January 1, 2014 marked the 210th Anniversary of the Haitian Revolution, one of the greatest events in human history. Never before had an enslaved people rebelled against their slave masters to declare their independence and establish a nation. Inspired by the exhortations and sacrifice of the spiritual priest Boukman and ably led by Toussaint Louverture, Jean Jacques Dessalines, Henri Christophe and Alexandre Petion, this is precisely what the enslaved Africans of Haiti achieved. They crushed the military forces of Napoleon Bonaparte at the pinnacle of his power and established the world’s first Black Republic!
Each year during the Fourth of July holiday season, I inevitably turn my attention to Frederick Douglass’ extraordinary July 5, 1852 oration in Rochester, New York, in which he denounced the hypocrisy of a nation that celebrated its “independence” while millions of sons and daughters of Africa were held in bondage as slaves. He declared: “What to the American slave is your Fourth of July?
I recently attended the release of the National Urban League’s Annual State of Black America Report at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The Report is an extremely important document because it provides key indicators of Black progress in a number of social and economic areas in relationship to White Americans.
April 4th will be forty-six years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down on a balcony in Memphis. Black America and people of goodwill in the nation and the world were stricken by grief, frustration and anger at the murder of this great man of justice and peace. Indeed, rebellions erupted in urban centers across the nation by people who could not fathom how an apostle of non-violence could be struck down so viciously and violently. It was clear that America was at yet another cross-road in the quest to achieve racial, economic and social justice.
The Officers and Board of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century joins in mourning the loss of the Honorable Chokwe Lumumba, Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi and one of the great freedom fighters of our time.
February 21st marks the 49th anniversary of the assassination of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Omawale, “our Black Shining Prince,” Malcolm X. This year is also fifty years since Malcolm delivered The Ballot or the Bullet speech. Brother Malcolm made numerous speeches, and it is hard to imagine one that was not inspirational, informational and powerful.
After months of a relative lull, immigration policy reform appears to be on the front burner again. With President Obama emphasizing it in his State of the Union Address and Speaker Boehner and the Republican Party leadership adopting Principles, the stage appears to be set for passage of legislation this year.
As Chairman of Freedom, Inc. in Youngstown, Ohio, a community based, Pan Africanist organization, I was privileged to be among a small group of activists/organizers who launched the mobilization to hold the first African Liberation Day (ALD) in the U.S. in 1972.
In my most recent article, I called upon the Black Nation and our allies to seize the X-MAS season (the commercialized, corrupted, capitalist version of Christmas) to intensify the Justice for Trayvon Martin, Economic Sanctions/Boycott Florida Campaign.
No, the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW), multitudes of people of African descent and people of conscience/goodwill have not forgotten about the tragedy and travesty of the murder of Trayvon Martin. There is a deep seated feeling of injustice and lack of closure as the Justice Department has yet to render a decision whether to pursue civil rights violations in this case (a course which is highly unlikely).
A few days before this year’s Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. Annual Legislative Conference (CBCINC-ALC), I received a call to ask my opinion as to whether the Reparations Issues Forum should be on the agenda. T
As of this writing, President Obama is frantically pleading with Members of Congress, the American people and heads of state of other nations to follow his lead in “punishing” the Assad regime in Syria for unleashing chemical weapons on his own people. Having drawn a “red line” in the sand regarding the use of chemical weapons, Obama apparently feels obligated to attack Syria as a matter of personal and national pride even if it means going it alone — a blunder which could damage his presidency