It was about 95 degrees, but the 80 something woman didn't mind. She
asked me to sit down in her small home in Accra, Ghana. She sat next to me
and looked at me shaking her head.
"They have not been very nice to you during your visit there - have
they?"
Her reference was to my "visit" to the United States. You see, for this
lady with Pan-African consciousness, the 500+ year experience of millions of
Africans into the Western Hemisphere as a result of the vicious tri-angular
slave trade is nothing more than a "visit." The fact I was born and raised
in San Francisco was immaterial to her. She wanted me to know that in her
eyes, I always was and always will be an African - no matter how long I stay in
the Western world. She continued to explain that we spent thousands of
years in Africa before colonialism so our 500 year experience in the West is
"just a short breath in our history!"
I've spent my entire adult life fighting for Pan-Africanism and I'm happy to
see that consciousness growing today in many concrete ways. Some people wonder
aloud why it's important to discuss the slave trade in 2012 and beyond.
The people who ask that question see slavery as some ancient historical event
that has no bearing on current day reality. We Pan-Africanists completely
disagree because we know that African people are scattered and suffering in
almost 120 countries today as a direct result of the slave trade. This
systematic exploitation of African human and material resources is the direct
cause of the poverty and suffering Africans face everywhere in the world
today. There are many well meaning activists who think these massive
problems can be resolved with local solutions. In fact, I had a debate
with a young White activist who spent time in South Africa recently and the
local solution was her magical phrase throughout our conversation. I had
to inform her that I'm sure her experience in Africa provided her the
opportunity to do something that made her feel good, but she should not confuse
that experience with the solution that will legitimately solve African people's
problems. I've lived the African experience my entire life so a simple
experience isn't near enough to satisfy me. I'm not diminishing the young
lady's experiences. I've had many local experiences doing work in Africa,
Europe, the Caribbean, and throughout the U.S. In fact, it's all those
experiences that have convinced me that as Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first
president, said many years ago - "The core of the Black revolution is in Africa
and no African will be free until Africa is free, unified, and socialist."
So, the solution to the poverty, disease, disrespect, and devastation
afflicting Africa and the entire African world, including the Africans in the
U.S, is Pan-Africanism which is defined as one unified socialist Africa.
African people are suffering because Africa continues to be raped. Her
material resources like oil, diamonds, gold, bauxite, uranium, and zinc, are
sucked out of Africa by the U.S. Europe, and now China, like a child slurps a
milkshake through a straw. The same can be said for her human
resources. This process of neo-colonialism keeps the White capitalist
world secure and the African world unstable. This is why capitalism cannot
be the solution to this problem. The only solution is for African people
to recognize that the 120 borders that divide us have been imposed upon
us. We must accept that the neo-colonial identities like Kenyan, South
African, Ghanaian, Black British, Afro-Cuban, Dominican, African American, etc.,
are counter productive and have been imposed upon us. As Nkrumah said,
"our similarities far outweigh our differences." The task for genuine
Pan-Africanists is to heed the call to organize an All African Committee for
Political Coordination (A-ACPC), and an All African People's Revolutionary Army
(A-APRA), under an All African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) as called
for by Nkrumah in the "Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare."
Will achieving Pan-Africanism be easy? Of course not! So, since
it won't be a piece of cake, should we try for a more attainable goal like
reform within the societies we live in? As long as capitalism exists,
Africa and Africans will be exploited. Fighting for Pan-Africanism is our
just contribution to the worldwide fight for justice and peace. We can't
look for an easy way out. That dear lady told me something else. She
said "if you see me fighting a bear, help the bear, throw honey on me!"
The point being we know the task is hard and we embrace it. Our mother has
been crying out for hundreds of years. It's time for her children to heed
her call! For more information about the Pan-Africanist movement and the
A-APRP go to http://www.aaprp-intl.org/
asked me to sit down in her small home in Accra, Ghana. She sat next to me
and looked at me shaking her head.
"They have not been very nice to you during your visit there - have
they?"
Her reference was to my "visit" to the United States. You see, for this
lady with Pan-African consciousness, the 500+ year experience of millions of
Africans into the Western Hemisphere as a result of the vicious tri-angular
slave trade is nothing more than a "visit." The fact I was born and raised
in San Francisco was immaterial to her. She wanted me to know that in her
eyes, I always was and always will be an African - no matter how long I stay in
the Western world. She continued to explain that we spent thousands of
years in Africa before colonialism so our 500 year experience in the West is
"just a short breath in our history!"
I've spent my entire adult life fighting for Pan-Africanism and I'm happy to
see that consciousness growing today in many concrete ways. Some people wonder
aloud why it's important to discuss the slave trade in 2012 and beyond.
The people who ask that question see slavery as some ancient historical event
that has no bearing on current day reality. We Pan-Africanists completely
disagree because we know that African people are scattered and suffering in
almost 120 countries today as a direct result of the slave trade. This
systematic exploitation of African human and material resources is the direct
cause of the poverty and suffering Africans face everywhere in the world
today. There are many well meaning activists who think these massive
problems can be resolved with local solutions. In fact, I had a debate
with a young White activist who spent time in South Africa recently and the
local solution was her magical phrase throughout our conversation. I had
to inform her that I'm sure her experience in Africa provided her the
opportunity to do something that made her feel good, but she should not confuse
that experience with the solution that will legitimately solve African people's
problems. I've lived the African experience my entire life so a simple
experience isn't near enough to satisfy me. I'm not diminishing the young
lady's experiences. I've had many local experiences doing work in Africa,
Europe, the Caribbean, and throughout the U.S. In fact, it's all those
experiences that have convinced me that as Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first
president, said many years ago - "The core of the Black revolution is in Africa
and no African will be free until Africa is free, unified, and socialist."
So, the solution to the poverty, disease, disrespect, and devastation
afflicting Africa and the entire African world, including the Africans in the
U.S, is Pan-Africanism which is defined as one unified socialist Africa.
African people are suffering because Africa continues to be raped. Her
material resources like oil, diamonds, gold, bauxite, uranium, and zinc, are
sucked out of Africa by the U.S. Europe, and now China, like a child slurps a
milkshake through a straw. The same can be said for her human
resources. This process of neo-colonialism keeps the White capitalist
world secure and the African world unstable. This is why capitalism cannot
be the solution to this problem. The only solution is for African people
to recognize that the 120 borders that divide us have been imposed upon
us. We must accept that the neo-colonial identities like Kenyan, South
African, Ghanaian, Black British, Afro-Cuban, Dominican, African American, etc.,
are counter productive and have been imposed upon us. As Nkrumah said,
"our similarities far outweigh our differences." The task for genuine
Pan-Africanists is to heed the call to organize an All African Committee for
Political Coordination (A-ACPC), and an All African People's Revolutionary Army
(A-APRA), under an All African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) as called
for by Nkrumah in the "Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare."
Will achieving Pan-Africanism be easy? Of course not! So, since
it won't be a piece of cake, should we try for a more attainable goal like
reform within the societies we live in? As long as capitalism exists,
Africa and Africans will be exploited. Fighting for Pan-Africanism is our
just contribution to the worldwide fight for justice and peace. We can't
look for an easy way out. That dear lady told me something else. She
said "if you see me fighting a bear, help the bear, throw honey on me!"
The point being we know the task is hard and we embrace it. Our mother has
been crying out for hundreds of years. It's time for her children to heed
her call! For more information about the Pan-Africanist movement and the
A-APRP go to http://www.aaprp-intl.org/
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