On this day May 28, 1934, Dr. Betty Shabazz, wife of Malcolm X, was born in Detroit, Michigan. Brought to you by the Black365 Calendar. Find out more at www.Black365.US
If we are to rightfully remember Min. Malcolm, we must seriously grasp and practice what he so meticulously taught us about valuing our lives, our work and our struggle. Here I use grasp to mean take in hand and heart his legacy, study and understand it, and hold it firmly as a valuable heritage and framework for continuing forward. Whether it is on his day of birth or his day of sacrifice and martyrdom, or any other day of the year, remembering and honoring him must offer some meaningful expression and evidence that his life and teachings help shape how we live our lives, do our work and wage our struggles to be ourselves, free ourselves, develop ourselves and come into the fullness of ourselves.
Thus, we self-consciously called our Movement, the Black Freedom Movementand demanded “FreedomNow,” not civil rights now. We composed and sang freedomsongs, not civil rights songs. And we built freedomschools, not civil rights schools, and we risked our lives on freedomrides, not civil rights rides. You can always say there was indeed a fight for civil rights. But although civil rights were an important concern of the Black Freedom Movement, the Black Freedom struggle was committed to freedom as a more expansive concept, practice and goal. In a word, it was concerned about freedom from oppression and freedom to grow, develop and come into the fullness of ourselves.
When Jamaal Brown, creator of the Black 365 Calendar and Knowledge Bowl was a kid in Palmdale, California, his aspirations were less than lofty. For a class assignment that had prompted him to think about his future career choices, it was a no brainer: either an athlete, a drug dealer, entertainer or a gang member. There were two things wrong with his list, he said.
Combining their experience and knowledge as leading fashion creators, Kevan Hall, Angela Dean and TJ Walker have launched the Black Design Collective (BDC) to provide resources and opportunities to African Americans in the industry.
If we are to know ourselves rightly, honor our history, radically improve our present and forge a future worthy of the names African and human, then we must reaffirm and renew our moral and social vanguard role as a people, wage righteous and relentless resistance to evil and injustice everywhere, and put forth in plan and practice a new history and hope for our people and humankind. In the months of February and March, which we of Us have designated as Black History Month I (General Focus) and Black History Month II (Women Focus), our people have set aside time and space to celebrate ourselves inhistoryand ashistory. For we are producers and products of this sacred narrative, and the subject and center of this awesome record and struggle, the most ancient of human histories.
Ruth E. Carter is a black woman blazing a trail as a costume designer in a film industry with not many who look like her. But through her upcoming career achievement award and Oscar nomination for her Afro-futuristic wardrobes in the superhero film “Black Panther,” Carter believes she can “knock down” more doors so others like herself can walk through them. If Carter wins an Oscar for best costume design this month, she would become the first African-American to win in the category. Despite “very stiff competition,” Carter believes she has a good chance going up against Mary Zophres, Alexandra
Talking about Black unity has fallen out of favor, but the need for unity is as great, if not greater, than ever. Black unity is a perquisite for sustainable change, but it has become a dust-covered relic. Bastardized remnants remain, but are found mostly in venues that do not advance our collective interest. Blacks continue to emulate Whites’ individualistic and materialistic values without commensurate benefits. Nonetheless, unity is essential for effectively working with each other and others.
It is all there, the beginning of another myth-making drama of an America honestly engaged in coming to terms with its racist past and present, openly discussing the grievous hurt and harm White racism causes to its victims, and making a united front and consensus call for the resignation of a governor caught with his white Klan cape up and his blackface guard down in a pre-selfie photo for his med school yearbook. Clearly, it must be an important issue, for it is on all the media: corporate, social and otherwise. And if it drags out long enough, it could inspire the making of a movie or at least lead to other goodwill tours inside the alternating racist and reformist mind of America.
Activists and supporters fighting for the release of 64-year-old journalist/activist Mumia Abu Jamalsay they weren’t shocked but heavily condemned Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for appealing the ground-breaking decision by Pennsylvania Common Pleas Court Judge Leon Tucker granting him a new appeal hearing.
As we celebrate each year our strivings and struggles through history, the Black Freedom Movement is always a central focus. But we may not call it by its rightful name, because it has been renamed by the established order as the Civil Rights Movement and this has implications for us in terms of self-determination and how we define our goals, what we count as victory, and the lessons and spirit of life and struggle we learn and absorb from this world historical struggle. Our urgent and constant call was “Freedom Now!” and even now, it is no less necessary.
Mariah Parker, is making headlines. Not because she was elected commissioner of GA 2nd District in Athens at the age of 26, not because she won by 13 votes but because of her swearing in. Unapologetically black, Mariah decided to be sworn in with the Malcolm X Autobiography and a fist in the air. “They asked if they would like the Bible and I said no. My mother asked if there was a copy of the Constitution around. No,” Parker said. “I wanted Malcolm’s book. I think they saw it coming.” Now that’s #BlackGirlMagic.
And as part of this process, I want to share reflections of this revolutionary spirit and radical imagination found in The Quotable Karenga, which contains critical concepts that served as foundation and framework for our thought and practice of revolutionary cultural nationalism.
Again, this is in sankofa remembrance for our 53rd anniversary of our organization Us in righteous and relentless resistance. And thus, it is about reaching back, retrieving, reflecting, reconstructing and recommitting ourselves to a radical and righteous reconception and transformation of ourselves, society and ultimately the world as was our founding mission in those turbulent and transformative years of the Sixties. In the 60’s when we first collectively declared that we are an African people, we did not do so simply to reaffirm our historical source of origin and reclaim a history as old as humanity itself. We did it also as an act of self-determination, a reaffirmation of our right as the Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles, say, “to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.”