THREAD

When you lose a titan, a hero, someone who taught you what moral courage looks like? It is a loss like no other.

For me, that would be the Executive Director of the African American Center on Global Politics and Human Rights,

Dr. Keith Jennings.

I first met Dr. Jennings - better known by Kamu or his nick name in college, "Top Cat" - as a skinny, scared freshman at Fisk University. He was a sophomore, but seemed so much older. He played on the football team, and was incredibly popular.

An excellent student, he grew up in the tidewater area of Virginia, and was a football star. At Fisk, he majored in political science and was an outstanding organizer, debater and knew how to get in "good trouble."

Along with about half the Fisk University student body, we protested against our university's investments in apartheid. We won. Later, we demonstrated against the unfair housing standards that existed between men and women on campus, shutting down the school for 3 months.

We won greater representation on our Board of Directors. Kamu was elected Vice President of our SGA, I was the Business Manager. The SGA started a voter registration drive. Volunteered for campaigns. Started an after-school tutoring program.

At some point, all of the SGA leaders were kicked off campus for some made-up reason or another. That didn't stop Kamu from graduating cum laude from Fisk. I was elected SGA President the next year.

And invited Kwame Ture, Huey P. Newton, Fiskite Nikki Giovanni to speak. Kept showing the documentary "A Film About Malcolm X." Of course, got kicked off campus the first semester of my senior year, but still graduated with honors from Fisk.

Kamu became the Executive Director of the US Student Association, because of his work organizing "Black College Day" in DC. Kamu organized HBCUs to protest the Reagan budget cuts to Pell Grants and other scholarships. It was a huge success; Fisk sent 4 buses to DC.

If there was a protest in Nashville, TN between 1977-1981? Kamu organized it. We were first arrested protesting police brutality in Nashville. I was scared to death.

"Bullet, after they put the cuffs on you, you won't be afraid anymore."

He was right.

After leaving USSA, Kamu was the east coast director of Amnesty International. We lived in a house with three other men. I had two jobs, but that's where I learned the importance of lobbying. We were also arrested twice in front of the South African embassy.

We also organized a series of anti-rape seminars for Black men in Anacostia, as Kamu was also fighting to have rape included as a war crime with Amnesty International. Here we are after getting out of jail and before our seminar.

Kamu earned his Ph. D in political science and taught at Howard, Clark Atlanta, Morehouse and other universities. He was also with the National Democratic Institute, and monitored elections all over the world, with a focus on African nations.

Kamu fought for the rights of Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Cuban women.

He fought for environmental justice throughout the world.

He testified before Congress over 20 times. He visited 50 of the countries on Africa continent, and traveled there over 70 times. He was a renown expert on Africa and the diasporta.