A Professor of Pan-African Studies at Cal State Los Angeles says that white people should not ask for an invite to any Juneteenth “cookouts” over the weekend. Professor Melina Abdullah — a “hip-hop scholar” — said the newly designated federal holiday should be called “Reparations Day” for white individuals. Abdullah is also a co-founder of the Los Angeles BLM chapter.
“Attention White People….. Please don’t ask if you can come to the cookout…..” Abdullah wrote in a tweet. “Juneteenth is freedom day for Black folks. It should be #Reparations day for white folks,” Abdullah continued.
Her tweet was promptly “ratioed” and mocked.
Why would we want to go?
—
(@AhComfy) June 14, 2022
This is for you Cal State “scholar”. pic.twitter.com/cMqoWnWUtr
— Guardian USAF (@GuardianUSAF) June 14, 2022
According to Abdullah’s Wikipedia bio, her father John Reimann, was “a union organizer and self-proclaimed Trotskyist.”
“Her mother is Linda Fowler Blackston and she was raised by Oji “Baba” Blackston. Her paternal grandfather was Günter Reimann (born Hans Steinicke), a German-Jewish Marxist economist and member of the Communist Party of Germany who opposed Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich,” the bio continues.
Reimann changed her surname to Abdullah after she married filmmaker Phaylen Abdullah. She opted to keep the name after their divorce
Medina Abdullah is also a co-founder of the Los Angeles Black Lives Matter chapter. Abdullah — along with Patrisse Cullors and Marina Garza — bought a luxurious Southern California home for nearly $6 million using donation cash.
According to a report from New York Magazine, the trio filmed a video outside the “secretly bought” home on the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death.