Thursday, June 24, 2010

African and Caribbean Culture Camp 2010

CAMP CELEBRATION 2010

6 weeks of African and Caribbean Culture June 28 – August 6, 2010
Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Steel Pans, African Drumming, Dancing, Creative Writing, Personal Development, Performance Arts, Art Show/Contest, Camp Tee-shirts, Field Trips, Qi-Gong / Exercise class, Weekly performances and 2 grand Performance Galas.

Cost is $ 250 per child. Scholarships are available.
St. James Episcopal Church
928 Effingham Street
Portsmouth, VA 23704

Contact Camp Celebration / Urban Arts Center at 399 – 0925
http://ccdi-va.net/UAC/uac.htm

In partnership with The Center for Community Development Inc., The Wesley Community Service Center, St. James Episcopal Church and the Urban Arts Center 440 High St. Suite 204, Portsmouth, VA 23704
(757) 399-0925/Fax (757)399-2642/ profit4@ccdi-va.net

Monday, June 7, 2010

The Libation Walk (757 Event)

Following traditions from the motherland, on Father's day the Imani Foundation invites you to honor your / our ancestors (Forefathers/Foreparents) who have graduated from earthly life. Following the beat of a drummer we will walk silently around the lake trail of Mount Trashmore in remembrance to our beloved familial, personal, national, and Diaspora ancestors. Carry memorabilia, pour walking libations, carry spiritual/religious materials, pray, honor, recognize, and the like as one walks the lake trail. End the silent walk with a drumming circle and social moments. Approximately a 30 minute walk. 8:00 - 9:00 AM. Cultural attire is encouraged. Open to the public.

Date: Sunday June 20, 2010
Time: 8:00 am - 9:00 am
Repeat: This event repeats annually on the third Sunday of June.
Location: Mt. Trashmore, Virginia Beach, Virginia
Street: 310 Edwin Drive
City/State/Zip: Virginia Beach, Virginia, 23462

Wall of Return Dedication 6/23/2010




Join us for the Wall of Return (Africa)
Dedication Dinner
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
BWI Airport Marriott
6:00pm - General Reception
7:00pm Dinner & Program





Dear Friends and Supporters of African American Family Heritage,

It is our honor to invite you and your family to join us at the Wall of Return (Africa) Project Dedication Dinner on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at the BWI Airport Marriott in Baltimore, Maryland. The Wall of Return is a memorial project created by Eric Sheppard, president and CEO of Diversity Restoration Solutions, an international trade development firm focused on U.S.-Africa trade and cultural relations. The dinner is part of the annual 2010 Africa Business Conference for U.S. and African small businesses.

The project, which began almost 3 years ago, will serve as a way to symbolically return home to Africa the names of our enslaved and freed African diaspora ancestors who were part of the transatlantic slave trade beginning over 400 years ago. The Wall will also serve as the 21st century healing response to the "Doors of No Return" that many of our ancestors walked through at slave castles and holding facilities throughout West Africa. Individuals who purchased name space to support the project will also be listed on the Wall and recognized at the dinner.

Our guest speaker will be Her Excellency Amina Salum Ali, Ambassador for the African Union Mission in Washington, DC. The African Union represents 53 member African states and is headquartered in Addis Abba, Ethiopia. Ambassador Ali, a friend and supporter of our reconnection efforts, will be welcoming the Wall of Return project to the continent of Africa.

As many of you know, our passion for family history, genealogy and recognizing the contributions of our enslaved ancestors does not start with this dedication dinner, but has been consistent for almost 10 years ago with the discovery of an enslaved ancestor named Moses Grandy and formation of our former nonprofit, Slave Descendants Freedom Society, Inc.

You may have also attended our annual slavery symposiums, which educated the general public on the legacy of African American slave history, attended a lecture on genealogy and family history or had your child participate in our Children's History Club. But overall, it was the inspiration, courage and tenacity that Eric received from Moses Grandy’s documented legacy and accomplishments which makes this project possible today.

Tickets are available for $60.00 per person or a table of 10 sponsorship for $600.00 with premium location seating for your group. Tickets are on sale now at www.regonline.com/wallofreturndinner and will be available through June 15th or until sold out. Space is limited. Please call us immediately if you plan to purchase a table so that your name can be included in our dinner program booklet.

For more information, contact us at (757) 484-0906 or email us at info@diversityrestoration.com . We hope you will be able to help us celebrate at this historic occasion, and please feel free to share with others who might be interested in attending as well. If you are not able to attend, please continue to keep the project and our Africa reconnection efforts in your thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,

Eric and Lisa Sheppard
Diversity Restoration Solutions


Sunday, June 6, 2010

Conscious Community 06 05 2010 (Roman Calendar)

Newsletter:
1) African Memorial Day
On May, 31st, 2010 the Khildren of Southampton took time out to pay homage to an Afrikan Memorial Day. Exactly 89 years ago in Tulsa, OK, hundreds of Afrikans were murdered at the hands of whites during one of the most notorious Race Wars of this country's bloody history. If you missed our Afrikan Memorial Service on Harambee Radio show yesterday evening, we have posted it on our Archives page.
http://www.ourkos.com/KOS/Radio_Show_Archives.html . Listen and find out why the only thing that has changed is the Black Family!

2) The Black Panthers & The Tea Party
This article is an excellent response to a very weak article put out by The Root comparing the Black Panther Party to the Tea Party. I was three years old when I watched my father, mother, and three-week-old baby brother nearly murdered in a hail of bullets during a police raid on our home in September 1973. My father, Robert Seth Hayes, was a member of the Black Panther Party (BPP), and ever since that day some 37 years ago, he has been a political prisoner in the state of New York. So when I read Cord Jefferson’s article, “Is the Tea Party the New Black Panther Party?” on The Root.com, I could not help but remember, and relive, the pain and trauma of that day. I also became frustrated and angry because Jefferson’s article is ahistorical and continues the tradition of attacking the Party and misrepresenting its history and legacy. What’s more, it does so in a forum that prides itself on getting African American history correct.
Jefferson begins his piece predictably, by drawing on caricatures of the Party – images of armed, angry, Black men going to war against the US government, Read more here: http://www.theroot.com/views/tea-party-new-black-panther-party .

3) Self Improvement Center becomes The House of Consciousness
Peace my peoples!!!!! We have been in talks to take the landmark bookstore (you know who) on 35th street to a new level. We have finally succeeded!!! We are changing the name to The House of Consciousness. (we had to) We will be open by friday and do a grand opening on Monday. The doors are open to the entire community!!! We are going to do the same things and little more. Give me a call at 757-748-5940 757-748-5940. The House of Consciousness - 600 W 35th street, Norfolk, VA 23508

4) Juneteenth from two sides of the coin
(A) JOIN ANCESTRAL PATH FOR THE TRUTH ABOUT JUNETEENTH. NO MORE LIES ABOUT LINCOLN OR HIS FAKE EMANCIPATION DOCUMENT. ALL POWER TO OUR ANCESTORS WHO LITERALLY FOUGHT FOR THEIR OWN FREEDOM! SAT., JUNE 19, BLYDEN BRANCH LIBRARY, NORFOLK, 1pm-4pm
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. A "FAMILY~FRIENDLY" EVENT
(B) 2010 JUNETEENTH'VA FESTIVAL, Saturday, June 19, 2010
http://juneteenthva.com/2.html
12noon - 6pm @ Dr. Clarence V. Cuffee Community Center
2019 Windy Road, Chesapeake, VA 23324 757.648.8549

5) Line Dance with DJ Seko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqGO07NODTc
DJ Seko, of Positive Vibes DJs & The Imani Foundation, shoots a video for his new Gospel line dance song Sunday June 13th, 2010 from 4:00 - 5:30 PM at C.C.U. 6049 Indian River Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23464 (Church next to Hardees).

6) The NOI's FOI & The Secret Service
http://www.playahata.com/?p=8962#more-8962

7) BACKING UP THE DEMAND FOR REPARATIONS:
REFLECTIONS AND THOUGHTS IN PREPARATION
FOR THE ANNUAL N’COBRA CONFERENCE
By H. Khalif Khalifah
MAY 31, 2010
SOUTHAMPTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA - The dynamic word within the Great Issue of Reparations is DEMAND. Demand implies that if you don’t receive a positive response there will be consequences for the Nation that the demand is made on. In short, not caring about consequences is the basic reason why “the powers that be,” are turning a deaf eat to the great work of N’COBRA and other proponents of Reparations for Black people, at home and abroad, at this time in history. “The powers that be” at the rulers of the nation called the United States of America.
As an Elder and Pioneer in N’COBRA and the “modern Reparations movement,” I offer the following as food for thought to the National Black Community in general, but in particular to the delegates to our Annual Conference in New Orleans this June 25 - 27.
N’COBRA’S FIRST PRIORITY MISSION WAS
“EDUCATING THE AFRICAN MASSES ABOUT REPARATIONS”
All persons joining should understand and agree, that at the founding of N’COBRA “The First Priority Mission” was to educate the masses about the National Black Communities right to Reparations. That was some 20 years ago. While the education process MUST continue unabated, for obvious reasons, all information I am reading about Reparations today is still within the frame of the First Priority Mission: I believe if we upgrade the “priority mission,” we’ll find appropriate strategies to back up the Demand and get the job done. Less we forget, the “done job” is to win and not to just show our profound evidence and explain our understanding about the case for Reparations.
With the understanding that there are some legitimate, credible reasons why some Reparations advocates feel all that is needed to win Reparations is to simply lay out the case for Reparations: that layer upon layers of both, historical and current evident, will be enough to get the job done, a certain degree of understanding of the knowledge about to WHOM our demand for Reparations is made will give us the Wisdom to understand this is not sufficient to get the job done.
PAY REPARATIONS OF ELSE!
The implication in the Demand for Reparations is there will be consequences if we are not paid. If the Criminal Nation, i.e. the U. S. A., consisted of a citizenry of good, moral, enlightened, sorrowful people about the “Crime Against Humanity” their Nation is guilty of, laying out the evidence in our case for Reparations would certainly be sufficient. A good, moral, enlightened, sorrowful people would apologize and go into good faith negotiations to seek a remedy that will effectively get them amends for the ill, criminal behavior of it’s government: the DEMAND would be met.
However, the above is evidently not being the case (the USA does not consist of enough good, moral, enlightened, sorrowful people): it is also certain that more needs to be done than letting our profound, unquestioned CASE/EVIDENCE to Reparations IMPLY what we will do: Clearly the Rulers of America give no indication they will accede to the overwhelming evidence. Any criminal facing this “small mountain of evidence” (a favorite expression of Pro. J. H. Clarke) would plead guilty and negotiate for a favorable punishment. THAT IS, a criminal who has a fear of consequences for what will happen when the case is properly prosecuted.
DEVELOPING STRATEGIES TO BACK UP THE DEMAND
What will Black people do to back up our demand for Reparations: clearly, we must move from the process of laying out the case/evidence to building strategies/systems to back up the demand. But what, and how do we proceed to find strategies?
“With the understanding that all political remedies within the system are known or have been tried; AND with the understanding that our economic potential is known or have been tried; AND with the understanding that all legal remedies within the system are known or have been tried; AND with the understanding that the cultural good health of Afrikan people is known or have been recovered; AND with the understanding that the military power and might of Afrikan people is known or have been effectively used in the past; THEREFORE, at the 9th Annual Reparations Convention, in Hampton, Virginia, June 26-26 & 28, 1998, N’COBRA will bring together all of the known and as many of the unknown elements as possible to derive the wisdom needed to frame the FINAL DEMAND on the USA to pay our Reparations…”
The above was made in my report to the N’COBRA National Board of Directors in preparation to host the 9th N’COBRA Conference in 1998. While some great, dynamic resolutions were passed and implemented at the convention/conference (Lifetime Membership, Economic Development Commission & addition of Black Farmers to the itemized Demands for Reparations, Sister Dorothy Lewis elected National Co-Chair and etc.), exploring ways to “back up the demand,” was not found or deliberated on.
The information is presented here as a possible place where we may well begin to formulate a workable/possible ULTIMATUM to back up our demand for Reparations. The only caution that I offered in my statement was that the ultimatum be within the capability of N’COBRA. It must be characterized to reflect the membership; not to sell “wolf tickets” to impress anyone. What was not possible under the old leadership may well be possible under the new leadership of N’COBRA.
However, the leadership of my time felt that the membership of that time would not support an ultimatum. Hopefully in 2010 this fact has changed and a consensus can evolve out of the deliberations by the generation that is charged with finding the next Priority Mission to enforce our Demand for Reparations.

H. Khalif Khalifah is a Black nationalist Journalist who lives in Southampton County, Virginia. A member of N’COBRA since 1991; he served 6 years on the National Board of Directors of N’COBRA during the 1990’s; was the Liaison of N’COBRA to the Million Man March; is the author 15 books about Black people in the Liberation Struggle, including “A Brief History About N’COBRA and the Reparations Movement.” To contact Khalifah: khalifah23844@yahoo.com or www.ubuscommunicationssystems.com