
Beyonce performed Etta’s signature song, “At Last” at President Obama’s inauguration in 2009, laying claim to the tune James relied on to make a living. James told an audience shortly after that that Obama “is not my president” and “that woman he had singing for him, singing my song … she’s going to get her ass whipped.”

“We must call for, agitate for and, if all else fails, create a new popular movement that struggles to break this caste system once and for all.” Mumia Abu-Jamal addresses the “Imprisonment of a Race” Conference at Princeton University.

What is so striking about this film is its living history lessons, the love and admiration for each other that Yuri Kochiyama and Angela Y. Davis share, women with big hearts who have endured personal suffering and survived. Yuri is gracious and fiery and so is Angela.

Happy Birthday, Mumia Abu Jamal! On Wanda’s Picks Radio, we are celebrating Mumia Abu Jamal’s birthday and his new book, “Jailhouse Lawyers,” with an introduction by Angela Davis.

“Love on Both Sides of the Wall: A Two Way Struggle” plays at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek April 17-18, 6:45 p.m. The production is topnotch, the story of the forgotten Children of the Movement.

Dressed in black leotards, Jetaun Maxwell, dancer-choreographer, has a red ribbon, a strip of cloth representing the blood, the noose and rein society places on girls who seek freedom. – from Wanda’s review of “Invisible Womb”
Introduced by Lawrence Fishburne, this music video brings together 16 of the world’s top musicians — some of whom have fled oppressive regimes — in a rousing musical plea to guarantee human rights for all. The track, donated by Aterciopelados and arranged by fusion music guru Andres Levin, combines the voices of Stephen Marley, Angelique [...]

As President Nelson Mandela said of Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba, this week: “Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and dislocation, which she felt for 31 long years. At the same time, her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us.”