Too much politics and the clang of commerce” is staining 9/11 commemorations here in New York City today. So it also makes sense that we look somewhere else for music that articulates how some of us feel. Thanks to Neelika for suggesting the song “Days of Fire” by Nitin Sawhney, featuring singer Natty, as an appropriate music break today. I agree. Performed in 2008 with the London Undersound Orchestra the song is based on Natty’s experiences of the July 2007 train bombings in London and its aftermath.

We also remember the other September 11.

Further Reading

From Cape To Cairo

When two Africans—one from the south, the other from the north—set out to cross the continent, they raised the question: how easy is it for an African to move in their own land?

The road to Rafah

The ‘Sumud’ convoy from Tunis to Gaza is reviving the radical promise of pan-African solidarity and reclaiming an anticolonial tactic lost to history.

Sinners and ancestors

Ryan Coogler’s latest film is more than a vampire fable—it’s a bridge between Black American history and African audiences hungry for connection, investment, and storytelling rooted in shared struggle.