I find myself, for the second time in two years on the edge of disillusionment when it comes to Orisa communities.

Understand me, I do not mean Orisa; I mean human communities of Orisa devotees. And when I say communities, I mean those both offline and online.

I am for the most part, disgusted with the kind of people that seem to populate these communities. So few of them that I have met, or encountered have any honour at all and as for iwa pele (true and noble character) forget about it. To my memory, there have only been a few who I felt were honorable to the core.

It seems as though these communities are rarely driven by spiritual truth, and more often by more corporeal motivations, chief among them financial gain, and at the least petty one up man ship.

I am deeply unimpressed by the spite, the bile, the lack of compassion, the ease and quickness with which people inflict pain and suffering on one another; the penchant towards cult mentalities and most of all, the way in which some of these people discourage personal empowerment.

This thing with ‘elders’, people who are initiated, and people who have been involved in the religion for a number of years… many of them are voracious about demanding respect from all, but rarely do they reciprocate. For them, they can bear no criticism whatsoever, yet are quick to criticise everyone who doesn’t agree or go along with their own game plans.

I have watched, over and over, as Orisa devotees pull down other people’s houses to build their own. I have watched how people contort themselves to be nasty, unkind, unforgiving and to maintain control of others.

One of the biggest breeding grounds for these kind of people I have come across is the Internet. If you are searching for god parents, or searching to learn more about this tradition, it’s easy to say, let me look online for communities of Orisa devotees. This is especially true if you live in towns and cities that are isolated and has no visible Orisa community present.

I wasn’t necessarily looking for god parents on the Internet, but looking for discussion and avenues for growth. What I found for the most part was a cesspool, a morass of spiritual mediocrity masquerading itself as Orisa.

I have come to realise a few things.

Because people know a lot of rituals (or claim to online), and they know a lot about the religion, it’s easy to think that this person can teach you, that you can learn from them. And maybe you can. However, on the Internet, people really aren’t who they seem. In the four years since I started my spiritual journey with Orisa, I have found that even people you meet in the real world, are not what they seem. The Internet only exasperates this further.

In that time, I have joined a number of online forums for Orisa devotees and practitioners and have been consistently disappointed. Most of them devolve into petty arguments about lineage, people take pot shots at each other,

But to me, I don’t want to learn anything from someone who doesn’t have the basic milk of human kindness. I don’t want to learn anything from people who insist on crying down other people so they can feel superior. I am sick of the cliquism, and the way people manipulate and use each others as tools to attack and destroy each other.

If I’m Not Your Lover — Al B. Sure!like WOW!“Flight”
A Celebration of Sister, Mother, Activist, Writer, Artist:
Assata Shakur
================================================

Friday, November 4th, 2005
Hot House, 31 E. Balbo (at Wabash)
Chicago

6-9 pm:
Youth Open Mic
Featuring:  Kuumba Lynx, Cue Guevara
and Mind State
Also: Silent Art Auction, Food, Live Graffiti Art, and other Vendors
$10, $7 with College ID
17 and under free

————————–
9 pm-12 am:
Featuring: Soul People, Malcolm Palmer, DJ Papa G, Mreld and DJ
Sonny Daze, E Nina J Silent art auction
Hosted by the Discopoet Khari B.
$10, 21 and older ONLY
————————–
For more info: http://afrocubaweb.com/assata.htm
Or contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 866.204-3216

A PRELIMINARY GLOBAL AFRICAN PRESENCE BOOK LIST*

COMPILED AND POSTED BY RUNOKO RASHIDI**

DEDICATED TO DR. JOHN HENRIK CLARKE (1915-1998)

Akbar, Na’im. Visions for Black Men.

Nashville: Winston-Derek, 1991.

Ani, Marimba.  Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior.

Trenton: Africa World Press, 1994.

Armah, Ayi Kwei.  Two Thousand Seasons.

Poppenguine, Senegal: Per Ankh, 2000.

Begg, Ean.  The Cult of the Black Virgin.

London: Arkana, 1986.

Ben-Jochannan, Yosef A.A.  Black Man of the Nile and His Family.

Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1989.

Ben-Jochannan, Yosef A.A.  African Origins of the Major Western Religions.

Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1991.

Bennett, Lerone.  Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America.

Harmondsworth: 1962.

Browder, Anthony Y.  Nile Valley Contributions to Civilizations: Exploding the Myths, Volume 1.

Introduction by John Henrik Clarke:

Washington, DC: Institute of Karmic Guidance, 1992.

Butweiku I, Nana Ekow.  Afrikan Theology, Cosmogony & Philosophy: An Insight on Traditional Afrikan Religion.

Introduction by Runoko Rashidi.

Hampton: UB & US Communications Systems, 1999.

Bynum, Edward Bruce.  The African Unconscious: Roots Ancient Mysticism and Modern Psychology.

Foreword by Linda James Myers.

New York: Teachers College,

Carruthers, Jacob H.  The Irritated Genie: An Essay on the Haitian Revolution.

Chicago: The Kemetic Institute, 1985.

Carruthers, Jacob H.  Intellectual Warfare.

Chicago: Third World Press, 1999.

Carruthers, Jacob H., and Leon Harris, eds.  African World History Project: The Preliminary Project.

Chicago: Kemetic Institute, 1996.

Chandler, Wayne B.  Ancient Future: The Teachings and Prophetic Wisdom of the Seven Hermetic Laws of Ancient Egypt.

Introduction by Ivan Van Sertima.

Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1999.

Chinweizu.  The West and the Rest of Us.

Lagos: Nok Publishers, 1978.

Clarke, John Henrik. Notes for an African World Revolution: Africans at the Crossroads.

Trenton: Africa World Press, 1991.

DeGraft-Johnson, J.C.  African Glory: The Story of Vanished Negro

Civilizations. 1954; reprinted.

Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1985.

Diop, Cheikh Anta.  African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality.

Translated from the French by Mercer Cook. New York: Lawrence Hill, 1974,

Diop, Cheikh Anta.  The Cultural Unity of Black Africa.: The Domains of Patriarchy and Matriarchy in Classical Antiquity.

Introduction by John Henrik Clarke.

Afterword by James G. Spady.

Chicago: Third World Press, 1978.

Diop, Cheikh Anta.  Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology.

Translated from the French by Yaa-Lengi Meema Ngemi.

Edited by Harold J. Salemson and Marjolijn de Jager.

New York: Lawrence Hill, 1991.

Drake, St. Clair.  Black Folk Here and There: An Essay in History and Anthropology, Volume 1.

Los Angeles: Center for Afro-American Studies, UCLA,

1987,

Elder, Bruce.  Blood on the Wattle: Massacres and Maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians Since 1988.

Sydney: New Holland Publishers, 1998.

Fanon, Frantz.  The Wretched of the Earth.

New York: Grove Press, 1963.

Finch III, Charles S. Echoes of the Old Darkland: Themes from the African Eden.

Decatur: Khenti, 1991.

Finch III, Charles S.  The Star of Deep of Beginnings: The Genesis of Africa Science of Technology.

Decatur: Khenti, 1998.

Fraser, Rosalie.  Shadow Child: A Memoir of the Stolen Generation.

Alexandria: Hale & Iremonger, 1998.

Gnammankou, Dieudonne.  Pouchkine et le Monde Noir.

Paris: Presence Africaine, 1999.

Glon, Emmanueluil.  Cham Art: Treasures from the Da Nang Museum, Vietnam.

Bangkok: River Books, 2001.

Harris, Joseph E.,ed. Africa and Africans as Seen by Classical Writers: The William Leo Hansberry Notebook, Volume 2.

Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1977.

Hilliard III, Asa G. The Maroon Within Us.

Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1994.

Hilliard III, Asa G.  SBA: The Reawakening of the African Mind.

Foreword by Wade W. Nobles.

Gainesville: Makare, 1997

Houston, Drusilla Dunjee. Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire.

1926; rpt. Introduction by W. Paul Coates.

Afterword by Asa G. Hilliard III.

Commentary by James G. Spady.

Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1985.

Jackson, John G.  Introduction to African Civilizations. Foreword by Runoko Rashidi.

Introduction by John Henrik Clarke.

New York: Citadel, 2001.

James, George G.M.  Stolen Legacy: The Greeks Were not the Authors of Greek Philosophy, but the People of North Africa Commonly Called the Egyptians.

1954; rpt. Introduction by Asa G. Hilliard III.

San Francisco: Julian Richardson, 1988.

Katz, William Loren. Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage.

New York: Atheneum, 1986.

Killens, John Oliver.  Great Black Russian: A Novel on the Life and Times of Alexander Pushkin.

Introduction by Addison Gayle.

Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1989.

Martin, Tony.  Race First: The Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association.

Dover: The Majority Press, 1976.

McCray, Walter Arthur.  The Black Presence in the Bible: Discovering the Black and African Identity of Biblical Persons and Nations.

Chicago: Black Light Fellowship, 1990.

Moore, Carlos, ed.  African Presence in the Americas.

Trenton: Africa World Press, 1995.

Obenga, Theophile. Ancient Egypt and Black Africa: A Student’s Handbook for the Study of Ancient Egypt in Philosophy, Linguistics and Gender Relations.

London: Karnak House, 1992.

Rajshekar, V.T.  Dalit: The Black Untouchables of India.

Foreword by Y.N. Kly.

Afterword by Runoko Rashidi. Atlanta: Clarity Press, 1995.

Rashidi, Runoko, and Ivan Van Sertima, eds.  African Presence in Early Asia.

New Brunswick: Transaction Press, 1995.

Raven, Susan.  Rome in Africa.

London: Routledge, 1993.

Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Introduction by Vincent Harding.

Postscript by A.M. Babu. Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1982.

Rogers, Joel Augustus. Sex and Race.

Rogers: New York 1942.

Rogers, Joel Augustus. World’s Great Men of Color, two volumes.

New York: Macmillan, 1972.

Sabbioni, Jennifer, Kay Schaffer and Sidonie Smith, eds.  Indigenous Australian Voices: A Reader.

New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1998.

Scobie, Edward.  Global African Presence. Introduction by Ivan Van Sertima.

Brooklyn: A & B Books, 1994.

Sharp, Saundra.  Black Women for Beginners.

New York: Writers and Readers, 1993.

Van Sertima, Ivan. They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America.

New York: Random House, 1976.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed.  African Presence in Early Europe.

New Brunswick: Transaction Press, 1985.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed.  Egypt Revisited.

New Brunswick: Transaction Press, 1989.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. Golden Age of the Moor.

New Brunswick: Transaction Press, 1992.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed.  Egypt: Child of Africa.

New Brunswick: Transaction Press, 1994.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. Early America Revisited.

New Brunswick: Transaction Press, 1998.

Van Sertima, Ivan, and Larry Obadele Williams, eds.  Great African Thinkers, Volume 1: Cheikh Anta Diop.

New Brunswick: Transaction Press, 1986.

Welsing, Frances Cress.  The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors.

Chicago: Third World Press, 1991.

Williams, Chancellor.  The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D.

Chicago: Third World Press, 1987.

Wilson, Amos N.  Afrikan-Centered Consciousness Versus the New World Order: Garveyism in the Age of Globalism.

New York: Afrikan World Infosystems, 1999.

Woodson, Carter G. The Mis-Education of the Negro.

Washington, DC: Associated Publishers, 1933.

X, Malcolm.  Malcolm X on Afro-American History.

New York: Pathfinder, 1970.

Cultural Predators: Malachi, Yusef and Fundamentalist Abomination

Next week Malachi York (aka Chief Black Thunderbird and other assorted titles) of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors is going on trial for raping underage girls at his compound in Georgia. They have been trying to claim the whitefolk are out to get them and some blackfolk are buying this ‘modern day lynching’ scenario.

(Man I am tired of that modern day lynching bit, notice how its so often used by folk who dont have any right to call on their blackness in the first place). The Nuwaubian Nation has all the Earmarks of a Cult and Malachi claims to be from another planet.

I will however reserve judgment, based on the innocent until proven guilty premise.

From Arthur Flower’s Blog Yusef Bey and Malachi, Debra and The End of Blackness

Now I always knew there was something totally ‘off’ about Malachi York.

We started a thread in Tribe Life about him and his movements, Is Dr. Malachi Z. York A Fraud? – Bring your evidence of this!, more than three years ago now. Now the Triber who started that thread, has since dropped out of the Nuwaupian movement, so there has been a lapse in this thread….

This is just one of the many reasons why I have problems with these men that seek out power. Power convinces them that it is alright to engage in backwardness. This is not spiritual growth and development, it is just regression to humanities animal past.

I agree with Arthur, these people should be locked up.