Dr. Maulana Karenga

The marking of the passing of Ms. Rosa Parks, 12 years ago last month, immediately brings to mind the long, hard and heroic struggle waged by African people to expand the realm of freedom and justice in this country as well as the people, great and small, who made it possible.

As others visit the President, hold news conferences, send e-mail, and request recognition and action on their demands as supporters in the recent re-election, no one has greater claim and urgency than we do.

If you were fortunate enough to have lived and loved in the 60s and were blessed to have heard Jammin’ Jai Rich (James Roy Richardson, 1934-2012)…

There is always a great sense of loss at the passing of a generational giant, a tall- standing and steadfast leader whose long shadow offered us protective shade and whose lengthy strides and enormous efforts hurried us toward victory in our ongoing struggle for good in the world.

In the midst of the thick fog and fantasy of this imaginary post-racial era, it might seem racially outrageous and socially scandalous…

The conception and development of our philosophy, Kawaida, the work and struggle of our organization Us, and the people focus, cultural groundedness and social consciousness of the leadership we seek to cultivate, teach and exemplify, all began with what our ancestors called in the Husia a “courageous questioning”.

The conversations around the absence, presence and putting of God in the platform at the Democratic Convention immediately raised questions and invites reflection on the ways ritualized references to God become a substitute for a more substantive engagement and honoring.

No one with even a minimum of historical awareness can avoid noticing that most of the organizations that once loudly claimed privileged space and special voice in the Black Liberation Movement have disappeared…

To refresh our memories of ourselves at our best, to recommit ourselves to principles and practices that demand and draw from us the excellent, uplifting and enduring, and to rebuild our Liberation Movement and go forth to repair and renew ourselves and the world, we must reaffirm and reconstruct our culture as a culture of struggle.

Regardless of persistent post-racial rumors, urban legends and lingering plantation hopes about the declining significance of race and the deserved death of racism, the recent construction of celebratory social relevance around the latest “discoveries” of Whites in Black beds, bodies, bloodlines and history offers abundant evidence to the contrary.