Greetings!
The only catastrophic event of the 2012 Winter Solstice is being left out of the spiritual dispensation for the coming new era that will occur at the winter solstice this year. Learn more about it at our first of several blog talk radio shows.
Thursday, Nov. 29 at 7:30pm www.BlogTalkRadio.com/taui
The winter solstice, according to ancient spiritual cultures, is the time when the energies of the earth enable the greatest enhancement to the ability to enter the state of altered consciousness, thus enhancing man's ability to communicate with her/his spirit and the Divine World Spirit. It is also the time when the Divine World Spirit dispenses the seeds that will govern the coming year. The 2012 Winter Solstice also marks the ending of the current era of 5126 years (Kali Yuga-age of darkness), and the beginning of a new era that will manifest greater spiritual awareness in the world-Age of Aquarius, Satya Yuga, etc. Only those people that are in harmony with divine law, and especially those that have made a special preparation for the occasion through initiations will receive the spiritual dispensation that will descend during the solstice. Yes, there will be a catastrophe; being left out of the direct reception of the dispensation.
You can prepare for the dispensation at one of our localities or online workshops:
Philadelphia: 6008 Germantown Ave. 12/2, 12/9, 12/16, 12/23 at 3pm (215) 843-0900.
London, UK: Hazel Road, Kensal Greene, London NW105PP. 12/1, 12/8. 12/15. 12/22. for additional details call 07951 252427
Classes in Chicago IL: 2108 E. 71st St. Course consists of four classes; 12/2, 12/9, 12/ 12/16/ and the group meditation on 12/23. Time: 1 pm. (773) 643-1340 for details (cost, registration, etc.). Vegetarian cuisine is available on premises.
Classes in Atlanta, GA: 1107 R. D. Abernathy Blvd, 12/2, 12/9, 12/16, 12/23. Time 1 pm $25 for the course. (678) 701-8011
Classes in Washington DC: 6224 3rd St, NW; 12/1, 12/8, 12/15, 12,22 ar 6 pm. $5 per workshop. (202) 723-5566 Vegetarian cuisine on premises.
Classes in Charlotte NC: 2719 Tuckaseegee Rd at the Kamitic Life Center 12/1, 12/8, 12/15 at 3pm $25 for the course (704) 339-0038 Vegetarian cuisine on premises.
Classes in New York City: 626 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn New York; 12/1, 12/8, 12/15, 12/22, 12/23 at 2pm. $25 for the course. (718) 469-3199 Monday to Fridays 10am to 4:30 pm EST. Vegetarian cuisine on premises.
Online Classes. Four weekly classes starting 12/1 to 12/20th. $20 for the course. To attend the group meditation in New York, an additional $5. To attend the group meditation in the localities listed, call them.
If you are interested in continuing a dialogue with us on the subject of the Mayan end of the era Winter Solstice 2012, and the beginning of the new one, send us an email at orders@tauinetwork.com that we may give you access to our private discussion group on Facebook.
To register for a local class, call the above listed numbers.
To register online, click on the link below
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Finally, thank them for their attention and response, and tell them you look forward to seeing them at your event.
Sincerely,
Taui Network and Ausar Auset Society
Taui Network & Ausar Auset Society orders@tauinetwork.com
ausarauset@nilevalley.com
718-469-3199
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Thursday, November 29, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Africa In Your Earbuds - Chief Boima
The Okayafrica Mixtape Series: AFRICA IN YOUR EARBUDS #1
When we re-launched Okayafrica this March (or launched for reals, really), we asked some of our favorite peeps if they would curate a playlist or mixtape of their favorite African or African-inspired music to share with the rest of the music-loving world.
To christen the series – Africa In Your Earbuds – world traveling DJ, producer, writer, and Dutty Artz crew member Chief Boima (who is currently somewhere in Liberia wrapping his head around urbanism, globalization and, as some in our office would hope, daggering in Freetown not far from ancestral hometown) sent us this 40+ minutes of excellent African sounds. We've been bumping it non-stop.
It also is stands as the first installment of the new Ghetto Palms Redux column over at our good friends The Fader, written by Okayplayer's own Eddie Stats. Here's what Eddie has to say about Boima's choices – and we're not saying it ourselves, cuz it couldn't be said better:
What I really love about this sh#t is the range; it gives you the breadth of an actual Chief Boima club set from afropop to soca to reggaeton/kuduro and house. My favorite moments, though, are double-time and digital; the points where Ghana or Angola synchs up with a flash of "Black & Yellow" or "Look At Me Now" — probably because of all the conversations with Boima, where he's talked about that being his zone, his micro-climate: the African in African-American.For Boima that connection is obviously up close & personal but it's also one that I think really resonates with now. I get the sense that Cubans and Brazilians—even the ones of European descent—are conscious of how much of their unique national identity is African. But despite all the post-blackness talk, and the narrowing of the 'empathy gap' that is embodied by a president who is not just black but 2nd-generation Kenyan, Americans seem to have a mental block about it. There are notable exceptions (for instance Midwest Electric – Wills Glasspiegel's Afropop Worldwide piece on Juke and Detroit Techno) but even recognizing Africa in black American culture is usually cloaked in uncomfortable "Coming to America" jokes. Now try telling the white kid in the next row that his whole American belief system (Not just Hemingway's ideal of "grace under pressure" for instance, but the whole concept of "cool") is just a set of classical African concepts transplanted into North American soil.
For more on Boima, check here. Tracklisting after the jump.
Download link: http://www.box.net/shared/7qhxu8hed3hg4b4epeig
AFRICA IN YOUR EARBUDS #1 TRACKLIST:
Lulu, "Alhamdulillah"
I-10, "100 Percent vs. Look at Me Now"
Sarkodie, "Lay Away" f. Sway & JaySo
Dagrin, "Thank God" f. Omawunmi
Iba One, "No Limit vs. Poirier Black and Yellow Soca Remix"
Surpluz Rage, "What About"
M.I., "Blaze" (f. Jesse Jags, Ice Prince & Blaise)
Vybz Kartel, "Love Dem"
Morachi, "Marry Me"
Volcano, "Live Zouglou"
Awilo Longomba, "Manon"
DJ Magistral, "Instrumental"
Agev Munsen, "Gotta Get With You" f. Cassio Ware
Professor, "Baby"
Old Money, "Mamaseh" (Instrumental)
Supersonic Crew [Devin; Melo], "Untitled"
Mito, "Sele Mama Sele" ft Rei Anaconda
Lucenzo, "Danza Kuduro" (Original) f. Don Omar
Cabo Snoop, "Foi de Brincadeira" f. Mwana Po & Maskarado
Zito Silva, "Vamos Brincar"
African Citizen of the world: Cheif Boima (New African & Afro-beat Music)
Download the mix at this link:
Podcast 234: Chief Boima
- Words: Shawn Reynaldo
While the notion of being a "citizen of the world" is often worthy of scorn, or at least a pronounced eye roll, in the case of Chief Boima (a.k.a. Boima Tucker), the concept actually makes sense. Raised in Milwaukee and subsequently a longtime resident of Oakland, Boima currently calls Brooklyn home, although "home" is a relative concept when you're frequently traveling the globe and soaking in the local sounds of places like Spain, Colombia, Bolivia, Sierra Leone (his father's birthplace), Liberia, and other locales too numerous to list. Along the way, he's been adopted by the Dutty Artz crew, who will be releasing his latest record, African in New York, next week. As such, we figured now would be a good time to have Boima assemble an exclusive mix for the XLR8R podcast series, and the multifaceted artist has responded with something that's both entirely unique and completely representative of what he's all about when it comes to music. Largely eschewing the latest output of dance music's established hubs, Boima weaves together a tapestry of sounds either from or directly influenced by the third world (mostly Africa and Latin America), places where combining even the most commercial of tracks with local flavors is anything but taboo. It's a production approach often used by Boima himself, which is why you'll find him reworking an R&B superstar like Usher one minute and flipping old-school house anthems the next. Listening to his podcast, there's a tangible sense of freedom, as Boima isn't constrained by trends or notions of what's "fashionable." Even with the frequent nods to global pop culture, he's documenting something that's truly underground, not to mention a whole lot of fun.
01 DJ Arafat "Frapper Naboula Tala" (Ivoir Mix DJ)
02 Chief Boima "Last Night of Your Life" (Dutty Artz)
03 BB Ramazani "Fouka Fouka" (X-pol)
04 Dollar R DJ "Wolosso Azoubagehi" (Section Zouk/Score)
05 Abou Nidal "Wrou Wrou"
06 DJ Passon "Kuduro Logobie"
07 DJ Bax "Kro. D'F.L.O Gringo" (Bazzerk)
08 Chief Boima "Logobi 1"
09 Chief Boima "Decolator" (Dutty Artz)
10 The Shine feat. Jimmy "Qual é a Dica"
11 Crystal Fighters "At Home (Cousin Culo Remix)"
12 Chief Boima "Cape Verdians in Paris"
13 MC Cidinho "Dinheiro (Maga Bo Remix)" (Comando Digital)
14 Walter Ananaz "Mboia" (Bizness Music/Bomaye Musik/Sérios L)
15 J. Martins & Cabo Snoop "Good Tym" (Don Family/Storm)
16 Oz Kiezos "Princeza Rita" (Lusafrica France)
17 DJ Eridson feat. Dj D.D.Cabeça "D.D 122 Dor de Cabeça"
18 Tshala Muana "Libanga Yatalo" (Syllart)
19 Osunlade "Envision (Dixon Version)" (Innervisions)
20 AJEButter 22 feat. Taymi B "Senrenre" (Studio Magic)
21 Geelex feat. Appietus & E.L "Bend Ya Body" (Agany Entertainment)
22 Lamin Fofana "Brokedown City (Aramac Remix)" (Sticks n' Stones)
23 Sorie Kondi "Without Money No Family (Chief Boima Remix)" (Dutty Artz)
02 Chief Boima "Last Night of Your Life" (Dutty Artz)
03 BB Ramazani "Fouka Fouka" (X-pol)
04 Dollar R DJ "Wolosso Azoubagehi" (Section Zouk/Score)
05 Abou Nidal "Wrou Wrou"
06 DJ Passon "Kuduro Logobie"
07 DJ Bax "Kro. D'F.L.O Gringo" (Bazzerk)
08 Chief Boima "Logobi 1"
09 Chief Boima "Decolator" (Dutty Artz)
10 The Shine feat. Jimmy "Qual é a Dica"
11 Crystal Fighters "At Home (Cousin Culo Remix)"
12 Chief Boima "Cape Verdians in Paris"
13 MC Cidinho "Dinheiro (Maga Bo Remix)" (Comando Digital)
14 Walter Ananaz "Mboia" (Bizness Music/Bomaye Musik/Sérios L)
15 J. Martins & Cabo Snoop "Good Tym" (Don Family/Storm)
16 Oz Kiezos "Princeza Rita" (Lusafrica France)
17 DJ Eridson feat. Dj D.D.Cabeça "D.D 122 Dor de Cabeça"
18 Tshala Muana "Libanga Yatalo" (Syllart)
19 Osunlade "Envision (Dixon Version)" (Innervisions)
20 AJEButter 22 feat. Taymi B "Senrenre" (Studio Magic)
21 Geelex feat. Appietus & E.L "Bend Ya Body" (Agany Entertainment)
22 Lamin Fofana "Brokedown City (Aramac Remix)" (Sticks n' Stones)
23 Sorie Kondi "Without Money No Family (Chief Boima Remix)" (Dutty Artz)
Monday, November 26, 2012
Ashra Kwesi to Speak in D.C.
Hotep All,
If you really want some knowledge with documented proof, then you'll take the treck to visit this brother. It will be hard press to find a better teacher. You can also visit his website at www.kemetnu.com for more info on him, cd's, dvd's, books, etc.
Knowledge is power … "Man Must Know Thyself." AfRAkan Proverb
Asar
"It's a ok not to know, but it's a shame not to want to know."
Dr. Clarke
-------------------------------
Hotep (Peace) Brothers and Sisters:
Positive Kemetic Visions will host Ashra Kwesi on Saturday, December 1, 2012 for a visually documented, multimedia presentation entitled "The Afrikan Origin of Christianity - The Birth of the Black! Christ." The location for the event is 202 Riggs Rd. NE, Washington DC 20010. The program will run from 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Admission is $20 at the door or $15 presale. Dinner Sales will also be available. For presale ticket information, call 202-207-7886 or email: info@pkvvillage.org.
Brother Kwesi is a lecturer on African history, civilization and culture. His lively and dynamic PowerPoint presentations are based on his 32 years of research, travel and conducting tours in Egypt. 14 of those years were spent with the renowned scholar and Kemetologist, Dr. Yosef ben Jochannan (affectionately known as Dr. Ben). Ashra Kwesi reveals startling and compelling information on the African origin of many of the concepts and symbols now utilized by the western world. These details are based on spiritual knowledge from the books in stone.
In the presentation "The Afrikan Origin of Christianity - The Birth of the Black Christ," Brother Kwesi will provide insight into the following.
. Ancient African Cosmological Sciences in Christianity
. Aset and Heru, the prototype for the Madonna and Child
. The ancient Afrikan meaning of the Christ concept and much more...
. The historical Jesus and the mythical Christ
. The Black Madonna and Jesus Christ worshipped in Europe and behind closed
doors in the Vatican
. The desecration of ancient Afrikan spiritual symbols from the temples in Kemet (Egypt) and their incorporation into the European western version of Christianity.
Ashra Kwesi and his wife Merira, are the owners of Kemet Nu Productions. They produce riveting, educational videos on the African origins of civilization, religion and culture. Emphasis is placed on visual documentation of the concepts and symbols from which the western world draws its society. Brother and Sister Kwesi also conduct annual educational tours to Egypt and Ethiopia on the Kemet Nu "Know Thyself" Educational Tour.
Be sure to notify friends and family of this exciting event.
Hotep! !
Kemet Nu Produc tions
www.kemetnu.com
(214) 371-0206
Email: kemetnu@sbcglobal.com
Change Subscription:
http://sub.ezinedirector.net/?fa=m&s=123321230&c=965079516
Cancel Subscription:
http://sub.ezinedirector.net/?fa=r&id=123321230&c=965079516
If you really want some knowledge with documented proof, then you'll take the treck to visit this brother. It will be hard press to find a better teacher. You can also visit his website at www.kemetnu.com for more info on him, cd's, dvd's, books, etc.
Knowledge is power … "Man Must Know Thyself." AfRAkan Proverb
Asar
"It's a ok not to know, but it's a shame not to want to know."
Dr. Clarke
-------------------------------
Hotep (Peace) Brothers and Sisters:
Positive Kemetic Visions will host Ashra Kwesi on Saturday, December 1, 2012 for a visually documented, multimedia presentation entitled "The Afrikan Origin of Christianity - The Birth of the Black! Christ." The location for the event is 202 Riggs Rd. NE, Washington DC 20010. The program will run from 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Admission is $20 at the door or $15 presale. Dinner Sales will also be available. For presale ticket information, call 202-207-7886 or email: info@pkvvillage.org.
Brother Kwesi is a lecturer on African history, civilization and culture. His lively and dynamic PowerPoint presentations are based on his 32 years of research, travel and conducting tours in Egypt. 14 of those years were spent with the renowned scholar and Kemetologist, Dr. Yosef ben Jochannan (affectionately known as Dr. Ben). Ashra Kwesi reveals startling and compelling information on the African origin of many of the concepts and symbols now utilized by the western world. These details are based on spiritual knowledge from the books in stone.
In the presentation "The Afrikan Origin of Christianity - The Birth of the Black Christ," Brother Kwesi will provide insight into the following.
. Ancient African Cosmological Sciences in Christianity
. Aset and Heru, the prototype for the Madonna and Child
. The ancient Afrikan meaning of the Christ concept and much more...
. The historical Jesus and the mythical Christ
. The Black Madonna and Jesus Christ worshipped in Europe and behind closed
doors in the Vatican
. The desecration of ancient Afrikan spiritual symbols from the temples in Kemet (Egypt) and their incorporation into the European western version of Christianity.
Ashra Kwesi and his wife Merira, are the owners of Kemet Nu Productions. They produce riveting, educational videos on the African origins of civilization, religion and culture. Emphasis is placed on visual documentation of the concepts and symbols from which the western world draws its society. Brother and Sister Kwesi also conduct annual educational tours to Egypt and Ethiopia on the Kemet Nu "Know Thyself" Educational Tour.
Be sure to notify friends and family of this exciting event.
Hotep! !
Kemet Nu Produc tions
www.kemetnu.com
(214) 371-0206
Email: kemetnu@sbcglobal.com
Change Subscription:
http://sub.ezinedirector.net/?fa=m&s=123321230&c=965079516
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Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Thanks(for)getting the Origins of Thanksgiving
"AfRAkan OURSTORY: Somebody has to tell us the truth series"
Thanks(for)getting the Origin of Thanksgiving
Ɛte Sɛn (What's Up) All,
Many feel thanksgiving poses no threat, labeling it as a harmless day we're off from work to come together and stuff our bodies with impure, toxic, flesh-decaying products in the name of family. What is Thanksgiving and is there an AfRAkan alternative to it? More importantly, what is the history of Thanksgiving, who am I really thanking, and what part of "HIS-STORY" am I forgetting (or ignoring)?
Are you ready, do you want to stay blind, hopefully you can handle the truth and do what's right afterwards?
But, before I go into the HIS-STORY of Thanks-killing , I want you to check this video out that I took last year from the Slave Dungeons in Cape Coast, Ghana AfRAka entailing the treachery "OUR" ANKHcestors went through. Realize...when you celebrate the horrible European Hollow-Day called thanksgiving you are literally spitting in your ANKHcestors face … don't get mad the truth is the truth.
SLAVE DUNGEON intro … click the link or paste and place in browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAb54J1IzDY
(Feel free to watch the other parts as well)
"It's ok not to know, but it's a shame not to want to know."
Dr. John Henrik Clarke
"If you continue to honor traditional wayz even though its founding is based on treachery, you do nothin' but dishonor the victimz of this tradition."
M'bwebe aja ishangi
NOW … LET'S GO BACK …
by M'bwebe aja ishangi:
http://www.daghettotymz.com
From the beginning of my adolescent sentence into the "reprogramming system" aka public schoolz, I was told the so-called "native" americanz and the pilgrimz shared a mutually respective relationship. I was also, "programmed" to believe the "natives" were the first in the americaz, shattering any possibility of ever perceiving the historical fact of my Afrikan Ancestorz being here first and therefore the true "natives".
I was coerced to believe the pilgrim was as generous as the natives were, which is allegedly symbolic for the celebration many of us ignorantly celebrate each 3rd Thursday in November.
By the age of 5, my mind had already been momentarily held in captivity, lasting the first 20 yearz of my natural life. A possession the likes of this seldom lose its contagious hold. Mainly because this spell eliminated my questioning of the real story behind thanksgiving as I drew turkeyz from the outstretched fingerz of my left hand as a child. I never asked my momz why eating pig intestines (chitterlingz) and buttocks (ham) was at an all-time high around this time of year. I never asked where were the black people while the natives and pilgrimz was gettin' they eat on. It didn't matter then, all I cared about was buggin' with my cousinz and eating literally like a pig, until I couldn't eat no more...
That was then. Then, I didn't inquire about any Afrikan alternative to thanksgiving because I thought it was Afrikan, or rather, Black! After all, my family is Black! But there was no one there to tell me the flipside to man-made hallow-daze (holidayz) I grown to be so fond of.
But as adults, we must realize we are accountable for everything we allow to be part of our lives and families. This accountability is essential if we are to break the chain of customz that dishonor our Ancestorz as well as pass on the madness to our children...I repeat pass on the madness to our children.
From the origin of black organizationz to the many hallow-daze we celebrate. In this piece, we'll focus on the fallacy behind Thanksgiving.
There are three levels of thinking author Tony Browder talks of… They are:
1) Literal — one who accepts without question something told to them;
2) Influential — one who is able to see the underlying message or detect ill subliminalz; and
3) Evaluative — one who is able to not only see the subliminal, but is able to combat it with a deeper meaning and eventual solution/alternative to what is presented to them.
Take a moment before readin' on and decide what kind of thinker you are. This is important because what you read from here you'll be faced with determining if you're really who you say you are...
"At the first thanksgiving celebration in 1621, there were only 6-7 sane people left in the whole pilgrim colony. The rest were basically mentally gone."
— Captain John Smith
WHAT IS THANKSGIVING?
{From DA GHETTO TYMZ MAGAZINE}
http://www.daghettotymz.com
Many feel thanksgiving poses no personal threat, labeling it as a harmless day we're off from work to come together and stuff our bodies with impure, toxic, flesh-decaying products in the name of family. What is thanksgiving and is there an Afrikan alternative to it? The Afrikan alternative is called Umoja Karamu.
For some reason, the Afrikan family has used this time only to gather in celebration, not reconstruction. Personally, I feel the Afrikan family should eliminate all celebrationz and hallow-daze because there's more work that needz to be done than celebration. Do you think Rothschild, Rhodes, Rockefeller and the rest of the clanz who uphold global white supremacy is chillin', gulping down toxic foodz into their bodies, watchin' football all day? This is no time for celebration, the key playerz are planning!
However, for those that cannot get out of their festive moodz and must have something to celebrate, the alternative to Thanksgiving is Umoja Karamu—which we will detail in a bit. But first, liberation of the mind comes from eliminating ignorance from one's psyche. So I pose the question, What is the history of Thanksgiving, who am I really thanking, and what part of history am I forgetting (or ignorant of)? Let's go back...
In school, we were taught Thanksgiving dealt with the pilgrimz leaving England via the Mayflower in search of freedom of life and religious practices. However, we were not told they were, in fact, cast out of England! Historian, Joel Augustus Rogers wrote, "in 1611AD, governor dale of Virginia urged king James I of England to banish all condemned persons to Virginia." Most of these pilgrimz had committed crimes of murder, theft, and arson, so the new world — since it was a place they considered uncivilized and wild, was originally meant to be land for life imprisonment where they'd be cut off from England and forced to live on their own. To many, they thought it was a death sentence. The pilgrimz felt, as residents of England, they were basically bullied by the system.
"What's deep is they bitched about being victimz of suppression and came over here and did the same thing that was done to them to the natives! "
In the year 1620, the pilgrimz ventured toward the new world. The English parliament knew very little of the new world, and therefore didn't expect them to survive. However, if they did, they were to establish an export trading system, stealing furz, spices, and elements for English inventory. They set sail from South Hampton in two vesselz, the Speedwell and the Mayflower. Difficulties with the Speedwell forced a return to the dock of Plymouth and the Mayflower left solo on September 6, 1620 with 102 passengerz. The voyage lasted a stormy 66 dayz when they dropped anchor near what is now Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Their first winter in the new world was severe, losing 44 of the pilgrim fatherz, leaving just over 50 survivorz. They resorted to living in small huts, eating shellfish and water for sustenance. JA Rogers, wrote, "...Governor Bradford said of the survivors, 'scarce fifty remained and of these were only 6 or 7 sound person's'. George Thorpe, a highly educated colonist, thought however, that despondency (loss of courage or hope) was the real cause. He said in 1621 'more do die here of the disease of the mind than of the body.'"
At the first thanksgiving celebration in 1621, there were only 6-7 sane people left in the whole pilgrim colony. The rest were mentally gone. In The General History of Virginia, 4th book, on page 294, it revealed notes written from Captain John Smith (1580-1631). Regarding one of the remaining sane pilgrimz, he writes, "...so great was our famine that a savage we slew and buried, the poorer sort took him up again and ate him; and so did divers ones another boiled and stewed with herbs. And one amongst the rest did kill his wife, powdered her and had eaten part of her."
Neil Ed., quotes the Virginia assembly of 1623 in its complaints against Governor Thomas Smythe, "One man killed his wife to eat for which he was burned. Many fed on corpses." JA Rogers also wrote, "...other instances of eating corpses and killing Indianz and eating them occurred as late as 1846." Now we were set free from physical enslavement just 20 yearz later!
How significant is a hallow-day, that started some 400 yearz ago, relevant today in Afrikan culture? We must look at how this day has persevered to our present 21st century and where it might lead Afrikanz in the future if we continue to partake in this satanic, cannibalistically-based ritual. Even though most of us will continue to celebrate Thanksgiving because it is a time for family to get together in harmony; that still does not make it right if we continue using their customz.
How foolish we must look to our exploited, murdered, beaten and eaten Afrikan Ancestorz, gathering in the name of family, but having no clue to the real story behind this and other european hallow-daze.
Umoja Karamu comes from two Swahili wordz. Umoja, meaning unity and Karamu, meaning feast. This is a unity feast designed to be a ritual of solidarity for the Afrikan family. The creation came from Philadelphia native, Edward Simms, Jr. and was introduced to the Afrikan nation in 1971.
Simms felt Umoja Karamu is needed because it "injects new meaning and solidarity into the Black Family through ceremony and symbol. It is unique in that it bridges the gap between diverse religious persuasions through a ritual which is easily understood and appreciated by all the participants. Moreover, it draws on the collective Black experience with which most Black Folks are familiar."
The ritual is divided into 5 parts or periodz which depict various aspects of the Black experience just before and after our transportation to America. The periods are:
1) The Black Family in the Mother Country
2) The Slavery Horror
3) The Period of the Emancipation Fight
4) The Liberation Struggle and
5) The Black Family Looks At The Future.
These 5 segments are visually portrayed by 5 colorz, black, white, red, green, and orange or gold. Coupled with this is the ritual of eating of 5 different kindz of foodz corresponding to the 5 colorz. The 5 periodz reflect the oppressive, antihuman, destructive and socially disintegrating acts perpetuated against the family structure of the Afrikan people worldwide. Yet it also revitalizes hope and rekindles the fires of self-determination which motivate us to continue our quest to build a better world with better conditionz we've ever known.
In summation, the question is "Am I Really Giving", and even deeper, "What Am I Giving and To Whom?" Am I passing the ignorance inherited from my parents to my seedz? You are not to blame if and only if, you do not know the origin of this celebration of horrorz. BUT, since, you read this piece, you are exempt. If you choose to proceed without further research on reasonz to support the continued celebration of Thanksgiving, your end result is the choice to poison the soulz of your seedz with this and the other European hallow-daze.
It is well past time for healing and in doing so, we may find a lot of the thingz we've become complacent with, need to be discarded. Study, Learn, Overstand, Implement, Motivate otherz and duplicate! These are the ingredients to liberation!
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
From James Loewen's book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong:
• p76: The Europeanz were able to conquer America not because of their military genius, or their religious motivation, or their ambition, or their greed. They conquered it by waging unpremeditated biological warfare.
• p79: The scarcity of disease in the Americas was also partly attributable to the basic hygiene practiced by the regionz inhabitants. Residents of northern Europe and England rarely bathed, believing it unhealthy, and rarely removed all of their clothing at one time, believing it immodest. The Pilgrims smelled bad to the Indianz. Squanto "tried, without success, to teach them to bathe," according to Feenie Ziner, his biographer.
For all these reasonz, the inhabitants of North and South America (like Australian aborigines and the peoples of the far-flung Pacific islandz) were "a remarkably healthy race" before Columbus. Ironically, their very health proved their undoing, for they had built up no resistance, genetically or through childhood diseases, to the microbes that Europeanz would bring to them.
In 1617, just before the Pilgrimz landed, the process started in southern New England. For decades, British and French fishermen had fished off the Massachusetts coast. After filling their hullz with cod, they would go ashore to lay in firewood and fresh water and perhaps capture a few Indianz to sell into slavery in Europe. It is likely that these fishermen transmitted some illness to the people they met. The plague that ensued made the Black Death pale by comparison. Some historianz think the disease was the bubonic plague; otherz suggest that it was viral hepatitis, smallpox, chicken pox, or influenza.
Within three yearz the plague wiped out between 90 percent and 96 percent of the inhabitants of coastal New England. The Indian societies lay devastated. Only "the twentieth person is scarce left alive," wrote Robert Cushman, a British eyewitness, recording a death rate unknown in all previous human experience. Unable to cope with so many corpses, the survivorz abandoned their villages and fled, often to a neighboring tribe. Because they carried the infestation with them, Indianz died who had never encountered a white person. Howard Simpson describes what the Pilgrimz saw: "Villages lay in ruins because there was no one to tend them. The ground was strewn with the skulls and the bones of thousands of Indianz who had died and none was left to bury them."
During the next fifteen yearz, additional epidemics, most of which we know to have been smallpox, struck repeatedly. European Americanz also contracted smallpox and the other maladies, to be sure, but they usually recovered, including, in a later century, the "heavily pockmarked George Washington." Native Americanz usually died. The impact of the epidemics on the two cultures was profound. The English Separatists, already seeing their lives as part of a divinely inspired morality play, found it easy to infer that God was on their side.
John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, called the plague "miraculous." In 1634 he wrote to a friend in England: "But for the natives in these parts, God hath so pursued them, as for 300 miles space the greatest part of them are swept away by the smallpox which still continues among them. So as God hath thereby cleared our title to this place, those who remain in these parts, being in all not 50, have put themselves under our protection ', God the Original Real Estate Agent!"
Many Indianz likewise inferred that their god had abandoned them. Robert Cushman reported that "those that are left, have their courage much abated, and their countenance is dejected, and they seem as a people affrighted." After a smallpox epidemic the Cherokee "despaired so much that they lost confidence in their gods and the priests destroyed the sacred objects of the tribe." After all, neither Indianz nor Pilgrimz had access to the germ theory of disease. Indian healerz could supply no cure; their medicines and herbz offered no relief.
Pay attention here BLACK people…"Their religion provided no explanation. That of the whites did. Like the Europeanz three centuries before them, many Indianz surrendered to alcohol, converted to Christianity (mistake), or simply killed themselves. " (Can someone say ignorance is a bliss).
These epidemics probably constituted the most important geopolitical event of the early seventeenth century. Their net result was that the British, for their first fifty yearz in New England, would face no real Indian challenge.
• p84: The very death rates that some historianz and geographerz now find it hard to believe, the Pilgrimz knew to be true. For example, William Bradford described how the Dutch, rivalz of Plymouth, traveled to an Indian village in Connecticut to trade. "But their enterprise failed, for it pleased God to afflict these Indianz with such a deadly sickness, that out of 1,000, over 950 of them died, and many of them lay rotting above ground for want of burial..." This is precisely the 95 percent mortality that McEvedy rejected. On the opposite coast, the Native population of California sank from 300,000 in 1769 (by which time it had already been cut in half by various Spanish-borne diseases) to 30,000 a century later, owing mainly to the gold rush, which brought "disease, starvation, homicide, and a declining birthrate." (Can anyone say present day AIDS).
For a century after Catlin, historianz and anthropologists overlooked the evidence offered by the Pilgrimz and other early chroniclerz. Beginning with P. M. Ashburn in 1947, however, research has established more accurate estimates based on careful continent-wide compilations of small-scale studies of first contact and on evidence of early plagues. Most current estimates of the precontact population of the United States and Canada range from ten to twenty million.
• p103: After contact with Europeanz and Afrikanz, Indian societies changed rapidly. Native Americanz took into their cultures not only gunz, blankets, and kettles, but also new foodz, ways of building houses, and ideas from Christianity. Most American history textbooks tell about the changes in only one group, the Plainz Indianz. Eight of the twelve textbooks I surveyed mention the rapid efflorescence of this colorful culture after the Spaniardz introduced the horse to the American West. It is an exhilarating example of syncretism-blending elements of two different cultures to create something new.
The transformation in the Plainz cultures, however, was only the tip of the cultural-change iceberg. An even more profound metamorphosis occurred as Europeanz linked Native peoples to the developing world economy. Yet textbooks make no mention of this process, despite the fact that it continues to affect formerly independent cultures in the last half of our century. In the early 1970s, for example, Lapps in Norway replaced their sled dogs with snowmobiles, only to find themselves vulnerable to Arab oil embargoes. The process seemz inevitable, hence perhaps is neither to be praised nor decried-but it should not be ignored, because it is crucial to understanding how Europeanz took over America.
In Atlantic North America, memberz of Indian nationz possessed a variety of sophisticated skillz, from the ability to weave watertight baskets to an understanding of how certain plants can be used to reduce pain. At first, Native Americanz traded corn, beaver, fish, sassafras, and other goodz with the French, Dutch, and British, in return for axes, blankets, cloth, beadz, and kettles. Soon, however, Europeanz persuaded Natives to specialize in the fur and slave trades. Native Americanz were better hunterz and trapperz than Europeanz, and with the gunz the Europeanz sold them, they became better still. Other Native skillz began to atrophy. Why spend hourz making a watertight basket when in one-tenth the time you could trap enough beaverz to trade for a kettle? Even agriculture, which the Native Americanz had shown to the Europeanz, declined, because it became easier to trade for food than to grow it. Everyone acted in rational self-interest in joining such a system — that is, Native Americanz were not mere victimz — because everyone's standard of living improved, at least in theory.
Some of the rapid changes in eastern Indian societies exemplify syncretizm. When the Iroquois combined European gunz and Native American tactics to smash the Huronz, they controlled their own culture and chose which elements of European culture to incorporate, which to modify, which to ignore. Native Americanz learned how to repair gunz, cast bullets, build stronger forts, and fight to annihilate. Native Americanz also became well known as linguists, often speaking two European languages (French, English, Dutch, or Spanish) and at least two Indian languages. British colonists sometymz used Natives as interpreterz when dealing with the Spanish or French, not just with other Native American nationz.
These developments were not all matters of happy economics and voluntary syncretic cultural transformation, however. Natives were operating under a military and cultural threat, and they knew it. They quickly deduced that European gunz were more efficient than their bowz and arrowz. Europeanz soon realized that trade goodz could be used to win and maintain political alliances with Indian nationz. To deal with the new threat and because whites "demanded institutions reflective of their own with which to relate," many Native groups strengthened their tribal governments. Chiefs acquired power they had never had before. These governments often ruled unprecedentedly broad areas, because the heightened warfare and the plagues had wiped out smaller tribes or caused them to merge with larger ones for protection. Large nationz became ethnic melting pots, taking in whites and blacks as well as other Indianz. New confederations and nationz developed, such as the Creeks, Seminoles, and Lumbees. The tribes also became more male-dominated, in imitation of Europeanz or because of the expanded importance of war skills in their cultures.
Tribes that were closest to the Europeanz got gunz first, gunz that could be trained on interior peoples who had not yet acquired any. Suddenly some nationz had a great military advantage over others. The result was an escalation of Indian warfare. Native nationz had engaged in conflict before Europeanz came, of course. Tribes rarely fought to the finish, however. Some tribes did not want to take over the landz belonging to other nationz, partly because each had its own sacred sites. For a nation to exterminate its neighborz was difficult anyway, since all enjoyed the same level of military technology.
** Pay attention here Black folks …."Now all this changed. European powerz deliberately increased Indian warfare by playing one nation off against another. The Spanish, for example, used a divide-and conquer strategy to defeat the Aztecs in Mexico. In Scotland and Ireland, the English had played tribes against one another to extend British rule. Now they did the same in North America. "
For many tribes the motive for the increased combat was the enslavement of other Indianz to sell to the Europeanz for more gunz and kettles. As northern tribes specialized in fur, certain southern tribes specialized in people. Some Native Americanz had enslaved each other long before Europeanz arrived. Now Europeanz vastly expanded Indian slavery. Colonists in South Carolina paid nearby Indian nationz in gunz, ammunition, and other goodz, which enabled them to enslave interior nationz as far west as Arkansas.
• p105: The Europeanz' enslavement of Native Americanz has a long history. Textbooks used in elementary schoolz tell that Ponce de Leon went to Florida to seek the mythical fountain of youth; they do not say that his main business was to capture slaves for Hispaniola. In New England, Indian slavery led directly to Afrikan slavery: the first blacks imported there, in 1638, were brought from the West Indies to be exchanged for Native Americanz from Connecticut. On the eve of the New York City slave rebellion of 1712, in which Native and Afrikan slaves united, about one resident in four was enslaved and one slave in four was Indian. A 1730 census of South Kingston, Rhode Island, showed 935 whites, 333 Afrikan slaves, and 223 Native American slaves.
The center of Native American slavery, like Afrikan American slavery, was South Carolina. Its population in 1708 included 3,960 free whites, 4,100 Afrikan slaves, 1,400 Indian slaves, and 120 indentured servants, presumably white. These numbers do not reflect the magnitude of Native slavery, however, because they omit the export trade. From Carolina, as from New England, colonists sent Indian slaves (who might escape) to the West Indies (where they could never escape), in exchange for black slaves. Charleston shipped more than 10,000 Natives in chainz to the West Indies in one year! Further west, so many Pawnee Indianz were sold to whites that Pawnee became the name applied in the plainz to all slaves, whether they were of Indian or Afrikan origin. On the West Coast, Pierson Reading, a manager of John Sutter's huge grant of Indian land in central California, extolled the easy life he led in 1844, "The Indianz of California make as obedient and humble slaves as the Negro in the south." In the Southwest, whites enslaved Navajos and Apaches right up to the middle of the Civil War.
Intensified warfare and the slave trade rendered stable settlements no longer safe, helping to deagriculturize Native Americanz. To avoid being targets for capture, Indianz abandoned their cornfieldz and their villages and began to live in smaller settlements from which they could more easily escape to the woodz. Ultimately, they had to trade with Europeanz even for food. As Europeanz learned from Natives what to grow and how to grow it, they became less dependent upon Indianz and Indian technology, while Indianz became more dependent upon Europeanz and European technology. Thus what worked for the Native Americanz in the short run worked against them in the long. In the long run, it was Indianz who were enslaved, Indianz who died, Indian technology that was lost, Indian cultures that fell apart. By the time the pitiful remnant of the Massachusset tribe converted to Christianity and joined the Puritans' "praying Indian towns," they did so in response to an invading culture that told them their religion was wrong and Christianity was right. This process exemplifies what anthropologists call cultural imperialism. Even the proud Plains Indianz, whose syncretic culture combined horses and gunz from the Spanish with Native art, religion, and hunting styles, showed the effects of cultural imperialism: the Sioux word for white man, wasichu, meant "one who has everything good." (Can someone say bamboozeled).
p109: Afrikan Americanz frequently fled to Indian societies to escape bondage. What did whites find so alluring? According to Benjamin Franklin, "All their government is by Counsel of the Sages. There is no Force; there are no Prisons, no officers to compel Obedience, or inflict Punishment." Probably foremost, the lack of hierarchy in the Native societies in the eastern United States attracted the admiration of European observers. Frontiersmen were taken with the extent to which Native Americanz enjoyed freedom as individuals. Women were also accorded more status and power in most Native societies than in white societies of the time, which white women noted with envy in captivity narratives. Although leadership was substantially hereditary in some nationz, most Indian societies north of Mexico were much more democratic than Spain, France, or even England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. "There is not a Man in the Ministry of the Five nations, who has gain'd his Office, otherwise than by Merit," waxed Lt. Gov. Cadwallader Colden of New York in 1727. "Their Authority is only the Esteem of the People, and ceases the Moment that Esteem is lost." Colden applied to the Iroquois termz redolent of "the natural rights of mankind", "Here we see the natural Origin of all Power and Authority among a free People."
Indeed, Native American ideas may be partly responsible for our democratic institutionz. We have seen how Native ideas of liberty, fraternity, and equality found their way to Europe to influence social philosopherz such as Thomas More, Locke, Montaigne, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. These European thinkerz then influenced Americanz such as Franklin, Jefferson, and Madison. In recent yearz historianz have debated whether Indian ideas may also have influenced our democracy more directly. Through 150 yearz of colonial contact, the Iroquois League stood before the colonies as an object lesson in how to govern a large domain democratically. The termz used by Lt. Gov. Colden find an echo in our Declaration of Independence fifty yearz later.
In the 1740s the Iroquois wearied of dealing with several often bickering English colonies and suggested that the colonies form a union similar to the league. In 1754 Benjamin Franklin, who had spent much time among the Iroquois observing their deliberationz, pleaded with colonial leaderz to consider the Albany Plan of Union, "It would be a strange thing if six nations of ignorant savages should be capable of forming a scheme for such a union and be able to execute it in such a manner as that it has subsisted ages and appears insoluble; and yet that a like union should be impracticable for ten or a dozen English colonies."
The colonies rejected the plan. But it was a forerunner of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. Both the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention referred openly to Iroquois ideas and imagery. In 1775 Congress formulated a speech to the Iroquois, signed by John Hancock, that quoted Iroquois advice from 1744. "The Six nations are a wise people," Congress wrote, "let us harken to their council and teach our children to follow it."
For Full story and more articles click here:
http://daghettotymz.com/rkyvz/articles/thanks/thanks.html
SOURCES/OTHER READZ:
• Afrikan People and European Holidays: A Mental Genocide, by Rev. Ishakamusa Barashango
• Massacre, Murder, Mayhem: The True Story of Thanksgiving by Dr. Tingba Apidta
• Christopher Kill-umbus: The Mind of a Serial Killer by M'Bwebe Aja Ishangi
If you missed any of my past AfRAkan "OUR-STORY" articles, click on the link below:
https://www.ezinedirector.com/admin/publisher/archive/index.cfm?fuseaction=archiveAdmin&ezineId=964702851
Narmer (Think With a Unified Brain and Mind),
Asar Maa Ra Gray
"A people who don't know their history, are like a tree with no roots."
Marcus Garvey
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Thanks(for)getting the Origin of Thanksgiving
Ɛte Sɛn (What's Up) All,
Many feel thanksgiving poses no threat, labeling it as a harmless day we're off from work to come together and stuff our bodies with impure, toxic, flesh-decaying products in the name of family. What is Thanksgiving and is there an AfRAkan alternative to it? More importantly, what is the history of Thanksgiving, who am I really thanking, and what part of "HIS-STORY" am I forgetting (or ignoring)?
Are you ready, do you want to stay blind, hopefully you can handle the truth and do what's right afterwards?
But, before I go into the HIS-STORY of Thanks-killing , I want you to check this video out that I took last year from the Slave Dungeons in Cape Coast, Ghana AfRAka entailing the treachery "OUR" ANKHcestors went through. Realize...when you celebrate the horrible European Hollow-Day called thanksgiving you are literally spitting in your ANKHcestors face … don't get mad the truth is the truth.
SLAVE DUNGEON intro … click the link or paste and place in browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAb54J1IzDY
(Feel free to watch the other parts as well)
"It's ok not to know, but it's a shame not to want to know."
Dr. John Henrik Clarke
"If you continue to honor traditional wayz even though its founding is based on treachery, you do nothin' but dishonor the victimz of this tradition."
M'bwebe aja ishangi
NOW … LET'S GO BACK …
by M'bwebe aja ishangi:
http://www.daghettotymz.com
From the beginning of my adolescent sentence into the "reprogramming system" aka public schoolz, I was told the so-called "native" americanz and the pilgrimz shared a mutually respective relationship. I was also, "programmed" to believe the "natives" were the first in the americaz, shattering any possibility of ever perceiving the historical fact of my Afrikan Ancestorz being here first and therefore the true "natives".
I was coerced to believe the pilgrim was as generous as the natives were, which is allegedly symbolic for the celebration many of us ignorantly celebrate each 3rd Thursday in November.
By the age of 5, my mind had already been momentarily held in captivity, lasting the first 20 yearz of my natural life. A possession the likes of this seldom lose its contagious hold. Mainly because this spell eliminated my questioning of the real story behind thanksgiving as I drew turkeyz from the outstretched fingerz of my left hand as a child. I never asked my momz why eating pig intestines (chitterlingz) and buttocks (ham) was at an all-time high around this time of year. I never asked where were the black people while the natives and pilgrimz was gettin' they eat on. It didn't matter then, all I cared about was buggin' with my cousinz and eating literally like a pig, until I couldn't eat no more...
That was then. Then, I didn't inquire about any Afrikan alternative to thanksgiving because I thought it was Afrikan, or rather, Black! After all, my family is Black! But there was no one there to tell me the flipside to man-made hallow-daze (holidayz) I grown to be so fond of.
But as adults, we must realize we are accountable for everything we allow to be part of our lives and families. This accountability is essential if we are to break the chain of customz that dishonor our Ancestorz as well as pass on the madness to our children...I repeat pass on the madness to our children.
From the origin of black organizationz to the many hallow-daze we celebrate. In this piece, we'll focus on the fallacy behind Thanksgiving.
There are three levels of thinking author Tony Browder talks of… They are:
1) Literal — one who accepts without question something told to them;
2) Influential — one who is able to see the underlying message or detect ill subliminalz; and
3) Evaluative — one who is able to not only see the subliminal, but is able to combat it with a deeper meaning and eventual solution/alternative to what is presented to them.
Take a moment before readin' on and decide what kind of thinker you are. This is important because what you read from here you'll be faced with determining if you're really who you say you are...
"At the first thanksgiving celebration in 1621, there were only 6-7 sane people left in the whole pilgrim colony. The rest were basically mentally gone."
— Captain John Smith
WHAT IS THANKSGIVING?
{From DA GHETTO TYMZ MAGAZINE}
http://www.daghettotymz.com
Many feel thanksgiving poses no personal threat, labeling it as a harmless day we're off from work to come together and stuff our bodies with impure, toxic, flesh-decaying products in the name of family. What is thanksgiving and is there an Afrikan alternative to it? The Afrikan alternative is called Umoja Karamu.
For some reason, the Afrikan family has used this time only to gather in celebration, not reconstruction. Personally, I feel the Afrikan family should eliminate all celebrationz and hallow-daze because there's more work that needz to be done than celebration. Do you think Rothschild, Rhodes, Rockefeller and the rest of the clanz who uphold global white supremacy is chillin', gulping down toxic foodz into their bodies, watchin' football all day? This is no time for celebration, the key playerz are planning!
However, for those that cannot get out of their festive moodz and must have something to celebrate, the alternative to Thanksgiving is Umoja Karamu—which we will detail in a bit. But first, liberation of the mind comes from eliminating ignorance from one's psyche. So I pose the question, What is the history of Thanksgiving, who am I really thanking, and what part of history am I forgetting (or ignorant of)? Let's go back...
In school, we were taught Thanksgiving dealt with the pilgrimz leaving England via the Mayflower in search of freedom of life and religious practices. However, we were not told they were, in fact, cast out of England! Historian, Joel Augustus Rogers wrote, "in 1611AD, governor dale of Virginia urged king James I of England to banish all condemned persons to Virginia." Most of these pilgrimz had committed crimes of murder, theft, and arson, so the new world — since it was a place they considered uncivilized and wild, was originally meant to be land for life imprisonment where they'd be cut off from England and forced to live on their own. To many, they thought it was a death sentence. The pilgrimz felt, as residents of England, they were basically bullied by the system.
"What's deep is they bitched about being victimz of suppression and came over here and did the same thing that was done to them to the natives! "
In the year 1620, the pilgrimz ventured toward the new world. The English parliament knew very little of the new world, and therefore didn't expect them to survive. However, if they did, they were to establish an export trading system, stealing furz, spices, and elements for English inventory. They set sail from South Hampton in two vesselz, the Speedwell and the Mayflower. Difficulties with the Speedwell forced a return to the dock of Plymouth and the Mayflower left solo on September 6, 1620 with 102 passengerz. The voyage lasted a stormy 66 dayz when they dropped anchor near what is now Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Their first winter in the new world was severe, losing 44 of the pilgrim fatherz, leaving just over 50 survivorz. They resorted to living in small huts, eating shellfish and water for sustenance. JA Rogers, wrote, "...Governor Bradford said of the survivors, 'scarce fifty remained and of these were only 6 or 7 sound person's'. George Thorpe, a highly educated colonist, thought however, that despondency (loss of courage or hope) was the real cause. He said in 1621 'more do die here of the disease of the mind than of the body.'"
At the first thanksgiving celebration in 1621, there were only 6-7 sane people left in the whole pilgrim colony. The rest were mentally gone. In The General History of Virginia, 4th book, on page 294, it revealed notes written from Captain John Smith (1580-1631). Regarding one of the remaining sane pilgrimz, he writes, "...so great was our famine that a savage we slew and buried, the poorer sort took him up again and ate him; and so did divers ones another boiled and stewed with herbs. And one amongst the rest did kill his wife, powdered her and had eaten part of her."
Neil Ed., quotes the Virginia assembly of 1623 in its complaints against Governor Thomas Smythe, "One man killed his wife to eat for which he was burned. Many fed on corpses." JA Rogers also wrote, "...other instances of eating corpses and killing Indianz and eating them occurred as late as 1846." Now we were set free from physical enslavement just 20 yearz later!
How significant is a hallow-day, that started some 400 yearz ago, relevant today in Afrikan culture? We must look at how this day has persevered to our present 21st century and where it might lead Afrikanz in the future if we continue to partake in this satanic, cannibalistically-based ritual. Even though most of us will continue to celebrate Thanksgiving because it is a time for family to get together in harmony; that still does not make it right if we continue using their customz.
How foolish we must look to our exploited, murdered, beaten and eaten Afrikan Ancestorz, gathering in the name of family, but having no clue to the real story behind this and other european hallow-daze.
Umoja Karamu comes from two Swahili wordz. Umoja, meaning unity and Karamu, meaning feast. This is a unity feast designed to be a ritual of solidarity for the Afrikan family. The creation came from Philadelphia native, Edward Simms, Jr. and was introduced to the Afrikan nation in 1971.
Simms felt Umoja Karamu is needed because it "injects new meaning and solidarity into the Black Family through ceremony and symbol. It is unique in that it bridges the gap between diverse religious persuasions through a ritual which is easily understood and appreciated by all the participants. Moreover, it draws on the collective Black experience with which most Black Folks are familiar."
The ritual is divided into 5 parts or periodz which depict various aspects of the Black experience just before and after our transportation to America. The periods are:
1) The Black Family in the Mother Country
2) The Slavery Horror
3) The Period of the Emancipation Fight
4) The Liberation Struggle and
5) The Black Family Looks At The Future.
These 5 segments are visually portrayed by 5 colorz, black, white, red, green, and orange or gold. Coupled with this is the ritual of eating of 5 different kindz of foodz corresponding to the 5 colorz. The 5 periodz reflect the oppressive, antihuman, destructive and socially disintegrating acts perpetuated against the family structure of the Afrikan people worldwide. Yet it also revitalizes hope and rekindles the fires of self-determination which motivate us to continue our quest to build a better world with better conditionz we've ever known.
In summation, the question is "Am I Really Giving", and even deeper, "What Am I Giving and To Whom?" Am I passing the ignorance inherited from my parents to my seedz? You are not to blame if and only if, you do not know the origin of this celebration of horrorz. BUT, since, you read this piece, you are exempt. If you choose to proceed without further research on reasonz to support the continued celebration of Thanksgiving, your end result is the choice to poison the soulz of your seedz with this and the other European hallow-daze.
It is well past time for healing and in doing so, we may find a lot of the thingz we've become complacent with, need to be discarded. Study, Learn, Overstand, Implement, Motivate otherz and duplicate! These are the ingredients to liberation!
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
From James Loewen's book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong:
• p76: The Europeanz were able to conquer America not because of their military genius, or their religious motivation, or their ambition, or their greed. They conquered it by waging unpremeditated biological warfare.
• p79: The scarcity of disease in the Americas was also partly attributable to the basic hygiene practiced by the regionz inhabitants. Residents of northern Europe and England rarely bathed, believing it unhealthy, and rarely removed all of their clothing at one time, believing it immodest. The Pilgrims smelled bad to the Indianz. Squanto "tried, without success, to teach them to bathe," according to Feenie Ziner, his biographer.
For all these reasonz, the inhabitants of North and South America (like Australian aborigines and the peoples of the far-flung Pacific islandz) were "a remarkably healthy race" before Columbus. Ironically, their very health proved their undoing, for they had built up no resistance, genetically or through childhood diseases, to the microbes that Europeanz would bring to them.
In 1617, just before the Pilgrimz landed, the process started in southern New England. For decades, British and French fishermen had fished off the Massachusetts coast. After filling their hullz with cod, they would go ashore to lay in firewood and fresh water and perhaps capture a few Indianz to sell into slavery in Europe. It is likely that these fishermen transmitted some illness to the people they met. The plague that ensued made the Black Death pale by comparison. Some historianz think the disease was the bubonic plague; otherz suggest that it was viral hepatitis, smallpox, chicken pox, or influenza.
Within three yearz the plague wiped out between 90 percent and 96 percent of the inhabitants of coastal New England. The Indian societies lay devastated. Only "the twentieth person is scarce left alive," wrote Robert Cushman, a British eyewitness, recording a death rate unknown in all previous human experience. Unable to cope with so many corpses, the survivorz abandoned their villages and fled, often to a neighboring tribe. Because they carried the infestation with them, Indianz died who had never encountered a white person. Howard Simpson describes what the Pilgrimz saw: "Villages lay in ruins because there was no one to tend them. The ground was strewn with the skulls and the bones of thousands of Indianz who had died and none was left to bury them."
During the next fifteen yearz, additional epidemics, most of which we know to have been smallpox, struck repeatedly. European Americanz also contracted smallpox and the other maladies, to be sure, but they usually recovered, including, in a later century, the "heavily pockmarked George Washington." Native Americanz usually died. The impact of the epidemics on the two cultures was profound. The English Separatists, already seeing their lives as part of a divinely inspired morality play, found it easy to infer that God was on their side.
John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, called the plague "miraculous." In 1634 he wrote to a friend in England: "But for the natives in these parts, God hath so pursued them, as for 300 miles space the greatest part of them are swept away by the smallpox which still continues among them. So as God hath thereby cleared our title to this place, those who remain in these parts, being in all not 50, have put themselves under our protection ', God the Original Real Estate Agent!"
Many Indianz likewise inferred that their god had abandoned them. Robert Cushman reported that "those that are left, have their courage much abated, and their countenance is dejected, and they seem as a people affrighted." After a smallpox epidemic the Cherokee "despaired so much that they lost confidence in their gods and the priests destroyed the sacred objects of the tribe." After all, neither Indianz nor Pilgrimz had access to the germ theory of disease. Indian healerz could supply no cure; their medicines and herbz offered no relief.
Pay attention here BLACK people…"Their religion provided no explanation. That of the whites did. Like the Europeanz three centuries before them, many Indianz surrendered to alcohol, converted to Christianity (mistake), or simply killed themselves. " (Can someone say ignorance is a bliss).
These epidemics probably constituted the most important geopolitical event of the early seventeenth century. Their net result was that the British, for their first fifty yearz in New England, would face no real Indian challenge.
• p84: The very death rates that some historianz and geographerz now find it hard to believe, the Pilgrimz knew to be true. For example, William Bradford described how the Dutch, rivalz of Plymouth, traveled to an Indian village in Connecticut to trade. "But their enterprise failed, for it pleased God to afflict these Indianz with such a deadly sickness, that out of 1,000, over 950 of them died, and many of them lay rotting above ground for want of burial..." This is precisely the 95 percent mortality that McEvedy rejected. On the opposite coast, the Native population of California sank from 300,000 in 1769 (by which time it had already been cut in half by various Spanish-borne diseases) to 30,000 a century later, owing mainly to the gold rush, which brought "disease, starvation, homicide, and a declining birthrate." (Can anyone say present day AIDS).
For a century after Catlin, historianz and anthropologists overlooked the evidence offered by the Pilgrimz and other early chroniclerz. Beginning with P. M. Ashburn in 1947, however, research has established more accurate estimates based on careful continent-wide compilations of small-scale studies of first contact and on evidence of early plagues. Most current estimates of the precontact population of the United States and Canada range from ten to twenty million.
• p103: After contact with Europeanz and Afrikanz, Indian societies changed rapidly. Native Americanz took into their cultures not only gunz, blankets, and kettles, but also new foodz, ways of building houses, and ideas from Christianity. Most American history textbooks tell about the changes in only one group, the Plainz Indianz. Eight of the twelve textbooks I surveyed mention the rapid efflorescence of this colorful culture after the Spaniardz introduced the horse to the American West. It is an exhilarating example of syncretism-blending elements of two different cultures to create something new.
The transformation in the Plainz cultures, however, was only the tip of the cultural-change iceberg. An even more profound metamorphosis occurred as Europeanz linked Native peoples to the developing world economy. Yet textbooks make no mention of this process, despite the fact that it continues to affect formerly independent cultures in the last half of our century. In the early 1970s, for example, Lapps in Norway replaced their sled dogs with snowmobiles, only to find themselves vulnerable to Arab oil embargoes. The process seemz inevitable, hence perhaps is neither to be praised nor decried-but it should not be ignored, because it is crucial to understanding how Europeanz took over America.
In Atlantic North America, memberz of Indian nationz possessed a variety of sophisticated skillz, from the ability to weave watertight baskets to an understanding of how certain plants can be used to reduce pain. At first, Native Americanz traded corn, beaver, fish, sassafras, and other goodz with the French, Dutch, and British, in return for axes, blankets, cloth, beadz, and kettles. Soon, however, Europeanz persuaded Natives to specialize in the fur and slave trades. Native Americanz were better hunterz and trapperz than Europeanz, and with the gunz the Europeanz sold them, they became better still. Other Native skillz began to atrophy. Why spend hourz making a watertight basket when in one-tenth the time you could trap enough beaverz to trade for a kettle? Even agriculture, which the Native Americanz had shown to the Europeanz, declined, because it became easier to trade for food than to grow it. Everyone acted in rational self-interest in joining such a system — that is, Native Americanz were not mere victimz — because everyone's standard of living improved, at least in theory.
Some of the rapid changes in eastern Indian societies exemplify syncretizm. When the Iroquois combined European gunz and Native American tactics to smash the Huronz, they controlled their own culture and chose which elements of European culture to incorporate, which to modify, which to ignore. Native Americanz learned how to repair gunz, cast bullets, build stronger forts, and fight to annihilate. Native Americanz also became well known as linguists, often speaking two European languages (French, English, Dutch, or Spanish) and at least two Indian languages. British colonists sometymz used Natives as interpreterz when dealing with the Spanish or French, not just with other Native American nationz.
These developments were not all matters of happy economics and voluntary syncretic cultural transformation, however. Natives were operating under a military and cultural threat, and they knew it. They quickly deduced that European gunz were more efficient than their bowz and arrowz. Europeanz soon realized that trade goodz could be used to win and maintain political alliances with Indian nationz. To deal with the new threat and because whites "demanded institutions reflective of their own with which to relate," many Native groups strengthened their tribal governments. Chiefs acquired power they had never had before. These governments often ruled unprecedentedly broad areas, because the heightened warfare and the plagues had wiped out smaller tribes or caused them to merge with larger ones for protection. Large nationz became ethnic melting pots, taking in whites and blacks as well as other Indianz. New confederations and nationz developed, such as the Creeks, Seminoles, and Lumbees. The tribes also became more male-dominated, in imitation of Europeanz or because of the expanded importance of war skills in their cultures.
Tribes that were closest to the Europeanz got gunz first, gunz that could be trained on interior peoples who had not yet acquired any. Suddenly some nationz had a great military advantage over others. The result was an escalation of Indian warfare. Native nationz had engaged in conflict before Europeanz came, of course. Tribes rarely fought to the finish, however. Some tribes did not want to take over the landz belonging to other nationz, partly because each had its own sacred sites. For a nation to exterminate its neighborz was difficult anyway, since all enjoyed the same level of military technology.
** Pay attention here Black folks …."Now all this changed. European powerz deliberately increased Indian warfare by playing one nation off against another. The Spanish, for example, used a divide-and conquer strategy to defeat the Aztecs in Mexico. In Scotland and Ireland, the English had played tribes against one another to extend British rule. Now they did the same in North America. "
For many tribes the motive for the increased combat was the enslavement of other Indianz to sell to the Europeanz for more gunz and kettles. As northern tribes specialized in fur, certain southern tribes specialized in people. Some Native Americanz had enslaved each other long before Europeanz arrived. Now Europeanz vastly expanded Indian slavery. Colonists in South Carolina paid nearby Indian nationz in gunz, ammunition, and other goodz, which enabled them to enslave interior nationz as far west as Arkansas.
• p105: The Europeanz' enslavement of Native Americanz has a long history. Textbooks used in elementary schoolz tell that Ponce de Leon went to Florida to seek the mythical fountain of youth; they do not say that his main business was to capture slaves for Hispaniola. In New England, Indian slavery led directly to Afrikan slavery: the first blacks imported there, in 1638, were brought from the West Indies to be exchanged for Native Americanz from Connecticut. On the eve of the New York City slave rebellion of 1712, in which Native and Afrikan slaves united, about one resident in four was enslaved and one slave in four was Indian. A 1730 census of South Kingston, Rhode Island, showed 935 whites, 333 Afrikan slaves, and 223 Native American slaves.
The center of Native American slavery, like Afrikan American slavery, was South Carolina. Its population in 1708 included 3,960 free whites, 4,100 Afrikan slaves, 1,400 Indian slaves, and 120 indentured servants, presumably white. These numbers do not reflect the magnitude of Native slavery, however, because they omit the export trade. From Carolina, as from New England, colonists sent Indian slaves (who might escape) to the West Indies (where they could never escape), in exchange for black slaves. Charleston shipped more than 10,000 Natives in chainz to the West Indies in one year! Further west, so many Pawnee Indianz were sold to whites that Pawnee became the name applied in the plainz to all slaves, whether they were of Indian or Afrikan origin. On the West Coast, Pierson Reading, a manager of John Sutter's huge grant of Indian land in central California, extolled the easy life he led in 1844, "The Indianz of California make as obedient and humble slaves as the Negro in the south." In the Southwest, whites enslaved Navajos and Apaches right up to the middle of the Civil War.
Intensified warfare and the slave trade rendered stable settlements no longer safe, helping to deagriculturize Native Americanz. To avoid being targets for capture, Indianz abandoned their cornfieldz and their villages and began to live in smaller settlements from which they could more easily escape to the woodz. Ultimately, they had to trade with Europeanz even for food. As Europeanz learned from Natives what to grow and how to grow it, they became less dependent upon Indianz and Indian technology, while Indianz became more dependent upon Europeanz and European technology. Thus what worked for the Native Americanz in the short run worked against them in the long. In the long run, it was Indianz who were enslaved, Indianz who died, Indian technology that was lost, Indian cultures that fell apart. By the time the pitiful remnant of the Massachusset tribe converted to Christianity and joined the Puritans' "praying Indian towns," they did so in response to an invading culture that told them their religion was wrong and Christianity was right. This process exemplifies what anthropologists call cultural imperialism. Even the proud Plains Indianz, whose syncretic culture combined horses and gunz from the Spanish with Native art, religion, and hunting styles, showed the effects of cultural imperialism: the Sioux word for white man, wasichu, meant "one who has everything good." (Can someone say bamboozeled).
p109: Afrikan Americanz frequently fled to Indian societies to escape bondage. What did whites find so alluring? According to Benjamin Franklin, "All their government is by Counsel of the Sages. There is no Force; there are no Prisons, no officers to compel Obedience, or inflict Punishment." Probably foremost, the lack of hierarchy in the Native societies in the eastern United States attracted the admiration of European observers. Frontiersmen were taken with the extent to which Native Americanz enjoyed freedom as individuals. Women were also accorded more status and power in most Native societies than in white societies of the time, which white women noted with envy in captivity narratives. Although leadership was substantially hereditary in some nationz, most Indian societies north of Mexico were much more democratic than Spain, France, or even England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. "There is not a Man in the Ministry of the Five nations, who has gain'd his Office, otherwise than by Merit," waxed Lt. Gov. Cadwallader Colden of New York in 1727. "Their Authority is only the Esteem of the People, and ceases the Moment that Esteem is lost." Colden applied to the Iroquois termz redolent of "the natural rights of mankind", "Here we see the natural Origin of all Power and Authority among a free People."
Indeed, Native American ideas may be partly responsible for our democratic institutionz. We have seen how Native ideas of liberty, fraternity, and equality found their way to Europe to influence social philosopherz such as Thomas More, Locke, Montaigne, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. These European thinkerz then influenced Americanz such as Franklin, Jefferson, and Madison. In recent yearz historianz have debated whether Indian ideas may also have influenced our democracy more directly. Through 150 yearz of colonial contact, the Iroquois League stood before the colonies as an object lesson in how to govern a large domain democratically. The termz used by Lt. Gov. Colden find an echo in our Declaration of Independence fifty yearz later.
In the 1740s the Iroquois wearied of dealing with several often bickering English colonies and suggested that the colonies form a union similar to the league. In 1754 Benjamin Franklin, who had spent much time among the Iroquois observing their deliberationz, pleaded with colonial leaderz to consider the Albany Plan of Union, "It would be a strange thing if six nations of ignorant savages should be capable of forming a scheme for such a union and be able to execute it in such a manner as that it has subsisted ages and appears insoluble; and yet that a like union should be impracticable for ten or a dozen English colonies."
The colonies rejected the plan. But it was a forerunner of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. Both the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention referred openly to Iroquois ideas and imagery. In 1775 Congress formulated a speech to the Iroquois, signed by John Hancock, that quoted Iroquois advice from 1744. "The Six nations are a wise people," Congress wrote, "let us harken to their council and teach our children to follow it."
For Full story and more articles click here:
http://daghettotymz.com/rkyvz/articles/thanks/thanks.html
SOURCES/OTHER READZ:
• Afrikan People and European Holidays: A Mental Genocide, by Rev. Ishakamusa Barashango
• Massacre, Murder, Mayhem: The True Story of Thanksgiving by Dr. Tingba Apidta
• Christopher Kill-umbus: The Mind of a Serial Killer by M'Bwebe Aja Ishangi
If you missed any of my past AfRAkan "OUR-STORY" articles, click on the link below:
https://www.ezinedirector.com/admin/publisher/archive/index.cfm?fuseaction=archiveAdmin&ezineId=964702851
Narmer (Think With a Unified Brain and Mind),
Asar Maa Ra Gray
"A people who don't know their history, are like a tree with no roots."
Marcus Garvey
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Sunday, November 18, 2012
Light Skin / Dark Skin ? Zoe Saldana vs. India.Arie
Original post:
http://www.okayafrica.com/stories/zoe-saldana-cast-as-nina-simone/
Light Skin/Dark Skin, What About Africans?
Over the past month there has been serious outrage at the casting of Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone in the Cynthia Mort film Nina. Looking at the photos of Saldana we can kind of see how the criticism has become more intense.
The anger isn't just coming from fans- it's coming from artists such as India Arie, and Nina Simone's daughter, who goes by the name Simone. In an interview with dream hampton for Ebony, Simone expresses that while she loves Saldana, she doesn't think she's right for the part. Most criticisms have focused on Saldana's complexion as a light skinned Afro-Latina as the issue, while others have taken issue with the fact that she's originally from the Dominican Republic, not the United States. Throughout the blogosphere there's a lot of discussion in support and against Saldana- most of these critiques, problematize some of the issues at-hand: race, casting in Hollywood, and the dynamics supporting the representation of black women in the media. Representation is what makes this entire debate interesting- particularly because a lot of the discussions highlight certain aspects of the representation of black identities, while overlooking what we might add is typically not mentioned in these conversations.
If Zoe Saldana's casting as Nina Simone is problematic- it is because it reproduces and supports many of the issues intertwined with the representations of black women in the media; these are issues that involve respectability, the simultaneous hypersexualization of the black female body and asexualization of the black matriarch, colorism, and issues that generally involve sexuality and beauty. If we're going to try and engage with these questions in a more holistic manner, then it's worth discussing the other ways in which representations of black identities in US mainstream media also involves in the silencing, or we might suggest, colonization of other black identities.
Let's start with an example: the casting of Jill Scott and Anika Noni-Rose in the HBO Series "No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency." Briefly, the series is based on the book series of the same title by Alexander McCall, a white Zimbabwean author; The series chronicles the adventures of Precious Ramotswe, the proprietor of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, located in the Kgale Hill Shopping Center on the outskirts of Gaborone, Botswana. While the series received critical acclaim for its dynamic representation of Botswana and Batswanian women- there are noteworthy inconsistencies in the context of visual and contextual representation of Botswana's culture, specifically the casting of two African-American females in lead roles. It's worth considering how the casting of Scott and Rose highlights our understanding of black identity through a single African-American lens.
(A lot of prominent scholars have discussed this in more depth such as Paul Gilroy and Brent Hayes-Edwards, so if interested, take a look at some of their work and how it demonstrates that in the past century- blackness has often been dominated by the specificity of the African-American experience).
When looking for Mma Ramotswe, the directors of the series stated they could not find anyone in Botswana, whom they thought could play the role, and could not imagine anyone except for Jill Scott. While Jill Scott's popularity as an American singer and actress was a probable working factor in the producer's decision to cast her, one can question why the producers could not visualize the character, a Batswanian woman, in a living Batswanian woman.
Another hot topic this year has been the casting of Thandi Newton in the film adaptation of the Chimamanda Adichie's critically acclaimed novel "Half of A Yellow Sun." Similarly, blogs were filled with outrage of the casting of Thandi Newton, a light skinned half Zimbabwean/half British actress as an Igbo woman. There was even a petition calling for a recast (There's one for Zoe Saldana as well).
Interestingly enough these conversations are always framed in terms of colorism, and rarely consider other elements, in how Hollywood's engagement with black identities throughout the diaspora is particularly limited. When African actors are in films, which take place on the continent they typically play supporting roles at best, with African-American or White American/European actors in the lead (See Last King of Scotland, Blood Diamond, The Constant Gardener).
There have been a lot of criticisms for these films and their portrayals of western saviors coming to the continent, but these conversations typically fail to locate the casting of African-American actors as African as an issue. Maybe it's not, maybe it is- but it's at least worth considering how these castings indicate a failure to locate and represent African identities.
Most people are dismissive of these conversations- after all, it's just a movie right? Hollywood remains the world's largest film industry, and while films are made with an American audience in mind, it's dismissive to ignore the global space in which these films are produced, viewed, and understood.
This isn't about making a case for only using African actors to play African roles, or only using South Africans to play South Africans, etc. This is about opening up the conversation and not limiting ourselves to how we think we see race, and what cannot always be encapsulated in our vision. Perhaps with that, we can think about these issues of representation beyond the West, and how other global identities also need to be explored and signified.
Story by OKA contributor Maryam Kazeem.
Saigon Said Knock You Out (gonna punch 2 Chainz for hurting our children)
Saigon Said Knock You Out:
It must be noted that when artists like "The Game" actually punch rappers they never apologize, they just say "Yeah, and if I see him in the streets, I'm probably gonna punch him again!" But "conscious" rappers go from Malcolm X to Martin Luther King in 2.5 seconds.
While some people may believe that the remarks of Maybach Music Group affiliate ,Gunplay, may have had a little something to do with Saigon's sudden change of heart, I doubt that's the case. I'm sure that the rapper risks gettin' snuffed out by 10 Gunplay look-alikes every.day on the NYC subway. So it's probably not the street thugs, but the Wall Street thugs that make rappers nervous. They are more scared of Morty Schiester, corporate attorney than they are of some rapper.
And who can blame them ?
If the rumor is true that 50 Cent has the power to shut down projects at rival record companies, how much power do you think his boss, Jimmy Iovine has ? That is why there is this code of silence between industry rappers, whether conscious or commercial.
When Saigon, called out 2 Chainz and Rick Ross, he was not messin' with individuals. He was messin' with brands that people have invested a lot of cash creating and they weren't gonna let some rap revolutionist cancel their meal ticket. Contrary to popular belief, industry beefs are not handled by the rappers but their image consultants. So, the same, " Pierre Escargot," that picks out your favorite ratchet rapper's outfit for the BET Awards is the same cat who handles his beefs.
When Saigon went on his rant he committed an unforgivable industry sin. He made people start to think. Also, as an industry insider, he co-signed something that we already knew. The masses are pissed off at the current state of Hip Hop and they were just waiting for an industry cat who was as pissed as them to articulate their frustrations in a large forum.
And it's not only the brainiacs that are outraged. It's the thugs too. Although rappers like Rick Rozay are flashin' their jewels, the streets are just tryin' to eat. While members of the Hip Hop Millionaire Boys Club are ridin' around in Maybach's with heated seats, the boyz in the hood are out in the cold rappin' that line from Freeway's "What We Do."
"If my heat stops workin'/Ima rob me a person"
Already there are videos on Youtube of Rick Ross catching heat from members of the Gangster Disciples in various states. And America's greatest fear is that the gangstas get politicized and stop stockin' bullets and start pickin' up some books. That's why politically educated artists pose such a potential threat.
Necessary or Unnecessary Roughness ?:
TRUTH Minista Paul Scott
"Shadow boxin' when I heard you on the radio."
Mama Said Knock You Out-LL Cool J
Recently, on the top rated, "Chicken and Waffles Morning Show," something happened that shook up the rap world. The hosts were kickin' it with militant Hip Hop artist, "Songhai" when he started name checkin' rappers who he claimed were part of a diabolical conspiracy to destroy the youth. Songhai threatened to pimp slap the top five commercial Hip Hop artists if they didn't change their wicked ways, ASAP. Strangely enough, he issued a retraction the next day , claiming that what he said was that he was gonna give the rappers a "hand clap." But the damage had already been done. The seeds of revolution had already been planted in the minds of the people....
Last week, Hip Hop artist, Saigon created a controversy when, during a visit to NYC's Breakfast Club Morning Show, he announced to the rap world that he was gonna punch rap's top dogs, 2 Chainz and Rick Ross, in the grill if they didn't stop making songs that were detrimental to the children. Immediately, the Twitter-verse was flooded with people who were proclaimin' him Hip Hop's new Savior. Then a few days later, in a whirlwind change of events, he announced on his Facebook page that some of his words were "ignorant" and part of a "strategy."
I have always wondered why, when real Hip Hop artists keep it real about one of the cashin' out rappers, within 48 hours they release an apology or some sort of "clarification." A few years ago, OG rapper, Ice T, apologized to Soulja Boy and more recently, Lupe Fiasco issued an apology to upstart Chief Keef regarding comments they made that were based on nothing but the pure, unadulterated truth.
TRUTH Minista Paul Scott
"Shadow boxin' when I heard you on the radio."
Mama Said Knock You Out-LL Cool J
Recently, on the top rated, "Chicken and Waffles Morning Show," something happened that shook up the rap world. The hosts were kickin' it with militant Hip Hop artist, "Songhai" when he started name checkin' rappers who he claimed were part of a diabolical conspiracy to destroy the youth. Songhai threatened to pimp slap the top five commercial Hip Hop artists if they didn't change their wicked ways, ASAP. Strangely enough, he issued a retraction the next day , claiming that what he said was that he was gonna give the rappers a "hand clap." But the damage had already been done. The seeds of revolution had already been planted in the minds of the people....
Last week, Hip Hop artist, Saigon created a controversy when, during a visit to NYC's Breakfast Club Morning Show, he announced to the rap world that he was gonna punch rap's top dogs, 2 Chainz and Rick Ross, in the grill if they didn't stop making songs that were detrimental to the children. Immediately, the Twitter-verse was flooded with people who were proclaimin' him Hip Hop's new Savior. Then a few days later, in a whirlwind change of events, he announced on his Facebook page that some of his words were "ignorant" and part of a "strategy."
I have always wondered why, when real Hip Hop artists keep it real about one of the cashin' out rappers, within 48 hours they release an apology or some sort of "clarification." A few years ago, OG rapper, Ice T, apologized to Soulja Boy and more recently, Lupe Fiasco issued an apology to upstart Chief Keef regarding comments they made that were based on nothing but the pure, unadulterated truth.
So what gives?
Although Saigon has said that he didn't want to single out anybody in particular for the ratchet state of Hip Hop, since you can count all the rappers who are gettin' heavy radio play on one hand and still have a couple of fingers left, how can you not name the names ? Also, since we agree that someone has committed grand larceny on the culture, how can you have a crime without having a criminal?
It must be noted that when artists like "The Game" actually punch rappers they never apologize, they just say "Yeah, and if I see him in the streets, I'm probably gonna punch him again!" But "conscious" rappers go from Malcolm X to Martin Luther King in 2.5 seconds.
While some people may believe that the remarks of Maybach Music Group affiliate ,Gunplay, may have had a little something to do with Saigon's sudden change of heart, I doubt that's the case. I'm sure that the rapper risks gettin' snuffed out by 10 Gunplay look-alikes every.day on the NYC subway. So it's probably not the street thugs, but the Wall Street thugs that make rappers nervous. They are more scared of Morty Schiester, corporate attorney than they are of some rapper.
And who can blame them ?
If the rumor is true that 50 Cent has the power to shut down projects at rival record companies, how much power do you think his boss, Jimmy Iovine has ? That is why there is this code of silence between industry rappers, whether conscious or commercial.
When Saigon, called out 2 Chainz and Rick Ross, he was not messin' with individuals. He was messin' with brands that people have invested a lot of cash creating and they weren't gonna let some rap revolutionist cancel their meal ticket. Contrary to popular belief, industry beefs are not handled by the rappers but their image consultants. So, the same, " Pierre Escargot," that picks out your favorite ratchet rapper's outfit for the BET Awards is the same cat who handles his beefs.
When Saigon went on his rant he committed an unforgivable industry sin. He made people start to think. Also, as an industry insider, he co-signed something that we already knew. The masses are pissed off at the current state of Hip Hop and they were just waiting for an industry cat who was as pissed as them to articulate their frustrations in a large forum.
And it's not only the brainiacs that are outraged. It's the thugs too. Although rappers like Rick Rozay are flashin' their jewels, the streets are just tryin' to eat. While members of the Hip Hop Millionaire Boys Club are ridin' around in Maybach's with heated seats, the boyz in the hood are out in the cold rappin' that line from Freeway's "What We Do."
"If my heat stops workin'/Ima rob me a person"
Already there are videos on Youtube of Rick Ross catching heat from members of the Gangster Disciples in various states. And America's greatest fear is that the gangstas get politicized and stop stockin' bullets and start pickin' up some books. That's why politically educated artists pose such a potential threat.
We may never know how many brain cells were sparked by the power of the Saigon interview. Even with the retraction, once words come outta your mouth, you can't call them back.
As omniscient as the heads of the multi-national corporations that control Hip Hop claim to be, they will never be able to discern where rap ends and revolution begins.
But that doesn't stop them from trying. Many people have had their lives destroyed or ended for daring to wake up the masses.
J. Edgar Hoover's COINTELPRO "fear of a Black messiah who could electrify the youth" is still in effect and the rap industry is part of the program. So I don't fault rappers like Saigon for being guarded with their words.
I blame us.
The blood of the martyrs is on hands of those who claim to want socio-political change but have not formed a Hip Hop United Front to make artists, writers and activists with a message feel secure in speaking truth to power
Remember during the 60's, it was the student movements on college campuses that held Muhammad Ali down with speaking engagements after he was banned from boxing for speaking out on the war in Vietnam. Unfortunately we don't have that structure any more.
We must rebuild it.
Also, as powerful as the music industry executives appear, they are not gonna put guns to our heads and force us to buy our children Chief Keef cds this holiday season. So we must join the "Take Back Hip Hop Black Friday Campaign" and only spend our money on music from artists with a message this holiday season.
And I'm not talking about those artists that are just using conscious Hip Hop as a marketing scheme or an entry level way into the industry. I'm talking about those who are actually involved in our physical and mental liberation.
This way we can honor those artists and activists , past, present and future, who sacrificed their lives for speakin' the truth and were either blacklisted, put in jail, or, like Saigon said on his latest video, "Blown Away."
TRUTH Minista Paul Scott's weekly column is "This Ain't Hip Hop," a column for intelligent Hip Hop headz. His website is No Warning Shots Fired.com For more information on the "Take Back Hip Hop Black Friday Campaign" contact info@nowarningshotsfired.com or follow on Twitter @truthminista
But that doesn't stop them from trying. Many people have had their lives destroyed or ended for daring to wake up the masses.
J. Edgar Hoover's COINTELPRO "fear of a Black messiah who could electrify the youth" is still in effect and the rap industry is part of the program. So I don't fault rappers like Saigon for being guarded with their words.
I blame us.
The blood of the martyrs is on hands of those who claim to want socio-political change but have not formed a Hip Hop United Front to make artists, writers and activists with a message feel secure in speaking truth to power
Remember during the 60's, it was the student movements on college campuses that held Muhammad Ali down with speaking engagements after he was banned from boxing for speaking out on the war in Vietnam. Unfortunately we don't have that structure any more.
We must rebuild it.
Also, as powerful as the music industry executives appear, they are not gonna put guns to our heads and force us to buy our children Chief Keef cds this holiday season. So we must join the "Take Back Hip Hop Black Friday Campaign" and only spend our money on music from artists with a message this holiday season.
And I'm not talking about those artists that are just using conscious Hip Hop as a marketing scheme or an entry level way into the industry. I'm talking about those who are actually involved in our physical and mental liberation.
This way we can honor those artists and activists , past, present and future, who sacrificed their lives for speakin' the truth and were either blacklisted, put in jail, or, like Saigon said on his latest video, "Blown Away."
TRUTH Minista Paul Scott's weekly column is "This Ain't Hip Hop," a column for intelligent Hip Hop headz. His website is No Warning Shots Fired.com For more information on the "Take Back Hip Hop Black Friday Campaign" contact info@nowarningshotsfired.com or follow on Twitter @truthminista
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Saturday, November 17, 2012
11-17-2012 Thanksgiving Basket Giveaway
The Golden Fold Mentor Movement serves youth (currently males) grades 6th - 12th by providing seminar based Big-Brother-type activities in Virginia Beach, Virginia. We employ a Bonding-Presentation-Guidance model. Contact: thegoldenfold @ yahoo (dot) com or call 757-401-1240. The Golden Fold is a "Brothers and Others" Community Improvement activity of the Gamma Xi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi and an Social Action project of the Men of S.A.B.B. of Virginia Beach's Tidewater Community College.
11-17-2012 Thanksgiving Giveaway
Today The Fold volunteered and assisted the Omega men associated with the Gamma Xi chapter of Omega Psi Phi with the distribution of 15 Thanksgiving baskets.
The smiles and tears on the faces of the recipients spoke volumes. Doing good makes one feel good. Here are some shots from the event. To the Omega Psi Phi fraternity - Happy 101st birthday, Happy Founders Day.
We breathe success.
We bleed gold.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Golden Fold Mentor Movement serves youth (males and females) aged 11 – 18 by providing seminar based Big-Brother-type activities in Virginia Beach, Virginia. We employ a Bonding-Presentation-Guidance model. Contact: thegoldenfold @ yahoo (dot) com or call 757-401-1240. The Golden Fold is a "Brothers and Others" Community Improvement activity of the Gamma Xi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi and an Social Action project of the Men of S.A.B.B. of Virginia Beach's Tidewater Community College.
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