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‘Oakville’ filmmaker Lisbon Okafor speaks
March 27, 2013
“Oakville” is a look at the interactions between an Oakland-based Black couple and a white couple as Barack Obama is selected to be the first acknowledged Black U.S. president in the history of the country. Check out “Oakville” filmmaker Lisbon Okafor in his own words. You can see “Oakville” at the Oakland International Film Fest on Saturday, April 6, 1 p.m., at the New Parkway Theater, 474 24th St. in Oakland.
The CDCr-CCPOA lying game: Prisoners united, women and men, know the truth
February 28, 2013
The CDCr are masters at pulling the wool over the eyes of the California taxpayers, activist organizations, civil and human rights organizations, religious institutions, prisoners, men and women, and state and federal courts. Their blatant disregard for the truth is rooted in their drive to build the California sector of the prison industrial slave complex.
10 things you didn’t know about Rosa Parks
February 21, 2013
Feb. 4, 2013, marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rosa Louise MaCauley Parks in Tuskegee, Alabama. Parks was born in the segregated South, where African Americans were subjected to daily humiliations aimed at maintaining the system of exploitation and national oppression which grew out of slavery and the failure of reconstruction.
10 things you should know about slavery and won’t learn at ‘Django’
February 4, 2013
Much hullabaloo has been made recently about slavery as entertainment in movies like “Django Unchained.” But lost in the discussion is slavery as history. Though sadistic and macabre, the plain truth is that slavery was an unprecedented economic juggernaut whose impact is still lived by each of us daily. Here’s my top-10 list of things everyone should know about the economic roots of slavery.
Martin, money and movies: ‘Django’ and ‘Lincoln’ remind us reparations should not be ‘Gone With the Wind’
January 21, 2013
On the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it comes to mind that from day one our society and culture have been heavily influenced by film. The recent slavery-related films, “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg, and “Django Unchained,” directed by Quentin Tarantino, will have a social, economic and psychological impact.
Build a movement to close solitary confinement
January 18, 2013
You may think that you know something about solitary, but you don’t. You may have a loved one in prison who has experienced it and told you about it. But still I say, you don’t know it. For, as you know the word torture, you don’t know how it feels. For solitary is torture. State torture. Official torture. Government sanctioned torture.
The legend of Lincoln unchained
December 30, 2012
Just as organizations like the NAACP denounced conservative-revisionist textbooks in Texas in 2010, they should denounce liberal-bent historical accounts that either ignorantly or deliberately fail to concede that “Abraham Lincoln did the right thing for the wrong reasons.” Or as Lerone Bennett aptly conveyed in the title of his book, Lincoln was in effect “Forced Into Glory.”
From slavery to suicide
December 22, 2012
A common denominator among individuals who commit suicide is a traumatic event and/or long-term torment which can result in psychosis. If left untreated, it can lead to suicidal thoughts with the intent to end the internal distress and anguish. This same diagnostic assessment is equally applicable to mass suicide.
A Harriet Tubman Christmas story: an interview with ‘Go Tell It!’ playwright Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu
December 5, 2012
Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu’s theatrical piece centers around the story of Harriet Tubman rescuing her brothers from slavery during Christmas-time. “Go Tell It!” paints a picture of what is was like for men who lived through slavery their whole lives getting word from their runaway sister Black Moses, that she was coming to put them on the Underground Railroad to freedom in the North.
Cynthia McKinney on leadership
October 26, 2012
Recently, I had an opportunity to speak with Cynthia McKinney, and I asked her about leadership. She replied that at the local level in the Black communities, there is leadership. It no longer gets media coverage, but it is there. Real leaders are those with the courage to dissent and to resist. It is the act of resistance that transforms an elected person into a leader.
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.
We need the Bay View like a fish needs water
July 13, 2012
What we input into our minds determines our outlook and eventually determines our output. That’s the problem with today’s generation. We are simply inputting the wrong type of information into our precious brains. We need the Bay View like a fish needs water. I can’t over emphasize the importance of having knowledge.
Two little girls rescue Frederick Douglass
December 20, 2011
Will two little girls from the future manage to save Frederick Douglass and his mission to ensure the emancipation of millions of enslaved Africans? If all children read and discuss this book, racial justice will be achievable as soon as they are old enough to lead. This is a book that will light up the life of every child.
Samba Funk: an interview wit’ Artistic Director Theo Aytchan Williams
December 17, 2011
Let the JOY begin: SambaFunk! Celebration of JOY is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 17, at Vitus Oakland, 201 Broadway at Second Street and Jack London Square, Oakland. The Funkquarians will be performing with special guests and local dj’s Henroc and Sake 1. Realign and refocus; tap into your inner power!
From Harlem to the United Nations: Hands off Africa and Africans worldwide!
August 17, 2011
Thousands of people stood in unity at the Millions March in Harlem on Malcolm X Boulevard and 110th Street in Harlem, New York, on Saturday, Aug.13, to make the demand, “U.S. / NATO HANDS OFF AFRICA AND HANDS OFF AFRICAN PEOPLE!”
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned: An interview with the mother of Kenneth Harding
July 27, 2011
Kenny was a real happy person. He had a beautiful spirit. He loved his mom. He was really into music and underground rap and really liked most of the local Bay Area underground artists – people from Hunters Point and Fillmore. Now that the police in San Francisco have killed Kenny, we’re going through a lot with the police in Seattle. They brought out the SWAT team to my home for nothing. The police said that my son was a piece of trash and that he got what he deserved. I don’t think nobody deserves to be killed in the fashion that my son was.
The 4th of You Lie: An EnDepenDance and Be Truly Free Poem
July 2, 2011
Invariably around this time of the year, the Fourth of July, you’re likely to hear somebody talking about how great this country is. And it is, but so was the Third Reich.
Africa for the Africans: U.S.-Euro forces out of Libya and Cote d’Ivoire
April 23, 2011
“All of our institutions have failed us if they do not use their power and act against this crime against humanity being carried out in Africa today. I received a call this morning from an Ivorian friend who calls it genocide what Sarkozy’s troops are doing there. Blood, blood, everywhere. Depleted uranium in Libya. Generations to come will suffer the health effects. We must try to stop President Obama. He has the power to say no. So far, he is good at saying yes to all the wrong people. So we must do more than we think we can. Anything less places more blood on everyone’s hands.” – Cynthia McKinney
Pierre Labossiere on welcoming Aristide home to Haiti
April 10, 2011
“I was at his (President Aristide’s) house, we heard a roar of shouts of joy, and then over the walls people started coming in, pouring into the courtyard of the house when they saw the car. People were accompanying the car as many as three miles from the airport to his house,” relates Pierre Labossiere of the jubilant welcome that greeted the Aristides on their return to Haiti ending seven long years of exile for them and brutal repression of the people they had to leave behind. Pierre tells the story of the Haitian people and how their never-say-die spirit continues to inspire the world.
New slavery
April 10, 2011
A felony conviction for a Black offender is a life sentence. It is a sentence to the underclass for life. Who is going to hire a Black man who is a felon? Felons can’t vote. They have no rights. They are locked into the underclass for life.