Ites of Consciousness

May 24

sabriyasimonphotography:

~ Mutabaruka: Jamaican, Rastafarian Dub Poet ~

“It’s almost criminal… for somebody to eat 3 times a day and never plant nothing yet! Because you have people out there planting and feeding you… and you not feeding nobody. So it’s almost like a criminal activity.” ~ “Most youths now eating… but they’re not putting back anything that the generation that come after them… can eat.” ~ Mutabaruka ♥*This quote was a part of a reasoning that Muta, a friend of mine, and I had while sitting in his backyard farm in November, 2011.* ♥

~ Mutabaruka: Jamaican, Rastafarian Dub Poet ~

“It’s almost criminal… for somebody to eat 3 times a day and never plant nothing yet! Because you have people out there planting and feeding you… and you not feeding nobody. So it’s almost like a criminal activity.” ~ “Most youths now eating… but they’re not putting back anything that the generation that come after them… can eat.” ~ Mutabaruka ♥

*This quote was a part of a reasoning that Muta, a friend of mine, and I had while sitting in his backyard farm in November, 2011.* ♥

May 19

everydaylifeasiseeit:

Sharon, Stephen, Ziggy, + Cedella Marley

We all live under the shadow our fathers and mothers. It’s our duty to shine our own light. It’s good to see the Marley youth all doing things their own unique way.

anuraglahiri:

Yuri Kochiyama is a Japanese American human rights activist, but often remembered for her work in The Black Panther Party.

In 1960, Kochiyama and her spouse moved to Harlem in New York City and joined the Harlem Parents Committee. She became acquainted with Malcolm X and was a member of his Organization of Afro-American Unity. She was also present at Malcolm X’s assassination on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, and held him in her arms as he lay dying.

In 1977, Kochiyama joined the group of Puerto Ricans that took over the Statue of Liberty to draw attention to the struggle for Puerto Rican independence.

Over the years, Kochiyama has dedicated herself to various causes, such as the rights of political prisoners, freeing Mumia Abu-Jamal, nuclear disarmament, and reparations to Japanese Americans who were interned during the war.

In 2005, Kochiyama was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize through the “1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005” project.

Solidarity. Babylon tries to keep these freedom fighters secret. Forward in truth and rights!

(via neoafrican)

May 18

“It is both the responsibility of the governor as well as elders to create harmony among the people in initiating them to discuss their common problems and work towards the problems and the betterment of their standard of living.” Haile Selassie I

May 17

World's first illustrated Christian bible discovered at Ethiopian monastery Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1292150/Worlds-illustrated-Christian-bible-discovered-Ethiopian-monastery

“

Your Imperial Majesty and our guests this evening:

As we welcome His Majesty again to this house, our thoughts must go back to the many events that have occurred in this room, because no one can be in the presence of His Majesty without thinking of all the history which he has seen and which he has made.

So tonight we honor him as the leader of a great country with whom the United States is very fortunate to have the most cordial and close relations.

We honor him as the leader and counselor and adviser to the great new nations of Africa in which he has played such a significant role, and we honor him also for his world leadership with which all of us are familiar.

I have been trying to think of something that would be appropriate to say that has not already been said about His Majesty on what is now the fourth occasion that he has been in this room as the official guest of a President of the United States.

As I pointed out when we welcomed him in the White House this morning, this is a record that has never been equaled before and may never be equaled again, the head of state being received by four different Presidents as an official guest.

Those things that occur to me I am sure occur to all of you. He is a respected leader of his own country. He is a respected leader of a great continent and he is a respected leader of the world.

But he is more than that, and will be remembered by all of us, not only in this country but throughout the world, for more than those things, because that could be said about many of the official guests who are honored in this room.

I can think of the fact that His Majesty, of course, is a descendant of Solomon. If I can recall the Biblical phrase correctly, when King David died and the Lord asked Solomon what he wanted most, Solomon said, “Lord, give me an understanding heart.” And because he asked for that, he received great wisdom, a long life and, of course, he had an understanding heart.

So it is with His Majesty. He has wisdom. He has had a long life, and, I know from personal experience, an understanding heart.

I share that with you for one moment. I had the great privilege, which some in this room have enjoyed, of visiting his country in 1957. My wife and I were received as royal guests at that time and treated royally. I returned again to his country in 1967, holding no office, having no portfolio whatever. I was received again as a royal guest and treated royally. This is a man with an understanding heart. [Laughter]

So tonight we honor him for what he has been to his country, to his continent, and to the world. We honor him also for what he means to history. What he means to history is something more than that of national leader or continental leader or world leader. What he means is a spirit-a spirit that in these days we sometimes think is lost, the spirit that does not give up when all the odds seem too difficult to overcome, the spirit that will not compromise when there is no compromise which would not destroy that in which he believed, the spirit that inspired us all in 1936, when we saw him standing tall and proud before the League of Nations talking for what all of the pragmatists, all of the realists said was a lost cause.

But because he spoke so strongly and proudly and vigorously for what was said to be a lost cause he was victorious, his nation was victorious. But what was more important, the cause of freedom, of strong men who refuse to be overcome by the odds and by the difficulties—that survived.

What His Majesty leaves, that heritage, on the pages of the history books of the world means more than the leadership of a nation, or a continent, or, for that matter, of the world. And for that moment of inspirational leadership we are all in his debt.

And tonight therefore, I know that all of you will welcome the opportunity to join with me, as has been the occasion on four different times, as I have indicated before, in this room, to drink to his health; and in drinking to his health, I have found that there is a phrase in his country, a phrase of salutation, which I think is particularly appropriate. Translated from the Amharic it reads as follows: “May he live long for our glory.”

I think there is nothing more appropriate that we can say to His Imperial Majesty tonight than that we trust he may live long for our glory.

Let us raise our glasses to His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie.

” Richard Nixon toast to Emperor Haile Selassie I

May 16

Take me to the Lion Ridge…

May 14

Honouring Rasta Womben

Carlton Barrett played reggae drums the way they should be played. With utmost simplicity and precision.

May 11

Pablo.