As this JENA 6 story grows more and more everyday, I start to wish that I will wake up soon from this nightmare that something this racist can still go on today. Why do I still live in this type of country. How can our kids grow up in this. But I realize that I am not dreaming, and this sh!t is real. Its also as American as Apple Pie. Its not only JENA 6, for some time now I have noticed the backtracking that has occured in the media an in Hip Hop. Like someone gave them the cue that racism was okie now.

Take for instance FLAVA FLAV. This Summer on Comedy Central, they aired the FLAVA FLAV ROAST. Theres no real reason to defend Flava Flav, being that hes brought back the Mistrel Show back to modern tv, but watching this show made me realize that we all are being bamboozled into another Civil Rights Movement, and it looks like its gonna be against our own people.

JENA 6 is not a surprise, I just think that we are all being just too naive to exactly how racist this country is. It was built on racism. We are in the belly of the beast here. Thats why i'm actually kind of scared for Barrack O'Bama. I was scared when he spoke at Washington Square Park last week in NYC. The Ku Klux Clan is not extinct. There are many people who rather Die than see this Half Black man take the white house.

If the Next Presidential Election is Going to be btween Barrack and Hilary, then we are just gonna find out what America is more of, either Racist, or Sexist, and thats the only thing it will prove. Dont be fooled and dont believe the hype!

I promised I was not going to go into the Britney/Lohan/Paris world, but I have to. Rumors are spreading regarding Britney Spears appearing at this Sunday's Primetime Emmy® Awards broadcast on FOX (8/7 CT). Guess what for? She will apologize for her unforgivable /unforgettable performance at the MTV Video Music Awards. In case you missed it, watch the video and let us know if Britney should even consider appearing on television until she cleans up her act and put herself together.

After all, it is her choice. But who cares? Well, FOX cares (really? of course, they live on that), NBC's Co-Chairman Ben Silverman does (I heard he liked Britney's performance at the VMAs) and the Academy does (if they allow this it wil be REALLY sad). Britney, I hope you don't do it and/or the network and the Academy change their mind.

P.S. CLEANING UP YOUR ACT means NO drugs, NO party, NO drinking, NO making a fool of yourself, NO showing your bald vagina to the world, and getting help. But help actually helps only when you want.

P.S. CARING means stop using others misfortunes, mistakes and crying for help to make money or get ratings. It is very low and unethical, only if you care.

Would you be surprised if I tell you that not everything at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in NYC is great? Of course not! I wil not only tell you that some collections were simply NOT suppposed to be allowed on the runway but I will show you some examples. Even the models look a bit confused with the "jogger wonder woman, sock tied around my head" look.

Lacoste, Herrera & Baby Phat: what the f@%! were you thinking?  Call me crazy but, come on! It is true that high end fashion designers with a name have a free-for-all liscence but sometimes, once in a while, some things, just don't make any sense.
What do you think? I say NO.
 

"El patriotismo require la ofrenda y en esto no hay parcialidad. O todo o nada." 

Today marks the b-day of one the greatest Independance fighters of Puerto Rico's Time. My aunt, my grandmothers sister Titi Tere, used to roll with Don Albizu back in day and she used to tell me stories about him, She was a member of the PNPR. She used to tell me about when he used to come over for dinner and how inspiring he was. Everyone at that time would follow him to the death, and some did.

His fight still continues today. We still fight for a FREE PUERTO RICO.
please visit September23.org for more info

He was called "El Maestro" by all who loved him and valued his leadership. Pedro Albizu Campos was the most prominent Puerto Rican political figure of the 20th century, a National Hero who sacrificed his life for the freedom of his country. Under his direction, the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico became a major force in the fight for independence. A powerful speaker, thousands would gather to listen to his passionate discourses of freedom. He urged the Puerto Rican people to reclaim their cultural history and national symbols such as the flag and the national anthem.

Pedro Albizu Campos was instrumental in winning an island wide sugar cane strike and exposing secret medical experiments sponsored by the Rockefeller Institute. He developed the theory of non-collaboration (retraimiento) with the colonial structures, i.e. boycotting elections and military service. He soon became a target of the colonial forces and was arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy. From the mid-thirties to the early sixties, Pedro Albizu Campos would be in and out of U.S. prisons (25 years). During his incarceration, he repeatedly charged that he was a target of human radiation experiments. His skin severely swollen and cracking he covered himself with wet towels. Jailers thought he was crazy, but today there is proof that radiation experiments did take place.

He never accepted the United States rights to govern in Puerto Rico. He did reach that "Éif they won't listen to legal reason, then we must take up arms against the invaders." When he issued his call to arms, he cited as legal precedents the Boston Tea Party and the drawn sword of George Washington. Ironically, he also mentioned that Luis Muñoz Rivera got Puerto Rico's Autonomy from Spain by means of a threat to take his case to the U.S., both parties understanding that the liberal Yankees, would sympathize with the concept of independence. It is curious to note that both Cuba and the Philippines where the Spanish/American War was fought were granted their independence. Only Puerto Rico where there was no major fighting is still controlled by the U.S.

Because of his teachings, the Puerto Rican people and the Latino world called, Pedro Albizu Campos, "El Maestro". He was the first great Puerto Rican theoretician of anticolonial thought and the first to describe the contradictions of the colonized. Today there are parks, streets and schools named after him. Institutes and scholars study his work as well as activists look to his example to continue their struggle for Puerto Rico's independence. People of all ages wear T-shirts adorned with his picture and famous quotes. In all the major struggles presently taking place in Puerto Rico you will always see and feel the presence of "El Maestro" at a demonstration or at rally.

Yemaya (Installation) By Yasmin Hernandez

When enslaved Africans were stolen from their homelands and brought across the Atlantic in chains, they may have never imagined how their faith, resilience, vision, and hope would be transferred to their children in the Americas.   From Canada to the Southern tip of South America (yes, Argentina has black folks), African descendants have preserved and maintained the traditions of that long lost madre patria, embracing and celebrating Africa’s gifts to the Americas. Yoruba, Kongo, Dahomey, Mandinga, and other African peoples carried not only their memory of home, but the desire for their children and progeny to see home one day.  They carried a share vision, a shared hope.

I'm On My Way (Save a Space for Me) (1995) By Moira Pernambuco

Today, hundreds of Ifa, Lukumi (commonly known as Santeria), and other African religious practitioners gathered on the shore of New York City’s Far Rockaway Beach to honor that connection to “home”, and celebrate the Yoruba orisha, Yemaya.  The divine spirit of the oceans, seas and salt waters- “Mother of Seven”- was fêted with a “drum”, singing, and offerings supplicating her blessings and bounty.  Beyond the religious implications and dimensions of this annual celebration, one of the most powerful and significant aspects for me, is the festival’s potential to garner and harness community, unity, collective power and hope across boundaries of race, culture, and class.  At least for a day. 

Jubilation (1998) By Moira Pernambuco

I think that there is a lesson in this for us all.  In the Latino community, we often forget that the concept of latinidad is not void of limitations (political, and otherwise).  While the peoples of Latin America in the United States (i.e. Latinos) are certainly bound by geographic, linguistic, and cultural traits, the ethnic and racial diversity of Latinos/Latin Americans is not fully reflected within the lines of latinidad.  For African, Indigenous, Asian, Arab, Rom (“gypsy”), and other ethnic and racial groups who fall outside of Euroccentric constructions of latinidad, the term Latino often leaves little room for difference.  When it comes to building alliances with “non-Latinos” we are often limited by this narrow vision of who we are.     

Throughout my life- and across all areas of my work- expanding or creating space for all of our people’s experiences to be honored, celebrated, and respected, is a priority.  Communing with Yemaya today reminded me of why.  Observing the humble sea of black, brown, caramel, and yes, latte faces, I was re-affirmed in my belief that vision, values, and respect (above all) frame the perimeters of community.   

Standing on the shore of Far Rockaway- a beach I might typically avoid when seduced by the prospect of a bluer, calmer Caribbean Sea- I was inspired by the power of Yemaya to create and strengthen the bonds of community across racial, ethnic, cultural, and economic lines.  While there were certainly groups and congregations defined by family or social ties, ultimately, we were all were bound by faith and a collective prayer for peace, unity, progress, and the blessings of the Mother of All.  We were in fact, bound by spirit.   Maferefun Yemaya! Omi-O!