Zimbabwe and African Liberation Day – A press conference was held today by members of the December 12th Movement announcing the forthcoming march and rally May 25, 2019 in Washington, D.C. to commemorate African Liberation Day. In particular, organizers focused on the continuing struggle for land and freedom in Zimbabwe as indicative of both the struggle facing Black/African people worldwide and of the course of resistance offered by the example of the people of Zimbabwe to that same African diaspora. Organizers said that Zimbabwe is representative of and connected to the struggles of Black people in the U.S. and everywhere and encouraged memory of pan-African struggles and their collective struggles symbolized and commemorated within the history of African Liberation Day itself.For those of us, like our next guest, who have come through the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University, The Hoyt Fuller Room is the central hub within that space and has been host to an infinite number of classes, gatherings and ceremonies, like the one we’ve just left commemorating that center’s founder Dr. James Turner, and yet the man, Hoyt Fuller, exists for most in eponym only. But, not for our next guest. Dr. Jonathan Fenderson, is an assistant professor of African and African American studies at Washington University in St. Louis and has written a fascinating new book which compels this long-awaited visit, Building the Black Arts Movement Hoyt Fuller and the Cultural Politics of the 1960s, University of Illinois press. Fenderson discusses his new book, as well as, the realities of post-uprising Ferguson, the role of or function of public intellectuals, the state of our media environment and much more!Dr. Otis Williams, Chair of the Department of Counseling at Bowie State University, joined us to discuss his founding of the African Psychology Student Association and annual conference. We discussed the meaning, value, and necessity of African Psychology and counseling, including what it means to be “African,” and the diaspora-wide impact of Western approaches to the study and practice of psychology on Black/African people in the United States and around the world.Dr. Iyelli Ichile joined us again to discuss a presentation she recently gave at the African Psychology Student Association conference at Bowie State University where she discussed Harriet Tubman, Araminta, in the lesser-known context of maroons and maroonage.It was fun to be back with the Eugene Puryear and Sean Blackmon of By Any Means Necessary on Radio Sputnik. We started off with the current medical condition of filmmaker John Singleton and spoke for the remaining hour about the political context of media, race and film in particular.
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“Turn off the [commercial, mainstream media] radio and stick a fuckin’ [iMWiL! digital mixtape/playlist] tape in it!” – [pre-kid-film-superstar] Ice Cube