Mumia Abu Jamal and Prison Radio

A Contact Visit!   Frances Goldin, Mumia Abu-Jamal's literary agent, on her first contact visit since she began repesenting him over twenty years ago. Happy Birthday Frances, she turned 90 on June 22nd.   "I got a hold of him, put my hand on him, and I didn't let go all day." FG   This visit was possible due to your collective outpouring of action.     “If you struggle you can prevail.  When we struggle together we change reality and when we challenge power it sometimes bends” MAJfull interview     Prison Radio recently received a letter from Kerry Shakaboona Marshall one of our reporters.  In it he praises Frances Goldin's new book.   "I think Frances Goldman's book"Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA" should be voluntary required reading for young brothers & sisters who are coming into consciousness & the struggle. Huh! I wish I would've had such a book as Frances', that puts socialism in plain (i.e. the people's terms) terminology, twenty-five years ago 'cause I would be a brainiac by now or on par with comrade Che (smile)."  -Kerry Shakaboona Marshall  PRISON RADIO COMMENTARIES  Prison Radio keeps the phones on and available for Mumia and our other prisoner correspondents. We share our resources with our correspondents so they can call and write to us. We are asking you to support our work and help us expand our reach. More voices need to be heard.  www.prisonradio.org      Children Don't Matter (2:31) Kerry Shakaboona Marshall Listen   War Changes Everything (1:20) Mumia Abu-Jamal Listen   Imam Jamil Ailing (2:54) Mumia Abu-Jamal Listen   Military Advisors? The Way Back Into Iraq (3:05) Mumia Abu-Jamal Listen   Cantor's Fall (1:45) Mumia Abu-Jamal Listen   The Divine Ruby Dee (2:31) Mumia Abu-Jamal Listen   From the Archives "Why a War on the Poor" written by Mumia Abu-Jamal and Read by Ruby Dee Listen    Take Action Kevin Rashid Johnson Rashid has still not seen a doctor for his dangerously high blood pressure. Your calls make a difference. Call (806) 381-7080  Kelle Wallace, MBA, TTUHSC-CMHC Health Administrator, at TDCJ Clements Unit, 9601 Spur 591 Amarillo, Texas 79107-9606. Dear Friends of Prison Radio,    “We who believe in Freedom cannot rest until it comes.”  ---from Ella’s Song, Sweet Honey in the Rock And we also know, that as long distance revolutionaries we have to take care of ourselves so that we can continue to freedom. Inspired by a group of Yoga Practictioners working on behalf of Mumia Yogis for Mumia we had the opportunity to help create some wonderful new products in collaboration with Sweet Dreams! Even hardworking freedom fighters have to take a break from time to time. Now you can rest easy while showing your support for Mumia and Prison Radio.    SWEET DREAMS EYE PILLOW & YOGA MAT Sweet Dreams is a youth operated business, an off shoot of Turning Heads Sewing and Fashion Design which is a San Francisco Bay area program that provides vocational arts instruction and entrepreneurship training for San Francisco’s high risk young women of color.  When we approached them with the idea to create soothing eye pillows sporting Mumia’s image they were excited for the opportunity to show their solidarity on his behalf.  In turn, we are also motivated to back this organization because Sweet Dreams offers young women the opportunity to express their creativity, develop a sense of self-reliance, and follow their dreams.    Young women design, handcraft, market, and sell eye pillows (as pictured), aromatherapy dream pillows, neck pillows, zip cases, and yoga mat bags.  My eye pillow just came in the mail and it is filled with dried organic lavender, rice and flax seed.  It smells wonderful and you can’t beat the graphic!  Prison Radio is always interested in partnering with progressive artists and supporting beautiful artwork. Learn more about this innovative, transformative project in which young women learn the skills of financial management, marketing and sales management, and production management.  On top of that they practice cooperative decision making and profit sharing. Here is a link to their indiegogo campaign.  Sweet Dreams SUPPORT THE WORK OF PRISON RADIO We are asking you to keep Prison Radio’s phone turned on and recorders going. If you listen and are inspired, help Prison Radio continue to bring these amazing voices to the airwaves. Jump on board and help this freedom train run!   $35 is the yearly membership. $50 will get you a beautiful tote bag (pictured). The pictured yoga mag bag above is available for $60 including S&H. The eye pillow is available for $30 including S&H.  $300 will bring one essay to the airwaves. $1000 (or $88.83 per month) will make you a member of our Prison Radio Freedom circle. This work is critical—for all of us. Freedom will depend on our independence, the depth of our courage, and our will to organize. Join us. Each gift is an inspiration to the staff and volunteers at Prison Radio.         Luchando por la justicia y la libertad, Noelle Hanrahan, Director, Prison Radio PRISON RADIO P.O. Box 411074 San Francisco, CA 94141 www.prisonradio.org info@prisonradio.org 415-648-4505 To subscribe to our email newsletter or hard copy mailings (great graphics, postcards, posters, bookmarks, included with each mailing) sign up here.

Zulu Nation honors ancestor Sam Greenlee, The Spook Who Sat By the Door

Save The Date!

The Universal Zulu Nation Presents:  

"The Spook Who Sat By The Door"

NYC Film Screening & Memorial Birthday Tribute For Novelist, Poet, Activist & Producer, Bro. Sam Greenlee 

Monday, July 14, 2014

6pm - 10pm
(Doors Open at 5:30pm)
 

@ Harlem's National Black Theater

2031-33 Fifth Avenue 

Bet. 126th & 125th Street

$10.00 Suggested Donation

(No One Turned Away For A Lack Of Funds)

Featuring .....
~ Reception & Food/Refreshments at 5:00pm - RSVP Only Please!
~ A Film Screening Of "The Spook Who Sat By The Door"
~ A Live Re-enactment Of The "The Spooks" Martial Arts Scenes
~ Live Cultural Performances In Music, Song, Dance & Poetry
~ Special Guest Celebrity Readings From Sam's Novels & Poetry Books
~ The Signing Of Sam's Books By His Surviving Wife & Daughter
~ Brief Reflections From Sam's Family, Friends & Comrades
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Samuel Elder Greenlee, Jr. (July 13, 1930 – May 19, 2014) was anAfrican-American writer, best known for his controversial novel The Spook Who Sat by the Door, which was first published in London by Allison & Busby^[1] in March 1969 (having been rejected by dozens of mainstream publishers), and went on to be chosen as The Sunday Times Book of the Year. The novel was subsequently made into the 1973 movie of the same name, directed by Ivan Dixon and co-produced and written by Greenlee, that is now considered a "cult classic".

Life and work

Born in Chicago, Greenlee attended the University of Wisconsin (BS, political science, 1952) and theUniversity of Chicago (1954-7). He was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc (Beta Omicron 1950). He served in the military (1952-4), earning the rank of first lieutenant, and subsequently worked for theUnited States Information Agency, serving in Iraq (in 1958 he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medalfor bravery during the Baghdad revolution), Pakistan, Indonesia, and Greece between 1957 and 1965.Leaving the United States foreign service after eight years, he stayed on in Greece. He undertook further study (1963-4) at the University of Thessaloniki, and lived for three years on the island of Mykonos, where he began to write his first novel. That was eventually published in 1969 as The Spook Who Sat by the Door, the story of a black man who is recruited as a CIA agent and having mastered the skills of a spy then uses them to lead a black guerrilla movement in the US.

Greenlee co-wrote (with Mel Clay) the screenplay for the 1973 film The Spook Who Sat by the Door, which he also co-produced with director Ivan Dixon and which is considered "one of the more memorable and impassioned films that came out around the beginning of the notoriously polarizing blaxploitation era." In 2011, an independent documentary entitled Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of the Spook Who Sat by the Door was filmed by Christine Acham and Clifford Ward, about the making and reception of theSpook film, in which Greenlee spoke out about the suppression of the film soon after its release.

Other works by Greenlee include Baghdad Blues, a 1976 novel based on his experiences traveling in Iraq in the 1950s and witnessing the 1958 Iraqi revolution, Blues for an African Princess, a 1971 collection of poems, and Ammunition (poetry, 1975). In 1990 Greenlee was the Illinois poet laureate. He also wrote the screenplay for a film short called Lisa Trotter (2010), a story adapted from Aristophanes' Lysistrata.

Death

On May 19, 2014, Greenlee died in Chicago at the age of 83.

Bibliography

Novels

• The Spook Who Sat by the Door, London: Allison & Busby, 1969.
• Baghdad Blues, New York: Bantam, 1976.

Poetry

• Blues for an African Princess, Chicago: Third World Press, 1971.
• Ammunition!: Poetry and Other Raps (introduction Andrew Salkey), London: Bogle-L'Ouverture, 1975.
• Be-Bop Man/Be-Bop Woman, 1968-1993: Poetry and Other Raps, Cambrea Heights, NY: Natiki, 1995.

Black Bird Press News & Review: Reflections of a "Human Earthquake" Victim

Black Bird Press News & Review: Reflections of a "Human Earthquake" Victim

Wellness in Hunters Point, San Francisco and Oakland

 YMCA Hunters Point/Bay View Wellness Director Michael Bennett and Marvin X

"The most revolutionary act a Black Man can perform is lose thirty pounds," says Geoffery Grier.

YMCA Hunters Point/Bay View Wellness Director Michael Bennett and Marvin X. Marvin is a member of the YMCA. Michael promises to get him back in shape, partly the result of his sedentary lifestyle, but laziness too. One can have bad habits and good habits, it takes the same energy. So increase the good habits and downsize the bad habits. I believe in the Harm Reduction Model, i.e., if you must do bad habits, try to keep one's balance, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Reduce the harm to yourself, family and community. If you insist of doing toxic things, we must detox to neutralize the effect of the toxicity, whatever it is, whether drugs, alcohol, sex, white supremacy, religion, ideological dogmatism. I go to the gym. I am doing light workout. I love the steam room, jacuzi and swimming pool. Even if I only wiggle my legs in the water, it is better than no exercise at all.
 
"The most revolutionary act a Black Man can perform is 

lose thirty pounds," says Geoffery Grier.

BVHP Y

Health and Wellness Program

Presents…..

Stay in Shape

Summer Events

                                  

MLK Park Clean-up*

in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco

Saturday, June 28, 2014

*please note the location change to MLK Park

(it will NOT be at Youngblood Coleman Park)

Location: MLK Park and Playground, SF

Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Self-Care Day with BMAGIC

Friday, July 11, 2014

Location: the Presidio

Time: Register at the BVHP Y at 10:00 am

Leave BVHP Y at 10:30 am

Community Trailhead Walk

in collaboration with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Time:  Leave BVHP Y at 10:00 am

San Francisco Marathon

Volunteers Needed to help at the BVHP Y Water Station

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Location: Meet at the BVHP Y

Time:  TBA

For more information, please contact:

Michael Bennett, BVHP Y Director of Physical Activity and Nutrition,

at 415-794-9274 or mbennett@ymcasf.org

Wellness in Oakland

Registration Ends: June 26, 2014 12:00 PM

5th Annual Job & Health Fair Friday, June 27th, 2014, from 11am-3pm, at the Center of Hope Community Church, located at 8411 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, California

Event Details

The E.C. Reems Community Services & Healthy Communities would like to invite you to be a part of our 5th Annual Job & Health Fair, entitled, “Live Life The Way You Imagined, “Healthy and Employed”. E.C. Reems Community services would like to help eliminate or minimize employment barriers. However, doing so requires new ways of looking at old issues relating to attitudes and behaviors, as well as fresh ways of communicating individual strengths to employers.

E.C. Reems Community Services has remained committed and resilient to educating and empowering individuals though out the community. Please check us out this Friday, June 27th, 2014, from 11am-3pm, at the Center of Hope Community Church, located at 8411 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, California.

E.C. Reems Community Services will provide health tips, introduce the community to employers, discuss ongoing health issues and share resources to keep individuals in the community, particularly the economically and socially disenfranchised population informed about health and employment.

AT THIS EVENT, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:

• Visit with local federal and/or state agencies to receive information and talk with representatives about health care, medical benefits, education, housing, employment opportunities and more;
• Visit with local employers about job opportunities;
• Leave resumes and/or job applications with employers;
• Have a short interview with employers about your job skills
• Apply for state and federal benefits
• Receive information and talk with representatives about loans, health care, and education benefits
• And much more!

Of course, none of this would be possible, without supporters like you. We are grateful for your support and appreciate the trust it reflects. We look ahead to a year of unparalleled stakes for workers, their health and the economy overall.

Registration is FREE to all job & health seekers. We welcome the opportunity to partner with you on such a worthy cause.

For more information or to register as a Vendor for this 5th Annual Job & Health Fair, please visit us at http://ernestinereemsministries.org or email ecreemscommunityservices@gmail.com.

Rev. Blandon Reems,  authors Aries Jordan, Toya Carter and Marvin X make spiritual wellness visit to Alameda County Juvenile Hall bearing books for the youth. Book project was supported by Paul Cobb and the Post Newspaper Group. Marvin X's planned 27 city tour of the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra, will have a holistic health and wellness component.