Remembering Old Marcus Garvey
Commentary by Black Kos Editor JoanMar
"Children, children, children, children
Humble yourself and become one day somehow
You will remember him you will
No one remember old Marcus Garvey,
No one remember old Marcus Garvey"
~ Burning Spear~
Today's commentary is not being offered as a dissertation on the life and times of Marcus Garvey; we do not have enough time for that. Instead, this will be a plea. A plea that in this month, dedicated to remembering those who changed the trajectory of black history, that we spare a minute or two to remember the prophet who in one way or another, inspired every civil rights leader of the twentieth century who came after him. That we remember that before there was Martin Luther King, there was Marcus Garvey.
Before there was Malcolm X, there was Marcus Garvey.
Before there was Rosa Parks, there was Marcus Garvey.
Before there was Carter G. Woodson, there was this son of Jamaica, Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Let us then remember old Marcus Garvey.
"One God, One Aim, One Destiny"
Born in Jamaica, Marcus Garvey was an orator for the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. Garvey advanced a Pan-African philosophy which inspired a global mass movement, known as Garveyism. Garveyism would eventually inspire others, from the Nation of Islam to the Rastafari movement.
His teachings upset the colonial apple-carts:
“Inspired by his ideas, over 30 African countries have declared their freedom, and many sport Mr. Garvey’s red, black and green colors in their flag,” this includes Ghana, the first sub-Saharan nation to gain independence, which honors Marcus Garvey with the black star in its flag.
Marcus Garvey is Still Relevant
On black lives:
Up!Up! You Mighty Race! You can Accomplish What you will! I repeat that God created you masters of your own destiny, masters of your own fate, and you can pay no higher tribute to your Divine Master than function as man, as He created you. "A people without knowledge of their past and history is like a tree without roots!" AFRICA FOR THE AFRICANS!
That we suffer so much today under whatsoever flag we live is proof positive that constitutions and laws, when framed by the early advocates of human liberty, never included and were never intended for us as a people. It is only a question of sheer accident that we happen to be fellow citizens today with the descendants of those who, through their advocacy, laid the foundation for human rights.
On activism:
Just recently, on this progressive site, we had a conversation as to whether to talk about issues of race and privilege. "Why bother?" intelligent, progressive people asked, "It is what it is. //shrug//" We are not at the top of MLK's mountain yet, and I suspect that when we do get there it will take a lot of action and even more talking to stay there. In the face of a vicious campaign to discredit and criminalize him, Marcus Garvey did not stop talking...or working toward justice.
History teaches us no race, no people, no nation has ever been freed through cowardice, through cringing, through bowing and scraping, but all that has been achieved to the glory of mankind, to the glory and honour of races and nations was through the manly determination and effort of those who lead and those who are led.
On religion:
President Obama incurred the wrath of right-wing "Christians" for daring to mention the atrocities committed by people who professed to be walking in the footsteps of Christ. That not too long ago armed with the Bible in one hand, the sword in the other, and the heavenly Father's name on their lips they raped, plundered, murdered, and enslaved in the name of a Christian God. Long before Obama, Garvey had something to say about the hypocrisy of those who profess to be walking in the footsteps of The Christ:
A form of religion practiced by the millions, but as misunderstood, and unreal to the majority as gravitation is to the untutored savage. We profess to live in the atmosphere of Christianity, yet our acts are as barbarous as if we never knew Christ. He taught us to love, yet we hate; to forgive, yet we revenge; to be merciful, yet we condemn and punish, and still we are Christians. If hell is what we are taught it is, then there will be more Christians there than days in all creation. To be a true Christian one must be like Christ and practice Christianity, not as the Bishop does, but as he says, for if our lives were to be patterned after the other fellow's all of us, Bishop, Priest and Layman would ultimately meet around the furnace of hell, and none of us, because of our sins, would see salvation.
On science and technology:
When I undertook the responsibility of projecting big commercial corporations the same Negroes used the force of government to smash me. They could not understand that the future, which is part of today, calls for the preparation of the race to meet scientific competition whether on the battlefield, in the laboratory or other walks of life"
Malcolm X on Marcus Garvey:
It is said that Malcolm X's parents first met at a Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) meeting and that both were dedicated Garveyites. The man Malcolm had plenty to say about the part Garvey played in awakening the consciousness of a people:
Bob Marley and Marcus Garvey:
Both Bob Marley and Marcus Garvey hailed from the same parish in Jamaica, St Ann. Bob Marley was a devout follower of Garvey, whom he referred to as a "prophet."
Redemption song has Garvey written all over it.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fulfil de book.
And still the half has not been told or written about Marcus Mosiah Garvey. One day there will be a movie attempting to tell the story of the powerful forces that were arrayed against him, and how they succeeded in having him arrested, charged, and eventually convicted of mail fraud, and how he was deported back to his native land. Scriptwriters may even delve into the relationship between the man and one of his main detractors, W.E.B Du Bois, who dismissed him as, " a little, fat, black man, ugly...with a big head..." Ah, there was much drama between the two men...story for another day in another diary.
Today we remember and honor ol' Marcus Garvey.
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News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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I guess you can say better late than never. The New Republic: The FBI Director Just Gave a Historic Speech on Race. It Was 30 Years Too Late.
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This was the first time an FBI director has taken the time to speak about race this directly. It didn't happen during civil rights bombings, nor through the Jim Crow era of lynchings, nor in apologizing for COINTELPRO’s systemic assassination of African American civil rights leaders, nor in reconsidering the bogus claims against Assata Shakur that laughably make her one of “America’s Most Wanted,” nor through the war on drugs that militarized local cops and destabilized black communities in the 1980s, nor through the plantation system of corporate prisons, nor through the rapid expansion of hate crimes against immigrants and Muslim Americans since 9/11, nor during the horrendously disproportionate amount of death threats and assassination claims against President Obama over the past six years. It's late, but it's a start.
The Guardian ran a solid timeline of his speech, "Hard Truths: Law Enforcement and Race," and the questions afterward. If you're looking to the transcript or the video for an earth-moving statement on race, you'll be disappointed. What you will see are a host of encomiums to law enforcement partway to acknowledging that cops' jobs—chasing criminals, being lied to all day, making flash decisions—can dim their view of humanity. (He also referenced the "Avenue Q" song "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist.") In this, at least, Comey's starting a serious conversation, even if it boils down to don't hate the players, hate the game.
"All of us in law enforcement must be honest enough to acknowledge that much of our history is not pretty," he said. And: "If we can’t help our latent biases, we can help our behavior in response to those instinctive reactions."
Even if the most profound aspect of the speech was Comey's choice to deliver it, he should be commended. He put words to paper recognizing the Kafkaesque tragedy black America has endured in urban areas since the great migration to the North in the early 20th century. While the South carried out its lynchings with ropes and white sheets, the urban North used badges and pistols.
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Chicago police have told their version of how 17-year-old black teen Laquan McDonald died. The autopsy tells a different story. Slate: Sixteen Shots.
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In its broad outlines, this is a familiar Chicago story: A black American is shot by a Chicago police officer. A police source says the shooting was justified. IPRA announces it is investigating. Then silence. After a year or two, IPRA issues a report confirming that the shooting was indeed justified.
The statistics are stunning. According to IPRA reports, Chicago police officers shoot, on average, several residents a month. Roughly 75 percent of those shot are black. Civil rights lawyers and investigative journalists I’ve talked to who have covered the Chicago police for decades cannot remember the last time criminal charges were brought against a Chicago police officer for a shooting while on duty.
Sometimes before the story of a police shooting evaporates into silence, we briefly hear the voice of a family member or friend trying to find words to describe who the victim was or questioning the shooting. Not so in the case of Laquan McDonald. A ward of the state, he appears not to have left much of a trace in the world. At any rate, there was no one to speak for him during the brief moment of media attention occasioned by his death.
The press coverage did, however, contain a couple of particulars that didn't meld with the police narrative. A witness, Alma Benitez, was quoted as saying that the shooting was unnecessary, because a number of officers were present and they had control of the situation.
"It was super exaggerated," she said. "You didn't need that many cops to begin with. They didn't need to shoot him. They didn't. They basically had him face-to-face. There was no purpose why they had to shoot him."
The other detail at odds with the police narrative—mentioned in passing in a couple of news reports without comment—was that the Cook County Medical Examiner had ruled that McDonald died of "multiple gunshot wounds," not the chest wound that the CPD had described.
The question the press didn't ask—how many gunshot wounds are covered by the word "multiple"?—has now been definitively answered by the recently finalized autopsy report, which I have obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request: Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times.
How could an incident that began with the responding officers assessing the situation and deciding they needed a Taser end a few minutes later with 16 bullets striking Laquan McDonald?
Wikimedia Commons
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Two of the five oldest people in the world are black women. Huffington Post: Two of the five oldest people in the world are black women.
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Jeralean Talley, 115, Michigan
(Facebook)
Talley — the oldest living American — grew up in the South and was married for 52 years, until her husband passed away.
She lives with her daughter and enjoys playing with her great-great-grandkids and even takes an annual fishing trip! Talley’s advice for a long life is simple: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, that’s my way of living,” she told a Michigan news affiliate in 2013.
Susannah Mushatt Jones, 115, New York
Susannah Mushatt Jones at the care facility in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she lives. (Photo: Getty Images)
At 115, Mushatt Jones could easily be described as feisty.
She loves bacon, scrambled eggs and grits every day for breakfast — not exactly something that is a recipe for long life, you’d think. But except for vision loss due to glaucoma, the only health problem she is medicated for is blood pressure. She’s also said to have an affinity for lacy lingerie.
“You can never get too old to wear fancy stuff,” she’s said.
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Police in Haiti have clashed with anti-government protesters angry about the high cost of fuel. BBC: Haiti: Clashes in protest over the high cost of fuel.
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Police in Haiti have clashed with anti-government protesters angry about the high cost of fuel. Several people were injured as police moved in to clear roadblocks set up in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Protest organisers said that drivers who ventured into the city centre during the two-day protest would be putting their lives at risk.
Haiti has seen months of protests against President Michel Martelly over delayed elections.
"Because of the price of fuel, the cost of living is going up," said Ralph La Croix, a Port-au-Prince resident. "If the government could cut the price of fuel so it was lower, the population would live better," he told the Reuters news agency.
Petrol and diesel prices have been reduced by the government recently, but protesters want a 50% cut, reflecting the drop in international oil prices over the past six months.
Improvised football matches replaced busy traffic on some the main streets of the capital
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A TV show that is changing TV. Slate:How Empire Is Changing the Game for “Black TV”.
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It’s no secret that diversity is a new priority in the TV world. And Empire is, in some ways singlehandedly, changing the calculus behind network television—helping to convince executives that diversity is really worth pushing for. The numbers are hard to argue with: As of the fourth episode, at least 33 percent of black homes were tuning into Empire every week, according to Nielsen. That figure, when broken down by the number of black women age 35–49 who are watching is, as Vulture recently wrote, “literally the equivalent of a Super Bowl.” At least 62 percent of the show’s whole audience is black.
But Vulture’s piece about Empire couched the success of the show in terms of what the networks did for Empire, highlighting their concerted efforts to target black viewers. It seems pretty clear, though, that Fox hadn’t really anticipated what a huge hit it had on its hands. I had a hunch that Empire’s ratings had been driven less by specific engineering on Fox’s part than by black audiences showing up in droves—out of solidarity, and even, you could say, a sense of mission to change TV.
So I put out a call on Twitter and decided to reach out to some devoted black viewers of Empire to try to figure out exactly what was drawing them toward this show. And it turned out that I wasn’t the only one who had felt initially wary. “I already planned not to watch Empire,” one black male viewer told me. Two other black female viewers said they hadn’t heard any of their black peers talking about the show until the very night it premiered. We all started watching for similar reasons: Word of mouth—social media, friends, and family—changed our minds. That kind of communal rallying, most vocal on “Black Twitter,” in support of black programming is a large part of what has made shows with black stars profitable for networks like ABC and now Fox. “I don’t think white people tune in just to support,” says one viewer. “If Halle Berry’s on the cover of Vogue, I’ll buy it on the newsstand because [I think] they need to have more black women on their covers.” For many black viewers, watching Empire can feel like voting with your remote.
The show has drawn even skeptical TV-watchers for several reasons. One is that Empire’s representation of blackness feels unusually nuanced. This is where other shows geared toward black audiences have fallen short. Sure, Scandal got the ball rolling on developing a complicated black female character. But it still, along with Black-ish, mostly aim to signpost “diversity” rather than really unpack what diversity means. “Olivia could be an Asian woman in love with a white president—or a Latino president. Race isn’t the base of that show,” one fan said. “On Empire, the subject matter is hip-hop. It’s very much an urban black experience.” But Empire is attempting to envision a society in which a complicated relationship to your blackness is more a rite of passage than a character flaw.
Grace Gealey and Terrence Howard on Empire.
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