10 Years of Black Cinema Club

October 2021 marks ten years of the Black Cinema Club (BCC 10).  In honour of the tenth anniversary of their screening of Black films from Africa, the Caribbean, the United States, Britain and Europe, they are showing a whole programme of Black films.  

All of these screenings are being held online, so you can join us and enjoy them wherever you are in the world.  See you there!  BCC 10 presents:  

Friday 1st October:  Finding Fela. 

Filmmaker Alex Gibney uses period interviews and performances plus highlights of the Broadway production of `Fela!' to tell the story of Afrobeat music pioneer Fela Kuti.

Saturday 2nd October:  The Wood.   

Three old friends -- Mike (Omar Epps), Roland (Taye Diggs) and Slim (Richard T. Jones) -- recount memories of their shared childhood in Inglewood, Calif., as they prepare for Roland's wedding to his fiancée, Lisa (LisaRaye). When the groom goes missing without a word, Mike and Slim struggle to find their nervous friend and return him to his impatient bride before the wedding begins. Along the way, they continue to swap stories about lessons learned during their awkward teenage years. 

Sunday 3rd October:  1804:  The Hidden History of Haiti. 

This documentary film about the untold history of the Haitian Revolution was produced by the creator of the best-selling Hidden Colors film series.  1804 goes in-depth about the four principal players who were instrumental in Haiti's independence: Makandal, Dutty Bookman, Toussaint Louvature, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines. This documentary gives a compelling look into the strategies, the motivation and the mindset that led to Haiti being the only enslaved  population who successfully overthrew their oppressors.

Tuesday 5th October:  I Ain't Scared of You, a Tribute to Bernie Mac.  

Friday 8th October:   Summer of Soul, or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised. 

Saw this one a few weeks ago, and it is definitely worth watching again.  In the summer of 1965, a whole lot of talented Black people performed for FREE in NYC.  The lineup included Stevie Wonder (on drums!), Gladys Knight and the Pips, Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone and many more.  Be there!  

Sunday 10th October:  Sankofa.  

A model (Oyafunmike Ogunlano) on a photo shoot in Ghana encounters an old mystic (Kofi Ghanaba) who transports her into the past, where she becomes a slave.

Saturday 16th October:  Really Love.  

Isiah is an up-and-coming painter under the tutelage of Yusef Davis, hoping to impress Chenai Hungwe to potentially launch his career. However, upon meeting Stevie Richmond, a friend of his boy Nick’s girlfriend Mecca, he gets a little distracted. Yet, as Yusef told him, you have to live to find your muse, and with Stevie, Isaiah does live. But with Stevie being a prominent up-and-coming lawyer, soon to finish school, and getting offers across the United States, while both have made time for each other in DC, will their relationship survive when distance adds an additional strain to it?  

Sunday 17th October:  Hidden Colors.  

Hidden Colors is a documentary about the real and untold history of people of color around the globe. This film discusses some of the reasons the contributions of African and aboriginal people have been left out of the pages of history. Traveling around the country, the film features scholars, historians, and social commentators who uncovered such amazing facts about things such as: The original image of Christ; The true story about the Moors; The original people of Asia; The great west African empires; The presence of Africans in America before Columbus; The real reason slavery was ended And much more.  

Monday 18th October: The Banker.  

Samuel L. Jackson stars in this true story about two men who decided to open a bank in Georgia in the 1950s, when Black people were not even allowed to set foot inside a bank. 

Revolutionary businessmen Bernard Garrett (Anthony Mackie) and Joe Morris (Samuel L. Jackson) devise an audacious and risky plan to take on the racist establishment of the 1960s by helping other African Americans pursue the American dream. Along with Garrett's wife Eunice (Nia Long), they train a working class white man, Matt Steiner (Nicholas Hoult), to pose as the rich and privileged face of their burgeoning real estate and banking empire - while Garrett and Morris pose as a janitor and a chauffeur. 

Tuesday 19th October:  Rue Cases Negres  

It's been so many years since I've seen this charming, delightful film from Euzhan Palcy.  

In the French colony of Martinique in the 1930s, rambunctious teenager Jose (Garry Cadenat) lives in a rundown shack in a small farm village with his doting grandmother, M'Man Tine (Darling Legitimus). While studying diligently at the local school, Jose also learns at the side of wise village elder Medouze (Douta Seck), who tells him first-hand of the lives of African slaves. When Jose wins a scholarship to a prestigious high school in the capital, he brings the wisdom of the village with him.  

Thursday 21st October:  Out of Darkness.  

Out of Darkness explores the Nubian/Kushitic origins of Nile Valley Civilization, contact between Africa and the Americas since the times of antiquity, as well as the influence of the Moors in Europe leading to intellectual Renaissance. In addition, the film will analyze the history of modern day racism, the concept of "white supremacy," the impact of Hip Hop as a social movement, and the idea of nationhood.                          

There are more which have not listed here.  Check out BCC 10 for details.  

Go here for lots more Black history blogs.  

What's your favourite Black film?  Or what are your top 10?  Please comment below and please share this with your networks.  

Happy Black History Month/African Heritage Month!  

 

Dr. Christina Parks - What the Media Won't Tell You

Dr. Christina Parks, PhD in cell and molecular biology, was a guest on Dr. Boyce Watkins's show recently. Check out what she said, above. 

The mainstream media tend to just give us the same narrative.  How can we make decisions about covid-19 and whether or not to have the vaccine when we don't have the full facts?  There is a huge amount of factual information which we don't necessarily get to see or hear.  

On the same subject, check out this short film of Dr. Michael McDowell, a pastor from Trinidad, telling us his take on the probable true cost of the vaccine (in human terms, not financial terms) and what we can expect for the future.  

Go here for resources to help you survive and thrive during the covid-19 panidemic.  

What do you think the pandemic and/or the vaccine has in store for us?  Please comment below and please share.  Thanks.  

 

Black People Have Higher Student Debt

I am re-purposing this post.  

 

According to Finance Professor Dr. Boyce Watkins, student loan debt is now the second highest form of debt in America, behind mortgages.  

 

Even worse, over half of all black college graduates have defaulted on their loans, causing the economic pain to be worse for our community than for others.

 

The Black/white student debt disparity TRIPLES after graduation, according to the Brookings Institute.  Students from our communities are more likely to take out student loans, and their student loans tend to be higher. However, there is a way to Avoid Student Debt.  

As I said in my blog post, Millennials Will Die in Debt, my ebook Shaking the Money Tree contains proven, effective methods for raising funding for your education. The experts I interviewed in Shaking the Money Tree explain step-by-step how to raise the money you need. One of my interviewees, Derek Hayes, had raised $500,000 for his fellow students at the time I interviewed him – I am sure he has raised much more than that by now.

Plus, download my free report, Avoid Student Debt. 

Download Shaking the Money Tree today – it can save you thousands.

Here's to your success!

Black History: Growing up in Chicago's "Black Belt"

Timuel Black grew up in Chicago's "Black Belt".  His family moved to Chicago during the "Great Migration", in 1919.  (Mine migrated in 1920.)  

African Americans left the South in order to have a better life and a better future for themselves and their families.  They often settled in large cities including Chicago, Cleveland and New York, where they formed their own communities during segregation.  

Black lists the reasons why his parents decided to move North.  

Unfortunately, many of these prosperous, thriving Black communities were destroyed by white supremacists.  See also:   

The Rosewood Massacre  

100 Years Since the Destruction of Black Wall Street.  

Go here for more Black history blogs.  

Why are we only just now starting to hear about these thriving Black communities - and the demise of many of them?  Please comment below and please share.  Thanks.  

Black History: The Rosewood Massacre

We keep learning about massacres in which thriving, prosperous African American communities, such as the Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma were destroyed by white supremacists.  So many of these massacres have been forgotten, lost to history, but they are being recalled and their history restored.  The destruction of Rosewood in Gainesville, Florida is one such event.  

How can we learn from this history to create a better future?  Please comment below and please share.  

Go here for more Black history blog posts.  

Go here for my list of Black/African heritage museums in Africa, the U.S., the Caribbean and Europe.  

Black History Blogs Part 2

Chadwick Boseman Black Panther

I have posted lots more since my previous list of Black history blogs.  I have linked to some of them below.  

Does Black History Matter? Interview with Brother Tony Warner of Black History Walks

Who Were the Scottsboro Nine?

Spree of Executions during Trump’s Final Days

Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks

Black Jeopardy with Chadwick Boseman

Injustice: The Film the Police Tried to Ban – Interview with Ken Fero

Lockdown Learning: African History Quizzes

Lockdown Learning: Black History Quizzes

What Does the Black Panther Movie Tell Us about Black People?  

Black Panther's African History + the Books to Prove It

100 Years Since the Destruction of the Black Wall Street 

What can we learn from Black history and how can we use this to create a better future?  Please post your answers below and please share this with your networks.  Thanks.  

Go here for my list of Black/African heritage museums in the U.S., Africa, the Caribbean and Europe.  

 

100 Years Since the Destruction of Black Wall Street

Two weeks ago marked the 100th Anniversary of Black Wall Street.  

This documentary by the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), The Legacy of Black Wall Street,  concentrates on the years leading up to the destruction and the massacre which accompanied it.  

Historically, enslaved Black people migrated to the Oklahoma territory in the company of their American Indian owners, as part of the Trail of Tears.  As the land was owned by the Native People, after the Civil War, African Americans were allowed to buy it. They set about building a Black community, Greenwood,Tulsa Oklahoma. 

When oil was discovered, Tulsa became a boom town.  Black people employed by white Oklahomans became wealthy, and their community thrived. Doctors, lawyers and millionaires settled there.  Notably, Black male and female entrepreneurs with vision also settled in Greenwood.  They arrived, not just to make money, but to help Black people to build their own businesses, providing advice and support to budding entrepreneurs.  They were the embodiment of Ujaama - co-operative economics. 

Then, on the 31st of March, 1921, a Black man, Dick Rowland, who went by the name of "Diamond Dick" rode the elevator, just as he had done every day for years.  But on that particular day, the white female elevator operator accused him of assault.  As usual, the alleged assault was used as a pretext for violence.  See also:  White Women's Role in White Supremacy. 

Diamond Dick was arrested and imprisoned prior to standing trial.  A white mob gathered, and we know the rest.  100 years later, this is no less shocking,  And the residents and business owners never received compensation.  

The Legacy of Black Wall Street describes the beauty of Black Wall Street, with its first-class hotel, cinemas screening Black films, and more.  This just goes to show how much was lost.  Black Wall Street gave people hope that things could improve.  It proved to Black people that they could aim high.  Similarly to such great figures as Harriet Tubman, it represented Black people's dreams, ambitions and aspirations, and proved that they were possible to achieve.  Thus, it was a threat to white supremacists, who wanted only to keep Black people down.  

See also:  The Black Wall Street - Before They Die.  

We know now that many other thriving Black communities were similarly attacked and destroyed by white supremacists.  Go here for Rosewood.  

Do you think this kind of destruction could still happen today?  And what can we do to prevent this from happening?  What solutions should we employ?  Please leave your comments below and please share this with your networks.  Thanks.  

Go here for more Black history blog posts.  

 

Brutality and Racist Violence against Aboriginal Youth

I am posting links to the stories below as further documentaton of the global nature of racist police violence and brutality.  Athough this incident occurred nearly a year ago, this story is  all over the Australian press and international press today as the officer has just been charged. You may have seen the viral video (above).  

Cop who 'kicked an Aboriginal teen to the ground face-first for threatening him' is charged with assault and bodily harm after year-long investigation. 

NSW police officer charged over alleged assault of Indigenous teen.

NSW police officer charged over alleged assault during arrest of Indigenous teenager.   

 

Police officer charged after arrest of Aboriginal teenager in Surry Hills. 

And this one, also from a year ago:  

Members of the public call for sacking of Senior Constable "Raptor 13". 

As you will know if you follow my blogs, I often state that racist police violence against Black communities is a global problem.  It is not something that is confined to a particular group, community, country or society.  It happens in every country where Europeans are the dominant group.  

Go here to watch our recent Global Peace Summit, where we screened Injustice, the film the police tried to ban, and held a discussion with the director, Ken Fero.  

And go here for my conversation with Ken Fero.  He has made films about the same issue in many European country. 

As I often say, and have posted many times as part of the Blogging Carnival for Nonviolence, we need to find solutions to this ongoing problem.  And I believe NVC (Nonviolent Communication) is one such solution.  

What do you think will resolve this ongoing issue?  Please leave your comments below and please share this with your networks.  Thanks.  

Black History: Who Were the Scottsboro Nine?

The Scottsboro Nine

Content Warning:  This post contains adult content and is not suitable for children.  

In 1931, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, nine Black teenagers, known as the Scottsboro Nine, were convicted of raping two white women.  The men were completely innocent of this crime.  It took just four days for an all-white jury to convict them.  

 As Paul Gardullo, a curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, states, there existed "a myth of black predation on white women when the reality was the polar opposite".  In slavery, Black women were routinely raped and Black men, women and children were exploited and brutalised.  

Go here for more about the Scottsboro Nine.  

Ida B. Wells, a tireless anti-lyching campaigner, produced the Red Record, having systematically researched accounts of lynchings which were based on the fallacy of Black men raping white women.  Wells proved that these accounts were wholly false.  

For more about Ida B. Wells, see:  Ida B. Wells:  a Passion for Justice.  

See also:  Black History:  New Revelations about Emmett Till. 

Go here for more of my Black history blog posts.  

I have two questions for you today:  

1) Does this incident remind you of anything that has happened in the past year or few years?; and 

2) If so, what can be done about this repeated pattern?  

I have my own thoughts about this, but I want to know what you think.  

Please comment below and please share this with your networks.  Thanks.  

Stylist’s Black British Women’s Census

Black women in the UK are more likely to be spoken about than to be spoken to.  This is just one of the findings of Stylist’s Black British Women’s Census.  Go here to read more.  

Did you know that Black women in the UK are FOUR TIMES more likely to die in childbirth than white women?  And nearly twice as likely to experience stillbirths? 

Do you think Black women in the UK are fairly and accurately represented?  Please comment below and please share.  Thanks.  

Black Success: 3 Dynamite Ways to Increase Your Income through the Power of Your Mind

 

What strategies did you use to survive and thrive in 2020?  And what strategies will you use in 2021?  

If you are SERIOUS about having more money, you need to check out these strategies I recommend.  I only share information that I have confidence in.  I am sure these will help you to 

move toward your money goals and achieve financial success!

Go here to listen. 

These are practical methods which will work for you, just like they have worked for thousand of other people - including me.  

Below are the links to the resources mentioned in this recording:

How Did 2020 Work out for You? Double Your Income in 30 Days. 

Feel Free to Prosper.  

Contact me here for a FREE consultation.

See also: Guided Visualization: Your Key to Power.

See also: How to Achieve the Results You Want. 

White Women's Role in White Supremacy

I don't often blog specifically about white supremacy, as I think it is important to focus on the positive.  However, white supremacy is all around us - and inside of us - and we need to understand it.  

This is a very interesting article about white women's role in white supremacy, both historic and current.  White women were among the architects of white supremacy.  Until they won the right to vote, white women's main economic power came through their ability to own, buy and sell enslaved African people.  

After the Civil War, white women joined, and were active in, the Ku Klux Klan.  And, of course, Birth of a Nation contributed to the mythology of the Klan as a necessary protection of white women from Black men who were keen, and naturally inclined, to attack them sexually.  In the film Freedom Riders, some of the participants speak of the involvement of white women in assaulting the riders. 

According to this article, white women also played an active role in the recent storming of the Capitol building, in which five people died, and they are active, and play key roles, in white supremacist organisations. 

What are your thoughts about the role of white women in white supremacy?  Please leave your comments below and please share this with your networks.  Thanks.  

Go here for more Black history blogs.  

 

Black Ballerinas

I've been enjoying looking at pictures of Black ballerinas.  This is Michaela DePrince, a ballerina from Sierra Leone.  Doesn't she look amazing?  Look at those legs.  Those feet.  

She was orphaned in the Sierra Leone civil war.   Go here to read her story. 

I've got loads more on my Positive Images of Black People board.  

And African dancers on my African Images board.  

Which do you prefer?  Please comment below and please share this with your networks.  Thanks.  

How did 2020 work out for you?

How did 2020 work out for you?  Want to have a better year in 2021? 

Imagine you are walking down the street and you see a beautiful dress, a stylish suit or shoes to kill for. You must have them. But you cannot afford them. What can you do? How can you get it/them into your closet or wardrobe?

Suppose you fall in love with a laptop or a phone. This will make your life complete. You want it so bad it feels like a constant itch. How can you get it into your pocket?

Business owners:  want to become magnetic to customers and clients? You know you can help them, but your phone is not ringing. How can you attract them? How can you make it so your phone rings off the hook? So that your customers and clients are contacting you constantly, day and night?

You can become a powerful magnet that attracts what you desire. Money, luxury goods, travel, relationships and more.

My FREE ebook, Secrets of Manifestation, can help you to start your journey.

If you have not read Secrets of Manifestation by Zhana (that’s me!), or even if you have, you will want to check out this new 2021 version.

In it, I include my offer of a method you can use to double your income in 30 days, JUST by using the power of YOUR MIND. See below for more.

To download Secrets of Manifestation right now, NO CHARGE, go here to join Nurture Success for FREE.

Here's to your success in 2021!

What Other People Have Said

• Thank you. Great Job. I wish you success in all things meaningful to you. :)

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 Fantastic Offer

I have a fantastic offer for you. I can teach you how to double your income in 30 days – JUST by using the POWER OF YOUR MIND. This is a simple mental technique I can share with you.

For more information, download the book. 

Your mind is incredibly powerful. This method demonstrates the power of your mind. 

How did you survive and thrive in 2020?  And what strategies are you using to survive and thrive in 2021?  Please leave your comments below and please share.  Thanks.  

 

Black Jeopardy with Chadwick Boseman - SNL

A little something to make you smile on these very cold days.  Black Jeopardy with T'Challah, Black Panther's late Chadwick Boseman.  It doesn't matter how bad things get, we can still laugh. 

Plus go here for Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks. 

For more humour, plus relaxation, music, Black history and more, go here for Coronavirus Resources.  

Please comment/share. 

Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks - SNL

A little something to make you smile on these very cold days.  

For more humour, plus relaxation, music, Black history and more, go here for Coronavirus Resources.  

Spree of Executions during Trump's Final Days

In what NBC News has called a "spree" of Federal executions, Donald Trump has ordered the Federal executions of five more people.  Four of them are Black men, including Brandon Bernard, who was arrested at the age of 18.  The government's scheduling timeline violates the federal death penalty law.

This makes Trump the "President" to order the most Federal executions in over 130 years.  The Republican administration had not ordered any executions for 17 years - until July of this year.  

According to a recent report by the Death Penalty Information Center, there is a history of racism in the criminal injustice system which dates back to slavery, lynching and segregation.  Well, we already knew that, but it's still useful to hear it. 

See also:  How to Escape the Prison System.    

See also:  Life Sentence for Stealing $9.  

See also:  83 Days, about George Stinney, who was executed at the age of 14. 

See also:  New Revelations about Emmett Till, who was murdered at the age of 14.  "The system rested on violence, and America let that happen."   The murder of Emmett Till galvanised people to fight racial injustice and ultimately led to the Civil Rights movement.  But today, this racism and criminal injustice continues. 

This story was also covered by The Guardian and the BBC.  

What do you make of all this?  Please leave your comments below and please share this with your networks.  Thanks.  

Success Strategies with Zhana: 2020 Year-End Roundup

If you missed the 2020 year-end roundup, you can still listen to it here.  

We had a lot to talk about.   So much has happened in 2020.  

What are the parallels between the killing of Breonna Taylor and the shooting of Cherry Groce?  

Do people in the U.S. know about what is happening here in the UK and in other countries?  And when they find out, what do they think?  

We didn't talk about the racist comments about the Sainsbury's ads.  What did you think?  Please share this with your networks and please comment below. 

Six-Year-Old Girl Arrested; 14-Year-Old Honestie Hodges Dies

 

As I said in my previous post, why was this child arrested?  What could she possibly have done to warrant her being taken out of her classroom and led away in handcuffs?  

Did she kill somebody?  

Links to resources are below.   My work is about solutions, so please do check out the resources below.  

I have now watched the full video - apparently, the child threw a temper tantrum.  A TEMPER TANTRUM, Y'ALL!!!  The teacher thought the appropriate thing to do in this situation was to call the cops.  The cops came and arrested this six-year-old girl, and as far as I can tell, did not even read her her rights or tell her the charges against her.

Another question:  Why did they arrest her before her grandmother arrived?  There are a lot of child protection issues and safeguarding issues here.  Could this really not have waited until her grandmother was able to get there, to talk to the child, to ride with her in the police car, to be there with her when she was arrested?

And another:  what kind of psychological scarring has she been left with?  She is going to make some therapist very wealthy one day.  

I have now learned about another handcuffing incident.  Honestie Hodges, 11 years of age  when she was arrested and handcuffed AT GUNPOINT, has now sadly died of covid-19 at the age of 14.   George Stinney was the same age when he was executed.  

Apparently, the police mistook Honestie for a middle-aged white woman who was a suspect in a stabbing.  

Again, I have questions about the type of psychological damage she will have suffered.  We may never know the answers in Honestie's case.  

The United States incarcerates more children than any other country.  We have a long history of arresting and incarcerating children, including George Stinney, who was executed at the age of 14. 

Also, check out this article about the incarceration of children in the U.S.  The rate of arrest and incarceration of Black children in the U.S. is twice the rate for white children. 

I'm so upset about these incidents, both recent and historic, and I'm sure you are, too.  To see young lives cut short by the criminal injustice system is just heartbreaking. 

Go here for my blog post, How to Escape from the Prison System.

We have so much power.  It's time we started to use it for our benefit.

Go here for How to Get Clear, Precise Answers.  Our minds are incredibly powerful, and we MUST use them to protect our children and protect our communities.

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) can help to PREVENT these kinds of incidents from happening.  Go here for some NVC resources and go here for books about NVC.

As I said above, my work is about solutions.   Please share this with your networks and please comment below.

Brilliant Video: You about to Lose Your Job

Brilliant video:  You about to Lose Your Job. 

I saw this on this article from The Root:  White Couple Lose Jobs and Face Eviction.   This white couple decided to verbally abuse a Lyft driver, repeatedly calling him a "sand n-word" because he insisted that they wear face masks while he drove them during the pandemic.  The woman RECORDED THE INCIDENT on her phone. 

As a result, the couple have lost their jobs and are facing eviction from their home.   

I am wondering, how can we get other white people to record their own racist and abusive behaviour? 

My heart is breaking.  My tears are flowing.  No, hang on, wait a minute, those tears are for all the Black people who have lost their jobs, been denied opportunities, been unlawfully detained, been falsely convicted of crimes and been killed in officer-related incidents.  

See also:  Six-Year-Old Girl Arrested.  This child was taken out of the classroom in handcuffs. 

See also:  Injustice:  The Film the Police Tried to Ban.  

The government have told us to wear face masks in order to avoid infecting others with covid-19.  If the covid restrictions are getting you down, check out my Coronavirus Resources.