GREETINGS & NEWS

“Never trouble trouble, when trouble never trouble you.”

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Greetings and Welcome to PANTHER NEWSLETTER VOLUME TWO: ISSUE 18

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Another month has passed by and PANTHER NEWSLETTER is here again throwing down more thought provoking news, articles, poems and a special guest for your reading pleasure.  So let’s get down to business.  In this month’s issue we have the usual suspects.  An inspiring interview with our SPECIAL GUEST, ‘THE CARIBBEAN ‘S LEADING LADY OF LOVE’, the FEATURED POEM, THE MUSICAL COA-COA BASKET, the FEATURED ARTICLE, and last but by no means least, everybody’s favourite THE CULTURE CORNER.  Enjoy ISSUE 18.

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NEWS (UK)

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SCHOOL’S BAN ON BOY’S CORNROWS IS ‘INDIRECT RACIAL DISCRIMINATION’

High court rules against London secondary school after boy was refused entry for breaching ban on ‘Gang-related’ hairstyles; here…

RACIST IRISH CELEBRITY HAIRDRESSER, JAMES BROWN, CALLS TV PRESENTER BEN DOUGLAS ‘NIGGER’ EIGHT TIMES AT BAFTA AWARDS

Popular TV presenter, Ben Douglas, was at a BAFTA event earlier this month at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, where he had been invited to attend the awards, read what happened next; here…

CADBURY APOLOGISES TO NAOMI CAMPBELL OVER ‘RACIST’ AD

Supermodel Naomi Campbell said she was ‘shocked’ by campaign comparing her to a Dairy Milk Bliss bar; continued…

CHANNEL 4 PRESENTER QUITS AFTER BOSSES SAY: ‘YOUR HAIR’S SCRUFFY’

One of Channel 4’s senior news presenters Samira Ahmed has quit after she was told her hair was too scruffy for TV; here…

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ELSEWHERE

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GREECE VOTES FOR FIVE YEAR AUSTERITY PLAN

MP’s decision paves way for more EU and IMF cash but protesters teargassed amid chaos in Syntagma Square; more…

SOUTH SUDAN ACCUSES NORTH OF SUPPORTING REBELS

South Sudan claims the North is using rebels to sow chaos ahead of its official secession on July 9; here…

TWELVE MIAMI POLICE OFFICERS SHOOT HAITIAN OVER 100 TIMES

Read all about it here…

A MUST READ – BILL COSBY AND JESSIE JACKSON – CONTROVERSIAL REMARKS ON BLACK AMERICA AND PARENTING

Read it here…

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THE HEART OF OUR COMMUNITY

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MR SOON COME BY JASMINE JOHNSON GETS A RAVE REVIEW

Read the review here…

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EGYPTIAN BELLY DANCE AND/OR ZUMBA FITNESS WITH Chloe Redmond

For more details of her classes, check out Chloe’s website here…

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KING OF KINGS: NGUSA NAGAST by CLAUDETTE. E. JOHNSON

King of Kings is an important revelation, presenting breakthrough facts on biblical history and the Rastafarian Movement.  King of Kings offers insight into uncovering the truth regarding boodlines of King Solomon and The Queen of Sheba, King David, Jesus Christ as well as The Ark of the Covenant, proven through geneology and made popular by movies “RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK” and “THE DA VINCI CODE”.  If you’re searching for a good historical read, why not check out this superb and inspiring book; here…

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 SANKOFA ASSOCIATES in collaboration with PANTHER NEWSLETTER

PRESENTS

A free E-Book publication

Real Talk

Shadow People speak out …

by Martin Glynn

 

Real Talk…

Shadow People speak out: is a collection of monologues which has been a long time in the making.  For many years Martin Glynn has worked in prisons, engaged with the disaffected sections of the community, and has been through his own rite of passage. Throughout his journey as a writer and criminologist he has encountered many amazing people whose stories have gone with them to their grave, have not been told, been ignored, or have been too uncomfortable for many to hear.

Download your free e-book of Real Talk: Shadow People Speak Out here…

Also check out Sankofa Associates Goods & Services here…

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“THE SPIRAL”

This gripping piece of spoken word theatre which dramatised a life-changing meeting between Glitzy – an emerging grime artist from North Birmingham, funded to study on a 6-month ‘community arts placement’, and their newly appointed ‘development mentor’, veteran dub poet and radical cultural activist Leroy ‘Steppin-Razor’ Ujima.  Was a success as well as having a good turn out at The Drum.  For those of you who missed the show directed by Martin Glynn, starring Moqapi Selassie and Deci4life.  Check out the trailers here…and  here…  BIG UP MY BREDRINS!

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OBITUARY

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COASTERS SINGER CARL GARDNER DIES AGED 83; here…

SPRINGSTEEN SAX MAN CLARENCE CLEMONS DIES AGED 69; here…

SPECIAL GUEST

Dubbed….‘THE CARIBBEAN ‘S LEADING LADY OF LOVE’, she is a British Jamaican author who writes contemporary romantic fiction with a distinctly Caribbean flavour and has been featured in a number of magazines across the globe.  A child of the 70’s she was born in Derby England of Jamaican parents.  A six week holiday visiting her grandmother in Manchester, Jamaica turned into a 20 year adventure…

Our SPECIAL GUEST in PANTHER NEWSLETTER this month is Caroline Bell Foster.  I recently hooked up with Caroline to talk about her and her writing; read her interview with me here…

FEATURED POEM

FREEDOM STREET

© 2011 Norman Samuda-Smith

 

One night while I lay down in my bed

Nuff rhythms and rhymes passed through my head

Some rhythms were happy, some rhymes were sad

Some of them reminded me of the good times I had.

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So I roll over and grab my pen and note pad

To record this moment of inspiration I had

And now this scribbled psalm is complete

Mek me introduce unnu to Freedom Street.

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Freedom from hunger, freedom from pain

Freedom from loss, freedom from gain

Freedom to think, freedom to know

Freedom to achieve and freedom to grow.

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Freedom from war, freedom of peace

Freedom for all racism to cease

Freedom from sickness, freedom of health

Freedom from poverty and mishandled wealth.

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Freedom to love, freedom to cry

Freedom to laugh, freedom to be shy

Freedom from wrong, freedom being right

Freedom of the day and freedom of the night.

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Freedom of space, freedom of time

Freedom of attachment, freedom from crime

Freedom to work, freedom to play

Freedom to believe and freedom to pray.

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Freedom from jealousy, freedom from pride

Freedom of not having anything to hide

Freedom of the body, freedom of the mind

Freedom from ego and freedom from being blind.

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Freedom Street ain’t too far away

Maybe we’ll meet there one day

So come what may, through the seasons which make the year

Freedom is there for those who care.

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One Love

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*All rights reserved.  No part of this poem may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the writer Norman Samuda-Smith.*

THE MUSICAL COA-COA BASKET

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“One good thing about music, when it hits, you feel no pain.”

Bob Marley (1945 – 1981)

Music has always played an important role in all our lives, especially Reggae, the music genre first developed in Jamaica, strongly influenced by traditional African, American jazz and old-time rhythm and blues. Reggae owes its direct origins to the progressive development of Ska and Rocksteady in 1960s Jamaica. Each month, THE MUSICAL COA-COA BASKET will salute the legendary artists and recording studios from out of Jamaica that have placed reggae on the musical global map.

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YABBY YOU

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THE LATE GREAT

VIVIAN (YABBY YOU) JACKSON

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“JESUS DREAD”

Sunrise: August 14 1946   Sunset: January 12 2010

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Vivian (Yabby You) Jackson, the legendary Jamaican record producer passed away at the age of 63 in Clarendon Jamaica, January 12 2010. He was one of seven children and left home when he was twelve to find work. Although he hadn’t made any new recordings in recent years, he contributed a number of significant productions to the Jamaican record industry in the mid 70s, not only from his own group, Yabby You and the Prophets, but also from other artists whom he nurtured in their early recording days; especially Michael Prophet and Wayne Wade.

Yabby You became seriously ill in his teenage years while working at a furnace facility. The effects of malnutrition had left him hospitalised and on his release, he was left with severe arthritis which had partially impaired his legs. As a result, his physical condition was a consequence of him losing his job and he began hustling a living on the streets of Kingston.

An early recording he made at King Tubby’s Studio in Waterhouse, Kingston 11 in 1972, would eventually lead him to the recognition he so rightly deserved. A deeply spiritual man, his music had a mystical passion. In the 70s, when you talked about roots, rock, reggae, you were talking about Mr Vivian (Yabby You) Jackson.

He eventually founded his own record label in Kingston Jamaica and went on to release his recordings on the Grove Music Label in London. His ability to create unique rhythms with haunting horn phases and vocal styling, gave him a very distinctive sound.

So kick back and catch the Reggae dance hall vibes of the 70s, when the trailer-load of sound systems used to spin the legendary Yabby Youriddims on their turntables.

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Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

PSALMS 149; verse 3

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Zion Gate – Yabby You; Judgement Time – Yabby You; Jah Vengance – Yabby You & Trinity; Free Africa – Yabby You & Trinity; Jah Jah Way – Yabby You; Chant Down Babylon Kingdom – Yabby You; King Pharaoe – Yabby You; Conquering Lion – Yabby You; Lightning Flash – Big Youth & Yabby You; Man of the Living – Wayne Wade; Born Free – Michael Rose; Jesus Dread – Dillinger meets Trinity & Yabby You; Economical Crisis -Yabby You & Tommy McCook; Walls of Jerusalem – Yabby You; Balistic Dreadlocks – Yabby You, Wayne Wade, Clint Eastwood; Mash Down Rome – Yabby You & Michael Prophet.

 

‘Til next month – Everyting Bless

FEATURED ARTICLE

FOR ALL FATHERS

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Seeing how it was Father’s Day June 19, this is dedicated to:

All Fathers who are special

All Fathers who are dear

And all Fathers who are loved more and more each year.

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Fathers can only achieve their goal of seeing their children become champions in whatever venture they choose in a loving family environment and when they have a good woman who respects her man for who he is.  If the man and woman are not together anymore, then the respect they had for each other when they made their children should remain.  It’s all about the choice of partner we make as men and women as well.  When you have a foul mouthed partner who chants you down as no good and has no basic reason for doing so, and you get caught in the hype of chanting him or her down in return, all visions you have for your children perish; for they will be watching what you do and say to each other.  Come on, let’s face it, you are their role models.   So in that situation, one or the other has to change to make things right, remain strong and true to your truth and morals.  This is where a lot of us fall down.

Big up to all black men who act like dads.  Each and every one of us has our style and way of being a dad.  Every man do his thing a little way different, so we must big them up same way.  Realise we were kings, queens and rulers of the earth once, and can/will be spiritual rulers of Eden again.  So, leggo the violence, the argument, the fuss and the fight and live amongst our one another in pride and dignity.

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‘Til next month – Everyting – Bless

THE CULTURE CORNER

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“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture, is like a tree without roots.”

Marcus Mosiah Garvey (1887 – 1940)

Every year in October we celebrate BLACK HISTORY MONTH. Black history is with us every second, minute, hour, week, month and year. PANTHER NEWSLETTER’S CULTURE CORNER will attempt to enlighten you with what they never told you in your history class. Our story will be told right here – So enjoy the journey of clarification.

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Blacks in Britain (Part Six) 

Not widely known – But true…

 

1815 – Many black women found creative ways to combat the poverty caused by race and gender.  Charles Dickens relays the story of a black woman, whom the Annual Register of 1815 for the ship Queen Charlotte listed as “William Brown.” Brown dressed as a man, had surreptitiously served for eleven years as a British sailor after leaving her husband during an argument. While serving in the Royal Navy, Brown distinguished herself as “able on the books of the above ship,” and also “served as captain of the foretop highly to the satisfaction of the officer.” A woman who liked to drink grog with other sailors, Dickens described her as a “smart figure, about five feet four inches in height, possessed of considerable strength and great activity; her features are rather handsome for a black, and she appears to be about twenty-six years of age.” Brown was to share an award with her fellow shipmates, for Dickens relayed that “her share of prize money is said to be considerable.”  However, it is unknown whether she ever collected the money, because her husband had “entered a caveat against her receiving her prize money.”

From 1914 to 1918 the first substantial numbers of Afro Carribeans arrived in Britain to fight in World War I.

In 1918, Walter Daniel Tull, a famous black footballer who became the first black man commissioned into the British Army in World War I, died on a battlefield in Favreuil, France in the second battle of the Somme, March – April 1918.

From 1918 to 1939, public outcries mounted for immigrant restrictions, particularly in seaport towns where whites feared competition from black seamen during recessions and unemployment.  Whites also voiced concerns over “inter-racial liaisons” and poverty.

In 1919, race riots occurred in seaside towns.

In 1922, the African Churches Mission was founded by Nigerian Pastor G.D. Ekarte in Liverpool, and was formally opened in 1931 for unemployed and “stranded” African seamen. A London branch was created in 1942.

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FAMOUS BLACK PEOPLE PAST AND PRESENT

• IMHOTEP  –  Master pyramid builder and world’s first multi-genius.
• HANNIBAL  –  One of the greatest soldiers and military genius in history.
• BEETHOVEN  –  One of the world’s greatest composers in music.
• ST. MAURICE  –  The Black Patron Saint of Germany.
• ALEXANDER DUMAS  –  Author of The Three Musketeers.
• TERENTIUS AFER  –  Greatest of the Latin stylists.
• IBN-SAUD  –  King of Saudi Arabia and Leader of Islam (1880 – 1953).
• LOKMAN  –  First great Fabulist and Wisest Man of the Ancient East.
• HATSHEPSUT  –  The ablest queen of far antiquity.

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TRIBUTE TO OUR S/HEROES

Nubian Queen Amanitore (1 AD – 20 AD) – Queen Amanitore and Pharaoh Natakamani were the last great builders in Kush. They lived somewhere around 1 AD to 20 AD. Their buildings were raised in Keraba, an area between the Nile and the Atbara Rivers. Besides, they built in Naqa. In this city, the Temple of Apedemak, one of their best known monuments, is in a good state of preservation.  Naqa also contains a famous Kiosk. This temple mixes architectural motifs from Nile Valley, Roman and Greek influences. The royal palace of Natakamani and Queen Amanitore was in Gebel Barkal. Finally, they dug reservoirs around Meroë, restored its huge Temple of Amen, and rebuilt the Amen. Temple of Napata previously destroyed by the Romans.

Queen Nyabingi – The legend of Queen Nyabingi began with an amazon queen named Kitami, who possessed a sacred drum. Later generations revered her as a powerful ancestor (emandua) and she spoke through priestesses called Bagirwa. Most of them were were traditional healers, chosen by Nyabingi as her prophets.  Wearing barkcloth veils, they entered paranormal states with “stylized trembling movements” and prophesied in arcane language, with high-pitched voices, holding dialogues with Nyabingi and speaking in her name.

Rain Queens of the Lovedu – Dzugudini, a grand-daughter of “the famous ruler Monomatapa,” was the founding Rain Queen of the Lovedu. Her royal father was angry that she bore a child out of wedlock. Oral tradition says her mother taught her the art of rain-making and gave her rain charms and sacred beads.  Then she fled south with some supporters. They settled peacefully among the Sotho. In the early 1800s, a leadership crisis was resolved by accession of the first Mujaji, a Rain Queen with both political and ceremonial power.  Chiefs presented her with wives. She had no military, but even the Zulu king Shaka paid her tribute because of her rain power. Her successors have less authority, but still preside over womanhood initiations and other important rituals.

Tewodros II (Baptized Theodore II – 1818 – April 13, 1868) was crowned the Emperor of Ethiopia in 1855 until his death. He was born Kassa Haile Giorgis, but was more regularly referred to as Kassa Hailu ( Ge’ez ካሳ ኃይሉ — meaning “restitution” and “His [or the] power”). His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia, ending the decentralized Zemene Mesafint (Era of the Princes). In his efforts to keep skilled Europeans in Ethiopia, Tewodros arranged a marriage between one of his daughters and a Swiss military engineer. That branch of Tewodros’s family ended up in Russia; as a consequence, the late British actor Peter Ustinov could claim to be Tewodros’s great-great-grandson. He resisted the British invaders by taking his life in defence of his freedom, dignity and sovereignty of his country.

Prince Alamayu (1861 – 1879) – Dejatch Alamayu was the orphaned son of Theodore II of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).  At the age of ten he was sent to boarding school in Britain to be educated as a young English gentleman. Some seven years later he died.  “It was so sad,” recorded Queen Victoria; “All alone in a strange country…he was no happy life, full of difficulties of every kind, and he was so sensitive, thinking that people stared at him because of his colour.  Everyone is very sorry.”  At Queen Victoria’s wish, Alamayu was buried in St George’s Chapel Windsor.

Alessandro dei Medici (July 22, 1510 – January 6, 1537) known as “The Moor” became the first Duke of Florence.  His mother was black and had been in the service of the Pope’s aunt, the wife of a mule-driver; but Pope Clement VII, then Cardinal dei Medici, took her as his mistress, and was the father of Alessandro. All the writers of his time stated that Alessandro was a mulatto and his African features were vividly depicted by the paintings of Bronsini and Vasari. His ancestor was a black woman of British Royalty, Queen Charlotte Sophia, consort of King George III. Queen Charlotte Sophia was the grandmother of Queen Victoria.

Here ends your history lesson for this month.

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Log on for more CULTURE CORNER next month and remember…

“Don’t depend on other people to be responsible for you. Don’t make yourself stressed out over nonsensical things like material things.”

Eartha Kitt

(January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008)

‘Til next month – Everyting – Bless