I'm still trying to decide whether "Obi won", or "con Obi". A black man in the white house! Whose conning who? Check it: In the movie, Star Wars, Darth Vader (in black) had charge of the defunct republics storm troopers (in white) but only so long as he did his phantom Sith Lord's bidding (unseen white). The moment he turned from the dark side he died.

I can't deny the warm feel-good-factor of seeing those little white boys and girls, hand-in-hand with the little black boys and girls, as they cheered and shed tears when Obi won. But lets wake up out of Martin King's communal dream for a moment and face reality. In Star Wars, (the trilogy that this presidential election seems to parallel all to well) Darth Vader's meteoric victorious rise to power is only a pyrrhic one…

Don't get it twisted, the evil empire has taken a step in the right direction, but the "change" so many of us expect, requires a whole new world order. Some one has to train the young Obi to bring some balance to The Force. Look to the master Jedi hiding in the swamps of Degobar methinks.

"How to Stop The Killing", was the bold title of the Nation Of Islam's anti-knife rally held at their South London base last Friday. This title was bound to attract attention. After all, it is the answer to the question that has eluded parents, police, politicians, church leaders, youth and community workers, while at the same time, it has unified whole swathes of the community, irrespective of colour. There have been many anti-gun, anti-knife, anti-gang gatherings, just this summer alone, yet the quest for a solution is yet to reap real rewards. As the crowd gathered at Muhammad Mosque, quickly filling the building, there was a tangible atmosphere of anticipation, a hoping to hear something new, something radical! There is a saying that Islam comes after everything else has failed. That time seems now to have arrived.

Hilary Muhammad, Min. Farrakhan's UK student minister, began the evening with a brief video presentation highlighting the history following the kidnap of black people from Africa. It was a presentation that leaned heavily on the message and legacy of the Englishman called Willie Lynch, who was the slave owner who infamously pioneered and marketed the science of mastering slaves back in 1712. Mr Lynch's legacy was originally designed to immobilise blacks as a force from that time, yet it has been effective throughout the 1960's black power struggle, and up to the present day. Modernized versions of his destructive legacy is adopted by western governments today, operated on a world level, and is hidden under the definition of what student minister Hilary called "Corporate Interests". This is where Prime ministers, and Presidents in Africa and the Caribbean are bought, sold, and controlled using principles based on his original program. The audience heard how huge corporations in the West pay for their seats, and in return the natural resources of those countries were then extracted.

Bro. Hilary explained how applying this Willy Lynch Program was an 'Executive Decision' that our government had now taken, and that the fall-out — which amounts to the killings in our community — is deemed Justifiable Homicide. "Parents who have lost children are grieving and calling for the Government to do something. This is what they [government] wanted all the time… They need to justify their actions, and some of us are doing that" he said. When tougher sentences are introduced, when DNA is taken randomly, when more and more prisons are built, the authorities will be able to say that we the people called for it. "Too many of our young people are being excluded from education, fast-tracked into adulthood, and then warehoused by the Government". He continued.

What effort is the government putting into ensuring these young men and women are made ready for adulthood before, much less after they are ejected from the education system? It is an indictment against their governance when masses of the young people are allowed to fall into a life of crime through ignorance. Wherever we are found prepared to kill each other, there are whole industries e.g. the prison industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and, of course the army that are benefiting from it. Now, high-ranking officials in the British armed forces are busy, initiating recruitment drives to target black people all over the world. They intend to sign up our relatives, so that they can send them to fight to preserve British interests in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are scouring Africa and the Caribbean, utilising newspaper advertisements, and luring our relatives with the promise of UK citizenship.

The UK government Executive Decision to ban Min. Farrakhan's entry to the country is directly linked to the increase in violence in our community. He said: "The fearless nature of our youth has been turned against them because of gross ignorance, lack of self knowledge and connection to the struggles of black people globally. Young people are being manipulated to be prime fodder for the modern slave trade. Life must be viewed as Sacred… If we do not stop killing each other, Allah/God will give us our own blood to drink. When God gives you a man like the Honourable minister Louis Farrakhan, it shows that you have been favoured as a people".

Stop The Killing: Black youth in Danger! — It has been approximately one year since London's longstanding black community internet station, Genesis Radio, held their "Talk26™" event, under this timely theme. It was a theme taken directly from the lead set in the same year by The Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan. The event — a 26-hour marathon phone-in debate — was aimed at raising awareness of the extraordinary level of gun violence, and was broadcast at the height of the shootings in the Capital. Every day up to that point, the UK's news agencies seemed to be clambering all over themselves to be first on any crime scene to relay the up-to-the-minute statistics, and by being seen as first to release the details, the names, the places, pictures of the latest tragic young gunshot victims ... they appeared to hold the moral high ground. That was how it was yesterday. Today's vehicle of choice has morphed into so-called "knife crime".

Knife crime is apparently at such epidemic proportions, that it has taken the place of terrorism as the government's No.1 priority. And just as in the case of terrorism, the government doesn't seem to know how to respond. Should there be the introduction of mandatory imprisonment? The raising of prison sentences? Yet more Asbos? Should there be regular US style knife/gang summits held at No.10? Should Gordon Brown create a new position and appoint a big name as a "Knife Tzar"?... The faffing continues, as our youths kill and are killed. It is apparent that none of those in positions of authority have even the slightest idea of how to even approach the issue, much less offer workable solutions. Tough problems call for tough measures! Yes! Action may have been taken during last year's killing spree, but those actions have only led us to a change of weaponry.

The mass media tends to operate from an unseen agenda. The result of this is that many people are left believing that non knife-related, savage incidents and murders are down this year. For reasons that are known only to the selected few, it is strictly the "knife-related", incidents and murders that tend to catch and take hold in the eye of the mainstream press at present. As a result, knife crime is king of the front burner, and "Tommy Tabloid" can be found having a field day with it. I can't help but get the impression that the "Red Tops" are using fear of knife attack to shift papers and push through oppressive policies. It's a case of the same-old, propaganda tactics. Last year's strategy was constantly reporting the gun violence tally, and a few years before, it was repeatedly linking Islam with terrorism in the wake of 7/7.

The Media is a strange beast. When a white 16-year old, Ben Kinsella, brother of the former East Enders actress Brooke (it obviously carried weight), was fatally stabbed on June 29 in Holloway, north London, this same media seemed to take a somewhat more touchy-feely approach. Reports of floral tributes pouring in, and quotes from his essay in creative writing class quickly found its way onto their front pages. This was in stark contrast to the few bleak paragraphs afforded to the tragic black woman, Dee Willis, who was found stabbed and dying at Bellenden Road, Peckham, south London a few days later. It's no secret that there has always been a two-tier system for reporting crime when it comes to the members of the black community. What was really touching about the Ben's murder was the way that the whole community seemed to come out in solidarity for him and his grieving family. This was someone who most of them probably never even knew, yet they showed support. Black community, shouldn't we take heed?

What useful conclusions can we draw from the fact that, a year on from Talk26: "Stop The Killing!" The spate of youth murders, continue to devastate our lives, dominating the news, albeit with a knife in place of the gun? In the Holy Bible (Mark 2:21) Jesus says: "No one pours new wine into an old wineskin, if he does, the wine will burst the skins and both the wine and the wine skins will be ruined". It is a great pity that in this so-called Christian country, those in authority have failed to heed, this Supreme Wisdom. We may change the weapon, but if we don't change the mindset, we are fighting a losing battle, and our youth (wine) will be ruined, and so shall the wineskin, which is the whole of society, black as well as white.

Greetings to all

After receiving emails (see below) and texts and whatever else encouraging me to buy Vogue magazine to 'support black beauty' I thought I should share a conversation I had with a sister who sent me a text message at 6.50am, bright and early yesterday morning, cajoling me to invest in a magazine that I wouldn't use to wipe my arse. First thing was the number was unknown to me so out of curiosity I called it to find out who would send me, of all people, such a text. For if they knew me they wouldn't waste their time and energy in that way; more so encouraging me to buy a publication that overtly and covertly encourages Afrikans to distance themselves from the skin they're in 'by any means necessary'!

Anyway I called the number and it turned out to be a sister who I met the other day and the joke is I was just one of a blanket number of recipients who were supposed to rally to the 'cause' of getting the white world to acknowledge that 'black' can indeed be beautiful. I asked the sister "how will this be achieved?" Well simply buying this magazine sends a message to the owners that 'we', black people do care enough about 'our' condition to challenge the black-ugly flip-side to white-beauty, was more or less the response. To which I pointed out that the reason they will predict 'poor sales' of this rare issue (for all I know it could all be a hoax) is because the fact is that every time a black model has featured on the cover of such publications sales have plummeted.

Therefore how can 'us' throwing our money at 'them' change an aspect of global white supremacist thought and action that confuses many blacks and has them measuring themselves by white standards of beauty in the first place (I deal with this in my book Whiteness Made Simple: stepping into the grey zone www.nubeyond.com). Truth is these knee jerk reactions truly make me sick in much the same way as does the black super model, par excellence, who accused the white pilot of a plane she was removed from for being foul and abusive, of being a 'racist' because he didn't get off the plane and look for her lost, designer luggage! Should we take our hard earned pennies and create a save the supermodel fund to ensure that this doesn't happen again to one of 'our' beautiful blacks who no doubt will feature in the press again very soon for more acts of very public foolishness?

In a time when Afrikan-centred organisations and individuals are struggling to publish magazines, books, films etc. etc. to unshackle our minds, you can bet your bottom dollar that many who are circulating these stupid emails and texts have never circulated one that supports these endeavours, much less purchased any of their products or attended any of their events, which is why I suggest that when it comes to many blacks it seems that LUNACY IS TRULY IN VOGUE!!

Knowledge gives us the power to liberate or enslave!

Hotep

Bro Lez

(Bro Lez Henry is a longtime Souljah, scholar and struggle-brother)

"Why I've never dated a black man"

Last week in The Voice, TV presenter Tricia Goddard was quoted as never having dated a black man. Tricia never was one for courting the attention of the black community. She is not an ambassador for black issues. She is not a known community leader, or follower. She does not promote black debate. She does not reside or work in the black community. She does not subscribe to sending her children to black schools… If Tricia had pledged any kind of allegiance to any of these things, her statement — which is quite sad — would have been controversial and would have warranted its position on the front cover of last weeks Voice. However, as far as I know she is not any of these things. Strange then that her sad statement was given the Voice's most coveted position; the "black spot!" (front cover).

Personally speaking, Tricia ain't "my cup of tea" and as we all know, she has always been a darling of so-called "white-trash" television. So the question is this; why would The Voice, hold the front page of Britain's leading black newspaper, only to publish an article titled: "Why I've never dated a black man"? Surely those astute business people who run The Voice, are well aware of the potential hostile feelings and subsequent backlash that these incendiary cover-lines are likely to incite! Surely they know that: We the common black folk, are always being systematically broken-down by mindsets outside of our reach. …that our struggle against this back-breaking negative self-image is facilitated by-and-large in the media. …that we've subsequently become very sensitive, and need to be handled tentatively. I've worked as a magazine Production Editor, and all potential front covers had to undergo highly detailed discussions regarding impact and effectiveness of what is essentially an advertising space. I'm sure it's the same at the Voice.

Could it be then, that this front cover represents nothing more than a cheap sales gimmick? A deft "Shock & Awe" advertising campaign designed to rattle a few heads in an attempt to promote Tricia's new book and fitness DVDs! (Funnily enough, as I reached the end of the article I, that's just how it read) Was the strategy, to whip the black community into a fervour, which could then be manipulated by experienced advertising people, generating interest and hence ££'s? What's the "going rate" for a front cover these days? Maybe next week, my wife and I could lead with a similar smiling head shot photo, complete with the cover-lines: I've been married to the same black woman for over TEN YEARS!"

Come on Voice! We know that sensationalism sells papers, but isn't it about time the black community was freed from the headlock? It's a very sad day when we are found parading our spiritually scarred sisters as success stories, while our black boys continue to kill black boys. All this does is verify that the age-old adage: "kill the male, and spare the female" is alive and well in 2008. Now there's a topic for your show Trish!

Images of ligali's Toyin Agbeto interrupting the 200 anniversary of the abolition of Slavery ceremony in Westminster Abbey sent shockwaves around the world. These shock waves were felt, because the UK's black community isn't known for producing men who stand and fight publicly for what we believe. The UK black man is usually depicted to be some kind of entertainer. He is often shown as a "hoodie" or, someone on drugs or, someone selling it or, someone languishing in prison. Therefore Toyin's firm but polite protest resulted in an unusual image being beamed around the globe. Here was someone in the media eye that our community could finally be proud of. All of a sudden and apparently out of nowhere, we have a bold Souljah who believes in the struggle of our people with such intensity, that having him sit through the cheap tokenism on offer at the ceremony at the Abbey, caused him to rise up.

There is a saying that when a people reach 75 per cent dissatisfaction, they themselves will bring about change. Toyin's simple but affirmative action, resulted in shockwaves, which were produced because authority figures recognise that there was a sudden and definite change in our usual mode of operation. Prior to this, our protests were usually low risk ventures. Here was a brother protesting 10 feet from Queen Elizabeth II and risking being shot for the privilege! Are we at the beginning of a golden age of movement in our sojourn here in Britain? The quick thinking and fast moving struggle-brothers amongst us must recognise the time and grasp the nettle by the thorn, in order to build up the necessary momentum that ultimately leads to success. In time, historians will be able to replay the images of Toyin being escorted from the Abbey and teach our children that this is when it all began. Religious students will be able to draw parallels between the resurrection of Christ, and the time just before Easter when our resurrection finally took on flesh. This is our Rosa Parks moment, and we are no longer able to put up with being at the back of the bus!

It is not until the unwashed masses to reach 75 per cent dissatisfaction before some hitherto unknown person is made physically, mentally and spiritually ready to stand up and say: "enough is enough!" The Most High God Allah always raises up an individual with the right mentality, faith, courage and real testicular fortitude for the "struggle" to make the necessary commitment that will force a change against all the odds. Opportunity with readiness met with dissatisfaction and frustration, and in the very corridors of power that has overseen our destruction as a people, an unwilling and unexpected CHAMPION was forged. Allah/God always raises his man from the least expected places. Who for example, would have thought that a Moses would enter the struggle for liberation from right within Pharoah's own household? Moses stood up against an injustice and became an instant CHAMPION for the oppressed masses of that time. The similarity today is uncanny.

CHAMPION is an acronym which mentors sometimes use to boost focus and morale in our children. Each letter is broken down into power words which are then analysed separately and then all together. CHAMPION stands for; Confidence, Humility, Adversity, Motivation, Persistence, Initiative, Opposition, Nation. This quality is present in all of our leaders and goes some way to prove that there is a definite scientific formula for mass-producing men and women of great substance. Brothers like Toyin may be rare, but they are not produced by accident.

Malcome X said that freedom would be obtained by either the ballot or the bullet. The media is busy showing our youth being destroyers of our community by disregarding the ballot and using the bullet. We must reverse this trend and come to terms with the power of Allah/God's ballot. Not the bogus electoral voting ballot that cycles us alternately from one political non-entity to the next. No, the ballot which we must now embrace is the one that makes us stand up and be counted so that like Toyin, our efforts may inspire growth in our fledgling nation.

Karyn Whyte's legendary 90's hit made it clear in no uncertain terms when she lamented: "I'm not your superwoman!" that if the black man thought that the black woman was going to continue to employ her super-strength exclusively for him indefinitely, he had made a sad mistake. The chorus line of her song highlighted serious fault-lines in what was already a troubled black psyche. Tippa Ire's ragga version bounced-back with the line that the black man didn't ask for or want a superwoman. What we really wanted, as the song goes, was a woman that was only human. All throughout the 90's, to the untrained masses it appeared that the Black man and woman were from different planets, or at very least, traveling in opposite directions.

Fast forward to 2007, and after at least a decade of polarization, black families are now reaping the bitter fruits of those diametrically opposite flight paths. Black young boys are caught up in the killing-fields of gang culture. Black-on-black "kill-counts" feature regularly on the local news channels like diabolical football score updates. Black young girls are still quite invisible in the media eye, apart from when they are used in teenage pregnancy statistical graphs that shows how society is burdened by the high percentage of single parenthood. Black girls have no trouble materialising in person to work the tills at your local Tesco though. The black adult male is missing in action on a critical scale. We are either physically dead, in prison, or spiritually dead which is in effect in prison. This brings us back to the black woman. After singing to the world that she was not "our" superwoman, has she become the systems super mercenary?

The recently published list of the ten most powerful black women in the UK makes quite disturbing reading. It suggests that either, our women have to work for "massa" and his establishment to be classed as "super" or, that for some reason we have been purposely fed the wrong definition. The ten most powerful women consists of three Baronesses, a tv presenter, a business entrepreneur, an executive chairwoman of a football club, a so-called supermodel, a magazine editor, a gossip columnist, a race campaigner and a high court judge! If this is the definitive list of the ten most powerful black women is in the UK, then our community is in much bigger trouble than first suspected. Remember the saying; "a nation can rise no higher than its woman".

What is a super woman? The dictionary definition of super is: wonderful; fantastic; great; marvelous; fabulous; tremendous; excellent; terrific; superb; brilliant. The scientific definition for "super" is "enhanced" as in supersonic (above the speed of sound). A woman is defined as a physically/mentally and some would add spiritually mature female. She is linked directly to God and as such she is linked to the spiritual growth and development of the nation. The female who should rightfully be labeled superwoman is one who is enhanced above the "worldly woman". This means she has accepted her own and is striving to be herself in a world that is currently in the hands of the arch deceiver. This is a dysfunctional world that works continuously to take the woman out of her clothes, out of her mind and out of her nature. It works to undermine the very idea of a Godly woman. The superwoman must therefore know herself and make her God sufficient for her. She must regularly touch base with Allah and not allow Shaitan to trick her with sugar coated words and important sounding job descriptions. Yet this appears to be precisely what we've got.

What use are these top ten examples when there is only one among them who vaguely resembles Mary in the scripture? Mary is after all God's standard and measure of female power. Doreen Lawrence lost a son to five white boys in a racist attack, and is the only person on the list, who I would agree to have my children look up to. If these women were chosen because they have the power to sway public opinion, what about all those single black mothers out there? Why aren't they on the list?