We speak with Rosa Clemente and Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele about the state of political prisoners and and surviving authoritarianism.
Featuring:
Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele is the former Director of Community Organizing at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He is a father, husband, longtime community organizer and educator from Central Brooklyn. From 1994 – 1998 Lumumba served as programming coordinator at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCC). During his tenure at CCC, he also co-found Azabache, an organizers training conference and workshop series for young activists. All the while as a Black Studies Major at City College of NY/CUNY, he went on to receive his Masters in Human Service from Lincoln University in 1998. As a member and organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Mr. Akinwole-Bandele helped establish its campaign to counter police abuse and misconduct. He also co-founded the world renowned Black August Hip Hop Project. Black August raises awareness and support for political prisoners in the United States. From 2002 to 2007 Lumumba served as a counselor and lecturer at Medgar Evers College/CUNY. Lumumba currently serves on the board of the Center for Constitutional Rights and is Board Chair at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute.
Rosa Alicia Clemente is a Black-Puerto Rican woman born and raised in the Bronx, NY. She is an organizer, producer, independent journalist and scholar-activist.
In 2008, Clemente made herstory when she became the first Afro/Black-Latina to run for
Vice-President of the United States on the Green Party ticket. She and her running mate, Cynthia McKinney are, to this date, the only women of color ticket in U.S. Presidential history.
However, her influential work neither started nor ended there. A media-maker, Clemente was recently an associate producer on Judas and the Black Messiah, a two-time Oscar-winning film by Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler about the betrayal of Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton at the hands of FBI informant William O’Neal.