The US Military’s Best-Kept Secret

n the shadows of what was once called the “Dark Continent,” a scramble has come and gone. If you heard nothing about it, that was by design. But look hard enough and—north to south, east to west—you’ll find the fruits of that effort: a network of bases, compounds, and other sites whose sum total exceeds the number of nations on the continent. For a military that has stumbled from Iraq to Afghanistan and suffered setbacks from Libya to Syria, it’s a rare can-do triumph. In remote locales, behind fences and beyond the gaze of prying eyes, the US military has built an extensive archipelago of African outposts, transforming the continent, experts say, into a laboratory for a new kind of war.

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10 Fearless Black Female Warriors Throughout History

Nyabingi Priestesses Muhumusa (died 1945) and Kaigirwa (unknown)

Muhumusa and Kaigirwa were feared leaders of the East African Nyabingi priestesses group that was influential in Rwanda and Uganda from 1850 to 1950. In 1911 Muhumusa proclaimed “she would drive out the Europeans” and “that the bullets of the Wazungu would turn to water against her.”

She organized armed resistance against German colonialists and was eventually detained by the British in Kampala, Uganda, from 1913 to her death in 1945. She became the first in a line of rebel priestesses fighting colonial domination in the name of Nyabingi, and even after being imprisoned she inspired a vast popular following. The British passed its 1912 Witchcraft Act in direct response to the political effectiveness of this spiritually based resistance movement.

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Ancient Cwezi People of Uganda and Rwanda

The Cwezi or the Bachwezi were an ancient people on the source of the Nile River believed to have lived and ruled peacefully the ancient empire of Kitara or Empire of the Sun from perhaps 10,000 BC up until 1500 A.D. They were said to be demi-godly in nature and possessed a high intellect in addition to paranormal capabilities. However, legend has them shrouded in great mystery, yet they remain revered and praised across the western parts of great rift valley of East Africa particularly in most cultures of Uganda and are heard about through Tutsi oral traditions. Cwezi are still worshiped by tribes in Ankole,Toro,Buganda,East Congo,Tanzania,Burundi and Rwanda.

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Linking Afro Puerto Rican Bomba to New Orleans in the Bronx

I was riveted last week by a performance of Bamboula, by the Bronx's Bombazo Dance Co., which fused two traditions sharing a common root: Afro Puerto Rican bomba and bamboula from New Orleans. A corps of drummers electrified the air, kicking the production off with a syncopated overture that incorporated bomba "barril" drums, African skins and conga. The energy kept escalating until the dancers appeared, embodying the spiritual connection between the drum and the human heart and soul -- what remains of our ancestors within us..

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CARLOTA Lukumí/Yoruba Woman Fighter for Liberation

In order to understand liberation processes in the Caribbean we have to take into account all occurrences which preceded our days and contributed to the formation of our collective consciousness. Cuba, in this sense, possesses an impressive historical legacy of which needs more discussion. Women in Cuba, generally speaking, played a very important role in the construction of that society since the beginning of European colonialism in 1492. Carlota fulfilled a noble task by offering great teachings even with her own life. Neither studying nor talking about the contribution made in that Caribbean society by the African women, in particular, implies a silent falsification of the truth.

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