Ethiopian soldiers in the 19th century. Source: "Armies of the Adowa Campaign of 1896" by Sean McLachlan

[Commentary on and Review of Black Panther]

I have major beef with Black Panther but I start my political economy review on a positive note.

As a Pan-African I love the possibilities for mutually beneficial constructive cooperation between Africans on the motherland and Diaspora Africans suggested in Black Panther the movie. It comes towards the very end when T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) travels with his sister (Letitia Wright) from Wakanda to Oakland, California, and tells her of his plans to invest in the Black community.

He had been thinking of the passion and anger that drove Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), who is no villain at all; Killmonger raged about his "abandonment" in America but he meant it in a very bigger way. If Africa could realize its power sisters and brothers wouldn't be victims of police brutality and mass incarceration here and poverty in Africa. It's not coincidental that in Hollywood in order for a character to be permitted to speak Truth To Power he or she must appear as an evil person.

I've always believed that joint projects between the motherland and Diaspora-- are the keys to Pan-African empowerment. Can you imagine Africa's tremendous resources --its 1.2 billion people, its hundreds of trillions of dollars worth of mineral and natural resources, and its possession of two-thirds of the world's untapped fertile agricultural land-- leveraged with the $1 trillion in Black annual purchasing power in the United States?

The Global African world would be second to none. That is the vision that Killmonger had for Africa's Wakandas.

In our real world, embezzlement of vast fortunes in public funds has stunted development in Africa. Widespread rape of Africa's resources by multinationals also continues to create Western billionaires. What if instead of being siphoned off to Swiss banks through the decades the $5 billion stolen by Congo's Mobutu and the nearly $4 billion by Nigeria's Sani Abacha had been invested in Black-owned banks and businesses and institutions in the United States? This is the question Killmonger --in the real world-- would pose.

Black Panther not only suggests Pan-African cooperation, it practices it in the real world. The mega-budget production which cost $200 million to make --and has already grossed $427 million-- has a predominantly Black cast that brings together Diaspora African and African actors and actresses. From here, they include Boseman, Wright, Jordan, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Daniel Kaluuya, and Winstone Duke, and others; from Africa, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, and Florence Kasumba, and others.

Might this Black Panther template not be used for other collaborative enterprises --in business, science, education, politics and other artistic endeavors? This would make Killmonger smile.

So why hasn't this strategy --Pan-African collaboration--which has been preached since the era of Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois been put into effective play? The truth is a wedge exists between continental Africans and Africans in Diaspora. This is not surprising given the centuries of demonization of both Africans and Diaspora Africans in Western literature (This is the subject of my book "The Hearts of Darkness, How White Writers Created the Racist Image of Africa").

On the silver screen, Hollywood traditionally caricatured African Americans as non-achievers inclined to a life of leisure or criminality. Africans have been (and are) cast as backward "tribesmen" constantly engaged in senseless wars.

When Africans use the word "tribe" there are no negative connotations; not so, when Western scholars and writers dismiss Africans as "tribal" as the late Ugandan author and educator Okot p'Bitek observed in "African Religions in Western Scholarship."

Malcolm X, the charismatic Black nationalist and freedom fighter, in "You Can't Hate the Roots of a Tree without Hating the Tree," summed the impact of demonizaton:  "...the colonial powers of Europe, having complete control over Africa, they projected the image of Africa negatively. They projected Africa always in a negative light: jungles, savages, cannibals, nothing civilized. Why then naturally it was so negative it was negative to you and me, and you and I began to hate it. We didn't want anybody to tell us anything about Africa, much less calling us 'Africans.' In hating Africa and hating the Africans, we ended up hating ourselves, without even realizing it..."  Malcolm practiced what he preached. He attended an Organization of African Unity meeting in Cairo in 1964 and traveled to several African countries, meeting leaders like Julius Nyerere, Jomo Kenyatta, Tom Mboya, Milton Obote, Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Ture.

While Malcolm discussed the inferiority complexes created in African American communities by demomization, some Africans who were lucky to attain some education during colonial rule also developed similar disorders. Here is Frantz Fannon describing the behavior of Africans and Diaspora Blacks whom he met in Paris, in"Black Skin, White Masks"his classic work: "We have known, and unfortunately still know, comrades from Dahomey or the Congo who say they are Antillean; we have known and still know, Antilleans who get annoyed at being taken for Senegalese...It's because the Antillean [thinks he] is more 'evolue' than the African--meaning he is closer to the White man.."

Black Panther, the movie is the kind of production that contributes towards combating the inferiority complexes that bedevils many Black people all over the world. Many more major productions with empowering storylines are needed.

The timing of Black Panther's release couldn't have been better, coming weeks after Donald Trump, America's most blatantly racist president of the modern era declared Africa to be a collective of "shithole" countries. (In truth, the Orange Racist lies--he knows of Africa's riches. During the UN General Assembly last September be boasted that his friends were making money in Africa).

In fact Africa continues to sustain and build the wealth in the Western world -- as it did during the colonial regime, as Walter Rodney showed in "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa." The World Bank's neo-liberal economic dictate ensures that African countries will never industrialize and compete with the West as China has managed to do. African countries will continue to supply raw materials and consume the much more expensively sold manufactured products from Western --and now Asian--factories. 

Yes, Black Panther presents an idealistic and fantasized Africa, where a monarch with superpowers fights to preserve his kingdom, Wakanda's, independence. What's wrong with that? Black Panther does for millions of Black youth what Superman, Spiderman, Batman and other superheroes have done for youth --especially White ones-- for decades. It allows them to think big, beyond earthly shackles--this can be psychologically and emotionally transformative.

I myself, like hundreds of millions of Black youth, while growing up was a victim of the White-Hero-Complex. This is because they were the only heroes offered. 

Here's my own evolution: I first came to the United States around age five when my father was appointed Uganda's ambassador to the U.S. and to the United Nations.

One day, in 1971, I recall how all the adults at home were speaking in hushed tones. Then one of my relatives told me that there was bad news from Uganda. I was told a "bad guy" named Idi Amin, who commanded the army, had ordered tanks in the streets and said he was now running the country. My first reaction was to imagine superman flying to Uganda, smashing up the tanks and sending Amin fleeing.

It was when my family lived in Tanzania, exiled from Uganda during Amin's regime, that I developed a Pan-African consciousness. One day, I was about 12, walking in the streets of Dar es Salaam the Tanzanian capital when I saw something shocking -- a painting of a Black Jesus Christ on a bookstore display window. How could this be? I wondered. That initial thought quickly turned to why should it be otherwise? The incident sparked my interest in challenging representations of Africans and questioning received or prevailing "truths."

The National library in Dar es Salaam became my home. I read books, Tanzanian newspapers and publications from around the world. My new heroes included: Tanzania's President Nyerere; Ghana's Nkrumah; Congo's late Patrice Lumumba; Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo; Guinea's Amilcar Cabral; Mozambique's Samora Machel; Angola's Agostino Neto; and of the then-incarcerated South African global icon Nelson Mandela.

Tanzania was home to liberation movements still fighting for independence in African countries still under European rule.

I read magazines, newspapers and books at the United States Information Services (USIS) and the British Council Library. I learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and "The Autobiography of Malcolm X."

There were no Black comic superheroes -- it did help that the Pan-African fighters for liberation were real-life superheroes. I prayed for them to crush Ian Smith in what was then Rhodesia and the racist regime in South Africa.

But young people need superheroes in comics as well. The closest such superhero was Lance Spearman, a crime-fighting Black detective in a South African produced picture-book. I was no longer satisfied with Ian Flemming's James Bond. So at the age of 12, I wrote my first novel about a Tanzanian super-spy. I don't know whatever became of that manuscript.

When Amin was overthrown in 1979 my family returned to Uganda and I came to the U.S. the following year. Later, Black Panther became my hero. I read the recent series by Ta-Nehisi Coates. I can totally relate to the euphoria of T'Challa coming to the Big Screen. The potential impact on Black youth --all youth actually because it's good for Whites to also imagine and accept Black superheroes-- can't be underestimated. Especially in the United States where Black boys are so demonized.

Let me now discuss the major beef I have with Black Panther that I declared upfront.

The storyline about a CIA agent becoming a hero by fighting on behalf of T'Challa and the people of Wakanda is blasphemous to all Pan-Africans. It's outrageously insensitive. It's abhorrent.

How is it possible for the director, Ryan Coogler, to permit this storyline even in a film about a fictitious African country given what the CIA did to some of Africa's heroes, real life T'Challas such as Lumumba, Nkrumah and Mandela?

Congo's combined mineral riches is estimated at $27 trillion--that's one African country alone. Congo has what amounts to vibranium--in the form of rich deposits of uranium, gold, diamond, copper, cobalt, and coltan; the latter is used in all cell phones and other electronic products.

Just as with Wakanda the outside world has always coveted Congo's riches.

In the 19th century King Leopold of the Belgians seized Congo and murdered 10 million Africans while plundering the resources. At the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 when European powers partitioned Africa in a meeting not attended by a single African the maniacal Belgian king declared his eagerness to get a slice of the "magnificant African cake."

When Congo won its independence from Belgium in 1960, Lumumba became Prime Minister. All he wanted was for Congo to get a fairer slice of the profits from exports of its riches. The CIA worked with the Belgians to have him deposed in three months. The following year he was murdered and the notorious thief and dictator Mobutu was installed in power and supported by the U.S. for 37 years.

Did Coogler not see Raoul Peck's "Lumumba" the compelling movie about his brutal murder, and the destruction of Congo and of Africa's hopes? Lumumba was a spell-binding human being. When Dave Chappelle's mother Dr. Yvonne Seon heard him speak in Harlem in 1960 when she was only 22 --yes, the Dave Chappelle of comic fame-- she volunteered and went to work in Congo. She left soon after Lumumba's murder.

(Tragically today Congo is still exploited for its riches, including coltan. In recent years as many as 6 million Congolese have been murdered. Western corporations no longer need European colonial governors or armies. They use neo-colonial leaders --Nkrumah warned of sell-outs such as these in "Neo-Colonialism The Last Stage of Imperialism"-- like Gen. Yoweri Museveni and Gen. Paul Kagame in neighboring Uganda and Rwanda, respectively. These two basically rent their armies to invade and plunder; they and some Western multi-nationals are beneficiaries of the loot).

One of Lumumba's mentors was Kwame Nkrumah who led Ghana to become one of Africa's first countries to win independence from Britain in 1957. During Ghana's independence celebration he declared: "Today, from now on, there is a new African in the world! Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa. That new African is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs." Indeed it was Nkrumah's passion to help liberate the other African countries from colonial rule that contributed to his demise. He also tried to industrialize Ghana --this is the only way for Africa to break dependency from the West and to create prosperity. Nkrumah also was overthrown in 1966 with the involvement of the CIA.

An African hero whom many consider to be Africa's T'Challa of T'Challas, Nelson Mandela, was also a victim of the CIA.  In 1962, it was the U.S. spy agency that provided the South African intelligence services a tip about Mandela's hideout when he was underground and fighting the racist regime; this led to his arrest and later trial, conviction and 27 years incarceration. Who knows, with Mandela actively involved in the struggle from outside apartheid may have collapsed earlier.

If these African giants --Lumumba, Nkrumah, and Mandela-- were alive today, what do you imagine they would think about a film that transforms a CIA agent into a hero on behalf of Wakanda an African nation, albeit imagined, of high science, technological achievement and wealth?

I now close out my commentary on Black Panther on an uplifting note-- about a real story that deserves a movie (and yes, I've been working on a script for the last few months).

Wakanda takes great pride in its independence and for having never been conquered. In Africa, the real life version of Wakanda was Ethiopia, also referred to as Abyssinia before the 20th century.

When Italy invaded Ethiopia with an army of 17,000 commanded by five Italian generals it was defeated within a matter of hours during the great Battle of Adwa on March 1, 1896.

A real life Black Pantheress, Empress Taytu Betul, carrying a sword and rifle, personally commanded an army of 6,000 men and fought for her beloved country.  Her husband, Emperor Menelik II, commanded even much larger armies, together with other Ethiopian generals such as Ras Alula Aba Nega --referred to admiringly because of his skills by contemporary European writers as "Africa's Garibaldi" after the legendary general who played a key role in Italy's reunification-- Ras Mikael of Wollo, Ras Mengesha, and Ras Makonen.

While in Rome, before heading to Africa, the Italian commander Gen. Oreste Baratieri promised to return with Menelik II in a cage.

But When the dust settled Empress Taytu and Emperor Menelik and their Grand Army were leading about 2,000 captured Italian soldiers as prisoners of war. They were forced to march on foot more than 350 miles back to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa --"little flower"-- which had been founded by Taytu herself.

On the battleground Taytu and Menelik left more than 7,000 dead enemy soldiers, including 2,918 Italian non-commissioned officers and men and 261 Italian officers. Two Italian generals, Giuseppe Ellena and Giuseppe Arimondi, were killed and another one, Matteo Albertone was captured. Gen. Baratieri fled with his surviving troops and generals. Baratieri himself was later tried for "cowardice" by a court-martial.

The Ethiopians captured 56 artillery pieces and 11,000 rifles.

Thousands of Eritreans who fought for Italy --which had colonized Eritrea-- were also killed. Many of the captured 800 Eritreans were subjected to severe punishment: they had their right hand and left foot amputated. There were even some reports that  some defeated Italian soldiers were castrated. Other accounts suggest that rumors of such punishment were enough to scare Italian soldiers into throwing down their weapons and fleeing.

As Italian prisoners entered Addis Ababa, Ethiopian women lining the streets jeered at them and spit on them for daring to invade their country to kill their sons, brothers, and husbands.

Some prisoners were forced to work like slaves, building Addis Ababa --yes, the tables were turned-- for more than one year. Finally, they were released after Ethiopia and Italy signed the Treaty of Addis Ababa and Rome paid several millions of dollars as reparations.

As a result of the Adwa victory Ethiopia was never colonized.

This African victory over imperialism can inform any sequel to Black Panther. It's a story that all Africans including Diaspora must know.
 

Allimadi publishes The Black Star News and teaches African History at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He's revising the second edition of his book The Hearts of Darkness, How White Writers Created the Racist Image of Africa. He's also writing a graphic book (maybe call it "Real Wakanda--Ethiopia's and Africa's Triumph"?) about The Battle of Adwa and Empress Taytu's brilliant role.

The book will be illustrated by his 12 year old niece Alysa Allimadi. Please visit the GoFundMe page and support this graphic book project. https://www.gofundme.com/53mn2-real-wakandaethiopians-crush-italy

Black Panther -- T'Challa

[King’s English]

Black Panther’s “parent” company, Disney gets credit, not congratulations!

After all is said and done, Black Panther will make goo-gobs of money. Already, domestically, it boasts $192 million in North American alone over its opening weekend.  With an all-Black cast, save a few token whites, how's that for reverse affirmative action, and a Black director, Ryan Coogler at the helm, there is much to celebrate with this latest soon-to-be franchised by Disney / Marvel. There will be more behind-scene people of color to hire such as production director, Hannah Beachler; costume designer, Ruth E. Carter; co-writer, Joe Robert Cole; Executive Producer, Nate Moore; Hairstylist, Camille Friend; and Jewelry Artist, Douriean Fletcher.

Much praise and celebration indeed. I just fall short of passing on that congratulations to Disney as several of my friends have. I'll give them credit, but not praise. Disney can get end-roll credit such as when viewing movie’s end.  Equipment by Panavision. Distributed by Disney. Fade black.

My comic book friends gave Disney praise for not stereotyping fictional Africa, although Wakanda's marketplace did look awfully crude and dusty for a place touted as the most technologically advanced civilization on the planet! But no biggie. I knew my people moreso meant in the realm of something like not having T'Challa, the Black Panther and thus hero cast as a light-skinned Black Panther, meanwhile, Erik Killmonger, the villain (though really hero) would have been as dark as the glamorous panther suit itself. You know those historical coloration games Hollywood loves to play.  Although they played a different type race game this time round: Segregating the African-Wakandans, while defecating on African-Americans in general and its revolutionary spirit in particular.  No shade to the screenwriter Ryan Coogler.  He was only following the comic book’s storyline as written by its white creators over at Marvel Comics.

But my friends did point out at least Disney didn’t pull that tired ol’ trope they often do when making a so-called "Black" movie.  You know.  Having it told from a white person's perspective. #CryFreedom. #LastKingOfScotland. #Amistad. #Glory.  Surely, they deserve praise for not doing that.

Well, I typically don’t praise the studios when they produce all-white universes as created by Woody Allen or Martin Scorsese. Typically, I'm very tolerant and above average with my willing suspension of disbelief. So, when I see an all-Black School Daze, or an all-Black Wakanda, or an all-white Annie Hall or Lord of the Rings, it’s all good. Movie studio stay out the way, let auteurs be auteurs, and just claim your end-credits.

Now, had Disney said, "Wow, a $192 million opening weekend! With much of the credit going to the Black community. Wouldn’t it be cool to send them a thank you card with a donated check to a community cultural center?  Or scholarships, or perhaps, in the spirit of technologically advanced Wakanda, computers or technological equipment for their too many under-served public schools.  After all, they themselves don't really practice Ujamaa and build back another Black Wall Street or movie studio and do this Ujima themselves, so, why not us?”

But one friend said Disney doesn't owe us anything. They made a movie. We paid to see it. End of story. He said that my request is tantamount to begging. But I wasn't exactly begging. Not even really asking.  Moreso, just speaking aloud about how much good business sense and practice it would be for a conglomerate to give back to that which so led to its riches. I guess.  That is if such a conglomerate can't claim its assets due to a rich history of exploiting and marginalizing, using and stealing from, stagnating and disrespecting entire races of people on its way towards conglomeration.  You know, nothing like the United States of America owning its dominance to any particular people it may have exploited, exterminated, used or maybe enslaved during its rise towards supremacy.  Surely, Disney is not in that category, thus they owe the Black community nothing.

Well, I'm familiar with Fantasia, the 1940 Disney original release with the little pick-a-ninny haired and dark-skinned centaur playing servant to all the larger, white with blond hair centaurs. And how about 1941's Dumbo with the jive-talking, lazy and dim-witted crows and its crow leader named Jim Crow. And, as to not think this only a yesteryear thing, how about 1967's Jungle Book.  Again, negro inspired, jive-talking and lazy and dumb caricatured animals.  This time anthropomorphizing monkeys and apes.  And even more recently, 2011's The Princess and the Frog, with Disney's first Black princess, Disney bent over backwards to keep Tiana’s prince from looking anything like King T’Challa of Wakanda. Tiana’s prince charming had to be the most racially ambiguous royal I've ever seen.  As if too much to have an obvious Black king and queen in cartoon lore and love.

Maybe Black Panther’s parent company, Disney doesn't owe anything financial to the Black community. They’re just the parent company, not the Black community’s actual parent.  After all, Disney is in the business of making money, not charity. But, then, as I recall their 1946 production of Songs of the South and Uncle "Zippity-doo-daa" Remus, no, they may not owe the Black community anything financial, but they sure as shit do owe us one hell of an apology. Yeah. For those shenanigans they get full credit, and, once again, no congratulations.  

Sierra Leoneans will once again line up to vote back home. File Photo: UN

President Trump’s insulting remarks about Africans who immigrate to the United States prompted us to share our experiences on that subject.

We bring an unusual perspective to the topic.  We are both native-born Americans – from Oklahoma and New York respectively — but we served in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone in the 1960s and 1970s, and both of us have maintained a close relationship with that country ever since.

The Sierra Leone Government has presented each of us with Sierra Leone citizenship and national awards in recognition of our service. We have done groundbreaking research on Sierra Leone’s history.  One of us identified the “Gullah Connection” to Sierra Leone, while the other discovered the only existing photograph of Bai Bureh. We have also contributed to national development, as one of us helped establish the Campaign for Good Governance, Sierra Leone’s most successful human rights NGO, and the other served as an elections monitor during the historic general election in 1996.

We both hold Sierra Leone in high regard.  That country has gone through some terrible experiences since Independence in 1961, including the hugely destructive “rebel war” and the deadly Ebola epidemic, but we believe it has inner strengths that will ultimately lead to a bright future.

We have moved freely in Sierra Leone immigrant circles in the US for over 40 years, and witnessed the progress of African immigrants up-close in a way that few Americans have. Although Sierra Leoneans come from one of Africa’s poorest and most war-torn nations, we have seen that those fortunate enough to come here behave like every other immigrant group in American history.  They are thankful for the opportunities they find here, and they work hard to take advantage of them.  They regard their US passports and green cards as priceless possessions.

Many arrive with college degrees since Sierra Leone boasts the oldest university in Sub-Saharan Africa, and using that platform, they earn higher degrees here in the United States. One young man working on his MA in Public Health recently told one of us that, “You can accomplish anything you want in this country if you work hard enough. You just have to manage your time correctly.” He was explaining how he gets by while working three jobs, taking classes, and doing the required reading and research at the same time. When asked when he sleeps, he just shrugged his shoulders.  We should add that many children of these educated Sierra Leonean immigrants have become professionals -- including doctors, lawyers, and engineers.

But working class immigrants also do well.  We know one man who came to the US thirty years ago with almost no formal education.  He took a factory job when he first came, and so impressed his bosses with his work ethic over the years, that they promoted him again and again until he became a foreman.  He proudly showed us the large suburban home he built for his family, and the four cars and a boat parked in the driveway.  His English was still a bit rough, if understandable, but his children were all in college studying to be professionals. He and his family were living the American Dream.

Like previous waves of immigrants, many Sierra Leoneans specialized in a particular line of work in the early days of their residence in America.  One thinks of the Irish serving as policemen or the Italians working as street vendors. In the case of Sierra Leoneans many did hospice work, and their loving care for elderly and dying people became legendary in the Washington, DC area in the 1990s. Few knew that they were drawing on the profound respect for elders ingrained in their African culture.

We can say in all truthfulness that we have never met a Sierra Leonean immigrant to the US who failed to find his economic footing. Like previous waves of immigrants, Sierra Leoneans are intoxicated with the opportunities they find here.  But there is also an element of shame.  Anyone who doesn’t work hard would have to face the ridicule of other Sierra Leonean immigrants. There is so much economic opportunity here that anyone who fails to take advantage of it would be regarded as a fool.

Like earlier immigrants, Sierra Leoneans also feel strongly patriotic about their adopted land. Social events in the Sierra Leone community always begin with the singing of the national anthems of both Sierra Leone and the United States. Many Sierra Leoneans serve in the armed forces.  One petite young woman just 18 years old eagerly joined the Marines soon after arriving in the US.  When asked if basic training at the famously tough Parris Island Marine base in South Carolina was challenging for her, she laughed, and pointed out that it wasn’t difficult at all compared to growing up in a rural village in Africa where, from her earliest childhood, she had to work hard on her family’s farm.

Sierra Leoneans also gladly embrace our national myths. One of us went to a Thanksgiving dinner organized by several families that attend the same church, and was surprised to see two separate tables — one set with traditional African foods for the adults, and the other with American Thanksgiving fare for the children. When their preacher stood up to lead the prayer before dinner, he spoke to the children, reminding them of the first Thanksgiving, emphasizing the blessings of America, and telling them that hard work and faith in God allow us to overcome even the most daunting challenges.

When we reflect on President Trump’s obscene remarks about African countries, we are struck by his ignorance of a profoundly important fact:  the United States owes its greatness in large measure to the millions of deeply distressed people who came here fleeing poverty, war, and oppression.  New immigrants gaining refuge here from terrible situations typically never lose their gratitude for what this country gave them, and they convey that gratitude to their children.  Immigrants from “shit hole” situations have renewed this country generation after generation with new love for America.  So, an immigration policy focused primarily on “merit-based” criteria, or high levels of education, as Trump would have it, is contrary to the American spirit. The US should not close its borders completely from victims of political and religious  persecution  and extreme poverty from other countries.

In recent days, many have said that President Trump’s reference to “shit hole” countries in Africa reflects a racist point of view.  That is obviously true.  Based on our experience, though, we believe that Trump exhibits a particular type of racism. He assumes that Black people cannot respond to this country’s welcoming arms in the same way that White immigrants do.  He doesn’t think they can embrace our nation’s values and opportunities, work hard, abide by our laws, pay taxes, vote with pride, and love this country and pass that love to their children. The American Founding Fathers believed that they were creating a way of life that would eventually uplift the whole human race. Trump’s obscenities do not just reflect racial prejudice, then, they also reflect a lack of faith in the American Dream, itself.

Speaking to our fellow Sierra Leoneans, we can only apologize for the deeply insulting words spoken by the president of our native country. His words are particularly disturbing as Sierra Leone is one of the most pro-American nations in the world, and during the many years we lived and worked there, we never heard a single hateful word about the US.  Sierra Leoneans have always admired America’s democratic system, rule of law, and free speech, and aspired to be like America in those respects.

But Sierra Leoneans’ admiration for the US sometimes goes too far.  The US is far from perfect, of course, and even great nations have their testing times.  Americans have elected a man with racist and authoritarian instincts who encourages the most brutal elements in our society, including Nazis and the KKK, and who bullies every institution of governmental and civil society that stands in his way.  We believe that our best citizens and our strong institutions will eventually prevail. 

But in the meantime, America needs her friends to stand by her. We assure Sierra Leoneans that the US will eventually become, once again, a country that newly emerging nations can look to as a positive role model.

Joseph Opala, Harrisonburg, Virginia: Opala is an historian and human rights activist.  He lectured at Sierra Leone’s Fourah Bay College from 1986 to 1992, and at James Madison University in Virginia from 1999 to 2010. He co-founded Sierra Leone’s Campaign for Good Governance.

Gary Schulze, New York, New York: Schulze is a retired transportation security executive in the New York City Government. He is an editor of the Journal of Sierra Leone Studies, and served as a UN Election Observer during Sierra Leone’s historic 1996 general elections.

Reprinted from Cocorioko

Mwalimu Tahakabar

Revolutionary songs of freedom have for years been echoing from every corner of Uganda, a fact that clearly makes one think that the country is ripe for a revolutionary political overhaul.

Revolutions have occurred in other African countries even while we cheer. Maybe God isn't yet happy with us to see the change we need.

Why else would he hand us dictatorship under one man's rule for 32 years?

Why would God make His own struggle and suffer this way for ages?

The country has no proper sewage system in major towns, it lacks a functioning educational system, the salaries for the number one profession--teachers--are miserable and laughable, the railway system are dilapidated, and the police force does not function.

Corruption is so acute that even money sent by the international community for refugees was stolen earning the country a deserved spot on the list of the most corrupt.

Due to lawlessness citizens can't walk freely with money before they're lynched and burnt to ashes by thugs as happened with the former Case Clinic employee. Poor healthcare --a number of health centers and hospitals can't treat even simple fever for lack of supplies-means mothers give birth by the road side. Dictator Yoweri Museveni has taken us back to the 19th century.

Why would God do that to his own ?

Why would God give Uganda the youngest population in the world --with more than 77% younger than 30 years old-- then allow 82% to be unemployed?

One would think that with a young population Uganda should be blessed with enough human resource to make things turn around and bail the country out of poverty.

But is it really God's fault that we find ourselves in these conditions? Isn't it true that God helps those who help themselves?

On several occasions, the youth have been used as political stooges, political barricades, and political spinners of bad policies by bad leaders that have held this nation into captivity. Youth have been seen on the front lines drumming for bad policies that even endanger their own existence.

Most Politicians in Uganda know they can manipulate the youth allover the country--in Kampala, Mbarara, Mbale, Jinja, Kabale, FortPortal--to do their bidding with money.

Basically most of the youth in Uganda unlike in other countries are unpatriotic. Yes survival is tough. Yey asking for money from every politician is equivalent to putting their own country of birth up for sale. The highest bidder takes it all. That's why we are stuck with unprincipled politicians in Parliament. Last year Parliament lifted the age ceiling so one man, Yoweri Museveni, can continue destroying Uganda--making conditions miserable for all except corrupt rich elite including many Members of Parliament.

What is the price for selling our soul?

Politicians take a handful of youth to posh hotels, serve them good food and drinks. Next you'll see are selfie photos of these youth posing with captions of "At Serena taking lunch" , "Speke Resort chilling with my buddies." Then the politicians will put a few shillings in their pockets and there are no more thoughts of Revolutionary change in their minds. The politicians get this little investment back by embezzling state funds.

Some youth will be seen ranting on social media about how they've been forgotten by these politicians. What did you expect after you sold your soul to the devil? As Professor PLO Lumumba says in his speeches--we have placed the goats to be taken care of by hyenas and when the goats are consumed we wonder why.

Every nation is liberated by its young population. Dictator Museveni himself, Dr. Kiiza Besigye, the late Andrew Kayira, the late Aronda Nyakairima, all engaged in some struggle when they were between the ages of 20-45.

Revolutions are led by the young who have something to lose and look forward to gaining something better; not by men in their evening hours waiting for pension.

The youth in Uganda must come out of sleep and be the face of the Revolution they want to see in Uganda. Reject cheap tokens from politicians. Avoid those closed door pathetic meetings with politicians. Stop using your social media pages for posting what you ate yesterday. Use them to rally many more young people to understand the urgency of freedom. Now or Never!

You have no one but yourselves if you betray the nation if you don't seize the moment.

The writer is a young political activist

tahakis77@gmail.com

Wayne La Pierre. Photo: Gage Skidmore-Flickr

It took NRA CEO Wayne La Pierre a week to respond to the Valentine’s Day School massacre which took the lives of 17 high school students and personnel, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Florida.

La Pierre’s message of madness is one we’ve heard before: we need more guns—not less—to stop gun violence.

If La Pierre were right, wouldn’t America have less gun violence already, since there are approximately 300 million guns floating around in America—a figure that is higher per capita than any nation in the world?

During an unhinged speech, devoid of reality, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC, La Pierre’s main message in the aftermath of this latest episode of mass murder was to tell America that: "To stop a bad guy with a gun, it takes a good guy with a gun." Reportedly, there was one “good guy” with a gun, Deputy Scot Peterson—and he failed to stop the “bad guy with the gun.”

Echoing President Trump, La Pierre position is: if we flood schools with more guns we will magically have safer schools. Apparently, like Trump, La Pierre thinks what we need is more shootouts—cowboy, O.K. Corral style—to stop school shooters. The weird reasoning here is: we need more gun violence, to eradicate gun violence.

Should we be surprised to hear insanely asinine logic like this from those who represent the manufacturing merchants of death in the gun-making, and military war-profiteering industries?

Fearmongering and warmongering—not peace—is how these folks make money. Unfortunately, for the NRA, and their political lackeys, La Pierre’s claim is undercut by the big business success of gun manufacturers in selling their killing machines to regular Americans.

According to the Congressional Research Service, in 2009, there were more than 300 million guns in America—a figure that approximates the slightly over 300 million people in America. That number must have gone way up by now.

America, per capita, is the most armed nation in the world. The nearest Western nations are France and Canada, coming in ninth and tenth, respectively. France has 31.2 guns per 100 people. Canada has 30.8 guns for every 100 people. This Congressional Research Service analysis found that America has 101 guns for every 100 persons.

Going by the NRA leader's logic and the prevalence of guns here, shouldn’t America have much less mass shootings than other countries, instead of more?

During President Trump’s “listening session,” he promoted the idiocy of arming teachers. According to him, having more teachers with weapons will positively change the deadly consequences of school shootings. Conveniently, for the NRA, and gun manufacturers, this notion will increase, not decrease, gun sales.

Isn’t profit really the only thing these immoral people care about?

The brave bright students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School clearly see through the fallacy in this arming-teachers argument. Several of them, have pointed out the awful outcomes that would likely occur. In a scenario, where both gunman and teacher are armed—and exchanging gunfire—how many panicked people would know who the “bad guy” is? What happens when the teacher is mistakenly shot, because they were presumed to be the gunman—which would surely happen in cases where the armed teacher is a Black person?

The clear-headed thinking and activist-mindset of these students has Republicans, and their NRA donor-daddies, fearful—especially, with the now emerging Never Again Movement. Several corporate companies have already cut ties with the NRA. They include: Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Best Western, Wyndham Hotels, Hertz, MetLife Inc, Enterprise Car Rental, Avis, and Symantec Corp, among others.

Isn’t this why Mr. La Pierre complained about a “new socialist wave,” that is supposedly attempting “the systematic destruction of our most basic freedoms?” What about accountability after gun massacres?

The only freedom La Pierre cares about is his freedom to become superrich off the selling of guns that were made to do one thing: kill many people quickly. Republicans by the actions, and inactions, show us they care little about all the innocent people who are killed by guns in America.

According to Everytownresearch.org, on average there are 13,000-gun homicides every year in America. Daily, 96 Americans are killed by guns. This means guns are involved in more than 34,000 deaths annually in the U.S.

Monthly, 50 women are shot to death by an intimate partner; and, although Blacks represents a mere 12 percent of America’s population, they are 13 times more likely than Whites to be killed by guns.

In a transparent attempt to deflect from speaking about the glaring need for gun-control NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch said: “I am saying that you [media] love the ratings. Crying White mothers are ratings gold. … And notice that I said ‘crying White mothers’ because there are thousands of grieving Black mothers in Chicago every weekend. Where’s the CNN town hall for Chicago?”

Is Loesch trying to pretend she cares about “grieving Black mothers,” who have lost children to gun violence?

Let’s recall, Loesch is the same person who made an incendiary video saying, in part, “they use their ex-president to endorse the resistance. All to make them march, make them protest, make them scream racism and sexism and xenophobia and homophobia and smash windows, burn cars, shut down interstates and airports, bully and terrorize the law abiding — until the only option left is for police to do their jobs and stop the madness.”

A big part of Loesch’s racist rant here was complaining about activists, like those in Black Lives Matter, who have mobilized against racist police violence. Wasn’t she endorsing police violence against peaceful protesters? Why did she find it necessary to call President Barack Obama “their ex-president?”

Truthfully though, much of White America—including many mainstream media—don’t give a damn about dead Black Americans. White America’s collective silence when killer-cops kill Black people speaks volumes.

The Second Amendment was a tool initially instituted to maintain Slavery and Black oppression—not to bestow individual gun rights. Americans who think the Second Amendment was meant to grant individual gun rights, should answer this question: why is the word people in the Second Amendment not capitalized—while the words Arms, Militia and State are?

Now, if Loesch cares so much about “grieving Black mothers in Chicago,” why didn’t she speak out for Laquan McDonnell’s mother and family—who witnessed his gruesome murder on video? Why didn’t she speak up for licensed gun-owner Philando Castile’s mother after he was unjustly killed?

Ms. Loesch probably cares less about dead Black kids than most White Americans. She represents those whose interests are, singularly, to make money by creating efficient killing technology. Are we to trust corrupt charlatans like her, and other NRA Republican cronies, who get their pockets stuffed with NRA blood money? She is playing the race card to preserve blood money.

According to opensecrets.org, the top ten receivers, in the Senate, of NRA contributions—who are all Republicans are: (1) Arizona Senator John McCain $7,740,521 (2) North Carolina Senator Richard Burr $6,986,931 (3) Missouri Senator Roy Blount $4,551,146 (4) North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis $4,418,012 (5) Colorado Senator Cory Gardner $3,879,064 (6) Florida Senator Marco Rubio 3,303,355 (7) Iowa Senator Joni Ernst $3,124,273 (8) Ohio Senator Rob Portman $3,061,941 (9) Indiana Senator Todd Young $2,896,732 and (10) Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy $2,861,047.

The NRA spent $30 million to elect Trump. Is there any wonder why he wants to arm teachers?

Reportedly, in the 2016 election cycle, the NRA and other gun right entities spent around $54 million to support Republicans. Isn’t the deafening silence we hear for Republicans due to these blood money bribes? Why haven’t we heard from Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, or, House Speaker Paul Ryan?

The only contemporary mainstream politician I have heard speak with brutal honesty on gun violence is Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy. On MSNBC’s “All In” show, with Chris Hayes, Governor Malloy recently said, “We are a gun and violence culture, and we need to get away from that.”

Amen.

Identity theft is global. Millions of Americans have their identities stolen each year.

Thieves get a hold of your social security number, date of birth, or I.D. and they begin opening up accounts in your name. Your unaware until you begin receiving calls from creditors, or debt collectors saying that you owe outrageous amounts of money or about products and services you didn't purchase.

The most famous, widely publicized identity theft case was about a California woman named Michele Brown who in 1998, had her social security number stolen from a rental application she filled out, by a woman who worked at the rental company. The woman who was a long time felon, ultimately ran up $50,000 worth of merchandise, products, and services in Michel Brown's name. Michele Brown went through trauma trying to clear her name from the mess the thief had made.

Michele Brown was even arrested for a crime the other woman had committed in her name. Michele Brown spent years trying to restore her name and on July 12, 2000 she appeared before the US Senate Committee Hearing on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology Terrorism and Government Information to speak of her gruesome experience as a victim of identity theft and encouraged them to change and strengthen laws to protect identity theft victims.

So You ask, What Can I do To Protect Myself? What are the signs of identity theft?

1. New accounts that you do not recognize appear on your credit report: Most identity thieves will try to open new accounts, such as a credit card, in your name. When this happens, your credit report reflects that a new "account" was opened. Check your credit report on a regular basis so that you can see if there are any unrecognizable accounts that were opened in your name. You are entitled to one free credit report each year from www.annualcreditreport.com.

If you pull your free annual reports you should carefully review the Names, addresses, and social security numbers that are associated with the file. Many times, the identity theif will apply for credit using your name and social security number, and will supply their address. In this way, credit cards, utilities, and even loans can be opened, and all of the mailings associated with the new account will go to the thief’s address.

2. There are unexplained withdrawals and charges on your banking, or credit card statements.

Identity thieves can tap into your current banking and credit card accounts by taking money from your bank account or by making a purchase with your credit card. All they have to do is call the bank and request online access by using your identity information such as your birthdate, social security number, and mother’s maiden name.

Many times, the identity thief is someone we know or are even related to. To avoid this type of identity theft, read through your statements carefully each month and call your bank or credit card company if there are questionable withdrawals or purchases. The more often you look at your financial statements, the better the chances are that you’ll notice unauthorized charges or fraudulent activity.

3. You haven't received your bills, statements or other important mail in a long time.

Identity thieves sometimes call your bank, Credit Card Company or lender to change your mailing address. This allows them to run up charges without you noticing for a while since you are not receiving statements in the mail.

4. You've received calls from debt collection agencies about products or services you didn't buy.

Thieves can use your personal information to apply for loans or a credit card in your name. This usually leads to unpaid bills that a debt collection agency will try to collect from you.

If you determine you are a victim of identity theft, you should:

Step 1: Immediately contact the three credit reporting bureaus:

Ask them to place an Initial Fraud Alert on your credit report.

An initial fraud alert can make it harder for an identity thief to open more accounts in your name. When you have an alert on your report, a business must verify your identity before it issues credit, so it may try to contact you. The initial alert stays on your report for at least 90 days. You can renew it after 90 days. It allows you to order one free copy of your credit report from each of the three credit reporting companies.

Step 2: File appropriate Identity Theft Reports with Law Enforcement, Postal Service, and the Federal Trade Commission.

Appropriately filed reports with the FTC, Law Enforcement, and the United States Postal Service will allow you to receive important benefits associated with having the erroneous information “blocked” from your credit file. These appropriately filed reports also entitle you to receive a free Security Freeze, which will limit the availability of your credit reports and will stop the thief from gaining new accounts in your name.

The benefits of doing an appropriate Identity Theft Report are:

• You can get fraudulent information removed from your credit report.

• stop a company from collecting debts that result from identity theft, or from selling the debt to another company for collection.

• place an extended fraud alert on your credit report.

• get information from companies about accounts the identity thief opened or misused.

Credit Corrector Solutions Can Assist consumers with credit issues like this. Contact Us Today at 1-877-335-8865 or fill out our consultation form

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Gunman Nicolas Cruz. NBC news screenshot

Violence against children. For many people the words alone are unthinkable—the absolute worst of what humans are capable of doing. The school shooting in Parkland, Florida is a stark reminder of the violence that stalks our children in their schools, homes, places of worship, streets, and communities every day.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students’ brave and inspiring response has reminded us all that adults must take action now to protect our children. The politicians and powerful gun industry lobbyists who are stonewalling reforms and now criticizing and seeking to silence young voices are absolutely shameful. Today our children are leading and we should follow them as it is their lives that are at risk. Tomorrow they will be voters and the elected officials we need to move us forward and we must act now.

Pervasive gun violence against children is a uniquely shameful all-American epidemic. Consider that since 1963, over three times more children and teens died from guns on American soil than U.S. soldiers were killed by hostilities in wars abroad. On average 3,426 children and teens – 171 classrooms of 20 children – were killed by guns every year from 1963 to 2016. And gun violence comes on top of other major threats of global violence that threaten our children.

The new book Violence Against Children: Making Human Rights Real, edited by longtime scholar and advocate Gertrud Lenzer with contributions from authors in many fields, looks at global violence against children in many forms and what we can do to stop it. The book’s foreword is by Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, the independent expert for the United Nations Secretary-General’s landmark Study on Violence against Children. It begins: “The UN Study on Violence against Children revealed how millions of children almost everywhere have been left behind in their recognition as rights holders and in their protection from violence. It revealed how the history of violence against children is a history of silence. Since the UN Study was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2006, important developments have been achieved . . . [yet] today more than 1 billion children around the world continue to suffer multiple forms of violence in the home and family, in schools, in care and justice institutions, in workplaces, in the community and in cyberspace. The international community cannot remain silent and passive; it is time to stop the history of silence and impunity that surrounds violence against children.”

Dr. Lenzer’s Violence Against Children is another call to action shattering that silence. A comprehensive global overview on all forms of violence against children and its prevention, this book is on not just physical violence but structural violence. Both hit close to home for millions of American children. Along with physical abuse, sexual abuse, and gun violence, the assaults of child poverty, homelessness, the structural deficiencies of foster care and our juvenile justice systems, the Cradle to Prison Pipeline® crisis, and youth prisons are all pervasive forms of violence against children. Never has there been such a great need in our own nation to protect children from the growing hate and harms facing them.

I was grateful to be able to contribute a chapter to this new book on the violence of child poverty. Coretta Scott King once said, “I must remind you that starving a child is violence.” Child poverty is one of the strongest predictors of poor outcomes in children. It hurts children physically, emotionally, and socially and leaves scars that often last a lifetime. Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to be hungry, to experience homelessness, unstable or dangerous housing, to live in a violent neighborhood, to have unmet health needs, and to attend a low-performing and often an unequally funded school.

All these substantially affect their abilities to emerge from childhood ready and able to succeed in life. As the Children’s Defense Fund just outlined in our The State of America’s Children 2017 report, in the United States—the world’s largest economy—there are more than 13.2 million poor children, 6 million of whom are extremely poor. A child in the U.S. has nearly a one in five chance of being poor, and the younger she is the poorer she is likely to be. This is a national moral disgrace.

The entire second section of the book is devoted to violence against children in the United States. Dr. Lenzer writes, “According to the 2012 Report of the Attorney General’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence, violence experienced by children in the U.S. had taken on epidemic proportions. The report summarizes: ‘Exposure to violence is a national crisis that affects approximately two out of every three of our children. . . .Whether the violence occurs in children’s homes, neighborhoods, schools, playgrounds or playing fields, locker rooms, places of worship, shelters, streets, or in juvenile detention centers, the exposure of children to violence is a uniquely traumatic experience that has the potential to profoundly derail the child’s security, health, happiness, and ability to grow and learn—with effects lasting well into adulthood.’” We are helped to understand that every assault on children’s well-being – I would add, including our leaders’ current refusal to put children’s lives first ahead of gun owners’ dangerous unregulated weapons of death – has lasting effects.

Other chapters in Violence Against Children describe child exploitation, the effects of adversity on neurodevelopment, the global movement to end corporal punishment, violence against children in other regions of the world, and proven public health approaches to prevention. This volume confirms the United Nations study’s conclusion that all violence against children is non-justifiable, preventable, and all sectors of society have not just a role to play but a responsibility for doing their part to prevent and eradicate it.

Violence Against Children’s foreword reminds us: “We are all connected. Violence against one child affects the entire human family. No child should be left behind.” Silence and inaction in the face of child suffering must never be continued or an option and must be stopped by every possible means. We have too frequent shameful and heartbreaking reminders in the United States that we must make this message heard and act on it. And now is the time to protect children not guns.



Marian Wright Edelman is President of the Children's Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.

For more information go to www.childrensdefense.org



 

Menelik in 1888 photo. From Raymond Jones'"The Battle of Adwa, African Victory In the Age of Empire"

This is my tribute to the Sheroes and Heroes of Adwa. The Great African victory by Ethiopia over Italian imperialism on March 1, 1896. This week marks the 122 years anniversary of the victory over European arrogance and racism. The following material is from chapter seven of my book "The Hearts of Darkness, How White Writers Created the Racist Image of Africa." (The revised, corrected, second edition will be published in May 2018).

The narrative of European military invincibility was again disrupted by Ethiopia's spectacular victory over Italy at the great Battle of Adwa in 1896.

A huge Ethiopian army under the command of Emperor Menelik II, Empress Taytu Betul, and a host of Ethiopian princes annihilated an army of 17,000-strong commanded by five Italian generals and other senior officers. The heavily equipped Italian army included thousands of Eritrean fighters; Eritrea was then under Italian control. What led the two nations to the battlefield was Italian treachery. Italy had concluded the Treaty of Wuchale, or Uccialli as the Italians spelled it, with Emperor Menelik in 1889. The treaty gave Menelik the "option" to use Italy as an intermediary in dealings with other European powers. However, the Italian version of the treaty's article XVII — unlike the one in Amharic that Menelik retained—actually made Ethiopia an Italian protectorate. When Menelik discovered the deceit, he rejected the agreement. The result was inevitable war. Menelik was a wise ruler and also had the counsel of his remarkable wife, Empress Taytu Betul. The Emperor remembered how a huge British invasion army led by Gen. Robert Napier, equipped with modern weapons, crushed the Ethiopian emperor Tewodros II's army in 1867. Menelik was not about to repeat the same mistake. He used the next six years to build up his army's arsenal of modern weapons.

The Italians, under Prime Minister Francesco Crispi, were emboldened by earlier victories in the region, as documented in The New York Times. In 1890 Crispi, sent an invasion force that conquered Eritrea and other territory that were also claimed by Ethiopia. On that occasion, The New York Times published a triumphalist account of the war of aggression. "THE ITALIANS IN AFRICA: RESULTS OF A CRISPI'S BRILLIANT POLICY," The Times proclaimed in the headline of a February 2, 1890, article lauding the invasion. "DECLARATION OF A PROTECTORATE OVER KING MENELICK'S DOMAINS—EUROPE'S ASTONISHMENT," the headline concluded. The article was a melodramatic celebration of European imperial assaults on Africa. Italy, according to the Times article, "had achieved triumph upon triumph in Africa," and there had been a surrender by "all the tribes." The Italians had defeated Ras Alula Engida, a renowned general; European writers referred to him as the "Garibaldi of Abyssinia," after Giuseppe Garibaldi the famed general and politician who fought in the many wars leading to the unification of Italy in 1871.

When the Italians occupied Adwa in northern Ethiopia after penetrating the country from Eritrea, the Times February 2, 1890 article claimed "the natives" welcomed them as liberators. "Europe now marvels and perhaps scarcely credits its own eyes. Italy in Adowa!" the Times article continued. "Is it true or is it a dream? Nothing in the world has the power to drive the Italian troops from their central position." Still, the editors must have realized that even at the height of nineteenth century European Imperial conquest of Africa, it was highly hypocritical for a leading newspaper in a "democratic" society to so blatantly endorse brutal, unprovoked aggression—even if the victims were mere "savages," as the Times elsewhere described the Ethiopians.

So the article offered moralistic rationalization to justify the invasion. The Times invoked The White Man's Burden—the alleged duty to civilize the "natives" that European colonizers invariably proclaimed as they seized territory in many parts of Africa. "We could not thus speak, however, if the program of Italy in Africa was one of pure conquest, because exploits exclusively military are in too great opposition to the sentiments of progress, of peace, of work, of companionship, that should form the pivot of modern life," the article claimed. "But instead, we may rejoice in and applaud this conquest of civilization and Christianity over barbarians and savages, over unbelief, over habits of ferocity, over brutal ignorance of every human law, religious, social, and civil."

These assertions were of course hollow, especially with respect to Ethiopia, a country where Christianity became the official religion in 330 A.D. Towards the end of the Times' article celebrating conquest, the true motives behind Italy's aggression finally emerged, in words that succinctly summed up the reasons behind Europe's entire imperial assault on the continent: "The water roads of Africa and the large commercial arteries in the hands of Italy signify that they are also in the hands of the civilized world, which can now introduce, without fear, the benefits of commerce, of exchange, of relations of any and every sort, and in short time, produce the best profits from the immense natural wealth existing there."

The celebration was premature. When Italy finally moved to conquer all of Ethiopia in 1896, Menelik II was prepared. He had mobilized a sizable army and had also imported arms, including artillery, from Russia. The dispute over the Treaty of Wuchale was finally resolved on the battlefield. The fighting started at 6 a.m., on March 1, 1896, and by noon, it was all over for the Italians.

This time around, the good newspaper, The New York Times, offered a mournful tone. "ITALY’S TERRIBLE DEFEAT," the Times proclaimed, in the headline of a March 4, 1896, article about the Battle of Adwa. Of course, there was nothing terrible about this decisive confrontation for the Ethiopians. Both Emperor Menelik and his wife, Empress Taytu Betul, led their forces into combat; the empress herself commanded an army of 6,000 men.

In an army formed from an alliance of princes who were often at war with each other, one of Menelik's commanders, Ras Mikael, reputedly yelled "Ebalgume! Ebalgume!" or "Reap! Reap!" as he plunged into the Italian lines. Ras Alula Engida, one of Menelik's leading commanders, now avenged his earlier defeat at the hands of the Italians. The overall losses inflicted on an original invading army of 17,000 were staggering: 2,918 Italian non-commissioned officers and men were killed; 2,000 African soldiers from Eritrea, or askaris, fighting for Italy were killed; 261 Italian officers were killed; 958 askaris and 470 Italians were wounded; 954 Italian soldiers were permanently missing; and, 56 cannons and 11,000 rifles were captured.

The dead included two Italian generals, Giuseppe Arimondi and Vittorio Dabormida; Major Gen. Matteo Albertone was captured. Many of Menelik's generals wanted the Ethiopian army to pursue the panic-stricken Italians and wipe out survivors as they fled towards the colony of Eritrea. Menelik knew the cost of maintaining his own large army if the conflict became protracted and overruled the recommendation.

Italians could not comprehend what had happened in Africa and the national establishment refused to accept the defeat. Instead, the campaign's commander-in-chief, Gen. Oreste Baratieri, was blamed for "poor military strategy" by the Italian government and newspapers. Every possible excuse was entertained. The Italians refused to credit the Ethiopians with military genius. The Ethiopians suffered heavy losses too. But it was their country and they were willing to make sacrifices to defend and liberate it.

The New York Times reported that reinforcement from Italy was to be quickly sent to Africa. The political conditions were so grave that Pope Leo XIII canceled a major diplomatic banquet to celebrate the anniversary of his coronation. The Italian government was completely destabilized by the defeat, the Times reported, and its survival was in jeopardy. "The present campaign against the Abyssinians threatens to become one of the most disastrous in which the Italian arms have ever taken part," the Times reported, "and what the final outcome will be, it would not be hard to predict."

The New York Times article added, "Among the many reports current today was one to the effect that Gen. Baratieri had committed suicide, being unable to endure the humiliation of his defeat." This turned out to have been an inaccurate report; Baratieri led the hasty flight after the rout, losing his pince-nez in the process.

Italian citizens, indeed, most Europeans, were simply incapable of conceptualizing what had occurred in what they had been taught was "darkest" Africa. All the racist literature and myths about White Supremacy they had consumed had never hinted at the possibility of such a catastrophe in Africa. Ethiopia's victory undermined, at least for some time, the lessons Italians had been taught about African inferiority and backwardness.

What made the defeat even more difficult for Italians to comprehend was that during a visit to Rome before the decisive battle, Baratieri, who was also governor of Italian Eritrea, had been awarded the Order of the Red Eagle. He too had been compared to Garibaldi. Baratieri asked Parliament to approve more funds so that he could "annihilate" the Ethiopians and he boasted that he would return with Emperor Menelik inside a cage.

Italian journalists stoked the national bloodlust by endorsing the war-of-conquest campaign in newspaper articles, much like British newspapers had encouraged Gladstone to send Gen. Gordon to the Sudan 12 years earlier. However, when commander Baratieri returned to Africa, the "savages" refused to cooperate. Menelik, 51, riding on horseback, exhorted his troops while Empress Taytu unleashed her reserve army. The Ethiopians tamed the European general. Italy court-martialed Baratieri for "cowardice." He was, however, acquitted.

The Italians had been defeated before in war but never at the hands of Africans. Riots broke out in the streets of Rome; perhaps there were some fears that the Ethiopians would pursue the defeated troops back to Italy to ransack and occupy their capital. Eventually, the Italian government did collapse. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Addis Ababa on October 26, 1896 which also annulled the Treaty of Wuchale.

The Ethiopians forced Italy to pay several millions of Lira in compensation before releasing the captives.

It was one of the greatest victories against imperial intrusion in Africa and a blow against the narrative of White Supremacy.


Note:I'm working on a 75-page graphic book about The Battle of Adwa. My talented 12 year old niece Aly Allimadi will illustrate it. Please visit and support the GoFundMe page or spread the word.

22-degree halo as caught by the camera at St. Janani Luwum memorial

“Those still doubting the Sainthood of Archbishop Janani Luwum should come out of their tents and see for themselves the miracle God has performed around the sun now. Luwum is a true Saint”

“It was a sad day to mourn our archbishop Janani Luwum. That day and the days that followed, Christians cried to God more than ever before. That was the beginning of the exit of Idi Amin. It united all forces opposed to his rule”

“Although he is physically dead, he is alive with Jesus in Heaven”.

KITGUM-UGANDA: Pilgrims and worshippers at the 41st memorial prayers for the 21st Century Martyr, St. Janani Luwum, were captivated on Friday February 16, 2018, by a  rare circular rainbow halo that wrapped itself around the sun at about 11.15 am local time (09.15 GMT).

This was at Wii-gweng village, Mucwini sub-county, Kitgum district in northern Uganda, about 440 kilometers north of Kampala, the capital City of Uganda. This is where the late Archbishop was buried forty one years ago.

Scientists describe the phenomenon as ‘22-degree halo’. The ring is caused by sunlight passing through ice crystals in cirrus clouds within the earth’s atmosphere. The crystals bend direct sunlight projecting it elsewhere into the sky, and at certain angel-usually at 22- degree.

The halo occurred when the Archbishop of the Province of the Anglican Church of Uganda, Stanley Ntagali, had just delivered his sermon and invited people who were accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior to move forward to the altar to receive blessings from God.

Bishop Johnson Gakumba of the Diocese of Northern Uganda was prompted to invite other pilgrims out in the tent to view what he called a “miracle” around the sun.

 “Those still doubting the Sainthood of Archbishop Janani Luwum should come out of their tents and see for themselves the miracle God has performed around the sun now. Luwum is a true Saint”, declared Bishop Gakumba as pilgrims streamed out with their phone cameras to take a picture or two of this rare occurrence.

Saint Janani Luwum was murdered on February 16, 1977 by Field Marshal Idi Amin, then President of Uganda, following a period of prolonged tension and ugly showdown with the Amin regime.

There is great devotion to St. Janani Luwum around the world. In many countries and churches, there is devoted celebration of his Life, Martyrdom, Testimony and Example.

The Church of England has accorded St. Janani Luwum special recognition and devotion. Their calendar observes February 17, as Festival of Janani Luwum. Canterbury Cathedral dedicated a special Chapel, 20th Century Martyrs Chapel, to the martyrdom of Archbishop Janani Luwum and the memory of other modern martyrs in 1978.

In 1988, Westminster Abbey unveiled St. Janani Luwum’s statue, as one of the ten Martyrs of the 20th Century so far recognized in the world. Others include Maximillian Kolbe (Catholic from Poland), Martin Luther King, Jr. (Baptist from USA), Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Lutheran from Germany) and Archbishop Oscar Romeo (catholic from El Salvador), among others.

St. Janani Luwum was born in 1922 in Mucwini, in northern Uganda. He trained as a teacher before enrolling for the church Ministry and was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Upper Nile. He was the bishop of diocese of Northern Uganda from 1969 to 1974.

He served as the Archbishop (Primate) of the Province of the Church of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga Zaire (Eastern RD Congo) from 1974 to February 1977.

President Yoweri Museveni declared February 16, a public holiday to give chance to workers to join in celebrating his memory and life.

Archbishop Ntagali observed that the blood of martyrs worldwide is the seed of the Church of Christ. He said when Luwum was murdered by Idi Amin, Christians cried to God more than ever before. He says it marked the beginning of the exit of Idi Amin from the political scene.

“It was a sad day to mourn our archbishop Janani Luwum. That day and the days that followed, Christians cried to God more than ever before. That was the beginning of the exit of Idi Amin. It united all forces opposed to his rule”, says Archbishop Ntagali, adding; “Although he is physically dead, he is alive with Jesus in Heaven”.

Michael Steele. Photo: Gage Skidmore--Flickr

Recently, at the Ronald Reagan dinner, CPAC Communications Director Ian Walters made the following comments, referencing the year 2009:  “…we (CPAC) were somewhat lost as a group. We had just elected the first African American president and that was big deal. That was a hill that we got over and it was something that we were all proud of and we weren’t sure what to do. And with a little bit of cynicism what did we do? This is a terrible thing. We elected Mike Steele to be the RNC chair because he's a black guy; that was the wrong thing to do…"

Walters’ comments touched off what I’d describe as a bit of a kerfuffle or a commotion or fuss. What it wasn’t, was the “firestorm” as some would like to describe it.  Why?  It’s not that Ian Walters was wrong; he just said what he and many others believe to be the unvarnished truth. He called “a spade a spade.”

In 2009, after Steele was elected on the 6th and final ballot to become the first African American chairman of the RNC, I wrote an Op Ed entitled, RNC Chairman Michael Steele: Old Republican Wine in New Bottles?, wherein I wrote, “Steele believes the Republican Party has an 'image problem.' He thinks that he will be able to bring the Republican message to African-Americans, Hispanics and suburbanites… This all may sound great, but the election of Steele raises a couple of questions that the Republican Party must answer for itself. First, what exactly does Steele plan to bring to African-Americans, Hispanics and others on these corners, in these boardrooms, and suburbs? Second, what was behind the selection of an African-American to bring the message?... The problem is that Steele and his Republican supporters see this as an 'image problem' and not a problem of direction or a lack of substantive and inclusive policy content. They cannot 'market' or sell their way out of this mess." 

With his comments, Walters validated what I wrote in 2009.

Steele is now on his “I’m shocked, angry, appalled and offended tour”.  In an interview with the chairman of the American Conservative Union Matt Schlapp, Schlapp acknowledged Walters’ statement as “unfortunate words”. Yet in the same interview, Schlapp told Steele, “You have not been very graceful to the Republicans and conservatives in this room for a very long time…” Steele replied, “I’ve spent 41 years in this party. Forty-one…I have taken crap you have no idea about, and I have carried this baggage. And for him to stand on that stage and denigrate my service to this party, and for you as a friend to sit there and go, ‘Well, you have been critical of this party.’ There is only one word I can say, and I can’t say it on this air.”

The problem with the outrage expressed by Steele and many of his cohorts is that it can’t be genuine. They are smart people. How can they be shocked by the obvious? How can Steele complain when not only did he willingly accept the position in 2009; he campaigned for it? He’s a shrewd and astute politician. He had to clearly understand the role race played in the party official’s political calculations and the conditions under which he was allowed to obtain that position.

Conventional wisdom after the election of President Obama was that the Republican Party’s survival depended upon its inclusion of minorities. Party officials talked ad nauseam about “outreach”. This is no longer their reality. With the election of Trump, that theory has been thrown out of the window and Republicans are almost exclusively targeting their core base of White voters; men and women, educated and uneducated with White nationalist xenophobic uber-hyperbolic coded rhetoric.

The first thing Steele should have addressed was the patronizing racist tone and nature of Schlapp’s verbal slap at him. For Schlapp to say, “You have not been very graceful to the Republicans…” was his way of saying, “Your 41 years of service be dammed. Boy, you have forgotten your place.  You think you know how to play the game; but you have obviously forgotten how the game is played.”

Michael Steele expects people to believe that his election as the first African American chairman of the RNC three months after the first African American is elected president was a coincidence? Come on man! Earth to Steele, earth to Steele; come in Steele. You cannot compromise for the sake of political expediency on the front end and try to claim the moral high ground on the backend.  Let’s just call a spade a spade.

There is also history behind this play.  We have read this script before. Just Greek soldiershid in a large wooden horse to invade the independent city of Troy, political parties sometimes use people as their Trojan horses. In 2004 the Republican Party paid Maryland resident Alan Keyes to move to Chicago to run for the US Senate against Illinois State Senator Barack Obama.  As it was stated in the Chicago Tribune, the Republicans were desperate, "We need a name, we need a name…” and they “select(ed) Alan Keyes…to embark on the party's 'Mission Impossible'-- 'There's no doubt that [Keyes' selection] was an embarrassment,' said Jim Edgar… respected GOP leader.” We also witnessed this in 2002, when according to The New York Times, Denise Majette, “a former (GA) state judge supported by pro-Israel groups…” was bankrolled by outside interests to upset five-term pro-Palestinian incumbent Representative Cynthia McKinney (D-GA).  We can go as far back as 1958 when a Harlem city councilman Earl Brown was selected to run against Representative Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

When Steele accepted his position as RNC Chairman he stated, "It's time for something completely different ... we are going to say to friend and foe alike, we want you to be a part of us, work with us ... we're about winning elections...."  The problem is that all Steele offered was the same tired rhetoric that his predecessors and successors have offered the African American community. Steele never championed one substantive policy idea for people of color to consider. There was nothing different at all; it was the same old Republican wine in a new bottle.  Steele was at least clear on one thing, stating, “..we’re about winning elections”.

It was never about a substantive change in policy. It was always about image. That’s why when RNC chair candidate John "Chip" Saltsman distributed a CD with the song entitled "Barack the Magic Negro," instead of expressing outrage at Saltsman's vile, racist and sophomoric attempt at parody, Steele’s response was, "Chip knows better ... You've got to be cautious, you've got to be smart, you've got to be appropriate. And, unfortunately, in this instance Chip was none of those things." Where was the moral outrage then?

When conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said, "I've been listening to Barack Obama for a year and a half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don't want them to succeed ... I hope he fails." Steele again gave a very weak and safe response by stating, "Rush will say what Rush has to say, we will do what we have to do as a party."

Steele and the Republicans often portray Black voters as unwitting dupes of the Democratic Party. Neither Steele nor his party ever acknowledge the thoughtful and practical reasons that overwhelming majorities of Black voters reject the Republican Party…their tolerance of and reliance on racism and racist rhetoric.

This is not a hit piece on Michael Steele.  I recently commended him for the stances he has taken on MSNBC regarding his opposition to a number of Trump administration policies. As analysts and commentators, we must strive to be academically accurate, intellectually honest and consistent with our analysis and commentary…otherwise, we would all be listening to Fox News.

On this issue of Walters stating “We elected Mike Steele to be the RNC chair because he's a black guy…” it is true. Stop with the fake righteous indignation and the "I’m shocked, angry, appalled and offended" tour. In this instance you are “playing the race card” and you should stop because it makes it that much more difficult for those with legitimate issues to get airtime and redress.

Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/Host of the nationally broadcast call-in talk radio program “Inside the Issues with Leon,” on SiriusXM Satellite radio channel 126. Author of Politics Another Perspective. Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: wjl3us@yahoo.com. www.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon’s Prescription at Facebook.com       

© 2018 InfoWave Communications, LLC    

Fascist Mussolini attacked Ethiopia with mustard gas.

(The following material is from my book "The Hearts of Darkness, How White Writers Created the Racist Image of Africa. The revised corrected second edition will be published in May 2018).

The Italians had to wait for 40 more years after their defeat at Adwa to launch another invasion of Ethiopia.

The two main protagonists of the 1896 war were long gone by then. Baratieri, who had resigned from the Italian army soon after surviving the court martial, died in 1901. Emperor Menelik II died in 1913. He had been enfeebled for years after suffering a stroke.

The outcome of this new conflict was not as spectacular as in 1896; yet, eventually, the Ethiopians again prevailed and the invaders were driven out.

But during the years of occupation, before their defeat, Benito Mussolini's fascist army committed grave war crimes against the Ethiopians. Mussolini's army used mustard gas to destroy whole divisions of the Ethiopian military and kill untold numbers of civilians.

Years later, through the duplicity of the Western powers, which needed to work with Italian military officers after Mussolini's defeat, the top general responsible for the crimes against Ethiopians was never prosecuted.

The storm clouds of war hovered over Ethiopia by 1934. On December 23 of that year, The New York Times reported in an article under the headline, "Abyssinia Encircled by Covetous Powers," that Italy was competing with Germany and Japan for control of Ethiopia. These countries, The New York Times' article explained, "coveted the vast potential sales to Abyssinia's millions of people, quantities of the cheap gimcracks which so fascinate semi-civilized populations."

The Times' article also reported that the Italians still held deep bitter feelings from the 1896 defeat at the hands of Menelik's army. "The insult of defeat has rankled in the breasts of Italian militarists these many decades," the Times article added. "Fully as strongly as burned the Ethiopian conviction that, having once beaten Europe at her game of war, Abyssinia could do so again."

The Times article described the Battle of Adwa --using the alternate spelling Adowa-- inelegantly, and tried to diminish the Ethiopian victory. "There was a fast and fierce clash," the newspaper reported. "The battle of Adowa, in which a quarter of a million savage black warriors, equipped mainly with spear and shield, slaughtered nearly 40,000 Italians practically in their tracks and in spite of the Italian rifles and artillery."

Here was The New York Times, which had reported the original Ethiopian rout of the Italian army in detail almost 40 years earlier, now denigrating that victory by making it appear as if the European invaders had simply been overwhelmed by superior numbers—victims of an accidental defeat at the hands of "savage black warriors."

In fact, the Ethiopians had defeated Italians because they too were in possession of modern firearms; and they had mastered the art of war. The author of the 1934 article could have benefited from reading The NewYork Times' own accounts from four decades earlier.

One New York Times account from 1896 had placed Ethiopian forces, at the most, at 70,000, which was also probably inflated to diminish the significance of their victory. Now, in 1934, the Times claimed there had been 250,000 Ethiopian fighters at Adwa.

Even though the Times' article referred to the Ethiopians as "savages" it cautioned its readers not to underestimate the psychology of the "true Abyssinian" who "was Amharic and considered himself vastly superior to a white man..."

Earlier, on December 14, 1934, hoping to forestall war, Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie urged the League of Nations, the predecessor organization to the United Nations, to prevent Mussolini from ordering an invasion.

The following year, Selassie penned an Op-Ed article published in The New York Times on July 14, 1935, still calling upon the League of Nations to restrain Mussolini. Selassie vowed that he would resist any Italian aggression and criticized the fascist dictator for refusing to submit any disputes between the two countries to a neutral arbiter.

Selassie was to make the bitter discovery that the collective world security espoused by the League of Nations did not apply to Ethiopians; or, to borrow from The New York Times' characterization, to "semi-civilized populations." Nothing was to stop Il Duce from invading.

On October 3, 1935, a massive force of 30,000 troops invaded; there were 1,000 trucks and abundant supplies of mustard gas which the aggressors used mercilessly. The Ethiopians had never been conquered during the Scramble for Africa and they resisted valiantly.

However the chemical weapons took a heavy toll and as the Italian army broke through Ethiopian defenses, on May 5, 1936, Selassie was forced to flee his capital as 50 planes swept over Addis Ababa in a show of air prowess.

The New York Times' account of the Italian conquest was once again written from the perspective of the aggressor and in a tone similar to that of the February 2, 1890 article celebrating the earlier imperial invasion.

Herbert L. Matthews, the reporter, had traveled with the Italian convoys. The headline of the May 6, 1936, article in the Times read like a press release from the Italian military command: "Ethiopia Is Italian, Says Mussolini, as His Troops Occupy Addis Ababa." A second sub-headline read, "Raises Italian Tricolor," and a third, presumably to justify the invasion, claimed, "Finds Miserable Scene."

"Ethiopia's era of independence, which had lasted since biblical times, ended at 4 o'clock this afternoon when the Italians occupied Addis Ababa," Matthews wrote. "This account is being written in the automobile in which this correspondent came to Addis Ababa from Dessye with Marshall Pietro Badoglio," he continued, revealing that he had been embedded with the Italian army. Marshall Badoglio, the Italian commander, was boastful as Selassie fled.

"The Negus, following his great victories, has been obliged to flee from his capital," Badoglio told Matthews, sarcastically, using the Amharic honorific for the Emperor. "We, following the defeats we received, have arrived here. You have seen the welcome the populations have given us along the road," Marshall Badoglio continued.

"They feel themselves freed of the heaviest yoke. Now begins the labor for us, as arduous as that of the war we won, to give civilization and progress through peace and tranquility to these people for all." Italy's King, Victor Emmanuel III, was declared "Emperor of Ethiopia" and Badoglio himself became "Duke of Addis Ababa."

Another article in The New York Times, by P.W. Wilson, published on May 10, 1936, under the headline, "Conquest of Africa Completed," placed the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in a broader imperial context. "The Italian victory," the article reported, "completed four centuries of a territorial transition that now embraces the whole of the once-Dark continent of Africa with its 12,000,000 square miles and about 150,000,000 inhabitants," with the "comparatively unimportant exception of Liberia, a Negro republic on the Atlantic seaboard...."

The article concluded: "The evaluation of Africa as a white man's empire is subject to emotional factors and especially pride of possession." So, from the imperial perspective, Africa's centuries of "darkness" ended once European conquest was completed.

Meanwhile, Selassie set up a government in exile in London. Ethiopians continued guerrilla warfare resistance throughout the five-year occupation. The Italians responded with brutal retribution against civilians.

Later, when Italy declared war on France and Britain during World War II, British forces in Africa invaded Italian-occupied Ethiopia and Somalia and fought with Ethiopians to defeat Mussolini's army. Selassie was able to re-enter Addis Ababa triumphantly.

After Mussolini's regime finally collapsed the Western Allies needed a government to fill the power vacuum in Italy. Marshall Badoglio who had presided over the use of mustard gas against Ethiopians became prime minister in post-Mussolini Italy. Badoglio and other commanders eluded justice for their war crimes.

Note: I'm working on a 75-page graphic book about The Battle of Adwa. Please visit and support the GoFundMe campaign or spread the word.

https://www.gofundme.com/53mn2-real-wakandaethiopians-crush-italy

Rainy day funds. Photo: ccPixs.com Flickr

Life is full of ‘what if?’ situations, so the best thing to do is to prepare for those situations! Nobody likes being caught unaware, panicking during a financial emergency with no back up plan to lift themselves out of debt. Well, that’s what an emergency fund is for, but they aren’t just for homeowner use. Instead, emergency funds are also incredibly fundamental for businesses, as should they find themselves being heavily sued or losing clients fast, paying employees alongside other expenses are going to be challenging.

While there are loans for bad credit direct lenders available on the market for personal use if you’re facing a financial emergency, establishing your own emergency fund is key for both personal and business purposes. Here’s why. For Personal Use. Pay Bills In Unexpected Emergencies: There’s a fine line between genuine emergencies and situations that aren’t emergencies. When establishing an emergency fund for personal use, it’s essential to distinguish between the two, otherwise when a true financial emergency arises, you’ll be left out of pocket. Critical home repairs, medical emergencies alongside unexpected tax bills all count as financial emergencies, and so with an emergency fund in place, you’ll be able to comfortably afford these bills without being out of pocket. New clothes and down payment on a home? Not so much of a financial emergency – you’ll just have to do some extra saving for those!

Prevents You From Relying On Credit Cards. The use of a credit card can be helpful when you really need it, but building a dependence on such a practice can lead to further debt. The more that amasses onto the credit card, the higher the interest rate becomes, which may cause even further issues down the line. Instead of building a reliance on your credit card, an emergency fund can help you to pay off unexpected bills if you are unable to use your regular funds. 

For Business Use. Issues Sometimes Need Immediate Attention Regardless of how organised you are within your business, when an emergency strikes and requires immediate action, there is no plan B, or even plan A for that matter. In business, there are many external factors entirely out of your control, and sometimes the only solution can be to dip into your emergency funding. If you’re an ecommerce business and you sell items through your website for example, you never know when you might experience hosting issues, preventing you from doing the usual amount of business. With an emergency fund, you’re able to cover those down times and pick yourself back up for the next month. Helps With Inconsistent Income. Owning a business never guarantees a steady, consistent income – it could go a million different ways. Some months will witness incredible progress and profits, whereas others will prove as a slow and laborious financial disaster.

If you happen to experience the latter, an emergency fund will allow you to budget with variable income. Therefore, when you do experience an exceptional month of business, you can dedicate some of that profit to your emergency fund, preparing you for the slower months. Many businesses experience success on a seasonal basis, making it even easier to prepare for those financially difficult periods.

An emergency fund is never something that should be overlooked. While it might feel difficult to dedicate money each month to a fund that you ‘might never use’, you can never be too careful.

Governor Cuomo. Photo: Flickr

Wilder vs. Ortiz

[BoxingGlove Notes]

The long awaited heavyweight championship fight between Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder, 39-0, 38 knockouts and also current W.B.C Heavyweight Champion vs. Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz, 28-0-2 N.C., 24 k.o.’s is finally signed, sealed with a delivery date for Saturday, March 3rd, 2018, at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York.

There had been much speculation about whether this fight would ever take place after many postponements due to the fact that Ortiz had tested positive for banned substances after two previous attempts to contract the fight.

Despite the fact that Ortiz denied taking illegal drugs --he claimed taking prescribed medication due to medical conditions such as high blood pressure-- he was investigated, suspended, and labeled a “cheater” by many especially, a very angry Deontay Wilder, who said, “I will punish the cheater,."

Ortiz said: “Why would I jeopardize my opportunity to become the first Cuban in boxing history to win a World Heavyweight Championship. Nino Valdes came close many years ago but failed. I will not fail.”

Ortiz further stated, “Let Wilder talk and insult me all he wants to but he is in for a rude awakening come Saturday, March 3rd. I am not anywhere near one of those 39 opponents he easily defeated. I also let my fist talk for me.”

Wilder’s response was: “I intend to knockout Ortiz the cheater and punish him for insulting this sport. I dream every night of this fight and the result is always the same ‘I knockout’ Ortiz. The only problem I have is not being able to determine in which round I will score the knockout in those 12 rounds. It could be early or a later round, but I will knockout Ortiz, and that is a promise.”

Not only is there a noticeable deep-rooted animosity between Wilder and Ortiz, but there is a combined super confidence by each that they both will be victorious. Somebodies “0” will go.

Could this expected phone booth middle of the ring war between two ring giants result in a draw? Let’s hope the assigned ring judges are watching this mega-fight very closely to avoid controversy.

Let’s analyze.

Deontay Wilder, a 6’7” tall former top football, basketball, and track & field star is a hard-hitting right handed power hitter who has a 97.4 % knockout ratio with 19 first round knockouts to his credit, and an arm length of 83”. Wilder who started boxing at age 19, with an amateur boxing record of only 30-5 is an Olympian Bronze Medalist. He made his pro debut at 23 years of age and is rated as the best heavyweight in the world today.

On the other side of the Barclays Center ring combat zone we have an opponent practically similar to Wilder. He is Luis Ortiz, who is 6’4” tall and has an 84” reach. He is 38 years old, and was born in Camaguey, Cuba, home of the great Welterweight Champion, Geraldo “Kid Gavilan” Gonzalez.

Ortiz is also a powerful puncher but from the Southpaw side. He has an amateur record of 343-19 including winning many International titles. Ortiz is determined to also knockout Wilder not only for the insults and what he says are false accusations, but to also make history, and then challenge the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker, W.B.A., W.B.O., I.B.F. & I.B.O. Heavyweight Championship fight, on March 31.

The winner of that fight would then claim all of the existing five heavyweight belts.

“I am a gym rat that has always worked very hard, clean and honestly to be successful in my boxing career from the amateurs to the pros, and I never cheated anyone,” Ortiz emphatically stated.

Ortiz further said, “I am not going to the Barclays Center to fight Wilder to just pick-up a paycheck. My hand will be raised up in victory, decision or knockout and that is a fact.”

Although the betting or fan favorite is Deontay Wilder, perhaps in the final analysis many have overlooked the fact that Wilder is emotionally tightly-winded. I believe he's thinking only of knockouts; not of the possibility of going the distance in a very punishing and painful fight.

This knockout'quest could tax his stamina since Ortiz is a punishing body puncher, very defensive, with a point-scoring strong right jab which could cause knockout-hunting Wilder problems as the fight progresses.

Luis Ortiz is a methodical fighter, planning every move, pinpointing all of his punches while Deontay too often “windmills” his punches, looking for the knockout by any means possible. He forgets to punish the body, he forgets his defense, and that is dangerous with a counter-puncher like Ortiz.

Unless Ortiz is a remake of Bermaine Stiverne who never recovered from Deontay Wilder’s hard right hand punch to the forehead in the first round of their championship fight, also at the Barclays Center on November 4th, Wilder is in for a fistic surprise.

He could still be victorious after absorbing much pain.

This Black Star News sports writer concludes this is a pic-em fight of gladiators.

When the first meaningful punch is landed by either fighter we will then realize who the eventual winner might be.

I see Ortiz winning a hard-fought decision. I'm not ruling out a late 10th round knockout victory.

When the team you most like seeing on the hardwood is within thirty miles…you.go!  When the Warriors are playing the hometown Wizards…you known it is a win-win and cheer for both!  When non G-State fans openly express the probability of a hard stop to the run of the defending champions…you engage in a lively discussion!  Where THIS ends is anybody’s guess.  In the meantime, there are zero complaints with the comfort level of THIS bandwagon seat!   

As a believer in savoring the moment, carpe diem and all that good stuff …admittedly, there are times when I wouldn’t turn down a good ole fashioned crystal ball!  What could be better than enjoying the here and now, yet still having knowledge of the following:

• Does the addition of Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees mean that Spring Training and the 162 game schedule are mere pomp and circumstance? If so, shouldn’t the World Series trophy be delivered to the Bronx Bombers on March 29th, also known as Opening Day?

• I absolutely haven’t been buying what folks were trying to sell every NFL offseason for the last decade.  Apparently there’s a body of work unbeknownst to me that catapults Jon Gruden from the average category directly to the $10 million a year vip suite.  Certainly that’s an automatic translation to no less than 10 Lombardi trophies correct? 

• Back to back to back to back, etc…..When o’ when will the Jayhawks dominance over the field in Big 12 basketball end?  Fourteen straight conference titles later….is the proverbial “there’s always next season”  going to come to fruition anytime soon?

• Will audio recordings of shady deals become a thing of the past by way of paying college athletes?  For the record, I’d cast a vote for a stipend…but naahhh to a salary.  With every scandal comes fire and fury…then discussions begin to fall by the wayside when more exciting things come around the corner, oh like March Madness…until the next scandal.  Since when is “doing nothing” the answer to any problem?  Just sayin….

• There are few things more capable of making the heart warm & fuzzy than the success of our youth.  So when I heard of Kevin Durant’s $10M donation to the college tuitions of underserved youth from the backyards in which he grew up….my mind immediately jumped to the future.  Imagine the number of children whose path can be drastically altered in the most positive of ways.  Trophies, banners & parades are savored for a moment in time…then in a blink of an eye, give way to a “what have you done lately?” mentality.  A real opportunity to improve one’s socioeconomic status & overall quality of life though….that’s everlasting!!

Roy Wilkins and Otto Kerner, Jr. Photo: Wikimedia

“In 1968, the Kerner Commission concluded that America was heading toward ‘two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.’ Today, America’s communities are experiencing increasing racial tensions and inequality, working-class resentment over the unfulfilled American Dream, white supremacy violence, toxic inaction in Washington, and the decline of the nation’s example around the world.”

This quote is an introduction to Healing Our Divided Society: Investing in America Fifty Years After the Kerner Report, a newly released update on just how far our nation still has to go to fulfill the Kerner Report’s goals. The original report was released February 29, 1968 by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders created by President Lyndon B. Johnson to study the causes of the “racial disorders” that had erupted across the country during the summer of 1967, resulting in weeks of devastating rioting, violence, and deaths. The “long, hot summer” of 1967 followed earlier riots during the summers of 1964, 1965, and 1966 and left many Americans terrified that violence would continue to escalate with no end and no solutions. But the Kerner Commission, as the National Advisory Commission came to be called after its Chair Illinois Governor Otto Kerner, Jr., did not believe our country was doomed to a permanent cycle of rioting and racial division. Its report determined that ending the violence needed to start by acknowledging the persistent American truth at its root: we were a divided society, still separate, still unequal.

The 1968 report offered specific recommendations, many focused on creating economic opportunity for Black citizens imprisoned in concentrated segregated poverty. Others addressed the need to hire and train more diverse police forces. An entire section was devoted to education with special concern about the poor reading and math skills and low graduation and employment rates of millions of Black students stuck in predominantly Black, poor, and unequal schools. The 1968 Kerner Report concluded that all of its proposed solutions were not just doable, but essential: “It is time now to turn with all the purpose at our command to the major unfinished business of this nation. It is time to adopt strategies for action that will produce quick and visible progress. It is time to make good the promises of American democracy to all citizens—urban and rural, white and black, Spanish-surname, American Indian, and every minority group . . . These programs will require unprecedented levels of funding and performance, but they neither probe deeper nor demand more than the problems which called them forth. There can be no higher priority for national action and no higher claim on the nation’s conscience.”

But Healing Our Divided Society shows that despite progress in many areas over the last fifty years, we still have not completed the urgent business of making the promises of American democracy good for all and the call for sustained national action must continue. The new report, co-edited by former Oklahoma Senator Fred Harris, the only surviving member of the original Kerner Commission, and Alan Curtis, CEO of the Milton Eisenhower Foundation, includes chapters by scholars and policy experts seeking to chart our nation’s course forward.

In a chapter on America’s ongoing struggles to change the odds for all children, I shared my deep disappointment that even as our nation becomes much more racially and ethnically diverse, children of color, especially Black children, remain so far behind their White peers. Growing inequality exacerbates the racial divide as very large disparities in family median income, wages and family wealth stunt opportunity for children. Nearly one in five children is poor and nearly 70 percent of the almost 13.2 million poor children are children of color. The younger children are, the poorer they are, and Black children remain the poorest—most likely to be trapped in what the Kerner Report called the “prison of poverty” in our wealthy nation. Closing this indefensible and curable inequality gap and racial divide remains the major unfinished business of our nation and, I believe, the greatest threat to our national security and economic future.

On March 31, 1968, just a few weeks after the Kerner Commission released its Report and recommendations, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his last Sunday sermon before he was assassinated: “There is nothing new about poverty. What is new is that we now have the techniques and the resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will.” Fifty years later the answer to that question is clear. We have never found the will to fully respond to the Kerner Commission’s urgent call, certainly heard again in the new report Healing Our Divided Society, for “massive and sustained” action.

Children have only one childhood, and it is right now for today’s children. We know much more today about what works, making it deeply shameful that we continue to tolerate political leaders in any party who choose not to invest adequately in critical services and just policies for all children and who refuse to end child poverty in order to give massive tax breaks to millionaires, billionaires and powerful corporations. Healing Our Divided Society is both a warning and a guide. We must finally find the will to ease the indefensible burdens of poverty and racism and fling open the doors of opportunity and hope to assure every child an equal chance to reach his or her God-given potential.

Marian Wright Edelman is President of the Children's Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. For more information go to www.childrensdefense.org

Emilian Kayima, the police spokesperson

There have been several unsolved murders and disappearances in Uganda and now the public is saying ---enough is enough. 

They want dictator Yoweri Museveni and his police and security forces to explain who are the people behind these murders?

The bodies of at least 24 brutally murdered young women have been discovered over the last year in and around Kampala the capital of Uganda.

In some cases the Uganda authorities would link these murders to preposterous theories such as "relationships going sour" or "ritual" killings. Many families also complain that police officers extort money just to provide them with information about the status of the investigations which in any case are going nowhere. 

Things are so bad that the U.S. State Department has issued a warning to Americans traveling to Uganda even though dictator Museveni is considered an obedient U.S. client.  "Exercise increased caution in Uganda due to crime. Violent crime, such as armed robbery, home invasion, and sexual assault, is common, especially in larger cities including Kampala and Entebbe. Local police lack the resources to respond effectively to serious crime," warns the State Department.

All the murders remain unresolved. Records reviewed by this reporter from the so-called Flying Squad Unit (FSU), a department of the Uganda Police Force (UPF), show that the murders are classified as: related to political coercion and abductions for ransom. Many of the files are blank. "Some arrests were made, and some cases are progressing well," said Emilian Kayima, the police spokesperson. "We are in court. Many of them are remanded.

Asked for details about the arrested suspects and which specific cases he was referring to he said: "I will avail you with the details tomorrow."

Rest assured this reporter will keep following up. 

"We have spent over 16 million shillings in search for my sister. Some security agents have turned the family into a cash machine where to get free money," said Kirabira Shakuru, who cried while being interviewed, said. She was referring to her sister Saidat Kabanda. Sixteen million shillings is about $4,480, which is a fortune in a country where the World Bank estimates per capita income at about $670. 

She is understandably terrified by the thought of it all. The bodies of Saidat's best friends, Patricia Nansubuga and Harriet Nantongo were discovered months ago. Both had sharp sticks inserted into their vaginas, perhaps as cover to make the murders appear as ritual killings.

It does not help that there is an open power-struggle going on between Uganda's Police commander Gen. Kale Kayihura --until now Museveni's hated enforcer-- and Gen. Henry Tumukkunde, the minister in charge of security. Even the police officers who try to remain above the corruption are affected by this struggle between the men who are supposed to maintain law and order and stability. A Reuters news story speculates that it's a sign that the dictator of 32 years Gen. Museveni has lost his grip.

Since October last, government agencies, the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) and Internal Security Organization (ISO) arrested over six top police officers and detained them in at Makindye Military Police facility. Those still under military detention include: former head of Special Operations Unit, Senior Superintendent of Police Nixon Agasirwe; Commandant of the Police Professional Standards Unit, Joel Aguma; Flying Squad Operative, Faisal Katende, Crime Intelligence chief Magada, and others.

Saidat Kabanda, 32 years old, was last seen in the first week of January 2016 on her way for Friday prayer, according to her family. 

Saidat graduated from Makerere University with a Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Economics. The family hoped that she would be their breadwinner. The little money they had has been drained by police officers who extort them with promises to solve Saidat's disappearance. 

The family of Ibrahim Setaala Semugenze, a 31 year old lawyer, is also demanding that police solve the mystery behind his disappearance. Setaala worked with M/S Ajungule & Co. Advocates and doubled as a director at Bwebajja-based Sab Restaurant. He went missing in January 2016. "If he's dead, we need to know and his body handed back to us," one relative, who broke down in tears, said.

Fatuma Sendagire Nabiwemba, a senior prosecutor with the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who disappeared in December 2017, resurfaced last month. According to well-placed sources a large ransom was paid for her freedom. Efforts to talk to her, including her immediate bosses were declined. 

Another victim, Francis Ekalugar, 49, an accountant who worked with Case Clinic wasn't so lucky.  Ekalugar went missing on January 2, 2018, whilst on his way to the bank with 15,000,000 shillings, or $4,200. Ekalugar's body was days later discovered burnt beyond recognition more than 10 miles outside Kampala.

Susan Magara, 28, a daughter of John Magara the director of the Bwendero Dairy Farm in Hoima, disappeared on February 7, 2018, near her residence in Lungujja, a suburb of Kampala. There are reports a ransom of $1 million had been demanded for her freedom. Her body was discovered on February 25, 10 miles outside Kampala. 

Here are the names of some of the murder victims: Ayebazibwe Hellen, Birungi Maria, Kasowole Aisha, Komugisha Faith, Kyandali Juliet, Mulondo Beatrice, Mulondo Desire, Nabatanzi Edith, Nabiranga Maria, Nakachwa Teddy, Nakasinde Aisha, Nakimuli Rose, Nakintu Sarah Nakajo, Nalima Sarah, Nalule Jalia, Namazzi Joan, Nampijja Juliet, Namusisi Peninah, Nansubuga Gorett, Nansubuga Patricia, Nantongo Harriet, Wanyana Norah. 

The most notable feature--most come from central Buganda region.   

Gen. Museveni. Wears suit and tie when meeting U.S. officials.

[Analysis]

Uganda's beleaguered dictator Gen. Yoweri Museveni has seized direct control of the country's failed police force after firing his top two security officials.

The military ruler, a U.S. ally --who often wears a suit to give the guise of civilian rule-- today fired his hated police commander Gen. Kale Kayihura and the security minister Gen. Henry Tumukunde. The two had been openly feuding after Tumukunde arrested several senior police officers loyal to Kayihura.

Gen. Kayihura is replaced by OKoth Ocholla who is a mere token and will have no powers.

The real power will be Museveni himself and Ochola's deputy Brig. Sabiti Muzeei. Gen. Muhoozi Kaenerugaba, Museveni's son, who formerly commanded the presidential guard, is expected to supervise Sabiti from State House.

Tumukunde has been replaced by Gen. Elly Tumwine, another Museveni ally.

As the regime devours its own members it's clear the day of reckoning is approaching in Uganda.

Kayihura has been Museveni's hatchet man for years, brutally suppressing dissent and helping Museveni steal presidential elections. In the last year however the country's security situation deteriorated sharply.

There have been at least 25 murders of women and scores of kidnappings with demands for ransoms. In one recent case kidnappers demanded $1 million for the return of tbe daughter of a prominent businessman. Even though Gen. Museveni himself reportedly tried to intervene in the matter, Ms. Susan Magara, the kidnap victim was still murdered anyway. Her body was discovered Feb. 25 after being missing since Feb. 7.

The military ruler has been in power for 32 years now, backed by the United States with training and arms for his military and $1 billion in U.S. taxpayers' money annually. That support has waned.

After Museveni stole the 2016 election from challenger Dr. Kizza Besigye the U.S. ambassador to Uganda Deborah Malac denounced the regime for corruption and embezzlement of American taxpayers' money meant for the healthcare system. Reuters reported this week that Gen. Museveni is losing his grip on power.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will shun Uganda during his trip to Africa from March 6 to 13, instead going to Chad, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Nigeria. Uganda was a favorite destination of former Secretary of State Clinton in the last administration.

As the security situation collapses the State Department has issued a travel warning.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladviso...

Museveni was desperate to have Uganda added to Tillerson's itinery but Washington ruled it out after both he and foreign minister Sam Kutesa became entangled in an ongoing U.S. money-laundering and bribery case in federal court.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/head-organization-backed-chinese-en...

The arrests of Kayihura's top aides by Gen. Tumukunde was meant to scapegoat the police commander by a dictator who never takes responsibility for his failures.

Museveni did not want to appear as if he favors Tumukunde so he fired both him and Kayihura.

This is another desperate attempt by a military dictator who does not want to face the fact that Ugandans want him out.

The question now is whether the dictator will eventually move against Kayihura and bring some trumped up charges against a hangman who was merely following Museveni's orders.

Kayihura could be appointed ambassador or kept at bay then brought back later to do some more dirty work for the dictator.

Hypocrisy of Gov. Scott--he's now ready to clean up the mess 17 dead bodies later. Photo: Gage Skidmore-Flickr 

[Speaking Truth To Power] 

In the wake of Florida's Valentine's Day massacre, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which took 17 lives, we now see Republican politicians blaming anything for mass shootings, except America's insane gun laws—including one American institution they usually never blamed for anything: the police.  

Isn't it ironic that those who never find fault with anything police do, especially, when they are busy brutalizing and murdering Black people, are now willing to blame police for failing to stop Nikolas Cruz's deadly rampage? 

Why? Isn't this a convenient diversion so they can protect the blood money profits of gun manufacturers and the NRA? They will throw the police under the bus for the NRA; now that's perverted power.  

Recently, Florida's Republican Governor Rick Scott asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the Broward Sheriff's Office's handling of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School shooting.

Like the FBI, the Broward Sheriff’s Office is also being scrutinized for their actions in the aftermath of this mass murder—and their alleged failures in stopping the killer Nikolas Cruz. 

Reportedly, several officers were on the scene, when the shooting was ongoing, but failed to enter the school. This prompted even the lunatic president in the White House that he personally would have run into the building even unarmed.

Besides Deputy Scot Peterson, who has since resigned from the Broward Sheriff's Office, other officers were said to have been present when the shooting was in progress. "There must be an independent investigation and that is why I asked the FDLE Commissioner to immediately start this process," Scott said in a written statement. "I have spoken to the Speaker regularly since the shooting, and like me, he wants the families to have answers and for there to be full accountability. That's what the victims and their families deserve."

He was referring to Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran.

African  Americans and fair-minded people are wondering why Governor Scott never asked for an investigation into those cases of police brutality and murder where the victims were Black Americans? Why no investigation into the police mishandling of George Zimmerman's murder of Trayvon Martin? 

Black America is also asking this: why does the mass murder of Blacks --spread over time-- by police, never get seriously investigated by politicians, whether they be Republicans or Democrats? At least 40 Black people have been confirmed as being killed by police so far this year, according to killedbypolice.net.  

Where is the outcry?  One of the targets of this Florida investigation is apparently Broward Sheriff Scott Israel who infuriated many people when he told CNN's Jake Tapper that he provided at the police department "amazing leadership" during the slaughter at Marjory Stoneman School.

Sheriff Israel, a known Democrat, clearly ruffled feathers not only with his "amazing leadership" comment—but, by his clear opposition to the zero-gun control platform Governor Scott and Senator Marco Rubio seem to support.   Imagine, while there has been much talk about mental illness and guns --including by Trump, the least qualified person to mention the words "mental health"-- Governor Scott is against a law allowing experts to ask people with mental health problems if they have access to a gun. 

Is partisan politics also now driving some in their attempts to remove Sheriff Israel from office? Recently, State Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, sent a letter to Governor Scott asking him to replace Sheriff Israel for "neglect of duty and incompetence." At least 73 House Republicans have asked the governor to suspend Sheriff Israel.  

Some may scream foul about what Governor Scott and Florida Republicans are trying to do to Sheriff Israel. Right-wing Republican politics are surely at play here.  Before we feel too sorry for Sheriff Israel, there is some egregious history we should consider.  

On July 15, 2015, my column titled "The Case of The Lying Florida Cops Who Killed a Black Man" dealt with an incident in Broward.  The piece highlighted the apparently unjustified shooting death of 33-year-old computer programmer Jermaine McBean, who was shot dead by alleged killer-cop Deputy Peter Peraza an officer in the Broward Sheriff's Office, run by Sheriff Israel.  

On July 13, 2013, McBean was shot dead four days before his 34th birthday by Deputy Peraza as he walked in his apartment complex with (reportedly) an unloaded Winchester Model 1000 Air Rifle on his shoulder. In response to McBean' s shooting the Broward Sheriff's Office gave the standard excuse for this killing: McBean, they said, ignored several warnings from deputies to drop the air gun.  

These claims were refuted by witnesses.  One witness, a nurse, who requested anonymity, took a picture showing McBean wearing ear buds right after he was shot. This strongly indicates he was probably listening to something when he was killed. Police claimed McBean wasn't wearing any headphones but said they found ear buds in McBean's pocket.  The nurse also complained she wasn't allowed to render medical services to McBean right after he was shot. 

Another witness, 58-year-old Michael Russell McCarthy who apparently had called 911 when he saw McBean with the air rifle stated McBean never pointed the air rifle at police and said it would have been impossible for him to fire it given the position he was carrying the gun on his shoulders and behind his neck.  "He couldn't have fired that gun from the position he was in. There was no possible way of firing it and at the same time hitting something," McCarthy said. "I kind of blame myself, because if I hadn't called it might not have happened."  

Indeed, there was an investigation into this case by the Justice Department. That investigation went nowhere.  In the Jeff Sessions' Justice Department regime we should have zero confidence anything resembling justice will be done. Moreover, on the local level, last August 30, the Fourth District Court of Appeals ruled Deputy Peraza cannot be prosecuted under Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law.   

Deputy Peraza was even given a Golden Cross police award for "bravery" for his killing of McBean. Sheriff Israel stood proudly beside this apparent killer-cop as he was given the award (or reward) for killing this Black man. 

It should also be noted, according to investigative journalist Sara Carter, and David Schoen the lawyer representing Jermaine McBean's family that court records indicate "Approximately 66 BSO (Broward Sheriff’s Office) deputies and other employees, including supervisory personnel were arrested for, charged with, and/or convicted of crimes that run the gamut from Armed Kidnapping, to Battery, Assault, Falsifying records, Official Misconduct, Narcotics trafficking, and other crimes involving dishonesty and violence in the years immediately preceding 2013 when Jermaine was killed. Most of the offenses on the list occurred in the years 2012-2013." 

Many people like to talk glowingly of the supposed Second Amendment "right" given them by the Founding Fathers. So if gun ownership is such an American right, why didn't Second Amendment advocates question the unjustified police killing of Black men and boys like: Jermaine McBean, in Florida; Philando Castile, in Minnesota; or, John Crawford and Tamir Rice, both in Ohio?  

These victims were killed because they were in possession of a gun and in 12-year-old Tamir Rice's case a toy gun. If the Second Amendment is such a revered sanctified law, why is gun possession, in of itself, deemed dangerous when it is in the hands of Black folk?

Is it because the Second Amendment was always intended as a tool to oppress African-Americans? And so, therefore, the sight of a Black person with a gun, even a toy, is a troublesome sign? 

The hypocrisy is nauseating.  

Governor Scott never seems to have had any problem with how the McBean case was handled. Perhaps if he had investigated Sheriff Israel's police department he could've purged it earlier. Governor Scott is yet another politician that couldn't care less about Black people who are unjustly killed by police. 

Now, the good governor, reacting merely due to the public outcry, says he wants to find "answers" for the families of the Marjory Stoneman victims.

Isn't Governor Scott complicit in the corruption and failures of the Broward Sheriff's Office? Shouldn't the governor have been investigating them long before the Parkland tragedy?

 Is Governor Scott not now engaging in a deflection of blame to protect the NRA -and-gun-manufacturing blood industry by belatedly, "investigating" the Broward Sheriff's office whose corruption is renowned?