The Birth of Black Power

Kwame Ture was born on June 29, 1941 (a.k.a Stokely Carmichael). He was a Trinidadian-American Black activist who rose to prominence as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and later as a leader in the Black Panther Party. Carmichael popularized the term “Black Power”.

He attended Howard University in 1960 and at 19 years of age he participated in the Freedom Rides of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). After entering a “white” cafeteria in Jackson he and members of his group were convicted of disturbing the peace and were sent to jail and eventually transferred to Parchman State Prison Farm where Carmichael gained notoriety for being a witty and hard nosed leader among the prisoners. At 19 years old he became the youngest detainee in the summer of 1961.

He worked as a SNCC activist in Alabama and helped to increase the number of registered voters from 70 – 2600 (300 more than the number of white registered voters).

Following the shooting of James Meredith during his solitary March Against Fear, Carmichael joined Dr. Martin Luther King and others to continue Meredith’s march. He was arrested once again during the march and, upon his release, he gave his first “Black Power” speech urging those in attendance to embrace Black pride and socio-economic independence:

It is a call for Black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for Black people to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations.

While the concept of Black Power was not new, this became a rallying cry for young Blacks across the country. Everywhere that Black Power spread, credit was given to Carmichael.

Carmichael stepped down from SNCC in 1967, the same year he published his book, “Black Power” and became more focused on what he perceived to be the helplessness of Blacks participating in the non-violent movement as he witnessed Black demonstrators being beaten and shocked with cattle prods by the police. In response to this Carmichael became the “Honorary Prime Minister” of the Black Panther Party.

Carmichael later moved to Guinea. It was during his time in Guinea that he renamed himself Kwame Toure.

On November 15, 1998, at the age of 57, Stokely Carmichael died of prostate cancer.

His life and legacy will always be remembered.

Click here fore more information on Stokely Carmichael.

Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival is called Duan We Jie in Mandarin. Jie means festival. It is one of the major holidays in Chinese culture. The summer festival was originally a time to ward off bad spirits, but the Dragon Boat Festival is now often referred to as a celebration of the life of Qu Yuan, a Chinese Poet. The story about Qu Yuan has been deeply rooted in Chinese culture and this festival, so it is definitely a very important factor for the origin of the festival although well-known traditions of the festival existed even before Qu Yuan.

Qu Yan

Qu Yuan was a minister to the Zhou emperor during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). He was a wise man who strongly opposed the corruption in the imperial court. He was a strong opponent of this corruption and eventually his fellow ministers plotted against him and he was exiled to his home town. During this time he collected legends and folk tales and wrote poetry. His works, the Lament (Li Sao), the Nine Chapters (Jiu Zhang), and Wen tian, are masterpieces and invaluable for studying ancient Chinese culture. From afar he witnessed the gradual decline of his mother country, Zhou. And on the fifth day of the fifth month when he heard that Zhou had been defeated and overthrown by the Qin, he was so despaired that he ended his life by flinging himself into the Miluo River.

Legend says after people heard he drowned, they were greatly dismayed. Fishermen raced to the spot in their boats to search for his body. Unable to find his body, people threw zongzi (rice dumplings), eggs and other food into the river to feed fish to prevent the fish from eating his body. It is suggested that since then people started to commemorate Qu Yuan through dragon boat races, eating zongzi, drinking Xiong Huang wine and the children wear fragrant silk pouches to guard against evil.

Duanwu Jie (Mandarin) or Duen Ng (Cantonese)

Dragon boat races are traditionally held as part of the annual Duanwu Jie (Mandarin) or Duen Ng (Cantonese) observance in China. 19th century European observers of the racing ritual, not understanding the significance of Duen Ng, referred to the spectacle as a “dragon boat festival”. This is the term that has become known in the West.

Duanwu Jie literally translate to mean “double fifth festival”. This speaks to some views that the festival is originated from the taboo of evil days. The fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar is traditionally considered an evil month and the 5th of the month is particularly a bad day, so a lot of taboo had been developed.

Dragon Boat racing originated in China over 2000 years ago.The actual boat that is raced is one of a family of Traditional Long Boats found throughout Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands.

Traditions

Many traditional rituals of the Duanwu Festival emphasize the avoidance of disease. The desire to prevent health hazards associated with the mid-summer months may have been the primary original motive behind the holiday.

Three of the most widespread activities for Duanwu Jie are eating and preparing zongzi, drinking Xiong Huang wine and racing Traditional Long Boats decorated with dragon heads. Other common activities include hanging up icons of Zhong Kui (a mythic guardian figure), hanging mugwort (common wormwood) and palm plants, taking long walks, and wearing perfumed medicine bags. The ancients regarded all of these activities as effective in preventing disease or evil and promoting health and well-being.

No June Celebrations in the Bay Area

The Duanwu Festival is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture and although it takes place on June 6, 2011 there will be no June celebrations for this holiday. The annual San Francisco Dragon Boat race takes place in September.

Thousands of paddlers from all over the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands power dragon boats through the waters off Treasure Island in what is advertised as the largest competitive dragon boat festival in the country with more than 110 dragon boat teams racing.

The San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival and other dragon boat races in North America and the rest of the world are held at different times so that major teams can travel and compete in several of them. Additionally, San Francisco’s weather is usually at its best around August and September.

Nigerian-born Pop Star in China

Emmanuel Uwechue is often referred to as the “unlikely” pop star that is taking the spotlight in China. His Chinese name is Hao Ge (pronounced How Guh) which also means “Good Song” in Chinese. Although Chinese is not his native tongue, Mr. Uwechue is fluent and sings in Mandarin.

While Mr. Uwechue is one of many foreigners to have made a name for himself in China, he is definitely the first African to have reached widespread success in China. Many of the songs by 33 year old Uwechue are soul-infused versions of classic Chinese love songs, with faster rhythms.

Mr. Uwechue’s contribution to the Chinese music scene is viewed as a symbol of the growing relationship between Africa and China. A N ew York Times article about Hao Ge highlights that among nations with close Sino-African* ties, Nigeria in particular has benefited from Chinese capital. China has invested more than $7 billion in energy, communications and infrastructure in the country, which exports some $4.7 billion in crude oil to China each year, according to a recent statement by Li Yizhung, China’s minister of industry and information technology.

Mr. Uwechue’s transition into music is my personal favorite. According to jamati.com, Uwechue began his music career as a country music singer when he wasn’t working as an astrophysicist (he has a mathematics degree from University of Monrovia). It will be interesting to see a collaboration between him and some R&B folk. Him singing in Mandarin and them in English. Now that would be fascinating.

As referenced in afronline.com “It just goes to show there are no boundaries if you are determined to do something.”

*Sino-African relations refers to the historical, political, economic, military, social and cultural connections between China and the African continent.

PAASSC will continue to highlight ways in which China is diversifying to help dispel the myths and barriers that some may perceive in our children’s ability to build relationships and opportunities within the Chinese culture.

Culture