ANCESTRAL CONNECTIONS

Gold Rush in Haiti! Who will get rich?

admin — Thu, 31 May 2012 23:36:26 +0000

Gold Rush in Haiti! Who will get rich? by Haiti Grassroots Watch 5/24/12 Haiti might be “poorest country in the Americas,” but it is also sitting on a gold mine. New Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe says he’s banking on the wealth in Haiti’s northern mountains to lift the country out of poverty, but if history [...]

Plantations, Prisons and Profits: Louisiana Incarcerated

admin — Tue, 29 May 2012 02:48:13 +0000

By CHARLES M. BLOW Published: May 25, 2012 OP-ED COLUMNIST New York Times “Louisiana is the world’s prison capital. The state imprisons more of its people, per head, than any of its U.S. counterparts. First among Americans means first in the world. Louisiana’s incarceration rate is nearly triple Iran’s, seven times China’s and 10 times [...]

“Booker’s Place”: A Mississippi Story

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:16:57 +0000

Democracy Now MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012 In 1965, Booker Wright, an African-American waiter in Greenwood, Mississippi, dared to be interviewed by NBC about racism in America, a decision that forever changed his and his family’s lives. Wright said during the interview, “I always learned to smile. The meaner the man be, the more you smile. [...]

Australia: The Aboriginal People

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:34:35 +0000

Living the Language Last Modified: 18 Apr 2012 07:18 Aljazeera Australia, which was once home to 200 languages, now suffers from the highest rate of language extinction in the world. Australia suffers from the highest rate of language extinction in the world. Once home to more than 200 languages spoken by the indigenous inhabitants of [...]

Black in White Plains: The Police Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr.

admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:06:01 +0000

April 5th, 2012 By Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan Democracynow.org “My name is Kenneth Chamberlain. This is my sworn testimony. White Plains police are going to come in here and kill me.” And that’s just what they did. In the early hours of Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, U.S. Marine veteran Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. accidentally hit [...]

Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba Story

admin — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 17:21:36 +0000

William Kamkwamba was born August 5, 1987, in Malawi, Africa, a country plagued by AIDS and poverty. Like most people in his village, his family of nine subsisted on the meager crops they could grow, living without the luxuries—considered necessities in the West—of electricity or running water. Already living on the edge, the situation became [...]

The First Grader

admin — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:54:22 +0000

In a small, remote mountain top primary school in the Kenyan bush, hundreds of children are jostling for a chance for the free education newly promised by the Kenyan government. One new applicant causes astonishment when he knocks on the door of the school. He is Maruge (Oliver Litondo), an old Mau Mau veteran in [...]

The War We Are Living: Afro-Colombian Women Fight for Their Ancestral Lands

admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 16:27:25 +0000

Watch The War We Are Living on PBS. See more from Women War and Peace. If you ask Colombia’s city dwellers and governing political class, they’ll tell you the country’s 40-year-old civil war is over. But The War We Are Living reveals the “other” Colombia, in rural areas far away from the capital, where the [...]

Jende Ri Palenge (People of Palenque): Afro-Columbia [Soul Jazz Records]

admin — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:26:25 +0000

by KEVIN on Mrz 3, 2012 • 9:00 am from icrates.org The Jende Ri Palenge (People of Palenque) compilation on Soul Jazz provides an exhaustive collection of homegrown Afro-Columbian roots sounds and a comprehensive insight into a vibrant musical and cultural legacy fusing Latin and African influences. This ambitious new release is the result of [...]

Jazz Legend Randy Weston on His Life and Celebration of “African Rhythms” (Democracy Now!)

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:00:42 +0000

In a Black History Month special, Democracy Now! airs an extended interview with the legendary pianist and composer Randy Weston. For the past six decades, Weston has been a pioneering jazz musician incorporating the vast rhythmic heritage of Africa. His most famous compositions include, “Little Niles,” “Blue Moses,” and “Hi-Fly,” and his 1960 album, “Uhuru [...]