ANCESTRAL CONNECTIONS

“Booker’s Place”: A Mississippi Story

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:16:57 +0000

Democracy Now MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012 In 1965, Booker Wright, an African-American waiter in Greenwood, Mississippi, dared to be interviewed by NBC about racism in America, a decision that forever changed his and his family’s lives. Wright said during the interview, “I always learned to smile. The meaner the man be, the more you smile. [...]

Australia: The Aboriginal People

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:34:35 +0000

Living the Language Last Modified: 18 Apr 2012 07:18 Aljazeera Australia, which was once home to 200 languages, now suffers from the highest rate of language extinction in the world. Australia suffers from the highest rate of language extinction in the world. Once home to more than 200 languages spoken by the indigenous inhabitants of [...]

Black in White Plains: The Police Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr.

admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:06:01 +0000

April 5th, 2012 By Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan Democracynow.org “My name is Kenneth Chamberlain. This is my sworn testimony. White Plains police are going to come in here and kill me.” And that’s just what they did. In the early hours of Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, U.S. Marine veteran Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. accidentally hit [...]

Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba Story

admin — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 17:21:36 +0000

William Kamkwamba was born August 5, 1987, in Malawi, Africa, a country plagued by AIDS and poverty. Like most people in his village, his family of nine subsisted on the meager crops they could grow, living without the luxuries—considered necessities in the West—of electricity or running water. Already living on the edge, the situation became [...]

The First Grader

admin — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:54:22 +0000

In a small, remote mountain top primary school in the Kenyan bush, hundreds of children are jostling for a chance for the free education newly promised by the Kenyan government. One new applicant causes astonishment when he knocks on the door of the school. He is Maruge (Oliver Litondo), an old Mau Mau veteran in [...]

The War We Are Living: Afro-Colombian Women Fight for Their Ancestral Lands

admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 16:27:25 +0000

Watch The War We Are Living on PBS. See more from Women War and Peace. If you ask Colombia’s city dwellers and governing political class, they’ll tell you the country’s 40-year-old civil war is over. But The War We Are Living reveals the “other” Colombia, in rural areas far away from the capital, where the [...]

Jende Ri Palenge (People of Palenque): Afro-Columbia [Soul Jazz Records]

admin — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:26:25 +0000

by KEVIN on Mrz 3, 2012 • 9:00 am from icrates.org The Jende Ri Palenge (People of Palenque) compilation on Soul Jazz provides an exhaustive collection of homegrown Afro-Columbian roots sounds and a comprehensive insight into a vibrant musical and cultural legacy fusing Latin and African influences. This ambitious new release is the result of [...]

Jazz Legend Randy Weston on His Life and Celebration of “African Rhythms” (Democracy Now!)

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:00:42 +0000

In a Black History Month special, Democracy Now! airs an extended interview with the legendary pianist and composer Randy Weston. For the past six decades, Weston has been a pioneering jazz musician incorporating the vast rhythmic heritage of Africa. His most famous compositions include, “Little Niles,” “Blue Moses,” and “Hi-Fly,” and his 1960 album, “Uhuru [...]

Former Black Panther patches together purpose in Africa exile

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:22:55 +0000

By Christopher Goffard, Los Angeles Times January 29, 2012 Reporting from Imbaseni, Tanzania — The fugitive shuffles to his computer and begins typing out his will. He is about to turn 71, and it is time. “My life,” he writes, “has been a wild and wicked ride….” All Pete O’Neal has amassed fits on two [...]

Australia To Finally Recognize Aborigines As First People

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:34:01 +0000

Written by Ruth Manuel-Logan on January 20, 2012 2:58 pm Australia is ready to make some historic changes to its 200-year-old constitution by requesting its citizens to approve a clause that recognizes Aborigines as the country’s first occupants. In a report handed to the country’s prime minister, Julia Gillard, an expert panel made up of [...]