Category Archives: Organizing the Diaspora

Discussions about how to organize, educate and mobilize the Diaspora.

The Ancestors’ Call: Marshall “Eddie” Conway

I first met Baba Marshall “Eddie” Conway in 1998. I had become familiarized with his case as a result in my membership in the Organization of All Afrikan Unity-Black Panther Cadre (OAAU-BPC) under the leadership of Baba Ade Oba Tokunbo from 1994. In that organization, much of the mystery of the Panthers was lifted from my up-to-then confused mind, and the plight of America’s Political Prisoners was gradually revealed to me. OAAU-BPC’s main contribution to the issue of Political Prisoners was their direct involvement in the campaign to win the exoneration and freedom of Marshall “Eddie” Conway, a US Army Veteran (as many Panthers were) and a leader in the Baltimore Chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Baba Eddie, as I had come to call him, had exposed the existence of police agents within the Baltimore organization, and had informed Panther leadership in New York and the Bay Area of the degree if infiltration of the Baltimore organization by the Baltimore City Police Red Squad and probably other intelligence operatives. For this, Baba Eddie was targeted. He was arrested at his job at the Main Post Office in Baltimore in April 1970 and accused of murdering a Baltimore City police officer and seriously injuring another. Despite Baba Eddie’s protestation of innocence and a lack of any physical evidence linking him to the case, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. It was in prison, at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup, Maryland, not-so-affectionately known as “The Cut”, that I met Baba Eddie. I had talked with him over the phone a couple of times, and I was at “The Cut” specifically to meet him and be introduced to the Writers’ Club, a group of inmates who used prose, poetry and other literary pursuits to help them heal their psyches and, for those who could look forward to release one day, prepare them to better cope with the world outside. I was impressed with the calm that Baba Eddie exuded, and I wrote about my encounter with him in the newsletter I was writing at the time (KUUMBAReport), along with an explanation of his case from Nana Njingha, also a member of the Baltimore Chapter, a testimonial by Baba Paul Coates, another member of that Chapter and now founder of Black Classic Press; commentaries by fellow Political Prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and The MOVE Organization; and a short commentary by Baba Eddie himself. I would begin to sign off on emails, letters and radio shows by wishing everyone “Peace and Power” in large part because of inspiration by Baba Eddie’s example.

KuumbaReport Newsletter Issue 6 June 1998

I would get to see him two more times, I think, before an incident at “The Cut” led to a lockdown and a stop to all visits for a while. Still, the effort to secure his exoneration and release continued. The Marshall Eddie Conway Support Committee had been formed under the guidance of his first wife, Nana Njingha, who continued to tirelessly champion his cause. This was a group of dedicated Pan-Afrikanists and Black Nationalists who were committed to seeing Baba Eddie go free. There was also the Friends of Eddie Conway, an integrated group that included several White “allies” who shared many of the revolutionary beliefs of the Black Panther Party and supported freedom for all Political Prisoners. These groups had a connection with the larger national organization known as Jericho, which advocated for the hundreds of Political Prisoners being held in penitentiaries, prisons and jails in the US, from Mumia Abu-Jamal and MOVE in Philadelphia, to Indigenous First Nations Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier and the American Indian Movement (AIM), to White Political Prisoners such as Thomas Manning and Marilyn Buck, to Panthers imprisoned across the country that included Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Sundiata Acoli, Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, Veronza Bowers, Hugo “Yogi” Pinnell, Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa and Ed Poindexter, to exiles such as Assata Shakur, and of course to Baba Eddie.

The following report, from the group Justice For Eddie Conway, was reprinted in the January-February 2001 issue of KUUMBAReport:

Justice for Marshall Eddie Conway January February 2001

I’m sure there were those of us who believed that Baba Eddie would never be released from prison. The opponents of Political Prisoners, despite the usual lack of conclusive evidence, the use of suspect jailhouse informants, the withheld exculpatory evidence, the manufactured evidence, the contradicted and often blatantly false testimony, the police and judicial misconduct and the denial of competent legal representation to the defendants, were many, were in places of political power, and were adamant that despite all the indications that the trials were unfair at best, that they had their man (and sometimes their woman), that justice had been served (at least to their satisfaction), and that these “criminals” should never see the light of day. Still, after much legal maneuvering and wrangling, Baba Eddie was finally released from prison on parole on March 4, 2014 after 43 years and 10 months of imprisonment.

His release had been prompted by several previous events. A few years earlier, Jack Johnson, who was also convicted in connection to the police officer’s murder, was released from prison on compassionate parole. Another domino dropped when a Maryland Court of Appeals ruled in the case Unger v. State in May 2012, which bolstered the argument that in Baba Eddie’s trial, the jury instructions had violated his Constitutional rights to due process, as reported in an article on the Web site of Truthout (https://truthout.org/articles/political-prisoner-marshall-eddie-conway-released-from-prison-after-44-years/):

Despite Eddie Conway’s insistence on his innocence, it took years for Conway and his attorneys to find a way to overturn his conviction. Finally, in May 2012, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled in the case of Unger v. State that a Maryland jury, to comply with due process as stated in the US Constitution, must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that someone charged with a crime is guilty before that jury can convict the defendant. What made this decision momentous for many people in prison, including Conway, is that it applied retroactively.

Robert Boyle and Phillip G. Dantes, attorneys for Conway, filed a motion on his behalf based on this ruling, arguing that the judge in Conway’s trial had not properly instructed the jury that this “beyond a reasonable doubt” proviso was mandatory for conviction. Based on this motion, they negotiated an agreement whereby Conway would be resentenced to time served and be released from prison. In exchange, Conway and his lawyers agreed not to litigate his case based on the Unger ruling.

Since his release, Baba Eddie lived a relatively quiet life compared to the revolutionary activism of his youth, but he continued to work on behalf of the rights of the people and the truth. He began working at The Real News in Baltimore (https://therealnews.com/), his most prolific work being on regular programs such as “Rattling The Bars”, which he hosted with fellow former Political Prisoner Mansa Musa to “put the voices of the people most harmed by our system of mass incarceration at the center of our reporting on the fight to end it.” In the meantime, he had an opportunity to enjoy those moments life still had for him with his second wife, Dominique, who also worked with him on several programs centered on prisoners and on youth, and with his extended family. 

I had one more chance to visit with Baba Eddie at his office at The Real News in Baltimore, where he showed me around the building, which was still expanding, and asked me about my continuing activist work since I had visited him in The Cut. I hope my answers to him about my activities in the intervening years were satisfactory to him.

I would see him in person two more times, at the intersection of North and Pennsylvania Avenues during the 2015 protests against the police murder of Freddie Gray, and later at an event about the community and the police at Ida B’s Table, an eatery and cultural meet spot that was named after legendary civil rights activist Ida B. Wells in The Real News Building that was still under construction when I was there before. I did not have an opportunity to speak at length with Baba Eddie at these events, but he seemed well and at peace with his long, tortuous journey through life as an activist and the personal price he was forced to pay for his commitment.

Over the last few months, I had heard that he was dealing with health issues, problems that he had been confronted by for years from the time of his imprisonment, but the quiet strength and dignity with which he had handled himself, at least outwardly, led me to believe that he would overcome these challenges and come out the other side swinging. It came as a shock to me to hear on Monday, February 13, that Baba Eddie had transitioned to the Honored Ancestors in Long Beach, California. At this point, the real toll of decades of political imprisonment hit home. Baba Eddie was robbed of over four decades of freedom, locked away in the infamous “Cut”, and in the end, this undoubtedly led to health problems that would end his life well before it should have happened.

In the end, our hearts ache that Baba Eddie is no longer with us on the physical plane.  We were gratified that he at least had almost nine years to breathe the free air before his transition.  Several of our Political Prisoners who were finally released had only a few months to enjoy their freedom, and some sadly died in prison.  The community at least had the opportunity to honor Baba Eddie and show our appreciation for his incredible work and sacrifice, allowing him to receive at least some of his flowers while he was still among us.  Baba Eddie leaves behind a number of family, friends, followers, associates and admirers, but he also leaves behind a great legacy of commitment, struggle and love of the people. May we all strive to approach the level of commitment Baba Eddie showed for truth, justice and righteousness.

Below are several links to just a few of the articles, videos and podcasts that have been produced to pay tribute to Baba Eddie:

Marshall “Eddie” Conway (1946-2023): A life committed to the people and revolutionary change, Liberation News, https://www.liberationnews.org/marshall-eddie-conway-1946-2023-a-life-committed-to-the-people-and-revolutionary-change/

Marshall Eddie Conway, former Black Panther imprisoned for 44 years, dies at 76, Radio Havana Cuba, https://www.radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/313730-marshall-eddie-conway-former-black-panther-imprisoned-for-44-years-dies-at-76

Marshall “Eddie” Conway, Former Black Panther Imprisoned for 44 Years, Dies at 76, DemocracyNow!, https://www.democracynow.org/2023/2/14/headlines/marshall_eddie_conway_former_black_panther_imprisoned_for_44_years_dies_at_76

Tribute to Marshall “Eddie” Conway, Black Power Rewind, https://www.youtube.com/live/RIXRIIdZhq4?feature=share

 

Tyre Nichols, Police Brutality and the Black Cop

Black cop!! Black cop Black cop Black cop
Stop shootin Black people, we all gonna drop
You don’t even get, paid a whole lot
So take your M-60 and put it ‘pon lock!
Take your four-five and you put it ‘pon lock!

Lookin for your people when you walk down a block
Here in America you have drug spot
They get the Black cop, to watch the drug spot
The Black drug dealer just avoid Black cop
They’re killin each other on a East Coast block
Killin each other on a West Coast block
White police, don’t give a care about dat
Dem want us killin each other over crack
Anyway you put it it’s a Black on BLACK …

Black cop!! Black cop Black cop …

Thirty years, there were no Black cops
You couldn’t even run, drive round the block
Recently police trained Black cop
To stand on the corner, and take gunshot
This type of warfare isn’t new or a shock
It’s Black on Black crime again nonSTOP
Black cop!! Black cop Black cop …

Here’s what the West and the East have in common
Both have Black cops in cars profilin
Hardcore kids in the West got stress
In the East we are chased by the same black beast
The Black cop is the only real obstacle
Black slave turned Black cop is not logical
But very psychological, haven’t you heard?
It’s the BLACK COP killin Black kids in Johannesburg

Whassup Black cop, yo, whassup?!
Your authorization says shoot your nation
You want to uphold the law, what could you do to me?
The same law dissed the whole Black community
You can’t play both sides of the fence
1993 mad kids are gettin tense

Black cop!! Black cop Black cop Black cop
Stop shootin Black people we all gonna drop
You don’t even get, paid a whole lot
Take your four-five and you put it ‘pon lock!
Take your M-60 and put it ‘pon lock!
Take your uzi, put it ‘pon lock!

Black cop Black cop Black cop

— from Boogie Down Productions – “Black Cop”

Many of us were heavily traumatized by the graphic video of five Memphis police officers beating Tyre Nichols to death as he cried out for his mother. After years of recent high profile police killings of Afrikan Americans that started to gain worldwide attention with the killings of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin and the resultant Movement for Black Lives, perhaps some of us had become numb to these atrocities. For those of you who became so inured to this that you fell asleep, here is your wake up call. Again.

Police body camera video (the ones that were actually turned on) showed police cursing at Mr. Nichols as they violently snatched him from his car immediately upon making the stop, a clear indication of immediate and unprovoked excessive force. This is what it has come to. The fact that the police were wearing body cameras that would supposedly record their actions apparently meant nothing to them. These police officers clearly seemed to be acting on the assumption of their own impunity and displayed no awareness of the atrocity they were committing or even of the trouble they should be in as a direct result of their actions. Pose for a selfie while you’re at it, fellas.

The limitation of body cameras was shown not only in the fact that they did not prevent this behavior on the part of the Memphis police or the fact that several of the cameras were conveniently turned off during parts of the altercation, but also the fact that the pole-mounted video camera provided key visual evidence the body cameras could not. That camera, mounted high on a lamp post, provided a wide-angle view that clearly showed several officers holding Mr. Nichols, who was already slumped over, barely conscious and not resisting, in an upright position so some of the officers could take turns kicking him and striking him with fists and batons.

According to the video evidence, not one of the five main defendants nor the other police officers who ultimately responded to the scene tried to stop the beating. There was no timely call for medical attention, and the medical personnel who did respond also failed to provide timely care to Mr. Nichols. Many, if not all, of the involved parties have been fired or disciplined, though it is unclear if any charges will be made against them. So much for protect and serve.

Some people were quick to point out that these were Black police officers dispensing this brutal “street justice” upon a Black motorist. This argument is what some analysts would refer to as a “red herring”. Police brutality has always been not so much about the race of the officers as about the race or economic standing of the victim (Black or Brown or poor). While the results from studies of the effect of Black police officers on reducing discretionary stops, harassment of citizens and acts of brutality are mixed, some critics have pointed out that Black police can sometimes be more violent against Black suspects than their White coworkers, perhaps out of overzealousness to “clean up the community” or even an effort to prove that they perceive their color as “Blue” and not “Black”.

Even so, there have been Black police officers who have spoken out against police brutality in their community. Many of them have paid a price for their honesty, forthrightness, honor and activism. Back in the mid to late 1990s, I had the opportunity to meet Dr. DeLacy Davis, then a Sergeant in the East Orange, New Jersey police department and the founder of Black Cops Against Police Brutality, several times as he was attending community meetings in Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore to discuss the issue of police brutality and misconduct. His activism led to harassment, assaults and death threats — from police. He participated in the town hall meetings that were held by the Rev. Walter Fauntroy and Martin Luther King III in the summer and fall of 1999 to bring attention to the issue, as documented in several reports at the time, including KUUMBAReport Newsletter, available here:

Support Your Local Sheriff?: Report on the SCLC’s Hearings on Police Brutality, KUUMBAReport, August-September 1999
https://kuumbareport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/KuumbaReport-12-August-September-1999-Support-Your-Local-Sherriff-PDF.pdf

Dr. Davis still advocates against police brutality, and his work can be followed through his Web site, https://drdelacydavis.com/.

Other efforts to combat police brutality, corruption, racism and abuse include The Marshall Project, https://www.themarshallproject.org/. Other articles pertaining to the Tyre Nichols case, police brutality in general and efforts to stop it are included in the links at the end of this article. One article in particular is the following:

Tyre Nichols’ Death: How Black Officers Alone Can’t Stop Brutal Policing – The Marshall Project
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/01/28/tyre-nichols-memphis-black-police-brutality

And now, we can expect more hand-wringing and excuses over the issue of police brutality. Once again, politicians are going to be concerned about “violence in the streets” in response to this violence in the street. Right wing “conservative” pundits will express concerns about impending new calls to defund the police. And police officers themselves will no doubt be on higher alert for individuals who may choose to vent their rage against law enforcement by targeting police officers themselves for violence. Police brutality and misconduct not only endangers the citizenry. It endangers those police officers who actually do take their responsibility seriously and do their jobs with a degree of honor and integrity. But the failure of police leadership, including the police unions, and the politicians who unconditionally back every misdeed of law enforcement personnel, to rein in police abuse, racism, corruption and violence, endangers all police, including the truly dedicated ones who joined the force to serve their community.

The Legacy and Life of Keona Holley, Baltimore Police Officer Targeted by Violence
https://www.facebook.com/59109969606/posts/pfbid022esH3ZdGkDFgBU8e1ANpgwocXBuPGgNXNM6iQqUDNtctjuSpSFciA5KqPn7RApu5l/?sfnsn=mo&mibextid=6aamW6

The usual “suspects” will come forward with the usual arguments in an attempt to explain or even justify police misconduct. Analysts will again pose the question: where did their training go wrong? I have stated on several occasions that police brutality is not a training issue: training imparts a knowledge or a skill; it does not build character or morality. As someone who has 30 years of experience in both employee recruitment & selection and employee training, I have often stated that this is an issue of selecting bad people to be cops and failing to correct bad behavior through progressive discipline before it becomes catastrophic, not an issue of how well these officers were trained.

But then again, maybe it is a training issue. If that is the case and the training of police is the problem, it could be that often police were too well trained: trained in how to plant evidence, trained in how to falsely set the tone for a defense in court (repeatedly yelling “Give me your hands” a total of 71 times in 13 minutes as the video was running, making statements such as “he tried to take my gun” and speculating that “he must be on something” for the body camera video), trained in how to deactivate several of the body cameras at the appropriate time, trained in what to say in court in an effort to escape criminal prosecution (such as “we feared for our lives”, “he was clearly on drugs”, “he was driving recklessly”, “he tried to take my gun”). In short, trained in how to successfully blame the victim.

The police apologists will once again insist that “these are just a few bad apples” and that “99.9 percent of police do their jobs honorably and with respect for citizens.” How is it, then, that people of Afrikan descent seem to so often encounter that 0.1 percent of police who are violent, corrupt and racist? How was Oscar Grant killed while he was handcuffed, face down, on a Bay Area Rapid Transit platform as he was telling his friends to comply with police? How was Philando Castille gunned down in his own car, in front of his lady and their child, for politely informing the officer that he was in legal possession of a firearm according to Minnesota’s gun laws? How do we wind up with cases such as those of Abner Louima (who survived being sodomized in 1997 by four New York police officers in a precinct bathroom), Amadou Diallo (who was shot 19 times and killed February 4, 1999 — 24 years ago practically to the day — by plainclothes police for entering the apartment building where he lived), Breonna Taylor (killed in her sleep in a hail of bullets), Sandra Bland (killed in a jail cell after a bogus traffic stop), Tamir Rice (killed for playing with a toy gun alone in a park), John Crawford III (killed for shopping in the gun aisle at an Ohio Walmart), Elijah McClain (injected with ketamine and killed by officers who accosted him for Walking While Black) — and these are just some of the victims who never posed any threat to police and were not even breaking the law — and so many others? How was Ronald Madison, a 45-year-old developmentally disabled man, shot multiple times in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina by a police unit that then tried to cover up their crime by claiming he was a violent drug dealer who shot at them first? How was Rayshard Brooks shot in the back as he was running from police in an Atlanta, Georgia fast-food drive-thru? How was Walter Scott shot in the back in North Charleston, South Carolina as he was running from a police officer? How did we end up with Eric Garner being strangled with an illegal chokehold on a New York City street by Daniel Pantaleo and over half a dozen other police as he cried “I can’t breathe” and George Floyd’s throat being crushed by Derek Chauvin and three other Minneapolis police as he begged for his life? How did Freddie Gray end up dying from a broken neck for simply running from Baltimore City police when they stared at him? And now, how did five Memphis police get it into their heads to beat Tyre Nichols literally to death? No, these are not just a few bad apples. To paraphrase a 1990 commentary about racist right-wing politicians by Dr. Julianne Malveaux, this is five rotten apples that have not fallen far from a rotting tree.

So, what is the tree’s root?

This is part of the Slave Patrol legacy, that group of vigilantes who were dispatched to apprehend runaway slaves and who, along with the Pinkertons who crushed worker strikes on behalf of their corporate employers, were a major part of the genesis of the modern-day police force.

On a more contemporary level, the current apparent upsurge in police murders of unarmed civilians is a result, in part, of the culture wars that have been stoked for decades (and actually longer than that, but people’s memories are short, and who has time to read history anyway?) by right-wing, law-and-order, police-are-always-right politicians and media pundits who have refused to hear the cries of police brutality victims since before the Black Panther Party started calling attention to these atrocities in the Sixties.

This is also police paranoia and police gang mentality, bolstered by the “Thin Blue Line” and an “us versus them” mentality among too many cops, and further fueled by the unspoken but often-demonstrated attitude that police not only enforce the law, they are above it as well. That mentality was only encouraged and amplified by the glorification of Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) and Police Paramilitary Units (PPUs), so-called “elite” units who were provided with military-grade weaponry, provided with simulated urban-warfare training centers (like the one in Atlanta that has been the target of guerilla-style protests by environmentalists and critics of increased police power) and granted broad authority to enforce order, often however they saw fit. This is where units like Memphis’s SCORPION (“Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods”), the Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force and Red Squad, and so many other “elite” police units derived much of their authority and discretion, which they exploited to empower them to commit acts of violence such as this.

How will this latest act of police brutality impact “The Talk” that so many of us have felt the need to have with our children, especially our young men? How will this impact the recommended strategy of compliance and non-resistance with police who may abuse and kill you anyway? What impact will this have on building a more revolutionary Pan-Afrikanist agenda within the Black community, particularly in those cities and neighborhoods where police already had a strained relationship with the people?

And how much harder will it make the jobs of those who actually do become police officers out of what some might regard as a naive commitment to do good for their community?

These questions are often difficult to answer, but one thing is certain.

As long as we continue to react to these atrocities instead of proactively organizing the activists of our community, our oppressors and enemies will continue to tolerate, cover up, ignore, encourage, defend, approve, plan and personally commit these heinous acts. Our continued dis-organization and collective in-action expresses, in an activist context, what Dr. King described on a personal level: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” (from Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence, April 4, 1967) We must begin to truly organize as a people, and it must start with our activists, organizers and self-described leaders. And it must start now. No more egos, no more “you must follow me”, no more ideological rigidity and arrogance. Start talking to each other and planning together or get used to seeing more and more of atrocities like this.

Some links to related articles about Black victims of police brutality

Black Atlantans Terrorized by Memphis Police Speak Out: “They’d Beat Your Ass”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/black-atlantans-terrorized-by-memphis-pd-chief-s-old-unit-speak-out-they-d-beat-your-ass/ar-AA175ksR

Full List of 229 Black People Killed by Police Since George Floyd’s Murder
https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-229-black-people-killed-police-since-george-floyds-murder-1594477

Know Their Names: Al Jazeera
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2020/know-their-names/index.html

Tyre Nichols Beating Raises Scrutiny on Elite Police Units
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tyre-nichols-beating-raises-scrutiny-on-elite-police-units/ar-AA16XQaJ?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8d91eadaadc24dae8c23667120850a31

Opinion: The Deplorable Reason Memphis Police Stopped Tyre Nichols
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/opinion-the-deplorable-reason-memphis-police-stopped-tyre-nichols/ar-AA16XWCI?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=370ab24232f544188e6432e5900eea0a

MSN: Memphis cops reportedly gave Tyre Nichols 71 commands in 13 minutes: ‘So far out of the norm’
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/memphis-cops-reportedly-gave-tyre-nichols-71-commands-in-13-minutes-so-far-out-of-the-norm/ar-AA16WxLb?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8d91eadaadc24dae8c23667120850a31

MSN: Double amputee, 36, shot dead after attempting to run away from cops
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/double-amputee-36-shot-dead-after-attempting-to-run-away-from-cops/ss-AA16XqQX?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8d91eadaadc24dae8c23667120850a31#image=2

MSN: Memphis police seen beating another Black man and forcing his face to the ground, while detaining him [VIDEO]
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/memphis-police-seen-beating-another-black-man-and-forcing-his-face-to-the-ground-while-detaining-him-video/ar-AA16Zsou?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=10ed80a77022425aa171e7694cfed8ce

Nichols Death Proves Elite Police Units Are A Disaster: Real Clear Policy
https://www.realclearpolicy.com/2023/01/30/tyre_nichols_death_proves_elite_police_units_are_a_disaster_878531.html

“Elite” Police Units Face More Scrutiny as Memphis SCORPION Unit Disbanded over Tyre Nichols Death: DemocracyNow!
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/1/31/radley_balko_warrior_cops_elite_units

Do ‘elite’ police teams like Memphis’ SCORPION unit do more harm than good?: On Point
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2023/02/01/specialized-police-units-tyre-nichols

Opinion: Tyre Nichols’s Death Proves Yet Again That ‘Elite’ Police Units Are a Disaster – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/opinion/tyre-nichols-police-scorpion.html

Memphis SCORPION Unit Deactivated
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/tyre-nichols-live-updates-scorpion-unit-permanently-deactivated/ar-AA16O2sg?ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=0c5f1ce054814fbbae9d20cbe5265857

Memphis man says he was assaulted by same Scorpion officers charged with Tyre Nichols’ death
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/memphis-man-says-was-assaulted-scorpion-officers-charged-tyre-nichols-rcna68860

What Tyre Nichols’ Death Reminds Us About Black Suffering: Medicine’s racist history bleeds into today’s medical practices, by Mengyi “Zed” Zha, MD February 2, 2023
https://www.medpagetoday.com/popmedicine/popmedicine/102934?xid=nl_popmed_2023-02-03&eun=g1701093d0r&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PopMedicine_020323&utm_term=NL_Gen_Int_PopMedicine_Active

The Legacy and Life of Keona Holley, Baltimore Police Officer Targeted by Violence
https://www.facebook.com/59109969606/posts/pfbid022esH3ZdGkDFgBU8e1ANpgwocXBuPGgNXNM6iQqUDNtctjuSpSFciA5KqPn7RApu5l/?sfnsn=mo&mibextid=6aamW6

Remembering Officer Keona Holley: Baltimore officer ambushed, shot in patrol car a year ago December 16, 2022, CBS Baltimore
https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/remembering-officer-keona-holley-baltimore-officer-ambushed-shot-in-patrol-car-a-year-ago/

Why Diversity Hasn’t changed Policing – Christian Science Monitor
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2023/0203/Why-diversity-hasn-t-changed-policing

How common are killings by police? How often are officers prosecuted?
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2023/0202/How-common-are-killings-by-police-How-often-are-officers-prosecuted?icid=mkt:web:exitd-related

Tyre Nichols’ Death: How Black Officers Alone Can’t Stop Brutal Policing – The Marshall Project
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/01/28/tyre-nichols-memphis-black-police-brutality

DeShuna Spencer (KweliTV) and Stephen Selaise Asuo (YALI TV) on Africa 500, Wednesday, February 1, 2023

The February 1, 2023 edition of Africa 500 features guests DeShuna Spencer of KweliTV and Stephen Selaise Asuo of Young Africa Media Center and YALI TV.

DeShuna Spencer is a social impact executive who is the founder & CEO of KweliTV, a global streaming service that curates the largest library of indie Black films & docs from across the globe.

As a former journalist & radio host, DeShuna’s work focuses on the intersection of media images and implicit bias. She speaks frequently on media representation, diversity in the streaming & the OTT space, social entrepreneurship, the effects of Black trauma content, challenges & opportunities in the media landscape, starting a media tech venture, women in media & tech, and her journey as a Black founder.

For years, Spencer had dreamed of building a service that told Black stories, with a focus on independent films and documentaries. But as a former journalist and magazine editor, she had no connections in Hollywood, no tech programming knowledge, and practically no budget. Getting the service off the ground and keeping it afloat has been a constant challenge.

But after launching KweliTV in 2016, Spencer’s work is finally starting to pay off. While the service still operates on a small scale, with 47,000 registered users who have access to 600 pieces of content, she recently raised $100,000 from New Media Ventures, plus another $100,000 and counting through the crowdfunded investment site Republic. The actor and comedian Lil Rel Howery also began curating comedy programming for the service in 2020, and in January, Apple picked KweliTV as one of five apps to showcase from Black app developers.

Being a niche streaming player is never easy, and the list of failed ventures is long. But as major streaming services become more expensive, bloated, and cumbersome to navigate, it may create an opportunity for smaller companies with a more specific point of view–KweliTV among them.

“We’re really about changing the Black narrative, and that means everyone—no matter what they look like—we want them to experience the Black experience from our perspective,” Spencer says.

https://www.deshuna.com
https://www.kweli.tv

Stephen Selaise Asuo is a Mediapreneur and Communications Consultant. He has over 10+ years’ work experience in community engagements and advocacy working with NGOs and CSOs across Ghana. He has focused his work on issues of communication, education and access to information.

Currently he is the founder/CEO of Young Africa Media Center and general manager of YALI TV, a fast-growing online television channel dedicated to tell the stories and impacts of YALI Alumni and young leaders across Africa. He leads over a 100 YALI TV Correspondents and associates across Africa, and the channel has covered major events on the continent in English, Portuguese and French. He is also the coordinator of the Black History Festivals which began in 2022. The 2023 Black History Festival will take place in Columbus Ohio.

As he continues to develop content best in value-based leadership, Stephen aspires to be a renowned Media Entrepreneur and Development Communication Consultant in Ghana. Steven hopes to transform the socioeconomic fortunes of the continent through a renewed media vision for Africa through leadership, storytelling and peer partnerships.

https://www.youngafricamediacenter.com
https://blackhistoryfestivals.com

Listen to the February 1, 2023 show here:

Africa 500 broadcasts every Wednesday at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org). After the broadcast, the show can be listened to on HANDRadio’s Web site, in an update of this post and on the Audio-Visual Media Pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).
—
AFRICA500
Wednesdays @3pm EST.
https://handradio.org
https://kuumbareport.com
https://webuyblack.com
https://kweli.tv

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bomani Shakur

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

Thomas Ruffin

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

Ajamu Baraka

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For the December 28 edition of Africa400, listen here:

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

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

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

SRDC Concludes Successful International Summit in Panama City, Panama

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

Professor David L. Horne.

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

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

Mr. Melvin Brown, Dr. Edly Hall Reid.

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

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

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

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

Ras Bukie, Black Queen Selassie.

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

Madam Louise Siaway and the Women of the Liberia Delegation.

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

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

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

Town Hall and Cooperative Coalitions Sept 23 2022a

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

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

Dr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina presides.

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

Connecting with Activists on the Ground in Panama

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

The Congo Dancers with Ras Bukie and Black Queen Selassie.

Taking a Tour of Panama

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

The locks at the Panama Canal.

A view down the Canal locks.

An exhibit inside the Canal Visitors Center.

A church in the “Old Town”.

A public square in the “Old Town”.

The Panama City skyline as seen from Flamingo Island.

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

Black Queen Selassie and Ras Bukie at the Garvey Statue.

The inscription on the base of the Garvey Statue.

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

Paying respects at the Garvey Statue.

SRDC 2022 International Summit in Panama City, Panama (September 22 – 25)

The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) will host its 14th Annual International Conference from September 22 – 25, 2022 in Panama City, Panama.

The 14th Annual International Summit of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) will be held from September 22 – 25 in Panama City, Panama.

For too many Pan-African activists, the geographical regions of Central and South America are seen as afterthoughts in the organization and uplift of Black people worldwide, despite the fact that the second largest population of people of Afrikan descent can be found in South America (Brazil), and there are tens of millions of us in Central America and northern South America.

SRDC’s longstanding friendship and alliance with the Central American Black Organization or CABO (“Organizacion Negra Centroamericana” or “ONECA” in Spanish) inspires and leads us to continue our tradition of reaching out to the entire Pan-African Diaspora by holding this year’s International Summit in the nation of Panama, a place that has become an attractive landing spot for African-Americans who have decided to leave the United States for a more culturally satisfying experience.

The 2022 SRDC Summit will continue to pursue the theme of “21st Century Pan Africanism: Moving Africa Forward” by including in its program a series of presentations that should not only provide historical background to our work, but also explore the “nuts and bolts” of grassroots community organizing, discuss on-the-ground projects that are currently in motion, and lay out concrete plans for the future.  The Summit will also be made available to organizational allies and supporters via a Zoom link, and portions of the Summit will be made available to the public shortly after the Summit via this and affiliated Websites as well as Facebook.  For the Summit Program and Schedule, please click here.

The Location will be the Wyndham Hotel, Albrook Mall, Panama City, Panama.

Expected Presenters

  • Professor David L. Horne, International Facilitator, Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC)
  • Dr. Barryl Biekman, Founder, African Union African Diaspora 6th Region Facilitators Working Group (AUADSFWG) Europe
  • The Honorable Louise M. Siaway, Former Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism in the Liberian Government, Founder and CEO of Sehwah Liberia
  • Mrs. Grace Abena James, Sixth Region African Diaspora Alliance Tanzania (6RADAT)
  • President-General Akili Nkrumah of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) Rehabilitating Committee 2020
  • NswtMwt Dr. ChenziRa Kahina, KPRA Director, Per Ankh M Smai Tawi; 2nd Asst. President General/ HCG Caribbean Americas of the UNIA ACL RC2020; Former/Inaugural Director of VI Caribbean Cultural Center, Virgin Islands of the United States (VIUS)
  • Mr. Melvin Brown, Melvin Brown Law Firm, on-the-ground Community Activist, Panama
  • Mr. Edly Hall Reid, Professor and Social Planner, Promoter and Activist of Human and Ethnic Rights, Costa Rica

Conference General Schedule

1. Arrival in Panama (Wednesday, September 21)

2. Workshops (Thursday, September 22 – Saturday, September 24):

  • Re-Addressing the Pan Africanism of Central, South and Latin America
  • A Report on the Latest SRDC Projects in African Countries
  • Stepping Up Pan African Presence in Africa
  • The Pan African Declaration of the Afro Latin, Central and South American Population

3. Visitation and Tour (Sunday, September 25)

Hotel Accommodations

To learn more about the Wyndham Panama Albrook Mall Hotel & Convention Center, please click below:

Wyndham Panama Albrook Mall Hotel & Convention Center

https://bit.ly/3Mhd13R-SociedaddeAmigosdelMuseoAfroantilla

Summit Program

SRDC 2022 Summit Program 3

Registration

To register for the 2022 SRDC International Conference in Panama City, Panama, please visit the SRDC Web site at the following link: https://srdcinternational.org/srdc-2022-international-conference-in-panama-city-panama-september-22-25/

More Information

Check back with this page and on the SRDC Web site (https://srdcinternational.org/srdc-2022-international-conference-in-panama-city-panama-september-22-25/) as we will add more information when it becomes available.

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!

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: