WAR FOR YOUR SOUL

A War For Your Soul-regular version from Erisai Films on Vimeo.

A filmmaker and public speaker, Reggie Bullock is a vibrant voice and accomplished role model for the youth of today. On March 15, 2009, Reggie’s short film "A War For Your Soul" was independently released on the internet, and has catapulted as a “stirring, epic and inspirational” video for today’s generation”. Over 6 million internet viewers have watched “A War For Your Soul” in 1 year. The video has garnered praise from mayors, city leaders, youth and civic organizations and almost every major country around the world, sparking dialogue in encouraging adults to play a more active role in educating children.

On Oct. 14th, Popular radio host Michael Baisden said "This is a must see film".

On Jan. 20th Reggie received the key to the city award from the city council members from the city of Macon GA.

Reggie is currently active as a noted speaker, conducting speaking engagements throughout the country. For speaking engagements contact warforyoursoul.com or reggie.bullock@comcast.net

This video was created to inspire young at-risk African-Americans not to fall prey to some of the problems they face in society. The "Master of Darkness" represents that abstract concept of evil that has the potential to reside in the consciousness of mankind.

The use of the images of Richard Pryor and NAS, were used to show how we have publicly displayed the "N" word over the course of time. Richard Pryor, before his death, had gone on record to publicly denounce his use of the word, and the Rapper NAS ( one of the few socially conscious rappers ) intentions of wearing the jacket had nothing to do with the glorification of the word. I have enjoyed some of Pryor's masterful story telling and I have also enjoyed some of the thought provoking music from NAS.

This video should not to be used to divide people (Black & White).
This video should not be used to criticize all aspects of hip-hop culture.
This video should not be used to allow the rest of society to escape from their responsibility, to help with financial & academic support.

If used properly, this video will allow our youth to see some of the horrific conditions that their ancestors fought through and some of the horrific conditions they face today.

An extensive commentary about the film can be seen at warforyoursoul.com

**THIS VIDEO IS NOT FOR SALE & I AM NOT ACCEPTING DONATIONS FOR THE FILM, I ONLY WANT THE MESSAGE TO REACH AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT ANY HIDDEN POLITICAL OR FINANCIAL AGENDA.

Contacts:
Origins of the Word Nigger
warforyoursoul.com
reggie.bullock@comcast.net
facebook.com/reggie.bullock
twitter.com/ReggieBullock

KSU ALUMNI ORGANIZE REUNION IN CYBERSPACE

The 4th Annual Black Alumni Reunion was held last weekend at Kent's Rathskeller. It was a very successful event with approximately 300 Black Alumni in attendance. Members came from all over the country. The member who came the furthest distance was Adisa Alkebulan from San Diego, CA.

Event organizers Andrea Wright and Kellea Tibbs brought the event into the 21st century by notifying attendees via a new network on Ning.com a relatively new networking website. Ning allows members who sign up to communicate with each other 24/7 using a variety of user created networks for free.

The Kent State Black Alumni Association now has a membership of almost 300 people. Their network on Ning was established in 2008 and is now in full force and effect.

Andrea Wright, one of the founders of the association, which just gained and official status at Kent, states on her personal page that,

"I count it a blessing to be able to greet all of the Black Alumni from Kent State University. Thank you for joining the social networking site designed to be a tool to bring us back together to remember our days on the campus in Kent, Ohio. Kent State University is one of Ohio's top public universities. The university played an important role in all of our lives. It's continuing to make a difference in young student's lives and as Black Alumni, we can play an important role.

The ultimate purpose is to reconnect and unify ourselves for one purpose. The purpose is to be officially recognized again as The Black Alumni Chapter. As an official chapter, we will be able to access budgeted funds to do programming designed with not only bringing us together but assisting those students still matriculating at the university.

Our goal is not just to socialize. However, through socializing and networking, we can broaden our goals and maximize our possibilities."

One of the ways that the organization plans to meet this goal is by creating a scholarship fund, financed initially by the admission fees collected by the association at the reunion. Now that the association has been recognized by the KSU Alumni Association they can apply make funding requests from the university and take the organization to the next level.

The party's over, but the beat goes on. We look forward to covering future events sponsored by the Kent State Black Alumni Association.

SAINT MAURICE & THE THEBAN LEGION

Check out the coat of arms of Pope Benedict the XVI. For those non-Catholics amongst you, he's the current Pope, who hails from Germany.

When I saw the close up of Saint Maurice's statue I did not have to think twice about what happened to his nose. It was all too apparent, that someone had deliberately broken it off. There are many statues all over Europe, especially in cultural havens like Rome. Many of them have missing appendages, typically the arms or even the legs, but most prevalent are the missing arms.

In Egypt, however we see something that doesn't jibe with that whole vibe, missing noses. The question begs to be asked how has it happened that so many of the pharaohs statues have endured earth quakes, inundations, etc. and the only significant damage is to their noses, while other civilizations all over the globe have antiquities which are younger, but with intact noses.

I have to conclude that some body or bodies have gone through the country and systematically removed the noses from the statues in a vain attempt to erase the Black man from the historical timeline of the ancient Egyptians. Why would someone do this? It's really quite simple. The Egyptian civilization is the forefather of Western civilization. In order to maintain the unnatural premise of white supremacy history had to be rewritten.

This is what we see with Saint Maurice, the rewriting of history, where whites have always ruled and Blacks have been their subservient slaves. The problem is that historians like J.A. Rogers and Runoko Rashidi keep pulling off the bedsheets, uncovering a "master race" that worships Black people as gods or at least in a godlike manner.

There's much more evidence of this "hero worship" than there is of our supposed inferiority. We have good examples of this in the numerous European coats of arms with depictions of a coal black St. Maurice or one of the 20 other Black saints, who stood firm with him on the battlefield of Aganaum and refused to slaughter their Christian brothers and sisters, that fateful day in 287 CE (common era).

SAINT MAURICE AND THE THEBAN LEGION

I first heard of Saint Maurice from J.A. Rogers. The stunning picture you see here accompanied the story of St. Maurice of Auganaum. The idea of a Black patron saint of Germany was intriguing, indeed. J.A. Rogers also spoke of the numerous Black Madonnas of Europe. Again, this was a revelation, as who would have thought that white people could worship Black saints and even a Black Madonna and child.

Well, Runoko Rashidi has just returned from visiting some of the sacred sites of Europe dedicated to the Black saints and Martyrs of Christianity and he's brought a picture with him that has stirred a renewed interest in St. Maurice, in particular. This picture shows St. Maurice without a nose. Now, clearly he's Black in skin color and features. The antiquity of the statue is without doubt, but like the statues of the pharoahs of Egypt, the nose is missing.

As is the case with the many shrines and depictions of Africans in Europe today, there's typically been a series of convoluted explanations to explain away such anomalies. It's been said of many of the Black Madonnas that smoke produced by thousands of candles burnt over the years has blackened specific parts of the statues without blackening other parts. For instance, the face, and hands will be black, while Mary's headdress and clothing is pure white and sparkling. I'd be interested in hearing someone actually try to explain how that happens, just for kicks.

I haven't heard Runoko's story of the missing nose of St. Maurice, but I'm sure it's a doozy. The only story I've heard so far that sounds true to form, when it comes to the missing nose of a statue, is the one about Napoleon and the missing nose of the Great Sphinx. It's been said that he blew it off with a cannon, because he went all the way to the home of the ancients, the founders of the philosophical base which is Western civilization and found someone immortalized their that looked like one of his chief rivals and that of a rebel chief in the French colonies. I'm speaking of Thomas Alexander Dumas, the French General and Toussaint L'Overture, the Haitian Revolutionary. It was too much for him.

Look for Part II tomorrow

Black United Students Celebrate 40 Years at KSU

Black United Students (BUS) was founded 40 years ago this year, on the campus of Kent State University. The organization has gone through many changes over time. But, much remains the same.

Dr. Larry Simpson, the first president of BUS, returned to the campus November 8, 2008 for a celebration of the past 40 years. He's now the Senior Vice President of Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, in charge of academic affairs. Over the years his experience with BUS has served him well. As he stated in his keynote address the other night. Being involved in BUS gave him a window into the adult world that he may not have experienced had it not been for BUS. Mostly, it was about learning how to work with other people and function as a member of society.

In his work at Berklee, the world's largest music school, he is still an advocate for students and their success within an institutional environment, as is another former BUS president Dean Tim Moore. Dean Moore is an Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University. He's also a professor in Pan-African Studies where he's taught for over 30 years.

A number of other past presidents of BUS and BUS members were present for the celebration and awarding of Dr. Edward W. Crosby with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He also spoke about the significance of BUS in the formation of 3 academic departments at Kent State University. The Pan-African Studies Department is one of those departments. In 1968 there was no Pan-African Studies Department. Dr. Crosby was brought to Kent to form just such a department. In the beginning it was known as the Institute of African American Affairs (IAAA).

IAAA was crucial to the lives of many of the Black students on campus. Many of them would not have graduated had it not been for the support of IAAA. Many of these students experienced culture shock upon entering the university environment and needed somewhere to go that felt familiar. They also needed help in a number of other ways, including academics, finances, etc. As Dr. Crosby stated so eloquently that night he "clothed himself with students," which served him well in negotiating with the powers that be, while it served the students too.

Affirmative Action laws were in place, but in some ways it seemed as if IAAA was doing all the heavy lifting in that regard. No department on campus had as many Black faculty. To this day many of those Black faculty are still teaching at Kent, although few of them were seen that night. This was a night for the students.

Following the parade of presidents the current members of the BUS executive board outlined their goals for this year. Some of the highlights included working on the Obama campaign and going into neighboring communities to work with the youth. The Progressive Education Community School which was initiated in the late 60's as the African Liberation Tutoring program has had new life breathed into it by the current BUS board. Kaisha Sherills has been instrumental in bringing this program back to life. She is the Community Affairs Officer of BUS and is a real spark plug.

Ashley Tolliver current BUS president and her board did a fine job of putting together a program in less than 2 months. They are to be commended for their efforts. Hopefully, their experience with BUS will be as noteworthy and invigorating as that of past BUS members.