Red Hen Exploring Our Conditions explores issues and concerns in our Communities with a Focus on Community Responsibility and Civic Engagement.
#TeamRhino #SaveTheRhino #SaveFive
Raising Awareness to protect our #WildLife, Please take the pledge:
I would like to join #TeamRhinodotorg in the fight against rhino poaching to ensure a future for people and vulnerable wildlife on our planet:
I will never buy or promote any products made of rhino horn, as I know that demand drives poaching.
I will be a committed advocate to support rangers and others on the frontlines of rhino conservation.
I will share my passion about rhino conservation and recruit my friends and family to become involved.
I will urge my government to continue championing efforts to stop rhino poaching at home and abroad.
I will stand with IRF to help save rhinos from extinction. teamrhino.org
Sunday, September 25th 2016 i was invited to attend a Free screening of Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story @Unitarian Society of Germantown. The Philadelphia Jazz Project was celebrating John Coltrane 90th birthday all week and i felt like this viewing would add to the celebration of our great Jazz Legends. i choose to take a walk over to Unitarian and view the documentary to learn about Mr. Frank Morgan and the Jazz culture. Didn't have much money to donate to the schools music departments and that is another story, but i did mean to donate the $1.50 that i had just for some reason that didn't happen, but i will make a donation when i can because we must invest in our communities if we want our community to offer music programs in our schools !!
The walk to the church was needed because my back was aching and could use a good stretch. i figured the walk would take longer than my walk actually did and arrived at the church early. To my surprise there was people eating and talking, networking with the End Racism Committee and Public Education Initiative of the Unitarian Society of Germantown, who hosted the spread of food, drinks, deserts and viewing. i had green salad topped with a wonderful lentil bean and ginger salad, some lemonade, cake and fruit salad before we made our way to the viewing of Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story directed by NC Heikin, who happened to be in town celebrating her Philadelphia High School for Girls class reunion.
i hear stories of Martha Vineyards and what Cooney Island use to be. How people of color owned business and were really living a good and decent life. In Sound of Redemption: The Franks Morgan Story we get a glimpse of the short lived people of color owned lifestyles that i often wonder about. The people of color businesses in my community faded away for various reasons, but i was sure we had communities where we own and operate is what i thought until i started learning on facebook of how successful people of color communities are destroyed due to delusional white mentality.
When the Civil War ended, African-Americans in Atlanta began entering the realm of politics, establishing businesses and gaining notoriety as a social class. Increasing tensions between Black wage-workers and the white elite began to grow and ill-feelings were further exacerbated when Blacks gained more civil rights, including the right to vote.
The tensions exploded during the gubernatorial election of 1906 in which M. Hoke Smith and Clark Howell competed for the Democratic nomination. Both candidates were looking for ways to disenfranchise African-American voters because they each felt that the Black vote could throw the election to the other candidate.
Hoke Smith was a former publisher of the Atlanta Journal and Clark Howell was the editor of the Atlanta Constitution. Both candidates used their influence to incite white voters and help spread the fear that whites may not be able to maintain the current social order.
The Atlanta Georgian and the Atlanta News began publishing stories about white women being molested and raped by Black men. These allegations were reported multiple times and were largely false.
On Sept. 22, 1906, Atlanta newspapers reported four alleged assaults on local white women. Soon, some 10,000 white men and boys began gathering, beating, and stabbing Blacks. It is estimated that there were between 25 and 40 African-American deaths; it was confirmed that there were only two white deaths. Return North Carolina Farm Unjustly Seized Back To Black Farmers
Mr. Morgan's life speaks volumes to the ills that face the people of color and vulnerable citizens of society. Very talented Jazz Saxophonist who was birthed into the entertainment business without proper guidance. Like so many of our talented members in society that you often find working in jails and prisons. Slaves to a rhythm that flows through us but is not allowed to grow because of environmental factors. i hear August Wilson Ma Rainey and the choke hold art created and exploited by white people when i heard a line in Sound of Redemption, that Mr Morgan had the best life while in prison.
A bastard like so many of us unplanned and often unwanted pregnancy. Mr. Morgan struggled with who he was in family, community and the entertainment business. Learning who self is can be a time testing challenging road for some of us. The layers of nurturing that is missed is reflected on the number of opportunities we miss out on because of self doubt aka the worst monster on earth. Coping skills allow us to adapt to situations with as much control that we can have over the situation and work to the best of our ability with the factors that we cannot control. When these skills aren't taught at home or in our communities people like Mr. Frank Morgan spiral with hopes of catching themselves. Mental health first aid offers workshops and free mental health screenings to help people connect to resources that can teach coping skills.
i don't want to give away the story of the documentary, but this is a tear jerker; i tried to hold my tears in but balled so much i had to pull out my walking sweat clothe. The layers of self doubt that smother communities presented in Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan story should be shown and discussed to communities looking to heal by breaking these barriers. Mr. Morgan lived in a childish state of mind, thought he was having fun as if life is all about having fun and no other meaning. Too many of our families and communities use escape aka having fun to cope versus acceptance of who and what we are.
i walked home feeling empowered to join the End Racism Committee being we had watched this documentary together. Part of Mr. Morgans struggle in life was how he was treated by power structures in our society. Ending racism for me starts with us accepting responsibility for who we are and how we treat people. I'm not pointing fingers, i do the research for understanding so that we can build to full human potential. So much talent is locked up or never given a chance to flourish because of foolishness aka delusional white/black mentality planted by Hoover and McCarthy. These are the conversations that need to be had so that people understand that black lives matter but the issue is humans are involved. For according to the deeply rooted powers that be in the United States of America there was a black list that all people of color were added to if they did not conform to the white man's ways and that list in the police aka the justice system language is termed NIH, no humans involved.
Please consider donating to Anna Lane Lingelbach and Charles W. Henry music departments, checks can be made to Unitarian Society of Germantown, notation: Public Schools Music or at www.lingelbachhsa.org and www.cwhenrypta.org
You can view Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story on itunes October 8th!!
As parents and students reenter public schools for a new year, they’re hearing a lot about “school choice.”
Having “choice,” they’re told, lets parents send their kids to schools other than their assigned neighborhood school, such as a charter school, a magnet school, or, in some cases, even a school in another district.
No doubt school choice will benefit some parents – just as any market-based system has some winners and some losers. But who really stands to gain most from choice and why?
“We will rescue kids from failing schools by helping their parents send them to a safe school of their choice,” Republican Presidential candidateDonald Trump declared at the Republican National Convention. Reporters at Education Week have noticed Trump’s campaign is “increasing focus”on the subject, and recently hired a policy expert, with a background in crafting education policy in Indiana, to “work on school choice issues.”
Although Trump is often known to stray from Republican orthodoxy, his positions on school choice are aligned completely with mainstream Republicans, such as Jeb Bush, who believe school choice creates a market-based education system, similar to commercial goods, where competition can improve product quality and consumer experience.
Democrats also pitch school choice as a policy prescription that will solve the problem of educating low-income black and brown children.
Specifically, this week The Atlantic has an interesting video report on how the Obama administration is advancing school choice as a solution to racially integrate public schools, and thereby give non-white school children access to the same education opportunities white students get.
Reporter Alia Wong explains how American schools are now more segregated than they were 50 years ago. Even though federally mandated integration policies, such as forced bussing of students to create more racially diverse schools, led to substantially better outcomes for all students in general, the nation has broadly retreated from that policy, with the complicity of “decades” of federal leadership.
However, according to Wong, US Secretary of Education John King has now “taken a firm stand on integrating schools” by backing any and all local efforts that make it easier for parents of black and brown students to send their children to schools outside their neighborhood where white kids go to school. This thinking also assumes there will be white parents who want a more diverse school environment and will seek out schools with more non-white students, even though research generally refutes this assumption.
Wong takes a skeptical look at how such a system is working in Washington, DC – a choice district where nearly 44 percent of the students attend charters – and comes away unconvinced of the Secretary’s theory.
Her skepticism is merited. A recent policy brief from the National Education Policy Center examines the research studies of school choice programs and finds, “The overall body of the research literature documents an unsettling degree of segregation – particularly in charter schools – by race and ethnicity, as well as by poverty, special needs, and English-learner status.”
My family really doesn't have a choice outside of home when choosing a good quality education facility for our youth. The Philadelphia School district stop professionally training educators for our communities and instead want to privatize our public education. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers will train educators but can't get a decent contract. This is what school choice looks like under the current school district administration, Stop funding neighborhood schools, in fact close the schools, sale the property and pocket the money is what our Philadelphia School district is about. #SaveOurSchools
Under Gov. Corbett school funding decreased and funds to build and fill prisons increased. #EndRapeCulture Our federal government recently announced they will stop doing business with private prisons. The district's so called school choice equals illegal manipulation of our state constitution and theft of public resources from our most vulnerable members in society with no transparency or accountability until recent changes in several states and now in our federal government. President Obama literally fueled further rape on our communities by fueling the School to Prison Pipeline by nationally privatizing our public schools.
Thanks to President Obama business plan for public education aka "Race To The Top" creating competition among schools rather supporting all our schools, we now have an "Education Industry" controlled by a few tycoons full of greed and corruption much like the families mentioned in "Merchants of Grain" by Dan Morgan. Competition brings out the steroids and other hush hush tactics to mask the ill gains and/or deception. #EndFedEd
So who is behind all these divide and conquer tactics? The Elite members of our society who just also happen to be known as pedophiles and love to plot on helpless, woest me families. Dangling admission into the best schools or career paths as a way to pick and choose who they can further violate. Please do the research on who is running the schools you would like your family to attend. #BreakingTheSilence
Put simply this is utterly disgusting.. Children are being put below politics, because psychopaths are in control and believe that they are entitled to abuse people . It's even alleged that they used children's foster homes as a supplyto fulfill their sick urge. How has all this been kept secret? When they can't simply murder witnesses and victims to shut them up, these sick psychopaths have infiltrated into every part of society and call on judges, law enforcement, and media to cover for them.
With the advent of social media, even publications like TIMEhave been forced to report on the allegations swarming the UK. We Are Change and independent media won't stay silent and neither should any potential whistleblower.
Don't think for a minute that the pedophilia accusations end there — more recently known is Jeffrey Epstein and pals' pedophilia adventures at Lolita Express and Lolita Island. Of course covered up by the feds because its involving some very big names...including Bill Clinton.
New York’s Channel 4 News showed some footage last March of a pedophile group having a quite chat in the busy atrium of the Citicorp building in midtown Manhattan. The pedophiles were all members of NAMBLA, the 1,000-member North America Man/Boy Love Association, which wants the law to allow adults to have sex with children.
accused of sexually abusing his students, and who challenged his firing. Rather than act in accord with the horrifying details of the case, the school district paid the teacher $40,000 to drop his appeal. That’s small change compared with the $30 million settlement the district is paying to the teacher’s alleged victims as a result of the case, or, for that matter, compared with the $23 million bail requirement that is keeping teacher Mark Berndt behind bars as he awaits trial on 23 felony counts of gruesome sexual abuse.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/358552/california-protects-pedophile-teachers-kevin-d-williamson
Wow, as i title this blog i'm feeling the irony of Strawberry Mansion and Educators of Color. Not sure if i won't to go that deep with this blog. i really want to know what and who is running what goes on in my community Blackberry Mansion. 9/15 i spoke during a School Reform Action, expressing my concerns about Strawberry Mansion high school and the Need For Educators of Color. i didn't get to finish my testimony but did get my point across and met Mr. Eric Becoats Ed. D. the Asst. Superintendent for our community he can be reached at 215.400.5824 office 2143 ebeacoats@philasd.org. Would like to get him to speak to our community about what public education looks like for us and how we can keep our resources in our community.
There was so much going on at this SRC. Vaux high school is schedule to reopen as a contract school. A contract school is a privatized public school and Vaux would be run by "The Big Picture School" grades 9-12 total enrollment 500, starting with 125 in freshman class and adding grades each year. The district propose to open 2017-18 school year if approved by Pa. Dept. of Education. Vaux would be a non selective community based school that will also house pre-k and social services much like the community school model. A "The Big Picture" is a partnership with PHA and k-8 investments will be made at existing neighborhood schools.
Aspira Charter school had several speakers advocating for their school including State Rep. Angel Cruz. The advocates for the school failed to mention all the abuse of staff going on at the school. i personally witnessed non english speaking staff being manipulated at a United Way training. At the end of the training their certificates were taken from them and the feel of rape took their face. Ugly how they treat their staff, please do the research for your self. The advocates for Aspira also mentioned that Aspira is mimicking the community school model by opening community health and support centers which i'm sure will be full of data mining. All the agenda items for Aspira was taking off the agenda pending their financial issues get resolved or they will not get a renewed charter.
Parent advocate Tonya Bah of Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools spoke on childhood trauma and how our families and communities are put through trauma daily with the school district school closing. Tonya was asked if she considered the closing of our schools a hate crime? Tonya's response was yes.
Community Members from Point Breeze spoke on how they are also upset about what is going on with their schools. The district closed Walter George Smith school three years ago and planned to sale the building to Concordia. That sale is now in court and the community would like for the school district of Philadelphia to drop their appeal and re-open Walter George Smith school as a community school. Haley Dervinis from the Save Smith School Committee made her remarks but was giving no answers to her concerns. Some how our culture of holding on to our history is fading away. This school like William Penn High school are on the National Register of Historic Places.
We need a high quality school district. We need a school district where every school receives the necessary resources not a patchwork of under-resourced schools. Where is your plan for a high quality school district?
SRC , is reopening Vaux high school as a “contract school”,with Big Picture, a non-profit operating over 60 schools in the US with varying degrees of success. What is a “contract school”? Is it a charter school? Is it a private school? Why isn’t Vaux being reopened as a neighborhood public school?
Is this your new game plan to close schools and then reopen them as a contract school bringing in a private management agency? According to resolution B9 this project is a partnership with PHA so obviously planning has been going on for awhile…just out of the public’s view. Who knows maybe closing Vaux in 2013 was part of this PHA plan for its redevelopment of the Sharswood community.
In 2013 Vaux was deemed to be under-enrolled so where are all these new students coming from? Who is going to monitor this new entity? Who is going to hold them accountable? Presently the SRC has a terrible track record with both transparency and accountability. Witness the Aspira debacle. If the SRC was unaware of the atmosphere rife with sexual harassment and intimidation at Aspira why didn’t they know? Or did they simply choose to ignore the situation? Why are you repeating a failed policy of using EMOs to manage schools?
Dr. Hite has stated that he plans on closing 3 schools a year. Does that mean actually closing the school or turning them into Renaissance charters or placing them in the Turnaround Network. My question tonight is tell us which schools are targeted and for what specific changes?
Karel like those who spoke before her received no answers to their inquiries. Here is my statement to the SRC:
Alicia Dorsey
aliciadorsey2@gmail.com
267.428.1303
Good Day SRC,
I’m here today to express my concern for the future of Strawberry Mansion high school. I sit on the Strawberry Mansion Education committee and would like to request members of the SRC to meet with our community to discuss what is going on with public education in our community. At our last Strawberry Mansion Action Community meeting we were informed that there is no principal at the school and that the enrollment at the high school is so low that the school will probably close next year. Our community cannot afford to lose resources, we have been under resourced for decades. We are organizing because we are tax paying citizens who want access to our tax dollars via public education.
My request to have a community meeting with the SRC in Strawberry Mansion comes also with the request to have Strawberry Mansion high school become a community school and keep high school open enrollment an option for our community. We are starving for the resources the community school model could bring to the Strawberry Mansion high school and community. I would also like to request information and resources for our current school year for all the schools in the Strawberry Mansion and Philadelphia residents that the SRC serves.
My Second concern is the treatment of educators in our school systems, with a focus on educators of color. I advocate with our educators who are concerned about our families and communities. Way too often i’m hearing that the school district of Philadelphia and charter schools makes life difficult for educators, especially educators of color. I beg these educators to stay in our schools for there is a demand for educators of color and not just for students of color.
October 2015, Ms. Rosalind Jones-Johnson, Education Director, PFT Health & Welfare Fund shed some light on the decreasing numbers of educators of colors in the teaching profession.
"About 25% of the population goes to college period. That would mean that every African American would have to major in education in order for African American students, Hispanic Students and White students to have access to a black teacher, so it does not workout mathematical. So we have to find a way, regardless of the race, ethnicity or economic level of the teacher. They have to develop a sense of making sure our children are safe socially, emotionally and academically and that can be taught. Intervention needs to take place before educators step into the classroom."
"When we look at the teacher population in Philadelphia, African American or black teachers in the public schools differ significantly from black teachers in charter schools. The retention rate for black teachers in charter schools is horrific. They are losing about 35% of their African American teachers as oppose to the public schools who are losing about 10%. Why such a dramatic difference between retention of black teachers in charter schools versus black teachers in public schools. It is because charter schools don't have strong teacher induction programs for novice teachers. They are not preparing them to work with students in that classroom environment. Philadelphia public schools do just that we work with them intensively over the summer before they step foot in the classroom and offer support throughout the school year."
"There can be a lack of synchronization between the teacher and the student that has nothing to do with race. A middle income African American teacher may not be able to relate to an African American student who is living in sub poverty, unless you teach them to have the conversations with those students. To be empathic to understand so we have a responsibility regardless of the race, the ethnicity, the sex of the teacher. To make sure that they are dealing with all of the issues not just academics. We have to make sure they are well prepared before stepping into urban classrooms."
"All of the reasons why we don't have black teachers isn't negative. I have a black male sitting next to me that maybe eighty years ago his only option would have been to go into education or preaching. But now so many black college students have many options in terms of careers so it is not all negative. That's why we have to get back to the discussion when we look at the numbers, we have to make sure that all teachers have what we call culturally responsive teaching. That they are able to teach black students, hispanic students regardless.”
Ms. Rosalind Jones-Johnson
Education Director
PFT Health & Welfare Fund
If you have concerns about public education in your community please reach out to me or https://www.facebook.com/Phillyapps/ and we will help as best we can!!
Thanks to Senator Dinniman, we have recourse for students in the class of 2017 and 2018 who are being placed in remedial classes, PBA, and/or 'required' to re-take the Keystone Exam(s). Senator Dinniman had a Town Hall meeting on September 12, 2016 and explained his plan to file amicus briefs on behalf of parents to file a lawsuit against the PDE. During that meeting it was explained:
An amicus brief would be filed by a legislator such as Senator Dinniman (who is not specifically affected by the action) on behalf of students/families that are directly impacted by the issue at hand. Possible examples of those who are directly impacted by the Keystone graduation requirement are:
1. A student who has been prevented from receiving a high school diploma in 2016 as a result of not testing Proficient on one or more Keystones;
2. A student who is being forced to take the Keystones repeatedly over the next several years (which could result in injurious consequences -- perhaps psychologically -- such as affecting the student’s mental health);
3. A student who, as a result of not having passed a Keystone, is being placed in remedial courses and/or is required to take a type of Project Based Assessment (whether or not it is called by that name). Inordinate amounts of time spent on remediation could prevent the student from reaching his full educational potential in that it could preclude him from taking courses that would be more related to his individual educational pursuits and/or vocational goals.
The first step: parents request in writing (email is best) to their principal and superintendent that their child will not take the Keystone exams and/or is to be removed from from the PBA, and any remedial Keystone class. The next step would be to contact Senator Dinniman for an amicus brief. Below is a sample letter.
Dear Superintendent and Principal,
Pleased be advised that pursuant to Act 1, (student name) will not take the Keystone exam and is to be immediately removed from the PBA and/or remedial class that (student name) was placed in that requires proficiency due to not passing the Keystone exam.
If this request is denied please provide in writing a statement explaining the reason. If (student name) is not removed from the PBA/or remedial class, then I will be submitting an amicus brief to Senator Andy Dinniman for the purpose of a lawsuit.
For your reference, Act 1 says:
(1)Notwithstanding section 2604-B(b)(2)(v), 22 Pa. Code § 4.24 (relating to high school graduation requirements), 4.51 (relating to State assessment system) or 4.51c (relating to project-based assessment) or any statute or regulation to the contrary, the use of the Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement or as a benchmark for the need for participation in a project-based assessment shall be delayed until the 2018-2019 school year.
I look forward to your confirmation that (student name) has been removed from the PBA/or remedial class and will not be taking the Keystone exams.
Had quite a bit to cover today but was happy to catch the Philadelphia Jazz Project second Jazz Walk honoring the 90th Birthday of Legendary Saxophone player John Coltrane at Mander playground. The Jazz Walk started in 2010 as a public art experiment to introduce and keep the Philadelphia Jazz culture alive. In 2010 the Jazz Walk had stations around the reservoir paying tribute to Philadelphia Jazz legends, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Ventura, Philly Joe Jones, Lee Morgan, Ethel Water, John Coltrane, Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang. This year the second Jazz Walk celebrates John Coltrane with the Jazz Walk and a week of Jazz.
In 2016 The Philadelphia Jazz Project with partners will host a series of Jazz related programs, i hope to attend. Important that we keep our Philadelphia culture in view and not just on plaques as historic markers. The Philadelphia Jazz Project would like to keep the Jazz community thriving by connecting our city to a Permanent Public Art Park named Jazz Walk. Jazz Walk would have sculptures, art installations, topiary creations, gardens, earthen amphitheaters for concerts, colorful banners and more dedicated to Philadelphia Jazz artists. We as Philadelphians and all Supporters of Jazz are needed to make Jazz Walk a reality, please contact info@philajazzproject.org, 267.259.3802 to have someone speak at your next meeting about how to support a Permanent Art Park.
The immaturity that plagues people of color communities is a bit overwhelming, makes me wonder if we will ever grow to be strong communities of people of color. i prefer the label people of color because we have not matured as a society able to appreciate our human existences or diverse cultures. i'm exploring people of color because i'm a mix breed of Native American, African American and the rape of European American taint my blood. i haven't felt connected to the world that i live in because the world that i live in is totally disconnected. i know who i am as a person, but don't agree with the American culture aka rape culture that has been placed on me or others like me in our society. So i search for ways to understand us and try to bring us all together while giving people of color who have endured the rape a space to break away from the colonized rape culture we have gotten so comfortable with.
Reading "MaRainey Black Bottom" by play write August Wilson, as part of a community partnership that i'm not going to be able to participate in fully if at all because my family doesn't understand being a family. Perfect example of the immaturity that plagues people of color communities. i enjoy life and growing in life but my growth is being halted because i feel obligated to my family who doesn't have the same respect for me. For some reason we don't pool our resources together. We don't plan as a family and that really sucks. My oldest son is so irresponsible, much like his father and i don't understand the neglect. How can you not put your children first and plan to spend time with them? Like why do i have to take on the unspoken responsibility of making sure my grands are properly cared for? Only to hear others say i'm better than them, no way would they keep my grands the way i do. When the truth is no one cared for them the way i do for my grands so they are not capable of giving the care that i provide. How have we lost our family and community culture? What does African Resistance Mean?
Reading "Merchants of Grain" by Dan Morgan as part of Black Communities Action SuSu community building efforts that i'm excited about. Love the book and how these powerful companies kept their business in house. Much like Grand Hank the scientist who puts on science shows with family being majority of the crew. What i'm learning about big business is that money is secondary, knowing the market and how to move your goods is what is sound business. Unfortunately there is always exploitation of the most vulnerable members of our society by big business much like the IRS did with Obamacare and 27,000 + taxpayers who was given the wrong premium and regardless of the IRS mistake the taxpayers lost their refunds and had to pay fines. Majority of those tax payers are people of color who are almost always swept under the rug by unaccountable nontransparent systems.
The Uhuru Movement hosted in PHILADELPHIA––For two days, August 13th and 14th, Africans from throughout the U.S. convened at the First Unitarian Church to attend a historic conference.
This conference was the clearest demonstration yet that the struggle for our liberation has reached a new height.
Called by the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, the conference was a preparatory meeting where African people defiantly established our own National Black Agenda for Self-determination.
It was a declaration of independence from the predatory Democratic Party and its partner in crime, the Republican Party.
The August 13th and 14th Preparatory Conference was a logical outcome of the seven-year history of the Coalition to win broad unity within our liberation movement with the politics of African self-determination and anti-imperialism.
The conference was attended by Africans from Pittsburg and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York City; Washington, D.C.; Huntsville and Birmingham, Alabama; St. Louis, Missouri; St. Petersburg, Florida; Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey; Wilmington, Delaware and a host of other locations where Africans are organizing to fight back against our oppression.
These cities and states represent part of an expanding network of African people determined to transform the growing, mostly spontaneous movement against police violence into a struggle for national liberation.
The black community’s Declaration and 19 Points
Unlike many of the individuals and groups that have been thrust into political consciousness and activism by the heroic working class resistance in Ferguson, Missouri following the brutal police murder of 18-year-old Mike Brown, the Declaration of the National Black Political Agenda for Self-determination was able to connect the police murders to a historic relationship we have with U.S. and white nationalist imperialism:
“Because the world capitalist system owes its existence to the enslavement of our people and the colonial domination of much of the world, capitalism rests uneasily on a fault line of oppression,” states the Declaration that goes on to say:
“The historical oppression of our people stems from this cruel fact of history: Like most peoples of the world we trace our current conditions of existence to the birth of the capitalist system at the expense of our happiness and human and material resources.
“We recognize the escalation of terror against black people that includes State and popular attacks and police and civilian murder.
“We understand that the prominent expressions of white nationalism revealed through the electoral process to select a new president of the United States are due to the growth of resistance among oppressed populations of the world and within the U.S.”
The 19 Points of the National Black Political Agenda for Self-determination, which speaks specifically to 19 core issues which the black community suffers from, deepens the Declaration.
The first point, for example, speaks to the special oppression that African women face:
Our Culture On The Come Back
“With this National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination, the entire black or African nation declares our commitment to facilitate the elevation of African women to full, equal partnership in our struggle to create a new world of freedom and socialist democracy for a united black community and a world shorn forever of bosses and workers and slaves and masters and where African women will share the power to guarantee that African women are adequately empowered as equal architects of our new world.”
Compiled by various members of the Coalition, such as Glenn Ford of the Black Agenda Report and Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the African People’s Socialist Party, the Declaration and 19 Points, thoroughly speak to the black community and should be viewed as the black community’s declaration.
This statement materialized itself during the Preparatory Conference as Africans had the opportunity to discuss and provide their input on the Declaration and 19 points.
The same cannot be said for the agendas of Democratic and Republican parties.
(Visit Blackisbackcoalition.org to read the full Declaration and 19 points.)
A powerful Preparatory Conference
The Preparatory Conference was a powerful display of Organizational unity between different African-led organizations and African individuals.
The event was characterized by fruitful discussions as solid plans were made to forward the work of the Coalition.
There were key presentations made by members of the Coalition’s Steering Committee which expounded upon the Declaration and 19 Points.
Lisa Davis, Vice Chair of the Coalition and Chair of the Health Care Working Group, gave a moving report on the state of African healthcare in the U.S. She outlined various health care statistics to illustrate the disparities which exist for African people.
Her report spoke to the 14th point of the 19-Point Declaration which demands: “Free, Universal, Quality Healthcare for All: by a public system that serves the health needs of entire communities, as well as individuals.
“Given that group health outcomes are closely linked to group political and economic status, past and present, a universal health care policy must provide both equal care to all, regardless of social and financial circumstances, and restorative care to historically oppressed communities, which require political self-determination to achieve social and biological wellness.”
Kamm Howard, Chair of the Reparations Working Group gave a video report on the necessity to carry out the verdicts of the Durban, South Africa 2002 Conference which reached a legal decision the the U.S. owe Africans reparations.
Kamm’s report spoke to point 17 of the declarations which demands reparations for all Africans.
Ralph Poynter, Chair of the Political Prisoners Working Group, gave a moving presentation which spoke to point four: “We reject the authority of the U.S. State to imprison persons whose imprisonment is rooted in their defense of Black people’s democratic and self-determination rights…”
Glenn Ford of the Black Agenda Report, a co-founder of the BIB Coalition, made an excellent closing remarks on the necessity for a Black Political Agenda.
He stated that “we are in a very auspicious political time.”
Indeed, this is a favorable time for the Black Political Agenda for Self-determination.
Mobilize your region with the State Conventions!
As a strategy to mobilize for the November 5th and 6th National Convention, the Coalition is calling on its participating organizations and individuals to organize state conventions in different parts of the country.
The Coalition is calling for state conventions to be held in Washington D.C., New York, Florida, Missouri, Chicago, and anywhere else where black people reside.
At these state conventions participants will have the opportunity to unite with the Declaration and 19 Points and bring it to members of their community so that they can unite with it as well.
It is critical that the black community forwards our own black agenda.
Black Is Back National Convention of resistance: The way forward
The Agenda will be presented at the National Black Political Agenda Convention scheduled by the Coalition for November 5th and 6th, two days before the U.S. presidential election to identify the chief imperialist spokesperson designated to rule the world.
The imperialist, white nationalist conventions of the Democratic and Republican parties were both conventions to consolidate a white nationalist imperialist agenda.
The Black is Back National Black Political Agenda for Self-determination Convention will be a convention of resistance that will begin with a massive rally at Malcolm X Park and a march on the White House on November 5th.
On November 6th, the Convention will convene at Howard University’s Blackburn Center, where the agenda will be formally adopted in a gala celebration that marks the beginning of a new era of independent black political struggle by Africans in the U.S. that is informed by our own selfish interests to build a future of freedom for ourselves and our children.
Forward to Washington, DC, November 5th and 6th!
Forward the Black Political Agenda for Self-determination!
PLEASE HELP WITH THIS URGENT CALL ALERT FOR MY SON CARRINGTON KEYS
I will be at the state capital on Monday with the Moral Monday protest. I will be available for phone calls and to answer emails up to 11am. While there I will be presenting a letter to the Governor about this urgent call alert and the Dallas 6 case. Please read below the details of the Call Alert and please share far and wide. Thank You for your continued support! ~Shandre 412-403-6101
URGENT CALL ALERT
Facts
Throughout the six years of the Dallas 6 case, Carrington has been retaliated against at SCI Retreat during transport to Luzerne County Prison for court. Currently, instead of being sent back to his home prison he is inside of a psychiatric unit in a suicide watch cell. No one will tell him why and he has received no paperwork in explanation. He is being restricted from calls but used his court order for legal calls to call and notify me of what's happening. He has been told that he must see a Program Review Committee before he is released from the psyche unit. This should not be the case as this is not his home jail and he is merely being transported.
Carrington has a long history with SCI Retreat Superintendent Vincent Mooney who tortured him during the 10 years he was in solitary at SCI Mahanoy and SCI Dallas. This is clearly retaliation as carrington has an active legal judgement against SCI Retreat staff; Superintendent Vincent Mooney and Deputy Superintendent for Centralized Services, Kathy Brittain. They may also be using this time to remove or copy legal documents that may be harmful to them in court. There are grievances and complaints to confirm the history of this relationship. Other incidents that occurred while at Retreat
being thrown into solitary when he is in general population
legal property “lost” or “missing”, damaged, torn, stomped on
attacked within minutes of getting off bus and thrown into solitary
denied clean clothing and access to shower, shaving for entire week of court
personal property “lost” every time
The Secretary of Prisons office and the judge on the case has been alerted numerous times on this issue and have done nothing to remedy it. Therefore I am asking the public to make calls.
When calling let them know organization and/or city, state you are calling from so they know this is being reported far and wide. When you complete the call add your name and a brief report here: http://tinyurl.com/alert-reportback
Talking Points
Calling Regarding Carrington Keys EF4010
He has been there a week with no explanation as to why he is still there in a psych unit
Retaliation has occurred and has been well documented by grievance, complaints and lawsuits
Has active lawsuits against SCI Retreat staff Superintendent Mooney, Deputy Superintendent Brittain
Major reason he should not be there is they have access to his legal materials in a case in which they are involved
Carrington is only there to be transferred to/from court
The superintendent's office has been notified but have taken no steps to protect Mr. Keys
Demands
Send him back to SCI Forest immediately
Separate him from SCI Retreat and Do not send him back to SCI Retreat
No further retaliation in any way
Background of Dallas 6 Case
The Dallas 6 case began in April 2010. Long before 2010, there is a history of abuse within the walls of Pennsylvania prisons that has been documented by Human Rights Coalition. Prisoners decided to do something about that and began sharing information with HRC about ongoing abuse and inhumane conditions at SCI Dallas. That information was compiled into a report which a copy of was intercepted by prison staff at SCI Dallas who immediately began a brutal beating rampage against prisoners at SCI Dallas. Prisoners held a peaceful protest by covering their cell windows. They were cell extracted and brutally beaten. After the brutal beating, charges were filed against the DOC and the District Attorney of Luzerne County. To cover up their crimes and in retaliation, four months later, the DOC charged 6 of the protesters with riot and one of the six, Carrington Keys, with assault. The case took 6 years to prosecute and the riot charges have been dropped after a hung jury. The jury could not unanimously find the men guilty of riot or Carrington Keys guilty of assault. The court has now re-filed assault charges against Carrington Keys and pre-trial hearing will be held on December 5, 2016. Carrington Keys was, and still is a target due to compiling a long history of grievances, complaints and lawsuits against DOC staff who are complicit in human rights violations and brutal assaults against prisoner.. It is believed Mr. Keys is being retried on the assault charges because of the active lawsuits against several of the officers involved in Dallas 6 as well as the District Attorney. For more information and to learn how you can help - http://scidallas6.blogspot.com/
