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Walking With Nana Woodson in History: Seeking Truth, Justice and Transformation 
Dr. Maulana KarengaOpinion

Walking With Nana Woodson in History: Seeking Truth, Justice and Transformation 

Dr. Maulana KarengaFebruary 16, 2023

    It is the sacred teaching of our honored foremother, Nana Fannie Lou Hamer, that there are two things we all should care about “never to forget where we came from and always praise the bridges that carried us over. And in revisiting this teaching and our homage to Nana Dr. Carter G. Woodson, we seek to honor this sacred obligation. Again, so we might remember and raise up, pursue and do the good. For he is indeed one of those mighty bridges who taught us where we came from and offered us an unbreakable bridge to carry us

New Year Wishes and Work: Pursuing and Practicing Peace 
Opinion

New Year Wishes and Work: Pursuing and Practicing Peace 

Dr. Maulana KarengaJanuary 26, 2023

The end and beginning of the years always find us in a critical period of transition in which, responding to the mandates of our moral tradition and the human urgencies of our history as African people, we are compelled to continue forward and turn our best New Year wishes into our most committed work.

The Ethics and Essentiality of Struggle: Ancestral Insights From Our Ancient Sacred Texts 
Dr. Maulana KarengaOpinion

The Ethics and Essentiality of Struggle: Ancestral Insights From Our Ancient Sacred Texts 

Dr. Maulana KarengaJanuary 12, 2023

One of the most critical tasks of our times is to reaffirm, deepen and expand our culture of struggle as a people, with its rich talkings and sacred teachings and its lived and uplifting experiences of “storm riding,” “blooming in the whirlwind,” and daring to “specialize in the wholly impossible” in the midst of the most savage and brutal situations of oppression history had to offer. Indeed, it is as ethically imperative as it is compellingly essential, for it is an anchoring, defining and ongoing project and practice of constantly struggling for African and human good and the well-being of the world.  

Practicing Sankofa: Seasons of Struggle and Change
Dr. Maulana Karenga

Practicing Sankofa: Seasons of Struggle and Change

Dr. Maulana KarengaFebruary 18, 2021

We move through February and March to celebrate Black History Month I and II as naturally and necessarily as men and women meet and merge for joy and life, and seasons change and bring some new and needed good into the world. Our history is a self-conscious and sustained struggle for growth, transformation and transcendence to ever higher levels of human life in ever-expanding realms of human freedom and human flourishing.

“The Trumpian Chickens Coming Home: Min. Malcolm, Black Victories and White Racist Rage”
Dr. Maulana Karenga

“The Trumpian Chickens Coming Home: Min. Malcolm, Black Victories and White Racist Rage”

Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, California State University-Long BeachJanuary 14, 2021

We can concede that it was a shock to many, if not most, White folks to see “their own” dressed in Hollywood Viking and Visigoth headdress, howling hate, attacking police and property, calling out kill lists for various future victims, as they rampaged seditiously and sanctimoniously through the Capitol attempting a coup. But they should not have been surprised, even if shocked, about how this time they found themselves and some of us and others, needing to shelter in place and hide under desks and tables to escape harm and possible death in one of America’s most sacred and secured places of government, the U.S. Capitol Building.

“Cherishing and Challenging Kamala Harris: Issues of Commitment and Accountability”
Dr. Maulana Karenga

“Cherishing and Challenging Kamala Harris: Issues of Commitment and Accountability”

Dr. Maulana KarengaNovember 26, 2020

There is no doubt that the nomination and election of Kamala Harris as Vice President Elect of the United States of America is of great importance and meaning to us as a people. Indeed, it was a hard-won victory, not only at the voting box, but over the numerous evil, oppressive and varied attempts to deny our vote and voice before and after the election. Like the election of President Baraka Obama, it is for Black people an historical achievement born of a constant and committed work and righteous and relentless struggle to expand the realm of freedom, justice, and equity in this country.

Democratic Blue and Peoplehood Black: Necessary Distinctions Between People and Party
Dr. Maulana KarengaOpinion

Democratic Blue and Peoplehood Black: Necessary Distinctions Between People and Party

Dr. Maulana KarengaNovember 19, 2020

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. And the question of how that works out in public policy and social practice is still to be determined with no definite or proposed dates in sight. But we know from the ample evidence of history and the lived experience of our daily lives that whatever it means and promises for White folks and others, it will not mean or promise the same for us.

Being Ella Baker Even After the Election: Valuing Our Victory, Continuing Our Struggle
Dr. Maulana KarengaOpinion

Being Ella Baker Even After the Election: Valuing Our Victory, Continuing Our Struggle

Dr. Maulana KarengaNovember 12, 2020

In our rightful celebration and valuing of our victory in saving ourselves and America from its Trumpian self, we must remember and recommit ourselves to continuing our larger struggle. For although we removed Trump, the monster side of America from office, the millions of people who support, enable and voted for him for a second term offer ample evidence the system itself is deeply flawed and in need of radical reconception and reconstruction. And so, at the outset, we must not harbor any Americana illusions of “we’re better than this or that,” as if “we” was all of us, doing wrong.

“Forging Our Future With Fannie Lou Hamer: The Urgency and Value of Voting”
Dr. Maulana KarengaNews

“Forging Our Future With Fannie Lou Hamer: The Urgency and Value of Voting”

Dr. Maulana KarengaOctober 8, 2020

In the midst of the pandemic of COVID 19, the ongoing pathology of racist oppression and lying imposed as a way of life, the sacred charge to us by our honored foremother, Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer (October 6), to constantly question and radically transform America is both urgent and enduringly relevant. She taught that justice and freedom require truth and “if we want America to be a free society, we must stop lying” and stop people’s lying from going unchallenged. Indeed, we must speak truth to the people and speak truth to power

Standing Steadfast With Paul Robeson: Refusing to Change With the Weather
Dr. Maulana KarengaOp-EdOpinion

Standing Steadfast With Paul Robeson: Refusing to Change With the Weather

Dr. Maulana KarengaApril 12, 2017

Among the sacred names of our honored ancestors which we raise and praise this month, let us pay homage and pour libation for Paul Robeson (April 9, 1898—January 23, 1976), a truly Imhotepian man, in the classical African sense of the word, i.e., a master of many disciplines of knowledge and skilled practice directed toward bringing good in the world. Indeed, he was a critically acclaimed actor, singer, scholar, civil and human rights activist, orator and advocate of workers and everyday people everywhere. However, it is important to note that it is not simply his professional excellence and achievement which made him who he was and won for him accolades, honors and reverent respect around the world, but also his profound and steadfast commitment to his principles and his people and to humanity as a whole, especially ordinary, everyday people.