Imani or “Faith” is the seventh principle of Kwanzaa or Celebration of First Fruits. Everything starts with belief and this belief is grounded in Imani (faith), Nia (purpose) and Kujichagulia (self-determination). Once we know our purpose everything else is possible.
Kujichagulia or Self-determination is the tenacity we hang onto even when we can’t always see the road around the corner or how far it is to the ground.
This year African Diaspora people cross all the false binaries and biases that keep us apart need to remember our histories and heritage—the uniqueness of each of our separate and collective journeys and the guiding principles that can unit us in Umoja. We are still one people despite time, linguistic and cultural separations. It is the forgetfulness that weakens our growth. Forgetfulness and unaddressed persistent trauma killed Levee (Chadwick Boseman) spiritually as he killed his elder in Denzell Washington’s production of August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”(2020). Levee forgot his home training, that he was obligated to respect his elders, be silent when they speak (so he could learn something). He got caught up in the enemy’s web. The devil in the north is relative to the devil in the south. Neither wore rouge. And the person who could help him, Ma, was dismissed. Levee didn’t recognize Ma’s power, her leverage – how she knew what she was worth to the white man at the scale and made him pay.
Maafa@25 Art Exhibit Goes Live
We are really excited to be exhibiting work from Alan Kimara Dixon, photographer and photoartist, TaSin Sabir. Both artists have documented the Maafa Commemoration SF Bay Area for a number of years and their portfolios give us a rendering of the breadth and magnificence of this sacred ritual and ceremony from 1999-2018. Baba Anyika Nkululeko’s 2019 photos are also included. The gallery: MAAFA SF Bay Area 2020 is hosted by ArtSteps. The artist reception is Friday, Dec. 8, 2021, 6-9 p.m. You can chat with artists throughout the evening. The artist talk will be 7-8 p.m. We will have a couple conversation tours beginning at 6:30 p.m. PT in Zoom. 6:45 and from 7-8 p.m. with the artists.
Featured also is the work of sculptor Marva Reed in two-dimensional renditions of an African female goddess and ancestors. We are also pleased to have the work of mixed media artist, William Rhodes whose quilt and other wooden pieces express the material nature of the journey our ancestors traveled.
We have several multimedia pieces, from interviews to slideshows with original music. Lorraine Bonner, sculptor’s work is captured in a lovely film we have included here which the artist illustrates visually and poetically.
Lastly, Wanda Sabir shares photographs and stories of her travels to Senegal, West Africa and her participation in the indigenous healing Lip ceremony.
We also have MAAFA@25 Winter ‘20-21 newsletter available at this link and soon at the website: maafasfbayarea.com The Virtual Maafa Commemoration is also available to view on Facebook.com/maafabayarea You can see or listen to the 9 virtual Maafa Townhalls as well at maafasfbayarea.com blog.
If you missed the Opening Night Reception Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. Visit Facebook.com/maafabayarea to see a recorded program.
MAAFA@25 Reader Project Call for Submissions
We have reopened the call for the MAAFA Reader Project
with a deadline June 30, 2021. For details visit maafasfbayarea.com or email mail@maafasfbayarea.com Let us know your interest and any questions. There is no entrance fee and we are accepting a variety of manuscript forms: scholarly, fiction, visual art, poetry. For those who submitted work in the past, please resubmit, the service we employed deleted all the saved work. Sample Narrative for Reader.
Gertrude Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
A Review by Wanda Sabir
I love this story, Black Diva who knows her worth and makes the white manager and record producer – Irvin and Sturdyvant, who would exploit her talent— pay. August Wilson’s epic that is a slice of Black life is set in Chicago, the only play in Wilson’s ten-cycle series set outside Philadelphia. It is the story of African creativity and how this genius keeps a people sane or at least functional. All Wilson’s work has key women protagonists; however, “Ma Rainey” is a voice in more ways than one.
The Mother of the Blues, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey knows her business. At a time in American memory white folks remember a time when they owned Black people, it is a struggle for artists who are Black and woman. More than once Ma has to remind her manager “Irvin” (actor Jeremy Shamos) that he works for her. That he is to protect her interests.
Ma knows show business. A protégée who came of age in Vaudeville—her parents, entertainers, young Gertrude later spends a decade with her husband on the road before she starts a career on her own. This experience gives Ma a business perspective and expertise lost on many a man who is tripped as he tries to cross her.
Under no illusions, Ma knows all these men love her voice. She tells Irvin she has never been invited to his house except to perform. Irvin cannot deny her unspoken accusation. “As soon as they get my voice down on them recording machines,” she says to Toledo, musician in the band, “then it’s just like if I be some whore and they roll over and put their pants on.”
The diva says often that she doesn’t need Paramount, Paramount needs her. “My records sell more than all these artists combined,” she tells her agent. “If you don’t like it, I can take my black bottom back down south and play for my people.”
Black audiences adore her. Lines down the dirt road to enter, Ma can fill a room with a promise. “White folks don’t understand that’s life’s way of talking. You don’t sing to feel better. You sing ‘cause that’s a way of understanding life. The blues help you get out of bed in the morning. You get up knowing you ain’t alone. Something’s been added by the song. This be an empty world without the blues” (Wilson 66).
Viola Davis’s “Ma” shakes what she’s got and sings. Transformed, Davis channels a woman whose music gives context to Black Life more so now than ever. The blues, which Thomas Dorsey, pianist and arranger of sacred African American music (whom Ma Rainey performed with)— played as well as gospel, show how closely linked this folkloric tradition which started in Mali ‘cross a transatlantic trade without translation.
This film is the second in an August Wilson series produced by Denzell Washington, the first “Fences” also starring Viola Davis, who got an Academy Award for her role as “Rose.” Directed by George C. Wolfe, with screenplay by Ruben Santiago Hudson; cinematography by Tobias A. Schliessler; composed by Branford Marsalis, this adaptation couldn’t lose.
“Fences,” produced by HBO, the contract agreement for the next nine films based on Wilson’s canon are with Netflix now. Chadwick Boseman’s Levee to Davis’s Ma is a striking parallel. The young horn player’s got so much promise, but no one can tell him anything. “Back up and leave Levee alone about the white man,” he tells the older men in the group. “I can smile and say ‘yessir’ to whoever I please. I got time coming to me. You all just leave Levee alone about the white man” (Wilson 56).
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2019) was the last film Boseman as “Levee” made before passing. Coleman Domingo as “Cutler,” guitar and trombone player, and Michael Potts as “Slow Drag,” double bass player, and Glynn Turman as “Toledo” round out Ma’s band– Toledo is pianist. The elder philosopher and Levee, a kid with a lot on his mind and nowhere to put it safely get into it a lot. Boseman’s Levee (trumpeter) reads rather cathartic given what happens later on in the actor’s life. Was his ghost speaking? Sojourner Truth says, “I sell the shadow to keep the substance.”
Levees are a wall between bodies: water and land. In Boseman’s case two worlds, white and black . . . heaven and hell . . . sickness and death. Can Levee hold off the forces threatening to cripple him? Can Boseman hold off the illness and complete his work? Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Pictured: Chadwick Boseman as Levee; Colman Domingo as “Cutlerand Michael Potts as “Slow Drag.”
There is a scene where Boseman’s Levee curses God, curses God because the God his mother believed in did not save her nor his father when systemic racial violence did great harm to her and to his daddy. A little boy at that time (10), his dad told him to protect his mom, to be the little man in his absence, but how could he?
As we watch Levee tell the men in the rehearsal room his shocking story juxtaposed to his hat-in-hand shuffling plea to Sturdyvant (actor Jonny Coyne), record producer, who asks to see some of the kid’s songs. Levee gives the work to him without a receipt. Levee doesn’t know contracts like Ma or the record business. Sturdyvant tells Levee later on the studio can’t use the work, as he stuffs a few dollars in the young man’s pocket and walks away. Levee is so devastated he doesn’t notice the change in his pocket or ask for his music back.
Paired down for film (94 mins), the epic sweep of Wilson’s work remains in Hudson’s adept hands. “Ma Rainey” and its impact is just as powerful, given the artist choices, direction and writing. The cinematography and score are also amazing.
If there is any fault in the work it is in how the character Ma Rainey looks. The makeup around Viola Davis’s eyes looks like Ma has black eyes. Why is the makeup so heavy and dark? The real Ma is a handsome woman with clear eyes. Ma sings the kind of songs that help a people forget the world outside the club while they are within. She conjures a safe place where Black folks can for a moment feel free whether that is in person or on the victrola. Her work tells our stories. Later on the industry called such songs “race” music; however, Ma’s songs were “love” songs for her people. I think the same could be said for all the songs whether that was Rainey’s disciple Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter or others.
Ma Rainey says “they say I started it . . . I ain’t started the blues way of singing. It always been here. I just helped it out. Filled up that empty space a little bit. That’s all. But if they want to call me the Mother of the Blues, that’s all right with me. It don’t hurt none” (Wilson 66).
The citations come from “The Wilson Century Cycle (2007) boxed set, “1927 Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, (1981, 1985) by August Wilson.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ord7gP151vk
On the Fly:
How It Feels To Be Free tells the inspiring story of how six iconic African American female entertainers – Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier – challenged an entertainment industry deeply complicit in perpetuating racist stereotypes and transformed themselves and their audiences in the process. The film premieres nationwide Monday, January 18, 2021 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/americanmasters and the PBS Video app. Directed by Yoruba Richen.
On American Masters: Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise is an amazing documentary. Listen to an
interview with the co-directors, Rita Coburn Whack & Bob Hercules on Wanda’s Picks, October 6, 2016: https://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks/2016/10/06/wandas-picks-radio-show-special
Celebrating the Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker. Watch the doc on PBS.
31st Annual Celebration of African American Poets and Their Poetry, Feb. 6, 2020 TBA. We will be in Zoom, still working out the details so stay in touch. We will feature alumni and have an open mic. We will also share a draft of the African American Celebration through Poetry Anthology as well. The time is 1-4 p.m. For information send an email to info@wandaspicks.com
Monday, Jan. 11, 2021 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day
Listen to an interview with attorney activist, Sharan Dhanoa, on Wanda’s Picks Radio, 12/30/20
Sharan Dhanoa, Director of Strategic Development for the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking, joins Wanda’s Picks to talk about this public health emergency that flies to low on the radar, no one is aware of the danger our young Black and Brown girls and boys face. She has organized a series of conversations for the public to educate us about the problem, who’s at risk and what can be done to stop it.
Sharan facilitates collaboration amongst over thirty-five member agencies. In May 2014, she began facilitating the largest multi-county workgroup in the Bay Area, No Traffick Ahead, which is unifying efforts in eight counties in order to effectuate collective impact across sectors. Prior to joining the Coalition, Sharan worked with women trafficked into sexual exploitation in Calcutta, India, by aiding their development through economic empowerment. She started her career in crime research, has worked in crime surveillance, and in an emergency psychiatric facility. Sharan holds a Master’s degree in Criminology from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University School of Law. Sharan was awarded “2015 Abolitionist of the Year” for Advocacy by the San Francisco Collaborative Against Human Trafficking, the “Unsung Hero Award” by the County of Santa Clara Valley in 2015, and the South Asian Bar Association’s “Community Impact Award” in 2016.
IN THE NAME OF LOVE: THE 19TH ANNUAL MUSICAL TRIBUTE HONORING DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., Sun, Jan 17, 4 PM PST
In support of the Living Jazz Children’s Project
FREE/PAY WHAT YOU CAN TICKETING
DETAILS & ACCESS!
Relevant Radio Shows
Listen to an interview on Wanda’s Picks Radio, Fri., January 8, 2021, with Stacey Hoffman (2nd interview), Artistic Director, Living Jazz, producer of the Virtual 19th Annual “In the Name of Love, A Musical Tribute Honoring Dr. MLK Jr.”, Sunday, Jan. 17, 4 p.m.
“We Are Going to End Slavery! Freedom or Death!” — Slave Rebellion Reenactment Nov. 8-9, 2019
An Epiphany
for the Africans who said, “Freedom or Death!” as they Marched for Liberty
By Wanda Sabir
Over 100 years ago along the German Coast of Eastern Louisiana, the largest slave insurrection occurred Jan. 8-10. Encouraged by news of Haitian Blacks’ successful rebellion and tired of the horrific conditions on the sugar cane plantations which were in themselves a different level of suffering— Africans decided they were going to be free or die trying.
The planning meetings had been scheduled for at least a year and finally the day arrived. It was cold, it was wet, it was perfect—the Epiphany or Twelfth Night, Jan. 6, 1811, the month-long season of drinking and gambling and partying— debauchery common among such class until Madi Gras, followed by Lent and then the Resurrection Day. In other words, the white folks were running off to New Orleans and not paying much attention to their enslaved persons who were plotting a big surprise. There were signs though. Leaders in this Movement for Black Lives slowed down to a stop incoming mail by attacking the postal carriers.
Dread Scott, artist, mobilized a Slave Rebellion Reenactment (SRR) Nov. 8-9, 2019, to honor these brave Africans, among them the more well-known Charles Deslondes (leader) who was “brought here from Saint-Domingue. [One could say the 1811 Orleans revolt was a “direct continuation on the American mainland of the [Haitian revolution]” (Thrasher 70).
Dressed in period costumes, bearing banners or flags, drummers playing, voices raised in song SRR army marched.
Others rode on horseback. Feet pounded the earth to the tune of never again. True to historical records slave owners were killed and wounded. The SRR captured each precious moment of triumph.
Later in a battle near the armory, there was a final stand. Yet even in defeat the army, then and now, was triumphant! Africans welding rakes and shovels, hoes and machetes, cane knives and tree branches like rifles and muskets, fought bravely to death and took a few white men with them. Those left standing were imprisoned, later killed. However, enslavement had steeled POWs to torture. There was nothing to barter if abolition and freedom from slavery remained unmet.
“Charles Gayarre, [a] well-known mouthpiece for the slave owners, grudgingly commented on [the army’s] exceptional organization: ‘they marched along the river toward the city, divided into companies, each under an officer.’ . . . ‘Some five hundred blacks were involved [, Joe Taylor, another witness, concurred].’” (Thrasher 50-51).
Members of the army were captured and executed after tribunals – Jan. 13-15; Jan. 18 & Feb. 2 in different parishes and courts. The Africans were not invited or allowed to dictate or write their version of the story so we will never really know the magnitude of this insurrection, but we do know it inspired many more after that until African people were freed.
The SRR continued to march into New Orleans where
The dead rose.
This “resurrection day” our ancestors dream realized:
We nkisi. We magic. We indestructible. We back 1811-2019. 1811-2020. 1811-2021.
Gov. Claiborne was so impressed— terrorized perhaps? by our ancestors’ Black Power, he rewrote this history vilifying the victims and then buried the story for almost a century.
500+ strong—this powerful moving melanin soul-force had white folks running for their lives. Black folks were saying no more to such dominance whether this is in the Antilles, West Florida, Texas or Louisiana. . . . The federal government initially refused to send troops in to help Louisiana regain control; however, Spain agreed to stop fighting the US in Florida while the white folks squashed this rebellion.
Do you believe that? Of course you do. Look at the white folks walking into the White House Wednesday? Skin kin forever trumps the law.
Canons and gunfire against rakes and hoes. Like MOVE on Osage Avenue standing against government bullets and bombs with faith and unarmed weaponry. . . these warriors also refused to fall. Our ancestors are still standing, despite occasional enemy scores.
Claiborne/Trump both cry “fake news.” Both rally slave owners and their sympathizers. “You are good people,” Claiborne probably said. “Don’t worry. I will take care of this if you support me and pay your taxes.”
The landowners who ran into New Orleans afraid all agreed as African heads rolled, were chopped off—bodies dancing eerily from nooses in the wind; designer roadside art feature— shorn nappy heads on metal spikes. Eyes defiant even in death—
Yes, we cry genocide. There is no statute of limitations on murder.
White guilt is the body and the garment covering it.
He is risen.
Claiborne’s ghost lives in the White House.
Eku — death is walking
We are coming for you.
Notes:
On to New Orleans, Louisiana’s Heroic 1811 Slave Revolt: A Brief History & Documents relating to the rising of slaves in January 1811, in the Territory of Orleans by Albert Thrasher, 1995, 1996.
https://www.destrehanplantation.org/history/1811-slave-revolt
https://issuu.com/nublaxity/docs/american_uprising__the_untold_story_of_america_s_l/s/10300988
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/its-anniversary-1811-louisiana-slave-revolt-180957760/
More MLK Jr. Day Events@ the Museum of the African Diaspora Monday, Jan. 18
January 18 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service, just wanted to make you aware that the Museum of the African Diaspora will be hosting a day of live, online storytelling, poetry reading, discussion and more from 12-5:15pm PST that day free in its Zoom Room and on its YouTube and Facebook channels.
The schedule includes the following:
12 noon – 12:30 pm | Welcome: What does MLK mean to me?
12:30pm – 1pm | Children’s Storytime with MoAD and the San Francisco Public Library. Staff members read aloud their favorite books for young children.
1 pm – 2 pm | Dream We Do: A Poetry Reading in Celebration of MLK featuring Marvin K. White. Joyce Lee, Daniel K. Summerhill, and Jewelle Gomez.
2 pm – 3pm | Photographic Images of the Civil Rights Era Protests. MoAD Docents will look at selected photographs of social justice protests of the Civil Rights era. They will present photographs of people, ephemera, and other powerful images found in public domain archives. They will discuss the power of photography and its capacity to encapsulate time.
3pm – 4 pm | MLK Collage Creation in collaboration with Adobe Black Employee Network.
4 pm – 5 pm | Meet Us Quickly: Performing and Painting for Justice. We will close out the day with a discussion of the project “Meet Us Quickly With Your Mercy,” part of a trilogy of performances that address the social justice issue of mass incarceration, and a digital exhibition created in conjunction with the performance, Meet Us Quickly: Painting for Justice from Prison.
5 pm – 5:15 pm | Closing
All the details are here:
https://www.moadsf.org/event/c
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/national-day-of-racial-healing-reimagining-together-tickets-134473904067?aff=erelexpmlt
Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Statement presents: Sacramento Poor People’s Campaign Honors Dr. Martin Luther King’s Day
The Sacramento Poor People’s Campaign, on Friday, January 15, will announce its stance against the mob emboldened by hate, lies, and racism that laid siege to the US Capitol, and other state capitols across the country, in an attempt to subvert our democracy. This attack was carried out at the behest of President Trump and his enablers using a divisive political strategy that is as old as the deconstructionists of the 1870s and the Southern Strategy of the 1960s. We know that the only antidote to this poison is a moral fusion coalition committed to reconstructing democracy.
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday, Friday, January 15, at 10:30AM in front of the California State Library (914 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA 95814, members of the Sacramento Poor People’s Campaign will read the statement issued by Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival on the Events of January 6, 2021 by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
Date/Location/Time: January 15, 2021 / California State Library, 914 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA 95814 / at 10:30AM. Masks and social distancing required.
Additionally, on Friday, January 15, 2021, the Sacramento Poor People’s Campaign will host a Virtual Community Discussion from 3-5pm via Zoom to provide an opportunity for community members to share their collective concerns and outrage; and discuss ways to support a moral fusion coalition committed to reconstructing democracy.
RSVP Info for Virtual Community Discussion: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sacramento-poor-peoples-campaign-honors-dr-martin-luther-kings-day-tickets-136332617529.
- Please read the Statement from the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival on the Events of January 6th at: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/january-6th-statement/
- 14 Policy Priorities to Heal the Nation for the #First100Days of the Biden-Harris administration & the 117th Congress. Learn more & add your name: bit.ly/PPCFirst100Days.
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For more info and questions please contact: SacPPC2019@gmail.com
To watch the recorded event from SF Indie Press visit Facebook.com/wanda.sabir
