Skip to content

Tag: lives

african diaspora 1

Black History Spotlight:From Black American Soldier to Filipino Freedom Fighter: The Story of David Fagan

By:Leon Kwasi Kuntuo-Asare

Early Life

David Fagan was born in Tampa,Florida in 1875. Fagan served in the United States 24th regiment of the United States army.

Revolutionary

However on the 17th of November 1899, Fagan would leave the United States army and joined the Filipino liberation army. No one is quite sure why Fagan and some other black soldiers defected to the Filipino resistance. Some people speculate that being born only about a decade after the the Civil War and seeing White America’s mistreatment not of only Black civilians, but also Black soldiers, combined with the cruel, inhumane and racist abuse the White America soldiers inflicted on thr Filipino freedom fighters; he may of have seen more of a commonality with the cause of the dark skin Filipino freedom fighters, than he did with the white soldiers of the American imperialist war machine, some of whom were probably the children of former slave owners. Fagan would become an extremely successful guerrilla war leader and he would awarded the rank of captain in the Philippine Revolutionary army.

After The Philippine-American War

After the war was over, the United States gave amnesty to most of their opponents on the Filipino side, however Fagan did not receive amnesty and was considered by the U.S.A to be a traitor. A reward was offered for his capture, it was claimed when someone brought in a decomposed head and claimed that it belonged to Fagan. There are conflicting stories that say that the head did not belong to Fagan and claim that he lived out his life with his wife in the tranquil Filipino mountains.

Check out this short-biographic video on David Fagan

For additional information please use this link

african diaspora

Rampant Racism Throughout SFPD

Rampant Racism Throughout SFPD

SFPD Badge

San Francisco Employee Calls out Department’s Racism

By: Leon Kwasi Kuntuo-Asare

A San Francisco city employee, who was teaching anti-bias classes for two-years, recently came forward with frustration with the rampant anti-black racism that is widespread in the department.The now ex-Department of Human Resources manager said to his superiors in a farewell email:

The degree of anti-black sentiment throughout SFPD is extreme.

Dante King wrote in the email to DHR Director Micki Callahan, (San Francisco) Examiner obtained the email through a public records request past week.

King later said:

While there are some SFPD who possess somewhat of a balanced view of racism and anti-blackness, there are an equal number (if not more)-who possess and exude deeply anti-black sentiment.

The U.S. Department of Justice reviewed the SFPD in October of 2016, and discovered the department had:

numerous indicators of implicit and institutionalized bias against minority groups.

As of this writing the SFPD has only completed 16% of the 272 recommendations for reform that were issued by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Use This Link for more information

africa 0

65 PEOPLE IN NIGERIA WERE KILLED IN SUSPECTED TERRORIST ATTACK BY BOKO HARAM

By: Leon Kwasi Kuntuo-Asare

This past weekend in the northern Nigeria, 65 people were killed in a terrorist attack that occurred during a funeral.

That happened this past Saturday at a burial ceremony in the Nganzai district, which is near the Borno state capitol of Maiduguri.

Reportedly, 21 people were killed in the initial attack, and 44 were killed when local villagers attempted to capture the terrorist.

For additional information use the link below:

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/07/28/africa/boko-haram-attack-nigeria/index.html

african-american 0

THE STATE OF ILLINOIS LEGALIZES RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA USE AND SEEKS TO EXPUNGE MANY PAST CONVICTIONS

By: Leon Kwasi Kuntuo-Asare

The state of Illinois just legalized the recreational use of marijuana in the state. Politicians claim that the law will also expunge the records of those convicted of marijuana use in the past.

The Atlanta Black Star reported:

“Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday signed into law the legal use of cannabis for recreational purposes by adults. That makes Illinois the 11th one in the country to approve smoking or consuming weed for fun in a history-making feat.”

Under the new law residents will be allowed to possess 30 grams of flower cannabis, while non-residents will be able to legally possess 15 grams.

A 2013 report from the American Civil Liberties Union discovered
That eventhough Black people only represented about 15% of the population they were about 58%

USA Today reports that the up to 34.74 percent taxes imposed on cannabis products would finance the expungement of about 770,000 low-level marijuana convictions.

For additional information use link below:

https://atlantablackstar.com/2019/06/26/recreational-marijuana-use-approved-in-illinois-criminal-records-to