With all the concern being expressed regarding the current COVID-19/Coronavirus outbreak, we have encountered the usual amount of rumors, unsubstantiated claims, conspiracy theories, misinterpretations and outright lies from public elected officials, from the general public, on social media and on the Internet. This has inspired us to release another edition of the Forked Tongue Files. Here, we will examine several of these claims and consider the validity (or lack thereof) of each.

1. Is a Full “Lockdown” or the Building of “Herd Immunity” the Best Way to Combat the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Most countries around the world have now resorted to a variation of a “full lockdown” of civil society to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection from person to person, especially after the number of infections, hospital admissions and deaths began to skyrocket.

While the outbreak first gained worldwide attention after an alleged origin in so-called “wet markets” of exotic animals and produce in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, and it subsequently seemed to rage out-of-control in countries like China, Italy, and now the United States, the responses of several countries to the pandemic attracted attention for a variety of reasons. Of particular interest to us in this post are the responses of Singapore, who seemed to respond quickly to the virus; South Korea, where an initial outbreak was tamped down with a series of aggressive measures which may or may not be workable in the United States, and Sweden, whose more “laissez-faire” approach first garnered interest and some praise but may now be questioned as a recent surge in infections and deaths has occurred.

Singapore

The Organization for World Peace included an April 6 article by Naomi K. L. Wang, Can Singapore’s Response To Covid-19 Still Be An Example For The World? (https://theowp.org/can-singapores-response-to-covid-19-still-be-an-example-for-the-world/), which briefly describes the response of Singapore, using quarantines, extensive testing and tracing of people’s contacts, to keep the spread of the pandemic to a minimum. Coronavirus cases in Singapore were controlled for some time as a result, leading to expressions of praise from many world leaders. But as the disease has progressed worldwide and the resultant number of cases has increased even in Singapore, their strategy, though not in any way discredited, has been put to the test. Perhaps the strategy of Singapore will ultimately pass that test.

South Korea

The Daily Signal posted a report by Fred Lucas on March 27, 5 Things Americans Should Know About South Korea’s Handling of Coronavirus (https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/03/27/5-things-americans-should-know-about-south-koreas-handling-of-coronavirus/), which gave a brief description of that country’s handling of the outbreak, including increased surveillance and testing which may be difficult to implement in the United States due to civil-liberties concerns.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies published a March 27 report by Victor Cha and Dana Kim, A Timeline of South Korea’s Response to COVID-19 (https://www.csis.org/analysis/timeline-south-koreas-response-covid-19). Here is the introduction to that report, which can be read in full at the link above:

South Korea saw its first confirmed COVID-19 case on January 20. The rate of infection gradually moved to 30 by February 17. Then on February 18, media reports surfaced that a 61-year-old Korean woman tested positive for the virus in Daegu, South Korea’s third-largest city. Dubbed “Patient 31,” this particular case not only represented a critical point that led to the rapid transmission of the virus through the rest of Korean society. It also came to serve as a warning to the rest of the world by underscoring the grave consequences of failing to practice social distancing and self-isolation.

South Korea saw a steep spike of case numbers in the following weeks and reached its peak daily case count on February 29 – forty days after its first confirmed case on January 20 – with 909 new cases and up nearly 500 from the previous day. It became the second most infected country after China by early March. South Korea undertook a massive public and private sector effort to fashion a national response to the pandemic. Korea’s drive-through testing gained media attention around the world and was hailed as an ingenious measure to protect healthcare workers from exposure while providing expeditious results to prospective patients.

Now, two months after the first confirmed case, South Korea is commended for its efforts to contain the outbreak. Though the response was not without its flaws, the Korea case is distinct in several respects.

Early: An early and almost immediate response after the first case on January 20.
Speed: A premium on moving as quickly as possible in setting up a testing regime.
Transparency: Real-time and frequent information dissemination to the public.
Public-Private sector: Enlisting companies with needed resources in a private-public sector response.
National organization: Organized as a national effort rather than at the city, provincial, or local levels.

Through timely development and approval of a functioning diagnostic test, frequent dissemination of information and public resources, heightened border control, and meticulous contact mapping through patient questionnaires and GPS-based mobile applications, South Korea’s efforts to “flatten the curve” are seemingly working. While the United States outranked China on March 26, 2020 as the country with the highest number of infected patients with an upwards of 84,000 confirmed cases, Korea now sits tenth on the roster of nations with the highest numbers of coronavirus cases.

To document this trajectory of South Korea’s national response efforts against the spread of COVID-19, the CSIS Korea Chair created a timeline of events outlining policies and other measures implemented to date.

Sweden

An article on the Web site of the National Review, Has Sweden Found the Right Solution to the Coronavirus? by John Fund & Joel Hay, April 6, 2020 (https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-response-sweden-avoids-isolation-economic-ruin/) described Sweden’s initial strategy of a relaxed COVID-19 response, only requiring elders and people with underlying medical conditions to self-isolate, as “courageous” and implied that world leaders, including US president Donald Trump, who have criticized this approach, are shortsighted.

Unlike other countries, it has so far avoided both isolation and economic ruin.
If the COVID-19 pandemic tails off in a few weeks, months before the alarmists claim it will, they will probably pivot immediately and pat themselves on the back for the brilliant social-distancing controls that they imposed on the world. They will claim that their heroic recommendations averted total calamity. Unfortunately, they will be wrong; and Sweden, which has done almost no mandated social distancing, will probably prove them wrong. …

The problem with lockdowns is that “you tire the system out,” Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s chief epidemiologist, told the Guardian. “You can’t keep a lockdown going for months — it’s impossible.” He told Britain’s Daily Mail: “We can’t kill all our services. And unemployed people are a great threat to public health. It’s a factor you need to think about.”

If social isolation worked, wouldn’t Sweden, a Nordic country of 10.1 million people, be seeing the number of COVID-19 cases skyrocket into the tens of thousands, blowing past the numbers in Italy or New York City? As of today, there are 401 reported COVID-19 deaths in Sweden.

But an April 9, 2020 follow-up article from Time Magazine’s Mélissa Godin, Sweden’s Relaxed Approach to the Coronavirus Could Already Be Backfiring (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/swedens-relaxed-approach-to-the-coronavirus-could-already-be-backfiring/ar-BB12ohla?ocid=spartanntp), cast doubt on the efficacy of Sweden’s relatively relaxed approach:

Sweden has a relatively high case fatality rate: 7.68% of the Swedes who have tested positive for COVID-19 have then died of the virus. Neighboring countries, like Norway and Denmark, have case fatality rates of 1.46% and 3.85% respectively. (The U.S. case fatality rate is 3.21%.) While Sweden’s elevated case fatality rate could be a result of its low testing rates compared to its neighbors, experts say Sweden’s laissez-faire approach could also be to blame.

The Swedish government continues to advocate for relaxed measures. The Swedish Public Health Agency cautions citizens to cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze and wash hands regularly but does not call for lockdown measures. On March 11, the government cut down the size of permitted gatherings to 500, and only lowered that down to 50 on March 29. Other countries, like Germany and Australia, have prohibited gathering in groups larger than two. On Monday, Sweden declared that domestic flights would continue running, despite the risks domestic travel poses for spreading the disease.

2. Are 5G Cell Towers Connected to the CoronaVirus?

Several posts on Facebook have insisted that the real cause of the coronavirus pandemic is the proliferation of 5G (the 5th generation of wireless communication technology) cell phone towers. Despite the fact that these claims are made without providing any analysis of a causative link between 5G and coronavirus infection, authors of several of these posts not only insist that their theory is correct, but impugn the intelligence of any who question their conclusions. Even though epidemiologists have not publicly established a link between the electromagnetic energy of 5G and other wireless technology and the spread of infectious disease through bacteria or viruses, this tactic often has the desired effect of silencing critical analysis and debate about the issue and thus further fuels the rumor without needing to prove anything.

An April 9, 2020 article by James Temperton on the Web site of Wired (https://www.wired.com/story/the-rise-and-spread-of-a-5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory/), The Rise and Spread of a 5g Coronavirus Conspiracy Theory, details how a once-obscure theory from a doctor in Belgium gained adherents after his claims of a connection between 5G and coronavirus went, well, viral, and resulted in the burning of several 5G cell phone towers in the United Kingdom and, probably, elsewhere:

It started with one doctor. On January 22, Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws published an interview with Kris Van Kerckhoven, a general practitioner from Putte, near Antwerp. “5G is life-threatening, and no one knows it,” read the headline. One scientifically baseless claim in this article, published in a regional version of the paper’s print edition and since deleted from its website, sparked a conspiracy theory firestorm that has since torn through the internet and broken out into the real world, resulting in fires and threats. Van Kerckhoven didn’t just claim that 5G was dangerous: He also said it might be linked to coronavirus.

At the time, the outbreak was a comparative speck. It had claimed nine lives and infected 440 people, almost all of them in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Under the heading “Link met coronavirus?” the Het Laatste Nieuws journalist pointed out that since 2019 a number of 5G cell towers had been built around Wuhan. Could the two things be related? “I have not done a fact check,” Van Kerckhoven cautioned, before piling in. “But it may be a link with current events.” And so the fuse was lit.

Van Kerckhoven’s comments were quickly picked up by anti-5G campaigners in the Dutch-speaking world, with Facebook pages linking to and quoting from the article. Here, they claimed, was proof of something very dark indeed. Within days, the conspiracy theory had spread to dozens of English-language Facebook pages. But the conspiracy theory that Van Kerckhoven was peddling isn’t new. It has been bubbling away quietly for decades in unfounded concerns about high-voltage power lines in the 1980s to mobile phones in the 1990s. In coronavirus, such concerns had found a new hook.

We have read articles in the past that warned of possible side-effects of the then-new 4G communications technology. Those articles claimed that the signals emitted by 4G antennas may be disrupting the nervous systems if birds, butterflies and bees, which in turn could bring about a global collapse in the populations of the planet’s most important pollinators and lead to an environmental apocalypse. Other claims made the rounds about the possible neurological impacts on humans of 4G, and now 5G, signals. While these assertions have yet to be conclusively proven, they at least make some modicum of sense. That wireless signals would trigger the proliferation of a viral pathogen, however, have never been documented or proven, and don’t even make sense on a biological or epidemiological level. Until a causative relationship between 5G cell phone towers and COVID-19 infection can be substantiated, this claim only seems to be a distraction that can lead us to ignore the more obvious likely causes of the spread of a pandemic: physical contact or exchange of disease through breathing infected particles. Since the 5G claim seems to have been started by a Belgian doctor who incorrectly claimed Wuhan was the first location to use 5G towers (it was South Korea) and after only a handful of cases had even been reported (thus no statistically significant sample upon which to base any hypothesis), the spreading of this rumor with no evidence or documentation ranks with the “Black people are immune” assertion for lowering our collective vigilance and, in effect, helping lead our people to slaughter.

3. Do “Miracle Drugs” Work?

As the search for a treatment or a cure for coronavirus infection becomes more and more intense, attention is being focused on several drugs that have been promoted in one corner or another as possible cures. These medications have been touted often without thorough scientific studies or testing, and are sometimes based on hunches without any historical information or medical data to back up the claims. There are two prominent drugs that have received much of the attention.

Hydroxychloroquine

US president Donald Trump began to promote this drug during his press briefings in March, often mispronouncing the name as “Hydrochloroquine” or simply “Chloroquine”, a flub that resulted in tragedy when an Arizona couple swallowed tablets of chloroquine phosphate, used to disinfect fish tanks, thinking it was the same chemical. The husband fell gravely ill and died, while the wife was in critical condition in the hospital shortly thereafter, though she may thankfully be recovering. At one point she had reportedly admitted that she and her husband had heard Trump make reference to “chloroquine” and decided to try what they had on hand, perhaps reasoning, as Trump himself has said on several occasions, “what have we got to lose?”

For those who were listening more intently, hydroxychloroquine is a key ingredient in drugs that are taken to combat rheumatoid arthritis and related ailments. The drug is undergoing tests as you read this, but the side effects have not yet been studied to determine if the possible impact on heart rhythms, which can in rare cases be lethal, would constitute a sufficiently justifiable risk to make it a viable drug for COVID-19 patients.

Another complication comes from the occasional implications, proven or not, that Trump or members of his administration may be personally invested in drug companies that are attempting to establish hydroxychloroquine as the drug of choice for coronavirus patients. That, however, may be just another rumor.

Interferon Alpha 2B

This drug is profiled on the Web site Drugs.com (https://www.drugs.com/mtm/interferon-alfa-2b.html) and is described in slightly more descriptive terms on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferon_alfa-2b). A March 17, 2020 Counterpunch article by Helen Yaffe, Cuba’s Contribution to Combatting COVID-19 (https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/03/17/cubas-contribution-to-combatting-covid-19/), also discusses how interferons work, as well as how the drug was developed in Cuba and California, late-Carter-administration consultations between Dr. Clark Lee of the US, a team of Cuban doctors and a laboratory in Finland, and how the Cubans used the drug to halt an outbreak of dengue fever, which sparked the development of the Biological Front in 1981 and the establishment of the Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) in 1986:

Since its first application to combat dengue fever, Cuba’s interferon has shown its efficacy and safety in the therapy of viral diseases including Hepatitis B and C, shingles, HIV-AIDS and dengue. Because it interferes with viral multiplication within cells, it has also been used in the treatment of different types of carcinomas. Time will tell if Interferon Alfa 2b proves to be the wonder drug as far as COVID-19 goes.

Telesur English published an article on March 17, Cuba’s Interferon Alpha 2B, Successful in Treating COVID-19 (https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cubas-Interferon-Alpha-2B-Successful-in-Treating-COVID-19-20200317-0015.html):

In China, practically a few weeks after the beginning of the outbreak, people started to use Interferon in a way to avoid complications in people infected with the virus. According to Herrera, this molecule has “some side effects but not too critical.”

“The main idea of Interferon is just to avoid complications,” he told teleSUR. “Young people and people with a good immuno-response perhaps don’t need the medicine or people who won’t have complications and respond to the virus-like any other flu, but old people or people susceptible to have a bad immuno-response will have better chances of avoiding complications by using Interferon.”

He concluded that Cuba must participate in this solidarity movement with other nations, just “the same way other countries have had solidarity with Cuba, especially with Latin American and African countries.”

“We have more physicians working abroad than practically any other country in the world, not because we are exporting anything but simply because we want to participate in building a world with better health conditions and living conditions.”

Newsweek‘s Tom O’Connor wrote an article on March 24, 2020, Cuba Uses ‘Wonder Drug’ to Fight Coronavirus Around World Despite U.S. Sanctions (https://www.newsweek.com/cuba-drug-fight-coronavirus-us-sanctions-1493872):

The drug, called Interferon Alpha-2B Recombinant (IFNrec), is jointly developed by scientists from Cuba and China, where the coronavirus COVID-19 disease outbreak first emerged late last year. Already active in China since January, the Cuban Medical Brigades began deploying to dozens of nations, providing personnel and products such as its new anti-viral drug …

So far, while the Trump administration is concentrating on the development of hydroxychloroquine, it seems to be ignoring interferon alpha 2B, which appears to have more of a track record in treating a variety of diseases and is now being tried in China to treat coronavirus infections. This may be at least in part motivated by a desire to discredit anything developed and used by Cuba, as the US has resumed its efforts to isolate the island nation since the Trump administration took power in the US in 2017.

Still, this drug has not been subjected to the kinds of rigorous trials that would normally be held before officially declaring a drug safe to use. The apparent early successes of the drug in at least offering some treatment to coronavirus victims, however unverified they may be, and the dire circumstances of a global pandemic may justify moving forward before such trials are fully done, but it may still be premature to make a sweeping judgement of its efficacy before it is tested in controlled conditions by a worldwide cross-section of conscientious, thorough medical researchers and practitioners. It may indeed be a “wonder drug” that proves superior to remedies being researched and promoted by Western doctors, and it certainly deserves to be studied to ensure that is so. The apparent reluctance by US actors to even discuss it represents a prejudice against its Cuban promoters that may cost lives, but an honest study needs to be done.

4. Are Black People Immune to CoronaVirus?

In early to mid March, several videos and Facebook posts made the claim, in the absence of evidence, that “Black people were immune to the COVID-19 outbreak”. Not only did these reports either ignore or dismiss the reports of Afrikan Descendants from actor Idris Elba (including accusations that he was paid to report he had tested positive) to pro basketball players like Rudy Gobert and Kevin Durant having tested positive for coronavirus, not only did they ignore the recent death by coronavirus of Cameroonian Afrobeat/Afrojazz icon Manu Dibango, but they apparently also ignored the stories of everyday people of Afrikan descent who have become infected, suffered and even died from the disease.

A recent local tragic example was detailed in a story by Rachel DeSantis, 27-Year-Old Md. Grocery Store Worker Dies of Coronavirus: ‘Like a Hole in My Heart’ (https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/newsfeature/27-year-old-md-grocery-store-worker-dies-of-coronavirus-like-a-hole-in-my-heart/ar-BB12kwTJ?ocid=spartanntp) about 27-year-old Leilani Jordan , a grocery store clerk who continued to report to work to serve the seniors in her neighborhood until she fell ill.

A 27-year-old grocery store worker in Maryland who was devoted to helping people has died after contracting coronavirus, said her devastated family, who believe she was exposed to COVID-19 at work.

Leilani Jordan, whose mom Zenobia Shepherd lovingly referred to as “Butterfly,” was admitted to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on March 26, Shepherd wrote on a GoFundMe page. She died on April 1, according to the Washington Post and Fox affiliate WTTG.

Leilani’s brother Cedrick Jordan told WTTG that his sister, who worked as a greeter at a Giant supermarket in Largo, had cerebral palsy, and was considered the family’s “miracle baby.”

He said her symptoms were initially mild, and he was confident that she’d make a full recovery even after she was taken to the hospital.

“It was so fast. And I speak to my sister every day. When she was admitted, she was challenged, she was struggling with her respiratory health, and I could tell,” he said. “But it did not seem as severe as what it ended up being. And it just escalated so fast.” …

[Ms. Shepherd] said Leilani was particularly sympathetic to elderly customers, and felt strongly about continuing to go to work to help them out.

“She said, ‘Mommy, I’m going to work because no one else is going to help the senior citizens get their groceries.’ She only stopped going to work when she could no longer breathe,” Shepherd, who did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, told the Post. …

The supermarket’s website outlines various precautions they’ve taken to protect employees as well, including plastic face shields for all associates and plexiglass shields at cash registers, pharmacies and customer service desks.

Her brother Cedrick warns that coronavirus comes on strong, and quickly.

“Do not take this lightly. COVID-19, do not think it’s a façade or it’s a joke because it’s not,” he told WTTG. “It’s severe. Be safe. I lost my best friend. Please be safe.”

As of Wednesday morning, there were 4,371 cases and 104 deaths attributed to coronavirus in Maryland, according to The New York Times. The United States, meanwhile, had 397,754 cases and 12,956 deaths attributed to the virus.

Glen Burnie, Maryland radio station WFBR-AM 1590 featured an important show on the afternoon of Thursday, April 9 from Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty of Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign, this time focusing on the current situation of coronavirus and its impact, specifically, on Afrikan people. Guests were Dr. Patricia Newton, noted Afrikan-centered medical doctor and psychiatrist, who provided important clinical analysis, and a special guest who had personally endured the grueling process of recovering from the coronavirus illness after having at one time believed the claims by some online pundits that “Black people are immune to COVID-19.” We have secured permission to share the audio of that program on this site and it can be listened to here:

This is perhaps the most dangerous of the pieces of disinformation about COVID-19. The behavior of many younger people (attending spring break and beach parties, defying shelter-in-place orders and congregating in groups without protection) was an indication of their personal belief that the crisis would not touch them, that they were “bulletproof”. To foist the completely unproven theory on Afrikan people that we are somehow immune to this disease, with absolutely no scientific evidence to support such a claim, is not far removed from the old Biblical cliché of “leading the lambs to slaughter”.

5. Is the media simply out to “get” the Trump Administration?

Trump has waged an ongoing battle with the press from the beginning, railing against what he has long called the “fake news media” ever since the contention over the number of attendees at his inauguration. After Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders finally resigned from their respective posts as White House Press Secretary, Trump himself has given press briefs at the coronavirus press events, which have often spent as much time lauding the achievements of his administration and arguing with reporters as discussing the current status of the outbreak.

An April 9, 2020 article from the National Review, Pence Blocks Fauci, Birx from Appearing on CNN after Network Stops Airing Full White House Coronavirus Briefings by Zachary Evans, April 9, 2020 (https://www.nationalreview.com/news/pence-blocks-fauci-birx-from-appearing-on-cnn-after-network-stops-airing-full-white-house-coronavirus-briefings/), seems to highlight the ongoing struggle between the Trump administration and the so-called “fake news press”.

Vice President Mike Pence has blocked Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, as well as other top U.S. health officials, from appearing on CNN following the network’s decision to not air the White House coronavirus press briefings in full.

“When you guys cover the briefings with the health officials then you can expect them back on your air,” a spokesman for the vice president told CNN.
Trump and the White House Coronavirus Task Force, led by Pence, have been giving daily briefings to the press for several weeks after rising numbers of Americans have been infected. A CNN executive said that the network has sometimes cut away from the briefings after Trump speaks, and turns to a panel to fact-check the president. However, the network usually broadcasts only the president’s question-and-answer session.

Fauci and Birx regularly appear at the briefings to give updates on the status of the coronavirus epidemic within the U.S. Fauci has also appeared on CNN virtual townhalls on the coronavirus for the past five weeks, but will not be present this Thursday.

The New York Times, another outlet that has been a target of the Trump administration’s ire, stopped airing the briefings on its website entirely.
“We stopped doing that because they were like campaign rallies,” Elisabeth Bumiller, the paper’s Washington bureau chief, told the Washington Post. “The health experts often have interesting information, so we’re very interested in that, but the president himself often does not.”

This story was also reported by the Washington Examiner (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/pences-office-blocks-coronavirus-officials-from-going-on-cnn-over-briefing-coverage). A subsequent story on the Web site of The Hill by J. Edward Moreno, Pence reverses position barring coronavirus task force members from appearing on CNN: report (https://thehill.com/homenews/media/492120-pence-reverses-position-barring-coronavirus-task-force-members-from-appearing), indicated a reversal of this position, as did a follow-up story from CNN, White House reverses position after blocking health officials from appearing on CNN by Oliver Darcy (https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/09/media/pence-office-tv-bookings-coronavirus/index.html).

6. Is All of this just a Hoax?

There seem to be several variations of this theory, depending on one’s perspective.
Is the alleged “hoax” being played to disadvantage the right-wing conservative movement, which sees itself as the true “voice of the people” (though mainly White people) and is represented, or so think certain corners of the working class White community, by the stubborn, anti-science, anti-globalist but strongly Eurocentric White supremacist current administration? Trump himself seemed to push this claim early in the outbreak as he spoke before one of the last public rallies he would hold before the pandemic finally became real to him. CNBC published the story Trump says the coronavirus is the Democrats’ ‘new hoax’, Fri, Feb 28 2020, Updated Sat, Feb 29 2020, by Thomas Franck (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/trump-says-the-coronavirus-is-the-democrats-new-hoax.html). Trump has since backed away from the “hoax” talk, but his critics who have noted his many unhelpful statements, especially early in the pandemic when he appeared to try to minimize its severity, and those who followed his early advice to their detriment are not likely to forget his misinformed remarks.

Or is the hoax being played on the “free thinkers” among the Afrikan-descendant community who see their anti-Black-orthodoxy and anti-elite attitudes as the real independent political force in the US? Among this group we find those who consider hospitals to be death traps and vaccines to be poisons, and that the reason why so many Afrikan-Descendants have died during the outbreak was their decision to go to the hospital rather than the combination of a pandemic and the structural inequalities in living conditions, employment and healthcare access that complicate all aspects of our susceptibility to and recovery from COVID-19 infection. There is much to be suspicious of regarding the safety of vaccines (see the next paragraph) and hospitals (many of us know of someone who apparently died in hospital under less-than-clear circumstances), but in the absence of advice from medical professionals we can trust, decisions we make will ultimately amount to playing the game of “Who Do You Believe”. The establishment of a Pan-Afrikan Scientific and Medical Commission, perhaps a slightly more “revolutionary Pan-Afrikan” version of the National Medical Association (http://www.nmanet.org/), the National Black Nurses Association, Inc. (http://www.nbna.org/), the Association of Black Women Physicians (http://www.blackwomenphysicians.org/) or the African American Health Professional Organization, could provide the community some important guidance in matters such as these.

Or, could the hoax be a roundabout attempt by nefarious forces to use what some see as a genetically-engineered bioweapon created in a lab to push the latest potentially-dangerous vaccine on an unsuspecting and historically-oppressed population? Afrika has been the theater for the development of vaccines in the past that have been either suspected or demonstrated to have subjected the people to detrimental health effects in the name of “science”. The current movement toward testing proposed vaccines for COVID-19 in Afrika has not gone unnoticed by Pan-Afrikan activists who will fight tooth and nail against efforts to turn the people of the Mother Continent into the West’s latest guinea pigs. One theory about the development of HIV was that simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) was transferred, either accidentally or intentionally, to humans in the vaccines for polio, which then mutated to the deadly human immunodeficiency virus we know today as the direct cause of AIDS. The US military is already known to have experimented with many biological pathogens in laboratories in places like Fort Detrick, Maryland to study their possible weaponization, from e. coli to anthrax to ricin to Ebola.

Resisting the Hype

We have attempted to discuss some of the more pervasive claims that have too often led our people down the garden path to their own destruction. We recognize that we ourselves are not immune to being deceived by what appears to be truth, and thus we recommend the concerned and curious reader to check out the links in this article, look for exceptions and counterpoints to what we have shared here, and make a conscientious, reasoned, thorough analysis and argument that may dispel even what we have presented above. There has been a lot of disinformation placed in social media, in the halls of government officials, in the offices of the corporate bosses and in parts of the mass media. This disinformation is sometimes motivated by the desire some people have to appear “smarter” than everyone else by possessing alleged information and wisdom others do not. Some of the purveyors of these rumors, errors and lies may truly be convinced of the truth of what they are saying and writing because they trust whatever sources provided them with the information. And still others may simply like to see the rabble of humanity scurry about in confused desperation as the world burns around them. If humanity is to survive this pandemic with minimal loss of life or disruption to global civil society, the disinformation must end, those who create or proliferate the disinformation must be stopped, and accurate, verifiable information must be made available to the people. For Afrikan people, we must find and consult those among our learned scholars and Elders who truly know the secrets of science and medicine, of technology and geopolitics, of epidemiology and ethics, and consult their wisdom rather than the motives of those who would have us all dancing wildly to their tune like crack-addicted marionettes. The confusion and panic brought on by the rumor mill, the lies and the unverified conspiracy theories is a violation of the people’s right to know and a violation of Ma’at.

To those of you who see yourselves among the group of political-spinners, self-promoting know-it-alls, rumor-spreaders and fear-mongers, stop it. Now.

One of the consequences of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak that may not have occurred to people is the impact it is having on the operations of activist groups, especially grassroots organizations. Rallies, Town Hall Meetings, teach-ins, lectures, celebrations and commemorations are not being held because by definition they involve assembling people together in large groups that will be packed relatively tightly together. Several states have postponed political primary elections, including those for the Democratic nomination for president. While many organizations are using this time for reorganization, study and preparation for the day when mass gatherings are again possible, some are making moves to adjust to the inability to gather people together in one space. Some of these organizations have announced their immediate plans, while others will likely do so in the near future. Here are just a few:

The MARYLAND COUNCIL OF ELDERS (MCOE) (https://www.facebook.com/mcoe1958/); (https://bmorechristnewschr.wixsite.com/marylandcouncilofeld) is making plans for their annual Afrikan Liberation Day (ALD) event. The event has been held on a national level, concentrated in Washington, DC, for over thirty years, led by the All-Afrikan People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP). The last two years, ALD has been commemorated in Baltimore, Maryland by the Maryland Council of Elders (MCOE), many of whose members are also affiliated with the A-APRP. Those events were mass gatherings in Harlem Park and Lafayette Park in West Baltimore, but the current COVID-19 outbreak has rendered that plan all but impossible, as the state of Maryland has banned groups of that size from meeting and city parks remain closed for mass gatherings. The MCOE does not plan to let that derail the effort to observe ALD, however, and plans are being made for a “virtual symposium”, a panel discussion which would be broadcast over the Web on the last Friday of May, and a “virtual rally” on the last Saturday. This year’s event is likely to be scheduled on May 29-30, but further details will be announced on this page as well as the MCOE Facebook page after they have worked out the details.

The FOOD, CLOTHING AND RESISTANCE COLLECTIVE (https://www.facebook.com/fcrcollective/) has been conducting “Feed The People” events at which collected food is donated to poor residents. The current outbreak has, of course, added complications to their important work. But their effort continues to feed hungry communities, especially the homeless. A recent project is a mutual aid and emergency relief fundraising drive (https://www.facebook.com/donate/201582851152373/2765153733540515/):

Food, Clothing & Resistance Collective – Maroon Movement is doing a mutual aid & emergency relief fundraising drive, and pop-up distributions, for anyone who may need some “extra assistance” to stock up food, toiletries and medical supplies in Baltimore during this still very early stage of an emerging pandemic (Covid-19), in the middle of another pandemic (Influenza).

Due to so many local closures and loss of income for some now, and many others possibly in the near future, we as usual want to do our part to help out those who are most vulnerable in our community. Please help us with a monetary donation or donation of canned, boxed or bagged food items, baby formula, produce, toiletries (including pampers) and over the counter medical supplies.

For more info, or to set up a scheduled drop off of items, or to volunteer please message us or email us at: maroonmovement@gmail.com.

Thank you for your solidarity!

Additional Donation links:
Paypal: fcrcollective@gmail.com
Cashapp: $Simaleerbg
Venmo: @Simaleerbg
Bandcamp: simalee.bandcamp.com

HOUSING OUR NEIGHBORS (HON) (https://www.facebook.com/HousingOurNeighbors/); (www.HONBaltimore.org), a Baltimore-area community organization founded November 30, 2012 that advocates on behalf of the city’s homeless populations, posted an alert on March 22:

📣CALL TO ACTION: People living on the street or in shelters are some of the most vulnerable during this pandemic. Baltimore City has yet to take any serious measures to protect it’s homeless population. Current Mayor’s Office guidance for our crowded shelters includes such things as “encourage clients to sleep head to toe to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” which is not an evidence based practice to reduce the spread of a highly contagious virus. This is appalling and shows a lack of bold leadership in light of this crisis.

Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young alone has the ability to release funds and IMMEDIATELY move people into hotels or housing as we ride out this pandemic. We urge you to call Mayor Young NOW and demand he do just this.

Mayor Young: 410-396-4900

*Update: Try calling during business hours, as this does not have a working voicemail. You can also send him an email at Mayor@BaltimoreCity.gov or fill out the form here: https://mayor.baltimorecity.gov/contact-mayor

**If you can, also call your Council Member and ask them to help address this: http://www.baltimorecitycouncil.com/council-members

Please share with your networks and ask them to call too.
#cvd19 #coronavirus #covid19 #cv19 #homeless #baltimore #housing #humanrights #dignity

In case you’re not familiar with HON, here is some information on them from their Facebook page:

Our Mission:
Housing Our Neighbors is a community group comprised of people experiencing homelessness, allies and advocates promoting the human right to housing. We are working to end homelessness in Baltimore City through access to permanent affordable housing for all.

We advance the right to housing through education, leadership development, direct actions, political advocacy, and grassroots community organizing. We practice consensus decision making and believe that every voice will be heard and respected.

Background:
Housing Our Neighbors started in November 2012 with a group of homeless neighbors, community activists, and students who worked together on National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. We were inspired by the solidarity, demonstration, and dedication we experienced during the National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week- Baltimore Sleepout 2012. Following the sleep-out, we committed ourselves and invited others to attend weekly meetings, in order to establish a community of activists dedicated to awareness, advocacy and action to end homelessness in Baltimore.

Housing, nutrition, health care, education and a living wage are essential human rights. Housing Our Neighbors will see an end to homelessness in Baltimore City through policies and practices that respect everybody’s right to these core values.

To see more of our work, visit us at www.HONBaltimore.org

LEADERS OF A BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE (LBS) (https://lbsbaltimore.com/) issued the following statement regarding their adherence to “social distancing” in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus, but maintaining their commitment to continue with their essential mission:

The UJIMA PEOPLES PROGRESS PARTY (UPP) (https://www.facebook.com/UPPMaryland/) has issued several statements during the COVID-19 outbreak, and has posted video discussions of the issues surrounding universal healthcare, the for-profit sick-care system and the marginalization of the efforts of nations like Cuba, which not only welcomed a United Kingdom cruise ship into its harbor to assist in treating several Covid-19-positive passengers according to an article on the Web site of The Independent (https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-cruise-cuba-trump-us-covid-19-a9407846.html?fbclid=IwAR1W9jQeyqqmbWrdn1REIA46UvnC3fsegeTaIY-5EPog2iW4AzFP3NoIMng), but has also pioneered the use of the drug Interferon Alpha-2b as a treatment. The success of Cuba’s efforts hasn’t been widely reported, and thus anti-Cuba critics will refuse to recognize them.

One of UPP’s recent posts reads as follows:

People outside the Black community often wonder why our folks are suspicious of U.S. health system information and advisories.

As we deal with COVID-19 worldwide, we need to listen to information from the CDC, state medical officials and personal physicians. We also need to use our common sense and remember that the U.S. ruling class has never valued the health of Black workers and poor people.

We have been under served and marginalized by the U.S. profit driven medical system. Our demand for Black community controlled and free universal healthcare for all centers our need as a nation and class to have power over our lives. Never again can large sectors of our people be misused as guinea pigs for medical experiments and treatments.

We stand for universal health care and community control of healthcare facilities.

We call for a single-payer-universal-health-care plan for all residents of Maryland. We call for the expanded access to holistic healthcare practitioners to provide more medical care options for residents. We call the empowerment of communities to have healthcare access that specifically serves the health needs of the residents of the local communities.

The COVID-19 national crisis is exposing all the fault lines in the facade of the American public health system.

CLLCTIVLY was established five years ago in an effort to develop a platform through which different organizations are able to cooperate with each other,  especially in the area of cooperatively pooling and sharing resources and energy. In many ways, CLLCTIVLY seeks to establish a spirit consistent with that of the Cooperative Coalition we have often discussed and sought to establish in the Baltimore, Maryland area (See the “Spokes of the Wheel” article elsewhere on this site) and of the more global Pan African Diaspora Union (PADU) which was pursued in 2011-2012 to unite Afrikan-centered organizations from across the United States and in Afrika, Europe, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. This is CLLCTIVLY’s statement explaining its founding:

In 2015 after the death of Freddie Gray, a coalition of grassroots activists and concerned citizens came together to form Baltimore United for Change. In the days following the Uprising we launched a skills bank to create an “on ramp” for concern community members that wanted to serve. Over 260 individuals and organizations answered the call.

Community organizations often work in silos, these silos lead to fragmentation, fragmentation leads to duplication, and duplication leads to wasted resources – time, talent and treasure. The first phase of our project (CLLCTIV ASSETS) will create an online asset map/directory of organizations in Greater Baltimore listed by neighborhood and area of concentration.

CLLCTIVLY is a hyper-local social change ecosystem using an asset-based framework to focus on racial equity, narrative change, and social connectedness.

Our mission is to end the fragmentation and duplication of programs, to learn from and about each other, and to be a resource for the Greater Baltimore community that seeks to find, fund and partner with Black social change organizations.

The organization released a statement on March 19 in support of their COVID-19 Response Survey, which they hope will assist them in better fulfilling their mission in this time of “social distancing”.

CLLCTIVLY and our partners recognize that COVID-19 and the necessary public health measures to address it will affect our community in many ways – in the weeks ahead and the months to come.

Please take a moment to fill out the survey at https://cllctivly.typeform.com/to/urbZ78?mc_cid=39acea2328&mc_eid=2cc3ee829e. Your input will help us better support one another as we chart new territory.

As more information comes to our attention about organizational responses to the COVID-19 outbreak, we will make it available to the Community through our Web site, as will the different organizations involved from their Web sites and Facebook pages.

The onset of the Covid-19 or “Coronavirus” pandemic has shocked communities around the world. It has taken governments by surprise and provoked responses that have in several cases only served to make the situation worse in their effort to either deny the seriousness of the contagion or conceal their own negligence in the spread of the disease. Meanwhile, as citizens of the world’s affected countries struggle to make sense of the crisis, some have led themselves and others down the gardsen path of conspiracy theory, paranoia and xenophobia. The possibility that some of their suspicions may have merit does not change the fact that turning on one another is perhaps the worst response to what threatens to rival the 1918 flu pandemic in its potential to kill millions of people, perhaps due to misinformed and panicked reactions to what might otherwise be a manageable crisis.

While the time will come to point fingers at self-centered propagandists who sowed panic and at corrupt or incompetent politicians who failed to respond in a timely manner to the crisis or deceived themselves and the public about the seriousness of this contagion, the most important questions for many of us at this uncertain time are, What exactly is Covid-19 or the “Coronavirus”? What organizations are working on the ground to render assistance, provide information or advocate for struggling and marginalized communities? What do we need to know and do right now to protect ourselves and stay healthy, while the health care system seems to be in the process of being overwhelmed and political leaders seem unable to adequately respond to the situation?

We’ve often gotten initial information from Web sites like Wikipedia, primarily because the rather communal nature of the site (contributions from a variety of researchers and writers who share their information in a rather “open-source” fashion) seems to minimize corporate or political influence on the information, and their extensive use of footnotes indicates a degree of journalistic integrity in that shared information is not only researched (as opposed to being limited to the writer’s personal opinions), but is also shared so readers can check the sources. The following are excerpts from Wikipedia’s article on Coronavirus 2019 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus_disease_2019):

Coronavirus disease 2019
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Symptoms: Fever, cough, shortness of breath[6]
Complications: Pneumonia, ARDS, kidney failure
Prevention: Correct hand washing technique, cough etiquette, avoiding close contact with sick people or subclinical carriers

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since spread globally, resulting in the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. Common symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Muscle pain, sputum production and sore throat are less common. While the majority of cases result in mild symptoms, some progress to severe pneumonia and multi-organ failure. The rate of deaths per number of diagnosed cases is on average 3.4%, ranging from 0.2% in those under 20, to approximately 15% in those over 80 years old.

The infection is typically spread from one person to another via respiratory droplets produced during coughing and sneezing. Time from exposure to onset of symptoms is generally between two and 14 days, with an average of five days. The standard method of diagnosis is by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) from a nasopharyngeal swab. The infection can also be diagnosed from a combination of symptoms, risk factors and a chest CT scan showing features of pneumonia.

Recommended measures to prevent infection include frequent hand washing, maintaining distance from others, and not touching one’s face. The use of masks is recommended for those who suspect they have the virus and their caregivers, but not the general public. There is no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19. Management involves treatment of symptoms, supportive care, isolation, and experimental measures.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak a pandemic and a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Evidence of local transmission of the disease has been found in many countries across all six WHO regions.

Although those infected with the virus may be asymptomatic, many develop flu-like symptoms including fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Less commonly, upper respiratory symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose, or sore throat may be seen. Gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are seen in a minority of cases, and some of the initial cases in China presented with only cardiac symptoms, like chest tightness and palpitations. In some, the disease may progress to pneumonia, multi-organ failure, and death.

As is common with infections, there is a delay from when a person is infected with the virus to when they develop symptoms, known as the incubation period. The incubation period for COVID-19 is typically five to six days but may range from two to 14 days.

Mild cases typically recover within two weeks, while those with severe or critical disease may take three to six weeks to recover. Among those who have died, the time from symptom onset to death has ranged from two to eight weeks. …

Dr. Li Wenliang (right), a doctor at Central Hospital of Wuhan and one of the first to warn others about the disease, sadly contracted COVID-19 himself and later died.

The virus’ tragic real-world impact on “the people on the ground” was reported in a March 18, 2020 article by Kelly McLaughlin (https://news.yahoo.com/5-members-single-jersey-family-142749752.html) about a New Jersey family that contracted COVID-19 at a family gathering. When the article was written, two of the family members had died, and at least one other member succumbed to the disease shortly after the article was written.

An ABC News article by Erin Shumaker, Coronavirus map: Tracking the spread in the US and around the world (https://abcnews.go.com/Health/coronavirus-map-tracking-spread-us-world/story?id=69415591), appears to track the daily status of the COVID-19 outbreak across the United States. The article was initially written on March 18, 2020 and has been updated on a regular basis as the crisis develops.

Measures taken by World Governments, the United States Government and Local Governments in the US

In the early stages, several world leaders seemed to engage in a contest to see who could most effectively deny the seriousness of the outbreak until the contagion had gone nearly out-of-control. China had initially silenced Dr. Li Wenliang when he had tried to warn the public about the danger of the outbreak, even forcing him to sign a statement that he had overstated his claims before the contagion had become so serious that Dr. Li himself became infected and later died from COVID-19. In the United States, president Donald Trump had initially insisted that the virus would diminish by April and that Americans had nothing to worry about before the explosive spread of coronavirus diagnoses forced him to reverse his field and claim that the US was now “at war” with the virus and that he had always known this to be the case.

A number of administration officials have been placed in charge of the US response, largely under the leadership of vice president Mike Pence, and so far the steps taken have concentrated on economic measures to stem the damage to the stock market (to little effect) and the general economy (some of which may lend assistance to those whose jobs have been suspended and businesses closed due to the collapse of the personal-service sector). Trump’s remarks have included information on measures his administration has taken and will take, though they are sometimes better remembered for his occasional boasts of the “great job” he and his administration are doing and his arguments with members of the press, calling one reporter a “terrible journalist” and disparaging another’s question as “nasty”. While immunologist, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force Dr. Anthony Fauci has discussed certain important medical issues at these almost-daily press conferences, governors across the US have been increasingly asking for more, calling for emergency federal action to authorize the mobilization of the military to send critically-needed supplies to a hospital system that many fear is on the verge of collapse. Nurses and doctors have pleaded for protective gear while they have sometimes been advised to make their own or even use scarves and bandanas in place of tested and approved protective gowns, gloves and masks. And testing kits remain in short supply, so that the intensive testing regimen that was employed by Singapore and other nations that have more effectively handled the outbreak remains an impossibility in the US. Notably, /west Virginia was the last state to report a positive coronavirus test, but that was likely due to the lack of a clear testing procedure which made the effective diagnosis (and thus identification and treatment) of West Virginians who experienced symptoms impossible for some time.

The shortage of heavier hospital equipment is also a critical concern. US automakers have ceased production of cars and trucks and it has been proposed that they retool their factories to build respirators that will be needed in the event that the virus continues its spread, leading to pneumonia-like symptoms that will require patients to obtain assistance breathing. The state of Washington and its associated counties have purchased motel buildings to convert them to makeshift hospitals, and took over an athletic field to build a tent hospital there, likely inspired by the Chinese government’s erecting a full hospital on an empty lot in a matter of days as their response to the outbreak became more serious. This type of technological and industrial improvisation may become a critical part of a comprehensive response to the outbreak.

An increasing number of governors have instituted control measures to help prevent transmission of the virus between citizens. Maryland, California, Michigan, Washington State, Illinois, Florida and New York were among the first to institute practically everything short of curfews and martial law, closing restaurants, theaters and shopping malls, banning gatherings of more than fifty or even ten people, and urging citizens to regularly wash their hands or use hand sanitizers in an effort to kill germs that may include the Covid-19 virus and practice “social distancing”, maintaining a personal perimeter of at least six feet and keeping that distance from other persons.

Grocery and warehouse stores have responded to the initial frenzy of panic-buying that saw a run on toilet paper, hand sanitizer, bottled water and non-perishable goods by instituting limits on the numbers of specific items that could be purchased in any single visit. My personal experience was that hand sanitizer was the first item to go from the shelves. Less than a week later, friends were posting on Facebook photos of empty shelves that once stocked toilet paper. During the week of March 15-21, signs at the local Costco announced a limit of one item of fresh chicken (though by that time, the bin was empty anyway), fresh ground beef (also none to be found anyway) and frozen ground beef, and certainly other items as well. Grocery stores, fast food and other restaurants are making an effort to adjust to this situation by instituting free delivery of meals and grocery items so customers can shop while avoiding contact with others.

Meanwhile, the populace has apparently responded with a variety of attitudes from blissful ignorance (apparently believing Trump’s initial assertion that the outbreak would abate shortly, or that the worst effects of the contagion simply would not happen to them) to suspicion (those who believe that the outbreak is a hoax or an attempt to distract the population from a more nefarious agenda, which in turn causes them to question the seriousness of the infection) to near-panic (runs on the stores and hoarding of massive quantities of essential goods, coupled with fatalistic predictions of what is going to take place). Claims that Afrikan people were immune were circulated for a brief while, despite the reports of even famous celebrities such as actor Idris Elba, professional basketball star Kevin Durant and Afrobeat composer/musician Manu Dibango becoming infected, among others. Suspicions have been raised that Covid-19 is actually a biological weapon designed to target specific populations, but those claims have not been backed up with evidence, and the fact that the disease has struck people from practically all countries and races casts that theory in doubt. Somewhere in that range of reactions there are those who are staying informed, doing principled research to determine the nature of the disease and its possible origin, but in the meantime increasing their clear-eyed vigilance with regard to hygiene, avoiding unnecessary contact with others and making themselves and their environments as healthy and clean as possible.

One major casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the social interactions that we all take for granted. Except for those few who continued to assemble in groups against all advice to attend Spring Break events, go to the beach in Florida or visit the cherry blossoms in Washington, DC, gatherings have been cancelled for fear of risking spreading the virus. Not only has this cast a pall over what would have been any number of family and community social gatherings, but it also has curtailed the activities of grassroots organizations that normally meet with community members as a fundamental part of their outreach to the people. The key is to serve the community by reaching out but to also serve the community by doing everything possible to maintain the people’s safety. Future posts will discuss the responses of some of the Pan-Afrikan and community organizations to the outbreak as they work to maintain their effectiveness in this trying time.

Tune in to WFBR 1590 AM for a live interview this Thursday, March 5th @1-2pm with Mama Tomiko Shine, Editor of the new book authored by Ancestor and longtime prisoners’ activist Abdul Jabbar Caliph, Organizing and Rebuilding the African Working Class through Pan-Africanism and Socialism.

Baba Abdul Jabbar Caliph’s essays, letters and other communications pertaining to the struggle of America’s Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War and Aging Prisoners are compiled and organized in this book that provides an important glimpse into the struggle for justice in the United States prison system as well as the tireless and often thankless work that has been and is still being done by activists such as Baba Abdul Jabbar Caliph and carried on today by Mama Tomiko Shine and her organization Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign (APPHRC).

Information on the Radio Broadcast:
1:00-2:00 PM Eastern Time
WFBR 1590 AM in Baltimore City
https://tunein.com/radio/WFBR-1590AM-Baltimore-s29972/
Call in no. 410-761-1592

There will also be a Book Discussion and Signing on Saturday, March 21st from 1-3pm at the following location:
Little Africa HQ
741 Dolphin Street
Baltimore, MD 21217

Refreshments will be available.

For further information call Baba John at 443-531-2817.

February 15, 2020, 5:00 – 11:00 PM
Our Victorious City
Emerald Dinner
Great Blacks In Wax Museum, 1601 E. North Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21213

Our Victorious City (OVC) was established in honor of Victorious Khan Swift, a very charismatic, creative and committed youth leader in Baltimore City who was tragically snatched from the living world on March 26, 2017, by an armed robber. Ironically, his assailant was likely one of the people he fought for along with other strong Pan-Afrikan activists in the long, often painful and usually thankless struggle for truth and justice on the streets of Baltimore City.

Victorious Khan Swift’s 22nd Earth Day (Birthday) would have been this coming February 17. Every year, in his honor, his mother, community organizer and Elder Mama Victory Swift, organizes the Emerald Dinner, which is held at the Historic Great Blacks In Wax Museum in East Baltimore. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, February 15.

Mama Victory Swift, Founder and Chairperson of Our Victorious City, offers these comments on her Facebook page:

“Party for a great cause! It is our pleasure to invite you to be a part of our 2020 celebration of Our Victorious City 3rd Annual Emerald Dinner & Dance to be held on Saturday, February 15, 2020, at The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum from 5 pm -11 pm Located at 1601 E. North Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21213. Included is a Museum tour from 5 pm – 6 pm. An OVC T-shirt is included per tickets/donations of $100.00 or more. The fundraiser is for the Victorious K. Swift Scholarship Funds and Our Victorious City Educator of the Year Scholarship. Scholarships will also honor and remember the lives of Councilman Kenneth Harris and Tariq Sharif Alston.

“The celebration will include:
*Dinner
*Dancing
*Raffle
*Silent Auction
*Dress to impress a semi-formal affair.”

For more information, call 833-9-VICTORIOUS (833-984-2867) or email ourvistoriouscity@gmail.com.

Be sure to check this site’s Events Calendar, as well as subsequent posts, for other Pan-Afrikan events as they are announced to us.

If your organization is sponsoring a Pan-Afrikan event that it would like to see announced on KUUMBAReport Online, please be sure to contact us at cliff@kuumbareport.com.

January 18, 2020, 1:00 – 4:00 PM
Maryland Council of Elders
Town Hall on the Industrial Police Intelligence Complex (IPIC)
Harlem Park Recreation Center, 700 N, Calhoun Street, Baltimore, MD

The Maryland Council of Elders (MCOE) was founded in January 2018 after members of the grassroots community nominated several Elders at a public Town Hall Meeting to provide guidance and critical information on key issues impacting People of Afrikan Descent in the State of Maryland and Baltimore City. The MCOE has taken on that role with an understanding of the seriousness of the situation our people face. Thus, the MCOE has sponsored or co-sponsored several community Town Hall Meetings since 2018, the most recent of which were the October 12 Town Hall Meeting on Violence in the Community and several commemorations of the Kwanzaa Holiday. Now, the MCOE has taken on the issue of what they refer to as the Industrial Police Intelligence Complex (IPIC).

“The Maryland Council of Elders is increasingly alarmed by a system that is designed to harass, displace and criminalize our people and the communities we live in. We will discuss Policing in Baltimore, the School-to-Prison Pipeline and plans to criminalize, incarcerate and kill Black People, immigrants and the poor and War.”

The event will be held Saturday, January 18 from 1 to 4 PM at the Harlem Park Recreation Center, 700 N. Calhoun Street in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information, contact the Maryland Council of Elders at (410) 419-2999; (202) 628-6884; (443) 253-2643; by email at MarylandCouncilofEldersBmore@gmail.com; or on Facebook at “Maryland Council of Elders”.

Be sure to check this site’s Events Calendar, as well as subsequent posts, for other Pan-Afrikan events as they are announced to us.

If your organization is sponsoring a Pan-Afrikan event that it would like to see announced on KUUMBAReport Online, please be sure to contact us at cliff@kuumbareport.com.

The 12th International Summit of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) was held on Friday and Saturday, October 25 and 26, 2019, at the International Longshoremen’s Association Hall in Charleston, South Carolina. This was the same location as the 2010 International Summit the last time it was held here. The weekend was ably organized by the South Carolina Organizing Committee of SRDC.

Members and organizational allies came from California, Washington State, Maryland, South Carolina, Central America (via New York), Belize, The Gambia and Liberia. We thank the South Carolina SRDC Organization for planning and organizing a course-defining conference and creating a welcoming environment for the attendees.

The theme for the Summit was a discussion of 21st Century Pan-Afrikanism. A panel discussion was held that featured several organizers from the United States, Central America and Afrika. Details about the panel discussion, including audio and video clips, are featured in the article “21st Century Pan-Afrikanism: The SRDC Summit Panel, October 26, 2019”.

The first day, Friday afternoon, began with a Tambiko or Libation ceremony, in which the attendees invoke the Creator, the different manifestations of the Creator (Orisha, Nsamamfo, Netcheru, and other subordinate Afrikan spiritual Ancestral deities analogous to the Archangels of Protestantism and the Patron Saints of Catholicism), and the Honored Ancestors of our families and of the global Black Struggle against oppression and toward the unity and uplift of Afrikan People. Names were invoked such as the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Harriet Tubman, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Steve Biko, Sojourner Truth, Henry Sylvester Williams, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Shirley Chisholm, Jomo Kenyatta, Amilcar Cabral, Fannie Oou Hamer, Frederick Douglass, Thomas Sankara, Malcolm X, Dr. Betty Shabazz, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Yvette Colvin, Rosa Parks and so many others. The purpose is for the positive energy and spirit that imbued these Honored Ancestors would continue to inspire us to carry on with their historic and mighty work on behalf of Afrikan People.

At the conclusion of the outdoor ceremony, the attendees took their seats inside the spacious hall of the International Longshoremen’s Association, a Black association of the longshoremen and dock workers who have helped make Charleston a valuable port on the east coast of the United States. The Charleston longshoremen had participated in the shipping of relief supplies to The Bahamas in the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Dorian earlier in the year, and will figure prominently in efforts to ensure the safe transport of important goods and services to Afrika as the Diaspora’s connection to our ancestral home becomes stronger and stronger.

Once seated inside the International Longshoremen’s Hall, the Summit’s program officially began.

The theme of this year’s Summit was “21st Century Pan-Afrikanism”, and included a panel discussion on that topic on the second day. The signature achievement of the Summit, or as SRDC’s International Facilitator, Professor David L. Horne, defines our task now as “doing something and not just talking about it”, was the commencement of the process of planning and building the first public library in Liberia’s history. We have featured an introductory article about this project on this Web site, which can be read here. You can read about the concrete steps that were taken at the Summit to get the library project underway, to begin “doing something”, here.

This article will feature the opening remarks from SRDC’s South Carolina Facilitator, Bro. Kumasi Palmer; the Director of the Liberian advocacy organization Sehwah, Sis. Louise Siaway; and SRDC’s International Facilitator, Professor David L. Horne.

Kumasi Palmer, South Carolina Facilitator, SRDC

The SRDC South Carolina team consisted of Facilitator Bro. Kumasi Palmer and Organizing Committee members Bro. Fred Lincoln, Sis. Deborah Wright, Evangelist Patricia Wright and a number of local activists, with direct ties to the local Charleston community as well as the Geechie-Gullah communities that inhabit the coastal areas and the barrier islands of South Carolina. Bro. Kumasi introduced us to the weekend’s activities and stressed the on-the-ground emphasis of SRDC.

“Welcome to Charleston, a historical town. We are here, talking about us. We’re here from South Carolina, from North America, from South America, the Caribbean, Central America, and the Afrikan Continent. This whole program is revolving around us, and our work to reconnect to Afrika. We have a number of folk from the Continent of Afrika itself. We have on the program an organization called Sehwah, which is located in Liberia, being led by Ms. Louise Siaway.

“SRDC is … a Pan-Afrikan organization … that is where we are headed as a people worldwide, getting together globally. We need to become a global people. When we become a global people, then we develop power and influence. The problems in America, the problems in the Caribbean, the problems in Central America where our people are located, will never be resolved until Afrika is free, independent and powerful as a base. That’s been understood historically by Marcus Garvey, it was understood historically by Kwame Nkrumah, by and also Malcolm X. They were always saying we have to have a base. Afrika is our base, and after we become strong and independent, the world will respect us. It has to be [based on how] we see it. [For a lot of people] who are not here, they don’t understand this concept. We understand it as a strong moral concept, and it’s going to grow.

“Anyway, SRDC, we’ll get more into that as we move forward tonight and tomorrow. It is a Pan-Afrikan organization that has been working diligently to try to bring Afrikan people together worldwide. We do go to the Afrikan Continent. David Horne is our chief facilitator. We’ve been traveling to Brazil, we’ve traveled to Nicaragua, we’ve traveled to Honduras, we’ve connected to the CABO Organization, Central American Black Organization … we’ve been doing that for the last ten years, just hooking people up, and introducing them to Afrika and the concept of coming together as a people globally. … this is what we’ve been doing. And tonight, this is just an introduction to who we are and what we’re all about. And we have a special group of people here tonight, from Liberia, who we have invited. We are working diligently now with an organization called Sehwah, on the Afrikan Continent. And one of our major projects is to build a public library in Liberia. That’s what we’re doing. We’ll talk about that more, but it’s about work, practical Pan-Afrikanism, what can we do together to help build Afrika, and empower Afrikan people around the world.

“With that, I’m going to stop, and get this program going. I’m going to introduce to you the first person who is going to come up to speak to us. As I said there are a number of people with us here tonight. We won’t hear from all of them, but we’re from Seattle, we’re from California, we’re from Maryland, and we’ve got chapters in different parts of the country and we have affiliated organizations in other parts of the world.

“So, we’ve got our Sister right here from Central America, Honduras, Spanish-speaking Afrikan people, Sis. Mirtha Colon, who is here with us tonight, traveling all the way from New York City, where she now lives, but she’s representing the Central American Black Organization, which is the major Black organization in Central America. So we’re connected worldwide. You’re going to hear from some of these folks as we develop our panel discussions in our workshops tomorrow. But right now I want to introduce Sis. Louise Siaway, who is going to come up and give us a few words about who she is, what she’s doing. Louise is the former Minister of Culture in the Liberian government under the [Ellen Johnson Sirleaf] administration. So now she’s working with an organization called Sehwah, and we’re working diligently with her to make this library project a reality. We have collected thousands of books already, and we will collect thousands more. Louise Siaway.”

Ms. Louise Siaway, Director of Sehwah-Liberia

“Thank you. Well, first of all, I would like to introduce my honorable Deputy Secretary of the Liberian Embassy, she is the Minister Counsel. She is the higher authority in the house. Next to her is the director of ACA, that is responsible for the public library in Liberia. We also have the Director for Projects at the National Archives. So, I want to give their names, not just giving their positions, the Honorable Madame Sophia Togba Mawle is our senior government official here in the US. Her reason for being here is that anything that we’re going to do in Liberia will go through her department, her office. It may be a public library. It may be an investment opportunity in Afrika. It begins in Liberia. Because, like Kumasi said, now, for SRDC to have an office on the Continent, it is historically placed in Liberia.

“And I want to say thank you to the SRDC members. We will go into more detail tomorrow, how we begin bridging the gap between us. You are Afrikan-American, I am an Afrikan. We are one.

“So, unity is what I’m going to talk about tomorrow. Unity and connectivity. You see, from here to Afrika is not that far. Afrika is right here, in your community. Your culture, what you eat, are what make you an Afrikan. So when I travel to other countries, from Liberia, into Europe, I’m an Afrikan. If you leave here and go to Europe, you’re an Afrikan. They’re not going to say, ‘Oh, Louise is an Afrikan-Liberian.’ Or, Afrikan-American. You are an Afrikan. So that makes us very unique, and this unity that we started last year, we shall say thank you again to the SRDC Family. The opening of the office in Liberia is the beginning of our relationship, this family and how we come together. And one of the most important things in Afrika is that, it isn’t to just criticize and say ‘Oh, why is it that other foreign people are coming in here and looting our wealth, our natural resources?’ But, it is not them, it’s us. We have one united role. We will be able to make it beneficial of the natural resources in Afrika. Afrika is very rich. It’s not poor. The minerals, the iron ore, the diamonds, the gold, the timber. Once upon a time, Liberia was exporting shrimp, seafood, because we are on the west coast of Afrika. So, business opportunity is huge. It only takes one step, and that’s the step we’ve already taken, last year, March, when we signed the MOU [Memorandum of Understanding], and the [SRDC] office was launched in Liberia. So tomorrow, I will give you mire detail, where we are. I have a responsibility, and my responsibility is to strengthen the relationship between the Diaspora and the African Union. And you will get the report tomorrow, how far we’ve come, and what we have done, on the Continent. Thank you.”

21st Century Pan-Afrikanism Must Be About Building: Remarks from Prof. David L. Horne, Lead Facilitator, SRDC

Prof. Horne was among the original founders of SRDC, and he has served as the organization’s leader since its beginnings in 2006. After years of pushing to establish a voice for the Pan-Afrikan Diaspora in the African Union, SRDC has included a number of practical strategies in our effort to connect the Diaspora to our ancestral home. The following were his comments to officially open the Summit on Friday evening, October 25.

“Good evening. …

“I’m not here to talk about problems. We’ve all got problems. What we don’t have enough of are solutions and projects to solve the problems. They start teaching us in grade school, here’s how to recognize the problems. And some of us even paid attention long enough to find out, after learning to recognize it, how to solve it. Black folk are great problem solvers. … Without having been great problem solvers, we would not be here. They would have taken us out. They have tried to take us out. They are still trying to take us out! We ain’t going nowhere. Whatever you throw at us, we get up, clean up, keep on moving.

“A few years ago, some people said, ‘You know, there are over eighteen thousand public libraries in a small country like Italy.’ Eighteen thousand! In America’s only official colony on the Afrikan Continent, the one that they dropped and now want to talk about, America’s only official colony, Liberia, there is not even one public library. Not one. Now think about what impact that’s having on the education of our children. Our children will take us into the future. And we will have a future. We can complain about what we don’t have in Liberia. Or we can start building. Start moving. So Louise came up with the idea, and I’m a typical Black man, I know how to follow a strong Black woman. She said, You know, we can work this out, cooperate, and do something really unique here. We can build our own library, not go and beg somebody else to do it for us. We can build our own.

“Part of what we’re going to talk about at this conference is building. Last week, as the other part of what we do, we had a Pan African Business and Trade Conference in northern California. It went very well. We had a number of Afrikan visitors, some from Uganda, some from Ghana, some from Nigeria. They wanted to talk about California making arrangements to trade with Afrika. Not just to wait until 45 or someone else says ‘We don’t want to talk to those people’. California has a larger economy than 95% of the countries in the world. And California said that it is ready to start trading directly with the Continent. So we were having this conference, cooperating and learning to engage with each other, and it occurred to me that our Global African comrades who were there — and we’re all Global Afrikans; there are Global Afrikans who live on the Continent and there are Global Afrikans who live right here in South Carolina; we’re all Afrikans; we were born Afrikans, we’ve been Afrikans and we are still Afrikans – but it occurred to me that our Nigerian friends, my South Afrikan friends … woke up every day, knowing that they were Afrikan. Knowing that they were part of a country, part of a land, part of a community. They knew they were Afrikan because they were raised to be Afrikan. I was not born in Afrika. Unfortunately, they took us away. But Afrika was born in me. And because of that connection, my life has a purpose. We are to reconnect each other, and with each other. That young child has to know, has to be taught, that there is nothing wring with Afrika, because that’s you.

“We have some other practical issues that we have to talk about before the end of the conference. … One of the practical ideas that we’re going to talk about is this ideas of the African Union, the real Pan-Afrikan organization that is operating now, hooking up with the Diaspora. We’re supposed to be part of that, we’re supposed to be in the building. We’re supposed to be part of the discussions. Well, they have not really fully allowed that, so we’re going to take it anyway. We’re going to take our place. And one of the ways that we’re going to take our place, because we have to have something worth it, we’ve got to have something in the fight, and simply saying that we want to go back home to Ghana, or go back home to Niger, or go back home to Liberia, is not enough. So what we are demanding and what we are working on is something we call Dual Citizenship, because if these crazy people get too crazy, we’ve got to have someplace else to go. If we want to. There are 250 Diasporans living in Ghana right now who have just been made citizens of Ghana. Without giving up their American passports or Jamaican passports or Trinidadian passports. They’ve got two. They’ve got two. And the [US] State Department, even under 45, is not interfering in the idea of /Dual Citizenship. We now have that on the table, we’re going to win that battle.

“Again, we’re not just talking about what the problem is, but how to solve it. Thank you.”

After Professor Horne’s initial remarks that Friday evening, there were cultural presentations from several locally-connected Afrikan Drumming schools, who performed drum and dance routines for the assembled guests based on traditions from Afrikan and the nearby Geechie-Gullah communities.

On the morning of Saturday, October 26, Prof. Horne again called the Summit to order and introduced the topic for the panel discussion on 21st Century Pan-Afrikanism that would be taken up later that afternoon:

“Welcome to Charleston. This has been an agricultural community, a fishing community. It’s fine to get up in the morning and say that you’re going fishing and you plan to bring back stuff that you can sell at the market, but if you come back and your nets are empty, you have no fish to take to the community, then you’re just talking. You’re wishing. You’re hoping.

“Now, we’ve all been through personal situations, we’ve all been through very public, nasty situations as the forces of the world try to keep us back, and we’ve talked about we need to change stuff, we need to move beyond this, we need to do something.

“Black people have been talking about doing something longer than we’ve been here. And in Charleston, in South Carolina, even though we’ve done this big project, the 1619 Project, beautiful work, New York Times spent a lot of money on it, but part of it’s not true. Slavery did not begin in Jamestown in 1619. Those were not the first Afrikans brought to this country. They started in Charleston before they started in Jamestown. And they were already in Florida before the English ever brought anybody Black here. But again, that’s a way of trying to compact our history to show a kind of narrative that we’ve been here, we’ve survived, we have been able to overcome all of the things they’ve put on us and that’s fine. But it’s time to do something about where we are. We have to be able to show up with, ‘Here’s our project. Here’s how we’re going to change it. Here’s how we’re going to get something that’s not already here.’

“When the National African American Museum got produced, organized and put together, mainly by Lonnie Bunche, he started with an idea that most people told him would never work. You can’t get this done. Number one, it’s just you. You’re just one poor Black man who has some experience doing libraries, but you don’t; who are you? You’re not the president. You’re not a big bank. You’re not a big dog. What are you bringing to the table? How can you, a single Black man, create a museum that can speak for all Afrikan Americans? How can you even dream of doing that? But guess what? He did it. Against all odds, he did it, and White people fought him tooth and nail. They did not want him to use that land. That land was supposed to be special, for them only. And they fought him tooth and nail over that. But he got some support, even from some Southern racists, and some other people, and he got the museum built. Now, some people who did not participate in getting it built are trying to slowly tear it down, or bring some criticism to it which will make it no longer feel worthy. There are some of us who recognize Kwanzaa, the process that we celebrate towards the end of the year. There are some people in DC who said that the National African American Museum should have a special place for Kwanzaa. ‘You need to have an exhibit space, you need to make more of a presentation about how important it was. How dare you have a National Afrikan American Museum and not have Kwanzaa?’ Well, the people in charge if the museum said ‘well, that was not our idea, we’re not going to do it.’ So we now have some Black folk talking about doing a protest movement. Black folk protesting their own story. Talking about marching out in front of the Museum. Silly!

“I just got a call this morning from our representative in Guadeloupe and Martinique. Most of you know Line because she comes to most all of our Conferences. She said a French representative, somebody working in president Macron’s office, just came to visit Guadeloupe this week, and brought with him this young man called Louis Tin, who is now representing himself as the Prime Minister of the Diaspora, which means nothing. He can’t be the Prime Minister of air. He needs some territory, he needs some property. But he’s going around the world representing himself as the Prime Minister of us. He didn’t ask us, we didn’t elect him to anything, but he is putting his name out and his personage out, representing that. We had a quick discussion about that last night. Line was concerned that the French are coming up with an approach toward Pan-Afrikanism to make sure they keep it confused. To keep us fighting over non-issues. Sis. Maisha [Washington, Maryland Council of Elders] was telling me last night, we don’t need to fall for the hype. We don’t need to get distracted and go chase the mouse down the hole, down the rabbit hole. But we need to understand that Pan-Afrikanism is working in this world and in our countries, and there are people who will fight tooth and nail to kill it. They have no interest in Afrikan people uniting. None. Afrikan presidents, Afrikan countries, who we don’t always think of as being brilliant or being servants of the people, we sometimes think they are only in it for the money. Some of them are. But you have these 55 heads of Afrika who make decisions for the African Union. They, and us, were never taught that we were supposed to work together. That we are supposed to see other Afrikans and think that we can get something done, not just something to talk about but something done. These 55 Afrikan leaders were never supposed to be able to overcome their own selfishness and agree to a Continental Free Trade pact. That we are going to trade with each other first, before the Commonwealth, before the EU, before the French. We have come to, as Afrikans, grow, produce and trade together first, then with them. There is absolutely no love from those who are used to telling us what to do for that kind of agreement. ‘How dare you make that common agreement! How dare you come together. You all are not supposed to do that!’

“It’s doing, it’s moving forward, which is what we’re about. The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus was created in response to the invitation that the African Union made to the Diaspora to come back home, to come back and join this effort to build a union, to build a coming-back-together, to build something that the world has not seen. The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus has been at this for a few years. This is our twelfth annual conference. We’ve done a lot of talking. Had a lot of meetings. We are now on the road to Let’s Do Something! Let’s demonstrate what we mean by getting something tangible done. We need to see a building, we need to see a car, we need to see a boat, we need to see something! Touch something. The African American Museum, you can go knock on the wall. You can go and taste it and touch it, as some people do. They actually try to wrap their arms around the whole building and kiss it. We, as Fred has always said, need to do something. When the hurricane almost took out The Bahamas, there were a bunch of people talking about, ‘That’s so sad. That’s too bad.’ They didn’t need talk. They had had their lived devastated, their homes crushed. They needed help. So Fred said, I can start working on getting something done. Raise some money, get some food, get some stuff that will help them over their crisis.

“So going back to that quick discussion I had with Kumasi a few minutes ago, when it comes down to it, it’s not what you say, it’s what you do. It’s not what you promise, it’s what you put on the table. So, S.R.D.C. in its twelfth year, started working with Sehwah of Liberia, and we opened a joint office in Liberia. You can actually go and see the office. No, it’s not well furnished yet. We’re getting there. We also went and made a presentation to the Liberian government. Liberia is very important to South Carolina. You have a long history of contact with that country. They have iron. They have substance. The agreement between SRDC and Sehwah was You know what? Liberia needs a library. Educational purposes. Have students show up, and have people learn how to read. Reading is a problem in Liberia, I hate to say it. It’s a problem right here too. The problem that we have in South Carolina, the problem that we have in California, the problem that we have in New York, with our folk learning how to read, is nothing, nothing compared to what they have in Liberia. You’re actually seeing fully grown people who cannot read. And it’s not because they’re dumb, they’re not. Nobody ever taught them how to read. A library is where you can go and learn how to read. Have people help you, have people train you. So the position was, we can connect with each other, Liberia back to the Afrikan Diaspora here, and we can build a library. We can do something that most people haven’t even thought about doing. We can and will build a library. And we’re in the process of getting that done now.

“This young lady, Louise Siaway, from Liberia who used to be in the Liberian government, has been a brilliant organizer of getting this done. A few months ago we were just talking about the idea, the she wrote Deborah and me into it and Kumasi into it in August. Now, today, in October, we already have a grant of land. The government has granted two acres of land. Not in the bushes, not in the trees where nobody will find us, but in the pricey part of Monrovia. We got 2 acres of land, the government is basically not going to try to control it. We are in the process of getting a GoFundMe page set up so we can raise our part of the money for the architects, the designers, etc.

“The issue is making sure we do our part, which means that we are going to train the young people in library science to run their own library. We’re not talking about putting up a building for White folks to come and make a showcase, ‘Look at what we did in Liberia, for them!’ No, this is not doing something for them it’s doing something with them. So we’re going to train young people to run their own library. Deborah’s going to be in charge of that, so we’ve got to raise some funds for that too.

“Again, we are doing something. Brother Kamau is working on a project our in Seattle that says you can go and get equipment, computers, ship those to the Afrikan areas that say they can be used for schooling, for teaching, for helping students. We will arrange it, we will ship it, you pay for the shipping, and then you distribute it in your own area. Doing something. Pan-Afrikanism, if it’s not about doing something, it’s not Pan-Afrikanism.

“This conference, starting with this vanguard, is about Pan-Afrikanism as a ‘doing-something’ concept. I can quote Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. I can quote Sekou Toure. I can quote George Padmore. We can talk all day about these leaders who have come and given us important statements and documents to move forward with. But again, that’s not getting it done. That’s talking about getting it done. This is 2019. They are going to impeach and remove a president of this country, not just talk about it, they’re going to do it. We have to show our seriousness in the same way, by moving with a Pan-Afrikanism that’s about doing. So this 12th Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus [Summit] is about doing.

“So we have, here in the vanguard, members of the Central American Black Organization. We have the Deputy Minister from Liberia here to talk about how they are doing. We are here to talk about what they are going to do to participate in the building, indeed, let’s identify projects and get stuff done. Let’s be known by what we do and not by what we say. We have a Brother here from Belize. Belize used to be very, very important and will be important again in Afrikan-American activities. They are not doing enough, yet, but with Brother Hodari, they are going to. We just have to sit down with him and plan and get some stuff done in that area.

“You have to understand, Afrikan people are not going to sit idle and let their land, their people, their culture be taken advantage of here. As I finish this brief introduction, within the next ten years, we have been told that if we don’t do something definitive about climate change, all of the talk is a waste of time. We cannot stop the sun, we cannot stop the change, we cannot stop the weather, it’s just going to get worse. There’ll be more fires in California, they’re going to burn the hell out of California just like they’re doing now, you all are going to be flooded out here. We have about ten years, to either do something, or else it’s just going to be all over. White people are not going to get to Mars in time to have a colony on Mars. They’re not planning on taking us anyway but I don’t think we want to go.

“Within ten years, 60% of the still available land resources on earth will be in Afrika. That means they’re coming back to try to take Afrika again. There’ll be this recolonization going on. They will have burned out their own places, so they’re going to try to come back to Afrika to take that again. Understand, that is already on the horizon, it is already in the planning stages. And the French have either been told or they have decided that they’re going to be the point of the arrow about doing something about that.

“We have to, we have to, we have to, count ourselves as part of the [group] to get stuff done to block any of the people who want to come and rake our land again. We have to be part of building what is necessary. And we’re starting with the library and moving forward to other things.

“As an introduction to the conference, welcome. Again, you are the vanguard, you are the folk who are going to plan what’s going to be happening. Congratulations on your new museum coming in to Charleston in a few months. Hopefully you will not let them tell you what your museum is supposed to be about. Hopefully you will take charge of your own story. Okay, the conference is now open!”

SRDC Local Organizing Committees

Several SRDC local organizations were present at the Summit, as we stated before above. At this time, the attending organizations made their reports on their activities and plans up to this point. Below are brief descriptions of the speakers and brief audio of the various local organizations’ reports.

Sis. Mirtha Colon is the current president of the Central American Black Organization or CABO (in Spanish, the name is Organizacion Negra Centroamericana or ONECA). Born in Honduras and living most of the last several decades in the New York area, Sis. Colon has been a guiding force in CABO for many years, and currently serves as the organization’s president.

These are her remarks as she introduced herself, described the mission of CABO and affirmed her support for SRDC’s work through this Summit:

Mama Maisha Washington is a member of the SRDC Maryland organizing committee as well as a member of the Maryland Council of Elders, which was officially seated at a December 2017 Maryland Pan Afrikan Town Hall Meeting. She is also a teacher and, as such, is helping spearhead the development of an Afrikan Centered Curriculum for Afrikan Diasporans.

Here, Mama Maisha discusses one of the priorities of the Maryland Organization, the building of an Afrikan-Centered Curriculum, which had been espoused at last year’s Summit in Baltimore, Maryland:

Bro. Kamau Taplin is the Washington State SRDC Facilitator, based in Seattle. He has worked with The Gambia to arrange for the transport of surplus furniture and other goods to that Afrikan country. On the ground in Seattle, Bro. Kamau has also helped sponsor a number of cultural and business initiatives in the area.

Bro. Kamau gave an update on the SRDC Washington State organization’s activities:

Bro. Demba Hydara is SRDC’s connection to The Gambia. He has been working with Bro. Kamau Taplin to facilitate and strengthen ties between SRDC and the government and communities in The Gambia. Bro. Demba has attended several SRDC Summits over the past three to four years.

Bro. Demba would also participate in the panel discussion later that afternoon.  Here are his comments from the early session:

Bro. Kumasi Palmer is the SRDC South Carolina Facilitator and our gracious host for this year’s Summit. He has been involved in sponsoring youth tours to Afrika, primarily Ghana, where he also owns property, and was the primary initial connection between SRDC and the Liberian organization Sehwah, which, in cooperation with SRDC, is launching the Liberian Library Project.

Bro. Kumasi, who also took part in the panel discussion later in the day, spoke briefly about the South Carolina organization’s activities:

Bro. Fred Lincoln is also from South Carolina, and has worked closely with Bro. Kumasi on SRDC projects. He also took many of the delegates to the Summit on a tour of the area, including a visit to a former plantation site and several settlements that sprang up in the countryside that had been founded by our Honored Ancestors who had endured and survived the horrors of enslavement, post-Reconstruction and Jim Crow to build vibrant, cooperative communities.  Here, he gives a little background on that history, as well as efforts of the South Carolina organization to render aid to the communities in The Bahamas in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian:

Later in the day, the Conference moved on to the specific items on its agenda: the Liberia Library Project and the panel discussion on 21st Century Pan-Afrikanism.

This article gives some details of the agreement between the Liberian grassroots organization known as Sehwah, the African Union, and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) to proceed with the planning and construction of what will be the first-ever Public Library in Liberia, located on a two-acre plot of land in the capital city of Monrovia.  The new library will service the nation-states of Liberia, Cote D’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Conakry.

Statement from Sehwah Liberia on the Sehwah-SRDC Public Library Project in Monrovia, Liberia

In a 29 January 2019 consultative meeting with The National Arcade Director and full teams, the African Union Ambassador to Liberia and SRDC/Sehwah Liberia representatives held our first discussion to harmonize the public Library and the future sites for the library.

The National Arcade (GOL) and SRDC/Sehwah Liberia Incorporated, and in collaboration with the African Union Regional Office-Monrovia, Liberia organized the National project for Liberia which aimed at discussing the proposed sites for inclusion of the National Public Library Property. The project is to enhance capacity in implementing the education system in Liberia.

Based on the importance and a special need for the first National Public Library to be constructed in Liberia, the African Union ambassador welcomed this project and the plan to fund it from the African Union and the international partners of the AU for Liberia. Successful Finance Planning for the 2 acres of land is designated for the National Public Library in central Monrovia.

February 10, 2019: Mrs. Louise W. McMillian [Siaway], Founder of Sehwah Liberia Incorporated, visited the land for the proposed public library site in Monrovia and discussed a partnership agreement with The National Arcade of Liberia and based on the conversation, the decision was reached for the African Union Ambassador to Liberia to represent the AU for the library in regards to financing the projects for the first public library ever to be built in Liberia. The next step is property analysis for the architectural drafting technical team to design the library base on the land space, etc., associated with the project.

The mission of the National Public Library of Liberia is far reaching and deeply motivated. As a first repository for the Republic’s rich history, it will be a beacon of knowledge, unity and inspiration for all.  This Library will be a state of the art complex.

“The historic Liberia Public Library will be vibrant community buildings for peace and security for the country and will embrace the opportunity to observe, interact, and consider human events in the realm of ideas that will empower the people to make a difference in their communities and socially impact the nation with the pride and self-esteem of a modern nation to contribute meaningfully to the development agenda. SRDC will provide technical support.” (Statement from the African Union Ambassador)

The African Union (AU) Ambassador to Liberia, Ibrahim M. Kamara, has said the Union is satisfied with the level of peace and security in the country since the end of the 14-year civil conflict. Kamara also said it is the responsibility of the AU to support the development agenda of Liberia, which is a founding member of the body, in the name of Pan-African solidarity.

The Ambassador recounted that the National Public Library will play a significant role in Liberia to ensure that the peace and security the country now enjoys is continued.

SRDC (Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus) is a 501 (C-3) legally registered civil society organization based in Seattle, Washington and Los Angeles, California. The primary purpose of SRDC is to help bring the African Diaspora into a working partnership with the African Union, and individual African countries, which will be mutually beneficial to Africa and to the Diaspora. Examples of such partnerships include the current project to build a new public library in Liberia, on-going efforts to encourage and work with groups like AFRICARE and the ASI (African Scientific Institute) to provide free technical training to African youth, gaining Diaspora membership in the African Union, working with the Pan African Parliament, etc. The SRDC promotes diplomatic training and engagement among African-descendent youth, endorses and supports the accomplishment of the AU’s AGENDA 2063, and sees itself as a positive representative and spokesman for Pan African unification.

The SRDC believes that working collaboratively; we are stronger in our quest to restore dignity, respect and sustainable development on the African continent and in the Diaspora.  This group with support from Partners intends to construct a National Public Library for the benefit of thousands of residents of Montserrado County, and other counties and locals within the territorial boundary of the Country.

The Liberian Delegation Officially Announces the Commencement of the Library Project

On Day Two of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) 12th Annual International Summit, held October 25-26, 2019 in Charleston, South Carolina, the crowning achievement of the weekend was realized: the official designation of the Sehwah-SRDC Liberia Library Project.  With assistance from a cooperative arrangement between Sehwah, a grassroots Pan-Afrikan organization in Liberia; the African Union; and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC), the country’s first ever Public Library is now slated to be built on a two-acre tract of land in the capital city of Monrovia provided by the government of the Republic of Liberia.

Ms. Louise Siaway is Executive Director of Sehwah-Liberia.  Over the last year, as Sehwah has solidified its cooperative arrangement with SRDC, Liberia is now home to the first SRDC organization on the Afrikan Continent, complete with an office space that has yet to be fully furnished and placed into operation. She is a former Assistant Minister of Cultural Affairs and Tourism in the administration of former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.  Ms. Siaway has been negotiating with the African Union on the need to work cooperatively with SRDC to construct what will be the first public library in Liberia.

“The strengthening of the relationship between SRDC and Afrika is working. With an office in Liberia, it is now a topic of SRDC in the Continent. So, we would like to call on the [Liberian] government representative for land. The government of Liberia gave two acres of land to SRDC’s project for the public library in Liberia,” she said as she introduced the National Archive Director-General of Liberia, Mr. C. Neileh Daitouah.

Mr. Daitouah made the official presentation of a deed to two acres of land in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city, to Ms. Siaway.

“I bring you greetings on behalf of His Excellency, George Manneh Weah, President of the Republic of Liberia and the government and the lovely people of Liberia. … We are delighted about the invitation extended to us to participate in the 12th Annual Conference of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus … to bring together the Afrikan Diaspora into a working partnership with the African Union. This endeavor of partnership is a laudable initiative toward regional integration and sustainable development. …

“As the 2019 Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus seeks to stimulate a constructive dialog, knowledge sharing, and formulation of a new social and cultural economy, and strategic efforts to bring the Afrikan Diaspora into a working partnership with the African Union and further highlights a part of its objective …

“And we underscore the importance of the objectives for this conference, that is to the sustainable development of individual Afrikan countries and further set the stage for the opportunity to share with you fellow participants, our initiative and exciting efforts to seek to promote and improve the educational center of Liberia, especially with what has to do with library development in Liberia.

“The lack of a modern library in Liberia is a serious impediment to the educational needs of the people in Liberia. As we have come to see, a public library is a powerhouse for acquiring knowledge. …

“We have been holding discussions with Ms. Louise Siaway, Executive Director of Sehwah-SRDC. She is a former Assistant Minister of Cultural Affairs and Tourism [in the administration of] Her Excellency, [former] President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and who has been negotiating with the African Union on our behalf, on the need to construct a worthy public library in Liberia and have as one component a Presidential Library that will profile the civic and vital accomplishments of past and present presidents of the Republic of Liberia for our present and future generations to know the role played and the accomplishments of their former and present presidents. …

“The African Union has agreed to construct the [national] library … and the government of Liberia will require that the land available is suitable land for said construction. …

“Subsequently, we received the letter of confirmation from the Liberian Land Authority about the availability of land for the construction of the public library in Liberia by the African Union in partnership with SRDC.

“On behalf of the government of Liberia, we are pleased to present that aforementioned letter of confirmation of land. …

“On this note, it is my honor to invite the Director of Sehwah to receive from us on behalf of the government of Liberia, the letter confirming the availability of two acres of land.

“As we conclude, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, we look forward to the realization of a dream come true. The construction of a Public National Library in Liberia by Afrikans working in partnership with SRDC. Thank you and may God bless you all. Liberia is home for all Black Afrikans.”

Ms. Siaway then invited the Minister/Counselor for the Liberian Embassy and the SRDC leadership to the podium.

“I would like to call on our Assistant Ambassador, Dr. Horne and the leadership of SRDC. This is the official turning over of the deed to SRDC and to let you know that the government of Liberia and AU, African Union, welcome the Children of Afrika. And all of our delegation from Liberia, Sehwah-Liberia, are honored to present this, like we said last year: Bridging the Gap Between Us.”

Ms. Sophia Togba Mawle, Minister Counselor of the Liberian Embassy, representing the Liberian Ambassador to the United States, The Honorable George S. W. Patten Sr., officially presented the Land Deed to SRDC’s International Facilitator, Professor David L. Horne.

“Indeed, we need to come together as one. For the common good of our people. Indeed, we need to raise up our hands, in our collective, to raise up and run with this vision. We are here, and we are here in our capacity to support this effort. …

“Indeed, it is an honor, on behalf of the government of the Republic of Liberia to present at this time, to the leadership and members of Sehwah, to Dr. David L. Horne, the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus in the Americas, we want to take this time to present to you this deed. … We want to raise our hand to say, We are one from the Motherland, and we are going to build the Motherland to our collective. We want to present this deed; even as you galvanize the resources, even as we go about this vision, we know that it will come to reality in the Republic of Liberia, this Library Project that will serve the sub-region – Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea [Conakry], Ivory Coast. Yes, We Can!”

Discussion of the Liberia Library Project and the January 2019 Visit of SRDC to Monrovia, Liberia

Mr. Nvasekie Konneh, Public Relations Officer for Sehwah-Liberia, then made a more detailed presentation about the future public library, including photographs of the prospective building, the land that has been prepared for the construction, and the recent visit by Prof. Horne, Bro. Kumasi Palmer, Bro. Fred Lincoln and Sis. Deborah Wright as representatives of SRDC to Liberia to commemorate and celebrate this important new partnership.

“Today, I have come humble in my stance but progressive in my thoughts about a vision of unity and connectivity concerning our cause as Afrikan people. The SRDC must come together with us and accept the view that the continent of Africa is ours and not allow others to do more than us. This vision has already been casted and we must all own it so as to move forward as a people, united in progress.

“We must treat the continent of Afrika and its people just as the Jews from all over the world consider the state of Israel as their home.

“We should not sit on the sideline and complain about other groups of people investing on the continent and extracting the natural resources of this great continent. Today, everybody is talking about China, or Russia. Everybody’s coming to Afrika, right? To extract resources for, I guess they would say, our mutual benefit, but most likely it may benefit them more than us. But we, the sons and daughters of Afrika, those who have come from the Afrikan Continent, and the Afrikan Diaspora in America and the Caribbean, we must come together [for] building for our own benefit.

“We have to be part of those who will make history and not watch as history is written.

“Our contribution will be noted and generations yet unborn will see that we have provided them a cultural inheritance that has no monetary value.  Let me say that as we gather here today, we have to take a seat at the African dinner table of development and cooperation amongst our brothers and sisters.

“Through this movement, we must go back and educate our children about our connection to the African continent and the Diaspora as a whole, meaning the partnership that exists between the native Afrikans and the Afrikan Diaspora must be taught to our children on both sides of the Atlantic so that the children of Afrika will know the connection and the children over here will understand the connection.

“Sometimes there’s a lot of misconception … particularly among young people. I remember years ago, when I was in the US Navy. I served many years in the US Navy, I served on two battleships, and I was stationed in Philadelphia, but I realized there’s a lot of misconception. Many times, when I come home around Afrikan people, I hear some thing they say about Afrikan Americans, and when I come among my Afrikan American Brothers and Sisters I hear them say something about native Afrikans. And it disturbs me. And I feel like there is a lot of communication that is needed for all of us to understand and to work together as one people for one common agenda.

“SEHWAH Liberia is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable development, through building cultural heritages initiative and advocacy for women and children in Liberia. So, our partnership with SRDC is geared toward promoting this kind of development agenda for both our areas. Because I believe, for a lot of Afrikan Americans, you feel the deep connection to the land of your birth. There’s a lot of great people that have done a lot of great work, for this connectivity we are having today. I’m a writer. And I can go back to Accra or Johannesburg and … coming to today, we have to understand that there is a lot of good work that is being done; we are only building on the foundation that has been laid by other people before us. Whether it was Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey, their vision is the same one we are building today. I remember several years ago, when Rev. Dr. Leon Sullivan organized the African and African American Summit; I was here when the first one was here. … So, that work has been going on for a while, and Sehwah is coming to continue the work that has been going on for all these many years.

“Last year Dr. Horne and a delegation from SRDC went to Liberia, and we attended the SRDC program last year in Baltimore to basically bring us together for one common purpose. And as you said here today, this library project must be brought to reality for future benefit.

“This is the land that is being demarcated for the library project in Liberia. That’s the land where the library is to be built in Monrovia.

“And this is the “blueprint” [a proposed version] of the library.

“As you can see here, Dr. Horne is being greeted by the joyous people of Liberia, celebrating the arrival of his delegation.

“Making reference to 1822. What some of you may not know, after the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, some Afrikan Americans decided to go back to Afrika to start a country. And though there might have been a lot of negative things about the coming together of the native Afrikans and the Afrikan Americans, but a good thing is that we have a nation called Liberia as a result of it. Coming together. And we will also have to understand it took a lot of sacrifices for the people to leave everything they had known for hundreds of years to go back to Afrika, to an unknown situation, When people who have been separated for hundreds of years come together, sometimes you can have some commotion, some misunderstanding, but at the end of the day, we have the Republic of Liberia today.

“This is more of the interaction between Dr. Horne and Liberians [enjoying] Sehwah’s program, which was a very elaborate program with government officials, the former vice president of Liberia was present, as you can see here.

“There’s a saying that a picture says a thousand words. So, for all of us here that are seeing the slide show here with all of these pictures, be assured that the relationship between Sehwah and SRDC is well cemented in our history.
These are art and cultural artifacts that are on display at the occasion as well.
Cultural dancers in Liberia serenading the delegates with beautiful Afrikan songs and dances.

“The wife of the late vice president of Liberia [center of the photo] was also in attendance at the program.

“It means that SRDC visited Liberia last year. It was a high profile event that was covered by the Liberian media. … And of course, there is a lot of enthusiasm in Liberia for this wonderful project. So we would like to extend great thanks to our Executive Director Ms. Louise Siaway for having the vision to initiate such a project, and we would also like to show our appreciation to the members and leadership of SRDC for deciding to partner with us to undertake such a wonderful project.

“SEHWAH Liberia and Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) initiated a partnership in Liberia for the purpose of strengthening engagements with stakeholders in Africa and Diaspora.

“2018, we had the honor to enter into partnership agreement for sustainable Development on the continent and Diasporas. Both agreed that there are ample opportunities in bringing the African Diaspora into a working partnership between Africa.’Bridging the gaps between ourselves’.

“We all have to be proactive in these endeavors because there is no time to standstill but to create financial, social and moral method to make this journey a success.

“Thank you.”

The 12th International Summit of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC), held in Charleston, South Carolina over the October 25-26 weekend, featured among its various agenda items a panel discussion on the state of Pan-Afrikanism in the 21st Century.  The panel was held on the afternoon of the final day of the public Summit, October 26.  The panelists who were invited to present their viewpoints were the following:

• Professor David L. Horne, International Facilitator of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC).  His experience with Pan-Afrikanism includes his status as a tenured professor of Afrikan History, a participant at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa, his participation in a number of Pan-Afrikan conferences since that time, his membership in several Pan-Afrikan organizations from the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA) to the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL).
• Ms. Sophia Togba Mawle, Minister Counselor, Embassy of Liberia.  She is the representative of the Liberian Ambassador to the United States, the Honorable George S.W, Patten Sr.
• Ms. Mirtha Colon, president of the Central American Black Organization or CABO (in Spanish, the Organizacion Negra Centroamericana or ONECA).  Born in Honduras, she now resides in New York, where she ably coordinates the activities of the premier Black organization in Central America.
• Bro. Demba Hydara of The Gambia.  He has been involved with SRDC since at least 2016, coordinating the provision of surplus goods and services to his home country through the SRDC office in Seattle, Washington State.  A prolific traveler across at least North and West Afrika, he has opened doors for SRDC on the Continent through cooperative ventures on behalf of The Gambia.
• Bro. Kumasi Palmer, South Carolina Facilitator, SRDC.  He has worked alongside Professor Horne at least since 2001.  He and the South Carolina SRDC have sponsored several trips to the Mother Continent for youth.  He also owns property in Ghana, where he has participated in several economic development projects,
• Sis. Victory Swift, founder of Our Victorious City and a member of the Maryland Organizing Committee.  Sis. Victory has been involved with SRDC in Maryland since 2009, and has led several community projects over the years, from the Afrikan Heritage Walk-A-Thon to her current work with Our Victorious City, which she named after her son Victorious, who was a victim in a murder-robbery in 2017.
• Bro. Malcolm Cash, educator and community activist.  Bro. Cash was involved with SRDC through the Columbus, Ohio SRDC Organization, which went inactive after 2013.

The panel began with opening remarks from Professor David Horne:

Ms. Sophia Togba Mawle of the Liberian Embassy then made her statement:

Next was Ms. Mirtha Colon of CABO:

Bro. Demba Hydara of The Gambia offered his perspective on 21st Century Pan-Afrikanism:

Bro. Kumasi Palmer and Sis. Victory Swift then made their statements:

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Finally, Bro. Malcolm Cash applied his experience as a father and a teacher to the issue.

The panel then discussed three questions from the audience: How do we involve our children in the push for Pan-Afrikanism and this new movement of change?  How do we keep the fires of Pan-Afrikanism burning in the 21st Century?  And do any of the panelists feel they are fighting a “losing cause”?

Professor Horne introduced these questions and gave his answer to the last one:

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Finally, the discussion was opened up to more comments from the audience:

In the end, the struggle to “keep the fires burning”, awaken an awareness of Pan-Afrikanism in our children and avoid this struggle becoming a “losing cause” will depend on each of us.  As a grassroots organization participating in what must be a grassroots-led movement, SRDC and those like us must show the resolve that we call for from the people.  Pan-Afrikanism as a global movement will not succeed unless the activists and organizers consistently take it seriously and show the people the value of cooperative work by practicing it among themselves.  Perhaps the cooperative effort of Sehwah Liberia and SRDC can provide one such model for the people to follow.

On Saturday, October 19 from 5 pm to 7 pm, an important discussion will take place concerning Islam and the Incarcerated Community in Greenbelt, Maryland.  Among the featured speakers will be Baba Tyronne Morton, National Advisor for the human rights organization Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign (APP-HRC).  Also featured will be Nabihah Maqbool, Legal Fellow, Muslim Associates; Imam Bilal Prather, Director, Millati Islami World Service; and Dr. Maha Hilal, Co-Director, Justice for Muslims Collective.  The event is sponsored by the Islamic Leadership Institute of America.

The event will be held at 9200 Edmonston Road, Greenbelt, Maryland 20770.  For more information, visit http://bit.ly/thehiddenummah.