Today I had a powerful interview with Jerrell Johnson, minister and rap artist extraordinaire. I believe he is an anointed rap artist and anointed minister of the Word. I appreciate Jerrell's teachings on a lot of topics. In this interview we chopped it up about each track (except the Outro which I wish we had more time for) on his 2010 album PEANUT BUTTER AND JEALOUSY, available at http://jerrelljohnson.tumblr.com. Some powerful messages are in each track, mainly THE BACKGROUND which is a song that encourages listeners to tune out the background music or anything we substitute as background music in our life--specifically anything that prevents us from hearing clearly from God. I appreciate Jerrell trying to live for God and using his music to get others to hear from God clearly. I truly appreciated this interview.
Yesterday I talked with Cynthia McKinney about the reality on the ground of U.S. policy in Libya. While we spend millions and billions of dollars on military occupation of Libya and Afghanistan, we neglect the public education of our own communities. I appreciated the knowledge that former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney shared in this interview. -RF.
This interview took place on Thursday, June 30, 2011 on WPEB radio. I had a very important talk with Cheril about her book KEESHA AND HER TWO MOMS and her holiday coloring book called MY FAMILY! These works recognize children of same sex loving parents of color. We later talked about the importance of more media that recognizes children of such partnerships. -RF.
This discussion took place on Thursday, June 23rd, 2011 at WPEB West Philadelphia Community Radio. It features fellow readers of the new biography of the Malcolm X biography: Abdul-Aliy Muhammad, Christopher D. Weaver, and Anthony Thomas. In this interview we discussed chapters 4 through 6 of this very important biography.
On Thursday, May 19, 2011, I interviewed Aimee Allison of RootsAction about her efforts to begin looking for an independent progressive presidential candidate to run for U.S. President in 2012. Click on the play button of the video above to learn about RootsAction.org. My interview with her is below: click on the PLAY arrow below the video box. Since the International Association of Fire Fighter's break from the Democratic Party, it is essential for those dissatisfied with Obama's work in his first term to galvanize citizens to run a more progressive candidate in 2012. -RF.
In honor of the 81st anniversary of the birth of playwright Lorraine Hansberry, on May 19th, 2011, above is the audio of a May 8, 1959 interview of Lorraine Hansberry by Mike Wallace who asks her some very socially relevant questions about aspirations of the Negro middle class and Black Nationalism. This interview is available on the LORRAINE HANSBERRY AUDIO COLLECTION (cover photo available from amazon.com) produced by Caedmon, an imprint of HarperCollins. An incredibly important collection. -RF.
It was my pleasure this past Thursday, May 12, 2011 to talk about Bradley Manning with Emma Cape, of COURAGE TO RESIST. We discussed Ellen Nakashima's recent article about Bradley Manning in this month's Washington Post Magazine. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/who-is-wikileaks-suspect-bradley-manning/2011/04/16/AFMwBmrF_print.html
I first heard Ellen on Michel Martin's Tell Me More, and became interested in how Nakashima presented Bradley Manning. I read Nakashima's article and was grateful to learn so much about Manning, including his time in Oklahoma, to his time with his Aunt Debbie, to his time in Wales. It was interesting to learn how he was initially pursuing a Ph.D in Physics, and how he learned a lot in computer programming from his father. However there were two mainly troubling points in this article to me, each of which frame Manning as though what he did was 'unpatriotic' when, assuming he in fact is guilty of what he's accused of, this act is nothing short of patriotic. It forces us to look exactly at what our taxpayer monies are used for in U.S. foreign policy. First, is a statement by Nakashima that Manning tells his boyfriend that he's gotten his hands on sensitive material that he's considering passing to WikiLeaks. There is no evidence that Nakashima provides for this claim. Second, Nakashima writes that based on "a second source," the chat logs on Adrian Lamo's hard drive matched those on Bradley Manning's hard drive, but Nakashima does not identify this source. This to me seems to be the whole article's attempt to declare Manning guilty before his trial and it is denies him his right to a fair trial that, also Troy Davis never got as he faces execution. My dialogue here with Emma Cape of COURAGE TO RESIST (www.bradleymanning.org) mentions the latter point as well as President Obama's reaction to Manning case.
"Let all things be done unto edification." I Corinthians 14:26.
WORD:
"Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction." II Corinthians 13:10.
is an independent writer and journalist born
of Jamaican immigrants in Brooklyn, New York, on October 12, 1979. He
moved to Florida in 1989 and graduated from Zephyrhills (FL) High School
in 1997. He graduated from Yale University in 2001, after which time he
taught in the public school systems in New Haven (CT) and the Bronx for
three years. He then began writing independently and finished a
documentary play on the life of Fannie Lou Hamer entitled, "Living
Sacrifice," for which he still seeks publication. He earned his Ph.D. in African American
Studies from Temple as of August 31, 2012. His dissertation was a literary and historical analysis of Pauline Hopkins, A. Philip Randolph and Paul Robeson. He also is a freelance editor and radio producer, and is currently producer of WPEB's Freedom Readers on 88.1 FM in Philadelphia.
