURL staffers that he sees Marvin X at the gym every morning, so he is still very much alive. The staffers and Marvin X had to toast that he is still alive. Marvin said I have been pronounced dead three times this year, in February condolences were sent to my family. It April, rumors spread that I was killed in a car accident in east Oakland. Facebook said I was killed in west Oakland in a car accident. A friend suggested Marvin X has  indeed transcended from Marvin X to Plato Negro El Muhajir. Are not his multiple and simultaneous deaths an example of quantum physics!

Marvin X told Sister Lomax-Reese he liked her idea of bringing people from Philly to Oakland. We can use this model for the 27 city tour. We can do as you have done and rather than go to each city, we can invite people to attend our BAM concerts and workshops in Oakland. He again thanked Sister Lomax-Reese for producing his daughter's discussion of Black Power Babies in Philly and the conversation between Angela and Sonia in Oakland. 

--Marvin X

More on Dr. Molefi Asante as Afro-Centric Nigguh

In a recent conversation with Dr. Tony Monteiro, he informed me Dr. Asante was not from Philadelphia but came from Georgia. I then quoted an ancestor known in Cali as Billy from Philly, "That nigguh is dumber than the dumbest mule ever let out of Georgia."--Marvin X

Hi Colleagues:

Dr. Asante, last night, released an even longer set of attacks on Dr. Monteiro than he did last week, this time targeting especially Glen Ford of the Black Agenda Report. Dr. Asante refused to consider any of the positions aired in the letter written by Dr. Johanna Fernandez (Baruch Colege/CUNY), and Dr. Mark Lewis Taylor (Princeton Theological Seminary). Another response will be forthcoming. In the meantime, we feel it important to recirculate this statement. It still stands, and we will not let this defense of Dr. Monteiro be forgotten. The letter below is in the hands of all the major administrators at Temple University, and we have good reason to know it is having an impact. Hence, Dr. Asante's desperation.

Consider this response letter, again, please, and continue your support, and help us fund the ad in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Stay strong, everyone.

A Response to Dr. Molefi Kete Asante’s Charges against
Dr. Anthony Monteiro

By the Drafters of the Educators’ Call to Reinstate Monteiro

In recent radio and Facebook denunciations, Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, descends to new levels of desperation in his attempt to defend Temple University’s “dismissal” of Dr. Anthony Monteiro after his ten years of distinguished service to its African American Studies Department.

Displaying an utter absence of ethical propriety, Asante publicly attacks Dr. Monteiro, his colleague of 10 years in the Department, with libelous caricatures of Dr. Monteiro as a “charlatan,” a “low-level purveyor of Marxism and anti-African ideas,” and more. Further, Dr. Asante flagrantly demeans distinguished national scholars Dr. Cornel West and Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, because they dared support Dr. Monteiro. Of their participation in a public gathering, Asante writes that they were merely “doing their Leftist duties” and, worse, he writes, “they were duped.” Dr. Asante then proceeds to excoriate white undergraduates involved in recent protests as a “cadre of white leftists,” who seek “to use the Monteiro issue to hijack the African American agenda.”

Dr. Asante’s brazen demonization of student protesters and his deployment of these racially divisive attacks are morally bankrupt and incompatible with his ethical responsibilities as chair of an African American Studies unit at a University. These claims have been effectively countered in a statement by leaders of the Philadelphia Monteiro movement.

Further, Dr. Asante’s use of a naked and anachronistic anticommunism to justify baseless attacks on Dr. Monteiro's integrity as a scholar and a teacher pose a dangerous threat to academic integrity and academic freedom. Dr. Asante’s statements against Dr. Monteiro are especially disconcerting because they reveal a deep seated, prejudicial contempt that has been longstanding. With his recent public statement, Dr. Asante inadvertently reveals that he used the power of his office as Department Chair to fire Dr. Monteiro for nothing other than political animus.

Together with previous, well-publicized charges of plagiarism and abuse of authority against him, Dr. Asante’s unethical conduct make him unfit to make decisions about faculty or lead an academic department. His pattern of unethical conduct brings disrespect upon his Department and Temple University.

Dr. Asante goes on to deride the entire national campaign’s “Call for Dr. Monteiro,” and its 250 signatories from across the nation, as having also been duped, and condemns Dr. Monteiro’s campaign as “slavishly selfish, self-indulgent and pathetic.” Will Dr. Asante next move to attack the Call’s headliners by name? These would be Angela Y. Davis, Gary Y. Okihiro, Gerald Horne, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Joy A. James, Joe Feagin, Howard Winant, Chris Hedges, Charles L. Blockson, James H. Cone, Lewis R. Gordon, Vijay Prashad, V. P. Franklin and Farah Jasmine Griffin.

Beyond name-calling, Dr. Asante gives no attention to the careful arguments made in the educators’ Call, which point to this dismissal as being a “retaliatory firing.” These are arguments that have not been seriously engaged by Dr. Asante.

The Call for Dr. Monteiro was publicized after carefully vetting it for accuracy with those who know the situation at Temple University, from both student and faculty perspectives. When drafting the Call, there were others who spoke with us only on condition that they remain anonymous, fearing retaliatory action from the Department Chair or other administrators.

Dr. Asante’s apparent role in the de facto firing of his colleague is especially offensive given that Dr. Monteiro helped support Dr. Asante’s appointment as Chair following a crisis of governance in the Department just last year.

Dr. Asante justifies the firing by repeatedly stating that it was simply time for Monteiro’s one-year contract to end. He downplays the fact that Monteiro’s contract was renewed multiple times over the course of 10 years, signaling the Department’s deep level of trust and respect for his teaching and scholarship over the years.

Dr. Asante also tries to justify the firing by waving away Dr. Monteiro’s status as a Du Bois scholar - even writing, “he is not a Du Boisian scholar.” He rages as if those of us who drafted and signed the Call for Dr. Monteiro have no basis for highlighting Dr. Monteiro’s distinguished record in Du Bois studies. We simply invite him to look at the record. Dr. Monteiro has multiple essays on Du Bois, in peer-reviewed journals, in academic books, and in other venues, too. He has a major manuscript in preparation on Du Bois. He has been the driving force for the annual symposia and lectures held at Temple University on Du Bois, drawing scholars of distinction to the lectures and symposia from Princeton, Drexel, UPENN, Brown and many other schools. His doctoral seminars on Du Bois are regularly attended by students of various fields of study. He was asked by UPENN to bestow upon Du Bois the Emeritus Professorship in Africana Studies and Sociology at UPENN.

Moreover, Dr. Asante seems not to know what it means for a scholar like Dr. Monteiro to work in the legacy of Du Bois. Du Bois wrote and organized against deadly mixes of racism and class repression, as these weigh heavily upon diverse groups (black and white, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Chinese, and more) and especially upon women of color. Contrastingly, the narrow Afrocentric traditions of scholarship which Dr. Asante represents have been less effective in displaying the integral relations between Du Bois’ blend of Pan-African, socialist and women’s concerns. Dr. Monteiro addresses these relations in his teaching and scholarship, advocating for all – in Du Bois’ language, for all the “darker nations” and for any who suffer the “anarchy of empire.”

It is time for Dr. Asante to cease posing as the deserving well-published scholar over and against Dr. Monteiro, whom he describes as the undeserving “elevated adjunct”/”charlatan.” Dr. Asante needs to remember that he, along with many of the tenured and celebrated university professors of this country, has been protected in his position, especially when he was most vulnerable. Even when three separate faculty committees at Temple University found sufficient evidence for a university tribunal to weigh Dr. Asante’s “grave misconduct” of plagiarism and misuse of a female colleague’s work in his publications – it was only a single Temple administrator, President Liacouras, in 1996, who protected him from the dire consequences of such a negative judgment by colleagues (The Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 14, 1996).

Dr. Monteiro deserves protection, but for something far better and more exemplary: his reputable and distinguished service for over a decade at Temple. Dr. Monteiro warrants that for which our Call has argued, what distinguished scholars world-wide have affirmed, and what scores of leading scholars recognize – namely, his reinstatement to the Department of African American studies.

Dr. Johanna Fernandez, Baruch College/CUNY, History Department and Black and Latino/a Studies*

Dr. Mark Lewis Taylor, Princeton Theological Seminary, Religion & Society Committee, and Theology Department*

*Institutions listed for identification purposes only.

SUNSET SERVICE FOR REVOLUTIONARY ELOMBE BRATH

WE KNOW THE SOUL OF REVOLUTIONARY ELOMBE BRATH JOINED HIS COMRADES FROM AROUND THE WORLD WHO ENGAGED IN REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE, WHO SACRIFICED MIND, BODY AND SOUL TO THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM.LONG LIVE THE SPIRIT OF MY COMRADE ELOMBE BRATH!
--MARVIN X

FUNERAL SERVICES FOR BRO. ELOMBE BRATH TO BE HELD ON
SATURDAY, MAY 31, 2014  IN HARLEM, NEW YORK  @ 10:00 AM

THE ABYSSINIAN BAPTISH CHURCH
132 ODELL CLARK PLACE
(138 St. between Malcolm X Blvd. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.)

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Beloved Revolutionary Elombe Brath Joins The Ancestors"                                                         By Herb Boyd

By Herb Boyd

On the very day his friends and comrades were celebrating the birthday of Malcolm X (El Hajj Malik El Shabazz), Elombe Brath was joining his fellow revolutionary on the other side of our struggle. Brath, 77, made his transition on Monday, May 19 at the Amsterdam Nursing Home, according to his son, Cinque.

Brath had been at the nursing home for several years after a series of strokes limited his ability to function in the capacity that had made him a legendary freedom fighter of international acclaim.

While our struggle for total liberation could have continued to use his wise counsel and unwavering commitment to civil and human rights, his legacy was established years ago. His Pan-African and Black Nationalist credentials were impeccable, and his devotion to African liberation was sealed with the founding of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition, over which he presided with eloquence and peerless determination.

Last May, a tribute to Brath in Harlem recounted his impressive resume of activism; a proclamation touched on a few of the accomplishments of his extraordinarily productive life. It highlighted his outspoken and courageous voice for the world’s oppressed communities and his intelligent grasp of the ideas and philosophies of Marcus Garvey and Carlos Cooks.

He was cited for his empowering message of Black consciousness and the creation, with his brother, Kwame and others, of AJASS (African Jazz-Arts Society and Studios) and the Grandassa Models, which popularized the concept “Black is beautiful.”

Many remember when Nelson Mandela appeared in Harlem in 1990 and how significantly involved Brath was in that historic moment. There was no better image than that of him standing on the podium, side by side with Madiba.

Born Sept. 30, 1936, in Brooklyn, Brath came of age in Harlem and in Hunt’s Point, on Kelly Street. He spent some of his early years in the Bronx and attended Morris High School, where Colin Powell was among his classmates. From the various ethnic groups, newsreels and family discussions he observed, he began the journey of world discovery, and from his father he inherited invaluable artistic gifts, some of which were visually displayed during his tenure with ABC’s “Like It Is.”

From out of a cauldron of racism, cultural enlightenment and, particularly, the music of such jazz greats as John Coltrane and Miles Davis and the literary genius of Amiri Baraka and others, Brath shaped his own social and political matrix that would take him directly back to his African roots. He was still a teenager when he began to develop a comprehensive understanding of oppression and white supremacy and some strategies and tactics to minimize their deleterious effects on his people.

“We were a group of jazz lovers, artists and activists who began producing jazz concerts featuring some of the greats of jazz who happened to be passing through town,” his brother, Kwame Brathwaite, recalled. “This was back in 1956, and with Elombe at the forefront, we were influenced by Carlos Cooks and the African Nationalist Pioneer Movement. And we were deeply indebted to Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, who inspired us with their art and political commitment.”

The impressions shared at his 77th birthday salute and the subsequent tribute are just as meaningful now that his spirit lingers with us. Acclaimed artist Ademola Olugebefola, one of the founders of the Dwyer Cultural Center, provided further artistic and political context for those intense waves of Black consciousness in the ’60s. “What Elombe and Kwame and others in their organization set in motion was a number of artistic and political associations, including Weusi,” he said. “Even this cultural center springs from those visionaries, and it’s taken us 20 years to put this center in place. And where you are sitting is the result of what Elombe and Kwame started years ago.”

“You have to understand that Elombe and Kwame and the people around them were about self-respect and self-determination,” said Dr. Leonard Jeffries. He summoned icons of the Haitian Revolution, the likes of Dessalines and Christophe, who should stand as inspiration for young people today as they continue the quest that Brath and his brother had envisioned. “Elombe was always about family, always about the health and welfare of the African family, and that is something we must honor as we honor him.”

Renowned poet George Edward Tait has often expressed his love and appreciation for Brath, and did so elegantly at the tribute. “Brooklyn & Bronx brainchild answering the be-bop beat of a Barbados Birdcall/Hipstrutting to Harlem homebase and headquarters/Student of streetspeaker seminars and stepladder symposiums/Becoming soldierstar of study and struggle/Becoming revolutionary renaissance revivalist,” is the opening stanza of the poem in honor of his fallen friend and associate.

It was truly “Elombe Time,” and as Tait concluded in his poem: “A freedom fighting man; a family man/Freedom fighting day after day; freedom fighting decade after decade/With family foundation, family fixture, family framework, family fulfillment/Behold the Brath of most persistence; behold the Brath of most resistance/It’s Elombe Time: to be continued & continued & continued & continued.”

On that momentous occasion, Lisa Noble, Gil Noble’s daughter, recalled that it was Brath who educated her father on Africa and facilitated the appearance of so many important revolutionaries on “Like It Is.” One clip from the show includes Brath with the late Ossie Davis, as they reacted to the then visit of President George W. Bush to Goree Island.

Noted broadcaster Bernard White told a couple of memorable stories about Brath, but he really elicited laughter when he recounted how Brath’s children once hid his shoes to keep him home. “Elombe was always on the move, and this was their way of trying to stop him and get him to rest,” he explained.

But now the great warrior can rest for the ages because he has, like Othello, done the state some service and they know it; and if they don’t, all they have to do is to witness the coterie of young people who will gather for the memorials that are sure to come as a tribute to his selfless fight to liberate us all.