|
Imagine A Black Nation
In Memory of Imari Obadele
By
Marvin X
What happened to Nation Time, the dreams, visions,
revision, disillusion, a time of hope unfulfilled,
Driftin and Driftin like that Charles Brown tune, no
more imagination beyond a return to ancient Kemet, the
land we fled four thousand years ago, thus an impossible
return, for who can go home after four thousand years,
except a mad Jew, and we see what terror he caused upon
return.
But it is a mental drift, the most terrible kind, most
wretched because it tears at the heart as well as the
mind, thus we are drenched in sweat upon awakening from
the nightmare of imagination and must face the bright
sun of reality.
Shall we drift from here to eternity, for how can we
avoid synchronizing our dreams with reality, finally and
forever, standing on solid ground as we move into the
future of a thousand tomorrows.
Imagine a nation, a land of soul people who are healing
their wounds from centuries of terror, who blame no one
except themselves for the terror, for the ship and whip,
the cross and lynching tree, yes, the strange fruit of
the last supper in paradise, before entering the door of
no return.
Imagine a nation, somewhere in the South where our
people died, where we can honor their bones and blood
shed in the sun and night, where their spirits still
dance in the swamp and river bottoms, the plantations
and huts still standing, where spirits go wild in the
wind and in the stillness of summer.
Imagine a nation, perhaps Up South in the wicked cities
that defied the hope and dreams of generations, maybe
there we shall declare ourselves free and claim
sovereignty, a place called the Republic of Pan Africa,
like Brooklyn. where we have gathered for the first time
in four thousand years, de facto capital of the
Diaspora, coming from Mississippi, North and South
Carolina Africans, Jamaica and Haitian Africans,
Nigerian, Ghanaian and Senegalese, bound together again,
this time forever on Fulton Street and streets too many
to name.
And yes, there is pain and rivalry, jealousy and envy,
love and hate in the night, but we are there in the sun,
in the snow, a nation not yet standing, not fully
sensing our power, strength, the full strength of a
mighty nation forced together again, not since fleeing
the pyramids and pharaohs, the murders for succession,
the flight of queens with sons and daughters who did not
assume the throne. And there was drought and famine
forcing them up the Nile, the mighty Congo and Niger.
Imagine, the Republic of Pan Africa, not the nationalism
of fools, but the product of engineers, planners and
builders who began with a thought centuries ago in the
cane, cotton and rice fields, the woods of Nat Turner,
Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, the railroad of Harriet
Tubman, the womanhood of Sojourner Truth, but caught,
yes, as [James] Cone said, between the cross and the
lynching tree.
But it was the thought that refused to die,
yet resurrected every season like the Nile, the dream of
the homeland where we must be taken in once again. Have
we not paid for this land with sweat, blood and tears?
It is ours so claim the portion we desire, stand upon
the ground and cry liberty or death, but have we not
died a million times, even now at this hour we crucify
ourselves for failing to stand tall as full men and
women, our children annihilate themselves like Buddhist
monks on fire in Vietnam, only because we have not
passed on ancestor tales of liberty and freedom,
discipline and work.
Imagine a nation, days of absence from our animal
selves, and the donning of our divinity, wherein we hate
each other no more, never again, the jealousy, the
Willie Lynch syndrome, Yacoub’s children playing with
steel, some genetic defect in our divine nature.
Imagine a nation, removed from those we cannot live with
in peace, thus we part from them and their wickedness,
taking with us only the genius of our minds, for look at
the fruit of our labor under the sun, surely we can do
the same for ourselves as we did for the master,
transcending the pyramids with our original creations
for now and tomorrow.
But the question is not if or when America falls, but
what is the post-American plan for North American
Africans? Will they finally acquire the sovereignty as a
nation of self-determined people, will they secure a
land base with access to the sea and mineral rich for
their centuries of free and nearly free labor under the
sun? Or will they sit with dicks in their hands and
hearts racing while other ethnic groups secure the
division of this stolen property.
Surely the Native Americans will want their fair share,
the Latinos, the Asians, and poor whites—will
the so called Negro sit around waiting for the Master to
return, or will he go about, finally and without
hesitation, doing for self, reconstructing his fallen
cities, getting control of the infrastructure, water,
electricity, roads, schools, work places, airports.
|
Long ago he called for Black Power, with the coming fall
of America, he will have the opportunity to fulfill his
dreams. Oh, it cannot happen? America is too strong.
Firstly, you have no real idea how strong America is
just as you have no idea how strong you are—you
are so full of fear you cannot and never have been able
to think straight. Every thought you ever thought has
been wrong simply because it was not thinking outside
the box of Americana because you have been confined to
the box and never had a chance to consider the
configuration of your society except for your 19th
century thinkers and dreamers, and your 20th century
thinkers and planners. Garvey and Elijah Muhammad. Imari
dreamed of the Republic of New Africa.
But where is Egypt, Rome, Greece, Great Britain and the
Soviet Union? Does the Chinaman have a chance today--you
haven't heard that racist remark recently, for the
Chinese have a very good chance to rule the world. so
why do you think America shall remain forever and
forever in its present condition? |
 |
It will absolutely change because its ethnic minorities
will soon become the majority, so why are not your
leaders planning for the future and our well-deserved
fair share? If and when America, as did the Soviet
Union, falls apart, what do you want? A job? A job, a
job!
You mean after 400 years of free and nearly free labor,
you only desire a job? Are you crazy, are you totally
insane or just lazy, like a whore awaiting marching
orders from her pimp—not
knowing the pimp is dead, he was killed in a shootout
with rivals. Your leaders, why are they running around
licking the behinds of the the Democratic and Republican
parties rather than establishing an independent
political entity that will take us into the future? They
shall be charged for their shortsightedness, their
myopia of the mind.
As sister Zetha Nobles said recently, our goal should
not be to achieve parity with white Americans (which is
mediocrity, at best), but with India and China. We
should forget about equality with Americans and see the
global picture and imagine our role in it. But we are so
blinded by white supremacy that all we see is white,
white, white. Look around, the world is no longer white.
Power will not be white in the not so distant future—can
you look ahead a few days and plan accordingly or shall
you sit on your behinds awaiting the crumbs from the
fall of America? Imagine a nation!
Source:
BlackbirdPressNews
* *
* * *
Imari Obadele Father of
Reparations" dies in Ga.
The Associated Press
ATLANTA—Imari Obadele, the former leader of the
Republic of New Africa separatist group, has died. He
was 79.Obadele's daughters, Marilyn Obadele and Vivian Gafford,
said Tuesday that their father died of massive stroke
Monday in Atlanta.
Known as the "Father of Reparations," Obadele was a
staunch supporter of Malcom X and eventually became
President of the Republic of New Africa, which sought to
establish its own nation in the South.
He was president when, in 1971,
city police and FBI agents battled RNA members who were
inside a fortified home in Jackson, Miss. One police
officer was killed and two others were wounded in the
shootout.
Obadele spent more than five years
in prison for conspiracy but was not charged with
murder.
Funeral arrangements are pending. Picayune
Item
* *
* * *
I just received the sad news that one of our tallest
trees in the forest of Black intellectual Nationalism
has unfortunately made transition. Dr. Imari Abukari
Obadele was the founder of the Republic of New Afrika
that came out of the 1968's convention of Black
government held in Detroit. Dr.Obadele and his
brother (Milton) were both friends of Malcolm during the
early mid sixties. They were the ones who brought him
(Malcolm) in to Detroit to give that historic speech
that we love so much called "Message to the Grass
roots."
After Malcolm's assassination they developed what was
called the 'Malcolm X Society' that led to the Republic
of New Afrika (RNA) in 1968, then Chokwe Lummumba
emerged out of that group to form the New Afikan Peoples
Organization (NAPO); all of this led to the Provisional
Government of New Afrika and the Five States formation
in the South (South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Alabama, forgot fifth one), all under the constitutional
right to develop a self-determined Plebiscite
political independent states.
In short, I don't believe we utilized Dr. Obadele's call
to "Free The Land" the way he outlined everything in his
wonderful autobiography. Dr. Obadele went back to
school, after brief time in jail because of being setup,
and achieved his doctorate degree, I think in
Government. Also, it was Dr. Obadele who founded
The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in
America (N'COBRA), which
further augment his fight for reparation. Dr. Obadele
has written numerous books and articles on Government,
40 acres and a Mule, Reparation, and
others. Also, he even wrote a very valuable book on
Ancient Egypt in which some of the African-centered
community either neglects or don't appreciate (I never
hear any one cite it as a source of reference).
Nevertheless, Dr. Obadele has left his mark in our
movement for liberation in this country by example!
Libation Poured!—Hannibal Cassanova
* *
* * *
On January 18, 2010
genius giant of the New Afrikan Independence Movement,
Dr. Imari Abubakari Obadele I transitioned to the
ancestral realm. It was the Washington, D.C. community
that welcomed Brother Imari after his release from
unjust incarceration orchestrated by the once secret and
illegal COINTELPO (FBI counterintelligence program
against the Black Liberation Movement). He spent several
years living and rebuilding in Washington, DC.
 |
Brother Imari was an
ardent follower of Malcolm X, indeed it was
Imari and his brother Gaidi (formerly known
as Richard and Milton Henry) who brought
Malcolm to Detroit in 1963 when he delivered
his prolific speech, "Message to the
Grassroots." Malcolm often said that if the
Henry brothers ever needed him, he would be
right there.
Obadele is a founder and
former President of the Provisional
Government of the Republic of New Afrika,
and a founder and leader of NCOBRA—National
Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in
America. He received his PhD after
imprisonment, and retired from teaching at
Prairie View in Texas, living in Baton Rouge
with his wife, Johnita. |
He is the author of
numerous books and pamphlets, including Foundations of
the Black Nation, War in America, Free the Land,
Reparations Yes, The Malcolm Generation, America the
Nation State, and others.
Join the
Washington, D.C. area community in a Memorial Tribute to
Dr. Imari Abubakari Obadele, on the day of the
assassination of Malcolm X—Sunday, February 21, 2010 at
5:00 p.m.
If you are
interested in saying a brief reflection at the Tribute
through words, song, or poem, please contact
888-245-4789 and leave your contact information and a
representative from the committee will get back to you.
See video of January 30 Obadele
funeral service in link below. In the words of Brother
Imari . . . FREE THE LAND!
Source:
Kalamu and
Facebook
* *
* * *
 |
Imari Obadele, who fought for reparations,
dies a 79—Mr.
Obadele was born Richard Bullock Henry in
Philadelphia on May 2, 1930, one of 12
children. He was an avid
Boy Scout and as a young man helped his
brother Milton start a civil rights
organization that had W. E. B. Du Bois as a
speaker. When Milton moved to Detroit,
Richard followed.
Richard
worked there as a newspaper reporter and as
a technical writer for the military. In
1963, he refused to let his son Freddy go to
school and learn from textbooks he
considered racist.
Richard’s brother was a close friend of
Malcolm X, and after Malcolm’s murder in
1965, Richard and Milton Henry helped form
the Malcolm X Society to promote his views.
Malcolm, in the face of continuing bloodshed
in the civil rights struggle, had become
increasingly frustrated with the philosophy
of nonviolent resistance espoused by Dr.
King and others. The Henry brothers began to
embrace black separatism. |
In 1968, they and
others formed the Republic of New Afrika and adopted
African names; Milton became Gaidi Obadele. (Obadele is
a Yoruba word meaning “the king arrives at home.”) At
the group’s inaugural meeting in Detroit, about 200
delegates signed a declaration of independence and a
“government in exile” was set up. Mr. Obadele was chosen
information minister, and he published a handbook, “War
in America.”
A paramilitary
unit, the Black Legion, to be clad in black uniforms
with leopard-skin epaulettes, was formed.
In March 1969, a
gun battle erupted between police officers and the Black
Legionnaires outside a Detroit church, leaving one
officer dead. The militants were tried but not convicted
in a trial that drew conflicting testimony about the
confrontation.
The Republic of New
Afrika splintered the next year, with Milton, or Gaidi
Obadele, saying he now rejected violence. Imari, who had
now been elected president, led about 100 followers to
Mississippi to build a black nation. After a deal to buy
18 acres from a farmer collapsed, the group established
a headquarters in a house in Jackson.
The local police
and F.B.I. agents raided the house on Aug. 18, 1971.
Some news reports said the purpose of the raid was to
arrest a suspect in the Detroit killing. Others said the
goal was to stop treasonous activities or to search for
arms. Each side said the other fired first in a gun
battle that left one officer dead.
Though indicted in
the killing, Mr. Obadele was found to have been 10
blocks away during the raid and charges were dropped.
But in a related proceeding, he was convicted of
conspiracy to assault a federal agent and was sent to
prison.
Mr. Obadele later
earned a Ph.D. in political science from
Temple University. He taught at several colleges,
including Prairie View A&M University in Texas.
He is survived by
his daughters Marilyn Obadele and Vivian Gafford; his
sons Imari II and Freddy Sterling Young; and numerous
grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
In 1983, Mr.
Obadele was a defense witness in the trial of Cynthia
Boston, a Republic of New Afrika member who was
convicted in the holdup of a Brinks armored car in 1981.
On the stand, he defended armed struggle.
“We cannot tell
somebody who is underground what to do,” he said. “If
people feel that they must attack people who have been
attacking and destroying and harming our people, then
that is a decision they have to make.”
NYTtimes
* *
* * *
I met Imari through
my participation in NCOBRA and became friends with him.
He was a passionate and forceful advocate of his
vision,. It is not mentioned . . . but he was also a
strong fighter for the equal participation of women in
the movement; a viewpoint not common among the boiler
plated nationalists of the time. He published a book
on women in the reparations movement. I was mesmerized
by the relationship he and Johnita displayed. I told
them once if I were ever to find someone, I'd want to
have a relationship just like theirs. Apparently all
wasn't as it seemed. But he was a brilliant guy. His
contributions long will be remembered. Rest in peace,
Bro. Imari.-Damu—Jean Damu
* * * *
*
Marcus Garvey "Africa For The Africans" /
Look For Me in The Whirlwind
Marcus Mosiah
Garvey /
Marucs Garvey Speech
*
* * * *
Marvin X and His Parables
*
* * * *
Other Books by Marvin X
Love and War: Poems /
In the Crazy House Called America
Woman: Man's Best Friend /
Beyond Religion Toward Spirituality
Marvin X on YouTube Marvin X Table * * *
* *
*
* * * *
 |
Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
|
* *
* * *
|
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
|
 |
*
* * * *
* *
* * *
posted 5
February 2010
|
