by Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at
6262 AAAK / January 2022 JC-PG
Africans Deserve Reparations! ‘Cause, Black Lives Matter!
Blessed HOLYday – on EVERY DAY! – and New Beginnings Beloved, Brilliant, Brave and Beautiful G-o-ds, Elders, Sis-Stars, Bro-Stars and Youthful Revolutionaries!
WE pray our Divine Mother-Father Creator of and in All – and incredible Ancients and Ancestors from past millennia, yesteryears and yesterday – find you and (y)our extended Family thriving in healing Spirit.
PONGEZI! CONGRATULATIONS! on being chosen and Gifted to make it through another tragic and difficult period! Please continue to inspire and deliver your Best; stay profoundly informed; and, practice proven safe and health measures for protection against these known as well as unknown destroyers of our precious well-being. Together, let’s carry forward a just attitude with the utmost gratitude in twenty twenty-two! As our motto in these unceded occupied lands of OHLONE/Oakland directs us to do: LOVE LIFE! Amen. Asé.
Honoring a few of our new Ancestors
WE remember the recent Spiritual Transformations of my life-long friend and “older Brother,” since he was born three days before me, GREGORY GENE “SHUGG” BERRY. Amen. Asé. Former Kansas City Black Panther Party for Self-Defense member and class-mate Reverend DONALD GENE WHITE. Amen. Asé.
MATTIE PERSLEY, Queen Mama of my dear friend, class-mate and Ancestor SAMUEL PERSLEY, JR. Amen. Asé.Veteran activist for Afrikan people, Queen Mama RUBY “JUMOKE” RUSSELL. Amen. Asé. And, fellow climate activist and movement contributor here in the Bay Area, STEVE NADEL. Amen. Asé.
WE recognize anti-fascists and socialist activists Dr. MARTY NATHAN and SIGNE WALLER FOXWORTH, who both passed during the same week last month. Their husbands, Dr. MICHAEL NATHAN and Dr. JIM WALLER, were both murdered by the kkk and american nazi party in collaboration with police terrorists, in what became known as the Greensboro (North Carolina) Massacre. This was during a “Death to the klan!” rally on 3 November 1979.
Three other comrades were murdered that day: CESAR CAUCE, WILLIAM “BILL” SAMPSON and SANDRA NEELY SMITH. Sister Sandy had been a key leader in our Student (later Youth) Organization for Black Unity (SOBU/YOBU), February First Movement (FFM), African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) and other radical Black mostly youthful formations in the early to mid 1970s. Amen. Asé.
As well, WE honor beloved feminist OURstorian, activist, writer, author, teacher GLORIA JEAN WATKINS, who took on the name of her Grand Mama, bell hooks, in her literature. Amen. Asé. Our insightful journalist GREG TATE. Amen.Asé. And, MALIDOMA PATRICE SOMÉ, our great west Afrikan Spiritual worker and writer. Amen. Asé.
Finally, WE offer sacred condolences to the families of the hundreds of Souls murdered here in the Bay Area this year, and thousands across the usa. And, millions more who are perishing from the imperialists’ ongoing wars against the people, nature and the Truth. Amen. Asé.
Long Live the Spirit, legacies and numerous contributions of these new and All our incredible Ancients and Ancestors. Asé. Asé. Asé-O!
Destination Reparations
Please join N’COBRA Bay Area members for another of our “CASH THE CHECK” events on the sacred birthday of Ancestor Rev. Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. That is Saturday, 15 January, 12 Noon, at 19th Street and Rashida Muhammad, between Telegraph and San Pablo, in downtown OHLONE/Oakland. WE will collectively read from MLK’s profound works; provide brief updates on our progress regarding some local, usa and worldwide Reparations movements; and, share some inspiring healing art. This will be a safe, masked-up, physically-distanced event. Correspond with us, or schedule a safe in-person or online meeting with your group, at ncobrawest@gmail.com.
Dr. Wade Nobles has stated: “Thank you so very much for sharing the N’COBRA 2021 report, ‘The Harm is to Our Genes’! It is essential that this report be widely supported and disseminated.” Our distinguished Dr. Nobles is co-founder and past chair of the National Association of Black Psychologists ABPSI and based here in OHLONE/Oakland. If you haven’t reviewed N’COBRA’s new analysis, or want to sign up as a new member, please go to our website at: www.ncobraonline.org.
FREE THEM ALL! 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 righteous release and restitution, at https://thejerichomovement.com/
WE encourage you to join other Bay Area residents by reviewing, considering, signing and sharing with others our Petition to add Ancestor THOMAS L. BERKLEY, founding publisher of the OAKLAND POST Newspaper, to the 19th Street Oakland BART station, and ask others to do so here.
Likewise, with our “Change the Name of the ‘white’ House Petition” here.
PONGEZI (CONGRATULATIONS)!
PONGEZI to Queen Mama Claudette Colvin on having her unjust arrest record expunged, in Alabama! At the young age of 15, Ms. Colvin refused to give up her seat to a white person and move to the back of a forced segregated public bus in Birmingham, aka “Bombing-ham.” This was months before ROSA PARKS was arrested for carrying out a similar act, that gave rise to the Montgomery Bus Boycott Campaign which eventually pushed forward a reluctant Rev. Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. as its spokesperson.
Some of our Elder movement activists have stated for years that Ms. Colvin was not recognized or utilized for her brave actions because she was not seen as “acceptable” by many of the petty-bourgeois civil rights leadership. As some have frankly shared, “Claudette was too Black (meaning dark-skinned). Too loud! Already had a child! And, may have had a previous arrest record!”
i learned more about Claudette Colvin through our beloved friend, Academy Award-nominee and teacher, Queen Awele Makeba, who was doing an amazing one-woman play on Ms. Colvin in the 2000s, here in Calabama. Now 82 years young, Ms. Colvin’s response to the news was quite profound: “Guess I won’t be considered a ‘juvenile delinquent’ anymore! Hopefully my actions will inspire young people to stand up for what’s right. Or, sit-down to make our world better.” Amen. Asé.
PONGEZI to Ancestors JOHN “BUCK” O’NEIL, former great baseball player, coach and scout for finally being “selected” into the apartheid National Baseball Hall of Fame! Uncle Buck, as WE younger folks called him, was a good friend of my dear Baba and Queen Mama in Kansas City, Misery. He was also the visionary, co-founder and chair of the “Negro” (Afrikan) Leagues Baseball Museum in KC.
In addition, the overwhelming white media voters “selected” another great but discriminated and excluded player, BUD FOWLER to its “hall” as well as African-Cuban MINNIE MINOSA. Elder Minnie, who played several decades for the “white” Sox – who were, not surprisingly, called the “Black” Sox when they got caught cheating in 1919 – owned one of my favorite bodegas and restaurants in my old neighborhood in Chicago. Amen. Asé.
PONGEZI to Baba D’Wayne Wiggins and his new edition of TONY! TONI! TONE! The 3Ts celebrated their 33rd year of incredible music and performances with eight sold-out shows in December, here in Oakland. Asante Sana to our dear friend, artist and poet Queen Mama Anita to the L-O-C for generously inviting me to party with her and the 3Ts, at Yoshi’s, on her Sacred B’EARTHday! Amen. Asé.
An additional note: Businesses like Yoshi’s have received millions of dollars from the city prior to and during this pandemic, while a number of African American establishments have gotten little to no government funding. They are also wrongfully being blamed for crimes committed away from their locations. Respectfully, i encourage more artists, groups and individuals to support and hold their events at Black-owned businesses like, for example, Baba Geoffrey Pete’s Inner-Circle, going forward. Amen. Asé.
Finally, this has been another extremely challenging year for our Bay View Newspaper CommUNITY. Still, WE continue to move forward our Mission of remaining a powerful voice and accessible vehicle for our communities, movements, organizations, activists and edu-tainers. So, please consider making a regular financial contribution. 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 Street, 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. 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.