Bilal-Soul Sista

Who you callin' a Nigger-Channel 4 again!

Darcus Howe reports on a netherworld of unreported violence and prejudice between Britain's ethnic minority groups.

Next Episode: Thu 26 Nov, 11.20PM on More4

Up-coming event-ADAP

ADAP African Development Association for Progress


Africans Arise a supporter of the ADAP organisation has invited us the attending the filming on the film One love. I am saying now I will be in attendance, and hopefully it will work out that way..Deatils below..


This is the final ADAP Film Screening in this series and our last event of 2009.

We finish on a celebration vibe as we will be screening ONE LOVE - a heart-warming story of African love in the face of extreme obstacles. It's not often that films offer us a positive look at how African men... and women can come together in loving and stable relationships. ONE LOVE provides a powerful antidote to this. The lead role is played by Kymani Marley (son of Bob) and it also features the UK's own Idris Elba (recently famous from The Wire).

This is the last event that ADAP will be doing for some time so make sure you invite your friends and family to come and enjoy a unique warm atmosphere. As usual, food and drink will be provided and there will also be a range of products including arts and crafts from Ghana available to purchase at knock-down prices. 100% of the takings are ploughed back into running these events.

Entrance is completely free (donations welcome) and early arrival is highly advised so as to secure the best seats. The venue is the usual place, Chestnuts Community Centre, St Anns Road, Tottenham London (10-12 minutes walk from Seven Sisters tube, or the 67 bus drops you right outside the centre).


www.adap.org.uk

The black Holocaust

Part 1





Please visit EbonyNewsChannel page to watch the rest of the videos....

www.youtube.com/user/EbonyNewsChannel

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Market Ni$$as

My internet brother AfricansArise (http://twitter.com/AfricansArise), twitted this video. And I want to share it with you.

Sade-No ordinary Love.

Quote for the day.

Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.
-Confucius

Brazilian music

Carlinhos Brown, love this guy!!!

Capoeira- How African slaves survived.

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What African Brazilians did to survive.


I am so happy to see this movie has been made. I came across the trailer from the blog 'a Brother in Sweden'. wwww.ibousthlm.blogspot.com




Capoeira is something I really want to learn. Seeing posters around my area for classes. I was contemplating going, only yesterday and to see this video today is very inspiring.
Other commitments at the moment have me slightly restricted. But after watching the trailer for the movie, I must.

I adore martial arts and highly respect the art. From a young age my brother and I would go to Taekwondo classes and karate. (We tried our hand at both. lol). I remember being so happy seeing a guy twice my height being told I had to spare against. Ok I wouldn't say I was happy but it was a challenge, and as I was a Tomboy I was willing to take.
Having an older half brother who was a Sensei made us feel like we had it in the bag. Needless to say not quite. Every now and again my brother will remind me of moves and it takes me back to my youth.

Capoeira wasn't something I knew about back then at that young age it was only later I discovered it. The first time I saw it live was in a Brazilian bar in London.
Capoeira was created in Brazil brought by African slaves. With my love of dance, martial arts and being African Caribbean. Capoeria is breathtakingly amazing to me.!

Paul Obinna and The Timeline

www.hh-bb.com




Understanding our history is far greater than slavery..

Maxwell- Soul Music

Maxwell was absolutely amazing last week. Didn't want the night to end!!!!!!..

Here's one of my favourite songs from his album Embrya. It's a shame people didn't get that album. It was genius.. And unfortunately he didn't do any of the songs. :(



Another one. I couldn't do just one...This album had me from 17 till now. Love it!!!

Black Ice- The Ugly Show

For eveyone who is in love

P square-No one like you...

OUR media.....

'Black Media got that Good Hair'




The video is a brief review on the movie 'Good Hair'. For me the most important part of the video is the appeal for black people to support and also take part in our own dissemination of black images.

That's what I was trying to explain to the person I was having the discussion with regarding the Cadury's advert. It's completely fine disagreeing and voicing that to Cadbury's, but we have to look at this realistically. What are their concerns? and main objectives?. $£$£

We need to start using all the outlets available so we can represent ourselves.We also need to understand first what it means to be black in today's society, outside of Africa and truly represent that to our people and whoever chooses, to read, watch or listen.

We complain, get mad, curse, do kinds of emotional rhetoric, but how far are we prepared to go to change anything. What are we going to do to support other black people now, who are trying to start or we going to get back to our comfort zone of saying a lot but doing nothing.

Please see below websites I visit and also the ones that were mentioned in the videos.


www.voxafrica.com, click on the tab Shoot the messenger for debates on current issues.


www.voxunion.com


www.colourtelly.tv


www.BlackPowerMedia.com


www.joshuabeealafia.com


The black battle continues.......

New Precious Film Trailer

I heard about this movie early this year. Just hoping it will be showing in the UK soon.

The New blacking up

Mentally disable actors are victims of mordern 'blacking up',says campaigner.

The mother of the first actress with Asperger's syndrome to play a fictional character with the condition has launched a campaign to stop actors "playing disabled".

Lizzy Clark was 14 when the BBC asked her to play the part of Poppy, a teenage girl with Asperger's, in the television film Dustbin Baby, starring Dakota Blue Richards and Juliet Stevenson. Based on Jacqueline Wilson's novel of the same name, the film has been shortlisted for an International Emmy, a British Academy children's award and the Bafta Kids' Vote awards. The award ceremonies will take place next week.

Lizzy's mother, Nicola Clark, has said that employing actors who are not mentally disabled to play characters with neurological impairments should stop. It is the "blacking-up of the 21st century", she said. "We need to break down these barriers. They're unacceptable and indefensible in a modern-day society, especially when there are so many good, disabled actors who are both ready, eager and able to take on these parts."

Lizzy, who had never acted professionally before her part in Dustbin Baby, said: "My Asperger's made some things on the film set difficult at first, like dealing with the sudden noise of the storyboard, but I was soon so focused on acting that I didn't notice anything else.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/nov/15/disabled-actors-television-campaign

Health-Winter fruit and veg

FOODS IN SEASON NOW

VEGETABLES

artichoke*, beetroot*, broccoli, brussels sprouts, butternut squash*, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac*, celery*, chicory*, chillies*, garlic, horseradish*, jerusalem artichoke*, kale*, kohlrabi*, leeks*, onions, parsnips*, potatoes (maincrop)*, pumpkin*, radishes, rocket, runner beans, salsify*, shallots*, spinach, spring onions, swede*, sweetcorn, turnips*, watercress*

FRUIT

apples*, cranberries*^[i], elderberries*, lemons^[i], oranges^[i], medlars*, passion fruit^[i], pears*, quince*

HERBS, FLOWERS, FUNGHI, NUTS

almonds^*[i], brazil nuts*^[i], chestnuts*, chives*, coriander, hazelnuts*^[i], mint, mushrooms (cultivated), mushrooms (wild)*, parsley (curly), rosemary, sage, sorrel, truffles (black)*^[i], truffles (white)*^[i], walnuts*^[i]

MEAT

beef, chicken, duck*, goose*, grouse*, guinea fowl*, hare*, mallard*, partridge*, pheasant*, pork, rabbit*, turkey*, venison*, wood pigeon*

FISH & SEAFOOD

brill*, clams*, cockles, cod, coley*, conger eel*, crab*, dab, dover sole, eel*, haddock*, halibut*, hake*, herring, john dory*, langoustine, lemon sole*, lobster*, mackerel, monkfish*, mussels*, oysters*, plaice*, pollack*, prawns, scallops*, sea bass*, sea bream*, skate*, squid*, turbot*, whelks, winkles*

www.eattheseasons.co.uk

Ghanaian Proverb

"If things are getting easier, maybe you're headed downhill"
Ghanaian Proverb

African British Actor

Chucky Venice

Chucky Venn was Born and raised in West London, to Nigerian parents, he grew up in a large household; the eldest of five siblings he has two sets of twin sisters. Chucky's friends and Family always felt he was destined to be in the spotlight; growing up he won a number of modelling competitions but decided on a career in acting quite accidentally; filming with friends in the park with a new toy, a video camera, he realised how much he enjoyed acting. He dedicated the following three years to study; honing his skills with the hope of carving out a career in the acting businness. The support of his family has given him an incredible drive and ambition which has been the credit for all the roles he has landed so far. Years of networking, religiously reading The Stage newspaper & PCR he has virtually done it all, from extra work, modelling, music videos, community theatre and low budget independent movies. His big break came when he auditioned for the role of Curtis Alexander on Sky Ones football soap Dream Team. What originally started out as a two episode contract developed into a three year role filming 98 episodes. In-between projects he also landed a featured role in BBC 1s Holby City as well as ITV's The Bill. After swapping Sky Ones No.1 soap for primetime ITVs Footballers Wives this was 10 years in the making. Now with feature's in 2007's Blockbuster 'Bourne Ultimatum', this year's eagerly anticipated 'Batman The Dark Knight', plus 'The Code' with Morgan Freeman & Antonio Banderess and currently filiming 'Sharpe's Peril' with Sean Bean in India as well as several other projects this year, Chucky Venn's career continues to grow from strength to strength.

http://www.myspace.com/chuckyvenice

Daniel Beaty-"Duality Duel"

Ni%%er VS Nerd


Please watch:

On-going debate

Good hair vs bad hair.....Light skin vs Dark skin

I wasn't sure I wanted to get into this subject on my blog. I do have discussions on this in my personal life. That allows for immediate responses: off the cuff truthful answers. Which then lead into debates.
We can all prepare and make ourselves look good with well thought out answers but do you get the truth.Even in face to face debates, people are not prepared to be honest: not with themselves more importantly.
Having this discussion recently, having to admit certain truths to yourselves will often leave you feeling stupid and who purposely wants to feel this way?. 'Truth hurts as they say'.

As we have seen in recent months with the Chris Rock movie 'Good hair' and the recent channel 4 documentaries regarding race. Tyra Banks deciding to no longer wear weaves and Sosa lighten complexion, and Lil Kim, who has been so for awhile now. So in-light(not intended) of what's going on, I thought I will touch upon the subject briefly.


Historical context:

House Nigger VS Field Nigger

"House Nigger"

One who is of lighter complexion,looser hair texture. Will be the child of the slave owner and slave worker. Privileges for that offspring; they were in the house, eating the good food and better dressed..

"Field Nigger"

One who is of darker complexion, tighter curl patter;often refereed to as 'kinky' or 'nappy'. Will be found in the field, picking cotton, cutting down sugar cane,or picking corn etc. Ate whatever was thrown to them. Foods that are still cooked today.

"The house Negro will be the one to keep the field Negro in-check if they ever got out of line." Malcolm X..

That is very brief historical reference but highly relevant. We can go back a lot further and look at a vast amount of historical events that have influenced the negative depiction of black people. Or even more recent depictions can be found. Scientists, anthropologists and all of the other "-ists" that you can think of have been used over the years to encourage and 'prove' the other (us) as the lesser kind.

So you can say a lot work has gone into making black people feel like 'savages', 'primitive', less intelligent and all the rest.

So when I hear comments like " I relax my hair out of convenience", "I like different styles"."I just find light/white skin girls more attractive, it' s my preference" or "I don't have good hair. that's why I relax". Are we just becoming a culture that it's more and more integrated therefore, doing something different, liking something more than the other, is just part of the process?

But then I question:

How much of the historical context can we ignore? Can we truly say decisions we make are no way impacted by the years 'conditioning'?
And do we as black people really understand the effect.?

Watching the race documentaries on Channel 4, 'Nip, tuck and bleach, the white beauty myth'. The young lady called Jet who was on a mission to lessen her nose from looking 'African' to looking more 'European'. She felt her black nose made her look poor.
Further into the show at one point she went for a brief moment of anger, when she realised she was putting her life at risk to try and fit in with white society. That soon faded and she was elated after the surgery was complete. As she put it, "she felt her nose went with her clothes" shopping at Waitrose , basically her overall lifestyle, work etc. So ultimately her life was made more convenient by looking white!.


We can look at white society and see how blind they are to racism. That was shown on the other documentary 'How racist are you:the event'. One guy said, I quote " I don't have a problem with calling you gollywog". Well isn't that something?! He doesn't mind calling me gollywog, well thank you kind sir.

Nevertheless, comments that were made about the show 'the white beauty myth' on Twitter were by black females. The common trend found amongst the black women; dare I say it, they had very long weave, blonde colour hair, some with just blonde highlights and other colours, commenting on the fact they don't understand how black women are not happy being black.
Now are we saying hair doesn't count as part of the idea of not looking black. If we refer back to the previous historical context looking black, i.e nappy hair was bad.So is this idea of just changing your style, which are usually different European styles, that simple of an answer.

You can even further look into the damaging affects of relaxer,hair dye etc, not only to your hair but your inside as it's a toxic chemical. Is Jet the only one who is wrong in that case?. Is her honesty more damaging or are the black people who do questionable styles but don't see any correlation ?

What Jet did was undeniable trying to look white, she said it herself. Is this matter of what we see as trying to look white?
If your aware of something only then can you change it, if you don't see a problem how would you know to question yourself.



Closing:

Are the decisions we make, that may appear to be looking less black. I.E Hair colour, hair texture-from wavy to straight. Wanting to look more European in shape. Wanting to date women or men who look less black.

Are these just choices??



Watch the comedy sketch below from the show Little Miss Jocelyn.. I have meet a few black people like this in my life

Dermatologist explains reason for Sosa lightening!!

NOK Civilization

The Nok civilization appeared in Nigeria around 1000 B.C. and mysteriously vanished around 200 AD. The civilization’s social system is thought to have been highly advanced. The Nok civilization was considered to be the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta. Nok culture terracottas are heralded as the prime evidence of the refinement of African civilizations, and it is suggested that the society eventually evolved into the later Ife Yoruba community

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nok_culture

"Darwinism & Racism"

Good hair....You can't touch mine

I think I died at @0.55.....

It's just skin rejuvenation- Right...........

But a widely circulated photo of the former Cubs slugger makes his skin color appear several shades lighter.

"He's not trying to be Michael Jackson," said former Cubs employee Rebecca Polihronis, who talks frequently with Sosa.

Sosa was photographed recently during an appearance at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-08-sammy-sosa-nov08,0,7519658.story