Queen Mother Ruby Dee Ascended to the Aku

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/ruby-dee-dead-91-article-1.1827040

Ruby Dee dead at 91: Legendary stage and screen actress — and Civil Rights leader — frequently costarred with husband Ossie Davis
Family member confirms death. Dee was living in New Rochelle.

BY JOE NEUMAIER , JOE DZIEMIANOWICZ , NANCY DILLON

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Thursday, June 12, 2014, 12:22 PM

Updated: Thursday, June 12, 2014, 1:54 PM

AFRO NEWSPAPER/GADO/GETTY IMAGESRuby Dee in 1960.

Stage and screen legend Ruby Dee, who personified grace, grit and progress at a time when African-American women were given little space in movies and on stage, died Wednesday in New Rochelle, N.Y. She was 91.

The death was confirmed Thursday by a family member, who declined to answer any questions pending the release of a statement.

"She died late (Wednesday) with her whole family around her," family friend Latifah Salahudin told the Daily News. "All three kids and seven grandkids were there, surrounding her with so much love. She went peacefully from natural causes. We should all be so lucky."

"She was so full of life and so strong. Such a powerful woman. We're all going to miss her," Salahudin added.

The Cleveland-born, New York-raised actress and activist — winner of an Emmy, a Grammy and a Screen Actors Guild award, among others — not only starred on Broadway (“Take It From the Top!” “Two Hah Hahs and a Homeboy”), film (Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” and “Jungle Fever”), and TV (“All God’s Children,” “Feast of All Saints”), but, with her husband and collaborator Ossie Davis, was a major figure in the Civil Rights movement.

THE WASHINGTON POST/THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES


Ruby Dee gives a reading at the March on Washington in 1963. Enlarge
EVERETT COLLECTION / EVERETT COL


Dee (with Sidney Poitier) starred in "A Raisin in the Sun" in 1961. Enlarge

In 2005, Dee and Davis received the National Civil Rights Museum’s Lifetime Achievement Freedom award. Davis died in February of that year.

Dee’s first film role came in 1949, in the musical drama “That Man of Mine.” She played Rachel Robinson in “The Jackie Robinson Story” in 1950, and costarred opposite Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt and Cab Calloway in “St. Louis Blues” (1958).

She appeared in the 1979 TV movie “Roots: The Next Generations,” and costarred with Davis in their own short-lived 1980-81 show, “Ossie and Ruby!”

The two played contentious neighbors who embodied, and recalled, the social unrest of the ’60s in Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” (1989). She earned her sole Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress, for “American Gangster” (2007).

Her final film was the still-in-production crime drama “King Dog,” opposite Ice-T.


Dee was a frequent presence on New York stages for four decades, since joining the American Negro Theatre in 1941 before her stage debut two years later in the Broadway drama "South Pacific."

In 1946 she costarred in the play "Jeb" with Davis, whom she married in 1948.

In 1953, Dee starred in the Broadway premiere of "A Raisin in the Sun," playing the wife of Sidney Poitier — and reprised that role in the film eight years later.


REED SAXON/ASSOCIATED PRESSDee poses with husband Ossie Davis when the pair won ;ifetime achievment awards from the Screen Actors Guild in 2001.

Dee's last Broadway performance was in the 1988 comedy "Checkmates," which marked the debut of Denzel Washington, who is currently on the boards in Poitier role in “A Raisin in the Sun.”

Washington declined to comment: "Not today," a spokesperson said.

But the Rev. Al Sharpton issued a statement calling Dee "a phenomenally rare artist and a jewel to our nation and community."

"I was privileged to work on several civil rights cases with her and her husband Ossie Davis," the statement added. "She was as committed to social justice as she was to the screen and stage. She will be greatly missed.”

ASTRID STAWIARZ/GETTY IMAGESDee attended "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" in 2013.

Dee's absence from the stage never dimmed her status as a trailblazer. Accepting her best actress Tony Award on June 8, Audra McDonald heralded a number including women, including Dee, saying, "I am standing on Lena Horne's shoulders. I am standing on Maya Angelou's shoulders. I am standing on Dianne Caroll and Ruby Dee."

Beyond her artistic work, Dee is best known for her work as an activist. She was long a member of such organizations as the Congress of Racial Equality, the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), and Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She and Davis were personal friends of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, whose eulogy Davis gave in 1965, two years after Dee gave a stirring reading at King’s March on Washington.

Dee was born Ruby Wallace, but kept her married surname even after she divorced her first husband, blues singer Frankie Dee, in the 1940s. She married Davis in 1948 and the two collaborated for decades on art, activism and family, having three children, blues musician Guy Davis, and two daughters, Nora Day and Hasna Muhammad, all of whom survive Dee.

The couple also raised eyebrows with an autobiography that advocated open marriage, saying that lies, not extramarital affairs, destroy marriages. They later said that they came to realize that they didn't need anyone else.

A documentary on the couple's trailblazing career and personal history, "Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee," will screen on June 18 at the 18th Annual American Black Film Festival in Chelsea. The film was directed by Dee and Davis' grandson Muta’Ali

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/ruby-dee-dead-91-article-1.1827040#ixzz34RzO7kqy


Nuta Beqsu, is a Queen Ma of many Grand Princesses and Princes, living in the urban Kansas City Area. Looking for solutions to the cycles of violence, health disparities, poverty, and inequalities in wealth, she opened the Amen Par Ankh, a Natural Life Center, and Amen Ankh Urban Farm. This is a green space for Child Care, Home Scholars, an Independent Library and Home Blessings and Notions. She is a blogger and respected public speaker and educator who has conducted several workshops at various organizations, served as a panelist and as keynote speaker at regional meetings. Nuta Beqsu means (heaven gives me balance) Nu, Nut, & Ta are Elemental powers of the Heavens: Nu is Atmosphere, Moisture, and Water. Nut is the Sky goddess. She represents the cosmos and the universe. The Universe is always giving birth to new solar systems and stars. Ta is the original word for land. Our land is our home, and the place for the empirical existence that we are experiencing. She seeks to live in balance between the planetary and heavenly existence. We are all connected to the land, trees, microcosm and macrocosm, Inner verse and universe. Nuta Beqsu (heaven gives me balance) will be programed into conscious spirit, to produce thought sequences to direct a course of action as way to achieve successfulness in life. Visualization is thought converted into a pleasurable visual image(s) to achieve a goal and/or purpose. We connect with Divine Power to guide and direct our pathways. As a divine name is spoken the receiver has unity of direction in life. Her name reflects her Destiny. So, the sight Sound, vision, smells and colors associated with a divine name will give guidance in her pathway. Amen Par Ankh offers Consultations for Destiny, Health, Career and Relationships. Call for your appointment: Feel free ot Contact the Amen Ankh Urban Farm... amen.ankh@live.com or amen.parankh@gmail.com Please like our facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/Green.Griot https://www.facebook.com/PARANKH , https://www.facebook.com/Amen.Ankh.Farm , https://www.facebook.com/Adenike.Art , https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ankh-The-Way-of-Life-Communities/

Building Bridges Between Black Parents in Public Education

Here are my comments to King Kihei of the Parent Teacher's Conference, for parents and education in Kansas City:







@ Kihei- We must revolutionize the way we think about education for our youth! As parents, We must return to “Dynastic” thinking. What I mean is- passing on a heritage of inherited wealth, stability and leading by example. This is how the elite think in provisions for their children. What I mean by “PRO-VISION” is -Visioning for the Long term futures with positive expectations and outcomes! I’m talking about 20-50-100 year plans for the outcomes and expectations for their youth and their children’s place in their family neighborhood and Economy ( Eco-Gnome). First of all, Dynastic Parents, home-school and surround their children with their Grandparents, extended families and elders. Or, they employ a private tutor, or put their children in private schools... Dynastic families know the importance of personally investing in their children, to build their educational environment with a state of the art tools, equipment and materials.






Dynastic Parents talk to their children and not at them. They make direct eye contact. They smile and send their love. They don't shout but speak in low stress, loving mother and father ease. Dynastic Black families share dialogue, and make suggestions and not commands, they seek out leadership roles for their youth... equipping their child with what they need-TO LEAD- Not to follow.
PARENTS are the First Teachers. It is important that we teach our own values, Spiritual Systems and History- It is important that each of their infants have ample lap time. It is vital that their infants have breast milk over formula. If they cannot breast feed. they should find a wet-nurse over formula...

THEY MUST READ TO THEIR CHILDREN- AND let their children catch them reading- by example- talk about books, Find Local Black writers and authors, and talk about current events in the news. This helps with values and critical thinking. If the parent is not teaching and passing on their values- someone else is/will. Buy local news papers like the Final Call. Fill your house with books about history and history makers. Take your children to your work, and other Black Businesses and share knowledge on financial literacy. We are Mind, Body and Spirit. We should connect with each child in Recreation, prayer, Meditations, eating healthy foods and in nature- take time outdoors to observe nature, Grow food together and share a spot in the family garden for your children to grow their own food selections. Buy the local and national Black newspapers.(There is a man standing right in the street to give you knowledge and/or a delicious bean pie!) and other local black media and magazines. Places like The Urban League give away magazines free of charge.
Many Black families are often caught in residential areas where there is a digital divide in communication and media resources. Families may have Cable television service, but overwhelmingly, they are in a dead zones without Internet resources. That means that students may have access to technology while in school but they go home to a more 3rd world environment, without reference materials and resource access or Books in their homes in contrast. Many of our smart phones have created a bridge in this situation, yet, there are still many people standing outside to get reception. and far too many times, these digital resources are not used for education but more for entertainment.


Although I strongly discourage Government funded schools for African American Indigo children, and the on going struggle of maintaining accreditation-. Every student should be surrounded with high expectations from Parents, teachers, staff and administration.
When you have parents, teachers and administration that have low to no expectation for their youth and family- blended with high scholars, the good students must suffer with the "bad apples" spoiling the whole bunch syndrome;" every body is "grinding for the dollar and surviving from day to day in a “by-design-system”, we fall short of Dynastic thinking, to poverty and starvation mentality.



Here in the Kansas City public schools, the 5 year cycle of "Let's decapitate the heads of the giant district", "right sizing" and "emergency bailout money," have dragged our youth and families through so many throw money in the fire superintendents and administrators- but we were too quick to replace one with another "right-size deal-maker," who may be taking under-the-table deals to sell out our youth. We failed to acknowledge that when the head comes off the body falls on our children, who suffer from the collateral damages in their academic excellence.
We forget that our youth are learning from EVERYTHING and EVERYONE -ALL THE TIME!


We need to help the parents and/or single parents who are overwhelmed or dysfunctional. - "We are only as strong as the weakest link" also comes to mind. Teachers should be identifying our struggling children not only academically but socially for the students success...


It is a war zone in the neighborhoods in many cases, with child custody issues and 2 youth dying every week... We NEED Counselors on staff for crisis counseling. When a youth dies, is sexually assaulted or abused in our schools and neighborhoods, or when a family member is incarcerated- WE NEED TO CARE! Apathy is an enemy.- These violent acts effects everyone of the people who knew that youth...


You Can't just ignore the whole child and just isolate academics... We are Mind, Body, Soul and Spirit...
Many students suffer from the 2:00pm to 6:00pm Gap. Where some children come home to a latch-key world of an unsupervised house. while both parents are away working, and no extended families, their meals may be Acidic devitalized and highly processed Microwaved foods like pizza, Ramen Noodles, baloney and Chicken nuggets(pink slime)- “? Corn Chips-salt and grease”, filled with High Fructose Corn Syrup- and other anti-foods like Cinnamon rolls from da corna-lika-stow- or poptarts - potpies or some other frozen boxed meal of GMO playfood… This toxic blend, stresses their vital organs to process and digest these foods, causing early onset diabetes, strokes obesity and early childhood heart attacks and cancers.

This is also the time- When Moms and; dads are "outa sight" and the children are outa their minds! Parents are monitoring their children with cell phones. The Television and video games are occupying their time. You have “Da katz away da mice will play” situations. Many children are more likely at these times, to participate in illegal Drug use, Drinking alcohol, Smoking, be involved with molesters vandalizing property, practice Sex- get pregnant- HIV, and be vulnerable where Pedophiles lurk. This time gap is a major setting for gang indoctrination. They sit in front of mind-numbing, violent music videos, cartoons, desensitizing video games, and become TV couch-potato- childhood-diabetes-obesity beasts. All under a truculent background of misogyny-ated message music dope buzz beats and Rap...





In our neighborhood, we have established the Amen Ankh Akademy tutoring resource and urban Agriculture center. On our block, any scholar can come by our Urban farm, and get free fruit and tutoring. They can learn about sustainable agriculture, also known as permaculture. We have created a positive hands-on interactive experience. We teach practical Arts and crafts and Green STEAM (Science Technology, Engineering, Industrial Arts, and Mathematics) through urban Agriculture and Nature appreciation. We encourage the fostering of home cottage industries in practical and industrial Crafts and arts. We practice stewardship to the natural environment and animals; recycling initiatives; as well as health and wellness. Just by word of mouth, many youth come by. We are Gnome Builders and encourage connections to nature, physical and mental health, the ecology, and Family. https://amen-ankh.blogspot.com
We practice the value system of Nguzo Saba (7principals) everyday! We are practitioners of health and wellness natural living.
Our Black Youth are targeted, racially profiled and stereotyped into hateful classifications of the delinquent, working poor, destined not to receive sustainable living wages. It is our Black young men who are gauged and judged, based on their grade level of literacy from the 3rd Grade, to be caught within a School to Prison Pipeline that feeds the Military-industrial Complex.


You can find in every city, ethnic communities that have their own cultural Economic and residential areas. When their children get out of school, they show up to a family-owned small business. Everyone except Black Americans. Black American Parents need to stop telling their children the (get “OUT of the ghetto”) ideas. Instead, encourage them to find their purpose and use their talents to take ownership and reconnect with their families and communities. We can have our own prosperous cultural areas within the whole of every city. Our people have a legacy of building Black Wall Streets. We must “Work to live” NOT “live to work”. We can rebuild our own sustainable communities. We need Teachers–who are invested not only in our Black students but in their neighborhood development. Our Black Youth need to be encouraged to acquire their skills and higher education and then return –Come right back- to their own neighborhoods and communities to work and build their own economy, health and prosperity, to take back ownership,To promote the cycle of inherited economic resources and stability, to re-develop their families and an African Centered Cultural community. This is good for Hispanic, Korean, Jewish, Islamic, Nigerian, Indian Communities. This should be good for Black Americans as well.


Another issue for parents and public Schools- Putting a child into college with only a remedial background, is like playing our children in a lottery – 9x out of 10 you lose -setting our children up for failure and debt. THESE COLLEGES KNOW THIS and take the child into their schools anyway- use their money for remedial classes then kick them out with a debt for life. I am not suggesting that our youth be discouraged from college bound higher education- especially in participating in HBCUs, Yet, Students should be able to accurately assess a variety of Vocations, skilled trades and careers. The pursuit of home cottage industries and entrepreneurial economic pursuits can actually be more viable and even more than pay for a formal education.

I would like to encourage the Parents who sit down with their families at least once a week and have a family morning, day, night, weekend- lock-in- turn off all electronic media- and eat a home-cooked meal time.


Our children need MORE Real, fresh fruits and vegetables in their bodies to grow properly-. So a fresh salad or smoothie... -to eat and talk with NO distractions. Have a smoothie breakfast- or Sunday dinner with Elders to teach family history, values and establish goals and objectives together... This calls for our schools to step up to the plate- in farm to school initiatives and updating their health and wellness plans and initiatives. A sound mind and alert learners need proper nutrition and a healthy body.
Black Families should Learn and Practice the Nguzo Saba- (Principals Seven)... Celebrate African American Culture with Umoja Karamu AT HOME, Celebrate Kwanzaa AT HOME- Go outside and enjoy the weather and observe life around them. Look at the moon and study the stars... breathe the outdoor air away from the city. Take a walk- go to a park,

let your child sit in a court room, a bank, or any career vocational setting, let them see black business owners, talk to automotive, or lawn cutting business owner, a black judge or attorney, ride with the police, Visit the elderly and volunteer in a nursing home or Hospital or juvenile detention center....


"It takes a loving supportive life team to raise a child"... this may be an over-saturated Afrikan Proverb- (And I personally don't like the term "village" to describe aboriginal or indigenous communities) - I prefer Gnome- Nome , Council of Elders- "The Griots" the "X-Klyn" lol..-







The objective of building a Gnome society of family is paramount. We should not prepare our children to be consumers and work jobs, to build someone else's empire, but, to build their own economy and community.

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Kandaki-Ma Nuta Beqsu (Adenike Amen-Ra)

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Nuta Beqsu, is a Queen Ma of many Suns, Daughters, Grand Princesses and Princes, living in the urban Kansas City Area. Looking for solutions to the cycles of violence, health disparities, poverty, and inequalities in wealth, she opened the Amen Par Ankh, a Natural Life Center, and Amen Ankh Urban Farm. This is a green space for Child Care, Home Scholars, an Independent Library and Home Blessings and Notions. She is a blogger and respected public speaker and educator who has conducted several workshops at various organizations, served as a panelist and as keynote speaker at regional meetings. Nuta Beqsu means (heaven gives me balance) Nu, Nut, & Ta are Elemental powers of the Heavens: Nu is Atmosphere, Moisture, and Water. Nut is the Sky goddess. She represents the cosmos and the universe. The Universe is always giving birth to new solar systems and stars. Ta is the original word for land. Our land is our home, and the place for the empirical existence that we are experiencing. She seeks to live in balance between the planetary and heavenly existence. We are all connected to the land, trees, microcosm and macrocosm, Inner verse and universe. Nuta Beqsu (heaven gives me balance) will be programmed into conscious spirit, to produce thought sequences to direct a course of action as way to achieve successfulness in life. Visualization is thought converted into a pleasurable visual image(s) to achieve a goal and/or purpose. We connect with Divine Power to guide and direct our pathways. As a divine name is spoken the receiver has unity of direction in life. Her name reflects her Destiny. So, the sight Sound, vision, smells and colors associated with a divine name will give guidance in her pathway. Amen Par Ankh offers Consultations for Destiny, Name, Health, Career and Relationships. Call for your appointment: Feel free to Contact the Amen Ankh Urban Farm... amen.ankh@live.com or amen.parankh@gmail.com Please like our facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/Green.Griot https://www.facebook.com/PARANKH , https://www.facebook.com/Amen.Ankh.Farm , https://www.facebook.com/Adenike.Art , https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ankh-The-Way-of-Life-Communities/140162689375565