SIPHIWE BALEKA
Biography
Siphiwe Baleka, known as Brassa Mada in the Balanta community, was born on April 14, 1971 to Jeremiah and Yolanda Blake and given the colonized name of Anthony “Tony” Nathaniel Blake. Jeremiah graduated from the historical black college Fisk University, where, in 1962, he participated in the Nashville civil rights movement and was met with bricks and stones. He became determined to give his son the opportunities he didn’t have. At the age of ten, Tony became an Illinois State Swimming Champion and by the time he graduated from high school, was one of the nation’s fastest swimmers. At Yale University, he became the first African American on the All -Ivy League Swim Team. In 1992, Tony failed to qualify for the 1992 Olympic Trials and fulfill his boyhood dream of becoming the first black swimmer on the United States Swim Team.
At about this same time, Tony suffered an “identity” crisis. While studying African American history at Yale, he realized that he was part of what W.E.B. DuBois called “the talented tenth” and that he had a duty to excel on behalf of the race. On the other hand, after reading the Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey and books by Franz Fanon, that though he was black and African, he had been socialized and educated by white Americans and thus, as Marcus Garvey said, required a “racial re-education” if he was going to be any use to the black race. Having internalized this, and following the example of his heroes, Walter Rodney and Ken Saro Wiwa, Tony decided to become a scholar activist. That’s when he joined the black liberation struggle in America.
After leaving Yale during his senior year in 1993, Tony became attracted to the Rastafari Movement and began growing dreadlocks. He returned to Yale in 1995 to finish his final semester as Ras Nathaniel.
While still on campus, Ras Nathaniel felt compelled to join Union Local 34’s strike against Yale University, demanding a living wage for its mostly black workforce. He spoke at University forums, marched on the picket lines, and along with a group of students, boycotted their graduation ceremony from this prestigious University. At the same time, Ras Nathaniel was mentored by George Edwards of the New Haven Black Panther Party and began organizing and raising money for Black Panther political prisoners, and started working with the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal and the MOVE Organization.
Returning to and graduating from Yale University, Ras Nathaniel rejected opportunities to enter the corporate world and instead became an instructor and grant writer for the Nkrumah Washington Community Learning Center in the Englewood neighborhood. During this time, he became a member of N’COBRA under Republic of New Afrika legend Baba Hannibal Afrik and Sister Erline Arpo. He also worked with Shaka Barak, founder and President of the Marcus Garvey Institute and one of the last students of General Charles L James of Gary Indiana one of the original graduates of Marcus Garvey’s School of African Philosophy in 1937.
Under the tutelage of Dr. Y.N. Kly of the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities (IHRAAM) and his protégé, Irish “El Amin” Greene, a product of the Black P Stone Nation and National Council of Black Lawyers Community College of Law and International Diplomacy (NCBLCCLID) later re-named for Fred Hampton, Ras Nathaniel began studying the curriculum. He completed the Petition of the Nkrumah-Washington Community Learning Center On Behalf of their Members, Associates and Afro-American Population Whose International Protected Human Rights Have Been Grossly and Systematically Violated By the Anglo-American Government of the United States of America and Its Varied Institutions. The petition was submitted under the United Nations 1503 Procedure.
In 2003, while serving as a journalist for the Rastafari Speaks newspaper published by Chicago’s very own Frontline Distribution, Ras Nathaniel. registered with the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Information & Culture Press and Information Department as a journalist and began working at the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa. He is the only African American to attend both the 1st Extraordinary Summit of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa, as well as the African Union Grand Debate in Ghana in 2007. As a result, Ras Nathaniel became the Director of the African Union 6th Region Education Campaign. He has appeared on South African Broadcasting Company (SABC TV), negotiated the Rastafari citizenship issues in Ethiopia, helped the Central American Black Organization to elect its representatives to the African Union at their 12th Assembly in Honduras, and gave the inaugural Marcus Garvey lecture for the Government of Barbados’ Commission for Pan African Affairs. In 2006 he was the roommate of Dr. Kamarakafego, counselor, consultant, official and friend to Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, CLR James, Walter Rodney and many others while organizing the 6th Pan African Congress in Tanzania in 1974. In 2007, while organizing the Global Unity Conference in Azania, Ras Nathaniel was given the name Siphiwe Baleka by a council of Elders.
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.
For more information, read about:
From Nhacra to North Carolina: The Story of Brassa Nchabra and the Blake Family, 1760 to 1890
Siphiwe’s Family History in America
Siphiwe’s Family in African American History
Siphiwe’s Decision to go to Yale
Siphiwe’s Decision to Leave Yale
Siphiwe’s Involvement in the Black Liberation Movement
Siphiwe and the Founding of the African Union 6th Region Education Campaign