Africa 500 Looks at the State of the African American Family, Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Be sure to tune in to Africa 500 on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org) as show hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty follow up on the recently shared lectures from Pan-Afrikan Ancestors Dr. John Henrik Clarke and Rev. Dr. Ishakamusa Barashango.

This week, they look at the state of the African American Family with guest Bro. Brandon Walker of the Ujima Peoples Progress Party (UPP).

Listen to the show on our Media Page, or by clicking below:

Africa 500 is broadcast every Wednesday at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States).  After each broadcast, the show will be uploaded on the HANDRadio site (https://handradio.org) as well as the Web sites of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).

Starting on February 1, Africa 500 will launch a series of discussions in recognition of Pan-African Heritage Month (or, as some refer to it, “Black History Month”) by welcoming Sis. DeShuna Spencer, founder and CEO of KweliTV, and Stephen Selaise Asuo, founder of the Young Africa Media Center and coordinator of the Black History Festival.

AFRICA 500
Wednesdays, 3 PM ET (US)
https://handradio.org
https://kuumbareport.com
https://kuumbaevents.com
https://srdcinternational.org
https://kweli.tv

The Words of Rev. Dr. Ishakamusa Barashango on Africa 500, Wednesday, January 11, 2023

The January 11, 2023 edition of Africa 500 will feature the words of the Rev. Dr. Ishakamusa Barsashango.

Rev. Dr. Ishakamusa Barashango

Rev. Dr. Ishakamusa Barashango, affectionately known as “Baba”, began his journey to Nsamando, the land of the Ancestors on January 14, 2004. He apparently succumbed to a heart attack during his morning walk. The dynamic minister, author, historian, educator and motivational speaker was born April 27, 1938 in Philadelphia, PA.

Dr. Barashango received his Bachelor of Arts degree in religion from Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. He studied for his Master’s degree at Northeastern Seminary in Takoma Park, Maryland. The New Afrikan University Network System of Washington, D.C. saluted him with an honorary Doctor of Philosophy Degree in 1979. Rev. Barashango founded the Temple of the Black Messiah, School of History and Religion and co-founded Fourth Dynasty Publishing Company of Silver Spring. He also taught history and religion at several colleges and universities.

As well as releasing a series of audio lecture compact disks, Dr Barashango was the author of several books including: Afrikan People And European Holidays: A Mental Genocide Book One; Afrikan People And European Holidays: A Mental Genocide Book Two; God, the Bible and the Black Man’s Destiny; Afrikan Woman: The Original Guardian Angel; and Afrikan Genesis: Amazing Stories of Man’s Beginnings. Dr Barashango was completely dedicated to the physical, mental, and spiritual liberation of New Afrikan people – he dedicated his life to this cause!

Dr. Barashango also was the brother-in-law of longtime Political Prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, being wedded to Jamal’s sister Lydia since 1996: (https://web.archive.org/web/20181012052003/http://archive.prisonradio.org/10-9-11LydiaBarashangoPresente.html).

Oath To The Ancestors by Ishakamusa Barashango
Oaths in the bible

The Reverend Dr. Ishakamusa Barashango gave us the Oath To The Ancestors. One thing about the oath most people may not recognize is it is bible based. There are many instances of this.

the covenant he swore with an oath to our ancestor Abraham.
— Luke 1:73

Thus I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, the one you have today. “Amen, LORD,” I answered.
— Jeremiah 11:5

You will be faithful to Jacob, and show love to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our ancestors in days long ago.
— Micah 7:20

Remember the LORD your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.
— Deuteronomy 8:18 NLT

Based on those and other instances, African Christians need to know this oath is completely in line with their beliefs. As Dr. Barashango himself said,

“now you know I use the Bible as a revolutionary textbook because I am a African nationalist freedom fighter and I come in the tradition of the theology of black liberation founded by such great masters of that genre as the Right Reverend Nat Turner, the Right Reverend Gabriel Prosser, Henry Highland Garnett and a host of many others only one possible way I can approach this book or any other book and that has a freedom fighter for the liberation of our people and because it was originally our book before was tampered with we can define it in any manner and interpret it in any manner that we desire to and we always define it in the context of African historical reality.”
— Dr. Ishakamusa Barashango: Solving the Mystery of 666 (https://youtu.be/jT4VK4f4uwU)

The Oath To The Ancestors by Dr. Ishakamusa Barashango

Oh Ancestors!!!

Blacker than a thousand midnights.
African ancestors!!!
It is to you, we your children, give respect and honor.
O Ancestors!
We call upon You and welcome you in this place.
Afrikan Ancestors!
Let your presence fill this place.
O Ancestors!
Who have been purposely excluded from the history books, so that the world would not know of your greatness.
Our Afrikan Ancestors! Who gave civilization to the world…
Our Afrikan Ancestors! Who gave the arts to the world…
Our Afrikan Ancestors! Who gave music to the world…
Our Afrikan Ancestors! Who gave the sciences to the world…
Our Afrikan Ancestors! Who gave mathematics to the world…
Our Afrikan Ancestors! Who gave medicine to the world…
Our Afrikan Ancestors! Who gave literature to the world…
Our Afrikan Ancestors! Who gave philosophy to the world…
Our Afrikan Ancestors! Who gave God consciousness to the world…
O Ancestors!
We thank you for devoting your life to make a future for us, your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
Now stand with us, strengthen us, guide us, teach us, and protect us from the snare of our enemies!
Rise up, O Afrikan Ancestors, and let our enemies be scattered
And give us the wisdom and the boldness to deal with our oppressors and those who would hinder the liberation and empowerment of our people.
Rise up, O Afrikan Ancestors, and live in us.
We will not fail to honor you!
We will not fail to respect you!
We will not fail to hear you!
And we will Not betray you!
Àṣẹ
Àṣẹ 

Africa 500 airs every Wednesday at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org). Listen to the Wednesday, January 11 show here:

AFRICA500
Wednesdays @3pm EST.
https://handradio.org
https://kuumbareport.com
https://webuyblack.com
https://kweli.tv

Africa 500 Presents Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Starting in January 2023, Africa400 is now renamed Africa 500 to more accurately reflect the more than 500 years of the Ma’afa, the Great Disaster, the enslavement of Afrikan People in Europe, the Americas and the so-called Middle East.

The Wednesday, January 4 edition of Africa 500 features a speech by Pan-Afrikan Ancestor Dr, John Henrik Clarke, one of the giants of Pan-Afrikanism, Black Nationalism and Afrikan and Afrikan-American history.

The Web site of the Board for the Education of People of African Ancestry (https://bepaa.wordpress.com/about-2/), “an institution housed at the John Henrik Clarke House dedicated to advancing the culture, principles and education of people of African Ancestry”, founded in 1992 by a group of educators, clergy, historians and activists “to define, monitor, formulate and implement policies and practices affecting the education of students of African Ancestry in both public and private educational systems.”  BEPAA is located at the Dr. John Henrik Clarke House at 286 Convent Avenue in New York.  The Web site includes a biography of Dr. Clarke, as well as an interview, Dr. Clarke in his Own Words: Education at the Crossroads, as well as a video, “Education”, the Highest Form of Struggle, at https://bepaa.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/dr-clarke-in-his-own-words-african-education-at-the-crossroads-by-john-henrik-clarke/.

This is what the Web site Black Past (https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/clarke-john-henrik-1915-1998/) wrote in its article about Dr. John Henrik Clarke:

John Henrik Clarke, historianblack nationalist, and Pan-Africanist, was a pioneer in the formation of Africana studies in the United States.  Principally a self-trained historian, Clarke dedicated his life to correcting what he argued was the prevailing view that people of Africa and of African descent had no history worthy of study.  Over the span of his career Clarke became one of the most respected historians of African and African American history.

Clarke was born on New Year’s Day, 1915, in Union Springs, Alabama.  He described his father as a “brooding, landless sharecropper,” who struggled to earn enough money to purchase his own farm, and his mother as a domestic.  Clarke’s mother Willie Ella (Mays) Clarke died in 1922, when he was about seven years old.

In 1932 Clarke left the South at age eighteen and he traveled by boxcar to Chicago, Illinois.  He then migrated to New York City, New York where he came under the tutelage of noted scholar Arthur A. Schomburg.  While in New York City’s Harlem, Clarke undertook the study of Africa, studying its history while working full time.

In 1949 the New School for Social Research asked Clarke to teach courses in a newly created African Studies Center.  Nineteen years later Clarke founded the African Heritage Studies Association in 1968, and was principally responsible for the creation of the Black and Puerto Rican Studies Department at Hunter College in New York City.  He later lectured at Cornell University as a distinguished visiting Professor of African history.

Clarke’s numerous works include A New Approach to African History (1967), African People in World History (1993), and The Boy Who Painted Jesus Black (1975).  He died in New York City in 1998.

These are just two sources for published books by Dr. John Henrik Clarke:

https://www.afriwarebooks.com/blog/books-by-john-henrik-clarke
https://ourtimepress.com/otp-interview-with-professor-john-henrik-clarke/?amp=1

The entire January 4 show is devoted to one of his speeches, often referred to as “The Illusion of Inclusion”.  Listen to it here:

The video of his speech can be seen on YouTube at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ivlXwXGCoDc

Africa 500 airs every Wednesday at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HandRadio, https://handradio.org.  For more information on the show and links to more information, click here.  After the show airs, it can be listened to again in an updated version of the post and on our Media Page.

Africa400 Call to Action for Imam Jamil Al-Amin, Wednesday, December 28, 2022

The Wednesday, December 28, 2022 edition of Africa400 discusses the case of Political Prisoner Imam Jamil Al-Amin and the actions that must be taken to secure his exoneration and freedom. Show Hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty welcome the following powerful guests:

Bomani Shakur

Bomani Uhuru Jihad Shakur is the National Minister of Information of The Provisional Government of The Republic of New Afrika (PG-RNA). He has been a Conscious New Afrikan Citizen since 2002. Serving in various capacities within the PG including Deputy Minister of Youth, Minister of Information, New Afrikan Nation Day Planning Committee and Co-Host of the Provisional Government of The Republic of New Afrika Radio Show. Locally he is the Minister of Information of the People’s Party for Independence (PPI) in the New Afrikan Population District of Baba Dr. John Henrik Clarke Town aka Columbus, Georgia. Brother Bomani is a local representative of IJAN (Imam Jamil Action Network). Minister Bomani is Vice Chancellor of George Jackson University (GJU), Host of George Jackson University Radio and Acting Spokesperson for George Jackson University. Bomani Uhuru Jihad Shakur is an active member of BAOC (Black August Organizing Committee). Bomani is a member of the Re-Build Newspaper Distribution Collective. Aside from his local activities and national kazi, he is a New Afrikan Propagandist, New Afrikan Ourstorian [“It’s Our Story not his story (history)”], Educator, Activist, Advocate of Captured New Afrikan Citizens (i.e. New Afrikan Political Prisoners), New Afrikan Prisoners of War as well as political prisoners of other movements such as the Black Liberation Movement. Comrade Bomani is committed to presenting ourstorical narrative via radio, literature, written correspondence and conversation.

Thomas Ruffin

Thomas Ruffin is a founding member of the International Association of Black Lawyers, a group of highly competent, radical Black lawyers who came together in 2017 for the liberation and uplift of Black people and the poor throughout the world. As a lawyer, Thomas Ruffin practices in the United States, principally in the District of Columbia and Maryland. As an activist, Thomas Ruffin fights against injustice anywhere. Indeed, Mr. Ruffin served as the public information lawyer in the campaign to free Troy Anthony Davis, a Black man wrongfully executed by the racist state of Georgia in September 2011. Thomas Ruffin also served as a member of the Jericho National Movement, a nonprofit organization that aimed to liberate political prisoners held captive in the United States.

Ajamu Baraka

A human rights defender whose experience spans four decades of domestic and international education and activism, Ajamu Baraka is a veteran grassroots organizer whose roots are in the Black Liberation Movement and anti-apartheid and Central American solidarity struggles.

Baraka is an internationally recognized leader of the emerging human rights movement in the U.S. and has been at the forefront of efforts to apply the international human rights framework to social justice advocacy in the U.S. for more than 25 years. As such, he has provided human rights trainings for grassroots activists across the country, briefings on human rights to the U.S. Congress, and appeared before and provided statements to various United Nations agencies, including the UN Human Rights Commission (precursor to the current UN Human Rights Council).

As a co-convener with Jaribu Hill of the Mississippi Worker Center for Human Rights, Baraka played an instrumental role in developing the series of bi-annual Southern Human Rights Organizers’ Conferences (SHROC) that began in 1996. These gatherings represented some of the first post-Cold War human rights training opportunities for grassroots activists in the country.

Baraka played an important role in bringing a human rights perspective to the preparatory meetings for the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) that took place in Geneva and in Santiago, Chile as part of the Latin American Preparatory process, as well as the actual conference that he attended as a delegate in Durban, South Africa in 2001.

Ajamu Baraka was the Founding Executive Director of the US Human Rights Network (USHRN) from July 2004 until June 2011. He is the Founder of Black Alliance for Peace (BAP). He is currently an editor and contributing columnist for the Black Agenda Report and a writer for Counterpunch.

Update on Imam Jamil Al Amin: The Atlanta Conviction Integrity Unit headed by Fani Willis has interviewed Otis Jackson, the man who admitted to the crime for which Imam Jamil has been unjustly imprisoned for 20+ years.

Also, check out the webpage https://uscmo.org/2021/08/05/imam-jamil-al-amin-is-serving-a-life-sentence-for-a-crime-he-did-not-commit/ for more information on his case.

For the December 28 edition of Africa400, listen here:

Africa400 broadcasts every Wednesday at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org). After the show airs, it can later be listened to on the update of this post as well as on the Audio-Visual Media pages of the Web sites https://kuumbareport.com, https://kuumbaevents.com and https://srdcinternational.org.

AFRICA400
Wednesdays @3pm EST.
https://handradio.org
https://kuumbareport.com
https://webuyblack.com
https://kweli.tv

Starting in January 2023, Africa400 will be renamed Africa 500, to better reflect the more than 500 years if the Global Pan-Afrikan Struggle against the Ma’afa, the Great Disaster, the enslavement of our Ancestors in Arabia, the Americas and our own Ancestral Home.  In 2023, look for Africa 500 programs here and at https://handradio.org.

Africa400 Profiles Islah Academy, Wednesday, December 21, 2022

The Wednesday, December 21, 2022 edition of Africa400 profiles the Islah Academy of Los Angeles, California.  Show hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty welcome Imam Dr. Jihad Saafir, the Academy’s Founder and Director, and Mama Azizah Ali, the Academy’s Principal. 

Africa400 airs every Wednesday at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HandRadio, https://handradio.org.  Be sure to tune in for the show.  After the show airs, it can be listened to again in an updated version of this post and on our Media Page.

“Race is a prominent construct here in America, we cannot separate ourselves from our race. And so we go in there with a religio-racial identity,” says Saafir, executive director of the nonprofit Islah LA.

Islah LA is an inner-city community center founded by Black Muslims to serve the South Los Angeles area. Founded in 2013, it does so through a food pantry, family counseling, four homes dedicated to providing transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness, and safe-place programming for families. Under that umbrella is Islah Academy, a pre-kindergarten through 8th-grade school that seeks to operate outside of the school-to-prison pipeline.

Zero-tolerance policies in U.S. schools, where students were expelled or suspended and referred to law enforcement, gained traction in the 1980s and 1990s because of harsh legislation such as California’s Three Strikes law, which imposed a life sentence for even minor crimes for repeat offenders. Punitive policies continued in spite of studies showing that a student who is suspended is less likely to finish school and is more likely to be in prison by their 20s. Data shows that such policies disproportionately affected Black and Brown students.

While California has sought to reverse these policies in recent years, the effects are still felt. Black individuals account for 6%of California’s population – but 28% of the state’s prison population.

In 2012, when Islah was just an idea, Saafir says the community was “plagued by the absence of our young people” when they reached high school. Many, he says, would become embroiled in the culture of gang activity or end up in prison.

Founded on the principles of restorative justice in 2013, Saafir says Islah Academy is a safe haven from the ills that often exist in the inner city and the damage wrought by the school-to-prison pipeline.

“There were a number of educators in our community who were like, ‘There has to be an alternative to public school,’” recalls Azizah Ali, principal and one of the founding members of Islah Academy. A former public school teacher herself, she says there were three main issues the founders hoped to combat at Islah: students’ safety, kids feeling seen and represented, and youth holding on to their faith.

“We wanted something that was really restorative, and not punitive,” Ali says.

Garland Bush, the director of student affairs as well as a founding member, says that’s not just a theoretical commitment: students and teachers live out these principles in the classroom and school grounds. If there was an incident on the playground, for example, instead of slapping the student with a suspension and keeping that child from receiving an education, Islah’s entire school community comes together in a restorative justice circle.

“We allow the students to talk about their feelings of the situation and talk about how and where it stemmed from, taking into consideration what that child is going through in their home life, the trauma they have,” she says. “And really asking the community, what do you need from this student to make the community whole again.”

The name Islah, in Arabic, means to revive, renew and restore. Students debate what harm was done to the school community and community at large, how they can repair the relationship and what accountability requires. The students themselves create the consequences.

“We had one student who was using really foul language towards the young ladies … and the school community said, you should get up after jummah [prayer services] and do a speech about respecting women,” Ali recalls. At first the student was embarrassed and resisted, before eventually holding himself accountable and doing it. He received a standing ovation after his speech.

“He got so much support,” Ali says.

Instead of punishing the student, Bush finds this model offers a “platform for deeper learning, it gives a platform for better communication.”

These restorative justice circles are not just used for disciplinary reasons or to address behavioral issues, they also serve as a platform to have deeper discussions about what happens in society. When rapper Nipsey Hussle was murdered down the street from Islah in 2019, the school came together to discuss what had happened.

“There was a student, a sweet little boy, who brought a knife. He was like, ‘to protect myself.’ They didn’t feel safe after that happened,” Ali says. The school brought in a trauma specialist to help the students process their feelings.

The school, Saafir says, is “tailor-made for the community.” Topics like incarceration also come up in these circles because some students have relatives in prison. One student, he recalls, came up to the teachers and asked them to write a character reference letter for his incarcerated father in the hopes that his father would be released early.

“He carries that burden here with him, so we address him on that particular topic,” Saafir says.

Another student brought up how he was upset with his father because he doesn’t pay child support. One classmate replied, “That’s nothing new,” while another student added, “My father doesn’t either.”

Saafir used that discussion to speak about forgiveness and understanding. He redirected the children to consider whether their fathers might be plagued by some trauma that prevents them from being present in their children’s lives.

“We unpack it, we talk about it and we move forward,” Bush says.

The school-to-prison pipeline is a gendered issue. Between 2016 and 2017, 3.6%of students in the U.S. were suspended from school. But the rate for Black boys was a whopping 12.8%. At the early childhood level (kindergarten through grade 3), Black boys are 5.6 times more likely to be suspended.

Islah Academy, as Ali is proud to note, offers an alternative to “a lot of boys, Black boys.” Parents say they prefer Islah because their children are not criminalized just because teachers did not understand them or their attitudes.

“That whole criminalizing attitude is because either you want to control this child a certain way, or your ego is hurt, and you can’t deal with it,” Bush says. “Or you’re just in a mold of adultifying these children.”

At Islah, she continues, as educators, teachers strive to be transformative mentors – “someone who can support them on their own ideas of who they want to be.” That even includes disrupting many of the systems of traditional American schools: no school bells, colorful uniforms in a range of styles from which students can choose.

And the students have responded in kind to this restorative justice model.

Schoolwide Learning Outcomes


Eight C’s of Character

  1. Consciousness: A state of being aware of Allah (God), self, and community.
  2. Compassion: Sympathetic concern for the situations of others.
  3. Consideration: Being deliberate and mindful of how one’s actions affect others.
  4. Courage: Ability in the face of adversity, to stand for principles in which you believe.
  5. Control: Having command over your desires and impulses. To abstain.
  6. Confidence: A feeling of self assurance that comes from one’s abilities and qualities.
  7. Consistency: Steadfast adherence to the same principles.
  8. Contribution/Service: Sharing and giving of one’s time or support.

Islah Academy – Islah Academy

An L.A. School That Breaks The School-To-Prison Pipeline (nextcity.org)

 
BIOS
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Imam Dr. Jihad Saafir is the former Chaplain of the California Institute for Women and the former Imam of Masjid At-Taqwa in Altadena, CA. He is the founder and director of Islah LA, a social service religious community center, and Islah Academy, a full-time Islamic K–8 private school. He also works at Bayan Islamic Graduate School as an assistant professor of religion and community development. Imam Jihad earned a BA in Arabic Studies, a Master’s in Islamic Studies and Leadership, and a Ph.D. in Practical Theology at the Claremont School of Theology. In 2018, Imam Jihad was awarded the prestigious KCET Local Hero’s Award. More recently, South Coast Interfaith Council recognized Dr. Saafir as its “2022 Faith Leader of the Year.” Through Dr. Jihad Saafir’s leadership, Islah LA has spawned a new wave of civic engagement within the Muslim American community.

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Mama Aziziah Ali is the principal of Islah Academy in Los Angeles, California. She got her bachelor’s degree from Virginia State University, finished the unique UCLA-Urban Teaching Credential Program, and got her master’s in Education Administration from Pepperdine University. She has been an educator for 23 years. For sixteen valuable years, she worked as a middle school teacher in South Los Angeles, concurrently mentoring new teachers and training staff on culturally responsive teaching. 

Much of her career has been spent educating other teachers and parents on nurturing the whole child. Her teaching method includes helping students who have been hurt by family or community problems do well in school and emotionally. She is currently studying for a doctorate in organizational leadership at the University of La Verne.

Azizah Ali, Principal

2900 S. Slauson Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90043
(323)596-3456

Silverback Society (New Orleans) Profiled on Africa400, Wednesday, December 14

[Editor’s Note: The November 30 show was repeated on Wednesday, December 7 due to a scheduling issue with this show’s interview.  Thus, the Silverback Society show will air on Wednesday, December 14 at 3:00 PM as usual.]

On the Wednesday, December 14, 2022 edition of Africa400, show hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty welcome Gregory Rattler Jr., Executive Director of the Silverback Society, a New Orleans, Louisiana-based organization that brings men together to act as mentors, or “jenoch” (plural of jegna”), providing critical rites of passage learning to young Black boys.  This will be the third of Africa400’s series of programs profiling efforts to bring healing and education to young Black males.  The series is titled “No Love For Black Boys”, though during these important shows Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty are introducing us all to organizers and activists who truly do possess and demonstrate their love for Black Boys.

Africa400 can be heard every Wednesday at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org).  After the show airs, listeners can check out archived shows on the Web sites for KUUMBAReport Online (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).

After the show airs on December 7, it will be posted here and on our Media Page.

Below is some more information on the Silverback Society, including their history, mission, vision, how interested readers can help and contact information:

There are hundreds of efforts being made by communities of color to support the next generation through churches, schools, afterschool programs and nonprofits.

One such group is the Silverback Society, which was founded in the fall of 2007 by Arthur Wardsworth and Lloyd Dennis. These two gentlemen decided to stop talking about problems they were seeing and offered themselves as part of the solution.

Today, the nonprofit organization supports, trains and coordinates more than 110 men who volunteer and are committed to making a positive impact on more than 600 boys and young men in 20 schools in the New Orleans and Gulf Coast area.

Earlier this month, Dennis relinquished the organization’s reins to longtime volunteer Gregory Rattler Jr.

“Three years ago, I coaxed him into leaving City Hall where he directed the Cease Fire initiative,” says Dennis.

Rattler also served as the program officer for Black Male Engagement at the Foundation for the MidSouth, where he managed a funding portfolio of organizations supporting an increase in the Black male high school graduation rate in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. Additionally, Rattler served as the director of the New Orleans Fatherhood Consortium, where he was instrumental in the passing of the Louisiana Fatherhood First legislation in 2013 — a program designed to promote the positive involvement and interaction of fathers with their children.

“I’m not going anywhere,” says Dennis. “Greg’s asked me to stay onboard part time to manage our finances and serve as his ‘legacy’ consultant.”

As the new executive director, Rattler is solidly committed to the Silverback Pledge: “I will live my life as though generations depend on me, and I will teach and encourage all of mine to do the same.”

“We do this by teaching respect, integrity, leadership and love, which results in reduction of disciplinary actions, higher academic achievement, and more productive young men,” says Rattler.  “Our volunteers graciously share their time, treasures and talents.”

The organization uses two to four Silverback Mentors, who are men who have achieved responsible respected manhood. These mentors engage with a troupe of 15 to 30 boys. All participants are in the eighth grade.

“This is a time when the boys are in a critical transition,” says Rattler.

Mentors belong to teams that serve at a specific school for 16 to 18 sessions per school year. The team approach means that if a man can’t make one or two sessions, the other men on the team will ensure the consistency that mentoring success requires.

“Our young men know that every week there will be a mentor breathing life and positivity into their lives,” Rattler explains.

Silverback also relies on Role Model Speakers, mentors who rotate through the troupes to share their stories and detail a variety of pathways used by men who have often had to climb from difficult situations to achieve their success.

“We offer support, love and affection every step of the way,” says Rattler.

“If a young man is going to Warren Easton, he will know others who are also going to be starting high school there,” he says. “They are also given book bags with the Silverback logo on them so that from the first day they will be able to recognize upperclassmen who are also Silverbacks. They’ll not be walking into high school alone because other Silverbacks will see them and support them.”

Dennis believes because their engagement is for a good part of the school year, toward the end of the engagement, its volunteers are rewarded by their mentees’ obvious changes in behavior, academic achievement and hope for a brighter future for themselves.

“This is addictive work,” he says.

By bringing resources to these young men, Silverback Society helps enhance these young men’s school experience.

Silverback Society’s Mission: Bringing together men to effect generational change by preparing boys to be respectful and responsible men.

Vision: A better community by increasing the number of productive men.

How Readers Can Help: Become a volunteer, mentor or speaker. And, if you can, donate here.

How Businesses Can Help: Consider encouraging and allowing staff to mentor at a school for one hour a week. “This would be an example of how important it is to give back to the community,” says Rattler.

A business could also help sponsor the organization’s end of the year event and/or help provide book bags for the young men.

Phone: (504) 208-1034

Email: ld@silverbacksociety.com

Website: silverbacksociety.com/index.php
https://thesilverbackway.com/home

Listen to the Wednesday, December 14 edition of Africa400 here:

Part 2 of “No Love for Black Boys” on Africa400, Wednesday, November 30, 2022

On the Wednesday, November 30 edition of Africa400, show hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty welcome Instructor Antonio Stovall and Manager Lateefah Trent of Total Action for Progress (TAP), based in Roanoake, Virginia.

The show can be listened to at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) Wednesdays on HANDRadio, https://handradio.org.

About Total Action for Progress (TAP), from the Web site https://tapintohope.org/about

Total Action for Progress (TAP) is a community action agency that serves eleven localities in the Roanoke Valley and adjacent communities: the counties of Alleghany, Bath, Botetourt, Craig, Roanoke, and Rockbridge, and the cities of Buena Vista, Covington, Lexington, Roanoke, and Salem.

A community action agency is an anti-poverty organization that was originally enabled by the Equal Opportunity Act of 1964. Most community action agencies, including TAP, are private, non-profit corporations run by a community-based Board of Directors. TAP is not a federal agency.

All of the normal stresses that threaten the stability and security of every family are greatly magnified for low-income families who may find it difficult to get by, especially in emergencies like loss of a job, eviction, illness, or a family member is incarcerated.

Community action is about getting people involved in their own lives and enabling them to help themselves – not about fixing things for now or providing hand-outs.

Because people can’t begin to solve their long-range problems of poverty until their immediate physical needs have been met, all of TAP’s programs give priority to helping either directly or by referral to other local agencies and resources.

TAP offers direct services, working with individuals and families, to help them overcome their problems and improve their lives. Our goal is to help them assert themselves as advocates for their own needs.

Bio of Antonio Stovall

Antonio Stovall is an inspiring indigenous shaman, 10-year martial artist (Kung Fu/Boxing), writer/poet, researcher, Kemetic Yoga instructor, and holistic wellness practitioner born and raised in Roanoke, VA. He is the founder of Ancestral Perspective, a grassroots movement that educates people on the importance of relearning their ancestral identity by providing educational books and DVDs (children’s literature, Ancient History, Health, Spirituality, Economics, etc). Antonio holds lectures on the importance of cultural awareness and wellness. He also does blog talk radio and organizes self-empowering study groups. Antonio has traveled across the United States and around the world (including Egypt). He has had the opportunity to learn at multiple indigenous alternative healing schools that teach the importance of balancing the mental, physical, spiritual, emotional, social, and aspects of the self to achieve optimal health. Antonio’s goal is to continue learning and growing as a human being and share his ten years of holistic wellness experience/lifestyle with others.

Teachers and Alternative Healing education

  • James Cabbler R.I.P (Boxing Coach/Champ Gym)
  • Herbie Hollands (Wing Chun Kung Fu)
  • Master Naba Kemetic Dogon High Priest
  • Chief Amachi (Priest of Tim and Bokata)
  • Queen Afua (Man heal thy self)
  • Dr. Jewel Pookrum (Jewel Pookrum University)
  • Yiser Ra Hotep (Kemetic Yoga)
  • Kwesi (Ausarian Tantra Yoga)
  • Yeye GoGo (Sangoma Training)

“Holistic wellness is a lifestyle that has to be cultivated each moment of each day. The present moment is where the origins of all healing begin.”
– Antonio Stovall

Other Upcoming Activities by TAP

TAP also is hosting Community Healing Workshop Series (Quarterly)
December 3rd@10am – January 21st @3pm

Join TAP for these FREE workshops to learn how to help keep our community safe and free of gun violence.

Upcoming Workshops

How to be a H.O.O.D. (Health, Optimism, Ownership, Discipline) Healer with Antonio Stovall
December 3, 2022 • Begins at 10 a.m.
Roanoke Higher Education Center
108 N. Jefferson Street, Room 618
Roanoke, VA 24016

Contact TAP

For more information, email antoniostovall90@gmail.com or lateefah.trent@tapintohope.org, or call 540.819.8828.

Related Articles

A few articles about TAP which hosts African American classes by Instructor Antonio Stovall under management of Lateefah Trent.

TAP Websites:

https://tapintohope.org/event/african-american-studies-class/ and coming in 2023, https://tapintohope.org/event/community-healing-workshops/

Articles about TAP:

https://thegrio.com/2022/10/19/culture-class-to-help-black-boys-stay-in-school/
https://www.essence.com/news/tap-youth-va-education/
https://www.wdbj7.com/2022/10/12/early-years-william-fleming-teacher-bringing-mindfulness-training-more-area-youth/
https://news.yahoo.com/african-american-culture-class-virginia-174144355.html

How to Listen

Africa400 airs on Wednesdays at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio, https://handradio.org.  After the show airs, listeners will be able to hear the show on this post and on our Media Page.

Listen to the November 30 show below:

AFRICA400
Wednesdays @3pm EST.
https://handradio.org/
https://kuumbareport.com/
https://webuyblack.com
https://kweli.tv

Kimoyo Shule Africana and PLM’s Umoja Karamu Celebration, Sunday, November 27 in Baltimore

The Pan African Liberation Movement (PLM) and Kimoyo Shule Africana announce their first annual Umoja Karamu (“Unity Feast”) Celebration, to be held on the afternoon of Sunday, November 27 from 2pm – 6pm at 6 East Lafayette Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland, 21202.

The event will include arts and crafts, African drumming, face painting, African dance, an African market and a feast.

The event will celebrate African familyhood and will indeed be an afternoon of wholesome African-centered fun for the entire family!  For more information, please call (443) 708-6978 or (443) 819-6610.

 

Coppin Repertory Theatre Presents “Broke-ology”, a Fund Raiser for the Maryland Council of Elders

The Coppin Repertory Theatre presents “Broke-ology (The Study of Being Broke)”, a play by Nathan Louis Jackson, Directed by Willie O. Jordan.

The event is being held as a fund-raiser for the Maryland Council of Elders (MCOE).

The date of the play is Saturday, November 12, 2022, at 3:00 PM.

The event will be held at the Theatre Lab in the Grace Hill Jacobs Building, Lower Level, Coppin State University, 2500 West North Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21216.

For tickets, please call:
Mama Abena Disroe, (202) 528-6884
Baba Ishaka Ra Hannibal El, (443) 691-1256

 

“Honoring Our Fathers” Film Screening and Panel at Arch Social Club-Baltimore, November 11

This important announcement comes from the Facebook page of the Black Arts District in Baltimore, Maryland ((1) Black Arts District | Facebook):

Join the Black Arts District, Friday, November 11th, from 4:00 pm-7:00 pm at the Arch Social Club (address below) as we celebrate Black fatherhood and Black men who have been mentors and father figures in our communities. Attendees are encouraged to bring an old school photo and share a story about their father or a Black man who has had a significant impact on their lives. All images will be included in our community database — The Historical Photography Project Archive (hpparchive.org), a teaching tool that supports 6th-12th grade curriculum designed to teach Baltimore City students about Black history in West Baltimore.

This free event will include food, free professional photoshoots, and a film screening of poet/director Nia June’s incredible short, “The Unveiling of God / a love letter to my forefathers”, followed by two powerful panel discussions. Attendees will also be eligible to enter a raffle giveaway.

The first panel discussion will be a talkback with the filmmakers, Nia June, Kirby Griffin, and APOETNAMEDNATE. The second panel discussion will be an in-depth conversation with Ernest Shaw (visual artist), Micheal Cornish (Dad’s United Organization), and Dr. Kevin Daniels (Paster St. Martin Church of Christ) about the Black masculinity and initiatives that are being activated in Baltimore City to mentor and encourage Black boys and men.

Please share this announcement and flier widely with your networks! We look forward to seeing you!

EVENT DETAILS:

Event: Black Arts District Historical Photography Project Presents: Honoring Our Fathers: A Celebration of Black Men

Location: Arch Social Club, 2426 Pennsylvania Ave, Baltimore, MD 21217

Date/Time: Friday, November 11, 2022, 4:00pm-7:00pm

Cost: Free

How to enter the Raffle: People who bring a family photo will be entered into a raffle to win cool limited edition merch from the Black Arts District.

#baltimore #fathersday #filmscreening #paneldiscussion #loveyoudad #everydayisfathersday #BAD #freefood #fun #memories

#celebration