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by Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at
6260 AAAK/ July 2020 JC-PG
Africans Deserve Reparations! Cause, Black Lives Truly Matter!
Blessings 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 spirited during this dangerous worldwide pandemic, global imperialist monopoly capitalist economic devastation, and ongoing European and american “white” state and vigilante terrorism. WE offer our sacred-most thoughts for the healing of our dear editor, Elder Mary Ratcliff. She has been undergoing major tests over the past few weeks. Get well, Mama Mary! Asé.
WE continue to modestly support those innovative organizers on behalf of so many who have lost their jobs, income, housing, health, businesses, land and, tragically, some of our loved ones on the outside and behind the prison walls (including three humane beings at San Quentin). For those still not taking COVID-19 seriously, please OVERstand this is not a “scam-demic,” to use a term i’ve been hearing around our neighborhood recently.
This is a currently unknown, incurable and deadly virus. Please, continue to practice proven health practices, including: checking-in with loved ones, eating healthy and organic when possible, drinking plenty of clean water, yoga and stretching your body, dancing or walking or running, resting, meditating or praying, practicing physical distancing and, yes, wearing masks and gloves when in public.
At the same time, join our movements to safely condemn and organize against the crimes of the federal, state and local governments who continue to allow the virus to spread, especially among those without shelter and the incarcerated, and to stop funding their repressive military and police reactions to our peaceful protests. Asé.
Honoring Our New Ancestors
As always, WE take some precious moments to pay our immense gratitude for several notable humane beings who recently transformed to our Ancestral realm. i begin by honoring our beloved Queen Mother MARY GOSA, 100 years young and a close friend and fellow parishioner of my Queen Mother ELIZABETH OAKS ARMSTRONG and Baba Deacon CLEVELAND LEE ARMSTRONG, SR. Asé.
And, much respect to my good neighbor, GEORGE “COWBOY” KING. Asé.
To our great Pan Africanist Baba Dr. CONRAD WORRILL, who for a quarter century helped lead the National Black United Front (NBUF), the successor to MALIK SHABAZZ’ (fka, Minister MALCOLM X’s) Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). Baba Conrad was also a key contributor to helping elect then Congressman HAROLD WASHINGTON as our first Mayor of African ancestry and with a progressive platform in the City of Chicago. In addition, Baba Conrad was instrumental in helping grow our National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), the MILLION MAN MARCH, and the Durban 400 contingent to the United Nations, “Third World Conference Against Racism” in South Africa, and numerous other righteous efforts. Asé.
Baba DELBERT AFRICA, of our MOVE Family in Philadelphia, passed away after being released just a few months ago. Amazingly, Delbert and several members of the MOVE 9 who weren’t murdered on the inside by the state of Pennsylvania were unjustly held for over four decades of confinement and torture. Ona Move. Asé.
Oakland’s own Queen Mother BONNIE POINTER also left this life. For decades, she and her siblings shared their incredible Gifts of inspirational music around the world, as the renowned, multi-Grammy winning Pointer Sisters. Asé.
Sadly, and with righteous anger and indignation, WE condemn more police terrorist killings, this time RAYSHARD BROOKS in Atlanta and ELIJAH MCCLAIN in Aurora, Colorado. WE also join so many in demanding full, independent investigations of – and the need to prepare our righteous collective self-defense – to the growing numbers of African, Indigenous and LatinX people being lynched across the usa, including right here in Calabama. Asé.
Long Live the Spirit and Contributions of these new, and all our incredible, Ancestors. Asé. Asé. Asé-O.
Imagine Reparations! What Say You?
WE are so excited to see the incredibly brave, bold and mostly youthful-generation activists rebelling all around the united capitalist prison terrorist states of america (ucptsa) and our world against, and to get rid of, this wicked, unjust and corrupt economic, political and cultural profits-first system. What a joy it has been to see and participate in powerful mass actions to De-Fund and Abolish the Police, as well as witness the removal and destruction of invader and enslaver statues, monuments and symbols of lies, hate and exploitation.
As an Elder who has been engaged in past rebellions and organizing for justice for over five decades, i respectfully ask our younger generations to look a little further. While it is critical that WE stop handing over our people’s budgets to the cops locally, and military in a broader sense, it is also critical that WE take even more time to individually and then collectively reflect on what WE want to replace this rotten system with. And, how WE should re-shape OUR budgets.
As WE used to say in our younger days: “It is not our role to just survive; and to just fight and win on these immediate issues. Our aim is to create a clear vision, plan and actions that will help bring forth a new society for our current and future generations to thrive.” And, for many of us, that meant achieving independent New Afrikan, Indigenous, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Hawaiian nation and Pacific island nations … allied alongside a just multi-racial socialist working people’s society. Asé.
It is this more far-sighted and long-view process that i/WE are encouraging our mostly younger leaders to start considering now. For example, what comes after WE de-fund the police? What are our next steps after the statues of terrorists are knocked down? Or, when WE change the name of this or that institution? The main questions are always: What is truly needed to improve our people’s condition right now? And, in the future?
This same Spirit requires not only time for reflection, but a focus on listening to our deeper selves as well as to others. For example, in our movement for redress and restitution, our National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) leadership had varying views on what those demands should look like back in the 6230s/1990s and now. What WE decided to do back then, in order to include more of our people in the process, was to take some steps back.
. . . maintain our San Francisco Bay View newspaper. please, Please, PLEASE consider placing an ad, or taking out a subscription for your Family, group or an incarcerated relative.
Led by our Co-Founder, Baba Dr. IMARI ABUBAKARI OBADELE, and our then Economic Development Commission, WE developed a Survey and took it to the people. WE visited hundreds of sites across the ucptsa, primarily other organizations, colleges, high schools, churches, mosques, street-corners, youth clubs, jails, Black media and wherever our people were congregating. From this process, WE were then able to develop Seven Key Reparations’ Downpayment Demands.
In this coming period, beginning with our re-scheduled, non-online Convention, WE will seek out your views on Reparations, with a clear focus on the viewpoint and leadership of our young persons. From 30 July to 1 August 2020, WE will gather on the web around the theme of “REPARATIONS TODAY: What Da Youth Dem Say?” So, please use this time to IMAGINE REPARATIONS and what you think will help heal African people going forward. Write down your concepts. Then accept this special Invite to join others from around the ucptsa and our Diaspora; and, to share your own views and work. Registration is now open and the cost is only $30 (which includes membership) to support N’COBRA’s all-volunteer, member-supported efforts. Go to ncobraonline.org to sign-up right now.
As WE have expressed in our columns over the years, WE urgently need you and your family and networks to advocate for our H.R. 40 (and also S. 1083), “The Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act,” in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, respectively. WE are calling on all Africans, as well as our true friends and allies, to call their congresspersons and senators at 202-225-3072 to endorse the legislation and call for hearings now. Again, you can go to our inter-active map at ncobraonline.org to see which reps have or have not endorsed our just demands for Reparations. And, challenge them. 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 your Family, group or an incarcerated relative. 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 or money order to 4917 Third St., San Francisco, CA 94124. Asante Sana (Many Thanks)! Asé.
#BlackLivesMatter #AfricansDeserveReparations #BringOurEldersHomeNow #AbolishPrisonsandPolice #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 West Regional Representative of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA). Take a listen to a few songs, including the forthcoming IMAGINE REPARATIONS!, 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.
