Mos def sumthin-sumthin to vote for!

Afrikans deserve Reparations! Cause Black lives truly matter! Asé.

by Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at

6258 AAC (November 2018 JC-PG)

Greetings of IMANI (FAITH) Esteemed G-o-d(desse)s, Co-conSPIRITors and Sister & Brother Leaders,

May our Divine Mother-Father Creator of and in All – and Beloved Ancients and Ancestors from yesteryear and yesterday – find you and (y)our extended Family in sacred Spirit, healing and thriving.

Jahahara-Rep.-Barbara-Lee-celebrate-her-72nd-birthday-1018-web-265x300, Mos def sumthin-sumthin to vote for!, Culture Currents
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, here celebrating her amazing 72nd sacred birthday with hundreds of her constituents, including Baba Jahahara and Saturu Ned, could challenge for Speaker of the House of Representatives if her Democratic Party wins the majority.

As always, WE remember and reminisce … on our continuing list of departed family members and contributors to humane-ity. At this moment, WE are paying tributes to our long-time comrade MELVIN DICKSON, one of our great contributors to the Black Panther Party and its ongoing legacy. Over many decades, Baba Melvin served the people: from helping implement the Free Breakfast for Children, Free Community Schools, Free Health Screenings, Free Groceries programs to being a major force behind The Commemorator magazine and the Bobby Hutton Literacy Campaign. Long live the Revolutionary Spirit and Service of Baba Melvin! Asé.

WE also join with our always insightful activist, commUNITY informer and Black Panther Party cub Malkia Devich Cyril in mourning her beloved ALANA DEVICH CYRIL’s sacred spiritual transformation. They taught us the meaning of true love and commitment through publicly exposing this painful process of battling a devastating dis-ease. Asé.

And, WE express our gratitude to the incredible NTOZAKE SHANGE, European enslavement name Paulette Williams, our renowned writer, author, poet and playwright who recently joined our Ancestors. She contributed so many outstanding and poignant pieces, most notably for me, the powerful “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” Asé.

Of course, when WE leave this stage of our Ankh eternal life, everlasting love, true liberation and ongoing legacy … it is hoped that our names will be called and our modest work acknowledged on the Roll. Respectfully, i have often articulated that just because someone dies … doesn’t make them a Beloved Ancestor. “It’s all about the kazi!” (work in Swahili), to quote our late, great Queen Mother NJERE ALGHANEE. It’s based on what WE did, our practice as well as our theory, our mighty walk and how WE inspired others while residing in this temporary earthly location … that earns one that distinguished title and honor. Please visit our www.africansdeservereparations.com website under construction to view a few names and to share additional ones for us to consider adding. Asé. Asé. Asé-O!!!

*******

Pamela-Price-speaks-Green-the-Church-Nat’l-Conf-panelists-include-Drs.-Shyaam-Shabaka-David-Roach-Khubaka-Michael-Harris-by-Jahahara-web-300x225, Mos def sumthin-sumthin to vote for!, Culture Currents
Attorney Pamela Price, candidate for Mayor of Oakland, speaks at her Glad Tidings Church during our Green the Church National Conference. Behind her are several food justice advocates, including Dr. Shyaam Shabaka, Founder/Director of EcoVillage Farm; Dr. David Roach, Founder of Mo’ Betta Foods (Oakland International Film Fest and more); Dr. Khubaka Michael Harris, Founder/Director of the Black Agriculturalists, Black Sacramento etc. and other distinguished panelists.

Speaking of work, CONGRATULATIONS to Sahle-Work Zewde, who was just chosen as the first female President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia by that nation’s Parliament. While the Prime Minister, currently Abiy Ahmed, holds the major power in Ethiopia’s system, this is mos def a her-storic moment. Surprisingly to me, and even with great progress in some nations, states and former colonies, President Sahle-Work Zewde is the only female President in Africa, currently. Hopefully, more forward-thinking and progressive women in leadership will bring about more independent, self-determined and positive changes on our Mother continent. Asé.

*******

WE condemn the torture, murder, sick dismembering and despicable attempts to cover up the killing of JAMAL KHASHOGGI, a journalist for the Washington Post, by the Saudi Arabian monarchy. Led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, these fascist “islamist” state terrorists are fueled, pun-intended, by the oil-monopolies, fascist “christian” white nationalist state terrorists and fascist “jewish” state terrorists of the united capitalist prison terrorist states of america (ucptsa), European governments, colonized Arab and African heads of state, occupying European-Jewish settler-state of israel and their militaries and corporate media. In previous editions of this column, WE have called out these lucrative joint war “bu$ine$$” relationships; and, the resulting genocide of innocents in many nations, particularly as relates currently to Palestine and Yemen.

Our charges of crimes against humanity and attacks on truth-tellers were not only aimed at the current Republican Trump-Pence regime; but also the previous Democratic Party’s Obama-Biden command and all those before them. Never forget, it was President Obama’s “justice,” fbi and other departments that falsely accused life-lovers such as our Black Lives Matter, Black August activists and artists inside and outside of their prison system, including this Bay View newspaper, of promoting violence against police and prison guards.

Marriott-workers-on-strike-in-front-of-Visit-Oakland-mural-1018-by-Jahahara-web-300x225, Mos def sumthin-sumthin to vote for!, Culture Currents
WE fully support the grossly underpaid workers at Marriott Hotels. They are justly striking for adequate pay in Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and other areas. Express your solidarity by joining the HERE (Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees) Union picket lines.

They used this as a pre-text to isolate and further torture leaders of the growing Prisoners Strike; and, also ban our Bay View from a number of institutions. This is reminiscent of the government’s war, then known as “cointelpro,” to disorient, divide and destroy freedom fighters from the Communist and Socialist parties, Nation of Islam, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, Black Panther Party, Republic of New Afrika and numerous other organizations, movements and individual leaders. Stay tuned.

*******

The important (s)election process is unfolding across the united capitalist prison terrorist states of america (ucptsa) and here in these occupied Indigenous nations. WE are working to change this deadly system that places higher profits for a few elites over the advancement of our broader population and proper stewardship of nature. Still, voters can mos def play a positive role in slowing down capitalism’s never-ending wars and destructive acts. WE can build up our collective capacity to determine which direction our arc of justice bends … and, who will be given power to direct, govern, utilize our collective resources and, in some ways, determine our future for generations.

While distributing some literature among some of our youth on candidates and issues critical to our commUNITY – and them, whether they realize it or not – i have often been met with some strong resistance. “It doesn’t make a difference who wins” one young Brother says. “You just wasting yo time, O.G.” says another. After very respectfully correcting them and letting them know i’m a G-o-d and so are U! i try to use these as both teaching and action moments. After some sharing of our stories, i encourage them to first get active in their family life and neighborhood. And, that WE must use every tool available to accomplish what’s important.

Rafiki-Wellness-Center-at-Muir-Woods-inc.-Jahahara-web-300x225, Mos def sumthin-sumthin to vote for!, Culture Currents
Participants in the Rafiki Wellness Center, including Baba Jahahara, spend a relaxing day among our “cousins,” the giant sacred redwoods in beautiful Muir Woods. Rafiki offers a number of FREE health check-ups, yoga, qi gong, aerobics and healthy cooking classes for all ages and backgrounds; African cultural events; as well as complimentary massage and acupuncture at its location near Third Street and Cesar Chavez in San Francisco. Get the full schedule at http://rafikicoalition.org/

As i have said for decades, one of our many current tools is voter’s registration. Being a registered voter means you have the right to support candidates or issues that you care about. To oppose those you do not approve of. To develop proposals that benefit you, your family, your area and (y)our future. Or, to use your power by withholding your vote for any candidate (or to write-in your own choice as some of us have collectively done in the past for our unjustly-incarcerated political prisoners Baba Mumia Abu-Jamal, Elder Leonard Peltier and others).

i particularly stress that by being a registered voter, you make yourself eligible to be a juror. Your presence in a trial could help decide whether an innocent person is set free or is forced to spend their precious life behind the walls. Being seated as a juror might be the determining factor if a corporate polluter is forced to pay the victims for their heinous crimes and truly clean up their unnecessary devastation; or move on to destroy another sacred environment. My main claim is that All of Us Must Be Active … For Ourselves, Our Children, Our Ancestors and For Those Locked Down Behind the Walls or Stripped of Their Human and Civil Rights! Asé.

Keepin it real with my youthful Brothers, i also used the example of my belief in our human right to self-defense ByAnyMeansNecessary! (to quote our great Ancestor MALIK SHABAZZ, aka Minister MALCOLM X). That includes the right to bear arms. However, just because one has that right doesn’t mean you need to go packin everywhere, and shootin indiscriminately, any time there is a dispute.

Paradise-JahLove-at-Oakland-Block-Party-1018-by-Jahahara-web-225x300, Mos def sumthin-sumthin to vote for!, Culture Currents
WE Love Every Thang Bout Brother Paradise JahLove! Here’s our G-o-d at the recent Oakland Block Party.

WE need to be able to work out differences in a thoughtful, non-confrontational, reasonable manner and healing styles. In ways that gives everyone a sense of R-E-S-P-E-C-T!!! However, in this violent, white-terrorist society that has us self-hatin, WE need to be trained when it is time to do as my Baba taught his seven (six) sons to “Send they ass to Kingdom Come!” Or, as the revolutionary Deacons for Defense righteously advocated, “We will shoot back!”

All that said, here again are my foremost recommendations for 6 November. If you have the opportunity, Please Vote Early (but NOT often, as some would say in Chicago)!

Finally, but just as critically, please help the Bay View raise the necessary funds to hire our new editor; and to keep producing, printing, mailing and distributing the paper throughout the Bay Area and around the usa (including to numerous prisons where WE are not banned). Please make a much-needed contribution, place an ad or subscribe now to keep the Bay View in print. Call us at (415) 671-0789; or send donations to 4917 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94124. Asé.

Asante Sana (Many Thanks)! Amen-RA Hotepu! Ase’-O!

#BlackLivesMatter #AfricansDeserveReparations #FreeOurPeople #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).” Take a listen to songs from his musical catalog, including the new “500 YEARS OF AFRIKAN RESISTANCE!!!” at https://soundcloud.com/search?q=jahahara Reach him c/o support@africansdeservereparations.com or FONAMI, P.O. Box 10963, Oakland, CA 94610 usa