Culture Currents

Santa appeared in hip-hop form Dec. 21 in a North Oakland neighborhood as Oakland rap artist Mistah F.A.B. (Faeva after bread) brought joy to his childhood neighborhood, supplying gifts and serving food and entertainment to children whose parents or guardians were not financially able to provide gifts.

Life isn’t fair: Too many kids and not enough food, fat cats bringing in all the money and government services like free hospitals and free education is not free for those who need it because, like everywhere, bureaucracy breeds corruption, whether we are in Madagascar or the United States.

Arriving at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport from cities throughout America, aspiring college students were excited. The tour would visit Spelman College, Morehouse College and Clark-Atlanta University in Atlanta, also Alabama State University and Tuskegee University in Alabama.

Afrika! Black people! Afrikans! Let’s do like China did and put the whole continent on lockdown by closing our doors to the rest of the world until we’re ready to come back out again as a superpower.

We feel it’s important to be a part of this conversation. If there’s a national and international conversation going on against capitalism and imperialism, we need to be a part of that. But folks also gotta undersand that racism needs to be talked about and that white privilege still exists.

On Sept. 11, 2011, Stanford University announced that Don Griffin, an Oakland native and 1965 honor graduate of Oakland’s Fremont High School, would be one of the 2011 inductees into Stanford’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Don was the third Black to play basketball for Stanford and was twice the season’s leading scorer.

In a masterful display of inside fighting, Andre “Son of God” Ward ended the Super Six Super Middleweight World Boxing Classic by shutting down Carl “The Cobra” Froch physically and mentally, as what sounded like a full house of roaring fans tore down Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Wright Enterprises and LaHitz Media present “Our Media Matters” Theater Night in honor of Willie and Mary Ratcliff, publishers of the San Francisco Bay View newspaper, at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre for their premiere of “REJOICE!” a wonderful nativity play, 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. To purchase tickets, call the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre Box Office, (415) 474-8800, with the code “WE.” Treat your family and friends to a joyous evening and support the Bay View!

Will two little girls from the future manage to save Frederick Douglass and his mission to ensure the emancipation of millions of enslaved Africans? If all children read and discuss this book, racial justice will be achievable as soon as they are old enough to lead. This is a book that will light up the life of every child.

Karryl Smith (Special One) and Carla Green (CMG), better known as The Conscious Daughters (TCD), exploded nationally on the hip-hop scene when their first single, “Funky Expedition,” from the debut album “Ear to the Street” dominated video stations like MTV, BET and The Box in the early 1990s.

Let the JOY begin: SambaFunk! Celebration of JOY is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 17, at Vitus Oakland, 201 Broadway at Second Street and Jack London Square, Oakland. The Funkquarians will be performing with special guests and local dj’s Henroc and Sake 1. Realign and refocus; tap into your inner power!

Haitian President Michel Martelly has revived discussion about a professional army, and some of the funds he is requesting to raise his “new” army are meant to cover back pay for the army of bandits disbanded by President Aristide. For those who never knew or forgot the crimes of the FAd’H, this masterful video by Kevin Pina should serve as an excellent introduction or reminder.

Filled to the rafters with music posters, pictures of musicians, and racks of vinyl, Creative Music has everything you're looking for. Owners Joe and Elba Lambert are retiring, closing the store Dec. 31. Stop by for great bargains and warm fellowship 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday.

With the tough economic times affecting many families in the San Francisco Bay Area, especially in Bay View Hunters Point, Gotelli Speed Shop has teamed up with drag racer Mike Henry and his Racing 4 Life program for a “Christmas Toy Drive.”

The works of Ronnie Goodman and Jason Rivers are on exhibit in CAP’s temporary gallery space at the Luggage Store Gallery, 1009 Market St. at Sixth Street in San Francisco through Friday, Dec. 9. Meet Ronnie Goodman, acclaimed printmaker and muralist and the artist who drew “J-Cat and Bootzilla,” the great comic strip in the Bay View during most of the '90s.

Sobonfu Somé, West African healer, says that when people die and become ancestors, they get smarter and often try to repair any damage they may have made while in this physical form. Ancestors want to be busy making our lives better. She said we can call on them to intercede on our behalf when we are troubled.

Dregs One says that his new album, “The Wake Up Call,” is something like a rap documentary because it is packed with facts and reports on topics that are prevalent in today’s political and social climate. Dregs One works with disenfranchised communities in the Bay Area.

The Tuskegee Airmen William “Bill” Campbell San Francisco Bay Area Chapter was honored with the San Francisco NAACP Presidential Medal of Freedom Award at the San Francisco NAACP Freedom Fund Gala. “Red Tails,” the George Lucas film on the Airmen is coming out Jan. 20, 2012.

Join the Occupy movement. But join with caution and ask yourselves of any movement: Does this group have a collective goal or game plan to work on which assures that we, Black people, are making progress for our people every day, if not every hour?

The struggle against school closures is far from over. Now is the time to stand up and speak out against this attack on public education – an attack designed by those who should be defending it, Superintendent Tony Smith and the OUSD School Board. You can call Superintendent Smith at (510) 879-8200.