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.
For more information, see "3 Dynamite Ways to Increase Your Income", below.
Did you know you can double your income in 30 days - just by using the power of your mind? This could potentially change your life. This is NOT a business proposition. For details, listen to the audio above. Once
you have read Success Strategies, "like" my Facebook page and post there, and we'll take
it from there. I'm no longer offering this for free, but it really works. For more about this, see: "3 Dynamite Ways to Increase Your Income".
What is your best business strategy? This is one of the questions I asked Coach Kevin, author of From Ghetto to Greatness, in More Black Success Volume 8. Coach Kevin shares his best strategy, what difficulties he has overcome and much more. Click here to download your copy today. See also: Remember Your Greatness.
Did you know it took him 20 years to make the Malcolm X film, from inception to the final production?
Too many of our people are waiting for something to drop into their
laps - waiting for some hero, leader or saviour to rescue them.That's what I said in "Do You Play the Lottery?"Please check this out and
leave your comments there.
I just listened to a great audio on 21 Days to Manifesting Mastery in the current Manifest Everything Now series.
Dr. Simeon Rodgers talked about:
how
to use the LOA to dramatically change the results of your life.
the
six factors that have sabotaged your manifesting so far and how to
overcome each of them.
a
process to give you ironclad faith in the LOA.
He said he can help you to turn
into an expert manifestor even if you have failed before.
According to Dr. Rodgers, the
reason why people have trouble manifesting is that they have been
given the wrong information. It's amazing what can happen when you
have the right information.
Some of what he is saying is similar to work we do with EFT around financial issues and financial abundance. When we feel anxious and stressed about money, bills, business problems, etc., it is much harder to attract what we want.
This was the second Black Market event in London hosted by Black History Studies. I attended the first one a few months ago, and it was very positive. The second one include a film festival.
I
listened to this audio recently on Manifest Everything Now. It was brilliant. Carol
Tuttle was talking about the chakras – the body's energy centers –
and what they each represent.
A lot of the information on chakras is very esoteric. Carol Tuttle's system is very practical. The purpose of this information is to help you make practical, positive changes in your life. Working with the energy of money can help you to improve your finances. But this is about making changes in any are of your life in which you need to see changes happen.
I am sure you have heard about Maggie Anderson, the
sista who decided she and her family would buy only from Black-owned
businesses for one full year.
Anderson expects that her effort to
support African American-owned businesses will inspire her community
become more active their sometimes struggling neighborhoods.
Anderson wrote about her experience in Our Black Year, her recently published book
co-authored by Ted Gregory. The idea came about because she and her
husband John wanted to embark on their dramatic adventure as a means to
"inspire economic empowerment." Forthcoming Our Black Yearevents include visits to the Association of Black Women Lawyers and the African American Chamber of Commerce. I am sure you wish her every success, as I do.
They were partying in Brixton last night, along with Bristol and Glasgow. And I don't blame them. Former UK Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher is dead at last. This is the same Maggie Thatcher who: - closed the mines, the steel works and the shipyards; - put more than three million people out of work; - devastated communities - in some families; no one has had a job for nearly 30 years; - created the current housing crisis by not allowing local councils to replace housing stock they sold off under "Right to Buy" legislation; - introduced the Poll Tax; - deregulated the financial services industry, which contributed to the current economic collapse; - abolished the GLC and the other Metropolitan County Councils; - created a culture governed by greed, selfishness and the "me-first" mentality. And lest we forget, the 1981 Brixton riots happened on her watch.
I could go on. I feel for her family members, but I mostly feel for the rest of Britain, the majority of whom are still suffering under the legacy of Thatcher. Brixton people know how to party, and the Ritzy Cinema joined in the fun. Watch the video below for more. Shame it came 30 years too late.
When people come to your town, they are looking for YOUR business. You need to be where you can be found. So I am compiling an International Directory of Black-Owned Businesses. I shall be presenting a series of radio broadcasts to talk about the importance of international networking for Black-owned businesses. Click here to listen to the first show.
The Directory will be downloadable. With a one-time payment of $50/£30, your business can be listed forever. So when tourists and visitors arrive in your town, or are making plans to visit your town, they can find your business.
You will have to agree to include a link to the Directory on your website. So thousands of websites all over the world will link to the Directory - and people can find your business.
I have a range of products and free resources to help you get ahead with your finances, your career, or finding work. To break into a range of careers, including - media - politics - business and - the corporate world, read Black Success Stories Volume 1. I interviewed Black achievers and asked them how they achieved their success - and they told me. I put the information in the book. If you are looking for work or want to increase your income, or you know someone who does, I can help. See Finding the Job You Want for more information. Want to build your business? I have free advice from Black business owners in More Black Success.
For overall success in every area of your life, check out my Black Success Audios. Here's to your success!
Melinda was one of the business experts I interviewed in More Black Success Volume 10.
Interesting that she suggests using a vision board as one of the ways to boost your marketing efforts. This is definitely a method I recommend. For more about using vision boards, check out my book Success Strategies for Black People.
The
national curriculum only briefly mentioned Mary Seacole, as a Victorian woman who could be studied. The Daily Mail
recently claimed that Mary Seacole's story was a myth. See below for
more details.
The
following information was supplied by Professor Elizabeth Anionwu at
this event.
Life
of Mary Seacole
Mary
Seacole was a 19th
century Jamaican businesswoman who worked as a doctoress. She saved
many lives during outbreaks of cholera and yellow fever in Jamaica
and Panama.
Seacole
treated Lord Nelson and the future King William IV, both of whom
highly praised and recommended her.
When she
learned that Florence Nightingale was recruiting nurses to serve the
wounded soldiers in the Crimean War, Seacole travelled to London,
paying her own way. She approached Nightingale for help with finding
accommodation in London.
Nightingale
later wrote of Seacole as a “bad woman” who ran a “bad house”.
The truth was that Mary Seacole raised the funds, went to the Crimea
and treated the soldiers there. Her experience of tropical medicine
greatly benefited them.
Nightingale
has been remembered as the “Lady with the Lamp”, but the truth is
that it was Mary Seacole who went to the battlefield to treat and
comfort the soldiers. Nightingalle's hospital was across the sea, in
Scutari.
Mary
Seacole was well loved in her lifetime, frequently appearing in the
newspapers. She was later forgotten, but the current generation have
revived her memory and voted her the Greatest Black Briton on Patrick
Vernon's 100 Great Black Britons site.
The
Daily Mail Controversy
The
Daily Mail claimed that
Mary
Seacole did not consider herself to be Black;
she
did not earn the medals she wore, but stole them; and
she did
not receive formal nursing training [in
fact, the first formal nursing training was established in 1860,
after the Crimean War].
Professor
Anionwu is helping to raise funds for the erection of a statue of
Mary Seacole.
Although
we have a great deal of information and documentation about Mary
Seacole, a national newspaper was able to publish these distortions.
It is so important that we tell our own stories.
The
National Curriculum
Information
about Mary Seacole and Olaudah Equiano is now a mandatory part of the
national curriculum. However, other things have been removed from
the national curriculum.
Please
come to my next Griot Workshop to learn more
about telling our own stories.
I shall be leading the next Griot Workshop, on The Role of the Modern Griot, in London on the 12th of March 2013. This workshop will be hosted by Black History Studies. With special guest, photographer Charlie Phillips. I hope you will join us. Click here for more information.
The Griot Workshops use storytelling and creativity to help us to discover and explore our cultural inheritance. We reinforce a positive sense of cultural identity through celebrating our African ancestors, heroes and sheroes.
Saw this interesting blog recently: 5 Reasons Why You Should Consider Blogging Blogging helps you to sharpen your storytelilng skills, share your knowledge and experience and more.
Ida B. Wells was a woman of extraordinary talents, energy and vision. In
an age when there were no computers, no internet, no Facebook, no fax
machines, no text messaging, Ida B. Wells influenced many thousands of
people. At a time when women did not even have the vote, Ida B. Wells
had a huge influence on public policy. Click here to read my review of Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice. Bill Greaves is one of the filmmakers featured in Celebrating Black Independent Film Pioneers at the Schomburg. For details of this and other Black History Month events, see: Black History/Cultural Events. See also: Black Museums.
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.
