Tag Archives: politics

Rendition

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

i grew in the shadow of the tales of her the shining mistress with open arms who crowned the good on streets of gold with a chicken in every pot a job for every man & no child left behind … Continue reading →

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Oakland After the Midterm Elections, Now What?

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

The local mid-term elections in Oakland have come and gone. We will have a new mayor and other new officials. What will be different? What will stay the same? What does Oakland need? Will a new administration bring us a … Continue reading →

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Cotton

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

I inherited a legacy cotton is my inheritance cotton chain gangs& songs about chariots chariots chain gangs & cotton joe turner came and never left he over yo shoulder cotton on his breath my memory of cotton is older than … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Arts, North American African Perspective, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Baggage

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

there are things i know things that came with me things older than me older than my mother and her mother things from the wind things from the ocean things sung by the dirt i remember the roll on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Arts, North American African Perspective, spokenword | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

I do not believe the presidency  of the United States of America is a sole proprietorship. I have  entertained a different idea every since I read Taylor Caldwell’s Captain’s and the Kings. Like most of the American public; I have often been instructed by fiction. … Continue reading →

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD | Leave a comment

Gentrification: No Resting Place, Pt.2

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

“West Oakland is situated on the Bay side of Highway 980 and is easily accessible by public transportation including BARTand buses. If you are an urban pioneer who is looking to buy somewhere before it really booms, look into West Oakland” (Red Oak Realty, 2012 para. 4). West Oakland is being discovered and repopulated by pioneers of a different stripe. Continue reading →

Posted in I'm Just Saying!, non fiction essay, North American African Perspective | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Gentrification: No Resting Place, Pt.1

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

The Bottoms in West Oakland was once a desirable destination for North American Africans recently freed from chattel slavery. Ex-slaves and Pullman Porters wrote a chapter in this neighborhood’s history. This chapter, like many that followed, is informed by race. Continue reading →

Posted in I'm Just Saying!, non fiction essay, North American African Perspective | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Unwritten (From the collection INK)

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

unless you can write food on a plate words on paper have little to do with empty bellies bloated                                                    as if hunger were a being  growing in the vacuum drawing flies to eyes  puckering brows painting something that has … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Arts, INK, Poetry, spokenword, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment