KWANZAA

Go tell it on the Mountain-Bob Marley and the Wailers






Kwanzaa  









    Kwanzaa is a unique African American celebration with focus on the traditional African values of family, community responsibility, commerce, and self-improvement. Kwanzaa is neither political nor religious and despite some misconceptions, is not a substitute for Christmas. It is simply a time of reaffirming African-American people, their ancestors and culture. Kwanzaa, which means "first fruits of the harvest" in the African language Kiswahili, has gained tremendous acceptance. Since its founding in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, Kwanzaa has come to be observed by more than 18 million people worldwide, as reported by the New York Times.

Kwanzaa is based on the Nguzo Saba (seven guiding principles), one for each day of the observance, and is celebrated from December 26th to January 1st.

The seven principles of Kwanzaa are:
- Umoja (Unity)
- Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
- Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
- Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
- Nia (Purpose)
- Kuumba (Creativity)
- Imani (Faith)





Dancers from Wesley Praise Dancers celebrate the second day of Kwanzaa, Kujichagulia, representing self-determination. (Baltimore Sun photo by Chiaki Kawajiri / December 27, 2008)



Members of the Imani Edu-Tainers African Dance Company perform at a Kwanzaa celebration  in the Capitol East Wing Rotunda, Harrisburg,Pa. 12-29-08



























Joyous Celebration - I Love The Lord (Live In Cape Town)

Happy Kwanzaa - Teddy Pendergrass

Jesus, O What a Wonderful Child

Sounds Of Blackness - Soul Holidays

Petition - Protect Media Diversity: Stop Media Consolidation: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

Petition - Protect Media Diversity: Stop Media Consolidation: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

What are your thoughts about what Congress will be doing for the country to avoid or to send the country over the "Fiscal Cliff."   Why is it that some people and organizations believe there is actually no such "Fiscal Cliff" at all, but is a "construct" created by the Republican Party to scare the country at the outset of the second term of the presidency of Barak Obama.

Why is it that the Repuglicans are reacting so horribly because of the loss of the presidency which they felt that had nailed to the proverbial floor.  What advice do you have for them?

Last but not least, what the heck were people thinking to return the Repugs back to the House seats when we will be only open to balking, thwarting, reneging, recalcitrance and rancor.  That is the characteristic of the present-day Repugnican Party. 

What we must be thinking about doing is whatever needs to be done to get these goons out of there in the next mid-term election and put people in who will help the President reach his true potential and anticipated goals.  We must start now to work to bring about the realistic CHANGE that we have been looking and longing for.  And so shall it be if we BEGIN THE WORK NOW|!

Lys Agnes, 27 ~ America's Got Talent 2011, Minneapolis Auditions

    Need something to simply while away the time while we are waiting on Pre-Election Day.  Enjoy!

Chris Rock - Message for White Voters

President Barack Obama is Leading With Faith Values

BARACK OBAMA -I'M ONLY A MAN (REMIX) THE DELLS

President Obama Dings Romney In UAW Speech

Invisible Racism Campaign

LET'S RE-ELECT HIM

"Forward" (Official Video)

A Moving Message About The Election From A 97 Year Old And Her Friends

A Moving Message About The Election From A 97 Year Old And Her Friends

Don't Forget About The Hood - Jasiri X

"Forward" (Official Video)

Russell Charles Means ,Great Oglala Sioux

          RUSSELL MEANS SPECIAL: The Decline of American Culture (10/22/2012)


        Russell Charles Means (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an Oglala Sioux activist for the rights of Native American people and   political activist. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) after joining the organization in 1968, and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage.

Means was active in international issues of indigenous peoples, including working with groups in Central and South America, and with the United Nations for recognition of their rights. He was active in politics at his native Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and at the state and national level.

Beginning an acting career in 1992, he appeared in numerous films and released his own music CD. He published his autobiography Where White Men Fear to Tread in 1995.

          Means was born in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, a community located in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, to Theodora Feather and Harold "Hank" Means.  He was baptized Oyate Wacinyapin, which means "works for the people" in the Lakota language. His Oglala Sioux parents met as students at an Indian boarding school.

In 1942, when Russell was three, the Means family resettled in the San Francisco Bay Area, seeking to escape the poverty and problems of the reservation. His father worked at the shipyard. Means grew up in the Bay area, graduating in 1958 from San Leandro High School in San Leandro, California. He attended four colleges but did not graduate from any of them.   In his 1995 autobiography, Means recounted a harsh childhood; his father was alcoholic and he himself fell into years of "truancy, crime and drugs" before finding purpose in the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis.

His father died in 1967, and in his 20's, Means lived in several Indian reservations throughout the United States while searching for work. While at the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota, he developed severe vertigo. Physicians at the reservation clinic believed that he had been brought in inebriated. After they refused to examine him for several days, Means was finally diagnosed with a concussion due to a presumed fist fight in a saloon. A visiting specialist later discovered that the reservation doctors had overlooked a common ear infection, which cost Means the hearing in one ear.

After recovering from the infection, Means worked for a year in the Office of Economic Opportunity, where he came to know several legal activists who were managing legal action on behalf of the Lakota people. After a dispute with his supervisor, Means left Rosebud for Cleveland, Ohio. In Cleveland, he worked with Native American community leaders against the backdrop of the American Civil Rights Movement.

                Russell Means Interview


No truer words  have ever been stated about the evils prevalent in this country known as the United States of America, a country built upon greed.  Until America revises its stance to righteous living, then its eventual downfall is to be seen in the annals of time and history as all empires of the world have been been shown to dissolve.  This man is so intelligent that he spews wisdom the like the world has rarely known.  He is competent and capable of analyzing the predicament of the American Indian.  I have a close concern for the Native American, especially since they are a part of my family on both sides even though we never search it out, but we know it is accurate.  This sense of attachment needs to be preserved and passed down through the family line.

Posted by Marileeza

               Russell Means :Our Part of Worldwide Wreckage


In 1968 at age 29, Means joined the American Indian Movement (AIM), where he rose to become a prominent leader.[6] Means participated in the 1969 Alcatraz occupation. In 1970, Means was appointed AIM's first national director, and the organization began a period of increasing protests and activism
On Thanksgiving Day 1970, Means and other AIM activists staged their first protest in Boston: they seized the Mayflower II, a replica ship of the Mayflower, to protest the Puritans' and United States' mistreatment of Native Americans.[7] Later that year, Means was one of the leaders of AIM's takeover of Mount Rushmore, a federal monument.[citation needed]

In 1972, he participated in AIM's occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) headquarters in Washington, D.C. Many confidential records were taken or destroyed, and more than $2 million in damages was done to the building.[citation needed]

In 1973, Dennis Banks and Carter Camp led AIM's occupation of Wounded Knee, which became the group's most well-known action.[7] Means appeared as a spokesman and prominent leader as well. The armed standoff of more than 300 Lakota and AIM activists with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and state law enforcement lasted for 71 days. A visiting Cherokee from North Carolina and an Oglala Lakota activist from Pine Ridge Reservation were killed in April 1973. Earlier an FBI agent was shot and became paralyzed from his wounds.

               Russell Means Freedom Part 1


                Russell Means Freedom Part 2


                 Russell Means - Freedom is Your Responsibility


Mount Rushmore: One of America's greatest national monuments is,
to Native Americans, one of the most inflammatory and blasphemous
symbols of what was taken from them.

             LRI Tribute to Russell Means

Take Us Forward (OBAMA 2012)

2012 Presidential Debate Cartoon: Obama vs Romney

Can a Black Man Defend Himself at Home?

               Can a Black Man Defend Himself at Home?
The NAACP and activists fight for the release of a black Georgia man who shot a man on his lawn.
By: Aisha I. Jefferson | Posted: September 12, 2012 at 12:38 AM

NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, second from left (Charles Cook/NAACP)
(The Root) -- Members of the NAACP -- including its president and CEO, Benjamin Todd Jealous -- along with local politicians and other activists, addressed a small crowd of journalists in Atlanta on Monday  in an effort to bring attention to the case of a black Georgia man serving a life sentence for killing a white man who was trespassing on his property.  

Despite Kennesaw, Ga., police detectives declaring in 2005 that John McNeil , 46, acted in self-defense, Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head decided a year later to try the case . McNeil was sentenced in November 2006.

"If this can happen to John McNeil, then it can happen to [Georgia NAACP President] Ed DuBose, it can happen to William Barber, it can happen to Ben Jealous. It can happen to any black man standing out here or standing anywhere in America, no matter how much good you've done or how right you are," the Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP, told the crowd in front of the Georgia State Capitol. Barber, a longtime friend of McNeil's, along with Jealous and other NAACP members, went to see him in prison before the press conference.

The "it" relates to events that took place Dec. 6, 2005, when McNeil arrived home after his teenage son called him about an unfamiliar man lurking about their property. According to testimony, the man, Brian Epp, a hired contractor with whom McNeil had past difficulties, had already pulled a knife on the teenager.
Epp refused to leave, and McNeil, who had called 911, fired a warning shot into the ground. Epp then charged toward McNeil while reaching into his pocket. McNeil fatally shot him in the head at close range. Court documents state that a pocketknife was clipped inside Epp's pants pocket. McNeil's neighbors who witnessed the incident backed his story.

Kennesaw police detectives investigated the case, decided that McNeil had acted in self-defense and didn't charge him. McNeil's self-defense claim is supported by Georgia's "castle doctrine" law , which allows an individual to use deadly force to protect his or her home, or anyone inside it, from a violent trespasser.

McNeil and his family thought the worst was over, until Pat Head decided nearly a year later to pursue prosecution. Although the Kennesaw Police Department refused to arrest McNeil, the Cobb County Sheriff's Office did, under Head's advisement, according to NAACP members.

During the trial, McNeil's neighbors, the two senior detectives investigating the case and a couple who said that they felt threatened by Epp when they hired him to do work all testified in McNeil's defense. All of those individuals are white.

From: Benjamin Jealous, NAACP
Date: Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 12:55 PM
Subject: John McNeil could be heading home
To: Mary White


Great news — a recent decision by the Georgia Superior Court has paved the way for John McNeil to be released from prison in a couple of weeks.

Only one thing stands in John's way. Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens has twelve more days to appeal the decision of the Superior Court. You previously took action to call for justice for John McNeil — now we need everyone you know to do the same.

Tell everyone you know to sign our petition urging Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens not to appeal the Georgia Superior Court decision so John McNeil can go home:

http://action.naacp.org/send-john-home

The Georgia Superior Court saw the same thing you did when you signed our petition in support of John. They cited multiple errors at trial in granting John's petition for habeas corpus. These included ineffective counsel and a lack of proper instruction to the jury on a person's right in Georgia to use force to defend himself or another person from a violent attack.

John's ailing wife Anita was thrilled with the court's decision, "I know we still have a journey in front of us, but today we smile, for we have won. We are thankful first to God and then to the judge. She looked at the case and saw it for what it is."

I visited John in prison last month with North Carolina State President Reverend Barber and Georgia State Conference President Edward Dubose. His spirits were high because he knows how hard we are fighting on his behalf.

This is the final step towards righting the wrong of the Cobb County DA who prosecuted a father for defending his family on his own property. Together, we can send John home, where he belongs.

Tell your family and friends to sign the petition in support of justice for John:

http://action.naacp.org/send-john-home

Thank you,

Ben

Benjamin Todd Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP

ATLANTA – The wife of a successful African-American businessman, who is serving a life sentence for killing a trespasser who was threatening his family, has said she will continue to fight for his release.

“It is hard to think he got convicted,” John McNeil’s wife, Anita, 46, told theGrio. “You expect the law to be on the side of the person defending themselves and not the aggressor.”

In fact, initially the law was on his side. Following an initial investigation, Kennesaw, Ga., detectives concluded in 2005 that John McNeil, 45, acted in self-defense.

The case relates to events on December 6, 2005, when McNeil received a distress call from his teenage son that a man was lurking around in their backyard.

“John called 911 and told the police he was on his way home,” said his wife, who is living with advanced stage cancer. According to testimony, the man, Brian Epp, a hired contractor with whom McNeil had past disagreements, had already pulled out a knife on McNeil’s 19-year-old son.

When McNeil returned home, Epp, who is white, refused to leave, despite being asked several times. McNeil and eye-witnesses testified that he fired a warning shot but when Epp charged towards him with his hand in his pocket he shot out in self-defense.

Despite the conclusion of Kennesaw police detectives that McNeil committed no crime, Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head decided nearly a year later to charge him with murder. As a result, McNeil was sentenced to life in prison in November 2006.

Ironically, Georgia’s “Castle Doctrine” permits individuals to defend themselves with a weapon if they feel threatened on their own property without having to wait for the situation to escalate.

The case has led activists to wonder why a family man, with no prior criminal convictions, could on the basis of the evidence and witness accounts, be sentenced to a life behind bars.

So much so that the NAACP is calling for a reexamination of the case, which they categorize as a blatant miscarriage of justice. “The events of this case can only be described as tragic,” said NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.

“But that tragedy has been compounded by Georgia’s decision to prosecute and convict a dedicated father for protecting his family and himself on his own property,” added Jealous.

In fact, those who have met John McNeil describe him as a mild-mannered, family man, who adored his wife and cherished his two sons.

“In one of the interviews I had with him he was choked up and emotional when talking

ak to him he comes across as very credible.”

In many ways, McNeil’s life was typical of a hard-working American. A graduate from North Carolina’s Elizabeth City State University, he was a businessman and community volunteer, whose main priority was taking care of his family.

Last week in Georgia, the NAACP, alongside other activists and local elected officials, addressed a crowd of journalists in a bid to reunite McNeil with his family. They also plan to hold a rally on the anniversary of his sentence in November.

“The John McNeil case is the best example of unequal justice, not just in Georgia, but in America,” said DuBose. “Whether it is a black man trying to defend his property or he’s a victim of circumstance, there’s not justice.”

Earlier this year, John McNeil filed a writ for Habeas Corpus relief arguing that his conviction was unsound. His petition is pending before the Baldwin County, Georgia Superior Court.

Mark Yurachek, John’s McNeil’s attorney, said, “It’s fair to say we have made what we feel is a compelling case for everyone to believe at the minimum my client deserves new trial, if not a release.”

Science pwns Global Warming Denial (Bill Maher)

Obama Will Triumph -- So Will America

Obama Will Triumph -- So Will America
By Frank Schaeffer

Before he'd served even one year President Obama lost the support
of the easily distracted left and engendered the white hot rage of
the hate-filled right. But some of us, from all walks of life and
ideological backgrounds -- including this white, straight, 57-year-
old, former religious right wing agitator, now progressive writer
and (given my background as the son of a famous evangelical leader)
this unlikely Obama supporter -- are sticking with our President.
Why?-- because he is succeeding.

We faithful Obama supporters still trust our initial impression of
him as a great, good and uniquely qualified man to lead us.

Obama's steady supporters will be proved right. Obama's critics
will be remembered as easily panicked and prematurely discouraged
at best and shriveled hate mongers at worst.

The Context of the Obama Presidency

Not since the days of the rise of fascism in Europe , the Second
World War and the Depression has any president faced more
adversity. Not since the Civil War has any president led a more
bitterly divided country. Not since the introduction of racial
integration has any president faced a more consistently short-
sighted and willfully ignorant opposition - from both the right
and left.

As the President's poll numbers have fallen so has his support from
some on the left that were hailing him as a Messiah not long ago;
all those lefty websites and commentators that were falling all
over themselves on behalf of our first black president during the
2008 election.

The left's lack of faith has become a self-fulfilling "prophecy"--
snipe at the President and then watch the poll numbers fall and
then pretend you didn't have anything to do with it!

Here is what Obama faced when he took office-- none of which was
his fault:

# An ideologically divided country to the point that America was
really two countries

# Two wars; one that was mishandled from the start, the other that
was unnecessary and immoral

# The worst economic crisis since the depression

# America 's standing in the world at the lowest point in history

# A country that had been misled into accepting the use of torture
of prisoners of war

# A health care system in free fall

# An educational system in free fall

# A global environmental crisis of history-altering proportions
(about which the Bush administration and the Republicans had done
nothing)

# An impasse between culture warriors from the right and left

# A huge financial deficit inherited from the terminally
irresponsible Bush administration.

And those were only some of the problems sitting on the
President's desk!

"Help" from the Right?

What did the Republicans and the religious right, libertarians and
half-baked conspiracy theorists -- that is what the Republicans
were reduced to by the time Obama took office -- do to "help" our
new president (and our country) succeed? They claimed that he
wasn't a real American, didn't have an American birth certificate,
wasn't born here, was secretly a Muslim, was white-hating "racist",
was secretly a communist, was actually the Anti-Christ, (!) and was
a reincarnation of Hitler and wanted "death panels" to kill the
elderly!

They not-so-subtly called for his assassination through the not-so-
subtle use of vile signs held at their rallies and even a bumper
sticker quoting Psalm 109:8. They organized "tea parties" to sound
off against imagined insults and all government in general and
gathered to howl at the moon. They were led by insurance industry
lobbyists and deranged (but well financed) "commentators" from
Glenn Beck to Rush Limbaugh.

The utterly discredited Roman Catholic bishops teamed up with the
utterly discredited evangelical leaders to denounce a president who
was trying to actually do something about the poor, the
environment, to diminish the number of abortions through
compassionate programs to help women and to care for the sick! And
in Congress the Republican leadership only knew one word: "No!"

In other words the reactionary white, rube, uneducated, crazy
American far right,combined with the educated but obtuse
neoconservative war mongers, religious right shills for big
business, libertarian Fed Reserve-hating gold bug, gun-loving
crazies, child-molesting acquiescent "bishops", frontier loons and
evangelical gay-hating flakes found one thing to briefly unite
them: their desire to stop an uppity black man from succeeding at
all costs!

"Help" from the Left?

What did the left do to help their newly elected president? Some of
them excoriated the President because they disagreed with the bad
choices he was being forced to make regarding a war in Afghanistan
that he'd inherited from the worst president in modern history!

Others stood up and bravely proclaimed that the President's
economic policies had "failed" before the President even instituted
them! Others said that since all gay rights battles had not been
fully won within virtually minutes of the President taking office,
they'd been "betrayed"! (Never mind that Obama's vocal support to
the gay community is stronger than any other president's has been.
Never mind that he signed a new hate crimes law!)

Those that had stood in transfixed legions weeping with beatific
emotion on election night turned into an angry mob saying how
"disappointed" they were that they'd not all immediately been
translated to heaven the moment Obama stepped into the White House!
Where was the "change"? Contrary to their expectations they were
still mere mortals!

And the legion of young new supporters was too busy texting to pay
attention for longer than a nanosecond. "Governing"?! What the hell
does that word, uh, like mean?"

The President's critics left and right all had one thing in common:
impatience laced with little-to-no sense of history (let alone
reality) thrown in for good measure. Then of course there were the
white, snide know-it-all commentators/talking heads who just
couldn't imagine that maybe, just maybe they weren't as smart as
they thought they were and certainly not as smart as their
president. He hadn't consulted them, had he? So he must be wrong!

The Obama critics' ideological ideas defined their idea of reality
rather than reality defining their ideas-say, about what is
possible in one year in office after the hand that the President
had been dealt by fate, or to be exact by the American idiot nation
that voted Bush into office. twice!

Meanwhile back in the reality-based community - in just 12 short
months -- President Obama:

#Continued to draw down the misbegotten war in Iraq
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Thoughtfully and decisively picked the best of several bad choices
regarding the war in Afghanistan
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Gave a major precedent-setting speech supporting gay rights
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Restored America 's image around the globe
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Banned torture of American prisoners
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Stopped the free fall of the American economy
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Put the USA squarely back in the bilateral international community
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Put the USA squarely into the middle of the international effort
to halt global warming
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Stood up for educational reform
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Won a Nobel peace prize
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Moved the trial of terrorists back into the American judicial
system of checks and balances
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Did what had to be done to start the slow, torturous and almost
impossible process of health care reform that 7 presidents had
failed to even begin
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Responded to hatred from the right and left with measured good
humor and patience
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Stopped the free fall of job losses
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Showed immense personal courage in the face of an armed and
dangerous far right opposition that included the sort of disgusting
people that show up at public meetings carrying loaded weapons and
carrying Timothy McVeigh-inspired signs about the "blood of
tyrants" needing to "water the tree of liberty".
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Showed that he could not only make the tough military choices but
explain and defend them brilliantly
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

Other than those "disappointing" accomplishments -- IN ONE YEAR --
President Obama "failed"! Other than that he didn't "live up to
expectations"!

Who actually has failed...

...are the Americans that can't see the beginning of a miracle of
national rebirth right under their jaded noses. Who failed are the
smart ass ideologues of the left and right who began rooting for
this President to fail so that they could be proved right in their
dire and morbid predictions. Who failed are the movers and shakers
behind our obscenely dumb news cycles that have turned "news" into
just more stupid entertainment for an entertainment-besotted
infantile country.

Here's the good news: President Obama is succeeding without the
help of his lefty "supporters" or hate-filled Republican detractors!

The Future Looks Good

After Obama has served two full terms, (and he will), after his
wisdom in moving deliberately and cautiously with great subtlety on
all fronts -- with a canny and calculating eye to the possible
succeeds, (it will), after the economy is booming and new industries
are burgeoning, (they will be), after the doomsayers are all proved
not just wrong but silly: let the record show that not all
Americans were panicked into thinking the sky was falling.

Just because we didn't get everything we wanted in the first short
and fraught year Obama was in office not all of us gave up. Some of
us stayed the course. And we will be proved right.

PS. if you agree that Obama is shaping up to be a great president, 
please pass this on and hang in there! Pass it on anyway to ensure 
that his "report card" gets the attention it deserves.

     Frank Schaeffer is an American author, film director, screenwriter and public speaker. He is the son of the late theologian and author Francis Schaeffer.

Villaraigosa post-debate: Obama 'fact-based'

Villaraigosa post-debate: Obama 'fact-based'

Mitt Romney: Lying to victory

Mitt Romney: Lying to victory

Sign the Petition to Close Down Attica Prison

Sign the Petition to Close Down Attica Prison

New Study Calls For The End Of Bail Bonds

                    New Study Calls For The End Of Bail Bonds

 If you were to get arrested in Kentucky, Wisconsin, Illinois, or Oregon, or other jurisdictions such as Washington, D.C.; Broward County, Florida; or Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, finding a bail bonds agency and the sufficient funds to make bail would be one less concern That’s because according to the Justice Policy Institute (JPI), a national nonprofit law and justice advocacy and research organization, these locations have eliminated money bail. In a series of JPI studies released this month, the organization is calling for all states to end for-profit bail bonds practices.

 Two reports were released earlier this month: “Bail Fail: Why the U.S. Should End the Practice of Money Bail,” and “For Better or For Profit: How the Bail Bonding Industry Stands in the Way of Fair and Effective Pretrial Justice.” A final report is scheduled for release on September 25, and will provide first-hand accounts from Baltimore, Maryland residents’ experiences with the money bail system. Both studies suggest that for-profit money bail is a problematic policy that is especially harmful to the poor and communities of color, and call for it to be eliminated. Instead, JPI offers solutions such as using pretrial services, which would include a risk assessment – an evaluation that would determine if the individual poses a danger to the community, conducted by judges to determine who to release and how to release. Those released would undergo mediation as well as frequent monitoring and supervision. Depending on their charges and the results of their risk assessments, they can be released with, for example, weekly visitations from a probation officer, a tracking device, and drug testing and rehabilitation when applicable.

 Other key recommendations include issuing court notifications to remind people of their court hearings, which would prevent failure-to-appear rates, as well as considering the voices of all parties involved, including the victim’s, when deciding on the individual’s pretrial. Tracy Velazquez, Executive Director of JPI, noted that approximately 60 percent of individuals detained nationally who are not convicted are being detained on low bail amounts, but they remain in jail awaiting the resolution of their charges because they cannot afford to pay a for-profit bail agency. JPI reports state that between June 2010 and June 2011, nearly 12 million people were processed through jails in the United States. Since the year 2000, U.S. jails have operated at an average of 91 percent capacity. What’s equally alarming, said Velazquez, is the amount of people detained who plead guilty just to expedite their release. “[In] as high as a quarter to half of cases nationally, the detained individual pleads guilty just to get out of jail and not lose their job or their kids.” She said that this was the result of their not being able to find a bail agency and afford to pay to get out. “Sometimes they are dismissed because they had already served time while they were awaiting their trials. It’s also punishing people before they are found guilty, or if they aren’t [found guilty],” she said. One of the greatest concerns highlighted in the reports is the impact high money bail has on communities of color and the poor. The reports note that while 12 percent of the total U.S. population is black, blacks comprise 38 percent of the U.S. jail population.

Blacks ages 18 through 29 received significantly higher bail amounts than all other ethnic and racial groups, and likely can’t afford to pay the 10 percent bond to be released. Because of this, Velazquez suggested, people who earn lower wages or are members of minority communities have no choice but to stay in jail. “People who stay in jail were more likely to be found guilty regardless of the merits of the case. Think about it – they show up to court looking guilty,” she said. Velazquez also noted that many victims in groups she has interviewed prefer the pretrial system to providing the suspect with the opportunity to bail him or herself out. But Dennis Bartlett, executive director of the American Bail Coalition, a national organization representing the for-profit bail industry, disagrees with several of the report’s findings and recommendations. He said that there is a significant need for the bail bond industry. “The commercial bail industry does what it’s supposed to do – get the defendant to trial on time. The reason pretrial agencies are not flourishing is because they do not do that job very well.” He said 97 to 98 percent of all money bail clients nationally make their court dates. Eric Granof, vice president of Corporate Communications for AIA Bail Bond Insurance Company, the largest underwriter of bail in the country, echoed Bartlett and shared his concerns regarding JPI’s reports. He added that the bail bond industry is too often misrepresented by reality shows and Hollywood as the “scum bags of the Earth,” and said they have developed the website expertbail.com to “challenge these misperceptions.” He also contested that 60 percent of individuals in jail are awaiting trial, because not all are “bailable.” “That is a misrepresentation because some are awaiting transfers to other states, some are on an INS [immigration] hold, and some are too dangerous to be released.” But he said there is a need for both pretrial programs and money bail programs. “We understand that there is a role for pretrial services,” he said.

 “There are people that need help with substance abuse, and putting them through a pretrial is better than letting them out on bail. But there is a [higher] level of appearance rates that happen [from money bail] because we outperform every other form,” he said. However, Tim Murray, Director of the Pretrial Justice Institute in Washington D.C, where money bail has been eliminated, says the key issue is that money bail does not address public safety. “It [money bail] was never designed to make the community safe. There is no accountability,” he said, adding that bail money goes “directly into the pockets of businessmen.” “The nation currently houses more pretrial defendants in jail than they do convicted criminals. The costs are staggering, but it doesn’t have to be so,” he said. “The system favors those who have cash, regardless to the danger they pose to the community.” He provided an example of an experienced car thief and a novice car thief caught together. “The experienced car thief will buy his way out, while the novice remains in jail, but who do we, the concerned community, want to monitor?”

One Billion Rising (Short Film)

The Line, Premieres 10.02.12

Nina Simone - Take Me To The Water

NINA SIMONE - My baby just cares for me

Nina Simone : Angel of the Morning (lyrics)

Nina Simone - Ballad of Hollis Brown

Papa, Can you hear me - Nina Simone

Nina Simone Here Comes The Sun

Nina Simone - The Sounds of silence - Montreux 1968

NATIVE AMERICAN FLUTE & DRUMS SACRED SPIRIT

NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN FLUTE AND SHAMANIC DRUMS ~ RELAXATION

Greedy Lying Bastards - Film Trailer

Self Destruction

OUR BLACK YEAR national tour

In Honor of the 42nd Annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Conference... DC Welcomes Maggie Anderson and the OUR BLACK YEAR national tour!   Five Events. Three Days. If you care, you'll be there as we...  Celebrate and Support Our Businesses. Stand Up for Our Neighborhoods. Convert Our Buying Power into Economic Power.  (see below for details)   Sponsored by                              The Spirit of Black DC and The GW Williams House And special thanks to Dr. Bernard Demczuk, a dear friend to The Empowerment Experiment Family and the OUR BLACK YEAR Movement for all the support, love, time and energy he gave to present these events to the DC community.  www.ourblackyear.com

THURSDAY, September 20 Community Welcome Celebration at Ben's Chili Bowl 12 noon - 1:30 pm 1213 U Street, NW Meet the Author and Q & A. Lunch will be provided during Book Signing. Limited Capacity!  Tribute to Ben's 50 plus years in the community.   Hosted by Nizam Ali, Owner, Ben's Chili Bowl. City Welcome Reception at Tru Orleans 4:30 - 6 pm 400 H Street, NE Reception includes light fare. Maggie Anderson is Honored Guest. Networking, Book Signing. Hosted by DC Dept of Health and Human Services.   Community Appreciation Reception at Industrial Bank 6 - 8:30 pm 4812 Georgia Avenue, NW Hors d'oeuvres will be provided. Networking, Tribute to Industrial Bank 75 years in the community. Maggie Anderson to Speak and Sign Books. Hosted by Industrial Bank President Doyle Mitchell and EVP Patricia Mitchell  FRIDAY, September 21 GWU Lecture/ Townhall at Marvin Center Amphitheater 5 - 7 pm 21st and H Streets, NW Maggie Anderson will Speak and Sign Books, Q & A. Hosted by the Prof. Bernard Demczuk, AVP George Washington University; Dr. Michael Tapscott, Director, GW Multicultural Student Services Center and the GW Williams House. TO SEE AND FORWARD THE FLYER FOR THIS EVENT, CLICK HERE! SATURDAY, September 22 Industrial Bank 3rd Annual Community Book Fair 12 - 4 pm 2000 11th Street, NW in the Industrial Bank parking lot Maggie Anderson will Speak and Sign Books. Family friendly. Hosted by Industrial Bank.

Andre Rieu - Ave Maria

As U.S. Inequality Widens, Cornel West and Tavis Smiley Launch Poverty T...

The MLK that's never quoted

Poverty in America - Hard Times Generation

Going Hungry in America

Hunger & Poverty In America

Poverty in America

Nuns on the Bus Come Home

Banks fraudulently foreclose on millions of Americans

Michelle Obama - 2012 Democratic National Convention Video

President Obama Presents American Jobs Act

President Barack Obama's Remarks at the 2012 Democratic National Convent...

Vice President Joe Biden at the 2012 Democratic National Convention

Elizabeth Warren's Remarks at the 2012 Democratic National Convention - ...

                                                                                                                                                                              This is an exciting speech by a fearless contender for the Massachusetts Senate.  She "gets it" about how Wall Street has caused the downfall of this country and needs to be regulated.  That's why they are fighting to keep her from being a new law-maker in this country.   She has President Obama's back and she deserves to be listened to and voted into office.  She is courageous to admit that the US system "is rigged", which we all know but cannot prove.  She is one of few who we can count on to fight for citizen rights in this great country of ours.  She needs to be supported, and if she wins, all America wins.  Mostly I admire her guts to bring forth the Christian principle of the Lord telling us "what you do to the least of these, my brethren, you do it unto Me."   That is what should guide the conscience of America, and she brought it to the forefront.  Thank you Elizabeth Warren.  May you achieve your goals.

Bill Clinton's top 15 crowd pleasers at DNC

Bill Clinton's top 15 crowd pleasers at DNC

These are excerpts of the former president's 48 minute speech.  Even though I am an Independent, there is no way I could not admire the candor, freshness, boldness, explanatory and electrifying nature of this speech.  It needs to be listened to in its entirety.   But these highlights give one a great insight to the reality.

Cory Booker DNC 2012 speech (text, video) - POLITICO.com

Cory Booker DNC 2012 speech (text, video) - POLITICO.com

Michelle Obama's full DNC speech

     Mrs. Michelle Obama demonstrates her higher level intelligence by giving a speech of superb content and warmth.  She is much to be admired.  She made us all swell with pride.  The media could do nothing but giver her well-deserved props.  Keep shining Michelle.

Elizabeth Warren's top five lines at DNC

Elizabeth Warren's top five lines at DNC

POLITICO Playback: 9/6/12

POLITICO Playback: 9/6/12\

JUST FOR FUN!  ENJOY!!!

Richard Smallwood - It Is Well/Come, Ye Disconsolate

"The Man from Bloomfield Hills" -- The Mitt Romney Story

Thank You For The Job, Mitt Romney!

Stepping on the Middle Class -- :30 TV Ad from MoveOn.org Political Action

Jada Pickett Smith- Nada Se Compara (Nothing Compares)

Jada Pinkett Smith fights human trafficking | S2Smagazine.com

Jada Pinkett Smith fights human trafficking | S2Smagazine.com

Farrakhan on hateful rhetoric against Obama & his family

Black August

              Ms Autumn Marie: What is Black August? Why is it Important?
Source: Year of the Blacksmith 
By Ms Autumn Marie
         The term Black August has become synonymous with hip-hop concerts and various festivals across the country namely in New York, Oakland, Atlanta, L.A. and Chicago. However, the idea and meaning of Black August goes much deeper than any singular celebration. In the same way that February is recognized as Black History Month, Black August is a month long observation honoring Black people and events that have contributed to the freedom and liberation of Afrikan people. It is a tradition that involves community building, fasting, physical training, reading/studying, reflection, and self-discipline. Started in the prisons, Black August has grown to be respected and practiced by thousands beyond the walls.

         “August,” as Mumia Abu-Jamal noted, “is a month of meaning, of repression and radical resistance, of injustice and divine justice; of repression and righteous rebellion; of individual and collective efforts to free the slaves and break the chains that bind us.”
                                     BLACK AUGUST (Documentary Trailer) Common, Mos Def, & Talib Kweli Performing at the 10th Annual Black August Hip Hop Benefit in NYC

                            THE ORIGINS OF BLACK AUGUST

            Black August originated in the prisons of California to honor fallen Freedom Fighters, Jonathan Jackson, George Jackson, William Christmas, James McClain and Khatari Gaulden. Jonathan Jackson was gunned down outside the Marin County California courthouse on August 7, 1970 as he attempted to liberate three imprisoned Black Liberation Fighters: James McClain, William Christmas and Ruchell Magee. Ruchell Magee is the sole survivor of that armed rebellion. He is the former co-defendant of Angela Davis and has been locked down for 40 years, most of it in solitary confinement.
            George Jackson was assassinated by prison guards during a Black prison rebellion at San Quentin on August 21, 1971. Three prison guards were also killed during that rebellion and prison officials charged six Black and Latino prisoners with the death of those guards. These six brothers became known as the San Quentin Six. To honor these fallen soldiers the brothers who participated in the collective founding of Black August wore black armbands on their left arm and studied revolutionary works, focusing on the works of George Jackson. In the month of August the brothers did not listen to the radio or watch television. Additionally, they didn’t eat or drink anything from sun-up to sundown; and loud and boastful behavior was not allowed. The brothers did not support the prison’s canteen. The use of drugs and alcoholic beverages was prohibited and the brothers held daily exercises because during Black August emphasis is placed on sacrifice, fortitude and discipline.
            Black August is a time to embrace the principles of unity, self-sacrifice, political education, physical training and resistance. The tradition of fasting during Black August teaches self-discipline. A conscious fast is in effect FROM SUNRISE TO SUNSET (or suggested from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm), this includes refraining from drinking water or liquids and eating food of any kind during that period. Some other personal sacrifice can be made as well. The sundown meal is traditionally shared whenever possible among comrades. On August 31, a People’s Feast is held and the fast is broken. Black August fasting should serve as a constant reminder of the conditions our people have faced and still confront. Fasting is uncomfortable at times, but it is helpful to remember all those who have come and gone before us, Ni Nkan Mase, if we stand tall, it is because we stand on the shoulders of many ancestors.

 BLACK AUGUST DATES:
 August 1619 – Arrival of first African slaves in 13 colonies
 August 21, 1791 – Haiti slave uprising for independence
August 30, 1800 – Gabriel Prosser’s slave revolt discovered
August 21, 1831 – Nat Turner’s slave rebellion
 August 1850 – Underground Railroad
 August 17, 1887 – Birth of Marcus Garvey
August 24, 1943 – Birth of Russell “Maroon” Shoatz
August 30, 1948 – Birth of Fred Hampton
August 8, 1949 – Birth of Dr. Mutulu Shakur
August 1963 – March on Washington
August 1965 – Watts Rebellion
August 25, 1967 – FBI circulates internal order to “disrupt” Black Liberation groups
August 7, 1970 – Courthouse Slave Rebellion
August 18, 1971 – Capital of Republic of New Afrika attacked by FBI and police
August 21, 1971 – Assasination of George Jackson
August 28, 1971 – Jalil Muntaqim and Nuh Washington captured
August 8, 1978 – Police raid on MOVE
August 17, 1995 – Mumia scheduled for execution; stopped by resistance

 BLACK AUGUST DOCUMENTARY BY DREAM HAMPTON (2010) The Movie about George and Jonathan Jackson Black August 1 of 10 Black August 2 of 10 Black August 3 of 10 Black August 4 of 10 Black August 5 of 10 Black August 6 of 10 Black August 7 of 10 Black August 8 of 10 Black August 9 of 10 Black August 10 of 10

Who's Illegal? - Jasiri X Ft Rhymefest

India.Arie - Brown Skin

India.Arie - Chocolate High ft. Musiq Soulchild

Willow Smith - Whip My Hair

I Believe She's Amazing Flash Mob - Toronto Eaton Centre

May 12th. #ANOTHERNYC Healthcare for the 99%

Save the children - Gil Scott-Heron

President Obama: "We've Come Too Far to Turn Back Now."

Gil Scott-Heron "Home Is Where The Hatred Is" (1971)

Gil Scott-Heron (born April 1, 1949 - May 27, 2011) was an American poet, musician, and author known primarily for his late 1960s and early 1970s work as a spoken word soul performer and his collaborative work with musician Brian Jackson. His collaborative efforts with Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues and soul music, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. The music of these albums, most notably Pieces of a Man and Winter in America in the early 1970s, influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul. Scott-Heron's recording work is often associated with black militant activism and has received much critical acclaim for one of his most well-known compositions "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". On his influence, a music writer later noted that "Scott-Heron's unique proto-rap style influenced a generation of hip-hop artists".

Heron's father Gil Heron (1922 - 27 November, 2008) was a Jamaican footballer/soccer player. He was the first black player to play for Scottish club Celtic FC after being invited on a trial in 1951. Heron went on to score on his debut, on August 18, 1951 in a League Cup tie against Morton that Celtic won 2-0.

Home Is Where the Hatred Is" is taken from the 1971 album "Pieces of a Man". It is a melodic, somber composition of the narrator's dangerous and hopeless environment, presumably of the ghetto, and how its effects take a toll on him. Scott-Heron's lyrics demonstrate these themes of social disillusionment and hopelessness in the first verse and the chorus:

Copied from YouTube

Gil Scott Heron - Inner city blues

Gil Scott-Heron Pieces of A Man

Save the children - Gil Scott-Heron

Wake Up Everybody

More Of You

RIP CHUCK BROWN CELEBRATION OF LIFE @ HOWARD THEATRE in DC

Lift Every Voice and Sing

The Black Panthers and Young Lords and the Civil Rights Movement

                     The Black Panthers and Young Lords and the Civil Rights Movement

 Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz, founders of the 15-year old poetry theater
ensemble Universes, whose works invite old and new generations of theater crafters to create the new stories of today. Join them as they lead a conversation with Miguel Mickey Melendez, former Young Lord and an activist for Latino and Puerto Rican rights, and Billy X. Jennings, Panther historian and primary organizer of the Its About Time BPP/Alumni Committee Reunions.
The Black Panthers and Young Lords and the Civil Rights Movement from International Festival of Arts & on Vimeo.
The Young Lords in Chicago were always a gang and did not start out as a social club or youth group. They quickly sought out reputation walking into enemy territory and picking fights with all non-Latino gangs in Lincoln Park. Soon, they grew into several branches. This included a section in Old Town, another in Evanston and a few women auxiliaries called the Young Lordettes. When the Young Lords were transformed into a political, human rights group, male and female were both called Young Lords. By 1967, the working class section of Lincoln Park became primarily Latino and the Young Lords - in their late teens without a gang war and without organized meetings - ceased to exist, except loosely, as a gang. Some married or were on active Vietnam duty. Many were incarcerated for car thefts, purse snatching, burglaries, armed robberies, drug sales, stabbings, shootings, and other gang-related crimes. Others fell victim to hard drugs. Still others moved to different neighborhoods and joined up with other gangs. Many became heads of other gangs, but never opposed the Young Lords.

 During most of this period, Cha-Cha Jimenez and some remaining Young Lords spent their hours hanging out at the corner of Halsted and Dickens, at George's Hot Dog stand. Here Jimenez also hung out with loose members from the other gangs (some of whom he had spent time with in jails) and within a late 60s drug culture, they took to hard drugs, including: speed, acid, heroin, and cocaine. Cha-Cha Jimenez frequented jail, now more often due to drug related offenses. In the summer of 1968, he was picked up for a possession of heroin charge and given a 60-day sentence at Cook County Jail. An opposing black gang in jail told guards that Jimenez and five other Latinos were planning an escape. All were questioned, strip-searched and transferred to Maximum Security. It was here in "the hole" that Cha-Cha Jimenez read The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton, about a Franciscan monk. It was his first book since dropping out in the second month of his freshman year at Waller High School (now Lincoln Park High). The dropping out of school was facilitated by Cha-Cha Jimenez's deportation to Puerto Rico, due to several juvenile related offenses - plea-bargained by an attorney that was hired with coins saved by Cha-Cha's mother - so that Cha-Cha would not be incarcerated, until the age of twenty one.

 This religious book impacted Cha-Cha Jimenez, and he wrote a letter asking for a priest. Unconcerned with the everyday gossip of prisoners, he knelt down and went to confession between the cell bars of "the hole". Cha-Cha Jimenez then began to read about Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Black Nationalism and the organizing of the Black Panthers for self defense. Rioters were now being brought into the jail after King was assassinated, along with Mexican workers, rounded up in public relations raids by Immigration authorities. As they were being assigned dorms or cells, they passed through maximum security or the North Cell House, for further processing. To prevent the Mexican workers from being pushed around by some white and black guards, Cha-Cha Jimenez requested, and was given permission to translate for the Mexican workers, from his third level cell. These experiences made a secluded and captive Cha-Cha Jimenez realize, a need to fight for social justice. He was determined to duplicate a Black Panther Party for self defense, within the Puerto Rican and Latino communities. It was now also his intention to give up useless gang fighting and time consuming drugs upon his release, in order to devote all of his time to this new People's Movement. During this same period, the Puerto Rican section of Lincoln Park was being stripped of all city services to the poor. The Trina Davila Urban Progress Center was being relocated from the Armitage Avenue Methodist Church (later Young Lord's People's Church and their national headquarters) in Lincoln Park, to the Humboldt Park neighborhood. This was an area in need of services, and now also increasing in Puerto Ricans being displaced from Lincoln Park, as the result of the city's urban renewal program. Young Lords Party

                                 By Carlito Rovira
 JULY 28, 2009
Forty years ago, news headlines focused on a group of Puerto Rican youth in New York City who used daring and unusual forms of protest against racist oppression. These defiant and militant youths called themselves the Young Lords. Their examples, and the mass movement from which they arose, continue to inspire young people, especially today as we see greater proof that the only solution to oppression is organization and struggle. The Young Lords developed in Chicago during the 1950s. They were composed of unemployed students and working-class youth, who were among many street-youth organizations targeted by police and demonized as "gangs" by the capitalist-owned mass media. These youths came from families compelled to leave Puerto Rico between the 1940s and 1960s as a result of the economic hardships caused by U.S. colonialism.

 These immigrants continued to experience oppression but under new circumstances. They became victims of extreme exploitation at their jobs in factories, hotels and restaurants; they encountered greedy slumlords and the violence of police and white racist gangs. The Puerto Rican migration occurred during the same years the Civil Rights movement arose. The struggles of the African American people impacted the newly arrived immigrants who also experienced the vile nature of racism. In many instances, Puerto Ricans identified with the demand for Black Power.

 In 1966, the Black Panther Party was formed. Panther leader Fred Hampton of Chicago sought to politicize the street organizations, particularly the Puerto Rican youths. The BPP’s efforts were successful when, in 1968, the Young Lords became a revolutionary political entity; they then became part of a fraternal alliance known as the Rainbow Coalition (unrelated to Jessie Jackson’s later Rainbow/PUSH Coalition), which also included the Brown Berets, I Wor Kuen, Young Patriots and the Black Panthers. In 1969, the Young Lords opened a chapter in New York City. For many years, Black and Latino people complained about the Sanitation Department’s double standards in trash pick up. White affluent areas were serviced properly with regular garbage pick-ups, while Black and Puerto Rican neighborhoods were left in unhealthy conditions.

 In the summer of 1969, the Young Lords began sweeping the streets and amassing large piles of garbage that were a nuisance to the community. Many people wondered about what the young, seemingly "good Samaritans" were up to. But the mystery did not last long. In August 1969, the Young Lords used the garbage they had collected as the means to execute a political offensive with military tactics. Tons of trash were dumped and set ablaze across the main arteries of Manhattan to disrupt traffic, including on the affluent 5th Avenue. The Lords demanded an end to New York City’s racist municipal policies on sanitation. In neighborhoods where the "garbage offensive" was launched, the Lords galvanized community support; many joined the organization. The mass media’s attacks on the Lords only worked in their favor. Within months, YLP chapters appeared in Philadelphia, Bridgeport, Jersey City, Boston and Milwaukee—cities with concentrations of Puerto Ricans. While mainly composed of Puerto Ricans, the organization also allowed members of other oppressed nationalities to join the Young Lords.

 The YLP had a military-type structure with a process for recruitment and rules of discipline that were strictly enforced. At the height of the YLP’s development, women comprised nearly half the number of its rank-and-file. In the years following the Garbage Offensive, the Young Lords engaged in numerous campaigns that involved bold actions and drew widespread attention. One example was the physical takeover of the First Spanish Methodist Church on 111th Street. The Lords repeatedly pleaded with parishioners for space in order to feed hungry children, but to no avail. This church was closed throughout the week and only opened for a few hours for worshipping by a congregation that mostly lived out of town.

Backed by community sentiment, the Young Lords entered the church during a Sunday mass and expelled the congregation. Using the church as a base, the Young Lords operated a free childcare service, breakfast program and legal clinic. Medical services were also provided. Disease and poor health care have long been an issue in the Puerto Rican community. Other actions taken by the YLP included the seizure of an unused tuberculosis testing truck, equipped with X-ray technology. After the truck was seized, the city was compelled to provide technicians to run the machine. The truck was then taken to East Harlem, where many people were tested for the lung ailment. The Lords demanded that Lincoln Hospital, which served the people of the South Bronx, expand its services. Because this facility originated in the mid-1800s, when it treated even escaped slaves from the South, its facilities were outdated and did not meet the current needs of the people. An infestation of rats and roaches in the hospital further exacerbated the deplorable conditions.

 In the early morning hours of July 17, 1970, about 100 members of the Young Lords boldly seized control of Lincoln Hospital. For 24 hours, the Young Lords and progressive medical professionals in the Health Revolutionary Unity Movement provided free medical services to community people. Today’s modern Lincoln Hospital—with its new facilities—is the result of a community struggle of which the Young Lords were in the leadership. The YLP drew up a 13-Point Program that outlined the group’s political objectives. It included independence for Puerto Rico, as well as liberation for all Latinos and other oppressed people. The Young Lords upheld the struggle against women’s oppression and openly denounced the capitalist system, calling for a socialist society. The Young Lords eventually voiced support for the rights of LGBT people. By all definition, the YLP gravitated towards communism. These young revolutionaries believed that the power of the people would eventually overwhelm the power of the oppressors. In that spirit, the YLP believed in the right of armed self-defense. This became evident in actions they took while patrolling the streets in areas they organized. Whenever the Young Lords witnessed the police arresting community residents, they would intervene to confront the racist cops and often liberated the arrestees. In late 1970, YLP member Julio Roldan, who had been arrested at a demonstration in the Bronx and was pending arraignment, was found hung to death in his cell at the "Tombs" prison facility in lower Manhattan. During this era, many prisoners were found mysteriously dead in their cells, but prison officials always labeled them "suicides."

 The Young Lords responded to Roldan’s death with militancy, accusing the state of murder. Following a procession with Roldan’s coffin through East Harlem, the YLP returned to the First Spanish Methodist Church, which they had seized a year earlier—but this time, they came armed with shotguns and automatic weapons. They demanded an investigation into Roldan’s death. Deeply entrenched community support for the Young Lords prevented a gun battle, as government officials knew there would be an enormous political fallout if they initiated a police onslaught. The Young Lords held the church for three months. There are many examples of heroism among these young revolutionaries—not only in New York or Chicago, but also in other cities where the Puerto Rican people were in struggle. Shamefully, because that people’s movement no longer exists, non-revolutionary interpretations of that period persist, which dismiss the relevance of the Young Lords’ history for the struggle for socialism today. Regardless of what may be argued, the Young Lords openly called for the destruction of capitalism and establishment of socialism in the United States. This is made indisputably clear in the YLP’s 13-Point Program. The Young Lords, like the Black Panther Party, attempted to build a highly disciplined organization. They understood that without the organizational sophistication of a vanguard party, revolution is impossible. It is precisely this lesson that revolutionaries today should embrace and emulate in order to realize the future victory of socialism. Black Panthers (1968) part 1 Black Panthers (1968) part 2 Black Panthers (1968) part 3 Black Panthers (1968) part 4 Black Panthers (1968) part 5 Black Panthers (1968) part 6