Dr Umar Johnson Visits Phoenix Arizona

On December 28th, Dr. Umar Johnson, a renowned speaker and advocate for the Black community, made a visit to Phoenix, Arizona. He was invited to speak at the Grassrootz Bookstore, a local independent bookstore known for its commitment to promoting Black literature and culture.

Dr. Umar Johnson is widely recognized for his expertise in the fields of education, psychology, and African-American history. His visit to Phoenix provided an opportunity for community members to engage with his insightful perspectives and thought-provoking ideas.

During his appearance at the Grassrootz Bookstore, Dr. Johnson delivered a captivating speech addressing various issues that impact the Black community. He discussed topics such as education reform, economic empowerment, social justice, and the importance of cultural preservation.

The event drew a diverse audience, including students, educators, activists, and community leaders. Attendees had the chance to ask questions, engage in meaningful discussions, and gain valuable insights from Dr. Johnson’s extensive knowledge and experience.

The Grassrootz Bookstore, known for its commitment to promoting social awareness and cultural understanding, provided the perfect setting for this thought-provoking event. The bookstore’s cozy and welcoming atmosphere created an inclusive space where attendees felt comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas.

Dr. Umar Johnson’s visit to Phoenix and his appearance at the Grassrootz Bookstore served as a catalyst for meaningful conversations, inspiration, and empowerment within the local community. The event highlighted the importance of creating spaces where diverse voices can be heard and where the issues affecting the Black community can be addressed and discussed openly.

Overall, Dr. Umar Johnson’s visit to Phoenix on December 28th left a lasting impact on attendees, inspiring them to continue advocating for positive change and working towards a more equitable and inclusive society.

California’s Reparations Task Force Unleashes Final Report

A state task force in California has proposed more than 100 recommendations, including cash payments that could surpass $1 million in certain cases, as part of a reparations initiative. It’s aimed at addressing historical injustices faced by Black residents who are descendants of enslaved people and have battled systemic discrimination for generations.

After conducting over two years of research and holding public hearings, the task force presented its findings and recommendations to lawmakers last week.

The proposed measures extend beyond monetary compensation to include suggestions like tuition-free college education for eligible individuals and funding for wellness centers in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

Assembly Member Reginald Jones-Sawyer, a member of the reparations task force, said he intends to use its findings to draft a reparations bill to fellow lawmakers. He is expected to propose a bill in 2024.

“Not being able to own your own businesses, not being able to have access to capital, not being able to be hired and move up and matriculate — all of those things kept us from being able to rise naturally,” Jones-Sawyer said.

According to economists from the task force, descendants in California have suffered a loss of over $500 billion in wealth due to factors like over-incarceration, shortened lifespans, and the devaluation of Black-owned businesses.

Although cash payouts may not reach this figure, the specifics of the reparations program will be determined by lawmakers.

Jones-Sawyer believes that California can serve as a model for national reparations efforts.

“We may not totally get there, but we’re going to be so much better than if we have never done anything,” said Jones-Sawyer.

Gloria Pierrot-Dyer, whose ancestors were forced to work on plantations in Georgia and Louisiana, is among those who support the initiative.

An earlier generation of her family fled after a relative was lynched, and eventually settled in California’s historically Black community of Allensworth in the 1950s. She witnessed firsthand during her childhood her father’s struggle to secure a loan for a well on their farm — a loan that could have helped them succeed, she said.

“We could have been so much farther. There were so many things we could have done had we had water,” Pierrot-Dyer said.

A recent Pew Research Center survey reveals that while over half of Americans acknowledge the enduring impact of slavery on Black Americans today, views on reparations are sharply divided. The survey found only 18% of White Americans support reparations for the descendants of enslaved people, compared to 77% support among Black Americans.

Bob Woodson is among the 17% of Black Americans who do not favor reparations. Woodson said he believes reparations distract from the focus on individual resilience and the efforts to overcome past injustices.

“It’s part of our past. It was brutal. Oppression is part of the story and it should be told. But we should never define ourselves by what disabled us,” said Woodson.

The five components of reparations

Restitution

This should restore victims to their original situation before the violation occurred: restoration of liberty, reinstatement of employment, return of property.

Compensation

This should be provided for any economically assessable damage, loss of earnings, loss of property, loss of economic opportunities, moral damages.

Rehabilitation

This should include medical and psychological care, legal and social services.

Satisfaction

The injured community should feel satisfied with the actions taken. Can include public apologies, sanctions and memorials or commemorations

Guarantees of non-repetition

This should include the cessation of continuing violations, and the promise that it won’t happen again.

Researchers Say the Wreckage of Last Known Slave Ship to the U.S. is Mostly Intact

The slave ship Cotilda was the last known U.S. slave ship to bring captives from Africa to the United States, arriving at Mobile Bay, on July 9, 1860, with 110 African men, women, and children.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Researchers studying the wreckage of the last U.S. slave ship, buried in mud on the Alabama coast since it was scuttled in 1860, have made the surprising discovery that most of the wooden schooner remains intact, including the pen that was used to imprison African captives during the brutal journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

While the upper portion of the two-masted Clotilda is gone, the section below deck where the captured Africans and stockpiles were held is still largely in one piece after being buried for decades in a section of river that hasn’t been dredged, said maritime archaeologist James Delgado of the Florida-based SEARCH Inc.

At least two-thirds of the ship remains, and the existence of the unlit and unventilated slave pen, built during the voyage by the addition of a bulkhead where people were held as cargo below the main deck for weeks, raises questions about whether food and water containers, chains and even human DNA could remain in the hull, said Delgado.

The discovery enhances the research value of the Clotilda’s remains and sets them apart from all other wrecks, Delgado said. The finding was confirmed in a report that was provided to The Associated Press and led to the site becoming part of the National Register of Historic Places in November.

“It’s the most intact (slave ship) wreck ever discovered,” he said. “It’s because it’s sitting in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta with fresh water and in mud that protected it that it’s still there.”

For Joycelyn Davis, a sixth-generation granddaughter of African captive Charlie Lewis and vice president of the Clotilda Descendants Association, the story of what happened more than 160 years ago is best told through the people who were involved, not a sunken ship. But she said she’s excited to learn more about what has been discovered, adding: “I think it’s going to be a surprise for us all.”

The Clotilda was the last ship known to transport African captives to the American South for enslavement. Nearly 90 feet (27 meters) in length, it departed Mobile, Alabama, for an illegal trip to purchase people decades after Congress outlawed such trade in 1808.

The ship had been sent across the ocean on a voyage financed by a wealthy businessman whose descendants remain prominent in Mobile. The Clotilda’s captain transferred its human cargo off the ship once it arrived in Alabama and set fire to the vessel to hide evidence of the journey. But most of the ship didn’t catch fire and remained in the river.

The state has set aside $1 million for preservation and research, and additional work planned at the site in early 2022 could show what’s inside the hull, Delgado said. But far more work is needed to determine whether the ship could ever be pulled out of the mud and put on display, as some have suggested.

“Generally, raising is a very expensive proposition. My sense is that while it has survived, it is more fragile than people think,” said Delgado. “A recovery could be a very delicate operation and also a very expensive and lengthy process.”

Freed after the South lost the Civil War, some of the enslaved Africans who were transported to America on the Clotilda settled in a community they started called Africatown USA a few miles north of downtown Mobile. 

A documentary about the now-impoverished community by Alabama-born filmmaker Margaret Brown titled “Descendant” will premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, 2021 and descendants of the Clotilda captives are planning an annual gathering in February. Work is underway on a new museum that’s meant to be a catalyst for tourism and new development in the area.

The Hit Movie “Emancipation” starring Oscar Award Winning Actor #WillSmith on Apple TV, and BLMTV

A movie about the true story of the man in the iconic portrait of “WhippedPeter”, a runaway slave who manages to find his way through the swamps of Louisiana, on a tortuous journey to escape plantation owners that nearly killed him.

EmancipationMovie #BlackMovieSunday

Two photographers/abolitionists arrange Peter’s posture as he sits in a chair. They ask him to turn his scourged back toward the lens, to move his face to the side.

Peter asks, “Why are you doing this?” The photographer reverently responds: “So the world might know what slavery truly looks like.” In a film about the universally historic impact of the image known as “Whipped Peter,” the conversation is historic. And still over 150 years later, we’re still suffering from the horrors of slavery in this country, no one can deny.

#BLMTV

Brittney Griner HOME after being released by Russia in prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout

BLMTV WELCOMES BRITTNEY GRINER HOME!

Brittney Griner arrived in the U.S. early Friday, landing at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas.

The WNBA star, who was arrested on February 17th, 2022, and held in Russian prisons on drug charges (she was found to have less than 1 gram of cannabis oil in her luggage) was released Thursday in a one-for-one-prisoner swap for notorious international arms dealer Viktor Bout, bringing an end to an ordeal that sparked intense high-level negotiations between the two governments, Washington DC, and Moscow, Russia. to bring her home.

Griner, a 32-year-old star center for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, was detained at a Russian airport in February and later pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the discovery of cannabis-derived oil cartridges in her luggage. Griner said she didn’t mean to bring the cartridges with her when she traveled to the country to play in a Russian basketball league during the WNBA offseason.

CBS News learned last Thursday that the Griner-for-Bout swap was in the offing but agreed to a White House request to hold the reporting because officials expressed grave concern about the fragility of the then-emerging deal.

Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, tweeted, “So happy to have Brittney back on U.S. soil. Welcome home BG!”

Did you know South Phoenix had a Farmers Market? You Do Now!

BRITTNEY GRINER Facing Hell In Prison… HOMOPHOBIA, RACISM & 16-HOUR WORK DAYS GET HER OUT!

BRITTNEY GRINER

Facing Hell In Prison …
HOMOPHOBIA, RACISM & 16-HOUR WORK DAYS

Brittney Griner will face horrific conditions during her time in a Russian prison … with environments that will include homophobia, racism and 16-hour work days.

According to The Nation’s Dave Zirin, prisoners in Mordovia — where Griner was taken to earlier this month — are barely treated like humans.

Bigotry is commonplace, medical care is nearly nonexistent … and, Zirin says, inmates are expected to sew the uniforms for police and guards.

In fact, it’s unclear if Griner will even get a bed that will fit her 6-foot-8 frame.

Musician Nadya Tolokonnikova, a founder of the feminist group Pussy Riot, spent two years in Mordovia following a 2012 arrest, and per Zirin, described the place as hell, where “beatings and torture” are common.

Griner’s camp, however, has insisted the WNBA star is trying to remain brave in the face of it all … saying in a statement following her move to Mordovia earlier this month that “Brittney is doing as well as could be expected.”

“Despite the fact she is alone and now nearing her ninth month in detention separated from her loved ones,” her reps said, “she is trying to stay strong.”

Griner has been detained in Russia since February after she was accused of bringing hashish oil in her luggage to a Moscow airport. In August, she was sentenced to nine years in prison. An appeal of that sentence was denied in October.

U.S. officials, meanwhile, have said they’re actively working to get her out, currently in the process of negotiating a prisoner swap with Russia.

The Arizona Recovery Care LLC, hosts the Give Thanks Event, Honoring Our Men and Women in their Recovery Process

A beautiful evening in deed! Black Women of Faith along with many of our Black Community Partners, presented The AZ Recovery Care Give Thanks Dinner, at United Nations Church with Special Guests of A Better Way Transitional Home Foundation.

We served mighty men who are in the process of recovering from drug and alcohol addictions. Many of these men have lost all but hope!

Our special guest speakers included, Minister Tye Rush, Apostle Timothy Craig, and Dr Larry Witherspoon, whom gave the men a charge to be encouraged in their pursuit of stability.

After much sharing of information, it has come to our understanding that the organizations who focus on caring for the recovering persons, need support in their endeavors. The chance for one being successful in sobriety is increased when their spirituality is engaged in the process. Recovery is not only a personal effort, but a community effort, and the church and leaders, must take its rightful place in our society to assist.

Awards of recognition were presented to our servants for their engagement and leadership within our community.

Special recognition was given to a several of our front line Black owned recovery home owners; A Second Chance Group Homes, Residential Rehab Services, Community Builders, A Path to Resilience, and A Better Way.

A great Thank you to the many ladies of @BlackWomenofFaith, and our men of faith who spent their thanksgiving eve to serve for this purposeful event. I’d also like to give special mention to the United Nations Church, and it’s Pastor for hosting our event in excellence!

🙏🏽AZ RECOVERY CARE HOMES and BLACK COMMUNITY PARTNERS, serve as a network of resources for our Black owned nonprofits and transitional homes families. We are making great strides to network our efforts of care for our community. Our businesses have long standing needs to build and collaborate to find funding and resources available to them. We pray we fill that need. Over the course of the next couple months, we will be sharing information on our growth and success in this process, and endeavor.

AZ Recovery Care Homes Black Women of Faith Black Community Partners BLM TV United Nations Church Glendale Mr. Black Arizona OCCUPi Media & Entertainment Ctyc-tv Network – Connect to Your City, LLC Black Woman in AZ Rights and Wishes of Will and Trust Annual Walkathon Miasia Pasha

Marco Rubio’s Worst Nightmare is Val Demings

The worst political night of Marco Rubio’s life happened on this day.

Kanye West is Moving Into His Own World…Dave Chappelle Spells Why…

Two Yeezy sources say West’s plan for his own small “universe” has been in the works for years, describing it as a self-sustained enterprise that would have its own branded products and services.

In the midst of all the chaos from West’s past month, his team filed a slew of trademark applications that would allow West to create his own mini-community — or as West intends to call it, the “Yecosystem.”

West’s plan for his own small “universe” has been in the works for years, two Yeezy sources confirm to Rolling Stone. The sources describe it as a self-sustained enterprise that would have its own branded homes, retail stores that sell Yecosystem-branded food items and beverages. The plan is serious, with arrangements to launch the first campus as early as next month, one source says. Eventually, West hopes to establish these mini-communities across the country, the source says. 

West’s vision is on par with Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, another source says, adding that West is adamant on creating something equally as world-changing. “He’s trying to do shit that people couldn’t even conceive of and he’s trying to make it happen,” they explain. “He comes from a good place. It’s definitely his goal that everything that people touch that’s his is a good thing and has a good impact on the world.”

KANYE WEST MIGHT have plans as ambitious as running for president. 

In the midst of all the chaos from West’s past month, his team filed a slew of trademark applications that would allow West to create his own mini-community — or as West intends to call it, the “Yecosystem.”

West’s plan for his own small “universe” has been in the works for years, two Yeezy sources confirm to Rolling Stone. The sources describe it as a self-sustained enterprise that would have its own branded homes, retail stores that sell Yecosystem-branded food items and beverages. The plan is serious, with arrangements to launch the first campus as early as next month, one source says. Eventually, West hopes to establish these mini-communities across the country, the source says. 

West’s vision is on par with Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, another source says, adding that West is adamant on creating something equally as world-changing. “He’s trying to do shit that people couldn’t even conceive of and he’s trying to make it happen,” they explain. “He comes from a good place. It’s definitely his goal that everything that people touch that’s his is a good thing and has a good impact on the world.”

West teased the idea of his own self-sustained enterprise in mid-September when he appeared on CNBC to explain why he severed his relationship with Gapand to hint that he might terminate his Adidas deal, too. (Following West’s antisemitic remarks, Adidas said it was putting its partnership with West “under review.” On Friday, Balenciaga announced it had severed its relationship with West, despite the rapper’s close relationship with the French fashion house’s creative director Demna.)

During the interview, West spoke of building his “own castle,” saying he was tired of having to answer to retailers’ boards, being frozen out of business discussions, his designs allegedly ripped off and having his team members poached. (West himself has been accused of “borrowing” designs from emerging designers without their knowledge.)

Instead, West said he wanted to build his own company and purchase his own factories, boasting that his new private school, Donda Academy, would “focus on bringing the American economy back, starting with our children.” “We are focusing on engineering for our species — what’s the thing we need the most? Food. [We are] engineering food,” he told CNBC, adding that Donda Academy students would also be learning automotive, software and shelter engineering. 

Days after his CNBC appearance, West’s company Mascotte Holdings filed numerous trademark applications that create the framework of a mini-community, trademark attorney Josh Gerben tells Rolling Stone. 

“The way these series of trademark applications were filed would very much be how you would file trademark applications to protect this type of idea of building this type of community out,” Gerben explains. 

The trademark applications cover branding and typical products, such as clothing items and retail goods. But in a first for West, the CEO of Mascotte, these new filings include a range of beverages; pre-made alcoholic drinks and liquors; raw fruits and vegetables; snacks, candy, and other processed foods. 

The filings indicate that West plans to create a variety of services under the Yecosystem umbrella, such as consulting services for nutrition, beauty, interior design and a public relations firm. Yecosystem has filings that would establish a production arm for movie, television, and radio programs, as well as an online media site that features “information on a recording artist in the fields of beauty, fashion, modeling, acting, music, [and] the arts.” The Yecosystem also hopes to create its own “residential buildings and houses.”

There’s also a philanthropic arm associated with the filings, indicating charitable services that include biological cloning, reproductive healthcare, children’s education and supporting members of the United States military. 

West’s vision is borne out of a sincere desire to make the world a better place, one Yeezy source explains, such as creating new technology like his Stem Player and offering a new approach to education with Donda Academy. “There’s a saying that he would say, which is like, ‘Yeezy makes life easy,’ they say. “I think his ideal vision is, ‘Let me use where I’ve come from and what I’ve achieved to spread good in the world.’” 

The Artist – Ye

The Artist – Ye

Does the United States Owe Reparations to the Descendants of Enslaved People? OF COURSE!

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan sought to “right a grave wrong” by signing legislation that apologized for the government’s forced relocation of 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II and established a $1.25 billion trust fund to pay reparations to those who were forced into internment camps and to their families.

However, the United States has never apologized for the nation’s treatment of enslaved people and their descendants. What do you think? Do you think that the descendants of enslaved people are owed anything for the wrongs of slavery? 

In the article “What Reparations for Slavery Might Look Like in 2019,” Patricia Cohen explores different arguments and possibilities:

When James Forman, a civil rights pioneer who later served briefly as the Black Panther Party’s foreign minister, demanded $500 million in reparations in his 1969 Black Manifesto, he grounded his argument in an indisputable fact: Unpaid slave labor helped build the American economy, creating vast wealth that African-Americans were barred from sharing.

The manifesto called for white Christian churches and Jewish synagogues to pay for projects like a black university and a Southern land bank. “We have helped to build the most industrial country in the world,” it declared, at the same time that “racist white America has exploited our resources, our minds, our bodies, our labor.”

Other civil rights leaders, such as Bayard Rustin, were not in agreement. Mr. Rustin said, “If my great-grandfather picked cotton for 50 years, then he may deserve some money, but he’s dead and gone and nobody owes me anything.”

Many people argue that while slavery happened in the past, its legacy still continues today:

The question of reparations, however, extends far beyond the roughly four million people who were enslaved when the Civil War started, as Ta-Nehisi Coates explained in an influential essay published in The Atlantic in 2014. Legalized discrimination and state-sanctioned brutality, murder, dispossession and disenfranchisement continued long after the war ended. That history profoundly handicapped black Americans’ ability to create and accumulate wealth as well as to gain access to jobs, housing, education and health care.

For every dollar a typical white household holds, a black one has 10 cents. It is this cumulative effect that justifies the payment of reparations to descendants of slaves long dead, supporters say.

The article raises the question: How much money would recipients of reparations get? Economists, including William A. Darity Jr., an economist at Duke University and a leading scholar on reparations, have looked to other models to calculate possible answers:

Compensation programs can take many forms. In the United States, after a congressional study, people of Japanese descent who were forced into internment camps during World War II received $20,000 in 1988 and a formal apology.

Since 1952, Germany has paid more than $70 billion in reparations through various programs, primarily to Jewish victims of the Nazi regime, and continues to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Payments vary from a lump sum distributed to individuals to a monthly pension based on years working in a slave labor camp. Money is also given to organizations to cover home care for older survivors or for grants. A small portion goes for research, education and documentation.

A reparations program in the United States could likewise adopt a single method or several at once. Families could get a one-time check, receive vouchers for medical insurance or college, or have access to a trust fund to finance a business or a home. Mr. Darity argues that “for both substantive and symbolic reasons, some important component must be direct payment to eligible recipients.”

Other scholars have emphasized different features. Roy L. Brooks, a law professor at the University of San Diego and the author of “Atonement and Forgiveness: A New Model for Black Reparations,” has reservations about what he calls the “settlement model,” a legalistic approach that looks backward to compensate victims for demonstrable financial losses. He prefers what he calls the “atonement model,” emphasizing longer-term investments in education, housing and businesses that build up wealth.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

• Do you think that the United States owes the descendants of enslaved people an apology for slavery? If yes, what do you think an effective apology would look or sound like? Do you think that things like monuments, statues or memorials could be forms of apology? 
• The article cites investments in education, housing and business as other models for reparations. What do you think about these approaches?
• Students at Georgetown University have voted to increase their tuition by $27.20 each semester to “benefit descendants of the 272 enslaved Africans that the Jesuits who ran the school sold nearly two centuries ago to secure its financial future.” What do you think about this action on behalf of Georgetown students? Do you think the fee effectively addresses the university’s ties to slavery? If you were a student at Georgetown, would you have supported this decision? Do you think that other schools, colleges or institutions should follow Georgetown University’s example and investigate their ties to slavery?
• Do you think descendants of enslaved people are owed reparations, in a similar way that the United States gave reparations to Japanese-Americans? Or the ways that Germany has given money and services for Holocaust survivors? Do you think there is a thoughtful and fair way to do this, or has too much time passed since slavery was abolished to make reparations practically feasible or appropriate?

Dr. Edward Robinson Explains Difference Between Black and White DNA

REFERENCES

Linkage disequilibrium (LD) is a population-based parameter that describes the degree to which an allele of one genetic variant is inherited or correlated with an allele of a nearby genetic variant within a given population (Bush and Moore, 2012).Feb 11, 2020

Click to access Tishkoff_Global_Science_1996_2109918.pdf

Cited:

Tishkoff SA, Dietzsch E, Speed W, Pakstis AJ, Kidd JR, Cheung K, Bonné-Tamir B, Santachiara-Benerecetti AS, Moral P, Krings M. Global patterns of linkage disequilibrium at the CD4 locus and modern human origins. Science. 1996 Mar 8;271(5254):1380-7. doi: 10.1126/science.271.5254.1380. PMID

BLMTV Sheds Light on Ye’s Truth

Not only is Kanye West the richest Black Man in America, but he is also the richest musician in the world.

Kanye Explains his rant…

His portrayed declaration of War against the “Jews”, is just the beginning of a Full Pledge Act of Purposeful Exposure of an Industry built on our backs and from our pain, to expose their true agenda against the Black American People of True Jewish descent.

They should arrest him if they feel that bad, but they don’t…they’d rather exercise their authority and expose their power to socially, and materially execute him.

Defcon 3 means “increase in force readiness above normal readiness” and would be used in situations that may not pose immediate danger but warrant significant alert. Under this warning, the military must be prepared to launch operations within 15 minutes of warning.

6 days ago — “I’m sorry for the families of the people that had nothing to do with the trauma that I have been through,” the rapper said.

What Kanye has said…

1. “Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.”

2. “Jesus is Jew”

3. “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” he wrote.

5. “The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also,”

6. “You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”

7. Planned Parenthood as being created “to control the Jew population.” When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are.”

8. “I prefer my kids knew Hanukkah than Kwanzaa. At least it will come with some financial engineering,” he said, in a comment that appeared to allude to ideas that Jews are good with money.

9. President Barack Obama was frustrated in his efforts to legislate in part because Blacks are not as connected as Jews.

10. “Think about us judging each other on how white we could talk would be like, you know, a Jewish person judging another Jewish person on how good they danced or something,”

Indiana’s attorney general, Todd Rokita, tweeted that “Kanye’s message in this instance is fair and accurate, & regardless, he is entitled to his opinion,” adding, “The media will steamroll anyone if they do not kowtow to their way of thinking. According to them, you’re not thinking correctly if you don’t completely agree with them.”

The Hand Clapping Game

One of the many things that have been transferred through slavery is the “Hand Clapping Game”.

Traditionally played amongst school aged girls, this high-five action game gave rise to many early recorded popular songs. Our history is everywhere!

Traditional Setswana Wedding Dance

Young men, of the village Tlokweng, share with visitors their traditional wedding Setswana Dance.

A team of young men entertain the crowd with an exciting piece of traditional setswana dance during a wedding inTlokweng..Enjoy the scincillating performance!

#Till Movie Advance Screening Review

@TillMovie #WorldPremiere

🎥 Hosted by

Black Women of Faith

BLM TV Network
HarkinsTheatres

Emmett Till Legacy Foundation

Dan Harkins – Harkins Owner

Wednesday October 19th, 2022 6PM

Profoundly sad movie 😢 But what must be received, is that this was the beginning of the #CivilRights movement for our country. Not even 90 days later did Rosa Parks refuse to give up her seat! 🙅🏽‍♀️

Like @mamietillmobleymemorial knows, our children’s blood need not be in vain. This movie teaches valuable lessons of tragedy, and strategy. ✍🏽 #LettheWorldSee #TillMovie

Special Thank you to the #EmmettTill Family for their blessings, and participation.

http://www.TheBlackWomenofFaith.com

@mudbootmarketing Rhyen Thompson Black Women of Faith BLM TV Harkins Theatres Scottsdale Fashion Week

The BLM TV “Till” Movie Premier in Scottsdale AZ

Press Release

10/16/2022

BLM TV NETWORK to Host the Movie Premier of “Till”, in Scottsdale, AZ, Wednesday, October 19th, 2022 at 6:00PM.

BLM TV is set to host one of the most controversial movies released this year. On Wednesday, October 19th at 6:00 PM, many of the valleys leading intellectuals, will review the movie “Till” which was produced by Whoopi Goldberg.

It is based on the true story of Mamie Till, an educator and activist, who pursued justice after the lynching of her 14-year-old son Emmett Till, in 1955.

Immediately following the movie we will interview the leaders to get their immediate reactions of the film.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/432444642567

“He was my boy” Mamie Till

Hair Straightening Products May Be Leading Cause in Uterine Cancer of Black Women

Black Women of Faith and BLM TV Network To Sue Multiple Company’s In a Class-Action Lawsuit for Selling Products Hair Straightening Chemicals that Cause are Linked with Uterine Cancer

Katt Mckinney

(Nancy Lipid)

Oct 17

Hair-straightening products may significantly increase the risk of developing uterine cancer among those who use them frequently, a large study published on Monday suggests.

“We estimated that 1.64% of women who never used hair straighteners would go on to develop uterine cancer by the age of 70, but for frequent users, that risk goes up to 4.05%,” study leader Alexandra White of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Safety (NIEHS) said in a statement.

“However, it is important to put this information into context. Uterine cancer is a relatively rare type of cancer,” she added.

Still, uterine cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in the United States, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with rates rising, particularly among Black women.

Researchers tracked 33,947 racially diverse women, ages 35 to 74, for an average of nearly 11 years. During that time, 378 women developed uterine cancer.

• Call To Action –
• Have you worn a straightening perm? If yes, please continue.
• Have you experienced any pain in your stomach area?
• Have you had a diagnosis or have ever had uterine cancer?
• Contact Medical Provider right away for records.
• Call BWF LEGAL SERVICES at (702) 683-2521.
• Leave a message with your name, age, and diagnosis.
• List of Pending Lawsuits
• Soft Sheen-Carson, Hawaiian Silky, Beautiful Textures, Gentle Treatment, Affirm, QRS, Crème of Nature, TCB, Designer Essentials, Silk Elements, Just For Me, Africas Best, and more.

The BLM TV “Till” Movie Premier in Scottsdale AZ

Press Release

10/16/2023

BLM TV NETWORK to Host the Movie Premier of “Till”, in Scottsdale, AZ, Wednesday, October 19th, 2023 at 6:00PM.

BLM TV is set to host one of the most controversial movies released this year. On Wednesday, October 19 at 6:00 PM, many of the valleys leading intellectuals, will review the movie “Till” which was produced by Whoopi Goldberg.

It is based on the true story of Mamie Till, an educator and activist, who pursued justice after the lynching of her 14-year-old son Emmett Till, in 1955.

Immediately following the movie we will interview the leaders to get their immediate reactions of the film.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/432444642567

“He was my boy” Mamie Till

Till Movie Premier at the Fashion Square, in Scottsdale, Arizona on October 19th, 6:00PM.

Till Movie Premier at the Fashion Square, in Scottsdale, Arizona on October 19th, 6:00PM.

Irish Statement in Support of #BlackLivesMatter

We the undersigned Irish people stand for the human rights of Black people in Baltimore and across the U.S. We stand with the families and friends …

Irish Statement in Support of #blacklivesmatter

Ames Family Response to Apologies

Ames Family Rejects Apologies of City of Phoenix Mayor, and Police Chief.

Monday, June 17th, 2019

FAMILY BRUTALIZED AND VIOLATED BY PHOENIX POLICE TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY AT 11:00AM OUTSIDE OF THE MAIN ENTRANCE TO PHOENIX CITY HALL IN RESPONSE TO MAYOR AND POLICE CHIEF’S “MEANINGLESS SHAM APOLOGY AND CONTINUED LACK OF SUBSTANTIVE ACTION” TO FIRE AND DISCIPLINE ALL OFFICERS INVOLVED IN ATTACK THAT OUTRAGED MILLIONS.

“YOU WILL NOT INSULT US,” SAYS KATT MCKINNEY OF BLACK WOMEN OF FAITH.

NEW ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE RELATED TO THE VIOLENT ENCOUNTER WILL BE REVEALED, AS THE MOTHER INVOLVED RECOUNTS HER BODY SEARCH BY MALE OFFICER AND HIS FAILURE TO CALL FOR OR WAIT FOR A FEMALE OFFICER.

THE FAMILY, THEIR LAWYERS, AND SPOKESMEN WILL ALSO DETAIL THE LIES AND SLANDEROUS DEMONIZATIONS THAT POLICE ATTEMPTED TO PASS OFF AS FACTS TO THE MEDIA IN THE NOW WIDELY CRITICIZED POLICE REPORT. 

MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY WILL ALSO OUTLINE PLANS FOR A PROTEST OF THE MAYOR AND POLICE CHIEF’S PLANNED TUESDAY MEETING AND WEDNESDAY’S COUNCIL MEETING. FURY BUILDS. 

MASS MARCH BEING PLANNED FOR THURSDAY TO DEMAND OFFICERS INVOLVED IN AMES-HARPER FAMILY ASSAULT BE FIRED IMMEDIATELY…

Phoenix, AZ – As the City of Phoenix continues to reel from national outrage over two damning videos that captured police officers assaulting and abusing an innocent Black Family over an alleged theft of a dollar-store doll, the community is mobilizing for mass action intended to pressure elected officials to take action, including the firing of the officers involved. Outrage grows.

At 11:00AM TODAY, Dravon Ames and his fiancé Iesha Harper will join the Rev. Jarrett Maupin, Katt Mckinney of Black Women of Faith, their lawyers, and community members outside of the main entrance of Phoenix’ City Hall to respond to what the family and the public are describing as, “The meaningless sham apologies and continued lack of substantive action” of the Mayor and Police Chief with respect to their failures to properly discipline, terminate, and reform a citizen abuse-prone police force. 

The group will debunk and denounce the police report of this incident. Glaring omissions and altered facts that contradict video tape will be outlined and condemned. Ames and Harper will also speak about failed attempts by police to destroy and assassinate their character. 

The family and their representatives will also share, for the first time, Iesha’s gut-wrenching account of her body search by a male police officer who refused to call or wait for a female officer to conduct it. Ms. Harper was not guilty of committing any crime and the officer has not been fired. 

Members of the community will also outline protest plans for THURSDAY of THIS WEEK, intended to increase pressure on city leaders to fire all of the officers involved in this incident and adopt the 12 POINT PLAN residents submitted to police. The department has FAILED to implement the community recommendations for policy and procedural reforms for more than half a decade. Community members say the police department is hostile to civil rights and guilty of collusion to violate the Constitutional rights of people of color.

The press conference will also detail plans for protests at the planned TUESDAY meeting organized by the Mayor to try and mislead and manipulate the community with, “More lies and false promises that mean absolutely nothing.”

“There are a lot of new facts, new abuse allegations, and new attacks on this family to unpack,” says Rev. Maupin, “The Family continues to be victimized by Phoenix Police but that will not deter them from their quest for justice and reform. The officers involved must be fired and policies and procedures must be strengthened. There will be a change. We must demand it.”

Media Contact: 480.363.1090

Press Conference, 11AM, TODAY (06/17)

Outside the main entrance of

Phoenix City Hall 

200 W. Washington Street

Phoenix, AZ 85003

Phoenix Police Commits Act of Domestic Terroism

For Immediate Release…

Tuesday, June 10th, 2019

Media Alert:

The Reverend Jarrett Maupin and Katt Mckinney of Black Women of Faith, are releasing a video today of a Black family that has come forward with accusations that Phoenix Police Officers engaged in unlawful acts of brutality and excessive force following a harrowing encounter, just days ago, that ended with no arrests or charges. Luckily, there is footage.

The FIRST, of TWO videos, is being released as of today, see below…

First Video Link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RHRZHAsqiAM

The FIRST video (recorded on May 29th, 2019) shows an officer using abusive and foul language while employing extreme violent force to, unlawfully, detain and restrain the father (Dravon Ames, 22 years old, 5-5, 140lbs).

Another Officer is also seen pointing a loaded and live service weapon at pregnant (5 months fiancé) Aisha Harper, 24, 5-2, 130lbs, and their two small daughters (Island, age 4, and London, age 2.)

On the recording, officers can be seen grabbing and injuring the mother and the youngest child (the little girl suffered an injury to her arm, shoulder, and hand).

Again, no criminal charges were filed and NO ONE was ever arrested and booked, only handcuffed and detained, removed from the scene, nor transported to a jail.

The victims and several eye witnesses reported officers saying such things as:

“I will shoot you in your face in front of your kids.”

“I will shoot you in your fucking face.”

Among other vile and memorable lines…

One of the cops in the video has been identified simply as, “Officer Welch”. Police never signaled nor made any obvious effort to pull the family over. Police waited until the family parked (on a routine trip to the babysitter) to pounce on the unsuspecting and law abiding family. And Police were NOT wearing body cameras!

According to officers, the 4 year old stole a DOLL from a nearby FAMILY DOLLAR.

Officers did recover the DOLL. Neither the store nor the state are pressing any charges.

The parents were never charged with or suspected of being co-conspirators. Despite this, both were handcuffed and harassed for an hour after the assault.

The father was ticketed for having an expired license, though the courts informed his attorney that no ticket was ever processed or turned in by police.

The Reverend Jarrett Maupin says he will release a SECOND and more graphic video, which more closely and clearly shows the identity, actions, words, and fury of the officers involved.

“The second video is worse than the first. These officers are acting like bullies and thugs. They endangered an unborn child and traumatized two toddlers. Shame on them and shame on the department for not suspending them immediately – without pay,” says Maupin, “We want to know, are any of these sickos on the so-called Brady List of known rogue or problem officers? Are any of these cops part of the 75 identified social media racists who kept their jobs? What happens to officers when they are caught on tape violating policies and procedures and how fast does it happen? The culture of wilding within the Phoenix PD is making a mockery of police everywhere.”

As soon as the pregnant mother is healthy enough to endure a press conference, Maupin will bring the entire family forward. He says his team is planning for a Thursday morning press conference outside the main entrance of Phoenix City Hall. “We are planning for Thursday (June 13th, 2019) at 11:00am. We just want to make sure that mother and baby are fit for the gauntlet that is taking on the Phoenix PD,” says the Reverend, “This Family has more footage and more facts to share.”

Jarrett Maupin says the family will sue and is being represented by former Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne. He adds, “The family would like the chief of police to apologize to the children, now. After the second video is released, she will, but it won’t be enough.”

“Give her her baby doll back!” Katt Mckinney demands of #PhoenixPolice

BLMAZ #BLACKWOMENOFFAITH #PoliceBrutality

phoenix #phx #az #arizona #policingcrisis #unitednations #domesticterroism #governmentchaos #letmypeoplego

http://www.policingcrisis.com

Confront the #PolicingCrisis In #Phoenix

Come out to support the families and victims of the City of Phoenix Policing Crisis, and speak along with them to City Council Members on why this problem in our community must be addressed.

This is a National, International and Humanitarian Crisis that we must SPEAK ON! 

#PolicingCrisis

#PHXPOLICINGCRISIS

#NationalPolicingCrisis

#12PointPlan

More Info:

1. Request to Speak

The public may request to address the Council regarding an agenda item by submitting a yellow “Request to Speak” card at the meeting, or may submit a white card to state their support or opposition to an item for the record without speaking. Individuals wishing to speak or submit their position on an item should arrive and submit a card by the beginning of the meeting, before action is taken on the item. 

2. Citizen Comments

Citizen Comments are heard for up to 30 minutes (unless extended by the Chair) before adjournment or recess of the formal meeting provided a quorum of the Council is present. Additional time for Citizen Comments may be allowed at the discretion of the presiding officer. ANY member of the public may address the Council to comment on issues of interest or concern to them. Citizen Comments will be televised as part of the formal meeting. Members of the public will be given a maximum of three minutes each to address the Council. In compliance with the Arizona Open Meeting Law, the City Council cannot discuss or take formal action on any matter raised during Citizen Comments.

3. Accommodations

An assistive listening system is available in the City Council Chambers to assist individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Headset units for this system are available at the front table in the Council Chambers. In addition, with 72 hours advance notification, the City Clerk’s Office will provide sign language interpreting services. 

Hey Hey, Ho Ho, These Racists Cops Have Got to Go!

FRIDAY NIGHT March & Rally 7:00PM!

Join us as the COMMUNITY marches and rallies against racism and police brutality after NEW EVIDENCE has come forward proving the Phoenix Police Department is riddled with racist police! (See Latest News Articles Below)

NOW WE HAVE IRREFUTABLE, UNDENIABLE, OUTRAGEOUS PROOF OF ACTIVE RACISTS WITHIN THE PHOENIX POLICE DEPARTMENT!

It is time to shut down the city! SHUT IT DOWN!

Come and show your support for the families and victims of police racism and brutality!

Stand side by side with the families of Michelle Cusseaux, Jacob Harris, Edward Brown, and others as they lead the community on a march and rally through downtown and at police headquarters!

Show up, show out, shut down the streets as we demand the officers involved in this blatant racist and culture of discrimination be FIRED!

We will gather at 620 W. Washington Street (Phx PD HQ) at 7:00pm on THIS FRIDAY! (June 7th)

We will no longer tolerate the abuse, racism, hostility, prejudice, bigotry, and physical / verbal violence openly practiced on our community by Phoenix Police officers!

JOIN THE COMMUNITY and make your voices heard! BRING SIGNS, BRING FRIENDS, BRING YOUR LOUD VOICES AND DEMANDS FOR JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY as we take bold action to demand the badges of racists!

DETAILS:

Join the families of police brutality and racism victims as we stand up to the EXPOSED culture of racism and violence against BLACK AND LATINO residents within the Phoenix PD!

7:00PM FRIDAY (June 7th)

Outside of

Phoenix Police Headquarters
620 W. Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85003

BE PRESENT FOR THE MARCH AND RALLY!

SHOW UP, STAND UP, SPEAK UP!

As we mobilize the masses and shut down the streets of downtown to DEMAND that racist police be immediately FIRED!

SEE ARTICLES BELOW:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2019/06/03/phoenix-police-officers-facebook-posts-include-racist-violent-commentary/1331941001/

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-cops-bash-muslims-immigrants-and-black-people-online-11306928

blm #blacklivesmatter #blacklivesmatteraz

blacklivesmatterarizona #phx #az

policebrutality #racism #civilrights #justice

Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Racists Cops Have Got to Go!

FRIDAY NIGHT March & Rally 7:00PM!

Join us as the COMMUNITY marches and rallies against racism and police brutality after NEW EVIDENCE has come forward proving the Phoenix Police Department is riddled with racist police! (See Latest News Articles Below)

NOW WE HAVE IRREFUTABLE, UNDENIABLE, OUTRAGEOUS PROOF OF ACTIVE RACISTS WITHIN THE PHOENIX POLICE DEPARTMENT!

It is time to shut down the city! SHUT IT DOWN!

Come and show your support for the families and victims of police racism and brutality!

Stand side by side with the families of Michelle Cusseaux, Jacob Harris, Edward Brown, and others as they lead the community on a march and rally through downtown and at police headquarters!

Show up, show out, shut down the streets as we demand the officers involved in this blatant racist and culture of discrimination be FIRED!

We will gather at 620 W. Washington Street (Phx PD HQ) at 7:00pm on THIS FRIDAY! (June 7th)

We will no longer tolerate the abuse, racism, hostility, prejudice, bigotry, and physical / verbal violence openly practiced on our community by Phoenix Police officers!

JOIN THE COMMUNITY and make your voices heard! BRING SIGNS, BRING FRIENDS, BRING YOUR LOUD VOICES AND DEMANDS FOR JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY as we take bold action to demand the badges of racists!

DETAILS:

Join the families of police brutality and racism victims as we stand up to the EXPOSED culture of racism and violence against BLACK AND LATINO residents within the Phoenix PD!

7:00PM FRIDAY (June 7th)

Outside of

Phoenix Police Headquarters
620 W. Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85003

BE PRESENT FOR THE MARCH AND RALLY!

SHOW UP, STAND UP, SPEAK UP!

As we mobilize the masses and shut down the streets of downtown to DEMAND that racist police be immediately FIRED!

SEE ARTICLES BELOW:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2019/06/03/phoenix-police-officers-facebook-posts-include-racist-violent-commentary/1331941001/

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-cops-bash-muslims-immigrants-and-black-people-online-11306928

blm #blacklivesmatter #blacklivesmatteraz

blacklivesmatterarizona #phx #az

policebrutality #racism #civilrights #justice

AZ Policing Crisis Advocacy

Family of Mbegbu Seeks $200k from City of Phoenix

Subject: Breaking: PHOENIX CITY COUNCIL SET TO VOTE TODAY ON PAYMENT OF $200,000.00 TO FAMILY OF BALENTINE MBEGBU TO SETTLE WRONGFUL DEATH CLAIM…

For Immediate Release…
Wednesday, June 5th, 2019

Media Notice:

PHOENIX CITY COUNCIL SET TO VOTE TODAY ON PAYMENT OF $200,000.00 TO FAMILY OF BALENTINE MBEGBU TO SETTLE WRONGFUL DEATH CLAIM. MBEGBU WAS KILLED AFTER POLICE USED EXCESSIVE FORCE DURING A WRONGFUL ARREST. HE WAS TASERED TO DEATH IN HIS FAMILIES HOME BY POLICE.

CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST REVEREND JARRETT MAUPIN SAYS CITY’S PAYMENTS TO VICTIMS, “NEVER REALLY ENOUGH,” AND THAT WHAT FAMILIES TRULY WANT IS JUSTICE THROUGH POLICY CHANGES, IMPROVED TRAININGS, INCREASED DIVERSITY, AND PROSECUTIONS OF POLICE WHO VIOLATE CIVIL RIGHTS AND PERPETRATE UNJUSTIFIED HOMICIDES.

“TODAY IS BITTERSWEET. BALENTINE HAS JOINED THE HOST OF MARTYRS SLAIN, UNJUSTLY, BY THE PHOENIX POLICE DEPARTMENT. I DO NOT KNOW HOW THE CITY COUNCIL SLEEPS AT NIGHT KNOWING HOW BAD THE SITUATION IS RIGHT NOW, CONCERNING POLICE BRUTALITY AND EXCESSIVE FORCE,” SAYS MAUPIN, “HERE WE ARE ANOTHER QUARTER TO HALF A MILLION TAX PAYER DOLLARS LATER AND STILL WE HAVE NO MEANINGFUL REFORMS. THE CITY SHOULD BE ASHAMED THAT THEIR INEPTITUDE HAS COST THEM MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. WE COULD BE BUILDING COMMUNITY CENTERS, FUNDING YOUTH JOBS, OR DEVELOPING AFFORDABLE HOUSING. INSTEAD, THE CITY IS HEMORRHAGING CASH TO SETTLE LAWSUITS. THE CHOICE IS THEIR’S. TODAY IS A CIVIL RIGHTS VICTORY, BUT NOT ONE WE CELEBRATE. $200,000.00 WILL NOT BRING BACK BALENTINE MBEGBU AND HIS FAMILY WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.”

(Rev. Maupin [center] and supporters with the Widow MBegbu [seated] picketing outside of Phoenix City Hall. Mbegbu will receive $200,000.00 today from the City Council as a payment to settle her wrongful death claim.)

Balantine Mbegbu, a 65-year-old Phoenix resident, died on October 6 after being tased by a Phoenix police officer.

“I really want to know, why did they kill my husband?” asked Ngozi Mbegbu, Balantine’s wife.

According to Phoenix police, officers responded to the couple’s home that night after a third party called 911 to report a fight between the Mbegbus.

Balantine Mbegbu “immediately became belligerent and confrontational” with responding officers, according to a statement provided by Phoenix police.

“As one of the officers was trying to calm him down, Mr. Mbegbu backed the officer across the room and assaulted him,” the PPD statement continues. “The officers were then able to temporarily calm Mr. Mbegbu down. When the additional officers arrived to assist, Mr. Mbegbu began to actively fight with them and violently resisted arrest. Mr. Mbegbu spilled hot liquid on the officers and kicked an officer in the groin.”

At that point, police say one officer deployed the taser, and shortly after being handcuffed, Mbegbu started having apparent medical problems. Police called for the fire department to respond and take Mbegbu to a hospital, and Mbegbu was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Sabinus Megwa, an attorney representing Mbegbu’s wife, said what Mbegbu’s wife and sister-in-law say happened at the house last night is “totally different from the police account of what transpired.”

Megwa said there was no fight at the home, and police shouldn’t have been there. He added that Mbegbu only became agitated after police refused to leave the home.

Although the PPD statement says the department is “committed to ensuring a complete and thorough investigation into this incident to determine the circumstances of Mr. Mbegbu’s death,” Megwa and the protesters at city hall yesterday were calling for an independent investigation.

“This is not the first time a black person has been killed in this city by police,” Megwa said. “Each time, they find nothing. It’s about time that they do a thorough investigation and tell us why it is that this man died.”

(Megwa is also the attorney representing the family of Michelle Cusseaux, a 50-year-old mentally ill black woman who was fatally shot by a Phoenix police officer in August. Not long after a protest was organized at city hall over Cusseaux’s death, Phoenix police agreed to have the Arizona Department of Public Safety investigate the death.)

MEDIA LINKS:

http://www.azfamily.com/home/Wife-of-dead-man-says-police-action-not-justified-279578162.html

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2014/10/phoenix_police_department_death_balantine_mbegbu.php

http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/160446/1/chief-balentine-mbegbu-dies-in-arizona-poli.html

http://tribexmarketing.com/events/nigerian-in-arizona-dies-at-the-hands-of-the-police-nigerian-community-outraged/

http://badedav.blogspot.com/2014/10/nigerian-man-dies-in-phoenix-after-us.html

http://www.9ijanews.com/news/nigerian-manbalantine-mbegbu-killed-by-american-police-in-the-usa

Did You See This?

Police have been trained to cover themselves, and not to do what’s right!

This officer clearly yells, “He has a gun!”, when the citizen does not. What in the world is this mess?

This boy saved his life by not cutting that car off. Imagine if had reached for the keys…

Our lives are in great and “grave” danger.

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Memorial Day Started by Slaves

Did You Know?

Memorial Day was started by former slaves on May, 1, 1865, (post Civil war) in Charleston, SC to honor 257 dead Union Soldiers who were buried in a mass grave in a Confederate prison camp? They dug up the bodies working for 2 weeks to give them a proper burial as gratitude for fighting for their freedom. Afterwards a parade of 10,000 people led by 2,800 Black children marched, sang and celebrated.

During the Civil war, Union soldiers, who were prisoners of war being held at the Charleston Race Course, died and were buried in unmarked graves. Together with teachers and missionaries, Black residents of Charleston organized a May Day ceremony in 1865, which was covered by the New York Tribune and other national papers.

The Black freedmen cleaned up and landscaped the burial ground, and built an enclosure and an arch labeled, “Martyrs of the Race Course.”

Nearly ten thousand people, mostly Black freedmen, gathered on May 1 to commemorate the dead soldiers. Involved were 2800 school children newly enrolled in freedmen’s schools, mutual aid societies, Union troops, Black ministers, and white northern missionaries. Most brought flowers to lay on the burial field.

Today the site is used as Hampton Park. Years later, the celebration would come to be called the “First Decoration Day” in the North.

Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of End of Legal Slavery, President Obama Reflects on the Abolition of Slavery Amendment

Standing in the United States Capitol today, President Obama reflected on the progress we’ve made since the U.S. abolished slavery in 1865.

On December 6, 1865, the U.S. ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution: the abolition of slavery. It was a long overdue step in the long road we continue to walk in our efforts to address and uproot the systemic injustices embedded into our society.

Standing in the United States Capitol today, President Obama reflected on the history of our progress — hard-fought, hard-won, incomplete, but always possible. Watch his remarks here:

As many made clear at the time of its ratification, the 13th Amendment was not a final step, but rather the first step in making real the promise that all men are created equal. Read the letter that Annie Davis, an enslaved woman living in Maryland, wrote to President Lincoln asking if she was free after he had signed the Emancipation Proclamation. He never replied, but the answer was no. It would take an amendment to Maryland’s constitution — and the 13th Amendment — to ensure that she and all enslaved people in the U.S. were free in the eyes of the law.

Emancipation Proclamation

Drafted December 22, 1862 The 13th amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States, passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, and the House/Congress on January 31, 1865. The National Consensus of the Proclamation/Bill/Amendment happened after end of Civil War December  6th, 1865.  The 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provides that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”.

Transcript of Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

Read By the President of the United States of America,

September 22, 1862:

A Proclamation.

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

“That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.”

Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

13th Amendment signed by all states on December 5th, 1865

And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.

By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

Mr. President

 

On August 25, 1864, Annie Davis, an enslaved woman living in Maryland, wrote this letter to President Lincoln asking if she was free. No reply from President Lincoln has been located, but the answer to her question would have been: “No.”

President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, freeing slaves in states that had seceded from the Union. But it excused slave-holding border states like Maryland that had remained loyal to the Union, as well as parts of the Confederacy already under Northern control. And further the Emancipation Proclamation ultimately depended on a Union military victory.

That means slavery continued to exist in Annie’s Maryland until a rewritten Maryland Constitution freeing slaves came into effect on November 1, 1864. And the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States finally finished the work of freeing the slaves nationwide when ratified after the end of the Civil War on December 6th, 1865—150 years ago this week.

It is my Desire to be free. To go to see my people on the eastern shore. My mistress won’t let me. You will please let me know if we are free. And what I can do. I write to you for advice. Please send me word this week. Or as soon as possible. And oblige.

Annie Davis

“Our freedom is bound up with the freedom of others—regardless of what they look like, or where they come from, or what their last name is, or what faith they practice.” —President Obama

Find out more about Annie’s letter from USNatArchives​, and watch President Obama’s speech todayon the 150th anniversary of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Letter from Annie Davis to President Abraham Lincoln 08/25/1864 RG 094 Old Military and Civil Records Colored Troops Division, Letters Received D-304, 1864 Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780s-1917 00913_2005_001

“Verily, the work does not end with the abolition of slavery, but only begins.”  Frederick Douglass

Why Black Women’s Faith is So Strong…

Experts and scholars find black women and our patterns of behavior fascinating, and are perpetually attempting to assess and analyze us. An area of particular interest is our commitment and devotion to faith as an overall group. A recent survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Washington Post found that 74 percent of black women (and 70 percent of black men) view “living a religious life” as important.

In an article posted on EURWeb.com, the survey’s results are cited, which concluded that in hard times, 87 percent of black women from all walks of life, education, class, and income level turn to faith–the highest percentage of any group.

Stacey Floyd-Thomas, an Associate Professor of Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University, weighed in on the study last month. She links black women’s historical struggle to our firm faith roots.

“Black women have been the most mistreated and scandalized in U.S. society and culture as they wrestle both individually and collectively with the triple jeopardy of racism, sexism and classism,” said Floyd-Thomas.

According to her, black women, due to our oppression, seek out faith “as a way of finding relief, reprieve, resolution, and redemption.”

Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, a professor of sociology and African American studies at Colby College in Maine, on the other hand, views things from somewhat of a different perspective. Gilkes suggests black women’s religious devotion can be tied to cultural heritage.

“African Americans are more likely to have grown up with gospel music in the background of their lives, as well as with a mother or grandmother who insisted on all-day church on Sundays and Bible school in the summers,” says the article featuring Gilkes, an African American ordained minister and assistant pastor at a Baptist church.

Your thoughts?

 

Here’s Why from Her Perspective…

 

By EEW Magazine Editors

#BoycottRevlon: Black Women Protest Revlon Cosmetics – #LOVEISOFF

If you have any doubt about whether black Revlon customers are upset over alleged racist comments by CEO Lorenzo Delpani, then you need only visit the cosmetic company’s Instagram account.

The Grio reports:

Last week Delpani was hit with a lawsuit by Alan Meyer, a former top scientist for the company. The suit claims that Delpani made a number of disparaging and racist comments about Jewish and black people. Delpani is accused of saying that he “could smell a black person when he entered a room.”

Recent photos posted to the company’s Instagram account are overrun with comments — primarily from black women — urging others to #BoycottRevlon. Their latest photo, posted 2 days ago, received nearly 150 comments. That’s a noticeable spike from images posted before news of the lawsuit broke. Unfortunately for Revlon, the overwhelming majority of those comments are from women vowing not to buy their products.

In a Revlon post featuring an African-American couple, one commenter quips “Can he smell those to from the picture?”

Another writes, “Looking for a new foundation this weekend. Until you remove that CEO you WON’T smell any of my money.”

However it seems as if Revlon is standing by their man. The company said the following in a statement last week:

Revlon’s CEO Lorenzo Delpani

Alan Meyer’s lawsuit is a completely meritless attack by a former employee who is trying to distract from his own failed performance with false, sensational, and offensive allegations. Our Chairman, Ronald Perelman has expressed his unequivocal support for Lorenzo Delpani in the face of these offensive allegations.

Swat Raid Ends in Shooting Face Down to Back of Head Death – No Drugs Found! #DavidHooks

LAURENS COUNTY, GA- A Georgia widow is filing charges against Laurens County Police following the murder of her husband in a SWAT raid on their home in September. This week, her attorney claimed David Hooks was shot as he was face down in the drug raid that turned up nothing. As the Hooks’ family attorney noted,

“That search of some 44 hours conducted by numerous agents of the G.B.I. [Georgia Bureau of Investigation] resulted in not one item of contraband being found.”

In fact, Hooks owned a construction company that contracted with the military. He had undergone background checks by the Department of Homeland Security and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to obtain security clearance.

Teresa Hooks, David Hooks’ wife, recounted the incident in full to 13-WMAZ News:

“Between 10:30 and 11, I turned the light off upstairs. I heard a car coming up the driveway really fast, and I looked up the upstairs window. I saw a black vehicle with no lights. I saw 6 to 8 men, coming around the side of my house, and I panicked. I came running downstairs, yelling for David to wake up. He was in the bedroom asleep, had been for about an hour and a half. When I got downstairs to the bottom of the stairs, he opened the door and he had a gun in his hand, and he said, ‘Who is it?,’ and I said I didn’t know. He stepped back into the bedroom like he was going to grab his pants, but before he could do that, the door was busted down. He came around me, in the hall, into the den, and I was gonna come behind him, but before I could step into the den the shots were fired, and it was over.”

She said that the police did not knock or identify themselves until after they had barged into the home and fired shots.

This week, the Hooks family attorney, Mitchell Shook, claimed that the Laurens County Sheriff deputies and their SWAT counterparts shot Hooks when they broke in the door and again when he was on the ground.  He had gun shot wounds to his back, the side of his head, and the back of ihs left shoulder.

Shook cited evidence this week from EMS and hospital records indicating that

“The trajectory of both of those shots coupled with the numerous shots that were obviously fired downward lead us to believe that David Hooks was face down on the ground when he was shot those last two times.”

A police statement made shortly after the raid claims that Hooks became aggressive and it was only then that they fired shots. Shook disagreed:

“The task force and the SRT members broke down the back door of the family’s home and entered, firing an excessive sixteen shots. There is no evidence that David Hooks ever fired a weapon.”

He further disputed the “official” story”:

“In the affidavit that the G.B.I. agent did to get the second search warrant, there was a statement in there which obviously came from Laurens County officers and deputies indicating that David Hooks was seen retreating up the stairs, that he then came back down the stairs with a gun. First of all we know from Teresa Hooks statement of what happened that is not what happened. Secondly we know that’s not what happened because it would be completely impossible for the entry team to have seen the stairs that Teresa Hooks came down to awaken David Hooks that night.”

Police obtained a search warrant to raid the Hooks’ home after a methamphetamine addict, Rodney Garret, robbed the Hooks’ truck the night before, going on to steal another car the family owned. He said he took a bag he thought was filled with cash, but later realized it was filled with meth and scales. Fearing for his safety, he turned himself in and blamed the drugs on Hooks. This, combined with a similar (but unproved) allegation against Hooks from 5-years earlier, earned the police their warrant.

It is not uncommon for SWAT officers and police to shoot people when conducting raids. Often, it is done while they are raiding the wrong homesor the homes of innocent people. The ACLU estimates that 124 SWAT raids are executed a day in the United States (46,000 a year, though some claims are higher).

The Hooks’ case is particularly disturbing because if the medical evidence is correct (the autopsy is still forthcoming), it implies the final shots fired were execution-style and entirely unnecessary as the victim was already debilitated on the floor.

Naturally, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Laurens County Police have refused to comment any further on the case. Shook said

“The Sheriff’s Department has [gone] into complete lockdown. They have issued no statements. They won’t tell the press or even the Hooks family who the people who participated in this illegal raid were. They haven’t told us if they’ve been placed on administrative leave, suspended, or if they’re still out there supposedly enforcing the law.”

Shook hopes “…the Laurens County District Attorney will take the case to a grand jury and not solely rely on law enforcement’s take of the deadly raid.” Given the recent trends, however, such an outcome is a long shot.

---

This article is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author Carey Wedler and TheAntiMedia.org. Tune-in to The Anti-Media radio show Monday-Friday @ 11pm EST, 8pm PST. Carey Wedler

ALL ROADS LEAD TO #PHOENIX – NATIONAL STOP THE KILLING MARCH AND TOWNHALL

A Call To Action:

All Roads Lead To Phoenix
Dec.16, 20, 22

Across this country a persistent flurry of unjust police shootings, acts of excessive force, and wanton police violence has and will continue to rob our communities of the lives of our brothers and sisters. We must respond.
Just this year we’ve added Mike Brown – Eric Garner – Michelle Cusseaux – Tamir Rice – Ballentine Mbegbu – Rumain Brisbon and many other names to the ever growing list of victims. Victims, sacrificed to the evil trinity of police brutality, racial profiling, and antiquated policies that instill in law enforcement a seemingly insatiable drive to criminally dehumanize people.
The time for action is at hand. As a result of the latest case of a preventable police related fatality, we are organizing a town hall & march in Phoenix, Arizona to refocus our energies and redouble our efforts for a national push to solve this pandemic of hate defined violence.
Brothers and sisters, all roads lead to Phoenix.
We invite you and your organizations to become actively involved in this campaign to right wrongs and to combat injustice.
Please find below, an outline of the events taking place in Phoenix:
____________________
– December 16th, 2014
The Stop The Killing Organizing Committee will be hosting a training for local and visiting organizers to ensure the effectiveness of our upcoming protests and give an overview of what has and is happening in Phoenix. You are invited. This event is by invitation only.
The meeting will be held at the HISTORIC Tanner Chapel AME Church in downtown Phoenix from 7:00PM to 9:00PM. Doors open at 6:30PM.
Historic Tanner Chapel AME Church
20 S. 8th Street, Phx, AZ 85034
_____________________
– December 20th, 2014
STOP THE KILLING!!!!
MARCH ON PHOENIX
3:00PM
Cesar E. Chavez Plaza
251 W. Washington Street, Phx, AZ 85003
This march is set to descend on downtown Phoenix and will include stops at Phoenix city hall, Phoenix police headquarters, the Maricopa county attorney’s office and will culminate outside of the office of the United States department of justice satellite office.
__________________
– December 22, 2014
STOP THE KILLING !!!
NATIONAL TOWN HALL
(open to the public)

Featuring:
Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz
President/ Founder
of Black Lawyers for Justice Association
(Keynote Speaker)
Special Guests
Student-Minister Akbar Muhammad
(International Representative of the Nation of Islam)
Bro. Anthony Shaheed – Ferguson, Mo
Tori Russell – Hands Up United
Other special invited guests, members of the clergy, and the elect.
Starts 7:00PM

Historic Tanner Chapel AME Church
20 S. 8th Street, Phx, AZ 85034
Doors Open At 6:00PM

ALL roads lead to Phoenix! We strongly encourage our youth, fraternities/sororities, churches mosques, nonprofits, community organizations, elected and appointed officials, and other groups to attend. We’re stronger together and through our unity we will: STOP THE KILLINGS!

YOU ARE INVITED!

PLANNING MEETING FOR CLERGY, GROUP AND ORGANIZATION LEADERS, AND INTERESTED PROFESSIONALS (SINGERS, DOCTORS, NURSES, BAND MEMBERS, COMPUTER NETWORK SPECIALISTS, ARTISTS, SOCIAL NETWORK SPECIALISTS, PROMOTERS)

REGISTER YOUR GROUP, ORGANIZATION, CHURCH, OR SELF AT: STOPTHEKILLINGSMEDIA@GMAIL.COM

LIVE VIEWING FOR THE NATIONAL STOP THE KILLING MARCH…http://www.ustream.tv/channel/stop-the-killing1

NATIONAL STOP THE KILLINGS MARCH PLANNING MEETING

7PM THIS TUESDAY
TANNER CHAPEL
20 S. 8TH ST
PHOENIX, AZ 85034

RSVP AT STOPTHEKILLINGSMEDIA@GMAIL.COM

MEDIA LINKS:

United Nations Aims to Reduce Racism Across the Globe During ‘International Decade of People of African Descent’

With the racial unrest swirling across the United States serving as a backdrop, the United Nations yesterday kicked off the International Decade of People of African Descent, spanning from Jan. 1, 2015, to Dec. 31, 2024, with a goal of confronting the challenges faced by people of African descent across the globe because of pervasive racism against Black people. While racism and discrimination against people of African descent has been a problem that has infected world societies for generations, this is an auspicious time to commence such a campaign, considering how prominent a topic racism is in the United States. The nightly protests, involving multiracial crowds of angry Americans, occurring across the country to protest police killings and brutality are a shocking development in a country that typically has tried to keep discussions of racism as far from the mainstream as possible. But the grand jury decisions not to indict police officers in the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, respectively, seem to have awakened outrage among Americans who previously weren’t inclined to see racism as still a major problem in the U.S. Sam Kutesa, president of the United Nation General Assembly, introduced the International Decade of People of African Descent by declaring that people of African descent still face racism in every country, region and continent of the world.

“Over the next 10 years, people everywhere are encouraged to take part in the global conversation on the realities faced by people of African descent,” said Kutesa, who is from Uganda. “The Decade will allow us to explore the challenges faced by people of African descent due to pervasive racism and racial discrimination engrained in our society today.” His remarks were reported on the United Nations website, un.org. The resolution for the international decade was actually adopted a year ago, on Dec. 23, 2013, with the theme “People of African descent: recognition, justice and development.” Kutesa pointed out that when global societies ensure the protection of the human rights of all people of African descent, it makes a tangible improvement in the lives of millions of people of African descent around the world. He said people of African descent are “too often” victims of crime and violence, and then face discrimination when they attempt to seek legal redress. It was hard not to consider his comments aimed at the United States, which many countries often accuse of hypocrisy because the U.S. frequently accuses other nations of human rights violations while clearly denying equal rights to Black and brown people inside the U.S. Kutesa said the international community has also recognized the correlation between poverty and racism, which serves to marginalize people of African descent in world economies, despite the significant contributions people of African descent have made to the development of world societies. The UN is encouraging nations to assist people of African descent by revisiting policies and practices that have a negative impact on Black people. Kutesa said the coming decade offers the world a chance to “unite our voices” and renew the political will to eliminate racial discrimination against anyone, anywhere. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was represented at the kickoff by UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, who noted that people of African descent suffer from inequality and disadvantage from the history of slavery and as a result are among the poorest and most marginalized around the world, with limited access to healthcare, education and even employment. Speaking for Ban, Amos called on governments around the world to do more to protect people of African descent from the alarmingly high rates of police violence and racial profiling. The entire effort is to see that “a decade from now the situation of people of African descent is improved.” “Human rights belongs to us all,” said UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonović, noting that the recent events in New York with the death of Garner and the grand jury decision serve as tragic reminders that people of African descent face disproportionate levels of racial discrimination. “This Decade aims to shine a light on inequality, invisibility, underdevelopment, discrimination and violence on each and every continent,” the human rights chief said. During the coming decade, the UN hopes to see the adoption of anti-discrimination laws around the world, in addition to countries fighting against impunity in regard to racial profiling and guaranteeing the equal protection of the law. The Decade will also promote the right to development for people of African descent, which is always a big issue on the African continent, in addition to equal access to education, health, and employment.

WE CAN’T BREATHE IN PHOENIX EITHER!

WE CAN’T BREATHE UNTIL WE KNOW WHO THE MURDERER IS!

“The shooting death of Rumain Brisbon by Phoenix police has sparked outrage in our community! The slaying of this unarmed black man and the unjust profiling that proceeded it are abominable offenses! The only thing worse is the impact of his tragic death on his family and little girls.”
Rev. Jarrett Maupin

PROTEST for ‪#‎RumainBrisbon‬ and other victims of Police Killings

When: Tomorrow Starting at 5PM

Where: ELKS LODGE 1007 S 7th Ave, Phoenix, Arizona 85007

Why: THE POLICE HAS REFUSED TO GIVE UP NAME OF OFFICER…WE WANT HIS NAME!
MARCH on POLICE DEPARTMENT starting at 7PM UNTIL!

We join thousands of people across the nation raising their voices, taking to the streets, rallying and demanding justice for the lives of the Black men, women and children killed every 28 hours by police. Rumain Brisbon, father of four and resident of Phoenix, AZ was killed by an unnamed Phoenix Police Officer on Tuesday December 2, 2014. Police statements and mainstream media outlets allege that Mr. Brisbon was a drug dealer and threatened the officer, causing the officer to use deadly force. However, witnesses, family and friends present a different story. Rumain was not a drug dealer. In fact, he was just in front of his home while approached by the police officer. Sources say, Rumain was shot in front of his young children. The white police officer mistook a pill bottle for a gun.
The police ambush started because of a phone call put in by a unnamed resident. The caller told police Rumain looked suspicious. However, Rumain was dropping off food for his little girls.

Details for Funeral Services of Akai Gurley, Black Man Murdered by Police

REV. AL SHARPTON TO GIVE EULOGY AT AKAI GURLEY’S FUNERAL ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5^TH–

—PUBLIC SERVICE TO BE HELD FOR THE 28-YEAR-OLD UNARMED MAN FATALLY SHOT BY POLICE IN EAST NEW YORK—

 

WHO:

Rev. Al Sharpton, President, National Action Network

 

WHEN:

Friday, December 5, 2014 –

5:00-7:00p.m. ET Viewing (open to public)

7:00-9:00p.m. ET Akai Gurley’s funeral service (open to public)

WHERE:

Brown Memorial Baptist Church

484 Washington Ave. (at Gates Ave.)

Brooklyn, NY 11238

WHAT:

Rev. Sharpton to give the eulogy at Akai Gurley’s funeral, the 28-year-old unarmed man fatally shot by police in East New York. The viewing and funeral are open to the public.

Paid for by National Action Network

NEW YORK (AP) — Stunned relatives of an unarmed man killed by a rookie police officer in a dark public housing stairwell looked on as the Rev. Al Sharpton and public officials demanded a full investigation Saturday into what law enforcement officials have termed an apparent accident.”We’re not demonizing the police,” Sharpton said, but “this young man should not be dead.”

Police said the fatal shooting Thursday night of Akai Gurley in Brooklyn’s gritty East New York neighborhood appears accidental. But “how do we know until there is a thorough investigation of all that happened?” Sharpton asked.

He spoke at a rally in Harlem, standing alongside Gurley’s 2-year-old daughter, her mother and several elected officials. Gurley’s relatives remained silent during and after the rally.

Gurley’s death comes at a sensitive time, with a grand jury weighing whether to bring criminal charges against another officer in the chokehold death of a man on Staten Island, and the nation bracing for a potential announcement soon on whether an indictment will be handed up in the police shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri.

“Until we address the issue of police killing people of color, we’re going to always have the problem; we’re deaf on the issue,” Alex Mallory, 64, a Bronx resident who once lived in public housing, said after the rally. “I could have easily been this guy, walking down the stairs.”

City police often conduct “vertical patrols” inside public housing by going from roofs down staircases that sometimes are havens for crime. Police Commissioner William Bratton has said the patrols are needed, and the development where Gurley was shot had recently seen a shooting, robberies and assaults.

Officer Peter Liang and his partner, also new to the force, were patrolling a pitch-dark stairwell with flashlights late Thursday, police said. Gurley, 28, was leaving his girlfriend’s apartment after she had braided his hair, according to the girlfriend, who is not his daughter’s mother.

Police said the officers walked down the stairs onto an eighth-floor landing when Gurley and his girlfriend opened a stairwell door one floor down, after giving up on waiting for an elevator. Police said Liang, patrolling with his gun drawn, fired without a word and apparently by accident, hitting Gurley from a distance of about 10 feet.

Mallory, the former public housing resident, said an officer should never patrol a building with a gun drawn.

“What are you saying, people who live in developments are animals, or something?” he asked.

Bratton said officers generally have discretion on whether to draw their weapons based on what they are encountering or believe they may encounter. He called Gurley’s death a tragedy that befell someone “totally innocent.”

It was unclear how long the stairway’s lights had been out or whether there had been complaints. The New York City Housing Authority did not answer those questions Saturday, saying only that the shooting was tragic and that housing officials would “continue to work with the NYPD and our residents to make our properties as safe as possible.”

The fatal shooting came a decade after 19-year-old Timothy Stansbury was shot dead by a startled officer on a Brooklyn rooftop of a housing complex. His family got a $2 million settlement with the city.

Liang, 26, has been placed on modified duty. Under standard policy, police internal affairs investigators won’t be able to question him until prosecutors have decided whether to file criminal charges. Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson has called the shooting “deeply troubling” and said it warrants “an immediate, fair and thorough investigation.”

New York Assemblyman-elect Charles Barron organized a protest march on Saturday evening from the shooting scene to the police department office that patrols housing developments.

In a statement, march organizers said there was nothing accidental about Gurley’s shooting.

“This is the deadly consequence of the increasing militarization of the police, from New York City to Ferguson — and beyond.”

Another Black Unarmed Male Shot By Police in Phoenix Arizona!

Rumain Brisbon, father of four and resident of Phoenix, AZ was killed by an unnamed Phoenix Police Officer on Tuesday December 2, 2014. Police statements and mainstream media outlets allege that Mr. Brisbon was a drug dealer and threatened the officer, causing the officer to use deadly force. However, witnesses, family and friends present a different story. Rumain was a loved father, son, brother and neighborhood member. Phoenix community members and activists are rallying support to get the truth of how and why Rumain’s life was taken. The following is a heartfelt statement from family and friends.

In the wake of the Ferguson verdict, citizens across America have been questioning their safety amongst police officers. Specifically, those questioning have been members of the Black community. As a Black woman, Ferguson hit home for obvious reasons, as I’m a sister, daughter, cousin and friend of these “Black Male” victims that have been sweeping the nation in recent months.

Last night, I relived Ferguson all over again, with the murder of friend Rumain Brisbon, a Phoenix resident. Rumain is the father of four, in his mid-30s, a wonderful spirit who enjoyed spending time with his family, but his death came suddenly too soon.
The reason being, he was Living While Black.

His Blackness warranted a call to the Phoenix police department the night of December 2nd, from a resident in his apartment complex. The resident thought Rumain looked suspicious because he was sitting in his parked SUV in the apartment parking lot with his best friend; again, in front of his own home.

One simple call led police officers to bum rush the two young men, while accusing them of selling drugs. Panicked and rightfully confused, Rumain ran unarmed towards his home, only to be shot twice in the torso. His friend is now in police custody.

Questions have been raised by Phoenix’s Black community & activists because his family was not permitted to see the body of their slain son, brother, and cousin. His family was denied answers to their questions of concern about what happened to their loved one. The crime scene was blocked off for hours. Could he have been saved? Was he left to die on the scene? Most importantly, can someone explain WHY this happened? Why are police officers quick to shoot as if lives don’t matter? These are questions, that might painfully go unanswered.

While grieving, the family has to endure false media headlines, that accuse Rumain for being “a drug dealer and the cop as a hero.” This false accusation led to his death and his hero is nothing more than a murderer with a badge. As an open to carry firearms state (in Arizona), police found a small handgun in Rumain’s vehicle. He didn’t take the gun out to shoot back at any policemen. It was simply left behind and he ran away unarmed. It’s been reported, the drugs that claimed to have been found, was of no large amount for any type of distribution.

In these times, it’s important to question the integrity of our armed forces. Officers set-up crimes to make it appear, as they want it to be reported. As a community, we’re smarter than this. As an intelligent force of Black individuals we’re able to service our own media news and report truth. We’re able to be heard. If they aren’t looking out for us, its time the Black community looks out for each other.

Rumain lost his life for being in the right place at the right time. Simply sitting in front of his home spending time with his best friend.

The community is coming together to stand up for Rumain:

When:   Thursday December 4, 2015 Time:    8PM Where: Downtown Phoenix Civic Space             424 N Central Ave, Phoenix, Arizona 85004

original story can be found at allhiphop.com

New York Prepares for Riots, as Grand Jury Weighs In on the Eric Garner Decision

As the video below unmistakably shows, Eric Garner was killed by the cops.

His crime? Allegedly selling cigarettes not approved and taxed by the state. Garner was knocked to the ground and a white police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, strangled him to death. The suffocation was exacerbated by the fact Garner suffered from asthma.

With Ferguson fresh in their minds, Police Commissioner William Bratton met with elected officials and clergy members on Staten Island Monday to talk about possible reaction to a grand jury decision (scheduled to be released any day) in the Eric Garner case. NY1’s Amanda Farinacci filed the following report.

Bratton Meets Officials on SI Ahead of Eric Garner Grand Jury Decision

“Staten Island is not Ferguson.” That was the message after a 90-minute meeting in St. George Monday between Police Commissioner William Bratton, community leaders and elected officials.

The agenda, according to Staten Island Borough President James Oddo, was “how we’re going to deal with the emotions coming in this next week.” That’s because a special grand jury could soon announce whether or not it’ll hand up an indictment against police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of 43-year-old Eric Garner.

Pantaleo is seen on video putting Garner in a chokehold as officers tried to arrest him this summer for illegally selling cigarettes.

Garner’s death happened less than a month before Michael Brown’s, and the case has stirred some of the same strong emotions.

“There certainly will be increased police presence in the area, especially around the vicinity of where they anticipate demonstrations to be taking place, and that is something that I believe the NYPD is taking very seriously,” said Assembly woman Nicole Malliotakis, whose district covers parts of Staten Island and Brooklyn.

A rally for Garner this summer drew thousands of protesters. While some businesses along the march route decided to close their doors that day, the demonstration was largely uneventful.

“The businesses that remained open actually got business, a lot of business, and it was just a peaceful demonstration. We’re expecting the same thing,” said City Councilwoman Debi Rose of Staten Island.

“Here on Staten Island, Eric Garner had a lot of friends, especially in that area, and he’s very, very well missed by a lot of people who’s anxiously waiting the decision,” said Cynthia Davis of the National Action Network. “So I even think maybe some agitators may try to worm their way in and try to cause problems, but we’re just praying and hoping that that doesn’t happen.”

The National Action Network said it isn’t planning a march or protest on Staten Island after a decision is announced. Instead, the group says it plans to march over the Brooklyn Bridge to federal court in Brooklyn.

“We’re praying that federal prosecutors take over the case,” Davis said.

“The tone and tenor that has been set by his mother Gwen and by all of the family is that they do not want to see violence, and we’ve tried to echo that message throughout the city,” said the Rev. Victor Brown of the Mt. Sinai United Christian Church.

On July 17, 2014, in Staten Island, New York, United States, Eric Garner died of neck compression, combined with asphyxia proximate to chest restriction, as a result of a chokehold applied while police officers were arresting him for the suspected sale of untaxed cigarettes.^[3][4] Garner previously had been arrested for selling untaxed cigarettes. When a police officer attempted to arrest Garner, he had broken up a fight which brought additional police units to the scene. He was approached by police officer Justin Damico.^[5][6] A New York City Police Department officer, Daniel Pantaleo, put Garner on the ground by the use of force, which included the use of aheadlock, backed by video evidence of the event.^[1] Garner died some minutes later. NYPD Union leader Patrick Lynch challenged that chokehold claim.^[7]

On August 1, 2014, medical examiners concluded that police brutality as the primary causes of Garner’s death and Garner’s heart problems, obesity and asthma as additional factors.^[8] As a result of Garner’s death, four EMTs and paramedics who responded to Garner’s death were suspended without pay on July 21, 2014, and officers Justin Damico and Daniel Pantaleo were placed on desk duty, the latter stripped of his service gun and badge.

The event stirred public protests and rallies with charges of police brutality and was broadcast nationally over various media networks.

Response to Current Events by the Minister Louis Farrakhan

Darren Wilson of Ferguson Police Dept. Resigned

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Human Rights Day December 10, 2014

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1.

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

• Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.

• Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.

• No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.

• No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.

• Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.

• All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.

• Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.

• No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.

• Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.

• (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
• (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.

• No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.

• (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
• (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.

• (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
• (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

• (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
• (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

• (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
• (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
• (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

• (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
• (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

• Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

^ Top

Article 19.

• Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

• (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
• (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

• (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
• (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
• (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

• Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23.

• (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
• (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
• (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
• (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

• Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

• (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
• (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.

• (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
• (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
• (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.

• (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
• (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28.

• Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.

• (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
• (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
• (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

• Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Whites Super Humanize Blacks Leading to Imperial Dehumanization Studies Suggest

 A recent study proves white people may possess a bias which causes them to associate black people with superhuman qualities, which may lead ultimately to dehumanization practices. Proof that their mentality towards Blacks is precluded by misconceptions and expressed with fear.

SUPERHUMAN – being above the human :divine: exceeding normal human power, size, or capability : having such power, size, or capability magical, miraculous, phenomenal, preternatural,supernatural, supernormal, transcendent, transcendental, uncanny, unearthly.

“A Superhumanization Bias in Whites’ Perceptions of Blacks,” published in the Journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, examines the idea that black people have been historically dehumanized, “from constitutional denial of full legal personhood to enslavement.”

In the first test– researchers Kelly Marie Hoffman and Sophie Trawalter, of the University of Virginia, and Adam Waytz, of Northwestern University, performed Implicit Association Tests. White participants were asked to associate certain words to images of a person. It was found that white people were more likely to link words commonly associated with the supernatural, (ghost, paranormal, spirit, wizard, supernatural, magic, mystical), to pictures of black people, and more likely to link  “human words,” (person, individual, humanity, people, civilian, mankind, citizen), to pictures of white people, New York Magazine reported. These results remained consistent, even as researchers varied the experiments in order to rule out the possibility of bias.

In the second test — to account for the possibility that the bias in test one occurred in part because of White-Human associations as opposed to Black-Superhuman associations — the researchers used categorization tasks, again asking participants to quickly associate a word with an image, this time with more groupings, (Black/Human, Black/Superhuman, Black/Subhuman, White/Human, White/Superhuman, White/Subhuman), and asking participants to quickly sort words as belonging to a category based on the image of a face flashed on the screen. They found the same bias present as in study one.

The third test — was a bit more specific. In it, the participants were shown images of both a white person and a black person and were asked to choose which person they believed possessed a series of supernatural abilities. The questions included:

1. Which person is more likely to have superhuman skin that is thick enough that it can withstand the pain of burning hot coals?

2. Which person is more capable of using their supernatural powers to suppress hunger and thirst?
3. Which person is more capable of using supernatural powers to read a person’s mind by touching the person’s head?
4. Which person is more capable of surviving a fall from an airplane without breaking a bone through the use of supernatural powers?
5. Which personal has supernatural quickness that makes them capable of running faster than a fighter jet?
6. Which person has supernatural strength that makes them capable of lifting up a tank?

White people chose an image of a black person an overwhelming 63.5 %  of the time for everything except for the abilities to survive a plane crash and read minds.

The final study — “specifically shows superhumanization of blacks predicts denial of pain to Black versus White targets.” The results suggest superhumanization of black individuals may contribute to the undertreatment of pain for black patients because they’re viewed as being able to endure more. (Which supports earlier research from the same authors that showed nurses of any race see black patients as less sensitive to pain than white patients.)

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The authors assert superhumanization may also explain white tolerance for police brutality against black people. The authors of the study suggest that “perhaps people assume that blacks possess extra (superhuman) strength that enables them to endure violence more easily than other humans.”  The authors say their results “might also explain why people consider Black juveniles to be more ‘adult’ than White juveniles when judging culpability.”

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How is this bias reflected in American culture? Sportscasters discussing fast-twitch muscle fiber, stereotypes about genitalia, and phrases like “black don’t crack” are common.

The Boston Globe pointed out a Los Angeles Times op-ed from 2007 calling out the elevation of Barack Obama as a savior figure by some who had outsized expectations of his ability to single-handedly effect change.

The paper cites Director Spike Lee’s famous criticism of the way black characters are portrayed in Hollywood films like The Green Mile or The Legend of Bagger Vance: “These films all have these magical, mystical Negroes who show up as some sort of spirit or angel, but only to benefit the white characters.”

The phenomenon has received virtually no empirical attention thus far, according to the authors, though the studies “demonstrate this phenomenon at an explicit level,” showing that “whites preferentially attribute superhuman capacities to blacks versus whites.”

And while imbuing a group of people with superhuman abilities might seem like a complimentary thing on the surface, the study contends this bias leads to dehumanization on the personal and political level.

Read more: The Actual Abstract

Note to ALL Black Celebrities and Those of Influence!! Our People Call Upon Us! Either You With Us or You Not!

We must do something! Our people call upon us! HELP US HELP OUR PEOPLE!!!

Where is ‪#‎JayZ‬‪#‎kobebryant‬ ‪#‎oprahwinfrey‬ ‪#‎magicjohnson‬ ‪#‎derekjetters‬‪#‎tylerperry‬‪#‎denzelwashington‬ ‪#‎meekmill‬ ‪#‎drake‬ ‪#‎willsmith‬ ‪#‎eddiemurphy‬ ‪#‎rickross‬‪#‎nikkiminaj‬ ‪#‎serenawilliams‬ ‪#‎larryfitzgerald‬‪#‎amarestoudemire‬‪#‎carmeloanthony‬ ‪#‎SHAQ‬ ‪#‎Lebronjames‬ ‪#‎timduncan‬ #lebronjames‪#‎chrisbosch‬ ‪#‎snoop‬ ‪#‎barrybonds‬ ‪#‎masterp‬ ‪#‎ICECUBE‬‪#‎JuicyJ‬ ‪#‎tigerwoods‬‪#‎kevinhart‬ ‪#‎michaeljordan‬ #babyface #twochains #soilderboy #aliciakeys #jermainedupri #atlantahousewives #lilwayne where yall at????? I know im missing a whole lot more…but just these mentioned can make a difference! DONATE TO CREDITABLE ACTIVISTS HERE

Work with us!!! We challenge you to stand up with your people to do something! To donate money for busses to get ppl from around the country there…not to riot, but to organize!! Contact me if u up to it got time for it care about it! DO YOU REALLY HAVE THE PROPER MINDSET TO LEAD AND HELP YOUR PEOPLE???? CALL ME IF YOU DO!

The Ferguson Protester community is home to many voices and experiences. Informed by many voices, this letter serves as a statement of purpose for those who may not yet understand the movement in #Ferguson or why protests still continue, 102 days later.

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Originally published October 17:

In Ferguson, police met our protesting of police brutality with the disgusting irony of greater brutality, the likes of which Americans have rarely seen on our own soil. In this American town, officers tapped their batons, pointed guns in our faces, kneed our women’s heads, threw our pregnant mothers to the ground, jailed our peaceful clergy and academics, and tear gassed our children.

We are living an American Horror Story.

But it is significantly past time for the story to end. Never to be told again.

The onus to close this book falls directly on our leadership. Our elected leaders bear direct responsibility to ensure the safety of every one of its citizens at the hands of its agents, and to capture justice for every life taken. In this, the land of the free, you are responsible for securing and preserving that freedom for all of your citizens, irrespective of — or perhaps, especially because of — our skin. In a story in which we have been overwhelmingly targeted, unduly struck down by threat of our blackness, we require explicit attention, protection and value. We require freedom, and will hold everyone accountable to preserving our inalienable right.

We will no longer live this American Horror Story.

Nonviolent direct action is a necessary, vital, and wholly American tool in forcing meaningful, permanent, transformative action from our leaders and fellow citizens.

Today, the 70th day of this nightmare, some may wonder why we have yet to stop – to stop chanting, stop marching, stop occupying. But we have not yet found peace because we do not yet know justice. Therefore we, together with our allies, will continue to occupy the streets and the American consciousness until the book is closed.

Even in facing this terror, we have not met those who mean us harm with the same. Even in the face of this terror, we will continue to force the readers and writers of this, a most American of horror stories, to face the blackness that they fear, the blackness they have spent this entire story trying to erase, trying to soften, trying to co-opt, trying to escape. We will no longer allow you to escape this story and pretend that the epidemic of black lives dying by white hands is merely a figment of an active Black imagination. You must come face to face with the horror that we live daily. You must come to know and profess the truth of this story, and be determined to end it.

We are not concerned if this inconveniences you. Dead children are more than an inconvenience.

We are not concerned if this disturbs your comfort. Freedom outweighs that privilege.

We are not concerned if this upsets order. Your calm is built on our terror.

We are not concerned if this disrupts normalcy. We will disrupt life until we can live.

This is an American Horror Story. Together, we are writing the final chapter.

We sign:

@2LiveUnchained
@AbernM
@akacharleswade
@alaurice
@ampstlouis
@barbd_wyre
@bdoulaoblongata
@BeutfulStranger
@blackstarjus
@BrownBlaze
@dejuanh
@deray
@dlatchison011
@dreamhampton
@Felonius_munk
@geauxAWAYheaux
@Haiku_RS
@iam_MzCaram3l
@ittynitty1992
@jadorekennedy
@JamilahLemieux
@JustAlandria
@justinbaragona
@JustRod
@Kaephoria
@Kenya_D
@kfen73
@kidnoble
@missleighcarter
@Misterbiceps
@Mocha_Skyy
@mollyrosestl
@MsPackyetti
@NakedDiary
@nettaaaaaaaa
@nina_badasz
@OwlAsylum
@Patricialicious
@princebraden
@RE_invent_ED
@realbodean
@rikrik__
@Salute_DeezNutz
@Search4Swag
@shear_beauty
@StaceDiva

Not Just About Ferguson…About the Relationship of Black Americans with its Government

Michele Roberts Executive Director of NBA to Push a No Salary Cap and 50/50 Revenue Split for Players!

Michele Roberts – Executive Director of NBA -First Black and First Woman to Head Any Major Professional Sports Union in North America.

When it comes to our players having caps on salary, and the revenue generated has none, Roberts states,  “It’s incredibly un-American. My DNA is offended by it.”

Michele Roberts, the NBA players’ union executive director, on Wednesday questioned several of the principles that for decades have governed owner-player relations in the league, objecting to the concept of a salary cap while making clear she’d push for much more than a 50-50 split of basketball-related income.

“Why don’t we have the owners play half the games?” Roberts said, speaking in her Harlem office to ESPN The Magazine. “There would be no money if not for the players.”

“Let’s call it what it is. There. Would. Be. No. Money,” she added, pausing for emphasis. “Thirty more owners can come in, and nothing will change. These guys [the players] go? The game will change. So let’s stop pretending.”

But given the context of a nine-year, $24 billion TV deal set to begin in 2016, and the players’ ability to opt out of the league’s collective bargaining agreement after the 2016-17 season, Roberts’ relatively radical perspective could prove to be just as profound a change.

“I don’t know of any space other than the world of sports where there’s this notion that we will artificially deflate what someone’s able to make, just because,” she said, talking about a salary cap — a collectively bargained policy that, in its current form, has constrained team spending in the NBA since 1984-85. “It’s incredibly un-American. My DNA is offended by it.”

Roberts, a prominent attorney who will finish up her work for the prestigious law firm Skadden, Arps, does not have an extensive background in labor or sports but through work or pleasure is familiar with both. “Her background is in negotiation, it’s in changing minds and it’s in listening ability and all of those skills will be very important to the union,” Ogletree said. “People will have a chance to see a woman who is well-prepared, willing to push for what’s right and has the ability to understand what it means for the long haul.”

All those factors are very important for the NBPA, which has struggled since the 2011 lockout and resulting collective bargaining agreement. Former executive director Billy Hunter was fired during All-Star weekend in 2013 after it was discovered he mismanaged union business, and the union has been without a permanent director since.

She sold the players on two key points: her personal story (growing up in a Bronx project) and her basic vision of a union.

“The players’ vision of the union is that it belongs to them and it should exist to promote, protect and advance their interest and not any other stakeholder or any other person,” Roberts said. “What they wanted in an executive director was someone who understood that and would not consider any deviation from that vision.”

Based in Washington, D.C., Roberts, who will turn 58 in September, has worked at Skadden, Arps for the past three years. She graduated from Wesleyan University in 1977 and California-Berkeley’s law school in 1980.

Roberts was raised in a housing project in the South Bronx. She attended a prep school in the New York City suburbs. She earned her B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1977 and her J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley in 1980. She began her career in 1980 at Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. She served in that role for eight years, rising to the chief of the trial division. She was mentored by attorney Charles Ogletree.^[2][3]

Roberts built her reputation as a trial lawyer. She worked for Akin Gump from 2004 to 2011. In 2011 she was hired bySkadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.^[4]

Roberts was named executive director of the National Basketball Players Association in July 2014.^[1] She succeeded Billy Hunter in the position, who was ousted for incompetence and nepotism. She received 32 of 36 votes.

Roberts is an adjunct faculty member at Harvard Law School and a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. TheWashingtonian once referred to her as the “finest pure trial lawyer in Washington.”^[1]

And Common Sense Tells Us They Are Still In Use…

Interesting question KRS One asked the KKK…Where are the thousands even millions of Klan robes? (It is said that at height of their movement, during the 1920’s, there were over 4 million members). One thing we know for sure is that they are still making and selling them, so we know, for our common sense tells us, they are still being used!

So I ponder a different perspective. Id like to know where are all the members? Im sure many are still alive! I would like to know why one must be anonymous to participate? I would like to know for what reason are the ceremonies kept a secret? If the belief of the organization is so strong, Why hide? If its right for you, surely its right for all. Please help all who don’t know to understand your logic towards the whole world. We must know, as this mindset is dictatory of our survival.

Black Women of Faith Supports Community Leader!

Supporting Phoenix Councilman Candidate Pastor Warren Stewart

We love community!

Slavery Not Easily Received

Not all enslaved Africans gave up their freedom so easily. This is a historical compilation of few of the revolts Iniated of enslaved Blacks, that your children will not learn about in school:

THE NEW YORK SLAVE REVOLT
‪
The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 happened in New York City, when 23 enslaved Africans killed nine people of European descent and injured six more. The slaves planned and organized the revolt on the night of April 6, 1712. After setting fire to a building on Maiden Lane near Broadway, they waited for colonists to rush to put out the flames, then proceeded to attack them.

THE FIRST MAROON WAR

In 1739, the Jamaican Maroons were the first enslaved Africans to win their freedom from European slave masters. During the First Maroon War, they fought and escaped slavery and established free communities in the mountainous interior of the island. For 76 years, there were periodic skirmishes between the British and the Maroons, alongside occasional slave revolts.
Eventually, the British government and slave holders realized they couldn’t defeat the Maroons, so they came up with a peace treaty that allowed them to live in their own free states in Jamaica. As a result, the Maroons established their five main towns: Accompong, Trelawny Town, Moore Town, Scots Hall, and Nanny Town.

‪THE AMISTAD REVOLT

In 1839, Africans took control of the Spanish slave boat called La Amistad while sailing along the coast of Cuba. The African captives, led by Joseph Cinque, escaped their shackles and killed many of the crew, but spared a few to sail the ship back to their home to Sierra Leone. However, the crew tricked them, sailing north where they were apprehended near Long Island, New York. After a highly publicized court trial, the African captives were released as free men.

ZANZIBAR REVOLUTION
When Zanzibar was granted independence by Britain in 1963, a series of parliamentary elections reserved two-thirds of the seats for Arabs and Indians. Frustrated by under-representation in Parliament despite winning 54 percent of the vote in the July 1963 election, the mainly African Afro-Shirazi Party joined forces with the left-wing Umma Party. Early on the morning of Jan. 12, 1964, ASP member John Okello mobilized approximately 600 to 800 revolutionaries on the main island of Unguja (Zanzibar Island). They overran the country’s police force and confiscated their weaponry. The insurgents then overthrew the Sultan and his government. Reprisals against Arab and South Asian civilians on the island left a death toll ranging from several hundred to 20,000.
Sources: africanholocaust.net

The Good Ship Jesus | The Beginning of the Slave Trade

Jesus of Lubeck (Name of first Slave Ship to Grace the America’s.)

What has come to be referred to as “The Good Ship Jesus” was in fact the “Jesus of Lubeck,” a 700-ton ship purchased by King Henry VIII from the Hanseatic League, a merchant alliance between the cities of Hamburg and Lubeck in Germany. Twenty years after its purchase the ship, in disrepair, was lent to Sir John Hawkins by Queen Elizabeth.

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Hawkins, a cousin of Sir Francis Drake, was granted permission from Queen Elizabeth for his first voyage in 1562. He was allowed to carry Africans to the Americas “with their own free consent” and he agreed to this condition. Hawkins had a reputation for being a religious man who required his crew to “serve God daily” and to love one another. Sir Francis Drake accompanied Hawkins on this voyage and subsequent others. Drake, was himself, devoutly religious. Services were held on board twice a day.

Off the coast of Africa, near Sierra Leone, Hawkins captured 300-500 slaves, mostly by plundering Portuguese ships, but also through violence and subterfuge promising Africans free land and riches in the new world. He sold most of the slaves in what is now known as the Dominican Republic. He returned home with a profit and ships laden with ivory, hides, and sugar. Thus began the slave trade.

Admiral, Slaver John Hawkins

Admiral John Hawkins is often remembered as one of the greatest men in the early English navy. Along with his cousin and companion Sir Francis Drake, he helped defeat the Spanish Armada and cement England’s role as ruler of the seas. But like most men who fell under the category of “Sea Dogs”, his career was filled with a blood-thirsty ruthlessness far removed from the modern ideas of heroes.

More Reading on John Hawkins and His “Crusades” Here: http://www.chroniclesofamerica.com/sea-dogs/john_hawkins_slavers_gentlemen_pirates.htm

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Archaeology to Retain Our Self Image

I believe knowing our history helps us to retain our self-image. And especially as Black people, knowing we are ignorant of our history, should be prompted and inclined to search for it. So I Do! When studying I also believe one must keep an open mind, but consistently keep it founded upon line after line precept after precept.

I have been writing a workbook for children (gathering facts for like 4 years!) Information recently released (to us within last 100 years), regarding the excavations of tombs in Eqypt, is one of the topics I discuss, and it brings me to believe the study of archaeology should be noted as being very important…Most times, when I begin to study, I find the study of this information to be familiar and enlightening. We have been traditionally taught to believe that things from this region of the world were accursed; should not be touched or thought about and even broken. But did you know that these are the same symbols, instruments, tools, etc. that are used against our children in projected images through the current music, arts, culture. Original Natives of the land kept these burial sites holy and protected as long as they could. (The oral and written histories of many noted griots contain facts regarding some of the earliest of temple raidings.) There exists from these raidings, a vast array of instruments, paintings, jewelry, artificats, weapons etc. from as far back as 1500 BC (before the birth of Christ)! (for example, we show the children a common guitar, and compare it to one found in a tomb, that now sits in a museum.)

Do you think the study of this information could improve the quality of our lives now or ever throughout our generations? If so, why would Now, not be the right time to learn about and teach the true nature and origin of these facts and events to our children? (This video was fun to watch… 🙂

World Water Day – March 22

The U.N. designates March 22 as the day of the year when we spotlight the global safe water and sanitation issue and the collective efforts underway to get solutions to those struggling and in need.

Have you ever said, “I’m dying of thirst?”

If so, I bet you didn’t really mean it.

If you’re like me, you don’t spend too much time thinking about water — it’s everywhere we go. When we’re thirsty, we flip a handle or push a button. When we’re dirty, we twist a shower knob. When our garden needs watering, when our pasta needs to be boiled, when we use the bathroom — water is just there for the taking.

But for almost a billion people on the planet, it’s not. Millions of women and children have to walk hours each day to get water from muddy ponds and rivers. And much of that water is infested with bacteria, parasites or leeches.

When I learned that only $20 can give someone access to clean, safe water, I decided to start a campaign to help. My goal is to raise $5000. Black Women of Faith: Living Water Campaign will use 100% of the money to directly fund the water projects in the field. Even better, when the projects are complete, they’ll show us just where our money went. That’s right — we’ll be able to see the GPS coordinates, photos and other details about the community we’ve impacted!

I’ve never actually been dying of thirst. I’m sure we’d all like to see a world where no one does!

Just $20 can provide one person with clean, safe drinking water, and 100% of your donation will fund water project costs.

Donate Here… http://mycharitywater.org/urban-art-and-science-center

Water is essential to life. The United Nations estimates that nearly 1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. And the demand for fresh water doubles every 20 years, according to Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

March 22 was designated as World Water Day by the United Nations in 1993. The day focuses attention on the importance of clean water and promotes sustainable management of freshwater resources. The girls in this photo are in Ghana. The girl on the left holds a glass of drinking water purified by a household ceramic water filter. The girl on the right holds a glass of water that has not been filtered to remove disease-causing contaminants.

By March 22, 2013, We plan to raise enough money to help end this crisis. Please consider donating to help the Urban Art and Science Foundation to help us in supporting this cause.

http://mycharitywater.org/urban-art-and-science-center

The Immortal “HeLa” Cell’s Source is of a Black Woman named Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks
(August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951)

Once lived a woman whose cells continued to multiply themselves outside of her body, and even long after her death!

The woman was Henrietta Lacks, and her immortal cells—dubbed “HeLa”—have been essential in many of the great scientific discoveries of our time: curing polio; gene mapping; learning how cells work; developing drugs to treat cancer, herpes, leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, Parkinson’s disease, AIDS … and the list goes on and on (and on). If it deals with the human body and has been studied by scientists, odds are those scientists needed and used Lacks’ cells somewhere along the way. HeLa cells were even sent up to space on an unmanned satellite to determine whether or not human tissue could survive in zero gravity.

Lacks was an impoverished black woman who died on October 4, 1951 of cervical cancer at just 31 years old. During her cancer treatment, a doctor at Johns Hopkins took a sample of her tumor without her knowledge or consent and sent it over to a colleague of his, Dr. George Gey, who had been trying for 20 years, unsuccessfully, to grow human tissues from cultures. A lab assistant there, Mary Kubicek, discovered that Henrietta’s cells, unlike normal human cells, could live and replicate outside the body.

Go to just about any cell culture lab in the world and you’ll find billions of HeLa cells stored there. In contrast to normal human cells, which will die after a few replications, Lacks’ cells can live and replicate just fine outside of the human body (which is also unique among humans). Give her cells the nutrients they need to survive, and they will apparently live and replicate along forever, almost 60 years and counting since the first culture was taken. They can be frozen for literally decades and, when thawed, they’ll go right on replicating.

Before her cells were discovered and widely cultured, it was nearly impossible for scientists to reliably experiment on human cells and get meaningful results. Cell cultures that scientists were studying would weaken and die very quickly outside the human body. Lacks’ cells gave scientists, for the first time, a “standard” that they could use to test things on. HeLa cells can survive being shipped in the mail just fine, so scientists across the globe can use the same standard to test against.

Lacks died of uremic poisoning, in the segregated hospital ward for blacks, about 8 months after being diagnosed with cervical cancer, never knowing that her cells would become one of the most vital tools in modern medicine and would spawn a multi-billion dollar industry. She was survived by her husband and five children; the family lived in poverty for most of their lives, and didn’t find out about the fate of Lacks’ incredible cells until years later.

The Immortal “HeLa” Cell’s Source is of a Black Woman named Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks
(August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951)

Once lived a woman whose cells continued to multiply themselves outside of her body, and even long after her death!

The woman was Henrietta Lacks, and her immortal cells—dubbed “HeLa”—have been essential in many of the great scientific discoveries of our time: curing polio; gene mapping; learning how cells work; developing drugs to treat cancer, herpes, leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, Parkinson’s disease, AIDS … and the list goes on and on (and on). If it deals with the human body and has been studied by scientists, odds are those scientists needed and used Lacks’ cells somewhere along the way. HeLa cells were even sent up to space on an unmanned satellite to determine whether or not human tissue could survive in zero gravity.

Lacks was an impoverished black woman who died on October 4, 1951 of cervical cancer at just 31 years old. During her cancer treatment, a doctor at Johns Hopkins took a sample of her tumor without her knowledge or consent and sent it over to a colleague of his, Dr. George Gey, who had been trying for 20 years, unsuccessfully, to grow human tissues from cultures. A lab assistant there, Mary Kubicek, discovered that Henrietta’s cells, unlike normal human cells, could live and replicate outside the body.

Go to just about any cell culture lab in the world and you’ll find billions of HeLa cells stored there. In contrast to normal human cells, which will die after a few replications, Lacks’ cells can live and replicate just fine outside of the human body (which is also unique among humans). Give her cells the nutrients they need to survive, and they will apparently live and replicate along forever, almost 60 years and counting since the first culture was taken. They can be frozen for literally decades and, when thawed, they’ll go right on replicating.

Before her cells were discovered and widely cultured, it was nearly impossible for scientists to reliably experiment on human cells and get meaningful results. Cell cultures that scientists were studying would weaken and die very quickly outside the human body. Lacks’ cells gave scientists, for the first time, a “standard” that they could use to test things on. HeLa cells can survive being shipped in the mail just fine, so scientists across the globe can use the same standard to test against.

Lacks died of uremic poisoning, in the segregated hospital ward for blacks, about 8 months after being diagnosed with cervical cancer, never knowing that her cells would become one of the most vital tools in modern medicine and would spawn a multi-billion dollar industry. She was survived by her husband and five children; the family lived in poverty for most of their lives, and didn’t find out about the fate of Lacks’ incredible cells until years later.

Oprah Winfrey Preserves Henrietta Lacks Story in upcoming Mini Series.

The Truth Behind the Promise of “40 Acres and a Mule”

What happened to the “40 acres and a mule” that former slaves were promised? We’ve all heard the story of the “40 acres and a mule” promise to former slaves. It’s a staple of black history lessons.

The promise was the first systematic attempt to provide a form of reparations to newly freed slaves, and it was astonishingly radical for its time, proto-socialist in its  implications. In fact, such a policy would be radical in any country today: the federal government’s massive confiscation of private property — some 400,000 acres — formerly owned by Confederate land owners, and its methodical redistribution to former black slaves.

What most of us haven’t heard is that the idea really was generated by black leaders themselves. Try to imagine how profoundly different the history of race relations in the United States would have been had this policy been implemented and enforced; had the former slaves actually had access to the ownership of land, of property; if they had had a chance to be self-sufficient economically, to build, accrue and pass on wealth. After all, one of the principal promises of America was the possibility of average people being able to own land, and all that such ownership entailed. As we know all too well, this promise was not to be realized for the overwhelming majority of the nation’s former slaves, who numbered about 3.9 million.

What Exactly Was Promised?

We have been taught in school that the source of the policy of “40 acres and a mule” was Union General William T. Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15, issued on Jan. 16, 1865. (That account is half-right: Sherman prescribed the 40 acres in that Order, but not the mule. The mule would come later.) What many accounts leave out is that this idea for massive land redistribution actually was the result of a discussion that Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton held four days before Sherman issued the Order, with 20 leaders of the black community, in Savannah, Ga., where Sherman was headquartered following his famous March to the Sea.

The Three Relevant Sections of the 40 Acre and a Mule Order:

Section One: “The islands from Charleston, south, the abandoned rice fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. Johns river, Florida, are reserved and set apart for the settlement of the negroes [sic] now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States.”

Section Two:  (Specifies that these new communities, moreover, would be governed entirely by black people themselves) ” … on the islands, and in the settlements hereafter to be established, no white person whatever, unless military officers and soldiers detailed for duty, will be permitted to reside; and the sole and exclusive management of affairs will be left to the freed people themselves … By the laws of war, and orders of the President of the United States, the negro [sic] is free and must be dealt with as such.”

Section Three: (Specifies the allocation of land) ” … each family shall have a plot of not more than (40) acres of tillable ground, and when it borders on some water channel, with not more than 800 feet water front, in the possession of which land the military authorities will afford them protection, until such time as they can protect themselves, or until Congress shall regulate their title.”  

(See Entire Order Here http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/40acres/ps_so15.html)

With this Order, 400,000 acres of land — “a strip of coastline stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to the St. John’s River in Florida, including Georgia’s Sea Islands and the mainland thirty miles in from the coast,” as Barton Myers reports — would be redistributed to the newly freed slaves. The extent of this Order and its larger implications are mind-boggling, actually.

Who Came Up With the Idea?

Abolitionists Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens and other Radical Republicans had been actively advocating land redistribution “to break the back of Southern slaveholders’ power,” as Myers observed. But Sherman’s plan only took shape after the meeting that he and Stanton held with those black ministers, at 8:00 p.m., Jan. 12, on the second floor of Charles Green’s mansion on Savannah’s Macon Street. In its broadest strokes, “40 acres and a mule” was their idea.

Stanton, aware of the great historical significance of the meeting, presented Henry Ward Beecher (Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous brother) a verbatim transcript of the discussion, which Beecher read to his congregation at New York’s Plymouth Church and which the New York Daily Tribune printed in full in its Feb. 13, 1865, edition.

Stanton told Beecher that “for the first time in the history of this nation, the representatives of the government had gone to these poor debased people to ask them what they wanted for themselves.” Stanton had suggested to Sherman that they gather “the leaders of the local Negro community” and ask them something no one else had apparently thought to ask: “What do you want for your own people” following the war? And what they wanted astonishes us even today.

Who were these 20 thoughtful leaders who exhibited such foresight? They were all ministers, mostly Baptist and Methodist. Most curious of all to me is that 11 of the 20 had been born free in slave states, of which 10 had lived as free men in the Confederacy during the course of the Civil War. (The other one, a man named James Lynch, was born free in Maryland, a slave state, and had only moved to the South two years before.) The other nine ministers had been slaves in the South who became “contraband,” and hence free, only because of the Emancipation Proclamation, when Union forces liberated them. Their chosen leader and spokesman was a Baptist minister named Garrison Frazier, aged 67, who had been born in Granville, N.C., and was a slave until 1857, “when he purchased freedom for himself and wife for $1000 in gold and silver,” as the New York Daily Tribune reported.

Rev. Frazier had been “in the ministry for thirty-five years,” and it was he who bore the responsibility of answering the 12 questions that Sherman and Stanton put to the group. The stakes for the future of the Negro people were high. And Frazier and his brothers did not disappoint. What did they tell Sherman and Stanton that the Negro most wanted? Land! “The way we can best take care of ourselves,” Rev. Frazier began his answer to the crucial third question, “is to have land, and turn it and till it by our own labor … and we can soon maintain ourselves and have something to spare … We want to be placed on land until we are able to buy it and make it our own.” And when asked next where the freed slaves “would rather live — whether scattered among the whites or in colonies by themselves,” without missing a beat, Brother Frazier (as the transcript calls him) replied that “I would prefer to live by ourselves, for there is a prejudice against us in the South that will take years to get over … ” When polled individually around the table, all but one — James Lynch, 26, the man who had moved south from Baltimore — said that they agreed with Frazier. Four days later, Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15, after President Lincoln approved it.

What Became of the Land That Was Promised?

The response to the Order was immediate. When the transcript of the meeting was reprinted in the black publication Christian Recorder, an editorial note intoned that “From this it will be seen that the colored people down South are not so dumb as many suppose them to be,” reflecting North-South, slave-free black class tensions that continued well into the modern civil rights movement. The effect throughout the South was electric: As Eric Foner explains, “the freedmen hastened to take advantage of the Order.” Baptist minister Ulysses L. Houston, one of the group that had met with Sherman, led 1,000 blacks to Skidaway Island, Ga., where they established a self-governing community with Houston as the “black governor.” And by June, “40,000 freedmen had been settled on 400,000 acres of ‘Sherman Land.’ ” By the way, Sherman later ordered that the army could lend the new settlers mules; hence the phrase, “40 acres and a mule.”

And what happened to this astonishingly visionary program, which would have fundamentally altered the course of American race relations? Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor and a sympathizer with the South, overturned the Order in the fall of 1865, and, as Barton Myers sadly concludes, “returned the land along the South Carolina, Georgia and Florida coasts to the planters who had originally owned it” — to the very people who had declared war on the United States of America.

Adapted from Article Authored by Henry Louis Gates Jr. ( the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of website, The Root.)

Night of Abstinence to Recognize Women Who Suffer the Horrific Practice of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation)

February 6, 2013

Zero Tolerance Day originated on Feb. 6, 2003, when the first lady of Nigeria, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, officially declared “Zero Tolerance to FGM” in Africa during a conference organized by the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children, a nongovernmental network headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since then, this day has been observed around the world. As we commemorate Feb. 6, we should acknowledge the bravery of those who first spoke out against it and the recent hard-won successes. We must also recognize the still-overwhelming challenges, and those leaders who are continuing to work on the front lines to make change.

Progress has been made in recent years in reducing the incidence of female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C), largely because communities and families are taking action and calling for change. However an estimated 120 to 140 million women have been subject to this harmful and dangerous practice and 3 million girls continue to be at risk each year. The practice persists because it is sustained by social perceptions, including that girls and their families will face shame, social exclusion and diminished marriage prospects if they forego cutting. These perceptions can, and must, change.

FGM/C poses immediate and long-term consequences for the health of women and girls, and violates their human rights.

Success in reducing the incidence in several countries where it was once highly prevalent has occurred as a result of culturally sensitive engagement with local communities, encouraging change from within. Where communities have chosen to make public declarations against the practice, for example in Senegal, declines of up to 65 per cent have been recorded.

Support is being provided by UNFPA, UNICEF and other partners for community-led abandonment programmes. The programmes engage parliamentarians, media, traditional communicators, women lawyers, medical associations, religious leaders and scholars to speak out against the practice.

The International Day against Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, provides an opportunity for people everywhere to redouble their efforts and end this harmful practice within a generation.

UNFPA, UNICEF and its partners will continue to work for the achievement of this important goal, and to advance gender equality and improve sexual and reproductive health.

February 6, 2013

Pastor Kelley Steele Shares Insight on Obtaining a Positive Self-Image

Pastor Kelley Steele of Kingdom in the Valley Ministries

Our Future Begins Here, With Our Children

The tragic statistics our communities suffer from, holds onto our children in its numbers. But, this community is destined to reverse its fate!

The Community Enrichment Program (CEP), directed by Kathryn

McKinney, is determined to alleviate the community of its projected failure, and replace it with its purposed future. The Rose Terrace Apartments, a HUD Community in Avondale, Arizona, was on the verge of losing its summer lunch program, due to lack of participation, when Mckinney stepped in, and began implementation of an eight week curriculum created to instill hope, service, and faith in the  parents and children.

The CEP is a summer academic and activity based program that interweaves history, culture, discipline, manners, goal setting, higher education, and commitment throughout i

 

t’s curriculum.  This program reaches an average of 50 students per day, providing lunch to its participants, and instruction in the week’s activities.

The curriculum is a conglomerate of Black and National Histories, focusing on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Emancipation Proclamation. It also focuses on Current Events, Careers, and Writing. Since the induction of this program, others have taken in some of the action! The Athletic Advantage Association, and the Phoenix Youth Football Association has added this site to their roster, with the inclusion of deeply discounted rates for our children. This CEP has also created a co-ed Performing Drill/Dance/Step team hosting acclaimed name,  “The Southwest Show Steppers”.  Some of the exceptional children of this site, have formed a Journalism Club, and will feature their own articles in their online newspaper for Children named, The New Black Citizen.

The CEP, is open to all children and is held each weekday, from 1-4 pm, at the Rose Terrace Activity Center in the urban area of Avondale, Arizona. Join Us!