Special Features

On April 8th and 9th, the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations will conduct an electoral campaign school for African activists who want to open up a new front for the struggle for self-determination in the U.S.

Newly hatched mayoral candidate Jesse Nevel officially launched his challenge to incumbent St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman Wednesday morning with a pledge to end poverty and misery on the city's historically black south side.

Nevel, a 27-year-old member of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement—a group of white activists that stands with the African People's Socialist Movement (also known as Uhuru)—launched his bid with a striking slogan: "Unity through Reparations." It's the idea that the city should invest more resources in leveling the playing field for the city's African-American population. Some 20,000 or so people on the south side live below the poverty level and many are plagued with disproportionate rates of addiction and homelessness. And the few opportunities available to many residents are low-wage retail and service jobs that keep the city's tourism economy going. That has to stop, Nevel said.

On Monday, March 6, 2017, 20-year-old Eritha “Akilé” Cainion threw her hat into the race to become the next councilperson for District 6 in St. Petersburg. She made the announcement while standing in front of the recently shutdown St. Petersburg, Florida Walmart with her proud parents and a group of enthusiastic supporters.

 
“I am 20 years old and for all these 20 years I have lived in this city, specifically in this neighborhood. In all these 20 years, the St. Petersburg city government has done nothing but work against the black community. I have entered this election because the black community is and has been under assault by the leaders of this city,” declared Akilé.

Eritha Cainion (traditionally known as Akilé Anai) filed paperwork this week at City Hall for the council seat to be vacated by term-limited Karl Nurse. She joins an already crowded field of candidates, including: local NAACP president Maria Scruggs, Lakewood Terrace activist and South St. Petersburg CRA advisory board member Corey Givens and perennial candidate Sharon Russ.

Cainion says she has discussed financial and grassroots support with the Uhuru movement, but considers herself a non-partisan candidate that will accept support from across the city. 

A second candidate with ties to the Uhuru Movement has emerged for the upcoming city elections.

Jesse Nevel’s slogan for his mayoral run?  “Unity through reparations.”

Nevel, 27, a Miami native who has lived in the city since he was 18, said he decided to make his initial foray into politics fight for justice for the city’s black residents.

“I decided to run because the old guard is on its way out and we want to see economic development for black communities and this city that is something that will uplift 

Roses are red, Violets are blue, There is blood on those flowers, And on the chocolates too!

February 14th, Valentine’s Day, is seen as a celebration of the expression of love and affection. In the U.S., about $20 billion was spent last year and on average, an individual spent about $146. Nearly $2 billion was spent on flowers alone.

After only one week of being in office, U.S. president Donald John Trump signed an executive order that bans immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries from traveling to the U.S. on Friday, January 27, 2017.

The countries included in the ban are Somalia, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan and Iran. They are mostly-Muslim countries but more importantly, their people are involved in active resistance against U.S. and European imperialism.

Trump stated while signing the order that it was to "keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America.” He continued, “We don't want them here."

Donald John Trump was inaugurated as the president of U.S. on January 20, 2017. He became the 45th U.S. president to take office.

He began his inauguration speech by thanking the past U.S. presidents that were present at the ceremony, including Barack Obama, whom Trump claimed a fierce opposition to during his campaign.

This shows that Trump is aligned with imperialism and simply used backlash against the black president to consolidate the white working class.

It has been a month and a half since Donald Trump was elected president of the U.S. on November 8, 2016. Since then, he has been busy consolidating the team of people who will assist him in continuing the U.S. legacy of violent imperialist and colonial domination against Africans and oppressed peoples.

He appointed the white nationalist Alabama politician Jeffrey Sessions to position of attorney general. Sessions is quoted by several people as saying how he “admired” the KKK and once called an African assistant general attorney for the state of Alabama “boy,” according to independent journalist Sarah Wildman.