Brixton Town centre: Atlantic Road, Coldharbour Lane, Effra Road, Electric Avenue, Electric Lane, Rushcroft Road, Saltoun Road, St Matthew’s Peace Gardens, Windrush Square
As London becomes the destination for the summer of 2012 Brixton Splash returns bigger and better than ever.
On the day that we expect to see Usain Bolt take on the world in the Olympic 100m final alongside the artists, music, sound systems and fabulous food we always bring to Splash we will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Jamaican Independence during the festival.
There will be a number of activities throughout the day reflecting Jamaican cultural contributions to London life, which include highlighting the historic civic, business, sporting and cultural contributions of Windrush Jamaicans who have come to Lambeth over the last 50 years.
Brixton Splash will again feature 4 sound systems on Atlantic Road and Coldharbour Lane with a main stage on Windrush Square. The main stage will continue to support local talent and will include the musical history of Jamaica in Britain ranging from Soul, Pop, Ska and Reggae through to dancehall and roots music.
The stage will also provide a platform for narration and sketches from a local young peoples dramatic dance society as well as incorporating poetry and dance performers who will represent a musical journey through the high points of Jamaican history and British popular music genres.
The Peace Gardens will be further developed with an emphasis on the Arts and families.
Brixton Splash will also set up a live broadcast via YouTube to celebrate the event with a series of interviews with the public and celebrities to find out what Jamaican Independence means to them.
Being black in Spain is different from being black in the UK, France or The Netherlands. In an interesting article five black people from Spain share their experience about living in Spain (short translation). You can read the full article (in French) on the blog Noirs d’Amérique Latine
Among the interviewed is television reporter Lucía Asué Mbomio. In the video for the website Live unchained she talks about her her documentary and about being black in Spain.
Short translation
Marcia Santacruz is chocolate coloured. Black like her father and her mother. Black as her grandparents. But apparently, in Spain, clothing, education and money determine the level of melanin. They nuanced skin tone. The Afro-Colombian, who came to Madrid to complete a Masters in Public Administration, said: “In the Spanish mind black is synonymous for domestic work, poverty and lawlessness. In their subconsciousness, they can’t believe that there can be a black latina who speaks about Sartre.
Spain is not an openly racist country. There is no xenophobic party with parliamentary representation. The country does not represent a clear rejection of black, except for marginal groups of extreme right. But there is subtle everyday racism. Manifested in the way home. It is installed in the eye. You find in the classic statement: “I am not racist, but …”. Or it’s the shop salesman who rushes to serve a black person, just so he can leave the shop quickly. It’s racism in a country where blacks have gone from singular elements and exotic, before being put all in the same bag, which is perceived with some concern: immigrants.
Here, there is neither Barack Obama or Oprah Winfrey. There are not many symbols of success. The Black presence is recent. An explosion occurred in the late nineties.
Spain has about 683,000 African descent. 1.5% of the population, just over 10% of foreigners by High Council of Black Communities (Alto Consejo de las Comunidades Negras).This exponential growth is most striking: in 1998 they were no more than 77,000. And just last year, about 7,500 descendants of Africans born in the Spanish territory.
According to the association that advocates the visibility of the black community, these figures are approximate. First, they counted foreigners residing in Spain from countries with black people, and crossed the result with the percentage of African descent in these countries. These figures have a margin of error. Fortunately, we have no ethnic census, the racial difference does not appear on the national identity card. But the quantification of a minority can be seen through another prism. Especially if the initiative comes from the minority itself.
There are data that say: “We are a growing community. We’re here. Take us into consideration.”
For there was a time when the Spaniards (white) rubbed their eyes in seeing them. Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo, writer and minister of the self-declared government of Equatorial Guinea in exile, based in Madrid, arrived in Spain when his country was still a Spanish colony. A province on the African continent, one hundred percent black. In a recent article entitled Una nueva realidad: los afroespañoles (A new reality: afroespagnols), the Equatorial Guinean wrote several anecdotes of his early years in the white territory.
For example: “Older women who, at Christmas 1965, ran, terrified and scared to see me in a city within the Levantine region, laying hands on her head and cried a black, black, My God, a negro! “[…] My classmates had scratched his head and hands with their fingers and were surprised they were not stained black.
Guineans in the former colony have been the first to arrive so widespread. Today, they are all a little over 23,000. This is the third African country with the most big contingent of blacks in Spain, after Senegal (47,000) and Nigeria (35,000). But migration has been very different. They came to study in the metropolis. To be formed. Today, they perhaps represent the most integrated black community of African descent with a second and third generation.
Lucía Asue Mbomio reporter for Españoles por el mundo (TVE1) is one of them. She speaks with an accent of the district when she wants. She says it is her vulgar side. Born of a white mother and a father Equatorial Guinea, she grew up in Alcorcón, a municipality south of Madrid. She’s 28, and her room in a shared appartment, is filled with pride of her race. From “I Have a Dream” Martin Luther King, to the “Yes we can,” Obama.
Expat
Also see Black travel expert Nelson George of BlackAtlas talking to Black British Judi Oshowole, who has lived in Barcelona for 18 years. See more information about her and the community BIBS (Barcelona International Black Sisters) here.
Mario Balotelli, Italy striker has said he’ll walk off the pitch if he is racially abused during the European Championship (Euro 2012) in Poland and Ukraine next month.
Balotelli who is of Ghanaian descent, said: “If someone throws a banana at me in the street, I will go to prison because I will kill him.”
Mario Balotelli
The Manchester City striker also threatened to “leave the pitch and go home” if he is racially abused.
“Racism is unacceptable to me, I cannot bear it. We are in 2012, it can’t happen,” Balotelli said.
A recent BBC Panorama programme revealed cases of racism and anti-Semitism in football grounds in Poland and Ukraine.
Former England captain Sol Campbell told the BBC’s Panorama that Euro 2012 should not have been awarded to Poland and Ukraine because of entrenched racism and violence. He even discouraged fans from travelling to Poland and Ukraine. “Stay at home, watch it on TV. Don’t even risk it… because you could end up coming back in a coffin,” he said.
Check out D’banj messing around with UK Captial FM’s James Barr as he tells the whole world how he plans to make his way to the Royal Palace and his little fantasy for Pippa Middleton. D’Banj remixed his hit, ‘Oliver Twist’ with mentions of the Royal family in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Although we are still awaiting an official press release from the P-Square camp, our sources at theNETNg have confirmed that P-Square signed a ground-breaking distribution deal with the global company, Universal Records.
Here’s how they are reporting it…
From the looks of it, Nigerian Pop duo Psquare have signed a major deal with the South Africa imprint of one of the biggest record labels in the world – Universal Music Group.
‘Psquare has been signed to UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP… Baba God has done it again..@JUDEENGEES @rudeboypsquare @MisterMayD‘, Peter Okoye, one half of the popular twin pop duo Psquare disclosed on micro-blogging website Twitter some minutes ago.
According to reports, the signing took place today in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa.
The brothers have been heavily linked with Akon who announced in December 2011 that he had signed the twins onto his Konvict Music label as African representatives. Universal Music Group is the parent company of Akon’s Konvict Musik and Kon Live Distribution labels.
Universal Music Group founded in 1934 is an American multinational music company and one of the ‘big four’ record companies in the world. But, as is the norm in music business, Universal Music SA is a ‘South African’ company distributing in that country and environs. We can not confirm as at the time of writing, the specific particulars of the Psquare contract, and whether the brothers are also in talks with Universal in Europe and the US.
The deal with Psqure, we’re told, is a South Africa distribution deal covering past and current Psquare catalogues.
Officials: Harford County man kills roommate, eats his body parts. Kenyan Alexander Kinyua arrested; Head, hands found in his family home.
Left Alexander Kinyua and right is Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie
JOPPATOWNE, Md. – A former Morgan State University student admitted to dismembering his roommate and eating some of his body parts, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.
According to charging documents, Alexander Kinyua, 21, killed his roommate, Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, 37, who was a native of Ghana, with a knife and then ate his heart and part of his brain.
Kinyua is charged with first-degree murder and first- and second-degree assault.
Investigators said the magnitude of what happened to the victim transcends just about any other violent crime they’ve seen. Detectives said Kinyua expressed no reason or remorse for his behavior.
Kinyua, an engineering student at Morgan State, was kicked out of the school about two weeks ago.
Police said he moved back into his family’s home in the 500 block of Terrapin Terrace in Joppatowne, where Agyei-Kodie had been renting a room. Officials said the living arrangement turned horrific within a week.
Detectives said Agyei-Kodie had left to go jogging about a week ago without any of his personal effects, and had not been seen since. The Kinyuas reported him missing on May 25.
A few days later, police got a call from the suspect’s father about a gruesome discovery in his basement.
“Specifically, a human head and two human hands in two tins,” said Harford County Sheriff Jesse Bane.
Police said the family confronted Kinyua, who denied that they were human and said they were animal remains. Deputies executed a search and seizure warrant at the home on Wednesday, where they discovered the remains.
Charging documents said Kinyua eventually confessed to killing Agyei-Kodie, eating some of his body parts and dividing the rest of the remains between his basement and a Dumpster about a mile away from the home.
Sheriff’s investigators said it was one of the most grisly cases they’ve seen in a while and said they hope the FBI can shed some light on Kinyua’s motive.
Psychiatrist: Behavior lends to history of mental illness, drug abuse
Kinyua had experienced major upheaval in recent weeks. Officials at Morgan State said he was a third-year student in good standing until May 19, when court records show he was arrested on accusations that he assaulted someone inside his dorm room. He immediately left school and moved back home.
“It’s possible that the trauma of being kicked out of the school has caused some kind of psychological reaction,” said psychiatrist Dr. Mahmood Jahromi, who added that grisly crimes like that don’t occur in a vacuum.
He said there is typically a long history of mental health issues, antisocial behavior or drug use.
“Killing someone and then reportedly cooking the body parts, seasoning it and eating it — the magnitude of the problem even goes beyond the logical defect,” Jahromi said.
Police said the Kinyua family’s accounts of Agyei-Kodie’s disappearance do not match up, so they are looking at the possibility that others may have participated in the crime or helped cover it up.
Kinyua remains at the Harford County Detention Center, where bail was denied.
Meanwhile, lifelong Joppatowne resident Melinda Kraft told 11 News she had never seen her neighbor until his face appeared on a missing person flier.
“It’s not just me. Nobody in this neighborhood has seen him. It’s kind of bizarre. I’ve seen everybody in this neighborhood, but I’ve never seen him,” Kraft said.
She said she will remain on edge, wondering what triggered such a crime in her neighborhood.
“I’m packing my bags and staying with my parents. Even with two dogs, I don’t feel safe,” she said.
Surveillance footage shows the two naked men after the attack Rudy Eugene
31 year old homeless man Rudy Eugene Man Who Ate Another Man’s Face) (was shot dead by police on Saturday May 27th after he was seen chewing off the face of another homeless man while high on drugs. Rudy chewed off 75% of his victims face in the most horrific attack that has left the victim battling for his life in the hospital.
A man was cycling off the MacArthur Causeway on Saturday afternoon when he saw a naked man tearing pieces of flesh from another naked man’s face at the side of a freeway. The cyclist, who later told reporters that it was the most gruesome, traumatic thing he’d ever seen in my life, called the police to the scene. When the police couldn’t get Eugene to stop the savage attack, they shot him dead.
To see what’s left of the face of the victim, then continue…but please be warned, it’s extremely graphic. If you don’t want to see it, do not continue…
Surveillance footage shows the two naked men lying on the walkway. The body on the left is the victim whose face was being chewed by the man on the right
Surveillance footage shows the two naked men after the attacker was shot by police
Police described the scene of the attack as a horror movie, with blood and flesh all over the place.
‘It was one of the most gruesome things I have ever seen in my life in person. You know, you see these things in the movies but when you see it in person, it’s pretty traumatic’ A police officer said.
The victim is currently in the hospital recovering from his injuries which are said to be some of the most horrific staff have ever encountered.
NB: More photos when you click the open me button below. Image has been placed in a toggle because it is very horrific to see. Only open if you can handle it.
The race to roll out autonomous, or driverless cars (Self-Driving Cars), took a step up this week when three Volvo saloons cruised the highways of Spain, as their drivers sat back and relaxed.
Following Google’s experiment with an autonomous car on the streets of Las Vegas, Volvo pulled off the more impressive feat of platooning the three cars behind a lorry for 200 kilometres on a busy Spanish motorway. The idea of self-driving cars dates back to the 1980s under an EU research program on resolving future congestion issues but it seems its time has now come.
Google Driverless Cars
The term “platooning” means, in effect, queuing cars behind each other using a lead car as a pace setter. The technique is also known as road-training.
The latest version of the project, involving several research partners alongside Volvo, is codenamed SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment).
The first public road test for the Sartre project took place outside Barcelona, Spain at the end of last week, where the cars traveled at 85 kilometres per hour (about 52 miles per hour), with varying distances between them. The lead car uses wireless technology to control other cars in the “platoon”. Google meanwhile got its first driverless car licenseearlier this month.
Volvo Self-Driving Cars on a Highway Near Barcelona, Spain
Greencarcongress, the website and advocacy group for sustainable mobility, points out that platooning appears to create fuel efficiencies of around 20% on highways. It also allows the driver to divert attention to other activities, like for example email and browsing.
Innovation in the auto-sector is heating up but it is also worth remembering that the EU’s pans for platooning go back over twenty five years. That’s a lot of lead time. Meanwhile Google is setting the pace for urban autonomous cars in the USA. The race to create a different kind of auto industry is on.
A UK-based Nigerian, Mr. Victor Olisa, has been appointed as the first black commander for the Bexley local council in London.
Olisa, a Chief Superintendent with the London Metropolitan Police, whose grandfather was a police officer in Nigeria, said his focus was on the job rather than on being the ‘first black’ to hold the position.
He pointed out that his ethnicity never affected the way he carried out his duties.
“Policing runs in the family and I have always wanted to be a police officer and ethnicity does not affect that” Olisa told reporters in London, in his reaction on the appointment.
“I consider myself first and foremost a police officer. If (being black) is an advantage, then brilliant; If it’s a disadvantage, I will have to deal with that, I can’t hide it.”
Addressing Racism
Victor Olisa
Olisa said a lot was being done to address racism within the force adding that it was the responsibility of the force to correct wrongs and not an institution for people with racist views.
“I am impeccably against anyone who uses racist language or behaves in a racist manner. This will not be allowed under my watch…I believe that everyone should be treated with dignity wherever they come from,’’ Olisa said.
Profile
Olisa, 52, was born in Warri, Delta state, southern Nigeria.
He is one of the three chief superintendents from black minority ethnic background working for the Metropolitan Police.
He started his career in Surrey Police in 1982 before transferring to the City of London Police in 1990 as a detective inspector in the Fraud Squad.
After a spell at the Home Office, he transferred to the Metropolitan police in 2006 as a superintendent in Southwark Council before his recent appointment.
![Being black in Spain is different from being black in the UK, France or The Netherlands. In an interesting article five black people from Spain share their experience about living in Spain (short translation). You can read the full article (in French) on the blog Noirs d'Amérique Latine Among the interviewed is television reporter Lucía Asué Mbomio. In the video for the website Live unchained she talks about her her documentary and about being black in Spain. Short translation Marcia Santacruz is chocolate coloured. Black like her father and her mother. Black as her grandparents. But apparently, in Spain, clothing, education and money determine the level of melanin. They nuanced skin tone. The Afro-Colombian, who came to Madrid to complete a Masters in Public Administration, said: "In the Spanish mind black is synonymous for domestic work, poverty and lawlessness. In their subconsciousness, they can’t believe that there can be a black latina who speaks about Sartre. Spain is not an openly racist country. There is no xenophobic party with parliamentary representation. The country does not represent a clear rejection of black, except for marginal groups of extreme right. But there is subtle everyday racism. Manifested in the way home. It is installed in the eye. You find in the classic statement: "I am not racist, but ...". Or it’s the shop salesman who rushes to serve a black person, just so he can leave the shop quickly. It’s racism in a country where blacks have gone from singular elements and exotic, before being put all in the same bag, which is perceived with some concern: immigrants. Here, there is neither Barack Obama or Oprah Winfrey. There are not many symbols of success. The Black presence is recent. An explosion occurred in the late nineties. Spain has about 683,000 African descent. 1.5% of the population, just over 10% of foreigners by High Council of Black Communities (Alto Consejo de las Comunidades Negras).This exponential growth is most striking: in 1998 they were no more than 77,000. And just last year, about 7,500 descendants of Africans born in the Spanish territory. According to the association that advocates the visibility of the black community, these figures are approximate. First, they counted foreigners residing in Spain from countries with black people, and crossed the result with the percentage of African descent in these countries. These figures have a margin of error. Fortunately, we have no ethnic census, the racial difference does not appear on the national identity card. But the quantification of a minority can be seen through another prism. Especially if the initiative comes from the minority itself. There are data that say: "We are a growing community. We're here. Take us into consideration." For there was a time when the Spaniards (white) rubbed their eyes in seeing them. Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo, writer and minister of the self-declared government of Equatorial Guinea in exile, based in Madrid, arrived in Spain when his country was still a Spanish colony. A province on the African continent, one hundred percent black. In a recent article entitled Una nueva realidad: los afroespañoles (A new reality: afroespagnols), the Equatorial Guinean wrote several anecdotes of his early years in the white territory. For example: "Older women who, at Christmas 1965, ran, terrified and scared to see me in a city within the Levantine region, laying hands on her head and cried a black, black, My God, a negro! "[...] My classmates had scratched his head and hands with their fingers and were surprised they were not stained black. Guineans in the former colony have been the first to arrive so widespread. Today, they are all a little over 23,000. This is the third African country with the most big contingent of blacks in Spain, after Senegal (47,000) and Nigeria (35,000). But migration has been very different. They came to study in the metropolis. To be formed. Today, they perhaps represent the most integrated black community of African descent with a second and third generation. Lucía Asue Mbomio reporter for Españoles por el mundo (TVE1) is one of them. She speaks with an accent of the district when she wants. She says it is her vulgar side. Born of a white mother and a father Equatorial Guinea, she grew up in Alcorcón, a municipality south of Madrid. She's 28, and her room in a shared appartment, is filled with pride of her race. From "I Have a Dream" Martin Luther King, to the "Yes we can," Obama. You can read the full article (in French) on the blog Noirs d'Amérique Latine Expat Also see Black travel expert Nelson George of BlackAtlas talking to Black British Judi Oshowole, who has lived in Barcelona for 18 years. See more information about her and the community BIBS (Barcelona International Black Sisters) here.](https://i0.wp.com/afrocosmopolitan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/blackinspain.png "blackinspain")
