May42013
My 8th grader did this.

My 8th grader did this.
8PM

The faces of people who are about to run prospect park
8PM
babylonfalling: Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur The Cointelpro Papers by Ward Churchill & Jim Vander Wall Publicly and sensationally accused by the FBI of being the “revolutionary mother hen” of a BLA cell conducting a “series of cold-blooded murders of New York City police officers,” Shakur was made the subject of a nationwide manhunt in 1972. On May 2, 1973, she, BLA founder Zayd Malik Shakur (her brother-in-law) and Sundiata Acoli (s/n: Clark Squire) were subjected to one of the random harassment stops of blacks on the New Jersey Turnpike for which the Jersey state troopers are so deservedly notorious. Apparently realizing who it was they’d pulled over, the two troopers — Werner Foerster and James Harper — opened fire, wounding Assata Shakur immediately. In the fight which followed, both Zayd Shakur and trooper Foerster were killed, trooper Harper and Sundiata Acoli wounded. Both surviving BLA members were captured. Assata was, however, charged with none of the killings which had ostensibly earned her such celebrated status as a “terrorist.” Instead, the government contended she had participated in bank robberies, and the state of New York accused her of involvement in the killing of a heroin dealer in Brooklyn and the failed ambush of two cops in Queens on January 23, 1973. She was acquitted of every single charge in a series of trials lasting into 1977. Meanwhile, she was held without bond, in isolation and in especially miserable local jail facilities. Finally, having exhausted all other possibilities of obtaining a conviction, the authorities took her to trial in New Jersey in the death of trooper Foerster. Despite the fact that Sundiata Acoli had long-since been convicted of having fired the fatal bullets — and medical testimony indicating her wounds had incapacitated her prior to the firefight itself — Assata Shakur was convicted of first degree murder by an all-white jury on March 25, 1977. She was sentenced to life imprisonment. The travesty imbedded in all this was unmistakable, and Shakur’s circumstances remained the topic of much discussion and debate. This became all the more true on the night of November 2, 1979, when a combat unit of the BLA set the prisoner free from the maximum security building of the Clinton Women’s Prison in New Jersey. It is instructive that this organization of what the police and the FBI were busily portraying as “mad dog killers” appear to have gone considerably out of their way to insure that no one, including the guards, was hurt during the prison break. For her part, Assata Shakur — now hyped by the Bureau as “the nation’s number one terrorist fugitive” despite the state’s failure to link her to any concrete “act of terrorism” — was quietly provided sanctuary in Cuba where she remains today.

babylonfalling:

Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur

The Cointelpro Papers by Ward Churchill & Jim Vander Wall

Publicly and sensationally accused by the FBI of being the “revolutionary mother hen” of a BLA cell conducting a “series of cold-blooded murders of New York City police officers,” Shakur was made the subject of a nationwide manhunt in 1972. On May 2, 1973, she, BLA founder Zayd Malik Shakur (her brother-in-law) and Sundiata Acoli (s/n: Clark Squire) were subjected to one of the random harassment stops of blacks on the New Jersey Turnpike for which the Jersey state troopers are so deservedly notorious. Apparently realizing who it was they’d pulled over, the two troopers — Werner Foerster and James Harper — opened fire, wounding Assata Shakur immediately. In the fight which followed, both Zayd Shakur and trooper Foerster were killed, trooper Harper and Sundiata Acoli wounded. Both surviving BLA members were captured.

Assata was, however, charged with none of the killings which had ostensibly earned her such celebrated status as a “terrorist.” Instead, the government contended she had participated in bank robberies, and the state of New York accused her of involvement in the killing of a heroin dealer in Brooklyn and the failed ambush of two cops in Queens on January 23, 1973. She was acquitted of every single charge in a series of trials lasting into 1977. Meanwhile, she was held without bond, in isolation and in especially miserable local jail facilities. Finally, having exhausted all other possibilities of obtaining a conviction, the authorities took her to trial in New Jersey in the death of trooper Foerster. Despite the fact that Sundiata Acoli had long-since been convicted of having fired the fatal bullets — and medical testimony indicating her wounds had incapacitated her prior to the firefight itself — Assata Shakur was convicted of first degree murder by an all-white jury on March 25, 1977. She was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The travesty imbedded in all this was unmistakable, and Shakur’s circumstances remained the topic of much discussion and debate. This became all the more true on the night of November 2, 1979, when a combat unit of the BLA set the prisoner free from the maximum security building of the Clinton Women’s Prison in New Jersey. It is instructive that this organization of what the police and the FBI were busily portraying as “mad dog killers” appear to have gone considerably out of their way to insure that no one, including the guards, was hurt during the prison break. For her part, Assata Shakur — now hyped by the Bureau as “the nation’s number one terrorist fugitive” despite the state’s failure to link her to any concrete “act of terrorism” — was quietly provided sanctuary in Cuba where she remains today.
8PM

qweerk:

the wild life in Ghana

(via ghanailoveyou)
8PM
exiledpoetssociety: Accra Harbor ‘57 Nikolas Tikhomiroff

exiledpoetssociety:

Accra Harbor ‘57

Nikolas Tikhomiroff

(via ghanailoveyou)
September162012
“The slaves destroyed tirelessly. Like the peasants in the Jacquerie or the Luddite wreckers, they were seeking their salvation in the most obvious way, the destruction of what they knew was the cause of their sufferings; and if they destroyed much it was because they had suffered much.”

C.L.R. James

The Black Jacobins

1938

(via beneaththesidewalk)
11AM
hamsahands: Ashanti funeral in kumasi by anthony pappone photographer on Flickr.

hamsahands:

Ashanti funeral in kumasi by anthony pappone photographer on Flickr.
11AM

africaisdonesuffering:

Ashesi offers college alternative

Small university brings liberal arts education to West African students

Amidst a sea of traditional Ghanaian universities, polytechnics and colleges, Ashesi University College stands alone as a shining beacon of liberal arts education in West Africa.

Ghanaian public universities as a whole are very different from the typical American university. A typical Ghanaian class is large with lectures from prepared notes. In most classes the final exam serves as 100 percent of one’s grade in any given course and consists of questions that mostly rely on note memorization.

However, Ashesi’s founder, Dr. Patrick Awuah, sought to create an alternative form of education for Ghanaian students. After attending Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, he decided he wanted to return to his home country and form a university that closely resembled his alma mater. He worked diligently, and in March 2002 his hard work paid off when the school opened its doors with only 30 students.

With a small campus composed of only three buildings and approximately 400 students, Ashesi most certainly is a small university where everyone knows one another. This sense of community and enthusiasm is helpful, in that it keeps everyone, from the student body to the administrators, connected to one another and kept accountable for their work and thinking in innovative ways.

continue reading
September152012
ymboimagazine: While many may know of the heavily percussion based music known as Palo there are many more musical genres surviving in the Dominican Republic. Shedding some light on the other music genres heavily influenced by the African Continent thriving within the Afro Dominican culture.

ymboimagazine:

While many may know of the heavily percussion based music known as Palo there are many more musical genres surviving in the Dominican Republic. Shedding some light on the other music genres heavily influenced by the African Continent thriving within the Afro Dominican culture.
8PM
diasporadash: SOURCE: http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/assessment/intro-maps/01.jsp

diasporadash:

SOURCE: http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/assessment/intro-maps/01.jsp

(Source: diasporadash)