Black Power Talks

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #11, "Reports from the ground: Haiti"

A month ago, Haiti’s number of COVID-19 infections barely registered on the global radar screen. But a leading medical group warns that that has now changed alarmingly. At the end of April, Haiti had reported only 81 new coronavirus cases and eight deaths. Those COVID-19 figures have since spiked to more than 3,000 cases and 50 deaths. 
The international medical nonprofit Doctors Without Borders says that due to a lack of testing, the count is likely much higher. Haiti’s growing crisis is reflected across so-called Latin America and the Caribbean – which scientists say is the global hotspot for COVID-19’s second wave.
Today’s guest Elikya Ngoma was born on August 11, 1991 to a family of Africans from Haiti. There, Elikya witnessed many of the contradictions that Africans face around the world, especially those who come from Haiti. Elikya Ngoma is the Haiti Editor of The Burning Spear newspaper.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #10: “Reports from the Ground: The Pandemic and George Floyd protests in California and Mexico.”

“The death rate from COVID-19 in Tijuana is 7 times the death rate in neighboring San Diego. These 2 cities are about the same size in population, but San Diego has over 30 hospitals while Tijuana has 3. San Diego has 900 respirators. Tijuana has 10. Tijuana was created as San Diego’s Cuba - for tourism, gambling, sexual tourism,” - Dr. Matsemela Odom.
This week the People’s War radio show talks with:
Dr. Matsemela Odom, Black Studies educator at the University of San Diego and other schools including UC San Diego, San Diego City College and San Diego Mesa College. Odom has published numerous articles on the history of black people throughout southern California, analyzing the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, police brutality, segregation, the crack cocaine epidemic, hip-hop music, white hate groups and black resistance rebellions.  
Muambi Tangu, former student organizer at San Diego State University and current Membership Coordinator for the International People’s Democatic Uhuru Movement. Tangu has been organizing for African self-determination and Black Power in San Diego for nearly two decades.
Hosted by Ticharwa Masimba and Matop Nyungu, the weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the current crisis - providing health and medical tips and resources, economic survival information, analysis of the political and international impact, how to prepare for the future and organize for community self-determination.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #9: "Reports from the ground: Africans and the pandemic in the Midwest"

This week the People’s War radio show goes live to Chicago to talk with Kamm Howard, Co-Chair of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America and head of the Reparations Working Group for the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations.
We discuss:
The Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd and the struggle for Black Community Control of the police.
The impact of the pandemic on the African community in Chicago from the loss of businesses, eviction and homelessness, poverty and police violations of black democratic rights.
Scientific research into the impact of slavery and ongoing colonial oppression on the DNA and genetic health of African people.
Hosted by Ticharwa Masimba and Matop Nyungu, the weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the current crisis - providing health and medical tips and resources, economic survival information, analysis of the political and international impact, how to prepare for the future and organize for community self-determination.

The People's War Radio Show, Episode 8 "Reports from the Ground: The Pandemic and Africans in the Northeast U.S."

New York City has been the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. 
African communities in New York City - already hard hit by homelessness, gentrification, police brutality and murder, joblessness, hunger - are bearing the brunt of COVID-19 deaths.
On May 18, the New York Times wrote, “Neighborhoods with high concentrations of black and Latino people, as well as low-income residents, suffered the highest death rates, while some wealthier areas — primarily in Manhattan — saw almost no deaths.”
This week the People’s War radio show goes live to New York City to talk with two long term black community activists. Malik Shakur and Oronde Shakur are both organizers with the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement. 
They discuss “essential workers”, “masking while black” and the roots of the high rates of death among African people in the current pandemic. 
Hosted by Ticharwa Masimba and Matop Nyungu, the weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the current crisis - providing health and medical tips and resources, economic survival information, analysis of the political and international impact, how to prepare for the future and organize for community self-determination.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode 7 “Expose corporate rip-off & profiting from COVID-19, make Wall Street pay reparations!”

As the COVID-19 virus wreaks havoc on African, Mexican, and Indigenous communities, the U.S. government is bailing out the Wall Street banks with trillions of dollars.
The COVID-19 so-called ‘relief’ stimulus package, signed into law by U.S. president Donald J. Trump, allocated a whopping $425 billion for corporations. That $425 billion is going to the Federal Reserve, whose banks will have the authority to lend it out at a multiple of 10 times, essentially creating money out of thin air. This means the real size of the bailout going to the banks and corporations will be upwards of $4 trillion.
Minutes away from the towering buildings on Wall Street, refrigerated trucks are parked on the side of a Queens hospital to handle the influx of dead bodies; most are African.
This week we talk with Jesse Nevel, Chair of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, an organization of white people in solidarity with Black Power under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party. 
Nevel is a former St. Petersburg, Florida mayoral candidate who ran on a platform of “Unity Through Reparations”. Today he leads a campaign to “Make Wall Street pay reparations”. 
In this program Nevel reviews the role of Wall Street banks and insurance companies in the slave trade during the founding of America and exposes their ongoing profiteering from African suffering today.
He details the profit-making of Amazon and others during the coronavirus pandemic through the CARES Act and exploitation of African and other oppressed workers. He discusses an upcoming car protest targeting the offices of J.P. Morgan and the home of it’s CEO Jaime Dimon.
Hosted by Ticharwa Masimba and Matop Nyungu, the weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the current crisis - providing health and medical tips and resources, economic survival information, analysis of the political and international impact, how to prepare for the future and organize for community self-reliance and self-help.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode 6 “The politics of medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic”

The vastly disproportionate death rate of African people in the U.S. from COVID-19 is attributed to so-called “pre-existing health conditions”. These conditions are imposed on the African community because we can’t afford the profit-driven healthcare, have limited access to healthy food, and are forced to live in poor, high density housing, among other symptoms of a population dominated by an hostile U.S. government. 
The U.S. has been condemned throughout the world for its inability to respond effectively or humanely to the pandemic. While the U.S. currently has more than one quarter of the world’s COVID-19 deaths, the government has done very little to provide meaningful resources to the vast majority of people. 
Other countries like China, Venezuela and Cuba have led the way in responding to the coronavirus. They’ve identified potential cures, implemented rapid stay-at-home policies, provided free rent (along with already-free healthcare) and have dispatched doctors throughout the world to treat infected populations.
The U.S. has responded by cutting off funding to the European-based, World Health Organization for its praise of China’s response to the global pandemic. The U.S. has also responded to Cuba by continuing strict sanctions intended to starve the socialist-run island into submitting to a capitalist-dominated economy, and has even blocked the flow of personal protective equipment to the island. 
This week we talk with Lisa Davis, member of the People’s Organization for Progress, vice-chair of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations (BIBC) and chair of the BIBC’s Healthcare Working Group. She was co-signer to a recent letter to the FDA head demanding expedited approval of a Cuban-developed COVID-19 drug treatment, Interferon Alpha 2B. Based in New Jersey, she is an outspoken critic of the lack of hospitals and denial of healthcare in the black community. She is a researcher and advocate of nutritional and traditional African approaches to health and well-being.  
“I believe that the reason black people have such horrible statistics when it comes to being able to survive COVID-19 in these hospitals is because we are in the hospitals of a system that was set up by the colonizers. Just as the police can look at us and say “they look like a criminal” and kill us, the medical profession has the same ability to do that”, says Davis.
Hosted by Ticharwa Masimba and Matop Nyungu, the weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the current crisis - providing health and medical tips and resources, economic survival information, analysis of the political and international impact, how to prepare for the future and organize for African community self-determination.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode 5 “African economic self-determination in the face of the coronavirus”

Even before Covid-19, Africans in the U.S. had an unemployment rate at least twice the national rate, while the median net worth of white families was 10 times greater than  that of African families.
Those who are working make up a disproportionate number of “essential” workers, risking their lives to generate greater profits for corporations that pay them meager wages and do not even provide personal protective equipment.  
Small African-owned businesses are struggling to access emergency grant funds that are mostly going to giant politically-connected companies.  
The current crisis poses the question “how can the African community build n economic infrastructure to meet the people’s needs and ensure the health and safety of the African working class?”
This week we talk with economic development leaders and business owners: 
Ona Zene Yeshitela, President of the African People’s Education and Defense Fund
Kundai Bajikikayi, Assistant Manager of Zenzele Consignment
Tiffany Murphy, Coordinator of the One Africa, One Nation Marketplace
Bakari Olatunji, Vice-Chair of Uhuru Foods and Pies
Chia Cotansuca, Promotions Coordinator for Uhuru Furniture and Collectibles 
Akili Achebe, Co-owner of Threads by Denise
Racquel Barnes, Owner of Fit2You
Janet Taylor, Owner of Totally Organized
Christine Sharay Freeman, Owner of Vibing by Nature
Hosted by Ticharwa Masimba and Matop Nyungu, the weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the current crisis - providing health and medical tips and resources, economic survival information, analysis of the political and international impact, how to prepare for the future and organize for African community self-determination.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode 4 “Fighting the colonial coronavirus in Africa”

This week we turn our attention to Africa and efforts being made there to prevent widespread deaths from COVID-19.
On April 17th, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa released a report predicting that “Anywhere between 300,000 and 3.3 million African people could lose their lives as a direct result of COVID-19."
The People’s War radio show talks with Luwezi Kinshasa, Secretary General of the African Socialist International, and Tafarie Mugeri, Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party-South Africa. 
Luwezi Kinshasa is originally from Congo and speaks 7 languages. He is now based in London and works as an educator and organizer in African communities throughout Europe and the continent of Africa.
He discusses the continuing struggle for African people to control and benefit from the vast resources of Africa and the impact of neo-colonialism on the ability of African workers to overcome poverty, starvation and illness.
He also addresses the relationship of China to Africa and the treatment of African people by China and Chinese people both inside of China and inside of Africa.
Tafarie Mugeri was born and raised in South Africa, called Occupied Azania by African patriots. He is currently working throughout the townships bringing health education and organization to African people there.
Mugeri criticizes the ANC government’s response to the pandemic, “They are more concerned about controlling African workers than controlling the coronavirus”. He reports on recent police activity in the townships, the impact of lockdowns on access to food, and responds to statements made this week by South Africa’s President Ramaphosa. 
Hosted by Ticharwa Masimba and Matop Nyungu, the weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the current crisis - providing health and medical tips and resources, economic survival information, analysis of the political and international impact, how to prepare for the future and organize for community self-determination.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode 3 “Support our brothers and sisters in prison”

Reverend Edward Pinkney is featured on this third episode of WBPU FM’s new weekly radio program covering the coronavirus pandemic from the perspective of the African working class worldwide.
Rev. Pinkney is a longtime leader of the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization, working for economic and social justice in Benton Harbor, MI, a 90% African city located between Detroit and Chicago.
Rev. Pinkney has a history of fighting parasitic capitalism in defense of the human and civil rights of the working class people in cities throughout Michigan, taking on the water shutoffs and emergency manager laws that eliminate democracy and turn public assets like water over to the corporations. 
He is a strong and active advocate for the release of prisoners serving unjust or inordinately long sentences.
On this show Rev. Pinkney discussed the health emergency facing prisoners across the U.S., drawing on his personal experience and personal connections inside the prison system.
He discusses the impact of the coronavirus on the African populations of Detroit, Flint and throughout the state of Michigan.
He also shares his views on the impact of corporate take-overs and gentrification of long-time African cities like Detroit and calls for the development of African-owned and controlled businesses and neighborhoods.
Hosted by Ticharwa Masimba and Matop Nyungu, the People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the current crisis - providing health and medical tips and resources, economic survival information, analysis of the political and international impact, how to prepare for the future and organize for community self-reliance and self-help.

The People's War Radio Show - Episode 2 "Africans are dying of COVID-19 at alarming rates!"

African People’s Socialist Party Chairman Omali Yeshitela is the guest on this second episode of WBPU FM’s new weekly radio program covering the coronavirus pandemic from the perspective of the African working class worldwide. 
Over the past five decades, Chairman Omali has 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.
He’s built the worldwide Uhuru Movement and the African Socialist International with branches in the U.S., Europe, the Caribbean and on the continent of Africa. 
In this episode of the People’s War Radio Show, Chairman Omali explains the roots of the alarming rates of African deaths from COVID-19, exposes the corporate agenda for profiting from the virus and describes the work of Project Black Ankh in providing African-controlled emergency relief services.
Hosted by Ticharwa Masimba and Matop Nyungu, the People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the current crisis - providing health and medical tips and resources, economic survival information, analysis of the political and international impact, how to prepare for the future and organize for community self-reliance and self-help.