Stop the colonial violence against African people! Take the Pledge of Solidarity!

On Friday, September 16th, 2011, members of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement joined the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, the MOVE organization, and Philadelphia mayoral candidate Diop Olugbala in the citywide mobilization to Free Troy Davis, an African man in Georgia who faced the death penalty on September 21st.



Activists from various organizations spoke of Troy Davis's innocence and of the corrupt nature of the "justice" system in the U.S., but it was Diop Olugbala who correctly identified this system itself as criminal, stating that it doesn't matter what they say Troy Davis did, it's the fact that this system was built on slavery, genocide and colonialism, and the terror that has been waged at the hands of the U.S. government, in the streets of the African community in the U.S., in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Palestine, and on the land of the indigenous peoples, and through the court systems and prisons, must be overturned if we are to ever see Troy Davis, Mumia Abu-Jamal or any other African people freed from its colonial prisons.



Olugbala then got back up on the bullhorn and struggled that we acknowledge that while the majority of activists at this demonstration and many other rallies in Philadelphia are white people -- and primarily the White Left -- the true and correct role of white people in the struggle for justice and liberation for African and oppressed peoples is one in principled solidarity working under the leadership of African revolutionaries, recognizing the historic role as oppressor that white people have played and must confront and overturn that relationship in order to move forward.

Diop then introduced local Uhuru Solidarity Movement organizer Harris Daniels, who spoke on the historic complicity this imperialist system expects from white people, and how we have an opportunity right now to break from this complicity, and call out this system for what it is doing -- building an entire economy for white people at the expense of African and other oppressed peoples, and using the prison and death penalty economy to build Philadelphia as a city that only benefits white people. Daniels called for white people to take the right stand by joining Uhuru Solidarity Movement, taking the pledge of solidarity with African people and participating in the Days in Solidarity With African People campaign, and joining the solidarity contingent at the November 5th Black is Back mobilization and conference in Philadelphia: "Stop the Wars and Build the Resistance!"

If you believe that there will never be peace on the planet without justice, reparations and reconciliation for African people and all the countless victims of imperialism past and present against whom terror, genocide, exploitation were carried out in our name and for our benefit, then Take the Pledge of Solidarity and contribute at least $10 to the African-led Uhuru Movement for liberation and self-determination for African people everywhere!
-----

Click Here for Video from the Demonstration

Day in Solidarity with African People kickoff event in St Pete, FL!

“Every dream, every poem of the white world was born at the expense of African and oppressed peoples! All of us should hate this relationship. A new world is being born through the resistance and the struggles of the oppressed. This is the trajectory for human progress.”

Chairman Omali Yeshitela electrified the audience with these words in St. Petersburg, FL on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at the opening event of U.S.-wide campaign for a Day of Solidarity with African People.

The Days in Solidarity with African People is the annual campaign of the African People’s Solidarity Committee and the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, organizations of Euro-American people working in white communities under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party which leads the Uhuru Movement.

The St. Petersburg event attracted Euro-Americans and others from all age groups, including a contingent of students who traveled from New College in Sarasota, FL to participate, along with a professor Trey Conner from University of South Florida who brought some of his students.

The program opened up with an energizing performance by political hip hop artists Krown and Bella with their lively songs popularizing the struggle for liberation and reparations for African people.

Jesse Nevel, the local Uhuru Solidarity Movement Organizer, gave an opening presentation following the enthusiastic welcome by Uhuru Solidarity Movement National Chair Stephanie Midler.

Chimurenga Waller, who has been active in the Uhuru Movement and the African People’s Socialist Party since he was 17 years old and who is now the Director of the National Office of Recruitment and Membership spoke on the upcoming 40^th anniversary of the African People’s Socialist Party in 2012.

African People’s Solidarity Committee Chair Penny Hess gave a dynamic powerpoint presentation that graphically laid out the reality of the understanding, put forward by Chairman Omali Yeshitela, that the white population lives on the pedestal of the enslavement of African people, the genocide of Indigenous peoples and the plunder of oppressed peoples worldwide.

Hess’ presentations are based on her book, Overturning the Culture of Violence, which documents the reality behind the Party’s theory of African Internationalism.

Chairman Omali’s electrifying presentation highlighted the event as the Chairman addressed white people directly, calling on us to take up our responsibility to actively join in solidarity with the struggles and resistance of African and oppressed peoples everywhere to bring down this white power system built at the expense of the majority of humanity.

The Days in Solidarity are fundraising events, a stance of “Reparations in Action,” and through pledges and donations about $1700 were raised at this event.

As APSC chair Penny Hess stated, “The event was profoundly successful. It was indicative of this period of the crisis of imperialism and the rise of the movements of African and oppressed to take back control of their land, resources and self-determination.

“It is powerful to see a growing movement of white people who want to be part of changing the world through a stand of genuine solidarity!”

If you believe that there will never be peace on the planet without justice, reparations and reconciliation for African people and all the countless victims of imperialism past and present against whom terror, genocide, exploitation were carried out in our name and for our benefit, then Take the Pledge of Solidarity and contribute at least $10 to the African-led Uhuru Movement for liberation and self-determination for African people everywhere!

Stop the legal lynching of Troy Davis!

September 20, 2011—U.S. colonial courts of the state of Georgia ruled today that Troy Davis will be murdered in a legal lynching tomorrow, Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 7 pm.

Davis, 42, an African man who has been on death row for more than 20 years, was framed up and convicted in the 1989 death of a white policeman in Savannah, GA.

Despite no physical evidence and the recanting of testimony by seven of the nine witnesses, plans for the execution of Davis, one of the millions of African men trapped in the colonial prison system, are moving forward.

Massive protests from African people and their allies all over the U.S. and the world and more than 60,000 letters have demanded that the state stop the state murder of Davis.

Although Davis is clearly innocent of the charges, the issue is much greater than that. Davis is one more victim of the U.S. colonial system which holds the power of life or death over African people inside this country and around the world!

The planned state murder of Davis highlights the reality that the U.S. is built on a foundation of the enslavement of African people which created the wealth and power that the U.S. and white people enjoy today.

The attack on Troy Davis exposes the fact that 146 years after the so-called abolition of the chattel slave system in this country, African people still exist as an internal colony inside U.S. borders under the yoke of a military occupation no different than the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan today. In fact, more Africans have been killed by U.S. police in the past ten years than U.S. military have been killed in Afghanistan in the same time period.

This attack on African people through the murder of Troy Davis comes at the same time that there are more African men in colonial concentration camps called prisons than were enslaved in 1850 and when the wealth held by the average white person is 20 times greater than the assets of African people.

As the economic and political crisis of imperialism deepens, African and oppressed peoples around the world are rising up against imperialist white power.

The African People’s Socialist Party and the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement uphold the right of African people inside this country and around the world to resist this colonial violence and oppression and to organize for the liberation of Africa and all its resources as the birthright of African people everywhere.

Troy Davis belongs to African people. No imperialist court of the U.S. government, built on African oppression and colonial occupation, has any right to lift a finger against an African person. African people are struggling for power over their lives and are part of the worldwide struggle of oppressed peoples to liberate themselves and overturn the 500 year legacy of imperialism and white power.

Stop the legal lynching of African people!
Build the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement!
Black Power to African people!

September 21, the date of the planned execution of Troy Davis is the day of our first Day in Solidarity with African People which will take place in St Petersburg, FL. This is all the more reason to come out to the important event to take your stand with the right of African people to resist this colonial violence and to struggle for justice, reparations and liberation.

If you believe that there will never be peace on the planet without justice, reparations and reconciliation for African people and all the countless victims of imperialism past and present against whom terror, genocide, exploitation were carried out in our name and for our benefit, then Take the Pledge of Solidarity and donate at least $10 to the African-led Uhuru Movement for liberation and self-determination for African people everywhere.

The truth behind the poverty statistics

NO MORE GENOCIDE IN OUR NAME

Overall poverty statistics blur the reality that African community bears brunt of economic crisis!

Take the Pledge in Solidarity with African People!


The poverty data released this week obscures the fact that the brunt of the current U.S. economic crisis falls squarely on the shoulders of the African and Latino communities.

Unemployment claims rose to 428,000 last week with a staggering 7.14 million people now receiving benefits. Millions of others are no longer looking for jobs, have maxed out their unemployment or working from time to time in low paying temp jobs that cannot meet their needs.

Last year 48 million people ages 18 to 64 did not work even one week out of the year.

Census data released earlier this week show that 50 million people now have no health insurance and 46.2 million—about 15.1 percent of the US population—are living below the poverty line of about $17,000 a year for a family of three.

Of that 46.2 million 44 percent of them have now sunk into deep poverty defined as earning less than half of the income needed to escape poverty.

Forty-five million people in the US are now forced to live with the meager support of food stamps, a number greater than the population of many countries of the world.

About 1 in every 6 people of the U.S. population now lives below the poverty line as more people are now doubling up in housing with other family members than ever before.

These are stark statistics overall but the reality for African people is in fact far more severe with the effect of tempering the effects of this current crisis on the white community.

According to the New York Times, (Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on ‘Lost Decade,’” 9/13/11), African people experience the highest poverty rate in the U.S., at 27.4 percent, compared to 13 percent of white households, with Latino people now at 26 percent in poverty.

The poverty rate for white people is only 9.9 percent.

The African poverty rate in the U.S. is now the highest ever in the 52 years since the Census Bureau started tracking poverty.

Recent employment figures show that the African community is now unemployed at a rate of 16.7 percent, with 18 percent of African men and 45 percent of African teenagers officially jobless. White unemployment is only 8 percent overall and 23 percent for teens.

This does not count the more than 1.3 million African people who have been taken out of the workforce in the discriminatory Jim Crow prison system, with additional millions of Africans on parole, probation or awaiting trial.

With millions of Africans unable to provide for their families because they are tied to a prison system that makes billions of dollars for the mainstream white economy every year on the criminalization of African people and on their enslaved labor, it is no surprise that 40 percent of African children live in poverty, compared to only 12.4 percent of white children.

Comparing the stark conditions of African people to conditions in the white community reveals the reality of colonialism inside this country.

So while the poverty rate is one in six overall, it’s only about one in ten for white people but nearing one in three for African people.

While median white household income in the US is $51,846 (down from $52,717 last year), for African families it is nearly $20,000 a year less, currently at $32,068 (down from $33,122), according to Huffington Post, “Black Voices,” by Trymaine Lee, Sept. 15, 2011.

These statistics make it clear that African people live in colonialism inside U.S. borders, and are catching unmitigated hell. An article the Philadelphia Inquirer, June 2011 stated that many black men in their 30s, 40s and 50s can expect to never work again.

Clearly African people are bearing the brunt of this crisis. While white people are now facing “job insecurity” for the first time in their lives, African people have no jobs, no food, no money and no future under this system but prisons, poverty and police occupation.

The U.S. government is using African people as a buffer to keep the worst economic crisis since the 1930s from serious affecting the majority of the white population.

It is clear that white people’s security, opportunity and standard of living exists on a pedestal built on the enslavement of African people, theft of the land of the Indigenous people and colonial plunder, genocide and domination of oppressed peoples around the world.

It is the resistance of African, Arab and oppressed peoples, rising up throughout the entire world against U.S. and European domination and violence that has created the crisis that is reverberating throughout the industrialized, affluent centers of imperialism.

The Uhuru Movement, led by the African People’s Socialist Party is not only building the organized African resistance worldwide it is building real programs for economic self-sufficiency and self-determination for African people—programs such as community gardening and a health and fitness gym in St. Petersburg, FL; a maternal and infant wellness center in Sierra Leone, and an education and youth program in California.

Ultimately the resistance of African and oppressed people will bring this crisis-ridden, parasitic system to its knees, as the peoples of the pedestal rise up to recapture their own land, resources and self-determination.

Imperialism, the enemy of the majority of humanity, must go.

We in the Uhuru Solidarity Movement are calling on other white people like ourselves to break our alliance and unity with the unjust and unsustainable white power system that has given us prosperity at the expense of everybody else for so long.

We call on you to put your future on the side of African people and others who are building a new world that will end poverty, injustice, war and imperialist violence.

We understand that to join this new world built on justice we must be part of righting the historic wrongs that are responsible for these statistics and for the anger of the rising peoples of the world.

We recognize that genuine reconciliation with African people requires reparations for centuries of white terror and stolen African labor and resources.

We are calling on you to Take the Pledge in Solidarity with African People, support the campaign to build the Days in Solidarity with African People and contribute towards the $10,000 goal for the work of the Uhuru Movement to unite and liberate African people everywhere. http://apscuhuru.org/campaigns/apsd2011/pledge.xhtml

Stop the State murder of Troy Davis on September 21!

Stop the State murder of Troy Davis on September 21!
Shared from Uhuru News, Published Sep 14, 2011

The following statement is from Kimberly Davis, the sister of Troy Davis, who was wrongfully convicted and put on deathrow in 1991 for the death of a cop. There is no physical evidence against Troy Davis, and seven of the witnesses have recanted their story — many of them saying the police coerced them into give false testimony. Kimberly has launched a campaign on Change.org to stop his execution, which is scheduled for September 21. We urge our readers to participate in the campaign through the petition, call-in and in general to stop the brother's execution.

My brother, Troy Davis, has been on Georgia's death row for 20 years despite strong evidence of his innocence. His execution date is now scheduled for Wed, Sept 21. He has a hearing in front of the Georgia Board of Pardons & Parole two days beforehand.We need to tell the Board strongly and clearly: There's too much doubt to execute Troy Davis!

The case against my brother Troy consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, seven out of nine witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony.

Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis. Here is what one had to say:

“I got tired of them harassing me, and they made it clear that the only way they would leave me alone is if I told them what they wanted to hear. I told them that Troy told me he did it, but it wasn’t true."

We need to tell the Board strongly and clearly: There's too much doubt to execute Troy Davis!

Sign the petition here: http://www.change.org/petitions/7-of-9-witnesses-say-my-brother-is-innocent-stop-troy-davis-execution-on-sep-21

Also, call the Board of Pardons and Parole at 404-656-5651 and demand that they stay Troy Davis' execution!

---------------------------------
If you believe that there will never be peace on the planet without justice, reparations and reconciliation for African people and all the countless victims of imperialism past and present against whom terror, genocide, exploitation were carried out in our name and for our benefit, then Take the Pledge of Solidarity and donate at least $10 to the African-led Uhuru Movement for liberation and self-determination for African people everywhere!

Long Live Steve Biko! Long Live the African Revolution!

On September 12, 1977, Steve Biko, a leader in the African Liberation Movement, was killed while held in police custody by the government of Occupied Azania (South Africa).

Steve Biko was a leading figure in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. Biko founded the Black Consciousness Movement, which mobilized the African working class to struggle for power in their own hands.

In 1977, Biko was arrested, tortured, and beaten to death by police.

As Fred Hampton Sr, another slain African revolutionary, once famously remarked, "You can kill a revolutionary, but you cannot kill the revolution."

Today, over 30 years after the assassinations of Biko, Hampton, and so many other courageous warriors for African freedom, the movement for the liberation of Africa and African people lives on through the Uhuru Movement led by Chairman Omali Yeshitela and the African People's Socialist Party. 



The Uhuru Movement is uniting African people around the world in the struggle for justice, freedom, and self-determination.

It is leading the work to build programs for African self-reliance across the US as well as in Europe, South America and the continent of Africa, where AAPDEP, the development wing of the Uhuru Movement, is spearheading a project to build a birth clinic in Sierra Leone. 





This is a call for genuine solidarity with the programs of the Uhuru Movement.

The Uhuru Solidarity Movement is an organization of white people and other allies of African liberation, working directly under the leadership of the African People's Socialist Party.

As white people who have benefited from imperialist genocide and slavery, we believe that taking an active stand for reparations from the white community is the most honest and progressive way to join the masses of humanity in the creation of a new world of peace through justice. 



To honor the living legacy of African liberation embodied by martyrs like Biko and carried into the new generation by the African freedom fighters of the Uhuru Movement, Take The Pledge of Solidarity With African People and make a donation today. 



The highest expression of solidarity with the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed is material solidarity. 

This is why we must Take the Pledge of Solidarity with African People and build "A Day in Solidarity with African People" all over the US, Europe and the rest of the world!

Reparations Now! Solidarity, not charity! 
Take the Pledge!
Forward to "A Day in Solidarity with African People"! 

Join the Uhuru Solidarity Movement!
Uhuru!

We Will Never Forget the Victims of U.S. Imperialism

WE WILL NEVER FORGET

The United States and the world system of US imperialism were born from the enslavement of African people and the genocide against the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

It is a system that thrives on the ongoing colonial violence and terror against Indigenous, African, Arab, Afghani, and other oppressed peoples of the world.

It is a vicious system that uses extreme violence to steal and exploit the resources of Africans and other colonized peoples for the benefit of the general Euro-American population.


And it is a system that is experiencing a deep and profound crisis today, a crisis that is caused by the just resistance of the colonized peoples of the world who are fighting back to reclaim their resources and seize control over their own destinies. 9/11 was one example of the ever deepening crisis of imperialism.


The Uhuru Solidarity Movement stands on the side of the oppressed peoples of the world who are standing up against imperialism and fighting to build a new world free from oppression, violence, and exploitation.


We are on the side of the Africans inside the US and around the world who are uniting to take back their land, the value of their stolen labor, and their resources.



We reject the role of complicit bystander that the US expects from white people who benefit from the stolen resources of the oppressed. Working directly under the leadership of the African People's Socialist Party, we are building a mass movement for reparations from the white community to the Africans and oppressed peoples of the world.


There is no future for the foul, rotten system of US imperialism.
Our future is in solidarity with the resisting peoples of the world.
Our future is in solidarity with the liberation of Africa and African people everywhere.

REPARATIONS NOW!
Solidarity with the resisting peoples of the world!
Solidarity with African Liberation!
Take the Pledge of Solidarity for African self-determination!
Uhuru!

9/11 Truth - African Internationalist Style

September 11, 2011, Sunday at 1PM

Tune in Reparations in Action on
www.UhuruRadio.com

WE WILL NEVER FORGET
THE VICTIMS OF THE U.S. EMPIRE:
9/11 Truth, African Internationalist Style

This Sunday on the 10 year anniversary of 9/11,
"Days in Solidarity with African People" campaign coordinator Wendy Snyder hosts, interviewing Penny Hess, Chairwoman of the African People's Solidarity Committee
to address the reality of U.S. imperialism in crisis and why we should
take the Pledge in Solidarity With African People.

Reparations in Action: The campaign for "A Day in Solidarity with African People"

Day in Solidarity with African People calls on white people and other allies to stand up for reparations, liberation and justice for African people everywhere

Take the Pledge of Solidarity today! Join the Uhuru Solidarity Movement

As the crisis of imperialism deepens daily and the resistance of African and oppressed peoples of the world grows, the African People’s Solidarity Committee (APSC) and Uhuru Solidarity Movement (USM) are sponsoring their most important annual events—the Day in Solidarity with African People.

APSC and USM are organizations of predominately Euro-American or white people, working directly under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party USA.

With the theme of the “growing African resistance for justice and freedom” the days in Solidarity with African People will raise $10,000 for the work and programs of the Uhuru Movement led by the African People’s Socialist Party USA.

Days in Solidarity with African People events will feature Chairman Omali Yeshitela as the keynote speaker along with Penny Hess, APSC Chairwoman as well as local speakers and cultural workers.

Events will take place around the U.S. and are scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 21 in St Petersburg, FL; Saturday, Oct. 8 in Chicago, IL Thursday, Oct. 13 in Oakland and Saturday, Nov. 12 in Philadelphia, PA.

A benefit concert will be held in Brooklyn, New York on Oct. 22.

A central campaign of the Days in Solidarity is a call for other Euro-North American people to “Take the Pledge in Solidarity with African People” and give a $10 contribution to the work of the Party.

As it says on the Day in Solidarity brochure, when you take the Pledge in Solidarity with African People you “take a stand on the side of justice for African people everywhere.”

Understanding the responsibility of white people for reparations to African people, the Pledge is a commitment to “right the profound historical wrongs against African people from enslavement, Jim Crow, lynchings, discriminatory sentencing and mass imprisonment here, to genocide, plunder and ongoing wars of occupation by the US and Europe in Africa.”

Taking the Pledge “means standing on the side of reparations and genuine reconciliation between white people who have economically benefitted from slavery and colonialism and African people everywhere who continue to be exploited by this relationship.”

The Days in Solidarity with African People is a stand in support for the movement for African self-determination and liberation worldwide.

It is also a stand against the U.S. wars against African people whether they are in Congo, Libya, Sudan, the Horn of Africa, in Haiti or against African people here inside the U.S.

For more information on the Days in Solidarity with African People, go to www.uhurusolidarity.org

Black youth unemployment and underemployment nears 90 percent

Black youth unemployment and underemployment nears 90 percent: Build "A Day in Solidarity with African People" and Take the Pledge TODAY!


Black unemployment in this country rose to 16.7 percent according to last week’s U.S. Department of Labor report.

If you add all those in the African community who have given up looking or who are underemployed with salaries that do not pay their basic expenses, the percentage doubles to 33 percent.

African youth unemployment came in at a staggering 45 percent in the recent report. When the discouraged, unemployed and underemployed are added, we are talking about 90 percent, the vast majority of young African people who have been written off by the US government as a people with no future.

The overall U.S. unemployment rate is 9.1 percent and the specific jobless rate for white people is 8 percent, less than half of the rate for African people.

In June the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that black men between the ages of 30 and 50 “will never work again.”

In addition to massive unemployment, statistics show that 12.5 percent of African men in their 20s are in the prison system, 6 times the rate of white men.

As the downturn deepens it is clear that the burden of the crisis falls on the shoulders of the African community. The US government and the Obama administration have written off the African working class, focusing on the “middle class” (read: white population).

Although U.S. president Obama will address the U.S. on Thursday with his alleged jobs plan, he has refused to create any specific programs to address black community job creation.

As the overall U.S. unemployment rate has gone up and as the African unemployment rate has sky rocketed, white unemployment has gone down.

Yes, this is a very serious economic crisis that we are facing. But there will be no solution for us at the expense of the African community. In a country whose wealth and “opportunity” are built on the backs of the enslavement of African people and where historically white prosperity comes at the expense of the black community, the road to a viable and prosperous future must begin with acknowledgement of the crimes against African people.

Righting this historical wrong—the legacy of slavery, genocide and colonial domination of African and other “nonwhite” people that was the midwife of the capitalist system—is the only solid cornerstone for a future without war and exploitation.

Take the Pledge in Solidarity with African People today: www.uhurusolidarity.org and donate a least $10 towards the programs for African economic self-sufficiency being put on the ground by the African-led Uhuru Movement.

Curfew and Gang Injunctions in Oakland Won’t Stop the Violence ; Resources for Community Development Will

Seventy-five people have been killed in Oakland this year. This terrible reality goes almost unnoticed if you don’t live or work in East or West Oakland. However, the conditions that give rise to these killings affect us all.

The August 8^th tragedy of the death of an innocent child highlights this reality.

Three-year-old Carlos Nava was killed when a stray bullet hit him as he sat in a stroller on the sidewalk in broad daylight with his family standing by.

City council members Ignacio De La Fuente and Larry Reid opportunistically used this terrible incident to shove the highly unpopular and repressive youth curfews and “gang injunctions” back onto the city’s agenda.

Expansion of the city’s gang injunctions, which have already been imposed in North Oakland and Fruitvale, were curtailed by public opposition. Injunctions target particular individuals in their neighborhoods, banning anyone the city designates as a “gang member” from entering his own neighborhood or visiting his family.

The Oakland Tribune jumped on the curfew and injunction bandwagon, and now Mayor Jean Quan and Police Chief Anthony Batts are teaming up to host a “public safety summit” in October and call in more troops. 



But even the grieving Nava family expressed their understanding that a police solution of curfews and injunctions won’t solve the city’s problems. They stated clearly that what the community needs is resources.

It’s Poverty

The proponents of curfews and injunctions all but ignore the dominant factor in the destabilization of the African and Latino communities: poverty and repression.

The latest U.S. employment shows that overall black unemployment is 16.7 percent. Joblessness for black youth is a now a staggering 45 percent. When you count all those no longer looking or who are underemployed you are talking about twice that, or virtually all young black people can’t find meaningful work.

An August report by the Food Research and Action Center stated that one in four California households with children reported food hardship.

According to a recent article in the San Jose Mercury News, covering a report released in August by the California Budget Project, “A record low share of working-age Californians have jobs; nearly a record high share of the state’s unemployed have been looking for work for more than half a year; and the typical California worker’s hourly wage has lower purchasing power than at any point in the past 10 years.”

Ninety-one percent of African and Latino seniors are “financially vulnerable,” according to a new report, “The Economic Crisis Facing Seniors of Color” from the Greenlining Institute.

These are the families whose children who have no jobs, no future. A program of genuine economic development and stimulus that uplifts the entire African and Latino communities is the only viable solution.

The city’s only solution is increased heavy-handed police presence and repression in what can be compared to a military occupation. The fundamentals of poverty and despair are never addressed.

Poverty is seen as a crime

The city and powers that be label the impoverished African and Latino communities as criminal communities.

When Wells Fargo Bank was found to have profited over a trillion dollars from laundering Mexican drug money earlier this year, no one went to prison, no CEO or bank employee was called a criminal. Wall Street bankers that fleeced millions of people of their homes and retirement funds and U.S. military torturers are not criminalized. Police who run roughshod in black neighborhoods and shoot down young black men pay no price.

But the label of criminality and armed repression is reserved for the most impoverished sector of the population—according to national statistics 24.5 percent of black households live below the poverty line.

The curfew and injunction supporters make no connection between the ongoing legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, historic oppression faced by African and Latino communities living in abject poverty and hunger.

Even if you moved to Oakland yesterday, you must have heard about Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. The same conditions that sparked the Panther movement forty-five years ago exist today: the Oakland Police Department’s brutal tactics, dire poverty and the injustices and discrimination faced by black people.

In addition, Gary Webb’s Dark Alliance and many other sources have documented in detail the role of the U.S. government in imposing the illegal drug economy that has devastated the African and Latino communities. This illegal drug economy is the big business that justifies all of the military style policing in East and West Oakland and fills California’s prison system that has provided so many jobs and business opportunities for the white population.

Police Violence Then and Now, the Same Old War

The Oakland Police Department in the 1960s was not unique, but was notorious for its brutal tactics. During the Sixties, the OPD recruited many large-build white southern men to intimidate the black community.

The OPD under Anthony Batts looks different, but utilizes the same violent tactics. Batts has declared his willingness to wage a “war on drugs, gangs and guns,” the same tired code words for a war on the African community that has been carried out for decades. This war is waged against the same community that desperately needs resources to develop and thrive.

Under Batts reign, Kenneth Ross, Derrick Jones, Brownie Polk are just a few of the African men who have been gunned down by the police. A whole decade of police violence has taken the lives of Casper Banjo, Jose Luis Buenrostro, Andew Moppin, Jody Woodfox, Oscar Grant (by BART police), just to name a few. In January of this year, 20-year-old Raheim Brown was killed by Oakland schools police chief Barhein Bhatt. What should be clear to anyone paying attention is that the same conditions that gave rise to the Black Panther Party exist today.

The “Vocal Minority” Opposing the Curfews and Gang Injunctions

The Oakland Tribune described the opposition to the curfew as a “vocal minority” and “misguided individuals,” who are getting in the way of Batts’ ability to “reduce crime.”

But the vibrant young people and organizations involved in the Coalition Against the Gang Injunctions will not be so easily dismissed for they deeply care about defending the rights of the African and Latino communities and creating real solutions.

The city government, when it reconvenes on September 20^th, will not be able to ignore the numbers of people young and old and of all different backgrounds who will oppose the curfew and gang injunctions. They will not be able to implement their budget weighted on the side of the police rather than community economic development, without public outcry and criticism.

Programs at the Uhuru House

The public safety strategy that will work in the long term will be massive city and private funding for independent, community driven programs that deal with the livelihood, well-being and economic development in the interests of the entire community.

The Marcus Garvey Upliftment Project is one such program that will spawn others like it at the Uhuru (Freedom) House at 7911 MacArthur Blvd in East Oakland. A free arts and education summer camp that featured classes in dance, theater, and visual arts, this program was truly a labor of love for the directors and students alike. Elementary age children wrote, choreographed, produced and performed a theatrical dance performance for the Summer Showcase on Saturday, September 3^rd, that mirrored their own education at the camp about the African leader Marcus Garvey, their love and respect for each other as proud African children.

The Uhuru Jiko (Swahili for “Freedom Kitchen”) is coming to the Uhuru House in Oakland. Plans are underway to create a hub of economic and cultural life in the African community. The vision for Uhuru Jiko is an affordable community commercial kitchen for caterers, food vendors and cooking instructors. It would host nutrition and cooking classes from the African People’s Education and Defense Fund Wellness program and serve as a food business incubator for product development. It would also include the production of herbs from the APEDF backyard and collective gardens. For more info on both programs, see the African People's Education and Defense Fund.

A Day in Solidarity with African People

This is a our national campaign that calls on white people and other allies to take the pledge of solidarity with reparations, justice and self-determination for African people, meaning the black community right here in the US. It is a national fundraising drive winning support for the self-determination programs of the Uhuru Movement such as those described above. You can get involved in building the October 13^th event here in Oakland by coming to the Wednesday meetings at 7pm at the Niebyl Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph in Oakland or by going to Uhuru Solidarity Movement's website.

As the programs and campaigns led by the African and other oppressed communities build, we must reject and oppose the city’s cynical, and pessimistic policies that actually impose violence and despair on the community rather than transform it. These policies, such as the curfew and the gang injunctions, serve no one but the city and police officials and their pocketbooks. Programs and campaigns such as these are the wave of the future and give hope and humanity to all of us.

Wendy Snyder is the local organizer of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement. Contact her at Oakland@uhurusolidarity.org

Hitting the streets of St Pete to build "A Day in Solidarity with African People"

Uhuru! On this blog we are going to be posting photographs and videos of the work that Uhuru Solidarity Movement organizers are doing around the country to build for the "Day in Solidarity with African People" campaign and to win North Americans to Take the Pledge of Solidarity with African People!

For our first entry we have photos from St. Pete, where "Day in Solidarity with African People" will be held on Sep 21 at Studio@620.

These are pictures from an outreach table and neighborhood "drops" (when organizers walk through neighborhoods to distribute leaflets on the doors of residences) that took place over the past two days in St. Petersburg, FL.

Happy Birthday to Unión del Barrio: 30 years of Organized Liberation Struggle

The Uhuru Solidarity Movement wishes to express congratulations to Unión del Barrio for 30 years of organized struggle for Raza self-determination and liberation.

We express our unconditional solidarity with the Indigenous peoples of Occupied Mexico in their just struggle for national liberation from US colonial domination.

Click here to see the photos from this event, including photos of Uhuru Movement organizers as well as Chairman Omali Yeshitela, leader and founder of the Uhuru Movement, who attended this event in support of the Mexican liberation struggle. The Uhuru Movement and Union del Barrio have a 25 year history of fraternal relations.

Victory to the African, Mexican and other colonized peoples of the world!

Long live Unión del Barrio!

On August 26th, Unión del Barrio, its membership, allies, supporters, and families, came together to celebrate three decades of Organized Liberation Struggle for Raza self-determination, the re-unification of México and the socialist integration of Nuestra América.

The celebration took place at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego. The event began with a welcome by the MC’s, Eduardo “Kiki” Ochoa and Belinda Zamacona, followed by dinner. During dinner, there was a video presentation which covered the length of the 30 year history of Unión del Barrio thru the present. There was a particular presentation on the last 5 years of struggle, 2006-2011.

The General Secretary of Unión del Barrio, Rommel Díaz, then presented the Central Committee intervention on the current conditions faced by the Mexican and Latinamerican working class within the political borders of the imperialist state. He described how the US has intensified its imperialist offensive on the world’s poor, which threatens life and existence for the great majority of humanity. He summarized the role Unión del Barrio will assume to confront this empire in decline, the anti-colonial struggle that must be waged by the working masses of Mexican and Latinamericans to achieve a world without oppressors or oppressed.

The event continued with messages of solidarity from fraternal organizations and supporters. The highlight of these messages was the always-inspiring presentation of Comrade Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the African People’s Socialist Party. Followed with the presentation of the “Orden del Caballero Aguila”to Pablo Aceves for his 25-year commitment to the organization, its principles and the struggle in defense of the Mexicano-Latinoamericano people’s struggle for self-determination.

The MC’s then presented six emulations, highlighting the extraordinary work, example and commitment of Unión del Barrio members Aracelia Alvarez, Bryan Constantino, Erica Garcia, Yohana Hinojosa, Angelica Maldonado, and Juan Orozco. Finally, the Central Committee presented to the leadership of each of its organizational bodies, a flag that represents the collective thought and action of Unión del Barrio.

The evening ended with Mariachi music, socializing, dancing and the celebration of Unión del Barrio’s collective 30 year history.

¡Viva Unión del Barrio!
¡Viva el Pueblo Organizado!

El 26 de agosto, Unión del Barrio su militancia, aliados, simpatizantes, familias, llegaron a celebrar tres décadas de lucha organizada por la auto-determinación de la Raza, la reunificación de México y por la integración socialista de Nuestra América.

La celebración se llevó a cabo en el Centro Cultural de la Raza en San Diego. El evento inició con una bienvenida por los maestros de ceremonia, Eduardo “Kiki” Ochoa y Belinda Zamacona, invitando a nuestros invitados a una cena. Durante la cena se presentó video presentaciones de la historia de Unión del Barrio hasta el presente. Hubo una presentación con particular énfasis de la lucha en los últimos 5 años, del 2006 hasta el presente.

El Secretario General, Rommel Diaz, presento una intervención a nombre del Comité Central, sobre las condiciones que enfrenta el pueblo obrero Mexicano-Latinoamericano, dentro de las fronteras políticas del estado imperialista norteamericano. Describió como los EEUU ha intensificado su ofensiva bélico contra los pueblos del mundo, con el fin de robarles de sus recursos naturales, amenazando el derecho básico a la vida. Resumió el papel que tomará Unión del Barrio para asumir el deber de enfrentar este imperio en descenso, y la lucha anti-colonial que debemos enarbolar como pueblo obrero Mexicano-Latinoamericano para lograr un mundo sin explotados, ni explotadores.

El evento continuo con mensajes de solidaridad de organizaciones fraternales y de apoyo. El mas destacado, como es costumbre, llego del camarada Omali Yeshitela del Partido Socialista del Pueblo Africano. Continuó el programa con la presentación del “Orden del Caballero Aguila” a Pablo Aceves por su entrega a la lucha por la auto-determinación, la organización y sus principios, a lo largo de 25 años.

Los maestros de ceremonia procedió a reconocer seis emulaciones a militantes destacados de Unión del Barrio por su trabajo ejemplar. Los militantes fueron, Aracelia Álvarez, Bryan Constantino, Erica García, Yohana Hinojosa, Angélica Maldonado, y Juan Orozco. Finalmente, el Comité Central presentó la bandera de la organización a cada dirigente de cada estructura orgánica, que representan las ideas y acciones colectivos de Unión del Barrio.

La noche terminó con música tradicional Mexicana, el convivio, baile, y la celebración de 30 años de historia.

¡Viva Unión del Barrio!
¡Viva el Pueblo Organizado!

- Union del Barrio

Stop the war on African people, from Libya to St Pete!

STOP THE WAR ON THE BLACK COMMUNITY:
Solidarity with African people, from Libya to St Pete!

Join the Uhuru Solidarity Movement!
Take the Pledge of Solidarity Today!

_

LIBYA

Rebel Fighters Target Black Libyans, Sub-Saharan Africans, Amnesty Reports

This is the US-style "democracy" that was used to justify US and NATO military invasion and occupation of the sovereign nation of Libya by selecting, propping up, arming and funding so-called rebels. Supported by such liberal groups as Anti-war.com and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, it should not be surprising that the rebels are murdering black Africans on sight. The "rebels" in Libya are the the minions of US imperialism, a system built on the mass enslavement of African people. This is why we need A Day in Solidarity with African People--reparations, self-determination and justice for African people everywhere. Take the Pledge of Solidarity with African People today!

******

FLORIDA

St. Petersburg police chief: City needs armored vehicle like other law agencies

At a time when white families have 20 times the wealth of black families in the US, and in the city of St Pete over 70 percent of Africans live at or below the poverty line, the St Pete Police Department is requesting 250,000 dollars for an armored vehicle to occupy and terrorize the African community of south St Pete just like they did earlier this year after the alleged shooting of a police by 16 year old African, Nicholas Lindsey. The Uhuru Solidarity Movement denounces this use of funds for the increased militarization of the St Pete police! We unite with the Uhuru Movement's demand for economic development for the African community, NOT police containment! Support the campaign for "A Day in Solidarity with African People" -- reparations, self-determination, and justice for African people everywhere! Stop the war on the African community! Take the Pledge of Solidarity with African People TODAY!