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.

Maybe They Should Have Cried

The week leading up to the traditional Thanksgiving holiday served up a mixed buffet to those who abhor racism, White supremacy and wanton vigilantism and who have cried out for justice against these scourges on society.

Rittenhouse Walks

First, on Friday, November 20, 2021, Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, was acquitted on all charges in the shooting deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36 and Anthony Huber, 26, and the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 25, 2020, after Rittenhouse, who could not legally possess a firearm in Wisconsin, nonetheless crossed state lines from Illinois with a banned AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to “protect businesses” in Kenosha during protests against the police shooting of Jacob Blake earlier that year.

The verdict sent civil-rights and anti-police brutality activists reeling, and sent “a frightening message” according to Kathryn N. Cunningham, writing for the Taunton Daily Gazette (https://news.yahoo.com/opinion-rittenhouse-verdict-sends-frightening-094903058.html).  Anthea Butler, writing as an opinion columnist for MSNBC (https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/kyle-rittenhouse-s-not-guilty-verdict-gives-protesters-new-threat-n1284416), Kyle Rittenhouse’s not guilty verdict gives protesters a new threat to worry about: Vigilantism, not protesting, is becoming the preferred form of dissent in America, Nov. 23, 2021, states the following, among several other points she makes in a longer article:

During the civil rights movement, protesters had to fear fire hoses, dogs and tear gas. Now, with the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, not only will protesters continue to fear excessive police force, but because a Wisconsin jury found Rittenhouse not guilty in the killing of two protesters and the wounding of another, random gun-toting vigilantes with their idea of “law and order” also present another very present danger.

In this sobering moment for the American justice system, the Second Amendment has outweighed the First. Because of the unwillingness of politicians or the courts to deal with the proliferation of guns in America, despair, disdain and distrust continue to permeate our everyday lives. Vigilantism, not protesting, is the preferred form of dissent in America.

Rittenhouse’s acquittal is representative of the primacy of the Second Amendment. His killing of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber at a racial justice march in Kenosha and then his being found not guilty send a clear message: White lives who protest for Black lives matter don’t matter. Bringing a gun to a protest is OK, especially if you feel threatened by the protesters’ message. And if you say you feared for your life as you killed someone, you will be exonerated — if you are siding with the police and not those protesting the police.

The Rittenhouse case can’t be separated from race and racism. After Rittenhouse pleaded not guilty, he posed for a photo with the far-right group the Proud Boys. White evangelicals were among those raising money for his bail and his legal defense. Those groups’ support makes it pointedly clear that Rittenhouse is a hero in those circles. For the gun-toting, God-fearing masses, Rittenhouse’s tears on the stand were proof of his innocence.

The case also highlights how differently people who claim self-defense are treated. Chrystul Kizer, accused when she was 17 of killing a man in Kenosha who she says trafficked her for sex, had to fight to a Wisconsin appellate court to even be allowed to use what amounts to a self-defense claim. Her case has been compared to that of Cyntoia Brown, who was a teenager in Tennessee when she killed the man she said was sex-trafficking her. Brown, who, like Kizer, is Black, was sentenced to life before the governor commuted the sentence. Those two cases are among the many that give the context to a tweet that went viral after Rittenhouse’s acquittal: “Women rotting in prison for killing their abusers would like a word.” …

Some may ask, as have some friends of mine: What does this case have to do with People of Afrikan Descent?  This was a case of a White boy shooting three White men.  My answer to this is not so much about the ethnicity of the victims (three White men) as that of the defendant (a 17-year-old White boy).  The racist double-standard screams out to all of us.  Black boys younger than Rittenhouse have seen the proverbial book thrown at them for less severe crimes.  And when a gun is involved (or imagined to be involved), the price paid by even Black boys is often their lives, on the spot, by summary execution.  Michael Brown is shot dead in the street and left there for hours in Ferguson, Missouri.  Tamir Rice is gunned down while playing with a toy gun, alone, in a park by police officers who gave him no time to even acknowledge them.  Philando Castille is shot in front of his fiancee and child in his own car for politely informing the officer that he was in possession of a legally licensed firearm in Minnesota.  John Crawford III is killed for shopping in the gun aisle of an Ohio Wal-Mart.  Jacob Blake is shot in the back after he retreated to his car; fortunately, he survived, but he is now paralyzed from the waist down.  Breonna Taylor is killed in her bed during a questionable police raid of her apartment.  Trayvon Martin is killed by an armed vigilante who stalked him with a gun for apparently “not belonging” in the neighborhood, armed with an apparently dangerous bag of Skittles.  Korryn Gaines is shot in the back in Baltimore County while defending her home and child with a shotgun.  And Kyle Rittenhouse travels across state lines to Kenisha, Wisconsin, armed with an illegal AR-15, to defend a community he doesn’t belong to, brazenly brandishing his proud weapon in the street as a form of intimidation against protesters and “looters”, and reacts with fear and violence when he is challenged by activists who see him as a threat.  Add to this the likely impact of his acquittal and subsequent canonization as a hero by the likes of Donald Trump (welcomed him to Mar-A-Lago), Matt Gaetz (offered him a Congressional internship) and Marjorie Taylor-Greene (nominated him for the Congressional Gold Medal), and the right-wing nuts may soon be coming out of the woodwork to make the “Unite the Right” White riots in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 look like a re-enactment of Woodstock.

We will see exactly how the so-called “conservative” right-wing responds to this verdict in the weeks to come, especially in light of the second course that was served up the following week.

Ahmaud Arbery’s Killers are Convicted

Just when progressives and anti-racist activists were reaching for antacids over the Rittenhouse verdict, the trial for the February 23, 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery came to a close.   Guilty verdicts for all three of the defendants.

The following information comes from a New York Times article by Patrick J. Lyons, written on November 5, 2021, Here are the charges that the defendants face (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/05/us/charges-arbery-killing-trial-defendants.html).

Travis McMichael, 35, was convicted on all nine counts as follows:

COUNT 1: Malice murder
This crime is defined in Georgia law as causing a person’s death with deliberate intention, without considerable provocation, and “where all the circumstances of the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart.” It is punishable by death, or by life imprisonment with or without possibility of parole.

COUNTS 2, 3, 4 AND 5: Felony murder
This charge applies when a death is caused in the course of committing another felony, “irrespective of malice” — in other words, whether or not the killing was intentional and unprovoked.
The other felonies in this case are listed in Counts 6 through 9 of the indictment; one count of felony murder is linked to each. If prosecutors prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants committed one or more of those crimes and also caused Mr. Arbery’s death in the process, the basis would be laid for a conviction for felony murder.
Like malice murder, felony murder is punishable by death, or by life imprisonment with or without possibility of parole.

COUNT 6: Aggravated assault
One way Georgia law defines this crime is as an assault using a deadly weapon. This count charges the three men with attacking Mr. Arbery with a 12-gauge shotgun. It is punishable by imprisonment of one to 20 years.

COUNT 7: Aggravated assault
Another way Georgia law defines this crime is as an assault using “any object, device, or instrument which, when used offensively against a person, is likely to or actually does result in serious bodily injury.” This count charges the defendants with using two pickup trucks to assault Mr. Arbery. It is punishable by imprisonment of one to 20 years.

COUNT 8: False imprisonment
This charge applies when a person without legal authority “arrests, confines, or detains” another person “in violation of the personal liberty” of that person. Specifically, the defendants are charged with using their pickup trucks to chase, confine and detain Mr. Arbery “without legal authority.”
False imprisonment is punishable by one to 10 years in prison.

COUNT 9: Criminal attempt to commit a felony
Georgia law defines criminal attempt as performing “any act which constitutes a substantial step” toward the intentional commission of a crime — in this case, the false imprisonment charged in Count 8. A defendant can be convicted either of completing a particular crime or of attempting it, but not both.
Because false imprisonment is a felony, attempting it is also a felony, punishable by half the attempted crime’s maximum sentence: in this case, one to five years in prison.

His father, Gregory McMichael, 65, an ex-police officer whose license to carry a police firearm had been suspended, was convicted on all but Count 1, the Malice Murder charge. 

And William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, who would later insist that he wished he had never been at the scene and participated in the murder, was convicted on three of the four Felony Murder counts, Aggravated Assault with a pickup truck (Count 7), False Imprisonment (Count 8) and Criminal Intent to Commit a Felony (Count 9).

Bryan’s “non-confession” (He, like the McMichaels, had pleaded not guilty to the crimes even though he claimed that he was cooperating with the authorities) seems to come closest to the efforts Rittenhouse had made to curry favor and sympathy with his jury by breaking down on the witness stand.  In fact, while the defense attorneys did what they could to try to “dirty up” Mr. Arbery by intimating that he may have stolen items from a truck, may have stolen items from the house that he visited while it was under construction, and even posed a threat to them by briefly struggling with Travis McMichael as McMichael threatened him with his rifle, the one thing these defendants apparently did not do in their trial that Rittenhouse did in his was break down in tears on the stand.  Apparently, they had not read enough of the accounts of the numerous police murder trials, such as the February 2000 Amadou Diallo trial, in which plainclothes New York police officers Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon, and Kenneth Boss claimed they thought his wallet was a gun and they “feared for their lives”, or the July 13, 2013 trial of George Zimmerman, in which he somehow convinced a jury that it was Trayvon Martin, not Zimmerman, who was the stalker and the threat to life.  It would seem that their need to maintain their veneer of Righteous White Macho prevented them from displaying the emotion, contrived or not, that Rittenhouse did.  Perhaps we are all fortunate that their pride prevented them from using the one tactic that seems to have saved Kyle Rittenhouse and a whole legion of police officers and police wannabes from meeting justice.

Africa400 Goes on Hiatus; Check Out Classic Shows on Our Media Page

Africa400, the weekly Pan-Afrikan radio show hosted by Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty, with Special Episodes guest-hosted by Grandmother Walks On Water (“Mothership”) and Baba Francois Ndengwe (“Fresh News From Africa”), is taking a break from broadcasting as they make plans for the coming year.

Africa400 has discussed issues of children’s education (with a variety of guests including Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu), women’s issues, political prisoners (especially Imam Jamil Al-Amin), Afrikan-centered business ventures, Afrikan and Afrikan-American history (significantly, with historian Dr. Gerald Horne), culture, music (most notably highlighting pioneering jazz bagpiper Ancestor Rufus Harley and singer-rapper-songwriter Sis. Maimouna Youssef), health and spirituality (with health and spiritual experts such as Mama Ayo Handy-Kendi), among other compelling topics and guests.

While we will not have live shows for the immediate future, we are certain our readers have not had the opportunity to listen to all the shows of Africa400.  To remedy that problem, you are invited to visit our Media Page, which features every Africa400 episode from the show’s inception on traditional radio (WFBR in Baltimore) and even the show’s predecessor that was briefly broadcast under the Little Africa title.  All of these shows are available, with written introductions to the shows’ topics and guests, on our Media Page.

And keep visiting this site for updates on when Africa400 will resume live broadcasts.

Mothership, Hosted by Grandmother Walks On Water, on Africa400, Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Grandmother Walks On Water was originally scheduled to host the Wednesday, October 6 edition of Africa400 with her show “Mothership”, discussing “Becoming Shepherds of the New Earth, Part 2” as a continuation of the topic she explored on the Wednesday, September 1 show.  However, she has suffered an emergency that required her to postpone that show.  As a result, Africa400 is rebroadcasting Part 1 of “Becoming Shepherds, of the New Earth” which had aired on September 1.  To listen to the show, go to our Media Page and scroll down to the September 1 Africa400 show featuring Grandmother Walks On Water.

Grandmother Walks on Water, also known as Nata’aska Humminbird is of Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee and African Heritage.  She is also co-founder of Baltimore based Wombwork Productions which utilizes art, theatre, and cultural healing modalities to empower youth and community.

Raise Your Vibration….

AFRICA400 presents MOTHERSHIP with Grandmother Walks on Water aka Nata’aska Humminbird as she dispenses her wisdom and ancestral knowledge to women becoming Shepherds of the New Earth by preparing their bodies, diet, relationships, womb, and children for a way of living that is in submission to Mother Earth.

Africa400 is broadcast live every Wednesday at 2:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org).  After the broadcast, the show can be heard on HANDRadio’s Podcasts page and the Media Pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).

AFRICA400
Wednesdays 2-3pm EST.
https://handradio.org/
https://kuumbareport.com/
https://srdcinternational.org/
webuyblack.com
https://kweli.tv

 

 

SRDC Announces its November 2021 International Summit in Liberia

Every year except 2015 (during an organizational reset) and 2020 (due to the COVID-19 pandemic), SRDC has met for its annual International Summit.  (Slide shows of images from the various SRDC International Summits can be seen here.)  The Organizing Committees from the different states meet to share their progress with their organizing plans, exchange ideas and work on how their local efforts will coalesce into a national and an international strategy to bring the voice of the Grassroots Pan-Afrikan Diaspora to the World Stage.

Organizations from Canada, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East also attend the Summit, making this a truly international collaboration among Pan-Afrikan organizers.

The location varies from year to year, with a different local organization taking on the host duties each year.

The 2021 SRDC International Summit

The 2021 SRDC International Summit will be held November 8-13, 2021 in Monrovia, Liberia.  This will be the first International Summit SRDC has held outside the United States.

SRDC and Sehwah-Liberia

The partnership between SRDC and Sehwah-Liberia began in 2015 with the launching of the Library Project Initiative.  Baba Kumasi Palmer, SRDC-South Carolina Facilitator, and Madam Louise Siaway, Sehwah-Liberia’s Founder and Director, began to promote the idea of establishing the first-ever public library to serve the West African nations of Liberia, Cote D’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Conakry, to be based in Monrovia, Liberia.  This project also represents an historic opportunity for African Descendants in the Diaspora, particularly the United States, to re-establish and strengthen ties to the Mother Continent through the nation that was established as a destination point for African People who had been freed from the bonds of slavery in the United States.  This project has grown into an opportunity to establish real, on-the-ground connections between the Mother Continent and the Diaspora and to advance SRDC’s primary goal of bringing the resources, expertise and voice of the Diaspora to the World Stage for the advancement of Africa and her Scattered Black Children around the world.

The Library Project, which we will discuss further below, is not the only initiative being pursued by SRDC and Sehwah.  During the Summer of 2019, the organizations worked together on two important projects in Liberia:

  • Pan African Virtual Summer Camp and Cultural Exchange: The Virtual Summer Camp was held during the months of July and August of 2020.  About a dozen high school students in the United States (Maryland) participated, along with over 40 Liberian students, in an online summer education program, led by Madam Louise Siaway in Liberia and Mama Maisha Washington, a veteran educator and member of the Maryland Council of Elders and SRDC Maryland Organizing Committee, in the United States.  Instructors from both countries led virtual classes on environmental science, project management, linguistics, information technology, yoga, African dance, coding, Swahili, cooking, oral history, African geography, culture and astronomy.  The resulting cultural interaction between students and instructors from Liberia and the United States was designed to help broaden the students’ view and vision of Africa, leading to more effective communication, along with developing skills in project management, compromise/consensus, negotiation, decision making and problem solving.  The students who completed this summer program successfully would then become a part of the first phase of building the Library in Monrovia, Liberia.  All students who participated received a Summer Camp T-Shirt, a Summer Camp Cap and a Summer Camp Duffel Bag in addition to the instruction they received and the memories of an enjoyable summer program.  Sadly, Mama Maisha passed on to the Honored Ancestors suddenly in October 2020.  We hope to be able to duplicate the effort in following summers to properly honor Mama Maisha and her great work as an educator of African children on both sides of the Atlantic.  More information on the Virtual Summer Camp can be found here.
  • COVID-19 Food Distribution Drive: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, on the 10th of April 2020, the Government of Liberia declared a State of Emergency, coupled with a Nationwide Lockdown.  In the wake of this State of Emergency, SEHWAH and its collaborating US based partner organization SRDC (Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus) launched a food distribution drive to supplement the government’s efforts in providing food assistance to the needy people. This was necessary in order to alleviate the hardship and suffering which came as the result of the government’s stay at home order. While the government’s stay at home order is necessary to prevent the spread of the deadly pandemic, enforcing it was very problematic because the common complaint of many people was, “how can we survive if we cannot go out to look for our daily bread?”In wealthy nations, governments provide stimulus relief packages to their citizens while they are told to stay home and practice social distancing. In Liberia, such a gesture from the government was not put in place and the economic hardship was creating problems among the citizens. As such, SEHWAH Liberia Inc. and its collaborating partner, SRDC joined together to launch the fund raising campaign in support of their food donation campaign. This campaign consisted of food and material distributions in various communities in Monrovia. This campaign mainly targeted the most vulnerable such as children, elderly men and women as well as the people living with disabilities. According to Madam Louise Siaway, former Assistant Minister for Cultural Affairs at the Ministry of Information in Liberia and founder of SEHWAH, who personally led this effort, the recipients of the food donation have been very grateful and thankful to the SEHWAH-SRDC partnership for thinking about them in this time of serious health crisis and its adverse consequences. Along with the food, we also donated face masks as well as bottles of hand sanitizer.  For more information, including the full report on the food distribution effort, click here.

The Liberia Library Project

In 2018, a delegation from SRDC. led by SRDC’s International Facilitator Prof. David Horne, traveled to Monrovia, Liberia to meet with local Elders and community leaders and to bring the project to build Liberia’s first public library closer to fruition.  As this historic meeting was taking place, Baba Kumasi Palmer was leading an effort to gather donated books from across the United States to help jump-start the establishment of the library.  While plans have been discussed and made for obtaining a plot of land for the library and preparing plans for the building, the book-donation drive has continued.  See the SRDC article on the book donation project, the SRDC post on the Liberia Library Project and the SRDC Library Project Page for more details.

The Library Project will be one of the major discussion points of the Summit.

The Summit Schedule

This is a general schedule of activities for the Summit as of this date.  As more details are established, we will share them here.

Arrivals in Liberia: Saturday, Nov. 6 – Sunday, Nov. 7

Summit Conferences & Workshops: Monday, Nov. 8 – Thursday, Nov. 11

Reception: Thursday Evening, Nov. 11

Visitation and Tour: Friday, Nov. 12

Closing: Saturday, Nov. 13

Summit Workshops (Tentative; Subject to Change)

Liberia Library Project: As mentioned above, the Library Project is a key agenda item for this year’s Summit.  We will discuss the progress that has been made toward realizing the region’s first public library and plans for completing the project.

Dual Citizenship: This has been an important topic in all of SRDC’s Summits.  As we work to establish and strengthen our connection to our ancestral home, the option of repatriation to Africa has become more attractive to African Descendants around the world, especially in the United States, where the recurring insults to our quest for equality (voter suppression measures, police killings of African Descendant citizens, acts of racial terrorism, economic exploitation and other legal and civil acts of aggression) have convinced a growing number of us that we will never be fully welcome in the United States and other countries where we are relegated to “minority” status.  Even those of us who feel fully accepted in the West have often felt the strong desire to re-connect with our ancestral home, and have thus chosen to repatriate to African nations from Ghana to Tanzania to Kenya, in particular.  The establishment of Dual Citizenship rights in African countries would facilitate our increased ability to contribute materially to the welfare of our Sisters and Brothers in Africa.

Land Ownership: There has been some confusion about the difference between “land ownership”, “land leasing” and “right to abode” among African-American expatriates.  Several thousand African-Americans emigrated to Ghana over the last several decades, seeking to establish dual citizenship, voting rights and land ownership in their new home.  For years, many of them waited, with some degree of frustration, as their bid to establish citizenship, and the rights associated with it, in Ghana were frustrated by what they saw as bureaucracy influenced by a degree of nationalist bias.  Many of them lived in Ghana under a “right to abode” concept, which granted them the right to live in the country but denied them the right to actually purchase and own land, which is considered central to the establishment of true citizenship, personal security and the prospect of building a business.  We hope to discuss the issues surrounding land ownership and its impact on other aspects of the enjoyment of full citizenship in our ancestral home.

Business Development: A connection between African and African-Descendant businesses is an important component of the advancement of the people.  African artisans, artists, farmers and other businesses are often isolated from the global marketplace, except in cases where there is a natural resource (coltan, oil, mining) that can be exploited by both the East and the West.  Building connections between African and African-Descendant business interests, based on African cultural principles, can provide important leverage on the World Stage for our common needs and priorities.

Agricultural Projects: African farmers are increasingly endangered by global interests from the United States and China who are continuing to buy up and appropriate lands for their own agricultural projects, often involving the production of genetically-modified (GM) foods.  Traditional farming methods are increasingly being replaced by industrial-farming methods that have stripped the soil and polluted the environment in the United States and Chine in particular, and thus these nations as well as others are looking to Africa to help them grow food for their populations and not for the people of Africa.  Some self-styled philanthropic efforts, such as Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) and other projects of the Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have depended excessively on GM and industrial-farming technology at the expense of traditional, organic and natural farming methods that have been successfully applied by smallholder farmers for millennia.  Meanwhile, Black farmers in the United States continue to be marginalized, their lands being steadily taken from them through legal maneuvering by mendacious lawyers as well as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  The Pigford lawsuits have crystallized the abuse Black farmers have endured in the United States, even as new legal and legislative efforts have been launched on behalf of White farmers to prevent Black farmers from winning the redress to which they are entitled.  This has created a natural alliance between African farmers and their African-American Sisters and Brothers that must be established and strengthened, for the sake of Black farmers everywhere, for African People in general and for the people of the world who will ultimately depend on food from Africa to help combat world hunger.  We will discuss how to develop farmland in Liberia in particular to help lift up the Liberian people and create opportunities for partnerships between Africa’s farmers and Black farmers in the United States.

SRDC’s Core Mission and Plan: SRDC was established in 2006 to seek to establish the voice of the Diaspora in the African Union, inspired by the AU’s 2003 Constitutive Act which encouraged the inclusion of the Diaspora in “the development of the African Continent and the building of the African Union”:

“The prime directive of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus is to provide a coherent organizational voice for Diasporan participation in the African Union; to establish and maintain that participation at a high quality, well-informed, diplomatic and strategic level; to provide a tangible vehicle for focusing the resourcefulness, expertise and experience of Diasporans on defining a stronger, more positive African future; and to be a consistent, reliable reference point for AU-Diasporan networking, partnership and collaboration.”  (2013 SRDC Mission Statement)

The difficulties that have come from the often-bureaucratic nature of international politics have led to often-maddening delays in the realization of that mission.  The US-backed war against Libya in 2011 eliminated a major financial support for the AU and its initiatives, and thus the effort to bring the Diaspora into the AU as voting members of its civil-society organ, the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) have taken a back seat.  As a result, at the 2013 SRDC International Summit in Los Angeles, California, the Mission Statement was slightly amended.

“The prime directive of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus is to provide a coherent organizational voice for Diasporan participation in the international arena; to establish and maintain that participation at a high quality, well-informed, diplomatic and strategic level; to provide a tangible vehicle for focusing the resourcefulness, expertise and experience of Diasporans on defining a stronger, more positive African future; and to be a consistent, reliable reference point for African-Diasporan networking, partnership and collaboration.” 

This minor change has allowed SRDC to continue its advocacy for Diasporan representation in the African Union, as well as to push for similar initiatives in the United Nations (most likely though the UN’s Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent or the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent) and independent Pan-African civil-society organizing, such as the newly-formed Pan African Federalist Movement (PAFM) and similar organizations.

Key to this effort will be the re-establishment of SRDC’s initial strategy for organizing the Diaspora “on-the-ground”: the holding of Pan-Afrikan Town Hall Meetings at the local level wherever people of African Descent live, and the building of Cooperative Coalitions and United Fronts to bring the thousands of Black organizations together and establish a voice on the World Stage for all African people.

Accommodation Options in Liberia

Accommodations range from staying in Community Guest Houses to sharing rental homes to standard hotel-room arrangements.  SRDC’s priority is hotel and guesting accommodations that are Liberian-owned and -operated.

SRDC is gathering information on hotel and guest house accommodations.  When we put together a good list of affordable, reputable and comfortable options we will share them on this page, so check this page regularly to see what options we come up with.  Meanwhile, it is a good idea to do some personal independent research of your own.  If you have specific questions about this or other aspects of the 2021 SRDC Summit, you can contact:

Baba Kumasi Palmer
SRDC South Carolina State Facilitator
Phone: (843) 452-4880
Email: horojoe@gmail.com


Travel Arrangements

Air travel varies in availability, scheduling and expense depending on when reservations are made.

Air travel packages are being researched.  You are recommended to shop for affordable and safe air travel arrangements, but as options are found we will post them here.  Check back here for updates.  You can also contact Baba Kumasi Palmer (contact information is listed above) to find out what airfare packages we have researched.

Most, if not all, airlines will be observing stringent requirements for negative tests and/or vaccinations for COVID-19 and Yellow Fever as are the governments and health ministries of Liberia and other countries.  Be sure to read the section below concerning Vaccinations and Protocols Required to ensure that your travel will be safe, pleasant and uncomplicated by preventable issues upon arrival in or departure from Liberia.

Vaccinations and Testing Protocols Required

The primary diseases for which vaccinations and/or negative test documentation will be required for travelers to Liberia are COVID-19 and Yellow Fever.  It is always a good idea to consult with medical professionals concerning travel, testing and vaccinations for COVID-19, Yellow Fever and other potential disease or health issues.

COVID-19
Required Protocols and Precautions

We include below information from the Liberia Health Ministry, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US State Department/US Embassy in Liberia with regard to traveling to Liberia and the current protocols in place to ensure against the spread of COVID-19 as a result of such travel.  Be sure to check the various notices and Web sites listed and linked below on a regular basis for any important updates, as the situation on the ground may change from week to week (or even more frequently) in countries around the world with regard to COVID-19 prevalence.  For example, in July 2021, the United States was listed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as High (Level 3 Travel Advisory) while Liberia was listed as Very High (Level 4 Travel Advisory).  As of mid-August 2021, the roles were reversed: Liberia was listed as Level 3 (High) while the United States was listed as Level 4 (Very High).  This may be a result of an increasingly effective response to the pandemic in Liberia as vaccines and other measures became more widely available, as well as continued confusion in the United States among its populace about such measures.

COVID-19 TESTING PROTOCOL FOR TRAVELERS:

Government of Liberia Health Ministry

The purpose of these guidelines is to protect Liberia from the further spread of COVID-19 and to limit the spread Of COVID-19 from Liberia to other countries. All travelers must wear a mask during transit and upon arrival in Liberia. All non-exempt* incoming and outgoing travelers will be tested for COVID-19 in Liberia. The testing fee is US$75. This fee will be used to support the costs associated with the COVID•19 outbreak response, e.g. testing, case investigation, contact tracing, and data management. Travelers should ensure they provide correct contact details and will receive a unique identification number to retrieve their test result online.

ALL travelers are encouraged to register (commonly known as the Apps) at http://liberiacovidtravel.org prior to their trips.

Requires a pre PCR test application and fill out the requested information.

PCR Laboratory Test is conducted within 3 days (72 hours) of their flight.

PCR Results of tests that were conducted more than three days (72 hours) before their flight will not be accepted.

On August 20, 2021, the Ministry of Health revised its COVID-19 National Guidelines. The new guidelines include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Mask-wearing and handwashing are mandatory in public, as well as social distancing of at least three feet
  • Gathering sizes are limited, as is capacity for certain businesses and public transportation
  • Persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 and their contacts are required to comply with the guidelines of health authorities and related health rules
  • Refer to the complete COVID-19 National Guidelines on the Ministry of Health website

Assistance:

U.S. Embassy in Monrovia
502 Benson Street
+231 77-677-7000
ACSMonrovia@state.gov
https://lr.usembassy.gov

U.S. State Department – Consular Affairs
888-407-4717 or 202-501-4444

Liberia Embassy Washington DC
5201 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20011
Phone: 202-723-0437, Fax: 202-723-0436
www.liberianembassyus.org
Open: Monday to Thursday, 10 AM to 3:00 PM
Closed: Liberian Holidays and Federal Holidays

Refer to the complete COVID-19 National Guidelines at https://bit.ly/3cScIx8.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice (High Level of COVID -19 in Liberia) indicating a high level of COVID-19 in the country. It advises that all travelers to Liberia should be fully vaccinated before travel; unvaccinated travelers should avoid nonessential travel to Liberia.  Your risk of contracting COVID-19 and developing severe symptoms may be lower if you are fully vaccinated with an FDA authorized vaccine.  Before planning any international travel, please review the CDC’s specific recommendations for vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers.   

The CDC recommendations are that travelers should “Make sure you are fully vaccinated before traveling to Liberia.  Unvaccinated travelers should avoid nonessential travel to Liberia.

“Because of the current situation in Liberia, all travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants. Travelers should follow recommendations or requirements in Liberia, including wearing a mask and staying 6 feet apart from others.”

See recommendations for fully vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers.

United States Embassy in Liberia/US State Department

From the United States Embassy in Liberia Web Site, https://lr.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/, last updated August 23, 2021:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice (High Level of COVID -19 in Liberia) indicating a high level of COVID-19 in the country. It advises that all travelers to Liberia should be fully vaccinated before travel; unvaccinated travelers should avoid nonessential travel to Liberia. The Department of State has issued a Level 3 Travel Advisory (Reconsider Travel) for Liberia due to COVID-19. During an emergency, the U.S. government may have very limited ability to provide assistance. The Department of State provides additional advice for travelers in these areas in the Travel Advisory. Conditions in any country may change at any time. …

Local Resources:

By  | 17 August, 2020 | Categories: Alert, Notification, U.S. Citizen Services

There is a lot more information on the US Embassy Web site (https://lr.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/), and we recommend visiting that site if you want to explore details of their travel recommendations more fully.  These include a full discussion of the US Embassy’s recommendations, available COVID-19 PCR and antigen testing, vaccine information, entry and exit requirements, movement restrictions, quarantine information, transportation options, fines for non-compliance with protocols, consular options and requirements for traveling through Europe, entering and leaving the United States and Liberia, and they can all be found at the US Embassy’s Web site, https://lr.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/.  Check this and the other referred Web sites on a regular basis for any important updates, as the situation may change from week to week (or more frequently) as the situation on the ground changes in countries around the world with regard to COVID-19 prevalence.

The  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has an interactive world map that displays a country’s current COVID status on a color-coded scale:

Gray = Level Unknown
Tan = Level 1 (Low Risk Assessment)
Light Orange = Level 2 (Moderate Risk Assessment)
Deep Orange = Level 3 (High Risk Assessment)
Deep Red = Level 4 (Very High Risk Assessment)

The map is interactive and can be zoomed in and out for more detailed analysis, and clicking on a country will bring up a brief description of the assessed risk level.  For perspective, travelers from the United States should note that as of August 26, the US was rated as a Very High Risk Assessment by the CDC (Level 4, Deep Red), as were Spain, Portugal, France, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland.  The map, which updates regularly, can be found at the following site:

COVID-19 Travel Recommendations by Destination | CDC, also https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/map-and-travel-notices.html

Yellow Fever

Entry requirements.  A Yellow Fever vaccination certificate is only required for travelers 9 months of age and older coming from a country with risk of Yellow Fever transmission. The vaccination requirement is imposed by this country for protection against Yellow Fever since the principal mosquito vector Aedes aegypti is present in its territory.

World Health Organization (WHO)

The World Health Organization (WHO) requires that all travelers must have yellow fever vaccination, documented on a yellow fever card, which is commonly known as a yellow book.

The following comes from the World Health Organization (WHO) Web site, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/yellow-fever:

Vaccination is the most important means of preventing yellow fever.

The yellow fever vaccine is safe, affordable and a single dose provides life-long protection against yellow fever disease. A booster dose of yellow fever vaccine is not needed.

Several vaccination strategies are used to prevent yellow fever disease and transmission: routine infant immunization; mass vaccination campaigns designed to increase coverage in countries at risk; and vaccination of travellers going to yellow fever endemic areas.

For a full discussion of yellow fever, its symptoms, method of transmission, diagnosis, treatment and prevention (including vaccination), go to the World Health Organization Web site, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/yellow-fever.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also advises vaccination against yellow fever and supports the vaccine mandates listed above by the World Health Organization and Liberia Health Ministry.  From the CDC’s Yellow Fever Vaccination Information Statement “Yellow Fever Vaccine: What You Need To Know”, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/yf.pdf:

Yellow fever vaccine is a live vaccine containing weakened, live yellow fever virus. It is given as a single shot. One dose provides lifelong protection for most people.

Yellow fever vaccine is recommended for:

    • People 9 months through 59 years of age who are traveling to or living in areas at risk for yellow fever virus activity, or traveling to a country with an entry requirement for vaccination. (People younger than 9 months or older than 59 years who are at increased risk might receive yellow fever vaccine in some situations. Ask your health care provider for more information.)
    • Laboratory personnel who might be exposed to yellow fever virus or vaccine virus.

Yellow fever vaccine is given only at designated vaccination centers. After getting the vaccine, you will be given an “International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis” (ICVP, sometimes called the “yellow card”). You will need this card as proof of vaccination to enter certain countries. If you don’t have it, you might be required to get yellow fever vaccine upon entering the country, or be forced to wait for up to 6 days to make sure you are not infected.

Do not donate blood for 14 days after vaccination, because there is a risk of passing vaccine virus to others during that period.

  
Passports, Visas and Other Required Documentation

Passports

For this and any international travel, attendees will be required to possess a current valid passport.  For travelers from the United States, passport application and renewal procedures can be found at the usa.gov Web site, “Getting or Renewing a U.S. Passport”, at Getting or Renewing a U.S. Passport | USAGov or https://www.usa.gov/passport.

Visa-Upon-Arrival

Visa upon Arrival has to be processed by your host/representative* in Liberia has to send a letter requesting the Visa Upon Arrival to The Commissioner General of the Liberia Immigration Service.  You must send a copy of your passport with all your information via email, and it must hold the following information: Your name and nationality.  The host/representative in Liberia is:

*Madam Louise  W. M. Siaway
Founder and President
Sehwah-Liberia
https://www.sehwahliberia.org/

Government Offices of Assistance:

U.S. Embassy Monrovia
502 Benson Street
+231 77-677-7000
ACSMonrovia@state.gov
https://lr.usembassy.gov

U.S. State Department – Consular Affairs
888-407-4717 or 202-501-4444

Liberia Embassy Washington DC
5201 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20011
Tel: 202-723-0437, Fax: 202-723-0436
www.liberianembassyus.org
Open: Monday to Thursday, 10 AM to 3:00 PM
Closed: Liberian Holidays and Federal Holidays

Registration in the 2021 SRDC International Summit

To participate in the 2021 SRDC Summit, please complete the short Registration Form by visiting the SRDC Web site at https://srdcinternational.org/srdc-summits/2021-summit.

Related Articles

Bridging the Gap Between Ourselves (Our African Connection) by Baba Kumasi Palmer, SRDC South Carolina Facilitator

 

“Fresh News From Africa” Welcomes Dr. Gerald Horne on Africa400, Wednesday, September 29

Dr. Gerald Horne, noted historian and author of several groundbreaking books on African and African-American history, will be the special guest of host Baba Francois Ndengwe on the “Fresh News From Africa” program, presented courtesy of Africa400 on HANDRadio.  The show airs on Wednesday, September 29.  He will discuss The Urgent Need for an International Global Analysis, particularly among African People and People of African Descent.

To listen to the September 29 show, click below:

Africa400 is broadcast live every Wednesday at 2:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org).  After the broadcast, the audio is made available on the HANDRadio Podcasts Page, an update of this post and the Media Pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).

Africa400 Rebroadcast of Wednesday, May 26 Show: “A New Movement and Pipeline to Save Black Boys”

The Wednesday, September 22 edition of Africa400 is a rebroadcast of the May 26 edition, “A New Movement and Pipeline to Save Black Boys”.

Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty welcome Special Guests Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu, Dr. Jamie Jenkins, Mr. Bruce Jackson and Dr. Ricki Gibbs.  They are building a comprehensive program to help educate young Black boys and save them from the “School-to-Prison Pipeline” that victimizes so many young people, from primary miseducation to criminalization and incarceration.

For the full writeup and to listen to the show, go to our Media Page under Wednesday, May 26: A New Movement and Pipeline to Save Black Boys”.