Human Rights & Justice: Recent Episodes
Nkechi
Human Rights & Justice with host Attorney Nkechi Taifa, features kick-ass commentary and stimulating guests discussing a plethora of domestic and global themes encompassing political, economic and social rights.
On Sept. 12th Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) and two others were found not guilty of charges of being agents of the Russian government. Despite being a stalwart self-determination revolutionary for over 50 years, Yeshitela was accused of working under the direction and control of the Russian government. The verdict is in - the U.S. government lied and lost. The Uhuru Movement told the truth and won. The government's goal to discredit speech by Black and other colonized peoples backfired. Human Rights and Justice episode 102 discusses the over 50-year history of the APSP, Uhuru Movement, and Solidarity Arm, as well as its Reparations Arm, African National Reparations Organization.
Author of newly published book, “Jailing a Rainbow: the Unjust Trial and Conviction of Marcus Garvey," distinguished legal scholar and professor at Howard University School of Law and Commissioner on the U.N. Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, Attorney Justin Hansford illuminates the political motivations and prejudices that led to the unjust trial and conviction of Marcus Garvey for mail fraud in 1923, and makes a persuasive case for overturning Garvey’s conviction and, at minimum, exonerating him of the false charges that led to his unjust imprisonment.
Episode 100 of Human Rights and Justice features Mama C, aka Charlotte Hill O’Neal, aka Iya Osotunde Fasuyi. Mama C is a former Member of the Black Panther Party of Kansas City, wife of Brother Mzee Pete’ O’Neal exiled from the U.S., both living in Tanzania for over 50 years. Co-Director of the United African Alliance Community Center (UAACC) in Tanzania. Mama C is currently on tour in the U.S. and is an internationally celebrated artist, musician, filmmaker, priestess, and a warrior woman of peace! She is in the DC area as part of the Ile Imole annual Water Ritual and is joined in discussion with Ile Imole’s Bokor Iya Mari and Iya Olosunde during this exciting Human Rights and Justice broadcast.
Anthony Karakh Browder guest-hosts for Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa in Episode 98, featuring his interview of Paul Obinna, UK educator, artist and creator of The African Timeline, which has been used internationally to teach African history. Tony Browder is the founder and director of IKG Cultural Resources and has devoted 35 years researching ancient Egyptian history, science, philosophy and culture. He is the author of six publications, including the best sellers, From the Browder File, Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization, and Egypt on the Potomac.
Human Rights and Justice Guest Host Anthony Karakh Browder, sitting in for host Nkechi Taifa, interviews Dr. Charles Finch, Physician and Historian, discussing Nile Valley Civilization: A 10,000 Year History!
In Episode 96 of Human Rights and Justice, host Nkechi Taifa interviews author and cultural historian, Tony Browder, as he honors the life and legacy of the great Asa Hilliard and discusses the ASA Restoration Project’s “From the Nile to the Niger to Your Neighborhood.” Browder is the founder and director of IKG Cultural Resources and has devoted over 35 years researching ancient Egyptian history, science, philosophy and culture. He has traveled to Egypt over 50 times since 1980 and his ASA Restoration Project is funding the excavation and restoration of two 25th dynasty tombs of Kushite noblemen on the West Bank of Luzor, Egypt. Browder is the first African American to fund and coordinate an archeological dig in Egypt and has led 20 archeological missions to Egypt since 2009.
broadcast 8-21-24
Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa interviews Dr. Julius Garvey, son of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey and Amy Jacques Garvey on his upcoming new book: "Justice for Marcus Garvey: Look For Me in the Whirlwind.” - Episode 95
Episode 94 of Human Rights and Justice features host Nkechi Taifa and former DC Police Officer Ron Hampton discussing the importance of Black August, the murder in cold blood of Sonya Massey, and the necessity of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
Broadcast: Originally broadcast August 7, 2024
In Episode 93 of Human Rights and Justice, host Nkechi Taifa discusses the recently released provocative book, “Not in My Name: Reparations Now” with author Hehimetu RaEnkamit, PhD. The show also features the Orisa Feast Community Day with Bokor Iya Mari.
Professor Arun Kundnani and Sister Shafeah join Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa in Episode 91, sharing riveting historical and contemporary insights from the life of Imam Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown. Professor Kundnani is a writer on issues involving race, Islamopobia, surveillance, political violence and radicalism. He just completed a biography of H. Rap Brown which will be released in 2026. Shafeah M’Balia is Southern (US) Regional Coordinator of the Imam Jamil Action Network fighting for the exoneration of wrongfully convicted imam and human rights activist Imam Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown. *See Also - Heather Gray interview with Prof Arun after prison interview with H. Rap Brown: https://player-widget.mixcloud.com/?feed=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2FWRFG%2Fpublic-affairs-just-peace-heather-gray-4-october-2021%2F&hide_cover=1
Clarence Edwards grew up as a Black youth in segregated Washington, DC with no interest in policing, yet ended up becoming a nearly 40-year veteran in law enforcement. He joins Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa in Episode 90 addressing a myriad of issues ranging from the need that policing be reinvented and repurposed from enforcement by law of the Fugitive Slave Act and Jim Crow laws of yesterday, to police killings and brutality today (including the most recent caught on video Hyatt Regency Milwaukee death) -- to his views on Trump’s MAGA, whether democracy as we know it is in jeopardy, and the 2024 presidential election. His commentaries are full of anecdotes, sage wisdom, and life lessons!
Human Rights and Justice talk show features historian extraordinaire Dr. Daud Malik Watts, discussing with host Nkechi Taifa, tidbits from his upcoming latest book, “The Big Black Jailbreak: African American History 1775-1865," describing astonishing numbers of Black Self-Emancipation, including jailbreaks in the American Revolution Period; Jailbreaks in Haitian Revolution Times; Jailbreaks of the 2nd Middle Passage Decades; Jailbreaks During King Cotton & Indian Removals; Jailbreaks of Abolitionism/UGRR/Fugitive Slave Law; and Jailbreaks through Civil War and Contraband Camps!
Kristi Orisabiyi Williams joins Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa in poignantly discussing the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and the recent trip to Tulsa, OK on the heels of the OK Supreme Court decision denying relief to the two living survivors. Kristi is a prominent Tulsa community activist, award-winning National Geographic advisor and former chair of the Greater Tulsa African American Affairs Commission.
Originally broadcast June 26, 2024
Includes Taifa's May 19, 2021 Historical Tribute presented at WO'SE
Human Rights and Justice #88
Human Rights and Justice Episode 86 features host Nkechi Taifa interviewing the phenomenal Kim Poole, a Soul-Fusion Performing Artist hailing from her hometown of Baltimore, and Founding Fellow of the Teaching Artist Institute (TAI), operating in the USA, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Jamaica, Uganda, Tanzania and The Gambia. Under the TAI umbrella, Kim serves as Chief Visionary of the ARTIZEN conference philosophy aimed at connecting sustainable development to art culture in emerging economies. She coined the philosophy, “Culture is the New Currency,” and began curating reparatory institutions and experiences that promote and preserve the African identity in the Diaspora. This riveting episode is a must to listen to!
Esteemed scholars Dr. Wade Nobles, Dr. Joyce King and Dr. Afia Zakiya join Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa on Juneteenth, sharing issues relating to the concept of Ubuntu and its relationships to the climate crisis, protection of Freedmen’s Settlements, and Black psychology.
Rehabilitation and Healing: The Role of Social Workers in the Reparations Movement!
Panelists: Elder Baba Leonard Dunston: President Emeritus NABSW; Melissa Smith Haley - President NABSW; BabaJay Onaje Muid - Co-chair NABSW National Relations Committee
Pursuant to international norms, rehabilitation is a major aspect of reparations, Beyond unraveling consequences from the enslavement era and its vestiges (drug addiction, unemployment, torn families, etc), social workers play a huge role . Yet the social work profession holds the dubious legacy of oppression, while articulating services for our most vulnerable. To delineate the history adn role of social work in today's Reparations Movement, a multigenerational veteran panel from the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) share their perspectives.
Human Rights and Justice with host, Attorney Nkechi Taifa, features a discussion with Cynthia Roseberry, the Director of Policy and Government Affairs, Justice at the American Civil Liberties Union and Attorney Angela Rye, CEO of IMPACT Strategies, social justice advocate and lawyer.
Human Rights and Justice with host, Attorney Nkechi Taifa, features a discussion with Addie Richburg, Executive Director of the 400 Years of African American History Commission, a Federally appointed 15-member Commission established to coordinate the 400th anniversary of the first documented arrival of enslaved Africans in the English colonies.
The Commission is legislated to plan, develop and carry out programs and activities throughout the United States that recognize and highlight the resilience and cultural contributions of African Americans over 400 years and beyond. The Commission has forged collaborative relationships with over 350 local, regional, and national organizations, municipalities, cultural and other entities and institutions in the U.S., including connections made in Alaska, Hawaii and the Virgin Islands. The show will also commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the eve of his assassination.
Description: Episode 80 of Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa interviews Congo issues veteran Maurice Carney, co-founder and Executive Director of Friends of the Congo, discussing the historical and current situation in the Congo and the destructive interventionist role the U.S. and others have played.
Guests: Gwen Carr (mother of Eric Garner, killed by police during use of a prohibited chokehold) Patricia Elam-Walker (mother of Denzel Elam Ruff, brutalized by police during a vaping arrest on the Ocean City boardwalk)
Sonia Pruitt (former police captain, Montgomery County, MD and former Chair, National Black Police Association)
Episode 78 of Human Rights and Justice features Gwen Carr, one of the "Mothers of the Movement" and mother of Eric Garner, who was killed by police during use of a prohibited chokehold during his arrest. She will join DC award-winning author Patricia Elam-Walker, mother of Denzel Elam Ruff who was brutalized by police during a vaping arrest on the Ocean City boardwalk. These two mothers are joined by Sonia Pruitt, former police captain of Montgomery County, MD and former chair of the National Black Police Association. This episode during Women’s History Month with a panel of three mothers will share their thoughts about police violence — one whose son was killed, one whose son was brutalized, and one who once wore a badge and seeks policy changes so the same does not happen to her twin sons. Carr, a key figure with Mothers of the Movement (a group of African American women whose children have been killed by police officers), has used her grief to highlight police injustices and advocate for change. Elam-Walker has chillingly stated that she "was only an inch away from becoming one of them [Mothers of the Movement].” Pruitt, now retired, teaches at both Howard University and Montgomery Community College, highlighting the "Black Police Experience." This illustrious panel also explores the slippery slope that can flow from negative consequences of police enforcement of minor infractions, and discusses important policy changes that can be effectuated to insure that no more mothers are thrust into this traumatic club.
Episode 79 of Human Rights and Justice with host, Nkechi Taifa, features an interview with Haitian-born advocate and organizer Eugenia Charles, host of Konbit Lakay, a socio-political Haitian WPFW 89.3 FM radio show. She is also the Executive Director of Fondasyon Mapou, a faith-based organization that promotes Haitian issues and human rights. The episode begins with a poem written by Taifa on Haiti, from her book for young people that was banned in 2020 by a school district.
Description - Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa engages in an exciting chat with Nkenge Toure, legendary Black feminist icon and former long-time host of WPFW’s show “In Our Voices,” discussing her life and those of historic Black women as we kick off Women’s History Month.
Broadcast March 6, 2024
Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa continues her interview of Episode 34 with the multi-talented Siphiwe Baleka on his many reparations efforts in the international arena, including his case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the issue of ethnocide as distinct from genocide, the African Diaspora as Region Six of the African Union, and more, including his personal triumphs and travails.
Human Rights and Justice features a conversation with Dr. Ron Daniels, President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, discussing with Talk Show Host Nkechi Taifa, Black Facts, Paul Robeson, and features of the April 19-25, 2023 State of the Black World Conference.
Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa dives in with Siphiwe Balenta, President of the Balenta Society in America, on intersecting issues of international law and diplomacy, reparations, DNA and justice. Baleka, amongst other international instruments, is using the mandate of the Permanent Forum on People of Africa Descent to request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the status of Black people as Prisoners of War under the Geneva Convention, with a remedy for repair being reparatory justice. A graduate of Yale University, Siphiwe Baleka’s rich history in preserving his ancestral culture and language in Guinea Bissau stands on the shoulders of his career as a World Class swimmer as well as Fitness Guru to the Trucking Industry.
Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa ruminates on legendary civil and human rights icon Queen Mother Audley Moore, and interviews her biographist, Professor Ashley Farmer, on her upcoming biography on this great unsung Black heroine who influenced a generation on reparations. This episode is in honor of the March 31, 1968 anniversary of the signing of the New Afrikan Declaration of Independence in which QMM was the first signee.
Human Rights and Justice does a deep dive into the current activity around reparations in the state of California, as well as the City of San Francisco. Discussing these issues with host Nkechi Taifa, is Dr. Cheryl Tawede Grills, a clinical psychologist who was appointed by the Governor of California to the California Reparations Task Force. A past president of the National Association of Black Psychologists, Dr. Grills discusses the work of the Task Force and its Interim Report released last year, amongst other issues. Visit www.supportreparations.org to register support for the mission of the Task Force, its Interim Report and other related issues.
In 2018 Human Rights and Justice Talk Show host Nkechi Taifa delivered the Sparer Keynote Address at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. The topic was reparations and the keynote was part of a comprehensive convening at the law school on the issue. Human Rights and Justice replays this keynote as its Episode #32, on April 5, 2023.
Season 2, Episode 2 of Human Rights and Justice centers on the issue of police brutality, with a focus on the police killing of Tyre Nichols. Host Nkechi Taifa interviews Guest Ron Hampton, retired DC police officer and expert on policing in the U.S. and globally, discussing his recent statement on this latest beating and murder of an unarmed and defenseless Black man.
Guest: Mr. Hampton is former Executive Director of the National Black Police Association, and Convener of the Institute of the Black World’s 21st Century Police Justice and Accountability Task Force
Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa interviews representatives of the Brooklyn in Justice Collective who discuss the organization's statement on the current crisis in Ukraine. The statement was issued and targeted largely to the Western left, "which has shown itself to be weak and underdeveloped compared to the rest of the world, and is at a crisis and crossroads." Brooklyn in Justice states "we hope this commentary on current world conflicts can suggest somewhat of a reorientation along broad, nonsectarian, and-white supremacist lines."
Guests: Meg Starr, a founder of Resistance in Brooklyn and Puerto Rican solidarity activist who links anti-imperialist politics with the struggle against the climate crisis catastrophe. Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro, a member of Resistance in Brooklyn and Professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies of SUNY New Paltz, and Senior editor for the journal Capitalism Nature Socialism.
Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa chats with Obi Egbuna, Jr. about the republishing of the iconic book of his father, "Destroy this Temple,” first published in 1971. The senior Egbuna was a Nigerian-born novelist, playwright and political activist known for being a member of the British Black Panther movement (1968-72) during the years he lived in England. "Destroy this Temple" was noted as "the first full-scale exposition of Black Power thought in a British context." The Black Classic Press edition of "Destroy this Temple" was championed to publication by the late author's son, Obi Egbuna Jr. who provided a new introduction highlighting his father's life and his literary legacy.
Human Rights and Justice talk show host Nkechi Taifa interviews Brother Tag and Sister Aleta from the Spirit of Mandela's "About the People," a grassroots project, about its premiere audio-visual broadcast installment #1: Camp Muntaqim, which will feature Revolutionary Elder Jalil Muntaqim and Incarcerated Organizer Kwame Shakur, as well as the projects other activities.
Talk Show Host Nkechi Taifa shares her Reparations Roundup News and Views recording of her Feb. 2022 testimony before the California Reparations Task Force, on Episode 18 of Human Rights and Justice. The title of her testimony is History and Reflections of the Reparations Movement in the U.S.
Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa discusses her new book on reparations, "Reparations on Fire: How and Why its Spreading Across America," with cultural anthropologist Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor, director of the National Black Cultural Information Trust, 12-28-22.
Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa interviews Edward Sargent, independent journalist, editor of Claud Anderson's pivotal works, and author of a soon-to-be released series focused on the relationship between law enforcement and Black people - the War in America Volumes I and II.
Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa conducts a riveting interview with the only surviving son of the Honorable Marcus Garvey - Dr. Julius Garvey, and Attorney Justin Hansford, US Representaife to the UN Forum on People of African Descent. This discussion is chock full of historical and contemporary tidbits. Don’t miss it!
Human Rights and Justice Host Nkechi Taifa interviews members of the International Civil Society Delegation as they bring critical diasporic African issues to the front at historic international convening in Switzerland. Esteemed guests include:
Dr. Amara Enyia, JD PhD - joining from Geneva. Dr. Amara is chair of the Intl Civil Society Working Group for the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, President of Global Black, and Manager of Policy and Research for the Movement for Black Lives
Dr. Vickie Casanova-Willis - joining from Geneva. Vickie was sent by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as a delegate to the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.
Angela Proctor - Archivist and Digital Librarian for Southern Univeristy, lead researcher interviewing descendants of the GU272
Rochelle Sanders-Prater and Dawn Mellion-Patin - Descendants of the nearly 300 enslaved Africans sold into the sugarcane plantation by the Jesuits to save Georgetown University from bankruptcy.
Host Nkechi Taifa interviews Dr. Akmal Muwwakkil, an herbalist and healer with a Ph.D. in Nutrition. He is a licensed acupuncturist, massage therapist, auricular detoxification expert, Tui Na specialist and a QiGong master. He is an author, master teacher, and coach. The wide-ranging discussion included mental health, enslavement, violence, negative attitudes, health maladies, diabetes, food etc.
There are Bethesda, MD residents who live atop of and park their cars on a Black American cemetery that has existed for more than a century. Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa interviews members of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition about their fight against government and big business on behalf of our departed ancestors!
Featured guests:
Rev. Dr. Julianne Robertson, Esq - interfaith minister, peace activist, corporate attorney
Mr. Robert Stubblefield - activist, organizer, poet
In Episode 12, Human Rights and Justice host interviews Baba Lumumba, historian and long-time Pan-Afrikan/Black Nationalist community leader, discussing a range of themes from African people and European Holidays to Assimilation vs Freedom!
Episode 9 of Human Rights and Justice features interviews with two Powerhouse Commentators - Howard University’s Professor Greg Carr and Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown. They discuss with host Nkechi Taifa the importance of voting in the upcoming mid-term elections and what’s at stake, concluding with the mantras, “WE WILL NOT BLACK DOWN!” and VOTE TO REDUCE THE HARM!
Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa features a book talk with author, activist, scholar Bernard Demczuk, PhD., discussing his novel “Mame’s Spirit: Reparations and Romance, An Afro-Futurist Crime-Mystery Love-Story Re-Mixed with Reparations, Righteousness and West African Spirituality." Mame’s Spirit helps to raise this vital question: How should we atone, reconcile or rectify the brutality of racism and caste that have damaged and continue to harm generations of humanity? The story of King Leopold and the Congo is an especially troubling case. Mame’s Spirit represents one fictional answer with plot twists and rich characters that help introduce this central topic as it provides an Afro-futurist possibility of what the outcome could be if one became obsessed with one of history’s most covered up atrocities!
Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa interviews Dr. Clarence Lusane, Interim Chair of the Political Science Department and Director of International Affairs at Howard University, who was recently confirmed as U.S. Independent Expert to the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance. Dr. Lusane discusses people of African descent who suffered from and resisted Nazism and the Holocaust, as well as present-day challenges facing Black people, other people of color, and religious minorities in Europe. Dr. Lusane is the acclaimed author of "Hitler's Black Victims: the Historical Experiences of European Blacks, Africans and African Americans during the Nazi Era;" "Race in the Global Era: African Americans at the Millennium;" "The Black History of the White House;" and an upcoming book on Harriet Tubman!
On October 22-25, 2021 the Spirit of Mandela Coalition hosted an International Tribunal charging the U.S. with human rights abuses against Black, Brown and Indigenous Peoples before a panel of nine jurists. This 2021 Tribunal stood on the shoulders of the 1951 Petition We Charge Genocide: The Crime of Government Against the Negro People,” submitted to the United Nations, and led by William Patterson, W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, and 97 others. Human Rights and Justice host Nkechi Taifa discusses this historic Tribunal on its first anniversary with Jihad Abdulmumit, chair of the National Jericho Movement and member of the Spirit of Mandela coalition.
In Episode 6 of Human Rights and Justice, host Nkechi Taifa interviews Mr. Darron Patterson, direct descendant of the last known Africans to be illegally transported to the U.S. in the belly of the slave ship Clotilda, landing in Mobile, Alabama in 1859, whose ancestors formed the community of AfricaTown, and Dr. Afia Zakiya - newly installed first Executive Director of the AfricaTown Heritage Preservation Foundation. The soon-to-be released Netflix film, DESCENDANT, tells the story of the Clotilda and AfricaTown.
Nkechi Taifa’s Human Rights and Justice Episode 5 features Julia Wright joining in from Paris, France. She is an esteemed poet and essayist, and daughter of legendary author & expatriate Richard Wright (Native Son, Black Boy). Julia reflects on her life, along with her Great-Uncle’s 1916 lynching, the Elaine Arkansas 1919 Massacre, upcoming Emmett Till documentary, and Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Episode 4 features Human Rights & Justice host Nkechi Taifa broadcasting live from the Congressional Black Caucus’ Sept 28-Oct 2, 2022 Conference at the DC Convention Center.
Stopping by to give shout-outs and commentary include CBCF President and CEO Nicole Austin-Hillery; the Sentencing Project's Nicole Porter; Patrice Sulton from the DC Justice Lab; Jamila Hodge with Equal Justice USA; Miss Senior DC 'for Life' Emma Ward; Who We Are documentary Chief of Staff Andrea Crabtree; and Altria's John Mason.
In Episode 3, Host Nkechi Taifa discusses her article, “Why the Woman King Made Me Feel Like a Queen.” She also reflects on an uncomfortable issue, that prisoners of war taken aboard The Clotilda, the last known slave ship to illegally enter US shores in 1860, were captured by the Agogie women warriors on behalf of the Kingdom of Dahomey and then sold to Europeans. She plays a recorded interview with Kamau Sadiki, a Black deep sea diver who was part of the diving team discovering the shipwrecked Clotilda in 2019.
Host Nkechi Taifa discusses Black World reflections on Queen Elizabeth’s death with Obi Egbuna Jr (London England born, DC raised, Pan African educator, organizer & playwright, and Dr. Kelechi Egwim - native Nigerian and longtime DC community activist/organizer and commentator.
In this inaugural episode of Human Rights and Justice, hosted by attorney, movement leader, and human rights advocate Nkechi Taifa, Kamm Howard joins Nkechi as they have a lively and informative discussion on reparations, focusing on the Vatican and the Church's obligation to make amends for enslavement, and a global reparations convening in Accra, Ghana