Black Power -- Mukasa - Willie Ricks on television (more show dates)

Mukasa (Willie Ricks) appearing on cable TV (more show dates)


Mukasa (Willie Ricks) appeared in Los Angeles, California on Saturday, February 26, 2005. Tune in to Comcast cable television to hear what he has to say about Africans in America, and their history.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called Willie Ricks “The fiery orator of SNCC” in his 1967 “Where Do We Go From Here”.

James Forman said the following about Willie Ricks:

“Willie Ricks must rank as one of those unknown heroes who captured the mood of history. In calling for Black Power, he caught the essence of the spirit, moving Black people in the United States and around the world who were poor, Black, and without power”.

In 1966, during the Meredith March across Mississippi, Willie Ricks, then a young field secretary and Central Committee member of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, first popularized the slogan, “Black Power” that became the rallying cry for the militant Black community rebellions that shook this country to its foundations. Mukasa’s introduction of the “Black Power” demand was indicative of the leadership that he has provided in the course of over 35 years of courageous struggle on behalf of poor and working African people. Beginning as a student organizer in Tennessee, where he and his family were targeted by the Klan with cross burnings and gunfire at their home, Ricks has fought on the front lines of the struggle for black freedom.

In 1966, he was a major organizer of the “Black Power March”, which spanned from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi. This march started out as the “March Against Fear”, but changed to the “Black Power March”, after James Meredith was shot. The slogan “Black Power” is often associated with Brother Mukasa because he was a major force in popularizing it throughout the South, from the urban to the rural areas.

During the course of his work to build Black United Fronts in over 100 cities, Brother Mukasa saw that an institutional means was necessary to build the kind of political consciousness required to bring about the liberation of African people. Consequently, he was instrumental in the fight to establish Black Studies programs on campuses across the country, and in the building of several independent schools, including the Malcolm X University, and the Pan-African Work Center.

Joining the Black Panther Party in the late 1960’s, and later becoming an organizer with the All African People’s Revolutionary Party, Brother Mukasa has consistently been in the vanguard of the African liberation movement.

Please tune in to hear Mukasa on the following show dates:

Mukasa - Willie Ricks, Black Power (Part 1)
Wednesday, March 23, 2005, 10:30 p.m., Channel 24, Comcast television, (Los Angeles area South)

Mukasa - Willie Ricks, Black Power (Part 2)
Wednesday, March 23, 2005, 6:00 p.m., Channel 35, Comcast television, (Inglewood area)

Mukasa - Willie Ricks, Black Power (Part 2)
Friday, March 25, 2005, 5:00 p.m., Channel 24, Comcast television, (Hollywood/Downtown area)

Mukasa - Willie Ricks, Black Power (Part 1)
Friday, April 1, 2005, 10:00 p.m., Channel 24, Comcast television, (Hollywood/Downtown area)