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If Black lives truly matter … then Afrikans deserve reparations!
by Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at
6258 KMT January-February 2018 JC-PG
Greetings of IMANI (FAITH) Mighty G-o-ds, Co-conSPIRITors and Leaders,
May our Divine Mother-Father Creator of and in All – and esteemed Ancestors from yesteryear and yesterday – find you and (y)our extended family healing in mind, body and Spirit. Despite our many challenges, WE hope you were able to experience some justice, peace, joy and love during the HOLYdays, “New Year” and Reclaim Reverend Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. commemorations.
As it is always our duty to remember and honor our beloved predecessors – as you and i would want to be acknowledged – WE give special shout-outs to several Souls who have made their Spiritual transformations recently: Rev. Dr. JAMES HESTER HARGETT, a close colleague of Rev. Dr. MLK JR. and a significant contributor to our Reparations efforts in Chicago and southern California; PAT HILL, a great Reparationist and a fierce leader in the brave Chicago’s Afro-American Patrolman’s League; Azania’s (South Afrika’s) great musician and freedom fighter HUGH MASEKELA; PAMELA “Pam the Funkstress” WARREN, chef as well as DJ extraordinaire for the Coup (led by Raymond “Boots” Riley) and PRINCE; legendary gospel composer and singer EDWIN HAWKINS; cousin AUNDRE ARMSTRONG (brother of Oakland Oaks basketball superstar and ABA champion WARREN (ARMSTRONG) JABALI; and, a number of my high school and university classmates (including HAROLD WAYNE LIPSCOMB, STEPHEN WELCH, LATONYA WELCH, RONALD PASCHAL, DENISE SILVERS, ANDRE SPEARS, PAUL CHASE and RONALD “SPEEDY” LEWIS. Long Live the Spirits of these incredible and accomplished Brothers and Sisters! Asé. Amen-RA Hotep.
*****
“They smile in our faces
All the time they’re plotting to take our homes (away from us)
They are the dangerous ‘gentrificators’.”
With great respect, WE express our sincere Gratitude to everyone who has inquired about, or offered their support during, our nearly two year personal battle to maintain housing. This includes outstanding community action groups like Causa Justa/Just Cause and Eviction Defense Center; as well as City Attorney Barbara Parker and her staff at the City of Oakland, key media outlets (like this San Francisco Bay View newspaper) and my own personal attorneys. While WE have been forced into homelessness for the past eleven months, WE will continue to challenge the system to be righteous in not only our family’s struggle; but, through supporting the cases of tens of thousands of long-time residents unjustly displaced and forced out of their homes and neighborhoods around Oakland, the Bay Area and beyond. Land and housing is a humane right for All; not a privilege and a way to reap more profits for the monied interests! Asé. Amen.
As WE see it, these latest efforts to “re-develop” and “gentrify” our cities – from San Francisco to Oakland, Harlem to Chicago and beyond – are a continuation of the centuries-long horrific wars of mass genocide perpetrated by European capitalism, European (white) nationalism and the false doctrines of European (white) “superiority” and racist terrorism.
First they came to rob, colonize and enslave the nearby Alkebulan/Afrika and its nations, civilizations and abundant natural resources and high levels of spiritual, human, intellectual and physical development on our Mother-Father continent. Next, they came for, and used the most vicious means, to almost completely wipe out the Indigenous nations and cultures of Turtle Island. To add insult to their terrorism they re-named these lands the “americas” after one of their own (the Italian Amerigo Vesppuci), “jamestown,” “washington,” “oakland,” “san francisco,” “new amsterdam,” “new york,” “georgia,” “port-au-prince,” etc. Then, they sought to dominate the entire planet with themes like “from sea to shining sea,” “our back-yard,” “exceptionalism” and “the sun never sets on the empire(s).” In their wake, WE can chronicle deadly wave after deadly wave of destruction: of billons of human lives destroyed; of accumulated wisdom, cultural literacy and critical rites of passage evolved over millennia lost forever; of properly maintained documentation and artifacts stolen and/or damaged; and, of nature, species and our precious environment wiped out and never to return. This, Sisters and Brothers, is GENOCIDE!!!
Therefore, WE must see the current rising crises of mass homelessness, lack of shelter, forced displacement and relocation – which was called “extremely cruel” by Leilani Farha (the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing) after her unannounced visit to Oakland last month – in this context. In addition, it is the removal of long-time residents which will signal the loss of long-standing commUNITY institutions, churches, businesses and sacred traditions by those who built and supported them. So, in conclusion, the goal of the gentrificators is not only to continue wiping out our mostly Black, Brown and impoverished residents. It is to remove the memories that they ever existed. WE shall not allow that to happen. So, WE STILL CHARGE GENOCIDE! And, DESERVE AND DEMAND REPARATIONS NOW! Asé. Amen-RA Hotep!
#BlackLivesMatter #AfricansDeserveReparations #FreeThemAll #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 out samples of his musical catalog at https://soundcloud.com/search?q=jahahara. Reach him c/o www.africansdeservereparations.com or FONAMI, P.O. Box 10963, Oakland, CA 94610 usa.
