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News, views and events detailing the Black presence in the Americas.

This website is designed to keep you up to date on Life in the Black Americas.  

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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Afro Colombian Heritage Week: May 19 through 23 in Cartagena, Colombia
By Karen Juanita Carrillo
 

With the slogan, "Our Territory is also Our Culture" the Gavilaneo wants to emphasize their local community's Afro Caribbean culture and show that gavilaneaoafiche.jpgit is an integral part of the rich diversity of Colombia.

"May 21, 2008 will mark the 157th commemoration of the legal end of slavery in the Republic of Colombia," write the historian Alfonso Cassiani Herrera and the anthropologist Jesus Natividad Perez Palomino in response to a questionnairepresented to the Cabildo Afrocaribeño "Gavilaneo" about the week of celebrations.

"This date was declared by law in 2005 as national Afro Colombian heritage day. This all came about because of the struggles and efforts made by our well-organized African descendant communities who, among other successes, got the government to sign Law 70 (Ley de Negritudes/Law of the Blacks) of 1993. One major part of Law 70 recognizes Black communities as a distinct ethnic group and establishes procedures for recognition of the community's ancestral lands.

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3:52 pm est

Monday, May 19, 2008

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Finding Malcolm X's Grandson Malcolm Lateef Shabazz

Aliya S. King of News One/Giant has written a profile/interview with Malcolm Lateef Shabazz, the grandson of Malcolm X.  

The piece allows the much maligned young man to speak for himself about his life and his dreams for the future. 

"I am Malcolm X's first grandchild," Malcolm Lateef states in Finding Malcolm X's Grandson Malcolm Lateef Shabazz. "His first grandson. And his first male heir. I've read and been told that he always wanted a boy. He had six daughters, including twins that were born after he passed away. No boys in the Shabazz family until me.

"When I was much younger I thought Malcolm X was actually my father. And when I asked about him, my mom would show me pictures of her dad and tell me that he was my father. I didn't find out the truth until years later.

"I can't talk to my mom about him. Nothing in-depth. She acts like she doesn't know about him. It wasn't until I was about 9 or 10 that I began to discover what it meant to have this man as my grandfather. And it wasn't until I ended up in prison that I truly discovered the impact that my grandfather had. Ironically, I ended up discovering Malcolm X the way so many Black men do-in jail."

9:39 pm est


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