Expressing gratitude

If Black lives truly matter … then Afrikans deserve reparations!

by Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at

6257 KMT/December 2017 JC-PG

Greetings of IMANI (FAITH) Esteemed G-o-ds, Co-ConSPIRITors and Youthful Leaders,

As always, I hope our Divine Mother-Father Creator of and in All – and Beloved Ancestors from yesteryear and yesterday – find you and (y)our extended Family in healing Spirit.

Hugo-Chavez-Robert-Mugabe-embrace-2004, Expressing gratitude, Culture Currents
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was close friends and allies with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Muammar Qaddafi of Libya, Nelson Mandela of South Africa and many other legendary world leaders.

As I complete this column, the situation in our continental African nation of Zimbabwe is growing evermore intense. Our Elder, Baba, Freedom Fighter and President Robert Mugabe has been forced to “resign” – and removed from his democratically-elected office by that nation’s military and the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) leaders – in an apparent coup.

WE are extremely saddened by these developments and will have more to say in the coming weeks and months once receiving news from our colleagues on the ground there. However the truth shakes out, WE express our immense Gratitude to Baba Mugabe for his decades of leadership and sacrifice in our movements to liberate and secure Reparations for African people. FREE THE LAND … IN ZIMBABWE AND ALL OF AFRIKA AND OUR DIASPORA! REPARATIONS SASA (NOW)!

Colin-Kaepernick-honored-by-AIM-spiritual-leader-Fred-Short-w-eagle-feathers-speaks-Indigenous-Peoples-Sunrise-Gathering-Alcatraz-112317-by-Christopher-Burquez-Native-News-Online-1, Expressing gratitude, Culture Currents
AIM spiritual leader Fred Short, surrounded by a huge crowd at the Indigenous People’s Sunrise Gathering at Alcatraz on Nov. 23, 2017, honored Colin Kaepernick, presenting him with eagle feathers Short had carried with him for 39 years, and invited him to speak. Kaepernick, whose shirt bears an image of Sitting Bull, told the crowd: “I realize that our fight for our justice, for our freedom, and realizing that we’re in this fight together makes it all the more powerful.” – Photo: Christopher Burquez, Native News Online

With Gratitude, and in the Spirit of FREE(ING) THE LAND, WE are always pleased to support our Indigenous nations who host us on these lands known as Turtle Island. This year, white-balled NFL player Brother Colin Kaepernick humbly stood at our annual Sacred Sunrise UN-Thanksgiving Ceremony, led by the International Indian Treaty Council and American Indian Movement-West, on Alcatraz island.

And, the day after, on so-called “Black Friday,” WE did our yearly remembrance of Ancestors by encouraging residents to resist shopping at the Bay Street Mall in Emeryville, which is built on an Ohlone sacred burial ground and desecrated shell-mounds. Asé.

This-is-Ohlone-Land-annual-Black-Friday-protest-Bay-Street-Mall-built-on-shellmound-burial-ground-Emeryville-111717-by-Jahahara-Amen-RA-Alkebulan-Ma’at-web-300x225, Expressing gratitude, Culture Currents
Every Black Friday, Indigenous activists and their allies protest to discourage shoppers at Emeryville’s Bay Street Mall, built despite massive protest on a very sacred site, a huge shellmound burial ground of the Ohlone, the original people of the Bay Area. One sign says, “Shop in your own cemetery.” – Photo: Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at

WE also express our fondest Gratitude to Baba Willie and Mama Mary Ratcliff for their continuing Gift of publishing this San Francisco Bay View vehicle. This has been an extremely difficult period for the Bay View as the human and financial costs to produce and distribute the paper broadly, inside and outside the walls, continue to rise … while the revenue and hands on deck have not been as steady.

WE hope you will generously include the Bay View during this season of giving by sending us your stories, taking out an ad, offering your skills as a volunteer and providing a subscription for yourself or one of our incarcerated relatives.

With that said, WE also share our deepest respect and appreciation to our outgoing Editor-in-Chief Baba Troy Williams, who has been called to focus on leading other critical efforts for justice and illumination. It is our hope that Baba Troy will keep our readers abreast of his righteous activities and enlightening viewpoints through these pages in the coming months and years.

Please visit us online at www.sfbayview.com, contact us at editor@sfbayviewnews.wpenginepowered.com and make your contributions at sfbayview.com/support, by phone at 415-671-0789 or by mail to 4917 Third St., San Francisco, CA 94124. Asé.

Baba-Jahahara-speaks-at-NCOBRA-FONAMI-ANSWERs-Stand-Up-for-Africa-at-Human-Rights-obelisk-UN-Plaza-SF-2011-web-300x225, Expressing gratitude, Culture Currents
Baba Jahahara speaks at Stand Up for Africa, a demonstration in 2011 sponsored by N’COBRA, FONAMI and the ANSWER Coalition, in front of the Human Rights obelisk at U.N. Plaza in San Francisco, the birthplace of the United Nations.

Moving forward, I hope you will also consider lending your support to several of my own faves, as the youth say. In particular, you should become a member and help build our National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) by visiting http://www.ncobraonline.org/; consistently correspond with one or more of our hundreds of political leaders and revolutionary activists who have been wrongfully incarcerated and/or forced into exile for decades through our Jericho Amnesty Movement at http://www.thejerichomovement.com/; support the newly-established National African American Reparations Commission initiated by the Institute of the Black World (IBW) at https://ibw21.org/category/initiative-posts/naarc-posts/; and purchase and order your African-centered-and-produced Gifts, books, music, posters, cards and more through Marcus (Garvey) Books, the oldest Black-owned bookstore in the usa. Visit in person at 3900 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Way in Oakland (just two blocks from the MacArthur BART station) or online at http://marcusbooksoakland.com/.

Finally, on 10 December, WE advocates for truth and justice worldwide will mark 69 years since the adoption of the United Nations’ monumental “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” I would be extremely grateful if you (re-)read, reflected and shared your remarks on this document as it relates to our current condition by going to http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/.

Looking forward to communicating with you. Amen-RA Hotep. Asé.

#Black Lives Matter #AfricansDeserveReparations #LoveandDefendMotherEarth

Jahahara is a Baba (Father), a “FREE-tired” community-labor-environmental and justice organizer, writer, musician and author of several books, including “Many Paths to Kujichagulia (Self-Determination).” Check samples of his musical catalog at https://soundcloud.com/search?q=jahahara. Reach him at www.africansdeservereparations.com or FONAMI, P.O. Box 10963, Oakland, CA 94610 usa.