Uptown Notes

I’m going to try to make this very brief for a few reasons: 1) Baby love is sleeping 2) I’m […]

Marc Lamont Hill, Susan L. Taylor, Talib Kweli, Kephra Burns, and April R. Silver invite you to a benefit celebration […]

I’ve been running around so much for the past week I forgot to post my reaction to the NAACP Image […]

This is my reflection on Nia Purpose “To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order […]

This is my reflection on Umoja, the first principle of Nguzo Saba of Kwanzaa… Does it make sense that fighting […]

A year ago, I began a series on Kwanzaa, this year I will finish it (thanks to all who remember […]

I can enjoy songs about summer… check the video by Dead Prez for Summertime and make sure to cop “Pulse […]

Today I’ll on NPR‘s New and Notes on their bloggers roundtable discussion inauguration and coming challenges for Barack Obama. You […]

When it comes to discussing collective work and responsibility, I usually end up on the other side of most conversations which seem to start with, “The reason Black folks can’t get ahead is…” or “We’re just like crabs in a barrel…” While these conversations have their place, I think we have been conditioned to overlook the collective work that we take part in daily. While there are many issues that face our community, many of use continue to struggle and fight but don’t receive the acknowledgment that is deserved.

Being Pan-African is a weird thing. To many folks it means wearing dashikis, avoiding swine, and shouting ase at every opportunity. I, however, realize that you aren’t going to do that. For most Black folks, the holiday of Kwanzaa is one tied to Pan-Africanism and thus gets mentioned more in their living rooms on TV commercials than at family gatherings. I’ve decided we’ve been frontin’ on Kwanzaa for no real good reason. I think now, more than ever, we run the risk of being allured by an Obama presidency into thinking we have arrived at the promised land. Look around your family, your neighborhood, your nation, and tell me if we can afford to continue to not be self-reflective and work towards a better community? If you cannot take seven days to redefine you relationship to the people who live with you, love you, and look like you, what kind of change are you really invested in?