Juneteenth Celebrations Across Maryland

Juneteenth is here.

For the uninitiated, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth; Juneteenth – Wikipedia) describes Juneteenth thus:

Juneteenth (officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, and also known as, Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, and Black Independence Day) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating emancipation of enslaved African Americans. It is also often observed for celebrating African-American culture. Originating in Galveston, Texas, it has been celebrated annually on June 19 in various parts of the United States since 1865. The day was recognized as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. Juneteenth’s commemoration is on the anniversary date of the June 19, 1865, announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger, proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas, which was the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery.

President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, had freed the enslaved people in Texas and all the other Southern secessionist states of the Confederacy except for parts of states not in rebellion. Enforcement of the Proclamation generally relied upon the advance of Union troops. Texas, as the most remote state of the former Confederacy, had seen an expansion of slavery and had a low presence of Union troops as the American Civil War ended; thus, enforcement there had been slow and inconsistent prior to Granger’s announcement. Although the Emancipation Proclamation declared an end to slavery in the Confederate States, it did not end slavery in states that remained in the Union. For a short while after the fall of the Confederacy, slavery remained legal in two of the Union border states – Delaware and Kentucky. Those enslaved people were freed with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished chattel slavery nationwide on December 6, 1865. The last enslaved people present in the continental United States were freed when the enslaved people held by the Choctaw (in the Indian Territories), who had sided with the Confederacy, were released in 1866.

Celebrations date to 1866, at first involving church-centered community gatherings in Texas. They spread across the South and became more commercialized in the 1920s and 1930s, often centering on a food festival. Participants in the Great Migration out of the South carried their celebrations to other parts of the country. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, these celebrations were eclipsed by the nonviolent determination to achieve civil rights, but grew in popularity again in the 1970s with a focus on African American freedom and African-American arts. Beginning with Texas by proclamation in 1938, and by legislation in 1979, each U.S. state and the District of Columbia have formally recognized the holiday in some way. With its adoption in certain parts of Mexico, the holiday became an international holiday. Juneteenth is celebrated by the Mascogos, descendants of Black Seminoles who escaped from slavery in 1852 and settled in Coahuila, Mexico.

Celebratory traditions often include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs such as “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, and the reading of works by noted African-American writers, such as Ralph Ellison and Maya Angelou. Some Juneteenth celebrations also include rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, park parties, historical reenactments, and Miss Juneteenth contests. When Juneteenth became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, it was the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was adopted in 1983.

There are several observances being held across the state of Maryland. Thanks to Baba Lou Fields for hosting a brief Zoom call on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 14 that featured several guests who were announcing their Juneteenth events. We’re including contact information (details can be found on the event Web sites and by contacting the organizations by email or phone when made available) on just a few of these Juneteenth celebrations taking place this weekend across the state of Maryland:

NAACP 2nd Juneteenth Celebration
13 Canal Street, Cumberland, MD 21502
Saturday, June 18 – Sunday, June 19
https://naacpallegany.org

 

 

 

 

African American Historical Association
9030 Sharpsburg Pike, Fairplay, MD 21733
Sunday, June 19, 11am – 6pm
https://aahawmd.org

 

 

 

 

Upper Bay Juneteenth Festival
Historic Hosanna School Museum
2424 Castleton Rd, Darlington, MD 21034
Saturday, June 18, 12noon – 6pm
https://www.hosannaschoolmuseum.org

 

 

 

 

Benjamin Banneker Historical Museum and Park
300 Oella Avenue, Catonsville, MD 21228
email: bannekermuseum-rp@baltimorecountymd.gov

 

 

 

 

Annapolis Juneteenth Celebration
Annapolis City Dock, Bates Athletic Complex
Saturday, June 18
https://www.theannapolisjuneteenth.org

 

 

 

Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm
3811 Park Heights Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215
https://plantationparkheights.org/
email: info@plantationparkheights.org

These are certainly not all of the Juneteenth celebrations being held in the state of Maryland, and there are of course hundreds, if not potentially thousands, of Juneteenth celebrations and festivals being held over the weekend of June 17 – 19 across the United States as well as supporting celebrations being held throughout the Pan-Afrikan Diaspora.  Be sure to check here and with other Afrikan-centered and historical Web sites to stay up to date on Juneteenth celebrations in your area.

Happy Juneteenth!

African Liberation Day in Lafayette Square Park, Baltimore, Maryland

The Maryland Council of Elders (MCOE), All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP), All African Women’s Revolutionary Union (A-AWRU), Ujima People’s Progress Party (UPP), Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), Woodson Banneker Bey Division 330 of the UNIA-ACL RC2020 and Pan-Afrikan activists from across the Maryland-Washington, DC area will converge on Lafayette Square Park in West Baltimore (West Lafayette and North Arlington Avenues) for an observance of African Liberation Day on Sunday, May 29 from 1:00 – 6:00 PM.

The event will feature a number of tables and displays, including Vendors, a Children’s Festival Tent, Food, an Information Table and Health Screenings.

Invited Speakers will include:

  • Charlie Dugger, Camp Harambee (The people)
  • Erica Caines, Black Alliance for Peace (BAP)
  • Rafiki Morris, All African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP)
  • Brandon Walker, UJIMA Peoples Progress Party (UPP)
  • JY’MIR, Howard University (The Kwame Touré Society)
  • Dante O’Hara, Claudia Jones School of Political Education
  • Senghor Baye, UNIA-ACL RC2020
  • Minister Abdur Rahim Shakoor, Reparations & Self Determination
  • Baba Mosi Matsimela (President, UNIA-ACL DIV. 330 RC2020)

Among the performers will be:

  • Internationally Known “PROVERBS” Reggae Band
  • Storyteller “Grandmother Edna”
  • High Priestess of Poetry “Abena Disroe”
  • SONGBIRD “Freedome EL”
  • Xaala Mainama Drumming
  • Park Vibe Drummers

For more information, contact the following:

Come on out and observe African Liberation Day with the Maryland Council of Elders!

From JUSTICE INITIATIVE: The Supreme Court is Helping Consolidate White Political Power in America

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Justice Initiative International is a series of articles either written by journalist Heather Gray in Atlanta, Georgia or articles by other authors. The focal points of the articles vary but are primarily about racial justice, agriculture issues and international peace and justice.  We occasionally feature commentaries and analyses by Justice Initiative on this Web site.  For more information on Justice Initiative and for more of their commentary and analysis, visit https://justiceinitiativeinternational.wordpress.com.

The Supreme Court is Helping Consolidate White Political Power in America
April England-Albright, Cliff Albright and LaTosha Brown
February 10, 2022
The Guardian

also available at The Supreme Court is Helping Consolidate White Political Power in America | Portside

By upholding Alabama’s gerrymandered districts, the supreme court is laying the groundwork for ending voting rights and political power for Black people.

On Tuesday, the US supreme court in its Merrill v Milligan decision, upheld Alabama’s racially gerrymandered congressional map, which see Black people represented in only 14% of congressional districts, despite making up about 27% of Alabama’s population. This ruling is reminiscent of the holding in the supreme court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision that Black people “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect”. Even though the two cases addressed two different situations, the overall disregard of the rights of Black people in America by the highest court in the country is the same.

And just as the Dred Scott decision laid the groundwork for similar rulings that led to the continuation of white political power at the expense of Black political power, so too does the Miller case lay the groundwork for ending voting rights and political power for Black people in this country and a path towards white political power at all levels of government.

Some reading this will gasp and accuse us of misusing an explosive pre-reconstruction case to make a racially charged argument. But the reality is that the conservative gang of justices, under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts, had already joined its pre-1954 brethren who had indoctrinated Jim Crow policies and the disenfranchisement of Black voters.

First through the supreme court’s abolition of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in the 2013 Shelby v Holder, another Alabama case, they empowered every Republican-controlled state to enact a series of voter suppression laws targeting Black people with surgical precision.

Next, through the 2018 Abbott v Perez case, the court took its first stab at the second protective tool in the VRA, section 2 by ruling to keep in place a blatantly racially gerrymandered map in Texas through what Justice Sonia Sotomayor called “a disregard of both precedent and facts at the cost of democracy”. Then again, in 2021, in the Brnovich v DNC case, the court finally took the knockout punch to the remaining power left in the VRA’s Section 2, by leaving two Arizona bills in place, which, as noted by Justice Elena Kagan in her dissent, “disproportionally affect minority citizens’ opportunity to vote”.

So, Tuesday’s Merrill case is just a link in a chain of US supreme court decisions meant to end Black voting protections and political power in this country. Even though Chief Justice Roberts did not join his usual comrades, he signaled in his dissent that he intends to shred what is left of Section 2 when the full case reaches the supreme court.

Moreover, by using the court’s shadow docket, the court has shown a greater sin in operation. While the conservative gang of six argue that they are simply staying the case because of the lower court’s ruling proximity to upcoming elections and not ruling on the merits of the case, Justice Kagan in her dissent makes it clear that the case “is one more in a disconcertingly long line of cases in which this court uses its shadow docket to signal or make changes in the law”. The conservative majority inappropriately stretched the meaning of “close election” to force the usage of a preliminary injunction standard found in Purcell v Gonzalez to create this unnecessary and hurtful outcome.

In using the shadow docket in this manner, the conservative gang are not operating as judges evaluating the constitutionality of laws in a neutral manner, but have ignored legal precedent and become a partisan weapon of the Republican party.

By allowing Alabama to use its racially gerrymandered congressional map to dilute Black voting power, the Republican party will continue to send six representatives to Congress next year instead of the five that would have probably resulted from fair maps. At a time when the Republican party is trying to take back power in the House of Representatives, it could not afford to lose a congressional seat in Alabama, and the conservative gang ensured this would not happen. In this regard, the current court is continuing a trend last seen when another conservative majority essentially decided the results of the 2000 presidential election, an election in which Florida’s results were affected by racially disproportionate challenges to voting rights on the basis of inaccurate accusations of criminal convictions.

But just as history of the post-Reconstruction and segregation era supreme court shows the motivation and pathway of this current supreme court, history also shows the pathway to victory, and we believe the following three recommendations are critical, even if just a beginning.

First, President Biden must appoint an attorney to the supreme court who has been a champion for civil and voting rights. When nominating an appointment to the supreme court, Lyndon B Johnson boldly chose a champion of civil rights to carry that legacy forward to the court without fear of reprisal. In doing so he was not being expedient but doing what the moment required. The moment requires President Biden to be unapologetically bold in the same manner and nominate a justice like Sherrilyn Ifill, Barbara Arnwine, Kristen Clarke or Judith Browne Dianis who all have great legal scholarship and have been defenders of democracy.

Second, Democrats must expand the court. Article 3 of the US constitution does not specify how many justices are required on the supreme court. The Democrats in Congress should use their power given to them by Black voters and increase the number of justices from nine to eleven.

Third, we must have a serious discussion around and advocate for structural solutions which extend beyond which shape a gerrymandered map takes or which entities are entrusted to create those maps.

We must immediately begin to rethink what majority rule means for historically attacked racial and ethnic groups, and how do we create mechanisms that address these limitations in ways that make majority rule and this entire democracy more fair and effective. Concepts such as those advocated by the civil rights giant Lani Guinier, such as proportional representation, should receive full debate. Roberts has always been hostile to such mechanisms, and in doing so is serving as an impediment not only to Black voting rights but to a more inclusive democracy that would benefit all voters.

To make these recommendations a reality, Black people, other marginalized groups and allies must continue to organize at the local level, state level and national level to make clear our demands. History shows that through organizing, major court victories such as Brown v Board of Education, which ended segregation in schools, were won. In doing so, Black people in America can build political power that protects voting rights beyond an act that requires reauthorization every 20 years or so, and we can take our destinies out of the hands of people in power who still believe that a Black man – and woman – has no rights that a white man has to respect.

April England-Albright is an attorney and the Black Voters Matter Fund (BVMF) legal director. Cliff Albright and LaTosha Brown are BVMF cofounders.

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Gray & Associates | PO Box 8291, Atlanta, GA 31106

Right To Return Alliance Press Conference Monday, February 7, 2022

Media Invitation: Press Conference
2022: The Year Of Promoting The African Descendants’ Right To Return

The Right To Return Alliance (RTRA), a coalition of African Descendants from global communities, CSOs, NGOs and businesses in the Africa and the Diaspora, is inviting local and international media to its press conference to present its global campaign.

The UN International Decade for People Of African Descent is coming to an end in 2024. We, as African Descendants exercising our Right To Return To Africa (ADRTR) wish to leave a lasting legacy to mark the close of this historic ten year period starting with this event. RTRA’s contribution to promote the respect, protection and fulfilment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of our group, is to declare 2022: The Year Of Promoting The African Descendants’ Right To Return.

On January 30, 2022 a press release (attached) was circulated to launch this event and announce our press conference.  The purpose of the press conference is to give the media an opportunity to find out how to be a part of this year and learn more about this campaign.

PRESS CONFERENCE DETAILS: 

MONDAY, 7 FEBRUARY, 2022 09:00 Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join the RTRA for an online and live press conference for the formal launch of 2022 as a significant year in the history of the African Diaspora. 

  • Platform for online press conference: Zoom

 (14:00 United Kingdom / Ghana, 16:00 South Africa Time, 17:00 East Africa Time)

Meeting ID: 846 8364 8804     Passcode: RTRAPRESS

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kckuMhvWsY

Meeting ID: 846 8364 8804     Passcode: 602354145

  • Venue for in on-site press conference: 6RADAT, #41 Touch Lane, off CCM, Masaki, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

The onsite press conference will allow for attendees to ask questions. RTRA representatives will also be available for interviews and comments after the press conference.  Those of you interested in attending this on-site, please register yourself in advance by sending an email to the undersigned. 

For interviews or more assistance contact:

 

 

SRDC and Sehwah-Liberia Inc. Announce the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship Fund

Sehwah-Liberia, Inc. and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) are announcing the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship for high school students in Liberia.

The Scholarship Program represents part of SRDC’s continuing efforts to build bridges between the Pan-African Diaspora and the African Community on the Continent, and Sehwah-Liberia’s continuing commitment to lift up the people of Liberia as the country continues to rise up from decades of civil war.

The Scholarship Program is named after Mama Maisha Washington, who as a member of the Maryland SRDC Organization and the Maryland Council of Elders (MCOE) had led efforts to launch a successful 2020 Pan African Summer Camp in Liberia, administered and taught by teachers in Liberia and the United States.  Mama Maisha was also one of the leaders of the Pan-African Library Project, which will build the first-ever public library in Monrovia, Liberia, and which will primarily serve the countries of Liberia, Guinea-Conakry, Siera Leone and Cote D’Ivoire.

Mama Maisha transitioned to the Honored Ancestors in October 2020.

The initial goal of the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship is to grant educational scholarships to 150 high school students (9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders) in Liberia during 2022, and to expand the Scholarship Program from there.  Also, in support of the Pan-African Library Project, Liberian college-age students will be trained in Library Science to equip them to manage and operate the library once it is completed.

Another objective of the Scholarship Program will be to build relationships between Scholarship donors and students in Liberia who will benefit from the Scholarship Program.  SRDC has included a Scholarship Program Donor Form, which can be completed by checking out the SRDC post at https://srdcinternational.org/maisha-washington-education-foundation-scholarship-fund/ or by visiting the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Web page at https://srdcinternational.org/scholarship/.

To make a tax-deductible donation to the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship Program using PayPal, please visit the SRDC post at https://srdcinternational.org/maisha-washington-education-foundation-scholarship-fund/ or the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Web page at https://srdcinternational.org/scholarship/.

Update: Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship Fund Appeal for Donations and Support

The most recent fund raising letter discusses the current progress of the Scholarship Program and makes the following appeal for donations:

The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) paid the school fees for 150 Liberian high school students for the 2021-2022 school year ($30.00 each).

We were able to raise $4,500.00 through the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship Fund to pay for those students’ school fees.

This money was collected through donations from people like you.

We need $4,500.00 (US dollars) to pay the school fees for another 150 students for the 2023 school year.

44 of those first 150 graduated students from 2021-2022 will be going to college in 2023. We also need $11,000 US dollars to sponsor those students’ yearly college fees for year 2023. ($250 each).

Thus, the total fundraising goal for this year is $15,500.00 ($4,500.00 plus $11,000.00).

Funds will be forwarded to our coordinating partner in Liberia (Sehwah-Liberia), under the leadership of Madam Louise M. W. Siaway.

Make your tax deductible donation (check) out to SRDC International.

Send your check by mail to:

Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus
3818 Crenshaw Blvd. #350
Los Angeles, CA 90008

Or donate online through our PayPal donate link at https://srdcinternational.org/scholarship/.

Thank you for your support.

Joe Palmer
843-452-4880

Related Articles

Bridging the Gap Between Ourselves (Our African Connection)

by Kumasi Palmer, SRDC-South Carolina Facilitator

EDITOR’S NOTE: The 2021 SRDC International Summit will be held November 8-13 in Monrovia, Liberia.  We will be advancing our outreach to the Mother Continent through concrete projects and programs with grassroots organizations on the ground there, starting with the effort to build Liberia’s first public library and sponsoring the 2021 Summit in cooperation with the Liberian grassroots organization Sehwah-Liberia.  The official announcement of the 2021 International Summit, with Registration Page and information regarding travel and accommodations for the Summit, will be made in the next week.  Meanwhile, we invite our readers to enjoy this brief history of some of the connections between Africa and the Diaspora, specifically as they relate to the Republic of Liberia, from Baba Kumasi Palmer, SRDC-South Carolina Facilitator.

Lott Cary

Daniel Coker

The Republic of Liberia was established as an independent nation state off the coast of West Africa in 1847 by freedmen from the United States. The first set of freedmen from the U.S. settled on Sherbo Island in modern day Sierra Leone in 1820. After a year of hardship at Sherbo Island the returnees moved on further along the coast landing at Providence Island in 1821 which is today known as Liberia. Lott Cary (1780-1828) and Daniel Coker (1780-1846) were the first group of pioneers that arrived in the newly formed colonies of Sierra Leone and Liberia, Coker being one of the founding members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church founded in Philadelphia in the year 1816.

Paul Cuffee

It was through the aid and support of the American Colonization Society (formed in 1817) to send freed Blacks to the colony of Liberia. During this same period Freetown, Sierra Leone was established by the British (1808) as a colony that served as a refuge for enslaved Africans. Paul Cuffee (1759-1819), a freedman and owner of his own shipping vessel, was one of the earliest pioneers with the vision to repatriate freed Blacks from the United States to a new home in Sierra Leone. But it was Liberia that eventually became the new home for Repatriated Blacks from the US. This migration started by ship in 1820 and continued into the 1880’s.

The search for political, economic and physical security by Africans in the southern United States at the ending of Reconstruction created the condition for many Black families to seek refuge to Africa. Liberia was at the center of this migration and reconnection.

Edward Wilmot Blyden

Henry McNeal Turner

Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912), Henry McNeal Turner (1834-1915) and Martin R Delany (1812-1883) were three prominent 19th century Black leaders at the forefront to reconnect the Diaspora to Africa by way of Liberia during and after the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States. Blyden was the foremost intellectual thinker and activist to advocate Diasporan Blacks to repatriate to Liberia. Blyden, the originator of the concept called “The African Personality”, was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands but migrated to Liberia in 1850. Turner, who made numerous trips to Africa, was born in Newberry, South Carolina and became the 12th bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E) in 1880. Delany was born in West Virginia and served in the Civil War, and was commissioned as a medical doctor with the rank of major.

Martin R Delany

The early repatriates to Liberia also emigrated from the West Indies islands of Barbados, the Virgin Islands and Jamaica. From the United States they came from the states of Virginia, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas and Ohio.

We find cities in Liberia named after the states and towns where the early repatriates came and settled. Greenville, (Greenville-SC) and Maryland County (Maryland) are some of the names similar to names of US cities and states. Then there are cities named after families that emigrated from the Caribbean such as Barclayville, (president Barclay-born-Barbados-West Indies), Bensonville-(president Benson-born in Maryland-U.S.).

Joseph Jenkins Roberts

William R Tolbert Jr

All elected presidents of Liberia from 1848 until 1980 were born in the Diaspora or were the children of those born in the Diaspora. The first ten (10) presidents of Liberia were born in the Diaspora. Liberia’s first president, Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1848-1856), was born in Virginia. The grandfather of William Richard Tolbert Jr., the 20th president of Liberia (1975-1980), was born in Charleston, South Carolina.

Bridging the gap between Liberia and the Diaspora is a continued legacy established in the 19th Century by men and women who built the bridges for our Pan African connections. Many of those who left the United States for Liberia during the 19th Century embarked on ships docked at the Charleston Harbor located in South Carolina. Join us as we continue the journey of our pioneering ancestors who reconnected us over 200 years ago.

Our organization, The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC), is presently working with our partner organization in Liberia (SEHWAH) to construct a public library in the capital city of Monrovia, Liberia. Books for nation building are welcome. Contact us at panafricanlibrary@gmail.com or our website: https://srdcinternational.org.

 

The Ancestors’ Call, December 2021

As the year 2021 draws to a close and we celebrate the season through Christmas and Kwanzaa, we would like to pause and give praise and honor to those Pan-Afrikan giants we have seen pass on to the Honored Ancestors in December.

We commemorated the transition of Rev. Richard Meri Ka Ra Byrd of KRST Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science (December 5) in this article.  Here, we recognize four others who passed on to the Ancestors in December: Organizer and Teacher Babatunji Balogun (Soul School Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, December 15), Author bell hooks (December 15), Political Prisoner Russell “Maroon” Shoatz (December 17) and South African Anti-Apartheid Activist and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu (December 26).

Baltimore-Area Activist, Leader and Teacher Babatunji Balogun, December 15, 2021

Though I was not a member of the Soul School Institute, the organization he founded, I have many fond memories of Babatunji. From his brief time with an earlier version of the Council of Elders in Maryland (2009) to my attendance on his annual bus tour to commemorate the birthday of Ancestor Malcolm X which visited several points of interest in New York, including Ferncliff Cemetery and a historic eatery where Minister Malcolm often dined, Babatunji was always ready to teach, talk to and encourage us. His passing to the Honored Ancestors on December 15 came as a shock to many of us.

The following information comes from the blog of the Soul School Institute, https://thesoulschool.blogspot.com/2012/04/this-is-soul-school-institute.html:

This is the Soul School Institute (dated Tuesday, July 3, 2012)

Origin of the Soul School Institute

The Soul School Institute was established in May 1992. It is the successor to the S.O.U.L School which existed from March 1968 until 1973 when it was forced to close its doors. However, the Soul School Institute embodies the ideology of the original Soul School, which is Revolutionary Black Nationalism. The Soul School Institute takes its ideology from the teachings and legacy of the Rt. Excellent Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey and El Hadj Malik el Shabazz, popularly known as Malcolm X.

Program of the Soul School Institute

The program of the Soul School Institute is to train organizers to implement a program of Black Nationalist reconstruction of the African-American communities. This entails education and projects designed to have African people work in unity.

Current program of the Soul School Institute

Our current work consists of educational and cultural tours:

Malcolm X Tour–A Tour given each year on Malcolm X’s birthday (May 19) to New York to celebrate and honor the work that he did on behalf our race.

ODUNDE–A cultural trip to Philadelphia to participate in one of the largest African-centered street festivals in America. ODUNDE, which means Happy New Year in the West African language of Yoruba presents an opportunity to immerse ourselves in African culture.

Nat Turner Tour–This is our most recent tour. It is a trip to Southampton, Virginia, scene of one of the most bloody slave revolts in American history. Nat Turner and his small army of fighters struck against the slave system on August 21, 1831. Killing 55 white slave owners and their families. The Tour retraces the steps that Nat Turner took in his march toward freedom.

We Shall Reap What We Sow–This is our organic gardening program. We endeavor to teach the basics on growing food, storing food, and cooking organically. We are also determined to explain and promote healthy eating habits and to expose the dangers of processed food that comes from a factory not from a farm.

African Media Workshop–The Soul School Institute publishes the Positive Action Bulletin and the African Historian Reference Calendar.

We are not sure what the future holds for the programs of the Soul School Institute now that Babatunji has left this earthly plane.  We can only hope that others will successfully take up the mantle he has left us.  Aside from the work he did through Soul School Institute and its quarterly newsletter, Positive Action Bulletin, we will all miss his easygoing manner, his commitment to his people, his warm welcome and manner, and most of all, his wisdom.

Author and Academic bell hooks, December 15, 2021

Author bell hooks, who was born Gloria Jean Watkins but chose the pen-name bell hooks, which she borrowed from her grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks, and always wrote in lowercase to emphasize her ideas over her identity, passed on to the Honored Ancestors on December 15. Wikipedia described her thus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_hooks):

Gloria Jean Watkins (September 25, 1952 – December 15, 2021), better known by her pen name bell hooks, was an American author, professor, feminist, and social activist. The name “bell hooks” is borrowed from her maternal great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks.

The focus of hooks’s writing was the intersectionality of race, capitalism, and gender, and what she described as their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and class domination. She published more than 30 books and numerous scholarly articles, appeared in documentary films, and participated in public lectures. Her work addressed race, class, gender, art, history, sexuality, mass media, and feminism.

Also an academic, she taught at institutions including Stanford University, Yale University, and The City College of New York, before joining Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, in 2004, where a decade later she founded the bell hooks Institute.

Noliwe Rooks wrote in a tribute to her on December 27 for Politico (bell hooks: The Author Who Challenged the Norms of Academia, https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/bell-hooks-the-author-who-challenged-the-norms-of-academia/ar-AASaUFx?ocid=uxbndlbing) about how she was inspired and led by her personal interactions with Ms. hooks and about the impact Ms. hooks’ academic activism had on academia as a whole:

“… how she moved through academic institutions demanding respect, but not expecting love. She showed women and Black people, including Black women academics like me, that there is a price to pay for believing that the goal and meaning of Black freedom is bound up with learning to survive easy digestion in the “belly” of various institutional “beasts.” Her life offers something of a parable about how difficult it is for professors like us — no matter how brilliant, brave, irreverent, iconoclastic, charming, committed or popular we are — to remain in institutions built on the structural foundations of patriarchy, racism, capitalism and misogyny, especially when we, and our scholarship, are there to dismantle those very things. …

“Because of bell hooks, we know we can bring our whole selves to our work. We can trust and believe in our intellect. We can be complicated in our humanity. We can be gentle with our critiques. We can be fierce in our protection. We can keep talking to, and talking with, and talking back, until the last breath.”

Yahoo also has presented an article detailing the numerous tributes that have come forth to celebrate the life and legacy of bell hooks (https://www.yahoo.com/now/people-sharing-beautiful-lessons-tributes-044602205.html).

Political Prisoner Russell “Maroon” Shoatz, December 17, 2021

   On December 17, the Pan-Afrikanist, Black Nationalist and Revolutionary Activist communities mourned the passing of longtime Political Prisoner Russell “Maroon” Shoatz.  He was an active member of the Black Panther Party in Philadelphia as then-police chief Frank Rizzo was directing a vicious campaign to stamp out the BPP and other “militant” groups in the summer of 1970.  He had been captured, tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a retaliatory attack on a police station in Philadelphia in September 1970 that killed a police officer, Frank Von Coln.  He would earn the nickname “Maroon” because of his several escapes from prison.  He had been given medical parole and compassionate release from his prison sentence when it was determined that his cancer was terminal so that he could transition to the Ancestors at home with his family.  A brief bio is available at the Web site of Prisoner Solidarity, https://prisonersolidarity.com/prisoner/maroon-shoatz:

Russell “Maroon” Shoatz

Russell Maroon Shoatz is a dedicated community activist, founding member of the Black Unity Council, former member of the Black Panther Party and soldier in the Black Liberation Army. He is serving multiple life sentences as a US-held political prisoner/prisoner of war.

Personal Background

Russell was born August 1943 in Philadelphia. He was one of 12 children.  At the age of 15 he became involved in a gang, and was in and out of reform schools and youth institutions until the age of 18.

As a young man, he married twice and became the father of seven children. In the mid 1960s, Russell started becoming active in the New Afrikan liberation movement. He founded the Black Unity Council, which merged with the Philadelphia Chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1969.

Tensions were high in Philadelphia in the summer of 1970 because Philadelphia Police Chief Frank Rizzo had ordered a crackdown on militant groups in the run-up to the national convention of the Black Panther Party in Philadelphia on September 5, 1970. These tensions intensified when police killed a black youth in Philadelphia. A retaliatory attack was carried out on a police station, killing officer Frank Von Coln and injuring one other.

The shooting of Von Coln prompted a 2 a.m. raid on the Black Panther headquarters in North Philadelphia. After the raid, police officials allowed news photographers to take humiliating photos of the Black Panthers being strip searched on the street.

Russell and four others (who became known as the “Philly Five”) were immediately charged with the attack. They went underground and continued to struggle for New Afrikan self-determination as part of the Black Liberation Army.

Legal Case

In January of 1972 Russell was captured. He was convicted of the attack on the police station and sentenced to life.

1977 Prison Escape

Russell escaped with three others from Huntingdon State Prison in 1977. Two were recaptured and the third was killed during the escape. Russell remained at large for 27 days, leading to a massive manhunt by local, state and federal forces, as well as citizen recruits from nearby white, rural areas.

From his capture in 1977 until 1989 Russell was shipped from state, county and federal prisons, kept in long term solitary confinement the entire time. In 1979 he was forcibly transferred to the Fairview State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. While at Fairview he was forcibly drugged, which in one case led to him being hospitalized when he was overdosed.

1980 Prison Escape

In March of 1980 he escaped prison with a fellow revolutionary after a New Afrikan activist smuggled a revolver and sub-machine gun into the institution. Three days later all three were captured after a gun battle with local, state and county police, and FBI agents.

Camp Hill Prison Riot

In 1989, Pennsylvania prison Camp Hill erupted in a riot because of overcrowding and inhumane conditions. Despite being held in a Dallas prison and having nothing to do with the incident, Russell was implicated in it and as a result was transferred to the notorious Marion Supermax prison over 1,000 miles from friends, family and supporters.

Supporters fought to have Russell removed from solitary confinement in Marion and released into general population. They were finally successful in December of 1989, when Maroon was released into the general prison population in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Russell Returns to Solitary Confinement

Unfortunately Russell was placed back into long term solitary confinement in 1991 at SCI Greene in Waynesburg, PA. It was only after a lawsuit was filed in May 2013 that in February of 2014, Russell was released from solitary confinement after roughly 22 consecutive years.

Health in Prison

In August 2019, he was transferred to the medical facility at Fayette for treatment of stage 4 colorectal cancer. Due to lack of proper medical care in the DOC, a judge granted him medical parole in October 2021.

Baba Russell “Maroon” Shoatz’ family has fought for his release as a Political Prisoner and on medical grounds for decades and are usually represented at Philadelphia-area rallies for MOVE, Mumia Abu-Jamal and other Political Prisoners.  We are saddened to hear of his passing, but we are heartened that he was able to make his transition at home, surrounded by those he loved and who love him.

South African Anti-Apartheid Activist and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, December 26, 2021

This comes from an article on the NBC News Web site, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/archbishop-desmond-tutu-south-african-anti-apartheid-leader-dies-90-rcna9971:

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South African anti-apartheid leader, dies at 90

Dec. 26, 2021, 2:18 AM EST / Updated Dec. 27, 2021, 4:53 PM EST
By Max Burman and Doha Madani

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who helped lead the movement that ended the brutal regime of white minority rule in South Africa, has died at age 90, the country’s president confirmed Sunday.

“The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement early Sunday.

“Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead.”

Tutu gained prominence through his work as a human rights campaigner. In 1984, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless and nonviolent fight against apartheid in South Africa, and he later played a key role in downfall of the segregationist policy.

Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s and was hospitalized several times in recent years to treat infections associated with his treatment.
“Ultimately, at the age of 90, he died peacefully at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in Cape Town this morning,” Dr. Ramphela Mamphele said in a statement on behalf of the family.

She did not give details of the cause of death.

Tutu, an Anglican clergyman, used the pulpit to preach and galvanize public opinion against the injustice faced by South Africa’s Black majority.

Tutu, the first Black bishop of Johannesburg and later the first Black archbishop of Cape Town, was a vocal activist for racial justice and LGBTQ rights not just in South Africa but around the world.

In 1990, after 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela spent his first night of freedom at Tutu’s residence in Cape Town.

After the fall of the apartheid regime, with Mandela leading the country as its first Black president, Tutu headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which laid bare the terrible truths of white rule.

“His contributions to struggles against injustice, locally and globally, are matched only by the depth of his thinking about the making of liberatory futures for human societies,” the Nelson Mandela Foundation said in a statement.

Tributes poured in from around the world.

Tutu’s legacy surpasses borders and “will echo throughout the ages,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement Sunday.

“We were blessed to spend time with him on several occasions over the past many years,” Biden said on behalf of himself and his wife, Jill. “His courage and moral clarity helped inspire our commitment to change American policy toward the repressive Apartheid regime in South Africa.”

Biden was outspoken about apartheid when he traveled to the country as a senator in 1976, when he said he refused to be separated from his Black colleagues. A clip of him arguing against apartheid in a Senate hearing in 1986 resurfaced during this 2020 presidential campaign.

We hope we will not need to make addenda to this December 2021 Ancestors’ Call.  The last two years have been trying for so many around the world, and for the Pan-Afrikan community in particular, with the disproportionate impact of COVID, the twin scourges of police brutality and the brutality we inflict upon ourselves, and the increased stress that all of these conditions bring.  We wish all of you a safe and healthy holiday season, blessed and guided by the Creator and the Ancestors.

The Ancestors’ Call: Rev. Richard Meri Ka Ra Byrd, KRST Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science

In August of 2013, the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) held its annual International Summit in Los Angeles, California. Every Summit includes at least one event or gathering that underscores the cultural and spiritual essence of Pan-Afrikan organizing, a reminder of exactly what we all are struggling against our oppressors to protect and build. In 2013, that event was held at the KRST Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science. The event included video presentations, musical performances, guest speakers and exchanges with the audience. Personally, it was my first and, so far, only visit to KRST, but the impact I felt from that one visit was deep and lasting. That spirit can largely be traced to the leadership of Rev. Richard Meri Ka Ra Byrd, the Senior Minister of KRST. He has now been called by the Ancestors to the realm of the infinite, to minister to our community from the other side.

The official announcement came on Wednesday, December 8 from the KRST Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science:

With heavy hearts the Board of Directors of KRST Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science and the Ministerial Staff announce the transition of our beloved Senior Minister, Reverend Richard Meri Ka Ra Byrd into the Ancestral Realm on Sunday, December 5, 2021.

Reverend Byrd served as Senior Minister of Christ Unity Center/KRST Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science for 33 years and dedicated his life to Spiritual Principles and Life Enrichment to his congregation and the community at large.

As per his direction, the mission of the Center will continue its operation under the leadership of Associate Ministers Reverend Erica Ni Ma’at Byrd and Reverend Abut Semsut Sa-t Beset.

Calls and inquiries may be directed to the Center regarding details of the memorial and community celebration of Reverend Byrd’s life which will take place on Friday, December 17th, 2021.

We gratefully receive your affirmative prayers, thoughts and gifts as you use this time to reflect on his life. We already know that this loss is deeply felt by many in our community and he would want us to remember to stay strong and to love one another.

All donations and contributions should be made payable to:
CUC/KRST Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science
7825 S Western Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90047
323-759-7567

Cash App and PayPal info can be found on the KRST Unity website @ www.krstunitycenter.org

The first Sunday Service after his transition was set for December 12, 2021:

Join the KRST Unity family this Sunday, December 12, 2021 at the 10:30a.m. Empowerment Service.

Celebration of Life

KRST Unity Center also announced a special Celebration of Rev. Byrd’s life.  Those who are in the area and wish to attend the service should go to the Website links below, or call the KRST Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science at 323-759-7567 for further information:

A Celebration of Life for Rev. Richard Meri Ka RA Byrd

A community memorial service to honor Rev. Meri Ka Ra has been scheduled for Friday, December 17, 2021, 3:00p.m. to 8:00p.m.

RSVP Required

WLCAC (Watts Labor Community Action Committee)
10950 S Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90059

Please reserve your seat on EventBrite by clicking this link:

Celebration of Life Reservation Link

The memorial service for Rev. Meri Ka RA is open to all.
COVID Compliance guidelines will be strictly adhered to.
Face masks are required and temperatures will be taken.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations and contributions be made payable to:
CUC/KRST Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science
7825 S Western Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90047

Cash App 
$CuckrstUnityCenter

Paypal 

KRST Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science
www.krstunitycenter.org
Cash App and PayPal info can be found on the KRST Unity website
For questions or concerns, please contact the Center at 323-759-7567

POSTPONED: Pan African Global Trade and Investment Conference

The Pan African Global Trade and Investment Conference, which had been announced on this Web site for January 14-16, 2022, has been postponed.

The Conference convener and Executive Director of the Africa-USA Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Mr. Al Washington, has issued the following statement:

An Update from us on COVID-19 Postponement

It is with considerable disappointment that the 10th Pan African Global Trade and Investment Conference has made the difficult decision to postpone our forthcoming conference that was to be held in Atlanta, Ga. January 14-15, 2022 until the Spring 2022.

This decision has been reached to Protect the Public’s Health as Omicron COVID-19 Variant surges in Atlanta and the State of Georgia. According to the CDC, Fulton and DeKalb counties remain areas of high transmission for the COVID-19 virus. In Fulton County alone, the seven-day average of COVID-19 cases has surged to 1430 from the previous seven-day average of 407—the highest rate of change since the beginning of the pandemic.

Our conference website panafricanglobaltradeconference.com is currently available to provide ongoing information about the conference as it is being rescheduled and developed.

Sincerely,
Al Washington
Conference Coordinator
panafricanglobaltradeconference.com
626.200.5985

Check out the page https://panafricanglobaltradeconference.com for more information, or contact Mr. Al Washington, Executive Director of the Africa-USA Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Conference Organizer, at 626.200.5985, or by email at alwashington@africa-usa.org.

SRDC Holds Successful 2021 Summit in Liberia to Launch the Pan-African Library Project

The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) held its 13th International Summit in Monrovia, Liberia, over the week of November 8 -13, 2021.  While the annual Summit normally provides SRDC organizers with an opportunity to make reports to each other and share the organization’s progress with invited guests and the general public, this year’s Summit also served a larger purpose — the official launching in Liberia of the SRDC Pan-African Library Project.

The recently-established SRDC office in Liberia is run by The Honorable Ms. Louise W. McMillan-Siaway, who also serves as the founder and president of Sehwah-Liberia, an on-the-ground activist organization operating primarily in Monrovia and the surrounding rural areas.  Among the important projects Sehwah-Liberia has accomplished in the recent past are the Pan-African Virtual Summer Camp in 2020 and a major food distribution project undertaken to assist families who were deprived of adequate food sources as the COVID pandemic was first ravaging the world in early 2020.

The 2021 Summit featured appearances by special guests that included His Excellency George M. Weah Sr., President of the Republic of Liberia, and Mrs. Clar M. Weah, the First Lady; several Liberian government Ministers; as well as SRDC’s International Facilitator, Professor David L. Horne, who brought an SRDC delegation from the United States; and Dr. Barryl Biekman, who serves as the president of Tiye International and the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region-Europe (AUADS) based in The Netherlands.

The crowning achievement was the signing of an agreement between SRDC and the Government of Liberia that essentially green-lights the Library Project.  The video above, provided by CEO TV Africa, includes statements from Ms. Siaway, Profesor Horne, Dr. Biekman, Baba Kumasi Palmer (SRDC-South Carolina) and several other attendees at the Summit, as well as the signing ceremony.

We will share more detailed information on the 2021 SRDC Summit in the coming weeks.