Community Movement Builders Statement on Palestine Liberation “ People cannot be free until they realize that peace is not the absence of war or struggle…Peace is the presence of justice”Ella Baker (1964) We speak to you as fellow inheritors and instruments of liberatory struggle. We represent peoples, cultures, and knowledges of Africa, North America, Latin… Continue reading Community Movement Builders Statement on Palestine Liberation
When many people think of Atlanta, they think of Black power. They see images of black folks doing well, in political power, owning businesses, flossing on music videos, and the like. All of this hides a very dark reality and history of Atlanta. Originally Georgia was designed to be an all-white colony. That changed… Continue reading The Racist History of Atlanta Explains its Desire to Build Cop City
Earlier this year, I brought my students to the Community Movement Builders (CMB) house in the Pittsburgh neighborhood for a discussion on land and its importance to Black communities. After listening intently in class for about an hour, one student spoke to the class about how, when they were a child, their mother never had… Continue reading From Georgia to Azania
“There is a disconnect between how entertainment culture portrays the Panthers and their fight to win political, social and economic self-determination and power for the Black community.” The quote above is from the Community Movement Builder’s website page, and it perfectly captures how the image of our liberation struggle gets appropriated by popular entertainment culture… Continue reading Fahim Jabar Minkah Fund
The controversial Cop City project continues ahead full steam. Right-wing, fascist Georgia governor Brian Kemp, has decided that the project will be completed by any means necessary including the political assassination of forest defender Manuel (Tortuguita) Teran. On the morning of January 18th, 2023, Tortuguita was shot over 13 times by Georgia State Troopers. The… Continue reading Right Wing Billionaires Koch Brothers Attacked MLK. Now the Kochs are funding Atlanta’s Cop City in Honor of Him
OUR DEMANDS A People-Powered Solution Community Movement Builders agree with the people’s demand not only to de-fund and eventually abolish the police force, but also call for the demilitarization and decentralization of all policing institutions in the United States. As the rebellion raged, state and city governments attempted to pacify protesters by firing so-called “bad apples,”… Continue reading On Ending the Police Occupation and Terrorism Against Black People
A few weeks ago, Jay Z got it in his head that ‘capitalist’ was just a ‘new slur they invented to keep the black man down’ or whatever. Why would he think this? As someone with so much money and resources, it would only take a quick search to see that ‘capitalist’ was a term… Continue reading What Jay Z’s Meltdown Shows Us About Capitalism
In a dramatic escalation of the war on non-violent environmental defenders and racial justice advocates, the GBI, in coordination with DeKalb County Police, Atlanta Police, and the FBI, launched an attack on tree sitters in the Atlanta Forest. Several protestors were attacked with chemical weapons, i.e. tear gas and pepper balls. Several were arrested and… Continue reading GBI and Biden’s FBI Terrorizes Non-Violent Defend Atlanta Forest Movement to Crush Dissent for Unpopular “Cop City” Plan
Laurel A. Berryman As I wake up and turn to grab my phone to engage in my daily “doom scroll”, I come across an Instagram Reel that grabs my attention. In the reel, D.C Young Fly, Karlous Miller, and Atlanta rapper J Money are discussing their disdain for the normalization of BBLs, breast augmentation, and… Continue reading Beauty Standards, Pop culture, and Self- Acceptance
Walter Rodney was keen to the plight of Black people all across the world, both on the continent of Africa and throughout every inch of our diaspora. Whether in the streets of Jamaica, the University of Dar Es Salaam, in Atlanta at the Institute of the Black World, or in his home country of Guyana,… Continue reading In a White man’s prisons: Walter Rodney, decolonization, and abolition
The Combahee River Collective was a group of Black feminists who met and organized in Boston, Massachusetts from 1974 to 1980. Throughout their six years of meetings, the collective took on multiple roles dependent on their particular political, personal, and interconnected needs as group members, community organizers, and nuclei in the development of theories and… Continue reading The Combahee River Collective Statement as a Reflection of Black Feminism(s)
“The only difference is a boat stop.”, something that is said to remind us of the differences within the African diaspora, but there are other ways in which we are similar and different alike. The diaspora is multifaceted — with a compilation of values, traditions, beliefs, behaviors, varying identities, and much more. As much as… Continue reading Diaspora Wars in the Black Community: A Catalyst for Division
Since the arrival of Black people in this country, there has been an agenda and a mandate to repress Black voices. The American government works tirelessly to stop Black voices from being heard and even just existing. The definition of political repression is the act of a state entity controlling citizens by force for political… Continue reading Black Mandate
As a child, the hair on my head refused to grow. All I craved for was the ability to trade in tight and frilly silk headbands, used by my mom to help others clearly define me as a girl, for thick voluminous hair. Once I entered kindergarten hair was intertwined with the definition of what… Continue reading How Shaving My Head Redefined My Beauty
The idea of nationalism has been used in history as both a destructive force and a liberatory one. Some think of nationalism, and they think of a xenophobic, bigoted worldview that espouses superiority. Nationalism has also been a driving force in anti-colonial and anti-racist movements. Black nationalism, in particular, has a long and complicated history… Continue reading Can Black Nationalism Be Revolutionary?
To be clear, Bill Cosby is an ADMITTED serial rapist. Recent events do not change that fact, for better or for worse. Read about the technicalities of the judgement here. Today, some people, like Phylicia Rashad, are celebrating. As an aside, it is certainly a gut-punch to watch one of our foremost living cultural workers… Continue reading Bill Cosby’s conviction has been overturned. Has anything fundamentally changed?
Consent in Afro-Caribbean Spaces and Beyond Imagining Culturally Competent Consent It’s summer in the city, everyone’s wearing less and going out more, and event flyers are popping up each weekend. Recently, a flyer for a reggaetón event listed rules for the event, such as where to park, entry fee, and the last rule: “dont fucking… Continue reading Black and Brown Consent
In one of their tracks, titled They Schools, M-1 and Stic Man, a.k.a the rap duo, Dead Prez, rapped about the horrors of the U.S. school system. In this song, Stic Man described James S Rickards’ High School, the school he attended and graduated from in his youth, as an institution with a White supremacist… Continue reading They Institutions Vs. Ours
I studied classical music for a few years in college.To no one’s surprise this included a very rigorous and a very white curriculum. While it was standard for all students to familiarize themselves with different European cultures, there was also a quiet urge for us to learn a much bigger and unspoken rule. We learned… Continue reading “A Case for Gatekeeping Black Music”
On June 1st, 2020, in the wake of the country’s outrage about the murder of Breonna Taylor, Ahmed Arbery, and George Floyd, I was arrested during at a Black Lives Matter protest for allegedly violating the Atlanta curfew ordinance. I was working as a Legal Observer with the National Lawyers Guild, and my charges were… Continue reading January 6th
For as long as white society has oppressed Black people, Black women have led struggles for the liberation of Black people throughout the diaspora. Black women have and continue to be on the frontlines in opposing white supremacy, imperialism, patriarchy, capitalism, and all the other oppressive systems that terrorize Black people around the globe. Today, radical… Continue reading Lesser-known Black women communists you must learn about (part one)
A Call for Extending U.S. Based Endowments to Community Knowledge Production Sites As we all conjure up futures beyond our current climate crisis and public health emergency, we have been thinking a great deal about how to do things differently. This includes reconsidering the ethical and moral dilemmas of how funds flow into and within… Continue reading University Endowments and Abolition Feminist Movements:
Every year we hear the same arguments made about why African-Americans should not celebrate American holidays. From an African-centered perspective, American holidays are inherently Eurocentric. Thus, to empower ourselves as Afrikan people, we should celebrate our own holidays. On the other hand, revolutionaries tend to condemn Eurocentric holidays for glorifying historical violence and ill-gotten achievements… Continue reading African-American Holidays: Traditions of Self-Determination
RIP Rayshard Brooks
Atlanta, the home of trap music, Fortune 500 companies, wealthy Black socialites, and entrepreneurs. The city has been termed the “Black Mecca” and the “city too busy to hate”. DeKalb County, located east of downtown Atlanta, is the second richest Black majority county in the country. The image of Atlanta is one of Black excellence,… Continue reading Atlanta is Cap
Miliaku writes about the #Endsars protest and it’s historical context.
Anyone who is watching recent events in the media should be aware that there is something happening in the Levant at this time. While the media often describes what’s going on as a war between Israel and Hamas, closer investigation reveals that what is actually happening is an ongoing genocide of Palestinians at the hands… Continue reading What do recent events in Palestine mean for Black people?
On March 31st, 1968, hundreds of Black leaders from all over ameriKKKa came together for a historic task. They affirmed the fact that Afrikan people in ameriKKKa constitute an oppressed nation and officially issued a declaration of independence for our nation before the world. Following this, these leaders founded the Provisional Government of the Republic… Continue reading We Will Win The War: Notes on New Afrikan Nation Day 55
Here at a place I’ve been forced to consider as my home (involuntarily). I’ve encountered such hardship which constitutes under our constitutional rights as “atypical and significant hardship” is very much a violation as cruel & unusual punishment! As I’ve been housed here at Smith State Prison “Level 5” AKA “Flake State Prison” where this… Continue reading Prisoner letter series: Killing in my eyes last night
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