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AFRICA UNLIMITED

By Arthur Lewin

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AFRICAN SCIENCE

.....August 20th 2003

An animal bone, with markings used for counting, discovered in South Africa is estimated to be more than 35,000 years old. Another bone, the so-called "Ishango Bone," found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, not only has markings for counting, but also a series of prime numbers which indicate it was used for calculating. It is over 10,000 years old.

Agriculture, the purposeful planting, cultivating and harvesting of foodstuffs, has been going on in the Nile Valley for 18,000 years. Steel was produced in furnaces in Tanzania 2,000 years ago. And there were astronomical observatories in Kenya in 300 BC. Furthermore, it’s believed that shafts located in the 5,000 year old Great Pyramid at Giza functioned as observatories for viewing the star Sirius and other heavenly bodies.

The Dogon people of Mali, and other ethnic groups living in the vicinity of the city of Timbuktu, have an intimate knowledge of this solar system, the Sirius star system, and the shape and functioning of the galaxy. When Europeans first encountered them, they thought the Dogon beliefs were fables until, that is, the Europeans developed telescopes and realized that they were not.

An accurate model of a scale model of an airplane found in Egypt is 2400 years old. It has a distinctive shape resembling that of the Hercules transport used today by the US Army.

Virtually every major Greek philosopher spent extended periods of time as foreign students, in the university system of ancient Egypt. Two thousand years later, the European Renaissance and Enlightenment periods were spurred on by renewed contact with Egyptian and other African knowledge sources.

During the centuries of African bondage in the Americas, Africans could not legally lay claim to their many inventions, like the cotton gin which is falsely attributed to Eli Whitney. In the years afterwards, however, numerous Africans in America have had their discoveries recorded and acknowledged. They include George Washington Carver who revolutionized American agriculture by demonstrating that 300 products could be derived from the peanut, and one hundred from the sweet potato. Garrett Morgan who invented the gas mask and the traffic signal. Lewis Lattimer who gave us the filament for the light bulb. Jan Matzeliger who invented the machine that makes shoes. And Charles Drew who gave us blood plasma, just to name a few.

Isaac Gilliam, George Carruthers, Mae Jemison and Patricia Cowings are just some of the African Americans who have made, and are making, invaluable contributions to the American space program. Dr. Ben Carson, pre-eminent brain surgeon, exemplifies the abilities and contributions of the thousands of African American physicians.

African born students on America’s college campuses outperform all other demographic groups. Two exemplars of contemporary African scientific excellence are Nigerian born Drs. Philip Emeagwali and Gabriel Oyibo. Emeagwali prepared and conducted the world's fastest computer computation - 3.1 billion calculations per second. His work has changed the way weather conditions, global warming and underground oil flows are charted and predicted.

Dr. Gabriel Oyibo was nominated last year for the Nobel Prize in mathematical physics for completing the work of Albert Einstein. Oyibo has provided an iron-clad proof of Einstein’s theory of relativity and achieved what scientists have been trying to do for more than80 years, that is, develop a "theory of everything." Oyibo has developed a master theory that unifies Quantum Theory, Relativity and all the heretofore unconnected theoretical systems of modern physics in one set of simple equations.

In his book, The Grand Unified Field Theorem, Oyibo states on page 1, and goes on to clearly show how the Big Bang theory, Genesis’ account of Creation and the pronouncements of the Pharaoh Tshbaka on the origins of reality, are all equivalent. Dr. Oyibo generously spends several hours each week making himself available, in person, to mathematicians, math students and anyone from our community with a real interest in African Science. He can be contacted at his website... www.geocities.com/igala1 ( Ramsees7@yahoo.com Africa Unlimited 8/19/3 )

AFRICAN HEALTH

ALL THAT GLITTERS...

You name it. Africa has it. More than two-thirds of the gold and diamonds in the world. Over 40% of the platinum on the planet, and more cobalt, copper, chrome and manganese than any other continent.

As for oil, Nigeria is a major player. Its high quality petroleum, in light of the instability in the Persian Gulf, is vital to America and the West. Nearby Gabon also has vast, untapped fuel stocks. And Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Angola are also significant oil producers. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has the world’s largest supply of industrial diamonds, and Namibia is the globe’s greatest source of gemstones.

However, these riches are a mixed blessing. They often engender bitter struggles for a nation’s resources, fueled by outside interests and the weaponry these resources enable the combatants to obtain. This is exactly the scenario in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the present time.

In additon to war and corruption, indebtedness is another cost of being "blessed’ with resources. International banks are always eager to extend loans for economic development projects, with a country’s resources held as collateral. Naturally, the nations with the largest resources are eligible for the largest loans.

So we see that Africa’s minerals can be handled wisely, and used to enrich and uplift, not impoverish and demolish. The Tanzanian case, and similar examples, and the principles they employ, need to be publicized worldwide to enlist the sentiments of the public to make them normal business practices in Africa and throughout this our global village...

Send E-mail to : ramsees7@yahoo.com

Liberia, Charles Taylor & Blood Diamonds.....July 9th 2003

President Abraham Lincoln, though known as the Great Emancipator, was not the Great Equalizer. He couldn’t envision the two races living together in America. He advocated that the formerly enslaved Africans be sent back, that is repatriated, to the West African country called Liberia...

Liberia had been established in the early 1820s, as a colony for free African Americans, by the American Colonization Society. Many of their members were Southern slaveholders eager to get free Africans out of the country, particularly in the wake of the Haitian Revolution (1803) and the powerful inspiration that it provided.

"Liberia" of course means "liberty." It’s capital is Monrovia so-called in honor of James Monroe, America's president when it was founded. Liberia was established from lands taken from local rulers of the Vai, Kru, Grebo and other peoples on the coast of West Africa.

In 1847, it declared its independence. But America did not recognize its separate status until 1862, at the height of the American Civil War, when President Lincoln saw it as the solution to the Emancipation "problem."

Lincoln directed his Secretary of the Navy, William Seward, to work out the logistics of repatriating all the Africans in America. However, Seward reported that this was impossible. He said that even if every ship in the Navy were employed, the Black birth rate was so great, that by the time they had made their first shipment and returned home, there would be more Africans here than when they left...

Sixty years later, in 1924, Marcus Garvey also set his sights on Liberia. Garvey as you recall was the head of the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which had millions of members throughout the African Diaspora. He contracted with the Liberian government to provide the land for a settlement for 25,000 of his followers. The agreement was hailed as a milestone in the struggle for Black liberation.

However, the colonial powers soon informed the Liberian government, in no uncertain terms, that they would not look kindly upon Garvey’s gaining a foothold on the continent. And so Liberia reneged and cancelled the agreement. Soon after the US government closed in on the Black nationalist leader...

Yes, Liberia was independent, politically, but not economically. All the neighboring lands were in colonial hands, and the colonial powers, in the 1880s, completely cut off all trade with Liberia, and America scaled back its commerce with the nation it had founded.

In the 1920s, to stay afloat, Liberia granted a 99 year lease to the Firestone Rubber Company to exploit its rubber reserves in exchange for $5,000,000 dollars. It wasn't long, however, before the League of Nations (forerunner of the UN) charged Firestone and the Liberian government with using forced labor (slavery) to fulfill the contract.

Internally, Liberia has also had problems. It has been beset by rivalries. Initially, when it was composed largely of African American colonists, the hierarchy was based on the percentage of European blood. Later, as the boundaries of the small West African nation pushed steadily, and forcefully, into the interior, the Americo-Liberians as a whole, with their western education and connections, were the rulers and the locals the subjects. (Note there’s long been a tradition of educating the children of the Liberian elite in America’s historically Black colleges.)

However, the Liberian power structure was abruptly upended, in 1980, when Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe led a coup that assassinated the president (Tolbert) and overthrew the government, which had been in power the since 1847.

Doe became Liberia’s first non-Americo Liberian head of state. Nine years later, however, in 1989, the Americo Liberians in the person of Charles Taylor struck back. Taylor assassinated Doe and, after a murderous seven year civil war, was elected president. He soon became deeply involved in the adjacent nation of Sierra Leone...

Sierra Leone, founded in 1791 by the British as their refuge for formerly enslaved Africans, can be seen as Liberia’s opposite number. African captives in America who fought on the British side during the American Revolution, afterwards were freed and sent to Sierra Leone. Also sent here were Maroons from Jamaica who surrendered and agreed to end their warfare against the British. Also, after Britain outlawed the slave trade, in 1807, enslaved Africans on ships seized on the high seas were sent to Sierra Leone.

A hierarchy like that in Liberia soon developed, with those who had lived in the West on top, and those from the slave ships and the local population (the Mende and Temne peoples) on the bottom.

After diamonds were found in Sierra Leone in 1930, the government signed an exclusive contract with the DeBeers Mining Company of South Africa. Little of the profits earned thereby have ever filtered down to the masses. Many thousands of individual miners have over the years squatted, that is illegally set up shop, in the gold fields deeded to DeBeers.

In 1996, Charles Taylor now firmly in control of Liberia, began to provide, for a fee, easy access to the international market for the diamonds of the Sierra Leone squatters. This badly destabilized the government by furnishing funds for rebel movements on behalf of the squatters and other disaffecteds.

It would take several years to put down these, thanks to Charles Taylor very well-equipped, rebels who fought with a murderous intensity. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were systematically killed, raped or mutilated by the rebels.

Today Charles Taylor stands indicted by the UN for "crimes against humanity" for his central role in funding the atrocities in the war in Sierra Leone. Once deprived of the monies the illegal Sierra Leone diamond trade afforded, Taylor was unable to contain the rebel groups in his own country, Liberia. These now ring the capital city, Monrovia. Eventually, they will win the city, but the fighting is likely to kill many civilians.

Right now there’s a pause, as the American president tours Africa amid calls, by some in the international community, that the US send in troops to head an international peacekeeping force...

Send E-mail to : ramsees7@yahoo.com

TRADING PLACES..........June 21st 2003

The Sahara, it is said, is a sea traversed by the ship that is the camel, or rather, the camel caravan. A number of trade routes criss-cross this hot, dangerous, immense expanse. They connect a series of cities on the Sahara’s southern and northern rims. At times a city located at a crossroads on these legendary trading paths became the seat of mighty empire, for example, TIMBUKTU, GAO and KUMBI...

KUMBI was the trading center for the West African kingdom of Ghana (400 - 1100 AD). Located at the junction of several trans-Saharan routes, KUMBI lies south of the desert and perched just above the bend in the River Niger. Here huge caravans assembled for the brutal trek north, while others emerged from the swirling sands, to resupply and continue south, or transfer their goods onto barges sailing down the Niger River.

Through KUMBI, Ghana organized and protected the salt, horse, cloth, and above all the gold, caravans passing through its realm. And, in exchange for this organization and protection, taxed them freely. Ghana was so wealthy it's kings fielded 200,000 man armies and had courts where all, even the dogs, were bedecked with gold. Ghana fell, however, in 1076, attacked and overrun by the Almoravids, an orthodox Muslim movement begun in Senegal.

Around 1230, the nearby kingdom of Mali rose to prominence ultimately encompassing all of what had been Ghana’s extensive territory. Mali’s commercial center was the legendary city of GAO, like KUMBI also located on the Niger. Mansa Musa was the famed king of Mali who, in 1324, made a pilgrimage to Mecca with 80,000 followers and 100 camels, each carrying 300 pounds of gold.

By the late 1400s, though, Mali, in its turn, was eclipsed by the adjacent kingdom of Songhai. It soon encompassed all the land, the trade routes and the power that Mali and earlier Ghana had held, and then some. Through its trade city, TIMBUKTU, Songhai controlled additional trans-Saharan passages heading northwest into the heart of the Muslim world. Enslaved Africans were a primary component of this northwestern trade.

Askia the Great was the famed Songhai monarch under whose reign the cities of TIMBUKTU and JENNE reached their height, not only as trading centers, but learning centers renowned and celebrated around the world...

Many of the peoples of West Africa trace their origins to the Nile River Valley. Egypt, though it may have been the "Gift of the Nile," was but the tip of the vast Nile Valley culture, the world’s oldest civilization. In 666 BC, however, invaders from Asia, the Assyrians, conquered Egypt. The African rulers and much of the populace migrated to, and over time assimilated into, the kingdom of Kush just to the south, greatly enriching it with their presence and their contributions.

Kush’s capital was soon moved south from NAPATA to MEROE as Kush began to orient itself southward toward the source of the Nile and the heart of the continent. It’s influence and control spread well up both branches of the longest river in the world, the Blue Nile and the White. MEROE was in easy caravan reach of the Red Sea and the seagoing commerce it enabled. A plentiful supply of iron ore and wood led to the development of iron industry in MEROE as early as 500 BC.

The kingdom of Kush, and its capital MEROE, would last for more than a thousand years. Eventually, however, (200 AD) they were overshadowed by the ancient Ethiopian kingdom based in the city of AXUM. In 400 AD, MEROE was attacked and destroyed. Just as the Egyptians had earlier migrated to Kush, now the Kushites began a massive exodus that would ripple all the way out to the southern and western limits of the continent.

AXUM, MEROE’S successor, was situated in the Ethiopian highlands, not far from where the Red Sea empties out into the Gulf of Aden. The port city for AXUM was the Red Sea port of ADULIS. AXUM traded trinkets, wine, cloth and finished iron goods with the peoples of the interior for iron ore, hides, gold and enslaved Africans. These were shipped from the port of ADULIS and traded in Arabia, Persia, Constantinople and India.

At its height, in the fourth and fifth centuries AD, the Axumite kingdom controlled much of Arabia, modern day Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan. AXUM was the seed that blossomed into the legendary kingdom of Ethiopia. It is said that the first Axumite (Ethiopian) king was Menelik, the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. It’s believed that the original Ark of the Covenant was taken to Ethiopia by Menelik and is still kept in AXUM. The fourth century Ethiopian king, Ezana, converted to Christianity thereby making Ethiopia the first Christian nation...

The AXUMITES, however, were hardly the only Africans to trade with Asia. For thousands of years there has been a lively commerce across the Indian Ocean. From November to March the drenching monsoon winds blow steadily from the northeast carrying ships laden with goods from Arabia, India, China and Indonesia to the eastern shores of the Motherland. They return, from May to September, when the prevailing winds blow the opposite way.

The Swahili people, language and culture are the products of the ages old intermixture of these visitors (particularly Arabs) with the Bantu people of coastal East Africa. Traditionally, gold, ivory, gums, skins, coconut oils and enslaved Africans from the interior were traded for glass, cloth, weapons, porcelain and beads.

In the seventeenth century, the Portugese arrival disrupted this commerce. The Swahili and the Arab traders appealed for help from the Sultan of Oman, a small kingdom on the Arabian peninsula. The Sultan drove the Portugese as far south as the coastal areas of what is today Mozambique. He then sent his representatives to the island of Zanzibar, off the coast of what is today Tanzania, to govern the commerce of much of East Africa.

Though previously the traffic in enslaved Africans was only a small portion of East Africa’s overseas trade, by the nineteenth century it became a mainstay. This trade was so lucrative that the Sultan eventually moved his capital from the Arabian peninsula to the island of ZANZIBAR. ZANZIBAR, and other offshore islands under his control, traded with the Swahili of the coastal cities who, in turn, traded with, and often plundered, the interior.

Indians played a prominent role in all of this. They bankrolled the Sultan’s business operations back in Oman as well as here on the East African coast. Thus, was laid the seeds for the extensive Indian commercial presence found in Eastern and Southern Africa.

And so there you have it. KUMBI, GAO, TIMBUKTU, MEROE, AXUM and ZANZIBAR were just some of the centers of trade that united the continent and linked it with patterns of international commerce that continue to grow and change right up until today...

Send E-mail to : ramsees7@yahoo.com

AMERICANS LACK INTELLIGENCE...........June 6th 2003

Intelligence means "smarts." It also means information and the organizations that gather it. More than $30 billion is spent each year by the FBI, CIA, NSA and other American intelligence gathering agencies, nonetheless, 911 caught us completely off guard. Two years later, no one is yet identified as having failed in their duty to keep us informed...

For a solid year before the invasion of Iraq, we were told again and again and again that Saddam Husein had "weapons of mass destruction." And then on the very eve of war, Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared before the UN with a dizzying array of spy satellite photos and intelligence reports documenting the nature of the threat.

Hundreds of suspect sites were identified, and we were assured that Iraq would use its "weapons of mass destruction" on our troops sent to remove the threat hanging over our heads.

As it turned out, however, no chemical, bioglogical or nuclear weapons of any kind were used by Iraq, and in the two months since the war, none have been found. When some suggest the government may have altered the intelligence assessments to sell us on war, the charge is vigorously denied by the president, his administration, the CIA and the other intelligence agencies.

However, our intelligence agencies, just 18 months after failing to predict the most deadly attack the country ever suffered, provided a bogus rationale for us to attack another sovreign nation. Is it not clear that something is wrong? 

Before the attack on Iraq the UN repudiated our actions and the world was convulsed by demonstrations. The American people, by a bare majority, grudgingly gave the go-ahead for the attack because of the intelligence, now proved false, that we were in danger.

Why then is there now no sustained outcry? One reason is because the news media, over the years, has largely abandoned its traditionally critical, watchdog role, and for the most part is content to read us government press releases. Huge business conglomerates dominate the media, and the Federal Communication Commission, which is headed by Michael Powell (son of Colin) this week granted them even more power.

The new FCC rules "permit a single company to own one newspaper, three television stations and as many as eight radio stations in a single city... Even though the FCC announced in September that it would rewrite the rules, Powell held only one public hearing on his proposed changes.... And it was not until last week that the major television stations held a single story on the issue. Few newspapers or local television stations bothered to provide any coverage. No wonder that a recent public opinion poll found nearly 75% of the public had no idea media ownership rules were being revamped."  (Juan Gonzalez in the 6/3/03 NY Daily News)

And so we see that if the American public has had little information (intelligence) that it can rely on, in the future it will have even less. As the next election draws near the American public, swept by an uncritical media-driven patriotic frenzy, appears poised to re-elect a man who was never elected in the first place. The reason is clear. Americans lack intelligence... Ramsees7@yahoo.com AFRICA UNLIMITED 6/6/3

Send E-mail to : ramsees7@yahoo.com

Actor, producer and activist Danny Glover is under attack for his spirited critique of the War in Iraq. Conservative groups are taking him to task in TV ads urging viewers to contact the telecommunications giant MCI and demand that they stop making commercials using Danny Glover as spokesperson.

Glover says these attacks are a smokescreen for the real target, the right to dissent. His opponents say they are merely exercising their right to free speech. Who’s telling the truth? Both are.

He has the right to speak against the Iraq policy, and they have the right to speak against him. While it’s true that the attack on Glover can have a chilling effect on dissent, those who support what he’s saying, or merely his right to say it, can, and should, call MCI and tell them so.

Africans in Hollywood have traditionally been seen and not heard. Glover, it is clear, is breaking that mold. Among other things, he's also spoken in defense of Cuba, against the death penalty, and on behalf of African and Haitian issues. And Glover heads the Board of Directors of TransAfrica Forum, aN African American support group that works diligently on behalf of Africa. TransAfrica has sent out the following info.

"The attack on Danny takes place at the same time that other courageous public figures are facing the wrath of the administration and their allies on the political Right for daring to challenge US foreign policy on Iraq, Cuba and countless other situations. The attempt to isolate and destroy political opponents is reminiscent of the McCarthy era. It happened to the great Paul Robeson in the 1950s, and from that lesson we should learn that this can NEVER be allowed to happen again...

"Letting MCI know how we feel is an important statement against the campaigns to demonize, discredit and destroy that have characterized this administration and its supporters on both international and domestic fronts....

"Contact MCI immediately. Let it be known that you appreciate MCI for its commitment to democratic values which are the bedrock principle of good corporate citizenship. Urge the company to hold firm to those values by refusing to buckle to pressure and continue to engage Danny Glover as a spokersperson. Let your voices be heard!

"Here are the ways to contact MCI: Anyone can call the PR office to comment: 800/644-NEWS or 202/736-6700 MCI Customers can call Customer Service at 800/444-3333 Email can be done through the website - there is an electronic submission form: http://consumer.mci.com/customer_service/ContactUs.jsp (from Bill Fletcher of TransAfrica Forum) (Thanks DLeon@nycboe.net for alerting us to this issue. Ramsees7@yahoo.com AFRICA UNLIMITED 5/24/3)

Send E-mail to : ramsees7@yahoo.com

BklynDreamer81@yahoo.com: Back in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, rap could only be heard at house parties, on corners of certain neighborhoods and at underground clubs. Back in the 1970s and 1980s rap was strictly a form of music found in urban communities and performed by Blacks and Latinos. Now-a-days rap can be heard everywhere, from suburban communities to far off places like Japan and Australia. Blacks can thank White people, whether they like it or not, for making rap a mainstream, multi-million dollar business.  

Rap was first introduced to suburban homes in 1986 when popular rap group Run DMC teamed up with superstar rock group Aerosmith to make the rap crossover classic "Walk This Way." With this song and video being played on many radio stations and on MTV, rap found a new audience and source of revenue. But like everything Whites get involved in, there were many negative aspects with their involvement in rap. One huge negative aspect was the idea that many of the Whites that became fans of rap thought that they too can rap.

The most famous example of this was Robert Wan Winkle, known to the rap world as "Vanilla Ice." Ice was a controversial White rapper, out of Miami Lakes Florida, borrowed MC Hammer’s blueprint for commercial success and scored a UK/US number 1 with "Ice Ice Baby" (15 million records sold worldwide). Just as Hammer utilized easily recognizable rock/pop classics to strengthen his rhymes, Ice used the same technique in reshaping "Under Pressure," "Satisfaction," and "Play That Funky Music" for his collection. While rap lovers held up their hands in horror at what they described as a phony, Vanilla Ice responded by telling his critics that they could "Kiss My White Ass" at an MTV Awards ceremony. A reference to the argument that rap was inherently Black music, his comment did little to ease angry factions in the rap world.

Mark Wahlberg, also known as "Marky Mark," was also a black eye on the face on rap. Marky Mark was once proclaimed as the "thinking rapper’s Madonna" upon his entrance into the rap game in the early 90s. Mark was also employed as an underwear model for Calvin Klein, his two albums did little to dispel his image as a clotheshorse for White rap, even though all of the members of his Funky Bunch were Black. Mark enjoyed almost instant success when "Good Vibrations," featuring a sample of Loleatta Holloway’s disco hit "Love Sensation," topped the US charts in July 1991 and broke into the UK Top 20. "Love Sensation" was followed by the Top 10 single "Wildside," a revision of Lou Reed’s urban mantra, "Walk On The Wild Side."

Another negative aspect about the whites involvement in rap are the "wiggers" (White niggers). These are White men and women who listen to rap music and dress, talk and walk like their favorite artists. This first started with Whites, than Arabs and eventually Asians began mimicking the lifestyle of their favorite rap artists.

Now that Whites are an important part of rap they have the ability to proclaim who the "King of Rap" is. Today Eminem has been proclaimed the "King of Rap" by many music magazines and Whites who think that Eminem invented rap music. Elvis was the first to be proclaimed as the "King" even though he used songs written by Black musicians. Michael Jackson later became the "King of Pop" by whites, only after he had several cosmetic surgeries making him look White.

In the midst of the several negative aspects, there are several good aspects with the White influence in rap. One is the numerous talented White rappers that have graced a mic throughout the years. The first influx of talented White rappers were the Beastie Boyz, composed of MCA, Mike D and King Adrock. The Beastie Boyz are a former hardcore trio who found international fame as the first crossover White rap act of the 80s. Their album, "Licensed To Ill," became the first rap album to top the US pop charts at the end of November 1986 and reached number 7 in the UK charts the following January.

House of Pain, a hardcore Irish American group, have also positively contributed to the growth of rap in mainstream America. Their addictive, and only, hit "Jump Around" (a personal favorite of mine) reached number 3 in the summer of 1992, a good example of street poetry that they called "Fine malt lyricism." Another talented White rapper is Warren Anderson Mathis, also known as "Bubba Sparxxx," from La Grange Georgia. Bubba was raised in a country area of Georgia where he first heard rap music from his nearest neighbor, who lived half a mile down the road. Bubba offers a different spin on the rap format, by celebrating his rural southern upbringing against tracks produced by leading rap producers Timbaland and Organized Noize.

The most famous White rapper to come out of the white involvement in rap is Marshall Mathers III, known to the world as "Eminem." Eminem, also known as "Slim Shady," had been featured on the Source’s (the Holy Bible of rap) Unsigned Hype column, won the Wake Up Show’s Freestyle Performer Of The Year and finished runner-up in Los Angeles’ annual Rap Olympics before eventually signing with rap superstar/producer Dr.Dre. His second album, "The Marshall Mathers LP," debuted at number 1 on the US album chart in May 2000 and established him as the most successful rapper since the mid-90s West Coast duo of Tupac and Snoop Dogg (even though I find that hard to believe with the Notorious B.I.G’s 2 albums, "Ready To Die" and "Life After Death" coming out in the mid to late 90s). His latest album, "The Eminem Show," debuted at number 1 in the US and UK in May 2002.

Rap was something that was strictly urban, found only at certain locations and at one time called a "fad," but because of Whites rap has evolved into a bi-racial form of music that can be found in different countries and in different languages. The Whites involvement has brought negative aspects as well as positive ones, but the positive has found a way to outlast and overcome the negative aspects. Now the question is now that Whites are heavily involved in rap, what will happen to the Blacks in rap? "RA," a White rapper out of Long Island tries to answer toe question, "...But hip-hop is being drained by White people. It’s becoming a White culture, and eventually Black people will move on to some other sh–." (Quote from Kaufman, Gill. "Where Are All The Other White Rappers?". 8-07-2002. MTV.com) This article is by Jason Thompson also known as   ( AFRICA UNLIMTED 5/15/3 Ramsees7@yahoo.com )

Send E-mail to : ramsees7@yahoo.com

Did you ever notice how the continents look like they could all fit together like a giant jigsaw puzzle? Well that’s because they were, all together that is, until about 200 million years ago. And then Pangea, the super-continent, began to break apart.

The earth’s surface, its "crust," is made up of a number of huge plates that are slowly, ever so slowly, shifting. Earthquakes are the sudden, violent release of the ferocious, pent-up energy that this produces over time. The African mainland is located on one huge "tectonic" plate. The Arabian peninsula, which is gradually pulling away from the mainland, is on another. The narrow channel that is the Red Sea was produced by the rubbing of these two tectonic plates.

The tension from this tear in the surface of the earth travels straight down the entire eastern half of the continent producing what is called the Great Rift Valley. The Nile, longest river in the world, begins in the waters of the Great Lakes in the mountainous highlands at the center of the Great Rift. It flows 4,000 miles due north and empties out into the Mediterranean Sea...

Science informs us that humanity had an African Genesis. (One of the principal attributes of humanity is the ability to make and use tools.) The earliest fossil remains of tool using creatures have been found in Ethiopia and determined to be about 5,000,000 years old. All Europeans are descended from a group of no more than 50 Africans who left the continent between 60,000 and 27,000 years ago. Asians are descended from people who left Africa between 200,000 - 100,000 years ago...

For the last six thousand years or so, the northern third of the African continent has been drying up. (This region is today called the Sahara Desert.) Over time, as conditions became more and more arid, the population converged on the lakes and waterways that remained, the mighty Nile River being the most important by far. Along its banks there arose the earliest civilization.

Around 4,000 BC the Nile was lined with a series of agricultural communities which gradually grew in size and complexity. By 3000 BC two mighty kingdoms grew up in the last few hundred miles of its length before it reached the Mediterranean Sea. Today we know them as Upper and Lower Egypt. After a major conflict they were united as one, and the ruler of the two lands became known as the Pharaoh. The Pharaohs ruled Egypt for more than 3000 years. Soon after Egypt was unified, the Great Pyramids at Giza, near modern day Cairo were constructed to commemorate this event.

Egyptian colonies and military power eventually extended far and wide, deep into southeastern Europe, southwest Asia, Arabia and much of the nearby Sahara. The Egyptians traded with peoples throughout the African continent and with communities as far away as India. It’s believed that Egyptian ships reached Mexico on more than one occasion, but unable to return, settled there and established communities with the local peoples. The giant stone sculptures, of the heads of African warriors (the Olmec heads), and the pyramids of southern Mexico and Guatemala are evidence of Africa’s presence in the Americas centuries before the birth of Christ.

The Great Pyramids at Giza, were built more than one thousand years before the birth of Abraham, Father of the Arabs and the Jews, and about two thousand years before the legendary Trojan War memorialized by the Greek poet Homer in the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. About 2500 years after the pyramids were erected, Socrates and other Greeks came as foreign students to study in the Egyptian University System. After they returned to Greece, they became the first European philosophers.

The Nile Valley is the birthplace of writing, geometry and much of what we today call math and science. The story of Jesus Christ and Mary his mother is a very close parallel to the Egyptian story of Isis and Horus. Before the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, it followed Egyptian religion. The famous French cathedral, Notre Dame (Our Lady), is located at the site of a former temple to Isis, the Egyptian goddess who was the mother of Horus.

Over time as invaders swept into Egypt, from Asia and then Europe, much of the original population of the Nile Valley dispersed throughout the continent. The Dogon of Nigeria are one such group. Their religious ceremonies center around the three stars in the Sirius constellation. The three pyramids at Giza form the same exact pattern as the three Sirius stars. And the shaft in the Great Pyramid at Giza is aimed at the brightest star in the Sirius constellation.

It is believed that in addition to the Dogon of Mali, the Gala people of Nigeria, the Moors of North Africa, the Shona of Southern Africa and many others are descended from the Egyptians and the other pioneering peoples of the ancient Nile River Valley... (by Arthur Lewin) See Stolen Legacy by George G.M. James, They Came Before Columbus by Ivan Van Sertima, The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams, A History of the African People by Robert W. July, and the periodical The New Scientist, 5/9/1) Questions, comments, requests for more detailed documentation? Contact Ramsees7@yahoo.com AFRICA UNLIMITED 5/10/3

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A TALE OF 2 SOLDIERS: Sgt. Akbar vs. Gen. Brooks

( Brigadier General Vincent Brooks and Sergeant Hasan Akbar, one works in public relations courting the public’s opinion, the other is facing a courtmartial for serious charges of treason. Here are excerpts from two articles: "One Black Family, Three Generals: Brooks Brothers Reared in Military Tradition" by Linda Bean of www.diversityinc.com and "Hawks and Doves Shocked and Awed Into Silence In the Case of Sgt. Akbar" by James C. McIntosh, M.D. The latter was forwarded by Dr. Donald H. Smith. The former came via Jclind2@msn.com )

At 7 a.m. EST, on almost every day since the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks has taken the podium at U.S. Central Command to brief news reporters -- and the rest of the cable-connected world -- on the status of the war....the African-American West Point graduate now stationed in Doha, Qatar, has become the official face of the conflict.

...Sgt Assan (Hasan) Akbar a 31 year old Muslim, Black soldier of the 101st Airborne based at Camp Pennsylvania near the border of Iraq is alleged to have thrown a grenade into a tent of his base commander Col. Frederick Hodges wounding Hodges and several other officers of his unit. Akbar is also alleged to have killed Captain Christopher Scott Siefert with small arms fire, and to have wounded several other soldiers as they tried to escape the tent. Sgt. Assan Akbar... is reported to have committed these acts in protest to the War and/or to racism in the Army...

(Gen. Vincent Brooks) is measured and precise. He also is "passionate and compassionate -- a disciplined professional," says his older brother, Leo, who formally is known as Brigadier General Leo Brooks Jr., commandant of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The presence of the younger Brig. Gen. Brooks, 44, at the podium, with all the rank, responsibility and respect the job requires, says something about diversity in the United States, according to the elder Brig. Gen. Brooks, 46 -- specifically that the military gets it right."The military in general has always led the way in terms of integrating the people who make up this country into its force," he says...

...One could postulate that Sgt. Assan Akbar did what the Nuremberg trials suggest is an option for, a soldier ordered to perform murderous illegal war crimes or "crimes against peace." He not only refused to simply "follow orders" but directly opposed the orders... Even though the initial reports were that outside terrorists committed the killings, Akbar has already been convicted by the press. Even before they provided his name rank or serial number or even knew his military occupational specialty white newpapers were already calling Akbar a traitor. As a Muslim Black, Akbar is, of course, going to be considered guilty by the military until doubly proven innocent...

Leo Brooks Sr. enlisted in the Army in 1954 and rose to the rank of major general. In 1984, he was asked by Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode to join the city's administration as managing director. The elder Brooks retired from the Army at the rank of brigadier general...

(I)t is incumbent upon all who believe in justice to demand humane treatment, an expert defense, justice and some would say amnesty, for Akbar. If President-select Bush can, in defiance of the UN, invade a sovereign nation then still express concern for and even demand humane treatment for U.S. soldiers participating in that illegal invasion--- If Amnesty international demands humane treatment of all combatants in Iraq, can they or the entire Antiwar movement do any less for Sgt.Akbar...

Leo Brooks Jr. was among the first African Americans to graduate from West Point with the rank of regimental commander, supervising one of four regiments at the academy. A year later, Vincent Brooks was the first African American to graduate as first captain, the highest possible student rank. "Just the fact that my father was able to rise through the ranks ... Was it tough? Yes, it was. Did he experience prejudice in his life? Yes, he did. But there were people, and not just black people, who gave him an opportunity," Brooks says. "That is why I'm sitting where I'm sitting and that is why my brother is sitting where he is sitting. That is all people want -- an opportunity," he adds...

Where are the demands to the International Red Cross, The Red Crescent, Amnesty International to investigate the treatment and circumstances of Sgt. Assan Akbar's incarceration and interrogation? Where even are the demands to the News Media to cover this case.To paraphrase Mandela, Has Sgt Akbar paralyzed them? Are they-- are you-- too shocked and awed to answer?

(Excerpts from articles written by Linda Bean and James McIntosh ) 

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Black History Month at Baruch + Beyond….........February 17th, 2003

Right now across the nation celebrations and observances for Black History Month are in full swing. Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York has some things on tap that I'm sure you'll want to note. However, just as interesting as the events themselves are the intriguing issues from which they spring...

WHICH WAY ZIMBABWE?

Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, has started seizing farmlands from rich white settlers and turning them over to the now-impoverished, original African owners. However, the opposition party has aligned itself with the white settlers and the British and American governments which are actively trying to topple Mugabe.

Representatives from the Zimbabwe government, and from the opposition, will be on hand for a spirited debate. Is Mugabe a despot or a patriot? Is the opposition selling out, or working to remove a leader that's been in power ( 24years ) far too long? The NY press corps will be there in force. Let's make sure we are too...

WED. FEB. 19 FROM 6:30 - 9:00 PM HALL B-2 Baruch College Main Building Use Entrance on 25th St. between Lexington and 3rd. REFRESHMENTS will be served. ( If you are thinking of coming, e-mail us Ramsees7@yahoo.com and leave your name beforehand. Otherwise, ask for Dr. Lewin when you arrive. ) And on the following night...

WHITE SUPREMACY = BLACK INFERIORITY?

Renowned scholar and educator, Dr. Barbara Sizemore, tackles key issues facing Black students and their families. Her special emphasis is on the idea of "white supremacy," and how it seems to automatically imply "Black inferiority." Dr. Sizemore is the keynote speaker at the 7th Annual Dr. Donald H. Smith Lecture.

Dr. Smith himself, Professor Emeritus at Baruch College, and an icon in American education, will be on hand with his just-released autobiography, Climbing Up the Mountain Children. It is a truly riveting first-person account of the key events in Black America before, during and after the Civil Rights Movement. A wealth of well-known activists, scholars from the community, and from academia, will be on hand. Make sure you also make the scene...

THURS. FEB. 20 FROM 6:00 - 9:00 PM 7th Floor Baruch College Library Building 25th St. betw. Lexington and 3rd Avenues. REFRESHMENTS will be served. ( If you are thinking of coming, e-mail us and leave your name beforehand. Otherwise, ask for Dr. Lewin when you arrive. ) Ramsees7@yahoo.com

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AN IDEA(L) NIGHT IN HARLEM….........February 13th, 2003

Did you hear those reports claiming Latinos now outnumber Blacks? Saturday before last, there was a front page story in the Times quoting Dr. Henry Louis Gates saying that Latinos were now "the number one minority in the nation," and that this was somehow a historic moment. The article also said Gates was scheduled to appear in an upcoming Black Studies Conference to be held at the Schomburg Research Center in Black Culture...

Last Thursday, February 6th, there was a hint of snow blowing in the night air as I rolled off the George Washington Bridge onto the windy streets of Harlem. At the point where Lenox crosses 135th two massive structures, Harlem Hospital and the Schomburg Center, stand across from each other. Pedestrians bubbled up out of the subway as cars whisked past in the streets of the busy intersection.

I was on time, a few minutes early in fact, but guess what? The conference was closed. There were already 450 people packed into the 350 seat auditorium. I was part of the small crowd in the carpeted lobby just outside the hall. I chatted with the guards at the door. We were joined by a blue suited, youngish man who turned out to be the grandson of 1940s bandleader Cab Calloway.

As we reminisced about the music and the movies starring his zoot suited, jazzman grandad, a group of a dozen or so suddenly exited the auditorium. Right away Cab Calloway III turned to a guard and said authoritatively, "Now surely you can let us in!"And just like that the guard said, "Yes, go right on in."

Five men and a woman were up on the softly lit black stage. Each spoke slowly and deliberately in turn. The audience sat rapt in the darkened hall. I noticed that Gates, who was to be a featured speaker, was nowhere to be seen. Drs. Carol Boyce Davies and James Turner ruefully recounted how professors of Black Studies are to some extent recognized and facilitated in American Academia, but they had to pay a price. They had to spend a good deal of time doing the kind of research the university approved of before they were permitted to indulge their first love, the unfettered study of their people.

Davies wore her hair in dreadlocks. Turner had on a dark brown African top flecked with white streaks. The moderator, Schomburg Director Howard Dodson, noted that in the roughly 300 years between 1492 and 1776, three times as many Africans as Europeans entered the Americas. Hence, he said, Black History is hardly a peripheral endeavor but a large bulk of the study of the American past. Dr. Dodson looked sharp as a tack in his dark brown suit, white shirt, black tie and glasses.

Dr. Ron Karenga, originator of the African American celebration of Kwanzaa, was also there on stage in his trademark 60s style dark glasses and black dashiki. No matter what he said he always brought it back to his twin themes, self-reliance and African centeredness. What I remember of panelist Dr. Robert Hall’s comments was his meticulous recounting of the history of Black Studies. He was a bespectacled, ruffled figure in his sport jacket and open necked shirt. But he was intense, very intense, as he delivered his detailed chronology of the discipline.

At one point a vociferous gent, sitting up front and wearing a brown cowboy hat, interrupted the deliberations with an insistent demand that they take questions from the floor. After a decent interval, that’s exactly what they did. The first questioner was a Latino gentleman who explained how he gained an appreciation, in fact, a love of his Africanness. He also said that he had helped secure the publication of W.E.B. DuBois Souls of Black Folk in Cuba. The audience cheered him.

Next came the fellow with the cowboy hat. He was a journalist, Playthell Benjamin. The tall stout figure stood at the mike holding a huge cigar and brandishing it for effect as he went to work. First he seemed to attack the comments of the first questioner by citing a litany of anti-Black actions of Latin American governments. Then he went to work on Hall’s chronology of the history of Black Studies. Among other things he let us know that he was in at the very beginning of the Black Studies movement and the civil rights movement. That was a surprise to me and apparently to the audience as well.

Another questioner turned out to be none other than Dr. Lenora Fulani, former candidate for the presidency of the US. She was warmly greeted by the crowd. Fulani politely asked why it was that the Black Studies movement had not only failed in maintaining African American consciousness, but also done little to foster the literacy of the Black student in America. Dr. James Strickland, another panelist, seemed to take offense at the question. In testy tones he said, in effect, that the whole generation of American youth, not just Blacks, were going nowhere. Karenga, however, explained that though the discipline could not be blamed for the failures of the society, we all had an obligation to teach African awareness at all times in all of our activities in our communities.

Afterwards I learned that Dodson, at the very beginning, had given an explanation for Gates absence, and said that the issue of Latinos surpassing Blacks was not, as the Times piece indicated, to be a major focus of the conference.

By the way, the place where the conference was held, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, was named after Puerto Rican Arturo Schomburg. As a youth in the NY public schools, Schomburg asked his teacher why he was not learning anything about the history and contributions of Africans. The teacher said because Africans had no history or contributions worth mentioning. Arturo Schomburg spent his entire life proving him wrong. His private collection of books on Black history ultimately became a public library that eventually became an internationally renowned research center.

Furthermore, whether or not Latinos outnumber Blacks remains to be seen, since the identifications "Latino" and "Black," to some extent, overlap. But beyond that, who's really counting? Not the Latinos. Not Blacks. The Census Bureau is run by Euro Americans who decide the categories for classification and first floated the idea that we should be worried about who is "the number one minority." I wonder if it will be headline news on the day, not that far off, when they hold that dubious title? (Arthur Lewin AFRICA UNLIMITED 2/12/3 Ramsees7@yahoo.com )

The Conference was sponsored by Princeton University, the Schomburg Center and the CUNY Institute for Research on the African Diaspora and the Caribbean (IRADAC). For a fuller recounting of the 3 day event see Herb Boyd's excellent article in www.tbwt.com

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156 Inmates Taken Off Death Row….........January 13th, 2003

(The Associated Press, 1/11/3) Gov. George Ryan will commute the death sentences of all 156 inmates on Illinois's death row, (converting their sentences to life imprisonment). Ryan halted the state's executions nearly three years ago after courts found that 13 death row inmates had been wrongly convicted since the state resumed capital punishment in 1977 — a period during which only 12 other inmates were executed.

(Also) Ryan on Friday pardoned four other death row inmates, saying the men had been tortured by police into making false confessions. "The system has failed all four men," Ryan said. "It has failed the people of this state." Ryan said Chicago police tortured Hobley, Howard, Patterson and Orange into confessing to murders they had not committed. Each of them was on death row for at least 12 years. Orange was on death row the longest, more than 17 years.

"We have evidence from four men, who did not know each other, all getting beaten and tortured and convicted on the basis of the confessions they allegedly provide," Ryan said. "They are perfect examples of what is so terribly broken about our system. Ryan spread the blame in his hour-long speech, calling the state's criminal justice system "inaccurate, unjust and unable to separate the innocent from the guilty, and at times very racist."

He blamed "rogue cops," zealous prosecutors, incompetent defense lawyers and judges who rule on technicalities rather than on what is right. He also criticized the Illinois Legislature for failing to enact his proposals to reform the death penalty system.

Hobley was convicted of murder and aggravated arson in the deaths of seven people, including his wife and infant son. He contended he made a false confession after he was beaten and nearly suffocated. Patterson, 38, claims he was tortured into falsely confessing to murder after police threatened him with a gun, beat him and tried to suffocate him in 1986. He previously turned down a deal to admit guilt and drop his claim of police torture in exchange for freedom.

Orange, 52, was sentenced to die for taking part in the stabbing of his former girlfriend, her 10-year-old son and two others. The conviction came despite Orange's description of torture and testimony that his half brother, Leonard Kidd, was the one who stabbed the victims. Kidd, also on death row, claims he too was tortured into confessing. Howard, 40, was convicted of murder, armed robbery and rape, among other crimes. He claims he is innocent but confessed after he was handcuffed to a wall ring, beaten and choked by police in November 1984. (Excerpts from 1/11/3 Associated Press Release) Ramsees7@yahoo.com AFRICA UNLIMITED 1/11/3

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IN DEFENSE OF RAP….........January 11th, 2003

(K.T. wrote the following in response to the statement we ran by Al Sharpton that sharply criticized rap music.)

I have 6 college degrees including a Ph. D. I am ordained as an Afrikan orthdox and southern baptist minister. I also run a hip-hop label... These handkerchief head process wearing wanna be white politician Afronegro types that say all kinds of thing against films like Barbershop and hip-hop artists but do nothing but make speeeches. Hip-hop is one of the few legitimate business sectors employing many of our poorest people; it's either this or drugs.

Does Al Dulltone or Justme Jackson have anything for our people really? Check their finances and you'll see that a majority of their money comes from Euroamericans. I'll take a brainwashed, can be worked with, brother that raps over a "supposed sane" talking head financed by my enemies any day.

Incidentally, I came up out the dirty for life son, ATL, and I'll tell you this, my brothers who call me "nigga" as in "what's up my nigga?" and who sit and drink 40s and smoke blunts and don't always respect women the way they should, WILL fight and die for me if you put your hands on me. What are the dignified well-speaking "African-americans" gone do? Pray to a white Jesus, call a white cop, or ask some white person to help me (cause they don't wanna cause no trouble). I know my enemies from my friends. And some of these desperately want to be accepted by white Americans best wise up before we start taking headcounts on sellouts.

English ain't even my language. It was forced on me by the oppressor. The notion that I'm gone look down on my people because they either cannot or chose not to use it the way the slavemaster prefers in 2003 is ridiculous. This is what they did to Jesus, who had the same critique from the same Uncle Tom Jews (the real ones) when he was trying to impart his new "rap." They said you need to follow the book cause you gone get us in trouble with the romans and so they dissed him to try to look big to the masses.

We should declare a unilateral end of the right of white America to control Afrikan art forms and expressions including music and clean house at some of these records firms that are not ours and are really creating much of this perception that Sharpton and others are reacting to. Critique is easy, what have they done for us lately, in fact what have they done for the masses of Afrikan urban and rural youth period? Nothing except "keep hope alive."

The word "shit" is from Western language tradition and like the f word these are declared offensive and profane because the slavemasters declared them to be. You will not find them in most traditional Afrikan languages in their original roots, but you will find them in modern Western usages.

The words MF - B - SOB come to us from the Oedipus complex and the influence of thinkers like Freud who argued that men were stricken with a desire to rape their mothers (a will to power) and to feminize their fathers (B them). Women supposedly had the inverse condition. Oedipus was of course from the Greco-Roman tradition.

The point is not only did we not get to declare which words were profane, but moreover most of the stuff we believe profane is JUST THAT, but "profane" didn't etymologically mean wicked or bad, it meant secular as opposed to sacred, suggesting that was the language of common people in the vernacular as opposed to the elites. So ya'll can keep up with this mumbo jumbo about hip-hop lyrics as if the lyrics are changing your world.

If a lyric in a song is this powerful, then the real problem is that the elders have so little relevance, (on account of their disregard for the empirical realities of the youth), that the youth turn elsewhere for advice and counsel. Pick up 2pac's collected works and you'll learn a lot more about contemporary life among Afrikan youth in the so-called underclass than you ever will from Sharpton and his ilk. Revolution comes from the underground, not from those seeking to save the elite culture. I've pretty much had it with this class bias masquerading as concern for the plight of the masses... (by K.T.) AFRICA UNLIMITED 1/8/3 Ramsees7@yahoo.com

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SHARP WORDS 4 RAPPERS….........January 4th, 2003

VLOUMD@aol.com sent us this article by the Rev. Al Sharpton that recently appeared in the Electronic Urban Report EURweb.com )

I had a discussion with a few rappers a while back, and I asked them why they use so much profanity and are so misogynistic in their music. "Rev, we're like a mirror to society," one of the rappers said. "We are merely reflecting what we see." "Well, I don't know about you, but I use a mirror to correct what's wrong with me," I told them. "I don't look in the mirror to see my hair messed up and my teeth need brushing and just walk out of the house that way. I use the mirror to fix me."

This hip-hop culture must use their music, their influence to correct what's wrong, not to continue to perpetuate what's wrong, not continue to promote what's wrong. They have the power to do that. And if they really want to have an impact on society, they must change their focus and show America the best of us instead of the worst. I went to a hip-hop conference in New York, and one of the main topics of discussion was a fight for the right to use bitch and ho in lyrics. They wanted the right to call a woman a bitch - something the slave master called black women with impunity. With all the stuff going on in this world, all they're worried about is being able to call a woman out of her name?! That's their cause?

First of all, it's wrong. But second, it is insulting. These rappers and "hip-hop impresarios" weren't worried about unemployment or the financial conditions of those who support their records and made them stars. They weren't worried about the education system that keeps too many of their fans and families in poverty. They weren't worried about voting rights. They didn't have any conferences on any of that. There wasn't one seminar entitled "Economic Empowerment" or "Jobs for the 21st Century." No, they want the right to call somebody a ho or a bitch - somebody who brought them into this world. As far as I'm concerned, they are low-down devious things who aren't worth the millions of dollars young people spend to make them stars.

When I look at the hip-hop generation I am disappointed, but I also see promise. I see potential unrealized. I see tremendous power. These young people have created a culture. Their words, their spirit is so powerful that their voices have penetrated the mainstream culture to the point where America's culture is intertwined with the hip-hop culture, from its language to its clothing to its music.

You cannot turn on a television or watch a movie and not see the influence of hip-hop. Even suburban America has been bitten by the hip-hop bug. Unfortunately, much of what they're selling is a fraud. They spew hedonism, misogyny, and self-hate. They glorify the prison culture, the pimp culture, and drug culture. They tell the young that they're not worthy unless they're "rocking" Chanel, Gucci, or wearing platinum and diamonds. Not only is this message immoral, but it is also flawed. It's a lie. (by Reverend Al Sharpton, from the Electronic Urban Report, EURweb.com ) Ramsees7@yahoo.com ( AFRICA UNLIMITED 1/3/2 )

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Take a Look at the WHOLE LOT….........December 24th, 2002

Trent Lott, Senator from Mississippi, leader of the Republicans in the US Senate, at the 100th birthday party for Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina said the following.

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it! And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years, either."

What problems you ask. Well, as you may recall the 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, set the stage for the civil rights movement. It outlawed segregation in the schools of this nation. However, things had been brewing since 1948, when President Truman outlawed segregation in the armed forces and took steps to end the lynchings and other atrocities taking place against Blacks particularly in the South.

Truman, who hailed from Missouri, was a Democrat, and so were the vast majority of white Southern voters. (Blacks in the South were barred from voting.) At the time, 46 year old Strom Thurmond was governor of South Carolina. Furious at Truman’s progressive moves, he stormed out of the Democratic Party and formed his own Dixiecrat Party to challenge Truman in the 1948 election. He ended up winning four states: Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina.

In the years to come, as the Civil Rights movement developed, more and more whites in the, formerly solidly Democratic, South became Republican and Blacks in the North became Democratic. Since Republican president Lincoln had ended slavery Blacks had voted solidly Republican, but as Democratic presidents Truman, Kennedy and Johnson fostered civil rights, Blacks became Democrats and for the same reason white southerners became Republican.

Ronald Reagan had what he himself called a "Southern Strategy." For example, when he ran for president in 1980, he kicked off his campaign in the infamous town of Philadelphia, Mississippi where, in 1963, three civil rights workers were killed. Schwerner and Goodman, college students from Queens College in NYC, and Chaney a local Mississippi youth were systematically tortured and killed by a lynch mob led by police officials.

Yesterday, we learned that Lott had stepped down as Senate Republican leader. It was no surprise. It was only a matter of time. The Lott controversy threatened to wake the sleeping giant that is Black America. We were beginning to ask questions and do research about history, real history. Even TV was forced to dig up and examine historical truths. And that will never do. Expect them to sweep the case from the screen in a day or two, in the hopes that Blacks will fall back into mindless slumber. Stay on point. Stay on point. Keep the past alive. Don’t worry about all this Christmas jive.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are hardly without sin. At the same event where Lott made his remarks, Joe Lieberman, Senator from Connecticut and 2000 Democratic nominee for VP, praised Strom Thurmond as "an institution within an institution," a "man of iron with a heart of gold."

When he was president, Clinton dedicated a building in Washington, and gave a medal, to his mentor, Senator William Fullbright of Arkansas, who was just as stalwart a champion of segregation as Thurmond was. As Governor of Arkansas Clinton dedicated a holiday to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Democratic senator Robert Byrd who still represents West Virginia and who was the leader of his party in the Senate was not only a member but a recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan.

In 1915 Hollywood produced the first full length feature film, "Birth Of A Nation." In it, Reconstruction was pictured as a cover for Black men to terrorize white women and their families and the Ku Klux Klan was pictured as a heroic force. The president at the time, Democrat Woodrow Wilson, a former history professor, endorsed its validity saying that the film was "like history written with lightning." Race riots ensued in which Blacks were killed. The picture was subsequently banned for 50 years. However, it’s now available at your videostore.

One final note. Did you see Loot on BET? The interviewer, Ed Gordon, did a great job. He was polite. He did not beat up on the man when he was down, but he was insistent, very insistent. Lott was given every chance to prove his case, but of course he could not. Recall his question as to why Lott voted against the extension of the Voting Rights Act. Lott said it was because it was only aimed at the South and not at the rest of the nation.

As you may recall, the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. It provided that the federal government, not local authorities, would administer the voter registration process in 10 Southern states. (These states were the only ones barring Blacks from voting.) Does anyone believe, given the spectacle we witnessed in Florida in 2000, that the South can now be trusted to insure Black voting rights?

Yes, Lott had to go. But please, please, please, look at the whole lot of politicians representing this country. And keep studying history. The real history. Not the kind designed to turn you off and put you to sleep taught daily in the schools of this nation. ( Ramsees7@yahoo.com AFRICA UNLIMITED 12/21/2 )

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What Do U Subscribe 2….........December 10th, 2002

Sub means "under" and scribe means "write." So subscribe means to underwrite or support. One can subscribe to a newspaper or to an idea. For example the questions "Do you subscribe to the idea that OJ killed his wife?" "Do you subscribe to the Amsterdam News." (By the way, those who subscribe to the latter tend not to subscribe to the former.)

Today the press is reporting on the reopening of the Central Park Jogger Case. As you may recall, back in 1989, a young, white female jogging in Central Park was brutally raped, beaten and left for dead. Five Black and Latino youths were convicted based on their confessions.

At trial they vehemently proclaimed their innocence, contending the confessions were given under duress, all to no avail. They were sentenced for up to 13 years. Last summer, however, another man confessed, and his DNA was found to have been at the crime scene. No DNA from the five youths, or any evidence linking them, was ever found at the crime. After six months of deliberation, the District Attorney, the same DA who prosecuted the case, has recommended the youths be exonerated.

Those who read the Amsterdam News and those who only read the white press tend to subscribe to different theories of the case. Those who read the NY Daily News, the Post and the Times are led to believe that there somehow is still some doubt about the boys innocence, that they may have been accomplices to the actual rapist, that they had done bad things in the past, and that the police officers and prosecutors were just doing their jobs.

However, Am News readers (as well as readers of the Village Voice) learned that the boys were tortured physically and mentally into giving false, incriminating statements, that the police and prosecutors involved, many of whom got promotions as a result, participated in a horrible crime and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They also realize, from the Am News close coverage of similar incidents over the decades, that there is a pattern of terribly illegal conduct by some policemen toward Blacks and Latinos.

Readers of the Black press clearly realize that some of the police in NY and around the country appear to function as modern day "slave catchers" earning promotions by hunting down and rounding up as many Black youths as they can, to send them to prison where the 13th amendment’s prohibition against "involuntary servitude" does not apply.

But back to our question. What Do U Subscribe To? Keep in mind that the news outlets that you support influence the ideas you subscribe to. Therefore, why not support those newspapers, magazines and internet sites that unflinchingly support the safety and prosperity of your community, your family and your mind? In fact, why not subscribe to them? Underwrite them so that they can underwrite you!

Come to think of it, a subscription to the Amsterdam News or your local Black paper would make an excellent Christmas gift for everyone on your shopping list. Also, you can support them by visiting their websites. And while you’re on the net be sure to visit news sites like www.theblackworldtoday www.theblackelectorate.com and www.swagga.com just to name a few... ( Ramsees7@yahoo.com AFRICA UNLIMITED 12/9/2 )

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'Tis the $eason To Be $ensible….........December 8th, 2002

Think about it. You are about to embark, once again, on the impossible dream. You will try to buy a gift for everyone, in the belief that everyone will buy a gift, of at least comparable value, for you. Of course no such thing will happen. Many will not even get you a trinket, and you cannot possibly buy something for everyone. So why even bother with the whole charade?

Half the time, you buy something, anything, simply to cross the person off your list. And heaven forbid, you do not purchase something of "true quality" (meaning much more than you can afford!) for that special someone. Why not show your love, by showing your love, directly. Why enrich OTHERS in order to express YOUR love?

Africans in America, if we were a separate country, our 600 billion dollar total yearly income would make us the eighth largest nation on earth! However, out of every dollar we earn, less than 20 cents is spent with Black businesses, and less than 2 cents is spent on investments. Other ethnic groups circulate their monies (much of it gotten from dollars we spend with them!) up to ten times amongst their own. People from every ethnic group on earth are selling everything under the sun to us in our own community, while we often cannot even set foot in theirs.

Here’s a wild idea! This Xmas, if we have to shop, why not spend at least some of our money in Black businesses? And why not cut down our overall Xmas shopping, and invest the difference in stocks or bonds or save it towards a downpayment on a house, or for a fund to start up our own business?

You say you can’t cut down your Xmas list because of others' expectations? But where are those expectations coming from? From brainwashing, from the mind-numbing, hypnotizing ads on TV, the radio, newspapers, billboards and everywhere.

So why don’t we do this. Give gifts that counter the brainwashing. Give books written by our people, for our people. Give subscriptions to magazines, and newspapers, that we put out, that provide the facts and figures that we need to know in order to survive and prosper? Why not? Is there any good reason why not? But no matter what you do, above all please remember, "‘Tis the $eason to be $ensible!"…. ( Ramsees7@yahoo.com AFRICA UNLIMITED 12/8/2 )

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COLOR & SCHOOL SUCCESS .........November 21st, 2002

(Excerpts from an article by Dennis Conrad of the Associated Press, on a recent Harvard education study. It appeared in the 11/20/02 Star-Ledger.)

"Black and Hispanic students surveyed in diverse, upper-income communities have as much desire to succeed in school as their white and Asian peers, says a study that challenges the idea that some ethnic groups are less focused on school.....

"(The) survey of 40,000 middle, junior and high school students in 15 school districts across the country that included Montclair, N.J., showed that black and Hispanic students are actually more likely than white students to report that their friends think it is very important to study hard and get good grades. But nearly half of the black and Hispanic students surveyed said they understood their teachers, lessons about half the time or less, compared with 27 percent of white students and 32 percent of Asian students.

"..for students within the same course level, there was virtually no difference in the amount of time that blacks, Hispanics and whites devoted to homework. Only Asians spent significantly more time on homework....The study found that black and Hispanic students often have fewer resources at home to help them with school. For instance 57 percent of white students and 42 percent of Asian students said they have more than one computer at home, compared with 20 percent and 27 percent for Hispanic and black students, respectively. The study also found that, on average, (black and Hispanic) parents were less likely to have college degrees than the parents of white students..." (AFRICA UNLIMITED 11/20/2 Ramsees7@yahoo.com )

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2 SPIKES + 1 RAISIN = BARBERSHOP .........October 21st, 2002

Barbershop is a combination of Do the Right Thing and Raisin in the Sun. Both Barbershop and Right Thing chronicle a day in the life of a Black neighborhood, from the point of view of a pizza parlor in one, and a barbershop in the other. And both of these establishments are integrated. Spike Lee is the lone black worker in the pizza parlor and Barbershop has a lone white barber.

The hero in all three films: Raisin, Right Thing and Barbershop, is a Black man who doesn’t understand money and business but thinks that he's a whiz at them. In Raisin and Barbershop each man tries desperately to get out from under the shadow of their deceased fathes by making a lot of money; one with a liquor store, the other with a recording studio. And both their ideas go bust.

In all three, there's a family headed by a young father who fails miserably, but who ultimately rises. And in all three the hero has a patient, long-suffering mate. And in each film there is a wise older person on board. (Cedric, the old barber, Ossie Davis (Da Mayor) in Right Thing and Claudia McNeil, Walter Lee’s mother in Raisin.)

The actual format of Barbershop is quite similar to Spike Lee’s Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, Spike Lee’s student film. In both there is, obviously, a barbershop, and it's the meeting place of the neighborhood. And there are gangsters, and danger, and a failed attempt to make a big score. The line by the white barber, "Calvin wouldn’t let me wok here if he didn’t know I could cut heads!" shows the director tipping his hat to Joe’s Barbershop.

In the same vein, note the line by Ice Cube’s wife when she tells him it's time to go to work. She says, "Come upstairs and eat these eggs I have for you." Here the director acknowledges his debt to Raisin echoing Ruby Dee’s telling Sidney Poitier, "Eat your eggs. They getting cold." And Poitier snaps back, "I tell you I want to do something with my life, make something of myself. And all you can say is, "Eat these eggs!" Ruby Dee was in both Raisin and Right Thing and her husband, Ossie Davis, was in Right Thing.

Note the hot button issue in the 1950s of Raisin in the Sun was integrating the suburbsm and that was reflected in the film. By the 1980s of Do the Right Thing, the Black would-be middle class had largely left the Black community, and a key issue in the film was the possibility of a violent reaction to the conditions of the community. Today, in Barbershop, the hot button issue is reparations.

Barbershop goes on record with a ringing, entirely unanswered attack on reparations, one that everyone in the barbershop ultimately agrees with. And while much has been made of Cedric’s diatribes against civil rights figures, it should be noted that he also flatly declares that "OJ did it!" and "Rodney King got what he deserved," positions that certainly do not hurt the film’s crossover appeal.

Nor did the presence of the white barber in a black barbershop, and his open mouth kissing and feeling up of a Black woman on a public street. The barber with the college background clearly showed his disapproval of that display and of the white barber’s very presence. But by the end of the film, he had to eat his words, give the white barber his props, and agree that his defense of reparations did not hold water.

Raisin was shot in the heat of the civil rights struggle, Right Thing when people were asking what comes next, and Barbershop in a time when the generations are completely estranged.

By the way what was it that Teri (whose real name is Eve) did not want anybody drinking? Her apple juice. Whereas Eve tempted Adam with the apple, this Eve didn't not want anybody touching her apple, juice that is. By the way who did drink her apple juice? It was that loudmouth, show-off college boy, wasn’t it? Was he supposed to be an evil serpent of sorts? And was it my imagination, but were the three darkest men in the movie: the gangster, his vicious enforcer and the wiseguy college boy?

Note that two months after the story, we are told in the last scene, his wife has the baby. That means she was 7 (the lucky number) months pregnant when all the troubles went down. And, finally, what was the number of the building the barbershop was in? It was prominently displayed over the door. "2319." Now I know that 23 was Michael Jordan’s number. And 19 is what?...

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The year was 1818, and the great king of the Methethwa had just fallen in battle. One of his lieutenants rallied the remnants of his reeling army at a place called Goqkoli Hill. The Methethwa were a branch of the Ngoni speakers of the Bantu people. More than 1500 years before, they had left West Africa on an epic migratory journey. Like all Bantu they were peaceful people. But in recent years the fertile land they had settled, between the mountains and the sea, in the eastern tip of southern Africa, had begun to dry. And so war had become the order of the day. Their king had led them well in a series of conflicts. But now he was dead, and those who survived prepared to make a stand.

Wave after wave of fierce black warriors came flying up the slopes of Goqkoli Hill. They crashed again and again into a wall of shields. And then, when their fury was spent, the Methethwa came pouring down on their foes and onto the pages of history. The dead king was Dingiswayo. His stalwart lieutenant was Shaka. The Methethwa and all whom they conquered were, and still are, the Zulu.

More than 100 years before and a 1000 miles away, the Dutch first landed at the southernmost point of Africa (today called the Cape of Good Hope.) The Dutch East India Company, in 1652, set up the settlement to maintain a supply station for trading ships headed for Asia by way of the African coast. (And it became the modern day city of Capetown.) In time, they began raising cattle and crops, and as these activities increased, their contact and conflict with the indigenous peoples, the Khoikoi and the San steadily intensified.

On their farms the work was done by enslaved Africans and Asians. In the large settler families, as each son came of age, he would systematically stake out his own 6,000 acre lot and acquired forced labor to work it.

Eventually, Holland turned the settlement over to Britain. When, in 1832, Britain abolished slavery, long wagon trains of Dutch settlers, refusing to give up their enslaved Africans and Asians headed out into the "open" land. As they pushed north, the Zulu were pushing south. They were headed directly towards each other...

The Battle of Goqkoli Hill was just the beginning for Shaka and the Zulu. Building on the ideas of Dingiswayo, Shaka created new weapons, training, tactics and military organization. All fled before the Zulu, or were defeated and absorbed by them. And those who did flee came into conflict with other indigenous groups and the advancing Europeans. For example, one group of Ngoni speaking Bantu under Sobhuza established themselves in what is today the nation of Swaziland. Others, under Moshwheshwe, fought all comers to a standstill in the territory which is today known as the nation of Lesotho.

By 1828, after 10 years of very hard fighting, Zululand was a massive, still-expanding kingdom, and Shaka was making plans for a final push that would bring him in touch with the European settlements. He was already in contact with their traders, whom he allowed into Zululand only under his strict supervision. However, he was eager to get direct access, not only to European trade goods, but also to their weaponry and military knowledge.

Shaka was a genius. His ideas would later be used by the British in the first world war and the Germans in the second. One can only wonder what if Shaka had reached the Europeans, for that was not to pass. He was assassinated in 1828 by his brother with the support of other commanders. His brother, Dingane, was no match for the Dutch who defeated him decisively at the Battle of Blood River in 1838.

Over time the Europeans made other, rapidly expanding, settlements along the coast. The overflow populations, largely Dutch, migrated inland fighting the indigenous peoples often every step of the way. Diamonds were discovered in the 1870s and gold was found in the 1880s. Britain, seeing this, steadily extended its influence into the interior. This led to war with the Dutch, and the British were victorious three years later.

In 1945, however, South Africa was granted independence as a country totally controlled by a small white minority. In 1948, the apartheid laws went into effect making racial discrimination, in every aspect of society, a formal part of the constitution of the country. After exhausting all peaceful methods to obtain justice, the people of South Africa began to revolt. In the early 1960s, Nelson Mandela emerged as the leader of that armed struggle. He was captured and imprisoned in 1964.

The indigenous population was ultimately corralled into horrendous slums ("townships") in the cities and banished to largely infertile, resource-deprived areas of the countryside ("bantustans.") Over the years, all the adjacent European colonies gained their independence. And so the white regime in South Africa soon found itself fighting not only internal rebellion, but external attack. In the early ‘80s, they repeatedly offered to release Nelson Mandela if he renounced armed struggle. Mandela refused to do so.

In time, people around the world, began to boycott all economic activities involving South Africa. In 1988, a combined force of Angolans, Namibians, South African freedom fighters and thousands of Cuban soldiers decisively defeated a large South African force. Seeing the handwriting on the wall the white government in South Africa, in 1990, released Mandela without any pre-conditions. Afterwards, they asked if he would sit with them and negotiate an end to the conflict.

In the years ahead, Blacks were allowed to vote, entered the political process and elected a government led by Nelson Mandela and his political party, the African National Congress (ANC). During that period, though, in an attempt to divide and still rule, the white minority encouraged the Zulu to engage in violent conflict with other indigenous peoples. That has since stopped and Mandela has passed on the leadership to Thabo Mbeki.

South Africa and its neighbors are today the world’s largest source of gold, diamonds, platinum, uranium, copper, manganese, chrome and other minerals. However, there is a rising incidence of AIDS in the Black population, and the land is still largely in European hands. The resolution of the land conflict in nearby Zimbabwe doubtless will have great impact on South Africa. In short, it can be said, the struggle continues here... by Arthur Lewin ( AFRICA UNLIMITED 10/9/2 Ramsees7@yahoo.com )

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For centuries, waves of ships left the Motherland. With inhumanly packed human cargo they headed for the "New World" until they split into dozens of streams destined for different lands...

Garvey devoted his entire life to bringing those streams back together and reversing course. He was born in Jamaica in 1887. 115 years later, on the very anniversary of his birth, a momentous gathering met in the nation’s capital in his name. They demanded they be paid for the wealth generated by the buying of their ancestors and their ancestors’ centuries of unpaid toil.

In fact, both the White House and the very Capitol Building, where they were gathering, had been built by their ancestors’ copious blood, sweat and tears. In fact, all the roads and all the public buildings in Washington were laid out by a son of Africa. (Benjamin Banneker was his name.) Even the monument that honor’s the founder of the nation, Washington, is but pale imitation of ancient Africa’s soaring obelisks.

A stone’s throw away, in the Supreme Court Building, the spirit of American Justice resides. But this Justice is not blind. It peeks out from behind its blindfold to spy on the size and intensity, and ultimately the impact, of the crowd.

What happens in the streets always affects what happens in the courts. And if Africans in America can be persuaded that they should not really ask, should not come to expect, in fact demand, reparations, then the case need not be heard...

The relentless August sun beat down on the thousands who made formal the cry that will echo throughout the courts, and the streets, and that will have to compete with the tools of mass communication bent on bending Africans to their will. Which call will we heed? "You Owe Us!" or "Don’t open that can of worms?"

Frederick Douglas once said, "Power yields nothing without a demand!" And Marcus Garvey has told us, "Up ye mighty people. You can accomplish what you will!" And that’s precisely where the battle rages, over the will of the African. At all costs, the African must be prevented from articulating that dread demand, "You Owe Us!" "You Owe Us!" "U O US" Ramsees7@yahoo.com (Africa Unlimited 8/19/2)

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Marcus Garvey is reported to have told his followers, "Look to the East. A king shall be crowned. At the time young prince Ras Tafari, was about to assume the throne of Ethiopia as Haile Selassie I, the 111th Emperor in a line believed to have begun in 1000 BC with the marriage of Solomon and Sheba.

At Selassie’s coronation, in 1930, the European royal houses sent representatives. After all, if the measure of royalty is the ability to trace one’s lineage, Selassie’s claim to a 3000 year heritage was older, by far, than anyone else’s.

Ethiopia is an old, old land. It’s official religion, is the 1700 year old Ethiopian Christian Orthodox Church. The Jews of Ethiopia, Beta Israel, are said to have been there for 3000 years. And its Muslim adherents have practiced Islam for 1300 years. During the Crusades, one of the goals of the Christian knights was to link up with the ancient, half-remembered Christian kingdom (Ethiopia) beyond the vast expanse of Muslim control.

The Ethiopian faithful have produced great wonders. Magnificent houses of worship like their vast, nearly inaccessible mountain monasteries, and the dozen churches cut from solid stone built by King Lallibella 800 years ago, and the Ark of the Covenant reported taken from Jerusalem and kept in Ethiopia for the 3000 years.

It’s said that in 1898, during the first Italian invasion, it was the power of the Ark that inspired the army of Menelik II, Selassie’s uncle, to soundly defeat a large Italian force at the Battle of Adowa. Thirty-seven years later, in 1935, however, the Italians would return with Hitler’s active backing, and Selassie would turn to the League of Nations, forerunner of the UN, for assistance.

The League, however, looked the other way even though Ethiopia was a member in good standing of the League, and even though the Italians were using chemical weapons against the Ethiopians. The Emperor Haile Selassie I, after directing his forces in fierce battle for 7 months, left the country and went into exile. He then made his famous address to the League of Nations in which he predicted that if they failed to come to his aid, the nations of Europe would soon see the day when they too would fall.

And fall they did, one-by-one, as Hitler’s armies began to roll, and World War II overspread the globe. The Italian invaders, however, never really controlled Ethiopia. There was a stubborn resistance movement, and finally, with British help, in 1942, Selassie I lead a victorious army into the capital city and returned to the throne.

After the war, the Emperor continued his attempts to modernize the country. And in the 1960s, as the nations of Africa were gaining their independence, Selassie, as the head of Ethiopia, only African nation never to have been colonized. assumed a central role in the formation of the Organization of African Unity, the OAU. Selassie would go on to help end the civil war in Nigeria and arbitrate a number of other inter-African conflicts. In 1968, he made a famous address to the United Nations regarding the European occupation of Southern Africa. Bob Marley would later put an excerpt from that landmark address to music in the hit record, "War."

In 974, after a 44 year reign, Haile Selassie was deposed in a coup the leaders of Ethiopia’s armed forces. They would also usher in a series of civil wars and external conflicts that have only just recently subsided. The problem that Selassie, and Ethiopia, faced was that they were caught between two worlds, the ancient royal world that stretched back to ancient Egypt and the world of Africa in the modern, Western-dominated, 20th century.

Nonetheless, Ethiopia has still maintained it’s unique African record of never having been colonized. And its leaders are active in the new African Union, successor to the OAU. Ethiopia still has its cultures, its peoples and its religious traditions. Surely it shall rise again, and Africa too. That is why today so many still, "Look to the East..." Ramsees7@yahoo.com Africa Unlimited (8/15/2)

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A thousand years before Christ, the Queen of Sheba, we are told, travelled to Jerusalem where she met King Solomon, married him, and had a son, Menelik. When Menelik reached maturity, it is said he left Jerusalem and took with him the Ark of the Covenant, containing the original 10 commandments, back to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Christian Orthodox Church says it still has the ark in its possession. No one else makes such a claim...

Two centuries after the birth of Menelik, Homer wrote the epic Greek poem, the Odyssey. On the first page of the Odyssey we read that on one occasion all the gods gathered in Olympus, except for Poseidon. "Poseidon had gone to visit the Ethiopians..."

A Harvard professor, camera crew in tow, had an audience with the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church. During the course of their discussion, the professor said, "Your Holiness this is not a rude question. I want the Ark of the Covenant to be in Ethiopia without a doubt. (However) has it ever occured to anyone to have a little piece of the ark dated to disprove all the skeptics?"...

Some of the oldest human fossils have been found in Ethiopia, and some of the oldest cultures. The Nile, the longest river in the world, begins in Ethiopia. Along its 4,000 mile length, in acient times, was one huge civilization...

"No." said the patriarch to the professor. "Faith doesn’t go with the scientific proof. We don’t have to prove it to anyone. If you want to believe, that is your privilege. If you don’t want to believe, that is your privilege. It is only because you want to fame yourself... Many people have failed to show that kind of a proof. Doesn’t bother us. It is here and we believe it."

These two Black men were from two different worlds. The Emperor Haile Selassie lived in both their worlds. He was Emperor of Ethiopia (1930 - 1974) when all of the rest of the Motherland was in foreign hands... (to be continued... Ramsees7@yahoo.com Africa Unlimited 8/13/2 )

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"How can you depend on that man, that same man, who brought you so much grief? How can you ask him? How can you beg him, for anything? Now, if some people want to go after 'reparations' then let them. But not me. Not me. I ain’t in that!" said media personality Hakim Green during the spirited panel discussion on reparations moderated by Khalil Almustafa at M.O.M.s (Music on Myrtle) at 405 Myrtle Avenue in Fort Green, Brooklyn on Sunday.

And many in the audience agreed, but not his fellow panelist, City Councilman, James Davis. "Brother Hakim, reparations is not an end in itself, it’s a tool, a catalyst, that opens the door for us to organize around, and act upon, not just reparations, but a broad range of issues."

"But you know this man! You know this man! How can you go to him hat in hand?... Alright tell me this. Do you really even remotely believe we’re going to get anything from this man?"

"Well, I wouldn’t quit my day job, stop paying my car note and sit back and wait for the reparations money."

"But that’s what a whole lot of people believe? They sitting back thinking they check is practically in the mail!" And then someone in the audience pointed out how a popular DJ is going around on the radio saying, "I want my 40 Acres and a Bentley! I want my 40 Acres and a Bentley!" and turning it into a popular chant.

"Rather than mess around begging, or even asking, for anything from the man, we need to get together and work to get, to take, whatever it is that we deserve." was the sentiment of many on hand. "We don't need to ask anyone for any reparations. The entire country is ours! We built the whole nine yards."

Others, though, saw the upcoming Reparationns Rally in Washington DC on August 17th in a more positive light. Why not, they felt, ask for reparations, and support those bringing legal action. We certainly aren’t going to get it if we don’t ask.

The reparations question, that is, the mere formal asking for reparations in the courts, has the potential to actually short-circuit the American legal system. The judicial system, the conservative often hostile to Blacks, American judicial system, will have to make a judgement on reparations. Their natural inclination, obviously, is to say no. But it’s not quite that easy? They'd violate a whole series of legal precedents if reparations, of any kind, were completely and irrevocably denied.

And keep in mind that the reparations question is not a one shot deal. It’s a complex, multi-faceted movement proceeding in the streets and in many different courts. Interestingly enough, it unites traditionally conservative figures, lawyers and scholars, with grass-roots nationalists and activist groups, and it threatens to pull in a large, growing segment of the masses.

And just like the Million Man March had serious voices within the community raised against it, the same thing's happening now. But debate is good. It should be welcomed, not feared. It's always healthy when we talk, and listen. And note that one of the fruits of the reparations issue is that it opens up American history for a serious review that, ultimately, can get into the classrooms and the living rooms all across the land.

Recall the Million Man March, and how public awareness of it did not ignite until the week before that October weekend back in 1996. The media didn't bring it to the fore, of course not, we did. Well, we’re approaching that critical point now. Will the word get out? Will the people turn out? It's up to us... (Ramsees7@yahoo.com Africa Unlimited, 7/26/02) (Special thanks to Almytra Gasper and the staff of M.O.M.s for graciously hosting the discussion and generously providing refreshment. They brought together an interesting cross-section of the community for a great networking opportunity...)

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In 1972, Queen Mother Moore steadfastly stood in the corridors of the Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana tirelessly passing out literature and exhorting the participants not to forget "your reparations." At the time few, even in the activist community, knew what she was talking about. Today, 30 years later, the seeds she and others lovingly sowed are finally bearing fruit...

...NYC Councilman Charles Barron has introduced a Queen Mother Moore Reparations Bill that would examine the City of New York’s role in sanctioning and profiteering from slavery.

...Detroit Congressman John Conyers has introduced Bill HR-40, in the House of Representatives, to create a Presidential Commission to examine the impact of slavery on Africans in America and recommend remedies.

...On August 17th, the anniversary of Marcus Garvey’s birth, the National Black United Front, and the NY based December 12th Coaltion, are spearheading a Millions for Reparations Mobilization in Washington DC.

...Those two groups are key elements in N’COBRA, the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. As a result of their grass-roots consciousness raising, scores of national organizations and city councils, including Baltimore and Chicago, have passed resolutions supporting reparations. In addition, N’COBRA is readying a series of reparations lawsuits to be initiated this fall...

...Attorney Charles Ogeltree and Randall Robinson, whose book The Debt is at the center of the growing reparations awareness, have assembled a dozen lawyers and scholars, including Johnnie Cochran, to launch a number of reparations lawsuits that will also commence in September.

....Attorney Deadria Farmer-Paellman has already filed suit against Fleet Bank, CSX Corporation and Aetna Insurance Company seeking reparations for slave descendants. Recently, Aetna Insurance appointed African American Ronald A. Williams president of the company...

At the heart of the reparations movement is the idea that today’s disparities between Blacks and whites are the legacy of slavery. Political scientist Dr. Ron Walters notes that, "There is a straight line from slavery to the socio-economic and pyschological conditions of African-Americans today." Says scholar-activist Richard America, "Whites are unjustly enriched as a class.They have income and wealth that should have gone to Blacks, and was diverted by force, fraud, manipulation, exploitation and expropriation."

The declarations adopted at last summer's UN World Conference Against Racsim (WCAR), and the findings of the Nuremberg trials after the fall of Nazis Germany, provide some of the justification in international law for reparations for America's slavery. The August 17th Rally in Washington is a pivotal event that will link what has been done, with what will be done, in the many-faceted, sustained struggle for reparations.

Gil Scott Heron long ago warned, "The revoulion will not be televised!" Neither will reparations. In fact, reparations are part of the revolution, that rest assured, the media will not bring into our living rooms in living color. Stay tuned for more... (Ramsees7@yahoo.com Africa Unlimited 7/19/2... This piece was researched using the comprehensive archives of the Global African Presence e-group, moderated by Dr. Runoko Rashidi and Kenneth King. Articles include "United Front Required to Win Reparations" by Ron Daniels, TBWT.com, 4/16/2, "The Tactic of Lawsuits and the Reparations Movement" TBWT.com, 4/12/2, & Deborah Kong’s 4/4/2 piece on reparations in the Associated Press.)

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Wait a minute. Did we say, "Africa Unlimited is Black?" Well we meant "Africa Unlimited is Back!" We’re back in the house, the net, your computer, your laptop or whatever you use to catch up on news, views and the rest of your crew...

Wait! Did we say, "Africa Unlimited is Back?" We meant Black. Africa Unlimited is Black, Black By Popular Demand! After all, what else could it be? Africa’s the birthplace of you and me, and all humankind, and civilization too, and the drum, and the word and the whole nine yards. Africa cannot be limited, though they try, for if they succeeded, then we all, including them, would die.

Can a tree live without its roots? Can a people survive if they deny their genesis? They moved into America, and moved into Australia and almost completely wiped out the original people in both. They moved into Africa, and with the help of many of Africa’s ungrateful sons, they have for 500 years been wreaking havoc on the Motherland and the Mother people. But guess what? Guess what? We’re still there, and we are still here! And we ain’t going nowhere. This is our time. This is our world. We are the original originals!

We were here at the beginning, and we shall be here at the end. In fact, our destruction would herald Judgement Day. No matter what they say, or don’t say, on their TV, their newspapers, in their schools and other brainwashing tools, we will not be moved. No matter how many fold, buckle or join the foe, we will stand our ground, and we will turn everything around because we, We are the Soul Survivors.

Africa is Mother, Mother to us all who walk upright upon the face of the earth. Can a child, and we are all of us, everyone last one of us on the planet, children of Africa, can a child thrive if they deny their mother? That’s what plague’s us and the world. And so we must return. We have to. There’s no other way. We have to go back to MOMs...

And that’s precisely what we’ll do this Sunday... This Sunday, July 21 at 1:00 PM, we’ll be gathering at the center of the borough that is the heart of the city that is the communications hub of the world. Africa Unlimited will be meeting in historic Fort Green, Brooklyn, at MOMs (Music On Myrtle) located at 405 Myrtle Avenue, near Grand Avenue. MOMs is gaining quite a reputation for its sounds, its books, its conversations and its consciousness.

MOMs’ visionary young proprietor, Almytra Gasper, Baruch student and entrepreneur extraordinaire, has graciously invited Africa Unlimited to come in and discuss our forthcoming book, and present a preliminary draft for all to see, and provide much needed commentary and feedback.

That is this Sunday, July 21, from 1:00 - 3:00 at Music On Myrtle (MOMs) 405 Myrtle Ave. near Grand Avenue (718-596-MOMS). Afterwards, from 3:00 - 5:00 there will be a panel discussion on reparations and the Reparations Rally to be held in Washington on August 17th...

Looking forward to meeting you on Sunday! But if you can’t make it, don’t worry. Africa Unlimited is Back & Black by Popular Demand!! And we will be here for quite a while. Africa is Unlimited and will always remain so for Africa Knows No Boundaries! Ramsees7@yahoo.com (Africa Unlimited