On this episode of Black Power Talks, we observe African Martyrs Day.  At the first Congress of the African People’s Socialist Party in September 1981, APSP designated February 21 as “The Day of the African Martyr.”  Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965 by agents of United States repression and counterinsurgency. Amidst the historical importance of the Hands Off Uhuru Hands Off Africa counteroffensive that we have waged, this year’s African Martyrs Day takes on an even deeper...

In this episode, we say NO THANKS TO COLONIALISM. We expose the colonial mythology of Thanksgiving as the ideological support for Manifest Destiny and European/White North American colonial-capitalist domination; namely but not only the project of settler-colonialism.  We speak with two activists and educators about the long history of anticolonial resistance and African and Indigenous solidarity.  We discuss a variety of topics such as the colonial origins of the Thanksgiving holiday,...

On this episode of Black Power Talks we lift up the memory of late Calypsonian Black Stalin of Trinidad and Tobago.  Black Stalin passed away in December 2022 at the age of 81.  Black Stalin was a five-time winner of the Calypso Monarch competition and was donned Calypso king of the world in 1999.  Still, Black Stalin was not merely a calypso singer, Black Stalin used his music to forward the liberation of African people specifically and all oppressed people generally.  Even after our...

In 1982, the African People’s Socialist Party formed the African National Reparations Organization (ANRO).  ANRO was the first mass organization created to forward the reparations struggle and make reparations a household topic.  ANRO’s reach was wide and even garnered the support of people like Michael Jackson who signed an ANRO certificate demanding reparations. ANRO held twelve successive reparations tribunals.  The most recent reparations tribunal was in 2003. The Party and ANRO...

In this episode, we address current FBI and Department of Justice economic sanctions against African self-determination. As Black History Month 2023 drew to a close, the U.S. government and its partners in the financial sector escalated its campaign against the right of today’s Black Power Movement to freedom of speech and association. The DOJ and FBI have extended their efforts to stop the Uhuru Movement from continuing its 50-year history of work building African self-determination into the...

"We put these people in the same camp of what Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, is doing here with the banning of black history from education. By taking out history; by taking out the actual voice and opinions and the world view of black people from the public eye, they're trying to prevent what is even able to be communicated to our people and to the rest of the world." - Akile Anai This Black History month, independent black community radio came under attack by the Pinellas County...

In the early morning hours of Friday, July 29, 2022, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), aided by local police, raided the offices and homes of members of the Uhuru Movement in St. Petersburg, Florida and St. Louis, Missouri, seizing computers, hard drives, phones, office equipment and files. They temporarily detained APSP Chairman Omali Yeshitela, APSP Deputy Chair Ona Zene Yeshitela, APSP Agitprop Director Akile Anai, APSC Chairwoman Penny, and APSC members Kitty, Jesse and...

Just months after the FBI's brutal assault against the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement, a report surfaced showing that the FBI surveilled the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin for four decades.  In today's program, we will turn the spotlight on some of the popular African artists who have been surveilled, harassed and targeted by the FBI and other government police agencies over the decades. We discuss the surveillance, harassment, and sabotage of the careers of African...

In this episode, we talk with Angelika Mueller-Rowry about her husband, Robert Rowry, an African man who died chained, inhumanely chained to a prison bed in 2014.  This story is extremely relevant in conversation with contemporary discussions about mass imprisonment in the US. On Thursday December 8, 2022, the Women’s National Basketball Association superstar Brittney Griner was released from a Russian penal colony where she had been held for a period of time following her conviction on drug...

On this episode of Black Power Talks, we learn about the colonial origins of Santa Claus, also known as Sinter Klaas or St. Nick, the patron saint of shipping. Colonial ideology purports the Christmas holiday to be a celebration of the birth of Jesus. In fact, the Christmas holiday season is centered around the obsessive pursuit and aspiration to purchase gifts, central to this is the Santa Claus Myth. The Santa Claus myth has its origins in Dutch traditions surrounding the characters Sinter...

Today on Black Power Talks we examine the case of two wrongfully convicted African men and the organized pushback they are waging against the system that stole almost thirty years total from them.  The US prison system plays a significant role in the colonial mode of production.  Chairman Omali Yeshitela notes that “Massive prison building projects were established all over the U.S. as white communities vied and fought for prisons to be able to provide colonizer nation white workers...

On Monday, October 24, 2022, the United States’ “Justice Department” held a press conference to accuse China of breaking U.S. laws in its efforts to challenge U.S. power on the world stage.  They charged several Chinese nationals with spying on behalf of Beijing and seeking to disrupt a U.S. government investigation into the Chinese technology company, Huawei.  In New Jersey, the FBI charged two Chinese nationals with conspiring to act as illegal agents on behalf of China by using a...

In this episode of Black Power Talks we uplift the legacy of the martyred revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara, the president of Burkina Faso. Sankara was killed 35 years ago on October 15, 1987, at the age of 37. His assassins were tried and convicted in 2022.   Sankara gave Burkina Faso its name, which means "land of the upright or incorruptible people."  Sankara’s program challenged French colonialism and neocolonial policies in Africa with policies focused on preventing famine with...

This episode features a roundtable discussion about the 2022 film “The Woman King”, starring Viola Davis. The feature length movie premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 9th, 2022 and opened in theaters on September 16th. Panelists explore key issues raised in the movie's plot, including: The impact of slavery and the colonial mode of production on African people and on the rise of the European colonial nation Class conflict within the African Nation The role of African women as...

From Friday September 2nd through Sunday September 4th, 2022, the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement held its 30th annual convention in St. Louis, Missouri.   The theme of the convention was Defending the Black Community! We Are Our Own Liberators!  The theme for the 2022 InPDUM Convention had historical and immediate importance to the liberation of African people. In recent months, colonial-capitalism, and its collaborators, have increased their assaults against Africans and...

Now that you have seen The Woman King, revisit the anti-colonial and African Internationalist film, Bush Mama.  On this episode of Black Power Talks we will be presenting to you a roundtable discussion on the 1979 film Bush Mama by Haile Gerima.   Bush Mama is described elsewhere as the story of Dorothy and her partner T.C. TC is a Vietnam veteran who thought he would return home to a "hero's welcome." Instead TC is falsely arrested and imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. Dorothy’s...

In this episode, we speak with Professor Layla Brown about her scholarship, the covid-19 pandemic and the way forward.  Professor Brown’s work is emblematic of that anticolonial turn, or might we say anticolonial return, that has taken place in Africana Studies.  This anticolonial return has been directly impacted by the spread of African Internationalism, evinced in the Chairman Omali Yeshitela's 2019 Oxford Union "Africa Debate". Professor Brown is trained as a Cultural Anthropologist,...

On this episode of Black Power Talks, we discussed the role of the African Intellectual in the world.  African students and teachers everywhere are entering into their fall semesters.  Some students are beginning the end of their educational journeys and some are just getting started. On campuses, African students are organizing summits where they tackle some of the pressing issues in the world such as the mass imprisonment of African people, reparations, and the university investments into...

In this episode, we showcase several African poets and talk about the role of poetry and culture in the African anti-colonial struggle. We know that the spoken word is powerful.  If not, colonizers would not have stripped Africans of their names, their language, their traditions and their songs.  The anticolonial writer from Martinique Aime Cesaire wrote extensively on the power of poetry, the spoken word and culture.  In the important essay, “Poetry and Knowledge”, Cesaire argued that...

Black August is a month of remembrance and resistance dedicated to our African warriors imprisoned for their heroic stance fighting for African liberation. It's also a month-long salute to the African liberation struggle, recognizing such historic milestones as the Haitian Revolution, the birth of Marcus Garvey, and the deaths of Jonathan Jackson and George Jackson.   The roots of Black August are in the uprisings and rebellions of African freedom fighters who were imprisoned as a result of...

From August 7th through August 12th, 2022, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to South Africa, the Congo and Rwanda, to fight for continued access to the continent’s wealth in the face of growing competition from China and Russia. He also sought to win support for the U.S. condemnation of Russia and arming of Ukraine, in the face of the refusal of African countries to budge from a neutral position in the United Nations. His visit followed visits to Africa by leaders of...

June is Black Music Month.  On this episode of Black Power Talks, we uplift Miriam Makeba.  Miriam Makeba’s music played an important role in the African Revolution by building bridges across the colonial borders that divide African people.   We discussed the role of Makeba's music and feature three of her songs: "Into Yam", "Pata Pata", and "Malcom X."  We talk about the importance of her appearance in the film Come Back Africa (1959) and the importance of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in...

Today, we are excited to examine Kendrick Lamar and his new album Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers.  Lamar has produced his first album in five years, following much anticipation.  Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers double album that engages a variety of topics that pertain to the lived experience of African people.  Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers is representative of Lamar’s general intervention into hip hop. Over the past 12 years, Lamar’s music has defied the form and genre that has...

Today on Black Power Talks we uplift and look at the importance of May 19th to the anticolonial struggle for liberation.  Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska.  Malcolm’s Birthday is an important day of political organization. Just six days before African Liberation Day, May 25th, Malcolm’s birthday is often celebrated as an important kick off to a week-long mobilization for African Independence.      Malcolm shares his birthday with Ho Chi Minh and Yuri Kochiyama.  May 19...