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Autum Ashante
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Autum Ashante (some sources Autumn Ashante) is an elementary-school-aged homeschooled African-American poet from Mount Vernon, New York. She gained notoriety in the New York area when on February 28 2006, at age seven, she performed her poem, "White Nationalism Put U in Bondage", as part of a Black History celebration at a Peekskill, New York middle school and high school. According to reports in the New York Post and the Westchester Journal News, Autum led the African-American and Hispanic children (while telling white children to sit down) in a Black Panthers' pledge not to harm one another, and then recited her poem, which equated Christopher Columbus and Charles Darwin with "vampires" and "pirates". The school district issued a recorded phone message apologizing for the incident to hundreds of parents, which in itself ignited more controversy. Later, Autum was honored by New York City Councilman (and former Black Panther), Charles Barron, and the mayor of Mount Veron, Ernest Davis, in separate ceremonies, and gained the support of the Reverend Al Sharpton. In spite of this controversy, Autum has had a relatively successful career, with a variety of television credits, an appearance at the Apollo Theater, and the African Burial Ground in Manhattan. She also appeared at an Institute of Black World 21st Century forum in Brooklyn in 2007. Autumn's father, poet and activist Batin Ashante, has been criticized for the way he is raising her. 
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