Black Power Talks

The People's War radio show, Episode #32: Land, water, police violence and Black Power in the French West Indies

The struggle for Black Power is reaching a critical point in the so-called French West Indies. Massive protests have been growing against the poisoning of the people, land and water of Martinique and Guadeloupe by continuing use of the internationally-banned pesticide, chlordecone, by plantation owners.
Activists are demanding an immediate end to the use of chlordecone and reparations for the severe health impacts on the population and the long-term destruction of the natural resources of the islands. The response of the French government has been violently repressive. We talk with:
Madly Etile, activist, singer, traditional African dancer and a mother, whose son, Keziah, was brutally beaten, tortured and jailed for his participation in peaceful protests demanding justice for the people of the French West Indies.
Steve Fola Gadet, assistant professor at the University of the French West Indies, hip hop emcee, writer, and activist. Fola is from Guadeloupe but lives in Martinique. He is the author of Discourse on Neocolonialism, a 2018 revisiting of Aime Cesaire’s magnum opus Discourse on Colonialism.
We also hear directly from Keziah Nussier who is due in court next week for taking a stand against the plantation owners and French authorities.
Keziah's statements and portions of Madly's interview are presented in French and translated to English by Fola.
More information on Keziah's case can be found on Instagram and Facebook. 
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #31: #EndSARS: Necolonialism vs. a united socialist Africa

Militant protests against police repression and murder of African people have spread across Nigeria, strategic oil supplier to the western world. Widespread reparations raids on stores and government warehouses along with attacks on police precincts and prisons have rocked the country. Lagos - Nigeria's financial hub whose population is 3 times larger that NYC - has been brought to a standstill, with curfews imposed and schools closed. 
We talk with:
Luwezi Kinshasa, Secretary General of the African Socialist International. Born and raised in the Congo, Kinshasa speaks 7 languages. He is currently based in London and works as an educator and organizer in African communities throughout Europe and across the continent of Africa. 
Dr. Olufemi Taiwo, assistant professor of philosophy at Georgetown University in Washington DC.  Born in the U.S., his family is from the vicinity of Lagos, Nigeria. He is currently writing a book entitled Reconsidering Reparations, making a new philosophical argument for reparations and exploring links with environmental justice.
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU-LP FM in St. Petersburg, Florida. It's hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #30: Video gaming, black representation and capitalist exploitation

This November, Sony and Microsoft will be releasing their newest gaming consoles, Playstation 5 and the XBOX Series X. It's estimated that by 2024, Sony and Microsoft will sell over 100 million of these new gaming units.  
Africans are overrepresented as gamers but underrepresented as creative workers in the industry. Approximately 7% of whites and 11% of Black young people define themselves as gamers, but Africans are only 3% of the video game industry’s high tech workforce.
We talk with Ushindi Watu, old school gamer from New Jersey, "I've been in arcades and pool halls since pinball", and Iquan X, St. Petersburg college student and avid gamer, about:
Derogatory representation of African characters in video gaming
Tech industry dependency and exploitation of precious minerals, like coltan and copper, from Africa
Challenges faced by young Africans seeking to use their technology knowledge and skills for positive change and creative expression
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU FM in St. Petersburg, FL and hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #29: Breonna Taylor, Mike Brown and the role of the grand jury in protecting the police

Following the Kentucky grand jury failure to indict any police for the murder of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, we talk with:
Jamahl Kersey, of the Kersey Law firm. For over 10 years, Kersey has defended working class people in a range of issues before the court - from criminal cases to the defense of people facing deportation. Kersey is also a community college professor of legal studies. 
Robert White, a St. Louis-based educator, Black Power activist and juror in the "Black People’s Grand Jury" that indicted Darren Wilson for the 2014 murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
This episode includes excerpts from Megan Thee Stallion's Saturday Night Live performance denouncing Kentucky Attorney General Cameron for "selling out" the black community, Cameron's response to the rap artist, Gil Scott Heron's 1972 "No Knock" song and clips from the 2015 Black People's Grand Jury.
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU FM in St. Petersburg, FL and hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and community activist Muambi Tangu.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #28: Black People's March on the White House, Black Power Matters!

In the midst of a continuing pandemic, worldwide uprisings against police containment of the African community and a desperately contested U.S. presidential election, we turn to Chairman Omali Yeshitela for answers and a way forward. Chairman Omali is:
Leader and founder of the Uhuru Movement over 5 decades, initiated campaigns to defend the democratic rights of the African community, to organize and raise up African women, to mobilize opposition to U.S. wars and to popularize the demand for reparations to African people
Author of numerous books developing the theory and strategy of African Internationalism
Winner of the 2019 Oxford Union Africa debate
Chairman of the African Socialist International with branches throughout the U.S., Europe, the Caribbean and on the continent of Africa
The People's War Radio Show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM radio in St. Petersburg, Florida and is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and African community organizer Muambi Tangu.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #27: The shooting of L.A. Sheriffs in Compton - response to legacy of police violence?

On September 12, 2020, a gunman opened fire on two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies at the Willowbrook Blue Line Transit Station in Compton California. 
The deputies were taken to the nearby St. Francis Medical Center in the neighboring city of Lynwood. Outside of the hospital, protestors gathered, not in support of the officers but in support of the community, chanting, “We hope they die.”
As we record this program, there have been no arrests in the case. Many residents assume that this attack on the police were in response to a series of recent police killings and to the decades of police containment and abuse against the black community of Compton and Los Angeles.
In this episode we talk with two community activists about the existence of gangs operating inside of the L.A. Sheriff's Department, the allegations that the recent killing of a black bicyclist was a gang initiation test and the "no comment" response of the black community to offers of "snitch money" in the case of the shooting of the 2 Sheriff's Deputies.
Tasha Williamson is a celebrated activist and powerful advocate of justice against white power in police departments. She is co-founder of Hotels Vouchers for all and San Diego Compassion Project. In early 2020, she ran for mayor of San Diego winning over 25,000 votes. Tasha Williamson has fought in courts, on the streets, in city hall, in front of city official’s residence to expose the relationship between the policies of violence and imprisonment against Africans and the corruption within these departments.
Alfred Durr, a father of 6 children born and raised in Compton, California. A former standout athlete, Alfred has seen the best and the worst of life in Compton, California. Currently, Alfred is the co-host of the podcast CoolTalk where they discuss everything from sports to politics. Alfred is a fierce advocate for the African working class on everything from his opposition to gang profiling to his support for healthy eating and exercise. 

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #26: COVID-19 and the Black Ankh free Telehealth program

As U.S. COVID-19 deaths exceed 200,000, we talk with two African professionals about:
The state of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the African community along with the state of health and healthcare in general, for African people in the U.S. and around the world.
What African people can do to guard against infection by the virus and what we can do if we do become infected.
Strategies for African communities to take charge of our own overall health and well-being.
Dr. Aisha Fields is a physicist who became the International Director of the All African People’s Development & Empowerment Project, a non-profit organization founded in 2007. 
As the group’s Director, Dr. Aisha is responsible for coordinating African community-led health care, agricultural and educational programs throughout the U.S., on the continent of Africa, and in African communities world-wide.
They’ve built clean water systems, vocational and nursery schools, community farms, maternity centers and a variety of youth and adult educational programs.
They also established the Project Black Ankh to provide African community-based disaster relief, responding to hurricanes in Texas, Ebola in Sierra Leone and now, COVID-19 worldwide.
Dr. Loretta King is a family nurse practitioner with a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Chatham University.  
With more than 30 years of nursing experience, Dr. King has worked in Emergency care, ICU, Dialysis, Women's Health and Primary Care. 
She’s a recipient of the 2005 Houston Salute to Nurses award.
Today, Dr. King is a member of the Project Black Ankh Medical Advisory Team and serves as the Project’s lead Medical Provider.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #25: Hip-hop, politics and Black Power

Hip-Hop is a cultural movement that was formed following the defeat of the African Revolution of the 1960s.  Its poetics, aesthetics, and politics reflect African life under the US counterinsurgency.  
The conditions that define the moment hip-hop arose were: increased privatization, mass unemployment and poverty, increased colonial violence and a decrease in mass mobilization. Hip-Hop shares these conditions with other African art forms such as the blues and calypso, of an earlier period, and reggae music of the 1970s.  
Hip-Hop’s enduring character is attributed to its origins in the African working class.  
Hip-Hop and rap music has, at times, offered political prescriptions to the African Working Class.  More than often, rappers and other cultural workers have reflected the revolutionary upsurge amongst the masses.
Historically, the most remarkable rap group was Dead Prez.  As this episode's guests noted, Dead Prez did not just rap about political topics, they had excellent skill and production but were also African Internationalist organizers.  This year is the 20th anniversary of Dead Prez’s album Let’s Get Free.
In 2020, rappers and African cultural workers have entered into political debates over police violence and electoral politics.  As we see in this episode, their conclusions are not always what we expect but, as our guest Professor Fanon Che Wilkins notes, we should continue to engage rappers and Hip-Hop as an arena of struggle.  
In this episode, we do just that.
Hosts Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu talk with:
Fanon Che Wilkins, PhD, a professor of American Studies at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.  Named after Frantz Fanon and Che Guevara, Wilkins was born into black revolutionary struggle. He co-edited the 2009 anthology of essays, From Toussaint to Tupac: The Black International Since the Age of Revolution and is the author of “A Line of Steel”: The Organization of the Sixth Pan-African Congress and the Struggle for International Black Power, 1969–1974.” 
Anthony Blacksher, sociology professor at San Bernardino Valley College, in San Bernardino, California, with a doctorate in cultural studies from Claremont Graduate University.  Known as Ant Black, he is a spoken word artist and a founding member of the spoken word group Collective Purpose and co-hosted “Elevated,” a nationally renowned open-mic that ran for over 10 years in San Diego.  Blacksher is the author of the doctoral dissertation, “A Matter of Life and Def: Poetic Knowledge and the Organic Intellectuals in Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.”

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #24: Police containment of the black community is genocide

Hosts Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu talk with Diop Olugbala, chair of the "Black Community Control of Police" working group of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations Coalition about:
Stop and Frisk racial profiling
Special "anti-gang" laws targeting the black community
The September 11-13, 2020 online Convention of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #23: Black athletes stand against police violence

Last week, the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League were forced to cancel playoff and other games when athletes refused to play, in protest of the actions of the Kenosha, Wisconsin police, shooting an unarmed black man Jacob Blake, seven times in the back. 
The political fall-out from the police violence against the African community even hit the world of tennis when Naomi Osaka pulled out of the Western Southern Open.
This week's guest is Jason Jones, sportswriter for the Sacramento Bee for 16 years before joining the ranks of the Athletic, a popular sports journal.
Jason talks with host Dr. Matsemela Odom, childhood friend and rival football player, about the relationship of black professional athletes to the team owners and their growing public stance of opposition to police violence in the black community.