Archbishop Desmond Tutu retires

Tutu to retire

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has officially announced his retirement from public life after many years of political activism and human rights work.

The decision comes as Mr Tutu celebrates his 79th birthday.

Bernie Grant centre

The Bernie Grant centre in Tottenham is to get a makeover according to a report in the Voice today.

Much of the grounds surrounding the central building will be furnished with outdoors facilities including an open air theatre and cultural arts fair space.

The centre is named after Bernie Grant, the fearless maverick Black MP, who represented Tottenham in Parliament from 1987-2000.  He became a living icon of Black British History by becoming one of the first Black MPs in the UK Parliament .  

Black History Month

Guardian journalist Afiya Hirsch today published an article on the Guardian’s Comment is Free page.

In it she articulates the importance and relevance of celebrating Black history.

She also puts to bed the often widely held views of so-called Liberals who tow the ‘What about white history?’ line.

Holocaust denier causes outrage over plans for WW2 Nazi death camps visit

Irving - Holocaust denier

David Irving, who was jailed in Austria for denying the Holocaust, has caused outrage among Jewish and anti racist groups as a result of his plans to start a tour of World War II sites, including the former Treblinka death camp in Poland.

Obituary: Frank Crichlow, founder of Mangrove Community Association

Mangrove Community Association

Frank Crichlow, born in Trinidad, founder of the Mangrove Community Association Notting Hill, West London, once the godfather of black radicalism throughout the 70′s and 80′s has passed away after a long struggle against prostate cancer.

Churchill: Racial hatred caused Indian deaths

Winston Churchill

According to a new book that has been published former PM Winston Churchill who led Britain to victory in WW2, caused the death of countless Indians who starved during the Bengal Famine following Japan’s occupation of India from 1943.

Madhusree Mukerjee’s new book ‘Churchill’s Secret War’ charges and argues that Churchill’s actions led to the suffering of those who died, due to rice and other essentials being earmarked for the British soldiers at a time when shortages were reaching critical levels in the country.

Six drowned spark black swimming debate

Drowning - grief in local community

Six African-American teenagers drowned in a single tragic incident in the United States Louisiana last month.

The tragedy has prompted many questions about the widely held perception about why many Black people have not learned to swim. The BBC recently explored this subject.

Elijah Muhammad granddaughter visits Nazi death camps

Muslim delegates - prayers before the main monument at Dachau

The granddaughter of Elijah Muhammad the founder of the Nation of Islam has visited German Nazi concentration death camps in an effort to foster greater religious understanding and to gain insight into the Jewish experience of holocaust.

Laila Muhammad was one of eight prominent African American Muslim’s who visited Germany on a trip organised by Marshall Breger, an Orthodox Jew who served in the Reagan and first Bush administrations.  The delegation met holocaust survivors and visited the death camps of Auschwitz, and Birkenau.

Adolf Hitler descended from Africans and Jews

Adolf's African roots?

In a surprise story even for the silly season of August there are reports that recent DNA test suggest that Adolf Hitler, Leader of the Third Reich and White Aryan supremacist was in fact descended from African Berbers and Ashkenazi Jews.

The Flemish-language magazine Knack sent investigative journalist Jean-Paul Mulders on a mission to trace Hitler’s living relatives in his native Austria, as well as the United States. Geneticists identify groups of chromosomes called haplogroups, ‘genetic fingerprints’ that define populations.

Rev Al Sharpton – reclaiming the dream

Sharpton: reclaiming the dream

Forty-seven years after the historic March on Washington, Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network and leaders from his over 47 National Action Network chapters across the country, along with heads of progressive organizations, unions and clergy, will lead a mass rally and march in Washington, DC on Saturday, August 28, 2010 to RECLAIM THE DREAM.

August 23rd: Slavery Memorial Day

Jasper: marking slavery memorial day

Today 23rd August marks the official the 3rd national anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade recognised by both UNESCO and the UK government.

With events happening in the famous Slave Ports of Liverpool and Bristol but not in the nation’s capital Lee Jasper looks at the significance of the day for the UK and London’s involvement with one of the greatest crime ever to be committed in human history.

A world record for reading to school children

Simon Woolley

I wrote back in March the wonderful experience at the East London Mosque where we broke a world record for reading to school children from the area.

Take a look at the five minute video to get a flavour of what the day was like.

Ethiopian-born educator, Teshome H. Gabriel dies aged 70

Teshome H. Gabriel

Teshome H. Gabriel, a UCLA School of Theater , Film and Television professor and internationally recognised African scholar of Third World cinema, has died. He was 70.

The Ethiopian-born Gabriel died Monday of sudden cardiac arrest at Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Medical Center, said university spokeswoman Teri Bond.

Mockingbird: wrong makes anti-racist right

To Kill a Mockingbird

Millions of people all over the world have read the book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. The classic novel by Harper Lee offers insightful moral lessons about racial justice and respect. It tells the story of a young girl named Scout and her father, Atticus Finch, a lawyer.

He defends a Black man wrongfully accused of raping a white woman. In the end, an all-white jury sentences that black man – Tom Robinson – to death.

Heart of England gets Asian Voice

Yorkshire batsman Ajmal Shahzad

The rich diversity of Britain is set to be enhanced by a two year project funded by Heritage Lottery Fund that records the experiences of South Asian migrants to the region that is often described as the heart of the UK. A fantastic oral history project conducted by the Asian Voices project is set to lift the lid on the diverse history of Yorkshire.

Suspected Stephen Lawrence Killer Faces Jail Over Drugs Charge

Stephen Lawrence

One of the men suspected of murdering teenager Stephen Lawrence could be heading to jail after being embroiled in drugs charges.

Gary Dobson 34, who many believe was one of the men who murdered Lawrence, was caught by police on camera in the middle of a drug deal with Stephen Fennell. The two were arrested after £350,000 of cannabis along with a large quantity of cocaine was found at the residence of Fennell.

Sikhs Take Journey to Remember WWI Fallen

Sikh WW1 remberance

The First World War ended over 90 years ago. Little is known or understood about the vital contribution of Commonwealth Soldiers to the British Empires effort to defeat Germany during the first World War.

The Indian Army for example lost over 65,000 solders and that brave sacrifice was recognised recently when a group of Sikhs from the UK travelled to European battlefield’s to pay homage to those that died for ‘Queen and Country’.