The so-called "terrorist" threat would diminish dramatically if our foreign policy were not so atrocious, our profile lowered on the weapons market, and our corporate controlled military industrial complex did not pursue profit by any means even unnecessary. But then again "terrorism" is itself a profitable enterprise for the wealthy and powerful. Which brings me to the story below. Apparently, the criminal corporation Xe (formerly Blackwater) has gotten away with murder yet again! This is especially astonishing given the fact that a group of Blackwater protesters were tried and convicted in secrecy (they were later released on appeal). Does the madness ever end?
In a stunning development, a federal judge dismissed all criminal charges against five Blackwater guards involved in the massacre of 14 Iraqi civilians and wounding 18 others in Baghdad in September 2007.
US District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina ruled that federal prosecutors improperly used statements the men gave to State Department investigators under a promise of immunity to secure indictments against them.
At the time of the shooting, Blackwater had a contract to provide secruity to the State Department in Iraq.
In what some geologists have described as rare occurrences, Malawi's northern district of Karonga has in the past three weeks experienced a total of 30 earthquakes resulting in at least 5 deaths, over 200 people injured and over 3,000 made homeless. Fresh reports say another earthquake hit Karonga Sunday 27th December and more are expected.
Since Malawi's president Bingu wa Mutharika declared Karonga as a national disaster area, appeals for help to the victims have been pouring to help the people in the uranium mining district.
Some of you may have seen these photos before on the story of the, egrets and the snake http://birdinginegypt.blogspot.com/2009/12/egrets-3-species.html Today I have not been out on my usual walkabout because my back was playing up again, so I was looking through my photos. and it came to mind that most think of our birds and wildlife as brainless creatures. these birds know when there is danger they know that when the fields are ploughed there is food they also know that when the field is inundated the grubs in the ground will surface. they have special calls. like the one they made this day of the photo. the Hooded crow knows this call and comes to take whatever is there that has alarmed the Egret, this time it was a snake in the water, last time I heard this alarm call was in the field next to my flat. when the crow took the rat from the field. the Kite was also over head but would not take the snake because I was too near. but what fascinated me was the expressions on the birds they were not sure if it was dead because it was moving in the water. I went to see what was alarming them and as soon as I took the snake from the water they all went on with the business of catching grubs in the field. even though the snake was on the bank besides the culvert. they took no further interest in a dead snake..
The Hooded crow with its catch first it wedged the rat in the branch to kill it then puts the dead rat under its claw to eat. the kites and falcons kill as soon as they catch it then fly to a tree or wire to eat using the same technique with the claw to eat,
So a few days back a posted a mild complaint about Obama not issuing a Kwanzaa statement. Well he is four days late but here it is. Happy Kwanzaa ya'll.
NB: I have also posted George W. Bush's 2008 statement. I would have loved to have heard Dubwa mangle Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles)!
Statement by President Obama and Michelle Obama on Kwanzaa
Michelle and I send warm wishes to all those celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season.
This is a joyous time of year when African Americans and all Americans come together to celebrate our blessings and the richness of our cultural traditions. This is also a time of reflection and renewal as we come to the end of one year and the beginning of another.
The Kwanzaa message tells us that we should recall the lessons of the past even as we seize the promise of tomorrow.
The seven principles of Kwanzaa - Unity, Self Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith - express the values that have inspired us as individuals and families; communities and country.
These same principles have sustained us as a nation during our darkest hours and provided hope for better days to come. Michelle and I know the challenges facing many African American families and families in all communities at this time, but we also know the spirit of perseverance and hope that is ever present in the community.
It is in this spirit that our family extends our prayers and best wishes during this season and for the New Year to come.
Kwanzaa is the celebration of African culture, community, and family traditions. For more than 40 years, millions of people have come together to reaffirm Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa. These principles emphasize unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
As people across our country gather to commemorate this seven-day celebration, may we all be reminded that Kwanzaa is an opportunity to celebrate the many contributions of our African American citizens.
Laura and I send our best wishes for a joyous Kwanzaa.
Ghana president spurns 'corrupting' Christmas gifts
John Atta Mills has vowed to stamp out corruption
Ghanaian President John Atta Mills is refusing to accept Christmas presents this year because he fears they may be intended to corrupt him.
Sending hampers of food and gifts to people in authority is a Christmas tradition in the African country.
But Mr Atta Mills's spokesman said the president felt it was better not to accept them in case the givers were seeking something in return.
Mr Atta Mills was elected in 2008 on a promise to fight corruption.
"Some people bring the gifts and their motives are genuine," presidential spokesman Mahama Ayariga told the BBC's Focus on Africa.
"Others, perhaps, just want to establish a relationship that would, in a sense, influence decisions that you might have to make in the coming year that relate to their interests.
"So you cannot really differentiate in terms of the different motives that people bring to this gift-giving exercise."
The spokesman added that the gifts would be better enjoyed by the country's underprivileged, such as children at orphanages.
I think our will to fight for justice has been diminished in our generation. I am not exactly sure why. If Americans did not get worked up over the Pat Tillman cover-up then, barring some major catastrophe, the corporate war mongers will win the day. kzs
@@@@@@@@
September 14, 2009
The latest book from Jon Krakauer, author ofInto Thin Air and Into The Wild, focuses on the life and tragic death of former NFL player Pat Tillman, who left a lucrative contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the U.S. Army Rangers.
Krakauer talks to NPR's Melissa Block about his investigation into Tillman's death by friendly fire — and the Army's subsequent effort to cover up the circumstances of that death.
A Spray Of Bullets
At least half the members of a platoon traveling through Afghanistan on April 22, 2004, had never been in a firefight before. But on this day, the enemy attacked. In response, the American soldiers sprayed thousands of rounds from their machine guns, M4s and grenade launchers.
Not far away was Tillman, accompanied by another American soldier and an Afghan militia fighter, who had been firing his weapon at the opposite canyon wall, where he suspected enemy fighters could be. When, from a distance, the leader of one of the U.S. platoon's Humvees saw the Afghan militia fighter, he reacted.
"He testified that the [Afghan] guy had on an American uniform, but in the panic of the moment, he reflexively put the guy in the sights of his M4 and put seven rounds into his chest," Krakauer says. The shots by the leader of Humvee were followed by a spray of bullets from the rest of his men. It was an attack that ended in Tillman's death.
Yesterday I went to Tutti fruitti coffee shop and met A lady who lives 10 kilometers out from Luxor We had a common interest in wildlife she said that she would send me some photos of what she had I have not seen any of these three species as yet the desert fox I have seen stuffed above peoples doors. She said the spider is Quite big and the green moth was a nice find, so thanks for sending me the photos Amanda.
Percy Sutton leaves behind an impressive legacy. When I was first getting acquainted with Malcolm X and black nationalism I can recall wondering why Malcolm X had a white guy representing him. It was a bit later that I realized that Mr. Sutton was a black man. I will remember him more as an iconic symbol of Civil Rights and Black Power in his capacity as legal advisor to the Malcolm X family. Harlemites will likely have more grounded memories of his political life and his rise to media mogulship. Mr. Sutton was principled, passionate, and dedicated to black uplift. In the clip below he delivers an eloquent address to conservatives after Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter for the US presidency in 1980.
tags: civil rights, black power, conservatives, media, Malcolm X, harlem
Family, do y'all remember Bill Clinton and George W. Bush sending us official Kwanzaa greetings?
But not a peep from the current POTUS. What's up with that?
You would be correct to point out that this should not be surprising. It is, I suppose, just another diss by the first black president. He has, after all, repeatedly told us to get to the back of the bus.
Incidentally, his strategy of dumping Wright for personal gain matches up nicely with Oprah Winfrey. She joined Reverend Wright's Trinity Unity Church of Christ back in 1984. Her membership was, at least in part, strategic--she was attracted to the church's VIPs. But lo and behold Oprah got famous and suddenly decided that "something wasn't (W)right." She eventually left the church for fear of offending her "very mainstream" (read: white) audience. Apparently neither Oprah nor Obama bothered reading the "Black Value System" endorsed by Trinity. If they can jump ship when blackness becomes a burden, I say good riddance! We can do bad (or good) on our own.
*Shrug*
By MEGAN K. SCOTT Associated Press Writer
Published: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 8:43 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 8:43 p.m.
NEW YORK — Four years ago, Evita Broughton celebrated Kwanzaa for the first time with her family — lighting a candle each night and discussing the respective principle.
But she hasn’t celebrated the holiday since.
“It felt like a school project that lasted seven nights,” said Broughton, 27, of Marietta, Ga. “I didn’t feel like I had that connection. I tried to share my experiences with others but no one else was celebrating it.”
Kwanzaa, which runs from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, may be a mainstream holiday with greeting cards, postage stamps and public celebrations, but experts say its popularity is receding.
It will not be getting a boost from the first family. The Obamas do not personally celebrate Kwanzaa, according to White House aides, though a written message from the president is likely, [haven't seen it yet! we are waiting! kzs] in keeping with the practice of his most recent predecessors, Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
This Ghanaweb article about the Nigerian so-called "terrorist", Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, reports a number details on the alleged plot including Abdulmuallab's purchase of a seat over the aircraft's fuel tanks, a syringe "sewn into his underwear," and several loose connections to Ghana.
Federal authorities on Saturday charged a 23-year-old Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab , with trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day, and officials said the suspect told them he had obtained explosive chemicals and a syringe that were sewn into his underwear from a bomb expert in Yemen associated with Al Qaeda.
Abdulmutallab appeared to have chosen his seat on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 carefully. The Christmas Day seat in aisle 19 placed him right over the fuel tanks of the jetliner and at the window, where an explosion would have maximum effect, US security experts told US broadcasters.
Percy E. Sutton, who displayed fierce intelligence and exquisite polish in becoming one of the nation’s most prominent black political and business leaders, died on Saturday, The Associated Press reported. He was 89.
Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images
Percy E. Sutton in 2005.
Marissa Shorenstein, a spokeswoman for Gov. David A. Paterson, confirmed Mr. Sutton’s death but said she did not know the cause, according to The A.P. Mr. Sutton stood proudly at the center of his race’s epochal struggle for equal rights. He was arrested as a freedom rider; represented Malcolm X as young lawyer; rescued the fabled Apollo Theater in Harlem; and became a millionaire tycoon in the communications business to give public voice to African Americans. He was also an eminent politician in New York City, rising from the Democratic clubhouses of Harlem to become the longest serving Manhattan borough president and, for more than a decade, the highest black official in the city. In 1977, he was the first seriously regarded black candidate for mayor.
There are three sets of local twin brothers who surf regularly along this strip of beach from Seminyak into Legian. They all rip. There's Deduk and Dedik, Bleronk and Tonyo, and Daniel and Damien. This is either Daniel or Damien, though I'm pretty sure it's Daniel. He kept flying down the line after I shot this.
This engine looks like its seen a few people across the Nile. its given good service to the locals now its time to give the engine a good service it may stop the oil leaking into the Nile adding to its already polluted water.
The first house I passed in this village had goats looks like this is the place the locals dump the garbage, good fodder for the goats, I think they use them because the Muslim are not allowed to keep pigs.
This dongola seems to have a new owner and is changing it into a house boat with all the work being done before the Nile rises, this will save on labour, once the Nile has risen it will take all the rubbish down stream. no one cares if the government are allowed to pollute the Nile why no everyone else.
The Jetty is for the Pipes to pump the water from the Nile into the canal for land irrigation. the Nile is at its lowest normally its above halfway up the jetty stanchions.
coming up the bank from the Nile I found myself facing some angry geese, after a few seconds pause they calmed down and I was on my way again
- To reaffirm the communitarian vision and values of African culture and to contribute to its restoration among African peoples in the Diaspora, beginning with Africans in America and expanding to include the world African community.
- To introduce and reinforce the Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles and through this, introduce and reaffirm communitarian values and practices which strengthen and celebrate family, community and culture. These seven communitarian African values are: Umoja (Unity), Kuji-chagulia (Self-determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith).
- To serve as a regular communal celebration which reaffirmed and reinforced the bonds between us as a people in the U.S., in the Diaspora and on the African continent, in a word, as a world African community. It was designed to unite and to strengthen African communities.
As an act of cultural self-determination, as a self-conscious statement of our own unique cultural truth as an African people. That is to say, it is an important way and expression of being African in a multicultural context.
The word "Kwanzaa" comes from the phrase, "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first-fruits." Kwanzaa's extra "a" evolved as a result of a particular history of the Organization Us. It was clone as an expression of African values in order to inspire the creativity of our children. In the early days of Us, there were seven children who each wanted to represent a letter of Kwanzaa. Since kwanza (first) has only six letters, we added an extra "a" to make it seven, thus creating "Kwanzaa."
In terms of authenticity, Kwanzaa is modeled on first-fruits celebrations in ancient Africa, especially on Southern African first-fruits celebrations like Umkhost of Zululand which has seven days. The central reason for Kwanzaa's being seven days is to stress the Nguzo Saba and through this introduce and reaffirm communitarian values and practices which strengthen and celebrate family, community, and culture.
- It speaks to our need and appreciation for its cultural vision and life- affirming values, values which celebrate and reinforce family, community, and culture.
- It represents an important way Africans speak our own special cultural truth in a multicultural world.
- It reaffirms the most ancient tradition in the world, the African tradition, which lays claim to the first religious, ethical and scientific texts, and the introduction of the basic disciplines of human knowledge in the Nile Valley.
- It reinforces our rootedness in our own culture in a rich and meaningful way.
- It brings us together from all countries, all religious traditions, all classes, all ages and generations, and all political persuasions on the common ground of our Africanness in all its historical and current diversity and unity.
Kwanzaa is clearly an African holiday created for African peoples. But other people can and do celebrate it, just like other people participate in Cinco de Mayo besides Mexicans; Chinese New Year besides Chinese; Native American pow wows besides Native Americans.
The question is, under what circumstances? There are both communal and public celebrations. One can properly hold a communal celebration dedicated essentially to community persons. But in a public context, say public school or college, we can properly have public celebrations which include others. How this is done depends on particular circumstances. But in any case, particular people should always be in control of and conduct their own celebrations. Audience attendance is one thing; conducting a ritual is another.
Any particular message that is good for a particular people, if it is human in its content and ethical in its grounding, speaks not just to that people, it speaks to the world.
The principles of Kwanzaa and the message of Kwanzaa has a universal message for all people of good will. It is rooted in African culture, and we speak as Africans must speak, not just to ourselves, but to the world. This continues our tradition of speaking our own special cultural truth and making our own unique contribution to the forward flow of human history.
Kwanzaa organizes people, gives them a chance to ingather, and to reinforce the bonds between them, and to focus on positive cultural values and practice. And in reinforcing the bonds between us and reaffirming us in the best of our values, we are strengthened in our struggle for a morally grounded and empowered community, a just and good society and a world of peace and freedom.
Kwanzaa helps us to focus on the collective aspect of what we are about as a people with its focus on ingathering of the people, special reverence for the Creator and creation, commemoration of the past, recommitment to our highest values, and celebration of the good in life.
Kwanzaa was created out of the philosophy of Kawaida, which is a cultural nationalist philosophy that argues that the key challenge in Black people's life is the challenge of culture, and that what Africans must do is to discover and bring forth the best of their culture, both ancient and current, and use it as a foundation to bring into being models of human excellence and possibilities to enrich and expand our lives.
It was created in 1966 in the midst of our struggles for liberation and was part of our organization Us' efforts to create, recreate and circulate African culture as an aid to building community, enriching Black consciousness, and reaffirming the value of cultural grounding for life and struggle.
Kwanzaa is not about self-esteem. Kwanzaa is about rootedness in your culture, knowledge of our culture and encouragement to act and create in such a way that self-respect will come of itself.
When you focus just on self-esteem you focus on individual orientation and that is against African values. We must focus onstanding worthy before our people and in the world. Because we live in an individualistic society, people put such emphasis on self-gratification and self-indulgence they do not see that there is a collective aspect to what we are about as a people. The need to root oneself in one's culture, extract its models of excellence and possibility and emulate them in our ongoing efforts to be the best of what it means to be African and human.
We must make a distinction here between normal Ujamaa or the cooperative economic practice of artists and vendors to provide Kwanzaa materials and the corporate world's move to penetrate and dominate the community Kwanzaa market.
Operating with the primary purpose of making profits, corporate strategy consists of capitalizing on the African community's expanding practice of Kwanzaa and the accompanying expanding need for symbols and other items essential and related to the practice. To do this, these corporations will offer the standard enticements of convenience, variety, self-focus and self indulgence, ethnic imagery and other stimulants to cultivate and expand the consumer mind-set.
Moreover, they will camouflage their purely commercial interest in Kwanzaa by borrowing the language and symbols of the holiday itself to redefine it along commercial lines. Manipulating the language and symbols of Kwanzaa, they will seek not only to sell corporation-generated Kwanzaa items, but also to introduce a full range of corporate products as necessary for the practice of Kwanzaa. Thus, they will attempt not only to penetrate and dominate the Kwanzaa market, taking it from small-scale African American producers and vendors, but also redefine both the meaning and focus of Kwanzaa, making it another holiday of maximum and compelling shopping if we allow it.
The challenge, for the African American community as well as African communities everywhere is to resist the corporate commercialization of Kwanzaa; to reaffirm and to the essential meaning of Kwanzaa and refuse to cooperate with the corporate drive to dominate and redefine it and make it simply another holiday to maximize sales.
By upholding the philosophy and principles of Kwanzaa, Black people can and do pose a strong wall against the waves of commercialization which affect all holidays in this market culture which is essentially a culture of sales and consumption. For Kwanzaa is above all a cultural practice not a commercial one and external or internal attempts to redefine Kwanzaa in commercial terms are not defining Kwanzaa, but rather their commercial interest in it.
The wall of resistance to commercialization, then, is the people themselves and their conscientious and consistent focus on the vision of Kwanzaa and the practice of its values. Certainly, the central values of Kwanzaa are the Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles: Umoja (Unity); Kujichagulia (Self-Determination); Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility); Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics); Nia (Purpose); Kuumba (Creativity); and Tmani (Faith). And the conscientious and consistent practice of these values provide an effective defense against the waves of commercialism which are defining features of a market culture.
The principles and practice of Umoja and Ujima require that celebrants stand in unity and assume collective responsibility for resistance to the commercialization and thus adulteration of Kwanzaa.
Nia, the central purpose of community building as a collective vocation, requires the defense of African culture and its highest values as expressed in Kwanzaa.
Kujichagulia demands a practice of self-determination in both the cultural and economic sense. It stresses the moral obligation of Africans to define themselves, speak for themselves, build for themselves, and make their own unique contribution to the forward flow of human history. Thus this principle prohibits collaboration in one's own oppression, the allowance of others to define African people or culture and turning to others for Kwanzaa items which the community itself has conceived of and has historically and rightfully made.
Kuumba insists on community creativity, specifically during Kwanzaa and especially providing its own symbols.
Ujamaa (cooperative economics) specifically requires control, not only of the economics of Kwanzaa, but also the very economy of the Black community in a mutually-beneficial process of shared work and shared wealth. No serious celebrants of Kwanzaa can support a corporate control of the economy of the Black community or the economics of Kwanzaa. Nor can they in good conscience drive small-scale community artists, producers, and vendors out of business by buying corporate products and aiding their penetration and domination of the Kwanzaa market.
Imani (faith) stresses the spiritual and ethical resistance to market values which undermine and distort the sacred and significant. It is an ancient African teaching of Egypt which says that through our culture and its spirituality and ethics, we are given that which endures in the midst of that which is overthrown, that which is permanent in the midst of that which passes away. Thus, the vision and values of Kwanzaa are in opposition to the commercialism of a market culture, upholds the sacred and significant and poses principles of African family, community and culture which enrich and expand human life rather than reduce it to a market calculation of the opportunity and promise of sales. In this way, Kwanzaa stands as an excellent representative of that which endures in the midst of that which is overthrown and that which is permanent in the midst of that which passes away.
Kwanzaa was not created to give people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday. And it is not an alternative to people's religion or faith but a common ground of African culture.
One of the most important and meaningful ways to see and approach Kwanzaa is as a self-conscious cultural choice. Some celebrants see Kwanzaa as an alternative to the sentiments and practices of other holidays which stress the commercial or faddish or lack an African character or aspect. But they realize this is not Kwanzaa's true function or meaning. For Kwanzaa is not a reaction or substitute for anything. In fact, it offers a clear and self-conscious option, opportunity and chance to make a proactive choice, a self-affirming and positive choice as distinct from a reactive one.
Likewise, Kwanzaa is a cultural choice as distinct from a religious one. This point is important because when the question arises as to the relation between choosing Kwanzaa or/and Christmas, this distinction is not always made. This failure to make this distinction causes confusion, for it appears to suggest one must give up one's religion to practice one's culture. Whereas this might be true in other cases, it is not so in this case. For here, one can and should make a distinction between one's specific religion and one's general culture in which that religion is practiced. On one hand, Christmas is a religious holiday for Christians, but it is also a cultural holiday for Europeans. Thus, one can accept and revere the religious message and meaning but reject its European cultural accretions of Santa Claus, reindeer, mistletoe, frantic shopping, alienated gift-giving, etc.
This point can be made by citing two of the most frequent reasons Christian celebrants of Kwanzaa give for turning to Kwanzaa. The first reason is that it provides them with cultural grounding and reaffirmation as African Americans. The other reason is that it gives them a spiritual alternative to the commercialization of Christmas and the resultant move away from its original spiritual values and message.
Here it is of value to note that there is a real and important difference between spirituality as a general appreciation for and commitment to the transcendent, and religion which suggests formal structures and doctrines. Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday, but a cultural one with an inherent spiritual quality as with all major African celebrations. This inherent spiritual quality is respect for the Transcendent, the Sacred, the Good, the Right. Thus, Africans of all faiths can and do celebrate Kwanzaa, i.e., Muslims, Christians, Black Hebrews, Jews, Buddhists, Bahai and Hindus as well as those who follow the ancient traditions of Maat, Yoruba, Ashanti, Dogon, etc. For what Kwanzaa offers is not an alternative to their religion or faith but a common ground of African culture which they all share and cherish. it is this common ground of culture on which they all meet, find ancient and enduring meaning and by which they are thus reaffirmed and reinforced.
The original vision and values of Kwanzaa must be maintained and nothing should be advocated or practiced which violates the original spirit, basic purpose and essential concepts which informed the creation and practice of Kwanzaa. However, two principles of Kwanzaa encourage creativity, diversity and flexibility within this general rule. These are Kuumba (creativity) and Kujichagulia (self-determination). So not only do we expect diversity of approaches as is true in any other holiday, but again as in other holidays, this diversity must be within a framework that strengthens the holiday, not undermines it. The need is for established practices and standards which constitute the identity and essence of the holiday. Otherwise, the holiday does not exist and is no more than individual approaches with no meaning except to the persons doing them. Creativity calls for new and beautiful ways of celebrating the holiday, not producing things and engaging in practices which destroy or diminish its value and meaning to us as a people. Self-determination calls for personal and collective expression which celebrate the holiday in unique ways, not in self-indulgent ways which undermine the common ground of views and values which give the holiday its identity, meaning anti value.
Values and value orientation are important, as Kawaicla philosophy teaches, because values are categories of commitment, priorities and excellence which indicate and enhance human possibilities. Kwanzaa puts forth seven key values, the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles) which offer standards of excellence and models of possibilities and which aid in building and reinforcing family, community and culture: Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima, Ujamaa, Nia, Kuumba, Imani.
At the same time Kwanzaa reinforces associated values of truth, justice, propriety, harmony, balance, reciprocity and order embodied in the concept of Maat. In a word, it reminds us to hold to our ancient traditions as a people who are spiritually grounded, who respect our ancestors and elders, cherish and challenge our children, care for the vulnerable, relate rightfully to the environment and always seek and embrace the Good.
"Even though we are an African people, due to the Holocaust of enslavement we were lifted out of our own history and made a footnote and forgotten casualty in European history."
"We are bombarded with what the media thinks is black"
"They show us ignorant, disrespectful..."
"[the media doesn't show us] helping the community. [they don't show] us touring colleges to better ourselves."
i
