26 • December 23, 2021 - December 29, 2021
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
Religion & Spirituality The passing of Greg Tate and Robert Farris Thompson By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews
Mulling over how to deal with the passing of Robert Farris Thompson, the famed “guerilla scholar,” as he termed himself—he was 88 when he died on Nov. 29 in a nursing home in New Haven, Conn.—I turned to the recently departed Greg Tate (he died on Dec. 7). In his essay in 1984 on Thompson among several in “Flyboy in the Buttermilk,” Tate posited this: “Now understandably some of the brothers and sisters out there got problems with Thompson, seeing how he’s a white guy. Several from your heritage by slavery and oppression and all that shit, how do you put up with one of your oppressors progeny trying to come off hip reclaiming it for you? Regardless, I have to give it up to Thompson on three counts: his perspective is Afrocentric rather than Western academic; it’s more informed by genuine reverence and
enthusiasm than by the savage arro- liever in the Black Atlantic tradition,” gance we’ve come to expect as the Tate, a self-described Black BohemiAnglo-Saxon norm when ponder- an Nationalist, situates him rightfully ing Africa; and he knows too much in the caravan of iconic griots such as to be ignored. Period.” Greg Tate Tate’s reading at New York nimble University thought, the in 2013 variety of cultural, musical, and linguistic references that compete and merge in one sentence, approximates (File:Lozgregtate.png: Alex Lozupone derivative work: Thompson’s Innisfree987 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ versatility and File:Greg_Tate_2013.jpeg), “Greg Tate 2013”, https:// flare. To Tate’s creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode) way of thinking, Thompson “was loaded down W.E.B. Du Bois, C.L.R. James, Cheikh with the tools of Western scholar- Anta Diop, Chancellor Williams, Ivan ship…” and in possession of the “in- Van Sertima, and Yosef Ben-Jochancantatory powers of Yoruba priest.” In nan. Much too much to quote here is his appraisal of Thompson as a “be- the extensive interview Tate conduct-
ed with Thompson, where he extolled his young mentee with his early years in El Paso, Texas, to his intrepid journey as anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, and most eminently as a “guerilla scholar” around the globe andbeyond,andevenwiththepromise of a book that would show New York City what it really is, “an incredible African city.” Both Tate and Thompson were incredible and matchless interpreters of our cultural complexities, finding where they converged and presented the most remarkable possibilities, be they accidental or Oriental. In his closing comments on Thompson, Tate allowed Thompson to speak of himself in the third person: “You have people who say that Thompson seems wedded to the notion of cool, because he wants to be popular or vulgar even. Well, man, I take that as a compliment because what I really hear them saying is ‘don’t mess up our art history with street
nigger talk.’ But there’s no way they’re going to stop the attempt to fuse socalled high art history with so-called street. Because I’m a guerilla scholar, and I take my cues from what I hear and so if someone tells me to stop emphasizing cool, then perhaps I’ll start emphasizing chill, if they like.” To fully grasp the essences, the essential lessons of their conversation you must read Tate’s essay, or any of his profiles in the Village Voice, and then turn to Thompson’s “Flash of the Spirit.” Listening to them in metaphorical flight would be akin to a duet between Charlie Mingus and Eric Dolphy, with a choir of Yoruba drums or kora underlying their exchange of parlance. In effect, their books and articles are only intimations of what they did on the lecture tour, and to catch just one presentation from Thompson, as so many of his students enjoyed during his long tenure at Yale University, must have left an indelible imprint.
Russell Maroon Shoatz passes after compassionate release By AUTODIDACT 17 Special to the AmNews Just52daysoffreedom,afterspending nearly five decades of imprisonment, Russell “Maroon” Shoatz, 78, became an ancestor Friday, Dec. 17, athissister’shome.Ajudgehadgranted his compassionate release on Oct. 26 due to declining health, and he was relocated from a Pennsylvania state prison to an area hospice care for cancer treatment. “What’s in the transcripts are the evidence that the prisons don’t have the capabilities to take care not just of their healthy prisoners, they definitely don’t have the ability to take care of their geriatric prisoners, and that they have effectively killed my father,” Russell Shoatz III told media at his father’s release.
Shoatz was convicted for allegedly ambushing a Philadelphia police station in 1970, resulting in the death of one cop and the serious wounding of another, then sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He escaped prison in 1977, and again in 1980, thus earning his nickname “Maroon.” In 1983 he became president of the Pennsylvania Association of Lifers (PAL), which lobbied to abolishlife-without-parolesentences, and solitary confinement. The outspoken Black Panther and Black Liberation Army activist also founded the Black Unity Council and participated with the New Afrikan liberationmovement.Plus,hewasaninfluentialadvocateforprisoner’srights. He spent 22 years in solitary confinement prior to being released
back into general prison population in 2014. He sued the Department of Corrections for “cruel and unusual” punishment, describing the inhumane conditions and mental health issues as horrid. He won the lawsuit in 2017 and was awarded $99,000 and a permanent reprieve from solitary confinement. Shoatz also described enduring severe depression and anxiety. “I was infantilized for so long,” he added in his deposition. Supporters say it was done as retaliation for Shoatz’s efforts to organize other “lifers” in combating “death by incarceration,” a.k.a. life sentences without the possibility of parole.
(Family photograph)
Shoatz’s relatives contend prison officials allowed his health to progressively worsen to stage four colorectal cancer, prior to releasing him, as intentional medical neglect. Speaking on his recent visit with Shoatz, former political P.O.W., Kagi Toure says: “I visited him over the ‘no thanks forgiving day of mourning.’ He was happy to finally be home,
but they let him go into hospice just to die. His mind is still sharp, although the cancer is eating away at his body. He remains strong and steadfast. We wound up watching ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ and talked about ‘the tribunal,’ where the U.S. was found guilty of genocide against New Afrikan people. We were making moves to save his life and keep him out of jail, but he ran out of time.” In Maroon’s own words (1995): “Rest easy Fighting Maroons. There are many now and to come who will derive inspiration from your valorous examples, inspiration that will ‘arm their spirits’ to fight the good fight…’til victory or death!!!” Maroon Shoatz’s janazah (Muslim funeral) was yesterday at a Philly mosque and his body was interred yesterday at a local cemetery.
Hip hop pioneer, Kangol Kid from UTFO, passes By AUTODIDACT 17 Special to the AmNews
“The new look for hip hop and cancer is to go get yourself One of the initial contributors to checked out before it hip hop culture’s early commer- happens,” he urged cial success became an ancestor during an interview this weekend. U.T.F.O.’s Kangol Kid, with the Colorectal 55, was diagnosed with colorec- Cancer Alliance, earlital cancer in February, and coura- er this year. geously battled the ailment, until Shaun Shiller Fequipassing peacefully at a Manhas- ere was a Haitian Amerset, N.Y. hospital Saturday, Dec. 18, ican born in Brooklyn around 3 a.m., according to his pub- Aug. 10, 1966, and raised licist, Lion Lindwedel. in East Flatbush. His
(Kenya L. Smith photo)
father, Andre, drove taxi cabs, while his mother, Jean, worked as a housekeeper. He took on his name after his popular headwear and wound up receiving alifetimesponsorshipfromthecompany.BeforeMC-ing,heandfellowUTFO [UnTouchable Force Organization] member,DoctorIce,initiallyembraced another of hip hop’s elements, B-Boying. They performed as the ‘Keystone Dancers,’ touring with fellow Brooklynite hip hop trio, Whodini. The Educated Rapper and the D.J. Mix Master
Icecomprisedthequartet. “We don’t want to be labeled as a rap group,” he explained in a 1985 Washington Post interview. “We want to be labeled as a group that can rap.” UTFO also performed on “The Phil Donahue Show” in 1984, exposing hip hop to a mainstream audience. In 1985,theywereoneofthefirsthiphop acts to perform at the Apollo Theater, and also did the Fresh Fest @MSG. They helped popularize the urban See KANGOL on page 27
