DRAMA of TWO AFRICANS in HYDE PARK Part 8

Drama of two Africans in Hyde Park  

By Nzinga Nzinga

When African from the East meets African from the West, ole fiah tick easy fi ketch!

(It is easy to ignite old fire sticks.)

♪♪ I want you beside me all of the time…

Holding hands together… All in the same boat. 
Rocking on the same road…We got to get together. ♪♪

-- Bob Marley…Satisfy My Soul

Part 8

“I knew you must be a prophet! I will do my utmost to fulfil your wishes as far as possible. Trust me, my Prophet of Africa. Will you repatriate to the continent?”

“There are traps set for me on the African continent in the eventuality of my appearing there, to have me killed by one of our own people. As much as I would love to even touch down on African soil, I need to stay alive to do the work to which I am committed.”

“You can be killed over here just as well.”

“That is true and we have taken that into consideration. However, since I know for a fact that there is a price on my head over there, I won't risk it. In these times, mine is to be but a voice crying in the wilderness of our confusion to show and prepare the way to make the continent of Africa a fitting place for Africans at home and abroad . There is still a lot of work to be done in the West to rouse the consciousness of our people to our African race and the concerns of our continent. Even after I am gone, there will be a lot of ground to cover. This is but the tip of the iceberg. I love Africa too much for me to be excluded from it so one day I will take my place in it.”

“Will we recognise you?”

“If you know where to look. Look for me in every man, woman or child of African ancestry who cries thus with his or her whole heart:

‘Africa for Africans at home and abroad.’ ‘Put our African race first!’ ‘Africa unite!’ ‘Africa must unite or perish!’   ‘Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. Only we ourselves can free our minds!’ ‘Ole pirates, yes, they rob I, sold I to the merchant ships...’ 'Hello, Mama Africa, how are you? Long time I don't see you, Mama Africa.'
'No matter your identity, no matter your nationality, as long as you are a black man you are an African'. 

‘The peoples of Africa are determined that not one inch of African soil shall remain in the hands of the colonialists!’ ‘We must be ever mindful that our greatest weapon is the oneness we share as Africans.’ ‘Black Power!’ ‘If you know your history then you should know where you're coming from.’ ’Only the best is good enough for us Africans.’ ‘I think that much insecurity and unhappiness must come from denying one’s own ancestors.’ ‘Africans a liberate Zimbabwe!’ ‘We gonna chase those crazy Baldheads out of town.’


 ‘The hegemony of the African spirit must remain on the continent of Africa which is the only place where it can be retained.’ ‘Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned…Until the colour of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes, That until the basic human rights Are equally guaranteed to all, without regard to race, the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained. Until that day, the African continent will not know peace.’ ‘One Africa, one God, one aim, one destiny. Africa yesterday, today and forever!’”

“Amen. Exciting forecast! But surely there must be a personality that I can tell my people to expect.”

The Black Tiger

“Look for the Black Tiger. If there is power after death, I will be even more the fierce Black Tiger than I am reputed to be in life. Even when I die, my spirit will still live in my philosophy and opinions and I shall keep returning again and again to be a terror to the foes of African liberty, development and rehabilitation. It was a pleasure being with you my Gold Coast brother, but I must leave you now. It has grown quite late. We have been talking for hours.”

“Before you go, tell me, do you hate the white race?”

“I am not opposed to the White race as charged by my enemies. I have no time to hate anyone. All my time is devoted to the building up and development of the Negro Race. Let them stay in their corner and I in mine. I must go.”

“I keep delaying you but I feel so close to you. Tell me, pray, what is your ultimate vision for our people?”

“I can see in my mind’s eye now twelve million black citizens of America, with those of the islands of the sea and from Central and South America, from all over the world, educated, uplifted, discovered, proud, prideful, loyal, and royal – and I can see the flag of the green and the black and the red floating in the breeze upon the seven seas, and I can see upon yonder hill the beautiful flag waving in the land of Africa, the home of the gods, the place where liberty first sprang for the black men of the earth.”   

“Ayeeko! I hope your dream will be fulfilled. How wonderful that would be! I hate to see you go though. Say something else. Give me a sign of how to recognize you.”

Look for me in the whirlwind

“Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm, look for me all around you, for, with God’s grace, I shall come and bring with me countless millions of black slaves who have died in America and the West Indies and the millions in Africa to aid you in the fight for Liberty, Freedom and Life.”    

“May the God of Africa go with you.”

“And may He stay with you.” 

The Black Tiger will be watching you.

The Black Tiger clasps the continental’s hand and piercing him with his brilliantly fierce eyes, said, “Remember, I will be watching you. Read Isaiah 65: 21-24.”

The words were scarcely out of his mouth than he walked away. The man from the Gold Coast, a smile on his lips, stood there transfixed, watching the direction in which the Jamaican was disappearing. He sits there for another 15 minutes, long after losing sight of the Jamaican. 

A Jamaican friend of his comes up to greet him.

“Hi, man, I was over there talking to a friend. I see you have been honoured by the Black Tiger himself.”

“Do you know him? What’s his name? Who is he?”

Marcus Moziah Garvey

Marcus Garvey

“My God! You mean you have been talking to the great Marcus Moziah Garvey all dis time and you didn't know? I don’t believe you!”

“Oh, my God. Do you mean to say that that was the Marcus Garvey? Oh, how could I not have known? He gave me all the clues. Oh, what a pity. He is as inspiring as they say he is. The seamen carry back papers and messages from him and the UNIA. I am ashamed of myself. What must he be thinking? Imagine I was with the great Marcus Garvey all by myself for hours and I didn't even pick up. What could he be thinking?”

“He is probably thinking that one day you will be a great African leader and that he helped to make you. He said when he looked about him he could not find any black men of big affairs so he decided to help make them. You never know, my friend. He most likely saw that you will help to bring about the liberation and rehabilitation of Africa and thus be a man of big affairs and that he helped to make you. Some say he is a prophet. Others say he is just psychic.”

“And you, what do you say?”

“I say that for the Black Tiger to spend so much time talking to you, an unknown, he must have seen you as one of the chief architects of the future liberation of Africa, Kwame.”

The continental African from the Old African Great House gave thanks to his Jamaican friend and taking a hasty leave of him, rushed to his room to search the Scriptures for the passage Marcus Garvey had recommended. He read:

“And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and my elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Isaiah 65: 21-24.

Kwame, his African heart full of hope and promise, made a silent pledge to unrelentingly serve not only his country the Gold Coast, but also his God, his African continent in toto and his kith and kin at home and abroad. He closed the Bible, scratched his receding forehead and with a broad smile lighting up his strong black face with its receding hairline, got ready to write as he would for the rest of his life, for his African continent, especially for its unity, for his Gold Coast and for all Africans at home and abroad.                       

Epilogue

Unfortunately, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah never met Marcus Garvey. However, many years after this alleged and imaginary conversation took place in London, England, Kwame Nkrumah had occasion to orate the following famous words on the day of the Ghanaian Independence in Ghana, West Africa, where I now reside:

Marcus Garvey

“Ghana, your beloved country, you are free forever....The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked to the independence of....”

Believe me, Sons and Daughters of Africa, if Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the new Ghana-man but knew where to look among his ancestors, he would see his Black Tiger Jamaican-man from St. Ann, smiling and shaking his head, sadly murmuring, “I've been watching you, little brother. You did it, little brother, you did it, but our people, tho they hear you they will not heed you. Our people have a history of not appreciating those who are sent to guide them.”

Marcus Garvey

Sons & Daughters of Africa at home and abroad, how do I, Nzinga Nzinga know all this? Simple. I was there when the old and new fire tick dem ketch fire in Hyde Park, London. I was also there in Ghana, the former Gold Coast, when on 6th March, 1957, Dr.Kwame Nkrumah made that unforgettable Ghana independence speech:

"At long last, the battle has ended! And thus Ghana, your beloved country is free forever...And as I pointed out… I made it quite clear that from now on – today – we must change our attitudes, our minds, we must realise that from now on, we are no more a colonial but a free and independent people....That new African is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs... Today, from now on, there is a new African in the world! That new African is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs...”

With my own little black ears, I heard Osagyefo emphasize that memorable observation on African unity, so often cited by Africans, but not at all heeded, deeded or executed by them. Many of us Pan-Africanists think that this is probably the most profound part of Dr. Nkrumah’s speech and that it should be the Pan-African motto: 

 “The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked to the liberation of the African continent". True, true wud, Dr. Nkrumah!

P. S. When Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah came into his Ghanaian kingdom, did he pay homage to his Jamaican mentor, Marcus Moziah Garvey of Jamaica? Did he give credit to him? 

Amy Jacques Garvey

Yes, indeed! He even invited Mrs. Garvey to visit Ghana, the new name for the Gold Coast. Have you seen the national flag? Do you know that there was a Black Star Line Shipping Company? Have you seen the Black Star in the centre of the flag? Do you know the name of Ghana’s national football teams?

Ghana's Black Stars

Well done, Dr. Nkrumah!  That’s gratitude, real gratitude. That’s an attitude of gratitude. I admire you and Prophet Uncle Marcus. 

However, Osagyefo, what of the promise to take care of Uncle Marcus’ people who repatriate here, people like me? That has not been done except for only some four or five VVIPs. The human commodity which was shipped out of this land into slavery was not made up only of VIPs. Your successors have not done anything about it either. What a pity. We wait hopefully. 

PPS. That thing you said about the new African man, is not true, oh! He is still the same ole same ole man who cannot manage his own affairs. How can he, when he has not yet emancipated himself from mental slavery? And as for African unity, let's not go there. It' too painful.

Osagyefo, Africa in toto, in effet, en verite, de facto, is in dire straits, in dire crisis. I have to accept that you, who are in whatever place you maybe after your transition, are indeed powerless to help us here on Earth. For if you could, this our African crisis would have been resolved long ago, what with your passing and that of other dedicated Africans, the likes of Marcus Garvey, Sekou Toure, Queen Nzinga and Yaa Asantewaa.

Queen Nzinga

We must include hundreds of memorable Reggae musicians like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Lucky Dube and Culture. How can we forget Africans like Steve Biko, Ken Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the executed Ogoni 9, Walter Rodney, Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Jomo Kenyatta, Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, Comrade Muammar Gaddafi, Kwame Toure (nee Stokely Carmichael), Nelson Mandela, Komla Dumor, Maya Angelou et al?

Yaa Asantewaa et al

Patrice Lumumba

The Ogoni Nine

Martin Luther King JR

Maya Angelou

Komla Dumor

Eldridge Cleaver

Lucky Dube

Gaddafi & Mandela

Bob Marley & Marcus Garvey

Steve Biko

However, Osagyefo, regardless of what your people do with your beloved country, Ghana, you yourself played the most critical, crucial and pivotal role in its modern history. Don't cry so much, Osagyefo. When you cry, I also am reduced to tears. There are many of us Africans, at home and abroad, who will always love and honour you and give you the homage, admiration and respect you deserve. We will always remember that you lived among us, loved us and gave us your all. Thank you, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

Nevertheless, Ghana’s beloved Osagyefo, if your tears can be accepted by Almighty Jah Rastafari, as a price for the redemption, emancipatpon and rehabilitation of Africa and Africans at home and abroad, then cry your heart out for your beloved country!

Bye.

  

 Independence of Ghana

PPS. Let me leave with you,as my concluding words, these most salutary and relevant 'teachings of His Majesty' Haile Selassie I, the ending of that famous "Until the philosophy...' speech delivered at the UN,  New York, on October  6, 1963 and made into the Reggae son 'War' by Bob Marley. 

THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE

“This then is the ultimate challenge. Where are we to look for our survival, for the answers to questions which have never before been posed? We must look first to Almighty God, Who has raised man above the animals and endowed him with intelligence and reason. We must put our faith in Him, that He will not desert us or permit us to destroy humanity which he created in His image. And we must look into ourselves, into the depths of our souls. We must become something we have never been and for which our education and our experience and environment have ill prepared us. We must become bigger than we have ever been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community.” 

The End

All the images were taken from the Internet and I claim no copyright. 

DRAMA OF TWO AFRICANS IN HYDE PARK Part 7

Drama of two Africans in Hyde Park  

By Nzinga Nzinga

When African from the East meets African from the West, ole fiah tick easy fi ketch!

(It is easy to ignite old fire sticks.)

♪♪ I want you beside me all of the time…

Holding hands together… All in the same boat. Rocking on the same road…We got to get together. ♪♪

-- Bob Marley…Satisfy My Soul

Part 7

“Why are you fighting so hard to promote repatriation to Africa to our people in the West if you don’t think that many will undertake it?”

 Permanent Home of the Black Man

“Ah, that’s an interesting question. Only the thoughtful and industrious of our race want to go back to Africa as permanent residents. My continental friend, it does not matter how many make it or how soon they make it. What is important is that they know that Africa is the permanent home of the black man. In other words, they have choices, they have alternatives and they have options other than the West. My friend, do you know what it is not to have a continent when your soul yearns for a continent? My grandfather whom we called Taata was one of those who longed to return but he couldn’t. It is not that I am forcing anyone to repatriate to Africa."

Wiping his eyes, he continued, "I am saying that there is a land far away that is the land of our ancestors, therefore our land. It is not as far as we think and I want to bring it nearer, to make it accessible to our people. At the moment it is infested by verminous invaders so let’s help to rid our continent of these colonialists and help the indigenous continentals to develop our land. That is simply it. In my struggle for African freedom, I do not discriminate among us, between continentals and non-continentals. My dreams do not admit or recognise geographical biases. I can only relate to Africans in toto. Africa is the only land on earth where the black man regardless of the percentage of his blood, can feel fine to be a man. However, circumstances alter cases, and today he is kept in a state of stunted ‘boy-ness’ or ‘boyhood’ by European people who are not men enough to be human and to recognise men who are not of their race, as men. Africa belongs to the black man and I must help restore it to him in perpetuity.”

“Are the black people who organise in the West feeling the same sentiments about Africa?”

“Any black leaders who organise in the West for the cause of black liberty without bearing their compass point towards Africa, without beaming on Africa, without focusing on Africa, are turning in the wrong direction. We must let Africa be our guiding star, our star of destiny.”

“What happens if the repatriates and these African-conscious leaders from the West are swamped with disappointment?”

“I know an English family who lived in our town in Jamaica. They repatriated to their European continent and all their letters to their friends in Jamaica were full of their disappointment, disillusionment and maladjustment.”

“What happened? Did they return?”

“No, they did not. After awhile the tenor of their letters changed and they became less negative. They learnt the art of taking the good with the bad. In other words, they learnt to adjust and adapt and after awhile, they forgot to complain. You see if you want to repatriate to Paradise or Eden you have to die. There’s no Paradise on earth.”

“I get the message. I am totally overwhelmed by your positive approach, your confidence, your assertiveness and your vision. I no longer entertain any doubts that you will do what you set out to do.”

“With God’s guidance, with your help and with the struggle of the millions of displaced and derailed of our race, I will help to make our men of affairs who will take back our mines and other natural resources. I will help to make Africa so hot for the white man that he will run to seek his cooler and icy Caucasian climes once again. There is no honourable future for the black man in the West. Not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow. He will never be respected and accorded equal rights and justice in the West. I am from the West. He who feels it knows it.”

“I am sorry.”

Africa

“The black man has to go East, not to Asia but to Africa, to his own continent to get respect because he is circumvented by laws, customs and manners which judge him negatively by the colour of his skin. In the West, his colour works against him. A man’s colour has become his passport and unfortunately the black man’s passport from a country of black people’s governance does not get much respect or privilege. My brother, the destiny of all black men, of all Africans, those at home and those abroad, lies in the destiny of our continent. We will be perceived internationally as our continent is perceived internationally. You continental Africans are in charge. You hold the destiny of all Africans in Outer Africa and Old Africa in your hands. That, my continental brother, is your karma. But as I said, we will help you.”

“Karma. That’s another way of perceiving it. We who were left behind must assume responsibility for the stewardship of the land we inherited and from which you have been uprooted, disenfranchised and disinherited. As it is said, we shall do our best and God will do the rest. There was a time when there was no Outer Africa, when we were one people without the vast Atlantic and Europe separating us, without our unfortunate historical experiences dividing us. We on the continent made a terrible error towards you in the matter of the slave trade and I cannot find words to express the regret. I know so many others feel this way. I can only hope and pray that things will turn out right for Africans at home and abroad again and that the breach will soon be healed so we can work together for the good of our race."

Taking the Jamaican man's hand in his, he said, "Some of your remarkable confidence has rubbed off on me. Confidence can be contagious and infectious. I will take it home with me and infect many of my continental fellowmen who are of this opinion to improve our lot. Your formula for African emancipation is daunting. You speak such goodly works that they must bear good fruit. And what is in it for you, my brother from the West? What if you do help us achieve the things you say you can help us to achieve? You sound so sure, like some of our ancients. What do you want from us if we on the continent should pull off this feat? If we should succeed? They say every man has a price. What is yours to be? A diplomatic post?”

“I don’t ask for anything for myself. My reward will come with the passage of time. The civilization of today is gone drunk and crazy with its power and by such it seeks through injustice, corruption, fraud, and lies to crush the unfortunate. But if I am apparently crushed by the system of corruption and misdirected power, my cause shall rise again to plague the conscience of the corrupt. For this I am satisfied, and for Africa, I repeat, I am glad to suffer and even die. Again I say, cheer up, for better days are ahead. I shall write the history that will inspire the millions that are coming and leave the posterity of our enemies to reckon with them for the deeds of their slave-trading colonial fathers.” The continental wiped a tear from his eye. He was too overwhelmed to speak.

Black Star

Red, Black & Green Flag

The non-continental continued. “All will come to pass. Have no doubt about it. It will take time and we will have many casualties but it will come to pass and you will remember that we sat here for hours in Hyde Park discussing these things. What do I want for myself? I won't beat about the bush. All I ask for myself is that somewhere in Africa, at least one state flies the red, black and green flag and that the Black Star be seen as a guiding light.

Black Star Line

I ask that even one independent state establish a shipping company called the Black Star Line. But for our people, mine as well as yours, our kith and kin outside of Africa, I ask that you treat them well, with respect and brotherly affection and that you keep an open door policy for them. One day some of them will be turning their eyes and eventually their steps to you in the East, to our great continent of Africa. Not all, not the majority, but a remnant will be going home. I ask that you do not wait for them to seek you. Go seek them even before you have achieved full power. Go find them, those who desire to go, and help to get them home. Some will be able to help you achieve your objective.”

“Can we afford it?”

“The majority will remain outside of Africa. They are not going to pull up their deeply planted roots to go somewhere new. They will be too busy trying to integrate and proving to the white man that they are as good and free as he is. The few who will go you can easily afford since they will not be a burden on you. They will be an asset rather than a liability. The thoughtful and industrious of our race want to go back to Africa, because we realise it will be our only hope of permanent existence.”

“It sounds quite an attractive prospect. By all means we will see to it.”

Slave ships

“When the time comes, give it serious consideration and prompt attention because you will need them. You will need them to help in the progressive development, reconstruction and rehabilitation of our continent. Take heed that you cater not only to the educated, the economically prosperous and the professional, the elitist VIPS. Do not make judgements based on those aspects. When our people were shipped out in the slave odyssey they were a mixed multitude.

Slave Trade Route

They are all equally Africans and should be treated as such. Do not treat him with disdain because his style of dress or his hairstyle is different. When a European is ready to return home, the door is not slammed in his face because he is not a big investor or a professional or because he is not Mr. Big Shot.”

“We will try to handle the situation with equity and brotherly affection.”

Tiken Jah Fakoly

Agricultural Africa

“Africa is a continent geared for agriculture. We have more land than we can manage. Many of her children from the West will gladly settle on and cultivate some of this land. Call them home and welcome them, not merely for my sake, but for old times’ sake as a sort of atonement. What is done cannot be undone but you can help to right the wrong that pushed us off our continent in the first place. That makes two reasons to show hospitality to them. First, to redress a historic and atavistic wrong, and secondly, as a remembrance of this our encounter.”

The man from the Gold Coast kept nodding and smiling as he said. “I hear you, my brother. As to righting that unfortunate wrong of slavery, of black man hand against black man, all I can say is that I am sorry. The palm nut that has been used cannot be used again. We have to discard it and use fresh ones. So as it is already done, let us turn the page and begin afresh. Your will shall be done on both counts if I have anything to do with it. The idea of the flag and the black star and the Black Star Line I like so much I will pass it on to my people. They will realise the seriousness of our words when they hear your suggestion for the flag of independence. I will certainly do my utmost to see that the few wishes of one who gives so much and asks so little are fulfilled. Of a truth, no one has so penetrated the heart of the African matter as you have. I wish you could meet with some of my people.”

I will be watching you

“Thank you, but I leave London for the US this evening. Any way, I appreciate that you will try to comply with my wishes. I will be watching you, watching you, watching you, my brother. By the way, to satisfy your curiosity, there are those who call me the Prophet of Africa.”

“I knew it! I will do my utmost to fulfil your wishes as far as possible. Trust me, my Prophet of Africa. Will you repatriate to the continent?”

“There are traps set for me on the African continent in the eventuality of my appearing there, to have me killed by one of our own people. As much as I would love to even touch down on African soil, I need to stay alive to do the work to which I am committed.”

“You can be killed over here just as well.”

To be continued

All the images were taken from the Internet and I claim no copyright. 

DRAMA OF TWO AFRICANS IN HYDE PARK Part 6

Drama of two Africans in Hyde Park 

By Nzinga Nzinga

When African from the East meets African from the West, ole fiah tick easy fi ketch!

(It is easy to ignite old fire sticks.)

♪♪ I want you beside me all of the time…

Holding hands together… All in the same boat. Rocking on the same road…We got to get together. ♪♪

-- Bob Marley…Satisfy My Soul

Part 6

The Man from the Gold Coast responded. “There are men and women in my country ready and willing to die than to continue to be humiliated this way, if in dying they can achieve freedom for our people. I am so happy to have met you, my Jamaican brother-with-no-name. May all your dreams which are now mine, come true.”

The Jamaican responded. “Yes, may all our dreams and those we haven’t articulated or yet thought of come true. It’s up to us. We can do it anyway. We can make them come true. Whatever man has done, man can do. Men who are in earnest are not afraid of consequences.”

“I am whirl-winded away by your conviction and your eloquence. However, I can't help but think of how much power they have and how they want to keep things as they are. The only change they will countenance is one that makes them still have dominion over us. They will kill us all rather than let us go. I am afraid that I am still afraid. You have to be there to see what they have done and are doing to our continent. It’s incredible. They will not allow us to do what we have to do to be free. They will use every force and trick they can muster to keep us in this condition of dependency.”

The Jamaican man with no name, fixed a penetratingly quelling glare on his companion.

“And who is asking them to leave? Who is going to them to ask them to set us free? We shall be free and that no one can prevent regardless of how much power they may have. When the time comes for them to move out, they will have no choice. They are not invincible. They are mere flesh and blood men with wicked, racist agendas. There is already a revolutionary wind blowing over Africa." 

"My continental brother, if you listen carefully now you will hear and feel it. It’s not as loud as a trumpet but it is loud enough for those who need to hear it. It will grow stronger and stronger and the enemy will be not only deafened by it but will also be incapable of standing against its force. It will be blowing from the black man’s direction, in his favour, so it will not deafen him and its force, instead of incapacitating him, will strengthen him. Africans with visions of a brighter tomorrow for our beloved continent will arise from among you, from where you least expect them, and take these dream-sounds and translate them into realistic actions that should have been long ago. Have no fear for the powerful weapons of the enemy. None of them can mow down and keep down a principle based on righteousness.”

“You really seem able to see into the future. You are a prophet aren’t you?”

“Some call me Moses and there is an ironical twist to that name. Some will even say I am John the Baptist. It matters not what men call me as long as they identify me as a terror to those who seek to deny my race our God-given right to develop to the best of our ability.”

“Can you predict other significant events affecting our future?”

Malcolm X

Martin Luther King Jr.

“I can see committed Africans at home and abroad rising up and stating our case and acting for our cause. In the West one will be assassinated for seeking separation from the white race and another for his dream of integration with them. 

Nelson Mandela

On the continent, one, the Black Pimpernel, will confuse his attackers so much that they will condemn him to life imprisonment and throw away the keys to his cell. Then, after many years he will be lifted out like Joseph in Egypt to take care of business. People, the world over, will literally worship him so much so that he will be regarded as the most popular man in the world. On the other hand, there are may, not only from his own people, but globally, who will think that he took care of business more for his jailers than for his own people.

Julius Nyerere

HIM Haile Selassie

Another will insist that there is an absolute need for Africans to keep the hegemony of the African spirit in Africa. Another will insist that the peoples of Africa will not allow even one inch of African soil to remain in the hands of the colonialists."

"And yet another will acquire independence for his nation and will devote a great part of his energies to the unification of Africa.  He will eat, sleep and live absolutely for African unity. He will proclaim that the liberation of any one African country will be meaningless without the emancipation of the others. His words will be cited for years to come by sayers of his words but not doers because Africans will not heed. In other words, to their own detriment, they will be hearers of his words but not practitioners of them. They will continue with their meaningless freedom. He will insist to his dying day from the country that received him in exile, that Africa must unite under African socialism or perish which most likely is what caused him to be deposed."

Patrice Lumumba

"Another will fight valiantly and eventually be betrayed by his own people, inhumanly beaten, killed, his corpse chopped up and burnt in a vat of acid while his local and Western-alien enemies rejoiced. So many of our people will stand up, rise up in different places in different times, in different ways with the same message of freedom for Africa. So many will suffer and die in the awesome struggle for our rights and for justice for our people universally. It is the confidence, conviction, commitment and action of many men and women of this persuasion who will cause us to be free people one day.”

“But when? Can you see when?”

“No one knows when the hour of Africa’s redemption cometh. It is in the wind. It is coming.  One day, like a storm it will be here. When that day comes, all Africa will stand together. Any sane man, race or nation that desires freedom must first of all think in terms of blood. Why, even the Heavenly Father tells us that without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins. Then how in the name of God, with history before us, do we expect to redeem Africa without preparing ourselves, some of us to die?” Throwing out his hands in puzzlement, he continued.  “As I said before, let me repeat, men who are in earnest are not afraid of consequences.”

“With the Almighty by our side, we can do it.” The Gold Coast man asserted thoughtfully.

“Yes, yes. Our struggle has God Almighty, the God of Africa, as its leader. He is the shield upon our right and on our left hand so why should we be afraid of anyone? They can kill the person but they cannot stop the truly, righteous idea that has already taken root. Others like me have planted the seeds of rebellion deep in the souls of our people, too deep for the enemy to uproot them. It is for others to water and nurture these little vulnerable seedlings so that they will come to fruition and in this way we will never be short of revolutionaries for Africa, for the road is long and the course is rough but we shall overcome.”

“Tell me, with due respect, why are you doing all this for us? Why don’t you confine your efforts to your people over on your side? No offence intended of course.”

“None taken. My friend, in my line of work there is no insult or betrayal that has not already and will not continue to come my way. I have been attacked for being black. I have been called ugly and there have been several other negative criticisms of my intelligence, my educational background and my person, not to mention my integrity from members of my own race who should know better. I smile and move on or give as good as I get." 

"I will now answer your question. I am doing this not for any specific side but for all Africans wherever they happen to be. Everyone who knows my opinions and philosophy will tell you that I believe in the black man’s repatriation to Africa because I believe that the rightful home of all black people is the continent of Africa. Unfortunately, the white man did not treat the seller of Africans any better than the sold or better said, the commodity, so we are, as I said, in the same leaky boat. You, the seller, and me, the commodity. I am an African and even though I have to struggle to get my African identity recognised in the West I will accept no alternative. The West is but a temporary base, a place of forced exile for us. Africa is where we belong."

"Do many of you Africans in the West think the way you do about Africa?"

"Don’t make the mistake of believing that Africans in the West all think this way. Many of our people are still brainwashed into thinking that Africa is a land of jungles infested with snakes, a land where tigers and lions stalk the streets. They think of it as a place where man eats man, where all babies are pot-bellied, where adults and children walk about as naked as the day they were born.  They have been programmed to think that it is a large country of primitive tribes, where there is no civilisation as we know it in the West. There are more who do not know of Timbuktu except as the most undesirable far-flung place and who do not know of Benin, Ethiopia, the Ashantis and Chaka."

"I believe you. Africa has been painted that negatively and more." 

"There are others who see it as an idyllic Paradise, which is just as erroneous a picture as the other is. These people have no intention of repatriating because the former are scared stiff and the latter, since they see it as a heavenly paradise and know that they can only get to the heavenly paradise if they die, won't want to go there since they don't want to die! I don’t want you to go away with false illusions that all African descendants of African slaves in the West are panting to repatriate. My friend in your lifetime you may never even come across more than a handful of repatriates!”

“Why are you fighting so hard to promote repatriation if you don’t think that many will undertake it?”

To be continued

All the images were taken from the Internet and I claim no copyright.