Tag: Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama says: We can do this!

Lorie Davis has created a culture within TDCJ by which jailhouse lawyers, also known as “writ-writers,” are subjected to manifold reprisals for their peaceful and legal activities. Activities which are supposed to be protected under the U.S. Constitution’s First and 14th Amendments!

Happy Kwanzaa Season! Check with thevillageprojectsf.org for all the details. Happy Birthday, Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson (Dec. 19, 1875 – April 3, 1950), father of Black History, founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Happy 60th Birthday to those born in 1958 (smile). ASALH’s 2019 theme Black Migrations emphasizes the movement of people of African descent to new destinations and subsequently to new social realities. While inclusive of earlier centuries, this theme focuses especially on the 20th century through today.

I don’t know how Avotcja does it all: host two radio shows, perform with her band Modupue and curate such a phenomenal series of poetry and storytelling events. Yet she does and has for more years than we have fingers and toes. This is why, though I appreciated and loved “Beloved Oakland,” I think two culture workers were left out: Avotcja and Paradise. I would not have excluded any of the awardees; however, to omit Avotcja is like forgetting to bow to the Queen (as in Califa, not Victoria).

I ain’t gonna front – I shed tears when Trump and his minions were elected. The impending doom that is a Trump presidency is the result of a white America unable to swallow the conspicuousness of Black perfection, and a corollary of white rage. Black people have been shot, burned and lynched, but we did not die. Our hearts and minds have been subject to unspeakable trauma, and still we got back up. Persistence and lightenin’ spits from our fingers and truth is our ammunition. This is all too much for white America. Our perfection is our savior and it should not be feared.

Donald Trump is the consequence of an America in which a white man with money is automatically bestowed with power and political freedom. Despite his blatant stupidity, repulsiveness and toxic influence, he remains a presidential candidate – to me this is ridiculous. An imposed hierarchy means that my voice as a Black woman is the last to be heard. Cue Solange Knowles and Michelle Obama to deliver me from this angst.

President Obama, who has organized, taught and represented this city, knows the situation well. He knows the guns are not made here. He knows Chicago’s tough gun laws are undermined by lax enforcement and lower standards outside the city. He knows that as the guns and drugs are flowing in, the jobs are flowing out.

We’ve been “white maled!” Thank God for the ‘60s and ‘70s Black Power and Pride movements and for artists like James Brown who exorcized centuries of shame from our race with one song, “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud.” Be Black, buy Black, think Black and support the future Gabby Douglases of the world by voting every day with your dollars. Buy Black Wednesdays business of the month is True Vibe Records.

Harrison Chastang is news director at Black-owned KPOO Radio in San Francisco, and he's also an expert photojournalist. Here are a few of his photos from the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In 1920, nearly 15 percent of our nation’s farmers were Black. Today, fewer than 1 percent of our nation’s farmers are Black. An official USDA marijuana study shows possible yields of 400-500 pounds per acre of high yield production utilizing natural organic methods. Should Black farmers grow marijuana as a strategy to stabilize Black land loss in America?

When the news first hit that Michelle Obama was starting an organic vegetable garden, I became obsessed with reading everything about it. As a Black woman, my first thought went to the ancestors who built the White House and most of the capital.

I am grateful every day for your patience, poise, grace and humor as we prepare to start our new life together in the White House.

The 2008 presidential race provides an opportunity to redefine traditional views of beauty. When the child in the projects of New Orleans can look at the first lady and see herself, that iconography alone works as a powerful antidote towards curing what ails America.

Read Barack Obama's victory speech, which begins: "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer." Watch the speech by clicking on Videos under Topics to your left.