Black books, African heritage books, mind/body/spirit, The Ancestral Energies Blog by Zhana, author of Success Strategies for Black People and Black Success Stories. African diasporic healing, health and wellness, and success.
There are a lot of people out there struggling now. There are a lot of people out of work, and a lot more people whose employment is uncertain. If you are looking for work or you know someone who is, I can help you with your job search. Listen to the short audio below for more information.
I was recently interviewed by Denise Turney on her Off the Shelf show. If you haven't had the chance to listen yet, please do click here to listen to the interview. I had a delightful time.
One of the things we talked about was how people of African heritage often seem to be waiting for someone else to come along and sort out our problems for us. Have a listen to the short audio below, see what you think.
If you enjoy this and find it useful, please share it with your networks. Thanks.
I had a delightful radio interview with Denise Turney of Off the Shelf on Saturday. I greatly enjoyed it because Denise was so warm and so knowledgeable. Please listen to the interview below.
If you enjoy it and find it useful, please share this interview with your networks.
The one thing I forgot to mention when Denise asked me about my ebooks The Key to Everything and What They Don't Want Us to Know was manifestation. I'm sorry to say I drew a blank - has that ever happened to you?
Lest we forget, the 23rd of August is African Remembrance Day, marking the day when enslaved Africans on the island of Haiti rose up against their oppressors and freed themselves.
The Haitian people, under leaders including Toussaint L'Ouverture and Jean Jacques Dessalines, fought off the French, British and Spanish armies, and then fought off the French again under Napoleon. The Haitians were never defeated.
However, a treaty signed by Haiti required them to pay reparations to their former masters, which has led to the impoverishment of people in what was once the most prosperous island in the Caribbean. The devastation of the Haiti earthquake in early 2010 was greatly compounded by the impoverishment of the population and the lack of resources in Haiti.
When you change your thoughts, feelings and emotions, you can change
your results. I have practical methods to help you do this. For more information, listen to this short audio.
I saw a documentary entitled"The Promised Ship" last night, screened by Black History Studies. Did you know that Marcus Garvey raised $50,000 for the Black Star Line in three days? This was from poor banana-growing communities in Costa Rica in the early 1920s.
Check out the video below for more info. What does this tell us about the potential of Black-owned businesses today? Remember, Garvey did this without the internet, without mobile phones, without any of the modern methods of mass communication that we have available.
Black businesses potentially have enormous economic clout. I have been talking about this on the radio and we will continue to talk about this. See also: Black Businesses: Our Economic Clout.
Stay tuned for Part 2 on the subject of our economic clout.
Black business owners potentially have enormous economic clout. How can we harness this power and use it to benefit our businesses and our communities?
Listen to the audio above to hear my conversation with Heather Shelton on how they are doing it in St. Louis, Mo.
For the past 21 years, thousands of people have received healthcare advice at the INshape Indiana Black and Minority Health Fair.
Many African Americans don't know where to go for healthcare advice, or are too embarrassed to ask for help. Many more are without health insurance.
This year, diabetes was the focus of the health fair. Free screenings for high blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol and sickle cell disease were provided.
Disparities between the provision of mental health services for African Americans and other groups have been identified in a report, We Ain’t Crazy! Just Coping with a Crazy System: Pathways into the Black Population for Eliminating Mental Health Disparities.
V. Diane Woods, Dr.P.H., director and lead investigator of the California Reducing Disparities project (CRDP) has said that "many African Americans do not receive appropriate mental health
services, even when they go to places that are suppose to help them".
She also stated that many Black people do not know where to go to get their mental health needs addressed - but even when they do, they do not get the help they need.
Saw this awesome Black history film screened by Black History Studies last week.
"The Black Wall Street" was the name given to the thriving community of Greenwood, Oklahoma, which boasted several millionaires. In 1921, Greenwood was attacked and destroyed by white people envious of its success.
Some of those who were children at the time, and saw their homes and community destroyed, are still alive now. "Before They Die" is the title of a documentary about the elderly survivors' fight for justice.
The attack on The Black Wall Street was a horrible atrocity. But we can help the survivors to get justice. We can bring about positive change. We have the power to transform the situation.
We can learn from history. The ancestors want us to heal these terrible, terrible wounds from the past and create the future we deserve.
Black (African American) men are contracting HIV in prison through sexual activity and through sharing needles when using intravenous drugs.
This has been going on for many years. When they leave prison, many Black men are going back into the community and conducting heterosexual relationships. This is one of the main ways in which African American women are contracting HIV.
I read MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO that the fastest-growing group of people who would be contracting HIV were – you guessed it – Black women. This is true in Africa as well as the diaspora.
In other words, it was predicted and could have been prevented.
What I only found out very recently is that, in many prisons in the U.S., prisoners are not allowed to use condoms. This means people are being infected with HIV right now, and it COULD BE PREVENTED.
Sorry to shout, but I feel very passionate about this.
It's not only Black men who are being denied condoms in the majority of U.S. prisons. This applies to all prisoners.
But the numbers of Black prisoners – people of African heritage in prison – is disproportionate to our numbers in the population. This is true on both sides of the Atlantic.
This is effectively establishing a police state. They are cracking down in order to prevent demonstrations. So anyone who disagrees with government policies may find himself or herself behind bars.
To get the benefit of these workshops, you MUST be open to trying new things. The methods I share are very powerful. We are changing lives. And we can do a lot more.
The Schomburg Center presents: Blogging While Writing
Thursday, July 19, 2012, 7 - 8:30 p.m.
Are bloggers the new writers? Is there a difference between blogging and writing?
Writer Jozen Cummings (pictured left) (UntilIGetMarried.com) talks to Rembert Browne (grantland.com, 500daysasunder.wordpress.com) and Gene Demby (huffingtonpost.com/black-voices and postbourgie.com), to discuss their independent blogs, their work for mainstream media outlets, and how bloggers have become the voice of a generation. FREE! Registration recommended: www.schomburgcenter.eventbrite.com or call (212) 491-2040.
Monique Y. Well's blog Entree to Black Paris explores the lives and history of people of African heritage in Paris.
As one of the contributors to Secrets of the Black Bloggers, Monique has recently reviewed the book. One area she focuses on is the importance of networking with, and learning from, other Black bloggers. Click here to read her review.
This week, Film Four is screening a series of films made in Africa, by and about African people.
Last night, they screened Johnny Mad Dog, which depicts the experience of child soldiers during the Liberian civil war. Click here to read more and watch the trailer.
Tonight, Film Four will screen A Screaming Man, a drama from Chad about guilt, betrayal and intergenerational father/son conflict. A Screaming Man also touches on the effect the Chinese takeover of African countries is having on the lives of ordinary African people. Check out the trailer above.
Diane Abbott MP on The Wright Stuff talked about free speech and "political correctness" this morning.
Matthew Wright asked her if she feels free to say what she wants, and she said that she does, but as a politician she has to be careful about expressing her views. What she would say in private to her friends is not what she would say in public. (Isn't this true of all of us?)
Diane Abbott, the first Black woman to be elected to the House of Commons, is one of the people I interviewed in Black Success Stories.
You may recall she apologised for tweeting that "white people love playing divide and rule". I personally do not think she should have apologised. Click here to read more.
Abbott also said that some words are always offensive; however, it is also a question of context.
Meanwhile, Asian comedienne Shazia Mirza stated that what she says about herself and her community is one thing, but if someone else calls her a "Paki" - and they have - that would be a different thing.
Diane Abbott MP said on The Wright Stuff this morning that Olympic torch-bearers should be able to sell their torches - after all, corporate sponsors are earning huge sums of money from the Olympics.
Diane Abbott, the first Black woman to be elected to Parliament, is one of the people I interviewed in Black Success Stories. If you want to know how to have a career in politics, you need to read it.
The MMI
was brilliant. T. Harv Eker helps you discover your money blueprint.
Your
money blueprint is your set of mental and emotional patterns which
determine your financial life.
Although
this can be highly valuable, your core issues may not be about money
at all. Your core issues may be based in an area or aspect of your
childhood. Harv touches on this during the MMI.
If you
really want to make major changes in your life, you need to discover
your core conditioning.
I did a
lot of work around my money issues many years ago. Although this
work was valuable, I did not see a lot of change in my money
situation. Until you deal with your core issues, you may not see
much change happen.
Your
core conditioning, or core programming, affects every area of your
life, including your money, your career, your relationships and your
health.
Your
money blueprint is the pattern of thoughts, feelings and emotions you
have around money. Your money blueprint determines your financial
life. The more aware you are of your patterns, the more you have the
power to change them.
I have
been saying for years, in my books, ebooks and articles, that when
you change your mindset, you can change everything.
One
difference between the MMI and what I say in Success Strategies for Black People
is that, in Success
Strategies, I don’t give
you the answers, as Eker does. I show you how to find your own
blueprint.
You can
use my method to discover any blueprint you want to – be it for
money, career, relationships or health – any area of your life.
As described in this
video from the Southern Center for Human Rights, Mr. Frank Hatley was
jailed for failure to pay child support.
See below for more details.
What's unusual about this case? Mr. Hatley had no children.
I believe many of these these cases of injustice can be addressed with Spiritual Response Therapy (SRT), which I talk about in Success Strategies for Black People.
Many people are being incarcerated, often indefinitely, in the State of Georgia for inability to pay child support. This is in an area in which which has 24% of the population lives below the poverty line.
One-third of those in the Cook County Jail are there because of inability to pay child support. Of course, a high proportion of them are African Americans. When they do manage to find some money, their payments go to the State, not to their children.
This is just one of the many ways in which poverty leads to injustice. Many of those jailed were not provided with legal representation. And while they are in jail, they are not allowed to see their children.
The police officers involved in the Mark Duggan shooting have refused to be interviewed by the Independent Police Complaints Commission about the incident.
The shooting of Mr. Duggan, pictured left, is widely believed to be one of the causes of last year's rioting across the UK.
This latest audio in the Wealth for Women series explores how to embody true wealth: fun and creative ways to be in your body in order to attract abundance.
It also explores how to identify and listen to your body’s wisdom for lasting results.
I’ve got a couple of questions for Black people, i.e. people of African heritage. The first one is: Do you have to behave like a white person in order to be successful?
The next two questions are for the sistas: Do you have to behave like a man in order to be successful?
Also: Do you expect a man to take care of you?
I’ve just been listening to this great recording with Shelly Lefkoe as part of the Wealth for Women series. I completely agree with her that our beliefs create our reality.
Actually, I say our thoughts create our reality because our positive thoughts work for us and our negative thoughts work against us, WHETHER WE BELIEVE THEM OR NOT.
This video gives some very shocking statistics about the prison population and particularly the population of African Americans in prisons.
I feel very passionate about this, and about finding solutions to this situation. For more about this, see below.
One out of three Black men in the U.S.A. between the ages of 18 and 30 is in jail, in prison, on probation or on parole.
In urban areas, 50-60% of all young men of colour are in jail or in the criminal justice system.
In Alabama, 34% of Black males are permanently disenfranchised.
The U.S.A. has life imprisonment for children. There are 13- and 14-year-olds in prison without parole in the U.S.A.
For every nine people on death row, one person has been exonerated.
In the Deep South, the death penalty is 22 times more likely to be applied if the victim was white and the defendant is Black.
My work is all about solutions. I strongly believe Spiritual Response Therapy (SRT) can be very effective in a lot of these cases and could ultimately transform the whole system.
This informative and inspirational presentation tells the story of the hidden contribution of women to the development of Caribbean.
The invisibility of women in the early books on the history of the Caribbean is linked to the fact that some historians felt that women's issues did not merit inclusion and their contributions were ignored.
It is important to recognise that the study of Black Women's History makes for a much more inclusive, richer, fuller and more importantly, truthful account of World History.
The National Black Writers' Conference: The Impact of Migration in the Literature of Black Writers will be a discussion and book signing at the Schomburg with Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration.
The Women's Jazz Festival at the Schomburg is billed as "A gathering of some of New York's Best come together to give praise to those who lead the way".
Includes the Spelman Jazz Ensemble and the Berniece Johnson Reagon Songbook.
The purpose of Write Money Inc. is to help you grow your creative business and generate wealth. She states that her purpose is "to provide informational, educational and networking support to business owners, particularly business owners operating in creative spaces".
As a writer, Denise focuses on book industry entrepreneurs, profiling creatives such as "Literary Diva" Joy Farrington, who provides services for authors.
Denise also focuses on practical information and advice, such as how to make it easy for your customers to buy, and how to use social networking sites to promote your books successfully.
In Secrets of the Black Bloggers, Denise talks about how she drives traffic to her blog, and how she uses her blog to increase sales of her books.
The Black Paris blog, hosted by blogger Monique Y. Wells, profiles contemporary and historical Black people resident in Paris. Monique also explores the history of people of African heritage in Paris.
Adrianne George of the Black Women in Europe blog is one of the most helpful and creative bloggers I have met online. I am very pleased to have been able to interview Adrianne about Black Women in Europe in my new ebook Secrets of the Black Bloggers.
It is so important for us as people of African heritage to celebrate one another’s achievements and contributions. We can learn so much from each other.
The Black Women in Europe blog consistently seeks out and acknowledges the achievements of Black women.
I have posted this blog to acknowledge and to celebrate African American entrepreneurs who made their names in the entertainment field, and achieved great success at a time when few opportunities existed for Black people.
People who provided employment and training for African Americans, helped Black performers to forge successful careers, and contributed to the financial prosperity of the Black community.
Don Cornelius, producer and presenter of Soul Train, was one of the first African American entrepreneurs whose business operated without white backing.
The griot was part of an ancient oral tradition in areas of West Africa from which many of our ancestors originated. If you have seen Roots or read the book, you will know a little bit about the griot. The role of the griot was to remember the history and customs of the community, and to share them orally with others in the village or clan, passing them down to the next generation. So the griot was vital in helping the community to define its identity. During slavery times, although forbidden to read or write, our ancestors still managed to record their stories – either by memory or through scribbling away in secret. We are fortunate to have access to many of their words today. In the 21st century, bloggers fulfil the functions of the griot. We record the lives and experiences of our people digitally. Living in the information age, we can now share our words globally. We record the doings of our people, our lives and the events which affect us – be they local, national or global. As February is recognized as Black History Month in the U.S.A., we are particularly called upon to recall our history, comment on it and share it. There are always forces at work striving to eradicate our history, our memories and, in truth, our lives. Yet many Black bloggers, by putting the news and views of the community at the forefront of our work, ensure that our history continues to remain alive. The news and opinions we blog about today are a living history, which continues to inform a larger and larger readership. The 16 bloggers I have interviewed in Secrets of the Black Bloggers are continuing this tradition of the griot. Writing our stories. Sharing our truths. What may be different is that we comment in ways that are unashamedly biased and opinionated. Every voice has a place, and every blogger has the freedom to express his or her point of view. I am sure you will enjoy Secrets of the Black Bloggers as much as I have. These bloggers will entertain, inform and inspire you. Please leave your comments below. This blog contains hundreds of Black history resources. Go here to check out some of my Black history blogs.
