Baruti N. Kafele

"President Obama's Contraversial and Contentious Back to School Speech on Education"

2009-09-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

Greetings everyone, for those of you all who do not know, President. Obama recently delivered a motivational speech at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia to motivate the student body and students on the national level about the incumbent, importance and necessity of receiving an education in today's society of modernization, technological advancement, scarce job opportunities, a financial recession and other events that reverberates in today's American society. For the most part conservatives, Republicans and anti- Obama critics had a problem with his speech claiming that he was indoctrinating the youth to have no options but to solely go to school and enter into the workforce for the benefit of government. They claim that even though he is the President of the United States of America, he does not have the authority to speak directly to American students in regards to his aspirations and goals for them to achieve when they have their own parents or family to be the motivation for them. Obama was called a "socialist", a "fascist", a "communist" and other "derogatory" terms when it comes to American political jargon. In closing, this is a generalization of the feedback given because of the speech and below is the text of the speech and after that, my personal feedback, so attentively read the speech and my afterward remarks.

"Hello everyone - how's everybody doing today? I'm here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we've got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I'm glad you all could join us today.
I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it's your first day in a new school, so it's understandable if you're a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you're in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could've stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday - at 4:30 in the morning. Now I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I'm here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I'm here because I want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I've talked a lot about responsibility.I've talked about your teachers' responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox. I've talked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren't working where students aren't getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world - and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer - maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper - but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor - maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine - but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life - I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don't do that - if you quit on school - you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country.

Now I know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
I get it. I know what that's like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn't fit in.

So I wasn't always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I'm not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life - what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home - that's no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn't speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.I'm thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who's fought brain cancer since he was three. He's endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer - hundreds of extra hours - to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he's headed to college this fall.

And then there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren't any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That's why today, I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education - and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you'll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you'll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you'll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you'll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don't feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you're not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject you study. You won't click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.That's OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures. JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

These people succeeded because they understand that you can't let your failures define you - you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one's born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice. It's the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in.
Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust - a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor - and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you - don't ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
The story of America isn't about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down - don't let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America."

-President Barack Obama

From my analysis, after reading over this speech, I see the speech as motivational, inspirational, enlightening and judicious on President Obama's viewpoint. As the President of the United States, he's doing what he supposed to be doing and that is to educate and empower the next generation to become innovators, politicians, scientists, educators, doctors, scholars, law enforcers, firefighters, musicians, artists, and to enter other occupations so that they could have individual success and collectively, national success. The building block for a successful nation starts with "you" or should I say the individual so I say that there is no problem with President Obama motivating the students on the importance of staying in school and receiving an education and in my opinion, anyone who disagrees with his message and sees it as unacceptable and deplorable is anti-American itself. Education, come from the latin word educure which means to know and the accumulation of knowledge is a birth right given to all Americans according to the Constitution and for the President to encourage students to pursue a free government-funded public education is fulfilling the role of government which is to make laws, enforce them and protect, preserve and serve the people to make them independent and interdependent and contributive American citizens.

I am not speaking as a conservative, moderate, liberal, socialist, fascist or communist but a human being who analyzes various ideologies because between various parties and points of views; the truth lies in between. In closing, the encouraging of students to stay in school, receive their education, edify, refine and better themselves in a specific skill, craft, field or subject matter is the duty of a President or anyone who wants the posterity of a nation to succeed. In the meantime, everyone is entitled to their own opinion or belief and mine is that "Education is the key to success."

Back to School edition

2009-09-04T06:04:00.000-07:00

Greetings everyone, I am confidently aware that you all know that it is indeed back to school season. You as a student will or may have already returned to your respected high schools, college campuses or may have been matriculated, accepted and admitted as incoming freshman on the high school or college level. For some they are excited to return to school for nuances of reasons which may include to see reunite with old friends and classmates, to show off your material possessions like back to school clothing apparel, they are tired of their boring summer vacation, etc. Evidently and assumptive speaking the normality of the “back to school” agenda is that students are not interested in going back to school or school in general. In this blog, I maybe address you. In today’s society I am well aware of the family, community and self crises, the distractions in the media which generally or in the most part doesn’t advertise getting a world class education and on the inconsiderate, parsimonious, disrespectful, mischievous and inconsiderate teachers/ professors in the classrooms who do not possess the will, determination, purpose, drive or mission to motivate, educate, edify, inculcate and empower students preferably African American and Hispanic students to achieve academic excellence and to return to their respected communities to bring about a positive social, political, economic and educational and cultural change.

Evidently, because of the complacency which reverberates prevalently within society on a universal standpoint, we as a people need to know the importance of education inside and outside of the classroom. We as a people are stigmatized as being imbecile, lazy and illiterate and we cannot take that from society when we as a people are inherently placed with the potential to become scientists, scholars, teachers, politicians, rhetoricians, entrepreneurs, lawyers, philosophers, architects, magistrates/ presidents, etc. We are the parents, innovators and builders of civilization and the crisis that most of us students and people are experiencing is the culture crisis. We lack knowledge of self; we lack a cognizance of our history, contributions and accomplishments of civilizations in antiquity. We are not told the full story of our merits in our history classes and that is why it’s imperative for us to learn as much as we could about ourselves as a people besides relying on the social and political power structure to interpret and tell your story. Once we gain knowledge of self and learned that we as a people civilized the whole world and gave birth to humanity then our self identity, self esteem, self discipline and self assessment will increase and become radically positive and edified.

In closing, I am encouraging you as a student to come to school with the right attitude, to learn knowledge of self and come to school with a purpose in mind. The purpose should be positive and should catalyze towards the liberation and freedom of yourself from procrastination, failure, mental enslavement or whatever is stopping you from achieving academic excellence. More than likely all but way more is holding most of us as a nation back from achieving collective success and to rectify the problems affecting us in the educational and intellectual paradigm. Leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medger Evers, Fannie Lou Haimer, John Lewis,A. Phillip Randolph, Huey P.Newton, Kwame Ture and many other warriors fought for us to have the somewhat equitable rights to attend intuitions of higher education, to receive middle and upper middle class job positions and for President Barack Obama to become the 44th President of the United States of America. In the meantime, education is imperative and the best and most paramount and mandatory education to receive is knowledge of self. In the meantime take care, have a successful school year and stay in school. Your forefathers died for the day you live to receive your education and your children are depending on your decision today to get an education to extricate and free us from poverty, failure and mental enslavement.
EDUCATION =LIBERATION.

Peace,

Baruti N.K.

Happy Birthday to Our Father: The Honorable Marcus Garvey

2009-08-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

Em-Hotep Brothers and Sisters, today on August 17th, 2009 we celebrate the 122nd birthday of the Honorable, charismatic and brilliant Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. Marcus Garvey was born in August 17, 1887 on a farm in St. Ann's Bay Jamaica to Marcus Garvey, Sr. and Sarah Jane Richards. Marcus Garvey had 11 siblings and he gained appreciation, admiration and inclination in reading books because of his father enormous and extensive home library and this embarked on his search and accumulation of knowledge.

Marcus Garvey started working at the age of 14 when he moved to Kingston, Jamaica at a printing house called P.A. Benjamin, Limited and was blacklisted and fired for his participation in a strike and in 1909, he started his own newspaper publication called "The Watchman" which only lasted for a couple of issues. In 1910, Marcus Garvey moved to the Central American region to Costa Rica at a banana plantation as a time keeper then Panama where he would create and start newspaper publications for the clientele of the workers. Afterwards in 1912, he moved to London, England where he began to do his own studying on politics, history, geography, journalism, current events, etc. Garvey began to network with journalists and community leaders who advocated the ideology of Pan-Africanism and Black nationalism and from Garvey's various travels he realized from the Carribean, to Central America and all the way to Europe that people of African descent were mentally enslaved, economically impoverished, politically and physically suppressed and for the most part inferior as a people. Garvey also studied at the Birbeck College and worked for the African Times and Orient Review. Garvey's scope began to expand during his travel's and his only thought of solution for the liberation of African people universally was the unity of African people into one nation controlled by Black people.

While in London, he read the book "Up From Slavery" which is an autobiography by Booker T. Washington who was a prominent and paraount African American leader at the time who started and built the Tuskeegee Institute and who's main advocacy for Black people was accomodationism to the American system, economic independence for Black people nationally and for self reliance. Garvey was well intrigued by his philosophy and by the idea of Black nationhood and he wanted to take his new found knowledge and this philosophy back to Jamaica.

In 1914, he moved back to Jamaica where he started the Universal Negro Improvement Association- African Communities League (U.N.I.A.-A.C.L.) for the purpose uniting the Black race universally, continentally and internationally into one "Grand Racial Hierarchy." The motto was "One God, One Aim, One Destiny." The organization was a social self help group which wanted to develop the Black race socially, economically, politically, mentally, spiritually, and all means which would lead to independence and Black nationhood. Between the years of 1915-16, he was in communication with the great Booker T. Washington and eventually he gave Garvey the invitation to come to the United States to work with him and to raise money to build a school tantamount to the Tuskegee Institute in Jamaica.

In 1916 when he arrived to the United States, he missed Washington because he had already died. When he arrived to America, he visited the Tuskegee Institute visited the various Black leaders throughout America, moved to Harlem to work as a printer during the day and as a street corner minister during the afternoon and night. Garvey went on a 38 state tour around the United States to raise funds for the U.N.I.A. back in Jamaica but instead, membership in the United States began to rapidly and exponentially increase. African Americans were well impressed by Garvey's grandiloquent and fiery oratorical style which captivated and attracted people to him and this help expanded his popularity and the opulence of the U.N.I.A.

In 1918, Marcus Garvey started various business and enterprise programs to vitalize the program and notion of economic independence for Black people and started the newspaper publication entitled "The Negro World". and in 1919 membership of the U.N.I.A. grown to two million people. The publication was distributed internationally and the popularity of the group was recognized internationally by African people across the Caribbean, South America, and Africa and in Europe. Since the Garvey movement gained international recognition, Garvey incorporated the Black Star line Steamship so that Black people could interdependently trade amongst one another to practice economic independence and self reliance.

The U.N.I.A. also started and converted Black churches into the doctrine of Black Zionism and nationalism where the depiction of all of the prophets and the messiah would be people of African descent. Garvey knew that "all men regardless of color were created in the image of God" and that in order for a people to have respect and admiration for themselves then they should unite under one God and worship a messiah that looks like them so that African people as a whole could move forward under one faith. Garvey started grocery food chains, restaurants, Laundromats, publishing houses, the Negro Factories Corporation, and the Black Nursing group to model the American Red Cross. In October of 1919, Marcus Garvey almost lost his life when a man by the name of George Tyler and fired a 38 caliber revolver and fired 4 shots that hit Garvey's scalp and right leg and he arrested the next day after committing suicide from the third tier of a Harlem jail.

By 1920, the U.N.I.A. claimed four million members when 25,000 members assembled and filled the Madison Garden for its international convention. In 1922, Marcus Garvey married Amy Jacques after divorcing the U.N.I.A. activist Amy Ashwoood after a four moth wedding. During that same year, Garvey devised a plan called the Liberia Program too industrially to develop the country and to colonize the county under the U.N.I.A. Garvey and U.N.I.A.'s popularity began to expand tremendously, and the movement not only caught the attention of Black people but of J.Edgar Hoover and the F.B.I. In 1923, Garvey was also criticized and accused of being a "sellout" because the U.N.I.A. did a joint conference with the Ku Klux Klan. They meticulously scrutinized Garvey's movement and thoroughly infiltrated it from the complacency of the Black Star Steamship Line, to the disunity within the movement, to A. Phillip Randolph and W.E.B. DuBois denouncing the Garvey movement, money y mismanagement and him eventually being arrested, charged and convicted for mail fraud.

His trial ended in 1923 an he was sentenced to five years in prison in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Garvey continuously wrote letters collectively to the U.N.I.A. members and during his sentence, the group remained strong and loyal to Marcus Garvey while he was in jail. In 1927, President Coolridge ended Garvey's prison term and agreed to deport him from New Orleans to Jamaica. In 1928, Garvey travelled to Geneva to present a petition to the Negro Race for universal equal rights for Black people, Garvey temporarily taught classes on African history in Toronto, Canada, moved back to London to work on this magazine called "Black Man". After Garvey was deported the U.N.I.A. dwindled in popularity but there were still some loyal Garveyites who kept the group alive and until Garvey's death on June 10, 1940 he remained loyal and lived for the liberation of his people. Garvey lived a life in solitaire, depression, unpopular and isolated.

Marcus Garvey will always be remembered for being the father of Pan-Africanism and to have ever lead the largest Black movement ever in world history with 9 million members internationally. Garvey created the red, black and green flag which is adopted and known as the Black Liberation flag. His ideology influenced the Rastafarian movement in which its followers look canonized Garvey as a "Black John the Baptist" and his ideology of Black Nationalist also influenced the Lost and Found Nation of Islam. Garvey's philosophy was revitalized by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who founded an independent Ghana in 1957 and the O.A.U. in 1960 in order to extricate Africa from neo colonialism to form a "United States of Africa." Even though Garvey didn't completely fulfill his goal, his philosophy is still alive and it is up for us to free "Africa at home and abroad." In closing, let that Garvey whirlwind repatriate us back into our brilliant “Afrikan” minds which would lead to our unity and liberation and in the words of Marcus Garvey, "a reading man is a ready man and a writing man is exact." Once we learn a knowledge of self, then we will be able to embark on a road to actualize a "United States of Africa.

"With confidence, you have won before you have started."
Marcus Garvey

Happy Birthday Bro. Dhoruba Bin Wahad and Rest in Peace to Michael Jackson

2009-07-05T15:26:00.001-07:00

Em-Hotep everyone, for those who don't know, during this past week on June 30, the Black nationalist and leader during the Black Power Movement, Dhoruba bin- Wahad celebrated his 65th birthday. Unfortunately most of us in the African/ Black community are not knowledgeable on who Dhoruba bin-Wahad (formerly Richard Moore) is or his impact on Black History and the liberation and liberty of us people of African descent. Dhoruba bin Wahad was a former Black Panther who was a leader of the New York City chapter, he was a charismatic rhetorician, a fiery speaker and a notable figure within the Black Power movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Dhoruba was also a victim of the Cointelprogram created by J. Edgar Hoover which was devised at first surreptitiously to eradicate, divide, incarcerate and obliterate all Black nationalist, liberal, social, and religious groups/ cults that could potentially radicalize the order of the United States of America for the betterment of "minorities" and most of the country. The program was responsible for the division of the Nation of Islam, the Organization of African American Unity, the Republic of a New Afrika, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the US Organization, the Nation of the Gods and the Earths , the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and other groups.

The programs also falsely imprisoned political activists and nationalists like the New York 20, who were 20 Black Panthers in 1969 who were accused of bombing New York monuments. Dhoruba bin Wahad was a victim of this program, and was accused of robbery of a social club and attempted murder on police officers and in 1973, he was given a guilty verdict and was sentenced to 19 years in prison. While in prison in 1975, he filed a lawsuit against the FBI and New York City Police Department. Concomitantly, the FBI released 300,000 pages of documentations and on March of 1990, the verdict was reversed do to the lack of evidence of him committing either of the crimes. Eventually, the United States government settled to pay Mr. Wahad $400,000 and an additional $490,000 in damages. Mr. Wahad continues his work for the benefit of the Pan-African community and currently resides in Newark, NJ.

Peace to Dhoruba bin Wahad and may we thank him for his persistence, dauntlessness, courage and discipline to sacrifice his life for our liberation and to come out of a close to 20 year prison sentence with the same advocacy of universal liberation for our people.

Peace.

Happy Juneteenth Everyone

2009-06-20T06:45:00.000-07:00

Hotep everyone and Happy Be-lated Juneteenth. When it comes to the antiquity of African American and American history, this is indeed one of the most important and paramount dates for one to be cognizant and knowledgeable of. I will not post and extensive blog on this date like I normally would so in the meantime, I will give you all a homework assignment and that is to attentively read the links under my synopsis about the Juneteenth holiday. So keep an open mind, and plant the seeds of true knowledge to liberate your mind from the pervasive and daily distractions, temptations and indoctrinations of mental enslavement.

Peace.

HAPPY JUNETEENTH DAY!6/19/09
JUNETEENTH.COM <http://www.JUNETEENTH.COM> Please link to the Web sites below for more detailed information on the history of Juneteenth. We can very briefly tell you that it is the oldest known celebration for the “official” end of slavery – when, on June 19, 1865, the enslaved individuals of Galveston, Texas were the last to be informed of the Emancipation Proclamation that was signed in 1863.The Middle Passage Pictorial <http://www.juneteenth.com/middlep.htm> by Tom Feelings with an Introduction by John Henrik Clarke is also quite interesting with a few selected written samples below:“Nowhere in the annals of history has a people experienced such a long and traumatic ordeal as Africans during the Atlantic slave trade….millions of African men, women, and children were savagely torn from their homeland, herded onto ships, and dispersed all over the so-called New World….”[note: the “new world” includes north america, south america, and the caribbean islands.]“It was not atypical to see a massive school of sharks darting in and out of the wake of the ships filled with human cargo plying the Atlantic….If the Atlantic were to dry up, it would reveal a scattered pathway of human bones, African bones marking the various routes of the Middle Passage.”“Every morning, perhaps, more instances than one are found of the living and the dead fastened together,” a quote by John Newton (a former slave ship captain who, years later, became a minister and wrote the very popular hymn – “Amazing Grace” – which includes the line “…that saved a wretch like me.” The following link gives more detailed information on the background of this story: Amazing Grace <http://www.snopes.com/religion/amazing.asp> Juneteenth and Emancipation Day Celebrations: USF Africana Heritage Project <http://www.africanaheritage.com/Juneteenth_Emancipation.asp> African American Registry: Juneteenth, National Freedom Day observed! <http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/240/JunteenthNational_Freedom_Day_observed> Juneteenth Recipes <http://www.cinnamonhearts.com/junteenth.htm>
WWW.BANTHENWORD.ORG <http://www.BANTHENWORD.ORGR>
WWW.EDUCATE-EMPOWER.COM <http://www.EDUCATE-EMPOWER.COM>
BN-W MAINSTAY PHILOSOPHYif it’s not acceptable, ok or cool to use kike, hooknose, wetback, spic, honky, cracker, paleface, peckerwood, blue-eyed devil, dago, wop, greaseball, guinea, chink, slant-eyes, gook, then, remember, it is not acceptable, ok or cool to use the n-word.
if you know others who want to be included or you’d like it sent to a different e-mail address, send an “add/change” e-mail to bannword2@yahoo.com. if you’d like to be deleted, send a “delete” e-mail to bannword2@yahoo.com.

Happy 38th B-Day Pac

2009-06-16T19:01:00.001-07:00

Greetings everyone, today would be the 38th birthday for the lyrical martyr, poet, rapper, revolutionary, actor and entertainer, Tupac Amaru Shakur a.k.a. 2Pac a.k.a. Makaveli. Tupac Shakur was born from a lineage of Black Panther and Liberation Army revolutionaries who were a part of the New York 20 from 1969 who was accused for conspiracy and murder, like his mother Afenni Shakur, his biological father (who was a former Black Panther); Billy Garland, his stepfather Mutulu Shakur who is currently restrained in prison for being accused and charged for robbing a Brinks truck and murdering a police officer, his godmother; Assata Shakur who is currently in exile in Cuba and his godfather "Geranimo" Pratt who was a high ranked Black Panther from Los Angeles, California was charged and convicted in 1968 for murdering a high school teacher. At a young age, 2pac innately was brought up in the doctrine of Black nationalism and liberation, and was given birth in New York City in Harlem, New York. He is named after a Peruvian or Incan revolutionary named Tupac Amaru II which means "shining serpent" and the name Shakur is an Arabic name meaning "thankful to God".

During his childhood he moved from Harlem, Brooklyn to Baltimore where he attended various performing arts schools and at the age of 12, played in the play, "Raisin in the Sun" in the Apollo Theatre on 125th street in Harlem, New York. During his high school years Tupac and his family moved to Baltimore because there were no job opportunities for Tupac's mother in New York because of her "criminal record" and he attended the Baltimore School of Performing Arts where he met Jada Pickett Smith and they befriended one another. Times became turbulent within Tupac's household because his mother became addicted to crack cocaine, his family became impoverished and at the age of 15 he started rapping after while still writing poetry and he went by the name of M.C. New York because of where he was born. To escape the poverty in Baltimore, Tupac and his family moved to Marin City, California to extricate and escape from poverty but found themselves deeper into poverty so since Tupac didn't have enough credits to graduate from school, he dropped out, became a street hustler for a couple of weeks until the hustlers stopped him from engaging in the illegal activity and to pursue his dream of rapping and poetry. Prior to that time, Tupac became the national president of the teen revolutionary party; The New African Panthers and at the age of 20, he networked with someone who introduced him to the rap group "Digital Underground", he was hired to be a road dancer and made his first guest rap appearance on the song entitled "Same Song."

In 1991, Tupac Shakur, signed to Interscope Records and released his solo album "2pacalypse Now" which had a revolutionary and political message about the problems of racism, classism, ghettoization and victimization inflicted on the Black community by the government and the police. His hit singles were "Brenda's Got a Baby", "Trapped" and "If My Homies Call". Shortly after the release of his album, Tupac was brutalized by the Oakland Police Department and was charged for resisting arrest for "Jay Walking", Tupac filed a $10 million suit but it was eventually settled with him receiving $40, 000.

Tupac eventually played in the movie "Juice" which was a movie about the appurtenance of the inner city "gangsta" lifestyle. Shortly afterwards, 2pac released the album, "Strictly for my N.I.G.G.A.Z" in 1993 which according to him stands for Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished and he started a rap group called Thug Life which stands for THE HATE U GIVE LITTLE INFANTS F&$KS EVERYONE. The group consists of Tupac Shakur, Mopreme Shakur (his older brother), Big Syke, etc. Tupac released his hit single, "I Get Around" and his album became a viable commercial success. At the same time Tupac was stigmitize by the media for being the thuggish and rebellious rapper and he complied with the stigma which catalyzed for the increasing record sales. On the other hand, along with his thuggish persona, he was involved in various legal issues from fights, altercations to him being accused of sodomizing a 19 year old female who performed oral sex to him on the dance floor. He was accused of mass or "gang" raping a woman when what really happened was that he fell asleep shortly after she came and just so happened to be in the room with Tupac's entourage. At the same time, on November 20, 1994, Tupac Shakur was shot 5 times while on his way to this New York City studio to meet up with his fellow artist and friend at the time Biggie Smalls and The Junior Mafia group. The circumstances involving the shooting are still nebulous and questionable and Tupac ended up accusing Sean "Puffy" Combs and Biggie Smalls for the murder attempt. Tupac checked out of the hospital that same night and during the next day, was convicted for the sodomy case for sexual harassment and in February 6, 1995 to a year and a half to four years at the Clinton
Correctional Facility where he wrote a play, poetry and read books on political philosophy like "Machiavelli’s The Prince" and Sun Tzu's "The Art of War", and additionally, Tupac's "Me Against the World" album was released and was a number #1 billboard chart album for weeks and went double platinum in 7 months.

While in jail, Suge Knight and Death Row Records gained an interest in Tupac Shakur and he agreed to post a $1.4 million bail for him with the agreement that he will sign to Death Row Records and release two- three albums under the label. After 8 months in jail, Tupac was released the album "All Eyez on Me" which he recorded in two weeks and went 7 times platinum. While he was successful on Death Row Records the East Coast and West Coast Hip Hop Rivalry exacerbated throughout the nation involving rappers like 2pac, Snoop Dogg, the Dogg Pound, Suge Knight, Nas, Mobb Deep, LL Cool J, DMX, Biggie Smalls, Lil Kim, Ja Rule, the Fugees, Chino Xl, etc. The media kept promoting this so called "beef" and on September, 1996, 2pac released his last album under the moniker Makaveli with the album entitled "The Don Killuminati: 7 Day Theory", started Makaveli Records and signed the dexterously lyrical group; "The Outlawz". On September 7, 1996, on the way from a Tyson fight in Las Vegas, NV, and an altercation in the MGM Grand with Death Row Records against South Side Crips from Compton, Tupac and Suge Knight were shot and rushed to the hospital where Tupac Shakur was pronounced dead, seven days later. Tupac acted in various movies prior to his death like "Gang Related", "Bullet", etc.

Tupac Shakur is arguably the most prolific, famous, most talented, outspoken, radical, flamboyant, debonair, versatile and controversial entertainers in music history. Prior to his death, he planned on uniting the hip hop community, alleviating the so called regional rivalry in hip hop and creating/ funding social programs to keep inner city youth occupied in educational and recreational programs to keep the out of trouble. Tupac was more than just a typical "thuggish" rapper but a brilliant entertainer and business man who stood up for what he believed in and was amenable to positive changes to elevate himself as a man. Even though his messages were filled with nuances of contradictions from misogyny, gangster life, violence and negativity, he was just emphasizing to the world the point of view of the rejected, stigmatized and neglected Black man in America and what he had to go though in order to survive the street life. Tupac was unethical in various parts of his life and in a lot of his songs but no man is perfect and he dies in his prime. No one knows that changes that could have made in his life which could have potentially had a positive impact on the world. He came from a family full of revolutionaries and politically minded brothers and sisters so innately, he could have played a role in bettering the world for the Black and world community. He was only 25 years old during his murder and may him and Biggie Smalls Rest in Peace.

My Birthday: Another Year of Elevation

2009-06-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

Hotep everyone, today is my birthday and is another year on this Earth in which I will continue to build, elevate, cultivate and culminate myself into a righteous, prosperous, respectable and moral man in society. My name is Baruti which is an Afrikan name for the word teacher and my ideal and definition in life is to teach others about the knowledge and wisdom so that they could have greater understanding of their culture so that they could know about their place in society and their obligation to contribute greatness to make themselves and the world a better place. What I will continue to do while I am on this Earth is to do my best to fulfill happiness so that I could live a life of self- contentment by fulfilling my purpose in life which is being a social entrepreneur to create and build institutions for the improvement, benefit and betterment of society and to do as much as I could to educate and reform people in this chaotic, unpredictable, malicious and dichotomized world that we are living in. Concurrently, I will continue to adapt to this world that we living in because with all of the negativity in society, there is also positivity, so I would have to do what I could to live a peaceful, enjoyable and glamorous lifestyle to also look after my own individual pursuits. In the meantime I live by various proverbs, adages and philosophies but the main thing that I could say to the reader is to learn from yesterday live for today and plan for tomorrow. The body is basically the prison house for the soul and as long as we control our minds, desires and passions by thinking rationally, cultivating the mind in arts and sciences to eventually find out your purpose and passion in life, then you will ascend to greatness and happiness. In closing, The World is Yours and reach for the moon and if you don't land amongst the moon, then you will land amongst the stars.

Rest in Peace to Dr. Ivan Van Sertima and Happy Belated Birthdays to Malcolm X (May 19th) and Big L (May 30th)

2009-06-02T20:53:00.001-07:00

Hotep everyone, on May 19th, 2009, we celebrated the 84th birthday of one of the most dauntless, articulate, brilliant, and influential rhetoricians, public speakers, leaders and men in world history and his name is Malcolm X also known as El-Hajj Malik El- Shabazz. Malcolm X represented manhood, peace, truth, justice, radicalism, Black nationalism, liberation, change and evolution. I have a post dedicated to Malcolm X on my page so if one would like to learn more about the life of this great ancestor, then they could read the my blogpost dedicated to the commemoration of his life.

On May 25th, 2009, the Pan- African world community lost an influential scholar, anthropologist, historian and teacher by the name of Dr. Ivan van Sertima. Dr. Ivan van Sertima died at the age of 74 and he was known for writing numerous books about the achievements, merits and contributions of African people in the development of civilization. Dr. Ivan van Sertima was born in Guyana on January 26, 1935, completed his undergraduate studies at the School of Oriental and Africana Studies at the University of London in 1969 with honors and became fluent in the language of Swahili. In 1970 he moved to the United States where he attended Rutgers University for graduate school where he became a professor and achieved his Master's Degree and became the Associate Professor of Rutger's Department of Africana Studies.

Dr. Ivan Sertima was known for writing numerous articles, essays and books but was known for his predominant, prolific, popular, provocative and brilliant masterpiece which is the 1976 book, "They Came Before Columbus." In this book, he explained, shared and propagated the facts that going back , that Western Africans migrated to Central America to build civilization; specifically the Olmec civilization as far back as 1600 B.C. and taught the Mayans over a thousand years before Columbus was even thought of. He used various substations to prove his points with the pyramid building, mummifications, similar deities and religious belief systems of the Olmecs being similar to the ones of Egypt and also, the wearing of war helmets which were tantamount to the war helmets of the 25th Nubian dynasty and other scientific research. Dr. Ivan Sertima emphasized in his speeches and writings that the Egyptians were Black and that Africans were the original humans who civilized the old and new world. In 1986, he appeared at the United States congressional committee to challenge the American government for giving credit to Columbia for "discovering America."

In closing, Dr. Ivan Sertima played a great, influential and meritorious role in World history and Africana academia and studies. In society, Black people universally are looked at as tenuous, irrelevant, incompetent, incorrigible, neglected and complacent people. A people who are subordinate and inferior to everyone who didn't make a contribution in history in the world's panorama. It is imperative for us as a people to study the word of scholars like Dr. Ivan Sertima to learn about our contributions in history so that we could gain a knowledge of self and realize/ configure our obligation in today's society, to improve our lives and to contribute more greatness for our race and society. Dr. Van Sertima inculcated and taught us that the Black man and woman created and built civilization and made major contributions to the arts and sciences in Africa, North America, Europe, South America, Asia and Australia. He will be missed in the Black community and his lessons need to be taught to the next generation so that the posterity of our race could look viable, affluent and promising.

The Philosophy of Success and Happiness

2009-05-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

Hotep everyone, in today's times there is a diversification and compilation of people of various backgrounds, circumstances, appurtenances, inclinations, preferences and income levels. In this world where resources and means for success, affluence, and opulence are scarce and the wants for success, happiness and wealth are unlimited, this causes competition and for lazy and incompetent people equivocation. Meaning, that the people that succeed in life work diligently, competitively and tenaciously to achieve their aspiration and stabilize themselves economically in the national stratification system. On the other hand, others who do not aspire abundant success (depending on their connotation of the word) or pessimistic and complacent people would equivocate and stabilize themselves as subordinates to the wealthy, powerful and successful people in life. In this free enterprise system there is a need for innovative, creative, optimistic and visionary minds to produce and develop products and systems to vitalize and invigorate the various economies of the world, to create job opportunities, increase the demand of money, individual prosperity and collective success and eventually/ hopefully harmony in life.

Concomitantly or additionally if one would like to ascend to power, success, wealth and happiness in life, one must understand who they are, what they would like to achieve, and how it would benefit their market. After doing this, they must be able to adequately define themselves and envision who they would like to become in their immaculateness or perfect form. Once one create, actualize and realize who they truly are, then it would be easier for one to refine, approve, edify and develop themselves to who they would like to be. Meaning that if one wants to be successful, then they would have to be knowledgeable, intelligent and confident in the trade, industry, occupation or profession they would like to get into whether it is political science, economics, urban development, accounting, literature, biology, chemistry, business administration, real estate, etc. You would have to know your interests to the point that you “got it down to a science.” After doing this or knowing you passion, you would have to think with rationality and reason so that you could control your passion and come up with logical, optimistic and creative ways to use your knowledge to create viability and happiness in your life. If one wants to achieve happiness, then they should define their own individual definition of “happiness”.

According to “Webster”; happiness is a state of well being and contentment of pleasurable satisfaction. According to Aristotle; happiness is an activity of the soul in accordance with one’s rational manner. According to the indigenous Ancient Kemetic or Egyptian (African people), happiness is when you “Know Thyself”. To compile and unify these points if one wants to obtain happiness, then they must alleviate doing or surrounding themselves with people, places or things which would leave them unhappy and work rigorously, diligently and passing all obstacle which would lead them to the end point of happiness. The going gets tough for success and true happiness, but the end point is prosperity and in the words of Thomas Paine, “the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph” so on the road to riches, one must keep the end point of happiness and success, by gaining knowledge in liberal arts, interpersonal communications, surrounding their selves with the right people who are positive goal oriented and in some circumstances in positive places, thinking optimistically and innovatively and putting forth action to actualize your goals.

The definition of success is the gaining of wealth and fame and wealth could be an abundance of money or knowledge but is one were to put for their knowledge with action, then that would equate to wealth, opulence and power. There is an old saying, saying that “knowledge is power” but from evaluating the phraseology, I believe that knowledge isn’t power unless there is action put forth behind it with the end point of happiness. According to Plato, the acquisition or accumulation of knowledge would lead to happiness or one living an ethereal or perfect life through thinking with the reason and rationality instead of thinking with emotions and desires. According, to Aristotle, he believed that human were innate with form and matter (form is the common properties of an object, person or places(s) living by its highest definition, form, ideal, purpose and nature and that the accumulation of knowledge and morals does not lead to the end point of knowledge but through the potentiality of humans, then through action, one could obtain what human’s innate aspiration of happiness.

In closing, to recapitulate the points the philosophy of happiness and success is through defining who you, know you are, your purpose in life, your inclinations and profession that you would like to enter into. By actualizing and knowing the self, defining happiness and success and gaining knowledge on the profession that you would like to enter and networking with positive people which could help maneuver you to the right direction. After doing this, one would have to work diligently, tenaciously and persistently to one’s goals and aspirations into reality. In the meantime the philosophy of success is to “learn from yesterday, live for today and plan for tomorrow”, in the words of Donald Trump; “Think Big” and not to find problems in every opportunity but to find opportunities in every problem.

Peace,

Baruti N.K.

The Plight of the Black and the World Community

2009-04-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

We humans in exception to the ones that live under a rock should be cognizant of the wars going on across the world. It is evident to see that there is depression, oppression, suppression, genocide, violence and recession(s) concurrently happening in the world's panorama. The United States is wrongfully and deplorably using its tenaciously earned tax dollars to destroy infrastructures and infiltrate the governments of nations for its insatiable desire(s) to obtain the natural resources and land of other countries.

The motive is to globalize, democratize, Americanize, capitalize and conglomerize the world so that this world could become plutocratic meaning that a microcosm or a small population of people could control the majority of the world's income, distribution, production, exchange(s), "education", goods and services while the majority of the world could remain physically and intellectually impoverished. Meaning that all of the actions of the majority of the mainstream or first world governments and super powers is to use the means of financial imperialism to maximize their profits, and control the minds of others by inadequate educational systems, limit the availability of room on the top floor of prosperity, and intricately and efficaciously dividing third world people against one another to conquer their limited means of power like land, money and trade.

Statistics shows that 1% of the nation's population controls 66-67% of the nation's wealth, 60% of the world's population receives 6% of the world's wealth and the remaining 40% of the people has accessibility to the remaining 94% of the world's wealth. Meaning that the rest of the world that is impoverished and financially stabilized and controlled are competing with one another economically through coercion, entrepreneurship, money racketeering, gang violence, the distribution of opium and other drugs, robberies, corruption, oppression, tribal and cultural warfare, etc. In the competition against the majority of the world who are impoverished and for the most part thoroughly miseducated and naive, the end result(s) are imprisonment, murders, the ramification of diseases, gang violence, destruction and negative stability of society in which the rich becomes richer and the poorer becomes poorer.

America is at war with other countries because of the coherent and vitalized nationalism occurring in the Middle Eastern countries. Also while the Somalian pirates who are the victims of modern-day materialism and financial imperialism are unfortunately robbing the Americans and Europeans for their ships for the means of survival, power and personal gain(s), while we celebrate, recognize and acclimate the United States' first African American President, President Barack Obama, Black America is still in trouble or should I say deep manure. We annually make $800 billion and only retain less then 5% of our earnings, 70-80% of the homes in Black America do not have a father or father figure present, African Americans/ Afro Latinos make up 85-90% of the United States prison system and every time we see the news, we learn about another incident of black on black crime. African Americans are inflicted with sexually transmitted diseases, rapes, gang violence, suicides, drug and alcohol abuse, police brutality, cancer, poor education, limited health care, poor housing, early pregnancy, crisis in the family, religion, etc.

One could make the argument or postulation that either African Americans are innately unprivileged and miseducated or that we should forget about oppression, racism and slavery because it is a thing of the past. I honestly say that both of these false assumptions are indeed contentious, inaccurate and have no place in being the practical solution or conclusion(s) about our community. History is the clock that tells our political and social time in antiquity and history is like a parent to a child to a cultural group of people and in saying all of this, history is best qualified to prove the merits, accomplishments, achievements, capabilities and potentialities of the Black man and woman. If we were the masters of our community, were the brainchildren of architecture, literature, law, science, agriculture, social structure, religion, astronomy, astrology, art, mining, and civilization in general, then we could repeat history except for not making the same mistakes we made in our antiquity. Our merits in history basically eradicates the notion of Black people being innately incompetent and incapable of success and we can’t forget about oppression and the African holocaust (which was the worst holocaust to ever be imposed and inflicted upon man) because the after affects and repercussions of the oppression is still in continuity and is still reverberating within the pan-African community. The worst way to enslave a man is through mental enslavement because once you control a man's thinking, you control their actions, if you control the history of a people, then you control their destiny and if you control their land then you control their means of living. In closing we as a people are controlled and have been taught to disregard our history, our name, culture, unity, accessibility to education, land and everything associated to our history.

The solution for our people to survive in Black America and for everyone of African descent to collectively survive is written on the walls in Egypt from our ancestors who mastered the arts and the sciences. The answer is "Know Thyself." We as a people have a lack of self identity to the point that we don't even recognize ourselves in the mirror. When you look in the mirror and you recognize someone with a European name, a gangster, a pimp, a thug, a hoe, a bitch, a clown, a mobster or any other negative or connotation given to us by the West, then you are thoroughly miseducated. Once we gain a self-identity through re-education, then we would be obligated to unify socially, economically, politically, spiritually, intellectually, physically and in all means possible. Once we as a people unify because of the precious African blood flowing within our bodies and because of our precious history then we would live a life in unity and harmony to the highest capability of human decency. Us African(s) across the world not only should have a knowledge of self but a knowledge of what is dividing us as a people and a knowledge of what led to our downfall. The reason why is if we don't learn from our mistakes, then we are liable to repeat them and suffer more catastrophic repercussions. What caused our downfall was that Africa did not have a centralized and unified continental government, various religions and ideologies coming from different nations in Asia and Europe further divided us, financial imperialism and trade for natural resources and our fellow Africans led to our downfall and most importantly, our lack of Continental unity led to our complacency.

What we all should do today is become self reliant, educate ourselves, look out for ourselves first and form nations within nations so in time, diligence, effort, blood, sweat and tears, Africa could be redeemed and African people all over the world could be freed from neo-colonialism and the negative effects of capitalism and contemporary materialism. We need to start businesses for the purpose of maximizing profits but meeting the needs that are affecting our communities. We need to start African-centered learning institutions so that we could mentally repatriate to the culture of our African mothers and fathers, we need our own political party which would genuinely look out for the political needs of our community and we spiritually and religiously need to unite do to the fact that we all believe in one God and because all of the predominant and popular western religions had their inevitable influence from Ancient Egypt (which was an African civilization). African people of the world need to unify so that we could control our own means of wealth and education if the world community were to be a better place for us as a people. In closing, before we were to consulate any warfare between our brothers and sisters we need to appease the warfare within our minds. We cannot change the world until we change ourselves and once we appease the warfare within our minds, from our natural, innate and creative geniuses, the world will be ours.

Hotep.

Think for Yourself

2009-03-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

Hotep everyone, and welcome back to my website, http://www.bonafidekafele.tk/, I apologize for the delay from updating and posting valuable information on my site. I have been occupied by collegiate studies, personal reading, working, thinking and relaxing during the small amount of time that I do relax or "chill". Besides the fact, I still find time to stay diligent in work pertinent towards the liberation of the minds of my people. As I was cogitating and meditating as I usually do, one of the main notions or beliefs that came to my mind which I feel is inevitably important if we as a people are going to live in peace, love, harmony and prosperity- individually, collectively and spiritually is if we were to Think for ourselves.

The reason why this world is chaotic, separated, divided, unpredictable, despicable and corrupt is because people have been thoroughly manipulated, miseducated, misinformed, and oppressed. This is a world filled with propaganda where people promulgate, propagate, promote, persuade and proselytize or convert a group of people to a certain point of view to for most part, benefit the brainchild, author or authority of the message. There is political propaganda (especially during election times), religious propaganda (in churches, mosques, television, etc), educational propaganda, media propaganda, business propaganda and many others to name. Meaning that every day millions of messages are being indoctrinated or instilled into our minds and usually the people creating these messages have ulterior motives to keep a people mentally controlled.

In society, various factions or groups of people have various agendas for the masses of people and there are people that propagandize certain doctrines to control the minds of others and once you control their minds, you contemporaneously control their body or actions. Dr. Carter G. Woodson said it best when he said "when you control a man's thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions, you do not have to tell him not to stand here, there or yonder, he will find his proper place in stay in it. You don't need to send him to the backdoor because he will go without being told, in fact if there is no backdoor he will cut one for his special benefit, his education makes it necessary." In today's society it is sufficient proof that the masses of people of African descent have been thoroughly miseducated in the school systems, through a propaganda of history through a conservative American and Eurocentric standpoint which teaches us that Black history started during slavery, that Africa was a "jungle", that the Greek and other European philosophers/ inventors learned all of the philosophies we follow today on their own, that Europe civilized Africa, etc.

The American and Eurocentric propaganda is to inculcate, "educate" and proselytize us African Americans to look at Europeans as superior and us as inferior by having our history start during slavery time. Also in the media, the media depict or delineate African Americans for the most part as illiterate, ignorant, disgraceful, humble, extremely religious, impoverished, gullible, self-hating, violent, etc. Through media depiction, this basically is the preface for the cause of a lot of the negativity affecting our community. We as a people are mentally slaved through the propaganda from other forces besides educating ourselves and thinking for ourselves. We need to form our own propaganda through teaching the doctrines of self-reliance, race pride, economic independence, social and political power, unity and nationalism. The only way we could teach and understand this doctrine is through thinking for ourselves, comparing various propaganda and formulating our own opinions in life. Since we are of African descent, we need to think for ourselves and relies the obligation to be self reliant for ourselves for the liberation of the minds of our people.

In closing, we as a people need great mental fortitude , we need to be more prudent and cognizant of the propaganda around us so that we could adequately think for ourselves. In the words of Marcus Garvey, "Liberate minds of men and ultimately you will liberate the bodies men." Our minds, needs to be liberated from the propaganda surrounding the circumference of our brains and once we have to time to think for ourselves, than we as a people will be more knowledgeable and better people.

Happy Be-Lated Ghana Independence

2009-03-07T07:13:00.000-08:00

Hotep everyone, for those of you all that don't know, yesterday on March 6, 2009, Ghana celebrated its 52nd anniversary for its national independence from British colonialism. Out of all of the African countries, the Gold Coast or Ghana was the first or primary country to extricate itself politically from European imperialism. Ghana's independence was led by political leader, agitator, and Ghanaian/ Pan African nationalist by the name of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Dr.Nkrumah was born in Accra, Ghana and studied in Ghana up until his collegiate years. He attended Lincoln University in the United States in Pennsylvania from 1935 to 1945 and prior to his collegiate education he became profound, intrigued and interested in the historical and political Black Nationalist by the name of Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

Garvey promulgated and promoted the doctrine of Black people all over the world uniting, being self- reliant, having African pride and being economically and politically independent from European colonial powers if Africans of the world were to have social, economic, political power and veracious respect from other groups of people. Garvey believed in the Black race having an independent homeland in Africa and eventually forming a socialist superpower by the name of the "United States of Africa."

Garvey's dream was short lived because of FBI infiltration, prison time, his deportation from America back to Jamaica and eventually poor health conditions. Garvey symbolically passed the baton to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah because after Nkrumah received his doctorate degree, he became a political agitator and nationalist who worked tenaciously and diligently to fight for independence for Ghana from economic and political colonialism and to eventually help gain independence for the entire continent of Africa to form was Garvey's dream; the United States of Africa. Through persistence, some prison time, chastisement, and violence, the Europeans recognized the nationalistic presence, effervescence, dauntlessness and uncompromising stand that Ghana held against colonialism. Henceforth, on March 6, 1957, Ghana received its official independence from Britain.

After the internationally publicized and recognized independence, almost all of the African countries gained their independence within a decade span and formed the Organization for African Unity (in 1963) and other African nationalist congresses to unify Africa into a superpower. Also, Ghana became a totalitarian and arguably a despotic government where Dr. Nkrumah declared himself to be the President for life under the political system of a legal dictatorship. Even though, Nkrumah became a dictator, Ghana was expanding and growing economically through modernization, industrialization and forming various way to communicate from the building of roads, institutions, businesses, hospitals, tap water systems, sewage systems, etc. The drawback of it all was that Nkrumah started to imprison workers who tried and attempted to form work unions and to protest under the Trade Union and Detention Acts. Nkrumah imprisoned agitators and deviant workers because he believed that Ghanaian citizens should not work for the gratification of themselves, but for the betterment of the newly founded nation first.

Since Nkrumah's popularity slowly and discreetly decreased, through Western intelligence infiltration(s) because of acrimony, envy and the potential threat of an African superpower, Nkrumah was deposed in 1966 during a trip to Vietnam. Even though Nkrumah's dream of a United States of Africa was deferred it is up for us Africans today in America and abroad to unite, be self-reliant, gain self-pride, submerge our differences and become economically independent. Nkrumah laid the foundation for us to stand upon and it is up for us to fulfill his dream of uniting Africa at home and abroad.

Peace,

Baruti.

Rest in Peace Malcolm X (1925-1965)

2009-02-21T09:24:00.000-08:00

Hotep everyone, for those of you all who don't know today is the death anniversary of the one of the greatest, popular, charismatic, outspoken, brilliant, exuberant and transformational orators and leaders in not only African or Black history, American history but in world history, and his name is Malcolm X also known as El- Hajj Malik-El Shabazz and Omawali. Malcolm X was a man that went through a life of transformation and moral reformation. Malcolm X was a great Black Nationalist leader who advocated Black Nationalism which is the philosophy for "Afro-Americans" to unite and be self-determined to receive freedom, justice and equality by any means necessary.

During this time, Black people were being forcefully subjugated and subordinated did not receive the equal rights in comparison to white people. Black people had to go through literacy and peculiar tests and pass them if they wanted the right to vote, Black people were being lynched, there were a lot of Black martyrs during the Civil Rights Movement, and Black people's churches were being bombed and they were being brutalized by law enforcers and by racist deviants/ citizens. The time for the Black man at this time were and arguably still is perilous and pernicious. During the Civil Rights Movement, the popular advocacy was for non- violent resistance, while on the other hand, Malcolm X, advocated self- defense and self-militancy if African Americans were to be respected in the racist American society.

Malcolm X was indeed outspoken and believed that assimilation and non-violence was not the solution towards the race problem but instead, nationalism. Malcolm, would make reference to how America, China, Ghana and other countries/ empires received their independence through the advocacy, philosophy and practice of nationalism and he believed that it was time for the "black man and woman" to get with the times, and do the same. Malcolm X also believed in the Black man and woman to have a knowledge and pride for themselves because this would enable them to unite, come together, and gain economic power within their communities. Malcolm X was an ex-convict, a drug dealer, pusher, pimp and thief and in jail, he gained knowledge of self and his brother influenced him to join the Nation of Islam under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad. When he was released from prison in 1952 after six years in prison, Elijah Muhammad proselytized him to convert to Islam and to have pride and knowledge of self. For 12 years, he was the national minister for the Nation of Islam and up until 1964; he left the Nation of Islam because of his dispute with Elijah Muhammad and the NOI that was caused by the police infiltration of the Black Muslim Movement. In 1964, he went on the Hajj to the Holy Land of Mecca where he converted into being a Sunni Muslim, went on a tour all over Africa and eventually formed the Organization for Afro-American Unity. Until his death, he led the organization, advocated Black Nationalism and African pride.

Unfortunately, he was murdered 44 years ago today, in Harlem at the Audubon Ballroom at a OAAU program by members of the Nation of Islam. In the words of Ossie Davis, Malcolm X is indeed missed in some parts of the Black community. Some believed that Malcolm X was a racist, when he wasn't, he was just tired of the violence inflicted upon Black people and advocated self defense as the solution and believed that once Black people were to unite and form an independent nation within nations, than Black people could unite with others. Malcolm X respected people \of all races but resented hate and non-violence and believed that history was qualified to prove that for the most part and during his time, that white people have did a great injustice to Black people to leave them in their miserable conditions. Malcolm X was a great communicator who adapted to various audiences from Ivy League Schools, Oxford University, street corners, Christian churches, youth programs, Muslim mosques, etc. Malcolm X was a great communicator and a brilliant man who won various debates like the one in Oxford University, in Harvard University and against Bayard Rustin (r.i.p.) against the merits of integration and separation.

Malcolm X is a great role model for every Black man and woman to look up to because he exemplified manhood, discipline, peace, respect, justice and militancy. To go from a street hustler to a world leader is indeed phenomenal no matter if one agreed with Malcolm X or not. He was a great leader and before we were to prejudge him, I encourage you all to do research on him and think for yourself so that one could come up to a prudent and plausible conclusion on the man. In closing, rest in peace Malcolm X and I will continue to educate myself so that I could have more of knowledge of myself to help myself and my people excel.

Baruti.

Happy Be- Lated Birthday Frederick Douglass

2009-02-16T04:31:00.000-08:00

Frederick Douglass was born on a slave under the name Frederick Bailey on February 14, 1817, 1818 or 1819 and the reason why there isn't a stable date for the year of Frederick 's birth is because that information was miniscule and irrelevant towards the slave master(s) so they didn't even the record of it. Douglass was born in Talbot County, Maryland, separated from him mother at the age of six and when Douglass became an adolescent one of his former slave master's wife taught how to read and when he was aware of this happening, he strongly disapproved this happening and obstructed him from reading. Back during the times of slavery, African Americans were deprived from the privilege and incentive to read and go to school because of the slave master’s fear of them being educated and organizing the slaves to rebel and extricate their selves from oppression. Douglass learned from the white children in his neighborhood how to read and he surreptitiously practice reading books and notes so that he could expand on his vocabulary.

In 1833, Douglass was sold to the ruthless slave master, Edward Covey where he antagonistically abused Douglass so one day he rebelled, fought back, beat up his slave brutally and with the help of a Black seaman giving him identification, he boarded a train up north to New York and eventually Massachusetts. When he arrived, he subscribed to the abolitionist’s William Lloyd Garrison newspaper "The Liberator" and in 1841 at the Bristol Anti-Slavery Society. After his speech, Garrison and his comrades inspired him to be an anti-slavery lecturer because they were astonished by his oratorical ability. In 1843, he joined the American Anti- Slavery Society where he went on a six-month tour with other lecturers to speak about the nefarious practice of slavery in America. In 1845, he wrote his autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" and his book became an immediate best-seller and was translated into French and Dutch and was published also in Europe. Douglass also wrote "My Bondage My Freedom" in 1855 and "The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass" which was revised in 1892. Douglass also went on tour with our abolitionist lecturers throughout Western Europe to speak about the harsh practices of slavery and from this tour, he received international recognition.

In the late 1850, Douglass published his first newspaper called "The North Star" continuously changed the name from "The Frederick Douglass Newspaper to "The Frederick Douglass Weekly" to the "New National Era" Douglass advocated education as the key to free African Americans from mental bondage. During the Civil War, Douglass was acquainted with Pres. Lincoln and he conversed with him about the harsh treatments that African Americans were suffering from in the Union and he encouraged Lincoln to see fit that the Black soldiers were to be treated better during the Civil War. Also, during Lincoln's funeral in 1865, Douglass gave an eloquent speech by him saying that even though he was "the white man's president" and that he believed in the "emancipation" of Blacks but not the elimination of oppression and subordination, Lincoln should still be credited for signing the Emancipation Proclamation on the morning of January 1, 1863. After the speech he received a lot of accolades from the audience and from Lincoln's wife, Mary Lincoln.

After slavery, Douglass was the President of the Reconstruction-era Savings Bank, a Marshall of Washington D.C., was nominated as the first African American Vice President in the Equal Rights Party, he spoke at the 1888 Republican national convention and was an ordained minister of an African Methodist Episcopal Church. Douglass also continued his career as a lecturer and received accolades after speaking at a National Council for Women in Washington D.C. Douglass was also the council general for the Republic of Haiti and was also a government official in the Dominican Republic. Douglass was also married three times first Anna Murray Douglass where they gave birth to five children and after Anna Marie died in 1882, Douglass married Helen Pitts and they stayed together until his death on February 20, 1895.

Abraham Lincoln's True Beliefs about Black People

2009-02-13T11:27:00.000-08:00

Hotep everyone, as you all know today is recognized and promoted as the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, was born on February 12, 1809, served him presidential term between 1860 up until his assassination in 1865 and was elected as the first Republican President of the United States. His presidential term was during the time of the Civil War which was fought for the restoration and unification of the Union after the South seceded by Jefferson Davis and Robert Lee to form the Confederate States of America in 1861 to 1865.

As you all know, we were taught in school that Pres. Abraham Lincoln was responsible for the emancipation of the Africans from slavery. He is known as the great “statesman” and “emancipator”, when in reality he wasn’t the great emancipator for the Black people in America. It is indeed true that Abraham Lincoln believed in Thomas Paine’s conviction that slavery was indeed immoral and Thomas Jefferson’s hypocritical belief that “all men are created equal.” On the contrary, Lincoln believed that the “slaves” should be emancipated but in his own writings and speeches, he also said that he didn’t Black people shouldn’t have political and social equality. Hence, if Lincoln were to come back from the dead and saw that the United States now have an African American president. As a matter of fact, in 1861 when Gen. John Fremont, tried to persuade and convince Lincoln to create, promulgate and ratify the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln antagonistically resented it. Also, Abraham Lincoln disseminated the idea of Black people being transported to Central America and back to Africa, a lot of Black people and abolitionists protested in front of the White House.

During the beginning years of Lincoln’s Presidency, the South was losing the Civil War and when African Americans participated to help the Union our gratuity, Lincoln’s order was that they would be kindly thanked and sent back to the South to their masters. Other generals and abolitionists saw what he was doing as unethical, nefarious, sacrilegious and idiotic because they convinced Lincoln that with the help of the “slaves” America could actually restore the Union. In the first two years, of the war the Union was horrendously losing the war so Pres. Lincoln needed to find a plan for restoration of the Union and for the destiny his political future. So in the summer of 1862 he was well convinced that he needed a war tactic which could help them win the war and it was for Black people to enlist into the Union army.

What he did was write the Emancipation Proclamation which guaranteed that all slaves in the Confederacy were to be let free from slavery. He placed the document in his drawer in the White House and rumors started to spread from then about him issuing the proclamation on the 1st of 1863. On December 31, 1862 during a watch night at the White House, journalists, abolitionists, political officials, U.S. citizens and others were waiting to see if he was going to sign the proclamation with the expectation that he was going to free the “slaves” in the Union in border states like Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky and even Washington D.C.! Frederick Douglass and others were waiting for him to make a decision at the Boston Temple watch night service and Douglass even lost faith. Finally, on the morning of January 1, 1863, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation and disseminated as a proclamation to free all “slaves” in the Confederacy! If the south seceded and formed the Confederate States of America, than how would he declare slaves free for a separate country? Also, why would he declare slaves free in a country that he has no authorization and jurisdiction over instead of freeing slaves in his own country? These were questions asked than and questions that are asked today about Lincoln’s credibility and sincere feelings towards African Americans. In his writings, speeches and conversations in meetings, he said that he didn’t care if “niggers” were free or not but was only worried about the restoration of the Union.

There was still slavery resonating and prevalent in the border states of the Union but instead of freeing the “slaves” in his country, Lincoln was audacious to issue a proclamation to “free slaves in another country”! Hence forth, the Emancipation Proclamation was just a war attack to infuriate the Confederacy but too specifically enlist “slaves” into the Union Army from the Confederate or Southern States and border States as “contrabands of war.” In this case, the Civil War wasn’t just originally a war for the restoration of the Union but too free the “slaves” once the Union is restored. One may ask, why would Lincoln have the African Americans enslaved in the Union have to go through fighting just so that they could be free? Instead, Lincoln didn’t call for the Civil War for the emancipation of Blacks but for the restoration of the Union, instead abolitionists, agitators, political officials and other U.S. citizens persuaded Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation as a war tactic to get the “slaves” to enlist into the Union army to win the war and to spy on the Confederacy. As a matter fact, Harriet Tubman organized a secret intelligent group to spy on the Confederacy so that the Union could find intricate ways to defeat the Confederacy, Also, 185,000 enlisted in the Union army with 130,000 “slaves” from the Southern and Border States and within a year and a half, the Union won the war against the Confederacy to restore the Union and because of the legal documentation of the Emancipation Proclamation, U.S. citizens agitating for the ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendment and soldiers like William H. Carney and John Lawson who won, Congressional Medals of Honor, the Union won the Civil War.

In closing, Lincoln wasn’t the man that we profess for him to be. Lincoln’s agenda was not for the freedom, justice and equality for African Americans but instead for the restoration of the Union. He didn’t care if the Union was restored and if slavery continued. As a matter fact, the other reason why Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation was because of the United States Industrial Revolution after the War of 1812 between 1820- 1870 when there was modernization and urbanization meaning that slavery was moving from the plantation to the newly constructed factories in urban areas where Blacks were getting mistreated and receive low wages! African Americans and generous Caucasians for the most part were responsible for our winning the Civil War and Lincoln was just the President and since the government according to him was “for the people and by the people”, the people agitated which was a catalyst for government making the decisions of freeing the slaves from physical oppression in the fields. So my brothers and sisters do not get hypnotized, surprised or fooled by the propaganda behind Abraham Lincoln, but realize that he isn’t as much to a hero as Jefferson Davis or Robert E. Lee was, he was just a man who made that decision to better his political future which was short lived because of his murder in 1865. In conclusion, Lincoln didn’t free us, we freed ourselves and the next step is to emancipate or minds from mental enslavement, because no one but us could do it.

Peace.

Happy Black History Month Everyone!

2009-02-01T06:52:00.000-08:00

Today is evidently the first day in February, Super Bowl Sunday, the birthday of the great African American poet Langston Hughes, and last but certainly first, the first day of Black History Month also known as African Heritage Month. Nationally and internationally this month has the tendency of being the only month where public institutions like schools and churches would dedicate their lessons, programs and events towards the accomplishments, achievements and contributions of people of African descent. This month is the shortest month of the year, and in a short month like this I unequivocally believe that the month is too short for anyone to cover all of the accomplishments that African people achieved across the world.

Black History month was originally created by the great African American intellectual by the name of Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Dr. Carter G. Woodson was the second African American to graduate from Harvard University, founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and the author of the globally recognized, classic book by the name of "The Mis-Education of the Negro" in which he wrote in 1933. In 1926, he founded the celebration and called it "Negro History Week", which was in the second week of February to commemorate and acknowledge the birthdays of Frederick Douglass (February 14, 1817) and Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809). In 1976, the month was federally recognized as Black History Month. The month is generally used for classroom teachers to teach or inculcate to children the accomplishment of Lincoln to so called "emancipate" Black people from slavery, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and other abolitionists and freedom fighters to help cease and jeopardize slavery, the hundreds of inventions from the peanut by George Washington Carver, Rosa Parks being a Black woman from the South rebelling against the segregation rules of the South by sitting on front the bus, Dr. King and other Civil Rights Leaders who fought for integration and now Pre. Barack Obama being the so called "fulfillment of King's dream".

At the end of the day, as this is taught in class plus promulgated and disseminated through the media, the majority of the people who are oblivious to the accomplishments think that us Black people are only good for our accomplishments for the victory of integration and recognition in American society from the horrendous, nefarious, degrading and detrimental moments that we have experienced during slavery. Even though we accomplished the civil rights to have equality with white people in society to even go as far to having an African American president, there is still subjugation, subordination, police brutality, hate crimes, mis-education, and segregation amongst Black people as there were during the Civil Rights Movement and even before that!

Also, because of the mis-usage of Black History Month, people also think that our history started during slavery when exactly and actually, our history started with mankind! Our history resonates with the inventions of civilization, writing, reading, communication, political science, philosophy, astrology, astronomy, architecture, economics, science, religion, technology, etc. All of these inventions started in Africa from African people but this information is for the most part dissimulated and unknown, even for the most part during Black History Month!

Generally, mainstream America teaches us that our history started with us being illiterate, barbaric and uncivilized Africans being stolen from the jungles of Africa and sent to America. Our history started in Africa and if you read books like "Nile Valley Contribution to Civilization" by Tony Browder, "Africa's Gift to America by J.A. Rogers, "Stolen Legacy" by George G.M. James, "They Came Before Columbus" by Dr. Ivan van Sertima, "The Destruction of Black Civilization" by Lerone Bennett, Jr. and others, you will learns that the Greeks, Persians, and Western Europeans who enslaved our people stole from us our history and used it during their present to build phenomenal and powerful civilizations so that they could control us in the present and tell us that we didn't accomplish anything! This is why it is our job to study and read from intelligent and politically/ culturally conscious authors about the truth about our history so that we won't take Black History month for granted and so that we could acquire a true knowledge of our history and ourselves.

We need to learn that an African man by the name of Menes in 3100 b.c. merged or integrated Upper and Lower Kemet or Chem to create the empire that we learn today as Ancient Egypt also, we need to learn that the original Egyptians taught the world renowned Greek philosophers Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Homer, Herodotus, and others about the true essence of righteousness in civilization and in divinity. We have to learn that Moses was an Black man, Hannibal was an Black man, the musician, Ludwig van Beethhoven was a Black man, Imhotep from Egypt was a Black man, Cleopatra was a Black woman, the great poet Aesop (who's name is a Greek name translated from the Archaic period in Ancient Greece to Ethiop which means of African descent) was a Black man and according to the "Holy Bible" in the book of Revelations, Jesus was a Black man! We also need to learn that the brilliant astronomer and intellectual by the name of Benjamin Banneker who was appointed by Pres. George Washington to design Washington D.C was a Black man! Through slavery, exploitation and subjugation, our people have been mis-educated, and in order to "make a slave" you have to control their mind first and consequently, their body will controlled. Today, us Africans in America and abroad are for the most part slaves to this society because we have been mis-educated, and if we don't know where we come from, than we won't know where we're going. Once we view Africa as the citadel and birthplace for civilization, learn our culture, heritage and history, than us Africans will gain race pride which will unite us together to bring camaraderie, confraternity, peace, power and progress within the Black community. The great historic and iconic leader Marcus Garvey even said; "Liberate the minds of men, than ultimately you will liberate the bodies of men." The solution for Black America and the Pan-African community is not just a Black president and a "Black History Month" but for us to do our work to educate ourselves so that we could have a knowledge of ourselves.

In closing, lets not take Black History Month for granted and think that just because we have a month devoted to like 1% of our history that we have accomplished something. Also we can't just have a Black History Month, but everyday in our lives should be Black History Days where our life will be dedicated to the re-education of ourselves as a people. The old saying is "If you want to hide something from a Black man, than put it in a book." For 400 plus years, they have hidden the knowledge our ourselves. Don't take our history nor this month for granted, and our history bears credence that our ancestors contributed to the development of almost this entire world!

So Black man and woman, don't just have a Black History Month, but live a Black History Life, by repeating the positive aspects of history today, to make a better future for the posterity of Black people across the world.

Peace.

Obama's in Office- What Lead him to his Presidential Position?

2009-01-22T05:58:00.000-08:00

The day of January 20, 2008 will go down in history as a historic, inspirational and unforgettable day in United States history. After about 233 years of the United States existence, 43 past presidents, the United States and the world will finally see the day in which an African American man by the name of Barack H. Obama, II will hold the office of the President of the United States.
In 1776, African Americans were for the most part still enslaved and in indentured servitude in the United States. In 1865 the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments gave African Americans the right to freedom, vote and access to public facilities and these rights were not patronized by the majority of America. Hence, in 1896 after the Plessy v. Ferguson case, the Jim Crow or “separate but equal” laws were promulgated and proposed to segregate the black and white population from one another in public facilities. In 1901, when the past African American leader Booker T. Washington was invited to dine in the White House and this evoked a lot of controversy in a lot of circles in American society.
In the 1950s and 60s a lot of African America leaders/ martyrs agitated for African Americans to have freedom, justice and sincere equality in American society. Leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Medger Evers, Dr. James Farmer, Rev Adam Clayton Power, Malcolm X, John Lewis, Fannie Lou Haimer, and others fought for African Americans to have conterminous rights as of whites in America. Through struggle, tenacity and patience, the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 were passed to give African American equal voting and civil rights in American society.
To “fast forward the tape”, about 44 years later, after it was controversial for an African American to dine at the white house, for an African American to go to a local restaurant or to cast a vote without discriminative requisites, we now have our first African America president of the United States of America living and working in the White House. January 20, 2009 was indeed a memorable, extravagant and phenomenal day in American history. When Barack Obama took the oath of the President of the United States, it “hit home” for a lot of Americans and specifically African Americans who were subjugated against by racism in the past and the present. Barack Obama’s doctrine of change in America is one that the majority of America is looking forward to. In Obama, inauguration speech, he publicly acknowledged and understood that the problems and serious challenges within the nation are indeed prevalent with the example of this receding economy, destructive wars overseas, poor health care, education, scarce room for prosperity in society and he said that is our time for us Americans to unite in remaking and rebuilding a better America. Obama promulgated an America with technological advances, new industries, new jobs, adequate and equal education, and more international diplomacies. Obama wants us to work swiftly, diligently, boldly, and cohesively in order to make a better America.
In closing, Obama’s speech was an inspirational speech in order to rectify the problems of America and to restore the country as a better place. The speech was also aspiring for African American males who make up over 80% of the prison system and 1% of America’s teaching population that they could succeed and reach the highest position of eminence in America’s society. Obama in office also proves that a change has come to America but in order for this country to experience close to a complete change, that it is a compulsory duty for Americans to unite and put morals and values over money, race, color and creed. Most say that Dr. Martin Luther King’s, dream was achieved but from being a voracious reader in history and preferably in African/ African American history, I know that a large portion of his dream was achieved and that his dream won’t be fully achieved unless America would be a peaceful place with an abundance of unlimited equal opportunities for all Americans of different race, social statuses and cultures. In today’s society it is unequivocal that racism, discrimination, creed, poor education, poor housing, violence and other crimes are still prevalent today as they were in the days of the Civil Rights Movement. Obama stated that it will take time to solve the problems of America’s society but it will happen through unity, hospitality and patriotism. Obama’s speech was indeed motivational and inspirational but in the words of Confucius, “a superior man is modest in his speech and exceeds in his actions” and time will tell to see if his actions will back up his eloquent speeches. I congratulate Obama and I am indeed looking forward to his years in office.

Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King! 1/15/09

2009-01-15T15:57:00.000-08:00

Hotep everyone, for those of you all who don't know, today is the 79th anniversary or birthday of one of the most popular, greatest, iconic, historical, and influential figures that the world has ever seen and his name is Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a bold, intelligent, accomplished, persistent, optimistic, brilliant, amicable, and yet strong leader. He was indeed a meritorious leader who was not only known contributing towards the improvement of the lives of African- Americans nor the United States but he was a prime example of an agitator who tried to reform the world to make it a better and peaceful place. As we all know, Dr. Martin Luther King was a pastor and he believed in world brotherhood, sisterhood, confraternity and unity. He didn't advocate violence in anyway but believed in the philosophy on non-violent Resistance. His philosophy is still controversial to this day but one could not doubt or question his unequivocal persistence for African Americans to receive equal rights. Dr. King only lived 39 years of his life on this Earth realm but he accomplished a lot in his years of living.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was originally born by the name of Michael Luther King in Atlanta, Ga to Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. His name was eventually changed to "Martin" after the historic Protestant reformer by the name of Martin Luther. King had an older sister by the name of Willie C. King and a brother by the name of Alfred D. King. During his school days, he was a brilliant student who attended Booker T. Washington High School as a freshman, was skipped to his senior year to eventually attend Morehouse College at the age of 15. Dr. King eventually received his Bachelor's Degree in sociology, attended Crozar Theological College in Pennsylvania to receive his Bachelor's of Divinity in 1951 and eventually he studied systematic theology to receive his Doctorate Degree of Philosophy in Boston College. Two years later in 1953, he married Coretta Scott King in Heiberger, Alabama and they happily gave birth to Yolanda King, Martin Luther King, III, Dexter S. King and Bernice King. King eventually became the pastor of Dexter Ave. Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama in 1954.

Martin Luther King eventually became a populist, activist and the civil rights leader that we know of him today when he led the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 after an African American woman by the name of Rosa Parks was denied her seat on the front of the bus because of her skin color. Dr. King's goal was for African Americans to sit wherever they please on the bus and after a little over a year his goal was achieved, hence, his credibility and reputation elevated. In 1957, King formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conferece (S.C.L.C.) and became its first President. In 1958, he wrote his first book "Stride for Freedom" and his second book, "The Measure of a Man" in which he disseminated his non-violent philosophy towards liberation and freedom and in this book, he explains how he was influenced by the peaceful reformist, Mahatma Gandhi who used non violent agitation to gain liberation for India from Britain. In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King along with leaders like Roy Wilkins, John Lewis, Whitney M. Young, Asa Phillip Randolph and James Farmer, Jr led the "March on Washington" on August 28, 1963 as a peaceful march for Blacks to promulgate to America their need for jobs, peace, justice and equality from the government. There he delivered the legendary "I Have a Dream" speech where he received global recognition as one of the best orators with one of the best speeches of all time. Dr. King and other Civil Rights leaders gained victories like the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 65, which eliminated the Jim Crow laws which desegregated and integrated public facilities where people of color and whites could amalgamate legally. Also, these acts gave African Americans the right to vote in the South without taking literacy tests or going through any other prerequisites just to cast a vote.

In 1964, Dr. King also won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation through the non- violent approach, in 1965, he intervened in the violence that happened on "Blood Sunday" which was on March 7, 1965 when the NAACP and other African Americans marched from Selma to Montgomery to gain equality and justice for the subjugation that was inflicted upon African Americans. During the march, when the marchers crossed the Edmund Pettis Bridge, they were severely beaten by racist cops and attacked by police dogs. On March 25, two weeks later, Dr. King and the S.C.L.C. and other African Americans joined the march and successfully/ safely reached Selma, Alabama. In Chicago, 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr brought his non-violent philosophy up north where his group temporarily synergized and conjoined with the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations to fight against the racial steering in Chicago real estate where real estate agents would sell homes to people in certain neighborhoods depending on their social, economic and racial statuses. During one of his marches, a by stander through a brick at King, King received continuous death threats and decided to go back South because of the danger of his life.

On April 4, 1967, which was exactly one year before his death, he spoke at the New York City Riverside Church and delivered the speech "Beyond Vietnam." In his speech he spoke on how he vehemently opposed the Vietnam war because of not only his non-violent philosophy but because of the United States waste of tax money to mutilate and kill innocent people besides using taxpayers' money for social uplift in America. Later on in his life, he spoke on democratic socialism and also on the social and economic injustices that Black people and poor Whites were and are continuing to experience. In 1968, Dr. King led the "Poor People Campaign" to agitate and fight against the economic injustices that people had to suffer while living in poor inner cities in the United States. King urged for poor people across the United States to unify and agitate non-violently in front of Capitol Hill until there were bills passed for the betterment, treatment and improvement of the living conditions for the poor. King wanted to end the national racism, international militarism, poverty and materialism that was and still continues to go on in America.

In March of 1968, King and his comrades went to Memphis, Tennessee to help support African American sanitary workers who had been on strike for better treatment and high wages. On April 3, 1968, he gave his legendary speech "I've Been to the Mountaintop" at the Mason Temple. On April 4, 1968, King was shot on the third floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel at 6:01 p.m. and was announced dead a little over an hour later. Dr. King is indeed missed by almost everyone and his legacy still lives not only in the Black community, but in the world community. Dr. King influenced the Civil Rights Movement later on in South Africa and also was an influence for other Black leaders to continue his struggle and freedom for the peace, justice and equality for all. On November 2, 1983, Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday for Dr. King which recognized January 20 as "Martin Luther King Day" and in 1992, George H.W. Bush proclaimed that the third Monday in January would annually be recognized as "King Day." Dr. King will never be forgotten and it is up for us (in this generation) to continually keep his legacy alive. Some of us may not have agreed with his non- violent philosophy but we should look beyond that and respect him for his persistence, boldness, patience and indeed his meritorious character.

Peace,

Baruti.

A Progression mindframe in this Recession time frame

2009-01-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

Greetings everyone, 2009 is a transitional year and a year that Pres. Elect Barack Obama promulgated as a year for immediate change. Recently, Pres. Barack Obama plans on proposing and passing an economic revitalization plan which is known as the "Economic Stimulus Plan." This plan was stated to inject $75 billion into the economy as a result of this year's past $700 billion economic crisis this past fall. The plan will be for Americans who were negatively affected financially by this recession. The plan will be proposed to revitalize and rectify this precarious economy. The plan will create new jobs, fund more money for the working class employees, fund more money for senior citizens, businesses that experienced significant immense and enormous losses due to the recession, home owners "hit" by the housing crisis and local/ state government and bureaucracies who were also affected by the finanical crisis.

The plan was created to unify or conjoin as Obama would say "Main Street and Wall Street" so that the government could re-invest more money into the economy (so that it could eventually operate functionally). The four main components of the plan is to first; provide a $250 tax cut for workers and their families, second; to provide an additional $250 to low and middle income seniors on their social security check, third; to establish a foreclosure prevention fund to help families avoid foreclosures, and lastly, to provide $10 billion to state and local government to prevent cuts in health, education and infrastructure.The provisional Obama administration wants this plan proposed, issued and in effect immediately. Obama covets the economic stimulus plan to be voted for by January 20 during his inauguration so that he could begin his primitive stages in solving the problem. Meanwhile, the administration is waiting for the approval by The House of Representatives and the Senate to pass the bill and the Republicans want to filibuster the bill because they want it to be meticulously investigated, scrutinized and reviewed before the government freely gives an enormous amount of money to the economy. Critics, aides and others also worry about the "price tag" of the plan because some say that it may cost over $775 billion! Currently, there isn't a valid price tag on this plan and Obama believes that there needs to be an immediate change for a better economy which will be a catalyst for a better America.

Economists agree with this stimulus plan because they believe that it is factual and inevitable that the economy needs to be restored in high urgency. It is evident and prevalent that most Americans could not afford health care, most Americans are unemployed, most Americans can't afford to pay off their mortgages, foreclosures are increasing, debt is increasing and in 2009, there is a need for government to solve the problems of the American people to help restore, stabilize and liberate the economy from its "infectious" financial crisis. I congratulate Pres. Elect. Barack Obama for running an indisputable, unforgettable and tremendous campaign but now it is up to us as "Americans" to "penny pinch", invest wisely, rely on ourselves, educate ourselves and provide for ourselves so that we could help better our conditions in America. In today's time we are living in a "high tech", "low touch" society and we need to remain “high tech” but we also need to reach out to others, stop being individualists but communitarians, so that we could help alleviate these financial problems and create opportunities for one another.

Personally, I am not a republican or democrat but an African in America who is an advocate for Black Nationalism. Our first African American president in the United States is a great accomplishment but it is up to us to emancipate ourselves from this “recession”, employment and enslavement mentality. Remaining inferior to others is indeed a nebulous or weak role to play in today's times. Instead we should educate ourselves on politics, economics, sociology, science and other fields in order to broaden our scope on society and our potential roles in society. We should create businesses to keep the annual $800 billion that "Black Americans" generate in our community so that we could provide employment within our community and learn the essentials of marketing to attract customers within our community and abroad. Once we keep money flowing within our community, than we will enhance technology which will make businesses and hospitals in our community more efficient, effective and adequate in helping ourselves physically, mentally and financially. We could use our inflow of money to better the education in our community which will be a catalyst for a generation of adequate political, leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists and intellectuals in our community. By doing all of this, we will rectify our conditions in "Black America" or on "Main St", have businesses on Wall St., export good internationally to expand our businesses and eventually we will import wealth in our community which will be a catalyst for a better American economy!

From a Black Nationalistic standpoint, we need to alleviate ourselves from the "recession" mindset and start thinking about "progression" and as a "Black Americans" this is how our economic problems in our community and eventually the United States as a whole. It is a fact that, one man and one administration could not change this country alone; things will only get better once you decide to make them better and the first place to start is in the community in which you live in. Us “Black Americans” would have to synergize and be cohesive with one another and when we solve our financial crisis on a communal or community level than concurrently, it will immensely solve the financial problem on a national level. The great African poet/ philosopher Aesop said it best when he said “United we stand and divided we fall.” In closing, if we want to better America, than we need to unite amongst ourselves, and practice the African principle of Ujamaa which means cooperative economics.

1luv,

Baruti.

Happy 2009 Everyone

2009-01-01T00:06:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years, It is a blessing that the Supreme Being gave myself and you readers another year of life on this Earth. In 2009, this will personally be a transformational and transitional year towards my road to success. This year will not just be about my ornament towards peace and prosperity but I will also devote this year towards educating you readers and others on the importance of receiving an education (whether it's outside or inside the school) because it is indeed the key to success. Once the mind is liberated, than ultimately the body and soul will be liberated and goal setting, aspirations, diligence, success, prosperity and peace will automatically comes into play. To my fellow readers, organize this year for the betterment of yourself and your biological/ sociological brothers and sisters. It is conspicuous, evident and unequivocal that the world is in bad shape and it is up for us to start with ourselves and than contribute towards the serving of humanity.

Today we are living in days of way, poverty, a "recession", murders, greed, jealousy, violence, apathy, hostility, division, dissension, disease and death. Times are bad and we cannot sit around and wait for "a pie in the sky" for days to be better. We have been waiting for upon hundreds and thousands of years for this now. While some of us continue to wait, we still need to be prudent individuals by educating ourselves so that we could realize our dreams in life. Once we realize our aspirations we must prepare ourselves so that we could succeed independently while at the same time, succeed as a community. Starting in 2009 we need more egalitarianism and cohesiveness if we are going to make the world a better place.

If your time has already been utilized towards the future, than you are on your way towards success. A wise man once told me that "traveling broadens your scope", so if you're wasting time on "myspace", than get out of that "space" because there is a whole world out here waiting for you to succeed for the betterment of society. Also, if you're always on "facebook", start to put more "books in your face" because the great historical leader Booker T. Washington said; "If you don't read, than it will be hard for you to realize your dreams" and Socrates said that "True Knowledge starts by admitting that you don't know". If you want to succeed in life, then you will have to be hungry, humble and eager to learn. In closing, 2009 will be a great year for me and my advise to you all is be peaceful and blissful, "don't let no one rain on your parade" and in the words of the great poet Aesop, "Destroy the seed of evil or it will grow to your ruin." Life is too short to waste so utilize 2009 and beyond for the benefit and betterment of yourself. "It is never to late to start now but it is too early to finish now." The world is yours and make it a better place, and the time to start is now. Happy 2009.

To yours truly,

Bro. Baruti

Happy Kwanzaa Everyone!

2008-12-25T22:47:00.000-08:00

Hotep brothers and sisters, today is December 26 which is known and celebrated in Canada as boxing day but within the Pan-African (or All- African) community, is celebrated as the first day of Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa is a Pan-African holiday and celebration of community, culture and family within the African/ Black community. The celebration was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga (who is currently the President of Africana Studies at California State University) in 1966. The name "Kwanzaa" originates from the Swahili language from the phrase "matunda ya Kwanzaa" which means the first fruits. The celebration of Kwanzaa has five anatomical stages which are in gathering (to reaffirm bonds within the family), special reverence with the creator, commemoration of the past, recommitment with African culture and the celebration of the holiday. Kwanzaa is a celebrated from December 26 to January 1.

The significance of the seven day holiday is for each day to symbolize and emblematize the seven principles of Kwanzaa. The seven days are symbolized through the "kinara" which is the candle holder which symbolizes the foundation for the principles and the "mishumaa saba", which are the candles which symbolizes the seven principles of Kwanzaa. The candles are symbolically colored in red, black and green to emblematize the Pan African flag that was created by the late Black nationalist; the honorable Marcus Garvey (who is a historic and iconic figure within the Pan African community). The red symbolizes the blood of our African ancestors, the black symbolizes us as a people and who we are and the green symbolizes the motherland in which we came from, which is recognized today as Africa.

The other symbols that are involved in Kwanzaa is the "mazao" which are the fruits and crops which metaphorically symbolizes our collective labor. Next, the other symbol is the "mkeka" which is the mat that symbolizes our historic foundation in which we could build upon. The other symbol is the "muhindi" which is the corn which symbolizes the amount of children present for the celebration. Another symbol is the "kikombe cha umoja" which is the unity cup to pour libations in order to commemorate our ancestors, the "zawadi" which are the gifts and the commitments for the children and the "bendera" which is the Pan- African liberation flag.

When celebrating Kwanzaa, one should always start by lighting the black candle in the middle, the red candle and next green candle and continue sequentially in that numeric order. The Nguzo Saba are the seven principles of Kwanzaa and they are the ideals which will benefit the Pan African community not only individually but collectively in order to produce liberation and unification amongst ourselves. The first principle of Kwanzaa is Umoja which means unity and the purpose of this principle is for the community, nation and race to strive for unity amongst one another for the betterment of ourselves. The second principle of Kwanzaa is Kujichagulia which means self determination which means that we should gain a knowledge of ourselves and eventually define ourselves as African people. Next, the third principle is Ujima means collective work and responsibility which means that we should cohesively build and maintain our community and to make our brother's and sister's problems our problems to solve, rectify, alter or reform. The fourth principle is Ujamaa which means cooperative economics. This principle reminds us that within the Pan- African community, it is an imperative for us create our own businesses to effectively meet the needs of our people so that we could keep our profits and finances generating within our community. The fifth principle of Kwanzaa is Nia which means purpose and in the Pan-African community, we need to build and restore our community for the purpose of benefiting ourselves, humanity and restoring/ redeeming our African heritage. The sixth principle is Kuumba which means creativity. This principle reminds us of the fact that we should use our intellectual, physical and social ability and dexterity to better ourselves and contribute to our community. The last principle is Imani which means faith and this means that we must believe in our hearts and in the Divine Being to bring about individual and collective peace and happiness within our lives as a family.

In closing, the Kwanzaa celebration is our celebration that we should not allow or condone to be exploited by conglomorates and capitalists. This is an African created holiday and these ideals should be utilized on the daily basis to bring about freedom, justice and equality within the Pan African community. We must unite among ourselves, be cohesive, learn our heritage, and unite in order to better our condition and position in the world. We should not let the tradition of Kwanzaa eventually cease or become owned and controlled by industrialists or capitalists. We must keep Kwanzaa in the hands of people of African descent who have the betterment of their culture at heart. Kwanzaa could be celebrated by anyone but preferably by people of African descent. Kwanzaa is our celebration and I vehemently and sincerely believe that it should be celebrated by every African across the world.

Hotep, Peace and Love,

Baruti

The Truth about the Christmas Season

2008-12-24T10:32:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays, everyone, as you all know, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and the New Years are nearly approaching. This is the time of year when everyone spends their hard-earned money for their family and friends. Also, this is a lucrative season for executives and capitalists. This is because it gives them the opportunity to create and innovate marketable and profitable ways in order to attract various customers of different clienteles to buy their products. These various enterprises found various ways to exploit, alter and commercialize these holidays to benefit themselves through the myth of characters like "Santa Claus". We have to know that in 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt "shifted" Thanksgiving day from November 30 to November 23 and one of the reasons to give business the opportunity to expand their profitable Christmas season. I am not denouncing or"knocking" the retailers and executives for doing what they could to provide for themselves. I am informing you all about the truths of the Christmas holiday. I am also informing you all to have a knowledge of ourselves, realize our history during this season and why it is an imperative for us to not get manipulated or propagandized by the materialism and advertisements of this holiday season. We still need to educate ourselves, have pride for ourselves and unify but in the meantime, further read this essay and gain a knowledge of yourself in conjunction with this holiday.

As we all know, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the savior, messiah, prophet or some believe to be the son of God who lived to teach the doctrine of love and died for our sins. Today, as you all know, we are taught to worship a picture of Jesus which was painted by Michelangelo in 1509 which depicted and illustrated his cousin in the famous and artistically painted portrait entitled the "Sistine Chapel." According to the book of Revelation 1:12-14, Jesus had skin of burnt bronze and hair of wool. Prior to Michelangelo's portrait of Jesus, monotheists ( mono comes from the Latin word which means "single" and theo comes from the Latin word which means "God" and this means the believer of one God) in Europe, Asia and Africa worshiped an virgin African Madonna or woman giving birth to an African baby. This is a corroborative or proven fact that are in photographs, books and in ancient religious institutions in these three conitinents (look at the portraits above).

Next, the story of the virgin birth of a savior originated 4,000 years ago in Ancient Kemet (which is modern day Egypt) with Pharaoh Azar marrying Queen Auset to give birth to Heru (which is another name for Jesus). According to research of the great African- American philosopher, Anthony Browder in his book "From the Browder File", "Christ: is a title, not name, just as the word President is a title or King is title" (Browder 72.) The word Bethlehem means the brain or house of God and Jerusalem means heart which is an allegory or interpretation of the transformational process of the human body where the brains influences the body and soul. Also, 4000 years before the birth of Jesus, the Ancient Egyptians commemorated Heru's birth on December 25th as the birth of the Sun- God or "Son of God''. Recently, I learned from a Ancient Egyptian historian and astrologist that from December 21st to December 24th (which is referred to as the Winter solstice), that they are the shortest days of the year. On, December 25th, the cycle of the shortest days of the year ends and this is when the sun's brightness begins to multiply and the Ancient Egyptians referred to this day as the birth of the "Sun god" which is today referred to as the birth of the "Son of God".

On this day, the sun was seen in the astrological sign of Capricorn, shining brightly on the meridian was Sirius, the star of the East which is referred to as the Virgo (which is symbolic to the virgin mother) and the star that the three kings saw in the East prior to the birth of Jesus. Once the Winter solstice or cycle concludes on March 21, the Spring season begins when the Earth travels northward around the sun, and this brings about higher temperature in the climate because the Earth "passes over" or "passover" the celestial equator. This is around the time of Easter and Passover when the climate increases, eggs are being hatched (which symbolizes new life) and the reason why the "Easter bunny" is the logo for the season is because it also symbolizes new life for the season.

In conclusion, we have to know our history, the importance of our history and how it was replicated, distorted, exploited and radicalized. I personally believe in the story of Jesus the Christ, but we have to realize that there was Christianity before the birth of Christ in Ancient Kush, Nubia and Kemet which is modern day Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia. We have to realize how people capitalized and distorted "our story" and made it "their story" when it is really "his story" instead of history. Earlier today, I went Christmas shopping in this Caucasian-owned apparel store where most of the customers or clientele were Africans or Blacks. The store had nice clothing attire which is the apparel or imposed uniform for inner city youth. Inside the store, there was also clothing with gang connotations where the customers who are predominately or primarily Black would fight and kill one another for in order to keep the owners of the store (who do not live in the community) wealthy and living abundantly. In the store, I was so immersed or "caught up" in the clothing that I left my umbrella on one of the shelves to eventually realize that 15 minutes later that it was stolen. The moral of this experience is not only to realize the miniscule event of another brother evasively stealing my one dollar umbrealla but to also learn about the mental enslavement that our people are suffering from. We also have to realize how we continually patronize the exploitation of the store owners. We also need to realize the potential that our people have in order to create our own clothing lines and apparel stores to practice economic independence, employ our people and serve the black community by keeping the cash flow within our community. We as a people should not continue to be propagandized by the "hype" of the holiday season but to realize that we still have work to do to in order to alter and rectify our personal and collective conditions within our African/ Black community. This holiday season has been fabricated to benefit the capitalists and big business entrepreneurs while we pay for material that may not even last us until next year's holiday season. Think About that.

Peace and Happy Holidays,

Baruti.

Africa Unite!

2008-12-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

In the words of the great Bob Marley, "Africa Unite." Leaders like the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. devoted most of his life towards the unification of Africa and the redemption of the rich, prosperous and innovative heritage of our African forefathers. Africa is an ancient Kemetic word meaning "birthplace of humanity" meaning that the African man is the original and divine man. In these turbulent and corrupt times that are spoken of in the book of Revelations, Africa must unite. There was a time in our history from the reign of the Ancient Egyptian/Ethiopian empires (3150 B.C.- 31 B.C.), the Ghanaian Empires ( 8th- 12th century) and the Mali and Songhai empires when the Ancient Greeks, Romans, Persians and western Europeans came to Africa to learn architecture, philosophy, economics, astronomy, astrology, military, religion and other fields in order to develop and build their own nations.

These great civilizations were civilizations that made all of the modern civilizations of today possible. During the East African/ Arab slave trade which started around 700 A.D., the African/ South Pacific slave trade which started around 1100s A.D. and the Western African slave trade which began in 1444 A.D. by the Portuguese, us Africans have been coercively scattered, divided, separated and segregated in various parts of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, India and even Australia! We are divided to the point where we could be interacting, fighting, killing, raping, marrying or befriending our biological relative(s) and not even know it! Africa in the past and present is continuously being raped of its talented and divine people, natural resources, civilizations, human and financial capital. Today, there are parts of Africa that are in debt from European imperialists. Also, today some African "leaders" and "capitalists" are patronizing the exploitation of Africa for their own individual greed. I recently read an article where in the Senegal, the Chinese are profiting tremendously off designing African clothing and goods for extremely low prices. China and other Asian countries are slowly gaining eminence and power in the mother land which belongs to us! As of 2006, China generates up to $55 billion from their trades with Africa alone!

Africa is continuously being raped and now it is up for us Africans in America, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa and everywhere to take pride in who we are and realize that Africa's struggle is our struggle. We need to stop putting money first and family last, blood is thicker than water and our African brothers and sisters are suffering miserably from the Western and Eastern "powers" of the world. Don't get me wrong, there are also Africans in Africa who could care or less about us and vice versa and because of the mis education and media manipulation of Africans across the world, we have been taught to not trust one another and to hate ourselves. During the Berlin Conferences of the late 1800s, Europe succeeded in creating and implementing systematic ways to not only colonize Africa but to keep the Africans in their own continent mentally colonized. In America, there were the Mohonk Conferences which took place in Mohonk, New York in 1890 and 1891 for the purpose of perpetuating the "Jim Crow mis education system" in order to keep Africans in America unequally educated as their white counterparts. According to the great thinker and author Lerone Bennett, Jr. in his informative classic Before the Mayflower, "In 1935 and 1936 ten southern states spent $49.40 for every white student and $17.04 for every black" (Bennett 257). Other than our African descent, we Africans all over the world have the same thing in common and it is the subjugation, subordination, oppression, mis education and exploitation from our oppressors.

Us Africans need to re-educate ourselves about the importance of our culture and the importance of what Malcolm X advocated; which was "Black Nationalism." Us Africans need to know that we created science/ technology, astronomy/ astrology, religion, philosophy, navigation, sociology, literature, mathematics, economics, music, etc. In the 21st century and beyond, it is an imperative for us to unite, reeducate ourselves and use our financial and intellectual capital in order to restore Africa for the African people. Also, for those without an interest in physically repatriating and relocating to Africa, than we also need to build great and prosperous African communities within the Western and Eastern world. Other cultures are doing so and an example is when you go to every cosmopolitan in the United States, you will see a Chinese, Italian, Jewish, Japanese, Portuguese, French, British, East Indian, and any other section of town where different cultures are patronized, but when will we get out African parts of town which are owned, and patronized by us? Instead, the African parts of town are looked at as the inner-city with crime and violence and with businesses/ estates not being owned by Africans and with Africans living in these parts of towns who deny that they are Africans!

Africa must unite because this capitalistic and individualistic system just keeps us divided and in opposition with one another. We need a Universal African Unification Movement in order to make the world a better place and live like the original righteous people that we truly are. We need to take pride in who we are and look at our culture as a privilege instead of a stigma. We are the builders of the pyramids, created the alphabet and were the platform for civilizations across the world. Once we have our pride in our heritage, realize that we share the same contemporary problems, than we will share a common interest in fixing our shared miserable conditions so that we could unify into a great, beautiful and forceful nation to never be enslaved, exploited or reckoned with again! Africa Unite!

1luv,

Baruti

Final Exams

2008-12-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

For all of my readers that are in college, I will make the assumption that you all are aware of the Final Exams that are coming near. For all incoming freshmen in college, I assume that we all agree that this has been a strenuous semester. I am writing this article to refresh myself and to reiterate to you that even though the "holiday season" is coming near, do not stagnate or become inactive in your duty to achieve. If your grades are mediocre or if you are failing, than regain your momentum and strive for the best. Life is indeed a learning experience and I've learned from college, it is the importance of personal organization, education and the recreation of college life. If one would want to succeed in college, than they would have to balance their time, don't procrastinate but follow a personal schedule that would be feasible for you to follow.

My father told me that, "time is an important commodity which should be utilized intelligently." In college it is possible to have fun, work smart (instead of hard) and to have fun. First, you would have to set high and plausible academic and personal goals and than work diligently, intelligently, persistently, tenaciously and confidently in order to achieve these goals. Also, don't settle for mediocrity or failure but look towards the "mountain top" or "top of the pyramid." In life, if one has the burning desire to succeed, than it will definitely happen. You could achieve and do almost anything under the sun or under the moon.

Study smart for these finals, complete all assignments and indeed take time out within the day, even if its 15 minutes to educate yourself. Because, the more you learn in life and the more diverse your education is, the more you will adequately achieve in this multi- cultural society. In closing, if your grades are mediocre or poor than don't don't give up, and if your grades are high, than don't equivocate, but continue to perpetuate towards academic excellence.

Yours Truly,

Bro. Baruti

Wake Up!

2008-12-02T12:36:00.000-08:00

In the words of Spike Lee, "Wake Up" brothers and sisters. Since 1619, we as a people have been sleep. Sleep walking, dreaming and letting others control our past, present and reality. We are suffering from cultural ethnocide and genocide. We are killing one another for decreasing dollar bills where the faces on them were former slave masters, slavery advocates and for the $5.00 dollar bill, a man who could careless about us but for the restoration of the union. We are degrading our women who gave birth to humanity and if it wasn't for them, than we wouldn't even have lives to live. We are lacking our ability to remember our culture because us Africans have amnesia of where we came from. It is obvious that if we don't know where we come from, than we certainly won't know where we are going. We lack a knowledge of self, by letting the enemies define us and we perpetuate their definitions of us.

We are calling each other "nigger" which came from the greek word "necromancy" which means worship of the dead. The word "necro" means dead which is translated to the romantic languages (Spanish, Romanian, Italian, French and others) to "negro" which means black which in Eurocentric ideology symbolizes death. When we were "discovered" by Europeans we were called "negroes" and later "nigers" because of some of our Africans ancestors came from the coast near the Niger River. Eventually, we were called "niggers" so through miseducation, manipulation, and genocide, we have been coercively miseducated to take on a negative identity which was imposed by us by enemies for the betterment of their economy. In 2008, if we put these negative terms together we are just "the walking dead blacks". Hence, though out the world, capitalists have the nerve to sell us skull bones to emblematize "death" which is a false identity given to us from our physical oppression.

Wake Up! we are taking on a false identity in endearment in order to benefit the sons and daughters of oppressors to keep us inferior, miseducated, separated and segregated from one another. We perpetuate these stereotypes of ourselves to benefit the "enemy." When I say the "enemy" I don't just talk about Caucasians but anyone; even foolish Africans who stand in the way of progress and reformation. If the truth is told, in the words of Chris Rock, now these days, Black people are more racist than white people. Wake Up! I didn't start this website to flatter anyone, but to educate you all about these miserable conditions in society and how we should get an education, succeed and become brothers and sisters. If we get "the degree", get "locked up" or "deceased" than the enemies still getting paid while we collectively remain poor.

Wake Up! you all claim that you all are not "niggers" or "bitches", but if you are doing something for the benefit of someone else and you are scared to control your own destiny, what does that make you? If you are calling yourself a negative name that an enemy gave you and you call your brother and sister that name, than what does that make you? If an entertainer is telling you to kill or chastise someone for a dollar bill where most of faces being dead presidents who raped and beat your ancestors, than what does that make you? If you see your own brother as an enemy or "nigger" besides a brother because the real enemy told you to do so, than what does that make you? If you rather be called a "nigger" than who you truly are which is an African than, what does that make you? If you degrade your sister and just use her for sex, rape her and your doing what the slave master did to your great grandmothers in slavery time, than what does that make you? If your a sister and your cheating and lusting on your man, calling him a "nigger" and not showing love to your "brother" who vehemently loves you, than what does that make you?

Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up! In the words of the great African scholar, Molefi Asante; in the 19th century we had physical freedom, in the 20th century we had social freedom and now in the 21st century we lack physchological freedom. You all think that everything is all good? Hell No, the conditions are conspicuous that we as a people all over the world are living in a crisis. We need to wake up and take life seriously because time is an important commodity and if we continue to waste time in order to benefit "the enemy", than we are living worthless lives. In today's society, we don't see the true "enemy", because they are in corporate offices brainstorming modernized schemes to keep us mentally enslaved whether its through the media, schools, "law" etc. If you want to continue to be a "nigger" or "bitch", than that is on you, but your ancestors wasn't on the three month long slave ships during the Trans- Atlantic slave trade from the great civilizations of Western Africa to America to see you all become "niggers" and "bitches." They could have committed suicide or jumped overboard, so you owe them your lives to be born- again Africans to rectify our conditions and better this corrupt society that we are living in today.

How you could become a born again African is by gaining a knowledge of yourself, getting an education and creating opportunities that could help you and your people prosper in life. I myself is a proud African, and if there is going to be world peace, than us evident Africans (whether Blacks, Latinos, Caribbeans, whatever), need to know who we are, unify, take an uncompromising stand against exploitation, so than the world could come to an agreement and pacify its crisises. As a matter fact, since civilization started in Africa, that means that every human under the sun or moon is an African whether you are a Black, White, Yellow or a Red Man. In conclusion we are all brothers and sisters lol- so if you all want world peace, than all 6.5 trillion of us need to practice Pan Africanism (lol).

Food for Thought; This is love teaching and I love all people under the sun and the moon.

Peace,

Baruti

Know Yourself and Educate Yourself

2008-12-01T16:26:00.000-08:00

In today's society, there is a lack of originality and creativity but a plethora of conformity. People conform to various socialization networks or groups to gain a feeling of security. The feeling of being liked and accepted is a natural human craving but it gets to the point where people would do whatever in order to feel accepted by others. The conformity and peer pressures within society causes suicide for one's own personal and gifted character. People were made to be unique but with this hegemonic, pervasive and manipulative society, people adapt to various cultures and habits to benefit big businesses that control the media.

In this capitalistic and individualistic society, businesses do whatever they could to maintain stability in this stratification system for their personal desires. When one doesn't know who they are and what direction they're going than they are willing to be subjected to whatever identity that is portrayed and introduced to them. In the Pan-African community through slavery in the Western World, Western Europe and colonization through out Africa, Africans suffered and continue to suffer from brutal servility and miseducation. Even though, physical slavery is over, through conferences and plans, there are systematic ways to perpetuate classism and racism within society (through "schools", jobs and other aspects of society). In schools and through media, Africa had been degraded as a poor and negative country which gave birth to ignorant people. The reality of it all is that these negative claims are paradoxical towards the interpretations that are given to Africa and African people.

First, Africa is an ancient Kemetic word that means the birthplace of humanity, Egypt means the people of the Black land and Ehtiopia (which was one of the original names of the entire continent) means dark skinned people. Greek scholars and poets like Herodotus, Homer, Socrates, Plato and Piny mentioned the greatness and prosperity of Ancient Kemet, Ethiopia and/or Africa. Africa is where civilization and other systems like economics, politics, astronomy, astrology, internal revenue systems, religion, and other fields originated. Africans/ Ancient Kemetic people knew that the earth was round thousands of years before Columbus "discovered that fact." Africans mastered the arts of the sciences and arts and had great empires of Ancient Kemet, Kush, Ethiopia, Nubia, Ghana, Mali, Songhay, Timbuktu, etc. If we came from a rich heritage of prosperity and from a land that mostly gave birth to everything under the sun/ the moon, than why are we socially degraded and accomplishing less as a people? Why is because we lack a knowledge of self. Our history started before slavery and we were not just monkies in a jungle but kings, queens, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, griots, geniuses, etc.
If we were to know who we are in the words of the great communicator Gary Byrd "we would wear the crown". Once we control our past, we will control our future and once we control our present than we will better the future. Malcolm X said "Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare today." We would need a knowledge of ourselves, and once we receive that, than we will love and unify with one another.

In conclusion, we as a people need to know and learn about out great legacy so that we could contribute great civilizations in today's society. We need to unify with one another because with us being individualistic with a lack of self identity, it only leads to continuous physical, mental and social suicide. Imhotep, Azar, Auset, King Tut, Cleopatra, King Hannibal, Mansa Musa, Beethoven, Jesus, the original Olmecs, America's original founding fathers and other historic figures were Africans. In the 21st century and beyond, we need more prominent leaders in society so that we could have a relieve and modernize our great history. At the sametime, we also need to learn the mistakes we made in history which lead us to our contemporary conditions. In closing, we need to do what Socrates preached, after he learned the ideology from our Ancient Egyptian ancestors; we need to "Know Our Selves."

Hotep,

Baruti "Bonafide" Kafele

Congradulations to President- Elect. Barack Obama!

2008-11-30T11:45:00.000-08:00

On the historic night of November 4, 2008, history was evidently made because for the first time, the United States elected its first African (American) to be the President of the United States . Senator and now President- Elect. Barack Obama won a sweeping and indisputable victory against Arizona's Republican senator John McCain. Barack Obama won 53% of America's votes to John McCain's 46%. Barack Obama also made history by becoming the first Democratic canidate to win most of America's votes since Jimmy Carter's 1976 election. Obama won because of the inevitable cohesiveness among other races, cultures and classes to help eliminate the crisises within the United States.

Barack Obama also made history because for the first time in this nation's history, an African American man and a Caucasian woman (Hillary Clinton) were the leading canidates to represent the Democratic part for the Presidential election. Less than a century ago, African Americans and women did not receive the conterminous rights as of Caucasian men in voting nor prominent job positions. African Americans, Caucasian women and other "minorities" were repremanded and punished for even attempting to vote, apply for jobs and (for Arican Americans), attend some public facilities.

In commemorating Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, we can't forget about audatious, presumptuious and optimistic leaders that paved the way for them to have the opportunities to run for executive postions in government. We have to also express gratitude to people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Medger Evers, Frederick Douglass, Fannie Lou Haimer, Shirley Chisolm, Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, Bayard Rustin, James Farmer, and an endlist list of leaders who worked passionately and resilently to see the ratification of the 13th Ammendment, 19th Ammendment, the Civil Rights laws of the 1960s and other laws that "guarantee" equal rights in this country.

The United States is changing for the better and an example is when a century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington (who was a prominent African- American leader at the time) to dine with him and his fellow statesmen at the White House and this developed controversey amongst a plethora of people who was aware of this happening. Now, we have an African American president who will be in the White House during a time of advancement in informational technology and during the greatest financial crisis that America is endoring since Franklin Roosevelt's election in 1932. History has been made and Obama won by establishing great rapport with all cultures and creeds to restore a Union with hope and a positive change that we could believe in.

In commemorating, President- Elect. Barack Obama, first we have to realize that he is not soley "The Black Man's President". Barack Obama was elected by mostly Caucasians who make up about 74% of the United States population. President- Elect Barack Obama won votes across various ethnic groups across the United States meaning that if he wants to keep his eminent postion as the President of the United States, than he would have to work diligently to meet the needs of everyone. In closing, I commemorate Obama and his campaign for his meritorious victory. Also, for the conditions of African (Americans) to improve, than we would have to choose our own community leaders,work diligently and organize a national plan of action to rectify our problems besides soely relying on the same government that patronized physical slavery and is now perpetuating psychological and technological slavery to maintain stability within this country's social stratification.

We need to do for self, unify with ourselves, build cultural communities and to collectively become great, respectful, law abiding citizens of this country. Now that the United States have an African American President, than us African (Americans) need to live up to Obama's credbility and expectations of others to alleviate the nefarious stereotypes of our community. In the meantime, I congradualate President-Elect Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and his campaign for working tenaciously to make his victory possible. Remember, one man can't change the world, it will take a nation to work cohesively and cooperatively to make a positive change in this county's society and ecomomy so that we could truly live up to its promulgated reputation of being "The Land of the Free and Home of the Brave."

Peace,

Baruti "Bonafide" Kafele

Baruti a.k.a. Bonafide

2008-11-29T18:28:00.000-08:00

Greetings everyone, to introduce to most and reintroduce to some, my name is Baruti (which is an African name which means teacher) also known as "Bonafide" because I aspire to be genuine in my various experiences and interactions in life. Similar to the meaning of my first name, I am obligated to teach you pertinent information on the subjects of business, philosophy, sociology, Afrocentricity, self-improvement and whatever knowledge I may gain prior to my utilization of this blog. In the meantime, sit back, relax, refresh and digest my food for thought that I will share with you.

Peace.