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Black radio, Black power!
May 11, 2013
Raise your voice and the voices of our people – the voice of truth. Until we get the big mikes, we gotta hit a lot of little mikes. Bring back the doo woppers on street corners and concerned citizens speaking on footstools like Malcolm and Black New Yorkers used to do in the ‘60s – and even today. Support your local poetry, spoken word and open mike scenes where – at least there – we still have a voice.
Cynthia McKinney wins hearts and minds on California tour
May 9, 2013
Cynthia McKinney’s fundraiser tour for the SF Bay View was a huge success up and down California, hitting San Diego, Los Angeles, Oakland and Santa Rosa. The tour, which was titled “Latin America, Africa, and Obama,” coincided with the release of McKinney’s second book, “Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom,” an autobiography about her years as a six-term Congress member from Georgia.
Claudia Jones: African-Caribbean Communist defied racism, sexism and class oppression
February 23, 2013
“Claudia Jones: Beyond Containment” (2011) is a collection of writings by Jones herself. The book makes a tremendous contribution to the literature on left, feminist and Pan-African struggles during the 20th century. A new generation of activists and organizers will benefit immensely from Jones’ writings on the most pressing and burning issues of the period.
Black history maker Esther Cooper Jackson 1917-
February 7, 2013
Esther Cooper Jackson, born in Arlington, Virginia, graduated from Ohio’s Oberlin College, received her MA degree in sociology from Fisk University, then remarkably turned down a scholarship offer to Chicago University to earn a PhD to relocate to Birmingham, Ala., where she became the organizational secretary for the Southern Negro Youth Congress.
‘Call Mr. Robeson’: an interview wit’ thespian Tayo Aluko
February 1, 2013
Tayo Aluko, a Nigerian born thespian from Britain, wrote a play about the great revolutionary thinker, artist and activist Paul Robeson, who “has been almost completely written out of history,” called “Call Mr. Robeson: A Life, With Songs,” which he will perform Feb. 24 at the East Bay Center for Performing Arts in Richmond and Feb. 28 and March 1 at the Theatre on San Pedro Square in San Jose.
Vote ‘United for Community Radio’ for the KPFA Local Station Board
November 18, 2012
It is time for all the staff and listeners to embrace the democratic victory that was won for us in legal and street battles of 1999-2001 and by the people who formed the original “Save KPFA” in the mid-1990s. KPFA was not sold from under us, and thanks to their efforts, it never will be. It is time to bring peace to KPFA and Pacifica and help strengthen this priceless resource.
Black president, preachers, politicians and people MIA on Black issues?
September 30, 2012
The Black community is in a world of trouble. And President Obama alone cannot fix it. This is where real leadership is needed: real, un-bought, unbiased leadership. Black America’s biggest challenge, truth be told, is itself. And Black pastors are at the center of the issue. If we can get our leaders to the table – political, business, academic and community – we could create our own salvation.
Mumia, the long distance revolutionary: an interview wit’ documentary producers Stephen Vittoria and Noelle Hanrahan
September 28, 2012
“Long Distance Revolutionary,” the new documentary about political prisoner and prolific writer Mumia Abu Jamal, will have its international premiere in the Bay Area on Oct. 6 and 8 at the Mill Valley Film Festival. There have been a number of documentaries done about the case of Mumia Abu Jamal, but this one puts his life at the center of the discussion.
Wanda’s Picks for June 2012
June 3, 2012
I would like to wish all the fathers a blessed and happy Fathers’ Day 2012. It is a hard time to be a parent of a youngster, not to mention an adolescent or youth. The challenges are great, in direct proportion to the rewards. I’d like to congratulate the young fathers who are stepping up and participating in their children’s lives, especially when society equates parenting with one’s largess or paycheck.
Cynthia McKinney: Justice for Trayvon Martin also means joining the international struggle against U.S. lawlessness
March 31, 2012
As the mother of a young Black man whom I pray for nightly and worry daily about his life being violently ended senselessly either by someone marginalized by the unjust social structure of U.S. life or by some rogue officer of the law or one pretending to be a policeman, I offer my sincerest condolences to the Martin family and friends over the loss of their son Trayvon.
Racism, white privilege in the 99%: If not now, when do we address it?
November 15, 2011
Is the Occupy Movement against slavery, or is it that some people are just mad because they never get to hold the whip? Do you not see racism? Can you see it in this movement? Where is the support for justice for Raheim Brown in Oakland and Kenneth Harding in San Francisco?
Nov. 8: The control and power of your vote
November 5, 2011
Though we have witnessed our leaders and family members being killed, tortured and brutalized as they fought for their civil liberties, we cannot give up the fight by not voting. People have died so you could do so. Of the 16 running mates for mayor, only Public Defender Jeff Adachi has placed his money where his mouth is.
Rethinking Malcolm: What was Marable thinking?
July 8, 2011
The new book by Manning Marable, “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention,” will help us to get a deeper understanding of Malcolm X and the times we’re living in now. This will not be a direct result of what Marable has done, but rather of what needs to happen now because of what he has done.
Wanda’s Picks for July 2011
June 29, 2011
A number of trees have fallen in the forest this past month and we want to acknowledge the huge spaces their absence brings: Geronimo ji jaga Pratt, Black Panther, decorated veteran of multiple wars …
A letter to the late great Gil Scott Heron
June 4, 2011
Ever since I became aware of your music and revolutionary message, your work has moved me. Spiritually, you had the gift to make us experience what you were experiencing. It was like you could put the movie you were singing about on the projectors of our minds.
Malcolm and the music
May 19, 2011
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X), born 86 years ago on May 19, 1925, was loved by the oppressed and hated by the oppressors. Our “Black Shining Prince,” in the words of Ossie Davis, aimed to “use whatever means necessary to bring about a society in which the 22 million Afro-Americans are recognized and respected as human beings.” His influence is immeasurable – from music to foreign policy to religion. Today Islam, followed then by very few, is the second largest religion in the United States and Canada.
Dedication to Dr. Margaret Burroughs
December 20, 2010
Dr. Margaret Burroughs, poet and activist, teacher in schools and prisons, and founder of the internationally renowned DuSable Museum, passed Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010. She is remembered by Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. of the Prisoners of Conscience Committee.
Good Americans: The dark side of the Pullman Porters Union
September 6, 2010
As we celebrate the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, America’s first African America labor union, let us not forget that African American rail workers were instrumental in organizing not only the sleeping and chair car porters, but the dining car workers as well.
Dignity and rage, dignity and freedom
July 14, 2010
On the 8th of July, 2010, the people of the world took to the streets of Oakland to make our displeasure felt at the non-verdict delivered to the killer cop who assassinated Ancestor-Warrior Spirit Oscar Grant III in cold blood on a BART platform a year and a half ago, 1 January 2009. And it wasn’t “outside agitators” who consistently outflanked and outmanned the so-called finest of several different police departments – most of whom were definitely from outside of Oakland. It was thousands and thousands of us who don’t have shit. It was the lumpen proletariat that George Jackson spoke of.
Paul, the magnificent: Tribute by Mumia Abu-Jamal on Paul Robeson’s birthday
April 9, 2010
I regard Paul Robeson as my hero and one of the greatest men who has ever lived. His words have a relevance that continues to inspire us, decades after his utterance. Of his art, he said: “[It] is a weapon in the struggle for my people’s freedom and for the freedom of all people.”