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.
Based on the Pulitzer
Prize-winning book by Douglas A. Blackmon, and narrated by Laurence
Fishburne, Slavery by Another Name is a documentary that squares off
against one of America's most common misconceptions: that slavery ended
with the Emancipation Proclamation. The documentary tells the story of
new systems of indentured and involuntary servitude that took its place
and lasted well into the 20th century.
This film gives a voice back to a
largely forgotten population of victims and perpetrators (including
interviews with their living descendants today). This screening is part
of a week-long series of films for young audiences that capture a
diversity of voices on the African-American Experience. All films are
followed by a discussion by the filmmakers, scholars, or Schomburg
educators. For this and more Black History Month events, see Black History/Cultural Events.
I met Luisah Teish many years ago and attended a workshop with her in London and a retreat in Hawaii. Her book, Jambalaya, is a result of her research and practice of African spirituality over the course of many years. Her work is part of the inspiration for the name of the Ancestral Energies blog. Enslaved African people in the Americas used traditional African spirituality to survive in some of the harshest conditions ever known. The rituals remained and continued to be observed, although the meanings were often lost. African spirituality was suppressed during the enslavement period, as the enslavers saw it as a threat to their dominance. African spirituality was used to liberate African people in Haiti and other parts of the Americas. I find Teish's explanations very clear and accessible. Jambalaya combines Teish's personal journey with detailed descriptions of traditional African American charms
and rituals. Click here to read my review.
They and many other bloggers have done a lot of excellent work in supporting President Obama's re-election campaign.
But how much political influence do bloggers have?
The President has met and consulted with bloggers during both Presidential campaigns. Did bloggers help President Obama to win re-election? Please leave your comments below.
Does
President Obama's political leadership need to change direction? I
think so.
This blog is very interesting: Dr. Boyce Watkins is arguing that Ben Jealous of the NAACP and Rev. Al Sharpton should no longer be invited to the White House. He accuses them of "simply repeating the agenda of the Obama Administration and pretending that it is the same as the [B]lack agenda". African American communities have particular needs and, although the President's policies, such as the healthcare shake-up, have often benefited people of African heritage, some feel that he has not done enough to support Black people. Black voters overwhelmingly supported the President's re-election. Is it time for him to give something back?
Is President Obama doing enough for Black people? Please leave your comments below.
Black bloggers have particular experiences - and particular responsibilities. In Secrets of the Black Bloggers, I asked bloggers how they overcame their biggest challenges, and how they achieved their blogging goals.
The documentary Mugabe: Villain or Hero? was shown recently as part of the African Odysseys strand at BFI London South Bank.
Mugabe:
Villain or Hero? examines the current situation in Zimbabwe. If you
have heard or read about Robert Mugabe in the Western media,
you may be very surprised at what you learn from this film.
The film
documents the history of Zimbabwe from independence to the present
day. The making of the film is a story within the story.
The
director, Ghanaian Roy Agyeman, travelled to Zimbabwe on the promise
of being given access to Robert Mugabe within three months. It
turned out to be more like three years.
Over the
course of that time, Agyeman interviewed Zimbabweans and experienced
life in the country during a period of economic instability and
hyper-inflation caused by the economic sanctions imposed by the West.
At one point, people could only withdraw 5 million per day from the
bank, while a taxi journey cost twice that.
Robert
Mugabe had been elected on the basis of his promise to redistribute
Zimbabwe’s land. As with other former colonies, such as Kenya,
white settlers occupy the best, most fertile land in Zimbabwe. Black
people – the majority population – struggle to survive on a much
smaller percentage of land.
The film
also covered aspects of history of which I was not aware:
In 1979,
Mugabe was pressured into signing the Lancaster Agreement, which required him to wait 10 years before
redistributing the land. He was photographed with world leaders
including Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and with celebrities
including Princess Diana. He was knighted by the Queen and was
suggested as a possible recipient of a Nobel Prize.
Having
waited 10 years, Mugabe was then prevailed upon by other African
leaders to wait another five years, until after Nelson Mandela had
been released from prison.
As part
of the agreement, Britain agreed to provide funds to finance the
redistribution of the land. But in 1997, the newly-elected New
Labour government under Tony Blair reneged on the deal, claiming that
as they were a new party, they had nothing to do with the agreement
that had been signed.
Mugabe’s
government started redistributing the land. The film states that
some atrocities were committed. The white landowners whose land was
repossessed were still each offered land amounting to100 times the
size of Wembley Stadium.
Such was
Mugabe’s distrust of Western journalists and news media that it
took three years before he finally granted an interview with Agyeman,
who had been following him around for much of the time, filming his
activities from a distance.
The
interview with Robert Mugabe was very refreshing. It was wonderful
to hear him state that the redistribution of Zimbabwean land was
“right”. At no point has he backed down from that position.
The
discussion afterwards and Q & A with the director, Roy Agyeman,
was ably led by Henry Bonsu of Colourful Radio. I interviewed Henry
in my book Black SuccessStories.
What
this film makes clear is that, as people of my generation are aware,
the situation in Zimbabwe is about land. It is a land issue.
Younger people may not realise this, though, because of the way
Mugabe has been demonised by the press.
It was
said that one winds up feeling like the lone voice, as if one were
mad, if one’s view diverges from the portrait of Mugabe painted by
the Western media, and this very much resonated with me.
As with
other issues, the facts have often been distorted and misrepresented.
As bloggers, we have a responsibility to uncover the truth and to
share it.
As the
film pointed out, much of the Western media and many Western
governments and financial interests do not want to see Zimbabwe
become prosperous. They will do anything they can to undermine
Zimbabwe and smear Mugabe’s name. This is because land
redistribution also needs to happen in other former colonies, such as
Kenya and, of course, South Africa, and foreign powers fear losing
their influence and their economic dominance.
With its
mineral wealth, Zimbabwe can potentially become one of the strongest
economies in Africa, and perhaps the world.
Mugabe:
Villain or Hero? is an excellent film which sets the record straight,
and you really need to see it. Everyone should see it.
The child was just a few days short of her ninth birthday. She died from multiple stab wounds.
This mother was obviously disturbed - I say "obviously" because of her behaviour - and needed help. She needed support. She was abusing her five children in front of other people - obviously, she was desperate for help.
This kind of thing is often preventable. Be very clear, I am NOT suggesting that our communities are the only communities afflicted with domestic violence and abuse.
What I am saying is that this kind of thing can be prevented. The woman's family and friends reported her to the authorities numerous times, but the family did not get the help they needed and now one of the children is dead.
Please, please read my book Success Strategies for Black People. I am passionate about helping more people find out about Spiritual Response Therapy (SRT), which can prevent tragedies such as this from occurring. SRT is a form of energy therapy which brings about miraculous results in many cases. For more about SRT, listen to my short recording on Your Inner Wisdom. This is just one of the methods I cover in Success Strategies.
Plus, we need to unlearn some of our patterns of toxic communication. Toxic communication affects our relationships with partners, work colleagues and family members. We have inherited some of these patterns because of the slavery experience.
Nonviolent Communication (NVC) can transform violent situations and is helping people all over the world to transform their lives. For more about NVC, please read Success Strategies for Black People. Please also share this with anyone who can benefit from it - social workers, counsellors, anyone who is working within the Black community or who is working to combat domestic violence.
We can transform our lives and the lives of people in our families and communities.
The better an individual feels about him- or herself, the better that individual performs. This is true whether you are:
- a bus driver
- a film star
- an entrepreneur
- a parent or
- a student.
We perform in the way in which we see ourselves. That is why it is so important that we acknowledge our own and each other's successes and achievements.
That is why we need positive Black role models.
And that is one reason why it is essential that we know our history.
We must acknowledge our strengths and our skills. We must do this every day. This helps us to perform at our best in every area of life.
Michelle and I extend our warm thoughts and best wishes to all those
celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season. Today marks the first day of
the week-long celebration of African-American history and culture
through the seven principles of Kwanzaa: unity, self determination,
collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose,
creativity, and faith.
Black History Studies recently screened the documentary "Sweet Crude", about the Niger Delta.
I am going to say up front that I was upset by this film, although I was aware of the situation in the Niger Delta, having seen a film produced by the BBC a few years ago which covered much of the same ground.
It is vitally important that Black History Studies continue to screen these kinds of films and provide us with the information we need about the experience of African people all over the world.
It is equally important that we remember we can transform the situation. More about this later.
Oil was discovered in the Niger Delta in 1956. Once international oil giants Shell and Chevron moved in, they devastated the region, with the complicity of successive Nigerian military regimes. For more about modern Nigerian history, see Naij: A Film History of Nigeria.
The natural life expectancy in the Niger Delta is in the sixties; today, the life expectancy is 40. Forty. Four-zero.
During the enslavement period, the Niger Delta was known as the "slave coast". Many thousands of people were taken down the river in chains, to be sold in the West.
There is a long history of resistance in the region.
Today, because of the constant illegal burning of natural gas released by the oil drilling, toxic chemicals are released which pollute the air and the water and destroy the wildlife. The rain that falls in the Niger Delta is toxic enough to destroy metal roofs.
There are few, if any, schools in the Niger Delta. The Nigerian government and the oil companies want to drive the locals off their ancestral lands.
You can view the trailer below.
One of the most disturbing episodes covered by Sweet Crude was when Director Sandy Cioffi, having cultivated a relationship with MEND (The Movement to Emancipate the Niger Delta), arranged for a member of MEND to be interviewed on Nightline.
MEND wanted the international media to cover the situation. A member of MEND courageously agreed to be interviewed on camera, but the interviewer repeatedly asked him if he was a terrorist and if M\END were holding hostages. When the MEND member answered "no", the interviewer appeared bored and looked at his watch, and when the MEND spokesman began to explain the situation, the interview was terminated.
The subject was broadcast with a screaming headline about "Africa's New Terror Crisis" and references to a threatened increase to the price of oil for Americans.
Although we know the media often manipulate stories, and manipulate us, it was still shocking to watch this.
The Joint Task Force (JTF), a branch of the Nigerian military, maintain a presence in the region with brutal violence. The U.S. government under George W. Bush agreed to supply intelligence about activists in the region to the Nigerian government. Thus, in a way, we are all complicit in this scenario.
The author and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was imprisoned and killed because of his involvement in the Niger Delta protests.
Sweet Crude is heartbreaking. As I said above, it is vital that we remember that we can transform the situation. We have amazing energy inside of us and we can use it to transform situations like these. For more about this, see Your Inner Wisdom. Thank you once again to Black History Studies for screening Sweet Crude. For more information and to buy a copy on DVD, visit Sweet Crude.
I had some serious issues with the Filming Sensitive Issues event held at the BFI as part of the recent Film Africa festival.
I walked in to see a panel of three white women (one of them turned out to be mixed race, but she appeared white). I immediately had a problem with this. There are many Black people filming in Africa right now, at this moment, and I am sure some of them are filming sensitive issues. So I question the composition of the panel.
Two of the filmmakers had made a film about LGBT activists in Uganda. I'm not going to say much about this right now.
The other white woman, Karen Boswall, had made a documentary in Mozambique entitled Dancing on the Edge, about health workers educating people in local communities in order to prevent the spread of HIV. So this was a real conflict for the woman who was the central figure in the documentary - she was an HIV+ health worker who was participating in the ritual.
Dancing on the Edge showed girls taking part in a traditional initiation ceremony. They had to take a vow that they would always sexually satisfy their husbands and never refuse to do so. This goes directly against the health initiative to encourage people to use condoms. They also vowed to submit if their husbands decided to beat them. Thus, the initiation instructed them on how to be a good woman.
One thing I found very offensive was that Boswall said the ancestors had required women to take these vows - this is what the locals told her. I had a problem with this because it is the duty of the ancestors to protect their descendants (although not all ancestors are protective). If your ancestors are telling you to submit to beatings, they are not doing their job. However, there was no analysis of this from the filmmaker.
It has rightly been pointed out to me that religion and spirituality are often used to manipulate and control people, as depicted, for example, in Ousmane Sembene's film Moolaade. Therefore, it is entirely likely that the ancestors are being slandered in this instance.
The film depicted many girls and young women taking part in the ritual. In a lengthy sequence, they are topless. So we see this sea of breasts - again, with no explanation or analysis. There is no voiceover to place this in context.
One thing I found particularly disturbing was that many of these girls were very young - far too young to have breasts - in fact, they literally looked like little boys. I question why children so young were participating in an initiation ritual.
Another problem I had with this event was that Boswall was surprised at how many people had asked her about female genital mutilation (FGM) in connection with her film. It is obvious that, in an African context, any discussion of female initiation ceremonies will include reference to FGM, but Boswall did not seem to understand this. Nor was she aware of Moolaade. I have a problem with someone who knows so little about African film, or indeed African culture, having her work included in this festival.
Boswall was well-meaning. She said she was disappointed that her film was unlikely to bring about change, and she plans to make fiction films rather than documentaries in future.
Some useful reflections came out of the event, as the filmmakers involved were very candid about the effects of their work on African communities. I shall say more about this in future.
Although the BFI screens the excellent African Odysseys film series on a monthly basis, I was very disappointed by this offering from Film Africa.
This
Saturday, 17th November. London
Black History Walks will screen two films by and about African
women.
Ugandan
Superladies - Rose, Leila and Susan are three ordinary Ugandan women
concerned with homes, families and jobs, but they
also share the dream of becoming champion rally
drivers. They face the double challenge of achieving sporting success
while fighting prejudice and sexism in the male world of motor
rallying.The film documents their journey take as they struggle to
put together their cars for the Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally 2009,
the most coveted motor sports title in East Africa. Showing
with:
The
Window - Moji
dreams of being a window dresser but is held back by her
husband Samson and things start to look even worse for her when
Samson's second wife arrives from Nigeria to live in their
one-bedroomed Peckham flat with them. However the two women,rather
than being rivals,form a bond and,after a public show-down at
Samson's chieftancy ceremony, attain their independence plus Q
and A with screenwriter Funke Oyebanjo
Saturday,
17th November
Room
B36, Birkbeck University of London, Malet St (entry on Torrington
Square)
Tube:
Russell Square/Tottenham Court Road
Free
entry. First come, First served
This
event sponsored by National Association of Black Saturday Schools
www.nabss.org.uk
and Birkbeck, University of London
Plus:
Performing
Black Bodies in White Spaces (Repeated
by popular demand)
Saturday 17 November
5pm to 8.30pm
Birkbeck
University of London, Tube: Russell Square/Tottenham Court Road
However, none of those books are included here. These are books for Obama-lovers. When this many people are trying to stop you, you know you are doing something right. Congratulations, America. Maybe we really are growing up as a nation.
Phone Swap and Maami are two films showing at the BFI this Saturday, as part of the African Odysseys strand, organised by London Black History Walks in conjunction with the BFI. You can watch the trailer below.
One of the delights of the festival is that we get to meet working filmmakers.
Saturday, I attended a screenwriting workshop at the BFI with award-winning screenwriter Rungano Nyoni. She gave us the benefit of her perspective of writing as an actor, rather than a trained screenwriter, which I found very educational and very stimulating.
Then, Saturday night, Rich Mix screened several shorts including Yellow Fever (very powerful) and Native Sun (very poignant), along with Whitey's on the Moon and Walking Backwards, both by Caroline Deeds, who was present for the screening. So I got to hang out with the director and her family. Brilliant. I recommend you see all of these films.
I had some issues with the workshop at the BFI on Sunday on Filming Difficult Subjects. More about this soon.
The festival continues. The BFI will screen two Nigerian blockbusters on Saturday as part of their African Odysseys strand: Maami and Phone Swap. See also: Film Africa; Filming Tomorrow.
This is a great podcast from The Wilmer Leon Show.
Wilmer Leon's guests were two educators who talked about their experiences of teaching Black children in the school system.
Some of their experiences underline what I keep saying: we need to learn from each other internationally. For example, one of the guests talked about the fact that he went into teaching Special Education, only to find out that a lot of Black children are being put into that category.
The same thing happened here in the UK in the 1960s and 70s, when Black children were often labelled "educationally sub-normal". Nowadays, exclusions are often used to deny our children an education.
Another point the guests made was that Black boys are often being raised by women, and they come into the classroom to find themselves being taught by women. So where do they learn to be men? Where are their male role models?
The presenter also makes the point that HBCUs do not teach their students some crucial Black literature. You can graduate from Harvard without having read Carter G. Woodson's The Miseducation of the Negroor Ivan van Sertima's They Came before Columbus.
In a recent column on TheNation.com, Melissa Harris-Perry debunks the
myth that President Obama has a problem with Black voters - or, more to
the point, that we have a problem with him.
Nurture Success is very dear to my heart. I have recently created a new Nurture Success group for people of African heritage, to help you attract all the money and financial empowerment, love, health, success and everything you want. To create a wonderful future for yourself. Please listen to the short audio below to find out more.
Film Africa, the UK’s largest annual festival of African cinema and
culture, is back in November 2012 with 10 days of 70 African
films, 35 leading filmmakers offering Q&As, free professional
workshops, and 9 African music nights.
Filming Tomorrow will be a screen-seminar on grassroots filmmaking in Africa
As the conditions in which film is made change rapidly and radically,
so too does the practice of filmmaking. In this open seminar, we will
look at alternative filmmaking collectives, citizen journalists and
community TV. Here, we will open up the discussion into the future of
radical filmmaking in Africa.
Section 1: Urban Film and Space presented by Joshua McNamara
Section 2: Mosireen and collective filmmaking presented by Omar Robert Hamilton.
Section 3: Open discussion.
The recent presentation from Black History Studies entitled "Slavery Is Not Our History" detailed many of the ways in which enslaved African people liberated themselves and fought against kidnapping, genocide and mass enslavement in Africa, on board the slave ships, on many Caribbean islands, and in South America and the United States.
My sister, who grew up in the 1940s and '50s, tells me that, when she was growing up, people would say to her that slavery could not have been that bad, because there were no slave revolts. The schools taught that slaves were happy on the plantations. The only slave revolt she was told about was that led by Nat Turner.
Fortunately, our mother taught us from an early age about those who fought for liberation, including Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Toussaint L'Ouverture and more.
For more about this presentation, click here for Black History Facts. As usual, this was a fascinating presentation, packed with loads of information.
For more about the "Slavery Is Not Our History" presentation, see: Why Focus on History?
It was lovely to see several young people at the Black History Studies event the other night, "Slavery Is Not Our History". More about this event soon.
One young man asked the important question (and I am paraphrasing): given the pressures on young people today, what is the point of focusing on history?
As you can imagine, there was a lot to say about this.
Mark Simpson of BHS referred to Sankofa: in order to move forwards, you have to look backwards. In order to know where we are going, we need to know where we have been.
Charmaine Simpson, also of BHS, pointed out that many of the issues we face today originated in the enslavement of our ancestors.
I talked about the importance of identity. Without knowledge of our history and of who we are, it is easy for us to become confused.
Black Fighter Pilots of WWII was the most recent presentation by London Black History Walks. Every time I attend one of these events, I am very moved and inspired. And I always learn something new.
Those fighter pilots from the United States, the Caribbean and Africa were seriously courageous, and some of them were seriously fine!
Nightfighters, a 1994 documentary about the Tuskegee Airmen, was screened. Many of the men talked about their own experiences during the war. They were reported as being not good enough.
October is Black History Month in the UK, and I am listing some BHM events on Nurture Success.
Click here for Next Black History Events. They include Ebony Goddess and Black Fighter Pilots of World War, two presentations by London Black History Walks. These presentations are held every month of the year, not just in October.
Black History Studies is also holding a season of Black history events this month - and every month - including, on Monday 8th October, a screening of the film More than a Month.
Debo Ajose-Adeogun photo from the London Evening Standard
Yesterday, the London Evening Standard reported on graduates having to take menial jobs as they cannot find even entry-level employment in their fields.
In the Black community, this is certainly not news. It has been going on for many years - even generations.
The article focused on London-based Debo Ajose-Adeogun, a Nigerian architecture graduate. He worked hard for three years to complete his degree, then spent all day every day online looking for work.
The mistake he is making is that he is responding to job ads and writing off to companies asking for employment opportunities. Most job seekers make the same mistake.
It's fine to write off to companies, just don't expect to land a job that way - unless you know what to say in your letter.
The majority of jobs are never advertised. This means we need to have better strategies for finding work. For more about this, click here for my free report, Four Steps to Finding the Job You Want. The report explains how you can stop chasing after jobs and start having employers chase you.
