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by Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at
6260 AAAK/ June 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 past millennia, yesteryears and, literally, yesterday – find you and (y)our extended Family healthy and staying positive during this extraordinary pandemic and global imperialist monopoly capitalist depression in our story of humanity. And, most definitely, these multiple deadly crises are devastating, disproportionately, our African, Indigenous, LatinX and other impoverished and discriminated communities around the Bay Area, the usa and our world.
Sacred prayers to everyone sacrificing and organizing to serve those who have lost their jobs, sources of income and housing. And, to those who have tested positive for the covid-19 virus, suffered from other illnesses, had loved ones become ill or, worse, suffered the ultimate tragedy of death from the corporate-state violence of impoverishment, torturous military-police and white racist terrorism. Asé.
WE pay our immense respect and gratitude for several notable humane beings who recently transformed to our Spiritual Realm. i begin by honoring our beloved Auntie, Queen Mother AARY ETTA BETTON ARMSTRONG. Her passing was the last in our family’s previous generation. My generation of brothers and first cousins are now the true Elders. Asé.
NADIR BEY helped promote Black businesses, including ELIJAH MUHAMMAD Health Services in Oakland; and worked with us training Richmond youth in solar installations, electrical upgrades and energy efficiency. Asé.
SYLVESTER HODGES served our Oakland community and youth for many decades. A graduate of McClymonds High, he later served diligently on our Board of Education. i worked more closely with him as he helped lead, along with another new Ancestor ART SHANKS, the Cypress-Mandela Apprenticeship Program. That innovative effort provided thousands of young Black and Brown people with expert knowledge, on-the-job development in the construction trades; and, then placement in the often-exclusionary building trades and lucrative construction industry. Our group, GRID Alternatives, took the lead in giving them the green, energy efficiency and solar photovoltaic skills. Asé.
The great composer, musician and activist JORGE SANTANA also left this life. Many know him as the Brother of another great musician, activist and artist Carlos Santana. Both lent their support and celebrity to our campaigns to uplift Africans on the continent and diaspora. Asé.
STEPHEN MATCHETT also made his sacred transformation. He advocated for humane rights for All, particularly through his efforts on behalf of those incarcerated. His mantra was “Peace Without End!” to which i would reply “Yebo (Yes, Xhosa), beginning with the Peace Within. Asé.” In the past few months, he was assisting us in trying to get the San Francisco Friends (Quakers) Meeting, where he formerly served as the Clerk, to support our H.R. 40/S. 1083 Reparations legislation and challenge their representatives in Congress, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Diane Feinstein, to do the same. Asé.
Sadly, and with righteous anger and indignation, WE condemn the government and state-sanctioned terrorist killers of BREONNA TAYLOR in Tennessee, AHMAUD ARBERY in Georgia and GEORGE FLOYD in Minnesota. Furthermore, WE condemn the drive-by shooters of DAVE PATRICK UNDERWOOD, who was working security at the twin towers Federal Building in Oakland. Whether these murderers wear a badge or not, they should be immediately charged, arrested, convicted and sentenced to the max for first-degree murder. Asé.
WE are so grateful for the incredible lives and contributions of these and All of our incredible Ancestors. May Their Lives, Work, Memories and, unfortunately, Suffering Continue to Inspire Humane-ity to Make Righteous System Change … For Generations! Asé. Asé. Asé-O!
Finally, i make this very personal request. Our dear Sun, Chioke Bakari, who has been back in the Bay since March from his college studies, recently had a horrible auto accident. Fortunately, he and three of his friends survived, though the car was totaled. Respectfully, i/WE ask for your sacred thoughts and prayers as it will take some time for them to heal completely.
Asante Sana (Many Thanks) to the Alameda County and staff at Oakland’s Highland Hospital for their (s)heroic life-saving efforts, on the daily. i’m so thrilled that almost 25 years ago, as the then Field Rep for SEIU Local 250 Healthcare Workers Unions, i helped envision, plan and lead our successful labor-community effort to save Highland and other county medical facilities from closing. Asé.
Advancing African Liberation
This year was the first time since May of 1972, when i was a first year student at the University of Kansas School of Architecture and Urban Design, that i did not personally help organize or physically participate in an African Liberation Day (ALD) event. That year, WE held the first mass-based ALD marches and rallies in Washington, DC, which i was a part of; and, another in a then far-off location called the San Francisco Bay Area. WE are grateful to the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) and the All-African Women’s Revolutionary Union (A-AWRU) for its online commemoration of the 63rd Anniversary of ALD.
This year’s theme is: “Imperialist Sanctions on Zimbabwe, Cuba and Venezuela are Acts of War: Africans Everywhere Must Fight!” To view the A-APRP event, which was youth-led and featured participants from around our African world, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6kYVIDeVvM. Asé.
Our Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) campaign, and the U.S. Out of Africa Network (USOAN) is calling on all Africans and our anti-imperialist allies around the world to organize “Rise Up to Shut Down AFRICOM” actions. The chosen date is Tuesday, the 16th of June, Soweto Remembrance Day, when our youth in South Africa rose up in 1976 against the white apartheid terrorist government and were, subsequently, gunned down in mass.
This is also the sacred Birthday of Ancestor TUPAC AMARU SHAKUR. More info at https://blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/2020/5/24/on-african-liberation-day-the-black-alliance-for-peace-demands-us-shut-down-africom
CONGRATS to Oakland’s grassroots activist groups for organizing the #BlackNewDeal and demanding justice for our people in the midst of this deadly pandemic and capitalist depression! Key organizers include the Anti-Police Terror Project, Community Ready Corps, ACCE and others. Asé.
For your OVERstanding, WE also share this powerful ALD statement from the Global Pan African Movement Secretariat, headquartered in Kampala, Uganda, and endorsed and co-signed by African leaders from around our Diaspora.
Celebration of the 57th year of Africa Liberation Day 2020
(25th May 2020. Kampala Uganda). As we celebrate the 57th year of Africa Liberation Day today, the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic is still a threat to Africans and Diasporas. On the other hand, this is an opportunity to work on the capacities of our public health systems and also to be mindful of racial profiling in some Black communities in Diaspora especially in UK, USA and China. However, we now know that this virus can be successfully defeated. Countries like Eritrea, Seychelles, Mauritius and Jamaica have successfully defeated this virus.
As we adhere to the guidelines by our health experts, it’s also important to acknowledge that African indigenous technology still exists through our own herbal medicine and Africans have a stellar history of innovating our way out of problems. We urge African Union’s CDC to promote Madagascar’s artemisia herbal remedy as an African intellectual property since more than 20 African countries have already endorsed it. We also call upon our fellow Black communities and the western world to have a vote of confidence in African innovations.
Lastly, as we advance to unity and integration of Africa, it’s high time we started prioritizing our public health infrastructure, make our own vaccines through our self-reliant institutions, rather than relying on imperialists’ medicines and vaccines which can be a threat to our Black communities.
One Struggle, Many Fronts!
Robert Musasizi, For the Chairman
Global Pan African Movement
Destination REPARATIONS!
As WE have 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 most recently sponsored 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. WE still need an additional 23 to reach our goal of 150 to force full hearings beginning this June(teenth).
So, once again, 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), representing parts of the south bay including San Jose. Please tell them to endorse H.R. 40 right now!
Due to the pandemic, the 31st Year Annual National Convention of our National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), scheduled for this June in Selma Alabama, has been CANCELED! WE will be holding a virtual convention gathering online, from July 30 to August 1, 2020. Tune in to our website for details; and, please become a member at www.ncobraonline.org Of course, you can 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 contributions to maintain our San Francisco Bay View newspaper. please, Please, PLEASE consider placing an ad, or taking out a subscription for yourself or an incarcerated family member. 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).
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 the old-fashioned way by mailing a check of money order to 4917 Third St., San Francisco, CA 94124. Asante Sana (Many Thanks)! Asé.
#BlackLivesMatter #AfricansDeserveReparations #BringOurEldersHomeNow #AbolishPrisons #LoveandDefendMotherEarth #BlackNewDeal
Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at is a Baba (Father), Pan Africanist, socialist, internationalist, “FREE-tired” community-labor-environmental and justice organizer, writer, musician, yogi, martial artist, vegan 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.
PHOTO: Mural for BPP Point 4 ‘Housing for All’ near Greyhound station Oakland
CAPTION: A powerful new mural by the great artist Refa One is rising near Oakland’s Greyhound station. It highlights Point Number 4 for adequate housing and shelter, formulated as part of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense’s 10 Point Platform. “HOUSING FOR ALL!” “CANCEL RENTS!” and “FREE THEM ALL!” were some of the main slogans at our May First International Workers’ Day rally at the Port of Oakland. To support, go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/blackpanthermural.
