AUGUST 22-28, 2022Issue # 536 www.mshale.com THE AFRICAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER IN MINNESOTA PRIMARY RACES, AFRICAN IMMIGRANT CANDIDATES ADVANCE TO GENERAL ELECTION IN KEY RACESBYTOMGITAA & PANASHE MATEMBA-MUTASA PAGE 5 GITAATOM&NYAKUNDIJERUSABYPHOTOSSTAFFMSHALEPHOTOs: State Senate history about to be made
Hajimumin said it had been an honor to have the opportunity to serve immigrants and refugees, and that she would be cheering on the continuation of ONA’s efforts into the future.
In the last decade, Minnesota has added 81,400 new immigrants into the workforce, according to DEED.
Photo: Tom Gitaa/Mshale
Immigrants in Minnesota make up 10% of the population, according to the American Immigration Council. The top country of origin for newcomers in the state is Mexico, with 12% of the total immigrant population hailing from there, followed by Somalia (8%), India (6%), Laos (5%), and Ethiopia (5%). More than one in ten workers in Minnesota is an immigrant, a figure comprising a significant portion of the state’s labor force. The top industries for immigrants in Minnesota are healthcare and social assistance, manufacturing, retail trade, educational services, and accommodation and food services. During the last legislative session, DEED secured state funding to extend the ONA beyond the grant funding, which concludes in July 2023. Most recently, the ONA has been heavily focused in helping Afghan refugees to transition smoothly into life in Minnesota and find opportunities for their families. Over the past two years the ONA has extended its reach to launch programs such as the Internationally-trained Health Care Workers, which helps them land stronger roles in Minnesota’s health care sector. Mohamed will begin his new role Sept. 1 and will serve through the end of Gov. Tim Walz’s first term.
“Immigrants and refugees have long been a source of strength for Minnesota, both culturally and economically,” she said. “We are blessed with many immigrant communities in our state –and know they face unique challenges navigating new lives in Minnesota.
DEED Commissioner Steve Grove thanked Hajimumin for “her extraordinary efforts to serve immigrants and refugees, particularly through “the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic,” adding that her legacy would be safe in Mohamed’s hands.
- The African Community Newspaper www.mshale.com August 22-28, 2022 Issue 5362Mshale Abdiwahab Mohamed appointed temporary assistant commissioner SCHOOL Transit Assistance Program metrotransit.org/TAP Free/reducedlunchletter= $1 rides for your entire family!
“I am excited to continue the critical work underway and look forward to working with the community and leaders across state government to provide ongoing support and resources,” Mohamed said in a statement released after his appointment.
Mohamed, who was born in Kenya, will replace Assistant Commissioner Anisa Hajimumin, who will be leaving at the end of August to move with her family to Pennsylvania, according to a statement from the agency. For the last two years, Hajimumin, who is originally from Somalia, has been leading Minnesota’s Office of New Americans (ONA), a privately-funded initiative that works with new immigrants in the state to help them maximize their potential in the economy.
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has appointed Abdiwahab Mohamed as its temporary Assistant Commissioner for Immigrant and Refugee Affairs. Mohamed, who is currently the agency’s regional trade manager for Africa, Middle East, and India, said that for the last five years, he had had the honor of working with the larger Minnesota business community at the Trade Office. Shifting into his new role would allow him to focus on expanding access and support for immigrants and refugees in communities across the state, he said.
By Edwin Okong’o Mshale
Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development has appointed Abdiwahab Mohamed, an immigrant from Kenya, as its temporary Assistant Commissioner for Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.
“I’m grateful to Abdiwahab for stepping into the assistant commissioner role so there’s no interruption in our services to immigrants and refugees – services that are more important now than ever before,” Grove said.
Thus far, 2022 has been a year of multiple socioeconomic and political challenges for all Americans across the nation. Yet for African Americans and other communities of color, this year represents both challenges and oppor tunities from a business ownership perspective. In particular, for Black-owned media businesses there is a growing sense of resilience even in the face of continued profound racial disparities and societal inequities.
“At a time when more people, particularly Black people, are distrustful of the media, diversity in media ownership,” the Leadership Conference argues, “has become more important than ever for the functioning of our democracy. Diversity in ownership is part of that solution.” We agree with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights’ position on this issue.
Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. is President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publish ers Association (NNPA) headquartered in Washington, DC.
Join the Mshale Text Club: Text AFRICA to 24587 or follow us onTwitter.com/Mshale Community News, updated daily on Mshale.Diversifyingcom American media ownership must become a national priority © 1995-2022 Mshale Communications, Inc. Mshale – The African Community Newspaper Editorial & Corporate Office: 2 E Franklin Ave., Suite 1 Minneapolis, MN 55404 Mailing Address: P.O.BOX 80071, Minneapolis, MN 55408 Tel: 612-454-5648 Email:www.mshale.commshale@mshale.com President & Publisher: Tom Gitaa Contributing Editor: Edwin Okong’o Staff Writers: Kari Mugo, Bethel Gessesse, Cynthia Simba, Panashe Matemba-Mutasa Contributing Writers: Susan Budig Design & Layout: Staff Photographers: Richard Ooga, Bethel Gessesse, Jasmine Webber Distribution: Bluebird Mshale is published weekly on Monday. It is available every Monday for free at most African stores , African restaurants and metro area county libraries. Mailed subscriptions are $60 per year. Memberships: Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium (MMMC) , Pan African Business Alliance (PABA). The editor welcomes letters, opinion pieces and commentary on issues of interest to the African community in North America. Contributions must be typed and will be edited for clarity and space. Submissions can be mailed or submitted online at www.mshale.com SAVE THE DATE Friday, September 23 First day to vote early in person in Minnesota
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The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) are working together to encourage the media and advertising industries to become more proactive and committed to diversity from the C-suites to the decision-making manag ers. But more needs to be done to increase and to enhance the ownership of media businesses by African Americans and other minorities.
Guest Commentary by Dr. Jim Winston & Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.
Jim Winston is President and CEO of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) headquartered in Washington, DC.
The communications and media industry in America especially should be one of the leading industries that adopts the “good business” sense to embrace the values and benefits of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). This is not about charity or benevolence. Diversity is objectively good for business.
Lastly, as our nation prepares for the upcoming Midterm Elections in Novem ber, there are many who are predicating low overall voter turnout. Millions of dollars will be spent on Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) campaigns. Those who desire to increase GOTV among African- Americans and other communities of color will have to engage Black owned media as the “Trusted Voice” of Black America in order to increase voter turnout.
Economic equity in media requires equal access to investment capital, tech nical advances in communications infrastructure, and inclusion in other indus try innovations. As increased changes in the racial demographics of the nation continue to accelerate in the United States, American media must be more representative of the growing diversity of the nation.
It is noteworthy, therefore, that one of the recently announced major media mergers has Standard General, a minority-owned firm, pending regulatory reviews and approvals by the Department of Justice and the Federal Com munications Commission, acquiring TEGNA, a company owning 64 television stations around the country. Soo Kim, a successful Asian American business leader, who serves as Standard General’s founding and managing partner, emphasized “We’re open to exploring new partnership models to get diverse viewpoints and perspectives on the air and to make sure people have the resources to do it.” We agree with this sentiment as multiracial ownership of American media businesses will continue to be viewed as a strategic forecast for the future economic wellbeing of the nation. We intend to raise our voices in support of the positive economic and social-equity consequences of diversifying Ameri canThemedia.Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights has pointed out, “Access to the media by the broadest sector of society is crucial to ensuring that diverse viewpoints are presented to the American people, but racial and gender disparities in media ownership dating back to the beginning of the civil rights era continue to persist.” Again, overcoming these disparities should be a national media industry priority.
The proposed East African Oil Pipeline, for example, which the Ugandan government says can help lift millions out of poverty, runs through Uganda’s Kidepo valley, Murchison Falls and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, threatening species and drawing criticism from climate campaigners.
“We have to have a future where wildlife is not separated from people,” said Sam Shaba, the program manager at the Honeyguide Foundation in Tanzania, an environmental non-profit organization.
But they add that replacing wildlife with infrastructure is the wrong approach for economic growth.
A recent study conducted in Kruger National Park linked extreme weather events to the loss of plants and animals, unable cope with the drastic conditions and lack of water due to longer dry spells and hotter temperatures.
MOMBASA, Kenya (AP)
African wildlife parks face climate, infrastructure threats
Most of Africa’s wildlife parks were created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by colonial regimes that fenced off the areas and ordered local people to stay out. But now conservationists are finding that a more inclusive approach to running the parks and seeking the expertise of Indigenous communities that live around the parks can help protect them, said Ademola Ajagbe, Africa regional managing director of The Nature Conservancy.
“The inhabitants of these areas are forcefully evicted or prevented from living there such as the Maasai (in Tanzania and Kenya), Twa and Mbutis (in central Africa) who for generations have lived with wildlife,” said Simon Counseill, an advisor with Survival International.
When “people start to see that living with wildlife provides the answer to sustainable development ... that’s the game-changer,” said Shaba.
— Africa’s national parks, home to thousands of wildlife species such as lions, elephants and buffaloes, are increasingly threatened by below-average rainfall and new infrastructure projects.
“Africa is depicted as a place of wildlife without people living there and this narrative needs to change,” he said.
Drought has seriously threatened species like rhinos, elephants and lions as it reduces the amount of food available, said Philip Wandera, a former warden with the Kenya Wildlife Service who’s now range management lecturer at the Catholic University of East Africa. More intensive management of parks and removing fences that prevent species from migrating to less droughtprone areas are important first steps to protecting wildlife, Wandera said. He added that financial help to “support communities in and around national parks” would also help preserve them.
A prolonged drought in much of the continent’s east, exacerbated by climate change, and large-scale developments, including oil drilling and livestock grazing, are hampering conservation efforts in protected areas, several environmental experts say.
“If we don’t pay attention to communities’ social needs, health, education and where they are getting water, we miss the key thing,” said John Kasaona the executive director of the Integrated Rural Development in Nature Conservation in Namibia.
By Wanjohi Kabukuru Associated Press
He added that the “powerlines and other energy infrastructure cause collisions with birds, due to low visibility. The numbers killed this way are not few.”
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In their quest to bolster living standards and achieve sustainable development goals, such as access to clean water and food, boosting jobs and economic growth and improving the quality of education, African governments have set their sights on large building projects, many of them funded by foreign investments, especially by China.
The growth of urban populations and the building that goes with it, like new roads, electricity grids, gas pipes, ports and railways, have also added to the pressure on parks, conservationists said.
The at-risk parks stretch all the way from Kenya in the east — home to Tsavo and Nairobi national parks — south to the Mkomazi and Serengeti parks in Tanzania, the Quirimbas and Gorongosa parks in Mozambique and the famous Kruger National Park in South Africa, and west to the Kahuzi Biega, Salonga and Virunga reserves in Congo.
The parks not only protect flora and fauna but also act as natural carbon sinks — storing carbon dioxide emitted into the air and reducing the effects of global warming.
The effects of worsening weather conditions in national parks due to climate change should also not be ignored, experts said.
An estimated 38% of Africa’s biodiversity areas are under severe threat from climate change and infrastructure development, said Ken Mwathe of BirdLife International. “Key biodiversity areas over the years, especially in Africa, have been regarded by investors as idle and ready for development,” said Mwathe. “Governments allocate land in these areas for infrastructural development.”
By Tom Gitaa Mshale
Graves and Elliott who was born in Liberia will advance to the general after receiving 1,219 (39.30 percent) and 1,060 (34.17 percent) of the votes respectively. The other two challengers Laurie Ann Moore and Leng Xiong came in third and fourth respectively and were thus eliminated. Moore received 607 votes while Xiong trailed with 216 votes. The open seat that Graves is vacating in November attracted a crowded field of nine candidates among them Liberian-American Kau Guannu. Guannu came in third behind the two candidates that will be advancing. She received 646 votes (11.92 percent) against the two top vote getters Dan Jerzak and Teneshia Kragness. Jerzak received 1,342 votes against Kragness’ 1,074.
Winston, Russell advance to general election in Brooklyn Park mayoral race
Eliminated on Tuesday from contention in November was Councilmember Boyd Morson who represents the Central District in the Brooklyn Park City Council. He came in third in the three-way race with 16.78 percent of the vote, receiving 1,256 votes. He will remain in the council as in November he will still have two years remaining on his term.
Also, worth watching is what happens if Mayor Elliott in neighboring Brooklyn Center wins in November. Both Brooklyns have the potential to have Liberian-born immigrants as their mayor. Elliott advanced to the November election alongside April Graves, a sitting council member.
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In the West District where a crowded field of five candidates were vying to be among the top two, Tonja West-Hafner, who currently represents the Central District but was redistricted into the West, emerged the top vote getter. West-Hafner received 519 votes (30.30 percent). She will compete in the general election against Maria Tran who came in second with 406 votes or 23.70 percent. Coming in third was Henry Momanyi, a Kenyan-American that many had expected to be among the top two.
Hollies received 55.37percent of the vote with 4,144 votes, and Russell received 27.85 percent of the vote with 2,084 votes — with 25 of 25 precincts reporting just before 10:00 p.m., according to the Minnesota Secretary of State. Hollies did not have an election night party but instead joined state Senate candidate Huldah Hiltsley at her watch party at Mad Jacks in Brooklyn Park.
Brooklyn Center City Council races
Mike Elliott, Brooklyn Center’s first Black mayor, faced a challenge from three challengers including April Graves who currently serves on the City Council with the mayor. The primary was to narrow the field to two that will advance to the November general election.
Whomever of the two men that triumphs in November will have historical significance for Brooklyn Park with the election of its first elected Black mayor and most significantly the first African immigrant mayor for the city were Russell to prevail. Both understand the pain of losing an election by a handful of votes with Russell losing by five votes in his first run for the City Council and Hollies losing by two votes in special election for mayor last year.
Central District Councilmember Wynfred Russell and Hollies Winston, who lost by two votes to outgoing Mayor Lisa Jacobson last year, are advancing to the general election.
Brooklyn Park City Council races
Two Brooklyn Park City Council Districts, Central and West, had races in Tuesday’s primary. In the Central District, four candidates were vying for a spot in the November general election. The two that emerged victorious were Teshite Wako who garnered 35.48 percent of the vote with 930 votes. He will compete in November against Nicole Klonowksi who came in second with 30.71 percent of the votes receiving 805 votes.
Hollies Winston (left) and Wynfred Russell have advanced to the November general election
Photo: Courtesy of the candidates
“We’re grateful for the support of those who voted for us during this primary,” Winston said in a statement to Mshale. “I am humbled by the chance to move forward to the general election. We look forward to engaging Brooklyn Park residents in our vision of a safe and prosperous Brooklyn Park.”
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By Panashe Matemba-Mutasa Mshale
Verbeten said she believed there was strength in numbers to see her through, and that she proudly supported the campaigns of her fellow Black female candidates in their respective districts.
Mohamed handily defeated her challenger, Todd Scott, by garnering more than 67% of the vote in the primaries held on August 9. She will now go on to fight it out in November with Shawn Holster, the Republican Party candidate. The winner will replace Patricia Torres Ray, a Colombian immigrant who made history in 2006 by becoming the first Latina to be elected to Minnesota state senate.
“I’m thankful for the partnership and support I’ve received from others who are running to break this glass ceiling, and I hope that we will make history together in November,” Mohamed said after the primary.Since it joined the union in 1858, Minnesota has never elected a Black woman to the upper house of its legislature, despite being one of the most progressive states in the Midwest. But with Mohamed’s victory, the state moves a step closer to electing two Black women – and African immigrant women –ever elected to the state senate. The other candidate is Clare Oumou Verbeten, a daughter of Senegalese and Dutch-American immigrants, who in February announced her candidacy for the District 66 state senate seat. But Verbeten was confirmed to be the Democratic candidate long before the primaries because she did not have a challenger in her party. She will proceed to run against Republican Mikki Murray, and Jeremy Peichel, the libertarian candidate in November.
Photo: Jerusa Nyakundi/Mshale
Zaynab Mohamed smoothly sails to victory, as Momanyi-Hiltsley comes up short in primaries
Both Mohamed and Verbeten are running districts that heavily vote for Democrats, so their victories are all but certain. But one candidate who did not qualify for November is Huldah Momanyi-Hiltsley, a Kenyan immigrant who was running for the state senate seat in District 38. Momanyi-Hiltsley, who is the president of a Kenyan immigrant organization known as Mwanyagetinge, had a more uphill task, compared to the other two. She managed just over 38% of the vote, in a contest that pitted her against the more experienced Susan Pha, a Hmong American who has been a city councilwoman in Brooklyn Park since 2016.“Team Huldah put in every ounce of their lives, and I am proud of all of you, and whatever happens tonight, we are going to celebrate,” Hiltsley said after the election. “It’s a blessing that someone like me, an immigrant from Kenya, even had this opportunity to run for office.” Since Mohamed launched her campaign, she has received a series of endorsements from several leaders, including Rep. Ilhan Omar, who herself overcame a tough primary challenge from Don Samuels, winning by just over 50% of the vote. Mohamed was also been endorsed by every elected member in her district. Her campaign is centered around affordable housing, education, criminal justice reform, healthcare, labor rights and economic justice, and environmental justice.
Zaynab Mohamed, 24, receives her ‘I Voted’ sticker after voting at the Corcoran Park Recreation Center in Minneapolis on Tuesday, August 9, 2022. She handily won her primary to be the DFL flagbearer in the November election to represent Senate District 63.
A disappointed Huldah Momanyi Hiltsley listens to her parents’ comforting words at her election watch event in Brooklyn Park after results showed her losing the DFL primary election to represent Senate District 38.
Photo: Jasmine Webber/Mshale Clare Verbeten did not have a primary challenger on Tuesday and will be the DFL flagbearer in the November election to represent Senate District 66. Check out previous Mshale coverage of her race on Mshale.com.
Photo: Courtesy DFL Party
Zaynab Mohamed, a 24-year-old Somali immigrant who in December announced her candidacy to represent District 63 in the Minnesota state senate, will be the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party’s (DFL) flagbearer in the 2022 midterm elections.
“I look forward to celebrating the historic victories of my sisters running across the state,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar won the August 9 DFL primary in her district against strong competition from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, essen tially ensuring a third term in Congress in the slightly redrawn Minnesota’s Fifth Dis trict that includes all of Minneapolis and some inner ring suburbs.
Omar garnered 50.35 percent or 57,683 votes to Samuel’s 48.20 percent or 55,217 votes with all 217 precincts reporting as of 10:30 pm. Three other candidates trailed with less than one per cent of the vote each. Omar will face GOP candidate Cicely Davis, who is Black, in the general elec tion. Davis hauled in 4,765 votes or 47.99 percent of the Republican vote against NBA star Royce White’s 3,689 votes or 37.15 percent. A third candidate, Guy Gaskin, trailed with 1,476 votes or 14.86 percent.Thedistrict is overwhelmingly Demo cratic and Omar’s triumph over Samuels virtually guarantees her a third term.
By Tom Gitaa Mshale
Minnesota’s Fifth District for Congress
Rep. Ilhan Omar arrives for a door knocking event on Primary Election Day on Tuesday, August 9, 2022 to encourage residents of Sonder Point Apartments in Brooklyn Center to go out and vote. Omar beat Don Samuels in the DFL primary. Samuels is the second Black man in two election cycles to challenge and out raise her and still go down in defeat.
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“Tonight’s victory is a testament to how much our district believes in the collective values we are fighting for and how much they’re willing to do to help us overcome defeat. This win is for them and everyone who still believes that hate, division and regression will not be the legacy of the Fifth,” Omar said.
Photo: Tom Gitaa/Mshale Don Samuels
Photo: Courtesy of Don Samuels
This is the second time a Black man has primaried Omar and they have both gone down in defeat after outspending her. In 2020, political newcomer Antone Melton-Meaux raised more than $4 mil lion, largely from outside Minnesota, in his bid to dislodge Omar who was then a first termAugustincumbent.campaign finance reports showed Samuels outraising Omar by over $200,000.Rep.Omar is the first Somali American and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress in 2018. “Millions of dollars have been spent to unseat us. Republicans and conserva tive Democrats have worked in lockstep to vote us out. Corporations and special interest groups have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads against us. Pundits and news agencies have tried to smear us and undermine our work,” Omar said in a written statement after her win.
Amayo said the embassy had plans to expand the outreach to citizens liv ing in other major U.S. cities like Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, and Boston, which have the highest concentrations of Kenyans. Before the initiative, Kenyans had to travel to either Embassy of Kenya in Washington D.C., or to the two consulate offices in Los Angeles and New York to get the services. The location of the diplo matic offices in coastal states has posed many challenges for Kenyans residing in the middle of the country. In Minne sota alone, there are more than 14,500 Kenyans, according to Minnesota Com pass, an organization that does popula tion research in the state. For those Kenyans, appointments require expensive travel, time off from work, and for many, interim childcare. With the new initiative, the embassy hopes to make consular services more accessible to all Kenyan citizens in the United States.
“We can give so much strength to the embassy and fuel this initiative just by spreading the word and telling our rela tives about it,” Mutio said.
“The system has since improved, and we are able to serve you much faster now that pandemic delays have been reduced,” Amayo said. “We are here for you.”
“It is in unity as a Diaspora that we can orchestrate events and programs to ensure our people are assisted,” Otieno said.Henry
Kenyan embassy taking consular services to citizens in the United States
“A trend I am noticing amongst my peers is that they are becoming more passionate about their home,” Kenyanya said. “I think we need to capitalize on that.”
By Panashe Matemba-Mutasa Mshale
The outreach campaign to Kenyans seeking to apply for passports, birth cer tificates, and dual citizenship declarations began on Friday morning at the Kenyan Community Church in the Minneapolis suburban city of Brooklyn Center. It was followed up by a townhall-style meeting at the Maple Grove Community Center in nearby Maple Grove, with the ambas sador.“We want to be able to serve you, and that is why we are working on reducing the distance for Kenyans to get these ser vices,” Amayo said.
The Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to the United States, Lazarus Amayo, was in Minnesota Friday to launch a three-day initiative to offer consular ser vices to citizens of the east African coun try residing it the state.
Amayo also addressed the long wait times for passport appointments. In the early days of the pandemic, people saw delays in scheduling, and a person book ing an appointment may have seen that the earliest slot was a year or more out on the calendar.
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Tom Gitaa, the founder and publisher of Mshale, coordinated the embassy’s outreach efforts in Minnesota through the Minnesota Kenyan Association, a con sortium of Kenyan groups in the state. Gitaa said the three-day satellite opera tion attracted Kenyans from across the Midwest, and as far as Nebraska and Kansas.“More than 500 were able to success fully submit their applications and have their biometrics captured by the consular officers,” said Gitaa.
University of Minnesota Board of Regents member Mike Kenyanya said that as efforts are being made to improve U.S.-Kenya diplomatic relations, it was important not to forget the younger gen erations of U.S.-born Kenyans, who tend to be primary candidates for services like dual citizenship and birth certificates of children born abroad.
“Mothers with kids wait all day to be served because there are some technical aspects that prevent the process from running smoothly, so we need more vol unteers,” Momanyi said.
Photo: Tom Gitaa/Mshale
Momanyi, a candidate running for the West District city council seat in neighboring Brooklyn Park, said he had been working at the embassy’s pop-up office since the event began earlier that day. He urged audience members to serve and help embassy staff with coor dinating the service.
Lillian Otieno, the president of the Asso ciation of Kenyans in America, lauded the embassy for the new efforts to take ser vices to the people.
Onesmus Mutio, another Minnesota Kenyan, asked Kenyans to use their num bers to create awareness in their commu nities, and unite to advocate for increased consular representation.
Ambassador Amayo of Kenya speaks in St. Paul, Minnesota on August 5, 2022 during a luncheon in his honor by Books for Africa.
Religion In latest discussion, Black millennials discuss hip-hop and faith
Increasingly, especially younger Black people feel the same way about oppos ing sexism and gender discrimination, but they hear less about those issues in ser mons, so they may look for those mes sages elsewhere.
“For some people, that’s the traditional gospel music but then for some folks, it’s hip-hop,” he said. “And it’s going to feed that same soul, feed that same need to hear their pain recognized to see a way forward, and to be able to keep moving, even in the face of those difficulties, in the face of that hurt.”
By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service
‘gOD-Talk’
The panelists discussed how reaction to hip-hop music has also reflected gen erational differences — and their inherent religious tensions — noting how some religious leaders considered the genre to be offensive even as hip-hop artists critiqued churches for their resistance to women leaders and LGBTQ people in their congregations.“Hip-hopwas the only form of music where the elders did not lead,” said Emmett Price III, dean of Africana Studies at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. “It was the young people because the elders were offering solutions that in our young minds: They didn’t work for y’all. They ain’t going to work for us.” Across “multiple generations of hiphoppers,” lyrics in songs such as DMX’s 2003 “Thank you” (“I thank the Lord for my wife”) relate the trauma of the times along with a hope for the future, Price said.“From ‘broken glass everywhere,’ until your most current rhyme, there’s always this definitive notion,” he said, “there’s always this interlude that is a faith-driven thing.”Agenre known for its DJs and break dancers and graffiti, hip-hop was created in the Bronx in the late 1970s and has rapidly expanded across the U.S., espe cially in the South and the West, and its stars are now widely popular around the world.Asked by moderator Teddy Reeves, the other co-leader of the museum’s center on Black religious life, panelists discussed if the musical genre is a religion itself or a means to point people toward faith.
“These kinds of things, like Islam, are very much a part of how they began to articulate and interpret and understand what it is — what are we living with that we’re now going to rhyme about, or dance about, or write about,” she said.
Dee-1, left, and Brandan “BMike” Odums pose during the filming of “gOD-Talk 2.0: Hip-Hop and #BlackFaith,” in New Orleans.
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Khabeer noted the genre can create a pathway to self-awareness, resistance and even adoption of one or more faiths such as Islam, Rastafarianism or Five Per centers, a Black nationalist movement that split from the Nation of Islam in 1963.
“It kind of leads you on this path of knowledge of self,” she said.
Neelam Hakeem, another performer in the genre, thinks hip-hop is “the rebel” in a time when more people are leaving religion.AndBrandan “BMike” Odums, a visual artist who grew up prohibited from listen ing to rap music in his preacher-father’s home, said hip-hop “reminded me that hope was not exclusive to a religious practice.”Thethree artists were part of a dinner and dessert panel discussion examining the intersection of hip-hop music and Black faith released online on Sunday (Aug. 14). Filmed in New Orleans for “gOD-Talk 2.0: Hip-Hop and #BlackFaith,” the panel was the seventh installment in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture “gOD-Talk” series. It continued an inperson and online series of discussions about the spirituality of Black millennials, Black religion and technology and African American belief and sexuality. “As a very powerful spiritual and musi cal modality, hip-hop raises serious ques tions regarding the holy and the profane,” said Eric Williams, a co-leader of the museum’s Center for the Study of African American Religious Life. “It raises serious questions about Black suffering and Black hope. But it also raises questions for us around the issue of protest and praise.”
Big Freedia, a hip-hop artist who is sampled on the “Break My Soul” track of Beyoncé’s new “Renaissance” album, says she usually prays with her team before going onstage.
Big Freedia, who grew up in a Black Baptist church in New Orleans, is known as the “Queen of Bounce music,” a sub genre of hip-hop, and added: “A lot of people tell me when they come to a Free dia show, they felt like they came to a bounce revival or they felt some type of spirit come into the room.”
The gOD-Talk series started in 2018 after the museum partnered with the Pew Research Center, which has found that Black millennials tend to be more reli gious and more spiritual than their peers but less spiritual and less religious than older generations of African Americans.
Photo: Ashley Lorraine/RNS
Hip-hop artist Dee-1 added that, though he doesn’t see hip-hop as a religion on its own, performers of the genre can suc cessfully reach listeners in ways some clergy“Hip-hopcannot.allows messages to be com municated that pastors can’t get through by just preaching,” he said. “So hip-hop is definitely effective as a train, as a carrier of messages. But I think it is leading peo ple to things like God, to religion, instead of it being a religion.”
Besheer Mohamed, a senior researcher for Pew, said his research has found that many Black Americans have said oppos ing racism is a part of what it means to be a good Christian or a good Muslim.
Mshale Text Club: Text AFRICA to 24587 to join
The hip-hop artist Sa-Roc said that when she’s writing she feels as though “the ancestors whispered this to me or the angels whispered this to me,” and compares her and other artists’ work to prophets, given what they hear from supporters about how their music is inter preted: “‘This song or these words saved my life,’ or ‘I felt like church when I’m lis tening to this.’”
Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, author of “Muslim Cool: Race, Religion and Hip Hop in the United States,” said that though the hiphop movement was youth-led, it was influ enced early on by figures such as Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X, whose voice was featured in “Malcolm X – No Sell Out,” a 1983 track by Keith LeBlanc.
- The African Community Newspaper www.mshale.com August 22-28, 2022 Issue 53610Mshale
Burna Boy has a gift of collaboration which makes this 19-track album full of innovation and experimentation with other global artists beginning with the spiritual personal anthem, “Glory.” In the style of a traditional Zulu prayer, Burna brings the legendary South African gospel institution Ladysmith Black Mambazo, to open and close the album with its own key change, lifting Burna out of the Afrobeats to another realm. He follows this personal anthem with a reminder of his signature band combo of guitar, drum rhythms, and a stealth horn section ending with his transposing an ambulance sample into a vocal. Who actually does that in music?
“Toni Ann Singh” with Popcaan, appears on the 11th track, “Solid” with Blxst and Kehlani who are featured on track 12, and the pop music duet with of Ed Sheeran on, “For My Hand.” J. Balvin rocks it out on “Rollercoaster.” The list goes on and it’s all collaboration and innovation in and around Black popular genres. Personal favorites on the album: “It’s Plenty,” “Different Size” with Victony, “Dirty Secrets,” “Wild Dreams” featuring Khalid, “Common Person,” “Vanilla,” “Solid” and “How Bad Can It Be.” Now that Burna Boy, Damini, can show off his legit superstar status, by attracting millions of fans on a global tour, promoting this album taking him from Harare to Lisbon and around the globe and back, we are grateful for the mainstreaming of African contemporary music, which is what Burna represents. What is the future for Burna Boy after his epic road trip? Hopefully to chill and to pick up where Fela left off: 30-minute songs. His first football season, Isaiah told us, ‘Wear a jersey with my name on it. I want everyone to know you’re here for me.’ Darnell and Denna, adopted 16-year-old Isaiah YOU CAN’T IMAGINE THE REWARD LEARN US KIDS .ORG
Burna incorporates Toni’s beat and vocal riff and somehow maintains the integrity of her original songwriters sharing 60 percent of the proceeds but creating an original of his own with no comparison. Hybrid if there ever was, layering beats taken from South African King Vinci of his Squid game remix with an amapiano flava is a game changer on “Different Size” with Victony. Burna’s version of Afrofusion continues with deep storytelling and “Whiskey,” where he channels the consequences of oil extraction, co-written by Gaetan Judd, Marco Bernardis, Richard Isongor, and delivers a soundscape that takes you straight to the Niger Delta.
Burna Boy in his Last Last video. Last Last is one of the singles in his Love Damini album. Photo: YouTube Screengrab
Damini busted out two hit singles even before the album release, “Kilometre,” whose Afrobeats and video were directed and shot by legendary Clarence Abiodun Peters; and “Last Last,” produced by Chopstix, features a sample of Toni Braxton’s 2000 r&b hit, “He Wasn’t Man Enough.” The hook and chorus were originally written by Harvey Jay Mason, Rodney Jerkins and Fred Jerkins III as well as Lashawn Ameen Daniels.
By Mukwae Wabei Siyolwe Afropop
Album Review: Burna Boy’s Love Damini
Art & Entertainment
Take me black to the future because Burna Boy is already there. At his historic Madison Square Garden concert as promised, he released his seventh album on his birthday July 7, 2022, titled Love Damini (Atlantic). Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, better known as Burna Boy, delivered an album chock full of unforgettable tunes, and has emerged with an unexpected lyricism of a man more comfortable in his own skin and willing to use his music to work out his emotional baggage for our greater good. There is no doubt that this particular album will dominate contemporary popular music and shift the global cultural landscape of our times.
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Love Damini already has over one billion streams to date and the second single on the album, “Last Last,” has already garnered his first number one on the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Charts, moving the song from number three to lead the July 16 list. It is a fact Burna Boy is smashing every statistic that once saw Afrobeats as the second cousin to r&b and U.S. hip-hop and will dominate for a while.
- The African Community Newspaper www.mshale.com August 22-28, 2022 Issue 536Mshale 11
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We live in a world where divisions and poverty affect everyone but when we unite as changemakers we can create a community where all people thrive. JOIN THE MOVEMENT VISIT GTCUW.ORG TO LEARN MORE
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