UNIA - ACL Woodson.Banneker.Jackson-Bey Division #330

10/06/2021

09/29/2021

Lawsuit over sale of Bethesda apartments, Black cemetery dispute debated in 11-hour court hearing

The support that the UNIA-ACL Division 330 RC 2020 gives to the BACC is bearing dividends as is evident in the cemetery desecration and sale is now before the Montgomery County, MD Circuit Court.

Coalition is trying to halt deal; closing arguments due in writing Friday

09/26/2021

Tavis Smiley Podcast - Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and Rev. Segun Adebayo Interview

Tavis Smiley Podcast - Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and Rev. Segun Adebayo Interview

Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and Rev. Segun Adebayo interviewed by Tavis Smiley on September 22, 2021

09/24/2021

Continuing Division 330 UNIA-ACL RC 2020 monthly focus on the African diaspora culture, history and socio-economic dynamics.

Continuing Division 330 UNIA-ACL RC 2020 monthly focus on the African diaspora culture, history and socio-economic dynamics.

09/16/2021

The Scholar Who Chronicled the Afro-Latino Experience

The Scholar Who Chronicled the Afro-Latino Experience

Miriam Jiménez Román envisioned and celebrated a field of study long disregarded by many in the academy.

09/16/2021

We salute the AfroLatin Brothers and Sisters, Afrodecendientes, Africans of the Americas, in this the declared Latinx Heritage Month. You are loved, respected and cherished.

Afro-Latinidad an Integral Part of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month

Today, as the United States once again acknowledges the culture, languages and traditions of [email protected] during what is known as Latinx Heritage Month or Hispanic Heritage Month, it is important to remember that contributions by [email protected] of African Descent (Black [email protected], [email protected]) are an integral part of Latinidad in the United States and throughout Latin America. Unfortunately, many LHM/HHM celebrations/events will, sadly, misrepresent and decentralize Blackness. This is an inherent problem within Latinidad, a term that has oftentimes been used to erase Blackness. As our dear late director Miriam Jiménez Román wrote in the introduction to The [email protected] Reader: History and Culture in the United States:

“While the post–Civil Rights era brought a widespread reflection on race and Blackness among African Americans, especially because of the rapid rise in Black immigration from the Caribbean and Africa, [email protected] identity came to be increasingly defined as non-Black, and in some ways anti-Black. The inadequacy of the [email protected] concept along with the need to broaden and complicate the notion of Blackness in the United States has given rise to the understanding that Latinidad and Blackness are not mutually exclusive and to a recognition of their interface in the [email protected] presence.”

And, even while Latinidad and Blackness have always been connected, this representation is often ignored in popular media, as Miriam continues:

“[email protected] have faced virtually total invisibility and erasure as a possible component of either the [email protected] or the Black population: as far as the mainstream media are concerned, [email protected] are not black and Blacks are not [email protected] And on the rare occasions when [email protected] do find their way into media or other public forms of representation... the distortions, misunderstandings, and negative stereotypes have been rampant. While this disconnect between group experience and public representation goes back generations, and certainly colored the experiences of [email protected], critical and scholarly attention to the phenomenon only came into its own in the present generation.”

The reality is that we need to take more and more strides to recognize the unity of both Blackness and Latinidad within our culture and ourselves. That is why embracing Blackness as part of Latinx/Hispanic Heritage month is important. Not only to affirm the centrality of Blackness within Latinidad but also to affirm the importance of an [email protected] lived experience that informs our collective, as Miriam concludes:

“[email protected] also means the distinctive and unique phenomenological experience lived at a personal level by people who are both Black and [email protected] in all aspects of their social life. The way that [email protected] navigate their social identities as they intersect with other [email protected] and with other Blacks is unique to them. [email protected] is at the personal level a unique and distinctive experience and identity because of its range among and between [email protected], Black, and United States American dimensions of lived social reality. In their quest for a full and appropriate sense of social identity [email protected] are thus typically pulled in three directions at once and share a complex, multidimensional optic on contemporary society. Embracing and celebrating all the dimensions of one’s self has not only been possible but has also resulted in significant innovations at the personal and collective level.”

So, this LHM/HHM, we encourage you to expand your understanding of Latinidad and centralize Blackness therein, understanding that AfroLatinidad is an integral and necessary part to the [email protected] identity, without which Latinidad would not be very Latinx at all.

If you want more information on the importance of Blackness within Latinidad, please see our newly redesigned resources page, or if you want a more in-depth workshop on this topic, contact us to book our Understanding AfroLatinidad presentation.

Also, stay tuned for more information on new projects, new endeavors and new collaborations.

Pa’ lante.

www.afrolatinoforum.org

09/11/2021

On Stolen Land: Rally and March to Save Moses Cemetery

On Stolen Land: Rally and March to Save Moses Cemetery

09/11/2021

UNA-ACL RC2020 - Runoko Rashidi Ritual 40-Days Rites of Passage

The Government of the UNIA-ACL RC2020 presents the Ritual 40-Days Rites of Passage For Our Beloved Travelling Ambassador - Runoko Rashidi

09/11/2021

Mt. Nebo Cemetery Burial Surveyed Completed - 245+ Burials

Mt. Nebo Cemetery Burial Surveyed Completed - 245+ Burials

Some of those buried in the Mount Nebo African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church cemetery in Bowie, Maryland, outside of Washington, DC, were probably once enslaved.

09/09/2021

Forty Day Rites of Passage.

Forty Day Rites of Passage.

09/03/2021

Descendants Sue Montgomery County to Stop the Human Trafficking of Black Bodies: Laundering of Black Flesh for The For-Profit Market | Black Agenda Report

Descendants Sue Montgomery County to Stop the Human Trafficking of Black Bodies: Laundering of Black Flesh for The For-Profit Market | Black Agenda Report

Officials in Montgomery County, Maryland have taken gentrification to a grisly conclusion as they work with a private investor to sell the Moses Macedonia African Cemetery, an early 20th century burial ground for African Americans.

09/01/2021

African Independence Day

African Independence Day - Tuesday, 2021 August 31st

08/31/2021

UN designates Aug 31 as Int'l Day for People of African Descent

UN designates Aug 31 as Int'l Day for People of African Descent

KINGSTON,  Jamaica August 31, 2021 - For the first time, the United Nations is today commemorating August 31, as  “The International Day...

08/16/2021

Opinion | It Was a Terrifying Census for White Nationalists

Critical advice.

The white power acolytes saw this train approaching from a distance, and they did everything they could to head it off.

08/13/2021

Members of the Woodson Banneker Jackson-Bey UNIA-ACL RC 2020 with the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition at the press conference held before the Montgomery County Circuit Court as the BACC and attorneys announce the suing of the Montgomery County Opportunity Housing Commission as they prepare to complete the sale of the Moses Cemetery to the ChargerVentures developer, a white owned venture capitalist for close to $51 million.

08/11/2021

08/09/2021

With #bacc #uniadivision330 at Charger Ventures corporate headquarters on Duvall Road, Bethesda, MD. Protest to stop the sale of the Moses Macedonian African Cemetery of Bethesda. The cemetery has already been desecrated by developers and portion up for sale is a paved parking lot with underlying African human remains. #blacklivesmatter #blackhistorymatters📚 #africanamericancemeteries #africanburialground

With #bacc #uniadivision330 at Charger Ventures corporate headquarters on Duvall Road, Bethesda, MD. Protest to stop the sale of the Moses Macedonian African Cemetery of Bethesda. The cemetery has already been desecrated by developers and portion up for sale is a paved parking lot with underlying African human remains. #blacklivesmatter #blackhistorymatters📚 #africanamericancemeteries #africanburialground

08/06/2021

08/05/2021

Perspective | Camacho-Quinn’s gold medal sparked a debate about Puerto Rican national identity

Perspective | Camacho-Quinn’s gold medal sparked a debate about Puerto Rican national identity

Why a runner born in South Carolina considered herself Puerto Rican.

08/04/2021

07/31/2021

With protestors of police killings at Montgomery County police headquarters. #kwameocran #bacc #uniadivision330 #ryanleroux

With protestors of police killings at Montgomery County police headquarters. #kwameocran #bacc #uniadivision330 #ryanleroux

07/31/2021

With #BACC and family, friends in solidarity protesting police misconduct in the killings of Kwamena Ocran and Ryan LeRoux by Montgomery County MD and Gaithersburg police. Protest March in Gaithersburg from Gaithersburg municipal office to the Gaithersburg police station.

07/27/2021

With #BACC members outside the corporate office of ChargerVentures of Bethesda, MD Protesting the current sale of the Bethesda Moses Cemetery by the #Montgomerycounty Housing Opportunities Commission to venture capitalist ChargerVentures. #BACC #savemosescemetery #uniadivision330 #africanamericanhistory #africanamericancemetery #africanamericancemeteries #cemeterydesecration #uniaacldivision330 #uniaaclrc2020 #bethesdamd

With #BACC members outside the corporate office of ChargerVentures of Bethesda, MD Protesting the current sale of the Bethesda Moses Cemetery by the #Montgomerycounty Housing Opportunities Commission to venture capitalist ChargerVentures. #BACC #savemosescemetery #uniadivision330 #africanamericanhistory #africanamericancemetery #africanamericancemeteries #cemeterydesecration #uniaacldivision330 #uniaaclrc2020 #bethesdamd

07/23/2021

Freedom Friday Forum

Africans of Cuba - The Revolution, and Relations with Continental Africa with Dr. Gerald Horne, Bambose Shango, Esther Iverem, James Early, Obi Egbuna.

07/23/2021

Streaming on www. Facebook.com/uniadivision330/

Streaming on www. Facebook.com/uniadivision330/

07/22/2021

Climate, Not Conflict. Madagascar's Famine is the First in Modern History to be Solely Caused by Global Warming

Climate, Not Conflict. Madagascar's Famine is the First in Modern History to be Solely Caused by Global Warming

Madagascar's famine is the first in modern history to be caused by climate change alone. It’s unlikely to be the last.

07/16/2021

3 Things Wrong with “10 Things We Get Wrong About Reparations”: An Open Letter to Rolling Stone…

3 Things Wrong with “10 Things We Get Wrong About Reparations”: An Open Letter to Rolling Stone…

July 15, 2021

07/14/2021

At the site of the historic ancestral Moses cemetery in Bethesda where developers have desecrated the ground and deeply excavated with intent on building a public storage facility. We, #BACC and #uniadivision330 are demonstrating today starting at 5PM. Stop the desecration of Moses Bethesda Cemetery! Stop the sale of other sections of Moses Bethesda Cemetery!

At the site of the historic ancestral Moses cemetery in Bethesda where developers have desecrated the ground and deeply excavated with intent on building a public storage facility. We, #BACC and #uniadivision330 are demonstrating today starting at 5PM. Stop the desecration of Moses Bethesda Cemetery! Stop the sale of other sections of Moses Bethesda Cemetery!

07/09/2021

07/09/2021

Hecklers target Marc Elrich during press conference announcing 'deeply affordable housing'

Baba Mosi Matsimela, president of Woodson Banneker Jackson-Bey Division 330 UNIA-ACL RC 2020, in Rockville, MD with #BACC protesting the dereliction of duty by Montgomery County, MD Executive Marc Elrich through his ignoring the pleas of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition to save the Bethesda Moses African Cemetery from further desecration by developers and donate the land for a monument to dignify the existence of Africans in the building of Montgomery County during the enslavement and post enslavement period of the history of Montgomery County. The #uniadivision330 supports the effort to bring justice for our African ancestors and will continue to protest and will not rest until justice is accomplished.

Hecklers interrupted Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) and other speakers during a press conference Thursday where officials announced a plan to increase affordable housing in the jurisdiction of 1. 1 million residents. Elrich was excited to share that Montgomery County had decided to tran...

07/07/2021

Photos from Free West Papua Campaign's post

07/05/2021

07/05/2021

07/01/2021

The Moses Bethesda African Cemetery. New developers installation of water extraction pvc piping at the Moses Bethesda African Cemetery around the burial site where unlawful extraction of water showing algae and sediments are pumped into a nearby creek and the sewage system through open manholes. Where is the Mo Co government inspectors? What is the MC Supervisor #marcelrich doing about this?

07/01/2021

With #uniadivision330 and # BACC members and supporters at the Moses Bethesda African Cemetery site protesting the excavation and desecration of the cemetery where enslaved and post slavery Africans in Bethesda, MD were in their final resting place. Except, it is no longer the final resting place of many whose remains were disrespectfully excavated and unceremoniously dumped by developers in a landfill like trash. Weekly Wednesday protests will continue until justice is served. This is the scene of a crime.