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by Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at
6262 AAAK / Juneteenth Freedom Days National Holiday 2022 JC-PG
Africans deserve Reparations! ‘Cause, Black Lives Matter!
Blessings of Imani (faith) beloved, brilliant, bold, brave and beautiful g-o-ds, elders, sis-stars, bro-stars and youthful revolutionaries!
May our most high divine Mother-Father Creator of and in all – and incredible Ancients and Ancestors from past millennia, yesteryears and, literally, yesterday – find you and your extended family thriving and in healing spirit, loving every life and seeking sacred Ma’at. We are so proud to greet you once again.
And, share this offering from the unceded, occupied sacred home-lands of the Ohlone Indigenous nations – named San Francisco Bay Area, Calif., by the murderous European and usa colonizers, land-grabbers, “gentrificators” and then gold-seeking settlers. Amen. Asé.
In the coming month, we hope you will fully express your appreciation to all the babas – fathers, elder male contributors – as we should do on each day. i am not only saluting my dear Baba CLEVELAND LEE “The Deacon” ARMSTRONG SR. and a host of community and movement mentors, but our beloved Baba Dr. Willie Ratcliff, long-time activist-publisher, with our editor emeritus, Mama Mary Ratcliff, of this great publication – currently led by Queen Mama Nube Brown. They have sacrificed so much to keep this powerful vehicle going since purchasing it from another incredible elder, Muhammad al-Kareem, in 6232/1992.
Therefore, i must again urge you and your group to upgrade your support for our fabulous San Francisco Bay View Newspaper, to the best of your abilities. Our dedicated staff and volunteer team continue to stay connected to, and in some cases help lead, our movements for truth and justice. They boldly seek out, publish and popularize news, views, art and actions that you won’t see anywhere else on our planet.
So, please make a contribution in any amount. It’s easy. Just go to sfbayview.com/donate; place an ad for your merch or an upcoming event; call us at 415-671-0789; mail a check or money order to 4917 Third St., San Francisco, CA 94124. With gratitude and love! Amen. Asé.
Akawaba (welcome home) Baba Sundiata Acoli
Upfront, we want to welcome back to our community and movement our great leader, Baba Sundiata Acoli (European enslavement name: clark edward squires)! Now 85 and suffering from dementia and other ailments, this great freedom fighter was a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army.
He has been tortured, confined and denied basic human rights for over four decades. In an unfortunate event that led to the death of comrade ZAYD MALIK SHAKIR and a police officer, Baba Sundiata helped free another unjustly-held leader, Queen Mama Assata Shakur.
She, subsequently, has been in exile for several decades. Asante Sana and revolutionary love to you, Baba Sundiata! Free them all! Bring all our elders home now! Amen. Asé. To learn more, go to our National Jericho Movement or Spirit of Mandela.
Honoring a few of our new ancestors
We pay tribute to the recent spiritual transformations and mourn the loss of some of our newest Ancestors, including: The Buffalo 10 – Queen Mothers RUTH WHITFIELD, 86; PEARL YOUNG, 77; KATHERINE “Mama Kat” MASSEY, 72; as well as HEYWARD PATTERSON, 67; CELESTINE CHANEY, 65; GERALDINE TALLEY, 62; AARON SALTER, 55; ANDRE MACKNEIL, 53; MARGUS D. MORRISON, 52; ROBERTA A. DRURY, 32 years young.
As you know, these 10 grand mothers, grand fathers, sons, daughters, uncles, aunties and friends to so many, were all murdered, while shopping for groceries, by European amerikkklan “white” terrorism and fascism.
That is why it is imperative that we intensify efforts to organize every community, each household, for righteous self-determination, self-protection and defense as well as self-assistance to keep ourselves safe against these genocidal governmental systems – and their armies of police, courts and prisons – murderous racist groups, exploitative corporations, agencies which neglect and abuse us, in addition to the internal criminals who are causing so much confusion, fear and death.
Yes, we must utilize all our human rights and abilities – which some are seeking to strip away, again! And, in an act of self-love, keep our guns loaded! Amen. Asé.
Taking several precious deep breaths, we continue. Remembering our beloved NORMAN YOSHIO MINETA. Mr. Mineta is a former congressman, mayor of San Jose and department head in two presidential administrations.
Most significantly for many of us, he was one of the key leaders for Reparations for hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans, as well as an inspiring Elder, friend, supporter and “unpaid consultant” for some of us in our Afrikan Reparations movement.
As a child, Norm and his family were wrongfully forced into concentration camps under then-Democratic Party President Franklin Roosevelt’s racist and fascist Executive Order 9066, aka The Japanese American Internment Act of 1942. At that time, only a few opposed this action.
Even the notorious killer and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover said FDR’s act was wrong and “based on public and political pressure and not factual data.” Most Japanese Americans lost everything during that period in the 1940s, when the usa government was, supposedly, fighting for ‘democracy’: their rights as citizens, family and community connections, homes and furnishings, businesses, farms, financial wealth, spiritual temples and much more.
Finally, we honor the stolen lives of so many victims of the big-time capitalist, imperialist gangsters, murderers and polluters – from Washington and Wall Street to London, Brussels, Paris, Moscow et al.
In the 1980s, then-Congressman Mineta introduced legislation into Congress for Japanese American Reparations. After not getting enough traction in the Democratic Party controlled Congress, they organized their movement power to convince then-president and former California Gov. Ronald Reagan to issue an executive order.
And, with broad support, including from many like this author, they achieved some success in the form of an official apology and small monetary offering. We are so grateful for the life, example and contributions of NORMAN MINETA! Amen. Asé.
WE also recognize and honor OLA MAE MACK-CELESTINE-HARBIN, Queen Mama of my dear friends and twins, Donald and Ronald, Marcia and Marshall Celestine. Amen. Asé. Rev. Dr. GILLETTE JAMES, Pastor Emeritus of Beth Eden Baptist Church in west Oakland. Amen. Asé.
KATHY BOUDIN, revolutionary activist, former political prisoner and mother of progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin – who we continue to support against the anti-democratic recall effort. Amen. Asé.
As well as DAVID MCCOARD, Bay Area environmental activist and long-time Sierra Club leader, who most recently supported our successful No Coal In Oakland campaign against the nasty, profit-first seeking fossil fuel fools. Amen. Asé.
Finally, we honor the stolen lives of so many victims of the big-time capitalist, imperialist gangsters, murderers and polluters – from Washington and Wall Street to London, Brussels, Paris, Moscow et al – who continue their massive production of weapons; denial of human rights and basic necessities like food, water and housing; corporate, government, military genocidal wars and murderous-climate sprees in Congo, Yemen, Palestine, Syria, Haiti, Sudan, Ukraine, around Turtle Island (so-called americas), here in the usa and so many other areas of our world. Please stay up-to-date with our Black Alliance for Peace here.
Long live the spirit, legacies and numerous contributions of these new and all our incredible Ancients and Ancestors. Asé. Asé. Asé-O!
We have sumthin’-sumthin’ to vote for
Here in California, if you haven’t completed and mailed in your ballots yet, please do so before June 7. Candidates who come from the people, have visions for truth and restorative justice, plus have a proven track record of Kazi (work) over mere words, deserve our support. Based on those facts, we encourage you to stand with, up and for the following candidates with your votes, finances and influence:
- Pamela Price, Human Rights Attorney for Alameda County District Attorney.
- Chesa Boudin, elected District Attorney. Vote NO on H to defeat the unjust recall effort.
- Rebecca Kaplan, for Alameda County Board of Supervisors District 3, to replace our beloved new Ancestor, WILMA CHAN.
- YES on Measure C, which will continue to fund 40 percent of our Oakland Public Library budget.
Destination Reparations: Consider, sign and share our petition to Prez Biden and Vice President Harris
While critical in several cases, symbolic appointments of people of African ancestry is not enough. That is why N’COBRA (National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America), our partner organizations and many key allies are now petitioning President Joe Biden and our former senator from California, Vice President Kamala Harris, to issue an immediate executive order to establish the Commission to Receive and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act. Take action here.
Our movements have put in powerful work to get us to this point. We have gone before the United Nations, and won their overwhelming support by the issuing of the monumental Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA) of 6241/2001.
We went before the courts in 1995 and 2002, with the courts telling us our “arguments were correct … however, only Congress could offer you remedies and relief.” We have kept pushing Congress for over three decades.
We achieved, with Asante Sanas (many thanks) to our members, friends and allies of our N’COBRA, to advance our sacred mission, getting 217 of the needed 218 supporters in the House of Representatives, just one vote short of passing; as well as 23 of the needed 50 U.S. senators to support our companion legislation, S. 40. We invite you and your organization’s membership and participation in building our greater Unity, Power and Action locally, nationally and internationally to help right the many wrongs.
N’COBRA’s 33rd annual convention will be held this year in Hartford, Connecticut, as well as virtually from June 24-26, 2022. While we re-work our national website, please contact us at ncobrawest@gmail.com.
The State of California Reparations Task Force, which recently voted 5 to 4 to limit Reparations benefits only to those who can prove their Ancestors were enslaved in what has become the usa, will soon release its first report. Stay updated here.
WE are making a final push to add THOMAS L. BERKLEY’s name to our 19th Street Oakland BART station. You can view, reflect, sign and share our petition here.
Also, please consider our petition to Change the Name of the so-called ‘white’ House, which was built by our enslaved Afrikan ancestors.
Pongezi (congratulations)!
To all our graduates, who have worked so hard, we offer our sincere Pongezi, or, congratulations (in Swahili), for your incredible effort, worthy sacrifices and achievements. We are working with some of you and your families, to cancel the devastating “debt” that was accumulated for mere access to a quality education. Education should be free-of-charge for everybody! Not reserved for the wealthy. Amen. Asé.
To Ishmail Wainwright, Phoenix Suns guard. Brother Ish is the sun of my dear friend and great baller back in our day, Rev. Calvin Wainwright. Was hoping to see Ish in the NBA’s Western Conference Finals. But, they came up a game short, though he scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in just five minutes of game seven. Amen. Asé.
To our beloved Raymond “Boots” Riley, sun of Queen Anitra Patterson and Baba Attorney Walter Riley, on the production of his soon-to-be released TV series. Brother Boots vaguely told me, while his crew was filming on my block in Ohlone/Oakland, that this new work, titled “I’m a Virgo,” will “bring many of his creative elements together.” WatChuTalkinBout, Boots? Stay tuned! Amen. Asé.
Sisters and brothers, continue to take your righteous steps, knowing our divine will do the rest. And, always walk in the power of Imani (faith) on each and every day. Amen-RA Hotep! Asé.
#BlackLivesMatter #AfricansDeserveReparationsNow #FreeTheLand #BringOurEldersHomeNow #AbolishPrisonsandPolice #AbolishPatriarchy #LoveandDefendMotherEarth #BlackNewDeal
Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at is the fourth of seven Suns of Ancestors Baba CLEVELAND LEE ARMSTRONG, SR. and Queen Mother ELIZABETH ELIZANN OAKS ARMSTRONG. He traces his ancestral roots to the Yoruba and Ewondo nations in Alkebulan-Afrika. He is also 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 Regional Representative of N’COBRA. Take a listen to a few songs from his musical catalog here. 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.
