Coming up on Saturday, October 12, 2024 at the Temple of New African Thought (TNAT), the Maryland Pan Afrikan Cooperative Coalition (MPACC) will hold our third Pan Afrikan Community Town Hall Meeting of the year. Our theme will be a look at the electoral process and how we are approaching it as a community, and we have named it the “Electoral Poly-Tricks Pan Afrikan Community Town Hall Meeting”. For more information on the Town Hall and how to attend, click here.
“The Revolution Is Black Love” features Grandmother Walks On Water, Wednesday, October 9, 2024
“The Revolution Is Black Love” (Wednesday afternoons at 3:00 PM ET) features frequent guest, Choctaw Elder Grandmother Walks On Water on Wednesday, October 9 on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org). She discusses the topic “Healing the Heart Chakra” with host Sis. Tomiko.
“The Revolution Is Black Love” is broadcast every Wednesday at 3:00 PM Eastern Time (United States) on HANDRadio, https://handradio.org. After broadcast, the show can be heard by clicking below. This and previous episodes of “The Revolution Is Black Love” can be heard by visiting the Media Pages of KUUMBAReport Online (https://kuumbareport.com/about-kuumbareport-newsletter/multimedia/) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org/audio-visual-media/).
To listen to the Wednesday, October 9 show, click here or visit our Media Page.
The Ancestors’ Call: Three Mighty Cultural Icons, James Earl Jones, Frankie Beverly, Sergio Mendes
We lost three icons of the cultural world this past week: Brazilian bossa nova/samba/jazz/R&B legend Sergio Mendes (September 5), legendary actor James Earl Jones (September 9) and the great Frankie Beverly (September 10). No tribute can truly do these great men justice, but we offer our small contribution here.
Justice Initiative on “The First 9-11”
This week marked the 51st anniversary of what is called, by people who know history, “The Other 9-11” or “The First 9-11”, as Heather Gray of the Atlanta-based organization Justice Initiative calls it. Below, we share two of Justice Initiative’s releases from 2017, which include commentaries by Heather Gray, Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein. For even more background, we invite you to check out an archived issue of our newsletter, KUUMBAReport, “The ‘Other’ 9-11”. For the Justice Initiative article, click here.
The Wednesday, August 28 edition of “The R-Evolution Is Black Love” features Baba Coy Dunston, proprietor of Secrets of Nature in Washington, DC. Sis. Tomiko, host of “The R-Evolution Is Black Love”, interviewed him at his location about his introduction to healthy foods and the struggles he has endured to continue to promote healthy choices for the people. The program airs at 3:00 PM Wednesday, August 28. “The R-Evolution Is Black Love” can be heard every Wednesday at 3:00 PM on HANDRadio, https://handradio.org. For a brief profile of Baba Coy Dunston and the audio interview, click here or go to our Media Page.
Garvey Day 2024 in Various Parts of the Diaspora
This Saturday marks the birthday of The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey (17 August 1887 – 10 June 1940), the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). All around the world, Afrikan People celebrate his birth on this day. Here we share the announcements of just a few of the commemorations of The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey on this day.
The R-Evolution Is Black Love
HANDRadio (https://handradio.org/)
KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com)
Kweli TV (https://kweli.tv)
We Buy Black (https://webuyblack.com)
“The seed you plant in love, not matter how small, will grow into a mighty tree of refuge” — Afeni Shakur
“I believe in the sweat of love and in the fire of truth” — Assata Shakur
July 13, 2024 saw the “rebirth” of the effort to bring out, organize and harness the voice of the Pan Afrikan grassroots community so that our voice can be included in the larger effort to bring that Pan Afrikan voice to the World Stage. The first Pan Afrikan Community Town Hall Meeting since 2019 (post-COVID) was held at the Temple of New African Thought (TNAT) at 5525 Harford Road in East Baltimore. The meeting was organized by the Maryland Pan Afrikan Cooperative Coalition (MPACC), a broad coalition of Pan Afrikan organizers and activists from the areas of spirituality, culture, economics, education, political organizing, law, prison outreach, grassroots organizing, revolutionary Pan Afrikanism and more, in cooperation with Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign (APP-HRC), the George Jackson University (GJU) the National Black Unity News and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC), (More on the Cooperative Coalition can be found here.) For the full report from the Maryland Pan Afrikan Community Town Hall Meeting, click here.
“Join an Organization”: African Liberation Day 2024 in West Baltimore
The Maryland Council of Elders (MCOE) and veteran educator/community activist Baba Charlie Dugger sponsored and presented African Liberation Day at Lafayette Square Park in West Baltimore. Numerous organizers and activists took to the stage to give messages of resistance, express solidarity with the people of Occupied Palestine and urge the assembled crowd to join organizations fighting for the people and truly work to build unity and preparedness in our community. These messages were amplified by an uplifting hour-long performance by Proverbs Reggae Band. For more on the day’s events and pictures from African Liberation Day, click here.
April 16-19, 2024 is the Third Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD), which was created by the United Nations just under two years ago. PFPAD has held two Sessions already, one in Geneva, Switzerland in December 2022 and another in New York City in June 2023. This Third Session will be held in Geneva, Switzerland from April 16-19, 2024. Several panel discussions and side events are focusing on issues of mass incarceration, reparative justice and Women of Afrikan Descent, sponsored by Pan Afrikan activists from the United States including Washington DC, California, South Carolina, New York and Maryland. For information on these panel discussions and side events, and to learn more about the Permanent Forum in general, click here.
African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region High Council Announces Official Launch and Constitution
After successful conferences in Addis Ababa (May 2022) and Maputo, Mozambique (July 2023), The African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region High Council was officially launched and its Constitution announced. For a little detail on the founding of the High Council, its purpose and background on its founder, Dr. Barryl Biekman, click here.
The Organization of American States (OAS) Inter America Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) held a hearing on Monday, November 6 to listen to a panel of legal, economic and health experts and actual victims of the Prison-Industrial Complex. The hearing was called by the Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign (APP-HRC), which has fought for the release of those who are growing old behind prison walls, many but not all of whom were political prisoners from the years of United States persecution of civil rights and Black Power freedom fighters and activists. The panel of experts gave gripping expert analysis and personal testimonies of the disastrous impact of mass and generational incarceration on Black women in the United States. For the full report and links to the hearing video as well as background information on IACHR, APP-HRC and their work, click here.
Trying to Make Sense of the Israel-Palestine Conflict
We have gathered analyses from Heather Gray of Justice Initiative, several international columnists, and information from Wikipedia in an effort to make some sense of the current conflict between Israel and Palestine, which at the moment is more accurately described as a full-scale assault on the overwhelmingly civilian population of Gaza by the Israeli military. We also briefly discuss some of the protest actions taking place in the United States and around the world. This is by no means a comprehensive account, as the numbers of civilians killed in Gaza is tragically increasing by the hour and efforts by at least some international actors to stop the bloodshed are continuing, but it is our hope to bring a little bit of information to those who may not know where to begin to seek an understanding of the deep-seated historical, political, ideological and spiritual issues that have kept this region in turmoil for so long. For the full article, click here.
Return to Panama City: Setting Up for Pan-Afrikan Organizing in Panama and Central America
Bro. Cliff, Editor of KUUMBAReport and Maryland State Facilitator of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC), visited Panama City, Panama (for the second time) to help local activists conduct their first Pan Afrikan Urban Town Hall Meeting and establish an SRDC organization there. Read about Bro. Cliff’s trip and the committed activists on the ground in Panama here.
The Ancestors’ Call: Baba Oscar Brathwaite, SRDC-Toronto, Canada
On Monday, May 8, 2023, we learned of the passing to the Honored Ancestors of our dear Elder and comrade, Baba Oscar Brathwaite of Toronto, Canada. A facilitator in the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) since its founding in 2006, Baba Oscar had been fighting a number of health issues that had limited his activities over the last few years, but we were nonetheless shocked to learn of his passing.
Baba Oscar was known as a consummate educator, dedicated to the restoration and promotion of Afrikan-centered educational institutions, principles and practices. We will share more information on Baba Oscar in the near future. To read a couple of tributes to Baba Oscar, click here.
SRDC and Sehwah-Liberia Inc. Announce the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship Fund
Sehwah-Liberia, Inc. and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) are announcing the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship for high school students in Liberia.
The Scholarship Program represents part of SRDC’s continuing efforts to build bridges between the Pan-African Diaspora and the African Community on the Continent, and Sehwah-Liberia’s continuing commitment to lift up the people of Liberia as the country continues to rise up from decades of civil war.
The Scholarship Program is named after Mama Maisha Washington, who as a member of the Maryland SRDC Organization and the Maryland Council of Elders (MCOE) had led efforts to launch a successful 2020 Pan African Summer Camp in Liberia, administered and taught by teachers in Liberia and the United States. Mama Maisha was also one of the leaders of the Pan-African Library Project, which will build the first-ever public library in Monrovia, Liberia, and which will primarily serve the countries of Liberia, Guinea-Conakry, Siera Leone and Cote D’Ivoire.
Mama Maisha transitioned to the Honored Ancestors in October 2020. For more about the Scholarship Program and how you can support it with a tax-deductible donation via check or PayPal, check out our article, visit the SRDC post at https://srdcinternational.org/maisha-washington-education-foundation-scholarship-fund/ or the go to the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Web page at https://srdcinternational.org/scholarship/.
Bridging the Gap Between Ourselves (Our African Connection)
EDITOR’S NOTE: The 2021 International Summit of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) was held November 8-13 in Monrovia, Liberia. SRDC is advancing its outreach to the Mother Continent through concrete projects and programs with grassroots organizations on the ground there, starting with the effort to build Liberia’s first public library and sponsoring the 2021 Summit in cooperation with the Liberian grassroots organization Sehwah-Liberia. We invite our readers to enjoy this brief history of some of the connections between Africa and the Diaspora, specifically as they relate to the Republic of Liberia, from Baba Kumasi Palmer, SRDC-South Carolina Facilitator.
SRDC’s Pan African Library Book Donation Project
EDITOR’S NOTE: This post originally appeared on August 7, 2018 as “Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus Liberia Library Book Donation Project”. This is an update of that article and a continuation of the Library Project.
Among the projects being developed by the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC), an Pan-Afrikan Diaspora organization dedicated to organizing the voice of the grassroots Pan-Afrikan Diaspora at the local level and merging them to take that voice to the World Stage through the African Union, United Nations and independent Afrikan Diaspora organizations, are a number of initiatives working toward the development of concrete institutions and services on the Afrikan Continent. One of these is the Liberian Library Book Donation Project, being led by the South Carolina SRDC Organization and its State Facilitator, Mr. Joseph “Kumasi” Palmer.
As of this writing, there are no Public Libraries in Liberia, according to Mr. Palmer. This comes as a surprise to many of us, partly because of our assumptions in the United States that a Library is so routine that we often ignore them, as well as the documented progress that Liberia has made since the removal of Charles Taylor as President in 2003 and the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Afrika’s first woman head of state in 2006. Mr. Palmer and several associates from South Carolina have met with Liberian officials to advance work on the development and supply of the first Public Library in Liberia.
This post includes the public letter that was released in August 2018 by the South Carolina SRDC Organization concerning the project and the criteria for donating books. Contact information for the South Carolina SRDC Organization is also included in this post. If you have gently used books that you would like to donate, please feel free to contact them to arrange your donation. Contact information and more details are included in this post.
Help Us Develop an Independent, Black Political Party
“Chairman Fred Hampton was assassinated in his bed by the Chicago PD at 21 years old. At that time in 1969, Chicago’s City Council and Mayoralty were controlled by the local, post-Civil Rights, Democratic Party as it is today. In my opinion, Hampton was right and still is today: Integrating into a sick society and its sick political values hasn’t paid off in fifty one years. Fifty one years later, we still don’t even have enough equality to be killed by police and hospitals at the same rate as white people. Fifty one years later, the median net wealth of black households is trending toward $0 dollars. Fifty one years later, the Democratic National Convention rejected the Movement for Black Lives’ proposal of the Breathe Act while the largest civil rights demonstrations in US history were in full swing. (Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t support the Breathe Act either.) I think that continuing to subordinate the political demands of black people, indigenous people and working class people to the priorities of capitalist, primarily white political parties is likely going to make 2021 as catastrophic for black people as was 2020.”
Bro. Taji Amani makes an impassioned case for People of Afrikan Descent to break away from the traditional, binary politics that keep us caught between the broken promises of the Democratic Party and the outright hostility of the Republicans. The Ujima Peoples Progress Party (UPP) offers us a choice: a Black Worker-Led Independent Political Party. For his full essay, click here.
News from Afrika, the African Union and the United Nations on our NewsFeed
We now receive regular news and updates from a variety of sources related to African issues. RSS Feeds from the African Union, United Nations and news service AllAfrica.com bring you the most recent news stories from Afrika and the World Stage. Check out our Newsfeed Page for updates from these sources as well as links to AfricaFocus, Pambazuka News and other sources to stay updated on news of importance to Afrika and the Afrikan Diaspora.
US Militarization of Police Departments: Some History, by Justice Initiative
Justice Initiative, an Atlanta-based human rights and analysis group founded by Heather Gray, offers some historical context to the trend of militarization of police, including looking at the repressive roots of police paramilitary operations at home and abroad. For their full analysis, click here.
On Natural Disasters and Other Crises: It’s Time for a Real Response from the Pan-Afrikan Community
With an increasing number of hurricanes packing record-breaking intensity and wreaking catastrophic damage across the Caribbean and in the United States, particularly the devastation suffered by the people of The Bahamas over the Labor Day weekend, isn’t it time for Pan-Afrikan communities to move past the helplessness of “thoughts and prayers” and on to more concrete, cooperative, coordinated and unified strategies to put an end to the conditions that leave us vulnerable to disasters, massacres and official misdeeds? For some historical context and more commentary on this issue, click here.
Our Frustrating, Maddening Obsession
“The thing to do is to get organized. Stay separated and you will be exploited, you will be robbed, you will be killed. Get organized and you compel the world to respect you.”
–The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey
The above statement is, in my opinion, perhaps the most profound comment I’ve ever heard or read from The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). More profound than “Africa for the Africans, those at home and those abroad.” More relevant than “Up you mighty race; you can accomplish what you will.” This is because while those other two statements are iconic in their own way, they are pronouncements that were designed to inspire, whereas that first quote is an analysis and a prescription for people of Afrikan Descent to free ourselves from bondage and oppression, and, unfortunately, one which too many of us continue to ignore. Too often, we rail against the discriminations and deprivations to which Afrikan people are subjected, but we also repeat, ad nauseam, the very behaviors of disunity that ensure that those discriminations and deprivations will continue without any comprehensive and effective challenge from us. Why are we so often obsessed with the empty behavior of complaint coupled with rejection of any organized and cooperative plan to put our collective misery to an end? For the entire commentary (or is it a rant? You be the judge), click here.
NYC Jericho and Universal Zulu Nation on Surviving Encounters with the Police
This article was both an announcement for a public event that was held Wednesday, July 5, 2017 in New York City and also a public service from the New York Jericho Movement and the Universal Zulu Nation. For this reason, this post will remain after the event because of the advice given on surviving encounters with police. The suggestions are designed to ensure that your rights in such an encounter are legally asserted while also minimizing the likelihood of being harmed by police officers. It is unfortunate, given the recent incidents of police brutality and the subsequent refusal, even by “juries of our peers”, to convict officers who were clearly incriminated by visual evidence, that this kind of advice is necessary, but it is an important service to help ensure that all of us, in the event of such an encounter, will at least survive long enough to answer charges of criminality as well as post claims of police misconduct or abuse in court. For the article with suggestions on surviving an encounter with police, click here.
For other recent articles, visit our Blog Page.