Candidates Forum
Tuesday, November 2nd, 7:00 PM
at the Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center
Join us for this powerful candidate forum, featuring candidates for Wake County District Attorney, Raleigh City Council, and Raleigh Mayor. We will be addressing a number of topics that impact Black and Brown working-class communities, including housing, criminal justice reform, workers' rights, and police accountability.
ALL FOLWCC COVID Health and Safety event guidelines must be followed-
- Provide photo ID, proof of full Covid19 vaccination, or a negative Covid-19 test completed within 72 hours prior to entering the building.
- You are required to wear a mask inside this event.
|
|
Demystifying the Black Panther Party on
Its 55th Anniversary
Eric K. Arnold/THE OAKLANDSIDE
The Black Panther mystique is a powerful and complex one. Along with the Southern Civil Rights Movement, it transcended Black history to become American history, with all the gravitas that implies. As numerous events commemorating the party’s 55th anniversary approach in the coming days—including an unveiling ceremony for a bust of co-founder Huey Newton, an anniversary gathering in DeFremery Park, a tribute to the San Francisco chapter members at the Bayview Opera House, an art exhibit at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, and a remembrance of the Panthers’ singing group, The Lumpen—that mystique has again come to the fore.
Veteran Black Panthers say Hollywood and mainstream media portrayals of the party have often been misleading, focusing on a brief period of time when militant activism was at its peak, and not on the 65 community-oriented “survival programs” they say are the true measure of the party’s legacy and impact.
“All those films and movies we’ve seen, they always depict that particular origin period, with the berets and jackets, which only lasted up until mid-1970. After that, we were addressing the community,” said Dr. Saturu Ned, a former member of The Lumpen and educator at the Oakland Community Learning Center who’s currently a member of the Black Panther Party Legacy Alumni Network. Read more here.
|
|
Rethinking Black Studies as a Freedom Project
blogs.lse.ac.uk
Professor Abdul Alkalimat discusses his new book, The History of Black Studies, exploring some of the complex and diverse historical origins that led to the emergence of Black Studies in the US as intellectual history, as a social movement, and as an academic profession.
One of the most impactful results of the 1960s Black liberation movement has been the creation of Black Studies as a formal education programme. But Black Studies has been much more than that. His new book, The History of Black Studies (Pluto Press, 2021), offers a comprehensive discussion that clarifies its complex and diverse historical origins.
First, a definition: ‘This book defines Black Studies as those activities: (1) that study and teach about African Americans and often Africans and other African-descended people; (2) where Black people themselves are the main agents, or protagonists, of the study and learning; (3) that counter racism and contribute to human liberation; (4) that celebrate the Black experience; and (5) that see it as one precious case among many in the universality of the human condition.’
Given this concept of Black Studies, there are three main historical ways to measure and discuss its development: Black Studies as intellectual history; Black Studies as a social movement; and Black Studies as an academic profession. The main argument is that Black people have been rational about their experience, thinking about what has happened, and developing serious literature and cultural practices. Moreover, Black activists have engaged their community to be involved and acted with a focused agency on the institutions of society for the social change needed to achieve their political and moral objectives.
|
|
Fela Kuti, Godfather of Afro Beat
Honored with a Blue Heritage Plaque,
in LONDON, England
It’s no exaggeration to say that Afro Beat has become one of the biggest-selling genres within the music industry. From its humble beginnings in West Africa along its journey taking in American Soul, Jamaican reggae, and African High life, the music has become one of the most influential in terms of sales over the last 5 years.
On 1st November 2021, its founder and originator, Fela Kuti, will be commemorated in Shepherd’s Bush, West London, with a Blue plaque, the latest addition to a number of heritage plaques across the capital.
12 Stanlake Road, Shepherd’s Bush, was the address that Fela first lived when he came to the UK in 1958 to study music. The owner of the flat was Jimo Kombi Braimah, affectionately known to everyone as JK. JK, who became a lifelong friend of Fela Kuti, was a fellow musician and singer. It was JK who introduced Fela to the Lagos music scene 4 years earlier, and whom Fela would later describe as “the most important man in my life”. Fela is also known as a veteran freedom fighter and activist around the world!
But evidently, the man who was destined to become the most important Black African musician of the 20 and 21st centuries was not recognized by the U.S. music industry!
The Blue Plaque to Fela is being done as a partnership between the largest deliver of diverse plaques and statues in the world, the Nubian Jak Community Trust, and Hammersmith and Fulham Council.
QUOTE:
Dr. Jak Beula, founder of the Nubian Jak group said: “Fela was more than just a pioneering musician, more than just an activist or pan Africanist. He was a visionary a prophet and a visionary whose time had come. And it’s as if his time has come back again with the global impact of Afro Beat”.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
