NEIGHBOR NEWS PAN-AFRIKAN NEWS SERVICE WWWW.NEIGHBORPROGRAM.ORG @NEIGHBORPROGRAM | @NEIGHBORNEWSPPR
photo by Jordan McGowan
$5.00 Shakur center paint day april 9th, 2022
Neighbor Program News Service April , 2022 Poetry Month SE
Table of Contents Where is the god… By Reggie Edmonds Neighborhood Seance By Vincente Perez Ode to Dirt-Blacked… By DeeSoul Carson Holes By Ashanti Bailey Coffins.. By James Cagney
Land Acknowledgement WE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE NISENAN PEOPLE ARE STILL HERE AMONG US TODAY, THOUGH NEARLY INVISIBLE. WE UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE ON NISENAN LAND THAT WAS NEVER CEDED AND THE ORIGINAL TRIBAL FAMILIES HAVE YET TO RECOVER FROM THE NEAR GENOCIDE OF THEIR PEOPLE. AS A RESIDENT OR VISITOR IN NISENAN LAND, WE SUPPORT THE NEVADA CITY RANCHERIA NISENAN TRIBE IN EFFORTS TO STABILIZE THEIR PEOPLE AS WELL AS THEIR CAMPAIGN TO RESTORE FEDERAL RECOGNITION.
Sellout By Michal ‘MJ’ Jones What i imagine… By Daniel B. Summerhill A Play.. By Tongo Eisen-Martin Broke like.. By Landon Smith Black Deluge By Mariah M Rat Race By Mimi Tempestt
Thank You
Your support allows us to continue our work for the community
reggie Edmonds
deesoul carson
vincente Perez
Support the Shakur Center Scan the QR code to visit our GoFundMe page or visit neighborprogram.org/shakurcenter
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ashanti bailey
Holes There are holes in my memory from past trauma’s override Dissociative amnesia feels a lot like I’ve lost my mind I loose parts of happy times along with the bad ones so when some shrug it off as selective memory I simply save time and agree Although I don’t know many who might be okay with releasing happiness and I figure I’m just cutting my losses Who wants to waste moments trying to convince a blind man they can see And I don’t know when it may strike So I choose to live on happily Pray that therapy fixes me Maybe I just smoked way too much weed Who knows maybe it’s my ADHD All I care about is remembering the way my father used to sing The feeling of holding my daughter for the first time My first kiss from the love of my life I need those parts to stick I don’t want them to fade away So I write them down like this right here To fill the holes as more appear And in the future when my time draws near I will read this I pray the memories come back clear
james cagney
michal "mj" jones
Daniel b. Summerhill
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Tongo eisen-martin
Landon smith
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Mimi tempestt mariah m
Poet Bios James Cagney is the author of MARTIAN: The Saint Of Loneliness is the winner of the 2021 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. It is due from Nomadic Press in the fall of 2022. His first book, Black Steel Magnolias In The Hour Of Chaos Theory, won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award in 2018. For more information, please visit JamesCagneyPoet.com Daniel B. Summerhill is Assistant Professor of Poetry/Social Action and Composition Studies at California State University - Monterey Bay. He has performed in over thirty states, the UK, and was invited by the U.S. Embassy to guest lecture and perform in South Africa. A Watering Hole Fellow, Daniel's work is published in Columbia Journal, The Academy of American Poetry, Sims Library of Poetry, The Hellebore, among other journals. His work has earned him two Pushcart nominations and a Best of the Net nomination. His debut collection is Divine, Divine, Divine published by Nomadic Press. His sophomore collection, Mausoleum of Flowers was published by CavanKerry Press in April 2022. Daniel is the inaugural poet Laureate of Monterey County. DeeSoul Carson (He/They) is a poet, performer, and educator from San Diego, CA. A 2020 TWH Writing Workshop Fellow, his work has been featured by Write About Now Poetry, Button Poetry, The Adroit Journal, Half Mystic Journal, and elsewhere. Most recently, he has released his chapbook, Running From Streetlights (2020), a meditation on Blackness and being in America. He graduated with a degree in Cultural/Social Psychology from Stanford University and is a Writer in the Public Schools Fellow in the NYU Creative Writing MFA program. Find more of his work at deesoulpoetry.com Landon Smith (he/him) is a father, a professor, a poet, half Mende and half Balanta & Fulani, that feeling of falling that wakes you up, the amethyst geode on your desk, Angela Davis' afro, Frantz Fanon's pocket notebook, Walter Rodney’s fingernail, the 7-10 bowling split, your favorite pillow. Mariah M (they/she) is a Black queer poet, teaching artist, and cultural organizer based in Greensboro, North Carolina. They are an Emergent Poet Fellow of the National Poetry Foundation and Crescendo Literary and a Watering Hole Fellow (c. 2017, 2019). For labor under capitalism, they are currently conducting research on artists that used their craft for political education and advocacy. Mariah is also 1/5 of SaltWater Sojourn, a Black-autonomous artist collective that believes in the transcendental work of liberation via performative art. They can be found healing from organizing burnout on social media at @mariahm_ink and at her website mariahmpoetry.com Ashanti Bailey is a poet, singer, and artist who was born and raised in Sacramento, CA. Currently a Culinary Arts student at CRC, and mother to her 2 year old daughter Kamilah-Amora. She enjoys spending her free time with her daughter or volunteering with Neighbor Program doing community work. Mimi Tempestt (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and daughter of California. She has a MA in Literature from Mills College, and is currently a doctoral student in the Creative/Critical PhD in Literature at UC Santa Cruz. Her first book, the monumental misrememberings, is published with Co-Conspirator Press//The Feminist Center for Creative Work (2020). She was chosen as a finalist in the Creative Nonfiction Prize for Indiana Review in 2020, and is a creative fellow at The Ruby in San Francisco. She was selected for participation in the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices & writers in 2021. Her works can be found in Foglifter, Apogee Journal, Interim Poetics, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. Michal ‘MJ’ Jones is a poet & parent in Richmond, CA. MJ is the Editor-In-Chief of Foglifter Press, an awardwinning journal publishing trans and queer writers. They received their MFA in Creative Writing – Poetry from Mills College. They founded & currently facilitate Litany!, a monthly workshop for a cohort of Black queer poets. Their debut poetry collection HOOD VACATIONS is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press in 2023. http://michal-jones.com Reggie Edmonds (They/Them) is a poet, educator, and cultural curator based out of Oakland, CA. They are the co-founder of Rich Oak Events which organizes the Oakland Poetry Slam, the Berkeley Poetry Slam, the Rich Oak Alchemy Slam, and the online platform Bay Poets Unite. They have been awarded various fellowships and awards from organizations like Nomadic Press, the Afro Urban Society, Shuffle Collective and others. Their work can be found in Rigorous Magazine, Foglifter Journal, Stentorian Bitch and two self published chapbooks, I’m Too Black For this Shxt (2017) and SadBoi (2019). ig and twitter: @Reggiepoetry Originally from San Francisco, Tongo Eisen-Martin is a poet, movement worker, and educator. His latest curriculum on extrajudicial killing of Black people, We Charge Genocide Again, has been used as an educational and organizing tool throughout the country. His book titled, "Someone's Dead Already" was nominated for a California Bookstore Award. His book "Heaven Is All Goodbyes" was published by the City Lights Pocket Poets series, was shortlisted for the Griffins Poetry Prize and won a California Book Award and an American Book Award. His latest book “Blood On The Fog” was released this fall in the City Lights Pocket Poets series. In 2020, he co-founded Black Freighter Press to publish revolutionary works. He is San Francisco’s eighth poet laureate. Vincente Perez (He/They) is a Black Mexican-American performance poet, scholar, and writer working at the intersections of Poetry, Hip-Hop, andbBlack Digital praxis.
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Ancestor Acknowledgement
Acknowledgements
By Mason Forbes (@mason_4bs) Neighbor Ancestor Acknowledgement We take this moment to honor and acknowledge our Ancestors, as we understand that we are one with them and their spirits live on through us. We ask that they hear and accept our praise and reverence as we seek their continued guidance and heed their direction, trusting that with the wisdom and clarity they provide no feat is insurmountable.
Special thanks to all who contributed their time, labor, effort and work to this SPECIAL EDITION issue of Neighbor Newspaper. Thank you to Darius Simpson who served as a special editor & curator, all of the dope poets: Reggie Edmonds, Vincente Perez, DeeSoul Carson, Ashanti Bailey, James Cagney, Michal ‘MJ’ Jones, Daniel B. Summerhill, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Landon Smith, Mariah M, Mimi Tempestt and EVERYONE working towards Afrikan Liberation! Afrika WILL Unite!
We are washed and made anew in waters of their blessing, rising cleansed of all impurities, all blockages that might prevent us from fulfilling our purpose in this lifetime swept away.
Neighbor Hoodies Support of those doing the work
We recognize their sacrifices and take refuge in the protection offered by the spiritual fortress they have built around us on a foundation of revolutionary love. We ask them to grant us strength and good fortune, blessing our swords, shields, and hearts as we struggle for the right to determine our own destinies and that of our communities, striking down any enemies that may stand in our path. We ask that they connect us with those who wish to join our cause and unify us as we channel our collective energies towards our major political objective, to build a new world where radical love for human beings is found. Neighbor Power to the Neighbors & Divine Love to All
Order yours online at https://www.neighborprogram.org/shop
10 Point Program & Platform 1. WE WANT freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Afrikan and Indigenous Communities. 2. WE WANT full employment for the people. 3. WE WANT an end to the robbery by the kkkapitalist of our Afrikan and Indigenous Community domestically and globally. 4. WE WANT decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings. 5. WE WANT education for our People that exposes the true nature of this decadent amerikkkan society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society. 6. WE WANT the abolition of the Military-Industrial Complex 7. WE WANT an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of the People. 8. WE WANT freedom for all Afrikan People held in federal, state, county, and city prisons and jails. 9. WE WANT abolition! We believe the carceral system is inherently racist and that there are better alternatives to reduce harm. 10. WE WANT land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. And as our major political objective, a new world where radical love for human beings is found and the land is given back to its indigenous People. Peace, Love, Freedom, All Power to the People
AFRIKA UNITE!!!
The 10 Point Platform & Program was written by Huey P Newton & Bobby Seal in 1966 & was the guiding ideological base for the Black Panther Party. Neighbor Program has adopted the 10 Point Platform & Program & edited some language based off guidance provided by elders to affirm the people's victory.