The Cafe' [Think Tank]

Foreigners have no claim to African land AFRICANGLOBE  – The Zimbabwe government took a major step towards completing the country’s land reclamation programme this week by gazetting 23 of the remaining 300 farms owned by white settlers for expropriation. The planned seizures in the Matabeleland North and South provinces were announced despite an admission by Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party that it did not compensate more than 96% of white farmers already dispossessed since 2000, regardless of  a constitutional obligation to do so . Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister Douglas Mombeshora on Tuesday told Zimbabwe’s state media that “this is an ongoing programme which started in 2000 under the land reform programme. There’s nothing new here. In fact, farms are being acquired every day and redistributed because all agricultural land belongs to the state.” Section 72 (2) of the Zimbabwean Constitution empowers the state to acquire agricultural land for “agricultur...

Before Castro there was the Bronze Titan. Fellow Cubans gave Maceo the sobriquet of the "Bronze Titan" (Spanish: El Titan de Bronce), which was a reference to his skin color, stature and status.[1] Spaniards referred to Maceo as the "Greater Lion" (El Leon mayor). Maceo was one of the most noteworthy guerrilla leaders in 19th centuryLatin America, comparable to José Antonio Páez of Venezuela in military acumen.

Arguments for Pan-Africanism seem to have decreased in volume, strength, and number as time has worn on, with the opposite being true for imperialism and post-colonialism that demolishes African (and Third  World in general) economies, politics, society, pride, and more. And with these circumstances, it seems like a good time for us to ask ourselves why Pan-Africanism isn’t boldy on the table. SEE ALSO:  Should Robert Mugabe Really Be Criticized for Partnering with China? Given that politics are no longer uni-national and that alliances and compliance are the order of the day for successful economies, the setting up of institutions like the  International Monetary Fund  (IMF) and the  World Bank  have proven useful to the West in channeling a united force of western dominance on the Mother continent. Institutions like the  African Union  claim to be acting for Africans, but it only appears to be the case that they are acting wi...

The  Los Angeles Pobladores , or “townspeople,” were a group of 44 settlers and four soldiers from Mexico who established the famed city on this day in 1781 in what is now California. The settlers came from various Spanish castes, with over half of the group being of African descent. SEE ALSO:  Frederick Douglass Escaped From Slavery To Freedom On This Day in 1838   Governor of Las Californias, a Spanish-owned region,  Felipe de Neve  called on 11 families to help build the new city in the region by recruiting them from Sonora and Sinaloa, Mexico. According to a census record taken at the time, there were two persons of African ancestry, eight Spanish and Black persons, and nine American Indians. There was also one Spanish and Indian person, with the rest being Spaniards. According to the efforts of historian  William M. Mason , the actual racial makeup of the pobladores was perhaps more racially balanced than not. Mason wrote that o...

Ali and Malcolm - "Turning my back on Malcolm was one of the mistakes that I regret most in my life. I wish I’d been able to tell Malcolm I was sorry, that he was right about so many things. But he was killed before I got the chance. He was a visionary ahead of us all" - Muhammad Ali

Photographer: Lee Russell Library of Congress  http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000020200/PP/

Folks, it’s that time again, time to expose a blatant outrage happening in our military. The media are falling all over themselves about the two female Ranger School graduates, but there’s something far more egregious that reflects President Obama’s “fundamentally transformed” military. A few Saturdays ago, we brought you the story of U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Tim White, who faced the dark specter of charges against him after he returned fire with his own private weapon during the Islamic jihadist attack upon his Naval Reserve Center. Your voices and response rang stentorian and forced Navy leadership — who at first denied the claim, then claimed they didn’t rule out charges — to stand down and admit they would not seek charges. Hat tip to you America! And now from the combat zone of Afghanistan — apparently, President Obama, they didn’t get your email unilaterally declaring the end of com...

Few people know the story of Claudette Colvin: When she was 15, she refused to move to the back of the bus and give up her seat to a white person — nine months before Rosa Parks did the very same thing. Most people know about Parks and the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott that began in 1955, but few know that there were a number of women who refused to give up their seats on the same bus system. Most of the women were quietly fined, and no one heard much more. Colvin was the first to really challenge the law. Now a 69-year-old retiree, Colvin lives in the Bronx. She remembers taking the bus home from high school on March 2, 1955, as clear as if it were yesterday. The bus driver ordered her to get up and she refused, saying she'd paid her fare and it was her constitutional right. Two police officers put her in handcuffs and arrested her. Her school books went flying off her lap. "All I remember is that I was not going to walk off the bus voluntarily," Colvin sa...

Things are really changing in Hiphop culture these days. Jaden Smith is in a relationship with rapper Lil B and they are deeply in love. Jaden who is no stranger to rocking women’s clothes hooked up with Lil B a while back at a recording session for Lil B’s 3rd studio album G.B.P. or Gay Black & Proud. The two instantly fell in love and don’t care if the world knows. When Jaden was asked what attracted him to the Gangstalicious rapper he stated “I was nervous at first but he broke me right in and now I love getting my pelvic bone pushed back, Thank you Based God”. Lil B calls Jaden his Holloywood love bug and insist he’s not taking advantage of his celebrity status to get new movie roles. He says the new movie coming out starring himself Jaden & rapper Young Thug called “Homonation We Taking Over” is just a coincidence. The two Lovebirds are planning on getting married soon but have yet to set a date.

Mayor Rahm Emmanuel has called on the assistance of the United States military to help patrol the blood-soaked streets of Chicago. The unprecedented move is one step away from declaring total martial law in the nation’s third most populous city. During 4th of July weekend, 82 people were shot in an 84 hour period, with a total of 14 succumbing to their injuries.  Though the number of murders has fallen drastically since the 1990’s, the violence in Chicago seems to be increasing dramatically. “It’s groundhog day here in Chicago again,” Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said this morning,  in a statement that touched on the violent weekend.   “The results were a lot of shootings and a lot of murders unfortunately,” he said. “Yesterday was the day that really blew it up for us in our strategy .” With their failing strategies to protect the public, city officials will now go in a different direction and call upon the services of the National Gua...

Lonnie Bunch, museum director, historian, lecturer, and author, is proud to present A Page from Our American Story , a regular on-line series for Museum supporters. It will showcase individuals and events in the African American experience, placing these stories in the context of a larger story — our American story. With the end of the Civil War in 1865, hundreds of thousands of African Americans newly freed from the yoke of slavery in the South began to dream of fuller participation in American society, including political empowerment, equal economic opportunity, and economic and cultural self-determination. Unfortunately, by the late 1870s, that dream was largely dead, as white supremacy was quickly restored to the Reconstruction South. White lawmakers on state and local levels passed strict racial segregation laws known as “Jim Crow laws” that made African Americans second-class citizens. While a small number of African Americans were able to become landowne...