Date: Thursday, October 11, 2012, 11:44 AM |
Thursday, October 11, 2012
News from Troy Johnson's AALBC
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Human Earthquake to Hit New York City
New York City get ready for the Human Earthquake! Dr. M, aka Marvin X, returns to the east coast to promote his Revolution on the Rocks Book Tour. Now just exactly who is Dr. M/Marvin X? FYI, it seems he came on the scene around the time Malcolm X departed to join the ancestors, cerca 1965. It was in 1965 that Marvin X was attending San Francisco State University. And as a member of the Black Student Union, Marvin X mourned the assassination of his hero Malcolm X with fellow students.
Marvin X had been turned out to revolutionary black nationalism by his fellow students Huey Newton, Bobby Seale and Richard Thorne, along with Kenny and Carol Freeman, Ann Williams, Maurice Dawson and Ernie Allen. All the above had been influenced by the African American Association, headed by Donald Warden, aka Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al Mansour. His associates included Donald Hopkins, Henry Ramsey, Ed Howard, Paul Cobb, et al.
It was Donald Warden's Afro American Association that laid the groundwork of African consciousness that afforded the Black Panther Party to come on the scene. All of us students at Merritt College were influenced by the Afro American Association. They gave us consciousness of African liberation movements in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Congo, and elsewhere.
We read the writings of Jomo Kenyetta, Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, et al.
We read the writings of Fidel Castro such as his court speech History Will Absolve Me, the writings of Mao Se Tung.
Marvin X had been turned out to revolutionary black nationalism by his fellow students Huey Newton, Bobby Seale and Richard Thorne, along with Kenny and Carol Freeman, Ann Williams, Maurice Dawson and Ernie Allen. All the above had been influenced by the African American Association, headed by Donald Warden, aka Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al Mansour. His associates included Donald Hopkins, Henry Ramsey, Ed Howard, Paul Cobb, et al.
It was Donald Warden's Afro American Association that laid the groundwork of African consciousness that afforded the Black Panther Party to come on the scene. All of us students at Merritt College were influenced by the Afro American Association. They gave us consciousness of African liberation movements in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Congo, and elsewhere.
We read the writings of Jomo Kenyetta, Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, et al.
We read the writings of Fidel Castro such as his court speech History Will Absolve Me, the writings of Mao Se Tung.
Daughter Muhammida El Muhajir, Hip Hop filmmaker and her father, Dr. M, will appear on stage at the Black Power to Hip Ho[ Conference at Howard University on Nov. 2-4. She is a graduate of Howard with a degree in B.S. in Microbiology
Contrary to the Hollywood fantasy movies, the Black Panthers were not simple minded thugs, but rather the neo-intellectuals who would usher in the new day of black consciousness.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Osun Festival, Oyotunji Village, Sheldon SC; Part I of IV
Kings Day 2012: North American Africans Transcend White Supremacy
According to one health professional, neural placidity only occurs when we change our environment, only then can our brain cells free themselves of toxic elements and we can then set out on the road to recovery from any addiction. The new environment frees us, especially a natural setting wherein we are able to regain our mental equilibrium by being in harmony with all things, especially living things such as air, water, trees, land, animals, birds, bees, etc.
Some of us who escape from a toxic environment are almost immediately able to jump out of the box of the urban setting and adjust to a more natural setting because our DNA knows our origin and thus the amnesia forced upon us by the hostile environment is arrested and we soon recall that somewhere deep down in our consciousness we have been yearning for a return to a sacred space.
Throughout our wretched history in the Americas, at various times we escaped the hostile and oppressive environment to enjoy the Maroon tradition wherein we established independent communities, especially when we saw the ever pressing need to escape the slave system. The aim was true independence and sovereignty, not second class citizenship.
In BBC interviews, Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison and James Meredith both lamented the continuation of white supremacy in America. Toni Morrison said only time and generations will deliver us. We wonder how much more time and how many generations will suffice? Fifty years after desegregating the University of Mississippi, James Meredith said he and his people were still at war with America. Both said the election of Barack Obama made little difference.
And so the Maroon tradition informs us of an alternative model to escape white supremacy. These communities have existed since the first kidnapped Africans arrived in the Americas. They existed in
Cuba, Jamaica, Brazil, Mexico and the United States. In the United States, the most recent example is the Oyotunji African Village located in Sheldon, South Carolina.
It may be hyperbole to say these Yorubas from Harlem escaped to Oyotunji African Village, but we know they departed Harlem forty years ago to seek a sacred space to restore their African identity to the fullness. Imagine if their model had been followed by others claiming the desire for independence and sovereignty. Yes, what if the millions of North American African who are alienated from this society would establish themselves on land wherein they can freely develop their African consciousness, political, economic, social and cultural institutions. Wouldn't that be beautiful?
It was beautiful observing the King's Day at Oyotunji African Village, honoring the founder, HRH Oba Ofuntola Oseijeman Adefunmi I. We remember him on the streets of Harlem strolling with his entourage attired in the most colorful African robes and outfits. Almost singlehandedly, Oseijeman brought African cultural restoration to North American Africans.
And his dream did not die with him but lives on at the African Village through his son HRM Oba Adejuyigbe Egundjobi Alladahonu Oyewole Adefunmi II. We observed the Royal Ancestors Parade or the Egungun Alade, a fantastic ritual drama detailing the return of the ancestors. It is an awesome myth-ritual that has been enacted for a thousand years in Yorubaland. To see that North American Africans have discarded their slave religion and returned to the faith of their fathers and mothers is a humbling experience. To hear the ritual said almost entirely in the Yoruba language is a testament that we can, will and shall overcome our psycholinguistic crisis as a result of being forced to speak the English language.
As I observed the complexity of this ritual drama, I was horrified at the thought that Europeans believed themselves superior to Africans. Their religious rituals cannot approach the complexity I saw today. I saw man and woman become one with the animals they sacrificed, whispering to them, making love to them, honoring them before the slaughter.
And as the blood dripped from the chicken and goats, I thought to myself, well, at least they are not sacrificing human beings as many North American Africans are doing in the hood throughout these United States of America. Do brothers in the hood whisper kind words to the victims of their ritual murders, do they honor them before they slaughter them? Perhaps we should teach the brothers Yoruba rituals of sacrifice, for sure, it is far better to slaughter a chicken and goat than a human being.
I agree with my friend Hurriyah Asar who sells animals and fowl for sacrifice to the African Village but is against animal sacrifice. She loves animals and is deciding whether she will continue selling them for sacrifice. When we are truly in tune with nature, we see no need to kill anything. We simply want to live in peace with all living things. On her land not far from the African Village, she raises a variety of fowl and we observe them living in peace, ducks, turkeys, chickens, doves, pigeons, guineas, dogs, cats. If animals can do this, why can't man?
--Dr. M
10/6/12
Gullahland SC
Black Panther History Month
This marks the 46th yr since the founding of the Black Panther Party in Oakland in 1966, by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. There will be a celebration at Oscar Grant Plaza in front of City Hall on Saturday October 13th from 12pm until 3pm with the program starting at 1pm. There will be music,poetry, speakers. The BPP Alumni committee will be giving certificates out for community service awards, and one of the main award winners is the SF Bay View newspaper owned and operated by Willie and Mary Ratcliff.
Geoffrey's Inner Circle will host a film showing and Booking signings following the event at Oscar Grant Plaza Elbert"Big Man" Howard will speak at 3pm about this experiences in the BPP and about the writing of his brother" Panther On the Prowl" Big Man was a original Panther, help start the BPP.Other authors will be Steve McCuthen writer of " We were free for a while" and Meres Sia Gilbert will be there to do poems from her book "Twirl in the Smoke".Geoffrey's is located one block from Oscar Grant Plaza at 410 14th st, right off Broadway
For more information go to www.itsabouttimepp.com or call 916-455-0908
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