by Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at
6261 AAAK / December 2021 JC-PG
Africans Deserve Reparations! ‘Cause, Black Lives Matter!
Blessings of IMANI (FAITH) Esteemed G-o-ds, Elders, Sis-Stars, Bro-Stars and Youthful Revolutionaries!
May our Divine Mother-Father Creator of and in All – and Beloved Ancients and Ancestors from millennia past, yesteryears and, literally, yesterday – find you and (y)our extended Family in positive and healing Spirit. Amen. Asé.Please continue to practice proven safe and health measures for protection against known and unknown destroyers of our precious lives. Amen. Asé.
Honoring a few of our new Ancestors
WE mourn with the family, daughter Jennifer and son Daren, comrades and colleagues of WILMA CHAN. Our beloved Sis-Star served for the past three decades as a progressive member of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors twice and also in the California State Assembly and as majority leader.
Prior to that she was active in our local and international movements for self-determination and systematic socialist change for the people through partner groups like the League for Revolutionary Struggle, LRS, which included some of my favorite people and Ancestors like Imamu AMIRI BARAKA, KAREGA HART I, JAMES “TIM” THOMAS and others. A CommUNITY Celebration of Life will be held at 2 pm on 8 December at the Oakland Museum of California. Amen. Asé.
WE honor the recent Spiritual Transformation of our friend and fellow activist and musician, JESUS “CHUY” NEGRETE, in Chicago. Amen. Asé. Our beloved BAKARI GALLOWAY. Amen. Asé. Blessed Elder and Deacon ARDIS CAIN SR. Amen. Asé. Good neighbor ROBERT GLENN. Amen. Asé. And MALIKAH SHABAZZ, one of six daughters of Dr. BETTY SHABAZZ and Minister MALIK SHABAZZ, fka European enslavement name Malcolm X (Little). Amen. Asé.
Our communities are also grieving with the families of AMANI MOORE, a 29-year-old Mother and 23-months-young ANTHONY WU. Their precious lives were tragically snuffed out by cowardly drive-by shooters on our local expressways. Amen. Asé.
Finally, WE praise allies JOSEPH “JO-JO” ROSEBAUM and ANTHONY HUBER, who were both murdered in 2020 by the wrongfully acquitted white terrorist teenager during protests after Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a police officer in Wisconsin. Another ally, Gaige Grosskreutz fortunately survived and continues to recover from his wounds. Amen. Asé.
Finally, WE grieve the loss of young AHMAUD ARBERY, whose life was unnecessarily ended by three recently convicted white terrorists in Georgia.
Long Live the Spirit, legacies and numerous contributions of these new and all our incredible Ancients and Ancestors. Asé. Asé. Asé-O!
End corporate-imperialist-military-colonialist genocide and ecocide
Last month, WE utilized this incredible Bay View forum to focus on our desperately needed Spiritual Reparations and Healing to end the rising number of people of Afrikan ancestry murdering one another. Please review that piece by going to https://sfbayview.com/2021/11/love-life-healing-reparations-now/.
Another key aspect of our Reparations effort and, indeed, all our righteous movements presently, is to end the killing of the most significant member of our Family. That is our Big Mama! Pachamama to some. Dunia Mama to millions of Swahili speakers around our Alkebulan/Afrikan continent and diaspora and Mother Earth to many more.
Simply put: By polluting our water, air and soil, WE pollute ourselves. By continuing to over-use fossil fuels, and destroying our forests for cattle grazing, for profits, WE will only intensify the conditions that have heated our planet to dangerous levels. The results are in: Genocide and Ecocide are here! Meaning, WE are already witnessing more deadly storms, destruction of our environment and extinction of living natural species, including our own.
COP 26 was so disastrous . . .
Most significantly, by relying on the selfish abusers of power to be the decision-makers, specifically the greedy capitalists of the usa and western Europe, as well as the governmental officials who do their bidding, WE will never get out of this mess. Or, be able to reverse the catastrophic path WE are on.
In November, the 26th United Nations COP (Conference of Parties) for action on climate change met in Glasgow, Scotland. As one who has helped represent grassroots environmental justice movements at past COPs, i have been informed that this gathering was far different. Especially in terms of participation. This was partly due to the ongoing global pandemic, as well as the right now climate crisis, which is sickening and killing so many around our world.
That said, the government of England – aka “united kingdom” or “great britain” – is guilty of denying entry visas for many activists, and even some state officials, particularly from our global South and communities in peril. So how about that?
Those suffering the most from the climate chaos, and who have played a minimal role in causing the current crises, were not allowed to attend, which led to our true representatives not being an integral part of these critical discussions, actions and decisions.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the outcome of COP 26 was so disastrous. For example, instead of a complete phase-out of dangerous coal production and usage, the biggest producers, including the usa, forced a change in the language to a non-binding “phase-down.”
Same deal with subsidies for the multi-national oil companies. The extreme abusers even beat back the necessary goal of reducing emissions to reach a temperature rise of 1.5 above 2009 levels. Or, consider the immediate Reparations to enable the mostly smaller nations, including many former colonies abused by the Europeans and usa, to adapt – make adjustments to climate impacts like increasing floods, droughts, hurricanes, etc. – and to mitigate – reduce greenhouse gases and emissions?
The amount of $100 billion per year over the next decade is far less than needed. And past experience has shown us that whatever amounts the big abusing imperialist powers “pledge” won’t be met voluntarily.
The worst example of the non-seriousness of the criminal capitalist governments currently making decisions on our behalf was to exempt their destructive military-industrial complexes from the computation. In fact, it is these war machines that are some of the worst polluters, and largest users of fossil fuels, on our planet. And, as the crises intensifies, WE are already witnessing devastating fights over forced migrations, over higher lands to escape flooding, over sources of fresh water, over trade routes and more.
WE cannot rely on the corporations and politicians of the Democratic and Republican parties and their criminal co-horts . . .
While our movements in the usa and internationally have made progress in exposing the facts that CLIMATE CHANGE AND ECOCIDE ARE HERE … WE have not established enough collective power to overcome the current abusers who place their selfish interests before all. To adequately address the catastrophic climate, health and economic crises of our time and into the future, it is imperative that WE set forward a true People’s Agenda and organize and build our collective power to achieve it.
WE cannot rely on the corporations and politicians of the Democratic and Republican parties and their criminal co-horts around our world to protect us, nor save our sacred and life-sustaining environment. Let’s renew our efforts to create truly independent People’s Political Parties, as well as locally-connected efforts for self-determination, self-defense, sustainable cooperative economies and for emergency relief. More to come. Amen. Asé.
Note: Please take a listen to my Love and Defend PachaMama song recorded (6249/2009) at https://soundcloud.com/user-424028583/love-and-defend-pachamama-ggmebm-by-baba-jahahara-c-p-6249-kmt-2009
Destination Reparations
Our National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) and our allies, continue demanding a vote on H.R. 40, our Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act, in the usa House of Representatives. WE have collectively worked to get 210 co-sponsors, the most ever, as of this writing. So, we are just eight votes away to passing our Reparations remedy bill!
Please, join us here in the Bay Area, as WE call on Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has the power to call for a vote. A joint action will take place on International Human Rights Day, Friday, 10 December 2021, 5 p.m. at the new Federal Building at 7th Street and Mission in San Francisco, near the Civic Center United Nations Plaza BART and MUNI METRO train stations. WE will march with others from Ayiti, Palestine, Burma, Philippines and other lands. This will be an outdoor, masked-up and physically-distanced action. Amen. Asé.
California’s Reparations Task Force’s virtual hearings continue on Tuesday and Wednesday, 7-8 December 2021, beginning at 9 a.m. As WE have stated previously, the RTF is mostly based on our federal Reparations Remedy legislation, H.R. 40 and S. 40, that our N’COBRA envisioned, helped introduce first in 1989 and have championed over the past three decades plus. Go to the RTF website for schedule, videos of previous hearings and to sign up to testify at https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121/meetings.
FREE THEM ALL! Recently, our movements welcomed the release of long-held political prisoners, Baba Russell “Maroon” Shoatz and David Gilbert! Amen. Asé. Please visit the website of our Jericho Amnesty Movement to learn more about the situations of our many other long-suffering and brave warriors for justice; as well as how you can best support their release at https://thejerichomovement.com/.
WE encourage you to sign our Petition to add the name of Ancestor THOMAS L. BERKLEY – founder and publisher of the OAKLAND POST newspaper – to the 19th Street Oakland BART station, and ask others to do so at: https://www.change.org/p/bart-bay-area-rapid-transit-board-of-directors-add-thomas-l-berkley-s-name-to-19th-st-oakland-bart-station.
Also, take a moment to review, consider, sign-on and forward our “Change the Name of the ‘white’ House Petition” to your networks: https://www.change.org/p/u-s-house-of-representatives-change-name-of-white-house.
Upcoming events
Whatever HOLY Day(s) you commemorate, please celebrate with renewed Spiritual consciousness, especially after this difficult period. And, do so respectfully, safely and healthfully. Amen. Asé.
On Saturday 1 January 2022, 12:00 p.m. to 4 p.m., please join the Family of OSCAR GRANT III for the Annual Vigil at the Fruitvale BART Station, 3411 E. 12th St., in Oakland. More info at: https://oscargrantfoundation.org/.
Also, on our Day of IMANI (FAITH), 1 January, 3 pm, please join us for our LOVE! LIFE! HEALING! REPARATIONS RIGHT NOW! Contact us for exact location TBD, in OHLONE-Oakland at support@africansdeservereparations.com.
Finally, our Bay View newspaper has been through so much over this past period. But, WE continue to carry forward our Mission of being a powerful voice and accessible vehicle for those unheard. So, please consider adding our Bay View to your gift list. Help us keep producing and sharing the truth from outside and behind the walls! Send your check or money order in any amount to us at 4917 Third St., SF, CA 94124. Or, call our office at (415) 671-0789.
Continue to take (y)our righteous steps, knowing our Divine will do the rest. And, walk in the Power of IMANI (FAITH) on each and every day. Amen-RA Hotep! Asé.
#BlackLivesMatter #AfricansDeserveReparationsNow #FreeTheLand #FreeThemAll #BringOurEldersHomeNow #AbolishPrisonsandPolice #LoveandDefendMotherEarth #BlackNewDeal
Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at traces his ancestral roots to the Yoruba and Ewondo nations in Alkebulan-Afrika. He is the author of several books, including Many Paths to Kujichagulia (Self-Determination). Baba Jahahara is also Life Member, former National Male Co-Chair and Acting West Region Rep of N’COBRA. Take a listen to a few songs from his musical catalog at https://soundcloud.com/search?q=baba%20jahahara Invite Baba Jahahara to present at your group, school, spiritual gathering or event c/o support@africansdeservereparations.com or FONAMI, P.O. Box 10963, Oakland, CA 94610.