Friday, January 19, 2018

Mayor Libby Schaaf must stand against racism at Oakland Whole Foods

Rally to end racism and white supremacy at Oakland Whole Foods
When: Tuesday, January 23rd
Time: 3:30-5:30PM




The Movement Newspaper
















WHERE: WHOLE FOODS MARKET 230 BAY PL, OAKLAND, CA 94612





















JAN 18, 2018 — Madam Mayor Libby Schaaf should have DA Nancy O'Malley bring criminal charges against Oakland Whole Foods for physical, verbal and emotional abuse of North American African workers and customers. We want compensation for damages done to North American Africans at Oakland Whole Foods.




















Whole Foods has been attacking folks of color within the past two years—going as far as attacking and racially profiling two black men, and a young, black teenager in recent reports. Their gentrifying organization must be held accountable for the threat they have posed to our community and it’s time that we make some noise to show resistance and intolerance to racial terror on any and all fronts.

Join us, next Tuesday (1/23) from 3:30-5:30 PM as we hold a noise demo in front of the store to demonstrate our intolerance for racism in our communities. Please bring any safe objects you have to make noise, signs, and bright spirits as we show up for the folks who were affected and targeted by this racist institution. It is imperative that we address racism on all fronts in our communities—especially in recent light of honoring King’s legacy and the path he has helped to pave with his work. We have to continue to take to the streets EVERY day, and address issues as we see them rather than depending on others to do the work first.

When: Tuesday, January 23rd
Time: 3:30-5:30PM
Where: Whole Foods Market 230 Bay Pl, Oakland, CA 94612

Direct all questions, comments, or concerns to:

wassgoodlucy@gmail.com

Hope to see you all there! Love & Solidarity!

Boycott Whole Foods Oakland and its racism!!


Yet another case of blatant racism and racial profiling at another new Oakland establishment has occurred! I’ve witnessed this multiple times at different stores in Oakland, we all know we have and too often I’ve just grit my teeth and accepted that as way it has to be. But this most recent incindent involving a  13 year old child buying gifts for his mother and him being racially profiled twice in the same store over a year apart!!??
http://fiveo.us/?p=334
That means there’s an issue. I want to force Whole Foods Oakland and board members of Oakland’s developers committee  to sit and have a discussion and be held accountable for this grievance against the black community. Please sign and help move this along, share it wide , give suggestions, I’ve never done something like this before but I couldn’t stay silent any longer , any help from established activists would be appreciated. We need change , I don’t know if it will happen in our lifetime but we have to try.




Africans Rally against Trump shithole remarks

Public statement of concern about President Trump’s vulgar statement about Africa
By the African community in Sacramento

January 19, 2018                               

This week, we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a great man whose message of peace, justice and courage changed the course of history. A man whose proud and deep ancestral roots spring from the fertile shores of the Nile, Niger, Congo and Zambezi rivers of Africa.  
However, it is unfortunate that in this very week when people of goodwill all over the world pause to reflect and celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the United States of America President Donald J. Trump chose to debase our humanity as Africans, including Haitians, with the vulgarity as attributed to him that is not worthy of a repeat in this document. We stand today, and with respect to the office of the presidency, to reject and condemn without reservation the president’s characterization of African nations, as widely condemned by African governments and many others in the Americas and around the world. It is our conviction that his choice of words amounts to hate speech and has no place in any civil discourse. History reminds us that the world’s most horrific crimes always start with weaponized words and statements like these have no place in a civilized world or just leadership. When people are characterized as sub-human, it becomes too easy and inciting to subject them to sub-human treatment.
The African continent has withstood untold challenges through the course of human history, and remains the cradle of humanity. Our people were extracted against their will and enslaved for centuries in far regions of the world where they built today’s flourishing economies from the bend of their backs and the sweat of their brows, including the USA. We stand today to declare to all who care to listen that Africa and her more than a billion people and over 20 % of the world’s population will not be characterized as sub-human; this is very offensive. Our ancestors built the ancient pyramids of Egypt and the Sankore University in Timbuktu, built over 400 years before the American independence, and produced ancient texts that became roadmaps to science, mathematics and astronomy. Indeed, the history of the American greatness will be incomplete without Africa and her resilient peoples.
Our sons and daughters across the world continue to distinguish themselves in all fields of human endeavor. African immigrants contribute to the development of the country economically. Among the African immigrants in the United States are men and women of the Military, Medical Doctors, Pharmacists, First Responders, Lawyers, Judges, Legislators, Engineers, Business owners, Entrepreneurs, Innovators Investors, College/University Professors, Nurses, Teachers, and other careered persons who work hard and pay their taxes as well as support their families and obey the law. Failure to acknowledge these facts is unfortunate and sad. With 22 Nobel Laureates, 7 female presidents, several female Chief Justices, 4 of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world, a young and vibrant population; Africa’s time has come. We stand today to claim and affirm our rightful place of pride in this long journey of human existence and the promise of a greater future.
This most recent vulgar characterization of Africa(including her Diaspora) by the president, coupled with previous adverse or pejorative pronouncements against other immigrants  has the real potential to incite verbal or physical violence against African immigrants in the USA by persons who may act on the troubling remark or harbor racial animus.
Accordingly, we call on our elected officials, peace officers, educators, employers, and community leaders to ensure the protection of the human and civil rights of our people, especially from any form of hate crime that may result from the president’s hurtful speech. Further, we ask people in our communities to go about their daily lives without fear but remain vigilant, and to immediately report any incidents to the law enforcement authorities.
We thank all people of conscience who have spoken publicly against this hate speech. Your courage to stand with us and humanity puts you on the right side of history and restores our faith in human decency. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said at a 1965 public address at Hunter College in New York City on Human Rights Day, "The brotherhood of man is not confined within a narrow, limited circle of select people. It is felt everywhere in the world; it is an international sentiment of surpassing strength. Because this is true, when men of good will finally unite, they will be invincible.”

We affirm our belief in the great African tradition of Ubuntu. We remain committed to the use of dialogue in the quest for mutual understanding and respect in our diverse society.   

In Peace and Solidarity!

Sacramento Africa Peace Committee
Friends of Rwanda Association
Sacramento Association of Nigerians
Association of Citizens and Friends of Liberia
Sierra Leone Humanitarian Project
Ushirika Kenya Association
Sacramento- Uganda Community
Angolan community of Sacramento


Blaxit to Africa--Aljazeera.com interviews Muhammida El Muhajir





Why some African Americans are moving to Africa

 Muhammida El Muhajir with parents Nisa Ra and Marvin X

www.aljazeera.com

Why some African Americans

are moving to Africa

18 Jan 2018


SOURCE: AL JAZEERAAccra, Ghana - They have come from the big cities of
San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. Thousands of them. And many
refuse to return.
A new wave of African Americans is escaping the incessant racism and
prejudice in the United States. From Senegal and Ghana to The Gambia,
communities are emerging in defiance of conventional wisdom that Africa
is a continent everyone is trying to leave.
It is estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 African Americans live in
Accra, the Ghanaian capital. They are teachers in small towns in the west
or entrepreneurs in the capital and say they that even though living in
Ghana is not always easy, they feel free and safe.
Take Muhammida el-Muhajir, a digital marketer from New York City, who
left her job to move to Accra.
She says she moved, because despite her education and experience,
she was always made to feel like a second-class citizen. Moving was an
opportunity to fulfil her potential and avoid being targeted by racial violence.
She told Al Jazeera her story:

On life as a second-class citizen in the US...

"I grew up in Philadelphia and then New York. I went to Howard, which
is a historically black university. I tell people that Ghana is like Howard
in real life. It felt like a microcosm of the world. At university, they tell
us the world isn't black, but there are places where this is the real world.
Howard prepares you for a world where black people are in charge, which
is a completely different experience compared to people who  have gone
to predominantly white universities."
I can't say what's happening in America today is
any worse than what's been happening at
any other time.
--MUHAMMIDA EL-MUHAJIR

On her first trip to Africa...

"The first country I went to was Kenya. I was 15 and travelled with a group
of kids. I was one of two black kids. I saw early that I could fit in and wasn't
an outsider. Suddenly it switched, I came from America where I was an
outsider, but in Africa, I no longer felt like that. I did graduate school in
Ghana in 2003 and went back to New York and then moved to Ghana in
2014.
"I have no connection to Ghana. Some people in my family did tests, and
we found ties to Senegal and The Gambia, but I don't think you can ever
figure it out. No matter where you were sold or left the port, Senegal or
Ghana, no one can be certain where you came from."
No matter where you were sold or left the port,
Senegal or Ghana, no one can be certain where
you came from.
MUHAMMIDA EL-MUHAJIR
Market in Agbogbloshie, a district in Accra, Ghana's capital [Thomas Imo/Photothek via Getty
Images]

On leaving New York for Accra...

"Even when you live in a place like New York as a black person, you're
always an outsider.
"You hear stories about the richest black people, like Oprah Winfrey,
getting shut out of a store or Jay-Z not being allowed to buy [an
apartment]. Those things happen. It doesn't matter if you're a celebrity,
you're a second-class citizen. This was the biggest issue for me.
"In America, you're always trying to prove yourself; I don't need to prove
myself to anyone else's standards here. I'm a champion, I ran track and
went to university, and I like to win, so I refuse to be in a situation where
I will never win."
You might not have electricity,
but you won't get killed by the
police either.
MUHAMMIDA EL-MUHAJIR

On moving to Ghana...

"There are amenities that I am used to at home in New York - like parties,
open bars and fashion, so when I realised I could do the same things in
Africa as I could back in the US, I was sold. There is also a big street art festival
here, and that was the difference from when I came [as a student]. I saw the
things that I love at home here, so I decided that now is the time."

On Ghanaian reactions...

"When Ghanaians find out that I live here, they're usually confused
about why I chose to live here as an American. There is definitely certain
access and privilege being American here, but it's great to finally cash
in on that because it doesn't mean anything in America.
"There are also plenty of privileged Ghanaians; if you take away race
there's a class system."
Modern architecture in Ghana's capital [Thomas Imo/Photothek via Getty Images]

On the 'Blaxit' documentary...

"In my documentary, I chose five people that I've met since I've been
here and every one of them went to a black college in the US. It's
something that prepares you mentally to realise you aren't a second-class
citizen. Something like that can help you make a transition to live in Africa.
"I made Blaxit because of this wave of African-Americans moving to Africa.
This trend started to happen around independence of African countries,
but the new wave [comprises] people who come to places like this.
This new group has certain access in America and comes here to have
that lifestyle in Africa.
"Unknown to us, we're living out the vision that [Ghanaian politician and
revolutionary] Kwame Nkrumah set out for us, of this country being the
gateway to Africa for the black diaspora.
"I don't want people to think that Africa is this magic utopia where all
your issues will go away. It's just that some of the things you might face
in America as a black person - you won't have to suffer with those things
here.
"You might not have electricity, but you won't get killed by the police either.
"I want people to understand that they have options and alternatives. Most
black people in America don't know that these options exist; they think they
have to suffer because there's nowhere else to go. But no, there are other
places."

On the prospect of more African-Americans

moving...

"I think more will come when they begin to see it as a viable alternative.
But it's not easy and it's not cheap. I can't say what's happening in America
today is any worse than what's been happening at any other time. I think
now is the time that people are starting to see they can live somewhere
else."
This interview was edited for clarity and length.
Follow Azad Essa on Twitter: @AzadEssa


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Azad Essa
Azad Essa is a journalist at Al Jazeera, covering Sub-Saharan Africa.


Muhammida El Muhajir is Pan African Editor of The Movement Newspaper

Thursday, January 18, 2018

EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS - OH HAPPY DAY

Oh Happy Day

Oh, Edwin
we rejoice your passage to the Upper Room
Oh, Happy Day
for all of us in the Bay, Oaktown
City of Resistance
Qur'an says After difficulty comes ease
Oh Happy Day
Sixteen Crucified Saviors walked
on water
peace be still
oh happy day
Jesus walked
Isa Ibn Mar'yam
Isa Ibn Yusef
Oh happy day
Frankie Beverly say
joy pain same
oh happy day
after difficulty comes ease
no cross no crown
sweat equity
Santa Rita jail
holding cell sleep head by toilet
strip butt naked time after time
hold nuts cough
top ramen money
no cigarettes
hungry hustle food day night
communal meal top ramen casserole doritoes bologna
everybody share
Oh happy day
down dungeon
If mind ain't in prison
you ain't in prison!
Oh happy day!
Some out here in the big yard in mental prison, lockdown. Wake up, stay woke!
Oh happy day!
Jesus walked
Oh happy day
washed my sins away
Isa Ibn Mar'yam
Isa Ibn Yusef.
--Marvin X
1/18/18