Human Rights & Justice

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