Since the advent of the infamous Atlantic slave trade, Africans at home and Africans abroad have heard that they do not like each other. Today, the American media continues this disservice by blasting images of sincere European-Americans offering their benevolence to our African family members, but seldom showing African-Americans doing likewise. This paints an inaccurate picture and continues to promote a master-slave, colonial power-colonial subject relationship.

Being a Pan-African magazine, we counter this image with stories and images of African-Americans working with Continental Africans and others in the diaspora.

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A new book that chronicles the history of the Eastland Gardens neighborhood in D.C. is now available. Though a White-owned real estate investment company initiated the development in 1928, Black families and individuals seeking a suburb in the city purchased most of the double lots for single-family houses and gardens. They relied on the expertise of African American builders and designers – sometimes the owners themselves – to create their dream homes and making the neighborhood a living museum of African-American architecture.

A is for Anacostia

A is for Anacostia by Dr. Courtney Davis is a great book for children that highlights things good in historically Black Anacostia and available at the Anacostia Art Gallery and Boutique.

In September 1823, Joseph Smith was visited by a heavenly messenger named Moroni. (The same year that spiritual leader Denmark Vesey planned a slave insurrection with the intention of taking over Charleston, SC.)

In September 1827, Joseph received the record, which was written on thin plates of gold. Smith translated the book into English by the inspiration of God. The book is called The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

While some Blacks, such as Gladys Knight, have joined the church and it opened a wonderful temple on Malcolm X Blvd in Harlem, many Blacks remain skeptical of the church’s historic teachings on Blacks. “Negroes in this life are denied the Priesthood,” is a passage that one group finds disturbing from a historic Morman text.

Romney, whose faith has been an open obstacle in his quest to become President of the United States, will soon face South Carolinians, many of whom are Southern Baptist and about 30% whom are of African descent. While most Blacks are Democratic, many White Republicans are Southern Baptist and are having an open debate on Mormonism and whether or not it is a cult.

Senator Rick Santorum on Blacks and Government Assistance

“I was in Indianola, (Iowa) (1/2 % Black) a few months ago and I was talking to someone who works in the department of public welfare here, and she told me that the state of Iowa (which is 91% White, 3% Black) is going to get fined if they don't sign up more people under the Medicaid program. They're just pushing harder and harder to get more and more of you dependent upon them so they can get your vote. That's what the bottom line is. I don't want to make Black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money; I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money. And provide for themselves and their families. The best way to do that is to get the manufacturing sector of the economy rolling again.”

Later in an interview on CNN’s John King USA, Santorum said, “I’m pretty confident I didn't say “black.” I started to say a word and sort of mumbled it and changed my thought. I don't recall saying black. No one in that audience heard me say that.” Comedian Huggy Lowdown named Santorum the “Bamma” of the week for his disrespect for Black people.

• What do you hear Santorum Say?

Gingrich Singles Out Blacks Among Those Needing Assistance, Too.

The NAACP responded, “The majority of people using food stamps are not African-American, and most people using food stamps have a job.”

• Gingrich Explains?

• CNN Reports:  GOP's Racial Stumbles

Meet the Home Healthcare Worker Who Inspired the President

National Public Radio journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault has accepted being an honorary chair of The Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers project created by former Port Of Harlem editor Ann Chinn. As reported in the November 2008 - January 2009 issue of Port Of Harlem, the non-profit plans to place a marker at every port in which Europeans took enslaved Africans in the Americas - - which includes about 175 ports in 50 nations.

Also, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, composer, historian and singer, granted permission to use her production of "Remember Me" as the anthem, and the family of the late Tom Feelings, artist and author, has allowed the project to use excerpts from his work, The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo (1995), in promotion and the marker design. Adding to their progress says Chinn, The Association of African American Museums will include Middle Passage Project activities during their annual conference in Baltimore, Maryland during August 2012.

To increase awareness of the project, Chinn is planning a presentation at the Maryland Historical Commission at Bowie State College Wednesday, February 1, 2012 and host an information table at the Association for the Study of African American Life’s annual luncheon in Washington, DC. Saturday, February 25, 2012.

There is a petition on Change.Org to send President Obama to encourage him to clear the name of Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican activist who started the “Back To Africa” movement in the 1920s in Harlem. 

Former Republican Louisiana Representative David Duke offers a very interesting perspective on the browning of America and the world in Will the White Race Survive?

Pariah - a coming of age film centering on the life of a Black same-sex loving female has opened in selected cities. Pariah: A Closer Look interviews with the film’s stars Adepero Oduye (Alike), Kim Wayans (Audrey) and Pernell Walker (Laura), along with director Dee Rees and producer Nekisa Cooper. They discuss how their own experiences, relate to the characters and themes of the ground breaking film.

Confederates of the Color: No Quite a Figment of the Neo-Confederate Imagination
Talk by Dr. Daryl Michael Scott of

Howard University
Thu, Jan 12 7p, $10
Alexandria Black History Museum
902 Wythe Street
Alexandria, VA
free street parking | metro 3 blocks

All 397 national parks across the country will offer free admission from Saturday, January 14 through Monday, January, 16 to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Facing the Rising Sun: Dr. King & Africa
talk by C.R. Gibbs
Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
1411 W  Street, S.E. Washington, D.C.
Sun, Jan 15, 2p, free

 

Green Drinks: Chicago Southland
Green Networking and Education
Flossmoor Station Restaurant Brewery
1036 Sterling
Flossmoor, IL
Thu, Jan 19 6p-8p
Info and RSVP: Erika Hasle of the Field Museum

Black History Month in Richmond, VA

Black History Month in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Just In: New Date for Taste of Chicago
Wed Jul 11- Sun Jul 15
Grant Park
Chicago, IL

Have a Meaningful King's Day

Register Someone to Vote!