No, no, but for real. Do we really know the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey? Do we really study his teachings? Have we learned from his life and work? Who else you know could rock ostrich feathers on they hat and still mobilize MILLIONS of people throughout the world? That’s a bad, bad man! This is a brother whose name should not only remain on our lips, but whose words should remain in our hearts; whose teachings should remain practiced in our lives.
Sadly, the days of Pan-Africanism have passed, being replaced with some corporate pseudo something parading through universities, NGOs, and “activist circles” under terms such as “transnational Blackness” or “diaspora.” Please. These are the same folks who religiously quote from DuBois’ “Souls of Black Folk” as if the man wasn’t writing things a half-century later that outright dismissed his early writings. And Barack Obama’s candidacy, predicated as it is upon a race-transcendent platform, is serving to create an even greater distance from–and outright aggression towards–the teachings of Black Marcus.
Within six years of Marcus Garvey founding the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in August of 1914, the organization had grown to over 1,100 chapters in more than 40 countries. Among these were Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Namibia, Azania, India, Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Ecuador, Australia, and Cuba, which had the most chapters outside of the United States.
Garvey’s most famous initiative was the Black Star Line venture to return Africans abroad back to the Continent. Within the united states, much support for Garvey’s Black Star Line came from among the sharecroppers of the rural south. In other words, Brothers and sisters was ready be out with the quickness. Unfortunately, things ain’t pop off like they were supposed to and folks ain’t make it back home.
But Marcus Mosiah’s greatest legacy are through his philosophies and opinions. He emigrated from his native Jamaica to the united states during what is known as the “nadir of race relations.” Put simply, these duppies was wildin out. Garvey, teaching Black self-love and the true history of African people ignited the minds of millions. He said that he knew “no national boundary where the Negro is concerned. The whole world is my province until Africa is free” and was very clear that “potentially, every white man is a Klansman, as far as the Negro in competition with whites socially, economically and politically is concerned, and there is no use lying.” Unfortunately, negroes have never caught on to this, trying to prove themselves worthy to people who have historically proven themselves unworthy.
Marcus told us “the whole world is run on bluff.” He correctly observed that “Our success educationally, industrially and politically is based upon the protection of a nation founded by ourselves. And the nation can be nowhere else but in Africa.” Repatriation is must.
He died broke and discredited, but he died with his head held high. And he warned, “Look for me in the whirlwind…”
It’s hurricane season, ya’ll. Happy birthday, Black Marcus.
BIG TUUUUUUUUNE by Tarrus Riley. Listen to the lyrics
-amari
1 response so far ↓
saynsumthn // October 15, 2009 at 2:42 pm |
Just letting you know about a new film: MAAFA21, that you may find VERY interesting ! It exposes Black Genocide in 21st Century America-Today ! Preview here (2 hours long) : http://www.maafa21.com