Looking ahead, we have more excellent shows lined up, including one with music legend ROY AYERS and international music star, WUNMI. They performed a series of sold out shows in London in December and January. We caught up with them both to discuss their relationship to each other, Fela Kuti and much more.

visit www.hfhshow.com for details on upcoming shows, when our KPFK specials will air next (for our Southern California fam)… follow us on twitter (www.twitter.com/hfhshow)

www.hfhshow.com

My Lens Media original show, ‘Home, from Home’ will premiere on KPFK on FRDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2009 at 6.30PM PT! Residents of Los Angeles or Santa Barbara can tune in via radio on 90.7 or 98.7, respectively. If you live out of town, you can listen live via the internet on www.kpfk.org.

From December 26 onwards, you can listen to the show again via the ‘Home, from Home’ page at: www.hfhshow.com

Home from Home (’HfH’) is a radio show and online network that shines a light on the real Global Black experience.

HfH IS HONEST AND REVEALING: The show puts a human voice to the often cited stats on immigration statistics and ‘the brain drain’. Each story will put humanize the often cited statistics on ‘the brain drain’ and immigration.

Some stories will reveal challenges; others will reveal triumph, but all of our guests will reveal how they used their culture to adapt (or not) to their new home – and tell us how they are using their skills and talents to contribute to their community — and give back to the land of their birth and/or ancestors.

…IT’S INSPIRED AND ENTERTAINING: Each of our guests will also get to talk about some of the music or art that has inspired them along their journey.

…AND, IT’S YOUR SHOW and YOUR NETWORK: After you’ve tuned in, you can join our online network to discuss what you thought of the issues raised. Maybe you were inspired by one of our guests and want to find out more? You can do that via our online network at www.hfhshow.com

Click here to visit the ‘HfH’ page.

Lebanese music star, Haifa Wehbe is now facing a lawsuit from Egyptian Nubians for using lyrics that are offensive to that community. Jack Shenker writes in the Guardian:

“Everyone is upset,” said Sayed Maharous, 49, the Nubian owner of a coffee shop in Cairo. Adul Raouf Mohammed, who runs a nearby store, agreed. “To compare a human being to an animal is insulting in any culture. She has denigrated an entire community of people, and now some of our children are afraid to go into school because they know they will be called monkeys in the playground.”

The row over Wehbe’s song has highlighted a growing sense of communal identity among Nubians in Egypt, a country where the government has traditionally promoted a very monolithic brand of nationalism, sometimes to the exclusion of religious or ethnic minorities.

Should she have known better? Did she know better?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/17/nubian-fury-haifa-wehbe

Here is another quote: “They stole our innocence,” he added, calling his caretakers in Australia “a ring of pedophiles.”

Rudd acknowledged the deep wounds inflicted by the programs that sent an estimated 150,000 British children to distant colonies – intending to ease pressure on post-World War II Britain’s social services, provide orphaned or abandoned children with a fresh start and supply the empire with a sturdy supply of white workers. Rudd extended condolences to the 7,000 survivors of the programs who still live in Australia, many of whom grew up in institutions where they were physically and sexually abused or were sent to work as farm laborers.

It’s not the second time that people have been taken from their homeland to serve the economic demands of this Empire. Clearly lessons were (or weren’t) learned.

Is an apology enough? What say you?

In the post, Owusu writes:

‘What I personally love about Spike Lee is not just what he has done for the black image in film and film making but what he also says about city landscapes, places, being and belonging. 25th Hour is not strictly a ‘race’ movie but the scene where Ed Norton has his rant in the mirror against every ethnic group to be found in New York City, shows just how  race and all its complexities ties itself up in our everyday, especially in our post 9/11 world where the ‘other’ isn’t just African-American but Asian, Middle Eastern etc.’

LISTEN: You can listen to the segment that inspired Owusu’s piece online, by clicking here. Fast Forward to 2 hours 35 on the file. The link available until Sunday, November 1).

COMING UP: Christabel is back on BBC’s ‘Up All Night’ on Sunday, November 1, guest-hosting another edition of ‘From the Pacifica Archives’

Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party was on BBC’s Question Time last night. This after weeks of debate about whether he, the leader of a party that wants to send all non English (but really people of colour) ‘back’ (ie out of the country) should be allowed to participate in a public debate.

The BBC was accused of creating a TV circus.

Supporters of Griffin said that the BBC only did what it did because it had no choice, and it was about time that the broadcaster stopped marginalizing their view.

Once the show ended, fallout was almost immediate. On the social networking sites, people posted comments, laughing at what they saw as the inability by the British National Party’s leader, Nick Griffin to formulate an argument enough to counter the indignation and anger directed toward him from the audience and other panel members. ( He said, for example: “I shared a platform with David Duke, who was once a member of the Ku Klux Klan, a totally non-violent one by the way.”)

In the face of all of this, some made the point that unless people are going to make a difference, why even talk about it? ’stop the ranting and be proactive otherwise its just talking.’

Here are a few things to consider, though, beyond the personal attacks and the sound bytes – of which there were many – was there a real and meaningful discussions on policy? Nick Griffin argued that people of English descent have been marginalized. Did anyone respond to his argument directly in your opinion? Because, that is at the heart of his argument. People of English descent are being ignored, while others are taking advantage of the nations resources. One audience member touched on it:

‘…just one minute do you not think of the benefits that my parents brought to this country, and other parents of an Asian, an Indian, a Pakistani background…’

Was there a strong enough argument to tackle Griffin’s point? Because if there was, that isn’t what the papers are talking about today.

All that said, yesterday’s showdown might have done more than people think. It’s a scary thing to come face to face with someone who doesn’t like you for being you. And for years Briton’s of colour have often complained privately about racism. Those who spoke out were often ctiticized for over reacting, or making trouble.

Of course, following last night’s show, Mr. Griffin says that he faced a ‘lynch mob’ and that the panel should not have been held in London. It also seems that his appearance inspired some people to join –its been reported that 3,000 people registered to join after the broadcast. The BNP should intensify its vetting process, because, on October 15, the party had to change its constitution, to allow Britons of Colour to join its party.  This move came after Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission issued legal proceedings against it in August, saying that the groups membership criteria unlawfully excluded certain groups.

Last nights television debate might have inspired enough people, no matter what their race, to start speaking up more (not just during protests, but when there are being confronted by racism in their day to day lives), and stop trying to justify their existence to those people who don’t like them or the people they hang out with?

After all it just takes a simple action by all of us to make a difference…Right?

To watch excerpts of the show, click here

(Reporting credit to Gawker’s ‘Defamer’)

So…Six men in Blackface perform on an Australian TV talent show.

The crowd loved it, one of the judges applauded the choreography.

The best line of the segment possibly came from the host, ‘a lot of colour on this show’, he said. Did he feel a little out of sorts, given Harry Connick Jr’s reaction?

This is the second appearance for the ‘Jackson Jive’. They were on the show ‘Red Faces’ 20 years ago – and won. A link to the video is at the bottom of this post.

What was really interesting was the reaction of the host and the crowd. The host saw this as a ‘cultural’ thing, pointing out that to Harry Connick. Jr’s ‘countrymen’ (ie Americans), its an ‘insult to have a blackface routine.’ And, in spite of their polite clapping, the crowd looked baffled by Connick. Jr’s reaction.

So…Americans are sensitive to ‘Blackface’, as are the British and most mainland European nations (see the controversy surrounding Lewis Hamilton in Spain). What makes Australia different? What MLM wants to know is this: how far has the discussion about racial and cultural stereotypes gone in Australia? Are Black Australians – or any Australian of colour cool with ‘Blackface’?  Was this act a reflection of what all Australians see as acceptable?

And…how DO you go about getting people to see why you are offended by something?

Hmmm. Answers on a postcard (well, below), please…

Click HERE to watch the video on Gawker. If you don’t want to watch the full video, fast forward to around 1 minute to the end, to hear Harry Connick. Jr’s comments.

1. U.S. BEGINS CONTROVERSIAL TRAINING OF AFRICAN ARMIES
The U.S. Africa Command has begun training dozens of African armies in a program designed to improve communications by establishing a network linking their command and control structures. It is taking place in Gabon, where several deaths were recorded during violent protests last month over suspected fraud in an election carried by the son of the late Pres. Omar Bongo.

Some 30 African divisions are reportedly taking the training, along with delegations from the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States.

“What’s going on there is a exercise where nations… want to be more capable in conducting peacekeeping and other operations,” Gen. William Ward said in defense of the exercise called “African Endeavor”, which brings together military personnel from more than 25 nations.

AFRICOM, launched during the Bush Administration, was viewed with suspicion by most African governments wary of U.S. military bases in Africa in the thick of the fight against terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.

—————

2. GHANA’S NEW OIL FIND DRAWS FOREIGN BUYERS

A fire sale of Ghana’s newly-discovered oil resources has begun with the purchase by U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil of Kosmos’ Energy, an African-based company with an American management team.

The offshort oil blocks are said to contain large oil discoveries, Dow Jones Newswire wrote today.

A separate discovery offshore Sierra Leone last month signals the potential for further multi-billion barrel discoveries stretching eastward for 1,100 kilometers through the waters of the Ivory Coast and Liberia.

“Given the level of interest out there and the number of vultures circling,” ExxonMobil may need to act with a little more haste than normal if it wants to take a dominant position in the region, said stock analyst Peter Hutton

We’re not sure how old this ad is (it was posted in 2006, but may be older), but it’s great. It has humour, glamorous looking lead actors – and the element of surprise!

History in the making again — The first World Cup to be held in Africa will be followed by the first Olympics in South America… is this a sign of the changing times?