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Reflections on the MAAFA or Terrible Calamity . . . to be continued By Wanda Sabir

25th Annual MAAFA Commemoration SF Bay Area @ Ocean Beach, Oct. 11, 2020 Photographer ©Min. Imhotep Alkebulan

Who came up with the term microaggression? Probably the same tribe that invented the oxymoron, “white fragility.” My spellcheck which is not “smart” wanted to substitute,  “micro” for “macroaggression.” What has been my people’s experience in this nation warrants no box office hits to remind us—the rememory lives in the tissues and bones of descendants of former captives monetized. Haile Gerima’s Sankofa could have been the definitive story followed by perhaps Jordan Peele’s Get Out! a 21st century edition of the Let’s Get Rid of Black Freedmen’s Movement. Framed as “repatriation,” Southerners were unhappy with the idea of free Africans as neighbors.  50 years before the Civil War, white men in the American Colonialization Society (1816-1964) began shipping free Africans from this hemisphere to land purchased in West Africa.  Liberia was actually the first independent Black nation in 1839. However, its existence was not recognized until 1862. The whole shipping of free Black people to West Africa was a reversal of the slave trade, the agents (15,000) this time, also Black, just no long African.

25th Annual MAAFA Commemoration
25th Annual MAAFA Commemoration Ritual @Ocean Beach, Sun. Oct.11, 2020. Photographer ©Min. Imhotep Alkebulan

Now there are comedies about the slave experience—Antebellum, it doesn’t matter if one of the directors Gerard Bush, not Christopher Renz, claims ancestry in the terrible trafficking of human beings. He doesn’t get a pass. Black pain has always been marketable and as a topic juxtaposed to BLM negates the latter, because all consumers remember is captivity even when the captivity is a genetic memory – yes, there seems to be no escape in the latest screen adaptation.

In the Washington Post review (9/18/20), the writer asks, “what makes a good slave movie?” What indeed. Even Harriet (2019), which I enjoyed, made Black men evil and humanized and gave backstory to the enslavers. Yes, the writers hinted at a love triangle between the wayward “master” and at that time, Mrs. Tubman.

Right. Sickening.

Popular exploitative renditions of Black pain sell ideas that perpetuate Black or African American inferiority and inhumanity, so when an act as atrocious as an unarmed young father, Jacob Blake (29) shot seven times Aug. 23, in the back while his children sit nearby, is acceptable, so acceptable the story disappears from the news—we see Black pain and Black death normalized.

“Ancestor Shrine”: 25th Annual MAAFA Commemoration Ritual @Ocean Beach, Sun. Oct.11, 2020. Photographer ©Min. Imhotep Alkebulan  Mother and Daughter, Koren & Khepera at 25th Annual MAAFA SF Bay Area Commemoration @ Ocean Beach, Sun., Oct. 11, 2020

 

Ringing bells for the Ancestors, pictured Azizasantewa © photographer Xnanesetafari Teasley

But there is a way to diffuse this madness. What if Black people decided, as some have, to change their diet to a live-it—our consumption, images that promote who we are and where we see ourselves in the future, rather than all too familiar nooses and chains and branding irons?

For us, this is not past, it is now—

Mother and Daughter, Koren & Khepera at 25th Annual MAAFA SF Bay Area Commemoration @ Ocean Beach, Sun., Oct. 11, 2020 Photographer ©Wanda Sabir

There is nothing entertaining about Black pain. No other people’s pain is on the stock market except ours. Economists trade in Black life commodities, whether that is hypotheses on longevity which affect insurance eligibility, what companies will cover us and for how much– Believe me, we pay more for less.

Min. Alicia and son: 25th Annual MAAFA Commemoration Ritual 2 Ocean Beach, Oct. 11, 2020 Photographer ©Wanda Sabir

We have not addressed the New Jim Crow—imprisonment. When Gore posits “an inconvenient truth” he is talking about climate change and the floods and disappearing landmass.  Another inconvenient truth which is not acknowledged is the fear that greets white America when it looks outside and sees Dark Matter.

I am not saying forget the past.  It is impossible to forget this history when we live in a society where the production is expected. We want to remember our ancestors; however, the exploitation has to cease. The MAAFA is not a commodity, it is people, African ancestors remembered—It is a part of as Dr. Marimba Ani[1] cites a three part interrogation: Sankofa, Maafa, Ayaresa, each element connected. See her Let the Circle Remain Unbroken and Yurugu.

“It’s a Rainbow Portal”: 25th Annual MAAFA Commemoration Ritual at Ocean Beach, Sun., Oct. 11, 2020. Photographer ©Wanda Sabir

I reflect on the sharpness of my tongue . . . I am so glad I didn’t say what I was thinking several times over the past month.  We really do not know what another person has suffered and often this trauma affects how the person shows up. We need to cultivate empathy and learn to hold space distant enough to maintain objectivity.  I recall when Sister Sheba was telling us about how she wrote the “Ritual of Forgiveness,” how the forgiveness came from an act of survival—when we can’t forgive, “the what” eats away at our lives until it—the life, is gone. Sister Sheba suggested we start with family. Sometimes it feels easier to forgive strangers, co-workers, people one does not share veins, heartbeat, bone marrow. I wonder how one forgives as the deed bleeds, the person without remorse? Drop me a line if you know.

In a world space where we do not see each other except through filters, we need to remain mindful of how easy it is to misinterpret language, especially written language. When the body is removed, there is more room for error especially for melanin kissed people. This distancing is just so not who we are. I was talking to Brotha Clint, composer: “MAAFA We Remember You,” Monday about how I have developed a signal I use to greet other Africans, to let them know “I see you and wish you good health and prosperity.”

I put my right hand on my heart and nod towards the person if the person looks at me.  Criminalized for our packaging which everyone loves when we are not wearing it[2]—I want to make sure the person knows it is the virus that keeps me away, not the person’s Blackness.

I think about not getting to see the altar on Sunday, October 11, because whenever I looked over where it was situated, there were too many people crowded around it, not distanced.  Neter Aa Meri had not read anything I sent him; however, he was completely finished when I arrived at 5:30 a.m. Perhaps if we’d spoken, he could have had people lineup six feet apart so that we all could have an opportunity to commune with spirit. I couldn’t micromanagement that, since the bigger task was to place the solar lights six feet apart so people could see how to distance themselves. Melvin and I made a circle which included the altar and the space in front which is where the speakers made presentations.

When I finally made it over to the altar, the food had been given to the ancestors and the items distributed to people gathered.[3] I was able to meet young people, two young women named after goddess: Kali and MAAT and a young man.  Neter Aa Meri was elated to finally have some willing minds and hearts to teach this valuable practice.

I also missed the sunrise—it just went from dark to light. I saw Min. Alkebulan’s photos of the sunrise later. I think I was too caught up in a good way in the program — From Brother Dar’s inviting melodies which called our ancestors—“Many 1000s Gone” which says, “No more auction block for me. No more, no more. No more auction block for me—Many 1000s gone. [No more tasers and chokeholds and knees on our necks. . .  No more.]” Dar ended with “Oh, Freedom”  — to King Theo’s Holistic African Movement to Ava’s lovely choreography which had us acknowledging our bodies in a good way, I think one of the themes on this 25th Anniversary is certainly, “Black Power” or the Power inherent in our Blackness.

viagra buying online Each and every dose of ensure high quality of erections to turn intercourse the most pleasurable experience of their lives, and so much more, their confidence depends on it. There was no tadalafil cheap india specific difference in the visual function test, eyeball pressure, and retinal examination. Similarly, some online drug stores may choose to give seasonal promotions, order cheap viagra visit here bulk discounts, or express delivery among other options. Obesity, salt intake and lack of exercise click over here now cialis 10 mg etc. As we cleared the way for blessings to come and brushed away what was not serving us reaching arms up literally for a higher power to assist us—African Ancestors, we then danced around the circle in a literal gathering of this power.

Desmond Iman followed Ava with the primal scream and then we ended with ringing of bells for 401 years of African American history (1619-2021). We started this tradition last year, when I learned that the Golden Gate Recreation Area, which Ocean Beach sits, did not acknowledge the National Parks Day of Healing hosted by Ft. Monroe National Monument which is the site where 401 years ago at Old Ft. Comfort, Africans were traded for provisions and thus began the English Slave trade; however, in California the trade goes back 100 years earlier with the Spanish.

Uncle Bobby and Sister Beatrice joined us as well to say the names of people killed by police. October 22 is Stolen Lives Project, a day set aside to compile a national list of all the people killed by police the year before.  It is also Sister Sheba’s birthday. She is one of the founders of Stolen Lives.  She told me the funny story of how the date was chosen. Initially, organizers were looking at Oct. 12, Columbus Day, however, the thought was the Italians would not be happy, and considering Italians were a huge presence on the NYC police force, Oct. 22 was chosen. When presented with the date, Sister Sheba said, “It’s my birthday,” so while she was in NYC comrades would get a chocolate cake for her to celebrate after the Stolen Lives events ended.

Listen to Wanda’s Picks Radio, Wed., Oct. 21, 8 AM when Sister Sheba joins us to talk about her work in police accountablity, the Black Panther Party and Public Health.  She might even share a poem.  October 22 is also Bobby Seale’s, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, birthday. My father, Fred Batin was born this day too. The party was founded October 22, 1966.

Wanda Sabir in face mask with MAAFA SF Bay Area design. Purchase it and other items at the MAAFA SF Bay Area Boutique.

At the ceremony Sunday morning, I shared some thoughts on the Slave Rebellion Reenactment November 2020, hosted by Dread Scott, from Chicago, now living in New York. He’s an artist whose work disrupts as it invites silenced to speak.  As his name invokes Black humanity and the Dred Scott case where just in case our ancestors thought themselves mistaken, the highest court reiterated the claim that Black people were not created equal to white men or white women. In fact, Mr. Scott’s assertion that since he lived in a free state, shouldn’t he be a free man was met with the ruling that Black people were not citizens of this nation, therefore could not use the court to file charges against a slave owner for his captivity. This was in 1857.

Slave Rebellion Reenactment last year in East Louisiana up from NOLA referenced the largest rebellion in US history, January 1811. Encouraged by news of the Haitian revolution Africans took their freedom and white folks ran.

As we walked the road, bayous on one side, old plantations on the other plus petro chemical plants spewing poisons into the air, spilling into the water killing everything walking, crawling or flying, some of us could feel the energy of the ancestors traveling through our feet into our legs our hips and abdomen, into the heart chakra.

We marched holding our machetes, cane knives and rusty muskets. It was freedom or death.

By the time I got to NOLA my ancestors dead, heads chopped off and put on spikes along the road we’d just travelled, I was ready for freedom. My body ached, I was hungry and tired and Ready for Revolution or death.

I was feeling like chopping off heads especially when we passed a housed where this evil woman tortured her enslaved persons so horribly she was fined. I think the Africans burned the house down.

When we got to Congo Square the weary soldiers were treated like royalty and we were. We were our ancestors reimagined and the freedom they died for we need to treasure and say, never again

“Before I be a slave. I be buried in my grave and go home to my lord and be free.”

25th Annual MAAFA SF Bay Area at Ocean Beach, Oct. 11, 2020. Pictured: Iya Ava Square. Photographer, ©Min. Imhotep Alkebulan

Thanks to all the participants at the Living Maafa Ritual at Ocean Beach in San Francisco and to the presenters at the Virtual Ritual later that same morning. I have attached the program with links. The audio links do not work unfortunately. You can watch the complete program for both at these links:

Here is a link to both:

Virtual 25th Annual MAAFA Commemoration Part II

and Virtual 25th Annual MAAFA Commemoration Part I

Thanks to Brother Kwalin Kimathi who hosted the first program (as well as gave tech support as did Sister Koren Clark) and to Brotha Clint and Sister Afua who joined him in Zoom to talk about the MAAFA Tradition in the SF Bay. We also want to thank Melvin Phillips who videotaped for the livestream broadcast and thanks to Brother Che and the other men from Community Ready Corps for onsite security. Special thanks to King Theo Aytchan Williams, Iya Ava Square, Iya La Tanya Carmical, Ayikwe Scott, Baba Darinxoso Oyamasela, Mins. Alicia Teasley and Imhotep Alkebulan, Desmond Iman, Brother Neter Aa Meri and his assistants; Sistar Gwendolyn “Sunrise” Traylor; Brother Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson, Sister Beatrice X Johnson.

For the second part of the 25th Anniversary of MAAFA SF Bay Area, we want to thank Sister Karla Brundage for her tech support, Sister Koren Clark for tech support, Sister TaSin Sabir for her website and media development; Brother Mike Jackson, Montgomery MAAFA and ICCAAMP for his media support; and of course all the contributors to the Virtual 25th Annual MAAFA Commemoration in order of appearance: Sister Wanda Sabir, host; Sister Opal Palmer-Adisa, Ph.D.; Brotha Clint; Baba Kola Thomas; Seestah IMAKHÜS Njinga Okofu Ababio, Brother Alonzo “Zochi” Young, (Ethiopia); Iya Mahealani Uchiyama; Aishah Bashir and her mom: revered ancestor, Iya Jaquelyn Hadiah McLeod; Tarika Lewis on her cousin, revered ancestor, Sister Makinya Kouyate; Baba Ustadi Kadiri & Sister Bisola Marignay on revered ancestor, Brother Tahuti; Ms. Nia McAllister; Sister Bisola Marignay, Ph.D.; Iya Queen Hollins, Earthlodge; Iya Osotunde aka Mama C (Tanzania); Kumasi– Black Liberation Pledge; Dr. Francis Cress Welsing, MD., revered ancestor, “A Liberating Black People’s Prayer for Peace” (©1996); Ms. Koren Clark on her father, honored ancestor: Dr. Syed Malik al Khatib (1940-2014); Min. Alan Laird, M.Div; Baba Eddie Abrams — Umoja House; Karla Brundage — The Black Arts Movement; Min. Mxolisi, M.Div., Wo’se co-founder; Sister Piwai (Zimbabwe); Sister Omitola Akinwunmi (Uganda)—she will lead the Virtual Maafa Townhall Workshop 11/22, 2-4 in Zoom; Sistar Gwendolyn “SunRise” Traylor; Brother Mehib Holmes, Atlanta, GA; Sister Kharyshi Wiginton, “MeToo,” Texas; Brother Bryant Bolling and Sistar Zakiyyah Capehart-Bolling; Honored ancestor, John Coltrane for his “Love Supreme” — and to all those who are a part of the MAAFA Commemoration SF Bay Area Global family.

Don’t forget to visit the MAAFA SF Bay Area Boutique for gifts.

[1] More biographical information on Dr. Marimba Ani (http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/30/084.html)

[2] Paradise Free Ja Love’s anthem: “They Love Everything about You, but You”

[3] I would have liked a candle to mark this 25th Anniversary, but the helpers kept walking past me to those on the left and right of me.

By

Wanda’s Picks September October 2020

Slavery and the Making of America

This year has been remarkable and certainly one none of us will ever forget. In some ways it is a throwback to antebellum policies; before lynching laws made chasing Black men down streets without due cause or choking a Black man to death, illegal–

At the end of the Civil War and Black people were freed, their value fell in the stocks literally. False floors. No longer commodities,  insurance policies lapsed and the presence of Black humanity scattered across landscapes African people cultivated and planted were visibly unwelcome. Their tangible wealth a bounty without equity or interest.

It was as if, the newly “united” nation could erase the past 400 years of servitude if the Black bodies were gone. So the American Colonization Society–white folks, rounded up and shipped some of our people (12,000) to Liberia (some before slavery ended) and others left on their own, hiring ships and sailing away (1868 from San Francisco to Nova Scotia); however, most of our ancestors stayed and no matter how many slain then and now, Black people survived. We survived the environmental pollution– toxic systemic racism that sought payment for the very air we breathed and the space, however, small, we occupied. These people just didn’t know we were not going anywhere. We were here before America and we will certainly be here when it burns to the ground.

At the March on Washington Friday, August 28, one of the speakers who’d walked across the country to Washington DC stated that it didn’t make sense to be marching, 57 years later for the same goals. What I liked about the 2020 March was the everyday people aspect of those who spoke– leaders but more community centered rather than nationally known. There were a group of women bikers from Southern Cal who rode to DC, a college student who shared how she felt as she lay beneath a dead classmate as the shooter continued to fire. There were union organizers and a white supporter. Sponsored by Rev. Al Sharpton, the National Action Network and Martin Luther King III, entitled the Commitment March: “Get Off Our Necks.” Speaker after speaker urged those present virtually or in the flesh to join an organization and do something to further the agenda for civil and human rights.

Jim Jones Peoples Temple examined in new play, “White Nights, Black Paradise,” by Sikivu Hutchinson, Ph.D.

 I attended a remarkable and enlightening play reading and discussion at MoAD, August 29, 2020.  Dr. James L. Taylor is such an erudite man and was so in his element, an expert on the history of San Francisco– with notes in hand he and playwright, Sikivu Hutchinson, Ph.D. unpacked along with audience and cast members, the phenomena, Peoples Temple. The play, “White Nights, Black Paradise,” looks at the perils of displacement and how when one feels as if she has nowhere to go and does not belong anywhere– kindness can be her undoing.

Jim Jones and his agents handpicked vulnerable people, took their wealth with the promise of care, which the church did. Later when funding ceased and the church lost its property, the vision was a new colony Jonestown in Guyana. The massive out-migration into the jungles of Guyana was celebrated by some members, while others looked on with suspicion.  Some families and friends tried to discourage the move.  Once in Guyana, people starved to death. It was not the utopia promised.  A few people got away, however, most participated in the mass genocide where over 900 people were forced to drink the literal kool-aid at gun point.

What circumstances or conditions led to the massive homelessness and psychic almost psychotic instability? How did Jones get almost 1,000 Black people, majority women and children and elders to leave without protest? What was going on in San Francisco, urban America, the West Coast that would make this Anti-Christ get religious and political leaders to give him their blessing?

My friend, Sister Maryom Ana Al Wadi, a leading pioneer in the black student movement at San Francisco State University which established the first Black Student Union on an American campus and led to the resultant broader student movement that established Black Studies courses then Black Studies Programs at American institutions of higher education, told me at that time people were looking for answers and a place of refuge and they found such at Peoples Temple.

Some people found answers in the Nation of Islam, located just next door to Peoples Temple where Sister Maryom and I were members; while others found political agency in the Black Power Movement which was winding down, yet now fast enough for municipalities that wanted to silence its Black populations.

During this period in the Bay Area and in the country, Black folks were standing up, similar to now in the Movement for Black Lives.  Black people were sick and tired of legislated violence. Watts (8/11/65-8/16/65) in LA kicked off the revolt in California followed by an uprising in Bayview Hunters Point  the night of Sept. 27, 1966 when a policeman, Alvin Johnson killed Matthew Peanut” Johnson, a teenager as he ran away from a stolen car. 51 people were injured (https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/11399). However, the country was burning from coast to coast– Kerner Report not withstanding. Everyone with the power to stop the unrest, did nothing except move up the bulldozing.

This retaliation headed by officials in the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency started pushing Black folks out of the Fillmore, among the casualties Peoples Temple property where members lived communally, all their physical and psycho-social needs taken care of.  When the church lost its real estate, one would see people outside the building on Geary Blvd. begging. Sister Maryom said it was so sad, she’d walk around the block and come up Fillmore to attend the meetings at Mosque 26 on the corner.

For African Diaspora people then in the Fillmore, kicked out of their housing, the majority population unhoused and incarcerated, hungry, unemployed, Peoples Temple was a refuge. It was a place where people belonged.  Almost too good to be true, and sadly many learned too later–it was.  Urban renewal or Black removal complete, Jones took his people to Guyana, a situation worse than anything people could imagine in San Francisco, worse than what they’d left but the exit or stamped ticket read “one way.”  Once in Guyana people were stuck.

There are not many books that look at Peoples Temple through the lens of Black women. Not only does Hutchinson’s work spend the majority of time in the heads of Black women characters, she also makes these characters complex and adds a layer of sexual violence to the discourse as reason for much of the irrational belief in this man even when his sanity is called into question. Thoroughly researched, the parallels between Jonestown and Hurricane Katrina, now Laura in Lake Charles where people are not able to leave — according to Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., President & Founder of Hip Hop Caucus, in an interview with Davey D on Hard Knock Radio.

What is it about Black bodies moving that generates so much fear? Is this fear a projection? If I had as horrific a reputation as white America has toward Black Americans, I’d be nervous too.

These Black women members of Peoples Temple whom we come to care about are also vulnerable. They swim into deeper waters unaware that the temperature is getting hotter until they are cooked.  Is Black America cooked? Is the current state one where ovens are preheated and we just tolerate the heat until we can turn it off or become consumed?

We have a similar situation now, except African nations are telling African Americans to come home– so far there is no economic investment tied to this invitation as it was when after the devastating earthquake ten years ago President Abdoulaye Wade welcomed 163 Haitian students to Senegal to finish school there, an invitation that covered tuition fees, room and board paid for by the government. We have options, if we can get there. I’d like something a bit more concrete.

If Africa is for Africans, after the numbers stop peeking in California, now might be a good time to make a move, especially if these African nations provide a bit of support. With the coronavirus numbers rising and the economic situation worsening for many people, a fresh start in the land of our ancestors might be just the thing to heal the ever present persistent trauma that keeps Black people from realizing their full human potential.

We say no more Jonestown, but with the massive internal displacement normalized today, who’s to say?

Everything changed in the ’60s Black Fire. Then and now, there is a race war.  We have to pay attention and think for ourselves, Sister Maryom told me. “Fear conditioning is really powerful. Free labor allows us to belong wherever we choose to be.” In other words, Don’t believe the lie(s).

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 Vote.Vote.Vote.
This is a participatory democracy.
Register to vote (by Oct. 19) and vote.

Get counted. Complete the 2020 Census.  The numbers gathered impact community resources. If the numbers aren’t there, we get less tax dollars. The final date is Sept. 30.

This is the centennial for the 19th Amendment granting white women the right to vote (1920-2020). Black women didn’t get the right to vote until 1965 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act. However, Black women such as Sojourner Truth; Ida B. Wells Barnett; Fannie Lou Hamer, Mary Church Terrell, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and others worked for women’s right to vote.

On the 100 Year Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, little is mentioned of the Black suffragets who worked hard to get the Amendment passed. I am sure they were under no illusions that the work served a larger good.

Mary Church Terrell, (Sept. 23, 1864-July 24, 1954) was one of these key suffragettes left out.  An Oberlin graduate with undergraduate and graduate degrees, daughter of former enslaved parents, her dad the first African American millionaire, mom a business owner, Terrell founded the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) in 1896 and served as its director until 1901.  She like her friend Ida B. Wells, well known for her anti-lynching work, was a founding member of the NAACP.

Ms. Terrell says:  “A white woman has only one handicap to overcome – that of sex. I have two – both sex and race. … Colored men have only one – that of race. Colored women are the only group in this country who have two heavy handicaps to overcome, that of race as well as that of sex.”

Her elder, Sojourner Truth asked the clarifying question at the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention held in Akron, Ohio, “Ain’t I a Woman?” “You have been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slave-holder, that you own us. I know that it is hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. It will feel all the better when it closes up again.”

A womanist, long before Alice Walker coined the term, Truth said, “If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there.”

“We have all been thrown down so low that nobody thought we’d ever get up again; but we have been long enough trodden now; we will come up again, and now I am here.”

“Now, if you want me to get out of the world, you had better get the women votin’ soon. I shan’t go till I can do that.”

Fannie Lou Hamer  (10/06/1917-3/14/1977) was beaten almost to death, lost her home and her husband

Fannie Lou Hamer

because she believed in freedom and later went to the Democratic Convention, Aug. 22, 1964, where she demanded seats for her delegation, members of the MS Freedom Democratic Party, a party she founded, then gave a speech Lyndon B. Johnson tried to block from the airwaves. She told the truth about the absence of civility for African Americans in the South, of her own torture just because she wanted to exercise her citizenship rights. A member of SNCC, she was a key organizer of Freedom Summer, where college students from across the country traveled to Southern states to register Black citizens to vote.

Hamer said: “You can pray until you faint, but if you don’t get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap . . . at a mass meeting in Indianola, Miss., in September 1964.  Hamer’s bold message—that each of us has the responsibility to work toward the just and equal society we envision —left a lasting impression on those in attendance that evening at Indianola’s Negro Baptist Church. The fact that Hamer would tell a room filled with religious people that prayer only went so far revealed the depth of her fearless activism.

Shirley Chisholm (11/30/1924-1/1/2005), the first African American elected to the United States Congress, representing New York’s 12th congressional district for seven terms from 1969 to 1983 said: Our representative democracy is not working because the Congress that is supposed to represent the voters does not respond to their needs. I believe the chief reason for this is that it is ruled by a small group of old men. (https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/shirley-chisholm-quotes)

Vote for all the Black women who worked and then died waiting for citizenship rights which did not come for 45 more years.

Webinars. . . Zoom meetings . . .
I was online Friday, August 28 all day and the same was true on Saturday, August 29. I had a great conversation with Baba Malik Rahim, co-founder to Common Ground Collective, founding member of the New Orleans Chapter of the Black Panther Party, Former Political Prisoner and an Environmental Justice Advocate. He was keynote speaker at the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy on Saturday was one of compassion and love for those who are hit by disaster in East Louisiana, Lake Charles and Houma. They were without water and electricity and the forecast was that they would be without such for perhaps a month. A woman who was 15 15 years ago, now 30 and a mother shared what was going on when the program started. She gave organization names to send funds too so the people in need would get the resources.


Hurricane Katrina@15 Reportback on Wanda’s Picks
Listen to Wanda’s Picks Radio Show, Friday, Aug. 28

Nana Sula Spirit pours libations during the vigil for Kim Boutte, 55, big queen of the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi Mardi Gras Indian tribe, at Hunter’s Field in New Orleans, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020. Boutte was shot to death Tuesday night when gunfire erupted outside a funeral repast in New Orleans East.  NOLA Advocate staff photo by Sophia Germer

Show Guests:
Malik Rahim, Human Rights Activist, co-founder, Common Ground Collective and Parnell Herbert, veteran, poet, playwright, prison abolition activist, are our first guests

We close in the second hour with Nana Sula Spirit, Baba Luther Gray and Sess 4-5

Visit the following link for Street Dance Activism for Black Liberation which sponsored the Aug.1-28-Day Meditation which is connected to the Virtual March on Washington (11 a.m. ET) and program this evening; and the M4BL National Convention 8/28.

Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series hosts a Tribute to Rep. John Lewis, 7 p.m. PT, 8/28

 

Baba Luther Gray with Bamboulas 2000 in Congo Square, NOLA with the

 

Baba Malik Rahim at his historic residence in Algiers, La.

 

Sess 3-4 with his partner


Film

There is a film, just released Friday, August 28, MR. SOUL! about the iconic Mr. Ellis Haizlip. Directed by his niece, Melissa Haizlip, the film survey’s America’s first Black nighttime talk show host during the Civil Rights Movement/Black Power Movement from 1968 – 1973.  It is a rich story that will resonate with audiences across the nation and across generations. With Black Lives Matter now louder than ever together with the current state of our country, and while our communities are addressing racism in a meaningful manner – Haizlip’s story of endurance, inspiration and excellence is more important than ever.

Ellis was Black, political and openly gay even before Stonewall. In his personal fight for social equality, this man ensured “the revolution would be televised.” That revolution was SOUL! – an incredible weekly television show that aired on public television from 1968 – 1973 celebrating Black American culture, art, life, love and community, and he shared it with the entire nation every week in their homes.

This inspiring film premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, and went on to screen in over 30+ film festivals around the world wowing audiences and taking home over 17 Best Documentary/Audience Award prizes and was awarded the International Documentary Association Best Music Documentary Award and the Finalist Award for the Inaugural Library of Congress Lavine-Ken Burns Film Award.

It is currently available at these cinemas:
–Roxie Theater in San Francisco
–Balboa/Vogue Theatres in San Francisco
–BAMPFA in Berkeley
–Rafael@Home in San Rafael

On Tuesday, September 1st at 6PM PST, BAMPFA hosted a special Live Stream Q&A director Melissa Haizlip and co-curator of BAMPFA’s Black Life series, Ryanaustin Dennis.  It was excellent. Complete details here.

Trending:
Michigan Mobilization Sister to Sister Action Roundtable, Aug. 30, featured, Senator Kamala Harris in a virtual event to mobilize Black female voters in Detroit; Friday, August 28, Black National Conference featured panelists and performances who discussed important issues we should consider in crafting the Black community’s agenda for the first 100 days of the new administration. It was East Coast-centered with appearances by I think someone in LA, Midwest and south, NOLA. Since the folks most impacted by climate change look like you and me, Black folks need to get on board with protecting the planet so we can continue to eat and get a free ride around the sun.

Virtual 57th Anniversary of the March on Washington

CA Senate considers Reparations Bill
Read the Bill: AB-3121 Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans

Documentary Film Festival
19th Annual SF Documentary Film Festival, Thursday, Sept. 3-20. Listen to an interview on Wanda’s Picks, Sept. 1, 2020, with Chris Metzler, Associate Director of Programming for DocFest. He joins us to talk about the 19th Season for the now  Virtual SF Doc Film Festival, Sept. 3-20, 2020

105th Annual Association of African American Life and History (ASALH) Conference this Sept. Thursdays-Saturdays beginning 9/3 & 9/5 through 9/24 & 9/26. The theme this year is “African Americans and the Vote.”

Martha Jones and fellow historian Marcia Chatelain

A conversation with Martha Jones on her new book, VANGUARD by AMERICAN EXPERIENCE on PBS with Marcia Chatelain

Join American Experience for a book discussion on “Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All”

There will be a discussion with internationally acclaimed historian and author Martha Jones on her new book, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, on September 8th from 2-3pm ET.

VANGUARD offers a sweeping history of African American women’s political lives in America, recounting how they fought for, won, and used the right to the ballot—fighting against both racism and sexism.

The event is produced in conjunction with the encore broadcast of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE’s The Vote, on PBS. The event will include an excerpt from the film and a discussion between Martha Jones and fellow historian Marcia Chatelain around the savvy political maneuvering of Black women from the fight for women’s suffrage to the present. They will explore Black women’s stunning political gains in the face of overwhelming obstacles throughout the 20th century, and their continued efforts to ensure everyone has a seat at the table and a voice in shaping the country.

Both Martha Jones and Marcia Chatelain are featured historians interviewed in The Vote. The event will be streamed live on American Experience’s YouTube page. RSVP on this page to join us.

Featuring:
Martha S. Jones – The Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. Martha is a past co-president of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, the oldest and largest association of women historians in the United States, and she sits on the executive board of the Society of American Historians. Author of Vanguard, Birthright Citizens and All Bound up Together, she has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, USA Today, and more. For more, visit www.MarthaSJones.com, and follow Martha on Twitter @MarthaSJones

Marcia Chatelain – A Professor of history and African American studies at Georgetown University. Author of Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America and South Side Girls: Growing Up in the Great Migration. Following the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, she organized a social media response in the form of the crowdsourced #FergusonSyllabus. For more information, visit www.marciachatelain.com.

25th Anniversary Virtual MAAFA San Francisco Bay Area

Save the dates: Friday-Saturday, October 9-10: Pre-Maafa; Sunday, October 11. We will broadcast through Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/maafabayarea/ and YouTube.

The entire month of October will have a variety of virtual programming: ancestor meditation, films, artist discussions, author events, forums and with community partners. Visit Maafa San Francisco Bay Area

Congratulations!

Dr. Michael Drake, MD, is the first Black President of the University of California system in its 152-year history. My mother sent me the LA Watts Times, July 16.  Dr. Drake is on the cover of the paper and in a story written by Dr. Drake’s colleague and friend, Thomas A. Parham, Ph.D., President of CA State University, Dominguez Hills, we come to appreciate the life of a man who has a legacy of making tangible institutional change.

 

MAAFA FILM SCREENING, Friday, Oct. 2, 6-9 PM PT:

Virtual Film Screening & Discussion with Peres Owino, dir., Friday, Oct. 2, 6-9 PM
Join MAAFA Commemoration San Francisco Bay Area in collaboration with the Oakland International Film Festival in a Free Film Screening of “Bound: Africans vs. African Americans,” dir. Peres Owino, starring Isaiah Washington & Joy DeGruy, Ph.D., (12 years-up).

Sign-up in advance­­: Here. The discussion will be streamed through Facebook.com/maafabayarea, but not the film.

MAAFA (Black Holocaust) is Kiswahili for disaster, calamity or terrible occurrence. This term has been used to describe the Transatlantic Slave Trade or the Middle Passage. Peres Owino’s film is a conversation between siblings who have been separated by time, location, history and language. Though we may look familiar, much has happened in the 500 years we’ve been apart. In the film, a cohort of African and African Americans share on camera its biases, hurt, prejudices and misconceptions about each other. These discussions are juxtaposed with scenes of Dr. Joy DeGruy’s critical analysis of whiteness, hierarchy of power and historic trauma. Her social science tapestry gives Isaiah Washington, actor, humanitarian, a backdrop wherewith to house his elation when he learns where he comes from—his African ancestry. He leaves almost immediately for Sierra Leone and sees how Europe’s underdevelopment of Africa robs her people of hope, a hope Washington in a small way repairs. The director’s expectation when she arrives from Kenya, a student, excited to meet Diaspora cousins, is answered with Bound. The film project which includes Washington’s memoir, is the bridge she creates on her loom. It is a beautiful coat of many colors.

Concert for Hugh Masekela & Willie Kgositsile

 

Date: 
Sep 20th, 2020

Time: 
6:00 PM – 9 PM SAST (South Africa)

9:00 AM – 12 PM PDT Pacific Time (US and Canada)
11:00 AM – 1 PM CDT Central Time (US and Canada)
12:00 PM – 3 PM EDT Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Please feel to share the link below with like minded intellectuals. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone for this special event and will start promptly at 12 noon.

Note: If anyone wants to attend, send an email to this website and we will send you the Zoom meeting ID and Passcode. We will respond to requests up to 8:00 AM PT


On the Fly:
 Happy Birthday John Coltrane (9/23)
Friday, Sept. 25, SFJAZZ will broadcast one of the concerts curated by Ravi Coltrane celebrating his father’s legacy. 5 p.m. Visit sfjazz.org

Art Exhibit: Critical Resistance Presents: Imagine Freedom
http://imaginefreedom.art/

This week CR hosts three major events:

  1.  Tuesday, Sept. 28: Opening Celebration for our Art Action– Imagine Freedom: Art Works for Abolition RSVP here

  2. Thursday, Oct. 1: Launch of the Abolition & the University Series by our Abolitionist Educators Network, with a webinar on “Anti-Blackness, the University & Policing” Register here

  3. Thursday, Oct. 1: Launch of CR  AbolitionNOW Network‘s series with another webinar on “Black and Indigenous Liberation through Abolition”

    Register here. 

Book Talk

 

Elizabeth Pepin Silva and Lewis Watts will present an illuminating slide show and talk about the new edition of Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era. 

Through dozens of archival photographs and oral accounts from the neighborhood residents and musicians who experienced it at its height, the Harlem of the West SF Project celebrates this unique and rediscovered chapter in jazz history and the African-American experience on the West Coast. The Project is a platform for the Fillmore’s musicians, nightclub owners and residents of the 1940s and 1950s to tell the neighborhood’s history in their own words, as well as feature rarely seen photographs and memorabilia. The new edition of Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era book has been recently republished by Heyday Books. The edition features newly discovered photographs and memorabilia, as well as additional interviews with those who lived and played in the Fillmore at the height of its glory

Elizabeth Pepin Silva is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, photographer, writer and former day manager of the historic Fillmore Auditorium. She holds a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University. Instagram

Lewis Watts is a photographer, archivist and professor emeritus of art at UC Santa Cruz with a longstanding interest in the cultural landscape of the African diaspora in the Bay Area and internationally. Instagram 

Co-sponsored by Heyday Books and the Museum of the African Diaspora. .

Registration: https://bit.ly/HarlemWest9-25-20

SFPL YouTube Live: https://youtu.be/wIdScOqs20A

Memorial for Kali O’Ray, director,
San Francisco Black Film Festival,
Sat., Sept. 26

Kali O-Ray Memorial, Sat., Sept. 26, 2020 at the AAACC, 762 Fulton Street, SF, outside

From the AAACC website:

“As you may already be aware, Kali O’Ray, our beloved San Francisco Black Film Festival (SFBFF) Director and community member, has passed away. Kali led the SFBFF with a deep commitment to storytelling, featuring films that broke “the mold in which African Americans and the diaspora are many times pigeonholed.”

As we honor Kali’s legacy, we are also grieving alongside those who were impacted by his compassion, creative vision, and undeniable love for the Fillmore. 
The San Francisco Black Film Festival is a global platform for emerging and established Black filmmakers, screenwriters, and actors to present their art. Founded by his mother Ave Montague, Kali took on the role of Director after her passing and led the organization for over a decade. He continuously worked to uplift and celebrate filmmaking as a form of cultural power. 
As Mayor London Breed shared, “Kali picked up the mantle to carry on with his mom’s legacy. I am so grateful to have known and worked with Kali and will always remember him as a thoughtful and caring man.”
To offer space for collective mourning and remembering, we are hosting rotating services at the AAACC in our newly created parking lot exhibit, on Saturday, September 26 at 11am and 2pm. Masks will be mandatory as we practice Social Distancing. For our most vulnerable community, digital streaming will be available on the AAACC website.

We hope to share in honoring Kali’s legacy and comfort for his family with you at the memorial, either in person or virtually, on Saturday, September 26. For those who would like to make a donation to the O’Ray family, please visit the GoFundMe page created by Cree O’Ray, Kali’s daughter.”

Theatre Honors Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with Tanya Shafter’s Manatee on Mars

Tanya Shaffer, playwright

 

 

On the anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), two theater organizations join forces on Saturday September 26 ( 2PM Pacific, 5PM Eastern)  to virtually present award-winning playwright Tanya Shaffer’s MANATEE ON MARS, a dramedy about the struggles that children on the spectrum and their families face in the American school system.  Remote Theater, a new theater group born in the pandemic and dedicated to developing new plays, and the nationally renowned Playwrights Foundation, are partnering to present the first public reading of this play under Remote’s new play development series, Remote Studio. The reading is directed by Giovanni Rodriguez, featuring original music by award-winning composer Rinde Eckert.  Listen to the playwright and director on Wanda’s Picks Radio Show, Friday, Sept. 25, 2020, 9:00 AM PT
One Reading Only:  Saturday September 26: 2PM Pacific, 5PM Eastern

FREE REGISTRATION LINK:https://bit.ly/3kaavy8

By

August September 2020

Lots going on this Black August closing weekend!

Visit this calendar site: Black Cultural Events website

Watch: The Black National Convention 2020 on August 28, 2020

Watch: March on Washington 2020

Wanda’s Picks Radio Show:
August 28, 2020

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

1. Hurricane Katrina Report Back

Malik Rahim and Parnell Herbert are our first guests

We close in the second hour with Nana Sula Spirit, Baba Luther Gray and Sess 4-5

 

Wanda’s Picks Radio Show Special,
Tuesday, August 25, 2020

1. Dr. Marta Moreno Vega, joins us to talk about the Creative Justice Initiative, available through Aug. 31, 2020

2. Naru Kwina & Leroy Frankilin talk about their new film, The Joe Capers Legacy, airing Aug. 29, 2020, 7-9 PM PT

3. We speak to Dr. Shemell Bell, Shalom Cook, Fountainetta Coleman, about the 28-Day Global Meditation for Black Liberation Aug. 1-28, 2020 and other events such as Movement for Black Lives National Convention 8/29 and the NAACP Virtual & Actual March on Washington, 8/27-28.

4. We close with an interview with Rennie Harris, choreographer, “Lazarus,” set on Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre 2018 for its 60th Anniversary. We spoke when the work came to Cal Performances last year.

Visit the following link for Street Dance Activism for Black Liberation which sponsored the Aug.1-28-Day Meditation which is connected to the Virtual March on Washington (11 a.m. ET) and program this evening; and the M4BL National Convention 8/28.

Lecture Series Honors Rep. John Lewis, Friday, August 28
Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series hosts a Tribute to Rep. John Lewis, 7 p.m. PT, 8/28

JOhn Lewis Tribute at MLK Jr. Freedom Center, Aug. 28, 2020

White Nights, Black Paradise at Museum of African Diaspora, Aug. 29, 2020 

Virtual PERFORMANCE & DISCUSSION | White Nights, Black Paradise, The Play by Sikivu Hutchinson

WHEN:

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August 29, 2020 @ 12:00 pm – 2:30 pm
WHERE:
Zoom Room
COST:
Pay What You Can

PERFORMANCE PANEL DISCUSSION MOAD LIT

 

Radio Show Interview with Sikivu Hutchinson, Ph.D., playwright,
“White Nights, Black Paradise,” Nov. 21, 2008:

1. Toni-Michelle Williams is an activist and co-director of Solutions Not Punishment Coalition (SNaPCO) in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a celebrated community organizer in prison abolition/prison reform issues, and the criminalization of poverty and Black transgender people. She is in town for Violence Against Trans Women: State of Emergency at Commonwealth Club of CA in SF, 11.26/2018, 6:30 p.m.

2. Sikivu Hutchinson, Ph.D. is an educator and author who has written and published extensively on the African American experience in Peoples Temple and Jonestown; CHARLOTTE WILLIAMS (Hy Strayer) charlotteevelynwilliams.com; ELVINET PIARD (Jess McPherson/The Night Watchwoman) is trained in communication and performing arts, Elvinet is an L.A.-based actor and voice-over artist. They join us to talk about the upcoming production of White Nights, Black Paradise, Fri., Nov 30 – Sun, Dec 02 at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. http://www.blackjonestown.org/events/

3. We close with an interview with Ntozake Shange, playwright, “for colored girls who’ve considered suicide when the rainbow was enuf.” The performance was at Black Rep in Berkeley.

 

By

July August 2020

Denise Adele Gums

We are losing so many loved ones this year. Beloved heroes like Rep. John Lewis (2/21/40-7/17/20) and his friend and mentor Rev. CT Vivian (7/30/24-7/17/20) and Rev. Joseph Lowery (10/6/21 – 3/27/20), Dean of the Civil Rights Movement.

Here in Oakland, we lost Wonder Woman Denise Adele Gums (10/26/53-7/22/2020). I met Denise when President Aristide was in exile. I think I sat next to her and after chatting at the event with her about Haitian politics, I knew this was a sister I wanted to know. Her work, grounded in Christ or God consciousness, like aforementioned honored ancestors, looked at African Diaspora unity. Denise saw the church as a sanctuary and its role one of liberation theology.

She wore colorful wraps, baubles on her wrists and hoops dangling from ears.  Denise’s smile, even masked, was palatable.  Oaktown to the core, the eldest of four, she attended Oakland public schools . . . then Bishop O’Dowd High School, class of 1971. She then attended Holy Names College.

A woman who knew how to have fun while working for systemic change, Denise worked as a community organizer and always knew where the pulse was on an issue. Denise was well-loved in the African immigrant community here and abroad and was first call for current events whether that was China’s treatment of African immigrants or Covid-19 in Congo. She got the information and immediately sent it out.

She was first to model African-centered face masks, riding the bus to Berkeley to support an African woman-owned business. A founding member of Bay Area Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) in 2006, Denise was a Race Woman, in the spirit of the Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

Muadi Mukenge, Board member of Priority Africa Network, and presenter at several Bay Area Friends of the Congo events says, “Denise was an ally in the struggle for women’s rights and for peace in the Congo. She attended many events and lent her voice and solidarity to the Congolese community. She is known by people from many African countries for her warmth and sense of justice.”

Pierre and Maria Labossiere, co-founders, Haiti Action Committee, write of that first meeting in 1982, “when Denise was emcee at an event for the late Father Gerard Jean-Juste then visiting from Florida. The community gathering was in support of Haitian refugees who were fighting for the right to political asylum. We became great friends that day and rarely has Denise missed an event or demonstration in support of the people of Haiti.”

Nunu Kidane, founder and director of Priority Africa Network, recalls Denise’s ties to African community, especially the Nigerian

Denise Adele Gums

community associations and elected officials.  “She was committed and intelligent,” Nunu says in a recent conversation. “I was impressed by the breath of her knowledge and strategic thinking.”

Melvin Phillips, neighbor and classmate, recalls Denise worked closely with the late Father Jay Matthews and Father Edgar Haasl; Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Pentecostal clergy and the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, in her role as community liaison for Clergy United of Oakland and the Bay Area Interdenominational Ministry Alliances. This was in the ‘70s and continued to the present. Denise helped in Black Panther Party co-founder, Bobby Seale’s campaign for Oakland Mayor and went to jail often while protesting for housing rights. Pierre said, she’d give her purse to one of them to hold for her until she was released. She made “Good Trouble.”

Gerald Lenoir, now Strategy Analyst, Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, recalls Denise fondly. He says, Denise was a big asset. She was a bridge between the church and the community and brought her cultural work to BAJI when he was founding director. A member of the St. Columba Catholic Church in West Oakland at that time—the choir took “good news” to other Catholic churches on Sunday mornings, so in demand were they (smile).  Denise shares a bit of that skill in a “We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest” freestyle tribute to Gerald at his retirement party in 2014 (video).

The last time I saw Denise she was standing at Lake Merritt smiling and waving as she documented our twice monthly (1st and 3rd Friday) car caravan. We waved at each other. Later she told me she crossed the street and explained to the curious men exercising near Embarcadero, the protest objectives: BLM, end police violence; Voter Rights; 2020 Census. I looked at my phone the day I learned she died, and saw two texts from July 20 in WhatsApp about Rep. Lewis date stamped 4:15 and 5:09 a.m. (Nunu and I both reflected on those last messages.)

Denise supported immigrant rights and African entrepreneurship. She loved film and volunteered at the Oakland International Film Festival. She worked at the American Red Cross training disaster relief volunteers. More recently she worked as a Special Education teacher; she loved children, especially those children she taught at Oakland Public Schools and worried about the effects of distance education and the digital divide in our community.

She is being interned at Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland. Visit the site for updates on funeral arrangements. You can also visit the website at Our Lady of Lourdes Church where Denise was a member. She is survived by her mom, Mrs. Thelma Gums and two sisters, Deborah and Karen Gums; aunts and an uncle, cousins and of course too many friends to count. She is preceded in death by her father, Mr. Louis Gums and brother Kevan Gums.

The public ceremony and celebration of Denise Gums’s life is Saturday, August 15, 2020, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. PT in Zoom. Check the Chapel of the Chimes for the details for the virtual ceremony. There will also be a private family memorial.  If anyone is interested in helping with burial costs, please contact Mr. Osagie A.D. Enabulele, Community Leader, 510-393-6262.

Radio Show Tribute
Wednesday, August 5, 8-10 AM PT we will host a special tribute to Denise Adele Gums on Wanda’s Picks Radio Show. Call into the studio and share a story: 347-237-4610 ext. 1. Visit blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks

Listen to the Tribute to Denise on Wanda’s Picks Radio Show


Car Caravan for Black Lives and Denise Adele Gums
Join us at August 7, 12-1 p.m. PT at Lake Merritt in Oakland, across from Our Lady of Lourdes Church, for our (1st and 3rd Friday monthly through Nov. 6) car caravan protest. Make sure you have signs on your vehicle. Add a photo of Denise. She can walk with us as we rally our people to register to vote and vote, complete the 2020 census and that we continue to celebrate and honor Black Lives as Denise Adele Gums did until her last breath.



Black August

Marcus Garvey’s Birthday, Aug. 17, 2020

Black August is a time of reflection on African Diaspora revolutionary politics, rebellions, resistance. We remember the lives of fallen comrades, especially those person, like George Jackson and Marilyn Buck and Safiya Bukari (now ancestors), behind enemy lines, bodies once confined but spirits free. We hosted a couple remarkable MAAFA Virtual Townhalls in June and July. The first, June 28, honored the legendary activist and artist, Beah Richards, whose centennial birthday was July 12 (1920-2020). We showed LisaGay Hamilton’s film, “Beah: A Black Woman Speaks,” which takes its title from her poem by the same title. The director joined us afterward for a discussion in Zoom. The second townhall, July 26, just a week ago, Melanie DeMore hosted a Gullah Stick-pounding workshop. If anyone is interested in joining us August 23, send a message through wandaspicks.com We post response narratives afterward in maafasanfranciscobayarea.blogspot.com/

August 1 is also Emancipation Day celebrated in the Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, Barbados in the Caribbean and in the London, UK, Miami, Florida.

100 years ago, Marcus Garvey’s UNIA-ACL hosted the Convention of Negro Peoples in New York, August 1-31 in 1920.  It was the largest gathering of Pan Africans ever. At this convention the Pan African flag was unveiled, Garvey was nominated the provisional president of a United States of Africa.

Watch: https://ibw21.org/events/080120-marcus-mosiah-garvey-virtual-forum/

All Of Us Or None

We are so excited to welcome home Patricia Wright whose sentence was commuted and she was released July 21, just after her birthday, July 17. Snatched from her family 24 years ago, son Alfey Ramdhan, just 11 or 12 at the time, recalls how hard it was growing up without the person he trusted the most. Photos show Patricia surrounded by siblings, children, grandchildren and friends. Everyone has on masks and some hold “Welcome Home” signs and flowers. She is the first woman released on a list of incarcerated women with health conditions that make them especially vulnerable to Covid-19. Alfey said he and siblings took his mom to the beach and watched her enjoy the fresh air and spray on her face. The family went to get dinner and had ice cream for dessert. Patricia went shopping for new clothes; however, she had to sit in the parking lot to get her bearings, so much had changed since she was last home. When asked how he and the rest of his family stayed so devoted to Patricia Wright and fighting for her release all these years, Alfey said everyone knew she was innocent, that she had nothing to do with the crime. And Patricia, her faith in her creator never wavered. We hope to catch up with Patricia soon to talk to her about freedom and her short and long term plans.

N’COBRA Virtual Conference July 30-Aug. 2, 2020

31st Annual N’COBRA Virtual Conference

The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA) is the premiere mass-based coalition of organizations and individuals organized for the sole purpose of obtaining reparations for African descendants in the United States.

The N’COBRA conference this year, July 30-August 1, is virtual and focuses on the youth and how the old guard can support an agenda that embraces the new without discarding its foundation or what came before. There are two short days (3 hours) and Sat. all day program that focuses on epigenetics and African American survival.  Youth 20 and younger are free and there are scholarships for youth 21 up whose admission is $15. Grown folk are $30 for admission. Visit https://www.ncobraonline.org/national-coalition-of-blacks-for-reparations-in-america-31st-annual-virtual-national-convention/

Wanda’s Picks Radio, July 29, 2020: http://tobtr.com/11783480

Listen to an interview on Wanda’s Picks Radio Show with Nana Jomoke at the N’COBRA conference and to Delfeayo Marsalis speak about a new non-profit – Keep NOLA Music Alive  – designed to help keep New Orleans music culture thriving during these uncertain times.

 
Party on Sunday, August 2, 2020 with Delfaeyo Marsalis

Delfeayo kicks off the KNOLA fundraising effort with a “Double-Nickel Birthday Bash” virtual performance Sunday, August 2, 3 p.m. PT/5 p.m. CDT/6 p.m. EDT marking his 55th birthday.


Oakland Public Schools Fundraiser Rebroadcast

Elevate Oakland, a music program for Oakland Public Schools hosted a virtual concert in July featuring Sheila E, Ledisi, Goapele and concluding with Stevie Wonder—it was beyond amazing. Angela Davis spoke about the power of art and imagination and creativity to sustainable change. Well, for those who missed the show, it is having an encore broadcast, Friday, August 1, 5 p.m. PT in YouTube. Visit:
https://www.elevateoakland.org/programs-artists-in-residence

Film Openings

Ocean Film Festival
17th Annual International Ocean Film Festival Goes Virtual with Reconnecting Summer 2020  Featuring all 54 Films, plus online panels, discussions and audience Q&A July 30 – August 9  www.intloceanfilmfest.org


River City Drumbeat (95 mins), directed by Marlon Johnson and Anne Flatté opens August 7-21 at Roxie Virtual Cinema
Drum Corps Director, Albert Shumate

Imani and Jailen, elder RCDC members, lead the team.


River City Drumbeat directors, Marlon Johnson and Anne Flatté 

River City Drumbeat captures Edward “Nardie” White’s thirty year run as leader of the dynamic Louisville, Kentucky River City Drum Corps and chronicles his passing of the baton to former student Albert Shumake. It is a beautiful story of a legacy using art to build character. River City shows how community is what matters in a child’s life. The drum is the heart, it is a mother’s love, the first voice, the most important voice a child hears or perhaps feels. White’s program builds men and women as it provides space for parents to grow into their roles. The music is awesome, we dance as we cheer and cry and marvel at these young leaders groomed and step into responsibility with ease and joy. Art is what will save us. It keeps us human. Listen to Albert Shumate talk about how River City Drum Corps saved his life, literally.

Radio Show Special on River City Drumbeat:

The directors, Marlon Johnson and Anne Flatté join Albert, on Wanda’s Picks, July 13: http://tobtr.com/11773949

Tickets Available at bit.ly/rcdatroxie  View the trailer here: https://www.rivercitydrumbeatmovie.com/

 

Bob Marley

Robert Nesta MARLEY @75

This is the 75th Anniversary of Bob Marley’s birth, February 6, 1945. His family has been celebrating all year. Friday, July 31, “Marley,” (145 min.), directed by Kevin Macdonald opens virtually and in select drive-ins around the country. Locally, the film screens at Smith Rafael Center and Cameo Cinema in the San Francisco Bay, Tower in Sacramento. Visit https://www.bluefoxentertainment.com/films/marley Watch & Share the Trailer

The film is a nuanced story of a man who spent a lifetime searching for sanctuary. Born of a white man and a Black girl-child, he never quite fit in except when he was playing music. He knew his white family and the factory they owned, although his white family did not know their Black brother. When they are introduced to his work, his sister says Bob’s work lifted the family name. Bob and his friends worked hard for their success—one person says that they were so hungry when they were boys, they would have to fill up on water and go to bed. This is one of the reasons why his mother left the country for the city.

There are archival scenes of older bands playing instruments they probably made, guitars, banjos. Bob and his friends made their instruments too. There is a great conversation with the record producers who noticed Bob’s writing style – it had depth. His topics weren’t shallow. Religion also gave Bob a sense of place—Rastafari aligned with his beliefs – there is a great scene where Emperor Haile Selassie visits Jamaica and when the door opens and he sees so many people awaiting his arrival he goes back into the cabin and closes the door.

I guess it is unnerving to be greeted as a god.

Intelligent, shy with trust issues Marley found within his creative voice a stage where he had a place. MacDonald’s Marley features interviews with Marley’s musician friends, children, lovers and producers, archival footage of Trenchtown ghetto where Marley lived, the studio that gave him and another friend shelter when his mom left for the US.

Outside of reading a book about Marley, this film is an audio tour of a remarkable life, albeit short.

He grew up with gangsters, but he wasn’t a gangster. He was poor, yet ended up with wealth which he shared. He was disciplined and old fashioned, even patriarchal regarding gender roles and expectations.

Marley is both genius and flawed, especially with his relationships with women. His relationship with his wife Rita Marley is complex, perhaps as complex as the politics of the music business. The search for a unique sound as the group performs covers of boy bands and become famous in Jamaica. I love the Lee Scratch Perry studio sessions and Peter Tosh with the Wailers and an interview regarding why he left the band.

Marley suffers exile for his art. His philosophy is simple– he wants people to live as brothers and sisters, regardless of their race.

The music is amazing and watching the Wailers in the small joints with the audience right next to the performers. Given the Covid-19 reality, this film and that time seem lifetimes ago. At the peak of his career Marley is diagnosed with cancer and the man doesn’t miss a beat, literally, to the point everyone forgets he had the diagnosis.

Marley wonders why his audiences are white, why don’t Black people attend his concerts until he performs at Madison Square Garden, the opening for the Commodores. The narrator said respect brought the audience to its feet when Marley took the stage. Also in 1980, earlier, Marley played in Zimbabwe. The country was changing power and wanted the Rasta man to attend but they couldn’t afford his fee. Marley shipped his sound equipment there and the concert was pretty amazing. Marley had already written a song which became a work the soldiers sang. When the men and women could not get into the concert, they pushed down the wall and the police sprayed tear gas on everyone, which meant the artists felt the burning in their eyes and throats and left the stage, while Bob, kept singing.

He was down for the people. We get to see Marley when he performs his last concert and later when he is in Switzerland  getting treatment for the cancer which has metastasized.  The funeral is beautiful as are the reflections as Marley is not getting well. It is a great story– Bob Marley lived so much life in 36 years.

With each ticket purchase, recipients will receive an exclusive Ziggy Marley song download pack. Additionally, all ticket purchases will be entered to win a grand prize package, including a yet to be released Bob Marley photo book, Marley vinyl and select other Marley merchandise.

Online Art Exhibition

Recovery ACT: Art, Culture, Technology @ Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th Street, Oakland, CA, and online: July 10  through August 29   http://www.rootsartistregistry.com/recoveryact.html

Gallery Featured Artists are: Alexandra Antoine, Alex Bershaw, Ellen Bepp, Rohan DeCosta, Patrick Dougher, David Graves, Kay Hickman, Al Johnson, Oding Muata, Eric Murphy, Najee Omar, Martin Segobia, Malik Seneferu, Amir Abdul-Shakur, Katie Sugarman, Lordy Rodriguez, William Rhodes, and Leisel Whitlock

Artist Talk: Friday, August 7th  6pm – 9pm (In gallery and via ZOOM)

Poetry Reading: Saturday, August 8th  2-4pm | Hosted by TeaRoots.org featuring Genny Lim (SF Jazz Poet Laureate), Wanda Sabir (Journalist), Michael Warr (Former Deputy Director, MoAD) and more.

Additional programs to be announced.  To Register for events, visit: https://recoveryactexhibit.eventbrite.com


More Webinars, Online ZOOM Meetings. . .

Paths to Empowerment: A Conversation about Cooperative Governance in Arts Organizations, Thursday, August 27, 2020, 7 p.m., Online (Zoom meeting)

Cost is free. Eventbrite RSVP required: www.eventbrite.com/e/paths-to-empowerment-a-convesation-about-cooperative-governance-tickets-114463810338

Facebook event: www.facebook.com/events/1617729515085813/

The Berkeley NAACP; the African American Holistic Resource Center (AAHRC), Community Leadership Committee; NAMI Contra Costa County; and the African American Steering Committee for Health and Wellness invite you to attend this webinar:

“BLACK BODIES IN BLUE”- PART II A WOMAN’S PERSPECTIVE, August 1, 2020, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM PT

REGISTRATION LINK: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3zS4JliWRHSJHJ7W5AXBSQ

Presenters:” Richmond Police Department, Chief Bisa French; BART Police Department, Sergeant Anisa McNack; Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, Sergeant Tya Modeste

President Obama and Rep. John Lewis. President Obama will deliver the eulogy on BET at 10:45 AM ET


Rep. John Lewis, Good Trouble

Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker, called him the moral conscious of Congress, Rep. John Robert Lewis from the little town of Troy, Alabama. Friday, July 17 was a seismic event—two major leaders, Rev. CT Vivian (95) and Rep. John Robert Lewis (80), made their transitions. The day before he passed with instructions to publish his letter in the NYT the day of his funeral, here is one final message ­­­____ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/john-lewis-civil-rights-america.html

As the carriage carried Rep. Lewis’s still body across the EP Bridge, a place where he led the 1965 march which came to be known as Bloody Sunday, I wondered, why at a time when monuments to civic criminals are being removed that EP Bridge still carries the name of an avowed racist? Why hasn’t this honorific been removed? A few days later, in Washington at the Rotunda, this sentiment was articulated.

Horse-drawn carriage carries the-body of civil rights leader, Rep. John Lewis

Every time EP’s name is evoked it honors its namesake. Such juxtaposition is a hypocrisy no more stark than this image– human rights greatest defender, John Lewis’s presence in a casket crossing in horse drawn carriage this place one last time.

Red rose petals on the ground recall all the blood that Sunday morning, a lot of it running down the face of a young John Lewis. Alabama residents should rename the bridge John Robert Lewis Bridge for a man whose life was a bridge for justice and freedom for his people.

For those young people 18 this year, too young to have known Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., this young son of former enslaved ancestors was King’s emissary. Rep. Lewis continued his hero’s walk to freedom traversing bridges like this first one philosophically and later materially all the days of his life as a Freedom Rider, SNCC President and later on as Atlanta City Council person and finally as Congressional leader for 7 terms (30 years). It was as if Dr. King never died, the oath he pledged at 18 just as prescient then as now at 80. He was an active member of this democratic society. He was a visible opponent to injustice. He used his pen to enact laws, his voice to say no to unethical policies and his body to interrupt or halt what he felt was detrimental to American people.

Register to vote and vote. Nothing is guaranteed except times passage and our eventual demise. We can take nothing for granted; there is no such thing as retirement—the devil is always busy.

JOhn Lewis Tribute at MLK Jr. Freedom Center, Aug. 28, 2020

 

 

The Black National Conference, August 28, 2020

 

White Nights, Black Paradise

White Nights, Black Paradise at Museum of African Diaspora, Aug. 29, 2020

 

PERFORMANCE & DISCUSSION | White Nights, Black Paradise, The Play

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WHEN: August 29, 2020 @ 12:00 pm – 2:30 pm
WHERE: Zoom Room
COST:  Pay What You Can