Who said racism was dead?

 An I saw article on Afro-Netizen serves as a harsh reminder that good ol' American style racism has not in fact breathed it's last breath. I don't know how many Americans this cyclist's t-shirt slogan speaks for but it has to be too many.

 The lines are being drawn and I'm not sure where the whole thing is headed but it feels to me like we're not going in the right direction. All the conditions for facism or even worse, seem to be dropping into place. Civil rights appear to be going into lock-down or lock-out, money is being taken out of circulation or at least being re-distributed among the few, sizable minorities of the population are being vilified or demonized and the populace is almost totally dependent on a limited number of corporations for everything they/we need.  This means that if you don't play ball with those pulling the strings they are in a position to simply cut you out of the supply chain.

 If you're too much of a threat, there are new prisons or containment centers apparently under construction even now. 

 Anyone else worried?

An Open letter to Barack Obama

An Open letter to Barack Obama from Rebel Diaz

Manning Marable an Interview

I came across quite a few mp3 files featuring Prof. Maning Marable and found them all very

informative and interesting.  One that I found to be very good listening was -

WBAI senior producer Dred-Scott Keyes, interviews Dr. Manning Marable of Columbia University's Institute of Black Studies. 

In the interview  Dr. Marable discusses his book 

"The Great Wells of Democracy"

In the interview he covers diverse topics ie.

• The nature of modern racism
• The affect of Globalization on Black Nationalism
• The Prison Industrial Complex
  
• Disefranchisment as a result of imprisonment
• The econonic consequences of mass incarceration

Click to listen to Part 1.

Click to listen to Part 2.

DaveyD Positive Hip Hop and Soul music.

DaveyD has posted some great examples of positive Hip Hop on

Breakdown FM-23 Joints to Get U Through The Day #1

Breakdown FM can be downloaded as a podcast via iTunes 

if you are interested in what's the mindset of the active hip hop

culture then this program is a good place to check it out.

There are lots of interviews and reports on up to date topics

and personalities concerning the Black community.

Walter Turner of Africa Today Hosts Black Historian Runoko Rashidi

  Walter Turner of "Africa Today", a program about current events and prominent Africans from throughout  the continent and the diaspora,  features Dr. Runoko Rashidi an African American scholar, explorer, historian, lecturer, author, tour guide and more who has informed and inspired many of us to examen Africa's contribution to the world much more closely. The interview is well worth the time it takes to listen because you will discover many new avenues toward your knowledge about things African.

 "Africa Today" airs on KPFA Pacifica each Monday and is available for download as a podcast via iTunes or via KPFA.