Friday, May 30, 2014

Art is a the only Method of Translating Our Unconsciousness


"Nobody gives us a rhyme or reason. Half of one doubt, they call it treason." - Les McCann



Dear friends,

Music is art, and art is the only method by which humans as a species have the power to retrieve both information and images from the subconscious/unconscious content of Our minds Our thoughts are immaterial, including our spirituality. Consequently, since Our ideas are not material,,science does not have either the  instrument(s) or person(s) to reveal, much less measure, the aforementioned thoughts, of any kind: good, bad, smart, or dumb. Nevertheless, as well, art allows Us to recollect, and share with others, Our past, present, and future experiences, visions, insights, smells, tastes, physical and/or emotional feelings, and touches. Listen up!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvJzCdgB3Tc Read full post

Muhammad Ali and the Jackson Five - 1977







Dear friends, 

On the link below is a 7 minutes-long interview with Muhammad Ali, where he is joined by the Jackson 5. The main point that he raises here is the need for African Americans to begin thinking about how we can come together and uplift ourselves from our historical lower middle class status. Enjoy! 

G. Djata Bumpus  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM8IP5d9GO8&NR=1 Read full post

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Email from my 89 years-old Mother about Maya Angelou (5/28/14)

Dearest Djata,

It is a joyous life that has passed from this earthly realm. Some may say, "Our dear, wonderful Maya Angelou is no longer with us in the physical sense." Yet her life and victorious triumphs will live on long after the lives of those heroes and icons who die without saying, "I am a Black woman, yet 'Still I Rise'."

Much love and thanks to you and your realization that we Black women will continue to rise as long as we have Black sons like you, and all the Black mothers who gave unselfishly to raise their families in America.

Mom
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Dr. Maya Angelou - Still I Rise

Manifesto of ALL Black woman...Long live the African Spirit!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqo50LSZ0
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What is Courage? - a quote from Dr. Maya Angelou



“…this beautiful and incredibly powerful quote, below, from Dr. Angelou says it all.”

Dear friends,

It seems, at least to me, that the issue of courage comes to mind, when analyzing so much of what happens in our society daily. I help people discover the power that is called courage. And, although I have been doing it for a living, for the past twenty-five years, I have been doing it generally, for almost all of my life - literally.

Moreover, while courage seems to usually relate to how humans confront either unfavorable or even violent people, things, or circumstances, it is far more significant as an exercise of one’s many inner strengths (powers).

In any case, not long ago, I was scanning through some old computer files and found a quote from the great Dr. Maya Angelou. Of course, I am a little more assertive about the origin of courage in a person than she seems to be, due to my expertise in this area . That is, humans are not born with courage. Period. Rather, they acquire that power through careful nurturing. Otherwise, this beautiful and incredibly powerful, although brief, quote below, from Dr. Angelou, says it all.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
*************************************
"One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest."
MAYA ANGELOU, in USA Today, 5 March 1988
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Maya Angelou writes a poem for Mandela











Dear friends, This poem on the link below from Maya Angelou is a gracious tribute to Nelson Mandela. However, to me, it misses mention of the South African people who maintained a connection with him, while continuing to fight and die, like Steven Biko, for example, during Mandela's time in prison. For if it had not been for them, Mandela would have gone mad, as 27 years in confinement always does. The black people of South Africa are still not free. The racists have simply replaced themselves with black stooges!

Amandla! (Power)!

G. Djata Bumpus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2w4UGKEffA&list=PLmpmr41LhUA-ploCCn_OO0JzK49hOoejF&index=1 Read full post

Monday, May 26, 2014

Our Fighting Men!

The following is a true story about a young Amherst girl who faced enslavement. It was written by nationally-renowned Amherst storyteller Eshu Bumpus and his brother Djata (this book's author). It shows evidence of the operation of the Underground Railroad in the Amherst, Massachusetts area. Of course, the Underground Railroad is the “romantic”c term that is used in US history school books for an alleged system of escape for African American captives. However, there was no actual “system” as such. Rather, there were many ways that folks left the South. For example, some hid in wagons, while others earned or were given money and simply hopped on trains.

It was a seemingly ordinary Spring day, in the month of May, 152 years or three grandmothers ago. Angeline Palmer was an 11 years-old orphan. She was so poor that, in Amherst, where she had been born and raised, the townspeople decided to find a family that would care for her. She had an older brother named Lewis B. Frazier (her late mother's son from a previous marriage) who lived in Amherst. But he was only twenty years-old and could not afford to take care of her by himself.

Mason and Susan Shaw, a European American couple from nearby Belchertown, offered to take Angeline to live with them. They seemed like a nice couple, so Amherst town officials were satisfied to have found a home for Angeline.

But things were not as pleasant as they seemed. The Shaws had a secret reason for taking Angeline. They had been planning to visit one of the Southern states where many African Americans were still being held in slavery. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw decided to take Angeline with them in order to sell her to a slave trader, because captive workers could be sold for lots of money. To complete their scheme, when the Shaws returned to Massachusetts, they would tell people that Angeline ran away.

Luckily, a woman overheard Mason Shaw telling some of his friends about the scheme. She did not like what the Shaws were planning. So she made sure that Angeline's brother, Lewis, found out about it.

Lewis Frazier was a brave young man. He was not going to let anything happen to his sister. Lewis got two of his friends, Henry Jackson and William Jennings, to help him. The three young African American men broke into the Shaw's house and rescued Angeline. They brought Angeline to Spencer and Sarah Church's farm in North Amherst. The Church family was European American. Although she had eight children of her own, Mrs. Church agreed to care for Angeline and hide her when necessary.

Of course, Lewis knew that his sister could not stay in Amherst. He and his two friends sought the advice of an African American woman named Huldah Kiles who also lived in North Amherst. She brought Lewis and Angeline to her brother, Charles Green, who lived in Colrain, a small town next to the Vermont border. At last, Angeline had found a real home. > Because of how and from where they rescued Angeline, the three men were wanted by the legal authorities. So, about two weeks after bringing her to safety, Jennings, Jackson and Frazier turned themselves in and were put in jail. Fortunately, because they all had jobs, the men were immediately able to obtain bail bonds and, therefore, freed from jail, until their case was brought before a judge. When the trial came up, several months later, the judge offered to dismiss all charges if the trio would reveal Angeline's whereabouts. But the young men knew that they were right and would not say a word. So, they were sentenced to three months in the Hampshire County Jail of neighboring Northampton.

Knowing their story, however, Mr. Clapp - the Jail Keeper, did not take their sentence seriously. He let them leave the jail during the day as long as they promised to return at night, which they did. They were also allowed plenty of visitors who brought them food and clothes. When finally the three returned home to Amherst, they were received as heroes by both African Americans and European Americans alike.

Although Lewis Frazier died about ten years later from a hip complaint. Henry Jackson, who lived out his life in Amherst for over 60 years after the abovementioned incident, went on to become one of the town's most distinguished citizens. William Jennings also remained in Amherst and - a little more than 20 years later - became a hero of the North American Civil War. Jennings served first in the all-African American 54th Regiment, then later he re-enlisted in the 5th Massachusetts cavalry. Both of these fighting units were depicted in the Hollywood production called Glory. The very brave Angeline Palmer continued to live a secure and happy childhood in Colrain, before reappearing in Amherst, eleven years after her escape/rescue, as a married woman with children.
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Our Fighting Women!

Dear friends,

On this Memorial Day holiday 2014, please do not let us to get that there have been women, especially African Americans ones, who have truly served as militant liberators in the history of Our country.

Lately, there has been a cry by Western feminists regarding all women being allowed to join active fighting units in the military. Of course, African American women have a long history of taking part in North American warfare, long before names like Harriet Tubman became widely known, and ever since, in groups like the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army.

A generation ago, during the early 90s,in the Amherst, Massachusetts area, Ingrid Askew and Nefertiti Burton, were two remarkable local performing artists who remind Us that African American women have never been pushovers. The duo's uplifting portrayals of African American liberators such as former Pioneer Valley resident Sojourner Truth and their popular dramatization of the life of Ida B. Wells stress the need for all people to take personal responsibility for fighting against their own oppression.

While the name of Sojourner Truth is fairly recognizable, few are familiar with the story of Ida B. Wells. She was a genuine gun-toting liberator (in fact, she carried two guns.) After the lynching of three African American businessmen in her native Memphis, Tennessee, 100 years or two grandmothers ago, Wells began a personal crusade of justice for her people that included lectures, rallies and other forms of protest. Additionally, readers should be reminded that Ida received a great deal of support from her African American sisters. She was no lone nut. Her fight lasted for decades (see When And Where I Enter by Paula Giddings)

While African American women have proven to be unafraid of physical confrontation, one of their greatest contributions to Our country has been their generations of pioneering efforts to make feminism a relevant movement, in spite of the negative actions by most European American feminists to exclude them.

It was around 185 years or not quite five grandmothers ago, when a woman named Matilda wrote to the "Freedom's Journal", an African American newspaper: "Messrs. Editors...Will you allow a female to offer a few remarks upon a subject that you must allow to be all important? I don't know that in any of your papers, you have said sufficient upon the education of females. I hope you are not to be classed with those, who think that Our mathematical knowledge should be limited to 'fathoming the dish-kettle,' and that We have acquired enough of history, if We know that Our grandfather's father lived and died...I would address myself to all mothers - it is their bounden duty to store their daughters' minds with useful learning. They should be made to devote their leisure time to reading books, whence they would derive information, which could never be taken from them. ( A Documentary History of the Negro People in the U. S. edited by Herbert Aptheker)

And The Struggle continues!

G. Djata Bumpus
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Sunday, May 25, 2014

History of Black Struggle - Resistance vs. Accomodation



Dear friends,

Ever since the very first of Our ancestors was dragged to the shores of this country in chains, as he screamed “Give me Africa back!”, we as a people have been involved in a struggle for liberation. That struggle just mentioned has generally been divided into two camps. They are: 1) Resistance. and 2) Accommodation.
The resistance aspect of Our liberation movement has involved everyone from early captive workers or so-called “slaves” to Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey, and Malcolm X, to name a few.

The accommodating types, largely starting with Our ministers - following the North American Civil War, leading all the way up to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (for example, what person didn't have a "dream" for his or her children, long before King was even born?). Finally, the “accommodating” so-called Civil Rights Movement of African Americans died with Martin King - a man who I sat with, albeit begrudgingly, for about 2 ½ hours, some two years after the now famous March on Washington. Moreover, the Black Consciousness Movement that lasted from 1965 to 1985 took over and has far more to do with the election of Barack Obama as POTUS than the Civil Rights Movement.

Liberation! 


 G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJEXZVekZbE
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What is Truth?

"If the truth is subjective, then why do so many people benefit by hiding it?"
  Dear friends,

It is common in our society to hear people ask, "What is the truth?".

In fact, silly college professors, especially, often tell impressionable young people, "The truth is subjective.". Consequently, many years ago, I formulated a question to object to this mystery. It goes, "If the truth is subjective, then why do so many people benefit by hiding it?".

In other words, the truth is the facts/all phenomena (i.e., what is). We may not know the facts right now, however, in time we may. Ya dig?. That is, through social interaction, scientific experiment, and empirical data (past experience and knowledge), we may find it, from time to time. That's where the wholesomeness of the scientific method comes in handy. You see, science is so special for us, because it is based upon the "falsifiability" of an idea or concept. 

That means that we can correct false ideas and practices and get closer to the truth. This is crucial, because science is about advancements and development NOT discoveries. So we are learning to heal both physically and mentally, more and more, as a species. On the other hand, religious dogma, for example, is useless. It claims to be truth that is not testable, much less falsifiable. All it leads to is intolerance and murder. Look at the vicious Zionists in Occupied Palestine.

 G. Djata Bumpus

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