Wanda's Picks Radio Show

The story of what happened in New Orleans, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida: the Republic of New Africa, is unfortunately EVERGREEN, always on "PAUSE," the reoccurring "PRESS PLAY" reflected in the disregard for black lives witnessed too often in subtle and catastrophic ways. This nation's continued apathy re: Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent breached levees is evidence that 144 years is not a long time, and that the legacy of slavery, supposedly ended in Dec. 14, 1865 still exists for some citizens in this democratic nation. The term Maafa, references this. "Maafa" is Kiswahili for "great calamity, reoccurring disaster" and it is how African people in the Diaspora have come to speak of the European slave trade. Another term for this illegal transport of black people, African descendants, throughout the world is Black Holocaust, but unlike the events of the fifteenth through nineteenth century which ends legally in this country with passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, the end of the Civil War and the Amendments to the Constitution 13,14, 15, the term Maafa includes events like Katrina, the Tuskegee Experiment, Jim Crow, and Hurricane Katrina.

We will reflect on the Gulf Region, 4 years later on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. We will speak to policy makers and activists, those affected who left and those who now live elsewhere. We will talk about the cultural legacy of New Orleans and the South, what is needed to preserve this legacy and how people can help.

Guests are: 6:00-7:00 AM Carole Bebelle & Viola Johnson: Aché Cultural Center and the New Orleans Rebuild-a-thon, New Orleans natives, Jordan Flaherty, Left-Turn Magazine, CeCe Campbell-Rock, Survivors for Survivors, Antor Ndep, Executive Director, Common Ground Health Clinic, and Malik Rahim, co-founder, Common Ground Relief, Katrina survivor.

7:00-8:00 AM Lolis Elie, Dawn Logdon, director, producer/subject: Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans with Angela Wellman, musician, scholar, founding director, Oakland Public Conservatory of Music. There is a benefit this evening for OPC. Visit www.opcmusic.org.

Sunday, August 30, 2009, is "Maafa 2009: Hurricane Katrina," our 5th annual benefit/report back for Common Ground Health Clinic and LIFE of MS, Biloxi site, at Shashamane International Bar & Grill, 2507 Broadway Street in Oakland, (510) 868-4318. Donations for either of these organizations LIFE or CGHC can be sent to P.O. Box 30756, Oakland, CA 94604. Please make checks out to the organization. We are targeting care for the disabled community and the elderly. We will have poetry, music, and comfort for those directly affected. Please join us.



Robert King, advocate, prison abolitionist, author, was on the air listening--that's technology for you. I didn't see his number and therefore missed his call. King was on my first show a year ago, and has been my most avid supporter. He is also a Katrina survivor in the Diaspora--Austin, TX.