Monument Honoring free black Haitians who fought in the American Revolution located in Savannah's Franklin Square (Savannah, Georgia)

As I wake up today, January 13th, 2010, Haiti has been hit with a 7.0 Earthquake which has devastated the people and the landscape. I wrote this short historical piece as my early morning prayer. It is my contribution to the way think about these people and this place. My hope is that we can bring an added humility and honor by understanding the historical contribution of the Haitian people.

The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), is widely known as “the only successful slave revolt in human history.” This uprising followed hundreds of rebellions which established Haiti as the first republic ruled by blacks in the modern era in 1804, sixty-one years before enslaved Africans would gain their independence in the United States.

This new black independent state received mixed reactions in the U.S. Those invested in the slave trade feared the slave revolution might spread a couple hundred miles up north, from the island of Hispaniola to the slave plantations of the Southern United States. Abolitionists argued that the U.S. support the insurgents to stay consistent with the principles of the American Revolution, won in 1783.

The Haitian people actually helped America win independence. In October 1779, a force of 500 free black Haitians joined American colonists and French troops in a battle to drive back British troops in Savannah, Georgia. Long before Haitians infamous recognition for migrating to the United States on boats, they fought and died in the American Revolutionary War. A life-sized bronze monument of four Haitian soldiers stands six feet tall atop a granite pillar in Savannah’s Franklin Square honoring Haiti’s contribution to American independence.

TIMELINE

• 1776 – Declaration of Independence

• 1779 – 500 free black Haitians join American colonists and French troops in the fight for American independence

• 1783 – American independence is established with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the Kingdom of Great Britain and the newly formed United States of America

• 1791 – A Haitian priest performs a Vodou ceremony where hundreds of Haitians vow to die for their liberty

• 1804 – Haiti declares independence becoming the first independent nation in Latin America, the first black-led nation in the modern era, and the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion

• 1865 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation granting freedom to enslaved people in the Confederate States

The Guide to Liberation project aims to aggregate rules and actions for reference on freeing ourselves from tentacles of exploitation and oppression. Our goal is to produce a small publication of the Guidebook to share within our communities based on the communities’ submissions.

kahlil almustafa, The People’s Poet and author of From Auction Block to Oval Office leads an interactive event combining performance poetry and critical dialogue commemorating the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s inauguration.

When: January 20th, 2010

Time: Doors 6:30pm, Poetry & Panel 7pm

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Panelists include:

About the event:

“kahlil almustafa’s poems are extraordinary in their political complexity and aesthetic sensibility. His language in From Auction Block to Oval Office is crystal-clear and the ideas are continually provocative.”

- Howard Zinn, author, A People’s History of the United States

This event will be interactive. The panel will respond to the critical questions raised by the poems. Audience members will have the opportunity to create their own poems. Panelists to be announced.

Some of the questions to be addressed:

• How do we create a space for people to express the ways Barack Obama has inspired them and create a space for principled criticism?
• Is this the closing of a chapter in the American narrative beginning with the auction block and concluding with the Obamas in the White House? Or is the narrative of African enslavement being used to promote the idea of America perfecting its democracy?
• It has been said that the Hip-Hop generation greatly impacted the election in 2008. How has the Hip Hop generation been impacted by the campaign, Obama’s presidency, and how will the Hip-Hop generation continue to be engaged?
  

The event is powered by the Mighty Mighty

- Kevin Powell, author/community organizer

“He tells it like it is. The subjects he writes of–politics to poverty, family to freedom–are thought-provoking and real.”

-BRM (Beyond Race Magazine)

“. . . exuberant!!”

- CBS Morning News

“His words escalate, soaring and diving like a bird on the wind.”

- Associated Press

“He’s talent that should be heard.”

- JoshSpears.com

“kahlil almustafa’s poetry has a mixture of content and soul. It comes out as powerful in its message as it does in its style.”

- Ras Baraka, Deputy Majority Leader of Newark

“kahlil uses his words to build images which cause us to question ourselves, our society, our past, and our future. He invites us to explore our humanity as he explores his own and uses his Spirit Words to help create a better world.”

- Camille Yarbrough, author, Cornrows

“The words of kahlil almustafa are both fierce and loving, chilling yet warm, a reminder that poetry goes beyond spoken word touching not only the ears, but the heart and the soul. His work possesses an integrity reserved for the truly gifted, one that reminds the elders and the ancestors that we are still here, still fighting with genuine spirits like kahlil on the frontlines.”

- Toni Blackman, author “Inner-Course”/US Hip Hop Ambassador

Grandma’s Soup

(Feb. 2000)

almustafa’s first collection of poems is dedicated to his grandmother. Through simple language, almustafa shares the blu’z of one young black man living in an urban landscape. Grandma’s Soup was selected by Black Issues Book Review Magazine as a poetic pick for the holidays.

I’m Crying Everyone’s Tears

(Aug. 2002)

almustafa’s best-known work, I’m Crying Everyone’s Tears has sold or been distributed to more than 5,000 people worldwide. Poems from this collection have been featured in articles in The Village Voice, Alternet.org, Mahogany Blues Magazine, The Shield Magazine, Free Magazine, BRM (Beyond Race Magazine) and many more. Poems from this collection were performed at the nationally-televised Rally to End Occupation in Iraq in Washington DC in 2003, the “Millions for Reparations Rally” at the United Nations in 2003 and the 45th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Speech Against the Vietnam War at Riverside Church in 2006.

Be-Boy, Be-Man

(July 2003)

Be-Boy, Be-Man, originally entitled Chivalry IS Dead explores one young black man’s experience with masculinity, sexuality, love and romance.  Poems from this collection were performed at Feminist in Hip-Hop Panel at Fordham University in 2004 and Kevin Powell’s Black Men in America gatherings in 2003 and 2007. If the featured speakers in Byron Hurt’s “Beyond Beats and Rhymes” gathered their secret diaries, it would be this collection of poems.

CounterIntelligence CD

(May 2006)

almustafa’s highly-anticipated debut CD received critical acclaim and was dubbed “HipRockSpoketry” by FreeHipHop.com. CounterIntelligence featured production by GAME Rebellion, mixing and mastering by Aaron “Freedom” Lyles and vocals by Sparlha Swa. This CD included the poem Optimis Prime IS a Blk Man” recorded live at Afro-Punk in Feb. 2006.

Growing Up Hip-Hop

(Aug. 2008)

Growing Up Hip-Hop tells a coming-of-age story through fifteen years of poetry, beginning with unreleased poems from almustafa’s youth. This collection features an introduction by Nana Camille Yarbrough, author of Cornrows and a legendary performance poet. Poems from almustafa’s final chapter were featured at the first solar-powered hip-hop concert at the U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta, GA in 2006, La Casita at Lincoln Center outdoors alongside Amiri Baraka, Yusef Komunyakaa and Joy Harjo, and in almustafa’s multimedia show “Growing Up Hip-Hop: Plugged-In.”

Growing Up Hip-Hop is currently being used in more than 40 classrooms from the elementary to the university level and was named as a must-read by Teaching to Change: A Planning Book for Radical Educators.

ADDRESS: 410 Westminster Rd., Apt. 1C, Brooklyn, NY 11218

EMAIL ADDRESS: kahlilalmustafa@gmail.com

PHONE NUMBER: (917) 517-9006

DATE OF BIRTH: June 29, 1977

EDUCATION : Vermont College, BA in Cultural Studies, Montpelier, VT, 2007

Goddard College, MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts, Plainfield, VT, 2011

AWARDS:

Selected by The Field for the Economic Revitalization Program for Artists (ERPA) funded by Rockefeller Foundation, 2008.

Selected by the Hip-Hop Theater Festival as a Future Aesthetics Artist Re-grant (FAAR) winner funded by the Ford Foundation, 2008.

Member of 2006 Brooklyn Slam Team which was a semi-finalist at the 2006 National Poetry Slam Team event, Austin, TX, 2006.

2002 Nuyorican Grand Slam Champion, New York, NY, 2002.

2^nd Place as a member of the Nuyorican Poet’s Café Poetry Team at the National Poetry Slam Championship, New York, NY, 2002.

2^nd Place at the Baltimore Arts Festival Poetry Slam, Baltimore, MD, 2000.

BOOKS:

Growing Up Hip-Hop, MVMT Milk Publishing, August 2008

• Being used in more then 40 classrooms from Junior High School to the university level

I’m Crying Everyone’s Tears, Black Alchemist Press Inc., August 2002

Grandma’s Soup, Black Alchemist Press Inc., February 2000

• Selected a “poetic pick for the holidays” by Black Issues Book Review

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND ARTICLES:

Published “Double Agent” in Hunter College newspaper the Envoy, Sept 2002.

Published “Cotton” in Free Magazine, Spring 2003.

Published “Lost Heroes” in Mahogany Blues, July 2003.

Published “Afrikans in Bondage,” “Poetry Is the Soul of our Struggle,” and “The Romantics” in Dynamic magazine, Fall 2003, Winter 2003, Spring 2004, Summer 2003.

Published “Jherri Curls” in Properganda Magazine, Spring 2004.

Published “Lost Heroes” in Lyrical Times, May 2004.

Published “Bodega” in The Shield, May/June 2004.

Edited Afrika Speaks, a group of South African poets and activists, April 2003.

Edited Sneaker Music, by Kwasi Ramsey, June 2005.

WORKSHOPS (YOUTH/SCHOOLS):

Performer/Host, Queens Botanical Gardens, May 2009.

Performed and hosted a literary event at the Queens Botanical Gardens during Queens Art Express, a collaboration between the Queens Council on the Arts and the MTA.

Performer/Host, 92^nd Street Y, May 2009

Hosted contest winners in city-wide performance.

Performer/Teaching Artist, IS 145 Queens, May 2009

Performed and conducted Q&A about performance poetry and my collection of poems, “Growing Up Hip-Hop,” simultaneously with three classrooms via video-teleconferencing.

Teaching Artist/Host/Performer, Police Athletic League (PAL), May 2009

Facilitated performance workshops with student and staff contest winners at eight PAL centers throughout New York City and hosted final performance.

Resident Artist, Performer, Holderness School, March 2009

Facilitated slam poetry workshops with students and staff during the two-week Artward Bound programming.

Performed one-person multimedia show, “Growing Up Hip-Hop: Plugged-In.”

Teaching Artist, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2008

In-school poetry guest in New York City schools leading up to Brooklyn Academy of Music’s “Voices for Change” performance series, exposed students to using poetry as a tool for self-expression and positive change.

Teaching Artist, Community Works, 2006-present.

In-school and after-school poetry mentor in New York City schools; designed curriculum for residency programs such as “Brooklyn to South Africa cultural exchange,” “Poetry and Basketball Rites of Passage,” and “Making a Difference” poetry and drama programs.

Teaching Artist, Urban Word, 2005-present.

In-school and after-school poetry mentor in New York City middle and high schools; designed curriculum for one-day and residencies such as Dreamwork’s “Virtual Poetry Slam,” and “Rebel Poetry,” programs; compiled anthologies; host, performer and guest judge at special events.

WORKSHOPS (ADULTS/UNIVERSITY):

Guest Lecture, Bank Street College, May 2009

Led a workshop and lectured about integrating youth culture into the classroom with a group of education students.

ITAG Facilitator, New York Collective of Radical Educator (NYCoRE), February 2009

Facilitated six sessions course “Combating the Banking Mentality: Integrating Media and Youth Culture into the Learning Environment,” with educators as part of their Inquiry-To-Action Groups (ITAG).

Guest Lecture, New York University, April 2009/2008/2007

Led a workshop and lectured about facilitating poetry workshops in classrooms with a group of education students.

Guest Lecture, New York University, November 2008/2007

Led a workshop and lecture about the intersection between hip-hop and the spoken word movement.

Guest Lecture, City College, November 2008/2007

Led a workshop and lecture about using facilitating poetry workshops in classrooms with a group of education students.

Resident Artist, University of North Carolina, NC, 2003.

Performed and facilitated “Poetry Is a Necessity” and “Poetry for Social Change” workshops as part of their multi-cultural week celebration.

Guest Lecture, Columbia University/City College, Manhattan, NY 2002.

Facilitated “History of Resistance” workshops.

SELECTED PERFORMANCES (MARCHES/RALLIES):

“The 45^th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Speech Against the Vietnam War,” Riverside Church, Manhattan, NY, 2006

“March for Peace, Justice & Democracy,” City Hall, NY, 2005.

“A Peaceful World is Possible,” May Day Celebration, NYC, 2004.

“No More Nukes Rally,” Central Park, NY, 2004.

“The World Still Says No to War,” International Day of Protest, NYC, 2004.

“Honoring the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.” with Congresswoman Barbara

Lee at Riverside Church, Harlem, NY, 2004.

“Blacks Rally Against the War,” Harlem, NY, 2003.

“Drop the Rock – Youth Speak Out,” Manhattan, NY, 2003.

“Mass Rally for CUNY and SUNY,” City Hall, NY, 2003.

“Millions for Reparations National Rally” at the United Nations –NYC, 2003.

National Student Strike: “Books Not Bombs,” Union Square, NY, 2003.

Nationally televised on C-SPAN, “No More Occupation in Iraq, Washington DC, 2003.

SELECTED PERFORMANCES (POLITICAL/ CULTURAL SPACES):

Feature poet at “State of the Black World: Report Card for Barack Obama,” with the Institute of the Black World (IBW), Washington D.C., April 2009.

Special presenter and poet at “The New Black Movement” at the Left Forum at Cooper Union, New York, NY, 2007.

Featured poet at the first solar-powered hip-hop concert at the U.S. Social Forum, Atlanta, GA, June 2007.

Opened the State of Black Men in America Conference hosted Kevin Powell, June 2003, October 2007.

Regular guest poet at the Institute of the Black World monthly forum hosted by Ron Daniels at the House of the Lord Church, Brooklyn, NY, 2004-2006.

Presented poetry and stories at the Twana Twitu Gala for Kenya’s HIV/AIDS Orphans with author of AIDS in America, Dr. Susan Hunter, White Plains, NY, 2004.

Guest poet at the Youth Summit Against Violence with Councilman Charles Barron, Brooklyn, NY, 2004.

Guest poet at presenter at the N’COBRA Regional Meeting & Teach-In, Harlem, Guest poet at the Africana Criminal Justice Conference with Manning Marable at the Schomburg Library, Harlem, NY, 2003.

Guest poet at Malcolm X Grassroots Movement’s “Black August” event, Brooklyn, NY 2002.

Opened for Amiri Baraka at the Young Communist League’s “Five Hundred Years of Resistance,” Manhattan, New York, 2002.

Guest poet at the 5^th Global Afrikan Congress, Toronto, CA, November 2002.

Guest poet at the International African Arts Festival, Brooklyn, NY, 2002.

Guest poet at the Harlem Book Festival, Harlem, NY, June 2003, June 2004.

SELECTED PERFORMANCES (PERFORMANCE SPACES):

“100 Poems For 100 Days” series at Cornelia Street Café, July 2009.

“Updating the Race Conversation,” at La Mama E.T.C., NYC, May 2009.

“Growing Up Hip-Hop: Plugged-In,” at Nuyorican Poets Café, Dec. 2009.

Featured poet and host at “La Casita Festival” at Lincoln Center, August, 2007.

Featured poet, Geraldine Dodge Poetry Festival, September 2006.

Guest poet at Rattapallax Press’ “AIDS in Africa” Poetry Marathon, NYC, 2003.

Geraldine Dodge Poetry Festival, Waterloo, NJ, October 2004.

Guest poet at the National Black Writer’s Conference, Brooklyn, NY, 2003.

TOURS/APPEARANCES:

Featured Author at NAACP’s 100^th Anniversary Celebration – NYC, July 2009

Featured Author for Mississippi Library’s Black History Month programming, toured four library sites, read poetry, Q&A and facilitated poetry workshops, Mississippi, February 2009.

Regular performer with the Nuyorican Poets Café at universities, 2002-present.

Member of the “Hip-Hop for President Tour,” National, 2008.

Performer with the live hip-hop/rock band GAME Rebellion 2003-2006.

Member of the “Black & Brown Unity Tour,” National, 2005.

Member of the “Speak Truth to Power Tour” National, 2003-2004.

PRESENTATIONS/SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:

“The Secret is Out,” Keynote Speech, Vermont College – Adult Degree Program Graduation Celebration, “What Could We Imagine?” Keynote Speech, New Design High School Graduation Celebration, Manhattan, NY, 2009.

“What Could We Imagine?” Keynote Speech, Bushwick High School for Social Justice Graduation Celebration, Brooklyn, NY, 2009.

Moderated “Feminism & Hip-Hop” panel discussion at Fordham University, Bronx, NY 2004.

Presenter and guest poet at “Forty Acres and a Mule: The Case for Black Reparations” with Manning Marable at Columbia University, NYC, 2003.

Presenter and guest poet at “Hip-Hop for Social Change” at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, 2003.

Presenter at “Hip-Hop Music: Has it Done What the Civil Rights Movement Failed to Do,” with Steve Berlack at City College of Harlem, Harlem, NY 2001.

Presenter and poet at “Reparations Forum 2003: Honoring the Debt” at the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference, Washington, DC, 2003.

OTHER:

Regularly distributes a popular newsletter, “Newsletter from the Nebakanezer” to an email list of over 5,000 people.