BLACK MOVEMENT NEWS 14th Edition

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BLACKER THE BERRY NEWS

“FEARLESS” A tribute to Dr. King

“What was the point of being scared? The only thing they could do to me was kill me and it seemed like they'd been trying to do that a little bit at a time ever since I could remember.” – Fannie Lou Hamer

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FEARLESS “We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.”

– Martin Luther King

As we look at the perilous times that we face in America as a people, we can see there is a strong need for change. Many Americans have chosen to ignore the injustices that are occurring in America under our watch. Martin Luther King strongly preached against silence in the face on injustice.

King constantly preached that, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Though some may disagree with the nonviolent tactics of Dr. King, we must not forget the magnitude in which he spoke out against many injustices in our society and the fact that King gave his life for equality and justice for all people.

Many of the injustices King fought against are still occurring today. So the question remains, why are the masses of people silent? Some have said that many people are silent because of ignorance. How can millions of people, black and white be ignorant of police brutality, poverty, mass incarceration and blatant racism? The truth is that many people are fully aware that there are many injustices occurring at this very hour but are uncaring and mostly afraid to speak out. Fear has blocked most people into a state of apathy. Instead of waiting until we are fearless, people must begin to be active now! Americans sitting around afraid to move, afraid to speak and stand up for truth have been the reason why justice have not prevailed in this country. Most people gripe amongst themselves and on social media about what’s wrong with society but never support any type of activism. We as a people must understand that living in America, especially while black, there is no security. Fear should not be looked as something that we must get rid of in order to fight against injustice but that we should use as a tool to become more courageous.

Some people have been in disastrous situations and their lives were changed in a blink of an eye but realized later on that what they thought would destroy them actually made them stronger. In no way are we supposed to welcome bad situations but we must understand the reality of life. No matter what race, age, gender or sexual preference, we will all have to leave this earth. Jesus said in Luke 9:24, “…whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” This statement made by Jesus remains true today. So many people are focused on living a life that is safe and easy and in doing so they ultimately lose the essence of what life truly is. Those who speak out against injustices may die in the flesh but is alive in the spirit and the spirit is eternal life. No one has to be the next Malcolm X, Martin Luther King or try to repeat the actions of another man but we must all look within ourselves first and correct the injustices that we do to others and ourselves. It is our duty also to do what we can to help fight against injustices and choose some form of activism that will make this world a better place. We cannot afford to let the people who have fought hard for our freedom of die in vain!

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Fade 2 Black Festival History inthe Making On January 8-9th, I had the privilege of directing a show called Name Dropping written by Cory Shield’s at the Fade to Black Reading Festival. Black playwrights from all over the country were allowed the opportunity to submit their 10 minute plays and the winning plays are selected and showcased.

People from all over the nation and of every nationality came out to enjoy the amazing works of these talented playwrights, directors and actors.

When asked what inspired her to start the festival, Executive Director Denise ’O’Neal stated, “Ifelt a great need to shake things up in the Houston theater community. I had been searching for a while to find a theater or an organization that made a true, concerted effort to support underrepresented African-American playwrights. Sadly, I found none… I wanted to start a movement that created a balance and equality for playwrights that were just like me.” O’Neal saw the need for Black playwrights to gain exposure and since no one in Houston wanted to take that step, she took it upon herself to accomplish this great task and start a movement so great that it gained a large following in just three years. “The audience's reception has been nothing short of overwhelming for three years running! Miraculously, we have never had a performance where we didn't carry a full house.”

This movement was received so well by the public that it has gained the attention of majorleaders in the City of Houston and they have decided to make June 11 the “Fade To Black Play Festival” day. O’Neil also reminds everyone that all people involved in the creative process are important, including the audience, “One of our strongest core values is the philosophy that every participant is indebted to the other; each person dependents on the other... In other words, no one is exempt from the need to show gratitude to the other: The playwright owes appreciation to their director. The director owes appreciation to their playwright. They both owe appreciation to the actors and we must all appreciate our audience.”

In the future, O’Neil’s plans to increase the number of performance weeks to accommodate the growing audience and she also plans to travel outside of the city of Houston and into other states. Fade To Black Festival is an innovative and revolutionary movement that operates off of love, dignity, hard work and support from the community. This movement will continue to grow and inspire many people of all nationalities and colors. The next season is June 16-18th, 2016 and will showcase ten new short plays written by talented African Americans from all across the nation.

For more information on the Fade To Black Festival visit: http://www.fadetoblackfest.com/

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Prison: An odd place to find freedom “Jail is an odd place to find freedom, but that was the place I found mine.”

Huey P. Newton, Revolutionary Suicide In the book Revolutionary Suicide, Huey P. Newton talks about his experience in solitary confinement and how when most cracked after two or three days of suffering horrific conditions, he learned the secrets of survival. This is very significant because when one thinks of overcoming their fear, they never know what way they must go through to overcome it. Where we often times think we will meet our end is actually where wemeet our beginning. Newton described prison in four levels and then he talks about how he was put in the last one which was solitary confinement or what he calls, “the soul breaker”, “There was no bunk, no washbasin, no toilet, nothing but bare floors, bare walls, a solid steel door, and a round hole…The prisoners are supposed to urinate and defecate in this hole.” In the hole, Newton used the tactics of Gandhi where he would take little sips of nourishment to keep from defecating so much and being trapped in the horrific smell and covered in his own feces. To keep his mental process in order, hewould imagine pleasant thoughts and soon he said those thoughts would turn unpleasant but he would lay on his back and let his thoughts continue to flash until he was able to control them. He was finally able to control his food, body and mind on his deliberate act of will. After 15 days Newton was pulled out of the hole but later returned because he maintained his innocence and refused to bow down to his oppressors.

To read the full excerpt you can purchase Revolutionary Suicide online or you can visit the link below to read only this excerpt for free.

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https://books.google.com/books?id=ltQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=odell+lee+ge orge+jackson&source=bl&ots=DOmTEvJ9F2&sig=35wE6bR4hAjfzGwgMFwPQktbPk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmnJS4LLKAhWJ8CYKHWTODzkQ6AEIMTAE#v=onepage&q=odell%20lee%20george%20jackson&f=false

BLACK POETRY “Oh Sunday Morning” Written By: Chaveria “Vera Loo” Williams 2016 Shot 1, Shot 2, more alcohol for you.

Sweating moscato and exhaling ciroc.

Nobody’s prepared for the cocktail you got.

Body moving, vibing to the beat, knock off Giuseppe on your feet.

Subconsciously proposing to the stranger of the hour, hmmm, yea, you’ve got the power.

8:00 a.m., 8:02, still no “them”.

Sun piercing through the sheets, burning your skin, reminding you of last night’s sin.

No worries, ‘cause you still got a piece of “them”, but Oh, Sunday Morning.

Devotion, alter call, to the knees we all fall, on Oh, Sunday Morning.

The day all flaws become, no call, no shows; because today we got the holy ghost.

Oh Sunday Morning, the day before tomorrow.

The day you ask can you borrow, “Just 300 hundred until tomorrow.”

No, you gotta deal with the pain, ‘cause Sunday ain’t a game.

Old news becomes reality, then reality becomes new fatalities, when little Natalie’s come,

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from Saturday scum, that took only 2 minutes to come.

Oh, Sunday Morning, Saturday wasn’t so nice, so Sunday has to be right.

This new found day, supposedly used to affirm identity and take the pain away.

So to your knees you fall.

Clap 1, Clap 2, so much desire for you Oh, Sunday Morning.

Stay away Saturday, old sin, please, at least until next week. ‘cause today it’s all about that good ole Sunday.

Stay calm and pray they say; but seems like Oh, Sunday Morning won’t come your way.

If Everybody So Down -Nikki Luellen If everybody so down, then where is the change?

Everybody aint down, some caught up in games Just wanna be known Just wanna be seen Desiring higher positions Tryna get on TV So many starving people Hungry and poor Nowhere to live Nothing to live for No inspiring message No activist concerned

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Just want a spot in history That they ain’t earned When we gone learn We gotta work to see change Fuck tryna get over playin manipulative games If we want true change a revolution gotta come But we gotta be right within Or we’ll never reach the sun Stumbling in darkness Tryna be the next big thing All these activist on TV But aint none in the street!

“Affirmation” by Assata Shakur I believe in rain and tears.

I believe in living.

And in the blood of infinity.

I believe in the spectrum I believe in life. of Beta days and Gamma people.

And i have seen the death parade I believe in sunshine. march through the torso of the earth, In windmills and waterfalls, sculpting mud bodies in its path. tricycles and rocking chairs.

I have seen the destruction of the daylight, And i believe that seeds grow into sprouts.

and seen bloodthirsty maggots

And sprouts grow into trees.

prayed to and saluted.

I believe in the magic of the hands.

I have seen the kind become the blind And in the wisdom of the eyes. and the blind become the bind

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in one easy lesson.

I have walked on cut glass.

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It can be broken down.

I have eaten crow and blunder bread

I believe in living.

I believe in birth.

and breathed the stench of indifference.

I believe in the sweat of love

I have been locked by the lawless.

and in the fire of truth.

Handcuffed by the haters.

And i believe that a lost ship, Gagged by the greedy. steered by tired, seasick sailors, And, if i know any thing at all, can still be guided home it’s that a wall is just a wall to port. and nothing more at all. ______________________________________________________________________________

Pictures from Fade 2 Black Reading Festival

$2 Blacker The Berry News 14th Edition Executive Director, Denise O’Neil

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Actor Bobby Browder aka Nyb Prophecy at Fade 2 Black Fest.

Playwright Cory Sheilds At Fade 2 Black Fest.

The Piano Lesson Linking the legacy of dr.king By: D.R. Sandifer As we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, the "I Have a Dream" speech comes to mind. When I think about Dr. King's speech, I also think of Langston Hughes' poem, which questions, "What happens to a dream deferred?" I think about the characters Walter Lee Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun and Boy Willie in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. Both characters have been burdened and reduced by racism. Both struggle to establish their place of leadership and manhood within their families, which pushes them to rage and despair- two wedges that frequently divide the Black community and humanity as a whole.

The points of equality, justice, peaceful living and family in Dr. King's speech are still common dreams for Black men and women. Still. If we still have to remind all that Black Lives Matter or censor the call to action to All Lives Matter in order to make the point more valid or palatable for main stream or the masses, the statement then becomes a question. During a time in which blatant brutality is inflicted and Black bodies are left lying in streets, cells, and more throughout this great nation...do Black lives matter? We have not quite overcome and the dream is still deferred.

As seen in the works of artists such as Hansberry and Wilson, injustice often becomes the cuts that our art bleeds through in desperation of our voices being heard and authentic stories being told. A local production of The Piano Lesson by August Wilson and directed by Dabrina Sandifer will run January 29th through February 14th at the Pearl Theater located at 14803 Park Almeda, Houston, Texas 77047. For tickets and more information, please visit www.Pearl-Theater.com or call (832) 459-4674.

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1968 Sanitation workers Strike in Memphis, Tn.

WHITE GUILT Questions asked and answered Throughout time white people have always asked Black people what they can do to help out the black community.

The biggest conspiracy of white supremacy is carried out by the white race. Some white people who want to be down with black folks and be a part of the struggle should not try to involve themselves so much in the affairs of Black people but in the affairs of their own race. White people should build programs to teach their people about the dangers of white supremacy and follow the lead of people like Tim Wise who have wrote and spoke extensively about white privilege in America. Even with the civil rights movement and the black power movement, some white have been on the frontline alongside blacks but the majority of white people have been against black people receiving equal treatment simply because of the color of their skin. Racism is not inherent in the any race but the all-white elites have used countless propaganda tactics to confuse the majority of white people to accept the doctrine of white supremacy.

In the book, Spies of Mississippi by Rick Bowers he writes about the spy network set up by the Mississippi government to brainwash the masses of white people in Mississippi. One of the networks was called The White Citizen’s Council which was funded by the Commission, “The Commission’s education and information unit listed books that contained sections on desegregation or labor organizations as unacceptable and suggested replacing them with books that advocated segregation and white supremacy. At dozens of colleges and high schools, it presented programs detain the evils of communism and loaned books, films, and speeches on racial separation and white supremacy to young reader.”

As you can see, the white race was once again brainwashed into believing in the “separate but equal doctrine” which was in no way separate and equal. If everything was separate or equal then I do not not believe that black people would force their way into white establishments. Black people did not try to integrate schools because they just wanted to be around white people but black people were fighting against poverty, poor education, discrimination and white violence. Black people were fighting for fairness and equality for all.

Throughout history, White peoplehave been the pawns in a much bigger game of rich vs. poor. When the movement shifted into the Black Power movement, the government once again played on White America’s fear of a

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Black man rising to power and demanding equal rights. The Black Panthers were portrayed as a group that carried guns and hated white people when in reality the panthers loved everyone and worked alongside many Whites, Native Americans, Asians and Hispanics to help fight against injustice. The Panthers carried guns to protect themselves against police brutality which is still an issue to this day. Because the panthers spoke of self-defense then the government used the image of a black man with a gun to frighten the white community and increase their hatred for blacks. When many Panthers were put on trial, they would sometimes have all white juries and Assata Shakur wrote in her autobiography Assata, how the juries were all white and through the false portrays of the Panthers, many whites already had a deep hatred for the Black Panthers and did not care if they were guilty or not but had a strong desire to see them behind bars.

So when the white community asks questions such as can we join your movement then they have to realize that a real movement belongs to all the people, and it is their duty as white people to join the movement and educate themselves and one another on Black liberation, correct history and to accept the horrendous role that they as a collective have played in helping keep the status quo of racial hatred, violence and cruelty against all people of color since they came as a collective to America.

If the white race truly want to see change then it is time for them to not only go out and protest but they must set up programs to diffuse white guilt, hatred and fear of black people in America. Before the idea of race even entered the language, which was started by a European man, people saw themselves as nations and tribes and not colors. In Slavery poor whites and blacks would fight together against their oppressors, a good example is bacon’s rebellion. When the ruling white elites saw poor black and white people fighting together then they started to make white people overseers over blacks and gave whites benefits because of their color. White people must get over white guilt and accept reality as it is.

Q: Some white people say that they are colorblind?

Michelle Alexander raised a good point when she talks about colorblindness in her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Alexander raises the point that black and white people commit roughly the same crimes and because of the war on drugs, which was in actuality a war on black people, the government have been allowed to lock up millions of black and brown brothers and sisters, mostly black men with no public cry. The war on drugs was a white backlash to the civil rights and the

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black power movement and crack cocaine was purposely brought into the black community by white government to once again place black people in a subservient status. For a more detailed description on how this was done, one needs to reads her book! Alexander goes on to talk about howsome white people will even go to the extent to say they don’t see color but that is a lie. Everyone sees color and Alexander raises the point that Martin Luther King’s dream wasn’t about adopting an attitude of colorblindness but loving and appreciating people for their differences.

Questions whites must ask themselves…

Q: Why do every time a black person speaks about what has been done to them in America a white person gets offended?

Q: Why do every time a black person speak of their history, a white person say that that black person is a racist?

Q: Why do every time a black person talks about police brutality white people bring up black on black crime?

“I Have Been to the Mountaintop” A Tribute to Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968 This edition is dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr., a revolutionary and a visionary. Though some of us may disagree withhis philosophy of nonviolence, we must not forget his greatness. Dr. King led many economic strikes to cripple the system of white supremacy and spoke extensively on fairness, brotherhood and equality for all. Martin Luther

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King not only preached nonviolence when it was so called convenient but he preached against the war in Vietnam. Dr. King was thrown in jail, stabbed and finally assassinated for trying to speaking out against injustices. Dr. King raged his own war against poverty in America where he reminded people that Black Farmers Matter and that the poor sanitation workers in Memphis mattered. He was against injustice anywhere and was a spokesperson for the poor who had no voice. Dr. King knew that what he believed was right and knew that he would have to one day be a martyr for his cause. We should never forget about the fact that Dr. King stood up for the poor, led massive strikes and spoke courageously against the war in Vietnam. Most people only remember Dr. King for the misquoted “I have A Dream” speech but have never read his speech, The Three Evils of society, I have Been to the Mountain Top and much more. Hopefully we can continue Dr. King’s legacy of speaking out against wars, economic fairness and equality for all and love for all brothers and sisters. Through his nonviolent marches, he showed the world that even in the face of non-violence, white people’s hatred did not stop and Martin Luther King, just many other leaders was continually followed and harassed by ignorant racist whites and black and white government agents.

Thank you for purchasing this edition of Blacker The Berry News. We really appreciate the love we have been shown throughout the community. We hope to continue to bring you meaningful news you can use. We also ask that you share this newspaper with others and have discussions about some of the topics presented above. Also a special thanks to all of our contributing writers to this edition!

- Nikki Luellen Chief Editor of BBN We are looking for writers, actors and directors to help us to continue to produce our work in massive amounts. If you would like to contribute to this movement with your service of volunteering, donation or would simply want to be a contributing writer contact us at the number below.

Pretty soon we will be offering FREE playwriting classes, free directing classes, and free acting classes for members of Blacker The Berry Entertainment. To become a member email us at Blackertheberry7@yahoo.com Please include name and why you would like to become an official member of Blacker The Berry Entertainment

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Purchase: We are now offering a detailed outline of the most important points brought up in Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow. We go from chapter to chapter and give you the most important information. For just $5 We have DVD copies of the plays, Diary of a Bastard Child for $5 , Inner City Blues for $5 and Historical Crucifixion of the Black Man in America for $10 You can also purchase a “Straight Outta Justice” protest t- shirt for $10

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With your purchase of this newspaper you will get a free H-Town’z Black Wallstreet list of Black businesses in Houston, TX

To visit our website http://blackertheberry7.wix.com/revolutionaryart To read previous articles visit https://blackertheberryent.wordpress.com/ Visit us on YouTube and Facebook Blacker The Berry Entertainment Contact us: 713-305-3811 Email us: Blackertheberry7@yahoo.com