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IANA Blog-June 2025

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  Blog Happy June, Well, I can’t lie…it’s been a wild June. For members of IANA who don’t know, I was born and raised in California…we also have members of IANA that are born and raised or living in Los Angeles…and we’ve been seeing a lot of raids of immigrants coming from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) led by Donald Trump. They are raiding several locations in Los Angeles, capturing “illegal” immigrants and kicking them out, and they are not just targeting “illegal” immigrants, but also immigrants that came here legally. Honestly, they are targeting everybody. There have been several protests in L.A. over these ICE raids. Many have been peaceful protests, although the media has only been covering the riots, (like I expected). There have also been several protests here in the San Francisco Bay Area, especially in San Francisco and in my city, Oakland. Let me say that I’m in solidarity with the families affected by the ICE raids, the families that had family memb...
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IANA Blog- May 2025

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  Blog Happy May, Back in 2023, I did my July blog on Nelson Mandela. I figured in the month of May, as this is the month and year of his 100th Birthday, I think it’s only right to make this blog on another man that influenced me, another one of my favorite leaders, one of the most important African Americans to live, one of the greatest Black men to ever live, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, also known as, Malcolm X. Similar to Nelson Mandela, what does Malcolm X have to do with IANA or Nigeria? Especially considering that he’s African American…and Grenadian… Well, he doesn’t have any Anioma blood, but when he traveled to multiple African countries, including Nigeria in 1964, he was given the Yoruba name “Omowale,” which translates to “the son who has come home.” The name was given to him when he was giving a speech at the University of Ibadan and carries symbolic significance of homecoming and connection to ancestral roots. That name solidified his connection to Africa and his ...
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IANA Blog- April 2025

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  Blog Happy April, First off, I want to address some things from the last blog. I made an error about the IANA Convention happening in 2026 and the Issele Uku Convention happening this year. I accidentally got both mixed up, so please recognize, it was an accident. Also, I kind of expected my last blog about Umar Johnson to be a little controversial compared to the last couple of blogs, but just remember, these blogs are all my opinion, but it’s great to know that many of you all have a response to my blog. With that being said, I wanted to talk about something that I brought up last year. For those that don’t know, there are many notable things happening in Africa. In my opinion, I definitely feel a shift happening in Africa. One of those things I’ve been noticing has come from the Sahel Alliance. The Sahel Alliance, also known as the Alliance of Sahel States is a confederation formed between African countries Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. I actually brought this up in past blogs...
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IANA Blog- March 2025

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  Blog Happy March and Happy Women’s History Month, First off, I want to congratulate one of our IANA 2nd Gen members, Ifeoma Ugeh on being a new member of the Dream Team and being a Public Relation Officer. Ifeoma will come in handy as we prepare for the IANA Convention in Maryland in 2026. But now, I wanted to talk about something different. For the past couple of blogs, I talked about certain topics, such as diaspora wars, the FBA/ADOS movement, and Pan Africanism. I’ve been mentioning Pan Africanism in many of my blogs, and in one of my blogs, I mention Dr. Umar Johnson. I figured I’d make this year’s blog about him, especially since news broke out about how he’s not taking care of his kids, but here it is. For those that don’t know, Dr. Umar Johnson aka Dr. Umar Ifatunde Johnson is an African American psychologist, activist and motivational speaker. He also refers to himself as “The Prince of Pan Africanism.” In 2011, he appeared in Tariq Nasheed’s documentary, Hidden Colors ....
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IANA Blog- February 2025

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  Blog Happy February and Happy Black History Month, For this week, I wanted to talk about something that I have been a fan of for a while… …Afrofuturism… Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic/movement that uses futuristic and science fiction themes to explore the Black experience, Black history, Black culture and the African diaspora. Afrofuturism has also incorporated themes of fantasy, realism and alternate history. The term was first used in 1993 by cultural critic Mark Dery.  During the first Friday in February, I got to go to an exhibit being held at Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland. They were having an exhibit on Afrofuturism, featuring one of my favorite organizations in Oakland, AfroComicCon. During the event, there was a workshop that focused on Black Identity and how Afrofuturism can play a part in the life of Black people. We talked about how different music/musicians, different films, and different cartoons, comic books and novels play a huge part in Afro...
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