Category Archives: Ourstory

Return to Panama City: Setting Up for Pan-Afrikan Organizing in Panama and Central America

by Bro. Cliff
SRDC-Maryland Facilitator
Member of the Secretariat

My plane touched down at Tocumen International Airport in Panama on the afternoon of Sunday, May 21, 2023. After I went through the passport check, I went straight to the curbside where I looked for the person who was assigned to meet me at the airport and take me to La Manzana, the conference center and hotel where I was to assist local activists in running Panama’s first Pan-Afrikan Urban Town Hall Meeting. I had decided to travel light so that I could avoid the baggage check line and leave the airport sooner, as well as avoid the possibility of my bags being lost in transit.

Despite my having left my home at 2:00 AM and boarded my flight at 6:00 that morning, I was not particularly tired. Perhaps this was a small dose of adrenaline at the adventure I was embarking on. The previous September, I had been here before. The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) had held its International Summit in Panama City the previous September, so this would be my second visit to the Central American country within a year’s time. This visit would be different, however. Whereas last year the Summit was held at what was then the Wyndham Hotel at Albrook Mall, the largest mall in Panama (and perhaps in all of Central America), this time I would be staying at La Manzana, located smack-dab in the middle of one of Panama City’s depressed neighborhoods. A potentially nerve-wracking experience for a tourist or a vacationer, but I was not here on vacation. I was here to see how the people of Panama’s Afrikan-Descendant Community live, to reach out to them in cooperation with my Afro-Panamanian hosts, and to assist them as they begin the process of building a grassroots Pan-Afrikan organizing committee there in Panama and, by extension, Central America.

Bro. Vincent, Empress Yesury Nurse, Ras Bukie.

The weather in Panama was surprisingly comfortable. I had not noticed until I landed at the airport that I had left my sunglasses in my car in Maryland, but as it turned out, I never needed them because the sky was overcast most of the time I was there. In fact, there would be a torrential downpour Sunday night, despite the fact that the rainy season was supposed to be over. As a result, I never felt uncomfortable for the entirety of my visit, despite the fact that we were close to the equator and this was supposed to be a relatively hot time of the year in Panama.

I was not outside more than a minute or two when I saw a Brother holding a sign that read “Cliff Kuumba”. This was my ride, Bro. Vincent. He helped me load my bags into his car and we enjoyed a pleasant conversation on the way to La Manzana. Once there, I renewed acquaintances with my hosts for the next two days, Ras Bukie Bobby Wright and Empress Yesury Nurse Black Queen Selassie, who I had first met last September at the 2022 SRDC Summit. They were impressed by what SRDC stood for and what we could accomplish on the ground in Panama together and had stated at that time their interest in implementing our organizing model there in Panama. For the last several months, we had been working out the details of how SRDC could assist them in getting started there, and I was designated to be the SRDC Facilitator who would travel to Panama to work with them. I was shown my room where I dropped my bags off before our work began.

Marching in The Desfile.

Despite my early morning departure from home and the long plane ride that included a stopover in Houston, Texas, I did not stop for a nap upon my arrival in Panama. We pretty much hit the ground running. Bro. Vincent drove us to the area of Rio Abajo where we were treated to The Desfile (pronounced “des-fee-lay”), one of the culminating parades of Panama’s Black Culture Month celebration. Ras Bukie, Empress Yesury Nurse and I unfurled two banners that they had prepared, an Ethiopian flag to celebrate their Rastafari roots and a Red, Black and Green flag and, holding all of them together in a chain, we marched three-abreast down the main street and joined the parade. There was music, there were canopies, there were different social organizations and businesses on either side of the road, there were dancers in the street ahead of us, and of course there were the people, all reveling in the celebration of Black culture and dancing to Central American salsa and reggae. Ras Bukie began to interact with the crowds on the sidewalks, occasionally shaking the Red, Black and Green flag, screaming at the top of his voice, “Marcus Garvey! No more brainwash!!” until be became hoarse. We marched with the parade into the evening past sunset.

Wall of Heroes in Rio Abajo.

After we finally made our way back to La Manzana, Ras Bukie and I walked to a grocery store nearby. As we walked through the darkened streets of the neighborhood, he showed me where some of the rougher areas were. Somehow, despite the fact that one could find whatever type of trouble one wanted in these streets, I was not particularly nervous, though I did remain vigilant. The grocery store was surprisingly large and well-stocked with a variety of produce, canned and dry goods, frozen foods, juices and just about whatever one would expect from a dependable neighborhood market. Outside again, we walked past alleys, homes and tiny closed-in yards where the salsa and reggae music played and people gathered around radios and television sets. One thing I did not notice was the same amount of drug-addled loiterers that I could easily find in a lot of depressed urban centers in the United States. In certain parts of Baltimore City, one can find several people on a single corner leaning over in a state of semi-consciousness as the result of whatever

Meeting with La Manzana’s staff.

powerful opioid or narcotic they had recently consumed. I did not see that here. In US inner cities, one was as likely to be approached by a vagrant rat as by a vagrant human. Not so here. After I turned in for the night, from my third-floor room I could hear an occasional gunshot, but even then it was not as intense as what I had come to expect in certain neighborhoods of Baltimore and other depressed urban areas in the United States. Perhaps our timing was perfect and we were outside at the one time when all that was not happening, but despite the daily struggle these people faced, it seemed their response to hardship was different. Still, the struggle is real there, and the hopelessness felt by some of the people would come out in our Monday and Tuesday sessions.

Baba Melvin Brown.

The original plan was to introduce the people to SRDC and our Town Hall Process, hear from some of our international allies over the virtual connection, and possibly to set up a Council of Elders (wise community Elders to whom the people and activists can go for advice, guidance, correction and the mediation of disputes), nominate possible Community Representatives (people who live in the community who could speak for them at national and international meetings because the community chose them to do so) and begin to formulate a local Pan-Afrikan Agenda (a list of the issues that are important to the people and some of the ideas and aspirations of the community). I knew going in that we probably would not accomplish all of those goals; after all, in Maryland in 2017, it took us five (5) Town Hall Meetings to accomplish most (though not quite all) of that plan (we re-introduced SRDC, we re-established and updated our Pan Afrikan Agenda and nominated what would become the current Maryland Council of Elders), and we had been running Town Hall Meetings in Baltimore once or twice a year since 2007, so we had ten years of experience by that time. This would be Panama’s very first such meeting. In the end, though we didn’t accomplish all that we had originally set out to do, we did something better: we got to know the people of Panama just a little, we got an idea of what they go through every day, and we met with some truly committed activists and organizers, chief among them Ras Bukie and Empress Yesury Nurse.

Baba Francisco Knight, Empress Yesury Nurse.

Monday morning was the first of two days of Town Hall meetings that were planned. The meeting hall at La Manzana was nicely appointed, though the brick-and-metal design meant the hall was susceptible to acoustical issues and there were technical problems that prevented us from fully establishing a good connection over the Internet for the virtual part of the meeting. Our day officially began with a meeting in La Manzana’s office conference room that included myself, Ras Bukie, Empress Yesury Nurse, Baba Francisco Knight of an organization called Wake Up, Baba Melvin Brown of the Afro-Panamanian Foundation for Sustainability and the State of the African Diaspora, and the La Manzana management team, who welcomed us and expressed their desire to increase their outreach into the surrounding community. The attendance at Monday’s session in the meeting hall was light, with only a few people attending, but the session was enlightening nonetheless. We met a young lady whose family of five were all working a variety of odd jobs to survive except for one son who was currently incarcerated. This was my initial introduction to the daily struggle that the Afrikan Descendant community of Panama City often had to face.

Tuesday’s session was better attended. Monday night, Empress Yesury Nurse had ventured out into the surrounding community, as she had also done late Sunday, to talk to the people and drum up support for the Town Hall. As a result, there was a larger crowd for the Tuesday session, but still small enough that we could hold our session without needing all the audio-visual support we had arranged. This turned out to be a good thing in several ways, because it allowed us to hold a more intimate meeting and to hear from all of the attendees in detail about what they deal with on a daily basis. All of the attendees stated what we have come to expect in working-class and struggling communities: their connection to their ancestral home, Afrika, is weak because they are not taught about their heritage in the schools, every day is a struggle to survive and make a life for their families, and they feel cut off from people of Afrikan descent elsewhere in the world. One grandmother of 18, after some encouragement from Ras Bukie, finally let down her emotional armor and began to open up. Before long, she was recounting the daily struggle of herself and her family between heaving sobs. One of her children was also incarcerated, she often felt alone with no help in sight, and simple survival was a struggle. Despite the work of the international organizations that claim to speak for our people in depressed communities, organizations such as the United Nations Permanent Forum of People of African Descent (PFPAD), which would meet in New York City one week later, the State of the African Diaspora (SOAD), and my own organization, SRDC, none of that has as yet had any impact on these people here in Panama City. They knew nothing of these organizations, and for the most part, these organizations knew nothing about them. These people are isolated in the urban prisons to which they have been consigned, with no clear escape in sight. This experience would influence how I look at grassroots Pan-Afrikan organizing for the foreseeable future.

That Tuesday session also set the stage for the development of an organizing committee there in Panama City, perhaps centered on La Manzana, where Ras Bukie and Empress Yesury Nurse have an office. As adherents of the Rastafari and strong Garveyites, they share a deep commitment to those principles but also recognize the necessity of organizing all of Panama’s Afrikan-Descendant community, be they Garveyite, Rastafari or not. As such, they have contacted Baba Melvin Brown, Baba Francisco Knight and others in an effort to build a truly inclusive organizing committee for the entire Afro-Panamanian community. The group that met on Tuesday expressed an interest in moving to the next steps of building a Community Council of Elders, solidifying the organizing committee and building for future Town Hall Meetings that will be able to draw more and more members of the community to build a Pan-Afrikan Agenda and elect Representatives from among them who would be able to speak for them at national and international conferences and assemblies.

My hosts for the three days, Ras Bukie and Empress Yesury Nurse, were extremely enthusiastic to hold this weekend session and were deeply committed to the success of the meetings. They went out and engaged with the local community. They created banners and promoted this session heavily. They contacted other organizations and activists, some of whom responded and some didn’t. Organizing a community, especially one that has been marginalized and forgotten for so long, is hard work, and they were certainly up to the task. In talking and working with them over those three days, I could see that they had truly poured themselves into this work. As I see it, they have earned the right to assume the status of Panama’s SRDC Facilitators. (And, as of Sunday, June 11, 2023, they are SRDC’s official Facilitators for Panama and are, as a result, Members of the SRDC Secretariat.)

Wednesday afternoon came, and it was time for Bro. Vincent to take me back to Tocumen International Airport for my return flights, from Panama to Miami and, after a five-hour layover, to Thurgood Marshall Baltimore Washington International Airport and home. Bro. Vincent and I had another good conversation as we drove to the airport, and on the way I once again got to see a bit of how the “other half” lives in Panama City: the skyscrapers of the city’s Gulf of Panama skyline, the restaurants, the gleaming hotels, the seaside parks filled with walkers, runners and bicyclists, and the distant docks where the “upper crust” parked their boats. We saw some of the communities of Indigenous and Afrikan-Descendant fishermen who have been resisting efforts by land speculators to buy their ramshackle homes on the cheap so they could gentrify them as they were already busy gentrifying parts of the neighborhood around La Manzana. And while I had been struck by the differences in how the poor of Panama City dealt with their trauma as opposed to many cities in the US, this much looked familiar: the encroachment of big corporate developers into depressed areas as they sought to pick the bones of the community so they could take the land under their feet and rake in bug bucks with yet another “urban renewal” gentrification scheme, displacing the already-disadvantaged yet again in the pursuit of profit, without a care in the world about what would become of the people they displaced, because they consider them to be voiceless and easily thrown away. But these are the people whose voices desperately need to be heard. The ones who are marginalized, the ones who are continually exploited and then shoved aside, the ones for whom every day is a never-ending struggle. These, as well as or perhaps more than the Black middle class and the civil rights leaders and the international activists, are the ones we must reach. These are the ones whose voice needs to be lifted up and amplified so the world will hear them, must hear them, cannot escape hearing them. This is what we hope to accomplish as we continue with our efforts to Organize The Diaspora. The Pan Afrikan Town Hall is the first important step to achieving that goal, and one that we in SRDC must continue to pursue if we are to make Pan-Afrikanism real and not just some cute phrase to be uttered when we want to stake our claim as Champions of the People.

After Reparations: Economic Models for Nation Building, on Africa 500, Wednesday, June 14, 2023

The Wednesday, June 14, 2023 edition of Africa 500 welcomes two special guests who join hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty to discuss the topic After Reparations, Economic Models for Nation Building: Dr. Andrea Thomas and Dr. Robert E. Weems Jr.

Dr. Andrea Thomas
Consultant, Global Learning, Innovation and Virtual Exchange
https://www.drandreathomas.com/

Dr. Andrea Thomas is a Senior Intercultural Learning Specialist at Purdue University, Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship, Assessment and Research (CILMAR), and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California, Viterbi School of Engineering.

Dr. Thomas was the Head of International Programs and Senior International Officer (SIO) at the State University of New York (SUNY) Farmingdale State College as well as a 2019 Fellow for the Association of International Educators Administrators (AIEA). She brings more than 17 years of experience at global organizations and 15 years in operations, human resources, diversity, equity and inclusion and global engagement. She is passionate about global education and the importance of cultivating a global mindset among students and faculty to support capacity building for digital transformation in the Fourth Industrial context and to create the conditions for peace and mutual understanding.

Dr. Thomas began her career at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) where she focused on Ethics and operations within international development. In 2022, she became a United Nations Global Diplomacy Fellow through the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). She earned a Doctorate at the University of Southern California (USC), Rossier School of Education where she studied Global Education Leadership and Administration with rotations in Hong Kong, Finland and Qatar. She is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from the Kyrgyz Republic and speaks Russian, Kyrgyz, and Spanish languages.

Dr. Thomas is an accomplished educational leader and global strategist with expertise in building infrastructure for global community transformation in a digital economy. She has an extensive background in international development, multilateral diplomacy, and private, public, and academic partnerships. A researcher on Industry 4.0, virtual exchange (VE), and digital inclusion, Dr. Thomas is knowledgeable about facilitating economic empowerment through community-building, collaboration, and digital transformation. She has lived and worked across Central Asia, Southern Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central and South America.

Dr. Robert E. Weems, Jr.
Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History
Wichita State University
Wichita, KS 67260
https://www.wichita.edu/profiles/academics/fairmount_college_of_liberal_arts_and_sciences/History/Weems-Robert.php

Robert E. Weems, Jr. has been the Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History at Wichita State University since Fall 2011. Before coming to WSU, he taught at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of Iowa. A native of Chicago, he received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During his career, Professor Weems has published and spoken widely in the areas of African American business and economic history.

Besides his recently published The Merchant Prince of Black Chicago: Anthony Overton and the Building of a Financial Empire, Weems has authored three other books in the realm of African American business history (Black Business in the Black Metropolis: The Chicago Metropolitan Assurance Company 1925-1985; Desegregating the Dollar: African American Consumerism in the Twentieth Century; Business in Black and White: American Presidents and Black Entrepreneurs in the Twentieth Century), as well as nearly four dozen journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries. He is also the co-editor of Building the Black Metropolis: African American Entrepreneurship in Chicago and The African American Experience: A Historiographical and Bibliographical Guide. In addition, Professor Weems served as a historical advisor and appeared in the documentary Boss: The Black Experience in Business which premiered on PBS in April, 2019. More recently, in June 2021, Dr. Weems was the keynote speaker at a program sponsored by the regional banks of the U.S. Federal Reserve entitled “Racism and the Economy: Focus on Entrepreneurship.”

During his tenure in Wichita, Weems has coordinated the “Wichita African American Business History Project” where he gathered information related to the history of local African American entrepreneurship. In September 2017, Professor Weems donated the audio interviews, transcripts, and documentary materials he generated from this project to Wichita State University Libraries Special Collections.

While in Wichita, Dr. Weems has also served in a wide variety of community-based activities including: serving on The Kansas African American Museum Board of Directors (including a tenure as Board president); membership in the African American Council of Elders of Wichita and South Central Kansas (including a tenure as Presiding Elder) and serving on the Board of Directors of the Heartland Wichita Black Chamber of Commerce. In this capacity, Dr. Weems established and coordinates the organization’s “Wichita Black Business Hall of Fame” initiative.

To listen to the June 14 Africa 500 program, click here:

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Africa 500 is broadcast every Wednesday at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on Hand Radio (https://handradio.org). After the broadcast, the show can be listened to on an update of this post or on the Audio-Visual Media Pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) or the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).

The Permanent Forum of People of African Descent Meets for its Second Session in New York City

During the week of Tuesday, May 30 – Friday, June 2, the United Nations Building in New York City was the scene of the Second Session of the Permanent Forum of People of African Descent (PFPAD). The Permanent Forum was created after several international activists, including civil society advocates, had called for a standing committee to take actions in support of Afrikan People and People of Afrikan Descent that had heretofore not been within the authority of other United Nations bodies such as the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (WGEPAD).

PFPAD Chair Epsy Campbell Barr (Costa Rica) presided over the week’s Second Session.

Epsy Campbell Barr, Chair of the Permanent Forum.

The First Session of PFPAD had been held in December 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland. Several Pan-Afrikan activists had traveled to Geneva or participated in that First Session online. A larger number descended upon New York City for this Second Session, and apparently the UN Headquarters in New York was not prepared for it. The result was long lines just to enter the building and pass all the security checks, which became a serious hindrance for those who were Elders or people with disabilities.

During the four days of the Second Session, statements were made by members of the Permanent Forum, by UN member states and, finally, by civil society activists. The Conclusions and Recommendations below reflect the discussions that were held during the week, and the tentative decisions made by the Permanent Forum as a result.

Below are the transcribed remarks from PFPAD members Ms. Gaynell Curry (Bahamas) and Mr. Michael McEachrane (Sweden) on the Friday, June 2 Closing of the Second Session of the Permanent Forum of People of African Descent (PFPAD), in which they read the Conclusions and the Recommendations from the weeklong Session.

After their remarks, I’ve added a few notes to explain a bit about how I’ve transcribed these comments, but also to point out some comments I have regarding statements made in the Conclusions and Recommendations.

I have made every effort to transcribe these statements as best I can. Some of the comments the speakers made as part of their readings came across as a bit disjointed and difficult to follow, and thus a few of the typed comments may not flow well grammatically. 

There will certainly be more comments and statements from members of civil society who participated in person and online, some of them complimentary and others critical of the Session. Continued discussion among Pan-Afrikan civil society needs to be robust, sincere and conscientious if we are to make certain that bodies like this are more responsive to the people, and failing that, investigating the possibility of creating our own independent mechanism to represent the voice of the people.
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Second Session, Permanent Forum of People of African Descent (PFPAD)
Final Day of Discussion
Friday, June 2, 2023
Statements of Conclusions and Recommendations

Gaynell Curry
Member of the Permanent Forum

Member of the Permanent Forum Gaynell Curry.

Thank you very much Madam Chair. I am pleased to present the preliminary conclusions and recommendations of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent Second Session from 30th of May to the 2nd June 2023 in New York City, USA.

Introduction.

The United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent held its Second Annual Session from the 30th of May to the 2nd of June 2023 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. In addition to opening of the Second Session and the general debate, five thematic discussions were held, including global reparatory justice, Pan Africanism for dignity, justice and peace, transnational migration, recognizing and addressing systemic and structural racism, a data driven and evidence based approach, and health, well-being and intergenerational trauma. The event was attended by member states, United Nations entities, and approximately 900 civil society representatives and other stakeholders from across the world, participating in person@ and online#. In addition, more than 60 side events were also held. The Permanent Forum expresses its appreciation to all participants.
The following conclusions and recommendations are preliminary in nature. Together with the proceedings of the first session, they will form the basis of the first report of the Permanent Forum to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly in Fall 2023.

Conclusions.

1. Bearing in mind the approaching closure of the International Decade of People of African Descent in 2024, the Second Session of the Permanent Forum of People of African Descent has asserted the expectation that there will be a UN Declaration on the promotion, protection and full respect of the human rights of People of African Descent. In accordance with the mandate of the Resolution A/75/226, the Permanent Forum values the clear commitment from various delegations and other stakeholders as well as the interest on the part of civil society regarding an International Declaration on the Rights of People of African Descent. The Permanent Forum urges the General Assembly to proclaim a Second International Decade of People of African Descent, intending to take further the actions to bring about the full recognition, justice and development pf People of African Descent.

2*. The Permanent Forum of People of African Descent recognizes that the inclusion of those who have been excluded and marginalized in decision making forums and institutions in the United Nations and by states is at the core of its mandate. It is therefore a matter of priority that the Sessions of the Permanent Forum reflects in active measures to remove all structural barriers and obstacles faced by participants and in particular representatives of civil society.

In the considered view of the Permanent Forum, reflecting feedback of experiences by members of civil society, there needs to be a concerted effort to ensure Portuguese translation, (applause) affirmative measures to ensure availability of grounds passes for participants prior to the session, (applause) adequate accommodations for people who are elderly, disabled (applause), or otherwise unable to queue for hours, ensuring rooms with adequate accessibility to sessions and side events. In the UN compound and more, an event of the scale of this Second Session is historic and momentous, and requires the same special measures and accommodations made for delegations of other high capacity events.

The Permanent Forum stresses that while many mandates in the UN are amply funded, civil society organizations supporting People of African Descent lack adequate support, even struggling to send representatives to important events, including the Permanent Forum. the UN Organization should recall that law, policy and procedures have often served to silence calls for justice and fairness against systemic and structural racism. The Permanent Forum represents the most representative global, multi sector representation of People of African Descent, seeking to promote and protect human rights, in UN history. The status quo, or business as usual, should not be interposed as an excuse of the UN Organization to displace cost, time or discomfort to access for the use of, or access to the UN facilities to individual participants of the annual Sessions of the Permanent Forum, when the UN system itself has the capacity to accommodate high volume special events, or to troubleshoot or course correct procedures to add efficiency to the process. At the highest level, the UN Organization committed to be a partner in racial equality after the murder of George Floyd. This must include creating an enabling environment for the People of African Descent to be heard, and acknowledging the deterrent effect of spending hours queuing for access, tactics People of African Descent experience in voter suppression efforts and elsewhere. (applause)

3*. The Permanent Forum affirms that reparations is what justice looks like in the 21st century, and that there can be no sustainable development agenda without reparations. As recognized by the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, the critical importance of many parts of the world for the full and equal realization of human dignity and rights of People of African Descent depends on reparatory justice for the histories and legacies of colonialism, enslavement, apartheid at the domestic and international levels. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum affirms that these are crimes against humanity, and constitute genocide. (applause) The trauma occasioned by these acts have endured for centuries, and manifest in numerous ways, including intergenerational health impact, ongoing societal stigma, and a lack of self esteem, a sense of self and cultural cohesion of People of African Descent worldwide. In the swift provision of reparatory justice, the survivors of these crimes demand that no remedy be imposed on them without their consultation and deep involvement. We say, nothing about us without us. (applause)

The Permanent Forum encourages member states to take concrete actions toward reparatory justice at both the domestic and international levels, to treat this as a matter of justice and not as a matter of charity or aid and, in the process, center the will, participation and needs of People of African Descent. The Permanent Forum acknowledges the apology offered by the Dutch government in December 2022 for its historic enslavement of Africans and People of African Descent while stressing that an apology for crimes against humanity by a state cannot be followed by the refusal to provide repair without condemnation by the United Nations. (applause)

The Permanent Forum recognizes that there is at present no specialized international court that has been designed or equipped to deal with reparations claims of the magnitude and complexity of the claim of reparations for the slave trade, hundreds of years of African enslavement, and the multiplicity of related injustices, injuries and damages to People of African Descent in the various countries of the world. While the International Court of Justice , the ICJ, exists, it is inadequate in terms of its design, and it also suffers from the defect occasioned by several of the former colonial and enslaver nations having made reservations to the ICJ Treaty prohibiting the ICJ from adjudicating claims of wrongdoing prior to these nations’ accession to the ICJ Treaty.

4*. The Permanent Forum of People of African Descent reiterates that Pan Africanism was and still is a global movement for the liberation of Africans and People of African Descent from colonialism, enslavement, subjugation and systemic and structural racism. The Permanent Forum welcomes a Pan Africanism for dignity, justice and peace as a much needed vehicle for People of African Descent to effectively address lasting vestiges of colonialism, systemic and structural racial discrimination as it affects both Africans and People of African Descent globally, especially ay the international level. Moreover, to affirm that many social, cultural and political ties that bind the African Diaspora to Africa, including the Pan Africanism of the African Union, the AU, and its Agenda 2063, and inclusion of the African Diaspora as its Sixth Region.

The Permanent Forum suggests that a resolute Pan Africanism for dignity, justice and peace in the 21st Century needs to be firmy grounded in human equality and non-discrimination and the rule of law. It must address impunity and be mindful and fully inclusive of differences among Africans and People of African Descent, including women, elders, persons with disabilities, youth, migrants and LGBTQI people. (applause) Moreover, it needs to be a Pan Africanism for environmental justice and increasing social, economic and environmental sustainability in the world. The Permanent Forum welcomes initiatives taken by the Caribbean Community, CARICOM, the AU and others towards putting Pan Africanism into concrete action, the spirit of Pan Africanism and such initiatives. The Permanent Forum extends an invitation to the AU and CARICOM to initiate dialogs on how the Permanent Forum can collaborate with the AU and CARICOM in this regard.

The Permanent Forum celebrates the pioneering Pan Africanism of the sovereign nation of Haiti, and recognizes that much of its prolonged crisis is caused by the longstanding neocolonialist campaign against the world’s first free Black republic. The Permanent Forum also acknowledges the Pan Africanism of the 1920 Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World by the Universal Negro Improvement Association as a forerunner of the forthcoming UN Declaration of the human rights of People of African Descent.

5*. The Second Session of the Permanent Forum highlighted that there are many structural inequalities in transnational migration across the world, and that Africans and People of African Descent are particularly exposed to these structural inequalities. Among them are inequalities in the freedom of movement of people in so-called developed and developing countries, access to visas, global share of the amount of refugees hosted by countries in the Global South and the Global North, enjoyment of refugee rights, vulnerability of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, exploitation and violence, and the deaths of migrants. Two groups were pointed out as especially vulnerable to global inequalities in transnational migration. These were Haitian migrants and Black African migrants crossing North Africa and the Mediterranean, trying to reach Europe. It was further pointed out that the root causes of Haitian migration were grounded in crimes of colonialism and enslavement. It was also emphasized that racism is key to the plight of many African and African Descendant migrants, and that the international community has a responsibility to ensure safe, orderly , regular, and not least equitable forms of migration for Africans and African Descendant migrants.

6*. The Permanent Forum reiterates that the human rights of People of African Descent , the comprehensive recognition, monitoring and effective access to systemic and structural racism should become a cornerstone of the forthcoming UN declaration on the human rights of People of African Descent. At the Second Session, it was added that the human rights should include recognition and address of systemic and structural racism at both the domestic and international levels. It was mentioned that People of African Descent are a group that require statistical diagnostic and monitor their human rights situations to inform targeted, measurable and accountable policy making. Such diagnosis should include how the human rights situation of People of African Descent — race — intersect with other grounds such as ethnicity, gender, sexuality, education, socioeconomic class, and geographic location.

Moreover, it was pointed out that to use disaggregated data collection to hold states accountable for the nature and extent of systemic and structural racial stratification and discrimination. Measuring and monitoring systemic and structural racism needs to be the context, purpose and interpretative framework of the data collection and evidence gathering. This point was further illustrated by that, despite the disaggregated data surveys, coming out of European Union agencies of fundamental rights, such as the European societies, suffer from systemic and structural racial stratification, and that People of African Descent on average are at a disadvantage across areas of society. There is little to no recognition in Europe and in the European states and societies People of African Descent suffer from systemic and structural racism, and privileged people racialized as white Europeans and dis-privileged people racialized as non-European descendants, People of African Descent in particular. Furthermore, it was pointed out that a right to comprehensive recognition of systematic and structural racism , stratification and discrimination as it affects People of African Descent needs to be a right to recognition of the broader social, international and historical context of systemic and structural racism, including the lasting impacts of systemic and structural racism at the domestic and international levels of colonialism, enslavement and other forms of racialized dehumanization, institutional forms of racial apartheid and racial segregation, embedded notions of practices of racial superiority, white superiority and other forms of racial domination, as well as racial and ethnic nationalism.

7*. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum notes that although digital technologies and artificial intelligence holds great promise in the collection and analysis of data to monitor racism and inform policy making, the work of inequalities and atrocities is being reproduced in the digital transformation and the world of artificial intelligence. First, because Black populations are misrepresented or non-represented in the data that is used to develop artificial intelligence tools; second, because there is no check-ups … given that 85% of artificial intelligence developments are done by white male only teams, there is no surprise that the outcomes are being discriminatory and racist. This is dangerous, because of the many decisions that are being taken with the support of artificial intelligence and without ethical guardrails that risk many massively ineffective Black populations.

8*. The Permanent Forum expresses deep concern about the often profound negative impact of racism and racial discrimination on the health and well-being of People of African Descent, which have created barriers to enjoying thr human right to health, resulting in chronic diseases including hypertension, heart disease and diabetes. From birth to death, People of African Descent fare worse in measures of health compared to their white counterparts, such as higher rates of infant and maternal mortality, higher incidence of asthma during childhood, greater rates of high blood pressure and intergenerational trauma, due to the weathering of racism, intergenerational trauma, legacies of colonialism, enslavement on the Trans Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans on physical and mental health. The Permanent Forum recognizes the intersectionality of health disparities faced by People of African Descent on multi-faceted factors involving racism, racial discrimination as well as social, economic and environmental factors. To improve health outcomes for People of African Descent, it is critical to address racism and racial discrimination in all aspects of society. This includes addressing systemic and structural inequalities and discrimination in health care, education, employment, housing and public policy. Promoting cultural competency and diversity in health care is also essential. A multi-faceted approach is required to address underlying social determinants of health disparities faced by People of African Descent, through combatting systemic racism and discrimination, empowering communities of People of African Descent, utilizing traditional knowledge capacity building and health care systems, and partnership among member states, the WHO, and regional bodies in the prevention and control of diseases.

Thank you, I will stop here to hand over to my colleague Michael who will give you the Recommendations.

Michael McEachrane
First Rapporteur, Member of the Permanent Forum

Thank you Gaynell. Good afternoon everyone. So I am now going to read our Preliminary Recommendations.

Recommendations.

A Second Decade.

First Rapporteur and Member of the Permanent Forum Michael McEachrane.

9. The Permanent Forum reiterates its call for a Second International Decade of People of African Descent, 2025-2034, and recommends that it is focused on reparatory justice, recognition and address of systemic and structural racism at both the domestic and international levels and the realization of the forthcoming UN Declaration on the Human Rights of People of African Descent.

The Declaration.

10. The Permanent Forum is currently embarking on a series of comprehensive regional consultations across the world on the drafting of the forthcoming UN Declaration on the Human Rights of People of African Descent, is looking forward to sharing with the InterGovernmental Working Group on the effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action during Spring 2023 as substantial contribution to the drafting of the Declaration, including comments on the latest Draft Declaration and a full draft of the Declaration with explanatory comments, and is calling on the IGWG, that is the InterGovernmental Working Group, to carefully consider and make ample room in its deliberations on the Declaration for this submission by the Permanent Forum.

Accessibility and resources.

11. The UN should remove all structural barriers as outlined above in the conclusions, and also work to generate robust member state financial support for the Permanent Forum and to expedite the effective removal of structural barriers for those who wish to attend the annual sessions of the Permanent Forum. the UN Organization should issue a communication publicly, available to the Permanent Forum and civil society, addressing the structural barriers and share its plans to facilitate access for future sessions of the Permanent Forum well in advance of its next session in April 2024.

12. The Permanent Forum will take upon itself to facilitate annual donor roundtables with members of the Permanent Forum, member states, grant makers, civil society and the private sector.

13. A task force on People of African Descent should be formally established including all United Nations actors working on the issues of the agenda of People of African Descent and against racism. It should have a program of action with goals, follow-up indicators and resources in an internal agenda within the United Nations system.

14. Appoint a Special Envoy on People of African Descent of the Secretary General, with the objective of following up on the work of the agencies and accompanying the states in the follow-up of the actions that are generated in favor of Afro Descendants.

15. The UN should create an affirmative action program for the hiring of People of African Descent, including the appointment to global, regional and national leadership positions (applause), taking into consideration that this affirmative action should involve women, who are triply discriminated against. (applause)

Global reparatory justice.

16. Besides the recommendations put forth by the Permanent Forum, in its preliminary conclusions and recommendations from the First Session, including the establishment of a global reparatory justice commission, the Permanent Forum recommends that the following measures be taken:

(a) elaborate a future treaty on crimes against humanity that is universal, complementary and implementable, and the important point of the necessity to expand the definition of crimes against humanity to address matters that could be progressively developed, in particular, to extend the list of prohibited acts to include, for instance, economic land and mineral exploitation and environmental degradation. In this regard, the Permanent Forum is also recommending an amendment to the Rome Statute to enumerate, inter alia, “the slave trade under crimes against humanity” in article 7 of the Rome Statute.

(b) urgent establishment by the United Nations for a new specialized international tribunal that will be specifically designed and equipped with the necessary skills and expertise to handle the large variety of reparations claims for African enslavement that exist. Such a tribunal should be equipped both to adjudicate the legality of a reparations claim and to assess the various categories of damages as well as to quantify or delineate appropriate damages or packages of reparatory measures. The tribunal will be expected to assess the quantum of compensation of package of reparatory measures. The initial work of conceptualizing the establishment of such a tribunal should be undertaken by the UN Permanent Forum of People of African Descent.

(c) the establishment of an international UN task force on reparatory justice, consisting of prominent civil society advocates, legal experts and researchers on reparatory justice to, in collaboration with and support of a global reparatory justice commission of member states, facilitate the formulation of a comprehensive global reparatory justice program and action plan.

Pan Africanism for dignity, justice and peace.

17. The Permanent Forum recommends the establishment of a UN Pan African group of friends of the Permanent Forum, led by African and Caribbean member states, to be in dialog with members of the Permanent Forum about building synergies around such joint courses as reparatory justice, and address systemic and structural racial stratification and discrimination in the international order. In addition, the Permanent Forum recommends that it be given space at the Annual Summits of the African Union and CARICOM’s annual heads of government meetings to present its work and be in conversation with African and Caribbean heads of states about Pan African affairs.
Trans national migration.

18. The Permanent Forum recommends that the International Organization for Migration include data collection and reporting on racial stratification and disparities in national and international regimes of migration, especially as these affect Africans and People of African Descent, including, among other things, inequities in the freedom of movement of people in so-called developed and developing countries, access to visas, global share of the amount of refugees hosted by countries in the Global South and the Global North, enjoyment of refugee rights, vulnerability to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, exploitation and violence, and the deaths of migrants. This reporting should also include recommendations to the UN and its member states on how racial disparities in transnational migration can be effectively addressed.

An evidence-based approach to systemic racism.

19. A pilot project could be developed by the Permanent Forum in collaboration with the UN Population Fund and the government of Brazil to test UN guidelines as has already been recommended by the Permanent Forum in its First Session for a comprehensive human rights-based and data-driven approach to monitoring, recognizing and effectively addressing systemic and structural racism against People of African Descent at the domestic levels. For the international level, the General Assembly and Human Rights Council could take several short and long term initiatives towards monitoring, recognizing and effectively addressing systemic and structural racism among countries and peoples, especially as it affects Africans and People of African Descent. these initiatives should take into consideration how histories and legacies of colonialism and enslavement have shaped the international order, including the global economy and relationships of power at the UN and other institutions of global governance. such initiatives could be:

(a) that the UN Permanent Forum, in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, and in close consultation with other anti-racism mechanisms, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Development, the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, and the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, draft guidelines and a pilot report for data collection on racial inequities in the global economy, including structural legacies of colonialism, enslavement and racial discrimination, especially as they pertain to Africans and People of African Descent.

(b) a General Assembly commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the 1974 Declaration of a New International Economic Order and the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of states. For this, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development could draft a report on the understanding of structural inequities in the global economy of the New International Economic Order and its continuing relevance to addressing them. It could include an updated analysis of the global distribution of trade rules, regulations, foreign debt, prices of raw materials and other export goods, domestic and foreign control over natural resources, labor rights and conditions in transnational value chains, business profits, patterns of production and consumption, ecological footprint, loss and damage. The report and commemoration could pay particular attention to the positions and roles of Africans and People of African Descent in the global economy and form the basis for solution-oriented conversations and actions.

21 ^. The Permanent Forum strongly encourages the inclusion of data on racial disparities, especially as they affect Africans and People of African Descent, and the often multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, in the monitoring and implementation of the sustainable development goals, and that this be included in the programs of the upcoming 2023 SDG Summit and the Summit of the Future.

Health.

22. The Permanent Forum could consult the World Health Organization on the production of a report on the health of People of African Descent and the impact of racism and racial discrimination.
Thank you all. That’s it.

EDITOR’S NOTES:

While the participation of civil society is noted, several issues with this participation should also be noted:

(1) The process for admission to the UN grounds and to the assembly hall were clearly excessively cumbersome and had a chilling effect on civil society’s capacity to participate. Hours-long delays, creating special hardships for Elders and people with disabilities, not only cut against the credibility of assurances of access but also may have been in blatant violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, among other statutes.

(2) Permanent Forum members and United Nations member states were still given priority over civil society activists in terms of availability and time to make statements. Member states, in particular, were afforded at least five minutes to make statements while African and African Descendant civil society representatives saw their microphones unceremoniously cut off after no more than two minutes. Furthermore, member states and officials of the Permanent Forum availed themselves of opportunities to “take the mic” several times over, allowing them to re-state information already known to those in attendance, engage in arguments with civil society activists under the “right to respond” and essentially “run out the clock” on available time to make comments, thus further constraining civil society access to these proceedings.

(3) As a result, several important points of discussion were never actually broached. I will mention three here, though there are certainly many others that can be referenced. As much as the murder of George Floys is mentioned in UN circles, there was no comprehensive discussion of police brutality and abuse except for one Brazilian civil society activist who thankfully was able to invoke the name of Brazilian activist Marielle Franco, who had been terrorized and killed by Brazilian police on March 14, 2018. The plight of the United States’ political prisoners was not even mentioned. The deficit in connection between international activists, including many civil society activists, and the People of African Descent living in the ghettos, favelas and urban centers of the United States, the Caribbean, Central America, South America and Europe, where their cries have almost never been heard in UN and AU circles because they have not effectively “drilled down” to those communities even as they claim to represent grassroots civil society, was never discussed.

(4) A request has been made to the Permanent Forum to seek an advisory legal opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) pertaining to a reparations claim based on our status as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions stemming from the 1452 Dum Diversas papal bull which proclaimed total war on Africa and the subjugation of Africans to “perpetual servitude” as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was commencing. Several presenters at the Permanent Forum’s Second Session who had expressed their support of the request nonetheless failed in their statements to mention this strategy. Finally, a civil society representative managed to be recognized at which point he made mention of this strategy. Still, the request for an advisory legal opinion from the ICJ was later discounted at the end of Point 3 in the Conclusions statement above (despite the fact of the difference between making a claim and requesting a legal advisory opinion), and so far the request for that advisory opinion, which would supposedly require nothing more than the signature of the Permanent Forum Chair, remains unsigned.

# It should be noted that, while online civil society members were indeed present in the Zoom Room (as was I), and were able to monitor the proceedings through Zoom (except for Friday’s session which was strangely only broadcast in Spanish with no availability for interpretation), several factors actually prevented us from fully participating in the discussion, to wit:

(1) There was never any opportunity afforded to online participants to make statements, despite the fact that at least five of those online participants (including myself, Bro. Siphiwe Baleka, grassroots activists from Jamaica and Panama as well as others) were present and had raised our hands continuously from the beginning.

(2) After several hours on Wednesday in which civil society participants were able to at least communicate with each other in the Zoom Chat and exchange contact information, the Chat itself was cut off, perhaps to prevent further collaboration between online civil society participants.

(3) While previous Zoom meetings have afforded online participants the option of copying the Chat Notes to their home computers, this option was denied to online civil society participants.

(4) The final day of the session was strangely broadcast only in Spanish, with no opportunity for interpretation into English or any other language, unlike previous days. To hear the Conclusions and Recommendations in English, one had to watch on UN Web TV, which not only offered no opportunity for online participants to make statements but also broadcast at least one minute behind the Zoom feed, so even if online participants were ever to be called upon to make statements, the delay made a timely response practically impossible.

* While Ms. Curry announced Point 1, she actually did not announce the following points by number. We have reviewed the text to extrapolate Points 2 through 8. We understand that there were eight points because Michael McEachrane began his reading of the Recommendations with Point 9.

^ It appears that Mr. McEachrane skipped from Point 19 to Point 21, in which case either he lost count in his reading or Point 20 was completely omitted in his remarks. Perhaps we will find out which of the above happened when the written Recommendations are published, whenever that is.

Catching Up with Africa 500, May 31 and June 7, 2023

Wednesday, May 31, 2023: The State of the Black Diaspora with Baba Francois Ndengwe

After a couple of weeks away from our home base (a Pan Afrikan Urban Town Hall in Panama, the commemoration of African Liberation Day in West Baltimore and virtual participation in the Second Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent in New York City), we are catching up with Africa 500 for the month of May, moving into June. There was no original programming on Wednesday, May 24, but on Wednesday, May 31 show hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty were joined by the editor of Hommes Afrique and Femmes Afrique, Baba Francois Ndengwe of Cameroon, as they discussed the State of the Black Diaspora. Listen to the Wednesday, May 31 edition of Africa 500(presented in two parts) here:

Wednesday, June 7, 2023: Community Models for Pan Afrikan Uplift

The Wednesday, June 7 edition discusses some specific community models for uplift.  Show hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty once again are joined by Baba Francois Ndengwe to continue their discussion of the State of the Black Diaspora, stressing models for community uplift.

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

The Ancestors’ Call: Baba Oscar Brathwaite, SRDC-Toronto, Canada

On Monday, May 8, 2023, we learned of the passing to the Honored Ancestors of our dear Elder and comrade, Baba Oscar Brathwaite of Toronto, Canada.  A facilitator in the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) since its founding in 2006, Baba Oscar had been fighting a number of health issues that had limited his activities over the last few years, but we were nonetheless shocked to learn of his passing.

Baba Oscar was known as a consummate educator, dedicated to the restoration and promotion of Afrikan-centered educational institutions, principles and practices.  We will share more information on Baba Oscar in the near future.

His family writes on Facebook:

We are very sad to share that our father E. Oscar Brathwaite has passed on. Though we, and so many others, will miss him dearly, we are thankful for his life, love and all of his contributions both here and abroad. We celebrate him through good memories and recognition of his vision and his legacy. He is now with our ancestors and the Creator, and for that we are grateful.

Dr. Barryl Biekman of the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region Facilitators’ Working Group and Tiye International in The Netherlands, writes in tribute:

May his soul rest in Peace & Power.

For those who do not know. Oscar is well known as one of our pioneers of PASEN on the development of African Centered Education methodology; active family member of the AUADS 6th Region developments; A Canadian authentic Pan Africanist; Human Rights Activist. Leader of the Canadian HR clinic and deeply involved in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) mission on the aspect of Reparatory Justice.

My heart cries Oscar but I’m happy too knowing too that you are now in good everlasting company with the Ancestors on whose shoulders you lived.

I’m thankful that I have learned much from you as my Grand Master Teacher, Elder on how to become a real dedicated passionate Pan Africanist.

I remember the lessons from you and Dr Khazriel about the difference between education and dedication. Like Dr. Tumenta and Professor Horne about the difference between PHD & PH-Do.

A big Applause for you Oscar

You won’t be dead until we’ve forgotten you. (And we shall not forget.)

Sister Barryl Biekman

Africa 500, Wednesday, May 10, 2023: Randall Robinson, An Ancestor Speaks

The Wednesday, May 10, 2023 edition of Africa 500 once again features a speech by recent Ancestor Randall Robinson.  The April 26 edition featured a tribute to this Pan-Afrikan giant as show hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty welcomed Special Guests Mama Efia Nwangaza, Baba Francois N’Dengwe and Honorable Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis Dr. Terrance M. Drew.  For that show, click here or visit our Media Page by clicking here.

This show will concentrate on one of Ancestor Robinson’s speeches, dealing with the issue of Reparations and related matters.  Randall Robinson, in his own words.  Rest In Power.

Africa 500 broadcasts every Wednesday at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on Hand Radio (https://handradio.org).  After the broadcast, the show can be listened to on an update of this post or on the Audio-Visual Media Pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).

Listen to the May 10, 2023 show here:

The Fifth State of the Black World Conference in Baltimore, Maryland

The Institute of the Black World (IBW) hosted the Fifth State of the Black World Conference (SOBWCV) at the Baltimore Convention Center from April 19-23, 2023.
The theme for the Conference was “Global Africans Rising: Empowerment, Reparations and Healing”. As the IBW Web site (https://ibw21.org/sobwcv/) states, “Convened by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, the State of the Black World Conference is an international gathering of people of African descent to assess the condition of Black people in the U.S. and globally with working sessions around key issues.”

The following details are from the Web site of the State of the Black World Conference V, https://ibw21.org/sobwcv/.

Dr. Ron Daniels.

SOBWC-V 2023 Goals, from the Web site, were as follows:

  • Reassessing the Impact and Implications of the historic 2022 Mid-Term Election on the State of Black America and the Pan African world.
  • Expanding the Multifaceted U.S. and Global Reparations Movements to empower and heal Black families, communities and nations.
  • Advancing strategies and models to effectively address issues of vital concern to Black America and the Pan African world, e.g., the War on Drugs, mass incarceration, gun violence and fratricide, gentrification, environmental justice, climate change, safe, clean and accessible water.
  • Advancing strategies and models for socially responsible, human-centered, democratic and sustainable entrepreneurial business/economic development in Black communities in the U.S. and the Pan African World.
  • Mobilizing/organizing the Global Black Diaspora to engage Africa to foster the development of interdependent, self-reliant, business/economic, social and cultural enterprises, institutions and initiatives.
  • Promoting a consciousness and commitment to Black self-support, self-reliance and self-determination to consolidate, expand and empower Black organizations, agencies and institutions for the survival and development of Black families, communities and nations.
  • Promoting cross-generational dialogue and engagement to advance strategies and models to empower and heal Black families, communities and nations
    Programmatic Features were highlighted on the first day of the Conference.
  • Pan African Institute: The State of Democracy and Development in Africa, the Caribbean Central and South America
  • National/International Town Hall Meetings: The State of Black America and the Pan African World, The State of the Global Reparations Movement

The Honorable Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada, made a video tribute to the late Grenadian leader Maurice Bishop.

Two-hour Issue Area Plenary and Working Sessions were held on Thursday, April 20 and Friday, April 21, which focused on the following issues, each of which was explored in concurrently-running sessions all day Saturday, April 22:

  • Environmental Justice, Climate Change and Water as A Human Right (which highlighted the poisoned water in Flint, Michigan and Jackson, Mississippi, the struggle of the Afrikan-American population of Sandbranch, Texas and issues of rural environmental racism)
  • Displacing Black People and Black Culture: Gentrification as a State of Emergency in Black America (which cited examples from Texas, California and other urban and rural areas as examples of gentrification and Black land loss)
  • Socially Responsible Black Business/Economic Development
  • Combating Gun Violence and Murders/Fratricide in Black Communities: A Public Health Crisis
  • Reimagining Public Safety and Law Enforcement (this session also dealt with police brutality and misconduct)
  • Making Black Lives Matter
  • Building the U.S. and Global Reparations Movements

Participants were asked to sign up for one of the above Issue Sessions so they could participate in the “deep dive” on Saturday. The Thursday and Friday sessions served as an “introduction” to the specific issue and to allow all attendees to get a feel for all of the issues.

Another important focus group that met on Saturday was a special panel dealing with the struggle of the people of Haiti (or “Ayiti” as some activists and scholars cite as the proper name).

Sis. Kim Poole of the Teaching Artist Institute (TAI) addresses the audience.

A side-event to the Conference was the Hip Hop Caucus, moderated by Sis. Kim Poole and Bro. Haki Ammi of the Teaching Artist Institute (TAI), which explored The Role of Hip Hop in the Black Freedom Struggle as part of the observance of the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop. A special panel during the Hip Hop Caucus featured international Pan-Afrikanist Dr. Barryl Biekman from the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region Facilitators Working Group and Tiye International in The Netherlands, as well as former Ugandan Member of Parliament and former presidential candidate Bro. Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, more famously known as Afrikan musician Bobi Wine.

Reparations activist Kamm Howard and attorney Nkechi Taifa.

Special guest speakers included, but were not limited to, the following:

  • Honorable Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister of the Republic of Grenada (by video from Grenada)
  • Honorable P.J. Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica
  • Dr. Julius Garvey, son of The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, serving as the Honorary Master of Ceremonies and Chairman of the Conference
  • Marc Morial, former mayor of New Orleans and current President of the National Urban League
  • Professor Hilary Beckles, considered the world’s foremost scholar and champion for Reparations
  • David Comissiong, Ambassador to the Caribbean Economic Community (CARICOM)
  • Dr. Leonard Jeffries, venerable Pan-Afrikanist, historian, activist and scholar
  • Dr. Julianne Malveaux, longtime author, teacher and media political commentator
  • Mel Foote, Chairman of the Constituency For Africa (CFA)
  • Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, also known as Bobi Wine, musician, former Member of Parliament and former presidential candidate in Uganda
  • Rev. Lennox Yearwood, co-coordinator of the Hip Hop Caucus
  • Ronald Hampton, veteran law enforcement officer and longtime critic of police misconduct
  • Kareem Aziz, local educator and IBW Board Member
  • Dr. George Fraser, veteran business person, author of Success Runs In Our Race, Mission Unstoppable and other important books
  • Dr. Claire Nelson, founder and president of the Institute of Caribbean Studies
  • Makani Themba, Chief Strategist at Higher Ground Change Strategies based in Jackson, Mississippi
  • LaTosha Brown co-founder of Black Voters Matter
  • Tarana Burke, civil rights activist who started the Me Too Movement
  • Mirelle Fanon Mendes France, daughter of iconic Pan-Afrikanist Dr. Frantz Fanon
  • Don Rojas, Vice President of IBW and Media Director
  • Milton Allimadi, author and columnist
  • Kim Poole, founder of Teaching Artist Institute (TAI)
  • Haki Ammi, president of Teaching Artist Institute (TAI)
  • Maryland State Senator Jill P. Carter
  • Kobi Little, President, Baltimore NAACP
  • Bill Fletcher
  • Attorney Nkechi Taifa
  • Kamm Howard, longtime Reparations activist
  • Emira Woods
  • Dr. James Early

The Young Leaders Panel.

Special Sessions included the following:

  • Global Black Leadership Summit Breakfast
  • Global Black Women’s Leadership Summit Breakfast
  • Global Black Mayors and Elected Officials Roundtable Breakfast
  • Crisis in Haiti: The First Black Republic
  • The Black World Media Network
  • Opening and Closing Ndaba Plenary Sessions, including Cultural/Spiritual Rituals, Welcome, Greetings and Solidarity Statements and Keynote Presentations
  • Legacy Award and Cultural Extravaganza, including Presidential Legacy and Pan African Service Awards to Outstanding Leaders from the Global Black
  • Community and Cultural Presentations
  • African Market Place where a variety of vendors presented cultural and informational items for sale, featuring an exquisite variety of Black arts, crafts, apparel and other products, Exhibits by African and Caribbean Travel and Tourism Bureaus, Informational Booths by Civil Rights, Social and Civic Organizations, and Informational Booths by Conference Sponsors

CARICOM Ambassador David Commissiong.

There are several articles on the Web site of the Institute of the Black World (IBW) about the Conference, including:

SOBWCV concludes with calls for stronger global Black connections by Dr. Julius Garvey and Dr. Ron Daniels
https://ibw21.org/news/press-release/sobwcv-concludes-with-calls-for-stronger-global-black-connections/

Vantage Point: Report Back From State of the Black World Conference V
https://ibw21.org/video-audio/vp-radio-posts/042423-vantage-point-dr-ron-daniels-sobwcv/

Dynamic New Generation Speak on Final Day of the State of the Black World Conference V in Baltimore, By Don Rojas
https://ibw21.org/news/initiative-posts/sobwc-posts/dynamic-new-generation-speak-on-final-day-of-sobwcv/

Post SOBWCV message from Dr. Ron Daniels
https://ibw21.org/news/post-sobwcv-message-from-dr-ron-daniels/

More reports from the Conference are expected to be added to the IBW Web site in the coming days and weeks.

Dr. Barryl Biekman, speaking on the Reparations Panel.

Our Personal Impressions of the State of the Black World Conference V

We would like to congratulate the Institute of the Black World for holding the Fifth State of the Black World Conference (SOBWCV). I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Conference, from learning at the plenaries and breakout sessions to interacting with the vendors, presenters and other attendees. A conference of this scope is exceedingly difficult to pull off successfully, and in my opinion this was, on the whole, a successful one.

Most conferences I have attended, including some conferences of organizations I belong to, constantly must deal with running the risk of devolving into “talk shops” where invited speakers and dignitaries spend more time rehashing the issues we face ad nauseam or bragging repeatedly about their plans and their seminal role in meeting these issues and helping “save the Black Race” than figuring out specifically what we will do about them and how we will make the “saving of the Black Race” a reality in the real world. Many conferences never get past the “whereas” part of the discussion (where the problem is re-stated) to reach the “now therefore” part where the solutions and responses are developed, presented to the public and implemented for all to see. This conference strove to be different, and I appreciate that. The “deep-dive” breakout sessions that were the main feature of the Saturday activities showed IBW’s commitment to “drill down” on these issues to work on finding those solutions, and to enlist the ideas of conference attendees to help bring these solutions out. The two-hour sessions on Thursday and Friday allowed all of the conference attendees to get a “snap-shot” of what all of the breakout sessions were going to concentrate on during the Saturday “deep-dive” sessions.
That being said, there were some areas where I personally felt the Conference did miss opportunities to go even further in the development and implementation of those solutions. I will list them here:

  • There was not sufficient time in the Sunday open session, where the different “deep-dive” breakout groups were to make their reports to the general body, for those groups to present truly comprehensive (though summarized) reports that could have helped produce a Conference Declaration. I believe the breakout groups could have benefited from more time to present their points more fully. I am aware that the written summaries from these groups are going to be made available on the IBW Web site, but not everyone will go to the Web site to read those reports, and the conference attendees would have benefited from seeing and hearing all of the different breakout groups’ ideas for follow-up discussed in greater detail in open public session.

    Pan-Afrikan Author and analyst Milton Allimadi.

  • It was often noted in many of the breakout sessions that media exposure was important, and that we could not depend on the current “mainstream” corporate media to tell the world (or even just the Black World) about injustices such as Sandbranch, Texas, or the poisoning of the air in rural areas of North Carolina due to the apparently unregulated hog farming industry, or even honestly report on the poisoned water in Jackson, Mississippi and Flint, Michigan. It was clear to us that we needed to better mobilize our own Black Media to ensure that at least our community was made aware of the issues we face with regard to environmental racism and lack of access to drinkable water. Thus, a Saturday “deep-dive” breakout session on Building a Black Media Cooperative would have been most helpful, or even a mandate to end the conference that such a Cooperative be established. The brief media panel on Friday was important but there needed to be a focused “deep dive” similar to the other sessions on Saturday. IBW does have its own media outlet in the Black World Media Network, but the fact is that this multi-faceted issue is much larger than any one Black media organization, and a true Black Media Cooperative needs to be built that would include (but not be dominated by) Black World Media, Black Agenda Report, The National Black Unity News (who had a vendor’s table at the conference), Black-run Internet radio stations and every serious activist or organizer with a Web site (such as https://kuumbareport.com), a Facebook page, a Twitter feed, an Instagram account, a mic and a mouth, a YouTube channel or a Tik Tok, or who knows anyone connected to Black Media in any way, shape or form. Such a cooperative could establish standards of journalistic integrity, behavior, rigor and truth in research and reporting (to combat misinformation, baseless conspiracy-theories and rumor-mongering), and develop a means by which important stories can be documented, shared and propagated to all members of the cooperative and attract more members.

    Baltimore City NAACP Director Kobi Little.

  • Another comment that was made in many of these breakout sessions was the need for us to get together with other Pan-Afrikan/Black organizations, including those whose specific missions are different from ours. The Environmental group had several points of commonality with the Gentrification and Land Loss group, for example, since environmental racism is often a tactic used to force us to abandon our communities so corporations can enter them and perform their resource-extraction or land-expropriation missions relatively undisturbed. The Black Farmers in North Carolina (the hog farming capital of the world) and Georgia must grapple with environmental destruction (the poisoning of their ground, water and air by the industrial hog farmers) as well as the taking of their land by unscrupulous lawyers, mendacious politicians, corrupt Administration officials and racist financiers who impose usurious loans on them or deny them financing altogether. They all continue to suffer in part because they are not connected to effective legal counsel, political activists, grassroots organizers, business opportunities or media outlets who can make their struggle more visible to the public. Certainly, other breakout groups at some point made mention of the need to come together with the other groups to formulate a comprehensive, cooperative plan for Black People (though they probably didn’t say it quite that way). Thus, there needed to be a “deep dive” breakout session on Building Coalitions. It’s clear that most of our various organizers and activists are either not incentivized to build coalitions with each other or that they simply lack the knowledge and skill to pull it off. In either case, an attitude adjustment is required across the board, and a conference such as this one was an opportunity to offer just such an attitude adjustment. History is replete with examples of efforts that have failed, some disastrously, such as Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Black Wall Street in 1921, the progressive “Fusion” government in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898, the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s-1970s and more. These efforts did not fail because they “didn’t work” as some critics have insisted. They failed because they were working alone. An economic enclave like Black Wall Street had no chance against a military-style attack led by the police. A political organization like Wilmington’s “Fusion” government could not withstand the wanton, merciless violence of right-wing White vigilante terrorism that had the governor of North Carolina himself afraid to ride a train that ran through the area. And the Black Panthers were unable to weather a coordinated assault that featured infiltration by FBI COINTELPRO agents-provocateur, military-style police assaults, media demonization and simultaneous prosecution of Panther leadership from coast to coast. The fact is, when you are surrounded on all sides, you cannot afford to armor yourself and shoot back in only one direction. If we are to succeed as a people in our struggle, we will have to actually learn from the past (instead of just acting like we have), bring together a variety of Pan-Afrikan activists and organizers from diverse organizations (artists, spiritual leaders, grassroots activists, educators, media, lawyers, political activists, scientists, businesses, international organizers, prison activists, Elders, women, men, youth, revolutionary activists and more) and persistently push them to overcome their philosophical differences about how to unify us so they can learn to first be in the same room without fighting and then start working on ways to combine their efforts into an overarching, comprehensive, cooperative strategy to move all of us forward based on the time-honored principle of Unity Without Uniformity. This will require us to loosen up some of our own ideological rigidity, put away our egos, let go of our sense of organizational entitlement and ownership of The Struggle, resolve our personal beefs and start having frank, honest, sincere and respectful conversations with each other. (The need to find ways to confront what differences we do have was exemplified by an argument between the Pan-Afrikan activist Irritated Genie and the Black Lives Matter panel that was sparked by an ill-advised libation that featured no Black men but began to move to other issues. To me, the issues of fighting homophobia at the same time that we fight against the emasculation and effeminization of Black men and the encroachment of Western cultural norms into Afrika were brought into stark focus, and the inability to discuss these issues without our emotions getting the better of us is something we must deal with if we are to move forward together.) We need to be able to reconcile our differences, whatever they may be, and realize those ways in which we are engaged against the same intractable White Supremacist enemy. We must also overcome this I-Have-The-Answer, Black-People-Must-Unify-Under-My-Leadership attitude that too many of us hold (even if we don’t admit it) and that keeps us from coming together and truly unifying. This is the objective of the Maryland Pan Afrikan Cooperative Coalition (MPACC, https://kuumbareport.com/spokes-of-the-wheel/maryland-pan-african-cooperative-coalition-mpacc/), which seeks to achieve just that mission by intentionally bringing different Pan-Afrikan organizations together. We are working to build a Pan Afrikan Cooperative Coalition in Maryland, and perhaps inspire similar efforts elsewhere and even on a global scale, by proposing an organizational structure that I call “Spokes of the Wheel”, which, as it turns out, gets its inspiration from Ancestor Mary McLeod Bethune’s National Council of Negro Women, which organized itself in a “spoked-wheel” structure back in 1935. My hope is that such a Cooperative Coalition could not only serve the interests of the organizations I belong to (Pan African Federalist Movement, https://pafmuas.org or https://www.pafm-northamerica.org; and Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus, https://srdcinternational.org), but also help to build a means by which the different Pan-Afrikan and pro-Black organizations in Maryland can start to make better progress in their own missions by acting interdependently as opposed to just independently. If we are going to call for unity, then we must do what we can to bring that unity about. If we are going to urge our activists to come together, we must explore and create the atmosphere and the means by which they can do that, often in spite of themselves.

The Democracy in the Black World Panel.

Those are my suggestions for moving forward to make the State of the Black World Conferences, as well as any Pan-Afrikan conference that seeks to help Afrikan People make progress in our common global struggle, more impactful in the future. I wish to reiterate that I found the Fifth State of the Black World Conference to be a rewarding experience. The opportunity to meet with local comrades and allies, reconnect with friends from the Struggle I had not seen in some time, make new friends through our roles in this shared struggle and interact with such luminaries as Dr. Julius Garvey, Attorneys Mama Efia Nwangaza and Mama Nkechi Taifa, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Kamm Howard and Mama Iyafin Amiebelle Olatunji (wife of the late, great Afrikan drummer Babatunde Olatunji), among other committed Pan-Afrikan activists and organizers, was a special treat. My comments and suggestions are in no way intended to detract from my expression of enjoyment of the Conference or my belief that this was an important and worthwhile effort. It is my hope that my personal comments will be taken in the spirit in which they are given, and that future conferences by IBW and other Pan-Afrikan/Black organizations will continue to make strides toward that point at which the Pan-Afrikan struggle for truth, justice and righteousness can take flight and bring victory within our grasp at last.

Africa 500, Wednesday, May 3, 2023: A Tribute to Attorney Alton H. Maddox (1945-2023)

The Wednesday, May 3 edition of Africa 500 pays tribute to the “Attorney At War”, Alton H. Maddox, Jr. (July 21, 1945 – April 23, 2023).

The following comes from the Ancestors’ Call post on Attorney Maddox, available here.

He was involved in several high-profile civil rights cases in the 1980’s. He was most often noted for his defense of Tawana Brawley during her rape allegations against New York police, but he also represented victims of police brutality and right-wing terrorism such as Michael Stewart, Michael Griffith, Cedric Sandiford and Yusuf Hawkins, and Michael Briscoe, who was wrongly accused in the Central Park Jogger case. He also represented activist and future media personality the Rev. Al Sharpton.

We have assembled a few articles that go into more detail on the life and significance of the “Attorney At War” and we’ve linked them below.

Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_H._Maddox_Jr.

Celebrating The Life Of Noted Civil Rights Attorney Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
by AJ Woodson, April 25, 2023
https://blackwestchester.com/celebrating-the-life-of-civil-rights-attorney-alton-h-maddox-jr/

Alton Maddox, Jr., the ‘People’s Lawyer’ and Attorney-at-War, dead at 77
New York Amsterdam News, “The Black View”
by AmNews Staff Reports, April 26, 2023
https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2023/04/26/alton-maddox-jr-the-peoples-lawyer-and-attorney-at-war-dead-at-77/

Africa 500 broadcasts every Wednesday at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on Hand Radio (https://handradio.org).  After the broadcast, the show can be listened to on an updated version of this post as well as the Media Pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).

Listen to the Wednesday, May 3 program here:

THE ANCESTORS’ CALL: Alton H. Maddox, Jr., “Attorney-At-War”

I was in attendance at the fifth State of the Black World Conference in Baltimore, Maryland when we learned of the passing to the Ancestors of the “Attorney At War”, Alton H. Maddox, Jr. (July 21, 1945 – April 23, 2023).

He was involved in several high-profile civil rights cases in the 1980’s. He was most often noted for his defense of Tawana Brawley during her rape allegations against New York police, but he also represented victims of police brutality and right-wing terrorism such as Michael Stewart, Michael Griffith, Cedric Sandiford and Yusuf Hawkins, and Michael Briscoe, who was wrongly accused in the Central Park Jogger case. He also represented activist and future media personality the Rev. Al Sharpton.

We have assembled a few articles that go into more detail on the life and significance of the “Attorney At War” and we’ve linked them below.

Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_H._Maddox_Jr.

Celebrating The Life Of Noted Civil Rights Attorney Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
by AJ Woodson, April 25, 2023
https://blackwestchester.com/celebrating-the-life-of-civil-rights-attorney-alton-h-maddox-jr/

Alton Maddox, Jr., the ‘People’s Lawyer’ and Attorney-at-War, dead at 77
New York Amsterdam News, “The Black View”
by AmNews Staff Reports, April 26, 2023
https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2023/04/26/alton-maddox-jr-the-peoples-lawyer-and-attorney-at-war-dead-at-77/