OCTOBER 7, 2020: ZIMBABWE’s ambassador to Malawi, Hilda Suka-Mafudze, has been appointed the African Union (AU) envoy to Washington, replacing Arikana Chihombori-Quao who was fired last November over alleged abuse of funds.

BY MOSES MATENGA

Suka-Mafudze, who was appointed Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Malawi last year by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, is expected to fly to Washington next week and is currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the AU headquarters.

“I am humbled and appreciative to be able to represent my continent in the US,” said Suka-Mafudze, who served as an MDC legislator for Mhondoro constituency from 2000 to 2005.

“I am certainly going to use this as an African to contribute better to the Africa we want.

“I am a true pan-Africanist and I know what we really need as Africa and where we want to be as Africans, all this is in my heart and on my fingertips.”

She added: “What we want as Africa is to be on the global stage as an equal with others. We have what it takes and no one must, therefore, look down upon us. As Africa, we are at a stage where we know what we want and we obviously cannot, for example, continue to let our resources be taken as raw materials by people who by so doing are taking employment away from us.

“There are challenges on the continent, but we have to look at how to deal with those challenges and this opportunity is one way of finding solutions and I am humbled to be part of that.”

Asked on her vision for the continent, the country’s former envoy to Sudan said: “I will contribute towards the AU vision on the intra-Africa trade and I will be alert to the need to entrench relations with the US. Let us not overlook the need for relations if we are to be competitive on the global space but that does not mean our inability to effectively manage what we have.”

She said as she represents the chairman of the African Union in Washington, Africa must speak with one voice going forward in defining her destiny and harnessing opportunities through relations with the world, the US included.

“I represent the African Union, my chairman (Moussa Faki Mahamat) but I must also say I am humbled by the support I got from my country, Zimbabwe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and his entire team,” Suka-Mafudze said.

“I am representing the whole continent and we want to engage the US and agree on issues where we can co-operate. As Africa, we need investment in infrastructure to have investors coming in and when they do come in, it should be on win-win basis.”

She said she would also push for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063 that “represents a critical step in the journey of Africa”.

The October 7, 2020 edition of Africa400 explores the topic “The Black Woman as the God Principle”.  Hosts Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty welcomed back their special guest Grandmother Walks On Water.  She is an Indigenous Healer and the founder and director of Wombworks Productions.  Listen to the audio of the broadcast below:

Africa400 broadcasts live at 2:00 PM every Wednesday (Eastern Time in the United States) over radio station WFBR 1590 AM in Baltimore and Glen Burnie.  The show can also be listened to live over the Internet, most notably on https://tunein.com/radio/WFBR-1590AM-Baltimore-s29972/ and http://streema.com/radios/play/WFBR.  After the show airs every Wednesday, the audio of the show will be made available on this Web site.  Check this post or visit our Media Page a few hours after the broadcast to hear this and previous shows.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Most discussions about the expression of the voice of Afrikan people on the World Stage centers around two organizations: the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU).  The problem with this level of discussion is that, as global and regional bodies controlled by heads of state, there is an incentive to control the pace of progress toward grassroots empowerment, and bureaucracy is the primary means to effect that control. 

The United Nations is currently observing the International Decade for People of African Descent (IDPAP, January 2015-December 2024), and has empaneled the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (WGEPAD) to conduct reviews and make recommendations under the slogan of Recognition, Justice and Development.  However, the fact that Afrikans in the Diaspora do not officially represent a state of their own limits us to a position of dependence on the UN to determine the level of actual progress we will be able to make.  We are not at the level of an official UN Member State, so much of our Pan-Afrikan Agenda runs the serious risk of going unheeded.

The African Union is a regional organization centered on the 55 countries of Afrika, and in 2003 the AU promulgated Article 3(q) of its Constitutive Act to invite the Diaspora to participate in “the development of the African Continent and the building of the African Union.”  A process was proposed by which that participation would occur, centered on the AU’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) and Pan African Parliament (PAP).  But the AU remains a Pan-Afrikan bureaucracy run by the heads of state of the African nations comprising it, and not all of those heads of state have ratified Article 3(q) to this day.  Some Continental Africans who have emigrated to the West (the “Modern Diaspora”) even express misgivings about including the descendants of the Maafa or Slave Trade (the “Historical Diaspora”) into the AU.  Thus, while the process has been codified for over 17 years, the actual implementation of that process has been delayed, much to the frustration of many Afrikan Diaspora activists, including members of SRDC.

This does not mean that SRDC and its affiliated organizations have given up on the AU and the UN, though there are some who believe we should do exactly that.  SRDC and its European “sister” organization, African Unity African Diaspora Sixth Region (AUADS) maintain contact with the UN and its Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent.  And SRDC and AUADS have continued to pressure the AU to make good on its promise to finalize the Diaspora’s inclusion in ECOSOCC and the Pan African Parliament.

But this does mean that, in the event that the AU and the UN somehow fail to ever truly deliver on their promises to the Pan-Afrikan Diaspora, we must be open to other possibilities.  And there is no reason why we should not pursue these options at the same time that we await a Global Afrikan Epiphany to befall the officials of the AU and UN so they will grant us a full hearing as full members.  One strong such possibility is the relatively newly formed Pan African Federalist Movement (PAFM), a grassroots global movement that has one goal: the establishment of the political union of the Black nations of the world (not just in Afrika but also in the Caribbean, Central America and large Black populations in countries around the world) as the United African States.  The article below briefly discusses the PAFM and provides links for those who want to learn more.  (Full Disclosure: the author is the Maryland State Facilitator of SRDC as well as the current Deputy Coordinator for North America of PAFM.)

by Bro. Cliff
Maryland State Facilitator, Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus
Deputy Coordinator for North America, Pan African Federalist Movement

Throughout our history of resistance to conquest, enslavement, terrorism, discrimination, disenfranchisement, economic exploitation and overall sociopolitical deprivation, Afrikan people have consistently, even if only in concentrated pockets of the Vanguard, called upon our people to unite, organize and resist.

We easily recite the immortal words of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, “Up you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will.” Less-well remembered, however, are perhaps his most important words, given as prescription and warning: “The thing to do is to get organized. Stay separated and you will be exploited, you will be robbed, you will be killed. Get organized and you compel the world to respect you.”

There have been many activists, organizers and “just plain folks” who have insisted that Afrikan people must organize and unify if we are to overcome the threats and obstacles placed before us. Few, however, have taken concrete action to bring our people to the point where that organization and unity can become a reality.

Of those who have made the valiant effort, most have failed in their mission. The reasons are many: lack of resources needed to bring their vision to fruition, lack of a coherent or well-thought-out vision to begin with, internal contradictions that led to organizational collapse, tragedies that have befallen the leaders from illness to assassination, active interference from political enemies from government or other organizations, devotion to personal ego and greed above the cause of serving the people, disasters that derailed the organization’s efforts just as victory was within their grasp, and what some would describe as “just plain bad luck”. The organization that is able to weather the storms of its own birth and growing pains retains a chance at implementing the goals of its founders, but only a chance. What happens after that is up to us, the people, to determine through our support or our negligence. To paraphrase the great Pan-Afrikan Ancestor Frantz Fanon, at that point we will either fulfill our destiny or betray it.

Having seen organizations come and go, some which in my opinion deserved a better fate than what befell them, I try not to casually proclaim the next great hope for Pan-Afrikan unification. There are, however, a few that merit serious support. I have written about the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (http://www.srdcinternational.org) on this Web site and in print articles. Another organization, one which I now hold in high enough regard to carve out more of my limited time to support, is the Pan African Federalist Movement (PAFM). Its stated mission is a simple one: to bring about the political unification of the Afrikan world as the United African States, bringing together the 55 nations in Afrika as well as the Black nations of the world, particularly those in the Caribbean, and massive Afrikan populations in the greater Diaspora who live in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

In an effort to introduce PAFM in an organized manner, I will start with its very recent beginnings. Having started with meetings in homes and apartments in Afrika and the Diaspora between those of us who are descended from kidnapped Ancestors and those of us who still hail from the Motherland Afrika, an effort began to seriously take shape in 2015, which led to a meeting of Afrikan people in Accra, Ghana on December 8-13, 2018 to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the All African People’s Congress and to call for the official convening of a Pan African Federalist Congress. This gathering was thus dubbed the Pre-Pan-African Federalist Movement Congress.

Several key formative statements can be found on the Web site http://www.africanpublius.com, where important declarations from noted scholars and activists can be found and read. Here we present a few of them:

Meeting the Challenge of a Renascent Africa on the World Stage

This plea by Dr Akwasi Aidoo, Founder of Trust Africa, is a must read.

Honorable Members of Government,

Honorable Ambassadors and Members of the Diplomatic Corps,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to be with you today in celebration of one of the most important symbols of African unity. Africa Day is like no other day, because it symbolizes in a very practical way our collective spirit and search for unity and dignity. It speaks to the reality that Africa is more than the sum of its parts. It reminds us that the dreams of our founding fathers and mothers—those who died struggling for Africa—are still alive. Above all, it is a day and a celebration that gives us center-stage presence, when we want the rest of the world to stop, and take a look, and listen to what we have to say for ourselves and for humanity in general.

What I have to say today may not sound very palatable or diplomatic to some ears, but we are in a bad shape, and when you are in a bad shape you must speak the truth and do so with passion. I will start from a personal angle. I will soon be 57 years old, so I saw the birth of the Organization of African Unity in 1963. I did not read about it, I saw it being born. I shared in the euphoria it evoked; and I was inspired by the dream and promise it offered of a united and proud Africa. Sadly today, I cannot look my two children in the face and say to them that they will inherit a united Africa in their lifetime. In 1985 when I went to teach at the University of Dar es Salaam, I didn’t need a visa to live there; today I need a visa just to visit that African country. In many ways, we seem to be more politically and economically fragmented and disunited today than we were decades ago. For the average citizen, that’s the shape we are in, and it’s not a pretty shape.

I have chosen to speak of the Challenge of a Renascent Africa on the World Stage for the simple reason that that is the only way we can address all the other problems that we face. As Frantz Fanon once said, “Every generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission and either fulfill it or betray it.”

The core mission of this generation, our generation, is to forge a renascent Africa on the world stage. It is a mission that speaks to a trans-historical challenge which we must confront now or never. Let me explain with a brief flashback.

Centuries ago, Africa’s encounter with the external world found us practically unprepared to assert our collective interest. The ultimate result was conquest, slavery and colonization. In the middle of the last century, when the Cold War began, we were once again unprepared to assert our collective interest and therefore allowed ourselves to be used as pawn in that war. Still, today, there are residues of that painful history as well as new forces that seek to reinvent that history. But the uncomfortable truth is that the forces that seek to keep Africa down are not always from the outside. There is an African saying that:

“The external enemy strikes hardest only when he or she has collaborators in-house.”

So, what does a renascent Africa on the global stage mean? And, what must be our strategy?

Fundamentally, it means we must put African unity and African integration on a fast track. Literally, we must stop everything we are doing and integrate our continent. We have no choice. The forces that disintegrate Africa have been at work for a very long time, and they are getting stronger by the day. So, we have no choice. And, we must do a number of things now:

1. First, we must open up our borders to each other. Let us get our citizens the basic freedom of free movement. Visa-free Africa. Kenyans shouldn’t have to go to the French Embassy in Nairobi for a visa to come visit Senegal, etc. I call on the good government of Senegal and President Wade who has demonstrated his pan- Africanist and visionary credentials to please take action on this.

2. Second, we must create and preserve space for ordinary citizens across the continent to become actively involved in making decisions that affect the continent as a whole. The evidence is clear that State-led integration has severe limits.

3. Third, we must harmonize our trade and customs policies. Let us be more proactive and coordinated in dealing with the major world powers. It does us no good and brings us no respect when tens of our presidents troop to China looking for aid and cooperation, almost like a sack of potatoes, with no coordinated and common agenda.

4. Fourth, we must prioritize support for our creative forces. We know that artistic and cultural productions are one of the easiest ways our people connect to each other across borders. Youssou Ndour’s music and Alpha Blonde’s music and Mariam Makeba’s music carry no visas to cross our borders. We all embrace them. So are Ousmane Sembene’s literature and films, Mariama Ba’s beautiful narratives, Breytenback’s soaring artistic productions, etc. But we are terrible at strengthening our creative forces. Cheikh Anta Diop, Bessie Head, Christopher Okigbo, Mariama Ba, Sony Labou Tansi lived unsupported, died unsung and remain virtually unknown. We must finance African literature and publishing. We must support our musicians and artists. We must respect our traditional knowledge systems. Without these, Africa has no soul and can’t be taken seriously on the world stage.

5. Fifth, we must take our Diaspora more seriously than we currently do. The true value of our Diaspora is not in the remittances they bring home on a regular basis, important as those remittances have become to sustain livelihoods and even whole economies. The transformative value of the African Diaspora lies in the social and cultural healing that a serious engagement with it will produce. As a Ghanaian saying goes; “When your family is divided, your back is broken.” We must reassemble the African family, for it’s the only basis for forging global alliances for Africa. We must call on all those who have left to come back or reconnect powerfully with the continent. We must embrace all people of African descent.

Perhaps this plea is best captured poetically:

Please Come Back Home (For NK)

From the point of no return
Through the clutched hell-gates that birthed
Our memories of spelled glory
Please Come Back Home

From the sixth time
Of circular dance at the tree of forbidden life
Where we said you must go and forget
Please Come Back Home

From the claws of killing time
In gulfing passages of wailing waves
Armed with the stubborn sense of struggle
Please Come Back Home

From your silent songs of sorrow
In soul-massaging blues
Naked in all those razz-matazzing jazz
Please Come Back Home

From where the sun’s sudden defeat
In cotton-rains of winter seat
Your undying dreams of life and joy
Please Come Back Home

From where the warm spirit dies
In bloody cold climes of faceless lies
Where dreams of Zion are deferred by dismembered limbs
Please Come Back Home

From the placid pains of Babylon
Where love is short and hatred long
So short and long they forget the fragile name of peace
Please Come Back Home

From where your love dies
In lightless corridors of Triple-K drenched blood
Where no one, but no one, hears your call in grief
Please Come Back Home

From all these and more,
… Our Love …
Please Come Back Home
©2006 akwasi aidoo

Africa’s potential is inestimable and inexhaustible. Our continent has survived the worst any people could suffer but our people have never given up. If, as leaders of Africa, we do what is right, our people’s march to a future worthy of all our children would be unstoppable. And, the right thing to do is remove all the obstacles that stand in the way of our people’s march to that future.

Thank you.
Africa Day Speech
May 25, 2007
DakarSenegal
Akwasi Aidoo.

Dr. Aidoo, Former Executive Director of TrustAfrica, has extensive experience in philanthropy in Africa. His positions have included IDRC Program Officer for Health and Development in West and Central Africa and head of the Ford Foundation’s offices in Senegal and Nigeria from 1993 to 2001. He serves as a director on boards of several nonprofit organizations, including Oxfam America, the Crime Prevention Centre of South Africa, the Soros Foundation’s AfriMAP initiative, and the Global Network Committee of the Ash Institute at HarvardUniversity. He also chairs the executive committee of the Africa Grantmakers’ Affinity Group. Dr. Aidoo has taught at universities in Ghana, Tanzania, and the United States. He was educated in Ghana and the United States and received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Connecticut in 1984. He writes poetry and short stories in his spare time.

“I Speak of Freedom”: Dr. Kwame Nkrumah on the Need for Afrikan Unification

An excerpt from Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s famous 1961 speech “I Speak of Freedom”. He foretold in 1961 what will happen today if African countries do not unite politically. What will happen to the future African generations if we do not unite Africa today?

For centuries, Europeans dominated the African continent. The white man arrogated to himself the right to rule and to be obeyed by the non-white; his mission, he claimed, was to “civilize” Africa. Under this cloak, the Europeans robbed the continent of vast riches and inflicted unimaginable suffering on the African people.

All this makes a sad story, but now we must be prepared to bury the past with its unpleasant memories and look to the future. All we ask of the former colonial powers is their goodwill and cooperation to remedy past mistakes and injustices and to grant independence to the colonies in Africa….

It is clear that we must find an African solution to our problems, and that this can only be found in African unity. Divided we are weak; united, Africa could become one of the greatest forces for good in the world.

Although most Africans are poor, our continent is potentially extremely rich. Our mineral resources, which are being exploited with foreign capital only to enrich foreign investors, range from gold and diamonds to uranium and petroleum. Our forests contain some of the finest woods to be grown any where. Our cash crops include cocoa, coffee, rubber, tobacco and cotton. As for power, which is an important factor in any economic development, Africa contains over 40% of the potential water power of the world, as compared with about 10% in Europe and 13% in North America. Yet so far, less than 1% has been developed. This is one of the reasons why we have in Africa the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty, and scarcity in the midst of abundance.

Never before have a people had within their grasp so great an opportunity for developing a continent endowed with so much wealth. Individually, the independent states of Africa, some of them potentially rich, others poor, can do little for their people. Together, by mutual help, they can achieve much. But the economic development of the continent must be planned and pursued as a whole. A loose confederation designed only for economic co-operation would not provide the necessary unity of purpose. Only a strong political union can bring about full and effective development of our natural resources for the benefit of our people.

The political situation in Africa today is heartening and at the same time disturbing. It is heartening to see so many new flags hoisted in place of the old; it is disturbing to see so many countries of varying sizes and at different levels of development, weak and, in some cases, almost helpless. If this terrible state of fragmentation is allowed to continue it may well be disastrous for us all.

There are at present some 28 states in Africa, excluding the Union of South Africa, and those countries not yet free. No less than nine of these states have a population of less than three million. Can we seriously believe that the colonial powers meant these countries to be independent, viable states? The example of South America, which has as much wealth, if not more than North America, and yet remains weak and dependent on outside interests, is one which every African would do well to study.

Critics of African unity often refer to the wide differences in culture, language and ideas in various parts of Africa. This is true, but the essential fact remains that we are all Africans, and have a common interest in the independence of Africa. The difficulties presented by questions of language, culture and different political systems are not insuperable. If the need for political union is agreed by us all, then the will to create it is born; and where there’s a will there’s a way.

The present leaders of Africa have already shown a remarkable willingness to consult and seek advice among themselves. Africans have, indeed, begun to think continentally. They realize that they have much in common, both in their past history, in their present problems and in their future hopes. To suggest that the time is not yet ripe for considering a political union of Africa is to evade the facts and ignore realities in Africa today.

The greatest contribution that Africa can make to the peace of the world is to avoid all the dangers inherent in disunity, by creating a political union which will also by its success, stand as an example to a divided world. A Union of African states will project more effectively the African personality. It will command respect from a world that has regard only for size and influence. The scant attention paid to African opposition to the French atomic tests in the Sahara, and the ignominious spectacle of the U.N. in the Congo quibbling about constitutional niceties while the Republic was tottering into anarchy, are evidence of the callous disregard of African Independence by the Great Powers.

We have to prove that greatness is not to be measured in stockpiles of atom bombs. I believe strongly and sincerely that with the deep-rooted wisdom and dignity, the innate respect for human lives, the intense humanity that is our heritage, the African race, united under one federal government, will emerge not as just another world bloc to flaunt its wealth and strength, but as a Great Power whose greatness is indestructible because it is built not on fear, envy and suspicion, nor won at the expense of others, but founded on hope, trust, friendship and directed to the good of all mankind.

The emergence of such a mighty stabilizing force in this strife-worn world should be regarded not as the shadowy dream of a visionary, but as a practical proposition, which the peoples of Africa can, and should, translate into reality. There is a tide in the affairs of every people when the moment strikes for political action. Such was the moment in the history of the United States of America when the Founding Fathers saw beyond the petty wranglings of the separate states and created a Union. This is our chance. We must act now. Tomorrow may be too late and the opportunity will have passed, and with it the hope of free Africa’s survival.

— From Kwame Nkrumah, I Speak of Freedom: A Statement of African Ideology (London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1961), pp. xi-xiv.

A Call for the first African Federalist Congress

from africanpublius.com

Africa can unite and must unite if we African Federalists Come together

The outcome of the Accra 2007 African Union Summit has made it clearer, even to the least perceptive monitors of the effort that is being deployed to unite Africa, that Sirte 1999 (a meeting hosted by Libyan President Muammar Gadaffi that helped pave the way for the current African Union and its outreach to the Afrikan Diaspora–Editor) did not create the momentum that many African Federalists were hoping for. Like the Addis Ababa 1963 compromise that gave birth to the Organization of African Unity (OAU), what appeared to be a middle of the ground agreement on July 12, 2000 in Lome, Togo, was indeed a defeat of the African federalists. It is today becoming more and more evident that we are headed towards another failure of the African Political leadership to put an end to the balkanization of our continent. The dream of a United States of Africa, which an overwhelming majority of the people of African descent has for decades longed to see materialize, is starting to look more like a utopia than a feasible plan to get Africa out of its actual quagmire.

We believe that the failures of the different plans that have been put forth to unite Africa trace their roots to the fact that the approaches that have been so far embraced by African Federalists were either wrong or incomplete. For that very reason they were unable to create the kind of environment that is vital to the birth of the Union of African States. All these approaches were deeply rooted in the sincere desire to see Africa become one politico-economic entity and for that reason they were worthy and significant but lacked the capacity to carry the implementation of the African Federalist Agenda to a level that is necessary to achieve the Unification of Africa. The need for the African federalists to find a new approach for the birth of a healthy political union of the African states is today self-evident.

What are the obstacles that have for several decades foiled the plans to unite Africa politically? How can these impediments be overcome? Why does the unification of Africa, from which more than a billion people will undoubtedly benefit, seem to be so difficult to achieve? These are some of the questions that many Africans at home and abroad have been rightfully asking themselves as they lose faith in the capacity of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the African Union (AU) to transform our continent into one politico-economic entity. The search for realistic answers to these questions is the main reason for creating this meeting place for African Federalists.

Why do we believe that the right time is now?

In 1961 when Dr. Nkrumah said prophetically to his peers that the only way for us to make it was by forming “a strong political union”, many Africans had a hard time seeing and/or accepting the truth. Today, more than fifty years after the wave of independence has passed through the continent, the failed economies of those countries that once looked promising, the civil wars and pandemics that have claimed the lives of millions of Africans, the national debts that have become an unbearable burden for the majority of the African countries despite the insignificance of their amount and the threat posed today by globalization to many of the African subcultures stand as undeniable proofs to the righteousness of Nkrumah’s warning.

It is now “self evident” to the overwhelming majority of people of African descent and to the friends of Africa that the only way out of the despair is to follow Nkrumah’s advice and embrace the Continental Federalist Option. Now more than ever his call stands a much better chance to be heeded if the right approach for provoking the birth of the Union of African States is found and implemented. Now more than ever a generation of Africans has the real opportunity to unite Africa and leave to its descendants a legacy that will be a source of pride and bright prospect instead of being a laughing stock for the rest of the world.

Do you believe that Nkrumah was right when he stated that; “Africa Must Unite”?

Do you believe like Cheikh Anta Diop that only a federal state can develop Africa?

Do you believe that the OAU and its child the AU have very little chance to unite Africa?

Do you believe that the overwhelming majority of the African people want Africa to unite?

Is Africa’s political and economic unity a cause worth giving your time and resources?

If your answer to any of those five questions is yes, consider yourself to be one of of the people that we are trying to reach. Please start to mobilize around you for the convening of the First African Federalist Congress.

Pre-First Pan African Federalist Congress Declaration

The following is the official Final Declaration of the Pre-First Pan African Federalist Congress that was held in Accra, Ghana from December 8-13, 2018.  This Declaration officially set in motion the establishment of the Pan African Federalist Movement (PAFM).

FINAL DECLARATION
Pre First Pan African Federalist Congress
COMMEMORATION OF SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ALL AFRICAN PEOPLE’S CONFERENCE (1958 – 2018) AND THE PAN-AFRICAN FEDERALIST MOVEMENT PRE-CONGRESS
ACCRA, GHANA From 8 – 13 December, 2018

On the occasion of the joint commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the historic All African People’s Conference held in Accra from 8th to 13th December 1958 at the call of Dr. Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, the Kwame Nkrumah Pan African Centre (KNAC) and the Pan-African Federalist Movement (PAFM) convened a gathering in Accra, Ghana, on the same dates in 2018, at the Bank of Ghana’s auditorium at the University of Ghana, in Legon.

The choice of Ghana to host the commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the All African People’s Conference and hold the Pre-First Pan African Federalist Congress is justified by the important role this country had played in the history of the Pan-Africanist movement.

This event was enhanced by the presence of the President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Mr. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who said in his speech: “My generation can fulfill the dreams of our founding fathers and founding mothers: the total unification of the continent and the African peoples, including those of the Diaspora and Afro Descendants.”

This statement of the President of the Republic of Ghana is in complete harmony with the spirit and vision of the Pan-African Federalist Movement.

During the pre-congress, the delegates who came from various regions and countries on the continent of Africa and its Diaspora dealt with the following issues:

⦁ The call for the political unification of Africa,
⦁ The manifesto of the Pan-African Federalist Movement,
⦁ The terms of reference for the upcoming First Pan African Federalist Congress,
⦁ The charter of First Pan African Federalist Congress,
⦁ The Concept of the First Pan African Federalist Congress
⦁ The Strategy to Build the Pan African Federalist Movement and its campaign machine,
⦁ Fundraising and Management strategies for financing the Movement and its campaign,
⦁ The communication and mobilization strategy for the Movement and its Campaign,
⦁ Kwame Nkrumah’s book “Africa must unite” was presented

When this work was completed, the Movement decided on the official proclamation of its existence, three years after the call of the Provisional International Initiative Committee (CIIP) launched in Dakar in 2015.

The new organizational charter of the Movement was adopted. Key members of the International Preparatory Committee of the First Pan African Federalist Congress were elected and the decision to hold the Congress in two to three years was made. Mali was chosen to host the headquarters of the PAFM.

The Pan-African Federalist Movement and the Kwame Nkrumah Pan African Centre jointly launch a solemn call to all African peoples, wherever they may be in the world, to join them in the active preparation of the Congress for the POLITICAL UNITY OF AFRICANS IN LESS THAN ONE GENERATION.

–Statement made at Accra on Thursday, December 13, 2018

PAFM North America, https://www.cbpm.org/pafmnoram.html

The Web site of the Collective Black People’s Movement (https://www.cbpm.org) became the first site to host comprehensive information on PAFM’s organizing effort in North America. There, several important introductory documents about PAFM in general and its organizing effort in North America can be read and studied.

From the Web site https://www.cbpm.org/pafmnoram.html:

Habari Gani – The primary purpose of the North American PAFM is to galvanize and organize the Black/African communities in North America around our mission of bringing the United African States into political existence “in much less than a generation”.

STEP #1 – Sign our Petition (Below) in support of the idea of the political establishment of the United African States. Our goal is to collect at least 25,000 signatures in North America (United States and Canada) and to have the five (5) Regions on the African continent and the Caribbean, etc., do the same.

STEP #2 – To become an active participant in the Pan African Federalist Movement (PAFM) in North America and receive your membership card (pictured at the top of this article) here: https://www.cbpm.org/pafmnorammc.html

STEP #3 – Join or organize a Local Coordinating Committee (LCC) in your city or local community.

For additional information on how to proceed, please contact our Field Organizer, Baba Senghor Baye at (202) 256-2518 or Email: senghorb@hotmail.com.

https://www.cbpm.org/pafmnorammc.html

There is much more information about PAFM than can be shared in one article.  We will follow up with more information about PAFM in general, including the October 15-19 North American Pan African Federalist Convention (NAPAFC) below.  In the meantime, here are some links to more information about PAFM. 

Introductory Statement of PAFM North America.
https://www.cbpm.org/files/_10e_Expanded_PAFM_NorAm_Introductory_Stmnt_10-4-2019_.pdf

Power Point Presentation of North America Regional Coordinator Baba Mwalimu Amsata to the SRDC in Baltimore (November 2018) on the Pan African Federalist Movement in North America.
https://www.cbpm.org/files/_11_Pan_African_Federalist_Movement_in_North_America-PwrPP_for_6th_Region_Diaspora_Caucus_SRDC_UPDATED_9-30-2019.pptx

Sign the Petition for the United African States
“I support the idea of the political establishment of the United African States, consisting of a global federation of all countries in Africa, all African countries in the Caribbean and the African Diasporas in North and South America, Europe and Asia.”
The Petition in support of the establishment of the United African States (UAS) is on the main page of the CBPM/PAFM Website: https://www.cbpm.org/pafmnoram.html

Bio Sketch of Baba Mwalimu K-Q Amsata aka Brother Ed Brown, Current North American Regional Coordinator for PAFM.
https://www.cbpm.org/files/_A2Xi_Bio_Sketch_of_Baba_Mwlimu_K-Q_Amsata_aka_Brother_Ed_Brown_Updated_11-21-2019.pdf

PAFM GoFundMe Site
http://www.gofundme.com/f/north-america-pafm-convention-2020

The Wednesday, September 30 edition of Africa400 discusses the topic “Lens of Blackness through Education, Art and Technology”, and features as Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty’s special guest filmmaker, recording artist, author and professor M.K. Asante.

M.K. Asante is a best-selling author, award-winning filmmaker, recording artist, and distinguished professor who the Los Angeles Times calls “One of America’s best storytellers.”

He is the author of Buck: A Memoir, praised by Maya Angelou as “A story of surviving and thriving with passion, compassion, wit, and style.” Buck is a multi-year Washington Post Bestseller and the recipient of numerous literary awards. Buck is currently being adapted into a major motion picture.

Asante studied at the University of London, earned a B.A. from Lafayette College, and an M.F.A. from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television.

He is the Host and Executive Producer of While Black with MK Asante and Free Tuition with MK Asante. Both shows are Snap Originals and reach millions of viewers weekly on Snapchat.

Asante has been featured on NBC’s Today Show and The Breakfast Club. His essays have been published in the New York Times and USA Today. His inspirational story “The Blank Page” is featured in the #1 New York Times best-seller, Chicken Soup for the Soul: 20th Anniversary Edition.

Asante has lectured at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, as well as hundreds of other universities. He has toured in over 50 countries and was awarded the Key to the City of Dallas, Texas. He is featured in A Changing America, a permanent video exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

He is the founder of Wonderful Sound Studios and a recording artist, most recently featured on the album Indie 500 by Grammy-winning producer 9th Wonder & Talib Kweli.

Asante is a Distinguished Professor at the MICA Business School in India and a tenured professor of English and Film at Morgan State University.

His Web site is https://mkasante.com.

Check out the September 30, 2020 show with M.K. Asante below:

Africa400 broadcasts live every Wednesday afternoon (Eastern Time in the United States) over radio station WFBR 1590 AM in Baltimore and Glen Burnie.  The show can also be listened to live over the Internet, most notably on https://tunein.com/radio/WFBR-1590AM-Baltimore-s29972/ and http://streema.com/radios/play/WFBR.  After the show airs every Wednesday, the audio of the show will be made available on this Web site.  Check this post or visit our Media Page a few hours after the broadcast to hear this and previous shows.

The Wednesday, September 23rd edition of Africa400 examines the “State of Black America-Black to the Future; 2020-2024” with hosts Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty.

Dr. Gerald Horne, noted historian and author of several important books on Afrikan history, returned as their special guest.  Check out the audio of the program below:

Africa400 airs live every Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 PM on WFBR-1590 AM in Baltimore and Glen Burnie.  The show can also be listened to live over the Internet on https://tunein.com/radio/WFBR-1590AM-Baltimore-s29972/ and http://streema.com/radios/play/WFBR, as well as other platforms.

After the live show has aired, the audio will be available on this site on the updated version of this post as well as on our Media Page.

Dr. Horne also is noted for his book Paul Robeson: The Artist As Revolutionary, and several points he makes in the show reflect back to this book.  An interview Dr. Horne gave to V Books can be read on their Web site https://www.vibe.com/2017/04/v-books-gerald-horne-paul-robeson or at the link https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vibe.com/amp/2017/04/v-books-gerald-horne-paul-robeson.

The Wednesday, September 16, 2020 edition of Africa400 examines the Freedom Georgia Initiative.  Hosts Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty welcomed guests Dr. Tabitha Ball and Mr. Greg Mullins of the Freedom Georgia Initiative.

Listen to the audio broadcast below, or visit our Media Page for this and other Africa400 shows, as well as other audio and video presentations.

Africa400 can be listened to live every Wednesday at 2:00 PM Eastern Time (United States on 1590 AM WFBR in Glen Burnie and Baltimore, Maryland (US).  It can also be listened to over the Internet on a variety of platforms, most notably https://tunein.com/radio/WFBR-1590AM-Baltimore-s29972/ and http://streema.com/radios/play/WFBR.  After the show airs, it can also be listened to on an updated version of this post as well as on our Media Page.

Listen to the September 16, 2020 broadcast here:

Editor’s Note: The Ujima Peoples Progress Party (UPP), under the leadership of Bro. Nnamdi Lumumba, has been organizing in the Baltimore, Maryland area for the past several years as they seek to establish a Black worker-led independent political party in the state of Maryland, and to inspire the building of a Black-led political party on the national level ion the United States. 

People of Afrikan descent in the US have found ourselves played off between a Democratic Party that speaks of equality, the right to protest, “Black Lives Matter” and Black political power but often ignores us and “takes us for granted” to support the corporate and political capitalist elites when concrete action is needed, and a Republican Party that makes claims to be the original anti-slavery “party of Lincoln” but, through its local and national policies of corporate welfare, defunding of social services, voter suppression and law-and-order repression, instead abuses us every day.  Both parties have historically pursued a global agenda of endless war and repression of people’s movements (including coups d’etat that often featured the murder and overthrow of elected leaders) to facilitate the stripping of the resources of other countries, again for the benefit of corporate and political capitalist elites.  The need for an independent political voice that truly represents the people is clear, and UPP has been working hard to develop and build that voice for Black people, starting in the state of Maryland.

The latest effort by UPP to connect the community with activists and thought leaders in the area of building independent political voices is their participation in and co-sponsorship of the “Break the Grip of the Two-Party System” Conference, to be held virtually on September 19-20.  This is being done as a cooperative effort with Labor and Community for an Independent Party (LCIP) and the Labor Fightback Network.

Ujima Peoples Progress Party Official Announcement of the
Break the Grip of the Two-Party System Conference
September 19-20, 2020

Sponsored by: Labor and Community for an Independent Party (LCIP), Ujima Peoples Progress Party (UPP), Labor Fightback Network

The Ujima People’s Progress Party is a co-sponsor for this important event. This online conference was initially planned to happen in Baltimore but due to the COVID-19 crisis was moved online.

This conference is a part of our overall work to win Black workers and other working class people away from the influence and support for the two imperialist-capitalist parties AND the influence of the neo-colonial stooges which serve the ruling class in liberal or conservative forms.

As independent Black political action has begun to consolidate its goals and organization in this era, the need for unions and other working class organizations to have a principled relationship to our movement has grown. This is a part of the process of us talking to other forces about how to properly work together.

Please register to attend one or more of these discussions, there are two specific panels that tie directly to the work of colonized peoples and our struggle for independence and national liberation. Comrade Nnamdi of Ujima will be a facilitator of one of these panels as well as comrade Khalid Raheem from Pittsburgh who leads the New Afrikan Independence Party work.

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEvcu2gqD0uGN0rcvUdae8EvdLYpfZUnhIx

See the call to action statement and more info below:

Call to the “Break the Grip of the Two-Party System” National Online Conference (September 19-20, 2020)

Millions of workers and youth have taken to the streets since police officers in Minneapolis assassinated George Floyd. Despite the COVID-19 restrictions, they took to the streets in ever-growing mass protests — forging an insurgent movement not seen in many decades — to demand an end to police terror and systemic racism. Enough is enough, they proclaimed.

In Oakland, Calif., on Juneteenth, a march organized by International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Locals 10 and 34 made a stop at the Oakland Police Department. Community activists, including former political prisoners, spoke about their experiences with the Oakland police. Thousands chanted, “No Justice, No Peace — No Racist Police!”

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage across the United States, a resurgent, fighting spirit has flared up among frontline workers deprived of protective gear and measures essential to ensure their safety and that of their families and broader communities. Their daily struggle has amplified the resistance of workers across the country — teachers, autoworkers, and others — who over the past few years have been fighting to take back their unions and fend off the bosses’ assault on their rights, wages, benefits, and working conditions.

In oppressed communities across the United States, the same fighting spirit continues to take on police brutality, mass incarceration (targeting Black and Brown people disproportionately), gentrification and evictions, environmental injustice, and attacks on immigrants. In many cases, these movements overlap and support each other.

With inequality skyrocketing, healthcare costs and student debt mounting, climate change roiling the planet, democratic and civil rights (especially voting rights) under increased assault, wages and benefits evaporating, as well as gentrification and the lack of affordable housing on the rise, a majority in the United States (57%) have called for a new independent political party. (Gallup Headlines, July 19, 2019)

Now the crisis confronting the working class and communities of the oppressed will deepen under the impact of the economic and social shutdown that has been imposed to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus. How will working people pay the accumulated debts from unpaid rent, mortgages and other loans, as well as costly utilities? Will we be confronted with the unacceptable choice of paying astronomical increases in healthcare insurance or losing coverage?

We know full well that it is the working class and communities of the oppressed who will bear the brunt of the corporate bailout – disguised as a stimulus package – as Democratic and Republican politicians declare that there are no more public funds available and as bosses maneuver to break union contracts and coerce the rollback of wages and benefits.

Unfortunately, most of the leaders of the trade unions and of many organizations representing oppressed nationalities remain to this day tied at the hip to the Democratic Party — a party that implements the permanent war agenda of global capitalism. This relationship is the number one obstacle to building working-class power and advancing the interests of the working class and all oppressed people.
A bolder worker fightback is essential.

New Openings for Independent Working-Class Politics

More than 700 leading labor and community activists have endorsed a Statement of Purpose — at the initiative of Labor and Community for an Independent Party (LCIP) — that calls for running independent labor-community candidates at the local and state level, as a step in the effort to build a new independent mass labor-based political party.

These candidates — mandated by local labor-community coalitions — are not limited to electoral politics; they must be fighting for the issues contained in their fightback platforms. This will help to cement the alliance between labor and the oppressed communities.

An important step has been taken to promote this orientation, with the convening of the “Break the Grip of the Two-Party System” regional conference on December 7, 2019, in Cleveland, OH, sponsored by the Labor Education and Arts Project (LEAP), in cooperation with the Labor Fightback Network (LFN), and LCIP.
In keeping with these developments, the LFN, the Ujima People’s Progress Party (a Black-led party based in Baltimore), and LCIP are convening an online national conference for independent working-class politics.

Such a national conference, of course, needs to incorporate the fight for independent Black working-class political action. Nnamdi Lumumba, convener of the Ujima People’s Progress Party, expressed well the articulation of the struggle for independent Black working-class politics and for a Labor-based party at the December “Break the Grip” conference in Cleveland, stating:

“We need to organize people around their own class interests and their own interests as nationally oppressed people. Helping to break the active or even passive support to the two capitalist, imperialist and white supremacist parties has been a fundamental goal of our efforts as the Ujima People’s Progress Party, as we seek to build a Black workers-led electoral party.

“While we support a national labor party that recognizes both the shared and independent struggles of oppressed and exploited workers on the job and in their communities, we affirm that nationally oppressed people have to center the discussion and self-organization around their own specific oppression. … Having said that, we need to create a mass-based working-class party that says capitalism does not serve you, imperialism does not serve you, and racism does not serve you.”

ILWU Local 10 retiree Clarence Thomas summed it up best when he noted that now is the time to point the way forward for independent working-class political action. “We have to strike while the iron is hot,” he stated.

If you agree with this call, please join us at the “Break the Grip of the Two-Party System” online conference on September 19-20. The conference Program Agenda is included below. The list of speakers will be sent out shortly.

Following is the registration link to the conference:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEvcu2gqD0uGN0rcvUdae8EvdLYpfZUnhIx

* * * * * * * * * * *

Break the Grip of the Two-Party System Program Agenda

Saturday, September 19, 2020 2 PM EST/11 AM PST

Introduction/Q&A: 2:00 -2:25 EST

LCIP Opening Panel Discussion/Q&A: 2:25-2:51 EST

BREAK: 2:51-3:10 EST

Intro to breakout rooms: 3:10-3:20 EST

First Breakout Sessions: 3:20-5:20 EST

a. Breakout room #1: Title: LCIP’s Relationship to Organizing with Working-Class Communities to Combat White Supremacy and End Systemic Racism

b. Breakout room #2: Title: LCIP’s Relationship to Migrant Workers and Immigrant Workers, Families, and Students

c. Breakout room #3: Title: LCIP’s Relationship to the Anti-war and Anti-imperialist movement(s)

Panel/Q&A Why We Endorse/Support LCIP: 5:20–5:50 EST

Overview of Sunday’s Program & Breakout Groups: 5:50-6:00 EST

Sunday, September 20, 2020 2 PM EST/11 AM PST

Introduction: 2:00 -2:15 EST

Second Breakout Sessions: 2:15-3:15 EST

a. Breakout room #4: LCIP’s Relationship to Independent Political Action and Defending the Right to Self-Determination for Oppressed Communities of Color

b. Breakout room #5: LCIP’s Relationship to the Women’s Right’s Movement

c. Breakout room #6: LCIP’s Relationship to the Labor Movement

Report back from Saturday Breakout Session 1 & recommendations to LCIP on how to proceed: 3:15-4:00 EST

BREAK: 4:00-4:15 EST

Report back from Sunday morning Breakout Sessions: 4:15-5:00 EST

Plenary session, Organizing LCIP Going Forward: 5:00-5:40 EST

Closing remarks: 5:40-6:00 EST

The Wednesday, September 9, 2020 edition of Africa400 discusses the upcoming Pan African Heritage World Museum (PAHWM) in Ghana and the topic of Unlearning and Relearning History. Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty’s guest is the Honorable Kojo Yankah, scholar, journalist, author, former member of Parliament in Ghana, and the Founder of the African University College of Communications and the Pan African Heritage World Museum (PAHWM) which will open in 2022.

The Web site for the future Pan-African Heritage World Museum is http://pahw.org. A promotional video for the Museum can be watched at https://youtu.be/t4Vgg8PZGcI.  An article about the Pan African Heritage World Museum can be read at https://www.chronicle.gm/a-past-reborn-the-pan-african-heritage-world-museum-and-our-renaissance/.

Mr. Yankah’s Web site is https://kojoyankah.net.

For the September 9, 2020 Africa400 Show, listen below or on our Media Page, where other Africa400 shows and other media presentations can be watched or listened to:

Once again, our community must deal with shocking and heartbreaking news. Of course, we find ourselves dealing with this sort of thing practically all the time, especially now in the Age of CoVID-19, but it still often comes as a shock when it happens to those we consider to be just now reaching what should be the prime of their lives. And we need to remember that, somewhere in the world, and in our community, we are forced to say goodbye to friends, comrades and loved ones every day. This is not to diminish the importance of any of those dear souls, only to make note of some who are known to the larger community, or at least should be, because of their community work or their contributions to humanity in one way or another that managed to touch so many of us.

We mention the unfortunate passing of former NBA star Clifford “Uncle Cliffy” Robinson, and many of us will give respectful remembrances for Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, the two White victims of 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse who were supporting the anti-police brutality protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake by police, and who apparently saw Rittenhouse as a threat to marchers and had attempted to restrain him.

This Ancestors’ Call goes, however, to two bright lights in the local Baltimore-Washington area, and a national, no, international beacon of Afrikan dignity, strength, genius and morality. Indeed, all three of these Brothers shined their respective lights on their local, national and global communities. One of them,  legendary college basketball Coach John Thompson, reached the age of Elderhood before departing us; the others, Baltimore area activist Bro. Charles Jackson and actor Chadwick Boseman, were taken from us in the prime of their lives, but have earned their places of honor.

Bro. Charles Jackson addresses the audience at a 2018 SRDC Pan-Afrikan Town Hall Meeting at the Arch Social Club in Baltimore.

Bro. Charles “Heru” Jackson

The Baltimore Pan-Afrikan Community was dealt another blow as August began to draw to a close. We had already lost West Baltimore community activist George Mitchell. This one, however, struck closer to home for two organizations with which I am affiliated. Our good friend and comrade Bro. Charles “Heru” Jackson transitioned to the Honored Ancestors after suffering a stroke and several complications that developed during his hospital stay.

Bro. Charles was a regular supporter of several Pan-Afrikan organizations in the Baltimore, Maryland area. He attended and supported several Pan-Afrikan Town Hall Meetings sponsored by the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC). He was a regular contributor to the Maryland Council of Elders (MCOE), attending regular meetings of the organization since its official founding in 2017. He was a regular presence at Afrikan Liberation Day, Garvey Day and community meetings sponsored by MCOE. He also participated in meetings to plan critical aspects of these events, from social media outreach to event program development. And his calming words and gentle smile could light up a room or calm a simmering argument with surprising ease.

His activism, and support of campaigns for truth and justice, applied to national efforts as well. When Bishop William Barber’s Poor People’s Campaign visited a West Baltimore church a couple of years ago, Bro. Charles invited me to come and hear the message. Even though Bishop Barber was not able to attend this meeting due to some unforeseen circumstances that prevented him from traveling to Maryland, the rest of his organization was there, and so was Bro. Charles. The church organization he worked with had arranged the visit by the Poor People’s Campaign. Bro. Charles demonstrated, as many others have before, that one could work for Pan-Afrikan liberation without falling into the rhetoric of anger and without neglecting the struggles of the downtrodden everywhere.

Bro. Charles Jackson, far left, with SRDC and MCOE members and other attendees at the 2018 SRDC International Summit at the Great Blacks In Wax Museum in Baltimore.

Bro. Charles finally departed from this earthly plane on the morning of August 27. He was 49 years old. I will miss our occasional phone conversations, discussions at organizational meetings and rides in my car. I will miss his insights, always delivered with a cheerful, encouraging attitude. Most of all, I will miss his friendship, and I have some regrets at not having taken the opportunity to deepen that friendship. Yet another builder, teacher and warrior gone too soon when we all thought we would have more time. Rest in Power, my friend.

Coach John Thompson

Word came down this past weekend of the passing of Coach John Thompson. He had learned and honed the philosophy of sound defensive basketball as a player, winning two NBA world championships with the Boston Celtics as the backup to Hall of Fame center Bill Russell. He became a legendary college basketball coach who made a reputation and transformed a college team as well as the entire Baltimore-Washington sports community based on his tough defensive philosophy. But he would be most appreciated for the impact he had on the young men he mentored on the Georgetown University basketball team. John Thompson took over a team that only won a handful of games each year and before long had turned it into a college basketball powerhouse.

He and star center Patrick Ewing would go to three NCAA Final Fours, two college championship games and win the NCAA National Championship in 1984. The players he would coach to college superstardom and Hall of Fame professional careers included Ewing, center Dikembe Mutombo, forward Alonzo Mourning and point guard Allen Iverson. Mourning would win an NBA championship with Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat. Ewing would become the mainstay of the New York Knicks, who he would take to the NBA Finals, and is the current coach at his college alma mater, Georgetown, a job he accepted after a recommendation and urging from former coach Thompson. Mutombo would establish himself as one of the greatest defensive players ever as well as a humanitarian and activist. Iverson would dominate in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers, transforming the point guard position into a scoring machine long before Golden State’s Stephen Curry would do it. At his Hall of Fame induction ceremony, he credited Thompson, who had stood by him when practically no one else would, with saving his life. And Thompson, the first Afrikan-American head coach to win a college national title, would transform the game of basketball with his emphasis on tough, physical defensive play and an insistence on education and character development as well as basketball skill. According to a report, even as he was leading his Georgetown teams to 24 consecutive post-season appearances, the graduation rate of Thompson’s four-year players was a whopping 97%.

He also demonstrated his commitment to principles when he walked off the court at the start of a game to protest Propositions 42 and 48, which restricted college basketball scholarships in a way that disadvantaged Black players especially (the dependence on SAT scores to determine scholarship eligibility was particularly problematic because of the test’s cultural biases). He also put his money (or, rather, his well-being) on the line when he met with then-notorious local drug kingpin Rayful Edmond III in 1989 to tell him to stay away from his players. Edmond reportedly never associated with Georgetown players again after that meeting.

John Thompson was a man who said what he meant, meant what he said, and backed it up with action. John Thompson joined the Honored Ancestors at 78 years of age.

The “Black Panther”, Chadwick Boseman

Some of us noticed him when he portrayed baseball legend Jackie Robinson in 42. Others recognized him when he was cast as NAACP lawyer and later Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in Marshall. Most of us knew who he was after his star turn as the legendary James Brown in Get On Up. But all of us found ourselves overcome with pride and shouts of “Wakanda Forever!” after he brought to life the first Afrikan superhero, King T’Challa, in Black Panther.

Not having viewed that movie at least once became, for some, justification for the forfeiture of one’s “Black Card”. Personal and political arguments could be doused with reminiscences about how we felt at key moments of the film, or what the deeper points of the movie had inspired us to consider regarding our Afrikan pride and the responsibility to share our gifts with others. The crossed-arm salute would become our substitute for the handshakes and hugs that we have been required to forsake during the CoVID-19 crisis.

News of his passing on Friday, August 28 came as a shock to all of us. All, that is, except his family, his doctors, and those he had let into his close confidence. His heroic stature assumed greater significance when it was revealed that he had been fighting a personal war against Stage III, then Stage IV colon cancer over the last four years, filming most of the above iconic roles between surgeries and chemotherapy sessions. And, despite the physical toll these sessions must have taken (I have lost a brother-in-law and two close friends to cancer and knew what chemotherapy did to them physically), no one knew, not even director Spike Lee, who worked with Boseman on his final project, the recently-released Da 5 Bloods, mere months before the cancer would finally overtake him.

He was quoted as having said that he hoped when he stood before God he would have no more talent left, that he would have spent it all in the time he had. His torrid schedule, even in the face of such a deadly foe as cancer, is a testament to his commitment that he would not die with his music still inside him. He sang his song long, loud and proud up to the very end.

Needless to say, the expressions of shock and sympathy from the general public as well as the stars of Hollywood came in a flood. Family members of the historic figures he portrayed in film expressed their condolences and their appreciation of his career, most notably the family of Jackie Robinson. Most of us will be most impacted by his performance as T’Challa, the king of the fictional Afrikan nation of Wakanda, for the strong vision of Afrikan unity, Afrikan genius, and Afrikan leadership and morality he and the other actors portrayed. Many of us would become emotional when watching his seminal superhero movie. I imagine it will be much more the case now. A heartfelt Wakanda Salute to New Ancestor Chadwick Boseman, who left us at the shockingly young age of 43.