ARTICLES

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WE SHOULD CALL BLACK HISTORY MONTH BLACK HISTORY YEAR

© 2012 Norman Samuda-Smith

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In 1973, my friends and I entered our Social Studies class, settled at our desks and waited for our teacher to start the lesson. He handed out some text books and told us to turn to Chapter 5. The title of the chapter…SLAVERY. He began to speak from the premise that the British Empire once ruled one-third of the world, how Africans were taken from their homeland as slaves to the West Indies and forced to work hard on the plantations and how the slave trade was part of the reason which made Britain prosperous; read the full article here.

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CONVERSING WITH MY THOUGHTS

© 2012 Norman Samuda-Smith

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Dear Lord

So here I am at 4.00 pm sitting in the shade in my Father’s garden in Sacramento California, staring at the lemon trees, the sun is burning down on the valley at 96 degrees, conversing with my thoughts, my ramblings. It’s just me and how I feel now and again, and every so often, day by day; here…

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SURVIVAL AND AMBITION – ARE THEY FRIENDS OR ENEMIES?

© 2012 Norman Samuda-Smith

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The alarm clock kicks off at 6 am. Your arm blindly reaches out from under the duvet to stop it making its unwelcome noise. Part of you is saying when you find it and stop it buzzing; you’re gonna throw it across the room. If it smashes into numerous pieces you won’t give a damn; but your logical side says it’s senseless to do that. You’ll only create unnecessary expense cos you’ll have to replace it; here…

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SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A NOVEL? WELL WRITE IT THEN

© 2012 Norman Samuda-Smith

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I have been asked many times what motivated me to write my ground-breaking novel Bad Friday. I always answer it was a dream. Sometimes I get a variety of interesting glances; a few of them assume I’m crazy. When somebody says to me they want to write a novel, but they don’t know where to start or what to do, I always say, somewhere in the core of your mind which inspires you to voice your wish, there is an idea, the seed of that idea emanates in a dream; whether you are sleeping or awake; read the full article here…

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WRITING THE SHORT STORY

© 2012 Norman Samuda-Smith

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When we speak about the short story, we are talking about a narrative which reveals a sequence of events that happen to people. The events lead to crisis which is resolved in some form or other at the end. As an imaginary literary form, the short story varies from author to author; here…

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I’M GLAD I HAD A CHURCH UPBRINGING

© 2009 Norman Samuda-Smith

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The University of Life throws trials and tribulations at every man, woman or child from time to time, regardless of who we are, our backgrounds or where we come from; but we still move forward, learning the lessons along the way and becoming stronger for it.  We know and understand, deep down, time will tell that what we learn through the years, our higher selves inform us, what we interpret is our truth; read the full article here…

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ETERNAL LIFE

© 2010 Norman Samuda-Smith

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Eternal life was always the subject of debate back in the day when I attended Sunday school; whether it exists and what happens to us when we die and go to heaven.  A person can only receive eternal life as long as they follow certain rules and regulations: don’t live in sin, don’t tell lies, be good to one another etc, etc.  We were taught to believe: you live, you die, you’re buried and then your soul rises out of your body-shell, ascends and knocks on the gates of heaven where God judges whether you’re worthy to enter heaven, or be doomed to hell – Frightening!  So I put the subject of eternal life to the back of my mind for it to be perhaps processed later.  Then around ten years ago, the subject resurfaced under bizarre circumstances; read more of ETERNAL LIFE here…

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TV’s BLACK BRITISH PIONEERS 

© 2010 Denise Anthea.

From the BBC 4 programme of 13 April 2010.

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When our parents and grandparents came over to the Mother Country back in the early to mid 1950’s from the West Indies, despite the careers and jobs they had back home, once here the only option was to work in menial roles.  The qualifications they had worked so hard for had no meaning once they were in England as they were to find out; read the full article here…

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BURNING AN ILLUSION

© 2011 Norman Samuda Smith

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“The Government is not infallible.  Government is only an executive control, a centralized authority for the purpose of expressing the will of the people.  Before you have a government, you must have the people.  Without the people there can be no government.  The government must be therefore, an expression of the will of the people .”

Marcus Mosiah Garvey (1887 – 1940)  

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Summer madness in the guise of riots reigned through the streets of Britain’s cities in August.  Modern day news is broadcasted through cell-phones, laptops, computers, tablets and all kinds of gismos.  Britain’s youth, live and direct were burning an illusion the ‘powers that be’ have portrayed to the world that here in Britain everything is cool, we’re all getting on rather well thank you, we’ve got the Olympic Games coming soon and we’ve had a royal wedding; more here…

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THE AGE OF IRON AND CLAY

© 2011 Norman Samuda Smith

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During the past few months I have been sitting, watching and listening with interest of the European Union’s economic crisis; Greece’s financial melt down, now Italy’s not forgetting Spain and the UK who are also vulnerable and could melt down same way. While the European leaders and their advisers meet almost every day to try and figure a way out of their predicament, it’s been hard for me to resist writing about it and point out the connection of an ancient King’s dream which predicted that this current world situation would happen; read the full article here…

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HEAD SPACE

© 2011 Ras Flako Tafari

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Sitting and pondering how the politicians have the nation on the edge of expectancy while poverty and unemployment is eating at the core of the good, the willing and able. So many of us have not inherited any substance from our parents or grandparents, we were not a beneficiary to the stolen legacy, nor do we have any fancy castles on earth or flashy sport cars, we are always strapped for cash standing in the line of hand to mouth; more…

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MY VIEW ON RASTA MOUSE AND THE EASY CREW

 © 2011 Rastarella Falade

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New CBEEBIES programme RASTAMOUSE has been making headlines recently, with people for and against this children’s show.  Personally I think the show is showing that as a multi-cultural country, we are moving with the times; read Rastarella’s full article here…

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A MODERN DAY LYNCHING?

© 2011 Denise Anthea

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In the mid 1990’s I became aware of an interesting occurrence in the media. A black British athlete by the name of Linford Christie was a sprinter in the 100 metres. He went on to win Olympic gold. The media started to focus on his running kit. His shorts to be precise. They then made constant references to his “lunch box”; read the rest of the article here…

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THE STORY OF LOVER’S ROCK

© 2011 Denise V. Dunn

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In celebration of Black History Month, my friend Lorna and I went to see ‘The Story of Lovers Rock’ at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham.  This feature length documentary by director and producer Menelik Shabazz, tells the story of the “rebel generation” of the UK’s young Afro-Caribbean’s in the late 1970’s and 80’s. I was taken on a journey down musical memory lane and given an informative social and political history lesson my generation was too young to remember or fully comprehend; read the full article here…

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