36 • June 23, 2022 - June 29, 2022
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
Religion & Spirituality Author George Lamming, a paragon of anti-colonialism, dies at 94 By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews It was a festive occasion at City College on Nov. 20, 1998 when the great writer George Lamming was saluted with the Langston Hughes Medallion, a tribute to his remarkable literary career. Only a few of the younger students in attendance were fully aware of this éminence grise whose wide-ranging speech centered on the history of anti-colonialism, but they were riveted by his lyrical voice that retained a certain West Indian twang. That melodious voice was silenced on June 4, but his words are forever with us, most rewardingly in his novel, “In the Castle of My Skin,” published in 1953. He was 94. According to another famed scribe, C.L.R. James, a close friend and associate of Lamming, his colleague’s “novels are permeated by the sense of the role of different classes in West Indian society. His work is an expression of Barbados,” James cited in “Spheres of Existence.” And that was perfectly logical because Lamming was born on the island
nation in 1927 and never lost a probing and enlightened intimacy with it, despite spending part of his early manhood in England. His first novel was imbued with a broad mix of genres—it was part roman à clef, an extended epigraph, an amalgam of experiences that taken together captured the essence of a people determined to obtain their liberation from oppression. Again, James summarized a portion of Lamming’s style, intensity, and his singular quality by quoting the author himself. “Free is how you is from the start, an’ when it look different you got to move, an’ when you movin’ say that it is a natural freedom that makes you move.” Lamming indeed moved with a natural unbridled freedom and it resonated from each of his books, particularly, “The Emigrants” which followed on the heels of his first novel; “Of Age and Innocence” (1958); “Season of Adventure” (1960); “The Pleasures of Exile” (1960); “Water with Berries” (1971); and “Natives of my Person” (1972). These books were interspersed with nu-
merous essays and lectures, many of which engrossed students at Duke, Brown, Cornell, and other prominent academies. In one interview he stated that “I became a West Indian in England,” and some of that coldness, both from people and the weather, flows without apology from “The Emigrants” and “Season of Adventure.” When the news of Lamming’s passing reached the students and faculty at the University of the West Indies, said Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, the university’s vice chancellor, “It punctured the peace of mind of the academic community…where he was professor in residence at the Cave Hill Campus. It was there in his office at the George Lamming Pedagogical Centre, that we last met and occupied ourselves for a few hours with one of Miles Davis’ last statements: that time is never enough to exhaust the ever giving, producing, creative imagination of the dedicated intellect. “George was a phenomenal philosopher,” Beckles continued, “who erupted in the literary world early in life with the pub-
lication in 1953 of a classic novel of anti-colonial consciousness—“In the Castle of my Skin”—written during his 23rd year of life. From his Bridgetown Village, he traversed the intellectual universe and provided it with pedagogy of liberation that underpinned Pan-Africanism, socialism, and a 20th century humanism that included feminism, dialectical materialism, and the Caribbean Cultural Revolution. His embrace of Cuban socialism became a template for his support of Maurice Bishop and Walter Rodney in their quests to detach the neocolonial region from the scaffold of rejected imperialism.” Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley echoed Sir Beckles’ sentiments, noting, “Wherever George Lamming went, he epitomized that voice and spirit that screamed Barbados and the Caribbean.” And that scream, that undeniable rebel yell that characterized his activism will be unceasing so long as his books are read, his poems recited, his lectures quoted and passed on to future generations.
Black Rob’s Harlem street sign is like Woah! By MAL’AKIY 17 ALLAH Special to the AmNews On his 54th physicalday anniversary, June 8, Harlem hip hop legend Black Rob was honored with a street sign in his old East Harlem stomping grounds. The northwest corner of 115th Street and First Avenue now bears the co-naming “Robert ‘Black Rob’ Ross Way.” After enduring some severe health issues for many months, he transitioned on April 17, 2021. Several hundred attended the street sign unveiling ceremony as some of his classic tracks blared out a speaker. Many childhood friends from the Thomas Jefferson and Robert Wagner Housing Projects reflected on the native East Harlemite who was initially known as “Robi O,” and “Bacardi Rob” while being featured on many underground mixtapes prior to signing to Puffy Combs’ Bad Boy Records in 1995.
“I remembered seeing Bacardi Rob back then wearing a Bad Boy jacket while he was in Jefferson,” recalled neighborhood associate, Big In. “He used to tell us stories about being in the studio and smokin’ blunts with Biggie Smalls, and it was great to see someone from our ‘hood get on.” After Biggie Smalls’ March 9, 1997, murder in Los Angeles, Black Rob was one of the primary artists who carried Bad Boy’s success. Memorable feature appearances on label mates’ Ma$e (“24 Hours To Live”), Faith Evans (“Never Knew Love Like Thisremix”), 112 (“Come See Me-remix”), and Total (“What About Us-remix) recordings during the late-1990s introduced him to an audience for his 2000 debut album “Life Story,” which was RIAA-certified platinum. It featured his smash hit single “Woah!” produced by D.I.T.C.’s Buckwild which reached No. 43 on Billboard’s
Top 100 in 2000, while becoming a hip hop anthem during the early 2000s. He’d continue releasing new music throughout the years, including albums “The Black Rob Report” (2005), “Game Tested, Street Approved” (2011), and “Genuine Article” (2015). At the unveiling ceremony, DJ Chill Will played some of his classic tracks including his duet with Biggie Smalls “Jeans & Sneakers”; his singles “I Dare You,” “You Don’t Know Me,” “Ready,” “Can I Live,” and of course his classic hit “Woah!” A few of his relatives were also present, including his mother, sister and children; as well as some local aspiring artists. Prior to the ceremony those in attendance sang “Happy Birthday” Stevie Wonder-style, and chanted “Black Rob,” “B.R.,” in call and response. As the street sign was unveiled, some in the crowd began chanting “It’s like Woah!” amongst the cheering
(Photo by Mal'akiy 17 Allah)
and clapping. Black Rob’s children posed for flicks with replica signs afterwards. Then on the evening of Saturday, June 18, a dual tribute was conducted at Thomas Jefferson Park (112th St. and 1st Ave.) for Black Rob and fellow East Harlem-native DJ Kay Slay who passed exactly one year later, April 17, 2022.
