Last September, Time Magazine released a provocative yearbook picture of Justin Trudeau, the current Prime Minister of Canada. It was taken at a costume party for teachers college, in Vancouver. He dressed up as Aladdin……. with Black face. My first thought seeing this picture, “Which version of Aladdin is this?” I wasn’t aware of the Jim Crow era of Arabia nights. Before I knew it, media tried to spin this story, calling it “brown face” because he was dressed as an Arab/middle easterner. Since then, he has apologized for his behavior in 2001. He properly recognized his actions as Black . . .
All African People’s Revolutionary Party
A Historical Materialist Analysis of Gender for the Worldwide Pan-African Movement
The Worldwide Pan-African Movement’s (WWPAM) current line on gender contradictions and the role of women in the struggle is out of date. As a movement, we are in dire need of an update in our analysis around these questions if we are serious about the struggle against patriarchy and the liberation of women and non-men*. *Non-men means folks who are neither men nor women, but who are still oppressed on the basis of gender under patriarchy and capitalism. This paper seeks to raise and discuss three major contradictions that currently exist within the WWPAM’s generally accepted line on gender, patriarchy, . . .
Why Black People need Spaces Exclusively for Themselves.
I read this post a while back, Why People of Color Need Spaces Without White People. (https://arrow-journal.org/why-people-of-color-need-spaces-without-white-people/) I thought it’d be crucial to reiterate and double down on the need for Black people of melanated Afrikan descent to organize, collaborate and study together on a regular basis. In my experience, an organized Pan-Afrikan’s basic, fundamental requirement is reading compression. There is an extensive, often times a detailed political education program that revolutionaries must read in order to make thier steps better on the journey of liberation.I know some would say networking is key, other’s would say accumulating material resources to further our liberation . . .
Umar’s FDMG Academy and The Legacy of Pan-Afrikanism
Umar Johnson has reached a pivotal point on how his legacy will be written down in history books. There are only 3 possibilities when it comes to his long time, crowd funded FDMG (Frederick Douglas – Marcus Garvey) Academy for boys. He’ll either succeed, fail, or bamboozle us all. This is not a piece analyzing the viability of his school. This piece is a response to the announcement of the acquisition of the property. A lot of people, mainly his supporters are in high hopes that this will advance the liberation movement. Johnson is the self proclaimed “Prince of Pan-Afrikanism” . . .
African Solidarity with the Cuban Revolution
Fourteen days ago I was in Cuba, one of 160ish people there for the Venceremos Brigade – a solidarity delegation celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The VB was started half a century ago, a first of its kind internationalist mission created by youth living and struggling in the United States who wanted to show their solidarity with the Cuban Revolution. The Brigade has shown up in many sizes and forms over the years but at its core it remains about people to people anti-imperialist solidarity in direct action form. The VB is an act of collective support for Cuba’s . . .
Studying Nkrumah
In the development of Student Philosophical Conciousness in both colonial & settler colonial contexts, all African students everywhere can find themselves in these 3 types of students described by Kwame Nkrumah. Which one are you? Lately, I’ve been feeling this ‘personality type’ thing lately. The Feds use these systems a lot, I’m sure. They can be helpful in isolating and articulating probabilities and outcomes. I even developed a travel personality system to help folks planning to travel so they will be able to plan for a great outcome. I use it in my book, The “un”-Official Ghana Travel Guide. I . . .