Fr ntz Fanon, the AI­
,erian revolutionary,
.pointed out in hi book "The
Wrelched Of The Earth-,
that there i no sucb thinl a
common or I African
national culture ich binds
all Africa to,etber.
Beyond t varie of black
skin color, In fact Africans-
are U diver e a
·Europeans. -
Thougb 'radi t on I '
I African commun Hsm may
ve produced ome general­
ized characteristics hlch
might be defined as the
-African per onality" that
personality manifests itself
in a multiplicity of pecific
nd identifiable cultures,
langua,e ,roup,. ethnic
roup and nlUo ere
the African continent aDd
the orld.
Hence the idea of pan­
Africani m confront the
reality of cultural, language,
ethnic and n tional differen­
ces nd di tinction . Skin
color alone h not been suf;
ficient to bridge these di -
unctions. Indeed. the e
di tincuo h ve often bee
�he ource of ethnic nd n -
tional ten ion, rivalrles,
conflicts and wars amonl
I I african people. These dif­
ferences and distinction
therefore, cont itute barriers
to unity hich cannot be un­
derestimated by tho e of- us
bo believe in tbe pan­
Af,. can ideal.
ar a
a
M.I ....... d
CHICAGO -- The
enemies of Malcolm 'X are
till at ork today, Minister
Louis Fanakhan told 2,000
students, professors and
Dearly a dozen journali at
alcolm X Colle,e on Feb.
21. _
The controversial Muslim
leader, who a Malcolm's
istant and friend for nine
years prior to Malcolm's -
sinalion, had been invited
10 the college on Ihe city's
near estside for the 25th
'ver ary of the tragiC
I '�;II it a Ireat honor
and a great chaJlenge to be
here this afternoon on this
occ sion." said Min. Farrak­
h n, tanding in front of a
giant pO.rtrait of Malcolm X.
"The tragedy of that after­
noon produced a pain in all
of us ho are involved in
the liberation struggle. A
pain that linlers to this ,very
o
HISTORICALLY a
series of circumstance,
however, combined to
render the power of the pan­
African idea very compell­
ing.
The European conque t of
, Africa, the inilialio of tbe
traos-all nne slave trade a
t et boralion of ystema of
racism, di crimiaalioa,
egre aUon and u rdlnalc
tatu proceeded with ab­
olutely no regard for
African cultural, langua •
ethnic or national di Unc­
tions.
All Black people ere.
ubjeet to economic ex­
ploi tatien and poli lical
domin lion irre pective 10
the e difference . In fact
cultural aggreSSion or im­
periali m, the effort to de­
Africanize II African , was
an integral component of
Europe' Irategy of domina­
tion and exploi tauon.
Given Ihis fact of cultural
aure ion/imperialism. it i
quite understandable that the
concept of pan-Africani m
first emerged among the
alienated African in the dis­
a pora.
DELANEY, Sylve ter,
William ,Duboi and Gar­
vey yearned for a
p ychological, cui tural and
in some ca e phy iCII,
return to mother Africa.
The que t to redi cover
Africa, 10 affirm the great­
ne of Africa hi tory and
•
•
'Enemie
moment.
"I came tOday ... because
lookin back 2S years one
should be wiser . . .abl� to
see more clearly. Today we
face the ame enemy th�t
Maleol m faced 25 years
ago," he said, adding that
lhe media a present to ee
if he ould say omething
the pre s could e to • eep
the controversy going."
MALCOL X erved as
the national representative
oC the Honorable Elijah
Muhammad in the late fiftie
and sixties. and hi forceful
representation, of
Muhammad's teaChings bir­
thed many of the Black
nationalist organizations of
the 19605.
After being silenced by
Mr. Muhammad for tate­
ment made regarding the s-
a ination of then-President
John F. Ke'nnedy in 1963,
M lcolm parted from the
Nation of I lam and began
a
the vitality of the -African
personalny", plus the fierce
de ire to resist bite
European world upercmacy
and dominatjon became the
drivinl element of the pan­
African ideal.
The e were the etemen
w ich tbe early fathers
pan-Africani m hoped would
erve as tbe overarehing
framework for African
cooperation, unity and ac­
tion· a frame ork hich
could unify Africa de pi re
differences of culture, Ian­
guaae, ethnicity and national
origin.
The point of this seri.es of
article on pan-Afric ni m
ha been to argue that the
need for African people to
act ba ed on the ideal of
pan-Africanism remai cru­
Cial 10 our growth and
development.
Chan in world condi-
tions dictate tha� no more
than ever it is of the unmo t
priority that we as Afric n
people iet our collective act
to ether.
THE EVERPRESENT
reality of racism, and Euro­
American world domination
and uprem ncy demand that
African people struggle to
devi e and implement a
strategy for political and
economic empowerment and
development. The' founda­
tions of such a strategy
hould beba ed on the po i­
tive common thread of ra-
alcolm
ill
the Or,anization of Afro­
American Unity. He wa
killed several months later
by hotgun blasts while
delivering a speech at
H,arlem's Audubon
Ballroom.
Of the three men con­
victed of the murder, two
had been member of the
Nation of Islam, but both
ere cleared by the other
gunman ho offered iden­
tifications of hi real co-con­
spirators but the government
refu e to reopen the ca e.
THE EDERAL
government's involvement
in the shooting was evident,
Mini ter F rrakhan declared,
becau e police ecurity wa
not visible on the daY'of the
shooting a it had been on
previou day, nd an FBI
agent on stage when Mal­
colm wa killed delivered
mouth-to-mouth re u ciation
to the fallen leader I
Min. Farrakhan noted that
cial identity, ur common
African ance t , the virtue
and val ue of tlie African
personality and the continu­
ing reahty of ur subjuga­
tion and do ination by
Europe and Am rica. I
In practical term pan­
Africanism m t translate
into determin efforts to
forge region I agreements
for economic c peration in
West Africa, E t Africa and
the i nvigorati n of the
Southern Afri n Develop­
ment Coordi lion Con-
ference (SA CC). The-
Carribean natio must also
rise above thei difference
to ,create a ca ribean com­
tnon market.
AFRICANS I America
can play a decisive role In
the effective implement lion
of pan-Africani m. However
it is imperative that African
American internalize an
Afro-centric worldview and
deology. It is vit I.ly impor­
tant that Afric n American
come to understand that our
Self Development nationally
and internationally is the
key of the race.
African in America u t
mar hal the resources to pr -
vide technical assistance a d
material upport for I ran e
of educational. ocial
economic projects in Afri a
and the Carribean.
We mu t also foster Black
investment in Africa and the
Carribean. Within the p uu-
although Malcolm only went
to the eighth grade before
turning to crime, he a
able to confound scholar
once he came in contact with
Muhammad's teachings
while in pri on.
"The geniu of Malcolm
X i really the geni u pC
Black people," Min. Farrak­
han aid. "Geniu is in the
jail. -Some of the be t of us
are behind bar with •
criminal record and t�e
criminal record doesn't tell
you who these young people
are. It tell you what white
folk have made them in a
world that is adver e to
them."
THE CON'tROVE-
SIAL Mu lim leader s id
the "most painful" time of
hi life came when Malcolm
left the Nation of Islam nd
he had to choo e between
the Hon. Elijah Muhamm d
and Malcolm X.
He aid he drew on les-
cal arena African American
mu t provide mas ive and
su tined potiucat upport
for appropriate form of
U.S. aid and technical assis­
tance for Africa and the C r-
ribean.· ,
We must be at least a
con cientious as the Iri hare
about Ireland. the Polish
aboutPoland and Jew about
I rael. The U.S. government
will respond to the pan­
African world in direct
proportion to the qu lity and
intensity of the poli tical
demands of African in
Americ .
Finally. the focus on the
essential que tions of
economic urvival and
development c nerve a a
b i for life ningful di cus-
Ion regarding the larger
goal of greater political con­
solidation and unity in the
pan-African world.
Duboi correctly defined
the "color line" as the "prob­
lem of the twentieth cen­
tury". Making p n-Africism
�ork str tegy -to over­
come that problem will be
the challenge for Africans in
the twenty-first century.
Ron Daniels serves as
President 0/ the Institute lor
Community Organization
and Development in
Youngstown, Ohio. He may
be contacted at (216) 746-
5747.
wor
,
son he learned from
Malcolm's experiences to
help him when it came time
for hi m to part from Imam
Warithuddin Muhammad,
the on of the Hon. Elijah
Muhammad who a umed
leadership of the Nation of
I lam in 1975 but took the
orjanization in another
direction.
He drew upon tho e le -
son again when Rev. Jes e
Jac on denounced their
sociation during Rev.
Jack on' 1984 bid for the
pre idency or the United
Sl tes.
WHEN WE tood ,with
Jes c, t_he same force that
went to work to plit
Eldridge Cleaver from Huey
Newton, to plit Malcolm
from the Hon. EI ijah
Muhammad, were at work
atain to plit thi brother­
hood th t c ptured the im­
agin tion of BI ck people -
C d (;
