This
is the second of a two part series discussing the origin
and development of African Liberation Day (click here
to read Part I).
The
month of May is very important in the worldwide African
Liberation Movement. During this month, throughout the African
world Community, African Liberation Day (ALD) is celebrated.
It
is important that African Liberation Day be a vehicle to
continue to highlight the problems, challenges and the future
of African people everywhere. The challenges facing Africa
and African people worldwide require that we remain dedicated
to the cause of Africa�s redemption
and liberation. One way we can continue to showcase that
dedication is to actively participate in all of the African
Liberation Day activities throughout the world.
The
colonial period in Africa, as well as the enslavement of
African people who were captured and brought to North America,
had a devastating impact on Africa
and African people.
African
people did not sit idly by. Just as we resisted our slave
circumstances in America, African people resisted
their colonial condition. Pan African meetings were called
to plot strategy to end colonial rule. The Garvey Movement
and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) galvanized
African people worldwide to embrace the idea of African
independence under �One God, One Aim, and One Destiny.�
The Garvey period in our history, more than any other era,
laid the foundation for what we now call African Liberation
Day.
African
people began waging a battle to reclaim their lands. This
has been a long and bitter struggle. Resistance to white
supremacy and colonial domination took many shapes and forms.
The
Pan African meetings (1900-1945) provided a mechanism for
a small group of African leaders to plan and plot strategy
for African freedom. The Garvey Movement of the 1920s brought
the idea of African freedom and independence to the masses
of our people around the world. �Africa
for the Africans � At Home and Abroad,� was a slogan that
captured the spirit of African people. This slogan gave
a clear understanding of who we are as a people and what
we should be struggling for.
It
was not until the early 1950s that the first African country
gained political independence in the movement to reclaim
Africa. That country was Ghana, under the leadership
of Kwame Nkrumah, who led the Ghanaian people to their fight
against British colonialism. Shortly after this successful
defeat of the British, Sekou Toure led the people of Guinea towards their independence from French
colonialism. Right on the heels of this victory was the
victory of Patrice Lumumba and the people of the Congo,
who won the battle, for a brief moment, against Belgium.
This
independence movement sparked an onslaught of African people
reclaiming their territories and led to the formation of
the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in May 1963. (This
is why we celebrate ALD in May.) It was during this period
that Malcolm X linked the struggle of African people in
this country with the struggle of African people worldwide.
It
is interesting to note that the Civil Rights Movement in
this country was sparked in Montgomery
(1955) at approximately the same time the independence movement
in Africa began (1956-57). The call for Black Power (1966) sparked a discussion
in the Black Liberation Movement in America that placed the re-identification with
Africa and African people on the Movement�s agenda, once again. This
renewed a new phase of the Pan African Movement.
The
call for support of our brothers and sisters fighting against
the Portuguese in Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea Bissau led to the formation
of the African Liberation Day held in the country on May
27, 1972 that attracted over 60,000 African people. African
Liberation Day has become an institution in America
since that time.
African
Liberation Day is a day when all Black people should come
together. As I have emphasized many times before, whether
you were born in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, South
Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Belize, Bahia, Germany,
England, France, Alabama, Georgia, or on 47th Street in
Chicago, as long as you are Black, you are an African
with a common heritage and a common set of conditions. We
must continue to fight against racism and white supremacy
as we demand reparations for African people in America and worldwide.
BlackCommentator.com
Columnist, Conrad W. Worrill, PhD, is the National Chairman Emeritus
of the National Black United Front (NBUF). Click here
to contact Dr. Worrill. |