Monthly Archives: September 2015

Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney writes that this statement, found after Dedon Kamathi’s death earlier this month, is a “letter that Dedon wrote in the case of his demise during the trip that he and I took together to Syria while it was under attack from U.S. imperial forces. This letter, I believe, is critical to understand who Dedon was and how committed he was to his community. He was ready to give his life for his beliefs and for us.”

The social worker phoned. “We’re taking custody of Chris and Michael.” The boys were transferred to foster care in Oakland. The irony of this institutional child theft was that, after four months living off-island, despite a heavy fast food diet, the boys got better. Their stomach aches and painful constipation slowly dissipated. For Liz, the common denominator was that they were not drinking polluted island water. When they returned, so did their stomach aches.

“Asni,” a documentary about the legendary, controversial and provocative Ethiopian musician and actress who was at her height in the ‘50s-‘60s in Addis Abba, Asnaketch Worku, will be screening on Friday, Sept. 25, 8-10 p.m., Starline Social Club, located at 645 W. Grand Ave. in Oakland. Check out filmmaker Rachel Samuels as she speaks on her majestic cinematic portrait of the great Ethiopian musician and thespian Asknaketch Worku.

Treasure Island resident Liz Washington and her children exhibit many of the most serious toxic mold symptoms rampant among all islanders who constantly touch, ingest or breathe air filled with black mold spores. After moving to Treasure Island, everyone in the Washington family began to endure year ‘round swollen lymph nodes, sinus infections, nose and throat irritation, phlegm, runny noses, coughing spells and colds. Liz recently battled short-term acute bronchitis.

Supporters of suspended Goucher College French Professor Léopold Munyakazi are urgently trying to stop his deportation to Rwanda because they feel it would lead to his imprisonment, torture and/or death. The Rwandan government accused Professor Munyakazi of genocide after he made several speeches in which he said that the Rwandan massacres that took place between 1990 and 1994 were not genocide.

Since 2000, when the family moved to the island, everyone has been plagued by mild to severe respiratory and gastrointestinal problems that they believe are caused by island pollution. These illnesses, however, have given Child Protective Services a pretext for repeatedly taking Liz’ children and placing them in foster care, accusing this devoted mother of dereliction in her child-rearing.

Dedon Kamathi, a former Black Panther and Central Committee member of the All African Peoples Revolutionary Party, passed away at the end of August after suffering a stroke. I first spoke with Dedon way back in the 1980s when I was arranging to bring Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) to speak in my then hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii. Dedon was one of the first revolutionary Black internationalists I was to get to know and work with, and his loss hit me hard.

Mrs. Karima Al-Amin speaks on the attempt to execute her husband and legal client Imam Jamil Al-Amin through medical neglect while he is a political prisoner. He has a series of conditions that have not been treated adequately while he is unjustly imprisoned. Imam Jamil was formerly known as the revolutionary H. Rap Brown. His contributions to Black history are priceless. And his family and congregation need him back home in Georgia. Free Imam Jamil! Free ‘em all!

Now that the California Apartment Association (CAA) has blocked the implementation of renters’ protections, including rent control and just cause eviction protections, in Richmond, thousands of renters are at risk of being severely exploited with massive rent increases. Additionally, thousands more are now at risk of displacement and homelessness due to no-cause evictions.

One of the fathers of political Hip Hop on the West Coast is still at ‘em and getting ready to strike again with the Sept. 11 Guerrilla Funk release of “Pistol Politics.” The rapper Paris’ career has survived through three generations of political Hip Hop. Paris has been and still remains at the front line of revolutionary culture that actually makes it to average everyday people in the streets.

Fighting has continued in South Sudan’s oil rich Upper Nile State despite the peace agreement signed on Aug. 26. Since December 2013, South Sudan’s brutal civil war has cost more thousands of lives than anyone can accurately estimate and displaced 2.25 million people. I spoke to Syracuse University Professor Dr. Horace Campbell about what it would take to demilitarize South Sudan and give peace a chance after so many years of war.

On the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, government officials and first responders continue to lack the ability to plan for emergency situations. San Quentin State Prison, California’s oldest prison, is still on a virtual lockdown – or “modified program” – as normal programs for all inmates have ceased since Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, after “one confirmed case of Legionnaires’ disease” was discovered, Warden Ron Davis’ Aug. 27 bulletin said.

On Tuesday, Sept. 8, 7:30 p.m., the San Francisco Museum and History Society presents historian Bill Doggett on “San Francisco, World War II and African Americans”; his family lived and made much of that history. The program is in the Milton Marks Auditorium of the State Building, 455 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco. Join us Tuesday night, Sept. 8, for an evening of remembrance and education.

On Sept. 19-20, 2015, The Seventh Annual One Love One Heart Reggae Music Festival will be going down at Camp Pollock in Sacramento, featuring headliners Everton Blender, Big Mountain, Pato Baton, Sister Carol, Pablo Moses and more. This is one of my favorite Reggae festivals in Northern California, and it is organized by one of my favorite people in the Reggae community, Denise Carter.

According to an email from a political prisoner at USP Canaan, the federal prison where Imam Jamil (H. Rap Brown) is held, the imam's jaw is swollen to at least twice its normal size, and he is in a lot of pain. A family member had confirmed the bad news. Please call or fax USP Canaan and ask – demand – that Imam Jamil be given immediate adequate medical attention. The phone number is 570-488-8000.

It’s been 10 years since the watery carnage of Katrina, and one year since the fiery rage lit the night skies of Ferguson, Missouri, and between the two harrowing events lay the state of Black America isolated, demonized and damned. When the levees broke and the rushing waters of Hurricane Katrina swept into the wards of New Orleans, the 9th Ward – the Blackest ward – received the greatest damage, and the least relief.

Directed and performed by Dr. Ayodele Nzinga and The Lower Bottom Playaz, “King Hedley II” is the ninth of the late Afrikan playwright August Wilson’s American Century Cycle, a 10-play docudrama of Afrikan life in the U.S. during the 20th century. This all Afrikan theatre company is on its way to performing the cycle in its entirety, a feat unparalleled in world history, and delivers a riveting performance. Hurry! The play closes Sunday.

“Akiti the Hunter” is a beautifully crafted piece of children’s literature that is available at Barnes & Noble nationally. This classic story of a young African superhero who is strong mentally and physically is retold by Denise Bolaji Ajayi Williams and illustrated by Anthony Mata. My 3-year-old was fixated on the colorful and striking drawings that brought this well written story to life.

Aisha Fukushima is one of the most internationally traveled artists now on the scene in the Bay behind the legendary Hip Hop independent gurus Hiero. Her blend of Hip Hop, Soul, Jazz, Spoken Word and international sounds is a deviation from the assembly line Hip Hop that is trending right now in Cali and across the country. More importantly, she is a raptivist, an activist who uses rhyming to get her message out.

West Coast pioneering MC Tajai of Souls of Mischief and Hieroglyphics, who can be on heard on Hip Hop classics like “93 til Infinity,” the debut classic of Souls of Mischief, and “One Life, One Love” on the “3rd Eye Vision” Hiero album, where he traded verses with his Hiero brothas Del and Casual over a Dj Toure-produced soundscape. Tajai in this interview talks about the Hiero Day Hip Hop Festival in Oakland, which is coming up on Monday, Sept. 7.