OUR COMMON GROUND with Janice Graham 

THIS WEEK

    Listen Live

Join us LIVE: http://bit.ly/OCGTruthTalk

Call-in Number: (347) 838-9852  

November 13, 2021  :: Season 2021 Closing

November 6, 2021 :: REBROADCAST

October 30, 2021 :: REBROADCAST

October 23, 2021

October 16, 2021

October 9, 2021

October 2, 2021  ReBroadcast of 3/19/21 LIVE Interview

September 25, 2021

September 18, 2021

September 11, 2021  :: OPEN MIC

September 4, 2021

August 28, 2021  REBROADCAST

August, 2021 Line-Up

August 14, 2021 ::: REBROADCAST ::: 2016 EPISODE

August 7, 2021

July 31, 2021

July 24, 2021 ::: Resistance and Rebellion Rebroadcast

July 17, 2021

July 10, 2021

June 25, 2021

June 19, 2021

June 12, 2021

June 5, 2021

June, 2021

Our Guest in this first episode are the co-authors of  Dr. William J. “Sandy” Darity and A. Kirsten Mullen.

Episode #1: “The Debt That Is Owed: Reparations & the Descendants of US Chattel Slavery”

May 22, 2021

May 15, 2021

May 1, 2021

April 24, 2021

March 27, 2021

March 20, 2021

March 13, 2021

March 6, 2021

February 27, 2021

February 25, 2021

February 20, 2021

February 19, 2021

February 18, 2021

February 13, 2021

Thursday, February 11, 2021 ♠  8pm EST

Session 2:

Review of Syllabus

Examine why certain sources are most helpful to us to understand the continuum and projection of history forming new generations of struggle. How history informs strategic directions of each of the major movements.

Saturday, February 6, 2021

Thursdays ::: February 4 -25, 2021

February 4, 2021

Session 1: Overview of significant Black political movements and events.

• Black Politics and the Reconstruction Era

• Black Politics of the Jim Crow Era

• Black Politics creating the Civil Rights Era

• Black Political development during the Black Power Era

• Reading Recommendations

• Timeline References

February 11, 2021

Session 2:

Review of Syllabus

Examine why certain sources are most helpful to us to understand the continuum and projection of history forming new generations of struggle. How history informs strategic directions of each of the major movements.

February 18, 2021

Session 3:

Black political diversities and ideologies. Examining class, economics, religion, spirituality, art, gender, sexuality, and how they have factored in Black movement history.

January 30, 2021

January 23, 2021

January 16, 2021

January 9, 2021

23  December  2020

18  December 2020

12  December  2020

05  December  2020

21 November 2020

14  November  2020

07  November  2020

04 November 2020

2020 ELECTION SPECIAL

31 October 2020

24 October 2020

10 October  2020

03  October  2020

26  September 2020

19  September 2020

12  September  2020

29  August 2020

22 August 2020

15 August  2020

08 August  2020

29 July 2020

25 July 2020

July 18, 2020

11 July 2020

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08 July 2020

01 July  2020

27  June  2020

24  June 2020

20 June 2020

13  June 2020

30  May  2020

16  May  2020

09  May 2020

02  May  2020

25 April  2020

18 April 2020

BLACK SURVIVAL:
Dual Crisis in the Pandemic

07  January  2017

17  December  2016

10 December  2016

03  December  2016

“A Black Political Future”

A critical lens on the political landscape of America with Pascal Robert

Pascal Robert, Editor, The Thought Merchant and Contributor, The Black Agenda Report
This week we discuss the political future of Black Americans in the era of a imperialist Executive and Legislative government. The critical question is not how we react to the fascism that has embedded itself but how we plan to organize our resistance and survival.

26  November  2016

BreakingBrown.com Talk and Call-In Show

Hosts, Yvette Carnell and Irami Osei-Frompong
We talk with OCG InterLocutors, Irami Osei-Frimpong  and Yvette Carnell about their new internet-based call-in talk show.

Dr. Irami Osei-Frimpong hails from Los Angeles, Calif., and studied philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, Brandeis University and  presents under the name of The Funky Academic. His focus is political philosophy and Philosophy of Education.

Yvette Carnell writes about politics, international and cultural issues for Your Black World and is the founder and Editor of BreakingBrown.com

19 November 2016

In Conversation with Bruce A. Dixon

Bruce A. Dixon is co-chair of the Georgia state GREEN PARTY, Managing Editor of The Black Agenda Report, grandfather, organic gardener, lifelong leftist, former member of the Black Panther Party, current Green, troublemaker and community and movement organizer.  Learn more details on this episode by checking our FB Event page.

Listen & Call In Line: 347-838-9852
Listen LIVE/Enjoy our LIVE Chat room: OCG LIVE Studio

30  July 2016

“A Promise to Pay: Political Debt”
with OCG Unfiltered Interlocutor, Pascal Robert joins us.

Listen & Call In Line: 347-838-9852
Listen LIVE/Enjoy our LIVE Chat room: http://bit.ly/PoliDebt

The 2016 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia is over. It was the greatest parade of marketing propaganda we have seen in our lifetime. Hillary proclaimed, “Your cause is my cause,”. But dissatisfied delegates in the hall, the Bernie people saw her rhetoric for what it was: insincere and opportunistic. They have sacrificed nothing to make us stronger together.

It was a great party of political promises, filling the tab, of making debt. Will they pay?

23  July  2016

It is clear that they will do whatever we allow. Justice is now whatever they can justify.

Topics on Tap for tonight:

⇔ Dallas police killing does not dissolve the Truth on          #AltonSterling,#PhilandroCastile #Saytheirnames

⇔ The shooters, how they come to the act?

⇔  Donald Trump declares martial law strategy on protest and street activism.

⇔   North Miami police shooting. We now shoot autistic citizens because ?

⇔   What must we now require of Hillary Clinton?

16  July  2016

What is Freedom ?
Guest: Brother Dr. Irami Osei-Frimpong

Brandeis and UC Berkely  philospoher, The Funky Academic, The Funky Academic
What is this elusive Freedom ? Do you know ?

Our people have been on the road, rampage and struggle for FREEDOM for over 400 years. We have rebelled, resisted, sung, marched and demanded. More Black people in prison; killed and brutalized by police; living under oppressive captialism and abandoned by corrupted politics. We watch Black men and women bodies fall in the street and in jails murdered under law. Most of us declare freedom, and some continue to fight for it. But what exactly is FREEDOM? A discussion with the Funky Academic about this convolution called FREEDOM.

We will discuss freedom in the context of police killings, mass incarceration, impotent political agency and elected officials.

10  July 2016

OCG SPECIAL :: 40M Souls : Marginalized, Traumatized, Terrorized and Murdered

Joining us: Yvette Carnell of BreakingBrown.com, Dr. James L. Taylor, USF and UC Berkeley, Dr. Tommy J. Curry, Texas A&M University

Sunday, July 10, 2016 <> LIVE <> 10 pm ET
Listen & Call In Line: 347-838-9852
Listen LIVE/Enjoy our LIVE Chat room http://bit.ly/OCGBlackTerror

We declare our collective wounds and injuries in the wake of the killing of more than 1, 000 American citizens by police. This week we witnessed once again the cold-bloodied execution of our Brother, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. WE ARE OUTRAGED. We are outraged that there is no accountablity, the government, government officials and elected officials show limited concern of accountability or justice. We are citizens and should no fear for the safety of our children and ourselves.

We don’t believe that a peaceful protest about the value of our presence cannot be highjacked by one act of violence. We reject that the killing of police is a rationale response to the legitimate outrage of the killing of Black men and women under the cover of law and authority.

09  July 2016

BLACK LIVES MATTER: Talking to our Children and Ourselves
How Much Death Do we have to endure ?

Guest: Professor Miriam “Dutchess” Harris
Professor and Chair of American Studies
Macalester College St. Paul, Minnesota
Co-Author, “Black Lives Matter” Miriam Harris

and
The Execution of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile
The Dallas Aftermath and Lingering Questions

25  June 2016

OPEN MIC Saturday Night with India DeClair
Host and Executive Producer, TheIDeClair Show, Guest Hosting

<> No Accountability in Baltimore
<> SCOTUS Denies AA Challenge in Admissions
<> SCOTUS Legalizes Police Misconduct with Pascal Robert
<> House Democrats Erupt
#Talkthat Matters

18  June 2006

“Wilmington on Fire” with the Filmmaker, Christopher Everett

BEFORE TULSA < > BEFORE ROSEWOOD
THERE WAS WILMINGTON

Most folks are familiar with massacres that took place in Tulsa and Rosewood regarding US history but not Wilmington. This incident is barely mentioned and has been omitted from most history books. It was not until 2006, after the North Carolina General Assembly published a report on it, that the tragedy become known to the public. It was supposed to be a secret, and it was for over 100 years.

11  June 2016

“The unDoing: Gorillas. Rapists. Ali Trump. Clinton & Roots”
Zakiya Sankara-Jabar, Co-Founder & Executive Director , Racial Justice NOW; and Dr. James L. Taylor, USF and UC Berkeley Black Studies Department Chair, Professor and Author, “Black Nationalism in the United States: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama”

04  June 2016

“Political Madness: Where da’ Revolution?”
Inside the Blackslide of Electoral Politricks and Slicks
ALFO takes the Mic LIVE on OUR COMMON GROUND
Just Damn’- He’s Back !!

28  May  2016

“A Deadly Silence: Black Men and Boys”
Dr. Tommy J. Curry
Texas A&M University, Department of Philosophy
Professor of Philosophy,
Black Studies and Critical Race Theory; author, “The Man Not”

21  May  2016

Creating Sustainability and Self-Determining Communities
Kali Akuno, Cooperation Jackson, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and the All African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC)

CONFERENCE: “Black Power, Black Lives & Pan-Africanism Conference: Honoring the Legacy & Building for a Self-Determining Future”

14 May  2016

WORKING WHILE BLACK with Torin Ellis
Guest: Torin Ellis, CEO, TorinEllis Brand
Organizational Diversity and Inclusive Thought Leader<> RECRUITER and COACH

Brainsharing with Torin Ellis Torin Ellis
human capital #entrepreneur – true #diversity & #recruiting guru

30  April 2016

April ReWind<> OPEN MIC

23  April  2016

“When #HotSauceMatters: Politics in Your Pocketbook”

                               “The #HotSauceMatters Interview”
with the OCG UNFiltered in·ter·loc·u·tors
<> Yvette Carnell of Breaking Brown.com
<> Dr. Tommy J. Curry, TX A&M University
<> Pascal Robert, The Black Agenda Report

OCG Tribute to Sir Purple

16  April  2016

“Hands Off Our Children: 300 Strong” Report from the Field with Dr. Ruby Sales ED of SpiritHouse Project
Dr. Sales returns to provide a report of this historic event.

LISTEN LIVE HERE: http://bit.ly/1Qd4YzD

In March, 2016 Washington D.C., SpiritHouse Project led the first national public hearing of the 1000 black victims of state-sanctioned murders. Delivering coffins representing murdered children to members of Congress, the 300 Strong heard testimony from victim families.

Dr. Ruby Sales talked with us about this project in March. She returns to report on this historic event.

09  April 2016

“Truthtelling About the War on Drugs and Politics” with Matthew Fogg, Whistleblower and Activist

He was told by the DEA that there should be no drug enforcement in rich White areas. And he told. After leaving the force, Fogg spent his retirement advocating for greater protections for officers who expose internal corruption within law enforcement agencies. He advocates for the civil rights of citizens who are in fear of police misconduct and brutality. Now he is a candidate for Congress to bear ‘truthtelling’.

For More Information about this episode of OUR COMMON GROUND

02  April  2016

OPEN MIC SATURDAY NIGHT

> Charter Schools: A Community Asset or Liability
< Time for a Third Party in our Politics
< Revisiting the Lessons of Ferguson

26  March  2016

“#FeelingtheBern”
Guest: Nina Turner, Former OH Senator, Bernie Sanders for President Spokesperson

19  March  2016

“FlashBLACK: AmeriKKKa Making It Clear Again”
OPEN MIC SATURDAY NIGHT

Listen & Call In Line: 347-838-9852
LISTEN LIVE HERE: http://blogtalkardio.com/OCG

“Many of the black Congressmen spoke of the abuse they suffered while traveling to the Capitol. Joseph Rainey was removed from a hotel dining room; Robert Elliott was refused service at a restaurant in a railroad station. Even when they reached Washington, hazards remained and insults swirled about them. A number of black Congressmen faced death threats and defended themselves by posting armed guards at their homes. In the House, one Virginia Democrat announced that he was addressing only “the white men,” the “gentlemen,” not his black colleagues. Another spoke of slavery as a civilizing institution that had brought black “barbarians” into modern civilization. Black Congressman Richard Cain of South Carolina responded that his colleague’s definition of “civilizing instruments” seemed to encompass nothing more than “the lash and the whipping post.”
“Rooted in Reconstruction: The First Wave of Black Congressmen”- Eric Foner, The Nation

FLASHBlack >>>In the midst of the most vitriolic political theater seen in our lifetime, we are looking up from the bottom of the well in a fog of schizophrenic confusion, one thing is clear – establishment politics is not an option.

FLASHBlack >>> Donald Trump is now being positioned as abnormal, not representative. How is his politics and behavior different from most of the sitting Congress?

FLASHBlack >>> Just what is radical left Black politics and where does it live? Can we reconcile the progressive Black political witht he radical Black left?

FLASHBlack >>> Black supporters of Hillary, are they just looking for love in all the wrong places or simply without facts?

FLASHBlack >>> What after Bernie?
FLASHBlack >>> I’m telling on Y’all.

12  March  2016

STOP THE WAR ON OUR CHILDREN™ • MARCH 18, 2016
Ruby N. Sales, Founder/Executive Director, The Spirit House Project

LISTEN LIVE: http://bit.ly/1QUMKUg

STOP THE WAR ON OUR CHILDREN™ • MARCH 18, 2016
Join a delegation of 300 black women standing in a day of action for black children! Via Ruby Sales

In schools and in the street, very powerful people profile, bully, criminalize, manhandle, and murder our children! We have been too silent for too long, and our children have had to face these assaults without the power of a community along with them. We demand that the country see our children as investments, not thugs.

This must stop! We say Stop The War On Our Children™! We need you!

► Who: A Delegation of 300 BLACK WOMEN
► What: A Day of Action for BLACK CHILDREN
► When: March 18, 2016
► Where: Washington, D.C.
► What You Can Do: Become an Organizer and a Participant! Bring a delegation of ten women to D.C. to stand with us!
► Contact: Ruby Sales, SpiritHouse Project, at 404-228-7794 or info@spirithouseproject.org to become an Organizer, Endorser and/or Delegate.

Our Demands:

1. We demand an end to state-sanctioned murder of Black children.

2. We demand a national hearing on state-sanctioned violence by police of Black youth from early childhood to adulthood.

3. We demand a bill against state-sanctioned terrorism and murders by police.

4. We demand an end to the criminalization of Black youth in public schools and all of the public spaces that they inhabit.

5. We demand that federal and local governments use our tax dollars to turn schools into first-rate learning environments, rather than sites of terror as they exist now.

6. We demand that the federal government fund an oversight citizen’s committee to monitor state-sanctioned police violence and murder and whose members have a documented history of being advocates for quality education and civil rights for youth.

7. We demand that every child in America have access to water, which we believe is a necessity, rather than a privilege.

8. We demand after-school programs that encourage the creative arts so that our children can find productive ways to express dissent, as well as rise to their highest creative and expressive best.

27   February  2016

OPEN MIC SATURDAY NIGHT
LISTEN LIVE & Join us in our OPEN CHAT: http://bit.ly/1VJEjzs

Featured Commentary: Yvette Carnell of Breaking Brown; Pascal Robert, the Thought Merchant & Black Agenda Report ; Dr. Tommy J Curry, Texas A&M University

<> Janice’s AGENDA <>
2016 Presidential Election
The Candidates and the Campaigns
Supreme Court Nomination
Black Support Hilary v Bernie
Voter Registration and Suppression
MSNBC and the Whiteness of the News
What is your agenda ? See below for all topic references.

20  February  2016

“KNOCKING THE HUSTLE: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics

Dr. Lester Spence opens the conversation about how black politics and the black community have been affected by the market-driven logic of neo-liberalism.

He gives us an understanding of the modern origins of the uprisings in Ferguson and Baltimore against social injustice and inequality and the relative advantage of educated blacks who can accrue so-called human capital.

In “Knocking the Hustle: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics”, Lester K. Spenceo charts the effects of this transformation on African American communities, in an attempt to revitalize the black political imagination. Rather than asking Black men and women to “hustle harder” Spence criticizes the act of hustling itself as a tactic used to demobilize and disempower the communities most in need of empowerment.

Lester K. Spence is Associate Professor of political science and Africana studies at Johns Hopkins University. He specializes in the study of black, racial, and urban politics in the wake of the neoliberal turn. An award winning scholar (in 2013, he received the W.E.B. DuBois Distinguished Book Award for his book, “Stare in the Darkness: The Limits of Hip-hop and Black Politics”

13  February  2016

Last minute reformat in response to the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

“Scalia Dead @79”

“Bey and the Fishnet Revolution:
Giving the People What they Want”

” . . . because I cannot for the life of me understand how Beyonce’s commodified caricature of black opposition was in any way progressive. Instead what I saw was the cultural power of neoliberal capitalism to co-opt opposition, monetize it and provide some mindless entertainment all at the same time. I didn’t see opposition; I saw the imagery and symbols of authentic black radicalism grotesquely transformed into a de-politicized spectacle by gyrating, light-skinned booty-short-clad sisters.”   Read more
– Ajamu Baraka, an OUR COMMON GROUND Voice is a human rights activist, organizer and geo-political analyst. Baraka is an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in Washington, D.C. and editor and contributing columnist for the Black Agenda Report.

From every point on the music prism the music industry is attempting to combine activism and entertainment. Some of the issues raised are surely on the minds of the community. But does it really give the people what they want? Many say that the images of Black berets atop the heads of twerking black leathered dancers represent powerful messages of Black liberation and protest activism. They say that Bey slayed, and indeed she did. But slayed what ? Why is it that a SuperBowl 50 performance is the most representative event of Black struggle and protest in the land.

Really? Is that social justice?”

LISTEN LIVE HERE

30 January   2016

“Fixing OUR Politics: Bakerizing”

Black elected officials are failing us. Federal, state and local public policy either eliminates us or suffocates us. We must fix our politics. Join us in exploring this crisis. Educate, agitate and organize.We must ‘Bakerize’. Black citizens continue to suffer the absence of a strategic effective political infrastructure wherein education, organizing, caucus and activism can flourish to make a difference to eliminate a crushing disenfranchisement and political impotence.

In his last SOTU adress to the nation,President Barack Obama called the nation to an optimistic future and aggressive civic engagement. NOT. If his 7 years have taught us nothing, it has fully illuminated the failing nature of Black politics. Black citizens continue to suffer the absence of a strategic effective political infrastructure wherein education, organizing, caucus and activism can flourish to make a difference to eliminate a crushing disenfranchisement and political impotence. Black elected officials are failing us. Federal, state and local public policy either eliminates us or suffocates us.

We must fix our politics. Join us in exploring this crisis. Educate, agitate and organize.We must ‘Bakerize’.

23  January  2016

“Flint: Crimes Against Citizens”

The question of who knew what and when is rendered impotent. The Governor, Municipal Administrator, state health officials and the EPA. THEY ALL KNEW ONE YEAR AGO.

Genocide, eradication and elimination takes form in this country in many ways. Mass Incarceration, the militarization of law enforcement, public policy in education, citizen benefits in housing and food. Job discrimination and a broad system of creating a hostile and abusive environment. The consequences are total disenfranchisement, invisibility and death. How does a people survive it ? Who is criminally responsible ?

02  January  2016

“While We Slept: 1,126 Black Bodies in 2015”
Guest Co-Host, Dr. Ruby Sales, Founder and Director, The SpiritHouse Project

“All I wanted was someone to be held accountable,’ says Tamir Rice’s mother. ‘But this entire process was a charade.”

Did you sit it out until the justice system announced that there was a reasonable explanation to the murder of 12-year old Tamir Rice? Yeah, well most Black people did and now they are outraged.

Who is Accountable ? Did we sleep through 1,126 police killings before we decided that it was about us?

26  December  2015

30th ANNUAL OUR COMMON GROUND

KWANZAA TEACH-IN

Come celebrate the first day of Kwanzaa with serious study of the N’Guzo Saba with us.

HABARI GANI?
As an African American and Pan-African holiday celebrated by millions throughout the world African community, Kwanzaa brings a cultural message which speaks to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense. The symbolic nature of the holiday has a profound significance for African Americans and indeed, the world African community. it is imperative that an authoritative source and site be made available to give an accurate and expansive account of its origins, concepts, values, symbols and practice.

19  December  2015

Debt and Credit Scores:  Personal Economic Depression

Our Guest: Harrine E. Freeman

Can you imagine how your life would change if you had good credit? Or had a workable financial plan ?  Debt that overloads can cause financial distress and trauma. Life altering disaster which affects your children, partner or marriage.  Even your employment.

• Budgeting       
• Debt reduction   
• Credit repair
• Establishing business credit and financials   
• Financial literacy Group coaching
• Learn those things you can do, without expensive professional assistance.

Best-selling author of “How to Get out of Debt: Get An “A” Credit Rating for Free,” a self-help book that provides consumers with a step by step plan on how to get out of debt, increase their credit rating, track their spending and plan for the future.

She has helped thousands of people nationwide take action and improve their financial status. She is a financial expert, speaker, counselor, writer, CEO and owner of H.E. Freeman Enterprises. H.E. Freeman Enterprises is a financial services company that provides personal finance consulting services such as credit repair, debt reduction, budgeting, saving, planning for retirement and financial literacy education and training to help consumers improve their financial lives. She is the best-selling author of “How to Get out of Debt: Get An “A” Credit Rating for Free,” a self-help book that provides consumers with a step by step plan on how to get out of debt, increase their credit rating, track their spending and plan for the future. Harrine is a regularly featured financial expert in the media. She has made over 150 media appearances. She has been a guest on NPR, CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC, and TV One. She has been featured in many major publications including, Market Watch, Forbes, Newsday, MSN Money, NASDAQ, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Bankrate.com, Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, Woman’s Day magazine, and Shape Magazine. She has been a contributor to PBS Parents and GEMS Bahamas Radio Station. A renowned motivational and financial speaker, Harrine regularly presents seminars for and delivers keynote addresses to Fortune 500 companies, universities, sororities, nonprofit organizations and national conferences. She is a member of: Credit Professionals International, American Association of Daily Money Managers, American Association of Individual Investors, and National Speakers Association.

H.E. Freeman Enterprises has over ten years personal finance counseling experience and has helped thousands of customers increase their credit scores to purchase homes, investment property, start a business and more.

12  December  2015

“Terrorism and Revolt: Connecting the Dots”
A Conversation on Amerikka with Thought Merchant, Pascal Robert

07  November 2015

“Trusting Black Women: Building Sustainable Respect”

Loretta J. Ross

BLACK WOMEN and Accessibility to Choose
– Reproductive Scheduling
– Access to affordable and health care
– Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence
– The Right to say YES and NO

OUR GUEST:
Loretta J. Ross, Co-founder and the National Coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective from 2005-2012. She has been Creating a Voice for Reproductive and Black WoMENT JUSTICE over 30 years.

24  October  2015

“Demanding Justice and Dignity for OUR Children”
Our Guest: Zakiya Sankara-Jabar
Executive Director, Co-Founder, Co-Chair
Dignity in Schools Campaign
Racial Justice NOW !

Zakiya Sankara-Jabar is a Parent Organizer/Advocate and Director of Racial Justice NOW! Racial Justice NOW! (RJN!) is a community based organization led by Black parents organizing to lift up their voice and agency in the educational outcomes of their children.

17  October  2015

In Coversation with Yvette Carnell
POWER BLOGGER and THOUGHT-LEADER

Blogging politics, social, and cultural issues
BreakingBrown.com Breakingbrown.me
Editor, YourBlackWorld

Included in our discussion are the many urgent issues covered by http://www.breaking brown.com within our community, we will review three major events.
<> The exoneration of officers report on the assasination of a 12 year old Tamir Rice.
<> The status and impact of #BlackLivesMatter
<> The Justice or Else Rally marking the 20th Anniversary of the MMM

Yvette Carnell writes about politics, international and cultural issues for Your Black World and is the founder of BreakingBrown.

Before embarking on a career in new media, she served as a Congressional aide, first to Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and later to former Congressman Marion Berry (D-AR).

10  October  2015

In Conversation with Dr. Tommy J. Curry :: “A Quiet Danger: Brothers Invisible”

“Black men, in particular, have been treated as being disposable, no longer necessary to the economy or to building the country. We label them and their communities as irredeemable and hopelessly violent, . . . it becomes clear that men of all races who are chronically unemployed are more likely to be violent.”
Dr. Michele Alexander, “Black Lives Matter Report

Dr. Curry is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M University. He is a Ray A. Rothrock Fellow 13′-16′ in the Department of Philosophy.

03  October  2015

OPEN MIC SATURDAY NIGHT
Call In – Listen Line: 347-838-9852
Where Friends come to meet with allies.
Join us LIVE: http://bit.ly/1LnOitF

Tonight on OUR COMMON GROUND we open up our lines to hear from you for the full 2 hours. Give us a call and let’s discuss what you believe is the most pressing issues facing our communities. Each Saturday night, OUR COMMON GROUND is the spot to exchange ideas, analysis and information. Our mission is to provide the most insightful information, establish opportunities for informed dialogue, in trust and in truth.

I would like to ask you if you believe that our response to the shared post-slavery traumatic disorder in this generation is a form of borderline narcissistic personality disorder ? I have been thinking and talking about the incredible amount of denial and absence in this struggle of so many of our people over the last 25 years.

There is a section in Eve Delunas’s book “Games Personalities Play” that talks about one of the unconscious defense mechanisms related to the Narcissistic personalities called Amnesia. Amnesia was grouped under the title “masquerade to cope with stress.  I will share more tonight on this subject.

Feature Topics: Black TV ; Black Family and Adult Estrangement; Justice or Else Million March, October 10

26  September  2015

“Global White Supremacy: Baltimore to Palestine”
RESISTANCE and REBELLION Series
Dr. Ruby N. Sales, Co-Moderating
LISTEN LIVE and Join the OPEN Chat: http://bit.ly/1LS3Pfj
Call In – Listen Line: 347-838-9852

19   September  2015

“Getting the Whole Village to the Movement”

12  September  2015

The War Against Us

40 Years, $1 Trillion, 45 Million Arrests – the war still rages against our community.

IT WAS NEVER ABOUT DRUGS  – Every War Begins with Propaganda

05  September  2015

Session II 2015 Broadcast Season Opens

Featuring Ruby N. Sales, Co-Moderating

“The Flames of Liberation: Rebellion and Resistance”
Ruby N. Sales, Founder and Director, The Spirit House Project

We are pleased to have Ruby N. Sales join us tonight as we discuss with you about our response to a rising and troubling challenge to the agency of Black people as citizens in this country. As we come closer to the term end of the first African-American elected to the Presidency, violence and terrorism of all kinds have been unleashed upon us threatening to silence our mobilization and voice to protect ourselves, to resist and to rebel. A slogan alone will not be enough. How do we keep the flames of liberation burning to move forward in this continuing struggle ?

Welcome to Part II of the 2015 Season as we gather in earnest and with urgency on OUR COMMON GROUND.

Almost 130 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the legacy of slavery remains. It is embedded in and influences every aspect of social, economic and political life. Institutionalized racism is the combined economic, political, social, cultural, legal, ideological and other structures that exist to maintain the system of inequality. #RaceMatters

Institutionalized racism has economic, social, political, ideological and cultural forms, and denies equality, justice and dignity to all people of color. There are new problems because of the systemic nature of crisis. Our discussions should examine what adjustments must be made in these new efforts to eradicate our place in this society. We rebel and resist the effort to force us into the margins, to make us invisible and to remove us to prison for profit camps.

Our discussions must explore and examine how to elevate our voices in the fight against police brutality, housing discrimination, immigrant rights, and the dismantlement of public education to mention a few issues. At OUR COMMON GROUND provide “a place for our unfiltered voices”. With the brightest, most loyal and insightful Black activists, community organizers and servants, scholars, researchers, journalists and social scientists we raise, clarify and illuminate the racist dimension of these issues, show how their roots lie in the system of capitalism and its new stage of crisis.
LISTEN LIVE and Join the OPEN Chat: http://bit.ly/1L0ErUv
Call In – Listen Line: 347-838-9852

09  May  2015

OUR Afrikan Mothers: Stories of Fear, Pan and Victory
Saluting Mama on OUR COMMON GROUND
Mother’s Day Special

“Included in someone’s right to parent is the right “to parent a child without fear that he or she will be hurt or killed.” Black mothers have been stripped of this freedom because their motherhood is not fully recognized due to negative depictions that continue to linger.” – Briana Perry, ” For Harriet”

Special lines open for your memories and tribute.
LIVE and Call-In http://bit.ly/1FUMsMh
10 pm EDT
Saturday, May 9, 2015
CALL-IN: 347-838-9852

Bring your Mother to RADIO Night
( Really, the two of you are invited to call in and talk to each other)

African American Mothers face very unique challenges. There is fear and worry, but there is also VICTORY. Bring your Mom, Mother and Mama to radio on OUR COMMON GROUND. Remembering and recalling what make them special. Call in and tell us about your Mother. What makes her special, how you formed your adult relationship with her. Let’s remember the Mothers who have lost daughters and sons to terrorism in Amerikka who now fight a righteous struggle for justice.

Recalling the loss of her mother in the past year, playwright Lisa B. Thompson writes: “I am reminded through the daily about news of the sense of devastation and loss experienced by the black mothers who are facing this holiday with a narrative the places their experience outside the natural order.

02  May  2015

May 2, 2015

“Uprising: Resistance and Rebellion”

Tonight we look back at this week’s uprising in Baltimore MD and explore where we go from here. How do we prepare a generation of people for a new, more militarized war on Black people? How do we get our people to see, “we are the Gaza?” Looking at the Freddie Gray murder charges and the overall fracture and failure of the Amerikkan judicial and government systems.

ABOUT OUR GUESTS  Ajamu Baraka,Human Rights Leader and Contributor, Black Agenda Report

25  April  2015

In Conversation with Barbara R. Arnwine
President and Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Barbara Arnwine has served as the president and executive director of the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law since 1989. She is renowned for her instrumental contributions to passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the 2006 re-authorization of provisions of the Voting Rights Act.

18  April   2015

11  April  2015

In Conversation with Dr. Tommy J. Curry

“The Urgency of Thinking Black”

“The Negro, in the universities and colleges of Europe and America, has to do his thinking and his reading in…the white man’s language…Our environment makes us think white, and some of us think white so persistently that we haven’t the time to think Black. I urge upon you…to help, with voice and pen, to hasten the coming of the morning when Negroes all over this broad land will wake up to the importance of thinking Black.

John Edward Bruce—“The Importance of Thinking Black”—1917

Police Murder, Political Strangulation and the Reign of white Control

  Economic Exploitation and the Ethical Significance of Neglect, Pain and Suffering

 De-Radicalization of Racism and the Matter of white ManNess

28  March 2015

21  March  2015

Tribute to Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan
In Conversation with Dr. Wilmer Leon
HOST, “Inside the Issues with Dr. Wilmer Leon
Sirius/XM Radio

14  March  2015

07  March  2015

“The DOJ Report: Shallow Oversight, Vague Enforcement”

24  January  2015

 “The Gutting of the Fair Housing Act”
Discussion with James Perry,National Fair and Affordable Housing National Leader and

17  January  2015

  UPENDING WHITE SUPREMACY in the Spirit of Sankofa.

Our Guest, Liberation Expositor and Leader Rev. Dr. Ruby N. Sales to discuss upending white supremacy as a movement.

We open our 2015 Broadcast Season reviewing the notion of how we make real#BlackLivesMatters.

13  December  2014

“Claiming OUR Humanity”

Guest Co-Host, Dr. Raymond A. Winbush

Raymond A. Winbush is the Director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University in Baltimore Maryland.  He is the former Benjamin Hooks Professor of Social Justice at Fisk University and Director of the University’s Race Relations Institute.  He also served as Assistant Provost and Director of the Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt University.

In Conversation with Ajamu Baraka

Ajamu Baraka is a human rights defender whose experience spans three decades of domestic and international education and activism, Ajamu Baraka is a veteran grassroots organizer whose roots are in the Black Liberation Movement and anti-apartheid and Central American solidarity struggles.

Social Working Warriors, Deonna Hooper, socialworkerhelp.com

Social Work Helper is a progressive magazine providing news, information, and resources related to social issues, social good, and human rights. Founded in 2011 after I graduated from the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Social Work Helper was created as place for like minds to connect. However, it has morphed into its current form since its original inception.

06  December  2014

“White Rage UnHinged”
In Conversation with Tim J. Wise

Anti- Racism Activist & Author, “White Like Me”; “Speaking Treason Fluently”; “White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son’; Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority; “Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity

29  NOVEMBER  2014

“The Souls of Black Folks: The Ashes of Justice”
Guests:
Dr. Tommy J. Curry CRITICAL RACE THEORY
and AFRICANA STUDIES, Texas A&M University

Dr. James Lance Taylor, Past President of the National Conference
of Black Political Scientists; Author,“Black Nationalism in the United States: From Malcom X to Barak Obama “

ABOUT Dr. James Lance Taylor
CHAIR, PROFESSOR Urban Studies, University of San Francisco

Dr. James Lance Taylor is author of the book Black Nationalism in the United States: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama, which earned 2011 “Outstanding Academic Title” -Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries (January 2012). (Ranked top 3 percent of 25,000 books submitted and top 8 percent of 7,300 actually accepted for review by the American Library Association). He is the Immediate Past President of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS), an important organization of African American, African, and Afro Caribbean political scientists in the United States.

He is associate professor and Chair of the Department of Politics at the University of San Francisco. His undergraduate degree is from Pepperdine University and his graduate degrees were earned at the University of Southern California (USC). He has taught previously as a Visiting Associate Professor of political science at Saint Louis University in Madrid, Spain and political science and African American Studies at University of California, Berkeley.

He is co-editor and an author with Katherine Tate (UC Irvine) and Mark Sawyer UCLA Something’s in the Air: Race and the Legalization of Marijuana (Routledge, 2013), focusing on controversies concerning race and marijuana legalization. Taylor’s current research is for a book manuscript, Peoples Temple, Jim Jones, and Black America, which is a study of the Peoples Temple movement and African American political history. Two of his articles on the subject have appeared in recent editions of the Jonestown Report newsletter at San Diego State University. Two additional articles on the Post-Civil Rights era African-American Church and Civil Rights are in production at SUNY Press. He is currently writing a journal article, “A Black Theology of the ‘Souls’ of W.E.B. Du Bois’s Black Folk” in recognition of that book’s one-hundred and tenth anniversary (2013)

ABOUT Dr. TommyJ Curry
Dr. Tommy J. Curry is a professor of Philosophy and critical race theorist who engages in the study of Black people at Texas A&M University. His teaching, research and writing spans various fields of philosophy, jurisprudence, Africana Studies, and Gender Studies.

His work spans across the various fields of philosophy, jurisprudence, Africana Studies, and Gender Studies. Though trained in American and Continental philosophical traditions, Curry’s primary research interests are in Critical Race Theory and Africana Philosophy. In Critical Race Theory, Curry looks at the work of Derrick Bell and his theory of racial realism as an antidote to the proliferating discourses of racial idealism that continue to uncritically embrace liberalism through the appropriation of European thinkers as the basis of racial reconciliation in the United States. In Africana philosophy, Curry’s work turns an eye towards the conceptual genealogy (intellectual history) of African American thought from 1800 to the present, with particular attention towards the scholars of the American Negro Academy and the Negro Society for Historical Research.

15  NOVEMBER   2014

08  NOVEMBER   2014

 “The Soul of Black Folks” Series
November 8 -29, 2014

What Is The Soul Of Black Folk?
DuBois wrote The Souls of Black Folk in 1903. His book offers an assessment of the progress of the African-American race, the obstacles to progress, and the possibilities for future progress as the nation entered the 20th century. It is considered a groundbreaking work in African-American literature. Some consider it to be an American classic.

In his book, DuBois proposes that the problem with the 20th century was the color-line. The phrase color line was a reference to the racial segregation that existed in the United States after the abolition of slavery. Some consider DuBois’ concepts of life behind the cover of race and double-consciousness to be the norm for African Americans in America. Double consciousness is considered a person caught between the self-conception of being American as well as a person of African descent, making it difficult to have a unified identity.

06  SEPTEMBER   2014

30 August  201423  August  2014

 

BLACK St. Louis: Then and Now” l A Native Son Reflects

Guest: Dr. Thabiti Lewis, Professor, Scholar and Author

Race and Gender Studies, AfAm Lit
Washington State University – Van Couver
Author, ” Ballers of the New School: Race and Sports in America”

Joining us tonight with Dr. Thabiti Lewis a native St. Louis

MO State Senator Jamilah Nasheed to discuss Ferguson and Beyond and the prosecution of Officer Darren Wilson; and James Clarke, Executive Director of Better Life Community Center serving Metro St. Louis youth, including Ferguson to look at ‘beyond Ferguson’.

“Ferguson Under Seige: Occupation in Amerikka”

Eye-Witness Perspectives from Ferguson

OUR Guests: 
Rev. Ruby N. Sales
Founder, SpiritHouse Project, social activist, scholar,public theologian, and educator.

Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou
Author, documentary filmmaker, public intellectual, organizer, pastor and theologian

16  August  2014

“Homeland Terrorism”

“We were prepared then, as we are now, to give our all in the interest of oppressed people.” – BPP

>> Boots on the Ground Reports
SpiritHouse Project, Susan K. Smith and Osagyefo Sekou

>> The Smearing of Dead Black Boys

>> Mental Illness in Police Departments

LIVE
#FERGUSON #THEFRONTLINE #FERGUSONREBELLION #Homelandterrorism

Four Unarmed Black Men Have Been Killed By Police in the Last Month, From New York City and LA to Ohio and Ferguson, MO, they all died under disputed circumstances.

THE VANGUARD
The Black Panther Party

“We knew, as a revolutionary vanguard, repression would be the reaction of our oppressors, but we recognized that the task of the revolutionist is difficult and his life is short. We were prepared then, as we are now, to give our all in the interest of oppressed people. We expected the repression to come from outside forces which have long held our communities in subjection. However, the ideology of dialectical materialism helped us to understand that the contradictions surrounding the Party would create a force that would move us toward our goals. We also expected contradictions within the Party, for the oppressors use infiltrators and provocateurs to help them reach their evil ends. Even when the contradictions come from formerly loyal members of the Party, we see them as part of the process of development rather than in the negative terms the oppressors’ media use to interpret them. Above all, we knew that through it all the Party would survive.”

Where does our outrage meet the challenge of change ?

OUR COMMON GROUND with Janice Graham

URBAN PROGRESSIVE independent talk radio

LISTEN LIVE and Join the OPEN Chat: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/OCG
Call In – Listen Line: 347-838-9852

05  July 2014    2014 Session Two: OUR COMMON GROUND

“Confronting the New Amerikkan Empire”

In Conversation with Cynthia McKinney

Join us here: http://bit.ly/1sSZxR7

We are honored to have as our guest, Cynthia McKinney former U. S. Congresswoman, international human rights activist and former Presidential candidate, to discuss domestic and foreign policy in the new Amerikkan Empire.

Our two-hour live program will span a discussion of topics which include the American relationship and funding of the State of Israel and its impact on the Palestinian people; the increased surveillance of Americans domestically; the increasing militarization of law enforcement in this country; the American destabilization of the Middle East; the resurgence of open and affirmed white supremacy in the US homeland; the education of Black children; the military, prison and health industrial complex and the reparations for descendants of the American chattel slavery system. We will of course, take calls from our listeners.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Former U. S. Congresswoman, international human rights activist and former Presidential candidate, Cynthia McKinney will open the 2014 2nd Session of OUR COMMON GROUND on July 5, 2014. Cynthia McKinney served twelve years as a Member of the United States Congress House of Representatives. She was elected six times by the people of the State of Georgia.

As a Member of Congress, Cynthia challenged then-Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to tell the truth about his failures as an important leader in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She challenged the Africa Policies of both George W. Bush’s Secretary of State Colin Powell as well as Bill Clinton’s Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Her political career shows her as a tireless defender of her constituents in Georgia as well as all American poor, the middle class, farmers, students, and veterans.

Cynthia authored the legislation that authorized the disparity study that found that Black farmers in the United States had suffered intentional and willful discrimination for generations. Cynthia continues to work with the farmers as they seek delayed justice. Cynthia continues to contribute to the scholarship on important issues in her work researching COINTELPRO against the American Indian Movement, the Black Panther Party, and the Puerto Rican Independence Movement. Cynthia believes that while COINTELPRO might have ended, U.S. government surveillance on its own people did not. Her thoughts have been vindicated by recent revelations by Eric Snowden of National Security Agency wiretapping practices.

Ms McKinney has become an internationally renowned human rights activist, serving with distinction as a juror on the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Palestine and of working with: Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s Perdana Global Peace Foundation; the Brussels Tribunal on Iraq, and a successful effort in Spain to indict and hold accountable soldiers of the Rwandan Patriotic Army who committed genocide against Congolese citizens inside Democratic Republic of Congo. As a result of her activism around Israel/Palestine issues she served 7 days in an Israeli prison for attempting to deliver school supplies to Gaza’s children in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead.

Cynthia has written an autobiography, “Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom” (http://claritypress.com/McKinneyII.html ) and she maintains a Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinneyOfficial). Visit her official website All Things Cynthia (http://www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com/).

As a liberation leader she has demonstrated throughout her political and advocacy career a willingness to step into the line of fire in order to pursue justice for oppressed people.
We have long admired her courage and respected her work and achievements at OUR COMMON GROUND. We will be honored and pleased to have her with us.

10 May 2014

Nigeria’s Kidnapped Girls ⊕ Mid-Term Elections  ⊕  Supreme Court  ⊕ Net Neutrality

03 May  2014

Challenging the School to Prison Pipeline at the Local Level
Activist Organizing with Dr. Byron E. Price

26  April  2014

Author, Activist Educator
Agyei Tyehimba
“Truth for Our Youth
A Self-Empowerment Book for Teens”

05 April  2014

Witness From the Bridge
Dr. Joyce A. Ladner
Sociologist – Academic and Education Leader
Civil Rights Pioneer Activist

29  March  2014

 Anti-Violence Educator/Activist Carmen del Rosario
Founder, Roots of Transformation

March 22, 2014

BlueBlack – Red-Bone – Yallah : Colorism and the Black Community”

Colorism, is a form of prejudice or discrimination in which human beings are treated differently based on the social meanings attached to skin color

March 15, 2014

“Ballers of the New School: Race and Sports in America”
Author and Professor, Dr. Thabiti Lewis

March 08, 2014

“The Death of American Radio: Opportunity for Progressive Empowerment”

Guest: Norman Goldman
American attorney and liberal talk radio host.
Host, The NorMAN GoldMAN Show

March 01,2014

The Annual OUR COMMON GROUND
Black History Games

Challenge Your Black History Intelligence

20 Questions – 10 Points Each
Call In to pick up Bonus Questions
Call In WITH a BONUS QUESTION

February 22, 2014

Dr. Francis Rodgers-Rose, PhD
CEO and Founder
The International Black Women’s Congress

February 15, 2014

2014 Annual OUR COMMON GROUND BLACK HISTORY GAMES

February 8, 2014

“The Book of Jeremiah
The Life and Ministry of Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.”
Our Guest, Rev. Dr. Susan K. Williams Smith
Author and Gordon Cosby Seasoned Fellow at the Spirit House Project (ATL)

February 1, 2014

Queen Quet Marquetta L. Goodwine

Chieftess and Head-of-State for the Gullah/Geechee Nation

January 25, 2014

The Case of IRP6 
Saturday, January 25, 2014 LIVE
Free the IRP6

January 18, 2014

“Wilmington On Fire”, A Full-length Documentary
OUR GUEST: Filmmaker, Christopher Everett
and Larry Reni Thomas 

Unveiling the Secret of A White Supremacy Terrorist attack Against A Black Township In NC
This event was the spring board for the white supremacy movement and Jim Crow (segregation) throughout the state of North Carolina, and the American South.

January 11, 2014

OUR COMMON GROUND OPENS 2014 SEASON

“BLACK AMERICA: A STATE OF EMERGENCY”
29th BROADCAST YEAR
‘EMPOWERING BLACK AMERICA TO ACHIEVE ITSELF’

“THE ECONOMICS OF PRIVATIZATION OF AMERICA’S PRISON SYSTEM”
Saturday, January 11, 2013      LIVE    10 pm ET

We begin the 2014 Season examining the prison industrial complex, the implications of the merchandising of prisoners, the school to prison pipeline and the economics of the privatization of America’s prisons.

We invite you to join us and be part of the response to THE STATE OF EMERGENCY.

To help us frame our priorities for the 2014 year we begin by examining the American prison industrial complex. We will examine the school-to-prison strategies of prison privatization and the merchandising of prisoners in America. To inform our thinking on these issues, our guest is expert, author and scholar Dr. Byron E. Price, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Business and professor of public administration at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York in Brooklyn, New York, and and co-editor of “Prison Privatization: The Many Facets of a Controversial Industry” and author of “Merchandising Prisoners: Who Really Pays for Prison Privatization?”

Byron E. Price, Ph.D. is the former Dean of the School of Business and a professor of public administration at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York in Brooklyn, NY. He formerly served as an associate professor of political science in the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University (TSU) in Houston, Texas. Dr. Price spent five years at Rutgers University-Newark at the School of Public Affairs and Administration where he served as an assistant professor and director of the MPA and Executive MPA Programs as well as a number of other leadership positions including serving as the Associate Director of the National Center for Public Performance and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Management and Social Policy. A leading scholar in the field of prison privatization, he is the author of the book, Merchandizing Prisoners: Who Really Pays for Prison Privatization published by Praeger Publishers in March 2006 and the coedited 3-volume set entitled “Prison Privatization: A Controversial Industry” by Praeger Publishers, September 2012.

Price is a product of the Lemoyne Gardens Housing Project in Memphis, TN, a housing projects profiled on the History Channel’s Gangland series. Through hard work, steadfast support from family and friends, Price has proven that education lifts all sails.

He received his BS and MPA from Texas Southern University, an MBA from Oklahoma City University and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Mississippi State University. Learn more about the research and work of Dr. Price by visiting his website at http://www.byroneugeneprice.com/.

ABOUT THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

THE SCHOOL-TO-PRISON PIPELINE STRATEGY A 2007 study by the Advancement Project and the Power U Center for Social Change says that for every 100 students who were suspended, 15 were Black, 7.9 were American Indian, 6.8 were Latino and 4.8 were white. The same study reports that the U.S. spends almost $70 billion annually on incarceration, probation and parole. This number lends itself to a 127% funding increase for incarceration between 1987-2007. Compare that to a 21% increase in funding for higher education in the same 20-year span. Local police have a presence in almost every American mid and high school in America where the student demographic is above 30% Black.

THE MERCHANDISING OF PRISONERS Perhaps more than with other service industries in this country, the privatization of prisons has become a growth industry. Yet, prison privatization continues to be one of the most controversial issues in public policy. Although sold to the public as a cost-saving measure, the privatization of prisons has not only led to significant changes in policy making and the management of prisons, but has also generated widespread concern that incarceration has become a profit-making industry. That, in turn, strengthens calls for policies on mandatory-minimum sentencing that keep the prison industry growing. After all, in order to be successful business enterprises, prisons will need occupants.

THE PRIVATIZATION OF PRISONS The U.S. incarcerates 25 percent of the world’s prison population – 2.2 million inmates in June 2005, 500,000 more than the People’s Republic of China, which has five times our population – it would appear that the rapidly growing for-profit prison industry has found an extremely fertile niche. That three leading for-profit prison companies – Corp. of America (CCA), Geo Group and Cornell Companies – have gone public and performed well in the markets is a testament to their growth potential.

December 21, 2013

28th Annual
OUR COMMON GROUND Kwanzaa Teach-In and Celebration

Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday celebrated by millions throughout the world African community, Kwanzaa brings a cultural message which speaks to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense.

2014 Theme   “KWANZAA, US AND THE WELL-BEING OF THE WORLD: A COURAGEOUS QUESTIONING”

December 14, 2013

IN CONVERSATION with Efia Nwangaza

HUMAN RIGHTS – COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT – MEDIA
                             Activist and Leader

ABOUT EFIA NWANGANZA

Efia Nwangaza is a lifelong civil/human rights activist and freedom fighter who first worked for the liberation of African/Black people as a child in her Garveyite parents’ apostolic faith church, in her birth place of Norfolk, Virginia.

December 7, 2013

Honoring the Life of President Nelson Mandela – Tata Madiba  xoˈliːɬaɬa manˈdeːla

Spear of the Nation  Nelson Mandela:    The Authentic Era of South African Revolution

Guest, Dr. Tommy J. Curry, Associate Professor of Philosophy and African American Studies, Texas A&M University

Tata Madiba.
Nelson Mandela is dead and we should never forget his revolutionary leadership. We remember why he was imprisoned and how.
Madiba was a rare and fierec revolutionary leader. Tonight we talk about his leadership of Spear of A Nation.

Nelson Mandela, the former political prisoner who became the first president of a post-apartheid South Africa and whose heroic life and towering moral stature made him one of history’s most influential statesmen, died Thursday, the government announced. He was 95.

The death was announced in a televised address by South African President Jacob Zuma, who noted, “We’ve lost our greatest son.” No cause was provided.

Nelson Mandela, also known as Madiba, led the struggle to replace South Africa’s apartheid regime with a multi-racial democracy.

To a country torn apart by racial divisions, Mr. Mandela became its most potent symbol of national unity, using the power of forgiveness and reconciliation to heal deep-rooted wounds and usher in an era of peace after decades of conflict between blacks and whites. To a continent rife with leaders who cling to power for life, Mr. Mandela became a role model for democracy, stepping down from the presidency after one term and holding out the promise of a new Africa.

Madiba was a revolutionary leader. Tonight we talk about his leadership of Spear of A Nation.

November 30, 2013

We will see you on December 7, 2013.

November 23, 2013

November 16, 2013

November 9, 2013

November 2, 2013

Dr. David Ikard, FSU Professor of African-American Literature and Author

His latest published book,“Blinded by the Whites: Why Race Still Matters in the 21st Century” . 

Blinded by the Whites: Why Race Still Matters in the 21st Century considers whether a non-hierarchical strategy of empowerment is even feasible in the twenty-first century given the surge of socioeconomic incentives for African Americans to accommodate the status quo. From a cultural standpoint, it investigates the nuanced ways in which African American writers and artists across various creative media have negotiated this dilemma of incentives over time, paying close attention to “unorthodox” patterns of resistance that typically fall off the radar of intellectual consideration.

October 26, 2013

“In Conversation with George E. Curry”

George Curryis editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service. The former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine, Curry also writes a weekly syndicated column for NNPA, a federation of more than 200 African American newspapers.

October 19, 2013

“What is the Proper Reaction to Racism ?”

OUR Guest: POWER BLOGGER
Yvette Carnell,Editor, BreakingBrown.com

October 12, 2013    LIVE

 OUR COMMON GROUND with Janice Graham

Our Guest: Author, Researcher, Dr. Jeffrey B. Perry

Co-Author: “The Radicalization of Ray Richardson: Suspicion Still Surrounds Death of Black Activist TV Producer”

Must Read

“He was responsible to black people… so they had to get rid of him.”

In January, 1971, the young producer of Boston public television’s groundbreaking program Say Brother, was found dead in a Mexican resort, along with his fiancé. Ray Richardson was the grandson of Harlem’s radical Hubert Harrison.

The Story of Ray Richardson, Black public discourse pioneer and how “SAY Brother”, a TV show shaped contemporary Black media.

“Say Brother first aired on July 18, 1968,”  . . . it “helped set a standard of excellence for black television shows, with the issues it brought to the public, the artists it featured, and the education it provided for the white community.” It was “the era of Black Power, Black Pride, and the thrust for political power — an era when hairstyles and modes of dress proclaimed ‘Black is Beautiful’ and even the show’s title sent a message.” – “Say Brother’ was a commonplace greeting in those days. It was a signal, a sign of recognition that blacks were connected to one another emotionally and by common experience.” Ray Richardson was its founder, defender and producer.”

“. . . Ray Richardson’s death ( January, 1971 reported as drowning with girl friend in Acapulco, Mexico while vacationing) came in the period that included the December 4, 1969, murder of Black Panther activists Fred Hampton and Mark Clark by Chicago police; the 1970 CIA-involvement in the kidnapping (and subsequent death) of a Chilean general, Rene Schneider; the March 11, 1971, death in Nigeria of National Urban League Executive Director Whitney Young (by drowning according to a U.S. coroner, by brain hemorrhage according to a Lagos coroner) after he came out against the Vietnam War; the August 21, 1971,murder by prison guards of Black Panther George Jackson; and the September 11, 1973, death of Salvatore Allende during the CIA-driven coup in which armed forces and police overthrew the socialist government in Chile. It was also a period in which COINTELPRO, the FBI’s counterintelligence program, targeted Black radicals and activists and the Black Panther Party; the National Security Agency and its Minaret Program monitored and targeted Black and anti-war activists (particularly while abroad); and the Nixon administration sought to control Public Television and support its aims through its funding policies and removal of personnel it perceived as hostile.”

“. . . A great deal was also at stake regarding Black programming in the WGBH vs. Say Brother struggle. Charles Richardson points out that “WGBH was the flagship of the PBS network” and that, as he “understood it from Ray, it’s activities were “run out of the paranoid Nixon White House.” In addition, “the FBI under Hoover was monitoring all things Black.” In this way “Black public affairs shows, ostensibly introduced to feed the community’s appetite for information and news about local community goings on, were also the government’s way of monitoring thought, and, by the placement of their own operatives in positions of power and control (as directors/producers) they had the means to control thought by controlling the programming.” Neither Nixon, nor Hoover, nor WGBH management and its most powerful supporters wanted a show that truly gave voice to the Black community, particularly a show that included Black radical criticism of societal conditions.”

Excerpts from “The Radicalization of Ray Richardson: Suspicion Still Surrounds Death of Black Activist TV Producer”

“The Radicalization of Ray Richardson: Suspicion Still Surrounds Death of Black Activist TV Producer”

 Published in “The Black Agenda Report”     October 8, 2013

Read the full article here: http://bit.ly/1amm76U

by Jeffrey B. Perry and Charles V. Richardson In January, 1971, the young producer of Boston public television’s groundbreaking program Say Brother, was found dead in a Mexican resort, along with his fiancé. Ray Richardson was the grandson of Harlem radical Hubert Harrison.

Jeffrey B. Perry is an independent working class scholar whose work focuses on the role of white supremacy as a retardant to progressive social change and on centrality of struggle against white supremacy to progressive social change efforts. He is the editor of A Hubert Harrison Reader (Wesleyan University Press, 2001) and author of Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918 (Columbia University Press, 2008). Most recently he wrote the introduction and back matter for the new expanded edition of Theodore W. Allen’s “classic” The Invention of the White Race (2 vols. 1994, 1997; Verso Books, 2012).

Charles V. Richardson is the brother or Ray Richardson and grandson and heir of Hubert Harrison. For many years he helped to oversee, and then to place, the Hubert H. Harrison Papers at Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library. He works in the media field.

  

        

OUR COMMON GROUND with Janice Graham

 email: OCGinfo@ourcommonground.com

LISTEN LIVE and Join the OPEN Chat:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/OCG

Community Forum:http://www.ourcommonground-talk.ning.com/

Twitter: @JaniceOCG  #TalkthatMatters

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October 5, 2013

OPEN MIC NIGHT

September 28, 2013

“Sexual Assault and Mental Health In the Military: Black Pain Invisible”

September 21, 2013            10 pm ET

Black Liberation, Civil Rights and Social Justice

A Conversation with Dr. Tommy J. Curry

June 11th and 13th, 2013            10pm ET

“The Quality of Justice for Trayvon Martin:

Deconstructing the  Zimmerman Trial  Week   1″

June 8, 2013       10 pm ET

 13  April 2013

“45 Years Later: The Fair Housing Act” with James Perry

06 April  2013

Guest, Dr. Wilmer Leon, Host, “Inside the Issues with Wilmer Leon”, Urban View- Sirius Radio

Dr. Leon can be heard at 11 am ET on Sirius Radio

30  March  2013

“Living Legendz” Documentary, Filmmaker, Nicholle La Vann

23  March  2013

 “Witnesses On the Bridge – Lessons Learned”

Ruby Sales, Director, The Spirit House Project

09 and 16 and 23  March  2013

 “Witnesses On the Bridge – Lessons Learned”

March 9, 2013

Rebroadcast, OH Senator, Nina Turner

 

March 16, 2013

Rebroadcast, Barbara Arnwine, Lawyers’ Committee for CRUL

 

02  March  2013

 “Witnesses On the Bridge – Lessons Learned” 

Florence L. Tate, Activist and ” FBI’s Most Wanted Press Secretary”

23  February 2013

“Restorative Justice, Slavery, and the American Soul . . . The Question of Reparations”

OUR Guest: Michael Blevins

Author, Professor, Change and Justice Leader/Activist  and Founding Executive Director,

NE Iowa Peace & Justice Center

16 February 2013

The Ashes of A Manifesto:  The LAPD and the Deaths of Christopher Dorner and His Victims

Open Mic

02  February 2013

Guest: Playthell BenjaminPublisher, “Commentaries on the Times”

22  December 2012

Annual OCG Kwanzaa Teach-In

15  December 2012

“Building Healthy Communities:Changing the POWER SCHEMES”

MAKANI THEMBA
Executive Director, The Praxis Project

08  December  2012

“Black America Slipping Into Darkness: Black Mental Illness and Black Madness”

Dr.. Patricia Newton, M.D., MPH, M.A., (Nana Dr. Akousa Akyaa) is presently President & Medical Director of Newton & Associates,PA, specialists in Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine. She is board certified in Psychiatry & Neurology with sub-specialty boards in Administrative Psychiatry

01 December  2012

“Black America Over the Cliff:
Hunger, Mental Illness and Homelessness on America’s Political Agenda”

17 November 2012

OPEN MIC Saturday Night
“The Privilege of Numbers: LATINO RECOUNT”

10 November 2012

Political and Race Commentator and Analyst
Chauncey DeVega
A Sometimes Respectable Negro

Read “We Are Respectable Negroes”

03  November  2012

“Seeking the Secret of Black Consciousness”
Our Guests: Neuroscience Researcher and Pioneer, Professor Hunter Adams 
Psychiatrist and Consciousness Researcher, Author Dr. Richard King

27 OCTOBER  2012

“The Political Landscape of Black Florida”
Our Guest :  Lia T. Gaines

20 OCTOBER  2012
“REPARATIONS AND RECOGNITION”
Beyond Obama and Romney Please

13 OCTOBER  2012

OPEN MIC SATURDAY NIGHT
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Dick Gregory
The Proliferation of Stop and Frisk: Distrust and Ineffectiveness

06 OCTOBER 2012
OPEN MIC SATURDAY NIGHT
ALFO of The ALFO Show, Co Hosting
The Presidential Debate 01

29 SEPTEMBER 2012
OPEN MIC SATURDAY NIGHT
Building a Public Discourse Agenda

22 SEPTEMBER 2012
OH STATE SENATOR NINA TURNER

09 SEPTEMBER 2012
“Educating Our Children: Culturally Appropriate Classrooms”
Dr. Christopher Emdin

18 SEPTEMBER 2012
Report on visit with Mumia Abu Jamal 
Dr. Raymond Winbush

11 SEPTEMBER 2012
State Terrorism Against the People and Our Children”
Kali Akuno-Kali Akuno, co-author of
“Every 36 Hours: Report on the Extrajudicial Killing of 120 Black People”

28 AUGUST 2012
Corruption at the EEOC; Select Protection for African Americans
Ricardo Jones, fromer EEOC Investigator and Whistlblower

21 AUGUST 2012
OPEN MIC SATURDAY NIGHT
The Aurora Terrorist Attack 
Justice for Trayvon Martin

14 JuLY 2012
Rev. Dr. Matthew V. Johnson, Scholar, Pastor and Author
“The Tragic Vision of African American Religion”
“Black Church on Fire” PART II
07 July 2012
Atty. Efia Nganwanza
Founder and Executive Director of the Afrikan-American Institute for Policy Studies and Planning and founding member and SC Coordinator for the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement for Self-Determination

30 June 2012
Suzanne Brooks, Author, Activist
“The Constructive Extermination of Women of Color”

23 June 2012
Rev. Dr. Matthew V. Johnson, Scholar, Pastor and Author
“The Tragic Vision of African American Religion”
“Black Church on Fire

26 May 2012
Ellen Brown, President of The Public Banking Institute, Author,
“Web of Debt”

19 May 2012
“Modern Day Enslavement of African Americans” The Trap in the Era of Obama”

11 May 2012
Exclusive Interview from Jail, Marissa Alexander

28 April 2012
“The Case of Marissa Alexander: Standing Her Ground”
Advocates, Lincoln Alexander

24 March 2012
Joanne Griffith, Broadcast Journalist, Author
“Redefining Black Power”

14 May 2011 10 pm ET
Dr. Vijay Prashad
“The Gobal America: Can we build an alternative future, grounded in an anti-imperial vision ?

06 November 2010 10 pm ET
“ARE WE STILL BLACK in America? “
Oscar Grant’s Killer’s Justice
Beat Down Obama: Taking It with the President

30 October 2010 10 pm ET
“Saturday Night OPEN MIC”
” Have we forgotten Change we can belive in ?”

23 October 2010 10 pm ET
“Saturday Night OPEN MIC”
“The Black Face of HIV/AIDS; Juan Williams Firing; Hello Anita, This is Ginny Thomas”

16 October 2010 10pm ET
“Saturday Night OPEN MIC”
Open mic and 15th Anniversary of the Million Man March

                   Program Details

08  December  2012

“Black America Slipping Into Darkness: Black Mental Illness and Black Madness”

Dr.. Patricia Newton, M.D., MPH, M.A., (Nana Dr. Akousa Akyaa) is presently President & Medical Director of Newton & Associates,PA, specialists in Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine. She is board certified in Psychiatry & Neurology with sub-specialty boards in Administrative Psychiatry

17 November 2012

OPEN MIC Saturday Night
“The Privilege of Numbers: LATINO RECOUNT”

10 November 2012

Political and Race Commentator and Analyst
Chauncey DeVega
A Sometimes Respectable Negro

03 November  2012

“Seeking the Secret of Black Consciousness”
Our Guests: Neuroscience Researcher and Pioneer, Professor Hunter Adams
Psychiatrist and Consciousness Researcher, Author Dr. Richard King

21 AUGUST 2012

July 14, 2012

Matthew V. Johnson, Sr., is a graduate of Morehouse College and earned his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Philosophical Theology from the University of Chicago. He has done post-graduate studies in Psychoanalysis and is currently a member in training at the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. In the ministry for thirty years, Dr. Johnson is the Pastor of Church of the Good Shepherd-Baptist and served as the National Executive Director of Every Church A Peace Church. Dr. Johnson lives, writes, teaches, and practices ministry in the Greater Atlanta area.

July 7, 2012

Efia Nwangaza is the founder and Executive Director of the Afrikan-American Institute for Policy Studies and Planning and founding member and SC Coordinator for the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement for Self-Determination.  She is the founder/coordinator of the WMXP-LP community based radio, and a board member of Pacifica National Foundation, the nations oldest progressive radio network.

26  MAY  2012

Ellen H. Brown

Attorney; President of The Public Banking Institute; Author

“Web of Debt”

19  MAY  20012   10 PM EDT

A Talk with Law Professor Vernellia R. Randall

The era of Obama has put us in a “TRAP”.

 May 11, 2012    2 pm EDT

OUR COMMON GROUND SPECIAL

www.blogtalkradio.com/OCG

Exclusive Interview from Duval County jail with Marissa Alexander on the day of her sentencing to 20 yrs in prison for “Standing Her Ground”.

Sign the Petition for Justice for Marissa

29  October  2011

28  October  2011  Friday special

22  October  2011

 OPEN MIC

15  OCTOBER  2011

08  OCTOBER  2011

01  OCTOBER   2011

13 August 2011

08 August 2011

6 August 2011

9 July 2011

Dr. Jared Ball, Morgan State University, Department of Media & Communications

  

OUR COMMON GROUND SPECIAL

Monday, July 18  10 pm ET 

Kemba Smith, Advocate and Author

“Poster Child:  The Kemba Smith Story”

   JULY  8   OUR COMMON GROUND SPECIAL

July 2, 2011

“The Politics of Debt and Credit: The Profits of Your Score”

Rodney Anderson, author, “Credit 911: Secrets and Strategies for Saving Your Financial Life

 

June 25, 2011

” Black Studies and Black Politics”

Rhone Fraser and Lauren Burke

Rhone Fraser, Author, Scholar and Playwright

Lauren Burke, Crew of 42

Celebrate  Juneteenth

Happy Juneteenth

June 18, 2011

“Inside the Issues with Dr. Leon”

XM/Sirius satellite radio        

169 “The Power” 

Dr.  Wilmer Leon, PhD

Political Analyst and Talk Radio Host

14  May  2011

Dr. Vijay Prashad

Vijay Prashad is George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. He is the author of eleven books, most recently The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World (2007). Two of his books, Karma of Brown Folk (2000) and Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting (2002), were chosen by the Village Voice as books of the year.[citation needed] The Darker Nations was chosen as the Best Nonfiction book by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in 2008 and it won the Muzaffar Ahmed Book Award in 2009.

His pieces of journalism frequently appear in South Asian periodicals (his monthly column “Letter from America” in Frontline magazine, his book reviews in the Kathmandu based Himal, for which he is a contributing editor), in North American periodicals (Z Magazine, ColorLines Magazine, The Indian American) or else on the web (regularly at CounterPunch and ZNET). He is a contributing editor at the online magazine Naked Punch and a member of the editorial boards of the scholarly journals Amerasia Journal and Left History.

06 November 2010    

ARE WE STILL BLACK IN AMERICA

  

  A COP KILLS OSCAR GRANT IN COLD BLOOD:  A JUDGE DENIES JUSTICE IN THE KILLING

WHAT IS NEW ABOUT THE VALUE OF BLACK LIFE in AMERICAN JURISPRUDENCE ?

NEWS REPORT:  January 1, 2009

A Los Angeles jury convicted Mehserle of involuntary manslaughter with a gun enhancement charge this summer, and the former officer now faces up to 14 years in prison.

NEWS REPORT: A Los Angeles jury convicted Mehserle of involuntary manslaughter with a gun enhancement charge this summer, and the former officer now faces up to 14 years in prison.

 NEWS REPORT:  November 5, 2010  4:46 pm ET

Judge Robert Perry handed Mehserle a minimum two-year prison sentence. Mehserle has already served 146 days in jail.

NOT NEWS: 

A Black person can be gunned down in cold blood by a policeman and get away with it.

Perhaps we have forgotten how to be Black in America

A BROTHER’S BEAT DOWN: A MESSAGE TO BLACK AMERICA

It is just not ALL ABOUT HIM.       IT IS ABOUT US AS WELL.

President Barack Obama, the first African-American President since Reconstruction, has been the victim of brutal attacks since he took office.  This onslaught of white supremacy and racial hatred has not only rendered him confused and ineffectual, all Black people are the targets as well.  They can’t deport us, so they despise and dismiss us and slash and dash at our greatest aspirations.  How do WE get our groove back ?

30 October 2010

 

 

 

 

Do We Still Believe in Change WE can believe in ?

Have we forgotten Change ?

23  October  2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HIV/AIDS in Black Face: Prisons, Programs and Secrets

African-Americans make up 50 percent of al new infections, HIV/AIDS is increasingly becoming a “Black disease”.
It is the health crisis that Black America has yet to fully comprehend and come to grips with. Festering beneath a shroud of secrecy and facilitated by a complex web of lies, shame and misinformation, it is an epidemic that is placing whole communities in jeopardy.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last it is expanding its Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative to increase prevention efforts in the African-American, Latino, gay and bisexual communities, which are hardest hit by HIV/AIDS.

 
Is it the right strategy for our community ?
American corrections community in many ways tolerate and regard rape and homosexual sex in prisons as a control feature.

To what degree does this contribute to the fact that HIV/AIDS is the highest cause of deaths among Black women 21 -25 years ? And that Black women are the highest population of new infection ?

Is unprotected sex among African Americans a new cry of despair ?

 

OUR COMMON GROUND THIS WEEK . . .
TALK THAT MATTERS

 

 16  October 2010   

Saturday Night, Open Mic   

Listen Live and Call In

 

SATURDAY NIGHT OPEN MIC with Co-Host, ALFO

Current events in and about African American communities; issues and personalities.  It’s your call.