During the month of May, African people
around the world celebrate African Liberation Day / ALD. In Chicago, the
National Black United Front / NBUF, Chicago Chapter, in conjunction with
the Conscious Music Coalition, are sponsoring a weekend of African Liberation
Day events, activities, and African market on May 19th and 20th. This celebration
will take place at The Legacy Theater located at 12952 South Western Avenue.
On Friday evening May 19th we pay tribute
to the 75th Anniversary of the birth of Malcolm X beginning at 6:00 p.m.
On Saturday, May20" there will be a special showing of the movie Sankofa
at 12:00 p.m. Dr. Leonard Jeffries of New York will be our keynote speaker
beginning at 3:00 p.m. and on Saturday evening Kwame Steve Cobb, Chavunduka,
Maggie Brown, Michael Ross, Keith M. Kelly, Sherrie Scott, and others will
perform. Show time begins at 7:00 p.m. (For more information call: 708-389-9929,
773-268-7500, ext. 144, 773-667-7578,0r708-293-0925.)
It is important that we keep the African
Liberation Day / ALD tradition alive. However, when African Liberation
Day emerged in 1963, the continent of Africa was experiencing the fight
for independence from colonial rule, white supremacy, and imperialism.
Here in the United States we celebrated the first ALD celebration in May
of 1972.
The conditions in Africa have changed dramatically
as we observe the efforts of the former slave trading nations; Britain,
France, Portugal, and the United States of America moving to attempt to
re-colonize Africa. Therefore one of the major themes of African Liberation
Day this year is African Liberation and Reparations. Dr. Jeffries will
speak on this theme.
In preparation for ALD it is important
that we remind ourselves of our Pan African duty and responsibility to
support the struggles of African people everywhere. Of course, the key
struggle that we have supported is the struggle of the African majority
population to win their land and country back in South Africa.
Although it is historic that Nelson Mandela
has become the President of South Africa, we must continue to call for
the total liberation of South Africa.
There is no question that the Pan African
spirit is alive and well throughout the world. When we use the term Pan
Africanism, as we are talking about the "Belief that people of African
decent throughout the world have the same racial and cultural characteristics
- and the same social and economic conditions as a result of our African
origin.
Therefore, in the tradition of this worldwide
Pan African spirit, given to us by our African ancestors, we have a historical
obligation to intensify -our support for our brothers and sisters in South
Africa who now face the awesome challenge of national reconstruction.
It makes no sense for other people to lead
a struggle that belongs to African people. We must accept their support
and work with them, but the struggle in South Africa should inspire us
to greater levels of support for African people throughout the world.
In developing our on-going support for
our brothers and sisters in South Africa, we must understand the nature
of the domestic and foreign policies of the United States. The domestic
policies of the United States have always been racist, even though historically
from time to time, there have been reforms.
The United States foreign policies have
always been racist from the standpoint of protecting United States interests
and white supremacy. The call for a "New World Order" is a vivid example.
South Africa and its historically blatant
racism depended on the support of the United States and its western allies
to continue its control of that region of the world. This is why we see
the western powers backing the shared power arrangement in South Africa
to protect the white supremacy interest in that region of the world. We
must not be duped by this scheme.
The historical South African racism, propped
up by United States racism, has represented the foundation of white supremacy
in the development of their foreign and domestic policies that aid in the
continued oppression of African people.
In this context, when we use the term racism
and white supremacy, we are speaking of the "direct and overall physical
and psychological subordination and subjection of one racial group over
another for the purpose of maximum political, cultural and economic exploitation."
Since the Berlin Conference of 1884, when
the former slave trading nations came together to divide Africa up for
themselves, the Pan African spirit of the African Liberation Movement worldwide
had been tuned into the plight of our brothers and sisters in Africa, our
ancestral homeland.
The stream of the African Liberation Movement
we receive our inspiration from has always fought against colonial and
white supremacist political and economic configuration in Africa. Since
the first Pan African Conference meeting in London in 1900, the worldwide
African Liberation Movement has gon& on record in opposition to white
rule and apartheid in South Africa. Our movement should take great pride
in the contributions we have made to the South African Struggle and other
liberation movements on the continent of Africa.
Through the Garvey movement, the subsequent
Pan African conferences, the Black Power Movement of the 1960's, the Black
Liberation Movement, through the spirit of Pan Africanism, has played a
leading role in exposing and clarifying to the world the nature of the
colonial presence in all of Africa and we must continue this role.
As the great African American scholar Dr.
John Henrik Clarke has repeatedly reminded us: "History is a clock that
people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is also
a compass that people use to find themselves on the map of human geography."
Professor Clarke further states-- "History
tells a people where they are and what they are. Most important, an understanding
of history tells a people where they still must go and what they still
must be."
We must keep the Pan African spirit
alive! Get prepared for a great African Liberation Day weekend of activities
May 19th and 20th!