Black Power Media

Albert Phillips

1.26.12

As we embark up upon a new frontier of being “Americans”, we are facing the same wave of ignorance that has plagued us since the 1960’s. Instead of establishing Black owned nations of our own, we have given up and given into the dream of being “American” in its deepest and most monumental definition.  Our values are shifting and continue to shift as we continuously fight for a dream that will forever remain a fantasy.

As I smile in honor of seeing a 22nd year of life, I cringe at the thought of the masses of my people still being held in check by our very own puppet master. The same day as I was born, President Barack Obama gave a speech that caught the attention of millions of people worldwide. He made the whole world feel like they wanted to be an American citizen. His ideals became our ideals and now we have giving up on creating a “Black” anything because it could be seen as offensive to another group of people. We have drunk every drop of the koolaid and will continue to do so until we are reminded of who we really are.  In November of 2012, we will once again be casting in votes in hope of ending some of our major burdens here in the so called “land of the free”. We think that because we have the right to vote, we must cast a decision because we have been bamboozled into thinking if we don’t, we will have ignored the wishes of our ancestors. How have we gotten to this place? Where are we going? To keep it plain, who the f*ck are we now? Your right to vote is simultaneously your right not to vote. You don’t have to just be a sheep being lead to the slaughter; you can be a part of the real 1% that doesn’t believe in this system.

Now, this is not an attack on Barack Obama by any means. He is just another part of the system that has been oppressing African people for over 500 years. This is a call for my people to reanalyze our condition and reestablish ourselves as more than Democrats and Republicans. Can anybody tell me what the difference truly is? Are Republicans White and Democrats Black? We have been tricked into believing Republicans are our only enemies today because of the media. Every media outlet is setting the stage for Barack Obama to once again continue to rule this nation. Will this mean freedom or more of the same ol’ bullshit?

Now I’ve been checking out Facebook to see what makes us so eager to stand up for Barack Obama, besides the fact that he is a Black man, and I notice people are not doing their homework. We copy data and statistics about Obama’s campaign that doesn’t even relate to us as a people. Let’s take a look at this nonsense. Here are three things that we MUST gain a better understanding about.

1. “My president got Osama Bin Laden”. I still ask people “how do you really know this”? We honestly believe that they captured Osama Bin Laden, killed him, and then threw him off at sea. I guess if we believe that then we should also believe that nobody knows who killed Tupac and Biggie. Then even if it is true, what does it really mean for you Black man, woman, and child? All this did was set up legislation that would let the American UNjustice system further impose upon your rights. In 2001, former president George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act. This law was a precursor for the new legislation just signed by Barack Obama, the New National Defense Authorizations Act. Remember back in the day when illegal wire taps, unauthorized home invasions, and unlawful detainment were illegal? Well, now it’s perfectly fine due to these vague works of legislation that further strip away your right to privacy and serenity. By the way, although Barack Obama talked about getting troops out of Iraq, this country still plans on spending $662 billion on the military this year. Now go and google how much will be spent on education!

2. “The Unemployment rate is at 8.5%” Once you read that statement, you should have instantly said “for whom?” The last time I checked the unemployment rate in the Black community was over 16% according to CNN and some reports say it may reach over 20% by the November elections. So what group was he referring to because it definitely was not us! We have to begin creating our own businesses and institutions to employ our people.  I swear I heard Barack Obama say “jobs” at least 50 times during the “State of the Union Speech” but he never mentioned becoming an entrepreneur to stop working for somebody else. The longer we look for jobs instead of creating our own economy, the longer we fund somebody else’s children college education and saving plans for retirement.

3. “My president assisted in ousting Gaddafi” Did you really know anything about Gaddafi before the American news networks starting talking about it? Did you really ever give a shit about anybody else in the world before you were told to do so? Let’s analyze this whole situation in short detail. So Libya was supposed to be this country that was dying and needed a savior. They needed Western democracy to come and save the day! Okay that was sarcasm. Let us be clear here. America wanted Gaddafi killed not because he was killing his own people, but because he was trying to obtain power that African leaders aren’t allowed to have. In 1992, forty five African countries decided that they wanted to have their own satellite and in 2007 he gave $300 million dollars to help finance this mission. He then moved to try and create a major bank in Africa. The A.M.F (African Monetary Fund) would serve as a better alternative to the I.M.F which was not controlled by Africa. He would also go on to try and remove western currency from Africa and control all African investments. The last reason is because Gaddafi was trying to establish a United States of Africa which would create a separate, independent union in Africa. I won’t even mention the oil and other natural resources that are located in Libya. I will let you do your own homework on that. Don’t be fooled my people. It is no coincidence that America helped finance bombs that were dropped on the African continent, all under the rule of President Barack Obama.

In conclusion, I ask that you not be fooled by Amerikkka. It is just as racist as it has even been. Unfortunately, it has a Black face that is running it now and he must also be held accountable for his actions. We all know the GOP is racist. This is nothing new. I won’t talk about them because I already know what to expect from them but we must take a closer look at ourselves. If you choose to vote, you should also choose to act. If you voted for somebody and can’t hold them accountable, what’s the point?

Occupy These…! Slavery and Abuse by Metaphor
Jared Ball

Of these recent occupations Bryan Bullock asked recently, “if Wall Street didn’t get a bailout, would there have been a bailout for the hood?”  And Kenyon Farrow described the “race problem” of these occupations and responded quite critically to the repeated use by White occupationists of the metaphor of slavery.  Both have added themselves to a growing number of those whose views of these occupations are justifiably cynical.  When Farrow described this abuse by metaphor he was also responding to a long history of literal Black suffering becoming metaphorical propaganda for White self-interest.  So yes, violence, as H. Rap Brown once said, may indeed be “as American as cherry pie,” but the use of Black suffering as a mechanism of White transcendence is as old as race itself and even predates the America for whom violence would become so essential.

Hearing of and seeing the White-held signs calling for an end of “our” enslavement by Wall Street is, in part, why more and more are looking to challenge the language and the focus of these White Occupy Wall Streeters.  The metaphor of an often misused metaphor demands it.  As Patricia Bradley has documented this metaphor of slavery became the leading tool of propaganda used by the White middle and upper classes to shape the public opinion of White colonists against England.  In one fell swoop their propaganda worked to aid in solidifying the status of enslavement to only Black people while only publicly discussing slavery as something forced upon themselves by the British.  Chief among these propagandists was the slave-owning Samuel Adams whose image now cleansed with the help of a beer brand brings new levels of appreciation for the Dave Chapelle Samuel Jackson beer parody.  “Yes they deserve to die! And I hope they burn in hell!”

So the growing number of darker critical voices of the occupations have centuries of metaphorical abuse to add to the physical and are correctly noting the similarities.  During his recent talk at Hampshire College former Black Liberation Army soldier Asanti Alston recalled his friend’s experience at an occupation of being shouted down as “divisive” for trying to focus attention on Black poverty and mass incarceration.  “Empire gets defensive,” he said, it has no time for critiques of racism.  It is this kind of increasing tension being reported in smaller darker circles that reminds of this history of abuse by metaphor.  White colonists not wanting to be reduced to the conditions of those they themselves enslaved adopted the denunciations of slavery by the British in precisely the same way White middle-class settlers today decry their own semi-step downward toward those darker people they themselves enslave and with whom they want nothing to do.  They don’t want to end slavery either, they just don’t want to be forced any closer to those truly defined, permanently, as the real enslaved.

So, in response, there are those now calling for an Occupy the Hood movement while others define their efforts as Hip-Hop Occupies in a Rise to Decolonize.  In fact, this group’s goal is to “embrace the term ‘occupation’ as it has been reclaimed by militant workers of color from Latin America (Oaxaca, Buenos Aires, South Korea, China, among other places) to describe their occupation of factories, schools and neighborhoods, to strike back against oppressive forces.”  Further, the Hip-Hop Occupies collective says that, “we fully endorse the ‘Decolonize’ framework as a necessary expansion…” That, “In the face of brutality in the legacy of capitalism, a system that relied upon the enslavement of African and Caribbean peoples, the genocide and displacement of Indigenous Peoples, and the violent seizure of lands for colonial profit, we embody a vision of intersectional social justice and self-determination.”

These are part, like the work of the Black Is Back Coalition, of still-not-dead embers of a global majority’s non-alignment with even liberal elements of the West.  These are the signs of what may yet prove to be the most (only?) redeeming value of these occupations; a radical, global and organized response led by the colonized to what can only be the incompleteness of “movements” led by Whites and liberals.  For as Alston also said, this “monster” called the “American way” and “democracy” must fall.  And its metaphors too.

For Black Agenda Radio I’m Jared Ball.  On the web go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

Dr. Jared A. Ball is an associate professor of communication studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore and is the author of I Mix What I Like! A Mixtape Manifesto (AK Press).  He can be found online at:IMIXWHATILIKE.COM.

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“Progress” Demo: Chairman Fred Hampton Jr/Young Rome’s response to Kanye/Jay-Z’s “Murders to Excellence” *

Download the track, share it with the community! Comment with what you think of the track below.

*Note* This is a track made in response to Jay-Z and Kanye West’s track “Murder to Excellence” in which a reference was made to Fred Hampton Sr., Chairman of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party who was assassinated by the FBI and Chicago Police Department on December 4th 1969… Chairman Fred Hampton Sr was 21 years old. Black Power Media doesn’t endorse the track and we’re not going to give it time or space on this site in any way more than necessary… If you want to see/hear the song… you know where youtube is.

A Look into the life of restaurant owner, Gregory Brown

Finding a vegetarian restaurant is not easy, but finding a vegan one is just a step away from impossible, especially in Baltimore. In a place where seafood and chicken boxes are the norm, one man had a vision for something a little different to add to your lunch or dinner plate.
Listening to health advice from Krs-One and studying the lessons taught in Alex Haley’s “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” led business owner and health advocate, Gregory Brown, on his path to wellness. “I stopped eating pork, stopped eating beef and it was a slow change over a couple of years and I stopped eating other foods.”
The son of an architect and school teacher, Gregory Brown is the co-owner and chief visionary of the Land of Kush, a soul food, vegan restaurant located in the Mount Vernon community, just north of downtown Baltimore.
Brown picked up a book one day that had 500 recipes that he could use as a guide to stop killing animals and start healing his body nutritionally. “
It just took me a little bit of research and some time to put it together.” Time and definitely some capital led to the creation of one of only three vegetarian/vegan restaurants in the Baltimore community.
A history buff and advocate for eating “green,” Brown created the name “The Land of Kush” after studying the ancient African kingdom of Kush(Nubia), which was renowned for its wealth of natural resources like iron, gold and other exotic goods. Combining historical studies with a feel of comfort and productivity led to the “Land” part of the business name.
Beyond the history and embracing vibes of the place, the Land of Kush has something unique that most vegetarian restaurants truly lack: taste!
“I grew up in a traditional African American household. My mother cooked barbecue chicken, macaroni and cheese, meatloaf…” This traditional soul food that Brown grew up on was a precursor to what he’s serving up at his restaurant today. Now on the menu at the Land of Kush, that is open 7 days a week, you will see “Kush BBQ Ribs” and “Baked Macaroni and Cheese,” both prepared without any animal products.  Though it is not listed on the menu, he also took his mom’s meatloaf idea and turned it into a savory lentil loaf.
Though his nine month old business is doing pretty well, Greg and his fiancée Naijha Wright have something else on the way that takes nine month’s to produce. “I have a vegan baby girl on the way and it’s a blessing.”
Both parents are keeping the name undisclosed until they’re both ready to let the world know. While working at his last job, Verizon Wireless, Brown met his soul mate and fellow investor into his dream of creating a restaurant. She leads the way in the marketing part of the business, insuring that the Land of Kush is properly represented at local health centered events.
“They’re a great couple and team,” says Jasmin Alford, one of three cashiers at the Land of Kush. She’s been employed at the restaurant for a few months now and she really likes the fact that not only is it family owned, it is black owned as well.  “You have to make money, but at the same time it’s a purpose and vision behind it.” With the closing of the Yabba Pot, the only other Black owned vegan restaurant in the City, the Land of Kush now sits at the number one spot for a vegetarian appetite. The restaurant has been featured in the City Paper, the Baltimore Sun, and also has great reviews in many online survey sites including Yelp and Happy Cow.
Though the Land of Kush is a brand new business, Gregory plans to explore other national areas to open up future franchises. “I want to carry this company nationwide, even globally if possible. I want it to be at least in a couple of different states in the next five years.  I’d like to do something in [Washington] D.C and then hit Philly (Philadelphia) in the next couple of years. I’ve talked to people who want to invest so we can open up in Hawaii, New Mexico and a few other places as well.”

Repatriation Online Course 101 Starts October 30th!

Course Description
Repatriation, by even the slightest stretch of one’s imagination, is a gargantuan endeavor. Complex because it is entangled with the ideals held by a people clinging desperately to the hope that home is as it once was a paradise innocent of the evil that now imposes itself on our reality and the fears that drain our brain. For without that hope, many of us would have died a final death many generations ago.

Repatriation, however, is most often anything but what we expect. Rather it can be a gruesome grinding process, a painful rebirthing and very often life-threatening. Our mental and spiritual return to the Way that was when we were innocent of such a world is a journey greater than the distance we travelled over seas. All too often we are discouraged by the obstacles, failing to see their purpose in our own evolution, which is kith and kin to Repatriation.
Our course will be a series of 5 discussions that will delve into all aspects of Repatriation. The sole objective is to better prepare your mind for the reality on the ground as it pertains to the logistics of relocating, the realities of it and the prospects for surviving and thriving. Some have asked, if it’s so much trouble, then why bother? It’s a good question only if you have a better alternative. This class is not for tourists.

Course Duration:

Sunday, October 30th, 2011 7:00-8:30 PM EST

Sunday, November 6th, 2011 7:00-8:30 PM EST

Sunday, November 13th, 2011 7:00-8:30 PM EST

Sunday, November 20th, 2011 7:00-8:30 PM EST

Sunday, November 27th, 2011 7:00-8:30 PM EST

Cost: $95.00

Course Outline:

Dispelling Notions
An appropriate definition of repatriation, tempering your greatest expectations, describing the challenges and benefits associated when travelling single, as a family, as a pensioner, health related challenges and preventative measures, caring for children or elders, giving birth, reliable health facilities, major health concerns, malaria, typhoid, A.I.D.S, buying food from the market and the necessity to grow, required work ethic

Logistics
Costs of relocation, including airfares, container charges, alternatives to a full container, cost of importing vehicle, optimal vehicles to import and why, What else to bring, what to leave. Dealing with the port. How to save and invest wisely upon arrival. Cost of living in Ghana, quality of education for your children, standard curriculum

Doing Business in Ghana
Prospects of employment, necessity of self-employment, the procedure for starting your own business, why start small, what about a Non Governmental Organization as an alternative, how does this procedure facilitate a residence permit, managing human resources, types of industries most conducive to our success, factors to be considered, such as an annual rate of inflation ranging around 18%

Right of Abode
Exposing the charade, clear picture of your legal status as a repatriate, what is the procedure for permanent residence, what’s the easiest route, how will the National Identification Scheme affect you, how this affects buying or leasing land, short term rentals, managing house help, dealing with security, cultural differences that may be shocking

Successful Repatriation
Acclimatization, socialization, mental stability and peace, personal security, finding your groove, humility as an asset, acceptance as a tool and overcoming as a necessity; Various ways one humbles, accepts, overcomes and yet remains in their own realm of high frequency

In actual fact, we can only provide a general outline of topics, but the range will go as far as your questions allow it. No question or topic is off limits and no time frame prohibitive. At the end of the course, I guarantee you will be more confident in your plans to repatriate. Any questions, please use the contact information below.

How: To access the online member classroom, you must register for the Abibitumi Kasa site athttp://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/register.php

You’ll need to do this if you don’t have an account already.

If you already have an account at the site, login at this link: http://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/login.php

From there click on the link to member classroom on any page at the site at class time or visit the link to the member classroom here directly at http://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/chat.php

Contact us at info@abibitumikasa.com with any questions.

Please contact your instructor Ras Ariel at lionsden2ghana2@gmail.com with any questions you may have prior to class.

Troy Anthony Davis and Useless Leadership

September 28, 2011

Jared Ball

*Courtesy Voxunion.com*

Not long after the 4 hour additional torture imposed on Troy Davis by the Supreme Court, and after the final word came that Troy was dead, I got a phone call from an angry friend.  He began by asking, “what is the value in electing or investing support for a leadership that cannot stop even this?  What is the value in investing support behind these so-called ‘movements’ that benefit useless leadership more than the people they claim to be moving for?”  And then he said, “Troy was definitely a better man than me.”

“Word?” I asked.  “That’s my word,” he said.  He took a breath to calm himself and went on.  “First of all, his last words were praise to his supporters and all those gathered around the world.  Then he had words of encouragement for the family of the cop he didn’t kill.  No way man.  I would have been of no use.”  That line struck me.  “What do you mean, ‘no use’?”  I asked.  “Everyone knows he didn’t do it,” he went on.  “Everyone knows it and yet they all use him while he dies in convenient fashion.”  “Convenient fashion?  That’s deep my man,” I said.  “Did you watch the coverage on Democracy Now! last night?” he asked.  “Every minute,” I said.  “Then you know what I mean.  The cop’s family got polite support from a man from whom they gained closure, the activists got praise from a man they were too soft to save, and Amy Goodman’s people got love for doing what they should have been doing for at least 10 years.”

“I thought they did an ok job.”  I responded.  He laughed a little.  “You notice how it is on the night Troy is killed that they gave more attention to his case than during the entire 20 years of his incarceration.  And how often do they talk about the associated issues of mass Black imprisonment?”  “Ok,” I said.  But he went on, increasingly angered, “What you saw was spectacle.  Amy Goodman used his death like CNN used Desert Storm.  You heard her say, ‘and we are the only ones here covering the moment.’  Just like CNN she was locking up 10 more years of support from the Left as the major media.”  “She didn’t do some good with coverage?” I asked.  “Whatever good she did was useless to Troy and useless to the rest of us.  And look what she did the next day; went right back to her real top stories, Israel and Palestine and mainstream journalist book writers.”

“But that wouldn’t have worked with me,” he continued.  “Because I would have used my last words to tell them to go home, to go back to the stories you prefer.  I don’t want to become a fund-raiser for you.  You didn’t tell my story enough or in ways to get your audience to get me out, I am about to die anyway, so to me, you are useless.”  “In fact,” he said, with even more venom in his voice, “I would have told everyone gathered out front, everyone listening to whatever media was covering me, that they should go become a problem, the kind of problem that keeps me alive or gets me out.  Make them storm trooper cops need that gear they brought to the rally.  Tell them that I won’t be the only one to transition tonight.  But don’t use me to add to your phony activist credentials.  If those t-shirts you have on mean something and we indeed are ‘all Troy Davis’ then we all should be prepared to die tonight.”

He noticed my silent discomfort.  He sensed my fear of my own politics.  But he was angry and relentless.  “My last words would have been to spread out, break those ranks and let Sharpton, Brock and Jealous know, no more show time for you and the God you keep praising as all ‘capable’ when he can’t keep me from the poison.  Your God is useless.  We don’t praise the same one, if we praise one at all.  My God wouldn’t let me and mine suffer while others use that suffering to enrich and reposition themselves.”  “I feel you,” I said.  “And it was even more infuriating to listen to them apologize for Obama’s inability to inter…” I could not even finish the sentence.

“Obama’s uselessness was so evident and emblematic” he interrupted.  “His supporters want to let him off the hook but Davis’ case already had federal precedent and he could have applied the 8^th or 14^th amendments to halt the execution.  A Black president, a Black attorney general, a Black supreme court justice, two Black men on the Georgia parole board, all the Black civil rights glitterati and still nothing could be done.  It is final proof, if we still needed it, of the uselessness of what is called ‘leadership’.”

I agree but only wish I had the courage to say it myself.

For Black Agenda Radio I’m Jared Ball.  On the web go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

Dr. Jared A. Ball is an associate professor of communication studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore and is the author of I Mix What I Like! A Mixtape Manifesto (AK Press).  He can be found online at: IMIXWHATILIKE.COM.

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