It is in the early morning when a blanket of quietness covers us and the world and the ocean mist settles softly on our balcony that I begin to offer my tambiko to and for you, as December opens and Kwanzaa comes forth to orient, illuminate and lift up our lives.
As we move once again into the month of December and the season of celebration of the good at the year’s end, Kwanzaa will again assume its rightful role as a distinct, definitive and defining African cultural presence at the table of these times.
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. Likewise, their interpretations of those histories and holidays also differ, for they are lived and learned from different standpoints.
It is said that the defeat of Donald Trump signals that the country is ready for a change, but we have not been given on the nightly news, on social media or by mail, anything that resembles a comprehensive view of what the change might look like. Nor have we heard from the academy, Congress, or the corporate world anything beyond convenient confessions that Black lives do indeed matter.
By any sane and serious reasoning, measure and meaning, these are bleak, unBlack, challenging and taxing times for this country and especially for us as a people. America, the beautiful, has revealed its ugly monster side, a defining part of its multiple personalities since its framing and founding.
In the wake of the revelation of the scathing and scandalous racist sentiments and proposals harbored and hawked by three Latino city council members and a labor leader, there has been a virtually unanimous call and demand for them to do the right thing and resign.
The recent revelation of the racist rant, irrational reasoning and inequitable reordering of the political map of Los Angeles by a group of Latina/o city council and labor leaders offers useful insights and lessons in racial, racialized and racist sentiments, thought and practice in American politics, regardless of the local and Latino context in which it occurred.
In 1987, Tiamoyo and I traveled to London where on October 1st , I gave the inaugural lecture at County Hall for the establishment of Black History Month in England. My inaugural lecture and others I gave at the West Indian Center, Haringcy; the Hackney Black Peoples Organization; and the London Strategic Policy Unit were published in the book, “Our Story: A Handbook of African History and Contemporary Issues.” Below, I share these edited excerpts from this inaugural lecture in remembrance, celebration and Pan-African solidarity with the African people of England in this, their month of celebration of
It is no accident of history, or inscrutable reason to be discovered, nor the result of an organized effort that Black people in overwhelming numbers understand and engage reparations first and foremost as the just and urgent receipt of direct cash money payments for damages done and justice due.
This column, on this our 57th anniversary and in this the 228th exacting season of our organization Us’ righteous and relentless struggle, is dedicated to Ngao (Shield of the Nation) Damu, our first commander of the Simba Wachanga and all the other constant soldiers of Us, men and women, who would not walk away from the battlefield until the struggle is won. Below is an excerpt from an unpublished edited transcript of a lecture I gave in 1967. I had prepared it for publication, but the crisis years of 1969-1975 interrupted this intention. In this time of the
On this the 57th year and 228th season of our coming into being as an organization, it is morally imperative and historically necessary to pay rightful homage to the righteously royal women of Us who have made Us and all we have dared and done possible.
Since the Sixties, we of Us have understood, engaged and embraced Blackness as a very serious and sacred way of being and becoming in the world, an African way, a unique and equally valid and valuable way of being human with all its rich and varied possibilities and worthy of the highest respect.
It is a beautiful memory and uplifting thought to realize our organization Us was conceived in the fiery and formative womb of the August 1965 Revolt of our people and emerges and comes into being in the aftermath of our people’s continuing efforts and struggles to end police brutality and violence, economic and other exploitation, and the White supremacy and systemic racism that produce, sanction and foster these and other forms of anti-Black and anti-other oppression.
This is tambiko, sacred words and water offered in remembrance and rightful honor of three Simba/Saidi of Us, three Lions of August and all-seasons soldiers: Nana Sebati Wasifu Tangulifu, Nana Omowale Tambuzi and Nana Robert Tambuzi.
As we celebrate and commemorate this month of revolution and resistance, we call Black August, we of necessity pay rightful and special homage to the people of Haiti who mark on August 14th their 231st anniversary of the Bwa Kayiman Liberation Gathering of men and women to plan their world historical struggle which would result in a victorious revolution that has deep and enduring meaning for the quest, concept and practice of freedom throughout world.