Nana King, in defining his first practice of service, phrases it as “trying to love somebody,” which is a linking of two of the central pillars in his self-understanding and self-assertion in the world.   ... read more »

Now the liberational and expansive concept of Nana Ida B. Wells’ “womanly woman” and her mission and meaning begin with a critical questioning. She asks, “What is or should be woman?”   ... read more »

This offering is in rightful homage and deep appreciation, not only for Nana Ida B. Wells-Barnett, but also for the awesome and audacious women of Us, the Malaika and Matamba, the Simba and Senut who created and put forth in thought, dialog, discourse and practice what we now call Kawaida womanism. ... read more »

It is a fundamental tenet of Kawaida philosophy that practice proves and makes possible everything, that is to say, practice brings it into being, makes it real, relevant and worthy of the name and quality it claims, whether it is love or life, parenting or peace, teaching or learning, art or ethics, science, religion or righteous resistance.   ... read more »

This year’s Black History Month theme, “Black Health and Wellness,” opens space for us to call into focus our self-determined and self-sustaining ways of knowing, working and struggling to achieve, protect, promote and sustain our health, health care and healing in a society which is the source of so much of our preventable sickness, needless suffering, and underserved deaths. And thus arises the undeniable need for righteous and relentless struggle, not only to achieve justice and end oppression, but also to achieve a comprehensive radical racial healing. ... read more »

The heavy hand of history has fallen hard on Haiti once again. But this continuing series of devastating events are not simply natural disasters of earthquake and storm. ... read more »

Heri za Kwanzaa, Happy Kwanzaa to African people everywhere throughout the global African community. We bring you Kwanzaa greetings of celebration, solidarity, and continuing struggle for good in the world. Kwanzaa is a special season and celebration of our sacred and expansive selves as African people. It is a unique pan-African time of remembrance, reflection, reaffirmation, and recommitment. It is a special and unique time to remember and honor our ancestors; to reflect on what it means to be African and human in the most expansive and meaningful sense; and to reaffirm the sacred beauty and goodness of ourselves and the rightfulness of our relentless struggle to be ourselves and free ourselves and contribute to an ever-expanding realm of freedom, justice and caring in the world. And Kwanzaa is a special and unique time and pan-African space to recommit ourselves to our highest values that teach us to live our lives, do our work, and wage our struggles in dignity-affirming, life-enhancing, and world-preserving ways as we continue forward on the upward paths of our honored ancestors. ... read more »

This is a revisiting of an ongoing conversation beginning in 2015 about taking down symbols of oppression, especially Confederate flags, but also statues, murals and all public signs, symbols and celebrations of our domination, deprivation and degradation as a people and other people of color. My argument here, as then, is that these acts are necessary, but not sufficient, an important start, but not the end of the long, difficult and dangerous journey to a radical reconception and reconstruction of the source of these racist symbols, signs and celebrations, i.e., society itself.   ... read more »

Nurturing and asserting the narrowest and most degraded forms of individualism, they find it difficult to feel for others, delay gratification and think seriously about the consequences of their actions and those of their monster mentor. Afterall, Trump has assured them he needs no mask, argued early that the virus was a hoax, dismissed it for months and made no national preparations for it. Instead, he has offered them safety and salvation behind apartheid walls, bans on Muslims, Africans - Continental and Caribbean, Latinos and Asians, imprisoning and packing immigrants together in unsanitary and disease producing conditions, and urging them, his followers, to rush into the streets and rage against restrictions and rules instituted to save lives, including their own. ... read more »

Reflecting on the challenge before us, I am drawn to the word for “challenge” in Swahili, changamoto. The word is a combination of two words—moto (fire) and changa which has several meanings, but is here interpreted as both to collect and to contribute. Thus, it literally means both to collect and contribute fire, a gathering and giving of fire, interpreting fire here as vital and transformative energy and focused and determined agency. ... read more »

This year as we again observe the days set aside to mark and remind us of both the tragic passing and praiseworthy endurance of victims of HIV/AIDS among us, we, of necessity, continue to search for solutions, i.e., how to increase prevention, ensure treatment and care, expand education, reduce and end high risk and reckless behavior, and encourage everyone to engage in practices to save lives, promote health and secure well-being and flourishing for us all. ... read more »

There is an increasing sense among those most thoughtful and active among us that the important issues raised and the struggle rightfully waged against the tragedy and catastrophe we call Trump, marginalizes and misses the major issues that define and drive our own righteous and relentless struggle as a people. ... read more »

Part 2. In the midst of the rising tide of resistance and liberation struggles in this country and the world, Min. Malcolm taught that we must always be ready to make the ultimate sacrifice. Indeed, he said, “if you are not ready to die for freedom, put the word out of your vocabulary”. ... read more »

Part 1. The troubled, troubling and taxing times in which we live, and the rugged, racist and treacherous terrain on which we fight demand more from us than episodic engagement, convenient contributions and controlled anger from the edges. Indeed, the life and death of Min. Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and all our other honored ancestors who gave their lives in service and sacrifice for us and the advancement of human good taught this fundamental lesson. ... read more »

In defining Black Power as an ongoing revolt, my intention was to pose and help shape it as a process and practice of righteous and relentless struggle, a sustained righteous resistance against White racism, cultural imperialism, domination, deprivation and degradation imposed on us and the world in all its violent and vicious forms. ... read more »