Contributors
Pierce Freelon (founder) (contact: pfreelon@gmail.com)
Emcee, singer/songwriter and scholar, political activist, filmmaker and the founder of Blackademcis. Pierce Freelon is, in a word, versatile. As a highest honors graduate of the African American Studies department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Freelon pioneered, designing a Hip-Hop curriculum for his thesis and taking it into high schools and Universities across the country (see Blackademics.org/community). As an undergraduate, Pierce was appointed Hip-Hop Coordinator for a national voter registration organization called Voices for Working Families. He is also the former Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz’ Bebop to Hip-Hop program.
Freelon, along with partner Aden Darity, make the Hip-Hop group Language Arts. Language Arts has hosted and performed alongside Hip-Hop legends Grand Master Flash, Dead Prez and The Last Poets. Pierce is also the emcee in the live Hip-Hop/soul quartet called The Beast. The Beast consists of fellow Tar Heels Stephen Coffman (drums), Eric Hirsh (piano) and Pete Kimosh (bass) - all graduates of UNC’s prestigious Jazz Studies program. Both groups are active participants in Freelon’s Hip-Hop education program. Freelon has toured and educated internationally, performing in Ghana and India and working in road management for his mother, 6-time Grammy nominated Jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon, in Italy, Japan, Finland and Viet Nam.
Freelon, 24, earned his masters degree in Pan-African Studies from Syracuse University in 2007. He now lives in Durham, NC with his wife Kathryn Freelon.
A hard working, quick witted, young woman from Miami FL, Danielle Andrews-Lovell is a first generation American who hails her cultural background from Trinidad and Tobago and Panama. Living by her favorite quote “Life is not defined by the number of breaths you take, but by the number times someone or something takes your breath away�?, she plans to work on excelling in all of the things she enjoys from Latin dance to scholarly debate.
A recent graduate of Harvard University, with a bachelor’s degree in Biochemical Sciences and certification in health policy and Spanish, Danielle Andrews-Lovell has just started her first professional position as a program associate for Just Partners, a nonprofit consulting firm focusing in the areas of racial equity, international community health and development as well as promoting age inclusive communities.
In her free time Danielle enjoys perfecting her Latin dance style and hopes to take tennis lessons in the near future.
M.K. Asante, Jr., 24, is a professor, author, and filmmaker who The Philadelphia Inquirer calls, “a rare, remarkable talent who brings to mind the great artists of the Harlem Renaissance.”
Asante’s first book, Like Water Running Off My Back, was published in 2002 and received the Academy of American Poets Jean Corrie Prize for its title poem. His latest book, Beautiful. And Ugly Too , won a Best Book Award from the Black Reader Review and was praised by the Los Angeles Times as “a thought-provoking journey down the lonely road of wisdom and whiplash.” His third book, Post Hip-Hop Generation: Redefining Young Black America is forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press.
Hailed by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Charles Fuller as “the most important voice of his generation,” Asante, Jr’s has essays have appeared in USA Today, Encyclopedia of Black Studies, Tampa Tribune, Black Arts Quarterly, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Asante wrote the screenplay and produced the documentary 500 Years Later, winner of Best Documentary at the Pan African (Los Angeles) and Bridgetown (Barbados) Film Festivals; Best Film at the International Black Cinema (Berlin) Film Festival; and Best International Documentary at the Harlem (New York) International Film Festival.
Asante, Jr. has lectured in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, at over 50 colleges and universities in the U.S. He has also appeared as a guest on international TV and radio programs.
Asante studied at the University of London, earned his BA from Lafayette College, and an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA. Asante is Assistant Professor in English and Language Arts at Morgan State University.
Weusi Baraka
a “business man” and “a business, man”, short, balanced, black, youthful, thoughtful, unconventional, thought provoking, blessed, risk taker, motivator, impulsive, oxymoronic, organizer, left footed, school taught, social, observer, nice guy, some formal education, challenger, nomadic, virgo, political, selfish, tastemaker, leader, mature, single, right handed, hard-nosed, creative, disciplined, forgetful, principled, misanthrope, thinker, manager, underdog, community schooled, confident, rational, music lover, team builder, corny, legal, community minded, vegetarian, quiet, nj to va to nc to nc to dc to nyc to nc now in dc …
Russell Simmons presents HBO Def Poetry Jam, the Hip Hop Theater Festival, p. Diddy’s Bad Boys of Comedy and the National Black Theater Festival, Hayti Heritages Center’s annual spoken word and hip hop festival (Durham, NC), Groove Gumbo’s urban arts showcases (DC), Harlem Week’s Art In the Park, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Arena Stage’s legendary Living Stage Theatre, The Hip Hop Theatre Junction, North Carolina Black Repertory Company and established Washington, DC’s longest running open mic event, The Movement.
New projects include being the Dir. Of community relation w/ the African Continuum Theatre, a weekly party called “JUST BCUS”, a think tank, and KLUNGE KREATIVE, creative consulting projects.
Weusi’s passion and zeal for the arts is balanced with his formal and informal work with D.C.’s youth and community. Through agencies such as Centronia, Hope and A Home, National Capital Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking and For Love of Children, Weusi engaged in youth and family programming as well as team/community activities and experiential education programming.
Jarrett Carter
By day, Jarrett L. Carter works as Assistant Director of Public Relations at Morgan State University. By night, he is a freelance sports writer, cultural commentator and satirist.
A graduate of Morgan State University, Jarrett has written for a number of media outlets, including the Baltimore Sun and blacksportsnetwork.com. You can check him out daily at jarrett-carter.com
Samanthé Eulette
Samanthé A. Eulette, a senior international relations major in Syracuse University is a recipient of the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship. Ms. Eulette is also alum of the Princeton Junior Summer Institute program, a seven-week intensive pubic policy and analysis summer program with an additional focus on quantitative skills (statistic and economic courses). Eulette is a SU Dean’s Scholarship recipient, dean’s list student and member of Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society, where she serves as president. During the academic year, Eulette also worked in the Office of the Senior Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs and served as a Resident Advisor. For her junior year, Samanthé studied abroad in Washington, D.C. and in Strasbourg, France. In France, she interned at the United States Consulate in the Public Affairs Office. One of her responsibilities included updating the Consular General with current events in Strasbourg pertinent to the US. Prior to studying in France, Samanthé interned at the National Endowment for Democracy, World Movement for Democracy in DC for the fall 2005 semester.
Deen Freelon dfreelon at gmail [dot] org
Deen’s commentary is informed by his research as a grad student in political communication at the University of Washinton, Seattle, as well as his self-identification as a staunch civil (but not fiscal) libertarian and progressive pragmatist. He also oversees the site’s visual identity and technical backend.
D’Weston Haywood
D’Weston L. Haywood graduated Summa Cum Laude with a dual degree in History and Political Science from North Carolina Central University.
During his tenure at NCCU, Haywood served as the 2004 Student Government President, and used the office to promote student activism and social awareness. On October 14, 2004, Haywood co-organized and led a march of some 1500 NCCU students and community residents to inaugurate the early voting season for the 2004 Presidential Election. Resulting in an unprecedented eighty-one percent of the student body voting, coupled with ninety-two percent of the district voting, Durham County reported the largest early voting turnout for North Carolina. Consequently, Haywood and the co-organizers were awarded the Weekly Independent’s Citizen Award and the NCCU Trailblazer’s Award. Additionally, he earned national recognition from USA Today’s All-USA 2004 College Academic Team.
Since graduation, Haywood has served in numerous capacities: as an NCCU Graduate Fellow, an intern in the office of United States Senator, Barack Obama, a research assistant for the Ohio Historical Society, and an op-ed columnist for the Triangle Grapevine.
Haywood has a deep interest in the connection between history and politics and the dynamics of culture, as seen in his published research of the history of the community in which he grew up, called In Its Heyday: A Social, Economic, and Political Analysis of the South Park Community from 1900-1930. Ultimately, Mr. Haywood intends to pursue a PhD in History, teach on the college level, and work to promote youth activism and human rights.
Bernette D Pearson
A self-described intellectual, Black Nationalist, multiculturalist and overall misanthrope, Bernette Pearson, 20, is starting her third year at Syracuse University. In addition to majoring in magazine journalism she has two minors—one in entrepreneurship and the other in psychology.
She has interned at The Black Star News in downtown Manhattan, The Jersey Journal in Jersey City and the Irvington Herald in her hometown, Irvington, NJ. Last year, she was managing editor of The Black Voice, a SU student publication for people of color. She is currently a staff writer for the BV, and a co-managing editor for another student publication, 360 Degrees. She also freelances for other student publications on campus.
When she is not plotting world domination or being sarcastic, Pearson enjoys her hobbies of reading, writing songs, learning American sign language, designing clothing and observing things most college students do not realize. She enjoys discussing the sociopolitical reasons behind the behaviors of her college peers, which often causes great discomfort among her contemporaries.
Pearson’s main scholarly interest is the psyche of poor black children living in urban areas. She plans to become a children’s librarian at urban libraries to create programs to help children. She also plans to freelance for various magazines such as Time, Newsweek and Essence about her observations of children. Eventually she will launch her own magazine that is targeted to black elementary students as well as attempt to write books about children of color.
In 2006, at 20 years old, Kameelah graduated from Pomona College Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A in Public Policy Analysis, Africa/African Diaspora—a self-designed major. At 19 years old, she was nationally recognized as a Harry S. Truman Scholar and a Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellow for Aspiring Teachers of Color. Since age 12, Kameelah has taught, tutored and developed curriculum in environments ranging from schools for paroled youth to pre-schools in Soweto. This year she was admitted to the Harvard Graduate School of Education and plans to start alternatives schools grounded in radical pedagogy, DIY culture, youth political organizing. She is also the founder of ‘poeticdispatch press,’ a self-publishing press for interactive educational tools. Currently, she is a Fulbright Scholar in Johannesburg, South Africa researching neoliberalism and urban redevelopment efforts. In Johannesburg, she organizes with a local worker’s rights effort, collaborates with a relocated squatter community in Lehae/Soweto and researches international prison abolition efforts.
While in the States, she campaigned against mandatory minimums and helped develop a resource library for paroled women in Watts,CA. Kameelah continues to work remotely with Critical Resistance, a national prison abolition organization and artistically collaborates with the incarcerated through the Buildbloc Artist Collective. A part-time b&w digital photographer, graphic designer and ‘zinester, Kameelah creates works that encourage political engagement and imagination.
Kameelah is guided by the imperatives of social justice found in her identification as a hijabi Muslim of African descent from a working class family.
B. Neil Creque Williams was graduated from Duke University in May of 2006. He majored in Public Policy studies with a minor in economics and a film/video/digital certificate. An aspiring filmmaker – Neil is currently working on a documentary presently entitled “The Silver Rights Movement” about minority business development in Durham, NC.
At Duke, Neil’s 2-minute short about the copyright implications found in Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me” was a finalist in the international Full Frame and Duke Law Moving Image Contest.
Beginning in January of 2005, Neil attended film classes at the University of Southern California. Outside of the classroom, Neil worked as a production assistant on a number of music videos and commercials through Ridley Scott and Associates Films. As a production assistant, Neil was able to work for music video directors like Marc Klasfield (Jay-Z’s “Girls, Girls, Girls”) and Sam Bayer (Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends”).
In 2005, Neil Williams created CrequeVision Entertainment, a production house that produced a number of short films, music videos and documentaries for Duke organizations like the Black Student Alliance, Cable 13, Duke’s NPHC and the Center for Documentary Studies. Neil’s film, “In The Know,” a documentary about an African-American owned bookstore in Durham, received the Hal Kammerer student filmmaker prize in 2006.
Neil also received a Benenson Art Award from Duke University to begin work on the current documentary entitled “The Silver Rights Movement.”
In 2006, Neil participated in the Full Frame Fellowship program through Duke University and the Full Frame Festival.
He looks forward to a career as a filmmaker who uses various storytelling forms (i.e. documentary, short film, narrative) to broaden the representation and stories of African-Americans in film.
