I've kept a long silence on this particular subject (much like the higher tiers of the UZN) for fear of personal reprisals (again) and also because I wanted to see if anyone came forward to corroborate these claims.
However as this event is continually snowballing into a whole shitstorm then I feel it is the right time to speak my piece.
For anyone who has not been following this groundbreaking news let me explain.
On March 29th 2016 a video (in two parts) was uploaded to Youtube by
The Star Chamber which contained
an interview between
Troi Torain aka STAR (
"the most objective voice in media today") and the 50-year old former NYS Democratic Committeeman and also ex-
Universal Zulu Nation member,
Ronald Savage.
This video contained detailed stories of acts of sexual abuse between Ronald himself and UZN founder,
Afrika Bambaataa back when he was one of his "crate boys" at only 14 years old in the early 1980s.
From this one video other people have come forward to give their own video confessions of abuse by Bambaataa:
#1 Shavonne (not real name) (
video)
#2 Hassan Campbell, 39 (
video)
#3 Poppy, 39 (
video)
#4 Troy, 51 (
video)
#5 Unidentified Hispanic Guy, 50 (
video)
Bribes were allegedly offered to some of these victims by members of the UZN in return for their silence.
Bam's former bodyguard, Shamsideen Shariyf Ali Bey
has supported the claims and has said that the abuse of young children may run "
into the hundreds".
Initially the UZN dismissed all claims as "
rumors, slander and outright lies". Lately the Zulu Nation have since distanced themselves and removed Bambaataa as leader in a "significant" restructuring of the organisation.
Sadly it seems due to a law called the "statute of limitations" which exists in New York, it means that time has run out on any legal proceedings which may have taken place.
It is important to note that so far all of these incidents are all
alleged to have happened and no official court orders have been filed. In short, it's one word against another.
Interestingly, Star talked to someone from the UK who was involved in an incident ("
Man Claims Afrika Bambaataa Bit His Penis!"). However as the alleged events took place outside of Britain and the 'abused' was over the age of consent in New York state then I doubt these particular claims can come to anything.
Now. A couple of years ago the
ABU Facebook Group (version 1.1) came to a crashing halt after some members of the UK UZN accused ABU's members of dissing their founder, Afrika Bambaataa.
The comments were not remarkably out of the ordinary for the ABU group. Humourous, near-the-knuckle banter that was prompted from a particular post remarking on Bam's sexuality in an extremely juvenile and British schoolboy fashion.
Funny? Yes.
Wrong? Possibly. But nothing that would be taken to these extreme reprisals if it were a discussion held down the pub.
"History has shown that high powered organizations will use any means necessary to cover-up for the bad behavior of its
leaders, and in some cases, their creation may be based on this kind of
behavior in the first place"
(Source quote here)
What people were speaking of was based on years of rumours and hearsay that could easily be found via Google. An open secret, if you will. Yet the zealousness of the UK chapter came down on ABU and demanded that we cease, desist and apologise.
After personal attacks to myself and two close friends of mine I decided that enough was enough and sadly closed down the group based on the actions of these purveyors of peace, love and unity.
Fast forward to June 2016 and the UK UZN are suspiciously quiet (save for a
brief statement). The previous amount of venom and anger are noticeably absent considering the same comments and accusations (even moreso) are being bandied about in public forums.
Some good friends and I went through a truly shit time and it would be nice if at least just one person who publicly commented against us back then were to hold up their hands and make amends.
All I can say is, watch this space.
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Ageing B-Boy,
Reepz.
Further links:
The Hip-Hop Vatican: Afrika Bambaataa & Betrayal Pt. 1
http://www.bishopchronicles.com/podcast/2016/5/15/42-the-hip-hop-vatian-afrika-bambaataa-betrayal
aka Iriscience
https://medium.com/@therealrakaa/my-path-an-open-letter-to-the-true-amazulu-worldwide-bf5a930fb743#.5rsiybgk9
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