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A corrupt, viral and deadly economic and political system
by Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at
6260 AAAK/ April 2020 JC-PG
Africans Deserve Reparations! Cause, Black Lives Truly Matter!
Greetings of IMANI (FAITH) Esteemed G-o-ds, Elders, Sister and Brother Leaders,
May our Divine Mother-Father Creator of and in All – and beloved Ancients and Ancestors from yesteryears and, literally, yesterday – find you and (y)our extended Family healthy during this unprecedented period in our story of humanity. WE hope you and your relatives are also safe and taking care of each other by following the wise instructions of our wise grassroots practitioners, trained and trusted medical professionals, and dedicated scientists as we face the currently unknown.
Our prayers go out to so many, at this moment, who have had loved ones become ill or worse, die. In particular, i am sending all the sacred energy i can muster towards the healing of our great Reparationists Baba Charles Barron (currently a State Assembly Member from New York) and his beloved wife Mama Inez Barron (who is a member of the New York City Council). They have both tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus. Asé.
Usually, i begin this part of my regular columns by honoring the precious lives and significant contributions of some of our most recent Ancestors. i certainly plan to continue this practice going forward.
However, if i may, let me first offer some well-deserved praise to the incredible nurses, techs and doctors who cared for me during my recent medical situation. After a brief stay in the hospital, my first since the mid-1970s, i feel extremely Blessed to be out and moving about.
This includes having received a NEGATIVE COVID-19 coronavirus test result for some lingering symptoms. i also got a close-up view of the many challenges currently facing our health care workers (who i’ve had the honor to help represent and advocate for here in the Bay Area, Chicago and New York in past decades). Asante Sana (Many Thanks) to all our committed providers … for your sacrifices, patience, sound advice, treatment, advocacy for patients and critical roles in our movements to create quality healthcare for all; as well as my closest relatives, friends, comrades and colleagues for your mighty and healing prayers for my well-being. Asé.
WE now pay our deepest respect and gratitude for some of our Beloveds who have recently transformed to Spirit. This includes, Elder RAPHAEL CANCEL MIRANDA, our revolutionary Puerto Rican human rights leader, independentista and former political prisoner (along with brave Ancestors LOLITA LEBRON, IRVIN FLORES RODRIGUEZ and ANDRES FIGUEROA CORDERO); Rev. JOSEPH LOWERY, one of our brave human rights leaders and a close colleague of Rev. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., Rev. RALPH ABERNATHY, Rev. WYATT TEE WALKER and others who founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); the great composer, jazz musician and pianist-extraordinaire MCCOY TYNER; Dr. LLAILA OLELA AFRIKA, our brilliant and innovative holistic educator; and JARVIS HASKIN, a long-time member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers Union (ILWU) who fell to his death while working to unload a container ship at our Port of Oakland. Asé. Asé. Asé-O.
Finally, WE honor the creative force known as Baba N’DOKE “MANU” DIBANGO, another great composer and musician from Alkebulan/Africa, specifically Cameroons. His most popular composition is the riveting, make-yo-body-shake “Soul Makoosa” (which has been sampled by numerous artists from MICHAEL JACKSON to Rihanna). Amazingly, recent tests have just informed me and my siblings that our paternal roots are of the Ewondo nation in Cameroons; while our maternal ancestry is Yoruba (present day Nigeria). Asé.
WE are grateful for the life, work and many contributions of these new and All of our incredible Ancestors. Long Live Their Spirits and Incredible Contributions! Asé. Asé. Asé-O!
Blessed 66th Birthday Baba Mumia Abu-Jamal! Free Them All!
WE continue to condemn the usa federal and state governments for their decades-long wrongful imprisonment of dozens of our most dedicated Freedom Fighters, particularly members of the Black Panther Party, Republic of New Afrika, American Indian Movement and anti-imperialist struggles.
This includes our brilliant comrade and activist-journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal. While Baba Mumia was finally moved off the “official” death row in 2012 – as the result of our international people’s organizing and superb legal counsel – he continues to suffer horribly at the sickening hands of Pennsylvania authorities.
As he commemorates his beloved Queen Mother EDITH COOK on his forthcoming 66th Sacred Solar Return on the 24th of April, let us step up our efforts to win his release. Please send him, and many others, a well-deserved card, letter or donation to their accounts; and stay abreast of current actions, by supporting our Jericho Amnesty Movement at https://www.thejerichomovement.com/home.
In addition, WE applaud Brother Chesa Boudin – the Sun of anti-imperialist activists and current political prisoner Elder David Gilbert – and newly-elected District Attorney of San Francisco, for having the courage to release a good number of those incarcerated in that county. He has also set in place policies that call on the police to stop their miserable history of arrests based on racial profiling. And, quite significantly, Boudin is now implementing Restorative Justice measures to address several recent cases in the community.
Let’s continue to expand these progressive processes to end mass incarceration. It is also critical for us to collectively demand officials, like Governors Newsom of California, Cuomo of New York, Pritzker of Illinois and all the others to carry out similar acts of justice and compassion. And, to immediately end the criminal abuse of our imprisoned relatives’ labor by forcing them to produce products for pennies in “wages.” No doubt, that’s slavery-no-chaser. Asé.
WE CONDEMN CAPITALISM!
Respectfully, i have a few questions for our readers. So, grab some paper and a pen. Sorry, i forgot. As our youthful organizers constantly remind me, i’m the only one who still uses those “stone-age” forms of communication. Please pick-up your i-pads, computers and fancy cellies. Are you ready? Here WE go.
Question #1. What has proven more devastating than the asteroid(s) that, allegedly, wiped out the dinosaurs? OK?
Question #2. Can you name something more destructive than the ever intensifying corporate-induced hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, wildfires and earthquakes that happen each year around our planet? Got it? All right, here’s your final,
Question, #3. Tell me the one thing more deadly than this current COVID-19 coronavirus that is sickening and killing off millions of people worldwide, thus far?
If you answered CAPITALISM for all three questions, you are absolutely correct. You see, widespread illnesses, regional epidemics, even global pandemics have occurred in the past and will probably happen in the future. Likewise, natural disasters are inevitable.
gimc is a system that has its origins in the European genocidal wars of enslavement and robbery of our African and Indigenous nations, which has continued for nearly five plus centuries.
However, it is the global imperialist monopoly capitalist (gimc) system – based on the super-exploitation of humanity’s working class majority as well as the squeezing of nature’s resources for the most profit$, which benefit the tiniest and wealthiest classes – that exacerbates and makes every problem worse. And, magnifies each disaster.
Headquartered on Wall Street and in London, Brussels, Moscow, Tokyo etc., gimc gives rise to and accelerates these murderous catastrophes. Why, you ask? Simply put, because its main motives are not the needs and well-being of the people.
Quality healthcare, nutritional food, safe and affordable housing, clean water, education, public transportation and anything that benefits and uplifts the majority of people is not a priority. On the contrary, the goal of gimc is achieving HIGHER RATES OF PROFIT! AND STOCK OPTIONS FOR THE RICH BENEFICIARIES! AT ALL COSTS (pun-intended). And to destroy whatever and whoever gets in its way. To the detriment of WE masses.
gimc is a system that has its origins in the European genocidal wars of enslavement and robbery of our African and Indigenous nations, which has continued for nearly five plus centuries. gimc’s quest for super-profits has led us to a planet constantly at war: Over fossil fuels, like oil, in Iraq, Amazonas and Afghanistan.
Certainly, over valuable natural resources, as in Congo. Wars over cheap labor, as in Asia. Over control over lucrative markets to sell commodities.
And foremost, unjust sanctions and wars carried out by the bloated gimc military forces to put down righteous movements for independence, self-determination, true democracy, land reform, workers’ power and strides toward a more humane socialistic order … from Africa to Cuba to Ayiti (Haiti) to Zimbabwe to Iran to Venezuela to Palestine.
It is this gimc system that over hundreds of years has shown the people the world over – especially the formerly colonized in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, the Caribbean and so-called central and south Americas – that they are expendable.
So, please OVERstand. This worldwide pandemic, looming economic depression and expected fascistic repression in response to the assured resistance of the people most affected and denied relief … are not simply about the policies and/or complete ignorance of one administration, like that of gimc’s current Agent #45, or one political party.
This is a systematic failure of gimc. And there, unfortunately, will be many more. Unless, WE collectively develop our agendas and take the power! Asé.
In the meantime, please stay safe, help each other and continue to get organized wherever you are … ByAnyMeans Necessary! WE hope, if it is in Divine Order, that WE can continue this analysis and dialogue next month, on May First: International Workers’ Day and later around our African Liberation Day. Asé.
Destination REPARATIONS!
As WE expressed in our last few columns, our H.R. 40, “The Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act,” is at a critical moment. First introduced by Congressman and new Ancestor JOHN CONYERS JR., the bill was introduced most recently by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Houston in January 2019.
With appreciation to our National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), and many of you and your networks, WE now have more endorsers in the U.S. House of Representatives than ever before. But WE need an additional 25 to reach our goal of 150 to force full hearings beginning this June(teenth). So, WE are calling on all Africans, as well as our true friends and allies, in San Francisco and the south bay to immediately call up Speaker Nancy Pelosi (at 415-556-4862 and 202-225-4965); as well as Rep. Zoe Lofgren (at 408-271-8700 and 202-225-3072), one of the designated Trump Impeachment Managers, representing parts of the south bay including San Jose. Tell them to endorse H.R. 40 right now!
In addition, WE continue to encourage every registered voter in California to immediately call up Sen. Diane Feinstein who – as the ranking Democratic Party member on the Senate Judiciary Committee with a net worth of close to $80 million – has not yet apologized for disrespecting African people and not endorsed the S.1083 Reparations legislation in the U.S. Senate. Please call Sen. Feinstein’s offices at 415-393-0707 in San Francisco, or 202-224-3841 in Washington?
Also, i ask again, very respectfully: If two white dudes in Vermont, by the name of Ben and Jerry, can endorse and advocate for our Reparations H.R. 40/S. 1083 legislation and hearings, shouldn’t that be the least that WE can do as organizations and individuals? And, shouldn’t WE demand the same of every elected official and candidate as they flood our mailboxes and airwaves over the coming months towards the November 2020 election?
As always, WE invite your membership and leadership in helping expand our National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA). Go to www.ncobraonline.org or reach us locally at support@africansdeservereparations.com. With our collective actions and contributions, WE will soon reach our Goal and Destination of REPARATIONS RIGHT NOW! Asé.
Please Support Our Bay View
During these unparalleled times, WE again appeal for your desperately-needed contribution to maintain our San Francisco Bay View newspaper. Please consider placing an ad, or taking out a subscription for yourself or an incarcerated family member.
As expressed many times before, WE are struggling mightily to keep this voice of liberation in print and distributed FOR FREE throughout the Bay Area and around the united capitalist prison terrorist states of america (including to numerous penitentiaries where our Bay View is not currently banned due to our radical political stances and giving a voice to the voiceless).
Please, please make a tax-deductible donation ASAP by calling us at 415-671-0789. Or, go to our website at www.sfbayview.com. You can also send contributions of any amount the old-fashioned way by mailing a check or money order to 4917 Third St., San Francisco, CA 94124. Asante Sana (Many Thanks)! Asé.
#BlackLivesMatter #AfricansDeserveReparations #BringOurEldersHomeNow #AbolishPrisons #LoveandDefendMotherEarth
Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at is a Baba (Father), Pan Africanist, socialist, internationalist, “FREE-tired” community-labor-environmental and justice organizer, writer, musician and author of several books, including “Many Paths to Kujichagulia (Self-Determination).” He is also a Life Member, former National Co-Chair and recently-assigned Acting Western Regional Representative of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA). Take a listen to a few songs from his musical catalog at https://soundcloud.com/search?q=jahahara. Invite Baba Jahahara to present at your group, school, church or event c/o support@africansdeservereparations.com or FONAMI, P.O. Box 10963, Oakland, CA 94610.
