Today Ghana celebrates it’s 53rd year of Independence from British colonial rule (March 6, 1957). I had a couple of conversations about Ghana with two of my fellow Ghanaians, one saying that Ghana should have kept the colonial name of Gold Coast because it represents a lot in terms of the country’s marketability, its resources & its people, who are worth their weight in gold. From a marketing point of view I can understand the catchiness of the word Gold Coast along with its temptation & lure that brought the name in the first place; however from an independence, sovereign & historical point of view, going back to our rightful historical name of “Ghana” meaning “warrior king” was the rightful choice as Ghanaians will always be warriors even when the gold is finished literally & metaphorically.

The other conversation was about the fact that most people even Ghanaians don’t know that Ghana’s history of a strong self-sufficient independent empire nation goes way back before Europeans stepped foot on our soil for mineral trading, colonization & the beginning of the slave trade, whereby they renamed our nation the Gold Coast to represent their main drive & exploits. Before Colonization, slave trade & renewed independence, there were great leaders & warriors like Yaa Asantewaa, Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I, Osei Tutu, & Okomfo Anokye. Dr. Nkrumah is often given credit for Independence, but he was part of a movement called Ghana’s big six and beyond that many others in the movement women & men alike who led the way to independence in unity & determination for freedom. We must continue our oral tradition of passing down our history in order to never forget. If we no not where we came from, we will not know where we are going as we continue to Move Forward Ever, Backward Never!

53 years since renewed independence, in a new decade that must be Africa’s decade of a realized dream deferred that was to bring about 53 strong, independent black stars representing the unity of economics, trade , brotherhood, sisterhood, self governance & self sufficiency of a United States of Africa. This was the goal of Dr. Nkrumah & many of his counterpart African leaders as they pushed the Pan-Africanism ideology of bringing all of mama Africa’s children together in unity to raise her continent! Today we must stand up as loyal servants of a great nation that has given us so much in the richness of a globally well respected culture & experience, as we show our appreciation in patronizing our own, building on the foundation that was set and fulfilling the excellency that is our destiny as the black star nation.

From fashion to sports, music to film,architecture to being the first to represent Ghana in the winter Olympics rightfully  honoring the namesake of Ghana 1st president, & all points in between, Ghanaians locally & globally are making their mark on the world & representing Ghana to the fullest. Here are just a few you may know & should know:

Ghana’s Future Black Star Leadership -Forward Ever!

Kwame Nkrumah Acheampong- 2010 WINTER OLYMPICS SKIER- Ghana’s First

Charles Nimmo Ntiamoah-Mensah AKA Mr. CNN – Ghana’s go to photographer & 3G Magazine Publisher

John Sarpong- Taking Ghana to  a New Dawn & New Heights in Hospitality, Infrastructure & Tourism

Nana Akuffo-Lartey – Sini Africa Founder Keeper of the dream

Blitz the Ambassador- The Future of Ghanaian Global Music

Larry Ossei Mensah- Ghana’s Young Global

Eric Kwabena “Coptic” Matlock- Super Black Star Power Producer –

Oko Nyaku- Ghana’s OG Photo Journalist

Derrick Ashong- Future of Ghana’s Think Tanks

Aisha Obuobi - The face behind the label Christie Brown taking Ghanaian fashion to the true level!

Panji Anoff- Producer & national mover & Shaker -

Boudoir D’huitres- The Global Ghanaian Designer without the Ghanaian label

Nana Eyeson- Humanitarian

Kwaku Akyeampong -known as the ‘Barack Obama of Project and Earned Value Management

Reverend Cookie Boakye- UNITED BETHEL PENTECOSTAL-New Era of Spirituality bringing young people to Christ

Stanley Lumax- The Stoneface Lensman

Jackie Appiah- African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) Best Supporting Actress  & 1 of Ghana’s best known actresses

Stephen Appiah- Black Star Team Captain, Humaitarian & world class footballer

Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah -the future of Pan Africanism

DAVID ADJAYE -Ghanaian architect designing globally & attaining global recognition

Plus so many more Black Stars Rising:

Osageyfo Kwame Nkrumah -Independence Day Speech

“At long last, the battle has ended!

And thus Ghana, your beloved country is free forever.

And yet again I want to take the opportunity to thank the chiefs and people of this country, the youth, the farmers, the women who have so nobly fought and won this battle.

Also I want to thank the valiant ex-service men who have so co-operated with me in this mighty task of freeing our country from foreign rule and imperialism.

And as I pointed out… I made it quite clear that from now on – today – we must change our attitudes, our minds, we must realise that from now on, we are no more a colonial but a free and independent people.

But also, as I pointed out, that also entails hard work.

That new African is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs. We are going to demonstrate to the world, to the other nations, that we are prepared to lay our own foundation.

Our own African identity

As I said in the assembly just minutes ago, I made a point that we are going to create our own African personality and identity. It’s the only way that we can show the world that we are ready for own own battles.

But today, may I call upon you all – that on this great day, let us all remember that nothing in the world can be done unless it’s had the purport and support of God.

We have won the battle and we again re-dedicate ourselves … Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa.

Let us now fellow Ghanaians, let us now ask for God’s blessing and for only two seconds in your thousands and millions, I want to ask you to pause only for one minute and give thanks to almighty God for having led us through our difficulties, imprisonments, hardships and suffering to have brought us to the end of our trouble today.

One minute silence.

Ghana is free forever and here I will ask the band to play the Ghana national anthem.” Reshaping Ghana’s destiny.

I am depending upon the millions of the country, and the chiefs and people, to help me to reshape the destiny of this country.

We are prepared to pick it up and make it a nation that will be respected by every nation in the world.

We know we are going to have difficult beginnings, but again, I’m relying upon your support, I’m relying upon your hard work.

Seeing you in this… it doesn’t matter how far my eye goes, I can see that you are here in your millions and my last warning to you is that you are to stand firm behind us so that we can prove to the world that when the African is given a chance he can show the world that he is somebody!

We have awakened. We will not sleep anymore. Today, from now on, there is a new African in the world!

I was just reading a post on Jezebel.com about how Vogue constantly uses White models on the covers of their International editions in countries that are not predominately White, i.e. Turkey, China, India etc. All I can say to that is why blame Vogue? It seems Vogue is basically giving these nations what they serve to their people everyday. Turkey has been fighting to be a member of E.U. (European Union) for so long with America advocating for their inclusion & hypocritically meddling in matters that are not their own, while failing to deal with matters on their own soil such as immigration reform particularly for Mexicans who are technically native American Indians. European nations such as France deem the  Asian/Arab Muslims  of Turkey unworthy to join White Christian Europe siting civil rights violations which many European nations are also guilty of. In many Asian countries like India, Japan, China & Turkey, white is right & sets the standard of aspiration.

If you look at many of the magazines from these countries they also feature White models or Asian models who are as close to White as possible, so once again I say why be mad at Vogue when they are just going along with the nation’s standard. We are so quick to always want to blame our colonizers & white people in general for our own  inability to rid ourselves of our own mental enslavement. There has to come a time when we take responsibility as non-white nations in the images we ourselves portray to our own people and the rest of the world. Why are we always promoting a western way as the standard of global acceptance & making it, instead of promoting our own culture & aesthetics as the standard by which the people of our own nations & the west should come to embrace instead of always embracing the western way & aesthetics?

Things won’t change until we, the once colonized, get rid of the colonial mentality & stop having such a strong desire to be legitimized by those who once colonized our nations. We are constantly in an uproar about lack of inclusion in the White world instead of accepting that we are not & never will be White or White standard. We create a White superiority or White supremacy complex for ourselves when we decide that magazines, runway shows, designers, films etc. which cater specifically to non-white people or nations are somehow inferior simply based on the fact that it does not fall in line with the White or western standard. Why should black models be fighting to get on the runways of White designers instead of wondering why there aren’t more Stephen Burrows & Tracy Reese’s showcasing their collections & giving Black models an outlet. Why is it unphathomable for a Black designer to send only Black models or all Black models with the token White model down the runway when it is perfectly acceptable for White designers to do so? Why aren’t these Black designers taking that stand & letting that publicity work for them as much as it has worked for Vogue to have an all Black issue & to have white models in Black face? We have always been an inclusive people from Africa to her Diaspora,  but we must learn that you can’t come to a gun fight with rocks. There is power in numbers & we need to stop being fooled that we are the minority ; thereby staying in the place of the minority who does not have final say or make the decisions of  national or global direction.

We are jumping up & down like crazy in elation to have a Vogue Black website instead of creating our own equally competitive websites/magazines, when there are more black millionaires & billionaires globally more than ever & billions of Black people all over the world with spending capital just begging to be served by a market that often sees them as an after thought. This goes for the Arab world & the Asian world as well. We need to stop blaming Vogue & start looking in our own closets & mirrors.  I am sure that had they put typically Turkish, Chinese & Indian models on the cover they probably would have sold less in those countries judging from the covers of their own national magazines. Are we supporting our designers, are we supporting our magazines, TV, Film & publication industries that cater specifically to us? Why do we run to purchase the new collection of African inspired designs from western designers when we bypass African designers who are inspired by Africa as a way of life, not just as a seasonal fad or trend? Can we even name a handful of Black, African, Asian & Arab designers as quickly as we can name their European/western counterparts even though most of the western designs are created by the hands of migrant labor forces within & without western nations? Once again I say, why blame Vogue instead of looking deep within & ending the cycle of western/colonial mentality which we perpetuate & accept amongst ourselves.

2010 Marks the 50th anniversary of Independence in 17 African nations, setting the stage for Africa as a continent to look deep within our history, to wake up & to make this decade Africa’s decade of fulfilling the change that was to come with independence. There was something in the air in 1960, a leap year where many in the continent of African leaped into their independence as British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, stood in independent Accra, Gold Coast (modern day Ghana) on January 10, 1960 & declared “The wind of change is blowing through this continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact.“.

1960 was also a time when America was experiencing its own wind of change, as an Irish Catholic named John F. Kennedy announced on January 2nd that he would be running for president of the USA & subsequently went on to win the presidency on Novemeber 8, 1960, becoming the youngest man to be elected as president of the USA , the first & only Catholic & the first Irish-American, something that most Americans at that time thought could not be done. The nation at the time was broken, divided & knew that they needed & had to accept change. The 1960’s also heralded in the wind of change toward the Black civil rights movement when four black students held a sit in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter on February 1st in Greensboro, North Carolina, paving the way for many more nonviloent protests against segregation resulting in the original four protestors sitting down at the Woolworth counter five months later on July 25,1960, becoming the first Black people to be served lunch at a Woolworth counter. 1960 was also the year after the victory of the Cuban Revolution led by Che Guevera & Fidel Castro when Castro began to nationalize all national & foreign property & businesses in a new socialist government seeking to end class & economic disparity by sharing the wealth amongst all of its citizens while shunning western democracy & capitalism. 2010 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Great Chilean Earthquake on May 2, 1960 which is to date the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, rating 9.5 & resulting in a tsunami. Today on February 27, 2010, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake, the strongest quake in South America since the 1960 great Chilean earthquake has hit Chile with the whole world sending out prayers & hope that a tsunami will not ensue as the wind of change continues.

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There is just something about 2010 in its mimicry & 50th anniversary of certain historical events worldwide, which brought about significantly historical changes in the 1960’s that seems to be resurrecting & forcing a new tide of change in a new decade. Whether planned by mortal man or not, I don’t think there is any coincidence in the fact that the World Cup (Africa’s sport) will be held on African soil for the first time in football’s professional westernized history at a time when all eyes are on Africa, a time when a large majority of the continent will be celebrating a half century of independence, a time when many of the most influential African players are leading the charge in western football clubs with relentless racism & a time when many of the world’s greatest players will be returning home to play for their birth & ancestral nations. There is an erupting wind of change with new found freedoms in the world sparked in Africa & being pushed by yet another symbolic election for change with a new mindset & attitude toward the world in America where its citizens in their frustration of being tired of being sick & tired will determine the direction of the nation.

Ironically 2010 marks the 53rd anniversary of Independence of the African nation that started the wind of change toward independence in Africa with a dream of seeking independence for the entire continent consisting of 53 nations. Although Ghana became the first sub-Saharan Africa nation to attain Independence on March 6 1957, July 1st 1960 actually marked the day when Ghana became a republic asserting its full rights of autonomy with Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as its first President & Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom ceasing her reign as the head of state. With this newly found freedom, autonomy & financial reparations from the United Kingdom, Dr. Nkrumah set out to create the United States of Africa, where all 53 African nations would gain their autonomy from their colonizers toward a goal of economic freedom & a vision of empowerment fortified in Pan-Africanism , with the Black star nation leading the march & setting the standard through leadership & financial assistance. Leading the charge with Dr. Nkrumah were fellow Pan-Africanist Patrice Émery Lumumba, Sekou Toure & Jomo Kenyatta, perhaps the most feared African leaders in the eyes of their colonizers. in hopes of symbolically fulfilling Dr. Nkrumah’s dream of uniting the 53 nations of Africa let’s look “Forward Ever, Backward Never” with hope that Africa’s unity on African soil does not start & end at the World Cup in South Africa.

The 17 African Nations who will be celebrating their 50th anniversary of Independence:

Cameroon – January 1st – President Ahmadou Ahidjo

Senegal- April 4th- President Léopold Sédar Senghor

Togo April 27th-President Sylvanus Olympio

Madagascar -June 26th-President Philibert Tsiranana

Democratic Republic of The Congo- June 30th -President Patrice Émery Lumumba

Somalia- July 1st- President Aden Abdullah Osman Daar

Benin -August 1st -President Hubert Maga

Niger -August 3rd -President Hamani Diori

Burkina Faso- August 5th- President Maurice Yaméogo

Cote D’Ivore (Ivory Coast) -August 7th-President Félix Houphouët-Boigny

Chad- August 11th- President François Tombalbaye

Central African Republic -August 13th- President David Dacko

Republic of Congo- August 15th-President Abbé Fulbert Youlou

Gabon- August 17th – President Gabriel Léon M’ba

Mali -September 22th- President Modibo Keïta

Nigeria -October 1-President Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe

Mauritania -November 28-President Moktar Ould Daddah

As I praise Vogue Italia’s launch of the Vogue Black & Vogue Curvy websites as a step in the right direction, I also SMH that the global fashion industry still just doesn’t get it. We are not looking for Jim Crowe Days of “Separate but Equal”, but rather a time in our global society that is truly equally inclusive. We don’t need special or seperate issues dedicated to Black or full figured women, we need the heralded mainstream Vogue being inclusive of our global society of fashionistas at large. Black people showed Vogue that they could sell magazines when the special Black issue of Vogue Italia became the best selling issue in their history, to a point where it kept selling out & had to be re-issued about 2-3 different times to meet the demand.

“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

At the end of the day the issue is economics not just ackowledgemnt.  Having seperate but equal schools during the Jim Crowe era, which we still have today, resulted in limited funding of the minority in favor of the majority; thereby setting up an unequal disadvantage in reaching the same heights & goals as the majority. In the world of publication- success & longevity is in advertising dollars, so having separate issues/publications/websites in a limited economy where everyone wants the biggest bang & most reach for their buck, ultimately results in choosing to advertise in the mainstream Vogue with a larger circulation & more clout in the fashion world before choosing a specialized version of the publication with a limited & specific reach in the long run. This gives the fashion industry validation in not utilizing Black, Latinos, full figured & other minorities in their advertising because they can not base their Ad. campaigns on just special issues/publications/websites. When it does not become so unusual to see a full figured or Black model juxtaposed with their white skinny counterparts, then they will truly have no excuse because they have the same reach & circulation in the same heralded mainstream magazines; this is when we will be truly able to proclaim that we have done something in the forward movement for change & to be able to cheer about real forward thinking as a global society, not just repeating failed solutions of the past & making it new era fashionable!

Glamour & V magazines had full figured feature & issue respectively that did well on newsstands & Vogue Italia had the all Black issue that went above & beyond their financial expectations, so ofcourse they would want to capitalize further on what to them is some sort of new phenomenon that contrary to Karl Lagerfeld’s statements ,the mass public of their readers do want to see round women along with Black women & they have proven themselves to actually bring in a new crop of readers who further the publication’s net worth.

At the end of the day we are all working toward our economic freedom in our chosen professions & passions, so just like the wall street investment banker who received his huge bonus/commission by bringing in millions/billions & proving he is an asset to the growth of the company, plus size & Black models have proven that they can sell magazines sometimes even better than their skinny white counterparts, so give them their just due economic freedom by not rewarding them thru separate projects, but by truly recognizing their equality with inclusion in the mainstream mansion!

As Black history month is nearing its close in the shortest month of the year, I found myself engulfed in debates & really looking at Black history- past & present from Africa to the Diaspora. I went to a film screening of Fangafrika: The Voice of the Voiceless, which is a look at African underground hip-hop with a focus on francophone countries, put on by Nomadic Wax. The film was a great film from an African perspective, speaking of the same struggles, injustice, poverty, lack of basic civil rights & the right & need to have a say in one’s community & their governance as a nation by utilizing the same idea of music & storytelling which was the foundation of American Hip-Hop, Blues & Soul music, as well as the same foundation of Afrobeat, Reggae, Brazilian capoiera music, Negro spirituals and the traditional African proverbial story telling of our ancestors. Nothing new in its foundation, just new yet similar faces & places recognizing that our struggle for equality, civil rights & a right & duty to a voice & say in our communities & national governance still continues on a global scale from Africa to her Diaspora. A new Pan-Africanist movememnt errupting globally where our focus is back on education that starts with knowledge of self, empowerment , equality & economic freedom, not only on a national level, but on a globally free exchange international type of level!

The panel discussion after the film became a discussion on how the western media portrays Africans, sighting things like the 2007 Vanity Fair Africa Issue with Bono as the guest editor & expert on all things Africa along with the ubiquitous “Red” & “One” campaigns showing actors/musicians like Gwyneth Paltrow, Alicia Keys etc. with war paint on their faces with the tag line “I am African”. One of the panelist who happened to be from Ghana said “why are they so afraid to show African faces”. She took issue with the fact that they should have put or atleast included actual Africans in the advertisements instead of solely focusing on celebrities being the savior to help, represent & speak for Africa/Africans. They went on to speak of Africans currently taking charge of their own destiny & their own images in the media via social media, a flourishing Nollywood film industry & magazines like Arise. I personally took issue with this becase we are always ready to denounce & fault the “white man” or mainstream western media for not showing the depth & true beauty of Africa/Africans, while we ourselves do not accept the fact that we do our own-selves a disservice by perpetuating western/colonial mentality rather than showing the depth & true beauty of Africa/Africans within & without our homeland, even when we are the ones in charge.

Arise magazine is a wonderful well done magazine that shows Africa/Africans through the eye & direction of an Editor in Chief who is a white English woman with many other white editors & writers, producing an African centric magazine in Europe with Nigerian financial backing. Why were the panelist so joyous in celebrating that, yet they took issue with having Bono be the editor for the Africa issue of Vanity Fair, an Anglo centric magazine with Anglo financial backing? Unfortunately I never got the opportunity to ask that question or to bring up that point because there were A’s without any Q’s.

Why do we take issue with the fact that western media/film industry often awards & puts the Beyonce, Alicia Keys & Halle Berry types of looks on covers of magazines & in films as their representation & celebration of “Black” instead of the Estelle, Jennifer Hudson, Angela Basset or Gabrielle Union types of looks; yet we do not take issue with the fact that many African centric magazines & films in Nollywood (Nigerian Film industry) & Gollywood (Ghana Film Industry) do the same? The panelist specifically called out the movie “Beyonce” as one of the most popular Nollywood films, but she forgot to mention that the main character Nadia Buari, who is in most Ghanaian & Nigerian films is of the American Beyonce’s complexion & she is often put up as an adversary against Jackie Appiah, who is more of the Angela Bassett/ Gabriel Union complexion. Nadia Buari’s characters are often portrayed as the high society affluent girl while Jackie Appiah’s characters are often portrayed as the poor peasant girl who is either trying to run in the affluent circles or trying to bed the rich girl’s man- which is actually loosely the premise of the movie “Beyonce”. “Beyonce” in its various sequels is one of the most popular African films to date & it is actually not from Nollywood (the Nigerian film industry) but rather from Gollywood (the Ghanaian film industry). This is another thing I took issue with because the panelist while giving praise to the popularity of the film “Beyonce” lumped it in with Nollywood instead of giving the proper credit to Gollywood, which is Ghana’s emerging film industry looking for its own rightful stand alone shine in the media, just as Broadway & New York filmmakers stand alone in their own contributions & shine to their Hollywood & California counterparts. We as Africans can’t get mad at the western media lumping an entire continent together as one instead of recognizing the many individual nations contributing to the greatness of the continent, if we ourselves don’t recognize them when we are sent to be their voice in the western world.

I interviewed Abdul Salaam Mumuni, the Managing Director of Venus Films & the producer of the movie “Beyonce” while I was in Ghana in 2008. I asked him why he chose names like Ciara, Beyonce & Tyra for his lead characters in his films & he flatly told me it was because he was trying to appeal to the western world. All I could think is with the millions of Africans who watch western movies, why are we not given the same consideration in terms of the western world trying to appeal to us for our hard earned money? At the end of the day these African films are bought by more Africans than westerners & the industry is being built on the earning power of Africans, yet the ultimate goal is to appeal to the western world -the colonial mentality continuing to be perpetuated by Africans on Africans. During the panel discussion the same woman from Ghana who was speaking on the growing Nollywood film industry that is now entering many western homes through bootleg DVD’s & internet piracy made notice of the fact that many westerners can’t belive that African films are showing actors in the same trappings of their western counterparts, with fancy cars, designer wardrobes, flashy jewelry, fancy houses etc.; yet what we fail to recognize is that most of the designer clothes are made in China knock off’s because Dior , D & G, Vuitton & Chanel have not opened shop in Africa yet. While these African actors can be patronizing local designers who create true haute couture- one of a kind hand made pieces utilizing the abundance of locally made fabric, leather, wood, metals, natural materials turned into the finest designs in fashion & accessories-which has been all the rage in the past couple of years from the fashion runways of New York, Paris & London. There is a tailor/designer at every corner from Lagos to Durbin to Accra, but our high profile Africans in entertainment would rather appeal to the western world by showing them that they can be just like them, as we build their economies while dismantling & destroying our own. I was told by a MP (member of parliment equivalent to a congressman in the US) that a random white man or westerner can come to Ghana (Africa in general) & be able to meet with the president or get a buisness venture to take off in the country quicker than he or any native can. I SMH(shake my head) because I know this is a fact because I have seen the colonial mentality in full bloom live an direct. I have a friend who is an engineer that has worked for the US government & major companies in the US, who wants to return back home to Ghana to open up a technology business where hi-speed internet would be more accessible to the everyday people of Ghana, not only did he meet resistance from the many millionaires & government in Ghana in attaining financing for the project, but he was told that if he wanted Ghanaians to patronize his business then he would be better off using some sort of Chinese or western name instead of his own Ghanaian name which ironically means to fly/soar like a bird because Ghanaians & Africans in general would rather patronize western & now the almighty Chinese companies rather than their own. I guess not much has changed from Africa to the Diaspora & back again.

We constantly sit around in blame of the “white man” & the western world for our plights, yet we also wait around for the “white man” & the western world to bring us our salvation by waking us up from our continental slumber to recognize that Africa is the future with many riches to build from & on, when we have been choosing to leave & sell off Africa for centuries. We allow the western world to give us excuses for remaining dependent on their charity & education, while letting us know when & if we are beautiful & the trend for the season. Harlem is all of a sudden chic again because white people have decided to grace us with their presence, Africa is the place to be again because white people have decided that they can once again make a lot of money there & get a lot for very little- the continuous cycle.

Many Africans of today readily give up their families entire life savings to attain a visa & a plane ticket to come to the West or to China, or to get smuggled in like modern day slaves having to work for their freedom from their smugglers or to attain the most grueling jobs for less than minimum wage as home care attendants, maids, nannies, taxi cab drivers etc., some of whom leave their countries as university graduates, engineers, doctors & lawyers. The constant pursuit of the dreams of western/colonial mentality without any appreciation for building & pursing the dreams of an African mentality which is powerful, free & flourishing!

As I always shout out my favorite quote from Benjamin Disraeli, ” The greatest good you can do for another is not just share ur riches, but reveal to them their own.” But this is not the way of those who wish to only be the beneficiaries of mental enslavement & deep seeded colonial mentality.

Very few people know that the NAACP was started by Blacks & Jews in a collective fight for civil rights during the Civil Rights Movement. As Martin Luther King Jr. said “the segregationist and racists make no fine distinction between the negro & the Jew“.

“The story of Black-Jewish relations in the United States is a long and complex one…. Jews were among those who worked to establish the NAACP in 1909. African-American newspapers were among the first in the U.S. to denounce Nazism…. FROM SWASTIKA TO JIM CROW creates hope and reminds us of a time in U.S. history when the two communities came together.”David Horowitz, Washington Review

I bring up this point because Jewish people came from the same struggle from Egypt (Africa not the middle East for all those who are geographically challenged) & throughout the Jewish Diaspora that Black Africans did, but somehow they never internalized the same self hatred in perpetuating their condition in oppression from generation to generation. Jewish people never fell into the confusion of adopting their oppressors words such as “kike“,”yid” or “hymie” as global, out of the secrecy of home terms of endearment amongst themselves, but rather they were always quick to shut down & have heads roll if anything remotely close to those words were uttered as anti-Semitism. Ask Jesse Jackson if he has been able to recover from uttering the word “hymietown”, even though he walked hand & hand with Jews in the struggle for his & their civil rights.

The murders in Mississippi on June 21, 1964 of two young Jewish civil rights activists, Andrew Goodman & Michael Schwerner who were with James Chaney, a 21-year-old black man from Meridian, Mississippi brought more national uproar & put a brighter spotlight on the civil rights struggle in America than was received prior by the thousands of lynchings of Black men, women & children. The video above says “has anything changed in 40 years” -I say for Jewish people -yes, but for Black people not much has really changed.

Jewish people have built & gained their power in Europe, America & the Middle East- a power of economics, a power in reparations from their oppressors & a power that upholds their holocaust history as the lowest moment in their history- which they will never forget, never let their perpetrators or the world forget, as well as a moment in history which they will never allow to happen again. Jewish people recognized that power on the world stage first & foremost comes from economics, while many Blacks fought amongst themselves & focused on blaming white people for their condition. Jews organized, mobilized & saw that freedom & power was not something they were going to attain from some words on a piece of paper, but thru unity in numbers & economics -I think this is why most white supremacist hate Jews more than Blacks because they out-mastered the master in what means most to him -money/economic power!

Jews have been able to get reparations from Germany with land for settlement, their jewels & other family possessions back from Swiss banks & have been able to take over a territory which had nothing to even do with their oppression & even bring in their fellow Ethiopian Jews from Africa in efforts to raise their numbers in a land that strategically on the world stage is their greatest position of power & where are we as Black people? Still fighting for equality & basic civil rights in a land that we originally helped build into a world power. I have personally witnessed from my Jewish clients how they patronize one another’s businesses, give to their own charities regularly, have their own banks & financial institutions & further the cause of never being the victims of oppression, degradation & destruction again by supporting Jewish causes & businesses locally & globally. While Black people globally practice kinship by merely calling one another brother or sister, Jewish people practice kinship by economically supporting, empowering & patronizing one another in the honor of continual brotherhood & sisterhood.

Jews saw the bigger picture of economics that would ultimately be the true measure of freedom & equality that was beyond any Emancipation Proclamation or Civil Rights Bill. Now compare the Jews & Blacks who have worked together toward the same goals – tell me if Russell Simmons & Jay Z have made more money off of Def Jam/hip-hop than Rick Rubin & Lyor Cohen & the many other Jewish people before them who ended up profiting more off of Black music, inventions etc. than Black people did, which makes we wonder will we ever see the bigger picture? Even looking at a modern day company like Nomadic Wax , as much as I give props to Ben Herson for his accomplishments & him being able to take African hip-hop to another level in the western arena- this was happening before he got to Senegal in 1999 & subsequently going on to do his thesis & building a business off of his new discovery. There had been Africans pushing the music on a local & global level way before his arrival, yet at the end of the day he may end up eventually profiting & being more known as starting the movement more than the makers & creators if the mindset of the African & her Diaspora does not eventually change to see & work toward the bigger picture that the Jews saw & worked toward in their own economic empowerment. We can’t blame someone for having a plan for business & economic empowerment, when we are sitting around without one & just hoping for an opportunity to sell our goods & to eat for the day. I am a true & pure global fusionist who believes in us working together as a global society- sharing, creating and profiting from our mutually shared ideas & talents in true partnerships that does not have a foundation of benefitting off of another’s societal, mental or physical weakness & oppression because anything less than that is disingenuous & solely based on profiteering. What is fair trade when the maker gains significantly less of the profits than the seller?

As Africans we have adopted western mentality, names amongst ourselves & within our business structures which we feel have recognition in the western world, basically allowing the western world who we say does not define us properly to define us generally. Ghana allowed its national music which was Osibi to be given the western name of hi-life & let it spread throughout the world without taking it back to its original name or at least letting the world know of its original name & history within the context of it’s new name. The Kenyan warriors & freedom fighters allowed their colonizers taunting name of Mau Mau to define & name them in history for life because it had spread & been popularized througout the western world, much the same as the word “Nigga/Nigger” is today.

My night after the film screening ended at a friend’s house where the conversation turned to John Mayer & the preverbal debate of the use of the “N” word: who can use it, who can’t & when & why it should be used. Frankly I am exhausted with this never ending debate because everyone has their views & I don’t see anyone having their minds changed one way or the other any time soon; however during the very heated debate of uptown Black & Brown Harlem intellectuals, who have all paid their dues & served time in the western world of media, I actually came to a new understanding from my position that has always been that no one should ever use the word outside of its original historical definition/context because we can never redefine the word from its original intention.

We all told our stories of having cabs pass us by, dealing with certain comments by our white colleagues that are often out of line & would never be directed at our white counterparts- yet we have to check ourselves in our reaction as to not give them the expected angry black man/women stereotype, having to work twice as hard to get promotions that are steadily given to subordinates( who often we have trained) because of who they know & the fact that they run in the same circles, being taunted in your community as a “sell out” or some sort of anomaly for being educated as a prep school negro while being taunted in school as some type of affirmative action award recipient, as if getting a scholarship as a black person is socially & genetically wrong or suspect while getting one as a white person proves genius, being “dressed to the nines” & waiting for a vale to give you your car while some white person coming out from the same event where you just came out of, dressed in the same tuxedo & gown that you are dressed in just automatically assumes that you are there to serve them, so they hand you their vale ticket to get them their car. Essentially all the many episodes where you hear the word “Nigger” without it ever being verbalized.

One of my friends testified that growing up in the Black American community in Harlem, she heard the word “nigger” used often -but it was well known amongst everyone that you were not to use it outside of the home because everyone knew it was derogatory & were not looking to give it the global passage of usage which it has been given within this new generation. Basically at the end of it all another friend said it has been spread so globally now that we can not take it back much like the words hi-life & mau mau. My answer to that was the fact that slavery was also something that had spread far & wide globally, but we chose to put an end to it & take back our freedom. I also realized within our conversation that the word “Nigger” had evolved from slavery to Jim Crowe from a word simply meaning “Black” to our European colonizers/slave masters, a word that just diffrentiated them from us by color. We eventually allowed ourselves to internalize just a word for black as something extremely negative as the word black in itself is used to describe certain dark, negative & bad things in our global society. We basically came to internalize self hatred in associating our color as a symptom of the conditions put on us by our colonizers & slave masters & continued to perpetuate this from Africa throughout the Diaspora & back to Africa again- the same continual psychological cycle which our colonizers & slave masters came to recognize as the way to keep us perpetually in our condition & in check.

We as Black people all over the world internalized the foreigner’s word for black as being something that was less than, something that was bad, something negative, an internalized self hatred, which our slave masters/colonizers utilized in the further breakdown of our psyche by giving favor to their lighter skinned/mixed race slaves, allowing those favored slaves to administer punishment on the closer to black than white slaves & eventually creating a permanent stamp in our pyche which we would spread from generation to generation, teaching us that the closer you were to white the better your treatment; therefore being black had to be bad & the curse for the conditions of slavery & colonization. A European attempt to merely differentiate by color without pejorative intention i.e. Negus, Negro, Niger etc. eventually became Nigger- the most highly debated, inflammatory, hateful word in Black American/American history, which is now being taken back as just “Black” by a new generation in proclaiming love of brotherhood/sisterhood of blackness globally. A return to change the psyche where another man’s foreign language for being Black no longer internalizes self hate, but rather a celebration of Black. I realized that my many of my Spanish speaking friends have always called me “negra” or “negrita”, merely as just a reference to my blackness & Africaness which I never found or took any offense in, but rather found a certain special love & acknowledgement in the same word that the Spanish & Portuguese slave traders named my ancestors that eventually became an Americanized word that I detest. HMMM-this was the new understanding that I came to toward those who wish to perpetuate the word “Nigga” in that context, but at the same time if one accepts a redefintion then one must accept it fully on a global celebratory level as we have accepted the words mau mau & hi-life with no pejorative intent regardless of who says it; otherwise we must truly work to get back to our true & rightful historical names if we want to ever break the cycle of slavery’s psyche & colonial mentality.

It seems everyone but Black people benefitted from the battles & wars we fought for freedom from the revolution, to the World Wars, to Civil War to Civil Rights. All the minorities in search of equality from white women to Jews received the benefits of the fight & struggle, while Black people still seem to be on the picket line & marching on washington to finally attain the dream of equality. Black history month this year seemed like there was an all out assault on its celebration. As we celebrated the fisrt full year of President Obama’s presidency, as the first Black president in America, the tea party, Republicans and what seems like the majority of Americans- Black White & other were letting him know just how disappointed they were with his fist year & how quickly they were losing their hope for change. Tiger Woods, the pre-Obama ultimate role model for the possibility of what a negro could & should be in the eyes of mass White acceptance fell from grace & also had to withstand the backlash of Black, White & other letting him know just how disappointed they were in his actions. Police bruatality reared it’s ugly head again against Black men, while Sean Bell could not be truly laid to rest because once again police officers emptying clips into a Black man & taking his life due to mistaken identity is just a casuality of the job, never warranting a guilty verdict. We had a national debate sparking interest in mainstream White America that felt sorry for all of the educated Michelle Obama type of Black women who could not seem to find themselves any kind of husband let alone a Barack Obama; While John Mayer let Black women know that they were like kryptonite to his “white supremacist penis” gaining an erection while finding his freedom to use the “N” word. We found fashion week still having issues of black model exclusion from the runway, while  European  magazines keep testing our limits & boundaries by using blackface in editorials for cheap shock value, lacking creativity type of publicity that is so easy to find these days when your target is the first Black president or stereotypes of Black people & other minorities. We found ourselves as Black people arguing, fighting & debating over all of this with no new solutions, panaceas, initiatives or a way to finally rid ourselves of the mental enslavement that has become the crutch for the stagnation in our forward movements, just to come back again next time to start the cycle of slave/colonial mentality all over again.

I however, am filled with a certain optimism that change is truly on its way even if  it is brought about by a small minority of believers in hope. We have found forward movements of hope for greatness through the type of focus, dilligence, hardwork and being able to make something out of nothing that has kept black people/ black history from Africa to her Diaspora alive & thriving in many aspects for centuries. The hope in our forward movements for this new decade & beyond appears with Olympians like Shani Davis & Kwame Nkrumah  Acheampong as the  Williams sisters continue to make world & black history, while  First lady Michelle Obama epitomizes the grace, dignity & class holding the first Black family up through all adversity. The  New Orleans Saints bringing back the sunshine from the rain right in time to celebrate  mardi gras & the explosive new energy of Pan-Africanism erupting globally thru political actions of activists fully in sync with the beautiful powerful soundtracks of musical activists leading the charge of hope & empowerment in a new decade, where we have no choice but to create, manifest & accept Change!

Here’s to ending Black History month on a high note & creating & manifesting a new decade & future where Africa & her Diaspora truly gets our house in order in efforts to write our own history in the manner that we would like to be recognized & heralded.

“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 -Taking us back 2 what Black history has always been from Africa 2 her Diaspora.

I can’t believe I am saying these words, but for the first time in my life I must say Jay Z speaks for me. He is very on point on his “We Are the World” critique. “A for effort, but come on son”! All I could think when I saw the video, after the endless hype on what was to come was- damn why did you have to do Michael & Haiti like that!? It is far from an upgrade. If this is what the new era sounds like then take me back in time! I will continue to support Haiti with my donations & spreading the word, but I am with Jay on taking a pass on downloading this worse than mediocre re-make of this song. I am not into S&M so I can’t handle certain parts of this re-make that are just way too torturous to my ears. I really think we should all just pause for a long minute on the musical tributes to Michael Jackson because they seem to be lackluster & getting worse & worse. I guess when you are the King, all else become mere lowly subjects. Let’s let the King of Pop rest in peace & enjoy the endless gifts of great music he left for us in their glorious memorable form!

Via BLOGXILLA-
“Well I guess Jay is still mad at the nonsense that is the “We Are The World Remake.” At first I had no problem with them remaking the song. When I saw the pictures from this epic event I was happy, I remembered the feeling when they first made the song 25 years ago. Then I heard my favorite rapper Lil Wayne on the track… In Auto-Tunes then Akon and Then T-Pain and I was through. How can you allow Autotunes on We Are The World? We are not robots, we aren’t machines, hell if that’s the case you might as well put Rudy from The Jetsons on the damn song. We are the world.

I thought autotunes was dead. I mean never mind that I actually paid for the T-Pain app, or that I have 14 autotunes versions of me making booty calls that I recorded with that app. You just don’t add autotunes to We Are The World! Why not make a new song. I understand we want to honor Michael Jackson and all but #ComeOnSon! The song gets an A for effort, but that’s about it. I’ll just text Yele to 501501 rather than purchase this song from Itunes to make a donation. ”

I guess we now know why Jay didn’t participate -no schedule conflict just didn’t want to get down with the wackness-LOL! But umm Jay Z -Pause- who are u making booty calls to ? Does calling your wife for a romp count as a booty call or did you just tell on yourself-LOL!

You decide?
Original

Remake

It seems the Democratic party is in full spiral, not knowing left from right , public option from insurance company control, wall street bailouts from main street job creations, and fighting from conceding & throwing in the towel.
It seems the democrats are not ready, willing or able to take on the fight to stand by any of their convictions in order to do the work of the people. We have seen it with the public option & every other option close to giving the people a hand up instead of giving insurance companies more money or more control shot down with negotiations & concessions within their own party of majority control, we have seen it with the messy confusion of so called “too big to fail” banks & wall street needing taxpayer bailouts, while unemployment continues to rise & now we are seeing it in the battle over how to go about securing our homeland from terrorist threats. Attorney general, Eric Holder is now having to concede from his convictions because of lack of support within his own party, while many high profile Democrats decide to jump ship because they do not believe there’s any hope in being able to do the people’s work. So much for team work & bringing change we can believe in to Washington!

“The political attacks over terrorism cases were “starting to constrain my ability to function as attorney general,” he said in an interview last week. “I have to do a better job in explaining the decisions that I have made,” Mr. Holder also said, adding, “I have to be more forceful in advocating for why I believe these are trials that should be held on the civilian side.”

Isn’t this pretty much what Obama said about his part in the healthcare bill not passing, during the state of the union address? There seems to be a hint of puppeteering going on & it’s becoming obvious that Rahm Emanuel is the puppet master, basically Dick Cheney in democrats clothing who is being given way too much power in calling the shots. I don’t know Rahm Emanuel personally, but if he’s anything like his brother, Ari Emanuel,the Hollywood talent agent portrayed as Ari Gold on HBO’s hit show Entourage, then we should all be really scared because this character’s need for power & to have things his way comes by any means necessary, whether it’s “hugging it out” or the most cut throat , move out of my way , I will sell out my own mother if need be type of means. A type of zealousness for power that is beyond our fears of the grumpy old man stuck in his ways type of power that Dick Cheney wielded.

This is a new era of drunken power that is young, flashy, technologically viral & savvy with a wall street type of greed is good, go big or go home type of edge, even if it means breaking the bank & the system while leaving the lowly people with the pieces to pick up. Basically business as usual in Washington with a younger face & mindset that does not obey the rules of the old boys club, where at least you had some limits based in respect within your own Entourage. What ever happened to fighting for & standing steadfast in one’s beliefs? How do we get change in Washington if we concede to everything the Republicans want & do everything the Bush/Cheney way.

Erroll Southers’ resignation fell by the waist side with out the president or the Democrats going to bat for him or finding a replacement- leaving the US with no TSA head- when homeland security is supposed to be top priority. Look at the fight that the Bush/Cheney administration put up for Harriet Miers, Alberto Gonzales, Donald Rumsfeld , Karl Rove & so many others who had questionable actions & dealings as government officials that were no where close to the actions & dealings of Erroll Southers, Van Jones or Eric Holder to not go to bat for them or to force them to concede in their convictions & expected duties of their jobs. I guess fighting for what you believe in is just not the way of the Democrats. Compromise, yield, concede & lost of dignity maybe the way of the cowardly lion, but in Washington we can rightfully call them Democrats!

“He arrived determined to assert the Justice Department’s independence. A self-described “student of history,” he outfitted his conference room with reminders of what it takes to join the ranks of the most respected attorneys general: portraits of lionized predecessors, including some who defied their presidents or restored the Justice Department after scandal.”

I guess Eric holder has to rethink his high expectations of “Change” in Washington & returning any kind of dignity & glory to the attorney general’s office after the scandals of his predecessors from Bush administration. How do the Democrats, Rahm Emanuel & President Obama justify going to bat for United States Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, who was riddled with tax problems & was a direct player from the same wall street that needed tax payer bailouts after collapsing the global economy, the same wall street which he is now supposed to oversee & keep in check. If they could find good reasons to fight for & stand by someone like Tim Geithner by seeing his tax evasion & other issues as “honest mistakes” , then surely they can find reasons to fight for & not throw others on their own team under the bus during critical times when the democrats must show a united force to do the work of the people.

It is no wonder why many democrats are jumping ship & using the explanation that senator Evan Bayh of Indiana gave:
“There is too much partisanship and not enough progress – too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving. Even at a time of enormous challenge, the peoples’ business is not being done”

I am starting to believe that perhaps President Obama should be more worried about the Democrats who are pushing him toward failure instead of the Republicans wanting him to fail because at least with the Republicans, they publicly put their agenda out there & do not try to hide it, so the president clearly knows what he is dealing with with them. These senate democrats jumping ship, like Evan Bayh & Patrick Kennedy seem to know something that is not privy to the public because if you have an unprecedented majority strong hold in congress, personal high approval ratings, plus a global superstar president with high approval ratings & you still can not get the people’s work done, then there is something fundamentally wrong in the overall leadership of the Democratic party. As the president constantly says, “the buck stops with me”, so I guess it’s time to start counting those bucks & make appropriate adjustments before we all get buried under them.

I decided to write this piece after seeing this picture, shot for the Associated Press by Schalk van Zuydam, of Winnie Mandela sadly looking on as her ex-husband, Nelson Mandela, interacts in unison with his new wife, Graca Machel. This picture saddens me dearly as I recall an interview with a vibrant Winnie Mandela on the show “Conversations with Felicia” on the Africa Channel . She was asked about her love life & she responded by saying she belongs to the people & has too much work to be done for the people to have time to feel sad about certain things like not having a love life. This is clearly not true just by looking at this picture. There are so many strong, powerful, loving women who have met the fate of Winnie Mandela. The women who fought by their husband’s side for evolutions in revolution, the women who worked 2-3 jobs, held up the home front while putting their own dreams aside in order to help their husbands/significant others attain their dreams of becoming doctors, lawyers, actors, musicians, politicians etc.; the women who ended up being left alone after the dream & glory was attained, with sometimes not even a mere thank you!

This picture was taken at an event celebrating the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s freedom as a political prisoner, but the world forgot to celebrate the woman who kept his story & fight alive for the world to take notice. The world forgot to celebrate the woman who was also a political prisoner, stigmatized, antagonized & brutalized along side of Nelson Mandela, the woman who took care of & protected their children while making sure that her husband had a home to come to after attaining the freedom which she diligently & courageously fought for him to attain, the woman who stood by his side & fought with him to bring an end to apartheid along with becoming president, the woman who even in her heartache sits by his side to honor him- knowing that she must continue the fight for freedom that was started in their togetherness of love & desire to uplift & to bring freedom to their people, without the man she once leaned on & counted on in the struggle. Winnie Mandela is left with the heartache knowing that she can no longer share the bond of love with the man who has become the face & the symbol of the struggle, while her fight & insurmountable contributions for freedom continue to fall by the waist side & to be seemingly forgotten as a brief reference to the full Nelson Mandela story. Would we be celebrating the 20th year anniversary of Winnie’s “Madiba” AKA Nelson Mandela’s freedom without the fight & voice of Winnie Mandela? His celebration of freedom is just as much hers as it is his & maybe even more hers because she withstood all the adversity & consequences of the fight to attain his freedom while often forsaking her own.

I completely understand why Winnie Mandela chose to not lead the 500-meter march from the former Victor Verster prison in Paarl, Western Cape, which was to recreate the walk she took with her ex-husband after he was released from prison. She declined by just saying it was just too exhaustive for her. This walk holds so much history & memories that one can see how & why it would not only be physically but also mentally exhausting. Winnie Mandela has done her best in giving all of herself toward the people’s work, so it is time to grant her her just due recognition & allow her to be open to the love & comfort that she also deserves.

Where will President Obama be without Michelle? Where would Martin Luther King Jr. have been without Coretta? Where would Kwame Nkrumah have been without Fathia? Where would Malcolm X have been without Betty? The only difference in the world continuing to celebrate these great women is that they stayed married to their husbands & therefore will forever be celebrated within the full stories of their husbands. Once you become the ex-wife and a new woman becomes the wife, does that erase all of your accomplishments & contributions to the success & popularity of the man who is praised by the world? For Winnie Mandela did seems to be sadly the case, which makes me think this is why women like Hillary Clinton stay in marriages even after being done wrong, whereas many other women would have left. Would Hillary Clinton have had the opportunity to be heralded the way she was, as the first woman (after Shirley Chisholm) to have come so close to winning the US presidency had she chosen to divorce Bill Clinton? Would we have let all of her accomplishments and contributions to Bill Clinton being praised on the world stage fall by the waist side & forgotten had she divorced him & had he gotten a new wife? We do not hear very much about French President Sarkozy’s ex-wife Cécilia and all of her accomplishments & contributions toward getting him to the presidency. After choosing to get a divorce, she basically became a pariah in her own country just as Winnie Mandela was in the ridicule & scandalous allegations against her after her divorce from Nelson Mandela.

“I was betrayed by close friends. I don’t hold it against them. Such is human nature. I understand that the gold of the French Republic could tempt more than one…At the end of the day I have become more serene. I kept 70 per cent of my friends. Real friendships came to the fore. I left behind those who hurt me.” Cécilia Sarkozy AKA Cécilia Attias

Unlike Winnie Mandela , Cécilia Attias at least had the opportunity to hold the title of first lady, which she had worked for as the intelligent mouthpiece & pretty face with a more soothing temperament that made her husband more palatable to the French public. Unlike Winnie Mandela, Cécilia Attias recognized that being a strong, powerful woman does not leave you without the need and capacity to make & take time to be loved & to take comfort in a man’s hands because it is nature & nurture’s way to need the comfort of love, which no amount of dedication to nor accomplishment in one’s life’s work can bring or replace.

Standing by your man should never be the consumption & definition of any woman because a partnership should be defined by reciprocity. As much as we may fantasize of love that lasts forever, people change & love fades, so we must be able to let go for the purpose of redefinition, renewal, new love & new life. To all my strong, powerful & loving women, never believe that you do not have time nor need the love & comfort of a man or woman-depending on your personal preference- because that love & comfort is often the solace & energy one needs the most to do the work of the people & to live your best life! To  Mama Winnie, I say “Amanza” because you are the woman who truly personifies & made me understand the word for Freedom!

This & Every Black History & Women’s History month let’s shout “Amanza” in honor & homage to Winnie Mandela -A true Fighter for Freedom!

For me Africa , Ghana in particular, will always represent my beginning & my future. As I go back to my beginnings to reach out for my future, I realized that I am a stranger in this land, in this land that I love, in this land of mine. Ghana is the rapture of nature, the keeper of ancestral history, the smell of jaloff rice, grilled tilapia, kontonmire stew with ampesi & the special nighttime aromas of kelewele, wakye & grilled plantains with groundnuts on an open fire by the road side, putting a most intoxicating spell on me with the most freeing jubilation of rhythmic sounds & motion in an inviting surround sound type of blaring sound system that only the black star nation can deliver. From the kpanlogo drum to the seperewa, to the funky guitar strings of hi-life; from the borderline insanity & fanaticism of football that brings the nation to a standstill, to the overwhelming crowds, banter & fast paced motion of mokola market; from triumphant Ashanti kings & queens, to the painful history of our global fusions in the slave trade from Elimina to Cape Coast; from colonization to the freedom of independence; from libations of apeteshie, palm wine & black star beer poured in honor of celebration & mourning, to mother nature’s blessings of bountiful cocoa, diamonds, gold, richness of culture & beautiful, smiling, shining black stars -This is Home!

I feel so alive upon my arrival as I see the colorful welcoming of Akwaaba! From the peaceful serenity of my grandmother’s village in Awukuga- where I learned to give & receive the love, respect & protection of an entire village as one family, to the gritty city hustle & bustle of Accra, where I learned how to be tough & hard in order to fight for what was rightfully mine, as I embarked on the journey back to my place of birth, the toughest city around -where they say if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere –New York, New York- so nice they had to name it twice! As I journey on to find the innate feeling of roots & belonging where Africa is the future, I look to the innocent, powerful, curious & smiling faces of the children, who represent my childhood days in Ghana, bringing me a sense of welcoming with something to believe in!

Explore the 10 regions of Ghana with a collective & separate rich history of cuisine, sites, people, language & culture!
Ashanti Region (Kumasi)
Brong-Ahafo Region (Sunyani)
Central Region (Cape Coast)
Eastern Region (Koforidua)
Greater Accra Region (Accra)(Tema)
Northern Region (Tamale)
Upper East Region (Bolgatanga)
Upper West Region (Wa)
Volta Region (Ho)
Western Region (Sekondi-Takoradi)

Akwaaba- Welcome Home to Ghana http://www.touringghana.com/

Credits:
Photos:Aretha Amma Sarfo (Global Fusion Productions Inc.), Stanley Lumax (Stone Face Photography), Craig muMs Grant
Music: Joy Denalane (Stranger in this Land), Nina Simone (I put a Spell on You), Osibisa (Welcome Home), C.K. Mann (Asafo Beson), DJ Spinna Ft. Heavy (We Can Change this World), Wanlov the Kubolor (Human Being),Blitz the Ambassador (Something to Believe) & sax over VO by Marquis ‘q’ Sayles (Amazing Grace)

By now everyone knows about John Mayer’s Playboy interview and the on going uproar over it. I didn’t want to bother to comment because John Mayer has become more tabloid fodder than the talented low key musician we used to know, and frankly I would rather pay attention to talent than the countless tabloid celebrities that have become so ubiquitous in our society where sensationalism has become the reality of choice! From the dishing about exes, to his lack of sexual desire for black women, to the “N” & “F” bomb throw down, the media frenzy is on full throttle. If you read the interview, he comes off as a troubled man child who has plenty of issues & insecurities that have been with him before reaching celebrity status, which has just been exacerbated by celebrity & the battle with an unchecked, unhealed ego juxtaposed with no filter for his brain. Unfortunately he is manchild trying find his place in the world & giving people what he thinks they want in this day & age where controversy makes Taylor Swift win a grammy as artist of the year! Let’s be honest, John Mayer has had a bigger career being a world classless douche than being a great guitar player.

The Playboy interview is just the regurgitated version of the Rolling Stone interview with a few “N” & “F” bombs & calling out black females thrown in, but this time John Mayer barked at the wrong dog & got into a fight he was not prepared for. Personally, I could careless about anything John Mayer has to say because to me he is just Paris Hilton with a penis & a guitar that he plays very well, not some intellectual with anything relevant to say about society at large except what he embodies & says about what our society puts on a pedestal. Let’s be honest most people had no interest in John Mayer until he starting kissing & telling about all his Hollywood exploits. He is an insecure pathetic man child trying to come off clever & controversial in pursuit of the attention that he pretends to shun- we know the game -he is no better than Paris Hilton, John Gossling and all the other stuck on celebrity, lacking integrity types who are always just too cool for school, when education is really what they need. I am disgusted by his lack of respect for women & the constant name dropping of his exploits while proclaiming he is such a good guy & so misunderstood, but then again ladies- we all know these types of men & we need to stop aiding & abetting their behavior, unfortunately Jennifer Aniston had to learn that one the hard way.

The basic idea of chivalry has become all too obviously lacking amongst all the man childs in our society who refuse to grow up & man up because they attain more notoriety, endorsements, press, cable reality shows, network ratings and album sales by displaying loose, not so chivalrous, man child type of behaviors. This must cease because we as a society are creating more & more of these monsters. Why blame John Mayer when this is the type of behavior that our society welcomes, condones, lures and attracts in both our young men & women. It seems in our society if you do anything that is morally questionable or detestable like abuse drugs,use inflammatory language against minority groups, have multiple affairs or put out a sex tape, you are rewarded by resurrecting a dying career by becoming relevant again. You can attain a reality show & a super bowl champion, become the loveable Barbie darling of a world that has no idea why they love you or what it is that your talent is, as you continue to get more endorsements, press coverage, endless cash flow & other rewards which most of your counterparts, whose sole focus is based on their talent, never get. This is also the same society that uses these celebrity crazed egomaniacs up & tosses them away when the next “it” comes around.

There has been more stories about John Mayer’s exploits than his musical talent lately, but please John, don’t cry me a river about how you are so persecuted when you are the one igniting the flame by sparking off at the mouth at every turn to try to boost & bring solace to your man child ego. If you don’t want to be in the press you don’t have to be, you were doing just fine before you started on your ego binge. Ask Sade & the countless other great artists how they do it, if your ego can withstand the lack of 24hr type of needy man child desired attention. You are really not that deep at all Mr. Mayer & you proved it in this interview in your pursuit of clever controversy that simply showed you off as the man child tool that you are. I really hope you will just stick to the music because at least you have a fighting chance in your talent to live a fantasy world, where you can come off as some sort of deep John Lennon /Eric Claptonlike genius, but now you have pulled your own card & “Daughters” will never be heard the same again, as we all hope you get some therapy for your issues & wait on you to change!

On John Mayer’s use of the N’ word & black women

I shake my head every single time some white person uses the word “nigger” & black people get in such an uproar over it. This is the burden & diamond encrusted cuban link cross that hip-hop & all those black people who think it’s ok for them to use the word amongst themselves have to bare. This is the Frankenstein monster you have created. If a word is derogatory & so hurtful, then it should not be used by anyone because when we make exceptions & leave it to interpretations & intentions, we leave room for discrepancy. I have heard people in Europe,Middle East, Africa & Asia using (the so shameful the rest of society has to call it) the “N” word because they think it’s hip-hop & some sort of term of endearment for black people in America & lovers of hip-hop. They have no idea about the history behind it because it is not their history nor a word that is in their language & dictionary. Hip-hop & black America has spread the use of the “N” word more globally than any white supremacist ever could, so maybe we need to check ourselves instead of John Mayer, who technically -if you really read and comprehend language- was saying that it is a derogatory term that he was trying not to be associated with, unlike all the rappers & black people who just can’t get enough of using the word. John Meyer was not as scholarly as he thought, so he ended up getting beat at his own game of trying to play clever when he is really just a narcissistic tool playing the role of the complicated rock star.

Rappers & some black folks love to to preach that they took the word “Nigger” & flipped it to “Nigga” as a term of endearment, taking the power back from its derogatory intention & definition, but the idiocy in that statement is shown every time black people get so angry over the word used in its intended dictionary context by non-blacks. I guess we didn’t redefine it nor take the power from it after all! What does Jay Z think of all this as he gave this exact explanation on the Oprah show for his affinity to using the word? I guess he should come out in defense of John Mayer because as the top dog, CEO & every corporate white person’s favorite rapper, he gave John Mayer & the legions of others globally, the pass to utilize the word at their leisure. I have heard that word Nigger/nigga used & never have I found any love in it. I have watched black mothers in Harlem calling their young children “stupid little niggas” as well as “pretty little nigga” & I have never found any love or endearment in it. I have heard countless rappers use the word more times than I can count & I have never found any love in it. We can not rewrite the dictionary & history books, but we can build on the future that so many shed their blood, sweat, tears & lives for us to have without compromising our dignity.

What are we as black people afraid of by letting that word go & letting it leave our vernacular? Many black Americans have heard this word for generations & have internalized it in so many ways. I never grew up with this word used in my African household in love or war, so my only understanding & comprehension of it is in the context by which it was created: to dehumanize a race of people of which I am part of. I am starting to believe that black America’s personalized attachment to this word is no different from an abused person who can’t let go because any kind of attention whether negative or positive is taken as love.

How do we move forward in commitment as a people in tackling major problems in equality in employment, education, healthcare, housing etc., when we can’t even commit to releasing & freeing ourselves from the word that proclaimed our inequality? I can’t even address the foolishness in John Mayer’s comments about not dating black women, since we happen to be everyone’s punching bag & allegedly least sexually desired, thanks to all the so called strong black men who are supposed to have our back & hold us up. as men of every other race & culture do for their women, yet we always fall short because of their own insecurities & inadequacies as many black men embolden the stereotypes of black women by proclaiming their own black mothers, sisters & daughters to have too much attitude, to be gold diggers, to be overachievers who demand to much of their men, to be big booty hoes, to be too strong, too educated & just too much of everything or as John Mayer says just too very very! “I’m just very. V-E-R-Y. And if you can’t handle very, then I’m a douche bag. But I think the world needs a little very. That’s why black people love me.” I have seen John Mayer on the streets of New York with conscious black men like Talib Kweli and in the company of Common, Jay Z and Kanye West, so if John Mayer is hanging out with all these black men who give him the freedom to feel as if he is relatable to black people & that black people love him so much, what exactly have they been teaching, showing & telling him about black women for him to come off with such idiotic comments in his lack of desire and appreciation for black women, when he has never had the experience? I am not denying anyone their preference because we are all entitled to our preferences. I also don’t consider him a racist for not having a desire to “date” black women, which in his book is more like to “f*ck” rather than having any type of real relationship with any woman- black , white or whatever because his comments pertaining to the white women in his life & in general was more offensive than him speaking on his lack of desire for black women. As a black woman, who has dated white men, I can tell John Mayer he can consider himself safe because most black women are not checking to be desired, loved or f*ked by him & his man child “white supremacist penis”!