JAMAICAN MAROONS TODAY; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES, CURRENT ISSUES AND REALITIES
BY MOTHER FARIKA BIRHAN
Five hundred years after the first African in the West escaped slavery, and took to the hills of the island of Hispanola, (now Haiti and Dominican Republic) we hardly know anything about the Maroons. Most of us who know of the great deeds of our Maroons ancestors, do not place them in the contemporary arena. We say that the Maroons were, not that the Maroons are. Yet the man who was the last Maroon in the hills of Cuba, running away from slavery there, died within recent years. Maroon history is not only in the past but here with us today. The descendants of those Africans who fled slavery still live in communities in Suriname, French Guiana, Columbia, Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
Most Maroons don’t look any different from ordinary Africans in the West to the uninitiated. They blend in with Africans in the countries where they have survived as a people. You can talk to them and have no idea that you are talking to a Maroon unless Read the rest
Kanoni-Anike (means ‘her heart, her soul, her spirit is as free as a little bird and to see her is to see the divine’) Witcher, is a student at Georgia State University Student and is a member of the Atlanta Chapter National Coalition of Black Reparation in America (NCOBRA). We caught up with her at the TransAfrica Forum Student Network conference on Rebuilding Resistance where she shared strategies for organizing with over a hundred participants. Although a busy student, Kanoni-Anike finds time to volunteer and educate others about reparations and its place in human healing.
rastafaritoday.com: What made you become a part of NCOBRA? Kanoni-Anike Witcher: I went to a symposium sponsored by the Black Law Students Association at GA State University and I heard this brother name Mawuli Davis speak who is the chair of the Atlanta division of NCOBRA now, and I pretty much wanted to get in because he is pretty good with students.
rastafaritoday.com: Why do you support NCOBRA? Kanoni-Anike Witcher: I believe that reparations is about humanity, its not about the color of anyone’s skin, its about repairing and methods, its about internal, external reparations, its about transformation, its about change. It’s not about reforming the government, its simply Read the rest
Bob Marley’s mother Cedella Booker transitioned on Tuesday, April 8th in Florida. She was 81 years old. According to family members Mrs. Booker was surrounded by family as she joined the rank of Ancestor.
In her last interview which was published in the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper, Mrs. Booker reflected on joy her famous son brought to her life.
“Him born … two o’ clock in the morning. Every year since his passing, I wake up at that time on his birthday. I just sit up in bed and read my Bible and give thanks to Rastafari for the blessing that I get on that day.
Of course, I didn’t know he was going to be a reggae king, but I knew he was a king from birth. It was a great moment, you know. I remember it clearly. I will never forget it. No mother will forget the birth of any of their children. It is the best time of their lives…
I just have to look at it and say that Read the rest
“I am Legend”, Rasta Music Saves Humanity
by SuGar
Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman’s adaptation of the Richard Matheson’s 1995 book “I am legend” portrays a dark future where ‘viral engineering for good’ goes wrong and wipes out most of the earth’s population. At night the streets are teamed with “Dark Seekers”, packs of cannibalistic melanin deficient heliophobic beings repelled only by light and bullets. The daytime belongs to Robert Neville (Will Smith), a black virologist and the sole survivor of the dehumanizing virus to which he is immune. Read the rest
JAMAICAN MAROONS TODAY; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES, CURRENT ISSUES AND REALITIES
rastafaritoday.com: What made you become a part of NCOBRA?
Bob Marley’s mother Cedella Booker transitioned on Tuesday, April 8th in Florida. She was 81 years old. According to family members Mrs. Booker was surrounded by family as she joined the rank of Ancestor. 
“I am Legend”, Rasta Music Saves Humanity
