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The
Kuumba Report
w/ Brother
Cliff
Bro.
Cliff was born in Washington, DC, USA, in 1958. A non-conformist since
Grade School, he has consistently (some would say stubbornly) resisted
the popular ways of looking at the world. This, and his upbringing as
the second son of professional educators, helped foster an inquisitive
and, at times, rebellious spirit.
It
was not until attending college that Bro. Cliff truly began to understand
the nature of The Black Experience. Living on the campus of a mainstream
college campus brought experiences and lessons in Afrikan consciousness,
racism and protest as well as in embracing diversity and tolerance. Years
later, in the midst of eking out an existence in the workaday world, the
gifts of several books, most notably The Destruction of Black Civilization
by Ancestor Dr. Chancellor Williams, would begin to awaken dormant embers
of Pan-Afrikanism. An exposure to Veterans of the BLACK PANTHER PARTY
FOR SELF-DEFENSE, as well as participation in 1995's historic Million
Man March, clarified the serious crisis faced by Afrikan people everywhere,
as well as the lengths to which the Powers That Be are willing to go to
keep us in a constant state of submission. This led to the founding and
publication of KUUMBAReport Newsletter in July 1997.
Available
in Baltimore MD, Washington DC, Philadelphia PA and by subscription, KUUMBAReport
Newsletter was founded to bring an Afrikan-centered, Pan-Afrikanist, analytical
critique of the issues of the day. Too many publications have either spouted
the mindless, so-called “mainstream” party line on such issues as war,
crime, economics and patriotism, or else they have engaged in almost wild-eyed
propaganda, which too often comes across as the ravings of a madman to
the very people we are trying to reach. Our aim is to avoid speechifying
and sloganeering as much as we can, instead preferring to give you the
information to come to logical conclusions. Rather than spell “Amerikkka”
with three k’s, which we are admittedly often tempted to do, our preference
is to spell it in the usual way but give you historical and contemporary
information which may lead you to the independent conclusion that three
k’s is in fact the correct spelling.
KUUMBAReport
Newsletter has looked at issues such as the history of Pan-Afrikanism
and Black Nationalism, Afrikan health in America, Organizations that are
engaged in the struggle for Afrikan self-determination, the plight of
America’s Political Prisoners, the scourge of Police Brutality, American
Foreign Policy including its Historical Context, Afrikan-Centered Business,
the Death Penalty, War and other topics.
We
hope to follow that same formula, with some extra features that radio
makes possible, on the Kuumba Radio Report, which was made possible when
Baba Dalani Aamon and Empress Philé Chionesu proposed the idea
in February 2005.
We
shall endeavor to cover a variety of topics that we've dealt with over
the years of publishing KUUMBAReport Newsletter. Here are eight of the
more prominent areas in which we will provide news items, analysis and
commentary:
(1)
Afrika, The Source. We cannot begin to understand our present situation
without at least a rudimentary knowledge of the situation at home. Afrikan
people around the world will never be able to relate to each other on
a consistent, constructive basis if we continue to think we can call ourselves
Pan-Afrikanist while remaining so scandalously ignorant about what is
happening in our ancestral birthplace. Much of the "disconnect"
many of us in the Diaspora feel from our Continental Afrikan brothers
and sisters can be traced to the fact that, when it comes to the daily
trials and tribulations of the Mother Continent, we simply cannot relate.
No wonder many "Afrikan-Americans" come across as arrogant,
especially those who try to sell us the lie that the best thing to happen
to us was the enslavement of our ancestors! Clearly, we need to understand
not only what is happening now in Afrika, but also what has happened in
the past, what is simply a continuation of historical practices, and why
things continue in the way they have been, from a truly Pan-Afrikan perspective.
Through the use of a variety of news and analysis articles from several
competent sources of information, we hope to explore these issues.
(2)
Political Prisoners. Several times, we have discussed the case of Veteran
Panther and Political Prisoner Marshall "Eddie" Conway, and
he remains our Number One focus among Political Prisoners. We will, however,
feature others who are considered to be held in American prisons for political
reasons, people such as Mumia Abu-Jamal, the MOVE Nine, Leonard Peltier,
Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa, Ed Poindexter, Muti Ajamu Osagboro, Sundiata
Acoli, Russell "Maroon" Shoats, Mutulu Shakur, Veronza Bowers
and others. The vast majority of these are Afrikan people. Some, like
Leonard Peltier, are Indigenous people of the First Nations, "Indians"
to some of us. Others are Europeans who have sinned the great sin of fighting
on the side of Afrikan Liberation and Indigenous Sovereignty out of a
sense of justice. Some of these names you may know; others you probably
have never heard before. The fact is, a very few of our Political Prisoners
were "fortunate" enough, if that concept applies here, to have
organizations struggling on their behalf to secure either a new, fair
trial or outright release for them, while most are left to linger in relative
anonymity. In the words of Mondo we Langa, "It's as if we didn't
even exist." On this program and also in the pages of KUUMBAReport
Newsletter, it will be our aim to invoke these people so their struggle
and sacrifice will be remembered and their causes will be championed once
again.
(3)
The Death Penalty. Afrikan people are vastly disproportionate in their
presence on Death Rows across the country. The wrongful execution of Shaka
Sankofa in Texas shortly before then-governor George W. Bush took his
flying circus to the national stage should have been enough to raise doubts
in any person committed to truth and justice. The case of Illinois governor
George Ryan, condemned when he banned executions a couple of years ago
after finding that 13 of the 25 men scheduled to die that year were actually
innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted, should have sealed
the deal. In Maryland, Kirk Bloodsworth, a White man from the Eastern
Shore, was convicted twice in the rape and murder of a nine-year old girl
and at one time had a date with the gas chamber before DNA testing cleared
him of the crime. And yet, there are still those who clamor for the death
penalty, in spite of evidence that the death penalty is racist, classist,
riddled with errors and applied for nefarious political and strategic
reasons. The State has no business in the business of administering personal
vengeance. It does have the responsibility to the truth, which it regularly
abdicates by executing people it knows to be innocent. We will look into
these issues, as we have in KUUMBAReport Newsletter since its beginning.
(4)
Afrikan Holistic Health. The first three issues of the Newsletter were
titled "The State of Health of Afrikans In America", based on
a presentation by our good friend the late Dr. Kwame SabakhuRa, a Baltimore-area
holistic physician who left our physical realm much too soon. Another
holistic healer and Ancestor, Dr. John Chissell, has also been featured.
(5)
Afrikan-Centered Organizations. We recently learned about the formation
of two Pan-Afrikanist groups, the GLOBAL AFRIKAN CONGRESS (GAC) and the
PAN-AFRIKAN ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (PAOC). Both are in their formative stages
and are organizing Afrikan people to reclaim our rightful place of prominence
in the world. Empress Philé Chionesu is taking 1997's wildly successful
Million Woman March to the next level, continuing to organize around the
MILLION WOMAN MARCH UNIVERSAL MOVEMENT. She'll have many details to share
with you on her show about that important project. There are still Panthers
who are continuing the good fight, both New Panthers and Veterans of the
struggle of the 1960's. And the Reparations battle continues, with several
organizations starting to come together on that issue, dispelling misconceptions
among the uninformed and disproving the objections of opponents of reparations.
(6)
Police Brutality is still a hot issue that affects what I call "Our
Schizophrenic Relationship with the Police". We depend on them for
protection from crime, but we also see them as our potential abusers and
a virtual colonial military force in our neighborhoods. You would think
the police would be more concerned about stamping out the misconduct of
their brethren to engender more trust from the communities they patrol,
but judging by the statements of organizations like the Fraternal Order
of Police, they don't seem to feel that way. Meanwhile, many of us know
at least one police officer with whom we have had a cordial relationship,
and we realize that police are people (Yes, they really are!) just like
us, with their own feelings, fears, psychological baggage and crosses
to bear.
(7)
American Empire and Global War. Iran. Iraq. Vietnam. Hiroshima. Nagasaki.
Chile. Guatemala. Congo. The very foundations of the United States. We
could go on and on. The evidence of American Empire is all around us.
Meanwhile, we are played like a cheap fiddle, pulled between our natural
affinity for Afrikan people and for all life on this planet and this curious
construct of the economic and political ruling class called "patriotism".
Sometimes, it can be hard to make sense of it all. We'll try to do that
here, as we do in the pages of KUUMBAReport.
(8)
Issues of Afrikan Consciousness and Solidarity. Why do we spend 95% of
our disposable income outside the Afrikan community? Who is right, the
Black Democrats or the Black Republicans, or are they both wrong? Do I
have to hate White people to be a Pan-Afrikanist? How should we deal with
those "alleged Afrikans" whose statements and deeds show a lack
of concern for their own people that borders on self-hate or self-alienation?
And what's with all this "Black Stuff" anyway?
These
are just some of the topics we explore on the Kuumba Radio Report and
in our Newsletter. In between features, we also share poetry and musical
tracks from Afrikan artists and political activists. There are opinion
pieces and analytical articles written by ourselves and others, as well
as reports from important lectures, conferences, mass protests, commemorations
and other events.
If
you'd like to suggest other topics, or if you'd like to learn how to obtain
copies of KUUMBAReport through subscription, please feel free to send
us an e-mail at kuumba@verizon.net. The KUUMBAReport Web Site will be
up and running shortly, and we'll work with the people at HARAMBEE RADIO
to link to that site. You can also contact HARAMBEE RADIO if you have
any comments, questions or suggestions about this program.
We
hope to prove worthy of the faith shown in us by Baba Dalani Aamon and
his excellent staff, and of the opportunity you offer us to come into
and enrich your connection to Afrikan people.
Peace
and Power!
Bro. Cliff
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