My Congolese friend, Kabuika Kamunga, slipped a story my way about how Michael Jackson saved her life. The story is testament to just how universal his music was (and is). An excerpt:
“Papier!” The soldiers shouted at us in French, demanding to see our ID. The threatening look on their faces did not leave any room for negotiation. Jail was where they intended to send us. That’s the place where people disappeared and women got raped. We had to avoid going there at all cost.
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Me: “No one wants to be defeated”
Her: “Yes, yes, yes, just beat it.”
Me: “Show me how strong is your fight.”
Her: “Yes, yes, yes, just beat it.”
Me: “It doesn’t matter who’s wrong or right…”
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for her full story, click here
darkjive.com 
Blackness…Finally Forgivable?
from the Stop Smiling Blog….
A Pugilist’s Pardon, Once Unforgivable
Posted on: April 1, 2009 at 1:48 pm // MARGINALIA
Really? What’s McCain’s motivation? I remember an audio piece produced by my friend Kabuika for Vocalo.org in which an eleven year old kid asks Black Journalists if they think McCain is afraid of Black People (after McCain declined an invite to a Conference of Black Journalists in 2008).
McCain, Afraid of Black People? by Kabuika
So, what is McCain’s Motivation for pushing to pardon somebody who’s been dead sixty-0dd years? Like the classic Tootsie Pop commercial, the world may never know…
1 Comment | tags: Black Journalists, boxing, jack johnson, Journalism, Kabuika Kamunga, Ken Burns, McCain, NABJ, National Association of Black Journalists, Obama, Printed Matters, Race, Stop Smiling, unforgivable blackness, vocalo, vocalo.org | posted in Book Reviews, Books, Commentary, Film and Television, Magazines, Printed Matters, Reviews