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AfroComicCon offers a platform for diversity in pop culture

NNPA NEWSWIRE — One relatively unsung product of Oakland’s liberal sway is the founder of the annual AfroComicCon, Michael James. Now in its third iteration, AfroComicCon is a three-day event showcasing comic books and pop culture related to (but assuredly not limited to) the African Diaspora.

Published

7 years ago

November 17, 2019

Oakland Post

“(Convention-goers can) come away with a sense of ownership and collaboration.” —AfroComicCon founder Michael James. (Photo: Afro ComicCon)

By Gregg Reese, Our Weekly Contributor, with additional reporting by Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent

The Bay Area is the most progressive bastion of the historically liberal state of California (although the sweep towards gentrification may soon turn the political tide in the opposite direction) and none of the cities and towns within it upholds the standard of progressiveness higher than the East Bay municipality of Berkeley.

One relatively unsung product of its liberal sway is the founder of the annual AfroComicCon, Oakland’s Michael James. Now in its third iteration, AfroComicCon is a three-day event showcasing comic books and pop culture related to (but assuredly not limited to) the African Diaspora.

The event is held in the cities of Oakland and neighboring Emeryville, California and aims to be an inclusive entity as opposed to other, similar conventions geared towards special groups and demographics. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization affiliated with the Oakland Technology and Education Center.

Comic book conventions showcase comic books and related areas of entertainment, and feature exhibits, panels, and features of interest.

Initially, low-brow affairs concentrating solely on comics and special interest groups (the first San Diego Comic-Con was held in a hotel basement with perhaps 300 people in 1970), these “cons” have mushroomed to multi-genre affairs drawing tens of thousands of participants and showcasing gaming, sci-fi, horror, and other facets of pop culture.

Film and television companies use these venues to showcase their wares and gauge public response to shows prior to general release.

Monetarily, they are a financial windfall, generating millions in revenue and contributing significantly to the surrounding community’s economy. A major component of these events is the practice of cosplay, in which fans dress up as their favorite superheroes and animated characters.

Growing Pains

The story behind AfroComicCon can be traced back to the roots of its founder. James came up under the sway of Oakland’s Allen Temple Baptist Church and its progressive pastor, the Rev. J. Alfred Smith, Sr. Among the luminaries passing through its portals were former Congressman and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, and civil rights activists the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

The seeds of social liberalism firmly planted, young James graduated from UC Davis, with a bachelor’s in Environmental Planning to begin his tenure in corporate America, a period he found stifling and restrictive.

The millennium era found him politicized through work with various non-profit concerns and travels overseas where he participated in the 2007 release of South African dissident Nelson Mandela. These events were intertwined by his work to promote computer literacy among the Bay Area’s disadvantaged during a period where he became disenchanted with the educational system’s methodology in distributing state and federal funding to the community. During this time, he had been involved in a successful literacy program under the umbrella of UC Berkeley.

The experience soured him, however, as he saw how the non-profit apparatus worked. He did quite well with the $850,000 allotted to his program until he found out it was just part of the $7 million the university was receiving over a seven-year period.

A series of discussions he had with like-minded people, and a chance visit to the San Diego Comi-con (the benchmark for all such gatherings), spawned the nucleus of what would become the AfroComicCon, a platform in which to promote reading through graphic novels, comic books, and other paraphernalia.

Supporting him and co-founding AfroComicCon with him since the beginning has been a kindred spirit and fellow Berkeley High School alum, Hally Bellah-Guther.

A career professional dancer in the United States and in Europe, Bellah-Guther, who has taught ballet and fitness locally for 20 years, was a passionate volunteer and board member of D.U.S.T.Y. (Oakland Technology & Education Center) and had been Michael’s partner working on literacy and arts programs since 2012. She caught the bug and became completely devoted to the project. She has been overseeing every aspect of AfroComicCon since prepping for the first year because it combined two passions of hers: the arts and the fight against injustice and inequity.

By 2017, they’d secured enough funding to compile a shoestring budget, and they were ready to mount the first tentative steps towards realizing the vision.

The Chance for Inclusion

They had no intention of replicating the success of the decades-old Comic-con (convention-goers this past summer for that event reached in excess of 130,000), but in their inaugural staging, they attracted some 400 to 500 attendees, a more than respectable gathering, considering their resources and financial limitations.

Among the notables on hand to greet visitors were special effects wizard Christa Burton (“Iron Man,” “The Lone Ranger,” and “Transformers”); movie producer and Vice President of Programming at BOUNCE TV Ri-Karlo Handy; Sifu Kisu martial arts choreographer for Avatar: The Last Air Bender; Power Rangers, and other major motion pictures; and television writer Ty Scott (“CSI: Miami” and “Saints and Sinners”).

“Everyone has a story and we can all be superheroes in our own right,” says James, as an explanation for the interest in this new and novel venue for popular culture.

Attendance for the next calendar year 2018 increased to 1000 plus. Among those appearing for the 2019 AfroComicCon were writer/producer Rodney Barnes (“American Gods,” “The Boondocks,” “Everybody Hates Chris, “ and the upcoming “Wu-Tang: An American Saga”); spoken word poet, street lit author and UC Berkeley professor Aya de Leon; and actress Onika Day (“Orange is the New Black,” “Wu-Tang: An American Saga”).

In keeping with AfroComicCon’s pledge of inclusion, guests consisted of Lebanese director of photography Jean-Claude Kalache of Pixar, and Vietnamese American filmmaker and theater director Khai Thu Nguyen (who helped judge the film competition).

As in past years, the convention sought to provide a wide variety of educational and interactive experiences meant to engage the whole family. These included a fashion show mounted by Jasline Berry (fashionista and Afro-renaissance woman) and James Head (costume designer for rapper M.C. Hammer), promotion by and about the gaming industry, and other venues to prompt event-goers to, in James’ words, “move away from commercialism that doesn’t support us.”

FLASH- Fit Like A Super Hero- which was spearheaded by Bellah-Guther since 2018, includes multi-disciplines to encourage the public to engage in healthier lifestyles through physical activity and healthy diets. A notable component in this is a demonstration of Brazilian martial arts, Malandro Mandingo: The Body Magic of Capoeira. There has also been Hip Hop and Turf Dance, Worldbeat/Salsa and Kung fu demos and classes and performances.

An attendee who has transitioned from volunteer to active participation, comic book creator and graphic artist “Sketch” Smith now serves as AfroComicCon’s art director, web designer, and all-around gadfly.

“I try to help out in any capacity that I can,” she says.

An attendee of similar events prior to joining AfroComicCon, she notes that they were generally slanted towards a heterosexual White male demographic, to the exclusion of minorities and women.

A Bay Area transplant who is opening up her own brick and mortar book store (“Hella Novella” at 2301 Mission Street in San Francisco), Smith sees this undertaking as a sanctuary for “geeks” like herself who have never fit in at any of the other conventions she’s attended as the “odd person out.” It is a relief from the overwhelming xenophobia she’s experienced as a Black woman, and she cherishes the shared cultural experience that AfroComicCon offers (for more on Sketch, visit http://www.sketchsmith.com/).

Inclusion for Everyone

“(Convention-goers can) come away with a sense of ownership and collaboration.”
—AfroComicCon founder Michael James.

While AfroComicCon takes place within the confines of the Bay Area and is primarily meant, in the words on its Facebook page, “…to empower artists who have been denied access to equal opportunity,” everyone cordially received an invite.

For more information, visit the website at www.afrocomiccon.org or call (510) 333-9653.

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COMMENTARY: Jim Crow 2.0 at the Pentagon

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The American people are expected to believe that one extraordinary officer after another suddenly fails to meet some undefined standard of excellence. We are expected to ignore impeccable service records while accepting that political appointees alone possess the wisdom to determine who is worthy of advancement.

Published

3 weeks ago

August 3, 2026

bpusa-syndication

Pete Hegseth insists that he is restoring “merit” to the United States military. But after months of dismissals, blocked promotions, and ideological purges, the evidence tells a different story. His campaign against so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” has become something far more dangerous: an assault on equal opportunity that falls with particular force on African Americans, while also targeting women, Latinos, gay Americans, and transgender service members.

The latest example is both troubling and infuriating.

Once again, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reportedly blocked the promotion of an exceptionally qualified woman—Rear Admiral Amy Bauernschmidt. Bauernschmidt is no ordinary officer. She became the Navy’s first woman to command a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, one of the most demanding leadership assignments in the world. Her career reflects decades of exemplary performance, operational excellence, and leadership under extraordinary pressure.

Yet once again, a distinguished military career appears to have been subordinated to an ideological agenda masquerading as “merit.”

I call BS!

The American people are expected to believe that one extraordinary officer after another suddenly fails to meet some undefined standard of excellence. We are expected to ignore impeccable service records while accepting that political appointees alone possess the wisdom to determine who is worthy of advancement.

The pattern has become impossible to ignore.

General Charles Q. Brown Jr., only the second African American to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was dismissed despite a career that placed him among the most accomplished military leaders of his generation.

Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman ever to serve as Chief of Naval Operations, was removed despite decades of distinguished command experience.

Reports have documented interventions that blocked or delayed the promotions of Black officers and women selected through the military’s rigorous promotion system.

Now Rear Admiral Amy Bauernschmidt joins the growing list of highly accomplished officers whose careers have been derailed for reasons that have never been persuasively explained.

Where is Congress?

Its silence has become deafening.

Congress has an independent constitutional responsibility to oversee the armed forces. Instead, too many lawmakers have watched silently while one of the nation’s most respected institutions is subjected to ideological litmus tests and political interference.

This is not military reform. It is testosterone-fueled performative masculinity disguised as a philosophy of military excellence.

The irony is impossible to miss. Hegseth repeatedly invokes “merit,” yet his rhetoric begins with the assumption that Black officers, women, and other historically excluded Americans must somehow justify their achievements in ways that white male officers are rarely required to do.

That is not meritocracy. It is prejudice wrapped in patriotic language.

No one is asking that anyone be promoted because of race or gender. Americans simply expect that promotions be based on demonstrated competence, leadership, integrity, and service. The officers being targeted have already proven themselves repeatedly under one of the world’s most demanding evaluation systems.

Their records speak for themselves.

The attack on African American military leadership has been especially pernicious.

For generations, Black Americans fought in segregated units, earned decorations while denied equal treatment, and repeatedly demonstrated loyalty to a nation that often failed to extend them full citizenship. They broke barriers not because standards were lowered but because excellence finally overcame institutional discrimination.

Today’s campaign against “diversity” threatens to revive old assumptions under new slogans.

The implication that Black generals and admirals somehow owe their success to affirmative action rather than extraordinary performance echoes some of the ugliest stereotypes of the Jim Crow era. Yesterday’s segregationists claimed Black Americans were inherently less qualified. Today’s culture warriors simply employ more politically acceptable language while inviting the same suspicion about Black achievement.

That is why Hegseth’s campaign increasingly resembles Jim Crow 2.0.

The targets may now wear stars on their shoulders instead of military patches on segregated uniforms, but the underlying message is hauntingly familiar: Black excellence is presumed suspect, while white excellence is presumed earned.

America’s military became the finest fighting force in history because it opened its doors to talent wherever it could be found. It grew stronger after President Truman desegregated the armed forces. It became stronger when women assumed greater command responsibilities. It became stronger when every qualified American was given the opportunity to serve to the fullest extent of their abilities.

Diversity is not a concession. It is a strategic advantage.

The nation’s adversaries do not fear an American military because it is racially homogeneous. They fear it because it draws upon the talents of more than 340 million Americans whose diverse experiences, perspectives, and abilities make our armed forces unmatched anywhere in the world.

Every politically motivated dismissal of a distinguished officer sends a chilling message throughout the ranks: excellence alone may no longer be enough if you belong to the wrong demographic group.

That weakens morale. It weakens recruitment. It weakens retention.

And ultimately, it weakens national security.

Pete Hegseth has every right to pursue military readiness. He has no right to redefine merit in ways that repeatedly cast suspicion upon the accomplishments of Black officers, women, and others who have devoted their lives to defending this nation.

America deserves better. The men and women who wear the uniform deserve better. The Constitution deserves better.

And unless Congress finds the courage to exercise meaningful oversight, history may well remember this period not as a restoration of military excellence, but as the moment political ideology attempted to resurrect, in modern form, the old poison of exclusion.

Jim Crow did not strengthen America. Jim Crow 2.0 will not strengthen America’s military. It will only diminish it

Wade Henderson
Strategic Advisor
Civil and Human Rights
wade@wadejhenderson.com

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New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial

By Emilie St. John (Contributor) Karmelo Anthony will return to court next month in his first step to overturn his murder conviction. Anthony was found guilty last month in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison. His new legal team has filed motions seeking the recusal of State District […]
The post New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

3 weeks ago

July 31, 2026

Oakland Post

By Emilie St. John
(Contributor)

Karmelo Anthony will return to court next month in his first step to overturn his murder conviction.

Anthony was found guilty last month in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison. His new legal team has filed motions seeking the recusal of State District Judge John Roach Jr. from overseeing the appeals process.

Two hearings have been scheduled on the motion for Aug. 9 and 10 in the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas, according to Fox4 News.

On July 14, Senior Judge Sid L. Harle of the 226th District Court was assigned to preside over the defense’s motion to recuse Collin County Judge John Roach. The assignment took effect immediately and authorized Harle to handle all matters related to the recusal request, the filing read.

The Collin County District Attorney’s Office continues to defend its handling of the case by issuing a statement to NBC 5 DFW.

“The defendant’s new lawyers have filed a motion containing several inaccurate characterizations of the trial proceedings. The entire prosecution team and I conducted this trial ethically and in full compliance with the Court’s rulings and any agreements with defense counsel. We look forward to addressing these claims thoroughly in a Court of law in the coming weeks. The jury heard extensive evidence over the course of the trial and returned a unanimous verdict. We remain confident in that verdict and the fairness of the proceedings.”

Anthony’s new legal team, made up of appellate, civil rights, and criminal defense attorneys, was retained following Anthony’s conviction.

“Our responsibility is to determine whether a legal error occurred and to ensure that every issue supported by the record is fully and vigorously presented on appeal,” the team said in a statement.

“We recognize the profound loss suffered by one young man’s family and the uncertainty facing another, and we extend our respect to everyone whose lives have been forever changed by these events,” the release reads.

Anthony was charged with the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf during a track meet in Frisco, Texas, April 2, 2025. Anthony has long maintained it was an act of self-defense.

The attorneys are representing Anthony pro bono. The nearly 200-page notice of appeal seeks a new trial because his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial was violated.

“The cumulative and practical effect of these provisions was to exclude members of the public from proceedings at every stage,” the filing reads.

The filing also focused on an alleged “handshake deal” that kept Anthony from taking the stand in his defense.

The defense filing said the agreement was that the jury would not hear that Metcalf and his twin brother had been accused of racism and bullying in the past. In exchange, they also would not see Anthony’s cellphone records or his school disciplinary record, according to court documents reported by the Dallas Morning News.

Anthony’s former defense attorney, Mike Howard, said the defense relied heavily on that deal. The team chose not to ask certain questions of witnesses or call on a separate expert witness based on that agreement. It also abandoned plans to introduce testimony and evidence about the allegations against Metcalf and his brother.

Appellate attorney Russell Wilson is now handling post-trial proceedings and Anthony’s appeal. He recently sat down for an interview, stating, “The court committed multiple errors during the June murder trial, preventing him from receiving a fair trial.”

“You know, we file motions that we expect to prevail on, but we understand that there’s two sides to every story. And at the end of the day, it’ll be a judge that has to make these decisions, but we feel confident in the positions that we’re taking,” Wilson said during an interview with WFAA. “There were substantial issues that we thought a reviewing court needed to look at. We thought these were constitutional irregularities, and we could have them addressed now. And so, we put them into a motion for a new trial.”

Bree West, a former Dallas County Assistant District Attorney, found it startling that so little time was given to Anthony’s team for such a serious “life or death” situation.

“I do think that it’s really challenging that potentially a court decided that you have 10 minutes to make that level of decision when it has the potential of being life-altering,” said West during an interview with Fox 4 News.

Judge Harle is no stranger to high-profile cases, having presided over the prosecution of a police officer charged in connection with the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Anthony was convicted on June 9 of the murder of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The post New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

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COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump!

WESTSIDE GAZETTE — The author criticizes Donald Trump’s rhetoric, noting his use of terms like “Dumbocrats” and “Communist” to describe Democrats and democracy. The column asserts that Trump’s current strategy involves creating doubt about midterm elections due to a lack of Republican agenda.
The post COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump! appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

3 weeks ago

July 31, 2026

Oakland Post

Frankly Speaking

Wow! Wow! Wow! The swamp drainers have truly stepped down to new levels of stupidity. You remember Weapons of Mass Destruction? We now have Weapons of Mass Distraction. Trump has introduced Dumbocrats and Communists into the conversation about Democrats and Democracy.

Trump lies so much, and his current strategy is to set up doubt about midterm elections because he and Republicans have no agenda!

He has no “Trump “ card, but Iran has a strait! He called it a skirmish; it’s now a War. He said five days; now it’s five months. He said few casualties; now it’s 18 deaths. He knew nothing about Project 2025 but hired its architects! Trump lies about the lies and often forgets these little inventions called cameras and phones

We see and hear and then see and hear the inconsistencies.

I didn’t like 45 and dislike 47 even more!

The post LSMFT! Lord Save Me From Trump! appeared first on The Westside Gazette.

Based on reporting by Westside Gazette.

The post COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump! appeared first on BlackPressUSA.