‘The Big Cigar’ Is One Of The Greatest Stories Never Told
André Holland embodies Black Panther Party Founder, Huey P. Newton in new series
André Holland embodies Black Panther Party Founder, Huey P. Newton in new series
Members of the Black Panther Party, Japanese American National Museum (JANM), National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, and Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation convened recently for a special event called “Solidarity: The Black Panther Party — History and Future of Coalition Building.”
Thousands took to the streets of Los Angeles this past weekend, and into the early part of this week, marking the 14th consecutive day of protests sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
The Los Angeles Clippers returned to Staples Center after a six-game Grammy’s road trip over 11 days just before All-Star break. Looking to move up in the Western Conference Standings, the Clippers went on to route the Phoenix Suns 134-107 Wednesday night, extending the Suns losing streak to 15 consecutive losses.
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Alabama has rescinded its decision to honor political activist and scholar Angela Davis following unspecified complaints.
Some are touting ‘The Hate U Give,’ as “the first Black Lives Matter movie.” Red flags should have gone up the moment we learned that Fox, recently acquired by Disney, was behind the film with a massive public relations budget, footing the bill for hundreds of advance screenings with celebrity guests, marketing swag, and heavy media saturation – especially in Black markets. We might also wonder about the choice to have Audrey Wells, a White screenwriter whose credits include “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “The Truth About Cats and Dogs,” adapt an urban Black novel for the screen.
But if there is any legacy or uplifting lessons left by the 60s, it is that we must resist these new forms of unfreedom and falsification of history and continue to wage struggles of liberation on every level of life. For these struggles are clearly the indispensable way we understand, free and fulfill ourselves and the aspirations of our ancestors. Indeed, these are struggles demanded by our inherent right to freedom, our natural need for justice and our irrepressible longing for a liberated life. And it is a struggle for and longed for life that yields ordinary and special spaces in which the human spirit is nurtured and constantly renewed, and we and other human beings know ourselves as sacred and at the center and subject of every day and hour of history we make.
Friends and family described Howard as a “gentle giant” who could paint in words what a jazz song was saying. Howard was an author, volunteer jazz disc jockey, author, lecturer and activist in Sonoma County, where he later made his home.
The enduring legacy of the Black Panther Party (BPP) is vividly illustrated in “ICONIC,” a traveling exhibit presented by the Sepia Collective.