The following are remarks that I offered on February 26, 2023, at Love Assembly Worship Center, a Christian church in Greeleyville, SC in honor of African History Month. Good morning everyone! I bring you all special greetings as we begin to bring this year’s African History Month to a close. My name is Salifu. I grew up right here in this area and attended GES as a kid, and right now I am a 7th and 8th grade English teacher at C.E. Murray, the same school I graduated from, with my classmate who invited me here today. I am also . . .
Opinion Pieces
Africans and Identity
We want to carefully discuss our African identity because the answers we arrive at are fundamental to our Pan-Africanist objective. By defining our identity, we are defining our fighting force and ultimately we are defining the people for whom we fight. This is also the first step in the process of defining our enemy, which Sekou Touré named the “Anti-People.” These are essential definitions and in spite of the complexities involved, we have to get them right if we are to someday be free. I am sure all will agree that it will take all of us to defeat capitalism . . .
Defining White Supremacy
This article was originally published in The Routledge Handbook of Law and Society . In recent years, the concept of white supremacy has been associated with extreme racist groups and ultranationalists, as well as high-profile acts of associated racial terrorism, particularly in Western countries. Some examples are: the massacre of nine African-American worshippers at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in South Carolina (USA), the violent white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Virginia (USA), the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand that killed 51 people and injured 49, the Hanau, Germany attack that killed nine people and wounded six others, and the shooting deaths of eleven . . .
Dragon or “Pawn” Star?
Trinidad, it too late to post this? We 9-day memory cycle kick een arready? I was thinking we should forget cricket and football and make chess our favourite game like how it is in Russia. For one thing, it go teach we to think several moves ahead, and another thing, we go learn about that chess piece known as the pawn. Cause dais the first thing that came to mind when I heard the news that this country was “granted permission” by the United States to develop the gas deposits in the Dragon field… owned by Venezuela. Well… that thought . . .
South Africa, Why Are You Scared of White People?
The incident that took place at the Bloemfontein Maselspoort resort complex on the afternoon of Christmas 2022 reminded me of Julian Kunnie’s inquiry on democratic South Africa when he quizzed, “Is apartheid dead?” At the resort, two teenage boys of African descent were involved in a racist scuffle with several seemingly Dutch descendants [Afrikaners/ white people] about the use of a swimming pool that was ‘exclusively segregated for whites only’. Social media was abuzz about the incident and the New York Times strangely got hold of the story and video footage of the incident. Most members of the society condemned . . .
Accept That Police Are Not Our Friends
The most recent and tragic story of police violence against a defenseless African in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. is yet another triggering event for the African masses everywhere on earth. It’s especially triggering to this author for multiple reasons. First, my daughter and only child is currently a graduate student in Memphis and the ancestors know that I count the days until she can finish her studies and be closer to us. My other reasons for being triggered may also be emotionally based, but there is significant objective analysis to justify those concerns. The first of these concerns is the constantly . . .
The Murders of Malcolm X & Pio Gama Pinto
On the 21st of February, 1965, Malcolm X was killed in the Washington Heights neighborhood while speaking to an audience in Harlem, New York. Malcolm had just formed a new movement, the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), having left the Nation of Islam the previous year. He was 39 years old. Three days later, on the 24th of February 1965, Pio Gama Pinto, a socialist revolutionary in Kenya, was assassinated outside his home in Nairobi. He was 38 years old. The assassination of both Pinto and Malcolm X in the same week has long raised serious questions and conspiracy theories . . .
Black Universities, White Power: Howard Covers For Imperialism
The crisis of identity reductionism has led to the overwhelming placement of Africans in positions to serve empire and double down on patriotism. Most recently, Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA, hosted U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III, and U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall who awarded the university with a $90 million contract to serve as the 15th University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). The cultural and social significance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) dominates almost all aspects of conversations centered on Black schools. The UARC award will enable Howard to lead . . .