Yearly Archives: 2017

ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA—Today is a historic day for the people of St. Petersburg as they gear up excitedly, ready to make real change in the city by voting in two of the most radical elections that the city has ever seen.

The race for District 6 City Council and Mayor of St. Petersburg has reached its climax as the masses head to the polls to cast their votes for the candidates with the best plans to bring real, material change to the city.

CHICAGO—The Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations (BIBC) held their annual national conference at Chicago State University in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday and Sunday, August 12-13, 2017.  The theme of the conference was “The Ballot and the Bullet: Elections, War and Peace in the Era of Trump.”

The conference was attended by African people from throughout the U.S. including Philadelphia, Texas, Washington D.C., Florida and Chicago itself.

The program was filled with important reports from the coalition working groups, resolutions for action and cutting edge analysis.

As the theme stated, the focus of the program was on raising up strategy for African people to engage in resistance for self-determination through the electoral process, while also recognizing that doing so cannot serve as a substitute for anti-colonial resistance through armed struggle.

Uhuru Comrades, mark your calendars!

The International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) is entering its final stretch of for the 26th Anniversary Convention, which will take place on September 16-17, 2017 in St Louis, Missouri.

We have entered the championship round.

As election day fast approaches, next Tuesday in fact, the people’s movement to elect myself, Eritha ‘Akile’ Cainion for District Six City Council and Jesse Nevel for Mayor have defined this period as the championship round.

Dear Burning Spear, First I want to thank you for sponsoring my subscription to The Burning Spear. There are so many brothers in here that are surprised that a newspaper like this even exists after they come in contact with it.

What’s at the end of my rainbow? Freedom!

My name is Gazi Kodzo and if you have seen me chanting at one of the many marches I have led you should have easily determined that I am a homosexual. As a Gender and Sexuality Nonconforming African (GSNA) I have to endorse Akilé and Jesse because I am African before anything else! This is why…

“Millennials” is a generalized and imprecise term used to describe people born between the years of 1981 and 1997. This generation lives in a time where access to information is both endless and extremely suppressed. A time when paid leave is the system’s response to videos of police shootings that have live coverage, millions of views and instant commentary. A time where hashtags can start movements and end careers.

We are a generation that demands an immediate stance in response to the world and its developments. We are a generation that was sold a message of hope and change only to be betrayed by the status quo of a corrupt system that had been turned against the interests of the people.

Presented one piece of evidence after the other, millennials are suspicious, looking to differentiate between genuine representatives of progress and those who would sell out at the expense of the people.

Despite what corporate media would have you think who millennials are, we are invested and often participate in politics. Locally this is evident from the huge millennial support of Eritha Akilé Cainion’s campaign for District 6 and Jesse Nevel’s campaign for Mayor.

Since its first full print issue, The Burning Spear newspaper has always shipped free to any prisoner who requests it. The Burning Spear newspaper is a lifeline to thousands of Africans in prison who pass the paper from cell to cell until it falls apart.

With the discussion of Donald Trump and his defense of white nationalism, our people are focusing on neo-nazis, the KKK and alt-right but the real face of white nationalism are right in front of us from the politicians that set policies to criminalize and occupy black communities, to the police who murder us in the streets, and to the media who depict us as criminals and subhuman.

Lisa Gartner (@lisagartner) and Zachary T. Sampson (@zackthompson) of the Tampa Bay Times @tampabaytimes wrote an article entitled “Wrong Way: At 15 Isaiah Battle was the County’s No. 1 car thief. He had every reason to stop.”

It is a defamatory article centered around a 16-year-old child, Isaiah whose sister, Dominique Battle, was drowned to death after being chased by the Pinellas County Sheriff's office. Over 19 Pinellas county sheriff deputies watched them drown, all caught on video while deputies laughed and joked.

The Tampa Bay Times called Isaiah the “No. 1 car thief” in Pinellas County despite the fact that these were arrests not convictions. Theft is a legal conclusion that a judge or jury makes, everyone has a presumption of innocent until proven guilty, there statements are blatant libel.