A MAGAZINE OF BLACK POLITICS AND CULTURE

ABOUTCONTACTSIGN UP

NO. 1

WINTER 2023

WHY WE WORK TO FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS OF THE BLACK POWER ERA

If we don’t bring home our elders, they will die in prison and our movements will suffer.

MONIFA AKINWOLE-BANDELE

LUMUMBA AKINWOLE-BANDELE

Yvan Alagbé

Mutulu Shakur came home on Dec. 16, 2022, after serving more than 36 years in prison. It was a bittersweet moment. He had been denied parole 10 times, even with an exemplary record in prison. Now, at 72, he battles terminal cancer. Those years behind bars robbed him of his freedom and his health, and denied working-class Black communities his revolutionary leadership.

Perhaps best known today as Tupac’s stepfather, Mutulu was a part of the founding of the Republic of New Afrika in 1968, whose members argued that Black people were a colonized people and entitled their own nation in the Deep South. Later, as the heroin epidemic ravaged Black and Puerto Rican communities, Shakur recognized that ordinary people have to build their own capacity to deliver healing services to one another. In the Bronx, where he lived, he fused radical anti-capitalist politics with community health care. Shakur pioneered the creation of a community detox program at Lincoln Hospital, along with the Black Panthers and the Young Lords, where people received acupuncture treatment to aid in drug withdrawal, along with political education classes.

Shakur had long been targeted because of his radical politics. By the 1980s, he was suspected of participating in the Black underground. He was charged with aiding Assata Shakur’s legendary escape from prison and planning the 1981 robbery of a Brinks truck, during which a guard and two police officers were killed. The F.B.I. listed him as one of its Ten Most Wanted, and he was arrested in 1986. He served his time and during his efforts for parole, he expressed remorse for the lives lost. Now he’s spending his last days with his family in Southern California.

His release is the latest in a string of organizing victories that have freed political prisoners active during the Black Power era. Most people are in prison because of political conditions; but a political prisoner is someone whom the state specifically targets because of their radical politics. At least 18 elders have come home since 2013, most of them on parole. Around that time, we at the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM), and other organizations doing this work, started to see the results from an earlier shift in our strategy to liberate them. We’re still working to bring home six more elders.

MXGM is a volunteer organization founded by the New Afrikan People's Organization, which emerged out of the Republic of New Afrika. Its members have always been motivated by the sense that it is possible to free people the state has said will never come home, even amid ferocious opposition from police unions, law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, and reporters. Assata’s escape was successful, and around then several others also broke out of prison and went back underground. All that work was hard. But it was just as difficult to use the law and movement to free people from life sentences.

We are children of the Black Power era. Our parents were active in the Black Panther Party and The East, a Pan-Africanist educational and cultural organization in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The two of us were fortunate that our parents were not incarcerated because of their political activities. Some of our comrades were not as lucky. We were born in the 1970s and came of age alongside children separated from their activist parents. We saw their pain up close.

In the mid-1990s, we joined MXGM’s New York chapter, which, along with working to free political prisoners, organizes against police violence. MXGM created a Cop Watch program, modeled after a similar Black Panther program from the 1970s, but using cameras instead of guns. We also led a local organizing coalition that won Floyd v. City of New York, a federal lawsuit declaring stop-and-frisk practices unconstitutional in 2013.

Many political prisoners, like Mutulu Shakur and Sekou Odinga, were part of disciplined groups organized to defend poor and working-class Black neighborhoods. They fought back against capitalism, state violence, and racist violence from mobs and vigilantes. The Panthers were famous for creating free health clinics and free breakfast programs. Most political prisoners of the Black Power era were grounded in a strategy that included armed struggle. They understood that freedom by any means necessary was not limited to civil disobedience. They took steps beyond protests and boycotts to protect us. If you look at freedom movements across the world, you’ll see this was not out of the ordinary. During the 1960s and ’70s, the world was going through huge revolutionary transformations. Black freedom fighters traded tactical recommendations with their counterparts in South Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. And law enforcement explicitly targeted them for their revolutionary activities. J. Edgar Hoover made it plain that COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program) would persecute “militant black nationalist groups,” which devastated a generation of organizations and enormously demobilized the Black liberation movement.

Much of the work that MXGM’s New York chapter initially did to support political prisoners focused on uplifting their stories. Implicit in our strategy was the hope that awareness would lead to mass response. Of course, there were dozens of other amazing campaigns and initiatives going on at the same time, including international human rights tribunals and publications. We took every opportunity to share the stories of political prisoners at poetry readings, community meetings, and the festivals where we had a table. We used hip-hop to make sure our communities knew the names and stories of our contemporary freedom fighters. We held the first hip-hop fundraiser in New York in 1994, for Mutulu Shakur. Biggie Smalls headlined that show at the South Oxford Tennis Club in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, before he even had a record deal. In 1998 MXGM, Students for Jericho, and STRESS, a hip-hop magazine, collaborated to present the first annual Black August Hip Hop Benefit Concert at Tramps nightclub in Lower Manhattan. At those concerts, we had top artists — Dead Prez, Common, Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, Gil Scott-Heron.

We call the summer of 1995 “Mumia Summer.” That’s when Tom Ridge, the governor of Pennsylvania, signed Mumia Abu Jamal’s death warrant. In Philadelphia, Lumumba and others disrupted the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual conference for its refusal to meaningfully help prevent Mumia’s execution, even though he was a former president of that association’s Philadelphia chapter. In Brooklyn, we hung “Free Mumia” banners over the Long Island Rail Road on Atlantic and Nostrand Avenues. We spent that summer plastering all five boroughs of New York City with posters of Mumia calling for his release. Our outreach materials also warned of COINTELPRO-like programs designed to prevent effective grassroots organizing. On Aug. 8, 1995, Mumia received a stay of execution. In 2011, he was finally removed from death row. But our work continued.

A number of amazing writers like Kierna Mayo, asha bandele, Raquel Cepeda, and dream hampton were part of MXGM. We used local newspapers like The City Sun, Amsterdam News, and The Village Voice to raise awareness about the presence of political prisoners in the United States, along with national Black magazines and hip-hop magazines like The Source and Vibe.

But by the early 2000s, many political prisoners faced significant health challenges, and some died in prison. It was a huge blow when Albert “Nuh” Washington and Teddy “Jah” Heath died surrounded by guards instead of loved ones. While having ambassadors like Common, Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), and Dead Prez at MXGM’s Black August hip hop fundraiser made for successful, far-reaching political education, our elders were still inside.

These deaths underscored the urgency to pivot to strategies we hoped would be more effective. More than anything, we wanted them to come home. So we co-founded a task force with a handful of skilled litigators, policy experts, and organizers, working closely with allied elected officials. Time continued to betray us, though. We soon lost Bashir Hameed. We changed our approach from an awareness campaign to freedom campaigns, focusing on clemency and litigation to challenge convictions. We recognized that parole was an avenue for those who met the criteria. We shifted to prioritize their freedom over raising awareness about their politics, but doing so in a way that’s principled — one freedom campaign’s legal strategy could never jeopardize another.

We saw the need to create multilayered, individual strategies for each political prisoner. That meant we had to be flexible as conditions changed, as environments changed, as situations changed. But we were not just sitting around hoping and waiting for our people to demand a release. The Rev. Lukata Mjumbe, a former MXGM member and leader in the Bring Sundiata Acoli Home Alliance, once asked Sundiata when the state was going to let him out. He replied to the effect of, “That’s up to you. The people will determine when I’m released, not the state.” We recognized each case had to be approached differently, and a strategy developed based on the unique dynamics of each case.

And it worked. People whom we were told would never see the light of day began coming home. In 2014 Sekou Odinga came home. So did Marshall “Eddie” Conway. Since then, we have celebrated the releases of many more. Well, partial celebrations: Parole is another form of torture. And in 2016, Abdul Majid died behind bars. There are still six more political prisoners MXGM is working to liberate. If we don’t succeed, they will die in prison, as too many of our comrades already have, and much of our history and our movements will suffer. We owe them. And that is why we work to free them.

The state’s response to our freedom movements has not changed much; it has always and will always criminalize freedom movements. Why? Because that is how the state tries to delegitimize radical, anti-capitalist movements. But the combination of a commitment to elders and ancestors, the knowledge that we can win, and new tools and strategies for organizing made possible a new wave of victories. Our efforts to free them are a continuation of the larger trajectory of our Black liberation struggle. We are just playing our role in what our ancestors have done for generations.

Those Who Remain Behind Bars

Mumia Abu-Jamal
Kamau Sadiki
Jamil Al-Amin
Veronza Bowers Jr.
Ed Poindexter
Ruchell “Cinque” Magee

Those Who Have Been Released Since 2013

Mutulu Shakur
Sundiata Acoli
David Gilbert
Russell Maroon Shoatz
Jalil Muntaqim
Delbert Africa
Chuck Sims Africa
Janet Africa
Eddie Africa
Janine Africa
Herman Bell
Robert Seth Hayes
Mike Africa
Debbie Africa
Sekou Odinga
Marshall “Eddie” Conway
Herman Wallace
Albert Woodfox

Monifa Akinwole-Bandele is a member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and the Movement for Black Lives.

Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele is a member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.

Baba

Baba

Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele

Trying to avoid being late for Saturday morning dance class at Ifetayo, my daughters and I trot down Church avenue, we stop at a light, I bend down to fix a pony tail and I hear the woman next to me say to her friend, “he is such a great father.” To most men this statement may sound flattering. After hearing this for the umpteenth time I finally realize why it bothers me. The strangers who offer this compliment simply from seeing me with my children know very little and assume plenty. Too often my mere presence with my children meets the ultimate criteria of being “a great father.” What if I am abusive or neglectful? The realities of young black men cause us to have a very short measuring stick for healthy and great fathers.

We know these realities all too well. Almost as if it’s a song in heavy rotation on hot 97. Fatherless-ness and criminalization along with inadequate housing, education, employment and healthcare all stemming from the twin towers of capitalism and racism continue to be unshakable shadows for young black men. So for most of our community, they are happy if a father is simply present.

As young black men in the late 1970s and early 80s struggled to find their way, many found a home in Hip Hop. After consistently being told what we weren’t, we were able to define ourselves and with pride be IT. These issues while real were not the things that defined us. We were so much more and used Hip Hop as a way of expressing what and who we were.

Growing up as a child in the East (a Black Nationalist educational and cultural institution in Central Brooklyn), I was surrounded by men who were for the most part present in most of their families lives. These men also served as “positive” strong male role models for most of the children. The men I knew growing up were strong, defiant, courageous and proud. It was these images that helped me put on “my face” for the world. However, as we can imagine the African centered male image of the 1970s was one that was rooted firmly in machismo and supported most basic patriarchal traditions.

This face that was being prepared for me would not be radically different than that of my peers not in the East. The core pillars of most black men’s understanding of manhood was strong, non-emotional, and firm. These images of masculinity were re-affirmed for us through mass media and most importantly through our folktales, rap music. The characters that were born out of the imagination of the emcee became the lives young people attempted to mirror.

Baba, my father —Adeyemi “Yemi” Bandele, was not only present in our family he was involved in my life. I guess it also helped that I was actively involved in his. The joy of my childhood evenings and weekends was being by his side as he went from meeting to meeting. His work focused on organizing against Apartheid in South Africa, the police killing of Arthur Miller, the invasion of Grenada, and coordinating the African Street Carnival. Much of my joy simply came from being at Baba’s side. It didn’t take me long to realize my having a father in my home was a rare thing for young men my age. The adult male presence on the block was mostly uncles and grandparents.

At an early age I learned what a tremendous impact supporting the efforts of our children has on them. Most of the major benchmarks in my life were contemplated with how Baba would feel about it. I have always had problems with critiques, constructive or otherwise. Baba’s opinion was the only one I was really concerned about. Threatened with suspension from high school for conducting direct actions as part of our organizing for an African history class, Baba came to school and defended me. The level of empowerment I felt on this day was tremendous and greatly informed (albeit subconsciously) my approach on parenting.

On February 14th 1999 at about 2 in the morning, my wife Monifa gave birth to our first daughter Naima. I was 27 years old. My father was 21 when he had his first child. I figured if he was able to do it at 21 I surely could do it at 27. Immediately after I turned thirty Monifa gave birth to our 2nd daughter, Adasa. My life changed from being focused on the late night political meetings to laying out clothes and lunch for my girls.

Baba said to me at a very early age that being a father wasn’t easy. That was an under-statement. The easy part was the first stages of late night feedings and diaper changes. The hard part was and is trying to prepare our children to live in, transform and improve this world.

Being physically present is a logical necessity for being a father, however our children need and deserve much more. The measuring stick I had for being a good father was made up of the things I experienced with my father and then the things that I observed other fathers in my community doing. My job as a father is to love which means to be present, to be involved, to listen, to challenge and to share. The idea that I am responsible for developing a healthy human being is overwhelmingly frightening, but the idea of my child being left to either figure it out along the way or allow others to attempt to do it is far more frightening and unimaginable for me.

Half of the time I’m playing catch up trying to understand what’s going on, but at the end of the day Naima and Adasa both know when they turn around I will be standing right there. My daughters have a way of exposing issues and characteristics I see in myself. This continues to be un-nerving but is necessary for my personal development as well as my children’s. I was/am forced to acknowledge that the patriarchal environment that I grew up in did impact me greatly.

For most of my adult life I embraced most mainstream anti-sexist ideologies. Now I was faced with the reality of raising two daughters in a dangerous world. One that destroys girls in so many ways I never imagined. My ideology was not enough. I had to figure out how I was going shield them from these things and also prepare them to counter it themselves. First, I had to acknowledge and change some things about me. I had to realize that while I supported the destruction of patriarchy as an institution, I did not approach it with the level of seriousness or urgency like I have with capitalism, racism, and colonialism.

The amount of support Baba exhibited with me throughout my life had to be tripled with my girls. There was no African centered institution to thoroughly insulate and prepare them culturally and politically for this world. I didn’t have most of the answers but I was going to find the answers and cover as many bases as possible.

Hip Hop has always reflected the current conditions of our people. There is a new sound to Hip Hop, a new feel and a new understanding. For many our approaches to our lives especially fatherhood have developed as well. We have moved beyond basic gender roles and are attempting to engage this process of parenting in a way that develops our children in a far more effective way. As a DJ I recognized that my tolerance for music that I wouldn’t want my children to hear has diminished greatly. All though I rarely spin for the “top 40” crowd I occasionally get an R Kelly request. My instant response is always “hell no.” My politics have become far more personal.

Being a healthy father isn’t something that is done in isolation. The best fathers I know are involved and attached to communities. They are in circles that support the healthy development of families. That simply means being in the company and lives of other families and fathers that are trying to do the same thing. These circles not only become a resource of information on parenting, they are also a support base when you need it.

I have surrounded myself with some of the best fathers I know. I don’t think I’ve said it enough, but thank you to the brothers that I learn from. I continue to be enriched by you all through our conversations, our mutual experiences and by observation. Thank you Baba Malik, Baba Emir, Baba Tarik, Baba Gamba, Baba Atiba, Baba Will, Baba Russell and plenty others. We aren’t perfect but we are aggressively pursuing perfection.

I’ve been accused on many occasions of being just like Yemi. Much of this was my intent while some I had very little control over. Adeyemi Bandele has been and continues to be my measuring stick.

*Baba – means father in several African languages including Yoruba, Arabic and Kiswahili.

- Originally published in Be a Father to Your Child: Real Talk from Black Men on Family, Love, and Fatherhood

Edited by April R. Silver, Softskull Press

http://softskull.com/?p=711

http://www.tumblr.com/tumblelog/lumumbabandele

Me and my Baba, Adeyemi Bandele

Committee of the Whole of Faculty Response to Chancellor and President’s Statement on Faculty Vote of No Confidence

Committee of the Whole of Faculty Response to Chancellor and President’s

Statement on Faculty Vote of No Confidence

The President’s and Chancellor’s Response to the definitive Faculty Vote of No Confidence is disrespectful to the faculty, lacks integrity, is replete with inaccuracies and represents a failed attempt to present a distorted view of what has occurred at the College since President Pollard assumed its leadership. Additionally, the response of the President and his leadership as well as recent actions reveal incompetence and violate the mission and core values of Medgar Evers College.

We find it difficult to concede that Chancellor Goldstein read the Faculty Vote of No Confidence Resolution and still offered his unwavering support to the Pollard Administration, one that is riddled with blatant numerous union violations as well as work place intimidation and bullying.

Let’s be clear. It was the Faculty, not external forces, who issued a Vote of No Confidence. We find the suggestion that external interference prompted a Faculty Vote of No Confidence concerning college decisions in violation of CUNY and MEC processes, procedures and shared governance to be insulting. We are insulted that the Chancellor indicated in his response to the Faculty Vote of No Confidence that college decisions must be acted upon locally consistent with University policies and must take place without external interference. And further that the President would state that he would not allow special interests to deter the administration from making the necessary changes designed to ensure the academic integrity and fiscal soundness of the Medgar Evers College is disingenuous. The Committee of the Whole of the Faculty Vote of No Confidence was prompted by this administration’s continued violations of processes, procedures and abrogation of the principles of shared governance.

These are the facts.

• As a result of the nullification of the Faculty Senate Elections held from October 5-7, 2010, the faculty at Medgar Evers College formed The Committee of the Whole of Faculty at a meeting on November 17, 2010.

• On December 6, The Committee of the Whole of Faculty unanimously charged the steering committee of The Committee of the Whole to formulate a statement reflecting a vote of No Confidence that would be presented at a meeting held on December 8, 2010.

• On December 8, 2010, 89% of faculty present (63 total, 6 negative votes and one abstention) at a specially called meeting approved a Vote of No Confidence against the current administration and specifically in the Office of the President, Dr. William A, Pollard and in the Office of the Provost, Dr. Howard Johnson

• The number of faculty who voted for a Vote of No Confidence against the Administration and the leadership of President Pollard and Provost Johnson leadership is significant. The Pollard Administration refers to this vote (as a so called vote of no confidence). Given the number of faculty who generally attend and participate in Faculty Senate, College wide and Union meetings, 63 faculty represents a significant number of faculty.
• Less than 25 faculty voted in the nullified Faculty Senate Elections.
• Less than 7 faculty attended the President’s Holiday Party
• Most of the faculty who were honored at the President’s Staff and Faculty Recognition Program did not show up.

• The President’s statement that recent changes in personnel have occurred as part of the routine academic and administrative decisions which are in accordance with the College’s and University’s policies is dishonest. There were irregularities in the College Wide Personnel and Budget committee as well as in the College-wide Academic Review Committee.

· The process by which faculty were notified of their non reappointment is egregious. Faculty were notified in their classrooms in front of students, in their offices, via email and in the hallway. Precedent and practice since the inception of the College stipulate that faculty be notified on non reappointments by certified mail.

• The President speaks to a strong academic curriculum under the strong leadership of Vice President Johnson and facilities that support the academic endeavor yet there has been no strategic plan for moving the institution forward. We have an academic leader whose ability to develop a strategic plan is questionable as is evidenced by the plan he developed while at the University of North Texas. Additionally, the elimination and reduction of critical student support services and faculty resources impede a strong academic curriculum. While student space is desirable, support for tutoring, research, library, writing labs and student mentoring are more critical to supporting a strong academic curriculum.

• The smoke screen around saving the college money in a time of fiscal crisis is simply a myth. This Administration is simply top heavy with far too many administrators, senior vice presidents and assistant vice presidents (we now have two rather than one Senior Vice President). Recently the Administration hired two consultants for government community relations and public relations, although the college has staff in these titles. Meanwhile faculty positions in academic departments have not been fulfilled.

• Further, the smoke screen around reassigned time reveals how much the administration is out of touch with MEC and CUNY in general. They fail to understand that the fact that adjunct faculty make up a sizeable percentile of the instructional staff at MEC is no different from CUNY. Thus the move on firing these major parts of the engine of our academic enterprise and reducing reassigned time for critical positions is just but one more attempt to dismantle and destabilize the institution.

• The President indicated that efforts have been made to engage with and garner feedback from faculty, staff and students through several Town Hall Meetings and an open door policy in his office. Yet the President stated in several public meetings that he does not want to have substantive discussions with faculty and students. He wants to know to get to know them personally and when any substantive issues come up, he refers faculty to the Provost. The President held one Town Hall meeting with the Faculty, in May 2010 when most faculty were not on campus and were involved in preparing for final exams and closing out the semester.

The administration’s policies and practices reveal incompetence, undermine the mission and vision of our institution and reveal a lack of respect for the collective struggle of the founders, elected officials, and community leaders to bring this College into existence. As such, The Committee of the Whole of Faculty reiterates that they have no confidence in the current administration, and specifically in the leadership of the Office of President William Pollard and the Office of Provost Johnson to manage and lead this College and to serve the students of this College.

THE FACTS - From the Medgar Evers College Coalition for Academic Excellence and Mission Integrity (aka The Coalition)

THE FACT

Fact Sheet

From the Medgar Evers College Coalition

for Academic Excellence and Mission Integrity (aka The Coalition)

In view of the actions listed below, the faculty of Medgar Evers College affirmed a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE in the current Administration, and specifically, in the Office of the President, Dr. William Pollard and in the Office of the Provost, Dr. Howard Johnson.

At a meeting held by the Committee of the Faculty of the Whole, 89% of the faculty issued a vote of no confidence.

Under the Administration of President Pollard and Provost Johnson, the following have occurred.

1. Administration has violated CUNY Bylaws, union contracts and Medgar Evers Governance Plan in the non reappointment of faculty.

2. Administration has disseminated notices of non reappointment to faculty and staff via campus police, email, and visits to classrooms (in front of students), and offices.

3. Administration has removed the Chair of Education for spurious and unsubstantiated reasons. (Per PSC Contract, Chairs in CUNY elected by faculty not appointed by President and Provost). The Chair of Education had been elected by the faculty in her department for a 3 year term.

4. Administration has reduced support mechanisms and faculty resources which include:

• Elimination of Writing Center.
• Elimination of Center for Teaching and Learning
• Reduction of tutors in Learning Center budget
• Reduction of staff in College’s library
• Reduction of staff in Student Computer Lab
• Reduction of resources and research opportunities for Psych Lab.
• Blocking of funding supporting faculty/student research and the mission of the College.

5. Administration has issued an eviction notice to Center for NuLeadership despite its formal approval by the College’s governing body, the College Council.

6. Administration had not hired faculty positions in academic departments (yet has hired high level administrators and consultants).

7. Administration has not supported the Medgar Evers College’s Preparatory School. Despite awards and accolades from College Board, Department of Education and President Obama.

8. Administration has withdrawn support for the Medgar College Preparatory School’s Dual Enrollment Program.

9. Administration has no announced Master plan or direction for MEC, after an entire year.

---

About Medgar Evers College, CUNY (MEC)

• MEC was founded four decades ago during a period of institution building by communities of color across this country and in Central Brooklyn specifically to address the need for access to higher education coupled with community engagement and development.
• MEC has a proud history of leadership and involvement in advocacy that advances and promotes the political, cultural, social, economic and academic power of people of color in Central Brooklyn
• MEC is rooted in the progressive history of Central Brooklyn through its academic, professional, advocacy and civic programs
• MEC has created a culture of academic excellence for students and faculty.
• The actions of the administration, as represented by the Offices of the President and Provost, demonstrate a lack of commitment to the “community–oriented” mission of Medgar Evers College and to Central Brooklyn

More About Medgar Evers College…

• Transforms the lives of individuals within their communities and the global world.
• Provides students with access to high quality professional degree programs
• Offers 17 baccalaureate and 8 associate level degree programs in the liberal arts, science, health, business, and education.
• Provides students who move from associate level to baccalaureate level degree programs with high academic standards.
• Maintains a national and international presence through its Centers
• Offer conferences, seminars, workshops that support academic programs and student success

About The Students

• Capture first place prizes in prestigious competitions like the Wharton Undergraduate Marketing Conference case competition
• Present their original research and scholarship at conferences across the globe
• Participate in student clubs that win national awards
• Participate in national and regional conferences that promote personal and career goals

About The Faculty

• Include distinguished scholars, researchers, legislators and congressmen
• Are involved in a range of research and grant activities in their disciplines
• Have received numerous awards within their disciplines
• Include Fulbright scholars and a Guggenheim Fellow
• Have collaborated with entities such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to conduct space science research which includes the launching of a satellite for government payloads.
• Have been awarded research grants by the U.S. Air Force’s Office of Scientific Research, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Education among others.
• MEC faculty and directors host national and international Conferences, including:
• National Black Writers Conference
• Environmental Science Conference
• Social Work Conference
• Diopian Inquiry and Research on Education as Culture Transmission Conference

About The Centers

• Strengthen, enrich and support the College’s academic degree programs

· Serve as vehicles for research, training, instruction and advocacy

• Fulfill the College’s mission of communicating the knowledge of tradition, the teaching of scholars and the beauty and profundity of students’ cultural heritage.
• Develop non degree and co-curricular cultural programs which serve students and a broad range of community residents.
• Fulfill the College’s mission through interaction with community representatives, cultural and public institutions

The Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions has operated at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York for the past six years. Through its programs it provides quality educational research, public policy and social services, increases retention and graduation rates with special emphasis on those students who were formerly incarcerated and is nationally recognized as providing leadership and innovation in the field of education for previously incarcerated populations.

The DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy is a think tank dedicated to forging solutions to the challenges confronting people of color living within urban communities in the United States and throughout the African Diaspora. DBC produces research, formulates policies, sponsors conferences and produces public affairs media programming that advances economic and social justice.

The Center for Black Literature expands, broadens, and enriches the public’s knowledge and aesthetic appreciation of the value of black literature; continues the tradition and legacy of the National Black Writers Conference and serves as a voice and resource for black writers. It is the only Center devoted to this in the country.

The Center for Law and Social Justice (CLSJ) is a community-based legal organization that specializes in addressing racial justice issues. CLSJ provides quality legal advocacy, trainings, and research services in a personal manner to people of African descent and the disenfranchised.

About the Medgar Evers College Preparatory School

• The Medgar Evers College Preparatory School was created as a partnership with Medgar Evers College
• Was cited by Department of Education, College Board and President Obama as an exemplary model of high school college collaboration
• Was a College Board Inspiration Award Winner for helping underserved students achieve equitable access to higher education
• Ranked as one of the top best public high schools in Brooklyn
• Offers one of the largest Chinese language programs for students not from a Chinese background in the United States

For more information,

visit www.Facebook.com/MEfortheCommunity

Send an email to MECCoalition@gmail.com

NYC Community Based Organizations of Color Urge Governor Patterson to Restore $190 Million

Community Based Organizations of Color Urge Governor Patterson to Restore $190 Million. Emergency Press Conference and Hearing

by Caribbean Cultural Center (CCCADI) on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 3:26pm

MEDIA CONTACT:

Thysha M. Shabazz or April R. Silver

AKILA WORKSONGS, Inc.

Phone: 718.756.8501 main

Email: pr@akilaworksongs.com

Facebook Page: AKILAWORKSONGS ● Twitter: @akilaworksongs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATIONS OF COLOR URGE GOVERNOR PATERSON TO RESTORE $190 MILLION.

Emergency Press Conference and Public Hearing This Wednesday: Oct. 20 October 18, 2010 (New York, NY) - - -

The Cultural Equity Groups (CEG), a network of New York based community arts, cultural, and multi-disciplinarian organizations, today announces an emergency press conference in support of the public hearing called by NY State Senators Ruth Hassell-Thompson, Kevin Parker, and Bill Perkins (members of the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus; see official statement below). The press conference will be held WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2010 on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan at 9:00am. The public hearing will follow immediately afterward from 10:00am to 1:00pm (across the street at 250 Broadway). Media inquiries regarding the press conference are directed to AKILA WORKSONGS, Inc. 718.756.8501 or at pr@akilaworksongs.com.

The purpose of the public hearing is for community-based arts, cultural, advocacy, and social service leaders to present their concerns about the impact of member item funding cuts to their organizations and the people they service. Both the hearing and press conference are open to the public. For general inquiries about the public hearing, contact Joan P. Gibbs, Esq. at 718.804.8893 or via email at jgibbs@mec.cuny.edu

Led by Dr. Marta Moreno Vega, founder and executive director of The Caribbean Cultural Center / African Diaspora Institute; Esmeralda Simmons, founder and executive director of the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College; and Laurie Cumbo, founder and executive director of MoCADA, CEG urges artists, activists, advocates, entrepreneurs, and those concerned to take action today so that funds may be restored. Dr. Vega reveals, “Not-for-profit institutions of color in New York—be they arts or social justice related—play a vital role in people’s personal and professional lives. They help alleviate distress in underserved populations and they contribute to the economic development of neglected communities. For the governor to freeze funds from organizations that are, in many cases, the life blood of their communities actually contributes to the disenfranchisement of those communities.”~ more ~CEG leaders maintain that they are not enemies of the governor, but are compelled, nonetheless, to create awareness about the negative effect of frozen funds. Community-based organizations, those that service the artistic, social, economic, and/or advocacy needs of people of color communities, are being crippled by this veto and may not recover, CEG leaders affirm. What is known as “member-item reductions” in the state budget amounts to $190 million dollars and such a reduction “would cause colossal harm for a relatively little bit of money,” Simmons declares. “The Black, Latino, and Asian communities are, from the onset, receiving less funding than other communities in New York. To reduce the already small budget allotment even further is adding salt to the wound. We must have our voices heard and we encourage everyone to attend the public hearing.”

Dr. Moreno Vega adds: “We must write letters, make phone calls, and diligently press the Governor to restore the funds. We must make it clear that a decrease in services and jobs in under-served communities further decreases access to cultural and economic rights."

CEG urges all concerned to contact the Governor at this postal address and phone number:Governor David A. PatersonState CapitolAlbany, NY 12224(518) 474.8390

Additional CEG leaders and/or supporters include the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY; the Harlem Arts Alliance; Harlem Film Museum; the Bronx Council on the Arts; AMERINDA, and others.About The Cultural Equity Groups (CEGs)Emerging from the Civil Rights Movement, the Cultural Equity Groups are a network of community arts organizations and artists of color who came together in the spirit that all people and organizations of designated "minority groups" who make up the majority of New York City citizenry and a significant segment of the State have equal access to information, financial resources, and opportunities presented in the arts policies and the funding distribution processes available at the municipal and state levels. CEG was founded to address, at all levels of society, the inequity in funding and policies that negatively impact the preservation, continuity and growth of our cultures, art, and communities. [Official Statement]From: Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, Chairwoman, and Senator Kevin Parker (of the NYS Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus)To: Caucus MembersRe: Public Hearing on the “Member-Item” Reduction Impact on Small and Mid-Size Not-for-Profit Community-Based OrganizationsDuring the extended budget negotiations, Governor Paterson vetoed last year's member-item allotment of about $190 million, as a way to reduce the deficit and pressure lawmakers to complete a budget deal. For many not-for-profit organizations that serve low-income families, the grants are tangible resources that provide resources for case management, transportation, and purchase of various goods and services.It is important that representatives from small and mid-size not for profit organizations, in our most high needs communities have an opportunity to provide critical data on the impact of the funding cuts to already under-resourced communities. The primary goal of this public hearing is to have comprehensive presentations from Community Based Organizations that will provide information on the immediate and long-range impact of member item funding cuts to their organizations and their consumers. The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 am on October 20, 2010, at 250 Broadway, New York City.

# # #

What is July 4th to Black People?

"The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro"

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too � great enough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory....

...Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.�The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."

Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is American slavery. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America.is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery � the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate; I will not excuse"; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just.

But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, "It is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more, an denounce less; would you persuade more, and rebuke less; your cause would be much more likely to succeed." But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man!

For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? that he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for Republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? How should I look to-day, in the presence of Amercans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven that does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their mastcrs? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? No! I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.

What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may; I cannot. The time for such argument is passed.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival....


...Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. "The arm of the Lord is not shortened," and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from "the Declaration of Independence," the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Space is comparatively annihilated. -- Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are distinctly heard on the other.

The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. The fiat of the Almighty, "Let there be Light," has not yet spent its force. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen in contrast with nature. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. 'Ethiopia, shall, stretch. out her hand unto Ood." In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it:

God speed the year of jubilee
The wide world o'er!
When from their galling chains set free,
Th' oppress'd shall vilely bend the knee,
And wear the yoke of tyranny
Like brutes no more.
That year will come, and freedom's reign,
To man his plundered rights again
Restore.

God speed the day when human blood
Shall cease to flow!
In every clime be understood,
The claims of human brotherhood,
And each return for evil, good,
Not blow for blow;
That day will come all feuds to end,
And change into a faithful friend
Each foe.

God speed the hour, the glorious hour,
When none on earth
Shall exercise a lordly power,
Nor in a tyrant's presence cower;
But to all manhood's stature tower,
By equal birth!
That hour will come, to each, to all,
And from his Prison-house, to thrall
Go forth.

Until that year, day, hour, arrive,
With head, and heart, and hand I'll strive,
To break the rod, and rend the gyve,
The spoiler of his prey deprive --
So witness Heaven!
And never from my chosen post,
Whate'er the peril or the cost,
Be driven.




The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, Volume II
Pre-Civil War Decade 1850-1860
Philip S. Foner
International Publishers Co., Inc., New York, 1950

Medgar Evers College belongs to Central Brooklyn!

This was sent to me and I felt compelled to share it with the Put On BLAST! family. Please read and circulate widely.

OPEN LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY
Mission of Medgar Evers College Continues to be in Jeopardy
New Administration’s Stance Toward Medgar Evers College’s
Mission Raises Grave Concerns

On Tuesday, June 22, the new administration of Medgar Evers College, reneged on its agreement to continue to host the 14 year old Jazzy Jazz Concert Series during the months of June, July and August. This abrupt decision to cancel the jazz series three days before it was scheduled to begin is further evidence that the new administration of Medgar Evers is not committed to the mission of Medgar Evers.

Two core goals of the College’s mission are:

• to improve students' understanding of self, past and present societies, and future trends by providing them with a liberal education which communicates the knowledge of tradition, the teachings of scholars, and the beauty and profundity of their cultural heritage and
• to offer co-curricular social, economic, and cultural programs which serve its students and a broad population of community residents.

By abruptly canceling this program without adequate time to explore other options the College has disrupted a legacy and denied the community residents of central Brooklyn with an opportunity to hear legendary jazz artists perform within their own community.

On Tuesday, June 22, the Director of the Jazzy Jazz series received a hand-delivered package stating that the Jazzy Jazz Program was canceled and would not be funded because the program was held on a Friday when the College was closed and that this would require extra security.

The Director of Jazzy Jazz and the VP for External Affairs at Medgar Evers had been meeting over the last month to plan for the upcoming jazz series. A comprehensive schedule had been developed; artists had been contacted and given contracts; media services had been consulted and discussion re: public relations and promoting of the event had been held. The Jazzy Jazz Concert Series was posted on the College’s and CUNY’s event page website.

Jazzy Jazz, founded at Medgar Evers College by the late Dr. Mary Umolu, has been a staple at Medgar Evers College on Friday summer nights since 1996. “To cancel this 14th year concert dedicated to the late Dr. Mary Umolu is a real disappointment. We had marquee artists lined up,” said Michael Howard, Chair of United Music Makers and facilitator of the Jazzy Jazz festival series.

Jitu Weusi, Chair of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, long time community activist and resident and retired educator said, “The canceling of Jazzy Jazz which is a program originating out of the contributions of the late Dr. Mary Umolu, a life long resident of central Brooklyn who understood the organic relationship between the community and the college, illustrates that the current President is not in tune with the community and the needs of the community.”

The cancellation of this program follows the actions listed below by the new administration. These actions violate the integrity of the mission of Medgar Evers College:

The attempt to move the commencement from the College to BAM without proper input from the College’s commencement committee represented by faculty, students, administrators and the community.

The attempt to stop the funding for the Center for NuLeadership’s Reentry Program which would provide formerly incarcerated men and women with a chance to acquire a college education.

The situation at Medgar Evers College is raising grave concerns. Call Dr. Pollard at (718) 270-5000 or email him at wlpollard@mec.cuny.edu and express your concern over his most recent non-support of the rich cultural program in our community.