What is Barutiwa?

Barutiwa (pronounced baa-roo-tee-waa) is a word and concept developed by Baruti Muhammad Kamau, an African-American, in November 1992. Baruti is an African name from the country of Botswana meaning teacher or "he was born to learn and teach". Wa is a suffix used in the Hausa language to denote a group of people. When developing a name for his newsletter in 1992, Mr. Kamau decided to call it BARUTIWA meaning "Baruti people". From 1992 to 1999, Barutiwa Newspaper appeared as a quarterly publication under ISSN 1080-997x with a primary circulation in Cincinnati, Ohio USA.

Barutiwa.com functioned as the first and largest African-American owned online community in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1999 to 2004. In 2004 the domain (www.barutiwa.com) was hijacked by cybersquatters. In 2010, Mr. Kamau re-acquired Barutiwa.com and refocused the objectives of his online community.

Baruti M. Kamau (formerly Parrish R. Jones) is a published writer and owner of Barutiwa News Online. He is known for championing the voice of African American youth and young adults through publishing Barutiwa Newspaper (1992-1999). Kamau is a freelance writer and accepting new clients. He can be reached at submissions@barutiwa.com

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