Siphiwe Baleka has led a very interesting life that took him from his North Carolina community to HBCU Fisk University, the US Olympic Swim Trials, Yale University and was part of both the civil rights movement and the black liberation struggle in his community.

Siphiwe Balek was mentored by George Edwards of the New Haven Black Panther Party and began to organize and raise money for Black Panther political prisoners, and started working with the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal and the MOVE Organization. He is also a member of NCOBRA and a documentarian. He will be joining us today to discuss Mansa Musa from the perspective of the oppressed people under his rule.

Read: THE MALI KINGDOM AND MANSA MUSA WERE IMPERIALIST SLAVE TRADERS: REVISITING AFRICAN HISTORY FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE PEOPLE WHO WERE OPPRESSED

Siphiwe Baleka Bio:

"Today, Siphiwe Baleka is known as “The Fitness Guru to the Trucking Industry” and has appeared in Men’s Health magazine, Sports Illustrated, the Huffington Post, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, NPR, CNN, and BBC. He serves as the North American Regional Director of the African Sports Ventures Group, Senior Heritage Ambassador of the United House of Ancestry, and President of the Balanta B’urassa History & Genealogy Society of America. He is instrumental in launching the Decade of Return Initiative of the Government of Guinea Bissau." - Read more