September, 2008
Bev Smith, Charles Ogletree to Moderate
Town Hall Meeting At New Orleans Confab
Press Release
Excitement is building as organizers across North and South America, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean are preparing to lead delegations to the State of the Black World Conference (SOBWC) in New Orleans, November 19-23, 2008. The Conference is timed to occur two weeks after an historic presidential election. While people of African descent are excited about the prospect of an Obama victory, most seasoned observers concur that a myriad of issues rooted in institutional racism and poverty will continue to plague Black people in America and the world whoever wins the White House. “The failure of government to respond effectively to the tragedy of Katrina mirrors a failure to act in Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti. Millions of our people around the world suffer because of these failures of vision and will,” remarked Rick Adams, Chairman of the Conference Planning Committee. “SOBWC will be our political convention, a time to collectively embrace priority policy proposals to present to the new administration.”
In that spirit, the opening event for SOBWC will be a National/International Town Hall Meeting, Thursday, November 20th, at the Ernest Morial Convention Center focused on the theme The Black Agenda and the Presidential Election. This marquee session will be moderated by Bev Smith, host of The Bev Smith Show on the American Urban Radio Networks (AURN), and Charles Ogletree, Harvard Law School Jesse Climenko Professor of Law.
The distinguished panelists include: Marc Morial, President/CEO National Urban League; Rev. Al Sharpton, President, National Action Network (NAN); Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, President, National Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; Ben Jealous, the new President/CEO, NAACP; Dr. Julianne Malveaux, President, Bennett College for Women; Dr. Ronald Walters, Professor of Government and Politics, University of Maryland; Dr. Elsie Scott,President/CEO, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation: Dr. Iva E. Carruthers General Secretary, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.; Atty. Faya Rose Sanders, Founder, Voting Rights Museum, Selma, Alabama; and, Dr. E. Faye Williams, President, National Congress of Black Women. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, Leader of the Nation of Islam, has also been invited to be a panelist for the Town Hall Meeting.
Centered on the theme - Return to the Source, Restoring Family, Rebuilding Community, Renewing the Struggle, SOBWC is being convened by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, under the leadership of veteran social and political activist Dr. Ron Daniels. A major goal of the conference is to focus national and international attention on New Orleans and the Gulf in support of the right to return of evacuees/displaced persons and their heroic struggle to reclaim and rebuild their homes and neighborhoods.
Dr. Daniels hopes SOBWC will attract hundreds of people from Black communities across the United States and people of African descent communities in Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe and Africa. “It is crystal clear that massive public and private investments in people, families and communities is what is required to rebuild communities like New Orleans in America and the Pan African World,” according to Dr. Daniels. “The only way that is going to happen is if there is a massive national and international movement anchored by institutions like IBW to demand social justice and social change. SOBWC will be a modest step in galvanizing such a movement,” he continued.
In addition to the Town Hall Meeting the program/schedule will include the Damu Smith Leadership Development and Organizer Training Institute; Katrina Policy Roundtables; a Special Session on Haiti; Pan African Policy Forum; Black Family Summit; a wide range of issue area Working Sessions; and Intergenerational Dialogues.
Members of the Conference National Planning Committee include Rick Adams, Co-convener of the West PA Black Political Assembly; Kimberley Richards, Peoples Institute for Survival and Beyond, Co-Chairperson; George Turner, Events Planner; Badi Murphy, Production Coordinator. Larry Hayes, National Association of Black Social Workers, and Walter Umrani, Millions More Movement are the New Orleans Liaisons. Carolyn McClair, CMPR Public Relations, is the Conference Administrator.
Persons interested in attending SOBWC should register now and make hotel and travel accommodations as soon as possible.
For further Information call: 888.774.2921 or email sobwc@ibw21.org or visit http://stateoftheblackworld.org/
ALL ROADS LEAD TO NEW ORLEANS!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
What's the Role of Hip Hop in the Black Freedom Struggle?
Hey everybody!
It's Dr. Goddess and I'm reporting to you after attending the National Hip Hop Political Convention in Las Vegas. I'm very glad I went and had a great time because I was there to learn, to network, to (re)introduce myself, to contribute, the whole nine. So, shouts to NYOIL, Rosa, Maria, Mona, Marc, Davey, Pam, Roderic, Asheru, Andre, Byron, TJ, Jay, Troy, I had a great time speaking with all of you and hanging with you. I'll write more on my observations in a minute; but Hip Hop journalist, Davey D has a lot of links to the Convention on his site, so you can listen on Breakdown FM. Enjoy those programs and stay tuned to this blogspot for an update.
So much to say, so much to cover but let's check out this most recent radio program on WBAI, Free Speech Radio, 99.5 FM in New York City, with the show, "Night Talk" because many of these persons will be at the State of the Black World Conference this November 19-23, 2008. Will you?
Listen:
Hosts:
Dr. Ron Daniels, President, Institute of the Black World
Clifford Benton, Publicist, Grandmaster Mele-Mel, Kool Moe Dee, etc.
Peter Noel, co-host, "the flamethrower"
Kamau Khalfani, Engineer / Participant
Guests:
DJ CoolClyde
Grandmaster Mele-Mel
NYOIL
Click Here to Listen to the whole program.
Did you just say you didn't know who Grandmaster Mele-Mel was?
Forgive them, Father, for they have sinned . . . LOL.
Now, for your penance, watch the video below and then give us five daily blasts of "rrraahhh"!
And here are some quotes and paraphrases from the program (this is not complete, just a snippet of stuff I heard and wanted to capture from a two hour conversation, all errors are mine):
Mele-Mel (Mel) speaks on Hip Hop's origins:
First it was just entertainment, it later graduated to the political.
[Mel continues about rappers these days] - You forgot the blueprint. You don't always have to be a messenger but you DO have to entertain. I don't know from the beginning of your first rhyme to the end of your last rhyme because everything you said is based on the same thing, "you're gonna sell dope, you're gonna kill somebody".
NYOIL (NY):
Yeah, 'cause Alicia Keys came out and said they brought gangsta rap out to quell the ability of black men to rise . . .
[about many popular rappers these days] - You're a race traitor. You standing on [our ancestors'] shoulders and you defecatin' on 'em.
[Dr. Goddess Editorial: NYOIL has a song out entitled, "Y'all Should All Get Lynched". LOL. Peep it below]
Kamau Khalfani: I don't know if I want to save you by cuttin' your head off but . . .
NY:
I'm not gonna go to a gunfight with a knife . . . and certainly not with a pillowcase .
Peter Noel:
Gangsta Rap saved alot of lives in L.A. during that time.
[Dr. Goddess Editorial: Peter Noel was partially playing devil's advocate throughout this entire conversation but he was also making the point that West Coast rappers were just describing their lifestyle and their very real life battles with the police, as a result of COINTELPRO, the creation of a national police squad and the desire to maintain (and contain) civil disobedience and general rebellion. While Peter has a point, we have to recognize that the "fall" of Public Enemy from the mainstream radio and television is in direct proportion to the "rise" of groups like "N.W.A." and it was a purposeful calculation and from the same label, so this is not rocket science. The corporate media created "gangsta rap" and permeated popular culture with its nonsense. All rappers and labels and groups are co-conspirators and accomplices. Hence, the other guests were taking about the gangsta POSTURE that so many of these present-day rappers take from the names of mobsters (Gotti, Junior M.A.F.I.A., etc.) to labels and groups glorifying death (Murder Inc., Death Row, G-UNIT), to individuals who sing about it, propagate it, etc. (too many to name but rappers like C-Murder later being brought up on Murder charges is a classic example). Of course, it becomes real, these so-called gangsters change their tunes real quick. Hence, we now have labels like "The Inc." and "Tha Row" (which was just sold for a paltry sum, anyway). In short, lots of posturing and wayward dreaming. Got it? Let's continue . . .]
NYOIL:
So-called gangster rappers always bring up the violence in movies and films and they bring up Arnold Schwarzenegger like the classic example;but they forget that first of all, Schwarzenegger is now the Governor of California. Second, after he wraps his movies, he puts on a goddamned suit or some civilized-looking clothing and does a "press junket", where he goes around talking about the film, examining it and reinforcing the fantasy of it all. When you talk to these other rappers, you never know if you're talking to Curtis Jackson or 50 Cent, you never know if you're talking to the real person because these liars try to pretend that they live this gangster lifestyle and that this is who they are all the time. They are liars and frauds.
Mel:
Rap, as an art form, it died with Rakim, basically . . .
Nobody has been able to eclipse Biggie or Pac.
There is no generational divide in music. All you have is a guy who will put themselves in this place, someone like Andre Harrell or Russell Simmons, they are the dividers.
Mel:
And they gonna try to change the game and act like what we did . . . so, that's the point right there. It has to be a point where we as men or even them or we, as intelligent people, have to get to the point where you just face the truth. You have a pimp that would have a voice, a drug pusher that would have a voice, a hoe that would have a voice. Everybody has a platform in Hip Hop except, guess who? . . . The RAPPER! The EMCEE!!!"
NY:
This is these hyper-masculine, hard rappers and that appealed to young people.
Prisoners have more value on the street . . . a loser . . . but then somebody can come home after four years for going to college, this kid's a sucka, he don't get no love.
Take the word, "saggin'", write it down on a sheet of paper and read it in reverse.
Question:
How come a group like X-Clan, who developed a movement, doesn't even get mentioned?
Mel:
Well, that's the problem . . . Because in the scope of what hip hop turned out to be, they took in what they wanted to take in . . . it ain't even hip hop, it's gangsta rap but if you put it out there like it's gangsta rap . . . but they hijacked our title, which is hip hop, and put it on their product and then they sold it and it worked like crack . . . all these cats that listen to . . . rhyme after rhyme after rhyme of killin' . . . they stuck . . . I'm sorry, you ain't goin' nowhere. All them women that's naming their kids after anything . . . instead of studying their name that they gotta take into their future . . . they ain't goin' nowhere.
CoolClyde:
They took alot of spirituality away, man . . . people are not talking about God. And that's the element that's missin', man. Man repeats history, this is all gonna come back. By using our minds and intelligence to find a way to bring it back to its new essence . . .we do have a responsibility. We have minds and we can use it as a powerful tool. When you look at this ...
Big Pun had said "For the right price / I'd do Jesus Christ . . . I smoke weed in bible paper" . . . that's blasphemy.
If you look at the effect of what it does to the average cat on the street, you notice these cats wearing these rock n roll . . . they turned themselves into devil worshipping, white boys, that's the white-ification of Black America.
Mel:
Hip Hop is supposed to be a culture. We lost it.
Right now, Hip Hop has a black eye. People are using Hip Hop in the wrong way.
Ron:
Where do we go from here? There's a problem . . .
We need to talk more about the implications of race in the industry . . . and how that evolved.
NY:
Because if it's about income and revenue, then you are willing to do alot of different things that you weren't willing to do before, because it's about money . . . For Hip hoppers now, if you want to even call them that . . . They're not in the industry, they're not doing this music because they love rap, because they love syllabic math, because they love the genuis that is involved in it . . . they're doing it because they want to make money.
[they start to take callers and the responses are wonderful, off-the-chain, fantastic, the reverberation is deep. I will never forget the caller who said, "God just breathed a great breath into the black race tonight".]
Mmph. Discuss . . .
If you like that, just know that all these cats will be on panels and in workshops at the State of the Black World Conference, November 19-23, 2008, Ernest Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, LA. Register now, people.
The first great gathering of the African Diaspora after this Historic Presidential Election.
Where will you be?
What will be our agenda?
What is the State of YOUR Black World?
Bros. Ron, Peter, Mel, Clyde, NYOIL, Kamau, thank you so much for that.
Holla at ya girl.
I'm Dr. Goddess . . . and I approve this Message! <--- hey, it's election time, whatchu want?
Let us know what you think about this program and what you'd like to talk about at the State of the Black World Conference?!
It's Dr. Goddess and I'm reporting to you after attending the National Hip Hop Political Convention in Las Vegas. I'm very glad I went and had a great time because I was there to learn, to network, to (re)introduce myself, to contribute, the whole nine. So, shouts to NYOIL, Rosa, Maria, Mona, Marc, Davey, Pam, Roderic, Asheru, Andre, Byron, TJ, Jay, Troy, I had a great time speaking with all of you and hanging with you. I'll write more on my observations in a minute; but Hip Hop journalist, Davey D has a lot of links to the Convention on his site, so you can listen on Breakdown FM. Enjoy those programs and stay tuned to this blogspot for an update.
So much to say, so much to cover but let's check out this most recent radio program on WBAI, Free Speech Radio, 99.5 FM in New York City, with the show, "Night Talk" because many of these persons will be at the State of the Black World Conference this November 19-23, 2008. Will you?
Listen:
Hosts:
Dr. Ron Daniels, President, Institute of the Black World
Clifford Benton, Publicist, Grandmaster Mele-Mel, Kool Moe Dee, etc.
Peter Noel, co-host, "the flamethrower"
Kamau Khalfani, Engineer / Participant
Guests:
DJ CoolClyde
Grandmaster Mele-Mel
NYOIL
Click Here to Listen to the whole program.
Did you just say you didn't know who Grandmaster Mele-Mel was?
Forgive them, Father, for they have sinned . . . LOL.
Now, for your penance, watch the video below and then give us five daily blasts of "rrraahhh"!
And here are some quotes and paraphrases from the program (this is not complete, just a snippet of stuff I heard and wanted to capture from a two hour conversation, all errors are mine):
Mele-Mel (Mel) speaks on Hip Hop's origins:
First it was just entertainment, it later graduated to the political.
[Mel continues about rappers these days] - You forgot the blueprint. You don't always have to be a messenger but you DO have to entertain. I don't know from the beginning of your first rhyme to the end of your last rhyme because everything you said is based on the same thing, "you're gonna sell dope, you're gonna kill somebody".
NYOIL (NY):
Yeah, 'cause Alicia Keys came out and said they brought gangsta rap out to quell the ability of black men to rise . . .
[about many popular rappers these days] - You're a race traitor. You standing on [our ancestors'] shoulders and you defecatin' on 'em.
[Dr. Goddess Editorial: NYOIL has a song out entitled, "Y'all Should All Get Lynched". LOL. Peep it below]
Kamau Khalfani: I don't know if I want to save you by cuttin' your head off but . . .
NY:
I'm not gonna go to a gunfight with a knife . . . and certainly not with a pillowcase .
Peter Noel:
Gangsta Rap saved alot of lives in L.A. during that time.
[Dr. Goddess Editorial: Peter Noel was partially playing devil's advocate throughout this entire conversation but he was also making the point that West Coast rappers were just describing their lifestyle and their very real life battles with the police, as a result of COINTELPRO, the creation of a national police squad and the desire to maintain (and contain) civil disobedience and general rebellion. While Peter has a point, we have to recognize that the "fall" of Public Enemy from the mainstream radio and television is in direct proportion to the "rise" of groups like "N.W.A." and it was a purposeful calculation and from the same label, so this is not rocket science. The corporate media created "gangsta rap" and permeated popular culture with its nonsense. All rappers and labels and groups are co-conspirators and accomplices. Hence, the other guests were taking about the gangsta POSTURE that so many of these present-day rappers take from the names of mobsters (Gotti, Junior M.A.F.I.A., etc.) to labels and groups glorifying death (Murder Inc., Death Row, G-UNIT), to individuals who sing about it, propagate it, etc. (too many to name but rappers like C-Murder later being brought up on Murder charges is a classic example). Of course, it becomes real, these so-called gangsters change their tunes real quick. Hence, we now have labels like "The Inc." and "Tha Row" (which was just sold for a paltry sum, anyway). In short, lots of posturing and wayward dreaming. Got it? Let's continue . . .]
NYOIL:
So-called gangster rappers always bring up the violence in movies and films and they bring up Arnold Schwarzenegger like the classic example;but they forget that first of all, Schwarzenegger is now the Governor of California. Second, after he wraps his movies, he puts on a goddamned suit or some civilized-looking clothing and does a "press junket", where he goes around talking about the film, examining it and reinforcing the fantasy of it all. When you talk to these other rappers, you never know if you're talking to Curtis Jackson or 50 Cent, you never know if you're talking to the real person because these liars try to pretend that they live this gangster lifestyle and that this is who they are all the time. They are liars and frauds.
Mel:
Rap, as an art form, it died with Rakim, basically . . .
Nobody has been able to eclipse Biggie or Pac.
There is no generational divide in music. All you have is a guy who will put themselves in this place, someone like Andre Harrell or Russell Simmons, they are the dividers.
Mel:
And they gonna try to change the game and act like what we did . . . so, that's the point right there. It has to be a point where we as men or even them or we, as intelligent people, have to get to the point where you just face the truth. You have a pimp that would have a voice, a drug pusher that would have a voice, a hoe that would have a voice. Everybody has a platform in Hip Hop except, guess who? . . . The RAPPER! The EMCEE!!!"
NY:
This is these hyper-masculine, hard rappers and that appealed to young people.
Prisoners have more value on the street . . . a loser . . . but then somebody can come home after four years for going to college, this kid's a sucka, he don't get no love.
Take the word, "saggin'", write it down on a sheet of paper and read it in reverse.
Question:
How come a group like X-Clan, who developed a movement, doesn't even get mentioned?
Mel:
Well, that's the problem . . . Because in the scope of what hip hop turned out to be, they took in what they wanted to take in . . . it ain't even hip hop, it's gangsta rap but if you put it out there like it's gangsta rap . . . but they hijacked our title, which is hip hop, and put it on their product and then they sold it and it worked like crack . . . all these cats that listen to . . . rhyme after rhyme after rhyme of killin' . . . they stuck . . . I'm sorry, you ain't goin' nowhere. All them women that's naming their kids after anything . . . instead of studying their name that they gotta take into their future . . . they ain't goin' nowhere.
CoolClyde:
They took alot of spirituality away, man . . . people are not talking about God. And that's the element that's missin', man. Man repeats history, this is all gonna come back. By using our minds and intelligence to find a way to bring it back to its new essence . . .we do have a responsibility. We have minds and we can use it as a powerful tool. When you look at this ...
Big Pun had said "For the right price / I'd do Jesus Christ . . . I smoke weed in bible paper" . . . that's blasphemy.
If you look at the effect of what it does to the average cat on the street, you notice these cats wearing these rock n roll . . . they turned themselves into devil worshipping, white boys, that's the white-ification of Black America.
Mel:
Hip Hop is supposed to be a culture. We lost it.
Right now, Hip Hop has a black eye. People are using Hip Hop in the wrong way.
Ron:
Where do we go from here? There's a problem . . .
We need to talk more about the implications of race in the industry . . . and how that evolved.
NY:
Because if it's about income and revenue, then you are willing to do alot of different things that you weren't willing to do before, because it's about money . . . For Hip hoppers now, if you want to even call them that . . . They're not in the industry, they're not doing this music because they love rap, because they love syllabic math, because they love the genuis that is involved in it . . . they're doing it because they want to make money.
[they start to take callers and the responses are wonderful, off-the-chain, fantastic, the reverberation is deep. I will never forget the caller who said, "God just breathed a great breath into the black race tonight".]
Mmph. Discuss . . .
If you like that, just know that all these cats will be on panels and in workshops at the State of the Black World Conference, November 19-23, 2008, Ernest Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, LA. Register now, people.
The first great gathering of the African Diaspora after this Historic Presidential Election.
Where will you be?
What will be our agenda?
What is the State of YOUR Black World?
Bros. Ron, Peter, Mel, Clyde, NYOIL, Kamau, thank you so much for that.
Holla at ya girl.
I'm Dr. Goddess . . . and I approve this Message! <--- hey, it's election time, whatchu want?
Let us know what you think about this program and what you'd like to talk about at the State of the Black World Conference?!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Group plans Black Agenda for new administration
Group plans Black agenda for new administration
By IBW Updated Aug 5, 2008, 01:19 pm
Major conference in New Orleans to celebrate historic election
Special to The Final Call
Anticipating the election of Democratic Senator Barack Obama as the first person of African descent to become president of the United States, the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW), under the leadership of veteran social and political activist Dr. Ron Daniels, will convene the Second State of the Black World Conference (SOBWC) in New Orleans, November 19-23, 2008. Centered on the theme, “Return to the Source, Restoring Family, Rebuilding Community, Renewing the Struggles,” a major goal of the conference is to focus national and international attention on New Orleans and the Gulf in support of the right to return of evacuees/displaced persons and their heroic struggle to reclaim and rebuild their homes and neighborhoods.
Strategically positioned after an historic presidential election, SOBWC will be the first major opportunity for Black America and the Pan African world to celebrate a monumental victory. As such organizers view the conference as a veritable post-election political convention where an agenda of priority public policy proposals will be developed to present to the new administration with the objective of revitalizing Black communities in the U.S., the Caribbean and Africa.
“We’re excited about the prospect of Obama winning the White House,” Dr. Daniels commented, “but we must work to create and advance a progressive Black agenda no matter who wins the White House. The crisis afflicting New Orleans, before and after Katrina, is a metaphor for the conditions facing Black people across America,” he continued. “We must not make the mistake of believing that the new president will be able to resolve all our problems without a powerful grassroots movement to promote our agenda. This is very much in keeping with Barack Obama’s position that change comes from the bottom up.”
With enthusiasm about the presidential election at a fever pitch, SOBWC is expected to attract the Who’s Who of Black America as speakers, workshop presenters and resource people as well as hundreds of grassroots/community based activists and leaders.
Bev Smith, syndicated Talk Show Host on the American Urban Radio Networks; Rev. Al Sharpton, President, National Action Network; Dr. Julianne Malveaux, president of Bennett College; Marc Morial, president/CEO, National Urban League; Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, president, National Rainbow/Push Coalition; Dr. Elsie Scott, president/CEO, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation; Atty. Faya Rose Sanders, founder of the Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Ala.; Susan Taylor, former editorial director, Essence magazine; Dr. Iva Carruthers, general secretary, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference; Makani Themba-Nixon, executive director, Praxis Project; Dr. Maulana Karenga, creator of Kwanzaa and professor of Africana Studies and chairman of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach; Haki Madhubuti, author, poet and distinguished professor, Chicago State University; Sonia Sanchez, internationally acclaimed author and poet; Charles Ogletree, Harvard law professor, and Danny Glover, actor and humanitarian, are among the luminaries who have already confirmed their participation in the conference.
In addition, SOBWC recently received the endorsement of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan who has pledged the support of the Nation of Islam and the Millions More Movement. Though Min. Farrakhan has cut back on his rigorous schedule of engagements, the organizers have invited him to join other notable civil rights/human rights, religious and political leaders as a presenter at the National/International Town Hall Meeting, which will be the first public session of the conference. Invitations have also been extended to a number of heads of state and ministers of government in Africa and the Caribbean as well as to community-based leaders, organizations and agencies from every region of the Pan African World.
The full schedule for SOBWC will include the National/International Town Hall Meeting; Damu Smith Leadership Development and Organizer Training Institute; Katrina Policy Roundtables; a Special Session on Haiti; Pan African Policy Forum; Black Family Summit; and 16 topical Working Sessions addressing crucial issues affecting the Black community such as crime and gun violence; poverty and economic underdevelopment; public school drop-out rates and poor performing schools, health disparities; the crisis of the Black male and the prison-jail industrial complex.
It is in the Working Sessions that participants will discuss public policy proposals, private self-help projects, programs and initiatives to revitalize and strengthen Black communities. SOBWC will also feature a series of Intergenerational Dialogues with emerging leaders in the global Black freedom struggle.
Assessing the significance of the conference at such a historic moment, Dr. Daniels concluded, “SOBWC is designed to have a major impact on the socio-economic and political future of Black America and the Pan African World. As such it has the potential to be one of the great gatherings of people of African descent in the 21st Century.”
For further Information call: 888.774.2921, email sobwc@ibw21.org or visit the website http://www.stateoftheblackworld.org/.
FCN is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties.
Original content supplied by FCN and FinalCall.com News is Copyright © 2008 FCN Publishing, FinalCall.com. Content supplied by third parties are the property of their respective owners.
By IBW Updated Aug 5, 2008, 01:19 pm
Major conference in New Orleans to celebrate historic election
Special to The Final Call
Anticipating the election of Democratic Senator Barack Obama as the first person of African descent to become president of the United States, the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW), under the leadership of veteran social and political activist Dr. Ron Daniels, will convene the Second State of the Black World Conference (SOBWC) in New Orleans, November 19-23, 2008. Centered on the theme, “Return to the Source, Restoring Family, Rebuilding Community, Renewing the Struggles,” a major goal of the conference is to focus national and international attention on New Orleans and the Gulf in support of the right to return of evacuees/displaced persons and their heroic struggle to reclaim and rebuild their homes and neighborhoods.
Strategically positioned after an historic presidential election, SOBWC will be the first major opportunity for Black America and the Pan African world to celebrate a monumental victory. As such organizers view the conference as a veritable post-election political convention where an agenda of priority public policy proposals will be developed to present to the new administration with the objective of revitalizing Black communities in the U.S., the Caribbean and Africa.
“We’re excited about the prospect of Obama winning the White House,” Dr. Daniels commented, “but we must work to create and advance a progressive Black agenda no matter who wins the White House. The crisis afflicting New Orleans, before and after Katrina, is a metaphor for the conditions facing Black people across America,” he continued. “We must not make the mistake of believing that the new president will be able to resolve all our problems without a powerful grassroots movement to promote our agenda. This is very much in keeping with Barack Obama’s position that change comes from the bottom up.”
With enthusiasm about the presidential election at a fever pitch, SOBWC is expected to attract the Who’s Who of Black America as speakers, workshop presenters and resource people as well as hundreds of grassroots/community based activists and leaders.
Bev Smith, syndicated Talk Show Host on the American Urban Radio Networks; Rev. Al Sharpton, President, National Action Network; Dr. Julianne Malveaux, president of Bennett College; Marc Morial, president/CEO, National Urban League; Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, president, National Rainbow/Push Coalition; Dr. Elsie Scott, president/CEO, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation; Atty. Faya Rose Sanders, founder of the Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Ala.; Susan Taylor, former editorial director, Essence magazine; Dr. Iva Carruthers, general secretary, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference; Makani Themba-Nixon, executive director, Praxis Project; Dr. Maulana Karenga, creator of Kwanzaa and professor of Africana Studies and chairman of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach; Haki Madhubuti, author, poet and distinguished professor, Chicago State University; Sonia Sanchez, internationally acclaimed author and poet; Charles Ogletree, Harvard law professor, and Danny Glover, actor and humanitarian, are among the luminaries who have already confirmed their participation in the conference.
In addition, SOBWC recently received the endorsement of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan who has pledged the support of the Nation of Islam and the Millions More Movement. Though Min. Farrakhan has cut back on his rigorous schedule of engagements, the organizers have invited him to join other notable civil rights/human rights, religious and political leaders as a presenter at the National/International Town Hall Meeting, which will be the first public session of the conference. Invitations have also been extended to a number of heads of state and ministers of government in Africa and the Caribbean as well as to community-based leaders, organizations and agencies from every region of the Pan African World.
The full schedule for SOBWC will include the National/International Town Hall Meeting; Damu Smith Leadership Development and Organizer Training Institute; Katrina Policy Roundtables; a Special Session on Haiti; Pan African Policy Forum; Black Family Summit; and 16 topical Working Sessions addressing crucial issues affecting the Black community such as crime and gun violence; poverty and economic underdevelopment; public school drop-out rates and poor performing schools, health disparities; the crisis of the Black male and the prison-jail industrial complex.
It is in the Working Sessions that participants will discuss public policy proposals, private self-help projects, programs and initiatives to revitalize and strengthen Black communities. SOBWC will also feature a series of Intergenerational Dialogues with emerging leaders in the global Black freedom struggle.
Assessing the significance of the conference at such a historic moment, Dr. Daniels concluded, “SOBWC is designed to have a major impact on the socio-economic and political future of Black America and the Pan African World. As such it has the potential to be one of the great gatherings of people of African descent in the 21st Century.”
For further Information call: 888.774.2921, email sobwc@ibw21.org or visit the website http://www.stateoftheblackworld.org/.
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