The Hip Hop Anthropologist

I just finished reading “Stokely: A Life,” by the historian Peniel E. Joseph. Stokely Carmichael was a seminal figure in the evolution of Black Liberation in the United States. He was instrumental in the development of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was the precursor of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. I long admired him though he was considerably before my time. It spurred me to begin to investigate why Pan-Africanism, which is a philosophy Kwame Ture embraced and promoted, especially during his self-imposed exile in Ghana failed to gain traction, as a viable expression of African self-determination. Pan-Africanism began as an anti-slavery and anti-colonial movement rippling throughout the Diaspora in the late nineteenth century. The ideology has evolved through the ensuing decades. Pan-Africanism seeks reconciliation. It denounces tribalism, nationalism, independence, political and economic cooperation, and historical and cultural awareness...

Refusing to read my weekly letters (as well as give money) to my son, attempting to return them (they are on the way back by the by), trying to manipulate me to either call or drive 120 miles knowing I am incapable of this sort of stress so that either you or Alicia can coach my child on what to say - because the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse continues unfettered - as if he is incapable of independent thought; or, more importantly, subject me to verbal or physical assaults, giving him the false impression that I do not love and care about him is unfathomably mean, demonstrably selfish, and abusive under a strict reading of the law. It is inconceivable any responsible parent or adult would engage in this sort of reckless behavior and, more importantly, is illustrative of how badly the Judge erred first beyond obviously failing to recognize he lacked jurisdiction to even make the ruling in the first instance; and, second, by refusing to appoint an objective mediator to ensure w...