Tag Archives: DC

17Jan/18
Black Lightning

Black Lightning Lights Up DC in DC 2018

This past weekend Warner Brothers hosted DC Comics in D.C. highlighting the upcoming tv show Black Lightning. It featured four different panels and premiered the first episode of Black Lightning. All of the panels were great and featured a lot of great talent and artists, but the panel that was most representative of the MLK weekend was the panel titled “The Many Shades of Heroism: DC Heroes Through the African American Lens”. This panel explained the creation of many of the popular Black characters of the DC television series world. The panel consisted of the show’s producers, Salim and Mara Akil, as well as actors Cress Williams (Black Lightning), Candice Patton (The Flash), Chris Chalk (Gotham), David Harewood (Supergirl), comic artist and producer Denys Cowan, writer John Ridley, and author and songwriter Alice Randall.

Black Characters on DC TV Series

Candice Patton portrays Iris West on the popular show The Flash. She discussed the importance of portraying an outstanding version of the character on television and how doing so has influenced creators to change the race of the character in the comics. Originally Iris West is portrayed as a white woman in DC comics. “I feel extremely honored first of all to be put in this position,” Patton explained.

“I am happy that a black woman is carrying the torch so generations after this will remember that Iris West was a black woman .” – Candice Patton on portraying Iris West.

Chris Chalk plays the intelligent and brilliant minded Lucius Fox on the show, Gotham. The show is based on a young Commissioner Gordon fighting crime against many of the developing iconic villains in the city of Gotham from the Batman series. “This character is great! I went to this STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program for Black youths and the kids would tell me they knew how I solved a problem on the show and I was like well tell me, ’cause I don’t know…” He emphasized the joy in playing a character that breaks racial stereotypes in television, saying “It is cool to have a Black character that is the smartest person in the series and he doesn’t fight.”

David Harewood plays Martian Manhunter on the show Supergirl. Being a native of London, he explained how important it is to have a Black lead character on a television show because, where he is from, there aren’t really any characters that look like him. He smiled as he proudly displayed his Black Lightning t-shirt. Harewood also discussed how happy he was to represent a person in of color in the media, making the audience aware that there are opportunities for all races and backgrounds to be represented.

Black Lightning: The Series For The Time

Black Lightning takes place in an urban, poverty and violence-stricken community where our hero, Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), lives as a high school principal and family man. He has hung up the mantle of Black Lighting for 15 years because of the stress it was placing on his family but is forced to return to crime fighting when the local gang, The One Hundred, starts wreaking havoc on the neighborhood.

“It is a dream come true! After I put on the costume I was ready to run into the wall! I was ready to fight!” – Cress Williams on portraying Black Lighting

The show is produced by the power couple Salim and Mara Akil. They both have a successful history of producing great shows like the Soul Food TV series, Girlfriends, and Being Mary Jane. When asked about Black Lightning, they expressed the importance of the project and how great of a story it can tell about love, family, and community. “We are led by a vision and clearly this is Salim’s,” Mara explained about choosing the project to bring to life in television form. She explained the importance of giving people the perspective of a Black man that is positive, stating “July 2016, two Black men were killed after the long list of other Black men and we were in that moment of what was happening in our communities. When you look on television there were no Black men in the center of a television show, speaking on the issues that were about his life.” Salim Akil explored his vision of the project in-depth when quoting:

“We use that authenticity when it comes to other cultures but really we are talking about the nuance and Black folks are an integral part of American culture. What we will see with Black Lightning is that yes, we are getting culturally specific nuances of what it is going to be like being an African American man in the United States, but you will also see a man that loves his family and his community and wants what is best for his community. You can take the African American off that (character) and you have just a man that wants the best for his family. I hope everybody can identify wanting the best for their families and their community.”

DC Comics is continuing to evolve its characters that people from different backgrounds can relate to. Black Lightning debuted tonight, January 16th at 9pm, how’d you like it?

05Jun/17
Glamourina

Glamourina Announces New Collection of Athleisure Wear

Local Washington, DC designers Kia Renee and Nekol Choo are thrilled to announce the premier of their Glamourina Kente Athleisure line. Glamourina is an online athleisure apparel store. Co-founders Kia and Nekol are working mothers who have always had a passion for fashion and desire to encourage women and uplift women. “Our mission is to provide affordable, comfortable, and quality athleisure apparel to average, and above average working women and girls in efforts to promote self-esteem through beauty, health and fitness.”

Glamourina

Why Kente? Kente is a traditional tribal fabric originating from Africa.  Africa is a strong and powerful continent.  They are here to motivate and encourage women to be strong, powerful and confident. “We are especially excited about our Kente line of athleisure apparel,” said Kia and Nekol. “Our followers are in for a treat this year.  When we premier the new line in April, everyone will finally get a glimpse of a very special design we’ve been working on for the past two years.”

Glamourina’s Kente Athleisure line will be available for purchase online exclusively at www.Glamourina.com before expanding to other retailers. Follow them on all social networks @shopglamourina!

Glamorina

06Apr/17
Black Land Matters

Duende Naturál & Black Land Matters Finds Egypt in Washington, DC

Black Land MattersDuende Naturál & Black Land Matters Finds Egypt in Washington, DC

 Sharpen your eyes and tune your ear so you’ll know what you see, understand what you hear.” — Listervelt Middleton

As part of Duende Naturál and Black Land Matters 2017 tours we will be returning to Washington, DC May 20 for our 2nd annual Egypt On the Potomac Field Trip with Historian, Anthony Browder.

One of the most stunning symbols we learned on our inaugural trip last year was the presence of two *Tekhenw (pronounced ‘Tek-en-nu’) which symbolizes a timeline: the Tekhen on the left stands for the past, on the right the Tekhen stands for the future, and the space in between the present.

(*Tekhenw is plural for Tekhen, also erroneously called an Obelisk and Cleopatra’s Needle)

It is very clear Browder’s keen knowledge on the design and makeup of the Nations’ Capitol bear clairvoyance to the fact the trans-generational leaders of the world aim to maintain their position as vanguards of Afrikan cryptic knowledge and history having to only acknowledge its truth to another Afrikan if he is “on the level” — which in most cases means you’re male and a 32nd degree Mason — alarminlgy a reason as to why of the many original stolen Tekhenw placed around sacred places in the world, few — if any — are in pairs.

Black Land Matters

Anthony Browner

Browder quoted Listervelt throughout the field trip as we were introduced, better put, re-initiated into the mysteries of our Ancestors as creators of geometrics, math and symbolism using the constellations to bring the heavens to earth as masterfully done by Washington, DC planner, Benjamin Banneker — a free Afrikan by the way.

 

Through Browder’s easy to digest teaching style, in a few short hours we were equipped to exercise the significant power of recalling our past through observation of the alignment of building structures and numbered streets, and connecting it to the present to chart a promising future.

Thanks to Baba Browder, our eyes have been sharpened and ears tuned as we look to counter the next wave of Transition 13.

TRANSITION 13

Whenever dealing with the topic of history — particularly the role of its effect on the Afrikan Diaspora pre- and post colonialism, Browder’s poem, our plight is best described in poem, ’Transition 13’:

We knew not
We studied
We learned all there was to know
We taught others
Then we forgot what we had learned
And then we forgot that we had forgotten
Now we are taught
(By those who where once taught by us)
Knowledge
(That we already had)
So…
We study
We learn all there is to know
We teach others
Will we forget…AGAIN?

Taking the Egypt On the Potomac Field Trip reveals this hidden truth; our forgetting we forgot and then having been taught by the very ones responsible for this collective cultural amnesia.

It got me to thinking, Browder’s poem shows at the root of it all this memory loss is the driving point behind the loss of ourselves, our communities and our land.

Although at the core of issues we face as a community defensively are at the hands of racism, socio-economic displacement, and police brutality, there are offensive methods we’ve forgotten was in use before the days of integration when we were all that we had and realized through cooperative means we took care of ourselves. We did this through community, where we invested in each other.

Recognize, we are in the Information Age… a cultural reclamation is at hand.

Our intent through Duende Naturál and Black Land Matters is to serve as the metaphoric space between the Tekhenw (the present) to bridge a self-determining future for ourselves.

We’ve implemented a tangible resolution for those in search. At a bare-bones level we’re enrolling folks interested in committing to saving up to a minimum of $5,000 each to acquire Costa Rican and domestic land projects we’ve scouted to build intentional diasporic communities through membership in our Black Land Matters Real Estate Investment Trust (BLM-REIT) through what’s called an ASCA or Accumualting Savings & Credit Association.

This will enable us to participate in the (re)building and sustainability of our communities together instead of facing the virtually tedious task of doing it alone.

In alignment with the tenants of Sankofa (to go back and fetch our history), we of Duende Naturál and Black Land Matters understand the importance of “going back” to the historical makeup of this Nations’ Capitol to see the very real Afrikan presence that sits as the cornerstone of America — hidden in plain sight! This is what makes Anthony Browder’s work indispensably   invaluable! And the reason we are returning for his Field Trip this year.

From this reclamation we are able to shift from in between the Tekhenw (the present) to the Tekhen on the right which depicts our future — for we are rebuilding that future starting on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica.

So. With our eyes sharpened and ears tuned, we can now affirm to Ances-Star Listervelt Middleton we know what we see and understand what we hear: Wherever Blackfolk Are, Black Land Matters!

If you’re in the NYC/DC area we invite you to come with us May 20th to Browder’s Egypt On the Potomac Field Trip. For details and registration:

 Cooperatively.

Black Land Matters

 NEXT STEPS

  • Those interested in these “next level” talks email us at yesland@duendenatural.com
  • Come with us to Costa Rica August 12-20, 2017: Join our annual August Family Caribbean Excursion on the Caribbean Coast and get a taste of ‘Pura Vida’ or ‘the Pure Life’! For details, goto: http://www.duendenatural.com/tour/

 ADDITIONAL SUPPORTIVE RESOURCES:

Books

  • Egypt On the Potomac, by Anthony Browder
  • Finding Karakhamun – The Collaborative Rediscovery of a Lost Tomb, by Anthony Browder
  • Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization (Exploding the Myths), by Anthony Browder
  • Afrikan Burial Ground – Urban Unrest – Remnants of Slavery in New York, by M’Bwebe Ishangi (eBook and Digital Print)

Articles

  • Sankofa Kemetamorphosis: Ancestral Calling…

http://daghettotymz.com/current/kemetamorphosis/kemetamorphosis.html

  • The Significance of Historical Consciousness

http://daghettotymz.com/current/significance/significance.html

  • The Unapologetic Quest to G.E.N.T.R.I.F.Y.: Ethnic Cleansing Through Economics

http://daghettotymz.com/current/gentrify/gentrify.html

  • KMT vs NYC & DC

http://daghettotymz.com/current/kmtny/kmtny.html

  • Her Em Akhet vs Sphinx

http://daghettotymz.com/current/heremakhetsphinx/heremakhetsphinx.html

Video

  • The Classified Origin of D.C.

When speaking of the origin of Washington, D.C., the founding “fathers” of this country showed their enormous affinity toward ancient Kemet. Master Historian, Anthony Browder reveals this Afrikan influence with his field trips of D.C. This Video Article both honorz and serves as a complimentary visual of his works.
> Watch here: http://duendenatural.com/may2017.html#classifieddcvid

  • ‘The Future of Our Past – Using Cooperatives to Survive and Compete in the Next Twenty Years’. Take a look at the core issues stemming from Emancipation as well as Integration that’s led to the rise and fall of our collective loss of landeconomics and opportunity and how resuscitating the use of the Cooperatives can be a key factor in the next two decades.
    > Watch here: http://duendenatural.com/media.html#mediavideo-1
  • Black Land Matters featured on the Laura Flanders show

Black Land Matters’ co-founder, Mark Scott joined Weeksville Heritage Center’s Tia Powell Harris on the Laura Flanders show on the historic relevance of using cooperatives as a tangible solution to addressing the disparities of POADUS’ (People of African Descent in the Untied States) socio-economic opportunities.
> Watch here: http://duendenatural.com/media.html#mediavideo-2

 ———

M’Bwebe Ishangi

Where Eco & Culture Meet.
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Black Land Matters
Wherever Black folk are, Black Land Matters!
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