As much as the world is rushing into Africa in a new global scramble for Africa. Africans are also bringing their authentic flavor to the world at large. As Nigerian Recording artist Nneka says “I am here to Africanize America“!

Ghetto Ballerina does not say anything about who Sibahle Tshibika is, but  rather just speaks to the township that created this diamond out of such roughness. Sibahle Tshibika has not only had an HBO documentary entitled “Ghetto Ballet” based on her & the lives of the young people in one of the poorest Black townships in South Africa, Kyahalitsca, she has also been awarded the opportunity to join the Atlanta Ballet. Sibahle Tshibika’s story is another beautiful moment in our Global Fusions as an American documentarian looked to tell a compelling story of struggle & greatness out of South Africa that moved another American to simply write a letter that ended up making an African girl’s dreams come true- proving that it takes a global village to raise a child! Our world is more connected & globally fused than we can ever imagine & all we have to do is reach out &  touch someone as we live our globally local lives! GET GLOBALLY FUSED!

“I was so hurt inside and I thought I would never be able to be a dancer again….If you believe in something, you should stick on it and be sure that one day it’s going to happen — and if it didn’t, don’t just give up,” said Tshibika. “Just tell yourself you’re going to make it.” READ MORE

With little fanfare & no national broadcasting in the USA, unless you are one of the few who know the internet sites to catch it on, very few may know that FIFA’s Under 20 Women’s World Cup is being held in Germany. The matches began on July 13th with another classic Ghana VS USA match up that ended in a draw. Unfortunately the Black Princesses of Ghana (the  juniors/youngins’ of the national team the Black Queens)  in their first ever showing at the Under 20 World Cup  did not fair as well as the  Black Satellites, who are the current defending champions of the the men’s Under 20 World Cup. Although the Black Princesses only lost 1 game to Korea Republic, they did not make it out of their group based on points, which had defending champions USA & Korea Republic making it out of group play leaving Ghana & Switzerland out. With national team names like The Black Queens & the Black Princesses is it any wonder that Ghanaian women walk around with an air of heirs to royalty-LOL!

“Ghana did it again to the United States, though this time on a smaller scale. At the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany, Ghana shocked the defending champs with a 1-1 tie in the opening match. Elizabeth Cudjoe scored for Ghana in the 8th minute with a blast from about 30 yards that just caught the left goalpost and banked in…” READ MORE

The bigger news to come out of this year’s Under 20 Women’s World Cup is that for the first time since its inception in 2002, an African nation has reached the final & that nation is no other than Nigeria. After much national controversy played out on the world stage & a less than stellar showing at the World Cup which led Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan to suspend the Nigeria Football Federation from FIFA competition for 2 years, putting the Falconets in jeopardy of not being able to attend this year’s world cup, the ban was lifted on July 5, 2010 & as they say the rest is history. The women footballers of Nigeria have truly made history & are looking to raise the pride of green & white by bringing back the winning spirit, honor, glory & respect of Nigerian Football. The Falconets have done what the Super Eagles could not do, they not only made it out of group play  but also made history as they solidified their place in the finals against the host nation. The Falconets have brought Nigerians high hopes & hope to soar to the highest heights as they bring the cup home! We salute you lady ballers-May you continue to Soar as Falconets!

“The two teams who will contest the final of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2010 became clear after Thursday’s two semi-finals. While hosts Germany won the first with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Korea Republic, Nigeria were made to sweat during a close-fought 1-0 success against Colombia…semi-final between Nigeria and Colombia was a far tenser affair. The match got off to an extraordinary start when the Africans took the lead just two minutes in, but Ndem Egan’s charges were forced to endure wave after wave of South American attacks as the match wore on. However, the Falconets held on to continue their magnificent run at Germany 2010 and become the first African team to reach the final of a FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup...” READ MORE

Make the Falconets jaloff with lots of pepper as they show the Germans that they are fufu soft because in Lagos Town the women do not clown around! Check out Nigeria’s Falconets VS. Germany on Sunday

4 The Ghanaians & the Nigerians -Let’s Go!

Global Fusion for me is our global interaction, commonalty & connections fused into globally local beneficial respect & progress. Below are two wonderful examples of that.

Whereas Africans/Africa has always been “green” in utilizing its natural resources by making due with little & being instilled with the belief that nature’s offerings in its little or abundance should never be put to waste, the world at large is coming around to basics & looking to Africa to build the future of Africa & the world at large.

“Calfee Design has been manufacturing and selling its own bamboo bikes from its California studios since 2005, but a trip to Africa inspired founder Craig Calfee to promote the concept in Africa. In 2008, through an initiative called Bamboosero, Calfee set up two bike-building groups in Ghana—one in the capital, Accra, and one in Abompe. Both groups now build frames for several bike designs using locally sourced bamboo; they then ship those frames back to Calfee’s shop, where the US team adds wheels and hardware before sending them on to distributors. The Ghanaian entrepreneurs earn about USD 150 for every frame they build, while the finished bikes are sold for about USD 950 each, according to a report on SantaCruz.com. By December 2009, Calfee had sold 28 Bamboosero bikes and sent six back to Ghana for use by tourists and locals, the site reported. Calfee hopes to expand the ranks of its bicycle entrepreneurs both in Ghana and in other developing countries, as well as to bolster the supply chain of bicycle parts for those local teams…” READ MORE

As I recall my uncle’s stories about his time spent studying abroad in Bulgaria earning his masters degree in engineering, where re-counted how many children who had never seen a real live Black person before would come & touch his face wondering if he was dirty or an actual Black man during the cold months when he was covered from head to toe with a little bit of his face showing because his African blood was not used to such treacherous cold, and seeing one of my favorite super models, Naomi Campbell being celebrated in Russia as if she was the first lady thru finding love in the arms of Russian real estate magnate Vladimir Doronin;the story of Jean Gregoire Sagbo, who has made history as the first Black politician to be elected in Russia, warms my heart in the progress & global fusions of African descendants & Eastern Europeans. The world at large  often makes it difficult in questioning immigrant citizens & those of us who consider ourselves citizens of the world or more than one nation in having to prove that our love  & loyalty can spread beyond one nation into our global fusions!

“People in this Russian town used to stare at Jean Gregoire Sagbo because they had never seen a black man. Now they say they see in him something equally rare – an honest politician. Sagbo last month became the first black to be elected to office in Russia…In a country where racism is entrenched and often violent, Sagbo’s election as one of Novozavidovo’s 10 municipal councilors is a milestone. But among the town’s 10,000 people, the 48-year-old from the West African country of Benin is viewed simply a Russian who cares about his hometown…He promises to revive the impoverished, garbage-strewn town where he has lived for 21 years and raised a family. His plans include reducing rampant drug addiction, cleaning up a polluted lake and delivering heating to homes…”Novozavidovo is dying,” Sagbo said in an interview in the ramshackle municipal building. “This is my home, my town. We can’t live like this.”…”His skin is black but he is Russian inside,” said Vyacheslav Arakelov, the mayor. “The way he cares about this place, only a Russian can care.” READ MORE

“Why don’t we all just call it a night, peel off our political costumes and stop trying to parody the politics of the West, so we can return back to our roots, back to the truth that will always be there waiting for us – like a faithful but annoying friend with an I-told-you-so grin – back to an era when the government still believed in working for the people, and the people were not so easily consumed by undeliverable campaign promises from crooked politicians, because their election bribes in sealed envelopes caused amnesias so strong that the struggles and failures of the past were easily forgotten…This is not democracy. Our leaders are not popularly elected. No, they are shabbily but surely enforced on us by the forces that are, and the powers that be, that insist, and have always insisted – due to the absence of a revolutionary mindset in our people- that Nigeria will not thrive. They insist, because we do not tell them otherwise, that the once-great giant of Africa will not rise. They mock us because they believe that we are too preoccupied with our own internal dissent to realise that we are almost so far gone – almost at the point of no return – and they pompously await no retribution…” READ MORE

Colonialist convinced once colonized African nations that democracy was the way, but who truly determines the definition of democracy. Democracy has always been synonymous with Freedom for those who taut & sell it, but the most Democractic free nation of all, The United States of America, did not grant full freedom & civil rights to African-Americans until long after many African nations like Ghana had already found their independence with full freedom & civil rights for their people. As the USA condemed Hitler’s Germany for not granting Jews civil rights & its subsequent genocide in seeing Jews as less than 100% human without ever addressing the same actions by Hitler against Blacks in Germany because we would have had to address how we held Jesse Owens up as the honor of America in condemning the beliefs of Hitler, but somehow forgot that Jim Crow was in place &  that African-Americans were seen in America as less than 100% human. I ask once again who defines democracy & does this definition work with the African personality?

“In the future as the world of Africa & the West mate more & more into the totality of world culture, the creative strength of the African personality, which is evident in tribal sculpture, will contribute far more profoundly to human fulfillment than can yet be imagined”
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah- 1966

“Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. Thy claim it as their own and none can keep it from them. We face neither East nor West: We Face Forward..Something in the nature of an economic revolution is required. Our development has been held back for too long by the colonial-type economy. We need to reorganize entirely, so that each country can specialize in producing the goods and crops for which it is best suited.” Neocolonialism The Last Stage of Imperialism…. We have the blessing of the wealth of our vast resources, the power of our talents and the potentialities of our people. Let us grasp now the opportunities before us and meet the challenge to our survival. We shall measure our progress by the improvement in the health of our people; by the number of children in school, and by the quality of their education; by the availability of water and electricity in our towns and villages, and by the happiness which our people take in being able to manage their own affairs. The welfare of our people is our chief pride, and it is by this that my Government will ask to be judged.” DR. Kwame Nkrumah

“The black fist is a meaningless symbol. When you open it, you have nothing but fingers — weak, empty fingers. The only time the black fist has significance is when there’s money inside. There’s where the power lies.” Jesse Owens

As much as Nixon & others felt like Africans could not govern ourselves without the aid of the White man & his democracy , Africans have always had a system of honor that is practiced even til today. When there is a dispute amongst family or neighbors the elders are called in to listen to all sides & to create an amicable settlement. Even amongst the modern day scavengers in the documentary “Welcome to Lagos” video below this type of honor system in self governance which is & has always been authentically part of the African way of life & governance still exists beautifully & harmoniously. When those who run the house of democracy forget the African way the rest of Africa holds up & clings to the ancestral way that teaches us that each man & each woman is his/her brother’s keeper.

We need a new modern day wind of change & to come to a point as Africans where we reevaluate & refocus our dedication to true emancipation for all of Africa in our unity. Our gods & goddesses have continuously nurtured us & looked after us by giving us gifts of resources & opportunity even at times when we felt all hope was gone. We can not continue to let the small selfish minority squander these gifts as the rest of the continent suffers. The World Cup shed a new light on the possibility of African unity. We must keep that fire burning & not let the flame go out.

“I wanted to congratulate you not only on a fantastic performance in which you can take great pride, but also for accepting your defeat with dignity. You won because you were such great ambassadors for the game – and for Africa. I cannot think of another occasion on which the whole continent was so united as during your quarterfinal. “BaGhana BaGhana” replaced “Bafana, Bafana” for our South African hosts, and I am sure I could hear the earth shake when Muntari scored – a mighty roar went up from Cairo to Cape Town, Dakar to Dar es Salam – even the deafening Vuvuzelas couldn’t match it. This thunderous solidarity is a tribute to you all, and a great omen for Africa, which is so often depicted as divided and conflicted. You won because you brought us all together.” Former UN General Secretary- Kofi Annan -READ MORE

“We have awakened. We will not sleep anymore. Today, from now on, there is a new African in the world…We are going to see that we create our own African personality and identity. We again rededicate ourselves in the struggle to emancipate other countries in Africa; for our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

The love Africans have for their individual nations & the continent as a whole is immeasurable & unwavering. Mama Africa is our sweet mother & if our burning love for her is a crime then we are all guilty as charged because every time I look into her eyes I see fire in them & if you look into our eyes you see desire in them.. we got a lot of respect for Mama Africa because her kind is so rare! KEEP THE FIRE BURNING FOR EVEN IN DARKNESS WE SEE THE LIGHT!

Black tells you how you look, but it doesn’t tell you who you are” -John Henrik Clarke.
It seems there are some Black Publication who are riding this quote without getting its intended message.  Just because Black just tells you how you look, doesn’t mean White can tell you who you are.

I hope Black people in particular really take heed to this quote because enough is enough with being stuck on stupid & acting like we don’t know any better, being the perpetual victims as we victimize ourselves while acting as if the information which we say we seek in defining who we are historically as a people is not readily available to us if we are honest about seeking it. It saddened me to see the video below & to be reminded decade after decade, year after year that Black children still prefer the white doll over the black doll & still do not see themselves as beautiful. At this point in history, we have no one to blame but ourselves because we have done a disservice to our youth- generation after generation. Our story started before slavery & continues above & beyond slavery, so let’s stop continuously allowing ourselves & others to make the entire sum of the Black experience globally to be based on a story that consists solely of pre-slavery, slavery & post-slavery with a mix of white supremacy throughout that entire experience. This only allows us to continue the mentality & bondage of slavery that taught us not to appreciate & love ourselves for our many shades & shapes that existed way before slavery.

“I always associated black with ugly. I was too dark and didn’t have nice hair,” said Catherine de la Rosa, a dark-skinned Dominican-American college student spending a semester here. “With time passing, I see I’m not black. I’m Latina.To many Dominicans, to be black is to be Haitian. So dark-skinned Dominicans tend to describe themselves as any of the dozen or so racial categories that date back hundreds of years — Indian, burned Indian, dirty Indian, washed Indian, dark Indian, cinnamon, moreno or mulatto, but rarely negro.The Cuban black was told he was black. The Dominican black was told he was Indian,” said Dominican historian Celsa Albert, who is black. “I am not Indian. That color does not exist. People used to tell me, ‘You are not black.’ If I am not black, then I guess there are no blacks anywhere, because I have curly hair and dark skin.” READ MORE

Globally we are all descendants of Africa but slavery is what came into play in our human greed & envy to separate us. We will all watch this video & shake our head & be disgusted & horrified that young people & even babies are expressing this type of self hate in their blackness, but we fail to listen carefully & to hear that these ideas that manifested into self hate came from people that looked just like them rather than the White media, slavery & everthing else we choose to blame besides ourselves. We can not teach our children to love themselves if we have not found that love within ourselves. No white person ever taught these children about or gave them bleaching creams- WE DID THAT. Whether it is a family member or friend calling a child outside of their name by calling them “a lil nigga” or relaxing a 3 year old’s hair because her hair is too nappy & unmanageable at an age when she can only comprehend good or bad & not that mama has 3 jobs & 3 kids that she has to feed, get dressed & ready for school everyday before she can even get to her first job, when she just came from her 3rd job less than 5 hours ago & is running on 3 hours sleep & doing it all alone; so she is just looking for any possible way to make her daily process go faster & smoother without thinking that she is teaching her child to hate her hair because the pain of the relaxer feels more like a punishment than anything any child can possibly comprehend as helpful or good. Whether it is our own publications, videos, films & over all media giving preference to the type of Black that is closer to white, be it Halle Berry & Beyonce over Angela Bassett & Estelle- WE DID THAT!

I stopped reading Ebony, Essence & Vibe Magazine a long time ago because they just didn’t speak to me nor really excite me in their content, the same way I had no interest in spending my money on Vanity Fair, Vogue or Glamour because they really didn’t speak to me or excite me in their content either; however the only diffrence is that Vanity Fair,Vogue & Glamour never told me that they were ever there to represent me as a Black woman in defining my Blackness in beauty.

A few days ago I received a text from a friend telling me how the “Blackarati” of the fashion world were in an uproar because Essence magazine had hired a White Female Fashion Director & in a matter of hours I also found out that Vibe Magazine had already done the same & we have all known that the new “Blackarati” darling, Arise Magazine took this colonial mentality straight from Africa & started from jumpstreet with a white woman defining what we now applaud & embrace as global Africaness in beauty, fashion & music without giving a second thought to who is defining our Global Africaness for us because we as Black people have always been so welcoming, hospitable  & open minded, which historically has led to being taken advantage of, being stripped of all that we own & being redefined by others to a point of global systemic self hate & confusion!

It is not simply nor solely about a matter of Black & White, but about legacy, strides & the fact that not much has changed for the majority of Black people in the world even though many would like to convince us that it has & that there is no need for any forms of affirmative action or exclusivity in the type of black pride & support that built these publications & media outlets when we had none & were specifically being shut out. As Fela says “Teacher don’t teach me no nonsense“… cuz dem all crazy.  This anger & protest is more to me about economic empowerement than just  fashion & Black & White, particulary at a time when there are more unemployed Black people in America than any other group of people.

“The black fist is a meaningless symbol. When you open it, you have nothing but fingers — weak, empty fingers. The only time the black fist has significance is when there’s money inside. There’s where the power lies.” Jesse Owens

When it’s beneficial to the white world at large then we should all be color blind & have diversity & equality for all, but I would rather Vogue take the first step in that direction before Essence because we’ve had a lot less time to enjoy the fruits of our labor before having to be the one to share it in good faith,diversity & racial progress. We owe it to ourselves in our “Ode to Black History” to be a little more conscious & sacred about the way we pimp it out or in some cases get pimped in allowing everyone to put their hands on it & to get a piece of it.

This is not to say that these White Fashion Directors, Editors in Cheifs etc. at publications focused & geared toward global Black lifestyles can not do the job or do not do a good job, but what message are we sending to our young people & particularly young girls like the ones in the video above when we allow White women to define our Blackness in style & beauty at our limited number of publications, while knowing very well that such an opportunity has never & will most likely not be  granted to us at a Glamour, Vogue or Vanity Fair because they are clear on who their target audience is & who they will allow to define & speak to that target audience.

Before anyone has the audacity to call me some sort of reverse racist since it seems to be the soup du jour chant of the moment, I want to ask you to be truthful to yourself in answering these questions: Were you in an uproar or did you even find anything wrong with Vanity Fair having a young Hollywood issue during the time of the Oscars featuring an all white cover pictorial with many unknown actresses while intentionally leaving out two Black female actresses -Zoe Saldana & Gabouray Sidibe- 1 whose movie was not only nominated for best film but also is the highest grossing film til to date & the other whose film received multiple nominations along with her own “best supporting actress” nomination? Have you ever found anything wrong or even questioned Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour & countless other publications who have never appointed a Fashion Director or Editor In Chief of any color other than White & who rarely if ever employ  Blacks as head fashion stylists, make up artists, hair stylists, photographers & art directors on major shoots? If your answer is No & you still think a Black women should not have the right to prefer to see another Black woman define her Blackness in a publication geared toward her, then maybe you are part of the problem of continuing a legacy that can find fault in the few Black publications having an obligation to employ Black people who are amongst the highest number of unemployed, particularly in such a limited nich market and allowing them to define our Blackness over a White woman.

The heads of these publications who are making these decisions to choose White over Black are the reasons why our children will always choose the white doll over the black doll. It seems intrinsically innate no matter how many years pass, how old we are or how many strides we have made. Don’t give me the usual BS about just a matter of  choosing the best candidate for the position which was not based on color, or that the world is changing & we have to be inclusive & diversify while others don’t see the need to be nor are they questioned about not doing so, or that amongst the high numbers of educated & unemployed Black people that a Black publication just couldn’t find a black person to give a hand up to because I am one of those African-Americans that knows better than that & refuse to believe that BS because I could have personally given you a long list of very accomplished, willing & able candidates.

I will give these White FD’s & EIC the benefit of the doubt because Arise Magazine has been consistently well done & has sparked my interest with every issue even though I believe there is room for more magazines  in this market to come out to compete, so I can decide if it’s actually solely because of the Editor’s superb vision, or because the content is rare & the only one of its kind in the market that sparks my interest or if it’s because it is truly as good as it gets. I have had the experience where  many White publications were more willing to showcase & feature African designers & African inspired fashion more often & long before some of these same Black publications when they had Black FD’s in charge, so as much as I am not happy with the decision made, I will hold judgement on the individual’s abilities & what they will & can bring to these publications in the long run.

For some reason Black publications always seem to feel limited by their Blackness & look to be accepted & validated in every way by bending over backwards to be inclusive in their hiring practices in high profile positions instead of  being inclusive by having the world come to them based on the level of their work, their standards & content as most other publications do. I know a White photographer who basically has made his entire living off of working for Black publications, but with every job he gets with these publications he acts as if  he is doing them a favor & that they should somehow feel privileged to be working with him instead of the other way around, even though very few White publications are knocking at his door because his body of work/book is filled with mostly images of Black people. This same said photographer is notorious for coming out of his face sideways  in speaking on & addressing Black people  & culture in his Lizzie Grubman/Liz Cohen Jewish “Power Girls”moments of thinking he is hired so often because he is the one that can keep Black people in check & on schedule -this arrogance & disrespect is who we put in charge of creating & defining the Black image! How can we ever forget the New York Magazine Story delving into how a crew of Jewish girls had pretty much taken over the PR , branding & image making of  many hip-hop artists where Liz Cohen stated, “She’s totally down with her clients like Funkmaster Flex,” says Cohen, impressed. … “But they needed two bigmouthed Jewish girls to tell it to these guys “.

We destroyed the high potential of  Black publications like Honey Magazine when we lost its initial focus & tried to revamp it as some sort of multiculti magazine that would represent every woman of color.  We can’t be everything to everyone & we will always lose our power, leverage & be  made a fool of when we lose our focus & try so hard to be multi-culti/bi-partisan. Ask President Obama how well that has worked out for him. Unfortunately this is our legacy, where we would rather not do the research when information is readily available to us, where we would rather think the worst of ourselves rather than give the benefit of the doubt, where we will easily compromise ourselves & our integrity to win white favor.

It was beyond amazing to me that after years of me trying to speak to everyone possible in order to get BET to showcase African artists from the motherland as a general part of Black Entertainment Television’s programming & award shows that this year they finally included a few African artists in a “special category” in their award show with little fanfare & acknowledgement, in the same year that the biggest story of the awards show announcements was that White Canadian artist, Justin Beiber was up for the coveted award of “best new artist”, which of course included no Africans from the motherland nor the diaspora outside of the USA even though BET has launched internationally- proving once again that we are often our own worse enemies in our setbacks & lack of  global forward movement. Once again the Joke was on us!

We have bought into & convinced ourselves that we are the consummate minority whose ultimate goal & achievement is to be accepted by the so called mainstream majority, while failing to do the research in attaining the power of information that would have told us that the Black experience is global & blackness represents a larger mainstream global majority which doesn’t tell us who we are because that part is up to us to define from Harlem, to Bankhead, to Kingston, to Old San Juan, to Santo Domingo, to Port au Prince, to Brixton, to Marseilles, to Salvador de Bahia, to Lagos, to Dakar & to Accra! We are global Africans with diverse roots in Black Africa & we should define ourselves accordingly!

“Sub-Saharan Africa does not bring to mind an image of a woman with perfectly manicured nails flipping through glossy magazines in search of the latest handbag or celebrity haircut. Yet such women are there, and in far greater numbers than the news media’s portrayal of Africa might suggest…In the wealthy neighborhoods of Lagos, Nigeria; Nairobi, Kenya; Luanda, Angola; Dakar, Senegal; and the like, ladies of leisure, successful businesswomen and middle-income housewives make up an attractive demographic that, in the past, relied on international fashion magazines for style and beauty information..But in the last few years, while Condé Nast, Hearst and Hachette Filipacchi were expanding throughout Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, a handful of African publishers were busy staking claims to this publishing territory. A result has been a series of new glossies, like Arise, HauTe, Helm and True Love, that put an African spin on fashion…“Honestly, upwardly mobile African readers are crying out for this magazine,” said Helen Jennings, editor of Arise, a monthly style publication started late last year by the Nigerian media tycoon Nduka Obaigbena, who also owns the country’s leading newspaper, ThisDay. “Because the local magazines aren’t as high-end or progressive, and no other international titles speak directly to an African readership, Arise has really caused a stir.” READ MORE

In the same week that the last of the strong holds in Black American fashion & beauty publications defined by the dark glowing beautiful skin, pearly white teeth with a gap &  deeply rooted & perfected African conrows of Susan Taylor had been handed over to a White Australian, an article came out saying how Vogue had declined Cameroonian photographer Mario Epanya’s creative crusade  in trying to bring about Vogue Africa. As much as I applaud Mario for his obvious creativity, I wish we would stop chasing mainstream & create our own, but our own also ends up needing & calling on mainstream to legitimize us, i.e. Vibe, Arise & now Essence. Why Blame Vogue for not wanting to include Vogue Africa in its roster instead of blaming ourselves for our unwavering misguided need to beg for inclusion from those who have never mixed their words about us not being their priority? Why not seek to partner with historically Black Ebony Magazine who is looking to revamp & bring newness to a new generation of global Black consumers & who has an archive of images in Black history that would probably make The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture foam at the mouth to be able to get their hands on it? Why not build from within instead of always looking out?

We do not need Vogue Africa to legitimaze our creativity, our beauty & our blackness. The covers below are sophisticated, elegant, engaging, inviting & authentically & beautifully African, having Vogue on it doesn’t make it any more or less representative of that. When are we going to realize that we will never be their target market & source of their funding & energy ? We will always be thrown a bone in a “special issue”  & no matter how successful that special issue is it will still be  shrugged off as a fluke & an anomaly. Vogue only has to look at its numbers  & the numbers of Arise & the few African centered publications that have popped up in the last few years to know that Vogue Africa makes sense financially, but God forbid  that Vogue Africa becomes more financially viable than it’s mother Anna Wintour with her current crusade to invoke Black exclusion & to wipe out black culture literally from her backyard!

“Instead of the issue not selling, it became the highest selling issues of Italian Vogue ever, and had run out of print twice, which marked the first time in Condé Nast history that the magazine reprinted an issue to satisfy demand. The reprinted copies had the tag lines: “Most Wanted Issue Ever” and “First Reprint” banded across the front. ..However, even though the advertising pages went up 30 percent. There was a “glaring lack of black models” in them. The photographer for the issue Steven Meisel, said: “I’ve asked my advertising clients so many times, ‘Can we use a black girl?’ They say no. Advertisers say black models don’t sell.” With the immense success of this issue, the question isn’t is America ready for a black model, it is now are magazines and advertisers ready for one?” Read More

We need to set our own standards within our own defintions & stop embodying & manifesting that White is right thru what we buy, what we read, who we hire, who & what we support & what we aspire to in life while we pump our Black power fist in the air- it’s a contradiction where the ultimate joke is played on us by us! With all the Black wealth in sports, entertainment & other fields being heralded in magazines like Forbes, Sports illustrated along with other publications & lists which in recent years have had Blacks from all over the world at the top of the list, you would think we would have our own fashion groups, investment banks, production studios, music groups & publishing houses like Condé Nast, LVMH, Morgan Stanley, Interscope & Dreamworks so we would not need to beg Vogue to put out Vogue Africa, or watch the dreams of young aspiring & talented global Africans in fashion, film, music etc. get deffered because they did not meet the standards to get their projects greenlighted by a white mainstream that only has a few slots for an exclusive few Blackarati!

“We don’t have to wait for someone to greenlight our projects we can create our own intersections..we don’t just have to act in the sitcom, we can own the show & the network..we don’t have to be at the end of the line waiting for a hand out, we can be at the front giving a hand up..we don’t have to wait for somebody to give us 40 acres & a mule we can buy our own.. U can b born into a whole lot of a nightmare but God can usher u into a dream” Tyler Perry

“Brazil is the target of an offensive by big capital, joined by transnational corporations and banks, in an alliance with the capitalist landowners who created a model of organization of agriculture called agribusiness. From the second half of the 1990s – and even more after the crisis of international capitalism – large international corporations, underwritten by finance capital, began to advance on Brazilian agriculture: land, water, seeds, production and industrialization of food and the marketing of pesticides.” READ MORE

“Brazil, South America’s largest economy, is finally poised to realize its long-anticipated potential as a global player, economists say, as the country rides its biggest economic expansion in three decades. It has also given Brazil new swagger, providing it, for instance, with greater leverage to push for a tougher bargain with the United States and Europe in global trade talks. After seven years, those negotiations finally broke down this week over demands by India and China for safeguards for their farmers, a clear sign of the rising clout of these emerging economies.” READ MORE

“Villase had walked into one of the fights over land, rooted in Haiti’s history of slavery, occupation and upheaval, that have served to slow recovery to a near-standstill in the six months since the earthquake leveled much of the capital and killed as many as 300,000 people.The government, already weak before the magnitude-7 quake and still hobbled by its aftermath, is trying to build anew in places like Corail-Cesselesse, a nearly empty swath of land that begins about 15 kilometers (9 miles) north of the capital. But the effort is paralyzed by disorganization, bitter rivalries and private deals being struck behind its back. Multiple families claim title to almost every scrap of real estate. Already one reconstruction official has been forced to step down for steering a public project to his company’s private land at Corail-Cesselesse. Wealthy landowners vow the “new Haiti” will become yet another vast slum unless the government rebuilds on their terms. Caught in the middle are the homeless, looking to grab a patch of ground from the thugs hired to keep them away. Even facing machetes, Villase had to be dragged from her flimsy shelter.”I didn’t want them to take the tent away,” she recalled. “They said, ‘We don’t care. We can rip it up while you’re inside.” READ MORE

With the recent opening up of America’s racial wounds with former USDA Director, Shirley Sherrod, becoming the poster child uncovering America’s long history of racism, classism & land disputes, I learned that in our recent history Black farmers had been rewarded a settlement of $1.25 billion in 1999 for discrimination by the USDA in its allocation of farm loans and assistance between 1983 and 1997. This class action lawsuit is known as  Pigford v. Glickman, which still has not been fully paid to date in its settlement. Where’s Fox news on this one- oh hell where is the Black news media in taking any responsibility in shedding light or education on this one in assistance & historical education of our youth?Absent as usual! I am a 37 year old African-American who would have never known about this if it hadn’t been for Fox News trying to Massacre Shirley Sherrod. In wanting to know more about who she is, I researched & stumbled upon this very important piece of history.

“The interesting thing about land is that in spite of the fact that we were enslaved, in spite of the fact that share cropping was a quasi form of slavery, between 1865 and 1910, according to census bureau figures, the African American community had acquired approximately 16 million acres of land. Now that’s 45 years after slavery when we could not read, could not write, and for all intents and purposes did not know where a college or a university was at. Our ancestors owned more of this country on a per capita basis 150 years ago than we do today.” READ MORE

“United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and Department of Justice Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli announced in February that a lawsuit by Black farmers who alleged the agency discriminated against them, had been settled, and that there would be a $1.25 billion payout. President Barack Obama stated last May that the funds to pay back the Black farmers would be included in the 2010 budget, and Congress was to approve the settlement before March 31 of this year.At this point, money has still not been allocated.” READ MORE

“Bolivian President Evo Morales, the country’s first Indian leader, was re-elected to a second term in December 2009. Morales makes land redistribution and titling a cornerstone of his presidency. The majority of the country’s land has long been owned by a powerful non-indigenous fraction of the population, whose holdings are concentrated in the country’s fertile eastern lowlands. Morales’ government is now giving government-owned and unused land to poor and landless people, like Fernandez, in an attempt to combat this monopolization of Bolivian soil.” READ MORE

Today, particulary in Africa it seems descendants of many of Africa’s former colonizers are looking to Africa as the new frontier as the global recession makes what was once considered the European & American dream no longer tangible for most. As the instability of never ending wars in the Middle East looms over & threatens the American & European need for Middle Eastern oil, the lure for new markets in oil & energy resources outside of the Middle East has bolstered emerging markets in energy from Latin America to Africa. There is a new scramble for Africa based on the global need for energy & the natural resources of a continent that even after centuries of colonial pillaging is still bountiful.

“Portugal, one of Europe’s ailing economies, is increasingly placing its hopes of recovery on Angola, a former colony that has established itself as one of the strongest economies in sub-Saharan Africa — thanks largely to oil and diamonds. The shift comes as competition is getting stiffer in Brazil, another booming former colony, and as Portugal’s traditional European trading partners, led by Spain, struggle under a mountain of debt and soaring joblessness. Angola has already become Portugal’s largest export market outside of Europe, accounting for 7 percent of Portuguese exports last year, compared with 1 percent in 2000, according to the Portuguese statistics institute and Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency.” READ MORE

These 2 videos below are very telling of those who have been truly oppressed in history in their humility & humanity. The South African woman below still finds compassion for the White Afrikaners who oppressed her & her people for years in being shameful to see another human being suffer- Africans & their descendants are by far the most compassionate, hospitable people on earth. The majority of us would never be able to do unto Whites what the majority of them have done unto us in history & present day. Even when they bring hate we find a way to muster up love. Many may be upset & say this is a racist thing to say, but the facts of history are the facts of history & we can never rectify it if we are too afraid to address it & confront it. Just listen to the difference in tone & speak of the Afrikaners who for the first time in their life are experiencing what they have dealt to South Africans all their lives -where is the humanity & compassion for one another as human beings in their tone & speak?  All of a sudden when roles are reversed the oppressor now sees the ills of oppression, but still can not understand why he has been dealt or deserves such misfortune in anyway. As the man from Zimbabwe in the video above said -now all of a sudden they want to talk about civil rights but when we were begging for it they didn’t want to hear it-SMH! If we all had the type of compassion displayed by the South African woman below & many who have suffered oppression all their lives, oppression would never have happened nor continue to happen, but it seems the idea of White Privilege has somehow been accepted & embedded in all of us-both as the oppressed & as the oppressors.

“I was shocked ..cuz I couldn’t believe it.. u know in the apartheid, whites used to get everything & blacks we’re the ones who were suffering so it was a shock to see that..I felt uncomfortable because I couldn’t believe it.. It’s ok with blacks because we are used to it, but for whites .. it was unbelievable .. I felt sorry for them”

All I could think of when I read the story entitled “Blond Bombshell” about a blonde hair/ blue eyed baby born to dark skinned Nigerian parents was there must be something up with the water in Britain that not only rots the teeth of Britons, but also mixes up their DNA in a way that has Africans giving birth to White babies, or maybe this is some special new form of Nigerian 419 Sakawa remix going on that will be sold to the mass market soon, since so many White celebrities want to adopt African babies. Sooner or later the trend will pass for Black African babies & Nigerians will have a gold mine since now African babies will come in blonde hair /blue eyed form, but I kid… I kid-LOL! I guess this finally brings it home that we are all of African descent &  as we learned in grade school Black absorbs all colors.

“When Angela Ihegboro first saw her newborn daughter, she was “speechless…She’s a miracle baby, the 35-year-old mother said yesterday. “But still, what on earth happened here? What happened is that baby Nmachi is a blue-eyed, blond-haired white baby born to two black Nigerian immigrant parents at a London hospital…The first thing I said was, ‘What the flip?’ ” said the father, Ben Ihegboro. “We both just sat there after the birth staring at her for ages — not saying anything…He quickly sought to dispel any speculation…Of course she is mine. My wife is true to me,” the 44-year-old customer-service adviser said. “Even if she hadn’t been, the baby still wouldn’t look like that….Genetics experts don’t believe in miracles, but they didn’t have any simple answers to the mystery of baby Nmachi. Instead, they offered three theories:” READ MORE

To some there maybe something very peculiar & super natural going on amongst people in Great Britain but for others these so called unexplainable occurrences are scientifically & historically embedded in our global DNA as descendants of Africans. If it’s not in the water or the fact that the entire world is made up of African descendants of different shades then I don’t know what it is because in the past few years they have claimed this rare phenomena where Black & White twin girls were born to the same parents & now a completely blonde hair/blue eyed baby girl has been born to dark skinned Nigerian parents.

In the case Kylie Hodgson giving birth to Black & White Twin girls, it’s a little less shocking since she & the father of her daughters both come from bi-racial parentage. Although their situation is rare in that it occurs 1 in a million births, it is not completely unheard of or as rare as two dark skinned Africans giving birth to a blonde hair/blue eyed baby that is not an albino. However this all came about, these babies are God’s beautiful creations to wake us all up to the marvels of her making & control that is beyond our mortal control & comprehension, letting us know that there is a higher power beyond us all out there.

In a world so stuck on racial divides a higher power shows us our mortal foolishness by bridging the gap & bringing racial unity thru the blessing of innocent untainted children. When a higher power speaks, we should all listen because there are signs all around giving us the answers that we seek in the path to human righteousness & consciousness.

As Sanchez sings  ‎”There are some signs in life some that you may not like.. u can b living this minute… the next minute your gone away… hold up your heads my brothers be conscious my sisters & by your works you should surely be paid.. U don’t have 2 go to church or be a christian to call on Jah name..or even if it rains call on Jah name the same..listen up.. time is short & life is precious.. You’ve got to have the heart of a lion to children to reach mount zion.. u can never be afraid just call on his name..life is no game….Alleluia”

Maybe calling the miscarriage of justice, the defamation of a great woman of American history & the deliberate vilification of yet another African-American in the Obama Administration a massacre is going too far, but that’s the way the right-wing ultra conservative radical numb-nuts of America operate –  in their unabashed out for blood massacre formations where they shoot to kill & ask questions later. It seems the rest of America, even those that we would assume should know better are following their lead.

“After the Shirley Sherrod episode, there’s no longer any need to mince words: A cynical right-wing propaganda machine is peddling the poisonous fiction that when African Americans or other minorities reach positions of power, they seek some kind of revenge against whites. The Sherrod case has fully exposed the right-wing campaign to use racial fear to destroy Obama’s presidency, and I hope the effect is to finally stiffen some spines in the administration. The way to deal with bullies is to confront them, not run away. Yet Sherrod was fired before even being allowed to tell her side of the story. She said the official who carried out the execution explained that she had to resign immediately because the story was going to be on Glenn Beck’s show that evening. Ironically, Beck was the only Fox host who, upon hearing the rest of Sherrod’s speech, promptly called for her to be reinstated. On Wednesday, Vilsack offered to rehire her. Shirley Sherrod stuck to her principles and stood her ground. I hope the White House learns a lesson.” READ MORE

I commend Ms. Sherrod for  being unbought & unbossed by choosing to speak up, to be heard & to tell the truth about her experience & all involved without fear of any backlash from Black or White leadership. I am actually thankful that this teachable moment happened not only to expose Fox & its faux journalists, who are more about shock & awe tabloid stories rather than actual fact seeking & giving news reporting, but more so to call out the Obama Administration, the Democratic Party who seem to always take for granted or forget their base until they are up for elections, President Obama on his so called being the president who will open America to a real dialogue on race relations & Black American leadership in general on our lack of overall unity & going to bat for one another by giving one another the benefit of the doubt- instead of following suit with the teachings of the America which holds many African-Americans “guilty until proven innocent”, which we conveniently condemn when it suits our personal agenda then quickly seem to forget when it comes to protecting our personal power & progress in that same system which we condemn.

Despite what Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in his press conference apology to Ms. Sherrod about President Obama not having anything to do with Ms. Sherrod’s firing as he verbally danced around & carefully chose his words filled with many pauses of contrition & contradiction, & despite secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack taking full responsibility & saying the buck stops with him- I chose to believe Ms. Sherrod when she says the orders for her forced resignation came from the White House because thus far she has been the only one telling the truth & the so called White House of full transparency has shown itself to be far from it in many instances of politricks as usual. Tom Vilsack in his shamefully forced firing & subsequent rehiring of Ms. Sherrod with a consolation prize of a higher position, which she should have already probably had to begin with just gives Fox & others new ammunition to play this new position out in the media as some sort of affirmative action hiring.  Unfortunately like Van Jones, I feel Ms. Sherrod will be more appreciated & able to do more for the people of America outside of this administration instead of being part of it. Whatever decision Ms. Sherrod makes will have my full support along with so many other Americans who she has shown the light of  the current state of our union.

We all want to know who is really running this country? It seems the Democrats & the Obama administration even with their overwhelming majority in the Congress are still running scared, looking over their shoulders at every turn in extreme insecurity & fear as the Republican party & right wing organizations continue to be their puppet masters. Chris Matthews made a great analogy in comparing Ms. Sherrod’s case to “To Kill A Mocking Bird- which is by far one of the most teachable moments of race relations in America & in its 50th anniversary year & in the 50th anniversary of the fight for Civil Rights in America, it’s unfortunate that these same issues still have the same relevance in tarnishing our society & America’s forward movement in true freedom, equality & democracy.

Ms. Sherrod’s case to me is a teachable moment for Black America in our continued lack of unity & readiness to often believe the worst in our own selves so quickly that we are quick to throw one another under the bus if it means gaining white favor & protecting our own asses. I was more disgusted by Ben Jealous & the Obama Administration in their handling of Ms. Sherrod than I was by Fox or Andrew Breitbart because I expected them to know better than to play into the politricks as usual that I have grown to expect from the likes of Fox & Andrew Breitbart. Mr. Jealous is the leader of the NAACP, the same organization who invited Ms. Sherrod to speak & the same organization who should have known better about Ms. Sherrod’s history before they condemned her based on false allegations & had the audacity to blame their idiocy on the perpetrators of the false allegations when they were the keepers of the original video in question that had been edited & sensationalized in the first place. All I can say to Mr. Jealous is -way to pick your face off the ground & come out of this disaster of all around ignorant knee-jerked reactions with little accountability & grace.

“With regard to the initial media coverage of the resignation of USDA official Shirley Sherrod, we have come to the conclusion we were snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart into believing she had harmed white farmers because of racial bias,” said Jealous. “Having reviewed the full tape, spoken to Ms. Sherrod, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans. The fact is Ms. Sherrod did help the white farmers mentioned in her speech,” he continued. “They personally credit her with helping to save their family farm.” READ MORE

I am so sick & tired of President Obama’s kowtowing to everyone in hopes of coming out unscathed in order to push the same “hope we can believe in” message for a second term under the guise of trying to be bi-partisan. It is all politricks as usual & the only ones who lose are the American people particularly the poor, who are being hoodwinked, bamboozled & snookered into bringing the fight to one another instead of the actual perpetrators on capital hill, big business & media who need us to play the fool in order to keep their wealth & racket going. Who lost the most when Fox & the same Andrew Breitbart pulled this same false story telling video editing the last time against ACORN, where they managed to dismantle the organization which was found of no wrong doing in a federal investigation, yet scared off the entire Democratic party out of funding an organization that has been empowering & helping poor people since 1970?

“ACORN- a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues.ACORN’s priorities have included: better housing and wages for the poor, more community development investment from banks and governments, better public schools, and other social justice issues.” READ MORE

Who lost the most when the same Fox Network went for a witch hunt against Van Jones, a globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean-energy economy, who is by far one of the most forward thinking & prolific leaders when it comes to American environmental advocacy, particularly in areas effecting the poor & disenfranchised in America? Perhaps if President Obama had stuck by him instead of just accepting his resignation because of Fox & right-wing pressure, the people of the Gulf Coast would have someone to give them “Hope that they could believe in”.

I guess the Obama Administration can give the benefit of the doubt to A.I.G, banks & big business to at least take a couple of days to know what they are talking about before they speak, but those rules do not apply for all. Where was this President Obama or is there a double standard in the White House?

Better yet where is this President Obama or does he only defend his friends from Harvard because he surely didn’t defend Helen Thomas who probably thought she was his friend & could have used him coming to her defense in her time of injustice that was played out publically.

Don’t Forget Your Promise to America : We the people need to be ALL of our brothers & sisters keepers.

“The richest man is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.” Rev. Run
It is beyond amazing to me how many millionaire athletes go broke, but then again I am really not that surprised. When you give young people right out of college or those who have never gone to college millions of dollars without  any knowledge of business other than handing over financial control to agents & financial advisors who just see them as another commodity up for trade -no wonder so many athletes have gone broke. The worst part of it all is that many of these athletes come from poverty where they have never had much to maintain or had anyone teaching them that even with little knowing how to manage your money is the best gift you can give to yourself, your future & the future of your family. Anyone who opens a bank account should have to take a financial management class &  community leaders/churches particularly in the poorest & most disenfranchised neighborhods  along with the NBA, NFL, FIFA etc. should also be pushing financial preparedness & readiness classes as hard as they fight drug abuse because money is the ultimate drug & the root of all evil when it’s mismanaged. Without money we can not attain nor maintain our addictions.

If our disastrous global recession has taught us anything, it has shown us that life can change in a blink of an eye when it comes to money.  Here’s a list of the richest athletes in 2007 where are the now? READ MORE

ESPN’s list “25 Rich Athletes Who Went Broke” tells the sad story on how having millions without business acumen can leave you broke. Some athletes however are just stuck on stupid with little guidance. My fellow Lefrak City Queens hero, Kenny Anderson never heard of birth control- 8 children -really? Evander Holyfield can possibly make the excuse of being hit in the head too many times as he fathered 11 children but what’s your excuse Kenny A?

“Ringing up nearly $41,000 in monthly expenses, including child support to eight kids and his mother’shouse payment, former NBA guard Kenny Anderson filed for bankruptcy in October 2005. How did his estimated $60 million dwindle to nothing? Easy. He kept 8 cars in the garage of his five-bedroom Beverly Hills home. He gave himself a monthly allowance of $10,000 that he dubbed “hanging outmoney.” He regularly handed out $3,000 to $5,000 to friends and relatives. Finally, he lost $5.8 million in a prenup agreement. Anderson, it seems, could not hold a dollar if it was taped to his forehead.” READ MORE

Sports Illustrated has put out their annual “The 50 highest-earning American athletes”, let’s keep a close eye to see if they have learned anything from the perils & failures of athletes of the past who lacked business acumen & entrusted their financial well being wholly to others to maintain. Not everyone can be Tiger Woods because after all he’s Blawhasian or whatever the hell he calls himself. LOL!

“In a year in which Tiger Woods’ image has been forever tarnished — costing the perennial No. 1 tens of millions in endorsement dollars — he still stayed ahead of the curve. Tiger’s earnings were down more than $9 million from a year ago, but he still earned nearly $30 million more than the No. 2 athlete, fellow golfer Phil Mickelson. Meanwhile, the NFL has its most prolific showing ever on our list: an unprecedented 15 players, thanks to a rash of contracts that pay out big in a 2010 season without a salary cap. This year’s list also features 16 basketball players, 13 major leaguers, three NASCAR drivers, two golfers and one boxer. The average income of the athletes on our International 20 list of the top-earning non-American sportsmen also broke a record: in excess of $30 million, as new No. 1 Roger Federer has become a financial force alongside the soccer and Formula 1 powerhouses.” READ MORE

Look how many Black faces are on this list. Just imagine if they  had financial advisors who knew, came from & could understand the communities where they came from in order to advise them to invest in those communities for true upliftment & not just for profiteering & changing the face of the neighborhood? Imagine if all these Black millionaires invested back into the neighborhoods, communities & cities that raised them & allowed others a hand up  by building community based financial institutions, schools, giving micro loans for development by the people for the people to stay & build in their communities in order to not be overwhelmed & overtaken by gentrification ? Imagine if we heeded & understood the words of John Henrik Clarke when he said “Black tells you how you look but it doesn’t tell you who you are” – Imagine if the new decade of Pan-Africanism was based on the economic preparedness, readiness & power of the Global Black economy that knows who we are! Imagine if this happened from Africa to Harlem -IMAGINE!

“Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. Thy claim it as their own and none can keep it from them. We face neither East nor West: We Face Forward..Something in the nature of an economic revolution is required. Our development has been held back for too long by the colonial-type economy. We need to reorganize entirely, so that each country can specialize in producing the goods and crops for which it is best suited.” Neocolonialism The Last Stage of Imperialism…. We have the blessing of the wealth of our vast resources, the power of our talents and the potentialities of our people. Let us grasp now the opportunities before us and meet the challenge to our survival. We shall measure our progress by the improvement in the health of our people; by the number of children in school, and by the quality of their education; by the availability of water and electricity in our towns and villages, and by the happiness which our people take in being able to manage their own affairs. The welfare of our people is our chief pride, and it is by this that my Government will ask to be judged.” DR. Kwame Nkrumah