-q, ytJf!; ".;;uy "'" )IOU am
you wUf'.
were the powerful
spoken by a . .
to a dOWDlrodden uid
. people ia . first
� Of the 20th century. TbC
c Moriah Ganey.
The people. the SOIll and
ClQllllcn of Africa in America,
the Carribean, Central aDd
� ad throlJ8hout
Africa disaspora.
Marcu Garvey built the
andm rful
mo ment and organization
on Afric:an in the dis
aspora. in our . ory. Yet most
AfricaD-Americans know vir-
tually abo t Ganey.
Bor in Jamaica in 1889,
Ganey convinced that the
key to B ck liberation for the
m e of colonized and op
pressed Africans in Africa and
the . pora the promo
tio of r cial pride, self-help
and freedom and self-deter
mination for the Afric n
motherland as the ba is for
respect and self-determination
for African people throughout
the rid. Marcus Garvey was a
DatlODaw· � and be pired to re-
lore African people to their
historical gre tne by resur
recting a nation for the Black
people of th orld - Africa.
To mobilize Africans to give
Ilesh to his vision, Garvey or
ganized the Univer al egro
Improvement Association and
African Communities League
in 1914 in his native Jamaica. By
1916 Garvey had made a
decision to mcwe his . . pal
hue of opcratioDs to �ted
States. This proved to be a ex-
ee move, Ganey soon
(l fertile � to propople
8lII0I. the of
Black immigrants from the
south who ere taking up
residence in urban centers
throughout the nation. The COD
tinuiag stress and strain of r ee
prejudice, discrimination,
segregation and economic ex
p . . p� Ganey ready
�IA· OII,ce for . appeal to race
pride aDd African redemptioD
oag the African masses in
the United Stales.
The U.N.I.A. ed A.C.L:
rapidly gre to become the
JDOYeJDeDt and or
pnizatioo that Africans in the
desaspora Iuwe C\W built. At its
height the� were chapters in
England, the Carribe n,
Central and South America as
n as the United St tes and
Canada. According to some es
tim tes the U.Nl.A.' member
ship numbered in excess of 10
million. The range of dherents
and sympathizer to Garveys
philosophy and opinions was
centainly even larger.
Consistent with -his goal of
transforming nationless
people into a position of nation
hood and self-government the
U.N.I.A. was structured like a
nation d government in be
coming:
- Garvey provided a nag
with the colors red, black and
green a symbol of our suffer - .
ing. historic chievements and
promise for self-de. ermination
in the future.
, - As meaDS of spreading
the message and program of the
U.N.I.A. Garvey created the
. Negro World which had the
largest circulation of any
African newspaper in the dis
pora in that time or there-
after.
- The U .N.IA. had its own
system of schools to ensure an·
African oriented education for
its followers. -
- Declaring that "God is a
Negro" Garvey dedicated the
Universal African Orthodox
Church to offer a christian
theology and religiou ex
perience rooted in our own his
tory and traditions an African
people.
The U.N.I.A:s economic
program was grounded in the
philosophy of self-help. Its am-
bitious projects included farms,
factories, food markets and
laundries. Its most highly
celebrated ventur wa the
Black Star Steamship Line
which sought to bring Garvey's .
dream of economic inter-de
pendence between Africa, the
Carribean and 'Afric ns in
America to fruition. To advance
the aims of the U.N.I.A. in
Someone in Washington,
D.C.· M whether the
US Go� serio
iDten· . to w e a War on
or if ill fact this alleged
(like the War on Poverty) .
a . Could· be a cover for
a � to destroy, lock up, kill or
. more young B men?
S�dly, leader. like Urb n
Le.,ue PresideDt John J cob,
"NAACP Executive Director
Benjamin Hoo , and SCLC
President JOseph La ry have
bepn to their rhetorical at
ta on "drug dealers in our
communi· "rather than the
U.S. Government and white
supremacist po er structure
. which ve created the condi
tio out of which Black youth
drug involvement h evolved
How can these Black leaders
claim, .as Jacob did in his
group's 79th annual
convention' opening ddress,
e've got to realize e're at
war with the drug dealer - a
I . war for control of our com-
,
a
on
mlPli· • yet fail to realize that
are at war . this white
r Id order which con
trols DOt 0DIy the ,communities,
b the minds of Black people?
� Minister Louis Farrak
haD said to a aroup of nearly
1,soo 'J • tes at Cook
County Jail OIl July 26, "you are
victims of a crimiDal con-
piracy .• �er all, 0 controls
the borders, produces the drugs
_nd the weapons, and has
choked off all economic
devd III in Black co -
UDity? Who J'UDS the educa
tional institutions through
hich the e youth are
• processed, • or ould I say,
"mi educated: so they are
bereft of the moral and intellec
tual fo . n upon which to
base decisions in line with the
betterment of themselves and
their communities?
These other leaders have
courage enough only to wage
war on their own youth, who, by .
the way, they have failed by not
paving the y for the proper
development of these youth.
Aren't these leaders the guar
dians of our youth? If not, why
call them leaders? Maybe we
should e wu on them for
their utter failure.
What has the Urb League,
NAACP and SCLC done to
harnes Black economic
resources to comb t the condi
tions which have made Black
youth ripe for involvement in
this lucrative drug trade?
Haven't they opted to go hat-in
hand to their former
rIC en' children to see
aid? "p give us parity: they
plead today.
So-called drug czar William
Bennett has just released his
recommendations for waging
this war, and, not urprisingly,
his target also is the street drug
sellers. not the big time drug
pushers in the boardrooms of
America and around the world.
In fact, he has called for an
85 percent increase in the num
ber of federal prison cells. Well,
when one considers that Blac
terms of the liberation and res
torah of Africa well the
defense oftbe U.Nl.A.'s struc
ture and programs in the dis
aspora, Garvey created a
military wing . ch included:
The Universal African Legion;
The African Motor Corps; The
Black Eagle Flying Corp; and
the Black Cr Nurses.
The U.Nl.A a powerful
concept and a powerful move
men . The conventions of the
Negro People of the World
which Garvey convened at
U.N.IA headquarters in Har
lem would draw upw rds of
25,000 delegates fr America
and around the world. The
U.N .LA. wu completely
financed by money from
African people, and Black
people were geaero in their
support of an idea and move-
Garvey -- _ .. -
already comprise nearly so per- -
cent of the federal prison
population, although only about
12 percent of the population at
large, what Bennett is calling for
is massive detention of Black
males. No mODey was ed for
educational programs, counsel
ing. job training, etc. And now
Jacob, and these other , fall
right in line with this "get tough"
approach. "
But according to a recently
resigned Bush administration
official, Mr. von Rub, who was
_ in charge of Customs, die so
called drug rarely !DCn
ti ned in high level mmap.
and there i no CQmmitment to
funnel r e ources toward
strengthening border patro or
going after known international
drug dealers. That's why he
re igned.
The scourge of drugs, and
the related plague of crime and
violence, are effects. not cause .
The Black youth of today want
a piece of the American pie and
are not willing to s uffle, buck-
ment which they believed
genuinely represented the in
terests and aspir tion of the
masses. According to Garveys
wife the U .Nl.A. received con
tributio of $10 million from
1919-1921 alone.
A Black leader and move
ment who could inspire? all this
was too powerful for comfort in
America. Accordingly the
newly org nized Federal
Bureau of Investigation (the
F.B.I.) and J. Edgar Hoover
would target Garvey and the
U..N.IA. at the top of its hit list
of "dangerous and "subversive"
individuals and organizations.
The flame of hope which
Garvey's oratory and organiza
tion was fueling had to be
snuffed out. In 1923 the F.B.I:
stru . Garvey found guilty
on a trumped up charge of using
the mail to defraud.
Garvey w sent to prison,
and though he was pardoned
and deported in 1927, the
damage had been done. There
after the flame and rue of Gar
vey and the U.N.IA. was only a
faint glimmer of what it had
once been. Ev tually Marcus'
Moriah Garvey, the greatest
mass leader in our history
would also fade from our collec
tive national memory as a
African people in America.
Ron Daniels served as the
Director of the National Rain
bow Coalition and as the Deputy
Campaign Manager for the Rev.
Jesse Jackson's Presidential.
Campaign '88. He may be
contacted at (216) 746-5747.
h?
dance or bend-over to get their
share.
Television tells them they
hould have a big car, fine
home, etc., and they u e
whatever means they have at
their -dispo I to get thi
"dream". Surely, their lack of
guidance and murdero life
style made the B com
munity more of a Digblmare, -
and there is no justificati fOl'
ch callous violence. But,
wagiDg ar on my YOUDg
brothen is no the solutio
Since these leadr admit ey
don't have a vi ble solution, y
not let Minister Parrakh n
work with our youth, un
hampered? The N tion of
Islam' drug program in D.C. is
the beginning of a elution, so
why won't these a Black
leaders urge the U.S. Govern
ment to fund the Muslims ef
forts at drug rehabilitation?
(Mr. Muhammad is Editor in
chief of The Final Call,
published by the nation of
Islam.)