Dr. Maulana Karenga

A great and honored lion has lain down and a Horus falcon, royal in his righteousness, has risen in radiance in the heavens and now sits in the sacred circle of the ancestors among the doers of good, the righteous and the rightfully rewarded.

The rightful marking of Black History Month directs us toward the constant critical retrieval and rereading of history and serious reflection on the meaning and models of leadership and struggle, especially in these trying times.

Frantz Fanon spoke rightfully and repeatedly of the importance of discovering and fulfilling our mission as a generation and by extension as a people.

The intense and righteous struggle to immediately appoint a qualified representative for the children and community of District 1 to the LAUSD Board of Education in the person of Dr. George McKenna…

Each season and celebration of Kwanzaa reaffirms our commitment as African people to create, celebrate and sustain good in the world.

This month marks the martyrdom of Steve Bantu Biko who stands among the pillars of the world African Liberation Movement as a tall tree among the towering trees at the top of a mountain.

To accurately and usefully grasp the measure and meaning of Rolihlahla Dalibhunga Mandela or any person of greatness, we must move beyond deserved but detached declarations of admiration;

The histories and holidays of the oppressed, colonized and enslaved are, of necessity, different from the history and holidays of the oppressor, the colonizer and the enslaver.

In the context of our time, the urgent and ongoing need for quality leadership in our community, as well as in society and the world, cannot be seriously contested or safely denied.

Each day and beyond the set-aside celebration and commemoration of our history, it is essential that we reaffirm who we are and our obligation to honor this identity and the awesome legacy in which it is grounded.

The road to recovery from the Holocaust of enslavement is a long and difficult one, full of twists, turns, relapses and losses. But we are a resilient, steadfast and defeat-resistant people.