Insight ::: 11.21.2022

Brett Buckner, founder of OneMN.org and an editor at Black Vote Minnesota 2022

Voter Guide had a long yawn before he began to speak. It had been a long night, one with victories that made our ancestors sing and dance in rejoicing and celebration.

“We’re taking a deep breath and debriefing about all that was accomplished in the Midterm elections. There was no red wave across the nation. What it showed was how critically important it is to really educate voters and make sure they’re aware of what’s at stake and why it should matter,” Buckner said. “But now we’ve got to look at what changes are afoot and what challenges still lie ahead. We are proud of the work our coalition

accomplished and we are deeply indebted to “Insight News” and “The Conversation with Al McFarlane” for supporting our efforts. Like so many voters, McFarlane Media showed up.” The nod to Minnesota’ Black Press came during the post-election edition of “The Conversation with Al

unprecedented high stakes nature of the Midterm elections as well.

Buckner said the biggest lesson that emerged from the unprecedented election results is that communities of color must shed this firefighter mentality. “We know every two years, there’s going to be an election cycle. We have to be ready.”

Anika Robbins, Founder and Publisher of Black Vote Minnesota, said there is an inherent power in relationships.

“We must continue from this day forward building coalitions. No doubt, that the great push from ‘Insight News’ was critical. We were able to reach at least an

Oh, the shock of it all!” Unopposed in his bid for reelection from Minneapolis Senate District 59, the DFL majority elected Champion to be President of the Senate. His Northeast Minneapolis counterpart, Kari Diedzic, (DFL 60) was elected Senate Majority Leader.

“What the people showed in this election was that we can work together to solve big problems and issues,” Buckner said. “Once we start to see success within ourselves so many positive and beneficial changes to rise. We need to rally around not always studying problems but putting the process in place to solve the problems.

described formal relationships between Clan elders and leaders that resulted in families being informed, instructed and motivated to vote.

Buckner said, “We cannot understate the power of organizing. And it’s exemplified by the Hmong community. They have now elected nine either senators or representatives. They’re, as they say, punching above their weight class right now because they’re organizing and they’re being very intentional. They run one or two and they get behind their candidates and they move it on from there. They’ve done a magical job and you’re going to see some amazing power.”

And we’re doing that to some degree here.”

Communication, coordination, and collaboration

Part of the 6-hour live election coverage mounted by powerhouse journalist Roland Martin on his Black Star Network, North Carolina’s Rev. William J. Barber organizer of the ‘Poor People’s Campaign’ said “Democrats must go after the impoverished, the ignored, and the left behind. There are millions eligible to vote that the party doesn’t even think about,” Barber said.

Here in Minnesota, Buckner said, “If we are audacious and remain steadfast to the call for justice and

McFarlane, which is streamed at 1pm daily across social media platforms. The show featured national analysis from legendary media moguls, Bob Bogle, President and CEO of the Philadelphia Tribune, and Jim Washington, President of the Atlanta World and former publisher of the Dallas Weekly.

Wameng Moua, Publisher of Hmong Today, a leader in Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium, provided commentary on collaboration and competition between African American and Hmong candidates, that together, netted significant gains for increasing the ranks of BIPOC elected at city, county and state legislative levels.

Senator Bobby Joe Champion weighed in on the

additional hundred thousand voters that way and reach folks in rural areas and in the suburbs.

Volunteers were phone banking, door knocking, and canvassing in important communities.

Talking to our young men of color and convincing them that their vote does count is a top priority,” Robbins said. Minnesota State Senator Bobby Joe Champion reflected on just how vicious yet important this election cycle was. “We’ve done this before,” Champion said. “But this was different. The results were game changers. It was a clear war of Good and Evil, Democrat and Republican, and Black and white. South Carolina’s Mitch McConnell called the results a ‘catastrophic embarrassment’.

And once we solve those problems, there will be others. At the end of the day, we will position our leaders to say, ‘here are our requests. Here are our recommendations. This is the amount of funding required to make these things happen.’ We want to make sure we don’t have to ask if our children are okay. They will be!”

“Too often we have difficulty working together. We undermine each other. That is the problem we must address. If we solve that problem, everything else will fall in place,” said Robert Bogle.

Asked what strategies delivered massive voter engagement and partipation in the Hmong community in Twin Cities, Wameng Mou

James Washington said, “this was the first time I’ve heard the word clan used in a way that had a smile associated with it. Because in our experience with the useof the word Klan, we got a whole different world worldview. Klan was a negative thing. And so it’s interesting to have this kind of conversation and consider this intersectionality between the emerging communities that are not white. Bob Bogle has talked about that. I was on a program with Dr. Benjamin Chavis, CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers’ Association (NNPA)/Black Press USA. And he talked about the same thing… about how we have to create strategic alliances, particularly with Latino/Chicano, Asian and Native American communities.

fairness, we can create equity in the state of Minnesota. And now, we have the gavels.”

I do want to give a shout out to Wes Moore Maryland’s Governor-Elect.. They finally got it right up East. A progressive democrat rallied a significant Black base that was able to get Moore across the line to becoming the third U.S. Black elected Governor. That’s a big deal. He’s a young man doing some amazing things,” Buckner said. “Goes to show that when we play the game right, we start to understand what our collective power is all about and we move forward. I think we stumbled into something in this election, and I say, Let’s keep going!”

Brett Buckner

Bob Bogle

Jim Washington

Wameng Moua

Senator Bobby Joe Champion Anika Robbins

Columnist

By Brenda Lyle-Gray

Clarq’s debut performance in Minneapolis

features her work and that of her partner and co-writer/ co-producer, Mike Scott (MScottLovesLife). The creative duo, along with Miles, and Wain’s new band, Bardog, promise to elevate the magical evening with dance flows, improvisations, and standards.

The band features veteran musicians Toby Lee

particularly

Wain

By Irma McClaurin, PhD

I wasn’t

“The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” but it exceeded my expectations. There are new characters like Namor/Kukulkan (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), leader of an Aztec Indigenous leader of a lost people. Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) makes an appearance as well. And who doesn’t love M’Baku (Winston Duke) with his deadpan sense of humor and fighting spirit?

Having acknowledged the men who make this a great movie, let me be clear—it is Black women who make the latest in the Black Panther franchise a magnificent successful movie.

Why? Because Black women in Wakanda Forever are still #badass as ever, and then some.

They are ruling royalty (Angela Bassett and Letitia Wright), women soldiers

(Danai

In the words of Beyonce, “girls… [and women] rule the [Wakanda] world!”

Angela Bassett as Queen Ramonda, the now ruling matriarch, finally gets front and center attention, which may garner her the elusive Academy

Award for supporting actress, which she was nominated as Tina Turner, and should have gotten. Her elegant fierceness does my heart good to see her in the United Nations tell off PWC (predominantly white countries) that the reason Wakanda doesn’t share Vibranium is because their proven avarice. This is where the history of colonialism comes into play.

With a few choice words, Bassett/Queen Ramonda reminds us Europe’s history of colonialism that is steeped in lusting after others’ resources (like Vibranium), and in human exploitation and trafficking of

African-descended people and other nonwhites. She clearly lets them know that she understands precisely why they desire Vibranium—it is keeping with their extractive and oppressive history. Would that this were the real United Nations!

Whites want to weaponize Wakanda’s powerful energy source; and, their greatest fear is that Vibranium is in the hands of Black people— global anti-Blackness is shown in stark reality. Also, they do not wish to follow Wakanda’s model and use this rare resource

Bobby Joe Champion named president of Minnesota Senate

By Tom Gitaa Publisher, Mshale

Sen. Bobby Joe Champion of North Minneapolis was on Thursday named as the new Senate president, becoming the first Black person to do so. The Senate president presides over Senate business and ensures members follow parliamentary procedures.

The move came two days after the state elected Black women for the first time to the state Senate and Democrats won back the upper chamber by a one seat maJoerity.

During a media briefing Thursday to announce their new leadership, Sen. Kari Dziedzic, also of Minneapolis, announced she was elected as Senate MaJoerity Leader while Sen. Ann Rest of New Hope will chair the Senate Tax Committee and Sen. Joehn Marty of Roseville becoming the Finance Chair.

“I think one of our biggest things is ensuring that we’re talking to Minnesotans about what their needs are,

so we can go to those events and we testify in committee or the floor we can say, ‘Here’s what Minnesotans are telling us’,” Champion said.

Champion has served in the Minnesota Senate Since 2012 after having served two terms in the House after he was first elected in 2008.

By Irma McClaurin, PhD Culture and Education Editor

Nothing boosts a woman’s morale at the movies than to see BadAss women owning their power and kicking butt as they complete their mission, which is usually to save the world— because that’s what we do.

However, until recently, such BadAss women all have been white, in the movies and in real life—whether “Lean In”-type CEOs like Sheryl Sanberg——-or Angelina Jolie as Hollywood’s imagined Laura Croft, Uma Thurman in Kill Bill or Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis as Thelma and Louise.

The original Charlie’s Angels was about sweetlooking women who could hold their own at a time when women were still viewed as fragile and feminism was still in its infancy. But in truth, it was all about the hair, and Farrah Fawcett influenced at least two generations with her fluffy ‘do.

The reboot of Charlie’s Angel’s had one noticeable change to the team of kickass white women; they added Lucy Liu. And yet, it was still a story about white women.

Even the reboot of Laura Croft with Alicia Vikander doesn’t take us any place different, though Gal Gadot as the new Wonder Woman is slightly suggestive of diversity and difference because of her Israeli heritage.

No doubt about it, BadAss Black women (BABW) are few and far between in the movies and in real life. For example, in the real corporate business world, Xerox had one Black Woman CEO, Ursula Burns. Her departure created a void in real life leaving the largest 500 S&P Companies (Fortune 500) in the United States with absolutely no Black women and only 15% (white) women overall.

And in the movies, before there was Wakanda’s allfemale security force, there was just one newly released movie, Proud Mary that starred our favorite actress Taraji Henson as a BadAss Black Woman.

We would have to go back 44 years to find any Badass Black women movie predecessors. Back then, there was Pam Grier starring as Foxy Brown in a series of movies and also as Coffy. Then there was the

Spoiler Alert—If you haven’t seen the movie, pleeze don’t read this!

sure what to expect of Ryan Coogler’s

Gurira and Michaela Coel—a bit more elegant than Viola Davis as Warrior Queen and her foot soldiers, but also just as deadly), Black women geeks/technology geniuses— more than one by the way (Letitia Wright and Dominique Thorne), and a serious saboteur and guerrilla fighter with a room for love (Lupita Nyong’o).

Wain McFarlane returns to The Dakota Jazz Club Wednesday, December 7, 2022 with his first time ever “Family Affair Show” which features his son, vocalist Miles McFarlane, and Wain’s granddaughter, Clarq, a singer, songwriter and dancer from Albuquerque, NM.

Marshall on Hammond B-3, RION Liestman on Grand piano, synths and vocals, George Scot McKelvey on guitars and vocals, Matt Blake on bass, cello, violin and saw, and Mario Dawson on drums.

is

excited about the first time multigenerational family experience this show represents.

It will be Miles’ and Clarq’s , an uncle and niece, first time meeting and first time sharing the stage in musical performance. Likewise, this will be the first opportunity for Clarq and her grandfather Wain to meet in person and perform together.

Wain describes

CHAMPION 4

Courtesy of the Minnesota State Senate Minnesota Senate Democrats have chosen Bobby Joe Champion as the next president of the Minnesota Senate, the first Black person to do so. The announcement was made on Thursday, November 10, 2022.

DAKOTA

Culture and Education Editor

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Miles McFarlane soundcloud Wain McFarlane

Thanksgiving in Africa

By Brenda Lyle-Gray

Perhaps this year, Thanksgiving might be a little different.

Maybe we might find even more things to be thankful for, people to re-connect with, more people to care about and family members and friends to love, and learning and doing more constructive and positive things like mentoring a child or taking a bag of non-perishable

food or clothing to a shelter, honoring our health and the survival of a deadly pandemic, and for the state of Minnesota and states around the country, the blessings and messages of political victories that defied corruption at the highest level, saved our democracy, and all made possible by good people who stood up, exercised their freedom to vote, and declared, no more! Enough is enough!

Though we were taught in grade school about how colonists known as Pilgrims and Native Americans came together putting all differences aside and sat down breaking bread together for a day, the tradition is not unique to North America. Our

Motherland celebrates a form of the Thanksgiving holiday calling it Homowo which means ‘hooting for hunger’. It is celebrated with one of the largest cultural festivals of its kind in Africa.

In Ghana among a tribe called the Ga Dangme, the Homowo Harvest Festival goes on for weeks starting with the blessing of crops like maize and yams before the rainy season. The origin of the name goes back to a very difficult period for the Ga people who migrated to pre-colonial Ghana traveling for many years before reaching the region of Accra where they now live. While in transit, some suffered a severe famine brought

on by the absence of rainfall. Closing in on more people dying and others nearing starvation, those strong enough for the labor embarked on a desperate team effort of food cultivation hoping for rain. The rains did come, and the harvest was beyond bountiful.

The Ga people celebrate the blessing of harvest by preparing a feast with traditional dishes such as palm nut fish soup and a corn-powder delicacy. The day of the actual feast is followed by dancers performing a dance called Kpanlogo and parades moving through towns which last for several days. Like the North American and other continental

From

his fortune of have three generations of family artisans to work with explaining that Miles moved to Minneapolis

From

He is a practicing attorney and has previously served as an assistant attorney general under two Minnesota attorney generals.

“Even though I have

Black Panther

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to heal or improve the quality of people’s lives in the world of which Wakanda is not a part. As Queen Ramonda is speaking, we witness at play a military operation to steal it.

The disrespect for Wakanda’s sovereignty and the antiBlackness are the undercurrent in these scenes.

Of course, it is the Dora Milaje who thwarts the attack and General Okoyo returns in a much more powerful role central to the narrative.

While Denai falls from grace, but proves her militaristic commitment time and again.

She is reminded, however, by Queen Ramonda that sometimes loyalty to a symbol—like the throne usurped by King Killmonger—had devastating consequences, including the destruction of Vibranium, until Shuri genetically engineered solutions in her lab.

from San Diego to help him with medical challenges. He said he met Miles’ mom, Valerie, in the early 1990’s when she was singing in a club in Pacific Beach, CA. “I heard this voice and immediately pursued this Siren’s melody,” he said, “and then came Miles.” Miles grew

the skills and qualifications, it was not lost on me that the Minnesota Senate has never had a president who was a person of color,” Sen. Champion said.

Tom Gitaa

Born and raised in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa, Tom is the Founder, President and Publisher of

woman warrior character is Michaela Coel who appears is Aneka; a bit of a rebel, she is willing to step outside of the tradition and try something different—like fighting with knives instead of the traditional spear. Both Okoyo and Aneka have missteps, but find their way back into the grace of Wakanda royalty.

A New (S)Hero Awakens

The star of Wakanda Forever is Letitia Wright as Princess Suri and ultimately Queen Suri (spoiler). We watch her progress from a Black technology geek who cannot be bothered by traditional rituals— for her, only science holds all the answers…until it doesn’t— to becoming the Queen of Wakanda, and ultimately an awakened Black Panther. It is science that restores the power of Vibranium for Suri to become the Black Panther; but it is memory, rituals, and the sage wisdom of Queen Ramonda that transforms Suri from a young adult hellbent on revenge to a wise adult woman ruler who

up in San Diego surrounded by music. He sang a soulful version of the Star Spangled Banner at football game, and pursued football as a player till sidelined by a torn ACL. He became a construction tradesman and now in Minneapolis has been bar backing, training for a para

Mshale. As the founder, he did a lot of the reporting during the humble beginnings of the newspaper. While he still does the occasional reporting, he now concentrates on the publishing side of the news operation.

Tom was also the original host of Talking Drum, the signature current affairs show on the African Broadcasting

must put aside her personal grief for the greater good—her people and the kingdom of Wakanda.

A Small Hiccup: Indigenous Talokan v. Wakanda

There was one small hiccup in this movie—a part of this Greek-like tragedy that I found difficult to watch. It was the fight scene between Wakanda and the sea Talokanils; descended from a Mesoamerican Aztec-like people, they are endowed with enormous strength from ocean Vibranium. Their origins story is rooted in the very real history of Spanish Conquistadors and missionaries who brought small pox, other diseases, and forced religious conversions to the indigenous people of Mesoamerica that devastated their populations. The audience will learn something about real indigenous history via this fictitious people—since they may not get this information in schools that are being prevented from talking about enslavement and indigenous ethnocide. Hopefully some will

professional career in Teacher’s Assistant (TA) and focusing again on his passion for music.

“I am overjoyed that he is here in Minneapolis to create his unique West Coast Meets Third Coast musical stylings. He is writing songs for his first record. We are blessed

Network (ABN-America), which was available nationwide in the United States via the Dishnetwork satellite service.

On the show, he interviewed Nobel laureates such as 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the peace prize and heads of states such as the president

be motivated to open books (and not just google search) for more information.

The introduction of the Ocean as another source for Vibranium reminds us that (in our real world) the underwater environment is being devastated by mining and a greedy quest for more resources to enrich those who have already exploited the surface world, and damn near destroyed it: think oil pipelines on Indigenous lands, fracking, oil drilling, all in search of making a few (white) people even richer than they already are.

There is no question that the clash between Black and Indigenous people reminds us that sometimes two righteous agendas can clash with each other. Watching the body count pile up in what is the movie battle of the century was difficult. I could not cheer for either side because both desired only to protect their own people and save their self-contained) world from the marauding (predominately white) outsiders.

In the end, it is Queen

holiday recognitions, this is also a time when African families have an opportunity to almost safely re-unite with family and loved ones, sharing a special meal and giving thanks for all that is well and good. Both the

that the Dakota Club and Lowell Pickett and their amazing staff are providing a platform to increase the peace through our music. And, yes, we will be doing some Holiday songs,” Wain McFarlane said.

An added feature, he said, will be the guest appearance

of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh at State House, Banjul. Tom has served and chaired various boards including Global Minnesota (formerly Minnesota International Center), the sixth largest World Affairs Council in the United States. He has previously served as President of the Board of Directors of Books for Africa, the largest shipper

Ramonda’s ancestor spirit that urges Queen Suri to do the right thing. She forms an uneasy alliance with Namor, who recognizes that each need each other. For a brief moment, there seemed to be some hints of romance between the two leaders when Namor gives Suri a bracelet that belonged to his mother. Of course, such a love relationship might be difficult— it calls to mind Aquaman’s mother and father. But nothing fully blossoms—at least not yet. You never know what the Marvel future will bring.

Homegoing and Homecoming for Chadwick Aaron Boseman

If The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is anything, it is both a homegoing and a homecoming for its former star, Chadwick Aaron Boseman. His absence is felt throughout, and we are disappointed when Suri, on her Vibranium journey, does not meet him but his nemesis Killmonger instead. It is only at the end that Suri finds “her true self” and is visited by memories of T’Challa. Kudos to Director Ryan Coogler, who at age 36 has created a Marvel comic franchise, and to co-writer Joe Robert Cole who is 42. These two Black men represent hope, creativity, and vision in our present-day world in the same way that T’Challa and Wakanda do in the fictional world.

While many people associate the term “Homecoming” now with Beyoncé and HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) march bands, in Black culture, a “homecoming” has often been associated

Thanksgiving and Homowo celebrations honor similar values and morals such as gratitude for Mother earth’s life-giving food, for community, hard work, perseverance, and the faith and resilience of our forefathers.

of Ipso Facto bassist and vocalist, Julian McFarlane, along with his daughter, performance artist Ava McFarlane.

The show begins at 7 pm. Advance tickets and reservations are available at dakotacooks.com

of donated books to Africa. He also serves on the boards of New Vision Foundation and the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. Tom also served two terms on the board of the United Nations Association. He retired from running full marathons after turning 50 and now only focuses on half marathons.

with a return to our place of origins in Africa (https://www. cnn.com/travel/article/ghanahistoric-homecoming-intl/index. html & https://www.routledge. com/African-HomecomingPan-African-Ideology-andContested-Heritage/Schramm/p/ book/9781598745146 ).

Whereas a homegoing is often a spiritual send-off of a deceased person (https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Homegoing). Both happen at the end of Wakanda forever, Chadwick Boseman is giving a homegoing and a homecoming. Do wait for the credits to finish before leaving your seat. In true Marvel fashion, a tiny bit more of the future is revealed. By all means, take your family, neighbors, and friends to see this film over and over again. It is a classic, just like the one before it. Wakanda Forever.

© 2022 Irma McClaurin

Irma McClaurin (https://bit.ly/DrIrmawebsite / @ mcclaurintweets) is the Culture and Education Editor for Insight News, an activist anthropology, an award-winning writer, and Fulbright Specialist. She is the founder of the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive (BFA) located in the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center (SCUA) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and sits on the boards of the HipHop Education Center and the Afrolatino Project. Her book of essays, Justspeak: Reflections on Race, Culture & Politics in America is forthcoming in 2022.

Columnist

A secondary military

martial arts expert Tamara Jones as Cleopatra Jones. When the black movies (Blaxploitation or not) disappeared, so did the image of strong BadAss Black women.

In 2018, there are so few models in film, on TV, and in real life, for young Black girls to look to and imagine themselves as powerful and fierce rather than reduced to stereotypes of video vixens, “babymama,” or angry Black women. For a brief moment, we had former First Lady Michelle Obama who gave us an emotional and political respite from the negative images. But the belief that Black women are not worthy of positive affirmation impacted how FLOTUS Michelle Obama was treated in the press initially. She too was accused of being an “angry black woman.”

This dearth of positive role models for black girls leads me back to the fictional country of Wakanda in the Black Panther film. For the first time in a major movie blockbuster, we have a queen mother (Angela Bassett); a nerdy genius sister (Letitia Wright); Lupita Nyong’o as the Black Panther’s love interest with her own agenda to spy, rescue women from persecution, and kick a few butts along the way; and finally the Amazon-like Dora Milaje (Adored Ones) royal guards in the forms of Danai Gurira as Okoye, Florence Kasumba as Ayo, Sydelle Noel as Xoliswa and even Killmonger’s partnerin-crime, Tilda Johnson aka Nightshade, is also a BadAss— though short-lived. She is sacrificed by Killmonger for the greater good of his cause.

What I loved about the Dora Milaje, the royal guards, is was that they were completely bald. And it never looked so good!

No weaves, no concerns about hair texture or flyaway strands getting in your face as they kicked, punched and speared their way to save the day. And they never gave

up— even when they were being pummeled and killed. BadAss Black Women till the end. And by the way, they break the colorism barrier that has plagued the Black community by privileging light-skinned women over their darker sisters! Yes! Long hair— out! Light-skinned— out! And I’m not hating on my light-skinned sisters because they too are victims of white supremacy thinking and how it has shaped our beliefs so profoundly that beauty is anyone who is close to white. Think I’m lying? Google “beauty” and see how the coding only offers up images of white women, and one Asian woman. Google “black beauty” and the coding

brings up images of horses. Just recently, one or two images of black women have shown up. But what does it mean when we are placed alongside hundreds of images of black horses? There are no horses coded in “beauty.” Just whiteness. [Update–the white men who code Google’s algorithms have become more culturally sensitive, but not much]. My most favorite scene is when Okoye, leader of the Dora Milaje confronts her love. He asks “you would kill your love?” And she, unflinching and holding a spear in her hand ready to impale him, answers “to protect Wakanda? Yes!” Game over. Brother man looks

around at the havoc these KickAss Black Women guards have inflicted on his men and drops his weapon. There is no indication that their love has diminished, it’s just that there was a boundary he dared not cross. Her duty to protect the throne and her love of country outweighed her love of an individual man. We have much to learn from her and the other women. This is the second crisis that Danai Gurira’s character Okoye’s encounters. Prior to this scene, she is implored to rebel; she refuses because her commitment as a member of the Dora Milaje is to duty and protecting the throne and “whoever sits on it” is what

matters most. Now that’s loyalty. What emerges from the Marvel-imagined universe of Wakanda is an array of Black Women of every ilk. They are mother, sister, lover, protector, warrior, and so it is in real life.

Black Women in America, and I would even say globally, have received a bad rap and lots of bad press.

People see us either as Jerry Springer-like drama queens, ghetto-fab baby mommas, video vixens working our behinds, sex toys to be used or discarded, or angry Black Women.

There is no room in white America’s psyche (and even among our own

Black folk) for variation in Black Women, and if we don’t fit, we still get put in a box! If there is a moral in the Black Panther film and its Afrofuturistic country of Wakanda, it is that Black women are diverse, powerful, brilliant, loyal, fierce, passionate, and we have every right to demand Respect.

N.B. And, if we don’t receive it, maybe we just need to kick a little ass to get the process moving in the right direction.

( I am a Grinnell College alumna and former faculty member, and was there when Danai Gurira’s father taught chemistry at Grinnell. Small world).

Sankofa: Focus on the spirit of Black media

By: W.D. Foster-Graham Book Review Editor

On November 12, I had the honor of being among kings and queens—the attendees of the Sankofa event at Macalester College, hosted by executive director Rekhet SiAsar of In Black Ink. The keynote speaker was radio personality, journalist, and editor-in-chief of Insight News Al McFarlane, with respondents Dr. Danielle Brown, professor of journalism, diversity, and equality at the University of Minnesota, and multi-Emmy award winner and PBS executive producer Daniel Pierce Bergin.

With the musicians, singers, meals, and speakers, the afternoon was filled with the strength of community. What made this event so powerful is the fact it was a multigenerational event, given the topic—”Perilous Times: Defending and Defining the Spirit of Black Media.” Our speakers covered the history of the Black press and the pivotal role it has played then and now. McFarlane stated the purpose of the Black press in three I’s: inform, instruct, and inspire. Today, mainstream media still doesn’t cover the whole truth of the Black diaspora. It is crucial as people of African descent to define ourselves and stand in our truth, and then pay it forward to our children.

During the second portion of the event, the attendees broke out into groups, with facilitators from the area

high schools and colleges. Sharing viewpoints from our diverse generations opened up the dialogue, and I learned more about the divisions that were artificially created between African American and Africanborn people. Themes discussed at my table were self-definition (we don’t need white validation of our parking ticket of Black excellence), utilizing the resources we have now about our culture to teach our children, and having the written tradition to go with our oral tradition, of which our elders are a vital component.

Being plugged in to Black authors, newspapers, and other media resonated with me. I remember an incident a few years ago, when I called a TV/radio station and asked if they reviewed books by Black authors. The man on the other end told me that Black authors were mainly self-published, and the books weren’t very good. The taste that left in my mouth reminded me of my experiences of Publishing While Black, and I refused to allow that attitude to stop me as an independent author. There is more work to do, and Saturday’s event only

reinforced why I do what I do to support Black authors and poets in this column.

One of my former pastors once told me, “Bloom where you’re planted.” I’ve had the honor of reviewing books by amazing authors since I started writing my column, which contradicts the assumption that self-published books by Black authors “aren’t very good.” I also have empowering partnerships with organizations such as In Black Ink, Planting People Growing Justice, and the Minnesota Black Authors Expo.

There is unity in our diversity, and we grow as a people as a result. An event is only as good as the energy we bring to it, and everyone at this Sankofa event brought their own special gift. You are kings and queens. Keep on owning it.

In the spirit of Sankofa, let us be intentional in our support of Black authors, Black newspapers/ media, Black content creators, Black publishers, our younger generation, with our resources, our book reviews, our finances, and last but not least, our time.

Let the lion tell his side of the story.

Upcoming

Big Band Holidays

El Mesías (The Messiah)

SUN DEC 11 4PM

CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION, NORTH MINNEAPOLIS Border CrosSing, led by artistic director Ahmed Anzaldúa, joins the Minnesota Orchestra with El Mesías , a bilingual Spanish-English cross-cultural combination of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah and Navidad Nuestra , a Christmas cantata by Argentinian composer Ariel Ramírez. Together with the vocal soloists and choir, the unique combination of Andean instruments and the Baroque orchestra blur the lines between Western classical and South American folk traditions.

“Until the lion tells his side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”

--Luvvie Ajayi

Sharing Our Stories

Rekhet Si-Asar

Al McFarlane

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

Dianne Reeves with Samara Joy*

five-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist Dianne

emerging 22-year-old vocalist Samara Joy, winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. The evening will feature soulful renditions of holiday classics, playful improvisation and entertaining storytelling.