“What to My People is the Fourth of July?” |
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The text performed by Daveed Diggs — was inspired by
“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July”
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This July 4th, 2021 let's reflect...
These are our people's raging voices of the 1960s...and in 2021 we still hear them echoing...
Check out this youtube below of these raging Black voices...
DO you hear them today among Black Youth in "our Hoods"...
As a long-time working class. union/labor and community organizer, I am listening to both liberals talk about "save our democracy" and our Black & Brown working-class youth saying " what democracy? There is no democracy where we work on our jobs without unions or workers' rights....we are treated like slaves on these nonunion jobs or in our unsafe communities. We have no healthcare for all, access to food stores, affordable quality housing that we can rent or own and we still live in fear of the police in our hoods and on the roads at night...Robert Parsons
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Reflections on 22nd FOLWCC Juneteenth CELEBRATION at outdoor Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center on 6/19/21 |
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by Manzoor Cheema
Community activist/ FOLWCC supporter and volunteer
The Black community members and partners have celebrated Juneteenth as a festive, colorful, and historic event celebrating the abolition of slavery in the USA since June 19, 1865! This year's victorious Juneteenth 2021 was a special event since it received the US federal approval of a paid national holiday, a recognition that was 156 years late by the white supremacist ruling elite. This federal bi-partisan recognition came also as the result of a growing wave of the largest Black-led multi-racial, diverse and international demonstrations ever post Brother George Floyd's tragic murder by the police. Moreover, it was possible only because of dedicated grassroots organizing by Black organizations throughout the USA over many years. Read more
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Black Workers and Labor Unions: "This is what democracy looks like...."
At the pre-action UNITE HERE UNION rally before the march to the rally for voting rights on the National Mall. “Make sure everyone down on Capitol Hill can hear us… when we fight we win!” said UNITE HERE Local 25 president Linda Martin. “They know that the more people vote the more power and voices our workers have,” said MWC president Dyana Forester. “This is what democracy looks like with working people, we workers with real power are what democracy looks like”
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JOIN THE FOL WCC COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY GARDEN
. . .GREAT FRESH FOOD and FRESH IDEAS
The Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center and our volunteers have initiated the COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY GARDEN project on-site at 4200 Lake Ridge Dr. in Raleigh, NC.
Our mission is to grow & nurture healthy fresh food, our wellbeing, our peoples’ historic and traditional custom and spirit of the Kwanzaa principle of Ujima - collective work and responsibility. Our garden is solidarity in action and a social justice understanding about access to affordable quality food and safe clean water (remember Flint, Michigan) in our communities. We hope you join us in working in and NURTURING our needed COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY GARDEN and its mission.
Many big capitalist corporations of the food industry produce unhealthy adulterated food with unnaturally long shelf lives solely as profit-making commodities! The United Nations HUMAN RIGHTS CHARTER has INTERNATIONALLY recognized the HUMAN RIGHT for ALL to healthy food, productive land, and clean safe water as universal human rights. Many Black and Brown working-class communities suffer with food deserts - lack of garden-fresh and affordable quality food. We also do not have cooperative community land that we can use to make real another Kwanzaa principle – Ujamaa – cooperative economics. That is, land that we collectively own and benefit from what is grown or produced on it together.
The corporate food industry, their lobbyists and agent politicians, and its’ media's miseducation of communities are responsible for our people’s poor health, lack of universal health care, and lack of cooperative ownership of land and the means by which we produce what we need to live healthy quality lives.
JOIN US & BECOME A PART OF OUR COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY GARDEN PROJECT!
Please contact us to learn more about how you, your children, family, co-workers, and neighbors can join in with our SOLIDARITYGARDEN master gardeners Ciscero Warren and Nathanette Mayo.
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Black Communities Have Always Used Food as Protest |
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Amethyst Ganaway
June 4, 2021
Food & Wine
Beginning with the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Black people in America have used food as a means of resistance, rebellion, and revolution as well as maintaining a closeness with one another through the meals they ate. Read more
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Join NEW SERIES of Hip Hop for Justice Shows
and Social Justice Activities!
Can young people join in with our efforts to address this challenging moment we all find ourselves and our community in?
Yes! Your community needs your creativity! YOUR art, music, songs, poetry, dancing, video-making skills, and other creative skills are needed to address the lack of living wage incomes, jobs, affordable quality housing/ apartments, and recreational opportunities for fun, education, and fellowship!
This is a critical time for us youth to raise up our voices together, use our creativity and energy for building and making our community better! If we start by using our artistic-creative skills and talents we can start developing a HIP HOP FOR JUSTICE activity that gets us giving our own voice to our own concerns and needs. We need space to talk and learn about what has happened since the Hurricane Florence floods and, now, the Corona Virus. As our health, social and economic conditions quickly change because of the worldwide COVID-19 health crisis, we young people can't stand on the sidelines. WE must get active, turn up and take on these challenging times!
Please contact us to use your creative talents and skills to help turn things around for our FUTURE!
WE will start with a conference call and/or small meetings to develop our NEW HIP HOP FOR JUSTICE EVENT and invite young people to participate in the “New Voices Talent/Artist Event.”
Don’t Miss Out. Be a part of these exciting events! Call or e-mail us at fruitoflaborwcc@netscape.com or call our office landline at (919) 876-7187 and leave your full name and your cell # on our voice mail.
Yes...we need our young people's creativity! YOUR art, music, song, poetry, video-making skills, and other creative skills are needed to engage and involve you ...our youth ... in addressing the lack of living wage incomes, jobs, affordable quality housing/ apartments, and recreational opportunities for fun, education, and fellowship!
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Click below to see the July calendar. |
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