That’s no Buena Vista Social Club candid up there…that’s my news!

Well, I’ve been silent because I’ve been busy as shit, mostly keeping under wraps that we are headed back East finally! I could do a big blog about that but we’re going back to New York and I think that’s all that needs to be said. Lots of fate involved. Chapter 3 or 7…who cares, I was never one much for naming chapters. They should have real names. Cheryl. Mikey. Keisha. Shay Shay. Those are titles.

The purpose of this lovely entry is to let you know I’ve done it again! I’ve been published in X-24 Unclassified international anthology! Please see this link:

http://www.flippedeye.net/lubinandkleyner/

It’s only available online in the UK for now but best believe folks is coming to town to sign and appear.

The girl from page 45 is geeked like a mug…(little 313 for ya).

We have finally hit the wall of Mickey Mouse, acid wash jeans, models that sing, celeberity perfume, played out word phrasings that end up being uttered at Bingo night or, worse, late night talk shows, Arsenio Hall status…we are doomed to be shoved into a taime capsule only to be found a hundred years from now and people wondering what the fuck the big deal was that we came up with a few words that rhymed. Big deal, black Shakespeares. No one will remember the genius of the birth of rap and hip hop and take it seriously. We might as well join the heavy metal pioneers, now all bloated and fat in rehab with kids talking about the good old days when a girl would serve up her vagina like she was passing around hors d’oeuvers at a cocktail party or when chubby formerly unpopular fat guys became rock’s best concierges by scoring anything a heart could desire like a modern genie. Why this tirade, you ask?

MTV rapping with pros, celebs
Hip-hop panel to judge reality competition
By STEVEN ZEITCHIK, JOSEF ADALIANMTV is close to a development deal for “Rapping With the Stars,” a reality competition show that will pair celebs with hip-hop pros.
Project features teams squaring off in range of rap-oriented musical challenges. A hip-hop world panel will judge.

Deal is being negotiated with Giuliana DePandi from E! as well as Kimber Rickabaugh and Paul Miller from RickMill Prods and 3Arts.

“Rapping” is being overseen by Tony DiSanto, who was recently upped to oversee much of the net’s original programming in wake of Lois Curren scaling back her responsibilities.

With “Rapping,” MTV is looking to capitalize on its music niche by crossbreeding it with its nonscripted focus.

The pro-am format has been a hit on ABC, which has scored strong ratings for “Dancing with the Stars.” But the concept doesn’t always work, as Fox found out last year with its ill-fated “Singing With Celebrities.”

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117964707.html

If you’ve not ever read Soledad Brother, please do so immediately. At least sound smart in line at the movie theater when you go see Gary Dourdan work out his George Jackson (as if knowledge weren’t an incentive). No need to bring back the black medalions and the afros. I mean you can, but don’t feel any pressure from me.

Here’s the trailer:

A little info about Brother George:

George Jackson (September 23, 1941 – August 21, 1971) was a Black American militant who became a member of the Black Panther Party while in prison, where he spent the last 12 years of his life. He was one of the “Soledad Brothers,” and achieved fame due to a book of published letters.

Here’s the the thing, black family, we need to learn how to tell our stories in a bunch of ways. Folks aren’t going to see our movies on the regular cause we get stuck in a rut. First we had success with Boyz N The Hood and then there were forty five million versions of that. Then we had The Best Man and Soul Food and seven billion wack versions of that. After that we have Mr. Perry’s stuff and we have so many straight to DVD versions of those stories that I couldn’t even make a living selling them on the block if I had to. Vary up your shit! I am about to practice what I preach, by the way. If you missed my short story in Reverie, you’re wack. But you can still check it out at Aquariuspress.net. Also, there is another story of mine coming out in a Flipped Eye anthology very soon.

If you’re in LA on June 8th, “Woodshed Rhythms” a short film based on one of my novellas of the same title, will be showing at HBFF. My other project that I was involved with “Love Aquarium” was just shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York last month and is still making the rounds. Me and my dear friend Tracie Thoms are shopping a romantic comedy I wrote for her called “Smoke and Mirrors.” Lastly, I just finished two screenplays: “The Brooklyn Bubble” about a guy who never leaves Brooklyn after his wife leaves him but is forced to when he falls in love with a superstar; and “Weak in Florence” about three couples who go on vacation to Florence together and find themselves stripped of their usual insecurities.

Sometimes I have to run down the stuff I’ve worked on so I don’t feel like a complete loser.

Sure is funny how this info gets lost when folks beef on the West Coast based on skin color. The funny thing is, all the black folks that act like latinos are “immigrants” seem to be mimicking the same behavior most white people displayed from the 1900-1970s. Fun times acting like you on top now, huh? Anyways, fighting for human decency seems to be the way to go instead of the crab in a barrell dance routine. I’d rather watch Dancing With The Stars.

History of Mexican-Black solidarity

Following are excerpts from a talk given by Debbie Johnson at a meeting in Detroit during Black History Month this year.

There is a long history of Mexicans welcoming and assisting Blacks fleeing American slavery. The fact of the matter is that when white “slave-hunting” militias would come into Mexico demanding that their “property”—the enslaved workers—be returned, many Mexicans rejected these pleas and were angered at the fact that these slave hunters would have the audacity to enter Mexico and attempt to impose their laws in a nation that had already banned slavery for moral and religious reasons.

As early as 1811, the Rev. Jose Morelos—a Mexican of African descent—led an all-Black army brigade to help fight for Mexican independence. In 1855 more than 4,000 runaway slaves were helped by Mexicans in Texas to escape and find freedom in Mexico. The Underground Railroad was not just into Canada. It went south as well.

Indeed, throughout three centuries, African slaves were joined by Mexicans in opposition to the exploitation of Africans by European “immigrants—settlers—on the North American continent. Just a few examples of this long and rich history of solidarity are:

• In 1546, Mexico recorded the first conspiracy against slavery, which occurred in Mexico City among a coalition of enslaved Africans and indigenous insurgents.

• In 1609 in Vera Cruz, Mexico, Yanga established the first free pueblo of formerly enslaved Africans in the Western Hemisphere.

• In 1693 within the area of the “United States,” which was in fact Mexican territory, an alliance between African runaways and rebellious indigenous tribes developed and resulted in considerable cooperation and intermarriages between them. It was much like that which developed between African people and the American Indian communities.

• In 1820, in Mexico, the pro-independence army commanded by Black Gen. Vicente Ramon Guerrero was joined and saved by the courageous Mexican/Indigenuous leader Pedro Ascensio. This army won many battles in resisting French and American colonial wars of occupation.

• In 1836, during the battle of the Alamo, Mexican troops fought not only to keep the U.S. from annexing Texas, but also to abolish the dreaded practice of slavery carried out by pro-slavery white settlers. While the Mexican people did not have to join in this fight, they believed slavery was wrong, and they helped fight to stop it. Mexicans consistently took in and helped Black slaves who would run away from the U.S. Another “underground railroad”—this one south of the border—saved the lives and allowed the freedom of thousands of African people fleeing enslavement by European settlers.

• During the period before the Civil War, Mexican authorities refused to return enslaved runaways to the U.S. slaveholders. Aided by Mexicans in Texas, thousands of runaways escaped to freedom in Mexico. The U.S. government had to send 20 percent of its whole army to the Mexican border to try to stop this and intimidate the Mexican people, but the people continued to aid escaping slaves.

• In 1862, during the Civil War, at the same time French colonialists had invaded Mexico seeking to take over. However, at the battle of Puebla on May 5, the Mexican defenders, with the help of freed African slaves—this army was considered the complete underdog—defeated and turned back the French invasion. It was a great victory, now celebrated as Cinco de Mayo. This victory was also a blow to the slaveholders of the United States.

• One historical event, organized through the solidarity of Mexican, Blacks, Indigenous and Asian people, was the “Plan de San Diego.” This was intended as a general uprising by these peoples joined in the Southwest, initiated in an effort to regain the lands stolen in the U.S.’s aggression in the 1840s, which include California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and other states of what is now the U.S. Southwest. The plan actually addressed and recognized the contributions of Blacks, Asians and Indigenous people by granting them freedom and autonomy. Although the plan was not successful, it revealed the long history of solidarity of peoples of color in struggle against those who would enslave them.

• In 1866, Mexican President Benito Juarez confirmed an 1851 land grant giving Black people in Mexico a sizeable place of refuge at Nascimiento.

• More recently, in 1960, the Latin American communities were excited by the hosting of the Cuban delegation, led by Fidel Castro in their historic visit to Harlem and the United Nations. This pride and joy was shared and celebrated equally by the African American community.

• In 1964 that joint celebration and welcome was laid out by the African American and Latino community to the heroic revolutionary leader Che Guevara. The pride and joy of each of these communities with the presence of Che would be remembered and celebrated for years.

• In that year, Che Guevara also met with the revered Malcolm X, as Malcolm offered his solidarity and appreciation for the work Che had done with freedom fighters in the Congo as they fought against the neocolonial “immigrants” [settlers] there.

• In 1968, solidarity was developed in Southern California and the Southwest among the Brown Berets, Black Panthers, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and other progressive youth organizations.

• In 1992, during the April 29 rebellion in Los Angeles, Latino and African American neighbors recognized their common plight, and demonstrated their collective rage against continuing acts of injustice, oppression and exploitation.

• Then came the magnificent immigrant-rights demonstrations of last spring. What glorious events they were, across the country, in wave after wave of white and brown—the white clothing of the millions of demonstrators and the brown faces of the Latino/ Mexican peoples who were joined by Central America and South American workers, which were also joined by Caribbean, Asian, African, and African American allies. Make no mistake about it, this class solidarity shook the ruling class to its very toes. It frightened and deeply worried them. It gave a glimpse, even in the midst of periods of reaction, of the crucial struggles that are on the agenda.

The current attacks against immigrants must be seen as attacks on all workers. This current assault on Latinos/Mexicans is just another tactic—like racism, homophobia and sexism, that the ruling class uses to pit workers against each other. The only winners when this happens are always the bosses.

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