Who knows if I can still kick it, but I used to back on the school bus. In fact, a little known Black History Fact about me was that I was the Battle Rap Champ among my peers. Punch lines for days. Those days are gone, but my love for Hip Hop remains (After all, I am an 80′s baby!)

Which is why I’m anticipating the fruit of the Bmore Mixtape Project – a competition organized by Baltimore activists, scholars, and concerned citizens to use the mixtape to spread the word about important social issues. I can really see this taking off in Baltimore. We have some of the greatest artists anywhere and soon more of the city and world will know that.

Contestants are charged to rap or produce poetry around specific themes. This year the theme is the School To Prison Pipeline.

Shout out to Dr. Lester Spence for the idea and check out his book, Stare in the Darkness: The Limits of Hip Hop and Black Politics.

Now all I need is a bangin’ track and time to get my flow together. Hey – if Dr. Cornel West can spit; you know I got to dust off my mic.

Anybody want to collab with a Pastor on a track? {straight face}

Habari Gani? Kujichagulia! which means Self Determination – To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.

Self-Determination is such a beautiful principle which speaks to the freedom that all individuals and people-groups should be able to rightly exercise. Though not always using the term, I have been writing about “kujichagulia” on this site for a long time.

In early 2008, I was blessed to be a part of the Park Heights Community “Dry Out” campaign that sought to expel liquor stores and predatory businesses from the 5100 block of Park Heights Avenue in Baltimore. It’s beyond shameful that there are 4 liquor stores in that one block! It’s also telling that in this overwhelmingly Black community; all of those liquor stores are owned by non-Black people. Under the leadership of Derrick Compton and with the support of others like now-councilman Brandon Scott, Al Watson, and Pastor Kevin Brooks; we put weekly pressure on these establishments to let them know they were being monitored for infractions and targeted for eventual expulsion.

In November 2009, I critiqued the Emerging Christian Movement in the spirit of self-determination, for its exclusion of non-white voices as it presented theological dynamics and features as if they created them while all the while People of Color of other Faith traditions and denominations have been practicing different “emerging” principles for generations.

I wrote about “kujichagulia” back in August 2010 when I proclaimed that “Black People Should Control The Baltimore City Public School System” on the grounds that Afrikan youth make up about 98% of the student population and the city is somewhere around 65% Afrikan. This notwithstanding, Black folks are regularly begging and pleading to have substantive say in the education of their own youth.

Self-determination pushed me back in April 2011 when I talked about the general “whiteness” of the Urban Farming/Healthy Food Movement and the need for people of color to be at the lead of the food revolution just as we are in most cases the ones suffering under the brunt of America’s food deserts.

And of course, my involvement in the struggle against Governor O’Malley’s plan to build a new youth jail in East Baltimore has been fueled by my firm belief that the Black Community should decide what institutions we want or don’t want in our community just like White people and Jewish people decide what will or won’t come in their communities. If White people don’t want a business or even a church to come into their community; chances are it won’t come. If Jewish people don’t want a business to come in their community; chances are it doesn’t come. Why should it be any different for Afrikan people? We don’t want O’Malley’s multi-million dollar youth jail and many of us have committed ourselves to organize, agitate, and protest – even if it means physically impeding the path of construction trucks – until O’Malley bends to our wishes.

This, my friends, is self-determination and in different ways it’s happening all over the world.

I pray that the flames of “Kujichagulia” burn even brighter in the new year for the Global Afrikan Family. As Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. reminded us – “No one can ride your back unless its bent.” No more hunched-backness in the Black community! May we stand up straight like righteous women and men and commit to “define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves” without timidity or apology.

Ashe.

SOURCE: David Shankbone

If all goes as planned. Today – October, 4, 2011 – will be a day that is remembered and perhaps even recorded in the “People’s History of Baltimore City.”

For the past couple of years a committed group of activists have been challenging Maryland state plans to build a multi-million dollar youth jail in East Baltimore – in a community that is already saturated with prisons and jails. While initial activism around the issue was met with strong resistance from political and agency leaders; some of them are beginning to become more vocal opponents of the youth jail citing stats that reveal that crime among youth in Baltimore is decreasing (following a national trend related to crime in general) and fiscal restraints are forcing political power brokers to consider other options.

Last year, this month, community leaders and grassroots activists hosted Youth Justice Sunday which brought a crowd of a few hundred to the neighborhood and site of where the construction of the youth jail is planned in East Baltimore. Today, youth leaders are joined by nonprofit professionals and their allies to once again march and raise awareness about the community’s continued disagreement with this youth jail project – demanding instead that dedicated operating and capital monies be redirected to schools, recreation centers, jobs, and other critical services that residents desire.

Today also marks the start of #OccupyBaltimore – an outgrowth of the #OccupyWallStreet effort that’s been going on for two weeks now in New York. The New York effort – which is a logistically impressive and passionate protest – has gained much attention in people-owned media and communication media, but just recently began grabbing the attention of corporation-owned media after NY police officers pepper-sprayed female protesters. (Wouldn’t be surprised if someone in the #OccupyWallstreet camp knew that crying White females on television in America gets the national TV cameras there quick!)  The #OccupyWallStreet narrative continued to develop with what protestors call the “Battle of the Brooklyn Bridge.”

200 people show up for inaugural meeting of #OccupyBaltimore

#OccupyBaltimore, which was started by the actions of those inspired by the NY-action, organized rapidly – largely on social networking sites and google. Remarkably, approximately 200 people attended the first meeting of the group (Sunday at 9PM!), more than 400 people have joined the Google group, and nearly 1,000 people have said on Facebook that they will join the group as they will begin “occupying” (that word has heavy negative baggage, but I get it.) downtown Baltimore at the corner of Pratt and Light Street – in the heart of Baltimore’s corporate and tourist district. Interestingly enough, the Baltimore police have already begun “monitoring” and likely infiltrating #OccupyBaltimore according to the Baltimore Sun:

“Baltimore police were monitoring social media and news reports for updates on the Inner Harbor protest, said spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.”

Stay tuned for up to the minute details regarding Baltimore’s Day of Protest. We’ll have pictures, video, and livestream of protestors and reactions.

Troy Davis was found guilty of murdering a police officer 19 years ago, based upon the testimony of 9 witnesses. Today, 7 of those 9 have recanted their testimony entirely, and there are enormous problems with the testimony of the remaining 2 witness accounts. There is NO OTHER EVIDENCE. The murder weapon was never found. There is no DNA to test. Troy is scheduled to die by lethal injection on September 21, 2011.

I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.

As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.

I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.

So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.

I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,

“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”

Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!

I spent the afternoon on a therapist’s couch yesterday exploring the hurts and the prospects of healing between Continental and Diasporan Africans. The meeting was called to begin preliminary discussions on how we might be able to work together on an event (or series of events) that would bring the two groups together in order to share our stories, foster understanding, and nurture unity on shared interests. Given that most of her clients are new African immigrants and most of my church is made up of Blacks born here; we see the potential to work together as – what one of my professors, Dr. Jacqueline Lewis, might call – “border people” to invite the groups to share space in sanctuary.

What started as a planning meeting seemed to evolve into a personal therapy session for me. Without external prompting, I began to share my stories and my pain as it relates to wrestling with identity. I spoke of going to study in Ghana for a brief period and while packing my suitcases, I filled one up with food and when asked why, I said, “I don’t know what those people eat over there.” It was just another outward manifestation of the stigmas related to Africa and Africans that I had internalized. “Those people,” as backward as they are – had to eat some crazy food and I wasn’t down for it.

I remember being in high school with my boys and us “cracking on” one another – the “sport” of humorously putting each other down. And if you really wanted to get a good joke in, you’d call somebody an “African booty scratcher” or throw their “blackness” at them in insult – “you’re so black you’re blurple!”

This didn’t come out of no where. At a young age, I was trained to think of Africa as backward and Africans as people I didn’t want to be. I remember watching movies like “The Air Up There” and listening to comedians like Godfrey [Warning: link has explicit language] paint mental portraits of Africa/Africans that I wanted nothing to do with.

But it wasn’t just about what I saw or heard, it was also about what I wasn’t exposed to. Africa and Africans were absent from my k-12 educational journey…even during “Black History Month.” I wasn’t tested on Africa, quizzed on contemporary African issues, encouraged to read African authors, or instructed on slavery and colonialism’s impact on the African world – so it must not be important to know. (And if something was slid into the curriculum it did not tend to shed a favorable light on Africa/Africans.)

And the stigmatization goes the other way as well. Before Africans even immigrate here, they are fed prejudicial information, stereotypes, and mental pictures that paint African Americans as lazy and irresponsible leaches in American society. Then they get here and are fed a fuller diet of information that props up those pictures which support the racist justifications related to the plight of African Americans. (soley internal reasons with no examination of external factors)

So both groups – Diasporan Africans and Continental Africans – internalize damning depictions of the other and then because we don’t often share safe space, we never afford each other the opportunity to re-calibrate and unlearn what we’ve learned so that we might be healed and grow personally and collectively. This dynamic plays out from corporate American, to the streets, to the college campuses.

Which is why I’m thankful for the work of Kobina Aidoo, a local filmmaker and policy analyst who created the documentary, The Neo African Americans. His efforts, which are highlighted in a thought-provoking article entitled “Black Like Us” by Kenneth Cooper [SOURCE: SPRING 2011 edition of The Crisis Magazine]; uncover the many layers that help build the chasm that exists between Africa-descended groups and highlights the similarities that are far too often overlooked.

The need to build bridges that were intentionally burned between Continental and Diasporan Africans has long been understood, however, it is encouraging to see my generational peers like Bro. Kobina, building and advancing the issue. I now understand that before we can engage the important issues of a Pan African cause (economic, political, etc.); we must deal with the question of identity and the issue of community first. The prospects of our achieving great things in partnership are slim if we don’t see ourselves in each other.

I stress first-hand because the propaganda that comes by way of American media, many popular preachers, and most corporate politicians, presents a certain narrative that dehumanizes Palestinians, proclaims a theology that sanctions segregation and discrimination, and consistently frames Israeli society as being vulnerable and under attack despite the fact that the Israeli Military is the most advanced in the region largely because of the $3 Billion dollars of Foreign Military Financing provided by American taxpayers.

I don’t know when, but at some point I began to become conscious of and question that narrative. I’m glad that I did because my doubts about what was being force-fed to me ultimately propelled me to sign up for a delegation with Interfaith Peace Builders last year.

With support from Sabeel, the church I serve, and family/friends, I landed at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel in May 2010 as a part of a delegation of about 30 people from around the U.S. From the minute we arrived my eyes began to open to the reality and complexity of the situation. During the orientation before the trip, I had been warned that people of color are viewed and treated with suspicion by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and the warning came to fruition during the first 10 minutes of my being in the country. In a delegation of about 30 people making our way through the airport after a 14-some hour flight; I was singled out by Israeli soldiers with high-powered guns (now I’m wondering if they were made in the U.S.) and interrogated extensively. The two soldiers seemed determined to grill me and send me a message that I wasn’t welcome there. They only relented when one of the delegation leaders, Anna Baltzer, came to inquire about what was going on. Despite the warning that I was given prior to the trip, I walked away from that experience not only upset that I had been accosted clearly because of the color of my skin, but also because it took the color of my group leader’s skin (White) to “free me.”

After a few more experiences like that during the following days, my soul was in need of nourishment. Being the only African person in the group, it took a lot of emotional and spiritual energy for me to withstand the overt venom of that oppressive society. And while I enjoyed the company and kindness of my group-mates, I experienced an unnatural high when I finally saw somebody in Israel that looked like me.

First off, I never even imagined that there were African people in Israel. It’s not a part of the narrative that’s projected in the U.S. so I had no expectation to see “me” there. But there she was at the so-called Wailing Wall. She was an attendant there whose job was to help preserve the sanctity of the site by asking female tourists to cover themselves if it was deemed that they were revealing too much skin. She must have thought I was crazy when I practically bumrushed her with a big country smile. Showing all my teeth and gums I introduced myself and then ran my finger along my brown arm unsure if she would understand my english. I had to send her a message about the joy I was feeling related to our obvious connection.

It turned out that she did speak some english and I learned that she, like many Africans in Israel, was from Ethiopia and came to Israel because of religious reasons. She embraces Judaism and considered Israel her “Promised Land”. However, shortly after being attracted and relocating to Israel, she learned that the land was not so promising to its darker citizens. She shared with me some of the challenges that she and other African people face in Israel and said that as soon as she can earn enough money from her low-wage job that she was heading to Canada because she heard that there was no discrimination there. I inquired about the whereabouts of other African people in Israel and she provided some insight. As the trip progressed, I met and engaged many other African people as well – even African IOF soldiers. It really was an unexpected treat to my trip.

Which is why I’m so excited that Interfaith Peace Builders has now organized an African Heritage Delegation to Palestine/Israel. During my trip I realized that as foreign as the “Middle East” conflict feels (again because of the accepted narrative); American Africans who travel there will find it deeply familiar. The African Heritage Delegation, comprised of just African (Black) people, will explore the parallels between the struggles of Africans in the U.S. and Palestinians and their allies in Israel. The cross-context learning and sharing that will take place with strengthen all involved.

This very important delegation is in need of your support. Many of the persons hoping to join this trip are in need of financial scholarships in order to go. Your financial contribution to Interfaith Peace Builders will go directly to somebody’s delegation costs – not to salaries or overhead obligations. Because of the amazing financial support that I received last year, I have committed myself to helping fund one of the delegates trips this year. Will you help me to help somebody else?

Visit Interfaith Peace Builders’ website and find out more about how you can support the African Heritage Delegation and a just peace in Palestine/Israel.

The old folks in church used to sing a song that says, “Whisper a prayer in the morning. Whisper a prayer at noon. Whisper a prayer in the evening. It will keep your heart in tune.” Well before the rigors of research revealed the truth of this song; our Ancestors and Elders believed in prayer’s power to impact our lives in positive ways.

This morning I not only embrace this truth, but I’m currently buzzing off of its blessing as well. This morning my church started an early morning prayer circle. At 6AM a small group of us pressed out in cold, clammy weather to meet in a “safe place” (sanctuary) just for prayer. In jeans, headwraps, sweatsuits and no “church bulletin” – we circled up, shared our concerns, hopes, and dreams and started praying.

I was so excited about prayer this morning that I woke up before the alarm clock went off and then sped to the church -barreling over speed bumps and remembering once I arrived that I forgot to brush my hair. It didn’t matter. I was in the right place at the right time and my soul knew it.

I firmly believe that prayer is a largely untapped resource and resevoir of power that has import to many if not most Faith traditions. From Muslims, to Hindus, to Buddhists, to Jews, to Christians and so many others – people of Faith at different times and in different ways attempt to transcend this time and place to commune with their God. In this fast-paced, 4G, broadband, 2.0 society, we would do well to remember that prayer is an Ancient Technology which far surpasses the ability and battery life of the latest trinkets on sale at our favorite store.

Prayer is not wishful thinking. It’s not “escapism”. It’s not a sign of retreat. But prayer can be thought of as the “forward march” of faith. Even as millions in Egypt are bringing revolution to that great African country, it’s powerful to watch as they stop their chanting, marching, and cheering, and jeering to bend their knees en masse in prayer. Even revolutionaries – or especially revolutionaries – need to pray.

In his classic book, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster devotes a chapter to the discipline of prayer. He says that “prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us.” And after 1 hour of prayer on this rainy Saturday morning, I must testify that I know I’ve been changed! I thank Almighty God for the blessing of the timeless spiritual practice of prayer.

We’ll gather again for community prayer on Saturday, March 6, 2011, 6AM at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church for one hour of prayer. All are welcome.  (If you’re unable to make it out, we welcome your prayer request.)