New Ancestor and Honorable Warrior for the People, Baba Abdul Jabbar Caliph.
Sunday, November 18 was the date for the Pan-Afrikan Memorial and Ascension Ceremony for prison activist and freedom fighter Bro. Abdul Jabbar Caliph. “Jabbar”, as he was commonly called, was a leader in the National Jericho Movement for the freedom of Political Prisoners until joining the organization Release Aging People in Prison, now known as the Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign (APPHRC) several years ago.
Mama Tomiko Shine and Baba Tyronne Morton, leaders of APPHRC.
Bro. Jabbar was also an integral member of the Ujima Peoples Progress Party, building a Black worker-led independent political party in the state of Maryland.
Bro. Nnamdi Lumumba of the Ujima People’s Progress Party with his Queen.
The following is a short tribute from the memorial program. We will add more to this post in the near future.
Four strong warriors who fought alongside Baba Jabbar for truth and justice: Bro. Kelly (UJIMA), Bro. Brandon Walker (UJIMA), Baba Jihad Abdulmumit (Chair, National Jericho Movement), Baba Tyronne Morton (APPHRC)
Abdul Jabbar Caliph departed this physical world taking his last breath on October 8, 2018. In the context and ritual of the 40 day Ascension ceremony his transition falls on November 18, 2018. In the story of African people this is a most important date. Why? On November 18, 1803 over 200 years ago the Battle of Vertieres took place on the small island of Haiti against the imposing and powerful European armies; liberating the Haitians from slavery and European domination.
Group picture from the Ascension Ceremony, with Baba Jabbar’s Family front and center.
Thus Abdul Jabbar Caliph is ancestrally aligned within the pages of African history and cosmology. Considering the character of the man with Jabbar meaning strong and mighty, he always spoke about and to the need of liberation for people of African descent across the globe. He fought to the end for the liberation of African people mind, body, and soul. He went to the people because he was not afraid of the people, and recognized he was the people. His dedication, works, and brilliance of mind is etched in the memory of all he touched. Thus he moves on to continue his work on the ancestral plane; available to us Africans in America as we become ready to liberate ourselves and our future.
“African people are going to have to fund their own liberation”
“Only black people can free black people”
— Abdul Jabbar Caliph
Bro. Jabbar at a meeting with Mama Pam Africa of MOVE.