Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Education is Power - 2nd Annual Illinois Immigrant Integration Summit


Click for larger image
This Saturday, February 4, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) is holding its 2nd Annual Immigrant Integration Summit. This Summit is themed: Education is Power

Date: Saturday, February 4, 2012
Time: 9am-1pm
Venue: Malcolm X College, 1900 West Van Buren, Chicago, IL

Registration information available on ICIRR website.

At the Summit, ICIRR will: 
  • Host a Naturalization Workshop, assisting legal permanent residents fill out their U.S. citizenship forms.
  • Launch their Uniting America civic engagement program; a partnership between ICIRR, the State of Illinois, and Americorps to unite native-born citizens with immigrant communities through volunteerism.
  • Ratify their 2012 Policy Platform. 
  • Hold policy workshops on issues ranging from Health and Human Services to Deportations to Running for Local School Council. 
  • Plan their immigrant voter mobilization program for 2012.
Don't miss this incredible opportunity to get to the heart of issues in immigrant communities, get some valuable advice and come together with others to build a movement for positive change.

Monday, January 30, 2012

An Evening with Hugh Masekela: Saturday, Feb 18th in Evanston, IL


The ANC (African National Congress) Centenary Committee, Chicago-Midwest and Northwestern University presents:

An Evening with Hugh Masekela - The Jabulani Tour

VIP tickets through the centenary committee includes reception: $25 for adults and $10 for students. Last chance for VIP tickets!
RSVP by 2/2 to vickie.casanova@yahoo.com

If these tickets have run out from the centenary committee, you can also get tickets via Northwestern University website.

Date: Saturday, February 18, 2012
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Pick-Staiger Hall, Northwestern University, 50 Arts Circle Drive Evanston, IL 60208

Hugh Masekela is a legendary South African musician. He is best known for his work as a jazz composer and trumpeter. According to the concert website, Masekela also plays the trumpet, flugelhorn, and cornet, has long been a major player on international jazz, pop, and world music scenes. He is also a well-known anti-apartheid campaigner and spent many years in exile in the United States with his then wife Miriam Makeba. He has collaborated with, among others, Bob Marley, Herb Alpert, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Masekela is touring the United States to promote his newest album, Jabulani. 

Don't miss this incredible opportunity to see a great African musician live!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Panel Discussion on Sat, Feb 11: ANC and African Liberation Movements

Register to attend ANC and African Liberation Struggles Event. The event is free.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, the United African Organization (UAO) invites you to:

A panel discussion and multimedia presentation on the ANC's links to other liberation struggles in Africa, and the contributions of African countries to the struggle against apartheid.
We will open the event with some clips from Have You Heard from Johannesburg, a series of documentaries by Connie Fields about the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.

Our panelists are: Prexy Nesbitt (on Mozambique and Angola), James Thindwa (on Zimbabwe), Joshua Ngoma (on Zambia) and Fatuma Karuma (Tanzania).

There will be time for questions and comments from the audience.

Date: Saturday, February 11, 2012
Time: 3:30pm-6:00pm
Venue: Bronzeville Room
6th Floor, IIT Tower Building
10 West 35th Street 
Chicago, IL 60616

Please RSVP:
Online
Or via email: events@uniteafricans.org 
Or via phone: 312-949-9980

Don't miss this fascinating event! Get your tickets now!

ONE AFRICA - Sign the petition: Tell US State Department that North Africa is Africa too!

Tell US State Department that North Africa is Africa too! Sign the Petition!


ONE AFRICA CAMPAIGN

The United African Organization has launched a petition on Change.org, lobbying the U.S. Department of State to include the whole African continent under its Bureau of African Affairs. 

Why? Because the State Department's Bureau of African Affairs, led by Assistant Secretary Johnnie Carson, currently excludes Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara from its agenda. 

Instead, the aforementioned countries are grouped with the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, together with Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and others. 

This distinction is based on false labels and outdated racist categorization with no empirical validity. The artificial distinction between North Africa and the rest of Africa could be perceived as a balkanization scheme, which negatively impacts US foreign policy relations throughout the entire continent of Africa.

North Africa is geographically and historically part of the African continent, and all fifty-three (53) independent African states, including North African countries, are represented in the African Union (AU).

We strongly believe that it would be far more productive for the State Department to engage with the entire continent of Africa, including North Africa, under its Bureau of African Affairs.

We are one Africa, from the Cape to Cairo, indivisible and bound together! Therefore, no square inch of African land should be excluded from African affairs.

Join the UAO in petitioning the U.S. Department of State to restructure its diplomatic bureaus so as to include the entire continent of Africa under its Bureau of African Affairs!

Monday, January 23, 2012

African Voices Podcast, Episode 4 online


The first podcast of 2012! African Voices, Episode 4!

In this episode:

  •  News and events from the African community in Illinois this month.
  •  Top news stories from the African continent.
  •  How to get employment advice from the UAO. 
  •  Africans in Chicago interview with Fatimata Traore, President of Illinois Association of Hair braiders.
  •  Music from Chicago-based duo Survivors, made up of Johnny T from Rwanda and Jeanri from Haiti. 

CLICK TO LISTEN

If you would like to contribute news, events, issues, interviews or music to our podcast, email us: podcasts@uniteafricans.org or call: (312) 949 9980 between 9am-5pm, Mon-Fri. Click this link to see the full details of news, events and music featured on the podcast.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Nigerian student in Washington faces deportation

DreamActivist.org reports that Nigerian student Al Chisom, a senior at Central Washington University, is due to be deported from the U.S. Chisom's father, a journalist who exposed corruption in Nigeria, was assassinated in 1995. After his father's death, Chisom and his mother came to the U.S. to seek asylum. Unfortunately, in 2005, due to an attorney's error, asylum was not granted and Okere's mother was deported back to Nigeria. She is currently in hiding. Chisom, who arrived in the U.S. when he was 5, is an honor-roll student in Washington and aspires to be a doctor. He is also a DREAM-Act eligible student. However, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) now wants to deport Chisom back to Nigeria. Chisom has made his life in the U.S. In a video online, he says:

"ICE wants to deport me to a place I don't remember, a language I don't know. I am not a criminal."


To sign the petition to urge ICE not to deport Chisom, click here.

See Chisom's appeal in the video below:



A DreamActivist blogger wrote about Chisom's situation for MLK day. Other young people face similar struggles to Chisom. To find out more, go to DreamActivist.org.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

2012/2013 Davis-Putter Scholarship for students working for social justice



The Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund aids people active in movements for social and economic justice. These need-based scholarships are awarded to students who are able to do academic work at the college or university level and who are active in the progressive movement. Early recipients worked for civil rights, against McCarthyism and for peace in Vietnam. Recent grantees have been active in the struggle against racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression; building the movement for economic justice; and creating peace through international anti-imperialist solidarity. Applicants must have participated in activities in the US, and there is a strong preference for applicants who plan on working in this country.

The maximum grant available from the Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund is $10,000 per year (from July 1 through June 30). Grants are disbursed to cover each separate semester, quarter or term during which the grantee is attending school. Grants must be used in the year they are awarded and cannot be deferred or carried over. Recipients must reapply each year support is sought. Applications must be postmarked no later than April 1. Applicants will be informed of decisions in July.

2012/2013 applications (along with information about the fund, past grantees, and the application process) are now available at www.davisputter.org. Deadline for applications is April 1st, 2012.

2nd Anniversary of Haiti Earthquake

Let us have a moment of reflection today for all the victims, as we recognize the second anniversary of the Haiti quake. Our thoughts are with our Haitian friends in Chicago, Haiti and all over the world.

See this slideshow on Haiti: Two Years On from South African newspaper the Mail & Guardian

This SATURDAY, 2pm: Alie Kabba's WVON radio show on DRC


On Saturday, 14 January, 2:00pm-3:00pm, UAO's Executive Director Alie Kabba will focus his WVON AM1690 radio show, Africa Speaks, on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). During the show, Dr. Kabba will be on the line with Maurice Carney from Friends of the Congo. Friends of the Congo is an organization based in Washington DC that raises consciousness around the challenge of the Congo as supports Congolese institution as they try to bring about peaceful change.

Alie Kabba hosts a monthly show on Chicago's WVON, AM1690. The radio station provides an interactive forum for the African American community to discuss current, social, economic, and political issues. Africa Speaks will feature discussion on issues affecting the African continent.

Don't forget to tune in Saturday, January 14 at 2:00pm (CST) as we focus on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. You can listen live on www.wvon.com, and call-in during the show with your comments or questions.

African Voices air-times in January on Legend Talk Radio

African Voices podcast will be airing on our partner community radio station, Legend Talk Radio, at the following times this month:

Mondays: 12pm – 1pm; 6pm – 7pm
Thursdays: 12pm – 1pm
Fridays: – 7pm – 8pm

To listen on our cell phone (free), dial 832-280-0017 
 
You can also log on live to Legend Talk Radio online to listen.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

What is the proposed Family Unity Waiver?


Last week, the Obama administration announced that it would propose a Family Unity Waiver. What does this mean?

The waiver would make it possible for some close relatives of US citizens who qualify for legal status to process their applications more quickly and easily. According to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), the proposal is "a significant step to enable spouses, sons, and daughters of US citizens to gain legal status without needing to face long-term separation from their families."

Under the current system, relatives of US citizens have to return to their home countries in order to apply for legal status. Once they have left the US though, there is no telling how long it will take to process their application or even if their application will be approved. As a result, many people currently face long term separation from their family members who are citizens in the US. The proposed Waiver would allow relatives of US citizens to have their applications processed while they are still in the US. Leaving the country and coming back again would therefore only be a formality and not a long-term separation.

However, ICIRR warns against complacency because the Family Unity Waiver is a proposal and not law - the Family Unity Waiver "does not by itself change any existing legal standards, and does not entitle anyone to legal status or create any new program to apply for one." There is still work to be done to make proposals like this reality and improve the lives of countless immigrants to the United States.

For more information on the Family Unity Waiver, check out ICIRR's fact sheet or attend a training that ICIRR is holding on:

Saturday, February 4, 2012, at Malcolm X College, as part of its Integration Summit.

Film about Chad screening this Friday


Un homme qui crie / A Screaming Man
Friday, January 13, 2012 - 7:00pm

As part of the The Tournées Festival of New French Cinema (January 6-February 3, 2012) at University of Chicago, the Film Studies Center will be screening a film from Chad called Un homme qui crie / A Screaming Man. Here's the description

"Working on a scale both intimate (a father’s wounded ego) and epic (a nation torn apart by civil war), writer-director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun creates a tender but unsentimental portrait of present-day Chad, simultaneously unfolding private and national tragedies through the tale of a father, a son and a gleaming swimming pool."

(Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Chad/France/Belgium, 2010, French and Arabic w. English subtitles, 35mm, 92 min)

The screening is free and open to the public but you are encouraged to make reservations. It takes place at 5811 South Ellis Ave, Cobb Hall 306, Chicago, Illinois 60637

Thursday, January 5, 2012

UAO interviews Funeka Sihlali about ANC centenary and South Africa on CANTV



Last night UAO Executive Director Alie Kabba interviewed Funeka Sihlali, a South African who has been living in Chicago in the 1970s. In this fascinating interview, Funeka talks about how she left South Africa due, in part, to her involvement in protests as a nursing student. She speaks about the solidarity she found among the African-American community in Chicago, and the role African-Americans played in the struggle against apartheid. She also talks about the African National Congress' centenary celebrations this weekend and events planned throughout the year to celebrate its 100th birthday.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Don't miss UAO on CANTV tonight! Feature on ANC's (South Africa) 100th anniversary



The UAO's next CANTV show takes place TONIGHT! That's Wednesday, January 4th from 6:30pm-7:00pm. Tune into Channel 21 on Cable Television to watch or check the UAO's video channel later in the week.

Tonight UAO Executive Director Alie Kabba speaks to Funeka Sihlali, a South African immigrant to Chicago. Funeka arrived in Chicago in the 1970s and has been a long-time contributor to the South African and African community in Chicago. 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of South Africa's African National Congress (ANC), the party that spearheaded the struggle against apartheid and was elected to government in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela. Celebrations will take place this weekend all around South Africa and the world. Funeka will talk about the history of the liberation struggle in South Africa about what is planned for the ANC Centenary in Chicago on Friday January 6-Sunday January 8, 2012.

Ghanaian music legend Koo Nimo visits Chicago, gives free concert



85 year old Ghanaian music legend Koo Nimo is in Chicago next week. Sponsored by the Northwestern Program for African Studies, Nimo will be participating in 2 FREE events:
Venue: Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago
Date: January 12, 2012, 7:00 pm
Venue: Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago
Registration required - go to Old Town School of Folk Website to register

Look out for other upcoming events over the next week, featuring Koo Nimo. To listen to Koo Nimo's music or find out more about him, see Koo Nimo on MySpace and The Story of Koo Nimo, an upcoming book in print and online.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Reminder: ANC Centenary Celebrations THIS WEEKEND


A reminder that a series of events takes place in Chicago this weekend to celebrate the 100th birthday of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa. The kickoff for the ANC Centenary will be held on Sunday, January 8, 2012 at Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) located at 400 W. 95th St. in Chicago, IL from 3-5pm. To celebrate this important and historic event there will be a panel discussion on the RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND THE ANTI-APARTHEID STRUGGLE. The panelists include: Prof. Harold Rogers, Moderator, Dr. Rachel Rubin, UIC, Attorney Stan Willis, Prof. Johann Buis, Wheaton College and Nicole Lee, Executive Director of TRANSAFRICA.

On Friday, January 6th at 7:00pm Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright will lecture on the role of the Church in Africa. Rev. Wright's lecture is part of the Kickoff.

For more information, contact:

Chicago-Midwest ANC Centenary Coordinating Committee
P.O. Box 497327
Chicago, IL 60649-7327
Email: anc.centenary@gmail.com
Fax: 773-684-6967
www.chimidANC100.com

World Premiere of documentary 'Beneath the Blindfold' in Chicago



Beneath the Blindfold is a Human Rights Documentary by Ines Sommer and Kathy Bergerfollows. It follows the stories of four torture survivors, one of whom is Liberian. Here's the description:

"A nursing home aide from Africa. An actor from Colombia. A U.S. Navy veteran from Chicago and a physician from Guatemala. So different at first glance, they have a horrific experience in common: they all have been tortured. Rarely given a voice, they are among the 500,000 torture survivors who live in the U.S. As they share their powerful stories, Beneath the Blindfold (2012, 80 min.) follows them through the daunting steps of building new lives, careers, and relationships. And despite the continued psychological and physical fallout from their experience, they feel empowered to speak out and become public advocates for an end to torture." - Beneath the Blindfold website

Film screenings:

Times and Dates:
January 13th @ 8:15pm
January 19th @ 8pm

A 6:30pm reception preceding the Friday, Jan 13 screening. \

Venue:
Gene Siskel Film Center
164 N. State Street, Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 846-2600
http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/

Tickets Available at the Gene Siskel Film Center Box Office and www.ticketmaster.com

Directors Ines Sommer and Kathy Berger will be present for a Q & A at both screenings, along with Matilde de la Sierra, Donald Vance and Mario Venegas, who are all featured in the film.