Home Blog Page 42

Reflections on Burkina Faso

Kazembe Batts
-
0
Reflections on Burkina Faso

Edited & interviewed
by Kazembe Batts IG: @kazbatts

In his own words an anonymous, 27 year, Brooklyn-based, Burkina Faso born, software engineer, American citizen who has been living in the USA for 18 years, shares thoughts after a recent visit.

How Safe Is the City, the Country? Any Fear of Destabilization?
Ouagadougou I’ll say is 100% safe. I know people hear about the security crisis going on such as terrorist attacks from Jihadist forces, things like that outside (city limits), the city itself is pretty safe, people get around comfortably nowadays whereas ten years ago could have been way more cautious but now the city is fully functional, businesses are open, people go about their daily lives and overall in terms of the country the security situation has been getting close to under control because the new Traore government has been very proactive in countering the Islamist terrorism that has been going on.

Right now the country is at its highest percentage of territorial control. It’s looking more and more so on the positive side, the whole country will be a safe zone. Anybody who is an enemy, doesn’t matter if it is the West or somebody acting in the interest of the West we feel the same way.

Now there is a greater sense of unity and national pride and so I know in the past the West has been the biggest source of attempting to destabilize us when we are in moments when we want to take our sovereignty such as back in Thomas Sankara’s day. So in that sense we have learned from that day that the West is like a bad student that tries to come back whenever it does wrong because it does not learn a lesson but now we know who the forces are who are against us and we are trying to break free from the chains of slavery that was forced on us during colonialism.

Is President Traore Popular?
Traore is, many of us say, the second coming of Thomas Sankara. He is extremely popular among the youth. Without the youth of Burkina Faso he would not be where he is today because when he took power it was the youth who said if you work for us then we will work for you. So he got to work. Last year was when the review of his term happened and the youth of the country took to the streets to protest that if you don’t give Traore ten years then we won’t be happy. Knowing that the youth are a force in the country and there could be instability, they decided to give Traore five years of presidency.
We have a revolutionary right to take our sovereignty to what it actually means to be sovereign. That means controlling our resources, preserving our cultural heritage, building social relations with other countries that every Burkinabe can benefit from.


Some Differences Between Ouagadougou and NYC When Outside
I’ll say you feel more connected to who you are around and where you are. For example the ambiance is way more lively, people are talking to each other, compared to here when you go on the street you see most people as strangers, in Burkina people see each other as family even though they are not your family, every morning you say “hi” to your neighbors, speak to their kids, if you go out on the streets people are making and selling authentic handmade food like grilled chicken, lamb and stuff. The food is always vibrant and natural. The ambiance and energy are a big difference between NYC and Ouagadougou.

Access to Media and Info in Ouagadougou
Access to info is accessible for anyone with internet service and internet is readily available. Just like we do here in the USA, in Burkina Faso they use social media, IG, Twitter YouTube. In America, Fox news, CNN which are polarized in viewpoints depending on which side of the left or right they are leaning to, whereas in Burkina Faso it is more so the truth of what is going on. If there is news from any country, there is anything that is happening it will be reported. There are independent media that are free to report but I know political parties are currently suspended but that is not upheld to the media.

How is Your Reception When Returning
Every time I go back I’m perceived as a person of the soil, but some can always tell that I’m an outsider. But it is not really seen as a bad thing. I probably won’t understand when they speak in native languages as much but when the common language, French, is spoken I understand fluently, speak with them fluently. So it’s like I never left. It’s like a separation that’s been there for a couple years that’s always seen in my presence.


A Message to African American Young Adults
In Ouagadougou, a young person like me when you’re out with friends, you can go in the city where there are activities and malls that give a modern feel to a young person. There are neighborhood bars and clubs but the main thing people do is grill, every street in Ouagadougou there is chicken and lamb grilled. I look forward to eating that every time I go back.

There is nothing here that you can’t do in Ouagadougou. The perception of African Americans by Burkinabe is very positive I’d say. Especially from the youth who are very interested in the media, in music, sports, various arts and global culture. African Americans have been the frontrunners of most of the categories and so Burkinabe see African Americans as an example, as a hope, more so as an example of strength.

We certainly are one people. We have similar cultural values and viewpoints, and I do definitely want to say that African Americans or people from the diaspora like the Afro-Caribbean or the Africans from Europe should be looking out for Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger as the hope of Africa.

What it really means to be sovereign because its more than a social fad or a cool movement of ideas it’s literally a chance for Africa to take the steps to be where it should be in the world order, which is at the forefront as the cradle of humanity and a continent that does not need anything from anybody.

2025 Yankees Wrap-up

Eddie Castro
-
0
2025 Yankees Wrap-up

By Eddie Castro

The 2025 season for the New York Yankees has come to an end after another heartbreaking playoff loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. In a season with its ups and downs, with injuries and winning and losing droughts, the Yankees failed to accomplish their goal of bringing a 28th championship back to the Bronx.

Although the team had a top five offense in the league, the team’s home run-savvy approach was not enough to get by a second consecutive divisional rival opponent. The Yankees may not have as active a winter as they did last year in which they aimed to replace Juan Soto, it is inevitable that change is needed.

For starters, the Yankees need to revamp their bullpen situation and acquire more reliable arms. As I stated in last week’s podcast, relievers Luke Weaver and Devin Williams are free agents. It is unclear if the team is interested in bringing both players back for 2026.

The Yankees bullpen was a thorn on team’s side all year long so General Manager Brian Cashman will look to invest in the Bullpen this winter. As far as the offense goes, the Yankees should look to add more diversity to the lineup.

If you look at how the Blue Jays defeated the Yankees, it wasn’t just about hitting the ball out of the park, but more about putting the ball in play and finding various ways to drive in runs. A non-home run but versatile player like Kyle Tucker should be in the mix for the team. However, bringing back Cody Bellinger, who has proven he can have success in New York is more likely as the Yankees field options for more versatility to their lineup. Adding those types of players around Aaron Judge will be a key factor in the team’s success going into 2026.


As far as starting pitching goes, the Yankees, health permitting, have one of the best rotations in baseball with Max Fried, a 24-year-old, and Gerrit Cole, who will be returning from Tommy-John Surgery last year. The Yankees’ continued success in developing their pitching prospects could also contribute to the season.

With Cole and Clarke Schmidt going down with season-ending injuries and Luis Gil not as sharp as he was last year returning from his injury, the Yankees were able to bring up a young 24-year-old Cam Schlittler. Schlittler was a big surprise for the team and could be in play for a rotation spot in 2026. It is unlikely the team signs a big-time arm in free agency.

Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes has been linked to the Yankees but, unless the Yankees are willing to part ways with some of their top tier prospects, it is unlikely. The priority for the team is to monitor health as far as the starting rotation goes, get reliable arms for the bullpen and get more offensively versatile players around Judge. We’ll see how things play out in what will be a mysterious but interesting winter for the New York Yankees.


Sports Notes: (Football) After defeating the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jaxson Dart and the New York Giants head to Denver to battle Bo Nix and the Broncos. The Jets are coming off one of their worst historical games in recent memory. They are also the last team remaining in the NFL without a win.

Returning from London, the team heads back home to play the Carolina Panthers. (Basketball) We are one week away from the NBA regular season.

Sowing the Seeds of Resistance

Brenda Greene
-
0
Sowing the Seeds of Resistance

Book Review by Dr. Brenda M. Greene

“What you need to know for now is that it was just like this. I wasn’t running away. I was running toward myself.”                                  

                                                From The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

We know that spies have always been necessary and crucial to people and countries engaged in warfare. During the Civil War, there were famous and secret networks of spies on both the Union and Confederate sides. The most well-known Black spy on the Union side was the abolitionist Harriet Tubman who organized Black soldiers to scout behind Confederate lines. She is especially renowned for her extraordinary work as an underground railroad conductor and for  leading at least 300 enslaved Black people to freedom. Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s novel The American Daughters (One World, 2025) introduces the Daughters, New Orleans Black women who served as spies in the Civil War. The central themes underlying the novel are the impact of the “Daughters” on the development of the southern confederacy and the effect of the cruel and inhumane conditions of slavery on the love between a woman and her daughter.

In The American Daughters, Ruffin describes the ways and means that a network of enslaved and free Black women sow the seeds of resistance to secure freedom for themselves, their daughters, mothers, grandmothers, and inevitably for Black people throughout the south. These acts include sabotaging efforts by slavers, running away, poisoning meals, slowing down work, forging documents, feigning illness, and sending messages through music, dance, and hidden materials. Resistance also involves taking on aliases. One of the American Daughters informs Ade the protagonist, that “My dear, most of the people who work here use aliases. It is the nature of our society that demands it.”

Sanite, the mother of Ady, is the first person who embodies resistance in Ady’s life. She keeps her daughter close and instills in her the importance of being free, doing what is necessary to work towards that freedom, and remembering that she is a person first. She says to her daughter, “What you need to know for now is that it was just like this. I wasn’t running away. I was running toward myself.”  Running thus becomes a necessary act in acquiring one’s freedom.

            Ruffin knows how to engage readers and his literary techniques foreshadow events and present readers with an omniscient narrator who goes back and forth in time. Readers also encounter original documents from slavers, newspapers, and letters that provide a context for this period in the history of New Orleans.

When the novel begins Ady is a grown woman. She describes her current situation as an “entertainer” in a New Orleans Hall and then reflects on her memories of lying beside her mother as they rode in a slave catcher’s wagon with other enslaved men and women who were shackled to the floor. Readers witness Ady’s growth and maturity as she loses her mother and is forced to find a way to cope with her devastating loss. Her meeting of The Daughters, a network of women spies, is a turning point in the novel. Ady desperately wants to become one of the Daughters.

The Daughters who had many aliases . . . had been operating locally since Napoleon handed the territory off to Thomas Jefferson, if not before. Many of the Daughters had been killed in their clandestine endeavors. Whatever actions they took-whether successful or failed- were elided from all records.

Ady understands that whatever the Daughters accomplish will be forgotten, but this knowledge does not deter her; rather it strengthens her resolve to work with them.

            We are familiar with the organizations Daughters of the Revolution (DAR), an organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolution

and the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) founded in 1984 for women descended from Confederate soldiers. Ruffin’s The American Daughters, an imagined record of the acts of resistance by enslaved Black women, reminds us that all the stories of the perseverance of Blacks in America have not been told.

At a time when educational curricular across the nation are being revised to omit the presence of Black people in American history and literature, when books are being banned, when free speech is censored, and when constitutional rights are ignored or taken away,  Ruffin’s novel is significant, in that it adds depth to the presence and resilience of Blacks in America and documents their strategies for resisting slavery.  Additionally, his novel emphasizes the bond between a mother and child and is part of a counternarrative that can provide readers with knowledge of the multiple forms of resistance that enslaved people may have used to secure their freedom.

            The American Daughters is a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Ruffin is the recipient of many awards and the author of The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You and We Cast a Shadow. He is an associate professor of creative writing at Louisiana State University.

            Dr. Brenda M. Greene is Professor Emeritus and Founder and Executive Director Emeritus of the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY. For more information, visit https://www.drbrendamgreene.com

Million Man March: 30 Years Later

Mary Alice Miller
-
0
Million Man March: 30 Years Later

Minister Henry Muhammad Reflects 30 Year Later

By Mary Alice Miller
As the 30th anniversary of the historic Million Man March approaches, Minister Henry Muhammad, Minister Farrakhan’s Student Minister of Muhammad Mosque #7C in Brooklyn, New York looks back at the culture at that time and the impact then and now.
“Just thinking about it brings back good nostalgia,” said Min. Henry Muhammad.

“The Million Man March didn’t happen in a vacuum,” Min. Muhammad said. “This was over a ten-year period of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan doing tours of ‘Stop the Killing’ messages to our people in the late ‘80’s after he had come to Madison Square Garden in ‘85. A couple of years after that he had been doing “Stop the Killing” tours because of the fratricidal homicides that was taking place so much in different areas where our Black youth were around America. That was around the time of the crack epidemic.”

The last part of the tour in 1993 was at Jacob Javits Convention Center.
Min. Muhammad continued his recollection: “The Minister said at that meeting on December 18, 1993, ‘I would like to come back and speak to the men. Just the men. If I come back, would you all come out?’ And the crowd said ‘Yes.’”
In January 1994 the Minister came back to the 369th Armory in an all men meeting and 15,000 came out.

Minister Henry Muhammad, Minister Farrakhan’s Student Minister (back row, second from right) with members of Muhammad Mosque #7C engaged in community service at shelter on Bedford and Atlantic Aves on Oct 7 in commemoration of Founder of Nation of Islam Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s birth date.


“All throughout 1994 the Minister was having all men meetings. But it was at that first meeting at the 369th Armory that the Minister was inspired to say, ‘I would like to take a million men to Washington, D.C.,’” said Min. Muhammad. “He said when he saw the words coming out of his mouth he wanted to pull them back. But it just came to him.”
The seed of that idea was planted.

Farrakhan was filling up armories and other places where men could gather. The momentum started building. In 1994 weekly Manhood Training meetings were held and Local Organizing Committees were formed, building more fervor for the Million Man March.

Min. Muhammad recalled that the O.J. Simpson slow speed chase and Johnni Cochran as his legal representative during Simpson’s criminal trial gave more fuel to Black people regarding the Million Man March.

“God has his way of bringing things around,” said Min. Muhammad.
While promoting the Million Man March talking to grassroots people and the average brother in the streets Min. Muhammad said some expressed concern about their personal safety if they attended.
But, Min. Farrakhan set the tone.

“The Minister said ‘I don’t want this to be where we are looking for sponsors to sponsor us for what we need to do for ourselves and then those sponsors dictate to us based off of money what we can do and what we can’t do, what we can say and what we can’t say. We are going to pay our own way; we are not looking for someone else to pay our way. He was very adamant about that,” Min. Muhammad recalled.

He further explained Min. Farrakhan’s position: “‘This march is about us. We are not going to protest the government. We are not going there to appeal to the government to give us this and that. We are going there to appeal to God for not having our responsibility as men, as fathers, as sons. We are going there to atone and get reconciliation from God for what we did not do standing on the shoulders of our ancestors. We are going to the same place where they sold us as slaves to make an appeal to God before the world.’”


The Million Man March was about atonement, reconciliation, and responsibility.
The date of the Million Man March was also a Day of Absence with no shopping, school or work.

President Bill Clinton and Congress also had their form of a Day of Absence. They were so fearful of a million Black men coming to Washington, D.C. that they all left the district.
“The police in Washington, D.C. had already sat with the Minister and his security team for a plan of evacuation if things started rocking on how they would get the Minister out of there,” Min. Muhammad continued. “The Minister told them ‘If things go down and my people start getting attacked you all better not put your hands on me. I will die right there with my people.’”

There was a sense of danger.
But love, peace, freedom, and brotherhood permeated throughout the mall. Eighty-five percent of the brothers that were there were not Muslim.
“We were shoulder to shoulder so tight that there was a brother in a wheelchair who needed to relieve himself. These brothers picked him up and everybody passed him across each other until he could get to a secure place to put him down until he could be moved,” said Min. Muhammad.

The entire event was 14 hours.
Min. Muhammad recalled that “At a certain point there were brothers on that mall who got tired of hearing all the different speakers and started saying “Farrakhan! Farrakhan!” They were like ‘I came to hear the man who drew us all out here.’”
According to Min. Muhammad, the immediate impact of the Million Man March was measurable.


Voter registration went up astronomically. There were over 25,000 adoptions that started taking place in 1995 by Black men going back into the community adopting Black children. The crime rate went down. One of the instructions given was to go and join an organization in your community. Churches and Black organizations were starting to fill up. Black me were ready to go and be a producer in his community rather than a detriment to his community.
The marriage rate started growing from the influence of that day. Between 1994 and 1996 the birth rate went up by 70%.

“I guess the Black man said, ‘I am going to be more appreciative of my Black woman and I am going to show more responsibility,’” said Min. Muhammad.
“Many of us in the Black community will not talk about it. That needs to be corrected,” Min. Muhammad said, warning that the Million Man March is being written out of history. “Regardless of any critiques or criticisms that we may have, because no one is perfect, we have a man amongst us who was able in the midst of controversy and negativity against him still was able to get a million or more men to come to Washington, D.C.”

Recordings of the Million Man March, Million Family March, Millions More Movement, the 10/10/15 20th anniversary of the Million Man March: Justice or Else are available on NOI.org.
The 30th commemoration of the Million Man March will take place on October 19 at Muhammad Mosque #7C at 202 Pennsylvania Avenue in Brooklyn and Muhammad Mosque #7 at 106-8 W127th St, in Harlem at 10 am. The event will also be livestreamed at NOI.org.

NYC Mayoral Race – The Next Episode

Nayaba Arinde
-
0
NYC Mayoral Race – The Next Episode

A revealing book, Adams Albania flight, and an upcoming Zohmentum Bed Stuy town hall

By Nayaba Arinde
Editor-at-Large
Incumbent Eric Adams withdrew from the mayoral race two weeks ago, but he is still making headlines. After speaking glowingly about his former Senate colleague at the street renaming of Hon. Bill Perkins Way in Harlem on Saturday, Adams flew to Albania on a four-day trip, but not before responding to last week’s Our Time Press article featuring Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

Last week, Williams told Our Time Press, “When Mayor Adams was elected, there was real promise and potential to make progress on issues where New Yorkers broadly agree — and where a previous version of this mayor claimed he did. Sadly, his tenure has been marked by an inability to self-reflect or course-correct after sustained and continued bad decisions, squandering potential and ensuring that the second Black mayor in our city’s history will, once again, not have a second term — overshadowing any real achievements along the way.”

Adams responded, telling Our Time Press, that as of “January of 2022, when I first got in office Jumaanee was attacking me. So one cannot say he attacked me due to something I did as mayor. He was attacking me at the start and never stopped. So it is difficult to believe anything he said. He did not have that energy during Bill’s mayoralty. I did more for Black and Brown people than any mayor in history.”

Albanians at Gracie Mansion event with Mayor Adams, June 21st.. Such events are a regular occurrence at the Mansion.



In response, Williams told the paper “For clarity, I was one of the few people (if not only person) on the left who, in hindsight, regrettably ranked Eric Adams during the last election. I, and many others, worked to give New York’s second Black mayor a lot of grace, sadly he continually chose to abuse that grace.

His administration has repeatedly relied on lies and misinformation, and this is just the latest example. Anyone can look at my record with Mayor de Blasio and see that I held him accountable — as part of my job. I hoped that the Mayor would’ve used his final months to focus on redemptive words and actions, but it appears he’s intent on leaving office in the same detrimental way he governed throughout his tenure.”
Meanwhile, last week, news broke that Adams’ former girlfriend, Jasmine Ray, had written a tell-all about their relationship, which happened a decade ago.

Knowing each other since his days as Brooklyn Borough President, Adams later gave her a $160,000 job as the director of the Mayor’s Office of Sports, Wellness, and Recreation.


Released on Sunday, October 5, 2025, her self-published e-book is titled “Political Humanity, a Memoir of Love, Legacy, and New York City Politics.”
While Adams said nothing publicly, a source alleged to Our Time Press, “She showed him the book before the press saw it, so he already read it.” This, as there have been some rumblings that there are other folks in the community attempting to convince Adams to return to the campaign. Ray said he is “Resolved,” and Adams himself told Our Time Press, “I have done this for forty years. Time to enjoy life.”

MSNBC analyst and Columbia Professor Basil Smikle told Our Time Press, “I think voters have moved on at this point. Unless there’s any legal jeopardy, he’s not in much danger of any political consequences.”
Current November 4th mayoral contenders include frontrunner Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, Democrat and Independent-line former Governor Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.


“This could not have been scripted any better,” John Jay College Adjunct Professor and Black Star News publisher, Professor Milton Allimadi, told Our Time Press. “When he was a candidate, Adams said he would create opportunities for Black and Brown New Yorkers who are in business. Some were even tempted to believe he would do what the great Marion Barry did in DC, where the mayor pushed legislation that required 35 percent of contracts go to Black and Brown, and a strong middle class was created.

That’s why even after the drug scandal, Barry won another term later. Our people are forgiving so long as you deliver. When Barry died, President Obama sent a condolence note. In New York, what did we get under Adams? No Black middle class, but instead stop and frisk went up.”

Adams faced five federal indictments last year. President Donald Trump has spoken about how he made them go away, widely reported in exchange for support of his controversial immigration policy. The charges had included bribery, corruption, and questions about his many pre-mayoral office trips to Turkey, and his alleged urging as Brooklyn Borough President to then Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro, that the 35-story glass tower in midtown Manhattan, the Turkevi Center, receive a Certificate of Occupancy despite documented reservations. Numerous reports indicate that, with many potential voters, he appears to have had difficulty shaking off the Trump connection.

As for this week’s Eastern European trip, Adams may have telegraphed his intention this past summer. On June 21, 2025, speaking on a proposed Albanian Day parade at a cultural reception at Gracie Mansion to the “200,000 strong Albanians [who] live in New York City,” Adams declared, “We will make it happen, and we will ensure that it is one of the finest parades that you will see…From Little Albania in the Bronx to Little Albania in Queens, you have grown and you have a strong foothold, and your political strength is unprecedented. I say to you, thank you for making this city what it is.”

He told the gathering, “And my son, I’m so jealous of him, he went to Albania and participated in one of your concerts.”
This spring, Adams’ son, aspiring rapper Jordan Coleman, 29, competed in the Albanian version of American Idol and released a Balkans travel-inspired EP.
His dad said, “I can’t wait until I get to Albania and enjoy the beautiful rivers and seas and mountains and all that you have to offer.”

On Tuesday, Adams, on his closed-to-the-press,“official visit” to Albania, was scheduled to meet with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, and Minister of Defense Pirro Vengu. The Mayor’s office said that the four-day trip is to “foster business relationships for the city, not to explore any ambassadorships or future job opportunities.”

Back in New York, with four weeks to go before the General Election, Mamdani is preparing to appear in a town hall at Restoration Plaza in Brooklyn on Tuesday, October 14th.
With “over 50,000 volunteers who paved the path to our victory in the primary to keep the momentum flowing,” Mamdani is hitting the streets hard, laser-focused on picking up each and every stray vote.


Lekha Sunder, Zohran Deputy Communications Director told Our time Press, that, having attended events in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, “He is absolutely engaging with the Black community.”
Sliwa visited Brownsville on Tuesday, as his campaign announced that he has received the endorsement of controversial former NYC mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Educator and author Allimadi concluded, “It’s fitting that Mamdani, a candidate who speaks for the working class and dares to challenge the kind of capitalism on steroids that’s taken over New York and this country, is poised to become mayor.”0

1...414243...1,303Page 42 of 1,303