“And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? ... It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.”
|
|
Protestors toppling of EDWARD COLSTON’S Statue in Bristol City, South West England, on 8th June 2020. Colston had been one of Britain’s 17
th
century primary traders in Afrikan people, who were kidnapped from Afrika, taken across Oceans to the Caribbean islands, sold and put to work as chattel against their will, on plantations without rewards, which lasted for over three hundred years.
Enslavers lasting gifts to their enslaved Afrikans was Christianity, which ‘emasculated and distorted their historical Afrikan Personality’ and history. Generational enslaved Afrikans built generational fortunes for their enslavers, their nations, institutions and offspring. Imperial Britain, like other slave owning European powers, became strong and ‘Great’ on the backs of Afrikans, by fortunes brought in from their Caribbean plantations. Meanwhile, Afrikans became generational poor, a completely new experience, as poverty was not part of rural Afrika with such abundance.
Subsequently, Britain wasted her fortunes on major wars. Today, offspring of enslaved Afrikans demand reparations from Britain and her institutions and citizenry that benefited and continue to benefit from Afrikan enslavements and colonization.
DON KINCH,
Educator and award winning playwright, Afrikan born in Barbados and now based in the UK, penned the following poem –
“ SOMETHING IN THE AIR”.
|
|
SOMETHING IN THE AIR
(A tribute to MARTIN CARTER, one of my favourite poets),
Aggressive winds blowing through disturbed sleep
And frightened tears against a clear blue sky
The clearest seen for many years
Yet I hear of something in the atmosphere
These are the dark times my dear
Heavy sounds of something falling
Did you hear?
How many fell on the battlefield today
Yesterday, the day before
Something that the washing of hands will not cure
Nor the washing of statues in rivers will not restore
These are the dark times my dear
Something is falling
Celebrated icons fashioned in a sea of distorted truths, lies and damn lies
Now revealed as villains
In a terrain of terror, carried out by a domestic army
Trained to kill while kneeling in prayer
Who is their God?
Don Kinch
17 June 2020
|
|
FRUIT OF LABOR WORLD CULTURAL CENTER WORLD CULTURAL
Cinema Film Series presents
“DO THE RIGHT THING”
(a Spike Lee Classic Film Joint)
|
A safe outdoor film, cookout ,and discussion on police violence.
You must bring and wear your facial mask to enter cookout!
We practice the 3 W's - With 6-8 feet distance/Wear face masks/Wash hands!
Saturday, July 25, 2020
8:00pm-11:00pm
Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center
4200 Lake Ridge Drive
Raleigh, NC
Some words on Spike and the film...
Since the mid-1980s, Spike Lee’s commitment to use art in the service of addressing race, class, and the disparaging conditions of Black life in America has been unparalleled. The unique reality Lee articulates for a distinct aesthetic has offered a voice to the voiceless for over 35 years. The goal of organizing such an event is to celebrate the work of an artistic giant who has obviously dedicated his life to the empowerment of African Americans through film and cinematography but also to engage others in discussions and our activism in this historic moment. Other than James Brown and Richard Wright, there are no bodies of cultural work that compare to Lee's influence on our young generation. It was Spike who inspired a whole movement of Black film in the 1990s. From John Singleton to the Hughes Brothers – from Juice to New Jack City, Spike Lee inspired them all. Even new film generals like Lee Daniels point to Spike.
Through 40 Acres & a Mule: The Spike Lee Film Series, the challenge is to dissect such a respected body of work within a new contextual lens, to engage such storied illustrations as a community. Eerily ironic, much of Spike’s political and social content from 1988 is just as relevant to the pressing issues of America today. Unfortunately, there is now a current generation of "20 and Unders" who don't even know Spike Lee. They primarily recognize him as that quirky and at times overzealous, New York Knick fanatic. Hopefully, such an event will expose us all to Lee's longstanding legacy of SOCIAL JUSTICE art to the highest degree and selfless service in the name of the raw soul.
DONATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED!
|
|
Check Out This POWERFUL Music Video for This Polictical Moment
|
|
Please use this FOL
STATE OF EMERGENCY
video
of our NC performance at the MEDICARE virtual event rally today. Do forward it to others and ask them to go to our
website
to send us a donation to support our closed FRUIT OF LABOR WORLD CULTURAL CENTER due to COVID 19.
If you are interested in buying the
"STATE OF EMERGENCY"
CD, please send us your mailing address and a donation of $20 that will include cost of CD and postage. Snippets of all the empowering songs, can be found on our
website
as well. The video below can be found on the Fruit of Labor website.
|
|
Trevor shares his thoughts on the killing of George Floyd, the protests in Minneapolis, the dominos of racial injustice and police brutality, and how the contract between society and black Americans has been broken time and time again.
|
|
LL Cool J Raps About George Floyd and Black Lives Matter
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
