Category Archives: Africans in America

Africans In America

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Part 3

Propitiation honoring
Ancestors

During the Egungun festival, which venerates the ancestors in Propitiation ceremonies, colorful garments are worn by the dancers, singers and drummers and participants. At the top of the page, above the headline, are shown some colorful garments. The funeral dancer/masquerader with the horns, at left, is shown with drummers and singers. At right, the priest, in white, is shown with the masquerader/dancer and the singer, with a whip, controlling the spirit. In the middle is a spirit-filled dancer with many donated family cloths. At right is The Yemoo Grove, house of worship, named for the only wife of Obatala. Bottom Grove of trees at the Yemoo entrance. Photos by Sheryl Quail and Kayode Gbadebo.

According to the Odu Osa Meji, in the Yoruba belief system, Odu (female oracle) established all the sacred groves (places) and maintained secrets of the sacred shrines of the Orisas (belief of the Yoruba, divine system) after descent. Women were not excluded from performing rituals at any sacred grove.
Odu brought the Egungun and Oro (deities) to earth at her descent and performed rituals at their groves. Obatala (the deity of creation) became jealous and went to consult Babalawo (diviner, keeper of the secrets). He was asked to perform sacrifices and to learn patience. Soon Odu invited him to live close to her,  and they agreed to worship Egungun together. Obatala then followed her to the Egungun grove where Odu donned the masque but did not know how to change her voice (guttural) to imitate Egungun.
This stage in the Egungun veneration is called Iyagbaro and Dede to honor Egungun women or mothers who know everything. These masquerades are popular amongst the Ibariba (tribe from the Benin Republic) and the Tapa (northern Nigerian tribe), from whose culture Egungun was supposed to have originated. The masque was only a piece of cloth with little holes pierced in it, but Obatala put the net  for the Egungun to see clearly and a longer distance or range. Obatala performed better than Odu as a masquerader, thus began the monopoly of men as (ara orun kinkin), or people from heaven. But the men were ordered to respect the power of women and mothers (Iya mi) since power belongs to them.
The Irunmole deity dwells underground and asserts authority by purifying society. Because Egungun is expected to make contributions to the progress of the living, when a person dies they become a spirit and believed to possess powers in the spirit world and can carry out their wishes in the physical world by inspiring those that are living to perform those wishes. The invocation of Egungun by the Ojes , the custodians, is performed in the sacred grove Igbo Igbale, which is hallowed ground, and the shrine Ilerun, or sky home. The culture is woven around communion with the spirit world since Olodumare, or God, remains completely outside earthly intellectual knowledge range and cannot give deep meaning to human existence.
In the Diaspora, where Africans were enslaved in the Caribbean and Americas, many of the surviving cultural practices live on in modified expressions in the masked Carnival festivals, mardi gras dances and second line marches of New Orleans-style funeral ceremonies. The masked Egungun dancers, called Layewu, (shown garbed in pieces of cloth in the pictures above) perform during Yoruba funeral ceremonies which are meant to communicate with those still living. When a person dies family members donate pieces of cloth, in the same manner that African Americans donate and toss flowers on their graves or march in New Orleans-style second line funeral dances.
The Oracle Osa Meji is one of the senior Odu Ifa that explains the protocol that all must use when approaching the totality of femininity. Ashe is an African (Yoruba) expression with the fundamental meaning of the ability, or power, to make something happen..
Thus Egungun rituals are for propitiating( honoring) the dead , represent the “collective spirit” of the ancestors, hold high significance in the Yoruba religious system , or ‘Orisa Worship’ of veneration..
(Next: Part 4, Offerings, gifts and foods presented at Egungun).
Visit www.postnewsgroup.com to view Part 1 and 2.

Babatunde Harrison, Journalist Griot in the Diaspora

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Historic Cape Coast was a fishing village when the Portuguese first arrived there in the 1500. They named the place Cabo Corso after the short promontory that formed the fishing cove. The castle was built by the Dutch in 1650, and expanded by the Swedes in 1652. The English changed the name to Cape Coast after they captured the castle in 1664. Cape Coast developed around the castle and the slave trade. Photo by Michael L. Tuite.

The Ancestress, Alice Ewurafua Baoye Arthur, at home with her great grandchildren in Hayward: Anthony Adeyinka DaSilva, JR., (far Left), Miles DaSilva, next to the Ancestress, Christiana Folarinde DaSilva and Malik DaSilva. Photo by Kenneth Walker.

In 2007, Alice Arthur returned to Cape Coast after a three year sojourn in the U.S. In the picture are the Ancestress, (second from left), Auntie Araba, (far left), Maame Yohan Coker, (next to the Ancestress), Dr. Folarinde Christiana Harrison (in eye glasses), Mrs. Sally Adjei (nee Harrison), second from right and Ms. Rebecca Buckman, far right. Photo by James Adetokunbo Harrison.

Part II
By Babatunde Harrison

In the ancient African empires of West Africa, the Griot was the custodian of the histories and genealogies of the people of West Africa. Through epic songs and poetry, the Griot told and preserved the traditions and memories of ancient Mali, Songhai and Ghana..
Since the arrival of the Portuguese, the Cape Coast was gradually transformed into a slave  port and emporium where Africans were bought and sold in exchange for gold,  liquor  and gun powder and then exported to the plantations of the Americas.
At the spot where the Portuguese landed  stands  the Cape Coast slave castle dungeon, built by the Dutch, English and Portuguese, which served as a brief tortuous warehouse, housing millions of African captives before exportation.
The Cape Coast Castle is a symbolic archival story of the African in the Diaspora. There are not enough Griots to tell the stories of the brave men, women and children who lived through the pain and stench of the dungeon castle.
This castle holds millions of intangible horror stories. And, annually, thousands  of descendants of the millions gone return to pass through this dungeon  to imagine and relive the horrors their ancestors.
There are Caucasian historians who make believe and tell tales that slavery came to an end at some dubious point in history. With tongue in cheek, the same historians tell the awesome tales of how the French, the British, the Germans, the Portuguese and the Spanish congregated in Berlin in 1844 and carved out portions of Africa as colonial possessions.
There are Griots, colonial and post-colonial Griots, whose perspectives on the colonial question were offensive to some European minds.. It took decades for Africans to emancipate from the mental slavery conditioned by colonialism.
I am a Griot after the generation of James Kwegyir Aggrey, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Kwame Nkrumah, nationalists from the colonial regime of British West Africa.
I was born in the Gold Coast, now Ghana, at the end of World War II, and my father, Albert Akinola Harrison, was the son of Emmanuel Jenkins Harrison of Lagos, Nigeria, who was  a lawyer and soldier in the British West Africa Frontier Force.
My mother, Alice Ewurafua Baoye Arthur, was a trained seamstress and a daughter of the Royal Abadze Egyir Dwin Family of Ambrado Yard, Cape Coast.
Diaspora, is defined as “the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland or people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location.”
Labia Harrison, my great grandfather, was kidnapped in the early 1800s by Fulani slave raiders and sold to a Portuguese slave ship bound for the Americas. The ship was intercepted by the British Navy and diverted to Sierra Leone where the captive Africans were freed at Freetown.
In Freetown, he joined the Anglican Church and trained as a tailor. He later returned to Nigeria, settling in Abeokuta and Lagos. Labia Harrrison had an only son, Emmanuel Jenkins Harrison, after whom I was named.
He attended Christian Mission Society (CMS) Grammar School; entered Government service from 1901 to 1911 as a clerk in the Judicial Department until  he went to England to study law.
According to the. (The Red Book of West Africa), he was called to the Bar (Middle Temple) in 1911.
He had five children and several grandchildren, including Dr. Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Laureate.
I consider myself the family Griot because I am a trained journalist, and the first born and only male of the five children of my father’s branch of the Harrison family. The Harrison family is dispersed in the Diaspora, in England and America and being an Abadzenana of Cape Coast I see the African in the Diaspora as kith and kin.

Africans In America

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A Veneration Ceremony often has dancing, singing ,drumming, and spiritual chants to honor the ancestors. A Yoruba Mythology saying:” As a spirit in heaven before taking a body, we each are given assignments tasks from our ancestors to achieve then we are sent to earth through selected parents. which leads to the chant – It is the errand of my ancestors that I run, or it is the path of my ancestors that I walk. Photos by Kayode Gbadebo and graphic design by Adam L. Turner

Part II
By Kayode
Gbadebo

According to historian John Ridpath, “Observers of traditional African culture, so inevitably influenced by Western style of thought and intellectual traditions, failed to understand and interpret the culture.”
This may be because, according to writer John Bascom. “The Yoruba way of life is traditional, dating back well before the period of European penetration.” This is also supported by Wole Soyinka’s  “Cyclical reality of the Yoruba world-view.”
The Yoruba beliefs about health encompass the present as well as life after death.
They don’t just define health as the absence of disease, but rather, more expansively, health includes good luck, riches, protection against ill luck or attack.
Their prayer chant for many blessings embodies this sentiment: “Ire owo (wealth); Ire omo (Children); Ire aiku  pari iwa (immortality, or afterlife is a continuation of life). Hence, a healthy man is favored by the spirits of the community ancestors Orisa and is a believer in Olodumare (Almighty God).
George Sarton maintains that, “There is no conflict between science and religion, but there may be deep conflict between science and theology.”
Archbishop Immanuel Milingo, addressing life after death and Africans endowed with powers said, “We are what we are because our society still has something special. We can speak with the dead, and a community may be guided in its endeavor to carry out a decision which affects the whole community. The traditional spiritual consultant speaks to the ancestors and other protective spirits, and they give answer.”
The Ori (head) is thought to be the origin of life. In this belief system death is not the end of life, and belief in reincarnation is linked to respect or veneration for one’s ancestors. Ancestors are considered to have enormous power to watch over the living.  The Odu Ejiogbe verse states, “I have become Ose tree, I will no longer die. I have become 200 hills rolled into one, I am immovable.”
The Yorubas of South Western Nigerian presents the highest dizygotic(fraternal) twinning rate in the world, particularly in Oke Ogun (Iseyin) Oyo, Nigeria borne out of dietary factors of a species of yam grown locally containing oestrogenic (Nylander 1979). Therefore twins are believed to have supernatural powers bestowing health, happiness and posterity upon families with more permissive upbringing. The first twin is called Taiwo, regarded as junior who came to “taste life” and the second Kehinde, the eldest who “sent” the first so he/she can join him/her and are believed to share a combined soul.
Babalawo (priests) were usually consulted on the third day for the Akosejaye(the life script) to determine one’s mission on earth, to check if they have been here before and to seek taboos or possible mishaps in life.
It’s thought that when one dies, the life of the other would be disturbed and ere ibeji (the sacred image of twins) is usually carved and based on the immortality of the soul and reincarnation, which are both essential to the ibeji, Babalawo, may after interpretation of Ifa corpus( divine knowledge), commission an artist to carve a small wooden figure as a symbolic substitute for the deceased twin and if both twins died, two of these figures are made. The figures are washed, fed and clothed, and as in the Yoruba custom they say “dead Ibeji expenses,are expenses for the living.”  The mother enjoys special privilege and dances with the effigies (representations of the persons) once a year while singing praise songs. It’s also important to conduct life gently that one may die a good death, that children lay hands over one’s body in burial. A popular Yoruba saying states that if we die young and a horse is killed in celebration of one’s life: it is better than dying old without people killing a chicken to celebrate.
It is believed every human soul will have a chance to return to earth in the body of a new born. From personal experience, I witnessed some of my siblings who died as young children returned with tattoos made on their bodies before interment by my mother. Odu Oturupon explained Yoruba belief in life after death, how the dead joined the ancestors to become dwellers of heaven (Ara Orun) and why Oyo Yoruba egungun is fully masked.

“One Man’s Battle: An African American Journey”

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The Africana and African American Studies and Friends of the Library group at Contra Costa College presented a book signing this week with Rufus Battle, author of “One Man’s Battle: An African American Journey.”
The book, a tale of struggle and redemption, tells his story of living in a “sharecropper’s shack near a Louisiana cotton field , to the shores of the Pacific and beyond.”
Battle talked about his life during the sharecropping era and how picking cotton as an 8-years old with his family formed part of his character.
He reflected on how he dealt with adversity and what it means to be Black in America in the 21st Century. “One Man’s Battle” is available at the bookstore at Contra Costa College, 2600 Mission Bell Drive in San Pablo. For information, call (510) 235-7800.

Africans in America

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Cape Coast Castle, Ghana

Kayode Gbadebo

Babatunde Harrison, African Journalist Griot

“There are not enough Griots to tell the stories of the brave men, women and children who lived through the pain and stench of the dungeon castle. This castle holds millions of intangible horror stories. And, annually, thousands  of descendants of the millions gone, return to pass through this dungeon  to imagine and relive the horrors of their ancestors.” See page 9.

Africans In America

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Egungun Festival of Nigeria’s Yoruba Ancestors

Chief Modupe Opeola (third from left), head of the Yoruba Kabbalah Ogbe Ate House which is the temple that hosting the Egungun Initiation and Celebration September 2009. Oakland resident Brenda Hudson (4th from right), Egbedokun and Elebiti, chief Egungun Priest in Modakeke.

“Ato” (left) and Egbedokun singing to the masquerader in preparation for the procession and Elebiti.

Elebiti (in green) and Egungun masquerader is being led from the temple beginning the procession. The man in Blue is the head of Egungun worshippers in the Ile-Ife city of Nigerian.

The Egungun is a secret society among the Yoruba people of Ibadan, Oyo, and Modakeke, Gbongan Osun State, Nigeria. The major Egungun festival takes place in June, when members of the society come to the market place and perform masked dances.
The masks represent ancestral spirits. It is considered dangerous to see any part of the man who is wearing the mask.
The dancing masqueraders have their own drummers and entourage of chanting women and girls. The festival climaxes with the appearance of Andu, the most powerful mask. It is believed that the spirits of the deceased possess the masqueraders while they are dancing, and although it promotes a feeling of oneness between the living and the dead, the festival also inspires a certain amount of fear.Part I
By Kayode
Gbadebo

This column is an attempt to inform and educate on Ifa/Orisa spirituality with an understanding that belief and faith is a personal journey.
We would probably cross the spiritual aisle in our discourse on faith or belief across the world. The Egungun (Ancestor) festival is usually organized collectively when the spirits of the ancestors share physical fellowship with relatives on earth. In many communities across Yoruba land, Egungun festivals last variously between seven to 21 days.
Egungun spirits may be called upon from the Ojubo (hallowed ground) whenever needed for divine intervention. Every community is involved in Egungun worship since everybody has  ancestors in the great beyond.
Men are generally more exposed to Egungun mystery than women, and secrets are usually restricted to members.
Egungun rites may be celebrated either formally or informally, but usually formally in matters dealing with the whole communities.  Women may be initiates of Egungun mystery and are not to divulge the secrets of the cult. Women earn titles like Iyamode, Yeyesorun and Ato. Ato is an initiated member of the cult. Every female child born with her cord placed on her chest like Atori (whip) is called Ato. Ato could also be a child born with the membrane covering her head like mask. If a male, he will be called Amusan. The third child of a triplet is naturally called Ato.
Odu Oturupon Meji claims when a man dies the corpse is buried, but the spirit joins the ancestors to become Egungun.
Egungun is clothed from head to toe revealing no part of the body just like a corpse.
Next: Yoruba belief in life after death.

500 Attend African American Organizations Making Connections

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From left to right: Congresswoman Barbara Lee, founding Black Panther Party Chairman Bobby Seale, and Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson at the 2nd African American Organizations Making Connections at Laney College on Feb. 23. Photo credit: Reginald James.

In celebration of Black History Month, Supervisor Keith Carson and community leaders held the African American Organizations Making Connections 2013 conference, “Strategies and Outcomes for Our Black Community,” Feb. 23 at Laney College in Oakland.  More than 500 people attended.
“The Black community faces many challenges, including high unemployment, Black-on-Black violence and poor health outcomes,” said  Carson.
“Making Connections 2013 was an opportunity for us to come together as one, establish a vision for the future and identify concrete actions that we can take to improve the lives of Black people right now,” he said.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee told of her efforts through the Congressional Black Caucus and as a member of the Appropriations Committee to increase educational and economic opportunities for African Americans in the Bay Area and around the country.
Former Black Panther Party leaders Elaine Brown and Bobby Seale and Ella Baker Center Executive Director Jakada Imani participated in the plenary panel, “A Look into the Black Community: Where We Have Been, Where We Are, Where We Are Going.”
Seale recounted his experience growing up in Texas and the racism he faced as a young man.  “The precept of White supremacy and precept of Black inferiority was enshrined in racist laws, which had to be changed through the legislative process,” he said.
In the 1960s, there were only about 50 African American elected officials nationwide, Seale said.  Now, in addition to President Obama, there are thousands of African Americans officials at the local, state, and Congressional levels.
Brown spoke about the ongoing plight of poverty and unequal educational opportunities for Blacks. “The problems of racism and economic inequality and war are all connected,” she said.  “Today, we don’t want to say ‘poor people.’ We only talk about the middle class.  We need a new movement to address poverty.”
Dr. Siri Brown, Chair of African American Studies at Merritt College, reported that the conference’s   “Black Men /Black Women” workshop come to the conclusion that “Good communication starts with self work.”
African Americans need to reach out and ask for help from others who have been down the path of navigating relationships, marriage and children, she said.
Out of the “Faith-Based & Community Organizations” workshop came a commitment from Allen Temple Baptist Church to host a roundtable to continue the conversation about how to better collaborate, coordinate and reduce barriers to providing social services to the Black community.
Organizers created BlackLink, a free social network to keep people connected to the Black community. Login from a computer or smart phone by visiting: http://blacklink.ning.com/.
Making Connections 2013 was sponsored by Supervisor Carson, Alameda Alliance for Health, Clorox, Kaiser Permanente, Comcast, Laney College and the Socially Responsible Network.

Darlene Lawson, 75, Fought for Equal Education

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Darlene Lawson served on the Oakland Board of Education from 1983 to January 1993. Here she celebrates her second inauguration with five of her seven children: Loretta Little, Vida Byrd, Billie Wright, Annette Wright and Charlene Byrd.

By Ken A. Epstein

Businesswoman Darlene Ann Lawson-Scott, 75, who left a lasting impact on Oakland schools during two terms on the Board of Education, died on Jan 13. A fighter for equal education for flatland children and families, she was the first African American woman to be elected to the school board.
Known as Darlene Lawson when she ran and won a seat in District 5, she served on the board from July 1983 through January 1993. She was selected by fellow board members to serve as board president in 1985 and 1987.
As a parent, she started going to PTA meetings. “She learned that the hill schools were getting more resources than flatland schools. That’s why she ran for office – she wanted to be an advocate for flatland parents and children,” said Lawson’s daughter Loretta Little.
In one campaign brochure, written in Spanish and English, she described herself as “Someone who will not sell out.” She said she supported classroom curriculum that shows “an appreciation of the richness of the cultural difference and similarities of our children.”
She also backed: “No schools closings;” “A program in teacher training for prospective Latino, African-American and Asian teachers;” and “school safety with parental involvement.”
On the board, Lawson developed committees so members could make informed decisions on finances, budget, disciplinary hearings and facilities. Years later, the state trustee who was assigned to Oakland disbanded the committees.
“Without committees, the board has no way of doing anything but rubberstamp” staff decisions, said Sylvester Hodges, who served with Lawson on the board. He represented District 7.
The disciplinary committee reviewed expulsions to make sure youngsters – who may have done something wrong and childish – were not needlessly kicked out of school, destroying their futures.
“Darlene showed she was a leader in her personal and her political life,” said Hodges. “She had many different sides to who she was. She brought people together as a family,” he said.
Lawson made waves when she focused on unequal funding to schools in the richer and poorer areas of the city, Hodges said. “We were very disappointed with the difference in funding allocations between the flatlands and the hills. Darlene was quick to point that out, and people didn’t like that.”
Lawson and other members of the board’s African American majority faced a “public lynching,” during those years, Hodges said. Despite the barrage of attacks from the media and officials, he said, “She did not back down because she was being attacked. She was brave.”
Oakland education leader and professor Kitty Kelly Epstein also remembered Lawson as someone who stood up for Oakland children.
“Darlene was one of the first elected officials in Oakland to conscientiously advocate for flatlands residents,” Epstein said. “She was an effective parent advocate before she ran for school board, and she courageously stood up against the ‘old-boy’ and ‘old-girl’ network who thought they should continue to run Oakland politics.”
Lawson was born April 20, 1937 in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Richard Woods Sr. and Leoma Woods-Dixon. A “PK” or Preacher’s Kid, she had a very strict upbringing.
The oldest of nine children, she took care of her siblings and other family members when their parents and grandparents passed away.
At her early age she joined the African Apostle Methodist Church. She graduated in 1955 from Douglas High School and received an AA degree in business from St. Louis Community College.
Her first job was at a fast food restaurant. She also worked in nursing and served as a Girl Scout leader and swim coach.
Even after she relocated to California, she was quick to travel back to St. Louis whenever a family member needed her.
After leaving the school board, she earned a real estate license. She helped youth find jobs and worked through the City of Oakland to help women on welfare become first-time homeowners.
Lawson married David Scott in 1990. A successful entrepreneur, she was a daycare provider, real estate broker and owned several businesses, including nightclubs.
She also found time to co-author a two-volume book on her family’s history, “Genealogy of a Family Before and After Slavery,” conducting research at plantations and locating ancestors who had worked on the railroads.
She spent her last years at a convalescent home in Alameda. Though ill, she advocated for the rights of the elderly and disabled residents and served on the board of the rehabilitation care home.
Lawson was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers Ronald P. Dixon and Robert E. Woods and a sister, Carol McDuffie (McDaniel).
She leaves her husband of 23 years, Dave Scott, sons David Scott Jr. and Keith Lawson and daughters Charlene Byrd, Loretta Little, Vida Byrd, Billie Jo Wright and Annette Wright.
She also leaves brothers Richard Woods, Jack Woods and Byron Dixon, sisters Marieda Woods (Irons) and Betty Booth: and 12 grand children; and many “god-children” who she had adopted into her heart over the years.

African American Chamber of Commerce Honors City’s Black Leaders

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From left to right: Karen Roye Hiles, Director of San Francisco Department of Child Support Services; Naomi Kelly, San Francisco City Administrator and Dr. Caesar Churchwell, SFAACC Board Member attend event at Yoshi’s honoring all Afrian American Elected Officials, Department Heads and Commissioners. Photo By Khali O’ray.

By Carla Thomas

The San Francisco Black Chamber of Commerce recently held an event to honor the city’s top African American civic leaders, department heads, commissioners and elected officials.
Held on Jan. 25 at Yoshi’s Jazz Club, the celebration was led by Dr. Toye Moses and Chamber President Fred Jordan.
“We want to honor our leaders for their commitment to the community and to encourage them to continue to pursue excellence and unselfish commitment to our proud city,” said Jordan.
“We are really looking to our current leaders to commit to the awareness of the collective needs, interest and civic affairs of the African American community,” said Moses, member of the Immigrant Rights Commission and the South East Facility Commission.
“I am proud to be mayor of a city which continues to benefit from the tireless commitment of our African American community leaders who have broken racial barriers and made contributions to our city,” said Mayor Ed Lee.
Naomi Kelly, the city’s first African American female city administrator, also addressed the more than 200 guests.
“The San Francisco African American Chamber of Commerce is one of our key partners in creating economic empowerment, sustenance and vitality of our African American community through education, advocacy and mentoring,” she said.
Others who joined the celebration were Supervisors London Breed and Malia Cohen, Senator Mark Leno, Public Utilities Commission (PUC) General Manager Harlan Kelly and PUC Commissioner Emeritus Tim Simon.
Supervisor Emeritus Doris Ward was acknowledged for her years of commitment to the city.
“Were it not for veteran advocates like Doris Ward, Willie B. Kennedy, Amos Brown, Sophie Maxwell and Espanola Jackson among others, African Americans in San Francisco would have an even longer road to haul,” said Jordan.
“We are pleased to be a part of this event. and we recognize the importance of African Americans doing business with those of us living on the continent of Africa as well,” said Nigerian business leader Sesan Haastrup.
“To have all of these people in the same room, we should be able to achieve a lot in 2013,” said Lance Burton of Planet Fillmore Communications.

Public Utilities Commission, African American Chamber Salute Linda Fadeke Richardson

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Commissioner Linda Richardson (center), President of the Treasure Island Development Authority with Dr. Caesar Churchwell (left), San Francisco African American Chamber of Commerce Vice President and Harlan Kelly, General Manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Photo by Lance Burton.

By Carla
Thomas

The San Public Utilities Commission and the San Francisco African American Chamber of Commerce are saluting Linda Fadeke Richardson, a champion of environmental justice, education, health and community revitalization for over 25 years.
“Commissioner Richardson’s efforts have made the community a better place,” said Harlan Kelly, General Manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, speaking at  a recent celebration for Dr. Espanola Jackson’s 80th birthday,
Leadership of the African American Chamber also spoke highly of Richardson.
“(She) has worked tirelessly for the community over the years,” said Boardmember Dr. Caesar Churchwell.
“Linda is a community person, a hard worker – she is on her job, vocal and knowledgeable about what’s happening in this city, she’s a fighter,” he added.
Richardson’s service to the African American community includes leadership roles with the Southeast Alliance for Environmental Justice and  commission appointments by San Francisco mayors.
“Linda has been a great asset to our chamber, and she really cares about the community she serves,” said the Chamber President Fred Jordan of FE Jordan Associates.
Formerly president of the Civil Service Commission, she later joined the San Francisco Planning Commission, leading the community fight to close Hunters Point power plant in 1998.
A Nigerian born community advocate,  she said, “I want any community I am a part of to be improved and become a better place – the world is a big place. So it is imperative that communities work together to benefit all and promote necessary changes.”
Richardson has also served on the Human Rights Commission and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission for the State of California. she currently serves as president of the Board of Directors of the Treasure Island Development Authority.

Supervisor Carson Hosts “African American Organizations Making Connections”

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Keith Carson

“Strategies and Outcomes for Our Black Community” is the theme of African American Organizations Making Connections 2013, a free event featuring panels and workshops for members of the Black community that will be held Saturday, Feb 23, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the gymnasium at Laney College, 900 Fallon St. in Oakland.
The one-day event is designed to help community members connect, learn and take action around critical issues like public safety, health and job creation.
Workshops and panels will support those who are seeking positive outcomes and real strategies for improving the Black community in the Bay Area.
Sponsors are Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, Clorox, Laney College and the Socially Responsible Network.
The plenary panel will be: “A Look into the Black Community – Where We Have Been, Where We Are, Where We Are Going.” Workshops will include   “Our Community a Safe Place – Public Safety,” “Business / Job creation / Workforce Development Strategies,” “Faith-based and Community Organizations,” “Black Health and Wellness and “A Black Community as One – Intergenerational Relationships”
The first Making Connections event in 2010 attracted more than 350 people, and organizers expect more than 500 at this year’s event.
With a focus on solutions and measurable outcomes, this event will bring together experts and community members who have a wealth of knowledge, expertise and access to resources, according to the organizers.
The event will provide a free catered lunch. Youth are encouraged to attend.
To RSVP, go to http://aamakingconnections2013.eventbrite.com/ Join the Facebook group at /www.facebook.com/AfricanAmericansMakingConnections

New Documentary “End Game: AIDS in Black America”

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From left to right: Renatta Simone, producer, writer and director of End Game: HIV in Black America, Nel Davis and POST journalist Jesse Brooks. Nel and Brooks got a chance to tell their experience of being HIV positive in the film.

Left to right: Post reporter Jesse Brooks, Nel Davis with Host of KQED Forum – Michael Krasny.

By Jesse Brooks

The public is invited to participate in a conversation at the Bay Area’s first public showing of PBS’s Frontline documentary “End Game: AIDS in Black America.”
This documentary explores how politics, social factors and cultural factors allowed the AIDS epidemic to spread rapidly in the African American community over the past three decades.
The film was originally released in July 2012, and premiered at the 2012 International AIDS conference held in Washington.  It has done what Renatta Simone, producer, writer and director intended it to do, encouraging people to start to talk and be aware of the conditions African Americans face regarding HIV/AIDS in America.
In 1986, 20 percent of all people in the United States living with AIDS were African American. The most recent statistics from Center for Disease Control (CDC) indicate that 45 percent of all new cases of HIV infection are among African Americans.
In the film Simone explores why the HIV epidemic is so much more prevalent among African Americans than among whites. “The film is about race in America as much as it is about HIV, how a virus has exploited our inability to deal with our problems around race,” said Simone, who also produced the award winning series, “The Age of AIDS,” which appeared on Frontline in 2006.
Why is HIV so much worse in the Black Community? This is a question that comes up all the time at speaking engagements. This film gives the answer. Three years in the making, this groundbreaking documentary film tells the story of how, from the earliest days, prejudice, silence and stigma allowed the virus to spread deep into the Black community.
The film was shot coast to coast in Los Angeles, Oakland, Atlanta, Birmingham, Selma, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C.; in churches, clinics, a high school classroom, a prison, a nightclub, a restaurant kitchen and on the street.
Meet others from the film, like Nel Davis, who told her story of being 65-year-old Black woman, infected by a deacon she married from her church and how she found out his status when a piece of  paper with the positive HIV test results fell out of his bible one day while she was cleaning.
According to Dr. Marsha Martin, an HIV prevention leader,   “We have achieved some things as  Black people in America because the civil rights movement got us to some places. But at the same time, AIDS is everywhere, showing us all the places that we have missed, saying look over here, look over here, and look over here!”
Martin has worked in Oakland with Get Screened Oakland, a mayoral initiative that encourages testing.
The showing is also a kick-off of a year-long calendar of events of two merging groups: the Bay Area Treatment Advocacy Network (BTAN) and the Bay Area Regional African American HIV/AIDS State of Emergency Coalition (BARAASEC).The two groups are joining forces to advance HIV treatment in the Black community and to ensure that the community is prepared to participate in the treatment process.
Whether watching “End Game” online or at the community conversation, activists have been at this for 30 years, and they are at a different point in the evolution of the crisis. Now is the time to be talking about the “End Game.”
“End game: AIDS in Black America” and an intimate conversation with the community, will take place at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 27 at the New Parkway Theatre, 474 24th St. in Oakland.
To purchase tickets for $10, go to Spectrumfilm012013.eventbrite.com or call (510) 575-8245.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Makes History at Rose Parade

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Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. is the oldest Black Greek letter organization to ever participate in the Rose Parade in its 124-year history.
The parade’s theme this year was “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” named in honor of the Dr. Seuss book.
One of the book’s most famous quotes: “Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!” underscores just how far your imagination can take you.
When the sorority’s 22 founders collaborated and created the public service organization, they could never have imagined this day and that one of the places would be along Sierra Madre Boulevard at the Tournament of Roses Parade where nearly 39 million Americans could behold this salute to sisterhood and service.
The  float featured a sculptured globe highlighted with a spectacular floral tribute that emphasizes Delta Sigma Theta’s commitment to humanitarian efforts worldwide and a rotating hexagon, with six detailed floral-graphs, took center stage and highlighted Delta’s Five-Point Programmatic Thrust program: economic development, educational development, international awareness and involvement, physical and mental health, and political awareness and involvement.
Founded in 1913 at Howard University, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.’s inaugural Rose Parade float was in celebration of its 100 years of commitment to excellence and international sisterhood of more than 300,000 college-educated women.
Today, Delta is the largest African-American Greek-lettered sorority in the world with over 1,000 chapters in the United States, England, Japan, Germany, the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas and the Republic of Korea.
The 12 float riders included the sorority’s national president, Cynthia Butler-McIntyre, national executive committee and seven past presidents. One hundred out-walkers flanked the sides of the float to represent Delta Sigma Theta’s 100 years of public service. Twenty-two out-walkers walked in stride in honor of Delta Sigma Theta’s 22 founders.
Over 15,000 roses, including red Black Magic and Freedom, formed the lush garden beds running throughout the float. There was a plethora of crimson and cream, the sorority’s official colors. Crème de la Cream and Rouge Baiser roses intermixed with phalaenopsis orchids, Casablanca lilies, euphorbia, hydrangea, bells of Ireland and viburnum were also featured.

African American Physicists to Receive Presidential Awards

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Dr. S. James Gates

Dr. George Carruthers

By Hattie
Carwell

Dr. James Gates will receive the National Science Award, and Dr. George Carruthers will receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation – among the highest honors conferred upon scientists and engineers by the federal government
The newly named recipients will receive their awards at a White House ceremony next year.
“They represent the ingenuity and imagination that has long made this nation great — and they remind us of the enormous impact a few good ideas can have when these creative qualities are unleashed in an entrepreneurial environment,” said President Obama.
Gates is an American theoretical physicist, known for work on supersymmetry, supergravity and superstring theory .  He is currently John S. Toll Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland, College Park and serves on President Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and was formerly President of the National Society of Black Physicists.
Dr. Carruthers was the principal scientist responsible for the development of the ultra-violet camera that made the trip to the moon aboard Apollo 16 in 1972. The camera was designed to study the earth’s upper atmosphere, interplanetary and interstellar space, stars, and galaxies by making observations of light in the far-ultraviolet.
Later versions of the camera have flown on Skylab 4, two space shuttle flights, and the ARGOS satellite. Carruthers was editor of the Journal of the National Technical Association.
Both recipients have lectured in Oakland.  In 2003, Gates lectured at McClymonds High School as a participant in a lecture series sponsored by the Museum of African American Technology (MAAT) Science Village.
In 2009, Dr. Carruthers was the featured speaker for premier of the film, “Hubble’s Diverse Universe,” held at MAAT Science Village.
President Obama named 12 researchers for the National Medal of Science and 11 inventors as recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation., according to a  Dec. 17 White House statement.

Temple Hill’s Days of Christmas

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By Robert M. Arnold

December is a month of lights for many Bay Area faith traditions. The public is invited to Oakland’s Mormon Temple Hill, located at 4770 Lincoln Ave. to enjoy the thousands of lights now illuminating the landscape, waterway and buildings.
Special free events and programs are planned each evening now through Dec. 30, featuring world-class singers, dancers, bell ringers, instrumentalist, and even a professional storyteller.  For more information visit www.templehillevents.com  or call (510) 531-1475.
The Voices of the Miraculous Music Ensemble will perform African-American toe-tapping gospel gems on Dec. 22, directed by Emperess Hall with lead vocalist, Majesty Scott at 7 p.m., with a repeat program at 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 23,is Grand Piano Night featuring six talented pianists, sharing two grand pianos.

Still Sounding the Alarm on African American AIDS State of Emergency

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The Bay Area Regional African American State of Emergency Coalition (BARAASEC), talked to Board of Supervisors. From left to right: Camryn Crump, Pamela Casey-Aziz, Loren Jones; Supervisor Wilma Chan; Gigi Crowder; Gloria Crowell-Cox, Dr. Neena Murgai (Alameda County Office of AIDS Surveillance), Supervisor Kieth Carson, Dr. Muntu Davis (Alameda county’s Health officer), Georgia Schreiber (Alameda County Office of AIDS linkage to care coordinator), Omar Bagani, Charlie Wilson, Jesse Brooks (BARAASEC’s Co-chair).

Camryn Crump

By Camryn Crump

The Bay Area Regional African American State of Emergency Coalition, BARAASEC, along with Dr. Muntu Davis of Oakland, are sounding the alarm concerning disproportionate HIV transmissions in Alameda County.
On Nov. 19, BARAASEC approached the Alameda Board of Supervisors, providing an update on how the coalition is fulfilling its mission to stop the spread of HIV and increase the care for African Americans living with HIV in this county.
BARAASEC is working to improve performance measures in Alameda to see a change in statistics among the African American community concerning health and HIV. The group is determined to change the dynamics of how services are delivered, beginning with the areas of HIV education, testing and linkage to care.
“For me it is all about action and not about talking,” says Jesse Brooks as he stood before the supervisors, explaining the steps BARAASEC has taken in 2012 and its plan for the coming year.
Brooks talked about why HIV/AIDS is substantially higher in African-American communities than white and Hispanic communities and the factors related to how HIV is really affecting the African American community.
Bringing together community groups, residents, and the county together will help improve all HIV/AIDS programs and help a policy platform that will promote change needed to impact the epidemic.  Engaging all parts of the community, such as the church, educational system and department of social services, also will help create a plan to impact the targeted population
The Board of Supervisors continues to support the push to create awareness and draw resources in relation to the state of emergency of African Americans in Alameda County.

Peace Corps Volunteer Crossed Paths With Writer Alex Haley in Africa

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Alex Haley, (middle row, second from left), with Kunta Kinteh clan relatives, Juffureh Village, Gambia.

In Juffureh Village, Gambia, granddaughter Brianna with Mariama Fofana Kinteh, the oldest direct descendant of Kunta Kinteh.

By Clinton Etheridge

It was a chance encounter with history – and maybe destiny.
When Alex Haley and I crossed paths in Gambia in March 1972, little did I know that he would go on to produce “Roots,” the book and TV-miniseries that would take America and the world by storm.
At that time, Haley was in the last phase of a decade long search to trace his African ancestor, Kunta Kinteh, to Juffureh Village in Gambia.
In March 1972, I was in the last months of my Peace Corps service as a math teacher, with plans to return to the United States to enroll at Stanford Business School in September.
I had spent close to two years in Gambia, one of the smallest and poorest nations in Africa.  Back then, Gambia had a population of about 500,000 and a land mass twice the size of Delaware but divided by the Gambia River.  The capital and largest city Banjul, had a population of 30,000 people.
At that point, I knew Gambia intimately, having visited every major town to conduct math workshops as the Peace Corps math curriculum development coordinator.
Given my background, I was astonished when Alex Haley told me in the lobby of a local hotel that he and his entourage were in Gambia to, “go up river in search of my ancestor.”  As a grizzled Peace Corps vet, I couldn’t tell Alex Haley the truth as I saw it: there was nothing to find up river.
But I was ignorant and arrogant.  I first realized this four years later in 1976 when “Roots” shot to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list. Then in January 1977, when “Roots” was exploding on American TV, the full meaning sunk in of what Alex Haley was trying to tell me back in Gambia.
In many respects, Haley put Gambia on the map and made Juffureh Village a worldwide tourist attraction.  Yet, he and I are both African-American tubaabs, the local Wolof word for “non-Africans” and commonly used for white men or Europeans.
But Haley and I are also both beloved by the Gambians—he in a big way and I in a smaller one—because we both came to Gambia, “three centuries removed” in the words of Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen, to give back and to serve.
This came through when in July 2011 the Gambian vice president welcomed me and my family to State House in the capital Banjul.  The Gambians were not only honoring me, the first Black Peace Corps Volunteer in country, but also the return some 40 years later of three generations of Black Americans: me, my three children, and my granddaughter.
My original encounter with Alex Haley came full circle when in July 2011 in Juffureh Village, my granddaughter Brianna met Mariama Fofana Kinteh, the oldest direct descendant of Kunta Kinteh.
Was this destiny?

“What is Africa to Me?”

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Clinton teaching math at Latrikunda School, Gambia.

Clinton living at the level of the people in a Gambian compound.

By Clinton Etheridge

I joined Peace Corps Gambia and went to Africa in search of my Blackness.
I was born in 1947 and grew up in Harlem in the 1950s, coming of age during the civil rights movement.
My mother and father hailed from North Carolina, which I visited in the 1950s.  I experienced Jim Crow up close and personal in the segregated restrooms of the Chesapeake Bay ferry and the segregated balcony of the Plymouth movie theater in my mother’s hometown.
Although dehumanizing, experiencing the Plymouth Theater and the Chesapeake Bay ferry did not kill me.  These acts of segregation were not violent like the beating of the Freedom Riders in 1961 or the murder of Medgar Evers in 1963.
But the Jim Crow segregation I did experience strengthened my Black identity and helped me better understand the civil rights movement.
In 1965, I went to Swarthmore College outside of Philadelphia and became a founding father of the Swarthmore Afro-American Students Society (SASS).  Like so many young Blacks of our generation, we in SASS were “Black and proud”—and fascinated with Africa.  We sought to identify with Africa by wearing our hair in afros and dressing in dashikis.
Although a shy unlikely leader, I became SASS chairman my senior year at Swarthmore and led the Black students in the weeklong non-violent occupation of the admissions office in January 1969 in support of greater Black enrollment.  Unfortunately, the president of Swarthmore died of a heart attack during our non-violent demonstration.
His death became one of the most traumatic and controversial events in the 20th Century history of Swarthmore College.  However, I was able to graduate from Swarthmore in June 1969—but had no idea of future plans.
I taught math for a year at Mercer County Community College in Trenton, New Jersey following my graduation from Swarthmore.  But Africa pulled at my heartstrings.
So I joined Peace Corps Gambia from 1970-1972.  At that stage of my life, if I hadn’t joined Peace Corps Gambia I probably would have gone to Africa some way, somehow – if only for a short visit.  But for two years, I saw Africa from the bottom up, serving and giving back as a teacher and living at the level of the people in a Gambian compound as a Peace Corps volunteer.
But most importantly, I was able to formulate my own answer to the critical question posed by Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen about Black American identity: “What is Africa to me?”
What is Africa to me;
Copper sun or scarlet sea,
Jungle star or jungle track,
Strong bronzed men, or regal black
Women from whose loins I sprang
When the birds of Eden sang?
One three centuries removed
From the scenes his fathers loved,
Spicy grove, cinnamon tree,
What is Africa to me?
—Countee Cullen (1903-1946) Harlem Renaissance poet

Ritterman: Measure N Good for Kids and Good for Richmond

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By Jeff
Ritterman

Councilmembers Nat Bates and Corky Booze, BAPAC, the Richmond chapters of the NAACP and BWOPA, several African American clergy, two popular African American doctors and Willie Brown have all urged Richmond residents to vote against Measure N, the Richmond Soda Tax.
I believe that they are terribly misinformed and that following their advice will lead to African American children dying prematurely.
New science:  a can of soda a day increases your risk of obesity, heart attack, type 2 diabetes, stroke, hypertension and cancer.  All of the major causes of death have now been definitively linked to sugary drinks.
Richmond’s African American students have the highest rate of obesity among our school children.  More than one in three is obese.  On average these students are consuming 40 pounds of extra sugar from sodas each year.  This added sugar goes to the liver and gets converted into fat.
The liver itself gets packed with fat eventually leading to diabetes.   The liver also makes the dangerous fats that clog up the heart’s arteries leading to heart attacks early in life.
Medical experts now agree that sodas are the number one cause of the obesity epidemic and the diabetes, heart attacks, strokes and cancer that go with it.
If we want to prevent our obese and overweight African American fifth and seventh graders and those that come after them from dying young we need a successful intervention.
The brightest minds in medicine all agree that a soda tax is the smartest way to begin reversing the obesity epidemic.  Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said that the soda tax could be “the single most effective measure to reverse the obesity epidemic.”
Our kids’ doctor’s organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, strongly supports Measure N, the Richmond Soda Tax.  So do the American Heart Association, the Institute of Medicine, the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association and the United Nations.
Opponents of the Soda tax say it will hurt the poor.  Diabetes, heart attacks, strokes and cancer hurt the poor even more.  The average household in Richmond will only pay an additional 20 cents a day if the tax passes.
No one needs to pay the tax.  We all can drink tap water, milk or other alternatives without added sugar.
A Soda Tax will result in about a 10 to 20 percent drop in consumption.  That is good, but not enough to reverse the obesity epidemic.  We need to invest the $3 million in tax revenue in programs to educate our children about nutrition, provide them with more nutritious food, and make available to our kids a wide variety of afterschool sports activities.
For $86,000 we can teach every third grader in Richmond who wants to, how to swim at The Plunge.  An African American child’s chances of learning to swim without these lessons unless his or her parents are swimmers are 10 percent.  We can reverse this once and for all and allow all of our children to become water safe.
We can afford new sports fields every year for our kids.  We can put nutrition teachers in all of our elementary schools.  We can support our Little League, The Half Steppers, our soccer leagues, our tennis program and our football teams with the tax revenue.
Don’t take my word for it.  Come hear a national expert, Dr. Maya Rockeymoore speak on “When Breaking Up is Hard To Do: The Link Between Sugary Drinks and African American Health Disparities” on Monday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church, 684 Juliga Woods St.
Jeff Ritterman, M.D. serves on the Richmond City Council and was a cardiologist at Kaiser Richmond for 29 years.

Race Car driver Antron Brown makes history

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Antron with his Grandmother Dolores Brown

The National Hot Rod Association recently made its last stop on the east coast at the Maple Grove Raceway in Pennsylvania for the Auto Plus Nationals. New Jersey native, Antron Brown, placed second in the Top Fuel Dragster race, an uncommon feat for an African American in the world of car racing, and further cementing his place as the most successful African-American racer in motor sports history.

The win was a sweet one for Brown and his team, who were fully decked out in pink in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month and in honor of his mother-in-law, Linda Matranga, a breast cancer survivor.
The Maple Grove race was also special for Brown because his grandmother Dolores Joyce Brown was in the stands. She bought Antron his first dirt bike when he was four and has always supported him in his racing career. Speed must be in the family’s blood, because Joyce Brown also raced as a young woman.
Brown started racing Pro Stock motorcycles in 1997. While in college, he received a phone call from NFL cornerback Troy Vincent, who asked him if he could ride pro stock motorcycles, which travel at speeds of up to180 mph. In less than a year, Brown teamed up with Dave Schultz, a successful racer whose mentoring helped him become a top pro stock motorcycle rider.
In ten years, Brown scored 16 victories, and finished second in the points standings in 2001 and 2006. His stellar record paid off in 2008 when he signed a deal with David Powers Motor Sports to drive a Top Fuel Dragster, a vehicle that has 8,000 horsepower, and travels over 300 mph in less than four seconds.

Anron taking off at the starting line at Maple Grove Raceway in Pennsylvania.

Between qualifying rounds at the Maple Grove Raceway, Brown said learning to race a dragster required the same skills as racing bikes, “I did not have to learn how to race all over again,” he said. He continued, “My ten year career in PS motorcycle honed me and helped me a lot in how to handle high pressure situations, how to race and how to perform on a day to day basis, but the learning curve was now driving that 330mph rocket ship. I became a sponge through each year, learning more and more.”

Brown said that a complex combination of skill and instinct plays a role in winning races, “I am my own worst critic, and I watched, studying all of my races, then do different things to hone my skills, and get better, because this is not a deal that you can think, you have to train yourself to adapt to whatever is thrown at you, and when it happens, your body has to react, and if you think, its too late, its over and done with.”
Brown was honored earlier this year by the New Brunswick, N.J. African American Chamber of Commerce. “That was not just an award for me, but for my whole family, from my grandparents, to my kids,” Brown said.
To keep up with Antron Brown and others in drag racing, visit: www.nhra.com

Little Brianna in Big Africa

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Brianna with a crocodile at Kachikally Crocodile Pool in Bakau, Gambia. (The tour guide told us the crocodiles are tranquilized for the safety of the tourists; it is okay to touch the tail of the crocodile but not the mouth.)

Dakar ladies showing daughter Lauren how to tie African head wrap. called musoor in Woloff: Die Sylla in blue musoor, wife of Sambou Toure; Mbayang Cisse, in red musoor, wife of Ndary Toure.

Brianna with a baby on Goree Island, in harbor of Dakar, Senegal, a french-speaking neighbor of Gambia.

Clinton with Ndary Toure, chief justice of the Senegalese Supreme Court (Cours Supreme) in his chambers at the court in Dakar, Senegal.

By Clinton Etheridge

I first went to Africa in 1970 when I was 23 when I became the first Black Peace Corps
Volunteer in Gambia, West Africa—a former British colony where I taught math.
My granddaughter Brianna went to Africa when she was only 4 years old, in July 2011 when I returned to Gambia with her and my three adult children and son-in-law on a family pilgrimage some 40 years after my Peace Corps service.
In Gambia in 1972, I met the late Alex Haley, the best-selling author of “Roots,” when he was on the last phase of tracing his African ancestor Kunta Kinteh to Juffure village.
In Gambia, Brianna met (and took a picture with) Mariama Fofana Kinteh, the oldest direct descendant of Kunta Kinteh and the matriarch of the family clan in Juffure.
I believe children have a capacity to engage with other children—and, with a child’s heart, Brianna hugged every baby and played with every child she encountered in Africa.
With Brianna in Gambia, I observed a child who was seeing and experiencing so many new and interesting people, places, and things—like the bemused Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” who tells her dog: “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”
For example, Brianna had a chance to pet the tail of a real crocodile at Kachikally Crocodile Pool in Bakau, Gambia.  The tour guide told us the crocodiles are tranquilized for the safety of the tourists. He said it was okay to touch the tail of the crocodile but not the mouth.)
Brianna and the family also met the Gambian Vice President – Her Excellency Dr. Isatou Njie-Saidy and the Gambian Minister of Tourism, Fatou Mass Jobe-Njie, at State House in the capital Banjul.
That evening, a two-minute news clip  on Gambian TV showed Brianna and the family shaking hands with the vice president.
Brianna and the family also visited neighboring French-speaking Dakar, Senegal, the closest point on the African continent to the Americas.  In Dakar harbor lay Goree Island and the infamous Slave House with its “Door of No Return”—the last foothold captured Africans had on the Motherland before embarking onto the Middle Passage and into slavery on an American plantation.
By going at age 4, Brianna was able to experience Africa with virtually no pre-conceptions.  Most of us grow up with the “Dark Continent” image of Africa propagated by Tarzan movies and other crude stereotypes.
As Malcolm X said in a 1965 speech: “Having complete control over Africa, the colonial powers of Europe had projected the image of Africa negatively…jungle savages, cannibals, nothing civilized.”
But Brianna discovered, as I did some 40 years earlier, that the “darkest” thing about Africa is our ignorance of it.
Maybe Brianna will grow up loving the Motherland so much that she gets a Ph.D.in African studies and one day go back to Gambia to teach.  If so, she has a head start.

Mervyn Dymally, 86, Calif.’s Only Black Lt. Governor

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Mervyn M. Dymally

Mervyn Dymally, the history-making California assemblyman, senator and lieutenant governor who also served in Congress for more than a decade, has died at age 86.
Representing Compton, Dymally was the state’s first foreign-born Black assemblyman in 1962, its first black state senator in 1966 and the first and only black lieutenant governor in 1974. In the U.S. Congress, he served as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he championed economic and humanitarian aid for Africa.
Dymally died Oct. 7 in Los Angeles.
His wife, Alice Gueno Dymally said, “He lived a very extraordinary life and had no regrets.”
The Trinidad-born Dymally was also a former teacher and union organizer.
He led a health institute at the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. The university’s nursing school bears his name.
Dymally was born May 12, 1926, in Trinidad. After graduating from high school, he worked as a reporter for The Vanguard, a weekly newspaper published by a labor union.
He came to the United States when he was 19. He earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Los Angeles State College, and a master’s degree in government from Sacramento State University and a doctorate in human behavior from United States International University, now Alliant International University, in San Diego.
- The Root

Mindblown Labs, African-American Tech Start-up

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Team members of Mindblown Labs, from left to right: Kilimanjaro Robbs, Trevin York, Keegan Stone, Cherise Wilson, Tracy Moore II, and Jason Young.

Mindblown Labs, a new education technology start-up, has launched an online Kickstarter campaign to raise at least $60,000 to launch a new mobile game, Mindblown Life.
Mindblown Life is a mobile social game that combines life-simulation elements and edgy humor to help young adults develop money management and financial literacy skills.
Mindblown Life puts players at the heart of the game. They create a customizable avatar, choose their career, and perform reflex-based mini-games at work to earn “Money,” “Skill,” and “Reputation” points.
They socialize and collaborate with real life friends (e.g., play the mini-games together, attend their concerts, or, if having a rough month, crash on their couches, etc.).
In this fun and inviting context, they learn about everything from credit card debt and credit score management to budgeting and saving.
Mindblown Labs believes this project is especially valuable to the African-American community. Surveys indicate that many African-Americans lack personal money management skills and do not understand how to leverage financial tools to accumulate wealth.
For example, African-Americans have a greater incidence of home foreclosures and debt delinquencies than other ethnic groups and are more likely to fall victim to high-cost financial services, due to predatory lenders.
Financial literacy doesn’t eliminate all of the barriers, including discrimination, that exist.
Nevertheless, understanding fundamental money management concepts will help Black people understand how to effectively leverage their financial resources and not be taken advantage of.
This knowledge is crucial if African-Americans are to close the wealth gap.
Jason Young, Founder and CEO of Mindblown Labs, knows only too well how financial illiteracy can impact an entire family. During his sophomore year of college, on the day after Christmas, he and his family were evicted from their home.
After graduating with an A.B. in Economics from Harvard and working on Wall Street as a senior specialist for Merill Lynch, he ended up in San Francisco as an early employee for Wikinvest.
During his time at Wikinvest, he realized that a lot of people, regardless of their education level or socioeconomic class, were clueless about personal finance and budgeting.
“Millions of students are leaving high school and college without gaining a basic level of financial literacy. Mindblown Life enables us to reach people where they are,” Young said.
The Kickstarter campaign runs from Oct. 2 – Nov. 1. To contribute, visit www.mindblownlabs.com/ks.
For more information, visit www.mindblownlabs.com, www.hiddengeniusproject.org or call 510-863-4254.

First All-African American Mercedes Benz Fashion Week

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By Ashley
Chambers

Designer Nina Skarra (left) and Tai Chunn, CEO of MVC Management Productions.

Nina Skarra (left) and Monique Tatum, CEO of Beautiful Planning & PR.

Five beautiful models who participated in the Nina Skarra Spring 2013 runway show. Photos by Desbas Group.

For the first time in the history of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Tai Chunn and his company MVC Management Productions led an all African American production team in the Nina Skarra Spring 2013 runway show.
Presented at the Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Hall in New York Sept. 8, the show was Skarra’s debut at the fashion week and the first to represent a Scandinavian designer.
Chunn has managed runway shows at New York Fashion Week, BET’s “Rip the Runway,” Victoria’s Secret fashion show, Emerge! Fashion Showcase, and many other events over his 15-year career.
This season he took the opportunity to spotlight Skarra to IMG, noticing a lack of Scandinavian presence in New York fashion.
Debuting her brand in one of the fashion capitals, Skarra’s eco friendly line showcased classic shorts and pants suits, chic dresses, and glamorous gowns in blush, sky blue, and ivory hues.
Celebs Lil Kim, Angela Simmons, celebrity stylist June Ambrose, and William Beatty of the NY Giants sat front row as Skarra styled the runway with her Scandinavian designs. Backstage, Chunn and Monique Tatum, CEO of Beautiful Planning Marketing & PR (BPMPR), were putting their creative whims to work making a big impact in fashion production.
“We see Tracy Reese, Rachel Roy and all other African American designers, Willi Smith, but we didn’t see production that way,” said Chunn. “We never were able to be the Kelly Cutrones running the front of house, back of house, press. I wanted to make that stereotype go away. [This] gave them insight-we’re all equal, we all have the same work ethic, same strengths, same fortitude, and same foresight.”
Tatum, whose company BPMPR worked the public relations and front of house management for the show, said, “It is extremely difficult to break down all walls within the fashion industry. However, once you are there it is much more difficult to prove that you deserve your spot. We have not only proven it, we have shown that we are a force to be reckoned with.”
Sponsors of the event included MVC Management Productions, Beautiful Planning Marketing & PR, Soft Sheen Carsons Dark & Lovely, Lamik Beauty, Katherine
Lindman, Pink Rooster Studios, The Desbas Group, 3Eleven Creative,
1800 Coconut, Sign Expo, Keymanna Management, Fumi’s Fashion Files, and
Brody & Branch LLP.

Black Panther Party’s 46th Anniversary Set at City Hall

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The 46th anniversary of the Black Panther Party will be celebrated from noon to 3 pm. Saturday, Oct. 13 in Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall in downtown Oakland, sponsored by the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party.
Following the outdoor celebration, the event will continue from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle at 410 14th St., which will include a performance of the Caribbean All Stars.
Volunteers who promote community sustainability will be acknowledged. Speakers will include Elbert (Big Man) Howard, former Black Panther News Services and founding member of the Black Panther Party; Dr. Tolbert Small, head Physician of the Black Panther Party; and Margaret Gordon, a West Oakland community leader who fights for environmental justice.
Refreshments will be served. For more information go to www.commemorator.net or www.itsabouttimebpp.com or leave a message at (510) 652-7170.

Keija Minor Named Brides Editor-In-Chief

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By Julee Wilson
Huffington Post

Keija Minor has been named the editor-in-chief of Brides, succeeding Anne Fulenwider, making her the first person of color, after 103 years, to ever hold the title at a Condé Nast Publications (CNP) magazine.
Minor’s new appointment is major news.
CNP is a  privately owned company that produces 18 magazines including Vogue, Glamour, Vanity Fair and GQ.
Minor joins other Black editor-in-chiefs who have been at major mainstream publications.
Amy DuBois Barnett, who was Ebony’s EIC, became Managing Editor (Time, Inc.’s equivalent of an EIC position) at Teen People, which made her the first African-American woman to head a mainstream consumer magazine.
Newsweek’s former EIC Mark Whitaker, was the first African-American to lead a national news magazine before becoming Executive Vice President and managing editor for CNN Worldwide.
Other special interest publications, which reach a larger spectrum of ethnicities and focus on more niche subjects like music, have been run by an editor of color, as in the case of GIANT magazine, which was helmed by Emil Wilbekin–who is now the editor-at-large at Essence.
Corynne Corbett, the beauty director at Essence, was the executive editor at Real Simple, and Minor was the executive editor at Brides before this recent promotion.
Minor’s experience helming a magazine is anchored in her tenure (2008 to 2011) as EIC at Uptown, a lifestyle glossy aimed at affluent African Americans and as EIC of Gotham (2005 to 2007). Her journey from a Black publication to the pinnacle of a mainstream title is an example that Black editors can ascend in publishing, particularly after spending time at a niche publication.

Willie Brown Speaks to Faith Leaders

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Willie L. Brown, Jr.

By Sabrina Saunders,
Executive Direcetor,
One Accord Project

Willie L. Brown, Jr., former California Assembly speaker and two-term San Francisco mayor, delivered a keynote address to Richmond’s African-American faith and community leaders, urging a strong election day turnout to return President Obama to the White House, restore local Black political leadership to Richmond and reject the Measure N beverage tax.
Brown, appearing at a clergy breakfast at Mt. Zion Baptist Church on Saturday, Sept. 15, called out GOP ploys in key swing states to trim voter registration rolls of Black and other traditional Democratic voters ahead of the November election as a new twist on an old game that needs to be overcome.
He stumped for reelection of his long-time friend Nat Bates and election of other Black candidates in this year’s City Council races as a step to returning an African American to the Richmond mayor’s office in 2014.
“I want to be very much a part of, and around, when you finally get your mayorship back,” he said.
And Brown homed in on two chief criticisms of Measure N, the so-called “soda tax,” pointing out that it will drain money for family budgets without any commitment as to how the funds would be spent by city government.
“By taking money from my paycheck you are not going to make me healthy,” Brown said.  “Adding money to my paycheck is going to make me healthy.”
Brown was touching on a point that Richmond ministers, community groups, such as the local branch of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and numerous current and former elected leaders have been making about Measure N—that it is regressive because it will fall hardest on lower-income people.
Though Measure N was promoted as a tax on soda to reduce sugar consumption, it actually would have to be paid by local business on sales of hundreds of beverages containing added sugar and can be expected to be passed along in higher grocery prices felt by everyone, not just soda drinkers.
Additionally, Brown, still one of California’s leading Democrats, hit the fact that the “soda tax,” put forward by Green Party members of the City Council, fails to commit any of the tax proceeds to new recreation, nutrition education and other programs to improve health and fight obesity in Richmond.
To make the point, Brown drew an analogy to the state ballot.
The former Assembly speaker said he has told Gov. Jerry Brown that support among Black voters for the governor’s top election priority, the Proposition 30 increase in sales and income taxes, isn’t as strong as it might be because of lingering doubt about how that money would be spent as well.
The event, organized by the One Accord Project, drew about 80 Richmond clergy members and elected and community leaders who enjoyed a traditional breakfast of grits and eggs with turkey sausage and smothered potatoes.

“No on Measure N” Expands on 23rd Street

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Alex Essa,Owner Mi Tierra Mercado Store.

Cesar Segura, Owner La Selva Taqueria Restaurant.

By Lloyd Madden,
President, BAPAC

While African-American community leaders have been at the forefront of opposition to the so-called “soda tax,” it is becoming clear as Election Day draws near that the No on Measure N campaign is a big tent.
A walk down 23rd Street and interviews with the small business owners who make up the 23rd Street Merchants Association make that plain as day.
These markets, shops and restaurants catering to a Latino clientele oppose the Measure N license tax on businesses trading sugar-sweetened beverages because they see it as the proverbial last straw that threatens their livelihoods.
“We are struggling now because of the low economy,” said Alex Essa, the owner and operator of Mi Tierra grocery on 23rd.
“If Measure N passes, I am going to have no choice but to pass the tax along in higher prices, and I think a lot of my customers are going to think about shopping elsewhere.”
It is a legitimate fear, according to the findings of the Berkeley Research Group, which analyzed the potential economic consequences of Measure N.  The analysis, which was shared with the Richmond Post by the No on Measure N campaign, predicted $9.9 million in lost sales annually for Richmond businesses covered by the tax, assuming it is passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices.
Of course, nobody knows for sure what the impact might be but any downturn is unwelcome.  It is why the 23rd Street Merchants Association and Richmond Chamber of Commerce also were early endorsers of No on N, the Community Coalition Against Beverage Taxes.
Cesar Segura, owner and operators of La Selva Taqueria, says Measure N will be a nightmare for restaurants and other food vendors selling Latino fare.
“Measure N would force me to keep track of sales and pay one penny per ounce of on virtually every nonalcoholic beverage I sell,” Segura said.
“It’s a lot more than soda,” he added, noting that homemade concoctions like horchata and agua fresca are among the most popular beverages at La Selva.  “I wish our city officials had given a little more thought to what they were doing.”
Lloyd Madden is president of the Black American Political Action Committee (BAPAC).

Bernette J. Johnson Next Louisiana Chief Justice?

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Gov. Bobby Jindal vows to block her supreme court appointment

Bernette J. Johnson, associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court.

A U.S. District Court Judge in New Orleans has ruled that Louisiana Associate Supreme Court Justice Bernette J. Johnson should become the first African-American chief justice of the state’s supreme court.
But Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said he is appealing the lower court ruling to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to overturn the district court decision.
In a 50-page decision, Judge Susie Morgan ruled on Sept. 1, 2012, in the case titled Ronald Chisom, et al versus Bobby Jindal, et al., that Justice Johnson could succeed Chief Justice Catherine Kimball, a white woman, who announced that she plans to retire effective Jan. 31, 2013.
Louisiana’s constitution’s calls for the supreme court’s longest-serving justice to be sworn in as the next chief justice. Justice Johnson, a Spelman College graduate and Louisiana State University law school graduate, was sworn in as an associate supreme court justice on Nov. 16. 1994.
“Johnson initially was appointed to the court. The other supreme court justices argued that her first six years on the job should not count toward her seniority.”
The next in line for Chief Justice Kimball’s job is Justice Jeffrey Victory, a white man, who was sworn in as an associate Justice on Jan. 1, 1995. Johnson was initially appointed to the court as part of the Louisiana’s settlement with the federal government over racial discrimination. The Aug. 21, 1992, consent decree expanded the supreme court to seven justices from six.
Because Johnson was appointed to the court, the other supreme court justices argued that her first six years on the job should not count toward her seniority. She was elected to the court without opposition in 2000.
Johnson filed a lawsuit against Gov. Jindal, demanding that her full tenure on the court be reaffirmed.
“Justice Johnson believes that the Consent Judgement provides that the time she served from November 16, 1994, to October 7, 2000, when she was elected as an Associate Justice for the newly created Seventh Supreme Court District, is to be credited to her tenure for all purposes, including determining Justice Kimball’s successor,” Judge Morgan wrote. “If Justice Johnson’s tenure during this time is not credited, Justice Victory will be the next Chief Justice, followed by Justice Jeannette Knoll, who was sworn into office on Jan. 1, 1997.”
Lawyers for Gov. Jindal filed a motion to dismiss Johnson’s motions, arguing the district court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case.

 

Some African Americans Want Sheriff Mirkarimi to Keep His Job

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Ross Mirkarimi

Halifu Ayise

Bob Johnson

Rochelle Metcalf

Agonafer Shiferaw

By Post Staff
Though the San Francisco Ethnics Commission found former Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi had committed official misconduct, the commission gave no recommendation as to whether he should be removed from office.
The decision on Mirkarimi’s future now rests with the Board of Supervisors. The sheriff needs the votes of three supervisors to remain in office.
In a recent survey some of African American voters in San Francisco’s Western Addition, an overwhelming majority said they are against violence against women and that the sheriff should keep his job.
The positions of those surveyed varied from suggesting that Mirkarimi should be  cleared outright, reprimanded or suspended with or without pay. Only one person said the sheriff should be fired.
Many of the women in the survey, while deploring violence against women, felt it was unfair to suspend Mirkarimi without pay, leaving him unable to feed and take care of his family.
Some felt that the bruise on his wife’s arm did not rise to the level of domestic violence.  A majority felt that he could not be dismissed for misconduct in office because he had not been sworn into office yet.
Some felt that the case was strictly political and a conspiracy to move a progressive out of office.
Here is a sample of interviews:
Halifu Ayise, said the case against Mirkarimi was a political witch hunt and power grab by certain elements in the city seeking to stop the former supervisor from implementing a liberal agenda in the city’s jail.
Rochelle Metcalf argued that Mirkarimi should not have been suspended without pay.  She felt it was a shame his child and wife have to go without food while this political drama plays out.
She that while there may have been reasons for some action against Mirkarimi, removing him from office is way over the top, especially given the fact that he had not assumed office yet.
Mario Rogers, a Western Addition Resident, said Mayor Lee made a major miscalculation. “ I think he thought that Ross would roll over after he tricked him into taking the plea deal and accepted the false imprisonment charge,” said Rogers.
Women who asked to remain anonymous said Mirkarimi should be suspended with pay.
A woman who identified herself as Bridgett said, “The role of the sheriff is protect and serve, and Mirkarimi was not a good role model.”
Another woman, Yvette, felt there should be zero tolerance for violence against women, but the incident did not rise to the point to warrant removal.
According to Agonafer Shiferaw, “This is political hypocrisy. If this is supposed to be political or ethical morality, look at what San Francisco did with the previous mayor for what he did to his best friend’s wife. He was promoted to Lt. Governor.”

Geles: Crowning Glories of West Africa

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By Chanelle Bell

In the Black Christian culture African American women adorn their heads with beautiful hats while attending church, a tradition that can be traced to Bible verse 1 Corinthians 11:15, in which Paul the Apostle states that all women should cover their heads during worship.
Twenty-first  Century women have put their own particular flare on  church hats, which come in a marvelous variety of shapes, sizes, colors and styles.
Much like the coveted church hat, “geles” are  the beautifully crafted headpieces that African women wear. The word gele is a Nigerian term that refers to brightly colored and patterned head wraps that Western African women proudly wear.
Geles should not to be confused with an ordinary headscarf that is worn to bed in order to preserve a hairstyle. They are a fashion statement and come in many intricate designs and various colors. They are a symbol of beauty and strength.
Unlike church hats,  geles are not connected to places of worship. Geles can be seen gracing the heads of Nigerian women at special events and for everyday fashion.
There is a gele for every occasion. They are typically worn with a buba, which is a long sleeved blouse, an iro or skirt, or a one-piece dress known as a kaba.
Geles can be cut from the same patterned fabric as the buba,  iro or kaba in order to create a matching assemble. Or it can be cut from a completely different patterned fabric for a more dramatic look.
Pastor Ebi Thourn of Redeemed Christian Church of God (Redemption Haven Parish, Oakland) notes the importance of keeping African culture and traditions alive.
“We encourage people to dress traditionally on the first Sunday of every month in order to preserve our culture, not just from Nigeria but from many African cultures,”  he said.
Pastor Ebi was born and raised in Nigeria and moved to the United States in 2001. He never forgot where he came from and encourages everyone in his church to educate their children about the customs of their homeland.
“We have to keep our traditions alive. When our women wear their geles, they are showing the beauty of Africa.”
The Redeemed Christian Church of God (Redemption Haven Parish, Oakland) is located at 6643 Bancroft Ave., Oakland. For more information visit http://rccgredemption.org/