To: Youth and Community Leaders Involved in the Ferguson Organizing efforts. Below are Agenda items discussed on the Friends of the African Union Conference Call Aug. 24. This call was moderated by Mwalimu W. Kabaila, Chair, Congress of African People and Chief of Staff, FAU, Congresses.
This call will take place every Sun. same time, same place. For inquiries we are on FAcebook at FAU Ferguson or inbox.
A. The Family, Ferguson and the Surrounding St. Louis Area.
1. Comfort and support for the Brown Family
2. Ways and means of making Monday a solemn day, and considering ways to best memorialize Michael.
3. Consider a Boycott of Businesses which do not reinvest back into depressed communities in the area.
4. Design methods and approaches to get communities in and around Ferguson engaged in electoral politics and select candidates who are accountable and act in the interest of the people. Elected officials should take lead in the fight to demilitarize the police, police more training in dealing with local communities, engage community policing, set up a community police review Board,and support Community Policing such as a Community Alert Patrol which monitors police activity, and mediates minor disputes within our own communities.
5. Identify and support Community Based organizations in Ferguson and surrounding Communities. Information on Leadership, Structure and Program should go into a database, so that resources can be accessed and referrals given when appropriate. Leadership should not automatically reside with church leaders, but with a secular leadership Cadre who demonstrate vision, insight, Management skills, program development, and which command respect of diverse youth cadres. An important distinction was made between a Coalition which is a temporary association on a given issue, vs. an Alliance which is a permanent association based on common goals, principles, and vision.When starting any organization there are at least 4 Aspects to consider:
A. Ideology - Goals, Objectives, Policy, Program,
B. Organization - Structure, Leadership, both of which should be geared to implement programmatic emphasis
C. Communication - Ways and means of disseminating information and propaganda; and channels to receive vital info.
D. Resources - Financial, Material, and Skilled Personnel
6. New industries should be suggested. Job training programs must be implemented. Minimum Wage must be supported and people put into elected office who will help build the economic viability of the communities. Education must become a top priority and the school system must be revised where necessary and/or needed.
7. A Youth Program should be developed which connects Ferguson youth with other youth in the African American, Pan African, and World Communities. We in CAP and FAU can help in this regard by taking advantage of our social networks and technical and communications expertise.
In CAP is our goal to build a worldwide Simba Wachanga (Young Lions) Movement which connects African Descendant youth in constructive Civil Society and Nation Building processes, which the FAU is engaged in also. We subscribe to a Pan African Rites of Passage Curriculum and Program, which has the effect connecting African Descendant Youth Globally, and forming those bonds culturally, spiritually and practically.
B. Mobilizing and Organizing on a National Level, giving special attention to the African American Community.
1. One of the ways of memorializing Michael Brown is to give recognition to way in which he unified us. Because of Michael and the unique history of Ferguson and Missouri in our Liberation Struggle, one of the ways to promote economic empowerment in Ferguson and surrounding communities, is to consider Cultural Tourism.
a. A museum which recognizes the lives of Mike and other martyrs in our movement who have sacrificed their lives due to police and/or racial violence. In the same complex could be a Theme Park which is designed around telling the history of African people from their respective historical periods. WE would ask the children in area to come up with ideas for rides in the theme park. There is already a plan for such a park called Sankofaland, by Dr. Bey.
b. Stem schools could have science fairs where children could compete with projects
2. Organizationally and Structurally, we would suggest the formation of a number of structures which would seek to harness the collective energy and resources of our various communities.
a. A Black Congress for each and every community. This entity would bring together all interest groups in each community from: community organizations, churches, businesses, politicians, students, scholars and professionals and block clubs. Black Congresses would be formed locally, regionally and would feed into a National Assembly which would meet every four years. The National Assembly would have speakers and workshops from all sectors to give a State of the Nation address in their respective areas of expertise, thus giving direction for the next four years.
b. Each local Congress should also have a Council of Elders (COE) and Queen Mother Program. The function of these entities would be that they serve as cultural gatekeepers by promoting the Kwanzaa Accords, and that these accords be utilized in conflict resolution, sanctions when people violate community standards of behavior instead of always calling in the law; foundation for business and social entrepreneurship; spiritual regeneration and ethical expectations.
The COE would also oversee Central Planning for our communities, where and when such is feasible. The Council of Elders would also have the exclusive authority to initiate and institutionalize the study of traditional African cultural models which could/might be incorporated as paradigms for future Pan African Development Strategies.
Rights of Passage is such a model. We should initiate African Weddings Ceremonies also, and this would be an economic boost to our community, thus providing an example of Pan African industry building.
c. Local FAU chapters would be charged with obtaining all available information on all organizations and businesses and ensuring that they are inputted to a Regional and National Data Base.
d. The FAU is planning to be the lead organization to conduct a plebiscite in 2015 to elect the 4 representatives for seats in reserve at the African Union for African Americans. Twenty seats have been reserved for the entire Diaspora (300M people worldwide) , and the Caribbean has already selected their representatives.
e. Establishment of a Nationally based Advisory Board for Ferguson and surrounding communities, such that you can access resources available from the national and Pan African Community, as your need and will determine.
Leadership from FAU and CAP stand ready to serve on such a Board.
C. Connecting on a Global level with the African Union and Pan African Communities, Worldwide.
1. Michael Brown, his family and citizens of Ferguson and surrounding communities who are African American and or Africans living in the USA are all considered to be a part of the more than 300 million people in Diaspora, and therefore have rights and privileges as such.
The Friends of the African Union is working diligently to build the links and structural capacity, which will unite African descended people on a global level, thus enhancing our political, economic and social well being. The following suggestions have been put forward, by FAU Chairman, Hershel Daniels Junior:
a. The African Union, to date, is the only organization which has the structural and functional capacity to unite, and service the needs and aspirations of the more than 1.4 billion African people, globally. The FAU has a 50 year plan, which, if implemented, can help to transform the AU into what it has promised to be/become. It provides the organizational framework to achieve collective goals, thus, moving our people closer to Full and Final Liberation. The database will be used to verify organizations involved in the plebiscite.
To attend and vote, all organizations who wish to be part of the Alliance for the African American Vote have to be
(a) Committed to building a solution, based on the words and deeds of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, based on the killing of, Mike Brown, a member of the people of the African Union (AU) living in the United States of America (USA).
(b) Committed to building the African Union and to contributing to the
unification and development of Africa,
(c) Committed to assist and participate with the African Diaspora in joining the African Union as voting members from the sixth region of the organization who support Peace, Security and basic human dignity within Africa and around the globe, with an emphasis on stopping slavery, of all types, in the AU and the African Diaspora.
(d) Committed to recognize Africa as their motherland with the African Union as its global representative and to use their networks to spread the word of the AU-Diaspora process and the implementation of Africa 2063 through the AU African Solidarity Initiative, and;
(e) We support the organization of African and peoples of African
descent self-interest and uplift through a committee structure and
take responsibility for organizing such in the United States of
America. We support the writing of a new law to be called the African
Growth and Opportunity Act of 2063 (AGOA2063) a new creation of a new plan between the United States of America and the African Union that is supportive of the African Diaspora in the USA and would be sustainable not only in Africa but also in the host countries of the African Diaspora. We support political empowerment of Africans as individual citizens and in free associations on cooperation and solidarity in the continent and in Diaspora.
2. Through connecting with the African Union, we can expand trade and commerce, begin our own Sports Leagues, promote Cultural Tourism, build a Pan African Youth, Women and Men's Movements, Develop mutually beneficial and interactive markets for exchange of goods and services, engage in infra-structure development of our communities, support movements for Peace and Security in more substantive ways, Build Pan African Institutions, such as distance learning centers, Universities, Health Care Delivery systems, Develop innovations in Agriculture, e.g. Floating Farms, Provide solutions for Waste management, Water purification and Energy needs, etc.
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