"Mother's Day is celebrated in so many ways throughout the world, the most popular to be sure is the brunch where the entire family can come together and celebrate mom together. It is interesting to note, however , that Mother's Day was first celebrated as a holiday - a holiday to commemorate women's public activism, women taking a stance to protect their families. And today in expressing our love and honouring mothers, is the least we can do", she said.
In Message from the Grassroots, perhaps his most powerful speech, Malcolm X reminded us that "you don't catch hell because you're a Methodist or Baptist, you don't catch hell because you're a Democrat or a Republican, you don't catch hell because you're a Mason or an Elk... You catch hell because you're a black man.... All of us catch hell for the same reason." Malcolm could just as easily have said that we don't catch hell because we're Haitian or African American. A white supremacist system sees us as Black people. Abner Louima was not tortured because he was Haitian, nor was Amadou Diallo gunned down by the police because he was from Guinea. The offending officers saw no difference. In their eyes they were inferior, scorned Black men. Malcolm saw Black unity/ solidarity as the counter and corrective of racism and white supremacy.
As President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) and Founder of the Haiti Support Project (HSP), I have just returned from leading a team to Haiti to allocate the first contributions from the IBW/HSP Haiti Relief Fund. A total of $56,000 was distributed to nine community-based/grassroots organizations including women's, youth and peasant groups for relief and capacity-building. Deeply concerned about the plight of Haitian children orphaned by the disastrous earthquake, our team also visited orphanages and assessed the progress of the Oasis Institute, an ambitious Initiative which is designed to relocate orphans and extended family members from tent communities to an interim camp with safe/secure environment, post-traumatic stress counseling and a world class education.
Harriet Tubman, William Hall and Mifflin Wistar Gibbs were among those whose courage and conviction advanced our nascent society's ideals of freedom and equality. Thousands braved a perilous path to freedom through the Underground Railroad, conducted by valiant leaders like Harriet Tubman.
According to the United Nation, Haiti is the poorest county in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest nations in the entire world, and the people were experiencing unspeakable hardships before the earthquake.
Due to political infighting and wrangling between 1996 and 2008, the Caribbean Cultural Festivities Association (CCFA), was served by five different presidents. The wrangling intensified in 2009 when a feud erupted between CCFA and the Montreal Carnival Development Foundation (MCDF) in order to determine the coordinator of the parade. Caught in the middle, the City salvaged the parade by offering each group a permit under two names and $10,000 each. In "A Deeper Look At The Perils Of Our Community" (26-8-10), Dr. Clarence Bayne took a more satirical look at the situation. He likened our existence to a minority who lives in a trap and those leaders in this arena are perceived as tricksters and community leeches that employ deception and treachery that help to keep us in chains. These are those, he noted whom Bob White has given the title "poverty pimps". Such personalities, he lamented behave like crabs in a bucket (barrel). In a commentary entitled "Community Must Stand Against Disunity and Disrespecf (20-5-10), [Egbert Gaye] asserts that "blame in this situation must be placed at the unwashed feet of the collection of invalids who chose not to come together to salvage the parade and a bit of our dignity".
The CIA created a covert operation called JM WAVE which was based in South Miami. It's mission was to assassinate [Fidel Castro] and repatriate this area's Cubans back to their land. This undertaking had over 15,000 exiles on it's bankroll and had a budget of over $50 million dollars, which is worth over $350 million dollars in today's market.
Former Herbert Morrison Technical star also sprinted his way into the history books, becoming the first athlete to win back-to-back 100m titles at the Championships.
Two individuals who played vital roles during the Haitian Revolution are Dutty Boukman, the papaloa or voodoo priest, and Alexandre Petion, who fought side-by-side with Henri Christophe.
Florida-based [Andre Berto], holder of the World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight title, announced in a press release last month that he was ""physically and emotionally unable to prepare" for his clash with [Shane Mosley] and withdrew from the Jan. 30 main bout in Las Vegas. "I'm sorry for the losses that Andre and all of the Haitian people are suffering. I have everyone in my prayers," Mosley added.
