CREED – MARCUS GARVEY’S AFRICAN NATIONALISM part 1 2 3

We’ve seen an Arab Spring that spread like a wild fire through Northern Africa from Tunisia through Egypt to Libya. Long standing North African governments could not see this coming. All the same, this aforesaid Arab Spring fell short of accomplishing the same agenda in the Middle East, namely Syria. And so we watch with dismay as hard fought genocidal wars rage in Iraq were 1/3 of the country has been claimed by radicals. Israel trades potent blows with Gaza when its Hamas refused several calls for cease fire.

We watch with dismay as a deadly outbreak of Ebola suddenly ravages through Romarong in West Africa. And as Ukrainian fighters shot down yet another doomed Malaysian flight murdering almost 300 more innocent souls. In dismay we ask, “what is this world coming to?” You ask how does this relate to Marcus Garvey’s Black or African Nationalism? For one, Garvey saw the awes of the world were irreconcilable. He deemed it imperative for there to be a separate united black nation that will a provide humanitarian creed.

Garvey’s influence of a “severe, firm, determined, bold, and strong, blacks refusing to yield even to superior forces if he/she believed he/she was right” came from his father. Marcus Garvey was a moderate writer and publisher who changed the world with a unique idea for Africans. This idea inspired Reggae music and the Rastafarian movement and it also inspired a Hip Hop CREED that spawned a bold new generation. His “Universal Negro Improvement Association” was inspired by the exploitation of immigrants and his own “separatist philosophy of social, political and economic freedom for blacks”. The was at the heart of his philanthropic vision.

Today, the Washington Post proclaimed a 33 billion USD pledge by President Barack Obama as a long term US investment in African development. It certainly appears that the days of isms are long gone. Does this mean the rational or socio-political scores of Pan African-ism, Afrocentrism, The Universal Zulu Nation and African Nationalism are no longer relevant? How effective were they during their hay day? Or, does it mean that the long awaited opportunity is now instant which makes it possible for Africa to finally begin to recover from previous blows it received from the west?

As a Hip Hop advocate for the maintenance of culture and tradition, I’ve written several blogs about CREED. In those blogs I’ve differentiated between the flamboyant crimester culture of the bastardized commercial brand of Hip Hop and shown the substance of a true black intellectual in Hip Hop art and Kulture; as well as the never ending African struggle for equality, justice and the age old dream of African unification. This is why though many believe President Obama’s administration did nothing for “black people”, it comes as great progress to see a US| Africa Leaders Summit.

In an effort to ignite a worldwide Hiphop KruZade for a path that could return mainstream Hip Hop Kulture to its roots, all over the world, true Hiphoppas are setting aside the glamorous crimester rap image of the exploitative industry to deliver an original message of: Afrocentrism, Garvey-ism, Pan African-ism, the message of the Five Percenter, the Universal Zulu Nation and even Nubian-ism. Yes, we are past the “ism” years but those ideas remain in our core essence and CREED. Instead of hailing one’s self, seek to inspire the community even as we live in a world that has gone asunder. We live in a time of extreme violence and disrespect.

As we see the traditional values of marriage being ravished by self justified finger pointers who advice women to walk away at their partner’s slightest misstep, we see children grow without family, discipline, often without a concept of their knowledge of self or community or culture or tradition. Men abandon their homes due to the lack of independent entrepreneurship that has left many incapable of supporting themselves. We see a steep rise in black on black crime knowing gangsta rap was necessary for a post segregation, post Brown Vs. Board generation that had to assert its determination to fight back. Indeed the community has come full circle. We’ve come, seen and now it’s time to conquer.

Marcus Garvey would be proud to welcome an opportunity to redevelop Africa. As long as it does not necessitate that natives forgo the core of their ancestral values, restrain traditions deemed non-current, overly westernize or reveal profound African hush-hush from secret societies, necromancy or compromise her intellectual artistry then we are on a sustainable path to progress. Perhaps the Pan African ambition of a United Africa whether federal or con-federal can now be facilitated with Garvey’s dream of African Nationalism. And for that this generation needs to educate itself, discipline itself and embrace culture and moral values again.

Besides, Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, Marcus Garvey, Bishop Desmond TuTu and other African trailblazers like Sekou Toure, Dr. Saika Stevens and William R. Tolbert Jr. [who founded the Minor River Union or made their nations member states of the Organization of African Unity] have laid the foundation for this platform to be built upon now.  Alas if it wasn’t for us, the unwelcome nobodies, many western locals would know nothing of the Economic Community Of West African States [ECOWAS]. Perhaps the tireless unnoticed push from no name journalists, bloggers, activists, magazine publishers, independent websites and newspaper columnists have finally hit home. Africa’s message is being heard.

Today CNN goes to Sierra Leone to report on the Ebola outbreak and the world rallies against Joseph Kony and the capture of innocent school girls in Nigeria. I can still remember when many westerners knew or cared little to nothing about West Africa. But not today; only few do not know about Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mali, Benin or Togo anymore. The world is getting to know Romarong! The message of Hip Hop is now being heard. And it is up to us to reaffirm the true essence by putting the creed in our art.

No one is saying not to be fashionable. Drive your truck, leave your man and go with another man, have a bastard, drink, have a side chick, get married, forget to pray, smoke weed, sing, rap, dance, party and get money. Living your life how you want is not what ruins the community. What ruins it is when pleasures and possessions are placed above moral ethics, responsibility or traditional obligation.

These are some of the issues Marcus Garvey foresaw when he orated for the Black Star Line. Yes, Jim Crow laws were a huge obstacle. When an abolished slave trade was compounded with segregation, lynching, racism and prejudice, of course Garvey saw a return to Africa as a road to redemption. Returning to African became empowering for blacks because it meant an end to racism.

Anyhow, returning to Africa was not the end all be all. It was from Africa where the ancestors of African-Americans and all black people from Europe, Canada, The Middle East, South America and the Caribbean Islands had been captured and enslaved. Africa had been exploited for centuries. By Garvey’s time colonialism was merely the new complication when every developed country in Europe was looking for an African nation to exploit through colonialism.

For Garvey, returning to Africa was the beginning of the process to retake, rebuild and restore Africa. Blacks from Europe and the Americas would bring education and experience while those in Africa would teach the culture and restore long lost traditions.

Ghana, where natives were forced into slave ships through the door of no return that opened into the Atlantic Ocean was now being heavily exploited as the Gold Coast. Evidently, Kwame Nkrumah the first prime minister and president of Ghana derived the black star in Ghana’s flag from Garvey’s concept of the black star line when he led the country to its independence. Today after many civil wars and epidemics Africa still holds on to the dream of a United Continent.