King Memorial

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/elmer_smith/20101203_Elmer_Smith_.html Read full post

The Meaning of the 4th of July bu Frederick Douglas

Dear friends,

Frederick Douglass was a genuine leader of African American people, as well as the United States of America. The recording on the link below is a verbatim read of Douglass' accurate and informative account of both the suffering of Our ancestors as well as the greed and hypocrisy of the founders of this country.

Liberation!

G. Djata Bumpus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkzmn6UyaSA Read full post

Letter about Reparations

"Letter to the editor" to the Philadelphia Daily News, published on Wednesday, June 18, 2014:

As it has been said, "Everyone wants to inherit property - not guilt." Stu Bykofsky's piece called "the case against reparations" in some ways appears to be well-meaning, even though he compares the issue of reparations for African-American people to "dirty laundry" that has been soiled so by our past sufferings and "remnants of racism today."

However, the "dirty laundry" that Bykofsky wants to bring before a South African-type Truth Commission shows his complete naivete regarding how one group retains power over another. In fact, the so-called Truth Commission was more about the arrogant apartheid government flexing its muscles at the South African people in order to remind the latter that the former would still be running things, long after the great Nelson Mandela had ceremoniously served in his position as president.

To be sure, Bykofsky does admit that African-Americans generally have a far longer history in this country than most European Americans or so-called whites. Yet, he conveniently fails to mention how boatloads of millions of European immigrants were brought here and ultimately evolved into being "working white people," when there were already millions of African-Americans here who were deliberately excluded from the burgeoning political economy of capitalism and, for the most part, remained in a state of peonage as sharecroppers on the same plantations of their former enslavers.

However, there is something much more pernicious about Bykofsky's platitudinous assault against the right of African-American people to express our well-deserved resentment and hostility toward centuries of white supremacy, euphemistically called racism, when he says, "What (white) Americans fear is being called racist every time that conversation starts."

How dare he!

The issue of reparations was settled long ago. Therefore, for the life of me, I can't understand why this topic still exists. For example, Gen. William Sherman, during the Civil War, was redistributing land that had once been owned by enslavers and giving it to freed African-Americans. Unfortunately, as he did with the first two Emancipation Proclamations, the first one by Gov. David Hunter of South Carolina and the second one by Gov. John Fremont of Missouri, President Abraham Lincoln rescinded Sherman's orders and the land was returned to the former slave owners.

And please let us not forget the Freedmen's Bureau that was specifically set up by the U.S. government to aid the former captive workers. Of course, in 1876, Republican Party presidential candidate Rutherford Hayes promised "white" Southerners that he would abolish the Freedmen's Bureau and withdraw federal troops that were protecting the gunless African-Americans, if the aforementioned Southern voters gave him their support. They did. He won, and was placed in office. And he kept his disgraceful promise.

Finally, Bykofsky claims that he wants to help. He even went as far as making an unauthorized offer, "I believe that most Americans, if given a sensible and effective way to make amends, would take it."

If he really means that, then he should stop calling himself "white" and urge his readers to do so as well. Certainly, most of his fellows will not go for that. You see, claiming to be "white," regardless of one's social status, or cultural/historical past, not only makes a person part of an artificial "majority" group, but it also gives that person a sense of power. The brave words of freedom, equality and democracy that are constantly bandied about by U.S. politicians, newspaper columnists and others are only done so within their comfortable embrace of whiteness.

G. Djata Bumpus

Philadelphia
Read full post

Black Music Month and Our Contributions to the World!!!

Dear Friends,

During Black Music Month, we should remember that, to be sure, for African peoples everywhere, being musicians has been part of Our cultural and psychic structures or internal labor processes, for millennia or scores of grandmothers' lifetimes. Lorenzo Johnston Greene further confirmed this assertion in his timeless book, The Negro In Colonial New England, "Zelah, a Negro of Groton, Massachusetts, who later fought in the American Revolution, became famous in his neighborhood as a musician." Greene also refers to Newport Gardner, "...the slave of Caleb Gardner of Newport, Rhode Island, was given music lessons. He soon excelled his teacher and later opened a music school of his own on Pope Street where he taught both Negroes and white persons." (Certainly, the music school that Gardner opened was made possible after he had freed himself from chattel slavery. Greene indicates that, a little more than 200 years or four grandmothers ago, Gardner "purchased" the liberty of himself and most of his family members after winning two thousand dollars in a lottery.)

The trend of African American musicians has continued since those colonial days, with African American musicians still having major influence on the music of which North Americans like to listen. In Amherst, Massachusetts the now late Ruth Goodwin remembers Mr. Arthur Andrews, a pianist who, she says, was without an equal. the now late Bill Russell, whose family has owned the liquor store in the center of the town for decades, recalls that, during World War II era, his father hired a local African American music group, the Roberts Brothers, to play at the elder Russell's 25th wedding anniversary. Today, Amherst's two colleges and its state university (UMass) boast to have had some of the most respected music professors/musicians in the world, from a variety of musical genres, but particularly those artists who play Black classical music (some of which is often called "jazz". - legendary musical giants with names like Archie Shepp, Max Roach, Yusef Lateef, Clarence Horace Boyer, Ray Copeland, Billy Taylor, and Fred Tillis, to name a few, and all of whom I know have known (because there are now deceased) personally. The aforementioned schools also
had such visitors as Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Mary Lou Williams, Hugh Masakela, Modern Jazz Quartet, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and the list goes on and on.

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

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. Read full post

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
Read full post

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 Read full post

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MALCOLM - A Real Leader!!!

"...one of the chief pioneers of the Black Consciousness Movement."





born May 19, 1925

Dear friends,

In light of all of the frauds who are called "leaders", both in academia and the streets, and at a time when the government- and corporate-controlled mainstream media put the centuries-old liberation struggle of African American people to gain equality, dignity, and justice, in the context of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, especially for our youth, We need to keep them aware of the fact that it was the Black Consciousness Movement (@1965-85) that brought the most significant changes to the US - and continues, including the election of Barack Obama.

Moreover, while We can't forget so many others, We must always remember that Malcolm X was one of the chief pioneers of the Black Consciousness Movement, in modern times.

One Love, One Heart, One Spirit!

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Black Wall Street Massacre

Dear friends,

 This 10 minutes long video is a remarkable display of what Rap and Hip-hop could have/should have become. That is, instead of becoming art as a liberating force, they became nothing more than narcissistic buffoon minstrelsy!

Liberation!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wOu7H3ohvs
Read full post

Time, Music, and Liberation

Dear friends,

Certainly, it is difficult for most of Us, particularly young people, to envision time periods of the past. Therefore, with the idea that a generation is about 25 years long, by assuming that a grandmother's age represents two generations or an average of roughly fifty years, We shall look backwards in terms of so many "grandmothers ago". Accordingly, if looking back 200 years, then We're actually talking about four grandmothers ago; that is, the grandmother of one's grandmother's, grandmother's, grandmother. In other words, We are speaking in terms of each grandmother's grandmother as representing 100 years.

Also. for many generations past and to this very day, many Early American Native women (so-called American Indians) have said and continue to say of their menstruation period, "My grandmother is visiting." Consequently, Our use of grandmothers to represent time periods is reasonable.


In any case, for African peoples everywhere, being musicians has been part of Our cultural and psychic structures or internal labor processes, for millennia or scores of grandmothers' lifetimes. Lorenzo Johnston Greene further confirmed this assertion in his timeless book, The Negro In Colonial New England, "Zelah, a Negro of Groton, Massachusetts, who later fought in the American Revolution, became famous in his neighborhood as a musician.".

Greene also refers to Newport Gardner, "...the slave of Caleb Gardner of Newport, Rhode Island, was given music lessons. He soon excelled his teacher and later opened a music school of his own on Pope Street where he taught both Negroes and white persons." (Certainly, the music school that Gardner opened was made possible after he had freed himself from chattel slavery...Greene indicates that, a little more than 200 years or four grandmothers ago, Gardner "purchased" the liberty of himself and most of his family members after winning two thousand dollars in a lottery.)

Finally, it was common for earlier African Americans to look out for each other, by buying Our fellow sisters and brothers out of chattel slavery, if the former received some kind of economic windfall. But like their descendants of today (Hip-hop moguls and wealthy drug dealers, for example), some African Americans used newfound wealth to purchase captive workers (or-called "slaves").  Let's keep things in perspective.

"One Love!" - Bob Marley

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Sojourner Truth's 1851 speech asking "Ain't I A Woman?"

"That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?"


Dear friends, 

On the link below, said to be 6'2" tall, this incredible African American woman, Sojourner Truth, in only a few hundred spoken words, defined the plight of all women in both a nation and world where Male Supremacy - euphemistically called sexism or patriarchy, rules.

 Liberation! 

 G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/sojtruth-woman.asp Read full post

Black History Month and "White" history

Dear friends,

Of what else does Black History Month remind us? The most current method used for translating the history of African American people is to portray "white" history in black-face. That is, "white" history is based upon deceitful scholarship which calls upon everyday people to identify with an organized "minority" (i.e., European rulers and other celebrities), as opposed to the "majority" (that is, ordinary Non-European and European) folks, who, historically, have been born into circumstances where little opportunity has existed for them to become a part of the here-to-mentioned ruling classes.

Specifically, acting as sycophants for their rulers (in order to eat), North American educators and media people have concocted a "white" past that somehow connects all European Americans, as well as non-European Americans, with pharaohs and queens of the Nile Valley, then the rulers of Greece and Rome, and later, by an even greater miraculously twisted logic, link the aforesaid European Americans and non-European Americans (almost all of whom are preponderantly of non-English heritage) to the Kings and Queens of England, before bringing these aforementioned ordinary folks to their ultimate and "natural" emotional and spiritual union with North American businessmen and bourgeois politicians.

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

The Gullabiliity of African Americans on Facebook

Dear friends,

I've been engaged in the topic about Black folks, especially men, being lynched regularly Down South (as opposed to here Up South (Philly, NYC, and Boston) in years past. It started over a post called “10 outrages reason black people were incensed in America”. Why would anyone either want or need to read this?

Besides, if an intelligent woman sees a book with the title “Act like a lady-Think like a man”, why in the world would she or any female with a brain even look inside the cover?. Likewise, why would any African Americans with even the most infinitesimally small brain be interested in one single reason about why lowlife, scumbag European American s in their most despicable moments ganged up on somebody, whether African American or European American (because they lynched their own too), assault the fighting and screaming victim, until the person was unconscious, then hang the person?

Finally, you can believe that the moron who wrote the piece mentioned above never talks about that aspect. It reminds me of the stupidity on Facebook that has Black people believing that the word picnic, an old French term for such dining, was somehow, instead, derived from European Americans using the term picnic for “picking a nigger” to lynch. We must inform to inspire, not confuse and make people stupid and unaware of that which will allow them to move forward towards liberation. The post mentioned above is incredibly asinine!

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois - Their Ideas and Practice once met in Amherst, Massachusetts

Dr. W.E.B. DuBois (top)
and Booker T. Washington

"We choose to be free. Our choice is the determining factor, no one can be your master until you play the part of a slave." – Dr. Molefi Asante

African Americans are in no small part responsible for the sentiments of society that lead people to help one another. The choice of “free” African Americans helping their brethren, as well as humane early European Americans helping “white” indentured servants and others shows that the generosity of today’s Americans did not drop out of the sky, nor was it born in Us. Rather, it is directly connected to behavior passed on by people who came before Us.

It is always a special moment when an historian finds evidence of an event of significance that has received no apparent attention. Especially, when the evidence here-to-mentioned survives as a monumental physical representation of one of the most intellectually stimulating debates in USA history since the Constitutional Convention of well over nine generations ago.

Nonetheless, right in the little historical town called Amherst, Massachusetts lies the only tangible connection between both the theory and practice of two of the most influential people in North American history, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington.

It all began, about 170 years ago, with an African American minister named Reverend John A. V. Smith. Apparently, in someone's home and also, perhaps, outdoors (as he was also listed in town records as a laborer), Reverend Smith represents the first sign of a Black church. Of course, any preacher worth his or her bible knows that a church is not a "building." For religious worship it is an institution in North America as much as government itself. That is, neither bricks, stones, nor wood constitute the necessary elements needed to establish a church. Consequently, the combined faith of the congregation is the stuff of which a church is made.

The significance of Reverend Smith and his congregation forming their own body of worship is that, up until that point in the African American experience in Amherst, the only clergymen to which African Americans were exposed in the immediate area  (without going to nearby Springfield - as many Black folks here often did) were European American ones whose "divinely-imposed" purposes were to convince African Americans to be docile and accommodating to European Americans.

Of course, in Amherst, Massachusetts, as in African American communities all over Our country, churches have been the dominating institutions for these folks socializing within the context of a community (as opposed to individual socializing such as concerts and so forth.) A generation after Reverend Smith's appearance in Amherst, around the end of the Civil War, some European Americans, particularly the authorities from Amherst College, became concerned about "saving the souls" of African Americans around town. This parental attitude being directed towards African Americans was running rampant throughout the country as many European American rulers and their agents were trying to figure out how to deal with the newly-enfranchised African American man and his community. Recognizing the clear differences between African and European spirituality, said rulers knew that controlling religious expression was extremely important in controlling the thoughts and acts of African Americans.

Local historian James A. Smith wrote that about 143 years ago: "...the Amherst College Church and faculty finding an 'opportunity to show tolerance in matters religious and racial' sponsored the Zion Mission Chapel Sunday School at Amherst, to which they sent their own children to be with Black people." Smith continues that some four years afterwards, "...this chapel had use of a building at the Southeast corner of present day Woodside Avenue and Northampton Road. This organization later split to form the Hope Congregational Church and the present Goodwin A.M.E. Zion Church." (Smith, Blacks in Early Amherst)

In the October 12th edition of the Amherst Record newspaper (forerunner of the current Amherst Bulletin), 108 years ago, the following report appeared, in part: A large audience assembled at College Hall last Wednesday evening, attracted by the announcement that Booker T. Washington, the most distinguished member of the colored race now living, would deliver an address on "Negro education, the proceeds to go toward the building fund of Zion Chapel.

The appearance of Washington itself is a big deal, since he was internationally-renowned and well-traveled. What is also significant about his visit (which was actually his second such lecture held in Amherst) was the fact that for the two main African American congregations in town, both Washington and Professor W.E.B. DuBois had come here in order to help raise money to build a church for each of them. Washington came to raise money for what is known today as Goodwin Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church and DuBois came about six years later for the benefit of Hope Church.

Ruth Goodwin (now deceased), the last surviving member of the family after whom the church is named, says, " We pulled out from the congregational church because the Amherst College had charge of it and a lot of our people thought it was nice to have our own people have charge of the church." (see Ms. Goodwin's interview with James Smith and Mary Commager, Jones Library, Amherst, Boltwood Collection)

To people who have, at least, a fair amount of knowledge regarding African American history, the idea of these two great men becoming involved in what was actually an intellectual "split" is an historic event of great significance. It, therefore, must be greatly appreciated that these two leaders, who have formed the basic ideological structure for most mass African American political and social movements during the past five generations, actually squared off both intellectually and practically - in a small New England town.

Both Washington and DuBois were very sincere men. However, they disagreed strongly about what direction African Americans should take in order to achieve group freedom. Washington felt that African Americans should be accommodating to Our European American brethren. That is, he urged Us not to be so concerned about political and social rights, instead insisting that We concentrate on establishing a more firm economic basis, by shunning intellectual education and opting for vocational skills and knowledge. In Washington's own words, "A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal, 'Water, water; We die of thirst!'... The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back, 'Cast down your bucket where you are.'...The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the injunction, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water...To those of my race who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, who is their next-door neighbor, I would say, 'Cast down your bucket where you are'-cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom We are surrounded. Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic service, and in the professions." (excerpted from the Atlanta Exposition Address)

Although obviously well-intended, while Washington was asking African Americans to cast down their buckets, the European American southerners who were supposed to retrieve and send back said buckets had been lynching African Americans at a rate of two-per-day for years (what DuBois called the 'Lynching Industry'). Consequently, even more interesting to that Booker T. Washington supported the church that appeared to be demanding separation from the talons of Amherst College.

Yet, a closer look at an article that Booker T. had published in the North American Review, nine months after his second visit to Amherst, reveals why he supported the A.M.E. Zion Church. Here is a portion of the abovementioned essay called “ The Religious Life Of The Negro” from the book, The Black Church in America, edited by Nelsen, Yokley, and Nelsen, “Negro people, in respect to their religious life, have been, almost since they landed in America, in a process of change and growth...The struggle to attain a higher level of living, to get land, to build a home, to give their children an education - gives a steadiness and a moral significance to the religious life...It is encouraging to notice that the leaders of the different denominations of the Negro church - under their leadership, conditions are changing...the (national) A.M.E. Zion Church alone, $2 million was raised..."

Washington was a man of action, not just words. Therefore, to his credit, he founded Tuskegee University, a school that still graduates African American professionals and others in abundance. On the opposite side of Washington's accommodationist approach was Dr. William Edward Burghardt DuBois. Professor DuBois was raised not far from Amherst - in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He attended numerous schools and universities, receiving his doctoral degree at 27 years-old from Harvard University. However, his learning was far broader than even his formal education suggests. Furthermore, Professor DuBois remains, to this day, the most accomplished scholar in North American history - bar none.

At any rate, DuBois was all for economic advancement, but he felt that it was no use learning how to use a hammer if the storekeeper would not sell you nails. Therefore, the great professor promoted the idea of resistance; that is, he felt that folks should protest those things that were unfavorable to their being. The following passage is from one of his many personal credos that he wrote throughout his life as a habit of "checking up" on his own work and ideals. This particular excerpt was written almost 100 years ago. It first appeared in The Crisis magazine, the organ of the NAACP (DuBois helped found both that long-standing civil rights organization and the aforementioned periodical.): “I am by birth and law a free black American citizen. As such I have both rights and duties. If I neglect my duties my rights are always in danger. If I do not maintain my rights I cannot perform my duties. I will listen, therefore, neither to the fool who would make me neglect the things that I ought to do, nor to the rascal who advises me to forget the opportunities which I and my children ought to have, and must have, and will have.”

Hardly a weekend goes by in Amherst without a political group of some sort standing in front of the town common with a huge protest sign. Professor W. E. B. DuBois once wrote, "Protest is the soul of democracy." Dr. DuBois was telling Us that being able to resolve conflicts in a non-violent manner must be at the heart of Our ability to live together, in spite of Our differences.

Starting in childhood, people are taught by their parents or guardians how they should respond to those who live outside of the family unit. That is, children learn when, where, and with whom they can express kindness or anger, acceptance or disapproval. The most prominent reason for this seems to lie in the essence of human relationships, which are, more often than not, political. And so it is Aristotle who is credited with calling humans “ politikon zoon” or political animals (see Landmarks of Tomorrow, by Peter F. Drucker.)

 Anyhow, especially for children, regardless of their skin colors, whose parents are not part of the ruling body in any particular community, learning early when, where, and with whom to be accommodating or resistant has largely determined said children's ability to survive in North America throughout life. Although there has been a tendency of late for parents from all cultures and non-ruling classes to teach their children to stand up for themselves at all costs, many parents still nurture their children according to the assumptions of various religions, that being, somehow yielding is a sign of "moral" Uprightness.

Further, while Professor DuBois was not an accommodationist, he did believe strongly that Our society's so-called racial problems would only be solved through integration (in other words, DuBois had his own version of "cast down your buckets.") Unfortunately, he and others both before and after him wrongly mistook integration for inclusion. For instance, Polish Americans, Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Jews and other European Americans often, by choice, live in homogeneous communities that are, in fact, quite segregated. Yet, they need not "integrate" in order to receive access to opportunity or responsibility in Our society. Why is that?

Worse yet, not only are African Americans requested to integrate, but We are also expected to give up some, if not all, of Our cultural habits in doing so. In light of everything mentioned above, that is, understanding DuBois' position on integration makes it easy to see why he supported the Hope Church - which was still believed by many African Americans in Amherst, at the time, to be connected with Amherst College. Hope Church has always had a "mixed" membership. However, in the early days, such amalgamation was only acknowledged in terms of "race." Yet, these days, the congregation is made up of various cultures, some of which would defy traditional anthropological definitions (for example, single parents - who choose to be, bi-ethnic families and homosexuals of both sexes.)

Nonetheless, a mere eleven years after what would be Washington's last trip to Amherst, and in spite of their differences, DuBois wrote a passionate obituary in honor of Washington in the NAACP's The Crisis magazine.  It read, in part: The death of Mr. Washington marks an epoch in the history of America. He was the greatest Negro leader since Frederick Douglass, and the most distinguished man, Black or White, who has come out of the South since the Civil War. His fame was international and his influence far-reaching. Of the good that he accomplished there can be no oubt...On the other hand, in stern justice, We must lay on the soul of this man, a heavy responsibility for the consummation of Black disenfranchisement, the decline of the Black college and public school and the firmer establishment of color caste in this land. What is done is done. This is no fit time for recrimination or complaint. Gravely and with bowed head let us receive what this great figure gave of good, silently rejecting all else."

The great Marcus Garvey initially came to the USA in order to meet his idol, Booker T. Washington. Unfortunately, Washington died before such an encounter ever took place. Nevertheless, out of Garvey, grew Elijah Muhammad. Out of Elijah Muhammad, grew men like Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and Louis Farrakhan. As well, countless African American thinkers, of both sexes, have grown out of Professor DuBois’ massive intellectual capacity. In fact, it can be quite simply asserted that NO legitimate African American scholar or activist who has lived during the past 100 years or four generations can deny the relevance of the role that at least one of these two geniuses played, personally, in both his or her intellectual development and vision.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
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Black churches/Black History libraries

" ...where is a better place for Our children to learn to appreciate scholarship than the Black Church?"

Dear friends,

Black churches need to play a strong role in Our community building. The Black church is the oldest institution that We have. Beginning in the holds of enslavers' ships through chattel slavery, manumission, and the series of freedom movements that have led up to this point for African Americans, the Black church has been there.

Unfortunately, too often today, Black churches seem to betray the mission of Our predecessors. There are far too few activities that deal with Our liberation, such as church folks freeing captive workers (so-called slaves) during chattel slavery to helping out with marches and breakfast programs and such as they did in the Sixties and Seventies, and helping to lead the fight against apartheid in the Eighties. Too much concentration is on “being saved” and using the word “God” in every other sentence as some type of password. Many folks are even using religion as a narcotic - like heroin or cocaine; a common refrain from them is: "I'm high on Jesus!". (Please remember, Our spirituality should be a vitamin - not a drug.)

Also, having “fellowship” is another term that is being bandied about these days. I went to a church, quite recently, whose Sunday program sheet read at the bottom, after the hymns and prayers listed: Worship ends, Service begins. Unfortunately, and shamefully, this was not in a Black church.

Black preachers must imitate the life of the historical Jesus who fed the hungry and healed the sick - physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. The latter did not just sit around and pray. He "worked" for change. During 1963, in his now famous Letter From Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King wrote, in part:

"There was a time when the church was very powerful in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators"' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide. and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom, They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets..."

While Dr. King's "letter" was largely directed towards white/European American clergy, today, these words, very much, apply to most African American clerics across the nation, as well. That is a fact that should bring a feeling of shame to many who call themselves ecclesiastics. The Black Church has the power to change things! It is not up to "God" to make this world better. After all, if it is, then why does "He" need clerics

At any rate, Our church facilities should be open to Our youth, so that they can study Our history (with no membership or attendance at the particular church required). Resources like the great Charles Blockson collection, community activists, and college professors can contribute tremendously to making this happen.

A major problem with fighting against Our oppression and becoming a community lies with the fact that We are often Our own worst enemies, because of Our self-hatred. That is, from African American bank tellers who treat Us differently than other customers to drive-by shootings, both feelings and acts of self-hatred make it difficult for either African American men or women to form genuinely loving relationships of any kind, much less encourage Our youth to get along with each other. We must learn to love Ourselves and Our fellows.

Note: "Love", as it were, is only of any use as an "act of being" as opposed to a "state of being". That means that love is only effective as a verb - not a noun. In other words, in this society, love, as a "state of being", is a passive experience that we hear about through so many cheap songs on the radio and see on tv soap operas. However, as an "act of being", love means that people are "actively" loving towards one another. Consequently, love should be an active, not passive, practice of caring about, being concerned for, concentrating on, and feeling responsible towards not just Our mates, but Our work, and Our communities, as well. Besides, when love is passive, it doesn't last long, because it is just a "mood". To be sure, moods change, all of the time. Hence, the serial polygamy practiced by so many of those involved with the institution of marriage and other "love" relationships, in this country.

Still, the cultural institutions in Our society lend to the aforementioned self-hatred that is practiced amongst Us. Literature and images in schools, the arts, and, especially, the government- and corporate-controlled media deliberately perpetuate this indignity too. For example, showcasing groups like Men United For A Better Philadelphia are, apparently, made up of wonderful people. However, the idea that the violence among African American youth is largely the result of a lack of jobs and gun possession may be missing the point, which is: Lack of both social and historical conscience is at the bottom of Our dilemma.

That lack of conscience is no accident. The great Marcus Garvey pointed out: "This propaganda of dis-associating Western Negroes from Africa is not a new one. For many years white propagandists have been printing tons of literature to impress scattered Ethiopia, especially that portion within their civilization, with the idea that Africa is a despised place, inhabited by savages, and cannibals, where no civilized human being should go, especially black civilized human beings." - (please see Philosophy & Opinions of Marcus Garvey, edited by Amy Jacques-Garvey)

Additionally, in that context, long before Garvey, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois wrote: "The discovery of personal whiteness among the world's peoples is a very modern thing...The ancient world would have laughed at such a distinction...by emphasis and omission to make children believe that every great thought the world ever knew was a white man's thought, every great deed the world ever did was a white man’s deed..."darkies" are born beasts of burden...Such degrading of men by men is as old as man and the invention of no one race or people...It has been left, however, to Europe and to modern days to discover the eternal worldwide mark of meanness -color!" - "The Souls of White Folks",

Education, of course, is something that you get for yourself. It is NOT something that someone gives to you. Notwithstanding, the Black church should be the place where young people in Our community can get helpful knowledge and ideas, along with developing useful skills. The schools will, ultimately, follow, if Our churches show them the way. Our young should know that the adults of the community will provide the type of environment where their minds can develop in a manner that will make them be able to control their destinies. Therefore, for Our youth, We must all embrace the old Nigerian proverb that goes, “If you pick a good tree to climb, I will help lift you up.” Moreover, where is a better place for Our children to learn to appreciate scholarship than the Black Church?

G. Djata Bumpus
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Why Honor African American History?

Dear friends,

The mere mention of anything that has to do with African American history often causes resentment among much of Our citizenry. To be sure, the reasons for this vary. For example, some people may feel that, when the historical experiences of African Americans are isolated and emphasized, the aforesaid folks are being excluded from the joy of celebrating and recognizing a past that seems to, at least, in part, belong to all of Us. Or, perhaps, the less informed view the aforementioned historical experiences of African American people as insignificant to the overall development of Our communities and country. Finally, a few may even argue that distinguishing one cultural group, in this land, from others makes Us appear to be a divided nation.

However, the importance of acknowledging the contributions of African Americans to the prosperity of North America, generally, lies in the need for all of Us to understand and appreciate the fact that human progress has only occurred due to the efforts of many different peoples. No one body of folks deserves credit for all human accomplishment to this date. Surely, no such group ever will.

In the final analysis, nevertheless, it should become evident that the real legacy of African American people is a group struggle for "equality, dignity, and justice" - not simply individual achievements of "high" social significance, inventions, or athletic excellence. In addition, We should be able to appreciate the importance of African American contributions, enmeshed with the offerings of other cultural groups that have helped bring Our North American communities to their current prominence. Ultimately, We should all then be able to realize that African American history is not a separate history; rather, it merely includes more people in the real story of Our country.

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

A brief glimpse of Dr. King, a true Black leaderi

"Yes, I'm Black..I'm proud of it!...I'm Black and beautiful!..." - Dr. Martin Luther King










Dear friends,

During the two minutes-long video on the link below, Dr. Martin Luther King shows his development as a leader of Our people. At such an important time in history and the burgeoning Black Consciousness Movement that was replacing the impotent Civil Rights Movement, the rulers had to get rid  of him.

Say it loud!!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suw_CQ3zfTY

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An Inclusive Way to Honor Black History Month

"it is especially important that we all recognize our humanity by putting ourselves in the place of others"

Dear friends,

One of the problems with Black History Month is: It makes many people feel excluded.

Back in the early 90s, in Amherst, Mass., I introduced into my oldest daughter's elementary school, Fort River, a way for all children to celebrate and honor Black History Month. As far as I know, it's still practiced there enthusiastically to this day, 23 years later.

At any rate, the main feature was/is have each child of every social/cultiral group, bring in a photo w/caption of a member of his or her family (or a friend of that family) who has contributed in some way to making the world a better place. The photo w/caption is placed on a special board on the school's hallway walls, for everyone to see for the entire month of February. Consequently, every February, all kids get to show their pride in someone who has fought for equality, dignity, and justice which is what the history of Africans in the Americas, as a group, has been for centuries - NOT just individual achievements.

Finally, while it is important that all people realize that all groups have contributed to the development and proliferation of Our nation, it is especially important that we all recognize Our humanity by putting Ourselves in the place of others. That is about what Black History Month is really. Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Interview: Legendary scholar, activist, and author Lloyd Hogan turns 90 (1/23/13 - )

Dear friends,

It is with great honor and pride that I am having the opportunity to present an interview with a man who has been one of the most important teachers in my life, Professor Lloyd Hogan. Moreover, on today, his 90^th birthday, and considering all of the turmoil that still afflicts African American people, we are fortunate to still have his fresh, original thinking at hand Cheers!

Djatajabs: Hey Lloyd…Its been well over 30 years since my brother Eshu introduced us, after several years of him telling me that he had a professor who had become a close friend, at his alma mater, Hampshire College, with whom I would be certain to enjoy sharing ideas while, simultaneously, learning a great deal. To be sure, meeting you back then, and to this very day, has been one of the best things to ever happen, for me. Nevertheless, having been born in 1923, and considering your over 70 years in academia, from student scholar to professor, activist, and author, have there been changes for African American academicians, in both colleges and universities, generally, that have, correspondingly, benefited our people?

Lloyd: During the last 70 years much has changed for the better for African Americans in the institutions of higher learning (academia). In 1943, there were approximately 4 or 5 African American professors teaching in the "white" institutions. Academia had, perhaps, the most white segregated institutions in the U.S. It was so bad that in cities of the South where  African American colleges were located a stone's throw from their white counterparts, the white professors within the same fields kept theirdistance from their black colleagues.

Black students in the white institutions were the most deprived of scholarly camaraderie with their professors and fellow students. They were made to feel that they should be happy to be rubbing elbows with their superior consorts. At the same time, of course, the curricula were steeped in racially distorted nonsense which passed for substantiated knowledge. In short, white academia was subsisting in an atmosphere of distorted scholarship and social stagnation.

It is true that some institutions had exceedingly large black student

enrollments. Institutions like U of Chicago, Columbia U., and New York U. had black enrollments that surpassed most of the southern black colleges.

Closer scrutiny of these institutions revealed that these bloated enrollments were mostly of graduate students in the field of education. These were the southern professors and educational administrators from the black colleges who were studying towards graduate degrees, a condition which they could not pursue within southern institutions due to strictly enforced segregation laws.

Following World War II, with the passage of the GI Bill of Rights, an

increased number of blacks gained admission to the northern white institutions. The largest gains were in the State-supported colleges and universities of the Midwest and Western States. But these enrollments did not result in a corresponding increase in graduation. At the same time a

smattering of institutions employed a relatively few Black professors.

It wasn't until the middle 1960's, when both black and white students began to demonstrate against the corrupted educational system that real progress ensued. As a consequence of black student demands, black studies departments or programs sprang up in a number of white colleges across the land. In many cases, it was a "copy-catting" response to which these institutions paid tribute. Once Harvard had set up a Department of Afro American Studies, the lesser institutions began to follow in lock-step imitation. This led to the employment of a good number of blacks and to the enrollment of significant number of blacks in PhD programs in black history and other black impacted fields of study. So that today it is no longer unusual to see a good number of black students and professors on the campuses of the former segregated white institutions of both north and south. Out of these advances have emerged some important scholarly works by black professors which have influenced the thought processes of people throughout the nation.

But it is time to call for caution. Having been trained by former segregated-minded white scholars it is to be expected that it will take time before there will come into being a truly independent, scholarly, and truthful black intelligentsia. Time and effort are the promoters.

There is a lesson here for current and future African American college and university students. For those who need college degrees as credentials for employment at higher than usual wages, go for it and try

to complete your studies to actual graduation. The degree is your ticket of assurance that you can be a trusted and loyal servant of the capitalists who are your potential employers. They can trust you to count their money, to protect their assets, and to participate with them in exercising control over their work force.

For the relatively few African Americans who want to remain in the knowledge production fields, be aware that much of what goes for knowledge is merely rationalizations of the efficacy and necessity for the existing capitalist social order in which you are now functioning.

The existing knowledge base is flawed and critically fractured. It needs radical revision from its basic formulations up through its fundamental study methodologies. You have important work to do to bring about a change in the approach to the creation of new knowledge. You are truth pioneers. If you don't accept this responsibility you will emerge from these institutions as petty cadets of your intellectual master purveyors of contrived understanding of real world phenomena. Go for it.

Djatajabs: We’ve just experienced the inauguration, for the second time, of Barack Obama, as the President of the United States of America…How do you feel about that, regarding the progress of African American people?

Lloyd: Obama's presidency has been a historical advance in the history of the United States. It certainly has given African Americans an invaluable public relations position. The first time, Obama could not have been elected without the votes of a substantial number of whites. These brave souls went to the polls in revolt against the incompetence of a president who was taking the country to economic and military demise. They were ecstatic about their accomplishment and showed up in person and in television parlors in the millions to witness his inauguration.

A few days later reality set in and they awoke from the dream state. It was as if they said to themselves "what were we thinking..." We should all have known that the President of the United States is the chief executive of the capitalist ruling class. As head functionary of  the capitalist political state his major task is to oversee the promulgation and enforcement of the rules of the capitalist game.

First and foremost among these rules is to insure the continuity of the system...and this means the urgency of preservation of private property rights of capitalists in the ownership of the wage worker's ability to work, which was purchased in market relations; preservation of the property rights of capitalists in the products of wage workers labor, which result from the capitalists use of his private property; preservation of capitalist property rights in the profits derived fromthe sale of his products; and finally preservation of the right of capitalists to reinvest their profits in such a manner as to repeat the process of capitalist activity over and over again without end. There is no way in which African American issues could have been brought to the forefront of Obama's administration in the face of the reality of his major task. As such, it wasn't too long into his tenure that Tea Party and other organizations began to oppose his every action within a posture of concealed and at times overt racist diatribes. Meantime, African Americans and other allies looked on in dismay to witness what appeared to be an administration incapable of any progressive accomplishment. The man is circumscribed by an exploitative political economic system. It is sufficient if he can survive and end his tenure with accomplishments such as a termination of two destructive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with a semblance of a health care insurance plan, and with some growth in employment. He should be commended if he can pull off these modest goals.

Djatajabs: Now, apart from education and politics, I always remember, from years back, how important it was to you to have a fairly large garden, during the warm weather, but also, even today, you still have a small porch garden, at your home. What is the role of food for any population group, as it seeks to reproduce itself as a people, through

time?

Lloyd: It is true that I have always tried, whenever possible, to plant a kitchen garden. It is a conscious attempt to keep in touch with the reality of human existence. In my book, Principles of Black Political Economy, I argued that food production and consumption lie at the foundation of every conceivable political economy that has been known throughout the history of humankind. Since then I have been working on development of a theory of human population. A fundamental postulate of that theory is that in every human society two material crops must be produced to form its core. These are an annual crop of food and a corresponding annual crop of human babies. The annual crop of food constitutes the life-time supply for the corresponding annual crop of babies. I can't go into implications of this postulate in this discussion. However, suffice it to say that different social orders are distinguished by the specific way in which the food is made available to the babies over the course of their lifetimes.

That food is essential should be obvious. No person can exist

without ingesting into his/her person a daily dosage of food (including potable water and breathable air). Food is the elixir of human life. Although people consume many other things, food, nonetheless, must also be

an essential part of their consumption bundle.

In exploitative  societies, it is the robbery of the food from the mouth of babies that reduce the potential longevity of the average population member. It is no wonder that death among the poverty stricken comes easy; while death among the material well-off comes hard. The bread is snatched from the mouth of the poor and death easily prevails.

It is no wonder then that I always try to plant a garden. In these days, I am confined to a few planters on my apartment terrace where I concentrate on the standard herbs--thyme, rosemary. basil, oregano, sage, etc. I also work with peppers such as bhut jaloki, trinidad scorpion, habanero, scotch bonnet, etc. I engage in friendly struggle with Earth-mother.

Djatajabs: Is there a reason to for us to continue the African American experience in a so-called “post-racial” society? I mean, exactly what conditions must exist, in order for a group to become a distinct body for generations, and when is it favorable for them to do so?

Lloyd: I must state at the outset that "race" is a corrupt and corruptible concept. It immediately involves a superiorityinferiority configuration. It was invented by slave hunters and slave

masters to justify to their gods and their evil consciences the wanton control of other human beings as their private property.

"Post-racial" is a related term which has no essential meaning, but provides talking points for charlatans, television commentators, and the unthinking

layman.

African Americans are a distinctive population by dint of their long historical period of reproducing among themselves to the exclusion of all other people.

No individual African American consciously made the decision to be a member of this distinct population. The social and

political economic circumstances under which these people existed in North America are the decisive factors. Black slavery, black

sharecropping in a Jim Crow environment, and late coming to the wage labor class are the historical groundings which cemented African Americans as an identifiable sub-population within the larger U.S. population. As such, it will be an extremely long time in the future before these people will be physically and socially integrated into the larger U.S. population. One shouldn't make plans for this event any time soon.

I must also remind you that African Americans have been physically integrated with a segment of the white population for quite a long time, in the past. If one observes these people closely it becomes, at once, obvious that they have shed a decisive identifying African attribute.

Blackness as a color that is characteristic of African people has almost disappeared from African Americans. They span all colors of the rainbow. Their blood has been tainted with the venom of the vermin slave masters who forcibly injected their polluted seeds into black slave women's wombs. The rape of black womanhood now appears visibly in the panorama of colors among black people. But the power of blackness is such that one droplet of black blood still marks the offspring as black.

The message to African Americans is to savor that history and the cultural entanglements which surround it. There is no escape. After all, it is out of the struggles of African Americans for liberation from all the restrictions they faced throughout their history which made the important democratic advances in the U.S. at large. The nation owes these people a great debt of gratitude for whatever semblance of democracy now prevails. African American struggle and developing U.S. democracy are synonymous events.

Djatajabs: What relationships do you think need to exist between African American men and women for the prospects of our future growth as a people?

Lloyd: I have no substantive knowledge of interpersonal relationships. My only advice to any African American in this regard is to remember that

people are highly specialized and exotic formations of the Earth's

surface. As such they have an obligation far beyond themselves to preserve and improve the species of which they are an essential part.

Be good to each other...love the other better than you love yourself...never do to the other what you would not want done to you, while at the same time always defending the right of the other to do whatever he/she proposes to do. But since the Earth-mother is the source of our being, then preservation and improvement of her is a number 1 activity. That is

all I have to contribute to this most important topic.

Djatajabs: Thanks for sharing your wisdom today, as you have been doing for three generations, Lloyd…and Happy 90^th!...Much Love!

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Kwanzaa Song by Eshu Bumpus

These seven principles,
these seven principles,
are principles we'll follow,
from Kwanzaa to Kwanzaa.




Dear friends,

I am quite honored to share a song with you upon which my three now-grown children were raised. Each day of Kwanzaa, after eating a meal together and having our family discussion about the principle of that particular day, we sang this song. It was written by one of my siblings - Eshu. Both the lyrics and the link to the song itself appear below. Enjoy!

G. Djata Bumpus
*************************************
Kwanzaa Song

Unity,
Umoja means Unity.
Kujichagulia,
I know who I must be.
Ujima working hard,
showing responsibilty.
Ujamaa means to shareextended family.

chorus:
These seven principles,
these seven principles,
are principles we'll follow,
from Kwanzaa to Kwanzaa.

These seven principles,
these seven principles,
are principles we'll follow,
from Kwanzaa to Kwanzaa.

Nia is the purpose,
what we mean to each other.
Kuumba is the beauty
that we bring to one another.
Imani is believing
in our sisters and our brothers,
and learning from the teachings
of our fathers and our miothers.

chorus:
These seven principles,
these seven principles,
are principles we'll follow,
from Kwanzaa to Kwanzaa.

These seven principles,
these seven principles,
are principles we'll follow,
from Kwanzaa to Kwanzaa.
http://eshu.folktales.net/resources/kwanzaa/01_these_seven_principles-(eshu).mp3 Read full post