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

 

Africa400 Returns to the Airwaves with “No Love For Black Boys”

 

Africa400 returns to the airwaves on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org) with the first installment of a hard-hitting and critical series of programs on the efforts to counteract the School-To-Prison Pipeline and the current social work system’s attack on young Black males.  “No Love for Black Boys” will air on Wednesday, October 26 at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) and will feature the following special guests:

Bro. Mike Guynn
National Board Member, National Association of Black Social Workers
https://www.nabsw.org/default.aspx
https://www.nabsw.org/page/History
Los Angeles CA, member of the Reparations Committee

Bro. Cincere Allah
Washington DC chapter, National Association of Black Social Workers
Certified Restorative Justice Facilitator, implementing restorative justice programs in schools and the community including anti-violence and community healing

Baba Olufemi Shepsu
Richmond chapter, National Association of Black Social Workers
Head of the National Committee, Pan-African Affairs and Activities

Baba Terry Williams
Re-entry Counselor, C.A.R.E. Youth Program for Boys
Stockton, California
Spent 40 years in California prisons, 35 years in Solitary Housing Unit (SHU)
Head of the California APP-HRC Chapter

Mama Cortaiga Collins
Founder, Good Shepherd Pre-School Academy for Boys
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/all-boys-preschool-planned-for-north-st-louis/article_858ff42e-a744-5fcd-bb3a-f043ec363359.html
https://www.stltoday.com/all-boys-preschool-to-open-in-north-st-louis/article_7e18bf3b-ca35-57bd-965a-59e151f3eacc.html
https://foundationforstrengtheningfamilies.org/team/cortaiga-s-collins/

About Mama Cortaiga Collins

Cortaiga S. Collins serves as founding Executive Director of the Foundation for Strengthening Families (FSF). In addition to her work as executive director of FSF, Mrs. Collins serves as Head of School for Good Shepherd Early Learning Center, a nationally accredited early childhood education center she founded in 2009.  She’s the visionary behind the Show Me Family Zone, an ambitious, Herculean effort to end generational poverty and close the wealth and achievement gap in the West End neighborhood in St. Louis.  The Show Me Family Zone will house the first all-male preschool designed to disrupt the preschool to prison pipeline by ensuring all students are academically, socially and developmentally prepared for kindergarten.

Cortaiga holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Missouri St. Louis, a second bachelor’s in child development from Central Methodist University and a master’s degree in business administration from Webster University. 

Hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty will also talk with the mother of an 8-year-old son who has been fighting to prevent his being labeled as a “violent” child since he was 4 years old.

This program is the first of a series inspired by iconic Pan African educator Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu’s seminal work, Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys and film/documentary ‘Black Boys’.  This book and documentary/film will be referenced in every show.


After the show airs, the audio from the broadcast will be available on our Media Page.

 

 

SRDC Concludes Successful International Summit in Panama City, Panama

The 2022 SRDC Summit was held from Thursday, September 22 through Sunday, September 25, 2022 in Panama City, Panama. Since SRDC does not yet have an organization in Panama, this amounted to “virgin territory” for our organizing efforts. A number of the hoped-for attendees were not able to secure travel visas to attend the Summit in time, but some of them were afforded the opportunity to connect to the Summit virtually via Zoom. Activists from the Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, The Netherlands, Liberia, the United States and, of course, the host country of Panama were in attendance, with others from the United States, Tanzania, Ghana, Guadeloupe and other locations connecting virtually.

Professor David L. Horne.

The Summit was a success overall. There were a couple of occasional technical connection issues, some people were not able to attend who we hoped to see, some who we expected to see on Zoom didn’t make it and a few of the important participants who did come were delayed in arriving for the first day or two, but the re-connection with several Central American Pan Afrikan activists and organizers was accomplished. There is some hope that an SRDC organization or an allied effort can be set up in Panama for the first time.

President General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League Rehabilitating Committee 2020 (UNIA-ACL RC 2020), Baba Akili Nkrumah, opened the Summit with a discussion of the legacy of The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey and his influence in the Caribbean and Central America.

Mr. Melvin Brown, Dr. Edly Hall Reid.

Mr. Melvin Brown, who facilitated the holding of this Summit in Panama and showed us some of the sights of his country, Dr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina of the Caribbean Pan African Network (CPAN) and SRDC, and Dr. Edly Hall Reid of Costa Rica, who represented the Central American Black Organization (CABO)/Organizacion Negra Centroamericana (ONECA), talked about the importance of this Summit in terms of reaching out to Afrikan-Descendant populations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean.  This Summit was, in fact, focused on re-establishing and strengthening connections between SRDC and Pan-Afrikan organizations in this often-overlooked part of the Pan Afrikan Diaspora.

Dr. Barryl Biekman, Prof. David L. Horne.

Professor David L. Horne, International Facilitator and Director of SRDC, and Dr. Barryl Biekman, founder and Director of the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region Facilitators Working Group (AUADSFWG) Europe, based in The Netherlands, talked about 21st Century Pan-Afrikanism and the continuing international effort to establish the Afrikan Diaspora’s voice in the African Union (AU), including the AU’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) which was to be the first AU organ to establish a representative voice for the Diaspora and the recently-created African Diaspora High Council, which was developed out of the May Roots-Synergy Roundtable that was held on Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Neema Abena James, an Afrikan Diasporan living in Tanzania, founder of the Sixth Region African Diaspora Alliance in Tanzania (6RADAT) and East Afrika SRDC Facilitator (on Zoom from Tanzania) and Dr. Hamet Maulana, who works with Afrikan Diasporans in Ghana to work toward establishing citizenship (on Zoom from Ghana) discussed topics centered around the struggle of expatriate Diasporans to establish Right To Return to Afrika and Dual Citizenship rights.

Ras Bukie, Black Queen Selassie.

Local Rastafari-connected activists Black Queen Selassie, Honorable Empress Yesury Nurse, Afropanamanian Afro Latin American Leader and Founder of Good Music Pro, and Ras Bukie, Rastafari Cultural Ambassador, Chairman of the Rastafari Global Reasoning Jamaica, University of West Indies and President of Good Music Pro, spoke about the work toward the related topics of Repatriation and Reparations. This dynamic pair were also instrumental in achieving the establishment of the statue of The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey in Panama City’s Cultural Park.  They, along with Mr. Brown and other Pan-Afrikan activists in their circle, represent hope for the Afrikan Descendant population of Panama for the organization of their communities and the lifting up of their collective voice.

Madam Louise Siaway and the Women of the Liberia Delegation.

Madam Louise Siaway and the Liberia delegation honor Baba Kumasi Palmer and Prof. David L. Horne.

Madam Louise Siaway of Sehwah Liberia, who was in attendance with a delegation of activists from Liberia, presented information about the projects underway in Liberia, such as the Library Project, the Maisha Washington Education Scholarship Fund and investment opportunities in Liberia as an example of what we can do when we truly put aside our petty differences and choose to work together.  SRDC has sent delegations to Liberia twice, once in late 2018 to officially meet with local leaders as a prelude to establishing the land for the Library, and again in November 2021 for SRDC’s 13th Annual Summit.  In Panama, the Liberian delegation presented Professor Horne and SRDC South Carolina Facilitator Baba Kumasi Palmer with gifts to honor the years of tireless work both of them have personally put into the preparation and implementation of the Library Project and the Scholarship Fund.  Sehwah-Liberia currently maintains an office space in Monrovia, Liberia as a local SRDC office, the first on the Afrikan Continent.

Maryland Facilitator Bro. Cliff Kuumba made a short presentation about the Town Hall Process that is the local organizing tool for SRDC (and, frankly, what separates SRDC from most other Pan-Afrikan organizations). The Town Hall Process allows the grassroots communities to take part in the development of that community’s Pan Afrikan Agenda (those issues that are important to that community to build political pressure campaigns, international advocacy through the African Union or United Nations, or self-help strategies we can enact ourselves at the local level). The Town Hall Process also is the means through which members of the local community are able to determine for themselves who they want to speak on their behalf at local, national and international conferences, meetings and forums. To check out Bro. Cliff’s presentation in written form (PDF, viewable with Adobe Reader), check it out below. Bro. Cliff was also able to talk for a few minutes about Cooperative Coalitions at the end of his presentation, a means to bring together a variety of Pan-Afrikan organizations and build the type of unity that serious Pan Afrikan activists constantly insist we need, including the concepts of the “Spokes of the Wheel” structure and “Cooperation not Competition”, “Unity Without Uniformity” and “Unity of Purpose over Unity of Ideology”.

Town Hall and Cooperative Coalitions Sept 23 2022a

Bro. Haki Ammi contemplates while checking out a cathedral in Panama City’s “Old Town”.

Bro. Haki Ammi, President of the Teaching Artist Institute (TAI) traveled to Panama from Baltimore (among many trips around the world that he and TAI founder Sis. Kim Poole take on behalf of TAI) and was able to participate over the main conference days (Friday and Saturday) of the Summit, as well as taking part in the Tour of Panama that was held on Sunday. He was able to log several reports back on Facebook, wrote an excellent article on the Summit and other travels he made during the month for The National Black Unity News, a Baltimore-based Black-run online and printed publication where he is a regular contributor, and interviewed Dr. Barryl Biekman, the founder and director of the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region Facilitators Working Group (AUADSFWG) in Europe (She was born in Suriname, Northeastern South America and currently lives in The Netherlands).

Dr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina presides.

The overall Summit was ably emceed by Dr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina, who has connections to SRDC as well as to the Caribbean Pan African Network (CPAN). She kept the Summit moving and managed the flow of presenters, as well as serving as a presenter herself on the topics of reaching out to Central America, South America and the Caribbean and the nature of 21st Century Pan-Afrikanism.

Connecting with Activists on the Ground in Panama

We got the chance to connect with a couple of businesses in Panama, specifically Afrikan-owned restaurants where our able Panamanian guides and Summit participants, Mr. Melvin Brown (the official host for the Summit), Ras Bukie and Black Queen Selassie took us to dine and to meet the owners so we could get an idea of “life on the ground” in Panama. We were also treated to a cultural performance by the Congo Dancers during the Thursday Welcoming Reception to start the Summit off on a good note.

The Congo Dancers with Ras Bukie and Black Queen Selassie.

Taking a Tour of Panama

We took a tour of the Panama City area, including the Panama Canal and the neighborhoods where many of the working-class and struggling citizens, many of whom are Afrikan-Descendant, live (which, we were told, is also the birthplace of legendary boxing champion Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran). Several photos we took on the tour are below.

The locks at the Panama Canal.

A view down the Canal locks.

An exhibit inside the Canal Visitors Center.

A church in the “Old Town”.

A public square in the “Old Town”.

The Panama City skyline as seen from Flamingo Island.

We got to visit the recently inaugurated statue of The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey in Panama City’s Cultural and Ethnic Communities Plaza, which stands alongside statues of Confucius and Mohandas K. Gandhi. Black Queen Selassie and Ras Bukie were a major part of the work to have the statue placed here, and they succeeded in this effort just a couple of months ago. We were able to spend some time there on Sunday afternoon after the Summit was completed and pay proper respects.

Black Queen Selassie and Ras Bukie at the Garvey Statue.

The inscription on the base of the Garvey Statue.

We returned to our respective homes from the 2022 SRDC Summit in Panama City ready to recommit to the process of Organizing the Diaspora to take our collective voice to the World Stage. SRDC is currently making plans for our next Summit. As for location of the 2023 Summit, the current frontrunner is Atlanta, Georgia, returning to the Continental United States after holding Summits in Monrovia, Liberia and Panama City, Panama the last two years. While we remain committed to our international mission, we must not forget, as a Pan-Afrikan Diaspora organization founded and based in the United States, that the organizing work that will bring our collective grassroots voice to the International Arena must begin at home. We must make critical connections to our Sisters and Brothers in Afrika and throughout the Pan-Afrikan Diaspora, but we will not succeed in our important work if we ever forget our connection and responsibility to The People On The Ground Where We Live.

Paying respects at the Garvey Statue.

Sankofa Summer Camp Begins Summer Activities for Children

Baba Charlie Dugger has held cultural and educational events in the Baltimore, Maryland area for several decades through his organization Camp Harambee (The People), including the annual Marcus Garvey Day celebrations of the birthday of the Pan-Afrikan giant and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL).  Now Baba Charlie Dugger is sponsoring the Sankofa Summer Camp, a summer series of events taking place at the Sankofa Children’s Museum of African Cultures at 4330 Pimlico Road in Northwest Baltimore.  The Camp will be held Mondays and Tuesdays from 10 am – 2 pm.  For more information, call (443) 742-5193 or email communiversity8@gmail.com.