Black Power Talks

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #22: Black Power and the struggle against gentrification

"The African community in St. Louis has a very rich and vibrant history of culture, music, resistance and strong family. That's still a fact in north St. Louis. We contrast that reality to the economic reality where 30% of the population is living on less than $5 a day. Until recently, there have been about 25,000 vacant and abandoned buildings in north St. Louis and much of it looks like a war zone. With the Black Power Blueprint, we want to bring the black community back - with grocery stores, healthy food, vibrant businesses, owned and controlled by the people", says Ticharwa Masimba. 
Masimba, along with Uhuru Movement President Kalambayi Andenet - both longtime residents of St. Louis - are this week's guests.
They discuss the progress of the Black Power Blueprint in revitalizing north St. Louis with the creation of a community center, outdoor event space, community garden, basketball court and workforce housing.
Andenet reflects on the unifying impact of the 50-foot high red, black and green flag that flies over the community garden. "St. Louis has been named the murder capital. The horizontal violence is a real issue. This flag has been the way we have able to say 'cease fire and save the bullets for the real war'.  We are engaged in getting the gang leaders to sign a peace treaty and say the red, black and green flag trumps all flags."
Masimba and Andenet explain role of the planned 1000-acre National Geospatial-Intelligence (spy) Agency in the gentrification of north St. Louis and the role of the St. Louis Land Reutilization Agency and Alderman John Collins-Muhammad in supporting white developers and blocking black community property acquisition.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #21 "Black and Brown Unity - the time is now!"

Black and Latino people make up nearly 80 percent of the people in prison. Black and Latino people earn, on average, 60 percent the median income earned by whites. The COVID-19 rates for Africans, Latinos and Indigenous people in the US are three to four times those of whites.
Black and Brown people live together, work together, go to school together. But those sites have also been places of conflict stoked by the colonial contradictions of poverty, prison, and police brutality.  
As the 50th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium approaches, we discuss the way forward with:
Harry Simon, lifelong educator, media producer and Central Committee member of Union del Barrio, dedicated to "promoting and defending the human rights and class interests of la raza within the current borders of the U.S.
Marco Amaral, graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, educator for children with special needs in the San Diego South Bay and a member of the South Bay Union School District Board of Trustees.
This episode is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu. The weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the struggle against colonial violence, from COVID-19 to police occupation.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #20, "Black August and the struggle to free political prisoners"

More than 1.5 million African people are locked up in prison or jail in the U.S.,  victims of a colonial system where they are the targets of profiling, discriminatory prosecutions and unfair sentencing. 
A number of them are political prisoners who have spent most of their adult lives behind bars after serving as heroes in the Black Power movement of the 1960s.
Today, African prisoners face an additional threat - COVID-19. Demands are growing for the immediate release of prisoners across the U.S.
In this episode we talk with:
Ralph Poynter, founder of the Teachers Freedom Party Caucus of the United Federation of Teachers, New York City. He is a co-founder of the New Abolitionist Movement and served as chair of the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee in which he fought for the release of political prisoner and his late wife Lynne Stewart, a lawyer who defended African and Arab activists and was incarcerated during the last years of her life, as part of the U.S. counterinsurgency program. 
Belinda Parker- Brown, founder of Louisiana United International, Inc., member of the Black is Back Coalition for Peace, Justice and Reparations, and through her affiliation with The Jericho Movement, works to free African political prisoners deemed to be prisoners of war.
Dr. Zena D. Crenshaw, Assistant Chief of Operations for Louisiana United International, Inc., legal scholar and human rights activist.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #19 "Black Power in the Great White North: a report from Toronto, Canada"

Dr. Matsemela Odom talks with Jalali, also known as Norman Otis Richmond about:
COVID-19 and colonial violence against Africans in Canada
History of the African liberation movement and the struggle for African unity in Canada
Revolutionary international African culture
Jalali was born in Louisiana and raised in Los Angeles, California.  He moved to Canada in the late-1960s where he became an early leader in the African Liberation Movement in Canada.  
He's dedicated his life to revolutionary cultural work. An accomplished musician himself and a musical historian, he has worked with a host of musicians such as Bob Marley, Abbey Lincoln, Hugh Masekela, and Fela Kuti. 
Jalali is the host and producer of the “Diasporic Music” show on Black Power 96 FM radio in St. Petersburg, Florida, which airs Sundays, 2pm to 4pm Eastern Time and can be heard on the Black Power 96 mobile app.
He is a prolific writer on African politics and culture, widely published including in the Pambazuka News, the San Francisco Bay View, the Black Agenda Report, CounterPunch and The Burning Spear newspaper, where he has a regular column.

The People's War radio show, Episode #18: Black Community Control of Schools

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools across the United States abruptly closed in March. Some school districts implemented distance learning plans, and others did not. African children without regular access to computers and the internet have been further alienated.
In the haste to reopen and jumpstart the economy, public school districts have reopened despite the fact that one out of three children tested for COVID-19 in places like Florida have received positive test results. 
In the schools, we have seen African children arrested for bringing play money.  We have seen the natural hairstyles and head wraps of African girls and boys criminalized, and African girls brutalized by campus police.
Africans are resisting colonial education. Homeschooling is on the rise, but African families that received cash aid from the government are not eligible for homeschooling. If they remove their children from the colonial education system, their children can be kidnapped by Child Protective Services.  
Single parents with jobs as well as African households where two parents work and barely survive, cannot afford homeschooling.  
What is the solution? The solution is Black Community Control of Schools.  We talk with:
Chimurenga Selembao, leader in the development of the Marcus Garvey Academy, a proposed charter school in St. Petersburg, Florida. He also ran for Pinellas County School Board on a platform of Black Community Control of Schools.
Maisha Kudumu, director of Uhuru Shule Virtual Freedom School, an initiative created by the Uhuru Movement in San Diego to assist African families following the shutdown of local schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Uhuru Shule also teaches self-determination to African parents and children.  Maisha is a mother of two children.  She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English literature and a Master’s degree in Counseling.  As a young activist, Maisha participated in the Center for Parent Involvement in Education, a grassroots initiative created by her parents--also lifelong education activists, to promote self-determination of African parents and children as the key to educational success.
This episode is hosted by Tiana Afrika. The weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the struggle against colonial violence, from COVID-19 to police occupation.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #17: The struggle for Black Power in Brazil, from the Quilombos to the Favelas

Brazil occupies nearly half of the South American continent and is home to approximately 214 million people, over half of whom are African.
With 83,000 deaths from COVID-19, Brazil is rapidly catching up with the U.S. where 145,000 have died. Africans in Brazil face extreme poverty, lack of health care and rampant violence and murder at the hands of police and the Brazilian military. 
We talk with:
Thalma de Freitas, Grammy-nominated musician, songwriter and actress, who was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thalma performs a wide variety of African music such as hip hop, samba, jazz, and traditional African music in Brazil, representing African independence in culture and politics.
Abner Sotenos. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Abner is currently a doctoral student in history at the University of California San Diego. His recent public talk delivered at the University of California Los Angeles chronicled the history of colonial violence against African women in Brazil, including the recent assassination of Marielle Franco.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #16: Corporate scramble; they must pay!

The Amazon fire stick video screen opens with slogans about “Black Lives Matter” and “Amazon stands in solidarity with the black community”. 
Netflix has put together a black movies series. Nascar made a public showing of support for their one black driver and removed the Confederate flag. 
UberEats is offering free delivery from black businesses. Twitter CEO has declared Juneteenth a corporate holiday.
Walmart says they’ll stop locking the cabinets displaying black hair care products. LEGO has suspended marketing for police-themed sets.
Corporations posture and pretend support for the black community, but they take billions in government bailout while African workers suffer death and poverty heightened during the coronavirus pandemic.
We talk with:
Akile Anai, Editor of The Burning Spear newspaper and Director of the African People's Socialist Party's Department of Agitation and Propaganda. In 2017 and in 2019 Akile ran for City Council in St. Petersburg on a platform of reparations and was profiled by Ebony Magazine as a “Millennial of Change”.
Halley Murray, artist, graduate of Montserrat College of Art and coordinator of Uhuru Planet Reparations Apparel. As a member of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, the white reparations component of the Uhuru Movement, Halley has led protests at corporate offices and CEO homes, demanding reparations to the African community.
This episode is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu. The weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the struggle against colonial violence, from COVID-19 to police occupation.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #15: Black Community Control of the Police

Guests on this week's program are both from St. Louis, MO:
Jabreia Taylor, law student at the Saint Louis University School of Law and President of the Law School’s Street Law Chapter
Kalambayi Andenet, President of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement
We discuss:
The police occupation of the black community and other colonial conditions facing African people such as COVID-19 pandemic, gentrification and poverty
"Black Community of the Police" vs. "Defund the police"
Efforts to end "Qualified Immunity" protecting police from liability in brutality suits
This episode is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu. The weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the struggle against colonial violence, from COVID-19 to police occupation.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #14: African women must lead

We talk with Yejide Orunmila, President of the African National Women’s Organization (ANWO) about:
How to stop violence against African women - colonial (police) and horizontal (within the community)
Efforts to stop the forced removal of African children from their families
Support for African women in prison
ANWO’s July 11-12 online international organizing conference
The program concludes with the words of the late Afeni Shakur, co-defendant in the NYC trial against the Panther 21 in 1969 and mother of the rapper, Tupac.
This episode is hosted by Tiana Afrika and Muambi Tangu. The weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the struggle against colonial violence, from COVID-19 to police occupation.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #13: Black Power Matters in the NYC

The People's War Radio Show returns to New York City to talk with:
New York City Councilwoman Inez Barron representing the 42nd District in Brooklyn. Born and raised in Brooklyn, a graduate of Hunter College and the Bank Street College of Education, she worked in primary and secondary education for 36 years, serving as an elementary school teacher, a principal and a school board member.   
New York State Assemblyman Charles Barron. Born in Queens, he joined the Harlem branch of the Black Panther Party at age 18, distributing newspapers and protesting for the release of the Panther 21. He joined the National Black United Front in 1979, is today a member of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, advocates for Black Community Control and has effectively put a stop to gentrification in his District.
On this program, they discuss:
Countering attempts to hijack the movement to ending police occupation of the African community
Black community health and economic survival during the coronavirus pandemic
The struggles for reparations and quality education
Hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu, the weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the struggle against colonial violence, from COVID-19 to police occupation.