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STOP THE VIOLENCE   ​“This is what the youth said”

6/2/2017

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​“This is what the youth said”
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. We all know that in every metropolitan city in Amerikkka, during the summer months, there is always an increase of lethal gang related gun violence. We lose Black and Brown youth (our future) every year at the same time that our streets get hot with needless gun violence. Each year we fail to mount a successful campaign to plant the idea of resolving conflicts with something other than violence. This art project is a small effort to do something different. The effort must be intergenerational. We must never lose faith that our young adults are intelligent, capable and desire to create a violence free environment in which our communities can thrive. These “Stop the Violence” posters were created by incarcerated San Francisco Bay Area youth – many of which were gang members. When given a chance to answer the question, “are peaceful Black and Brown communities possible?” this is what the youth said. They desired to stop all sorts of violence ranging from sexual assaults and bullying to gun violence, but they felt overwhelmed by how many people in their communities are apathetic about it. During this guided discussion and creative arts project they were taught how to
bring their words and images into an illustration that conveyed their desire to end the violence. All they needed was some leadership and access to the resources that would help them realize one step towards a solution. These posters are just one step towards a solution. But, more importantly they are concrete evidence of what changes our youth desire to see in our communities. And, this concrete evidence comes from voices who have experienced the pain and tragedy of inter-communal violence. We must instill the idea that peaceful Black and Brown communities are possible and as a start towards that vision these posters at the very least start a discussion about that possibility mainly because of who created them. These posters are the visual evidence of what the youth said definitively about the death and violence in their communities. These are only five of many posters – it must be said – that were created collaboratively. Often times with youth who were from different cultures and communities working on the ideas, design and execution of the final art images. We all know that the most trivial of things can “go viral” during these
summer months to distract us from the most important thing in our communities – our youth – our future. Please show them that we care about their efforts and share these images widely and repeatedly this summer. Please share them via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (print old school flyers too!) and all social media that you have in order to make them a constant reminder of the peaceful summer that we’re striving for.
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Let the door nob hitcha where the good Lawd splitcha.  #neocolonialism

2/17/2017

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After 8 years of being ignored, condescended to and betrayed, a certain demographic of Black folks are still as susceptible to simple-minded cult of personality politics as they've ever been. Obama appropriated and betrayed the long history of the Black Liberation Movement on absolutely every level. He rode Black petty bourgeois respectability politics and its inherent need for acceptance by the white status quo into a position as the Black face of MILITARIZED Neo-European Imperialism.
If you can gloss over Obama facilitating the biggest military invasion of Africa via AfriCom, the murderous ILLEGAL destruction of Libya, the ILLEGAL assassination of Muammar Mohammed Gaddafi and the recolonization of Haiti via NGOs after he sent Bush II and Clinton there - and at the end of all of that post pictures like he's some retiring star football player - then you have no sophisticated understanding of the Global Black experience and its ongoing struggle with white hegemony.
And, even if one's sense of geo-politics is that limited, how can any Black person not feel the deep betrayal in Obama's relative SILENCE in regards to this police terrorism feeding frenzy on Black women and Black men? Please don't regurgitate some little anecdote that he delivered about Trayvon Martin looking like his son! Stop making excuses for him! The world witnessed one of our children being publicly executed ON FILM by police within a few seconds of their arrival! And afterwards the hegemonic state apparatus made a case for NO CRIME TAKING PLACE - just police procedure that needed to be modified. With the madness that has been going on Chicago with Police for GENERATIONS Obama has said NOTHING about that history. The Black folks who make excuses for him because he's "playing 'the game'" are exposing how they've compromised themselves by moving through the world 'playing the game.' It exposes the ultimate bankruptcy of that notion as a philosophy of liberation for Black people.
There's also this class of Black person who's placed their gender and sexuality politics in a hierarchy over the Black liberation movement as a whole. Despite pretensions to "intersectionality" they still tolerate - sometimes celebrate - the image of Obama in the white house as an advance of some sort for Black people but have a resolute SILENCE in regards to his Militarized betrayal of Afrikan people world wide. Obama can travel to Africa and give ultimatums (backed by Imperial nation-state economic and Military violence) about marriage equality and perceived "homophobia" but never utter a peep about the much more looming genocides with an exponentially HIGHER death count facilitated by white run US multi-national corporations in the Congo as they extract Coltan and other minerals with child slave labor! It seems that the imperial nation-state can create legislation and deploy its agenda via its Black face abroad in regards to sexuality politics, but has a resolute SILENCE in regards to the murder (and rape) of Black boys and girls on a global scale.
Until we AFRIKANS can get our priorities straight on a Global scale we will be the unwitting pawn of white hegemony indefinitely. Pan-Africanism is not an optional tool for Black liberation it is the ESSENTIAL tool.
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Bringing the BPP 10 Point Program Coloring Book to an Independent West Oakland School

2/17/2017

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The Oakland Maroons Art Collective™ has an imperative to bring Black/Afrikan history and culture to our beloved Black youth at every opportunity.  And, in keeping with our goals to do this today (February 16th, 2017) OMAC co-founders Refa 1 and Duane Deterville did a presentation on the history of the Black Panther Party, the origins of the BPP Ten Point Program and its relevance to our condition as Black/Afrikan people here in contemporary America. The Black Panther Party Ten Point Program Coloring Book that was produced as a companion piece to our BPP 50th Anniversary art show at the Joyce Gordon Gallery continues to be a potent teaching tool that served our children well today.
OMAC was invited to the African Children’s Advanced Learning Center in West Oakland. The location of the school in significant given the fact that it is walking distance from the location of the house that Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton created the BPP Ten Point Program and Platform. The OMAC presentation began by underlining a few facts about West Oakland and how its long history as a Black community helped to form the sociopolitical basis for Huey Newton and Bobby Seale to form the BPP. The largest chapter of legendary Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Association west of the Mississippi river was located in West Oakland. What this means is that there was already a long history of Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and self-determination at work in West Oakland long before 1966 when Huey and Bobby sat down in a house walking distance from that very same UNIA headquarters where they founded one of the most influential and legendary grassroots political organizations of the 20th century.
The young students at African Children’s Advanced Learning Center were taught that in the same manner Huey and Bobby were standing on the shoulders of Marcus Garvey’s UNIA they too were standing on the shoulders of the BPP. And, because they have so much history and culture to draw upon in the very place that they are currently learning lessons - they too can be great catalysts for the self-determination of Black people.
The background on local history served as a proper introduction to the content of the BPP Ten Point Program. It was at this point that our BPP coloring book was used as a teaching tool. The young students commented on each point as we asked whether the point being discussed was still relevant to our conditions as Black people today. With each successive point the students answered in the affirmative, sometimes interjecting their own observations. The students were quite bright, attentive and visionary throughout the entire presentation.  In keeping with our vision to create radical Black visual culture as learning materials for our youth, OMAC gave each young student a copy of the coloring book along with a set of markers in a gift bag.  Much love was shown by OMAC teaching artists Duane Deterville and Refa 1 along with African Children’s Advanced Learning Center teacher Baba Woods and his young students. It was a very good day. 
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
-Oakland Maroons 

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African Children’s Advanced Learning Center
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The Black Panther Party Ten Point Program Coloring Book

11/9/2016

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The Oakland Maroons Art Collective premiered our “Black Panther Party 10 Point Program Coloring Book” on October 22nd in celebration of the Black Panther Party’s 50-year anniversary and in conjunction with our art exhibit at the Joyce Gordon Gallery. We gave away 100 of these coloring books to children 13 and under. The remainder of the limited edition, first printing of these custom designed coloring books is now available for $20.00. Fewer than 400 copies are offered for sale. The goal of the Oakland Maroons Art Collective is to produce an inexpensive edition that can be distributed to our youth more widely. By purchasing this edition you will help us to cover printing costs so that we can offer an inexpensive 2nd edition to schools and youth organizations. All of the artwork in our coloring book was specially commissioned for this publication. It includes the work of original Black Panther Party artists Emory Douglas and Akinsanya Kambon (formerly Mark Teemer. The creator of the original BPP coloring book in 1968). In addition, Dawud Anyabwile – the creator of the Brother Man comic book superhero – contributed an original illustration for us that accompany the work of founding members Chris Herod, Refa 1 and Duane Deterville. This unique educational publication bridges generations between elder revolutionary artists and younger revolutionary artists. All of us engaged in this contemporary project in order to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the Black Panther Party. Don’t miss your opportunity to own a piece of Black history.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER

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50th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party.  ART

7/24/2016

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Oakland Maroons Art Collective Presents: “The Point is…2.0”: Art Representing the Relevance of the Black Panther Party’s 10 Point program in the 21st century 

The Oakland Maroons Art Collective was formed in 2012. In keeping with our mission to re-inscribe the spirit of the Black Arts Movement for the 21st century we curated an art show at the First Love Gallery in Oakland honoring the anniversary of the Black Panther Party. Our show included artwork by Emory Douglass, the original Minister of Culture for the BPP, previously unpublished photos of rank and file Panthers by Ducho Dennis amongst other works. Our vision for that show focused on images in multiple media on the theme of the Black Panther Party’s community 10 point program. The 10 point program was drafted by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland California in October of 1966 as a set of demands and precepts addressed to the government of the United States. They were broken into two sets of ten. One set was titled “What We Want” and the second “What We Believe.” The artists of the Oakland Maroons Art Collective (OMAC) interpreted each of the points in the set titled “What We Want”. Of particular significance was the artwork of Emory Douglas and Tarika Lewis the first woman to join the Black Panther Party. Both of these artists were responsible for developing some of the earliest imagery for the BPP via its newspaper. Emory Douglass presence in this show is particularly notable because of his seminal contributions to the West Coast Black Arts Movement via his theater set designs and posters. The presence of his work in this show is significant for OMAC because our collective views itself as the continuation of the Black Arts Movement in the 21st century.


“The Point is… 2.0: Art Representing the Relevance of the Black Panther Party’s 10 Point program in the 21st century” will open at the Joyce Gordon Gallery October 7th, 2016 and celebrate the Black Panther Party’s 50th anniversary. This expanded version of the art show will feature never before seen images of the Black Panther Party and work that interprets the Ten Point Program across a myriad of exciting mediums including video, poetry performance, mural/wall painting and more. Our goal is to create contemporary expressions of art that are not just nostalgic and historical but also in keeping with an evolved, advanced sense of Black/Afrikan world wide liberation movements relevant to the 21st century. Artists participating in this unique art show include the late Ducho Dennis an official rank and file photographer for the Black Panther Party, Emory Douglas the Black Panther Party’s minister of culture, Tarika Lewis the first woman to join the Black Panther Party, Akinsanya Kambon the illustrator of the original Black Panther coloring book, Duane Deterville curator and co-founder of the Oakland Maroons, journalist and film maker Rage Souljah, artist and illustrator Chris Herod and curator/co-founder of the Oakland Maroons Refa 1. Stay tuned to the Oakland Maroons website, Facebook and Twitter accounts for updates by curators Refa 1 and Duane Deterville regarding participating artists and writers.

​Opening: OCTOBER 7, 2016
Joyce Gordon Gallery
406 14th St. Oakland, CA.


CALENDAR OF EVENTS

October 7th: 
Opening reception for “The Point is… 2.0: Art Representing the Relevance of the Black Panther Party’s 10 Point program in the 21st century.” 
6pm - 10pm
Joyce Gordon Gallery
406 14th St. Oakland, CA.

October 8th: 
Panel discussion featuring former Minister of Culture Emory Douglas with former Black Panther artists Akinsanya Kambon and Tarika Lewis. This will be a discussion of the significance of the artist’s role in creating the visual culture of the Black Panther Party. 
12noon - 2:30pm
Joyce Gordon Gallery
406 14th St. Oakland, CA.

October 22nd: 
Black Panther Party Ten Point Program Children’s Coloring Book Day. The Oakland Maroons Art Collective will host an educational coloring book release party and youth activity day at the Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oakland on October 7th of 2016 to coincide with an art show created by the Maroons art collective. Both the show and the coloring book themes focus on the Black Panther Party's 10-point program. The goal of the youth day is to educate Black youth attending K-8th grade school about the dedication to public service and public engagement that the Panthers had by providing various services such as the Free Breakfast program. They will also directly engage with elder artists Emory Douglas and Akinsanya Kambon who worked on the Black Panther party's newspapers and the original Black Panther party coloring book. Each youth will leave with an illustrated bag filled with the educational coloring book and a set of 24 crayons to continue the learning process at home or in school. The coloring book will be 16 pages and have the artwork of approximately 10 artists. 
12noon - 3pm
Joyce Gordon Gallery
406 14th St. Oakland, CA.


October 27th: 
This panel discussion titled “Where do we go from here?” will address the politics, ideology and impact of the BPP’s 10 point program in this contemporary moment. The panel will consist of political artists, activists and culture workers TBA.
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Joyce Gordon Gallery
406 14th St. Oakland, CA.
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The Point Is 2.0

6/20/2016

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Oakland Maroons Art Collective Presents:
​​

“The Point is…2.0”: Art Representing the Relevance of the Black Panther Party’s 10 Point program in the 21st century ”

The Oakland Maroons Art Collective was formed in 2012. In keeping with our mission to re-inscribe the spirit of the Black Arts Movement for the 21stcentury we curated an art show at the First Love Gallery in Oakland honoring the anniversary of the Black Panther Party.  Our show included artwork by Emory Douglass, the original Minister of Culture for the BPP, previously unpublished photos of rank and file Panthers by Ducho Dennis amongst other works. Our vision for that show focused on images in multiple media on the theme of the Black Panther Party’s community 10 point program. The 10 point program was drafted by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland California in October of 1966 as a set of demands and precepts addressed to the government of the United States. They were broken into two sets of ten. One set was titled “What We Want” and the second “What We Believe.” The artists of the Oakland Maroons Art Collective (OMAC) interpreted each of the points in the set titled “What We Want”. Of particular significance was the artwork of Emory Douglas and Tarika Lewis the first woman to join the Black Panther Party. Both of these artists were responsible for developing some of the earliest imagery for the BPP via its newspaper. Emory Douglass presence in this show is particularly notable because of his seminal contributions to the West Coast Black Arts Movement via his theater set designs and posters. The presence of his work in this show is significant for OMAC because our collective views itself as the continuation of the Black Arts Movement in the 21st century.


“The Point is… 2.0: Art Representing the Relevance of the Black Panther Party’s 10 Point program in the 21st century” will be shown at the Joyce Gordon Gallery this year (2016) and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party’s founding. This expanded version of the artshow will feature never before seen images of the Black Panther Party and work that interprets the Ten Point Program across a myriad of exciting mediums including video, poetry performance, mural/wall painting and more. Our goal is to create contemporary expressions of art that are not just nostalgic and historical but also in keeping with an evolved, advanced sense of Black/Afrikan world wide liberation movements relevant to the 21st century. Stay tuned to the Oakland Maroons website, Facebook and Twitter accounts for updates by curators Refa 1 and Duane Deterville regarding participating artists and writers. ​
​
Opening: OCTOBER 7, 2016
Joyce Gordon Gallery
406 14th St. Oakland, CA.
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The Point Is 2.0

2/14/2016

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Oakland Maroons Art Collective Presents:
​

“The Point is…2.0”: Art Representing the Relevance of the Black Panther Party’s 10 Point program in the 21st century ”


The Oakland Maroons Art Collective was formed in 2012. In keeping with our mission to re-inscribe the spirit of the Black Arts Movement for the 21stcentury we curated an art show at the First Love Gallery in Oakland honoring the anniversary of the Black Panther Party.  Our show included artwork by Emory Douglass, the original Minister of Culture for the BPP, previously unpublished photos of rank and file Panthers by Ducho Dennis amongst other works. Our vision for that show focused on images in multiple media on the theme of the Black Panther Party’s community 10 point program. The 10 point program was drafted by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland California in October of 1966 as a set of demands and precepts addressed to the government of the United States. They were broken into two sets of ten. One set was titled “What We Want” and the second “What We Believe.” The artists of the Oakland Maroons Art Collective (OMAC) interpreted each of the points in the set titled “What We Want”. Of particular significance was the artwork of Emory Douglass and Tarika Lewis the first woman to join the Black Panther Party. Both of these artists were responsible for developing some of the earliest imagery for the BPP via its newspaper. Emory Douglass presence in this show is particularly notable because of his seminal contributions to the West Coast Black Arts Movement via his theater set designs and posters. The presence of his work in this show is significant for OMAC because our collective views itself as the continuation of the Black Arts Movement in the 21st century.


“The Point is… 2.0: Art Representing the Relevance of the Black Panther Party’s 10 Point program in the 21st century” will be shown at the Joyce Gordon Gallery this year (2016) and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party’s founding. This expanded version of the artshow will feature never before seen images of the Black Panther Party and work that interprets the Ten Point Program across a myriad of exciting mediums including video, poetry performance, mural/wall painting and more. Our goal is to create contemporary expressions of art that are not just nostalgic and historical but also in keeping with an evolved, advanced sense of Black/Afrikan world wide liberation movements relevant to the 21st century. Stay tuned to the Oakland Maroons website, Facebook and Twitter accounts for updates by curators Refa 1 and Duane Deterville regarding participating artists and writers. 
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December 17th, 2015

12/17/2015

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The savage spectacle of Mario Woods’ murder

Many of us were recently jolted yet again by a brutally savage video showing up on social media and going viral. The torrent of images is both painful yet sobering. Like being woken up in the morning with a cold bucket of water on your face - shock to the system, but a welcome one because our proverbial house is on fire and we are under ontological siege. We witness – through cellphone video – the public execution without trial of a Black 26 year old San Francisco Bayview Hunter’s Point community member named Mario Woods. Mario Woods’ name is added to the list of savage and absurd acts of violence perpetrated on Black bodies in recent memory. We should examine for a moment the deeper meaning of this type of public spectacle. The white status quo normalizes this type of public savagery inflicted on Black humanity through social media commentary that seeks to rationalize these savage public exhibits of depraved violence with absurd explanations of why police acted they way that they did. These mad and maddening explanations play hand in hand with the police department’s control of narratives that attempt to make us disbelieve our own eyes. We are supposed to believe that a single man hobbling down the street holding a knife with a 4 inch blade on it is a threat to 10 cops surrounding him with lethal weapons aimed at him. The arrogance of white hegemony is that it believes that it is the final authority on reality and authenticated histories – and, it subconsciously deploys these insane rationalizations as a way of validating its violence at every turn. Its violence is not limited to just the black body but also attacks the integrity of black character and our very right to existence.
Like clockwork the routine character assassination, criminalization and vilification of the victim started in less than 48 hours. ABC channel 7 news reported that SFPD says that video evidence shows that Woods made “…a threatening move” and SF Weekly quickly deployed a headline reading “Marion Woods: Gang member slain by SFPD”. All the while these corporate news entities maintain a wall of silence in regards to – not just the background of the officers involved – but doesn’t even release their names. Corporate press and entertainment television is basically the propaganda wing of domestic policing. The late great Gil Scott Heron in his song released in 1981 titled “Gun” stated,
“This is a violent civilization
If civilization's where I am
Every channel that I stop on
Got a different kind of cop on
Killing them by the million for Uncle Sam”
The romanticization of contemporary policing and its attendant corruption, nepotisim, racism and amoral behavior continues well into the 21st century aided and abetted by corporate entertainment and press. Network TV, Hollywood movies Mario Woods’ public execution without trial shows in the microcosm what white
hegemony does in the macrocosm on a global scale with impunity and readymade narratives deployed to convince us not to trust our own eyes.
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Dr. George Washington Carver Mural in SanFrancisco

10/19/2015

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AeroSoul Director and Oakland Maroons Co-founder Refa 1 recently completed a dynamic mural for the George Washington Carver Elementary School in Hunter's Point. This masterfully executed mural serves a pedagogical purpose because it transforms the visual landscape into a teaching tool. It prominently displays the periodic table along with west African Adinkra and Kemetic (Egyptian) Mdw Ntr (Hieroglyphs). As the young students at this K-5 elementary school walk by wide-eyed and excited by the bright vibrant tableau of stars, constellations and west African designs one can observe the spark of inspiration that this mural is creating. They are learning lessons that may not even fully realize until they are adults.Another lesson that was taught during the creation of this piece is that some may be inspired to be artists becasue they've witness a Black man bring this masterful image into being before their eyes. Someone who looks like them and their family bringing his imagination into the physical world through hard won skill, craft and dedication to his community. This mural is a love letter to the mulit-disciplinary genius of George Washington Carver, the intellectual traditions of African peoples and the untapped genius of our Black/Afrikan youth. Watching the inspiration and excitement on the faces of school staff, community members, parents and students alike is worth the trip to view this piece. Refa 1 is continuing in the tradition of Black Panther Party as a Panther Cub by using his art to organize community for Liberation. Salute Oakland Maroon Refa 1 for doing the work! All Power to the People!
-Deterville
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What are you celebrating?                                                               

6/29/2015

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What are you celebrating? 
An open letter to Oakland Fam Bam 
from the Oakland Maroons Art Collective

“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.” -- Fredrick Douglass July 5, 1852

 “Racism introduces absurdity into the human condition. Not only does racism express the absurdity of the racists, but it generates absurdity in the victims. And the absurdity of the victims intensifies the absurdity of the racists, ad infinitum. If one lives in a country where racism is held valid and practiced in all ways of life, eventually, no matter whether one is a racist or a victim, one comes to feel the absurdity of life.

Racism generating from whites is first of all absurd. Racism creates absurdity among blacks as a defense mechanism. Absurdity to combat absurdity.” – Chester Himes

As you read this keep in mind that it is written and delivered with an undying love for Black/Afrikan people and the profoundly politicized community that we still have here in the birthplace of the Black Panther Party. As you read this remember that people who don’t love you will say nothing about hard truths and walk away – that is the way of the status quo that have normalized anti-Black terrorism in America.

If we celebrate the Fourth of July without giving voice to the state of madness that exists in this neo-european nation-state built with stolen labor (our ancestors) on stolen land (Ohlone territory) then we enable the madness of normalizing this white racist violence on Black bodies. We should not normalize their madness by having a celebration in the midst of the most blatant wars against the lives of our children and elders. Never normalize the madness of white hegemony and the legacy of genocidal colonialism in this country.  One could say that the distance of history makes it easy to suspend disbelief – although it shouldn’t - and enables us go about celebrating “independence day” as if it were just a generic summer party. However, that absurdity won’t work in this year - of all the years in recent memory.

Just two weeks ago in Charleston South Carolina a white supremacist named Dylan Roof murdered the best of our people and walked away from it with his life in tact being tacitly protected by the state policing apparatus that saw fit to apprehend him rather than wantonly taking his life as is usually the fate of Black folks suspected of much less heinous crimes or no crimes at all. Roof will be jailed next to former Charleston police officer Michael Slager who was videoed in April murdering an unarmed Black man named Walter Scott by shooting him in the back while he was running away. Slager then planted a weapon next to his victim’s body. That happened in April of this year. In less than two weeks time since Roof murdered 9 of our most beloved Black folks in Charleston there have been three Black Church burnings on record. April was also the month that Freddie Gray had his back broken and subsequently died of the injuries inflicted on him by Baltimore police officers. On June 5th we all were subjected to the video of an unarmed 14 year old Black girl in a bikini being molested and assaulted by a white Texas cop who subsequently pulled a loaded lethal weapon on our children attending a summer pool party. In less than a year’s time 22 year old John Crawford was gunned down by Dayton Ohio Police in a Walmart while carrying a bb gun, 12 year old Tamir Rice was executed by Cleveland police within two seconds of their arrival to find him playing with a toy gun and right here in our own backyard Demouria Hogg was murdered by Oakland police while he was comatose in his stationary car. These crimes against our humanity happened one right after another and without any acknowledgement from the white status quo about the abnormality and absurdity of those incidents. We’ve come to expect wild and illogical rationalizations of heinous violence against unarmed innocent Black bodies by the white status quo. Think back to the intellectual contortionism that white people went through to justify the murder of Oscar Grant in the face of undeniable video evidence and dozens of witnesses. But, are you paying attention to how we enable their absurd comfort with our dehumanization? Don’t say yes if you plan to celebrate on “independence day” because to engage in such celebration will be enabling the absurdity and madness of normalizing the warlike atmosphere that Black folks experience here in America.  What are you celebrating?

If you are thinking that the fourth of July is just a day off and you need some stress relief you are rationalizing something that carries far more significance than just a day of Barbeque and loud music. You will be outwardly engaging in the absurdity of celebrating ‘independence’ built with stolen labor on stolen land in the midst of a time when there have been FIVE black church burnings since wanton terrorism of the Charleston Church murders.  What are you celebrating?

We the Oakland Maroons Art Collective state emphatically that this is the worst possible time in history for us to be having a “celebration” and we propose some alternative actions in order to seize the time and move forward with a more appropriate response to the absurdity of the contemporary white status quo’s anti-black terrorism.

1.Abstain from Flying American Flags or showing (Wearing) them during event.

2.Fly and Display Red,Black and Green flags as a symbol of Solidarity and Unity with Black people struggling around the world. And, encourage attendees to wear red, black and green clothing. No American flag colors or gear.

3. Have the DJ pause the music for 1minute after announcement for a moment of silence to commemorate the the Black lives lost to the terrorism in South Carolina and at the hands of Police terrorism world wide.

4. Allow the Oakland Maroons to set up an information table to inform people about the history of the 4th of July as it pertains to African/Black people.

5. Change the name of the event to 4th of You Lie.

As you contemplate our suggestions please keep in mind that these words are written with the great feelings of love that motivate revolutionaries and that people who don’t love you will say nothing and walk away. 

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