hassimi - Blogs - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-28T18:26:49Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/hassimiRunoko Rashidi in Georgia and Alabamahttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/runoko-rashidi-in-georgia-and-alabama2011-10-01T15:19:08.000Z2011-10-01T15:19:08.000ZTheBlackList Newshttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackListNews<div><p>How are you? Runoko Rashidi is fine. No international trips since Zimbabwe </p><p>a couple of weeks ago but I did spend several days in Atlanta, Georgia and <br /> Huntsville, Alabama.<br /> <br /> I journeyed to Atlanta last week to speak at the Nile Valley Conference II. <br /> I spoke at the first Nile Valley Conference way back in September 1984. It <br /> was my first really big conference and it helped make a name for me there. <br /> This was a different kind of conference but it was still a very good one. <br /> Many of the world's greatest scholars were gathered, including Charles S. <br /> Finch, Leonard Jeffries, Joyce E. King, Tony Browder, Wade Nobles, Hassimi <br /> Maiga, Legrand Clegg and Marimbi Ani. I gave one of my best presentations <br /> and I was honored by the presence of Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver. It also <br /> gave all of us the chance to pay special tribute to Asa Hilliard--the great <br /> scholar who was instrumental in the first Nile Valley Conference.<br /> <br /> Even before my talk at the Conference I gave an afternoon presentation at <br /> Kippsway Academy. The presentation was pretty good but what really struck me <br /> was attitude of the students. I spoke in front of about 350 students and I <br /> am not sure if I have ever been in the midst of so many youth so eager to <br /> learn. It was truly inspiring. Many thanks to Michael Simanga of Fulton <br /> County Arts and Culture.<br /> <br /> On Saturday evening I spoke at Expansion Books in Huntsville, Alabama. A <br /> couple of brothers from the local study group drove me from Atlanta to <br /> Huntsville. We talked all of the way and passed through Scottsboro, Alabama <br /> made famous by the notoriously racist Scottsboro Boys' case of the 1930s. If <br /> you don't know about the Scottsboro Boys please do a little research. The <br /> case of the Scottsboro Boys ranks right up there with the murder of Emmitt <br /> Till and Medgar Evers and the bombing of the Birmingham church--all horrific <br /> crimes of the times.<br /> <br /> Expansion Books, owned by Anthony Browder, has got to be one of the finest <br /> African bookstores in the world. It is large, clean, brighly-lit, <br /> well-located, with lots and lots of titles. It even has a used book section <br /> and the owner knows books. It was a just a joy to be there. <br /> <br /> Returning to Atlanta on Sunday afternoon I gave a visual presentation on <br /> Great African Women for the Sisters of Tomorrow. Everybody seemed to like <br /> the talk and it was worth it just to be around so many beautiful African <br /> women!<br /> <br /> But certainly, one of the great highlights of my Georgia/Alabama trip was the <br /> appearance of a brand new book. Sankofa Kemet: My First Trip to the <br /> Motherland is a new book by Jahbari Joseph Akua. It is edited by his dad <br /> Chike Akua with an Introduction by Anthony Browder and a Foreword by Runoko <br /> Rashidi. It just came out days ago. It is about eighty pages long, lavishly <br /> illustrated and well organized. It demolishes the myth that the Elders have <br /> failed and that the youth are hopeless. It is published by Imani <br /> Enterprises. You need this book! For your copy go to <br /> <a href="http://www.MyTeacherTransformation.com">www.MyTeacherTransformation.com</a><br /> <br /> So that is my story. I have a new book, Black Star: The African Presence in <br /> Early Europe coming out within days and am working on the photo captions for <br /> a new French language travel book scheduled to be released in December 2012. <br /> So I feel quite accomplished and very good about both me and you!<br /> <br /> In love of Africa,<br /> <br /> Runoko Rashidi Okello<br /> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.travelwithrunoko.com">www.travelwithrunoko.com</a><br /> <br /> p.s. Don't forget to register for my July 2012 tour and cruise to Egypt and <br /> Nubia! I am also looking at a group tour to Brazil in November 2012. This <br /> one will take us to both Rio and Bahia, and will end with a cruise on the <br /> Amazon! Details soon to appear my web site!</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li><b><a href="https://lists.riseup.net/www/viewmod/theblacklist/cc7a67cc5e8c25a3ffd3b912e6394377/msg00000.html">RUNOKO RASHIDI IN GEORGIA AND ALABAMA</a></b>, <em>Runoko Rashidi, 09/30/2011</em></li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div>