Most of us see Marcus Garvey as a founding father of Pan-Africanism and a Black Moses, but he would have rather be seen as a Black Hitler. There’s a lot that says Marcus Garvey structured the United Negro Improvement Association after Hitler’s Nazi Party. Even his speaking style was modeled after Hitlers. Listen to this short clip from one of Garvey’s speeches here:

Marcus Garvey Speech

By the way, if you want the full download of this speech, subscribe and I will send it to you!

The first public reference that we have proving Marcus Garvey’s affinity for Hitler’s form of Nationalism can be found in a speech he gave in 1923. He said;

“we who believe in race purity believe that the White race should protect itself against racial contamination, and the Negro should do the same.” In 1924, he added that “the United Negro Improvement Association believes in the purity of the Negro race and the purity of the white race” and advocated “Africa for the Africans” based upon the same nationalistic concept of Europe for the Europeans.

Later, in March 1934, Garvey recommended that his readers peruse Mein Kampf – Hitlers memoirs – and expressed his hope that one day the Black race would produce its own Hitler.” He wrote the following disturbing words, “Hitler has a lesson to teach and he is teaching it well.”

Early on, Garvey praised the Ku Klux Klan’s intention of making America a White man’s country, and Hitlers efforts in Europe. In July 1922, he publicly said:

“From impressions, from my observations, from my understanding, the Ku Klux Klan is a mighty white organization in the United States of America, organized for the purpose of upholding white supremacy in this country; organized for the purpose of making America a white man’s country, pure and simple. The organization has absolutely no apology to make as far as its program is concerned – a program of making America a white man’s country. Whilst the Ku Klux Klan desires to make America absolutely a white man’s country, the Universal Negro Improvement Association wants to make Africa absolutely a Black man’s country.”

Did Garvey and other Black Men and Women of the time not know about the NATIVE AMERICAN GENOCIDE that came before White America?

While we can be sure that Marcus Garvey looked up to men like Ethiopia’s Haile Selassie, Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta, and Samory Toure in Ancient Mali, we also know that he idealized men like Hitler, Napoleon and Mussolini.

Marcus Garvey went so far as to arrange a meeting with Edward Y. Clarke, then the leader of the Ku Klux Klan – a move that would hurt the leader’s popularity for decades. The KKK was at its height, ramapaging through Black neighborhoods raping, lynching, and murdering. Marcus Garvey’s meeting was seen not only as contradictory for a Pan-Africanist – but treasonous to the Black Power movement of his day. Marcus Garvey was making a deal with the devil at the expense of the masses that he led. Of the meeting, he said;

“I regard the Klan, the Anglo-Saxon clubs and White American societies, as far as the Negro is concerned, as better friends of the race than all other groups of hypocritical whites put together. I like honesty and fair play. You may call me a Klansman if you will, but, potentially, every white man is a Klansman, as far as the Negro in competition with whites socially, economically and politically is concerned, and there is no use lying about.”

On one hand, we can believe that Marcus Garvey wanted the same level of power, pride and organization that he saw in Hitler’s Nazis and the KKK. On the other hand, it could be that his response to the racism and violence that white organizations used was to retaliate with Black racism and violence. But, such an attitude did not uplift the Pan-African movement; it completely undermined the credibility of it instead.

So Whats the Verdict on Marcus Garvey?

The United Negro Improvement Association was a beautiful thing, and Marcus Garvey was a spectacular leader and Black Man. But what of his sleeping with the enemy? Does this change how the leader should be viewed? Was Marcus Garvey right – that the races should remain separate and “pure” – or should we work with the white race for the good of our cause (a question I previously posed here)?

“When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the Land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught us how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.” Jomo Kenyatta

One of the missing elements of the Black Conscious movement is a lack of leadership. I don’t mean the hyper-egotistical leadership that we see today, but genuine leadership that both encourages and commends the deserving while correcting the wayward with RIGHT KNOWLEDGE. In studying Black history, these are the leadership lessons that we should glean from those who have succeeded where we are failing.

This post is a long one, and is therefore divided into 3 SEPARATE PAGES. Make sure you click over when you are done reading each page!

Who is Jomo Kenyatta?

Jomo Kenyatta was an important and influential revolutionary in Africa. He is the one responsible for leading Kenya to independence and setting up the country as a relatively prosperous capitalist state. He pursued a moderate pro-Western, anti-Communist economic philosophy and foreign policy, oversaw a peaceful land reform process, built independent institutions, and oversaw Kenya’s admission into the United Nations.

During his reign, the country was peaceful and stable, the economy developed and grew rapidly and attracted high levels of foreign investment, and a Black Kenyan professional and business middle class was established. Born into the dominant Kenyan Kikuyu culture, Kenyatta became its most famous interpreter of Kikuyu traditions through his book, Facing Mount Kenya.

This post will examine the leadership behind one of the most successful African administrations of the 20th Century.

Leadership Lesson 1: Make a Name for Yourself

Kenyatta was born in 1890 with the name Kamau wa Ngengi. It wasnt until he was baptized a Christian and given the name John Peter that he rejected white culture and changed his name to Jomo. During World War I, able bodied Kikuyu were forced into work by the British authorities. To avoid this, Jomo took refuge with the Maasai, where he worked as a clerk. He took to wearing a traditional beaded belt known as a ‘Kenyatta’, a Swahili word which means ‘light of Kenya’.

By 1922 Kamau had fully adopted the name Jomo (a Kikuyu name meaning ‘burning spear’) Kenyatta. In that same year, he joined the East African Association – an organization to campaign for the return of Kikuyu lands given over to white settlers when the country became the British Crown Colony of Kenya in 1920.

A name is ones direct link to ones history, ones culture, and thus to ones psychological bearings. It was only after reclaiming his cultural name and beginning tradition anew that Jomo Kenyatta made the transition from John Peter to a revolutionary freedom fighter.

Leadership Lesson 2: Clearly Communicate Your Mission

Early in his rise to power, Kenyatta set out his 5 point Party platform. These 5 points were:

• The security of land tenure and the demand for land taken by European settlers to be returned

• Improved educational opportunities for Black Africans

• The repeal of crushing Hut and poll taxes

• Representation for Black Africans in the Legislative Council

• Freedom to pursue traditional customs (such as female genital mutilation)

His letter concluded by saying that a failure to satisfy these points “must inevitably result in a dangerous explosion — the one thing all sane men with to avoid”.

Organizational leadership must always be centered around a very specific mission. The Civil Rights movement here in America was successful due to the ability of its leadership to focus on a handful of objectives; repeal of Jim Crow laws, desegregation, establishment of voting rights. Compare hese objectives with the objectives of the Occupy movement.

Wait…what are the objectives of the Occupy movement??

Exactly!

Without a mission that is clearly communicated to and understood by subordinates, there are no markers to indicate whether the organization is moving in the right direction. With a clear and well-defined mission, your ability to attract supporters will multiply.

This is a guest post from H2 Communications, one of the few African American social media management companies in the United States. Make sure you show the brothas over there some love at www.h2comms.com!

How Social Media and the Internet can promote buying Black and essentially bring African American economic, political, and educational sovereignty.

According to an article in the Huffington Post,  African Americans use social networking sites like Twitter 50% more than White Americans.  The article attributed those statistics to the use of these sites by entertainers, but recently I’ve been handling the social media monitoring for United Black America Online. What I have seen that not only surprised me, but made me ecstatic and optimistic for the potential use of sites like this one, is that this is a place where young Black and African Americans, (professionals or otherwise) can openly engage each other about things that are happening in their world and the world abroad.

Of course this is my field so I know the business potential in social media marketing and the social networking arena. But as an African American man, I am also staked highly in what goes on in the Black community. So this was very compelling to me to see that young Black people weren’t just using these sites to meet for dates and keep up on the goings on in Black entertainers’ lives. But also as a tool to further consciousness, grow business ventures, and bounce ideas.

The implications of this, if used correctly, are that positive conscious Black conversations that we need to have can be started here. Problems that plague our community; from how the the Black neighborhood is being destroyed, and how nearly 50 year old government tactics and laws perpetuate a state of stagnate poverty, to how African Amerincans who leave Black communities abandon and leave stranded other potentially successful Black men and women, and even how businesses from other racial backgrounds are sucking almost a trillion dollars out of our community a year. These are things that must be discussed, and this is a perfect catalyst for these discussions.

One of the greatest and most major pieces of the puzzle is remote capabilities, because at this point African Americans and across the world are far from monolithic. As a matter of fact we are so separate that we miss most of our great accomplishments because of how far removed we are. From Atlanta to Chicago, from New york to Los Angeles. The ability to take the best and brightest from these major metropolitan areas and have them interact with cities like Cincinnati Ohio with a 48% African American population or Louisville Kentucky with an African American population of almost 40% is major, because where LA or NY will interact with politics, education and business globally, Blacks in these periphery metropolitan areas are years behind. Not only that, but behind of whats happening right here in the States, causing a major disconnect and essentially a lack of education.

So where we find ourselves in 2012 is looking into a portal of global communication literally at our finger tips. Its up to us to jump in head first or continue to let ourselves fall behind as a people. We are travelling down a long road with plenty of bumps, self-imposed and otherwise. But we must make it to the end, and one thing that holds true is that the only way to get there is together, as a United Black America!

William Huston

H2 Communications

www.h2comms.net

All of us here at United Black America hope everyone has experienced a smooth transition into 2012. This year promises to be productive for us with the implementation of some lessons learned, as well as with a growing ground force capable of experimenting with and implementing some of the tools and techniques we have discussed in the past (see this and this).
So today marks the first day that we return to business as usual. The first week of every New Year is spent analyzing the successes and failures of the previous year, and conceptualizing solutions to move forward. Here are the 4 key areas in need of improvement that we have identified with our online presence, and what we will do to make sure you get as much value as possible from this site:
1. Connect with Black businesses online, and connect them to each other to build commercial relationships.

Not only will we develop a platform that connects Black businesses online, we will create new ways of measuring how productive these systems actually are in dollars.

2. Redesign United Black America Online to improve readability, navigation, and multimedia support.

United Black America began as a blog, but has grown into a website. In response to our growth, we will upgrade our theme and layout to put everything you are looking for within two clicks’ reach. No more hunting through the archives for a particular site, or digging through long lists of book titles. We will make it easy to surf United Black America’s articles, start and contribute to conversations via interactive forums, upload videos and photos, and support Black entrepreneurs online!

3. Produce unique and professionally designed multimedia in-house whenever possible.

Thus far, we have been using audio, images and videos from third-party sites. We will begin transitioning away from using other peoples ish and start using our own whenever possible. H2 Communications has done a lot of great work for individuals and organizations alike (including the Muhammad Ali Center), and has joined our team – so if you need multimedia work, or an expanded presence online, check them out here.

4. Improve the infrastructure and performance of the site.

Problems like slow load times, down times, spam in the comments section and bad graphics pisses everyone off, so we have upgraded our server, installed some new spam filters, cleaned up stretched-out images, and hired two more virtual assistants to catch problems before you do. We are serious about what we do, both online and offline, and that commitment should show though our site.

United Black America Online has seen some record months in the last part of 2011, thanks to you! If you have any suggestions that we should add to our list above, please let us know in the comments section!

Also, if you are a Black business or service provider and can help us achieve any of these goals, we would love to work with you! Use the comment form below and let us know what you do, what you charge, and how we can get in touch!

As the webmaster for the site, I personally thank each and every visitor that comes to learn and share for the purpose of unifying the Pan African diaspora. We need MORE resources like this site online to spur the next generation of warriors into action!

Peace!

-Asad

P.S. I think we have given enough voice to those racist comments, so hence forth their comments will be moderated. If you want to find out whats on the mind of the typical white man or woman, check out their comments here.

Black Barber Shops are home to some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the African American community. These are lessons all Black businesses can apply to achieve the same success as these millionaire barbers have.

If you have been a regular reader of United Black America, you know that this site focuses on Black economic empowerment. (See: Building an Ebay Empire,  Dr. Claud Anderson and the Path to Black Economic Power, and Ghetto Capitalism.)  Since the knowledge of economic empowerment isnt taught in the public school system, I have found that the next best way to learn  directly from those that have that knowledge.

In my search for Black men and women who have that knowledge, I came across an unlikely group of winners in Black Barber Shops: the Millionaire Barbers.

But barbers dont make shit, right? Well, in the average Black Barber Shop that’s true. But these men have learned to diversify their hustle, scale up their successes, and learn from the failures of other Black businesses to build world class companies.

My personal economic strategy includes opening a number of businesses, including a Black Barber Shop. Since I really didnt know anything about the business behind barbering, I started my learning process with Against The Grain Magazine (check it out here). The  photography was nothing short of amazing, probably the best I have seen in any magazine, the interviews and barber profiles are the best in the industry, and most important of all, the lessons taught in “Shop 101″ made this magazine damn near priceless to me!

“Shop 101”; Lessons for ALL Black Businesses

In order to achieve excellence in your profession, one must have the attributes that attest above the normal contingency of simply working. You must possess a passion reflecting your love to do it. This must happen in order to excel to the highest plateau possible.”-Mr. Fademup

 Mr. Fademup, CEO and founder of Fademup Productions and one of Against The Grain’s contributing writers gives Black entrepreneurs some of his keys to success in his column, “Shop Talk 101″:

• Begin by maintaining your own appearance. You only get one chance to make a first impression. Remaining well groomed will build your confidence, which will illuminate how good you feel about yourself.
• Be professional, and show professionalism at all times
• You have to be willing to try new endeavors. Go outside of your comfort zone. Don’t be afraid to get your feet wet
• Set your goals high!
• Talk to as many professionals on the circuit as possible. Go to professional events to gain ideas about your own strategy
• Self promote! Tell people who you are. Network!
• Set up a website.

These are the philosophies that guide the millionaire barbers, and you can tell; they are the barbers who never have an empty chair, whose clients are willing to wait 2 hours for them, and who would rather “take whose next” over eating lunch. In case you aren’t lucky enough to live in a city with a millionaire Black Barber Shop, here are the three best examples I know of…

Living Legends

Alex Campbell, alexccampbell.com

 Aside from being a Master Barber, Alex Campbell is also the consummate entrepreneur. He scaled his craft and his earnings up by producing a line of do-it-yourself barber videos, a website that offers coupons, advice, and information on the barber culture ( see: HOW TO PICK A BARBER) and products related to his profession.

Aside from having a productive website (which currently ranks #15 of ALL WEBSITES ONLINE for the keywords “hair cutting”), Alex dominates his YouTube niche and markets himself across several different media categories, both online and in the real world.

Lesson: Add value! Not only does Alex cut hair, he helps his clients and visitors transition into the barbering career field, up-sells his service with relevant product packages, and gives his clients strategies to make the chore of getting a haircut a great experience. He uses the power of the internet to reach more people than the corner barber ever could, and monetizes his activity at every turn.

Ron Hayes, owner of GoodPhellaz Barber Shop Incorporated in Atlanta, Ga

I first met Ron in 2004 (his then 5th year of business) near Atlanta, GA.  Back then, he had two barbershops (one main and one experimental location in Sandy Springs, GA) with just a handfull of barbers. Today, his army of 83 barbers produce an estimated $1 MILLION in annual sales for his stores! Hes gotten honorable mention from a number of area media outlets, and his shop walls are covered with the pics of his celebrity clients. All this grew from one small shop! The only thing greater than this mans business sense is his humility! If you are ever in the area, stop in for a shape-up! Call them at (404) 557-7557 or visit them at 2870 Peachtree Rd Nw #806.
Lesson: Great enterprises dont grow without constant care, attention, and PERSISTENCE. When I met Ron, he was in the process of reopening one of his previously unsuccessful locations. Had he just given up on it, he wouldnt be grossing a Milli today!

Sipp The Surgeon

If ever there was an entrepreneur to learn from, its Sipp the Surgeon.  Sipp has been featured in Against the Grain numerous times, for good reason. He is a world class barber, the creator of the Art of Hair War barbering convention, and creates custom barber chairs using material (croc and ostrich skins)  that look like they belong on a pair of Mauri gators. These custom chairs sell for more than $10,000 a piece.

When asked about his celebrity barber aspirations, he states ‘Celebrity clients are the people that come and see you every week. Some people talk about how they want to be a celebrity barber, but they have to treat people they cut every day like celebrities’”  Sipp is the originator of The Art of Hair War barber event, and is a pioneer of the custom barber chair industry.

Lesson: Diversify! Create new streams of income from within your industry. Sipp went from giving $15 haircuts to selling $10,000 barber chairs and hosting events that net him thousands more than that!

No matter what industry you are in, you can create a brand new niche. If you are a restaurant server, set up a website and become the local expert on dining out, or become a “dining consultant”. If you are a sales representative in a retail store, become a personal stylist and enlist some clients that you could meet with outside of the store for fashion consultations. Be creative, diversify, and be persistent!
Lessons and legends are all around you, if you just look for them. Network, and surround yourself with others that embody the millionaire mindset, and you too can realize the same results!

Whether you are serving others, or being serviced, keep an eye out. You could be in the presence of greatness!

FIND BLACK BARBER SHOPS NEAR YOU!

Between 1961 and 1973, six African independence leaders were assassinated by their ex-colonial rulers, including Patrice Lumumba of Congo. Very few Black men and women in America have heard of Lumumba, but his might have been one of the most significant political assassinations of the 20th century.

Patrice Émery Lumumba (2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961) was the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in June 1960. Only twelve weeks later, Lumumba’s government was overthrown and destroyed in a United Nations backed coup (sound familiar? See this, this, and this).

Lumumba’s Rise to Power

Lumumba was born in Onalua in the Katakokombe region of the Kasai province of the Belgian Congo, a member of the Tetela ethnic group. Raised in a Catholic family, he was educated at a Protestant primary school, a Catholic missionary school, and finally the government post office training school, passing the one-year course with Honors. He subsequently worked in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) and Stanleyville (now Kisangani) as a postal clerk and as a travelling beer salesman.

After traveling on a three-week study tour in Belgium, he was arrested in 1955 on charges of embezzlement of post office funds. His two-year sentence was commuted to twelve months, and he was released in July 1956.

When Lumumba was released, he became increasingly more active in politics. In October 1958 he founded the Congolese National Movement (Mouvement National Congolais; MNC), the first nationwide Congolese political party. In December he represented his party at Kwame Nkrumah’s first All-African People’s Conference in Accra, Ghana, where he met nationalists from across the African continent and was made a member of the permanent organization set up by the conference. The conference further solidified his Pan-Africanist beliefs.

In 1959 the Belgian government released the Congo from its colonial rule, and held elections in December 1959. The nationalists regarded this program as a scheme to install puppets before independence and announced a boycott of the elections. The Belgian authorities responded with repression. On October 30, two months before the election, there was a clash in Stanleyville that resulted in 30 deaths. Lumumba was imprisoned on a charge of inciting to riot.

The MNC decided to shift tactics, entered the elections, and won a sweeping victory in Stanleyville (90 percent of the votes). In January 1960 the Belgian government convened a Round Table Conference in Brussels of all Congolese parties to discuss political change, but the MNC refused to participate without Lumumba. Lumumba was thereupon released from prison and flown to Brussels. The conference agreed on a date for independence, June 30, with national elections in May. Although there was a multiplicity of parties, the MNC came out far ahead in the elections, and Lumumba emerged as the leading nationalist politician of the Congo. Maneuvers to prevent his assumption of authority failed, and he was asked to form the first government, which he succeeded in doing on June 23, 1960.

When the Belgian King came to speak to the nation and hand over independence, Lumumba was not allowed to speak. He sat quietly until the Belgian king started talking that shit about the brilliance of King Leopold – the same man that chopped off hands and bled the country dry for its rubber. Lumumba interrupted the kings speech with his own speech – called Blood and Fire.

Men and women of the Congo,

Victorious independence fighters,

I salute you in the name of the Congolese Government.

I ask all of you, my friends, who tirelessly fought in our ranks, to mark this June 30, 1960, as an illustrious date that will be ever engraved in your hearts, a date whose meaning you will proudly explain to your children, so that they in turn might relate to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren the glorious history of our struggle for freedom.

Although this independence of the Congo is being proclaimed today by agreement with Belgium, an amicable country, with which we are on equal terms, no Congolese will ever forget that independence was won in struggle, a persevering and inspired struggle carried on from day to day, a struggle, in which we were undaunted by privation or suffering and stinted neither strength nor blood.

It was filled with tears, fire and blood. We are deeply proud of our struggle, because it was just and noble and indispensable in putting an end to the humiliating bondage forced upon us.

That was our lot for the eighty years of colonial rule and our wounds are too fresh and much too painful to be forgotten.

We have experienced forced labour in exchange for pay that did not allow us to satisfy our hunger, to clothe ourselves, to have decent lodgings or to bring up our children as dearly loved ones.

Morning, noon and night we were subjected to jeers, insults and blows because we were “Negroes”. Who will ever forget that the black was addressed as “tu”, not because he was a friend, but because the polite “vous” was reserved for the white man?

We have seen our lands seized in the name of ostensibly just laws, which gave recognition only to the right of might.

We have not forgotten that the law was never the same for the white and the black, that it was lenient to the ones, and cruel and inhuman to the others.

We have experienced the atrocious sufferings, being persecuted for political convictions and religious beliefs, and exiled from our native land: our lot was worse than death itself.

We have not forgotten that in the cities the mansions were for the whites and the tumbledown huts for the blacks; that a black was not admitted to the cinemas, restaurants and shops set aside for “Europeans”; that a black travelled in the holds, under the feet of the whites in their luxury cabins.

Who will ever forget the shootings which killed so many of our brothers, or the cells into which were mercilessly thrown those who no longer wished to submit to the regime of injustice, oppression and exploitation used by the colonialists as a tool of their domination?

All that, my brothers, brought us untold suffering.

But we, who were elected by the votes of your representatives, representatives of the people, to guide our native land, we, who have suffered in body and soul from the colonial oppression, we tell you that henceforth all that is finished with.

The Republic of the Congo has been proclaimed and our beloved country’s future is now in the hands of its own people.

Brothers, let us commence together a new struggle, a sublime struggle that will lead our country to peace, prosperity and greatness.

Together we shall establish social justice and ensure for every man a fair remuneration for his labour.

We shall show the world what the black man can do when working in liberty, and we shall make the Congo the pride of Africa.

We shall see to it that the lands of our native country truly benefit its children.

We shall revise all the old laws and make them into new ones that will be just and noble.

We shall stop the persecution of free thought. We shall see to it that all citizens enjoy to the fullest extent the basic freedoms provided for by the Declaration of Human Rights.

We shall eradicate all discrimination, whatever its origin, and we shall ensure for everyone a station in life befitting his human dignity and worthy of his labour and his loyalty to the country.

We shall institute in the country a peace resting not on guns and bayonets but on concord and goodwill.

And in all this, my dear compatriots, we can rely not only on our own enormous forces and immense wealth, but also on the assistance of the numerous foreign states, whose co-operation we shall accept when it is not aimed at imposing upon us an alien policy, but is given in a spirit of friendship.

Even Belgium, which has finally learned the lesson of history and need no longer try to oppose our independence, is prepared to give us its aid and friendship; for that end an agreement has just been signed between our two equal and independent countries. I am sure that this co-operation will benefit both countries. For our part, we shall, while remaining vigilant, try to observe the engagements we have freely made.

Thus, both in the internal and the external spheres, the new Congo being created by my government will be rich, free and prosperous. But to attain our goal without delay, I ask all of you, legislators and citizens of the Congo, to give us all the help you can.

I ask you all to sink your tribal quarrels: they weaken us and may cause us to be despised abroad.

I ask you all not to shrink from any sacrifice for the sake of ensuring the success of our grand undertaking.

Finally, I ask you unconditionally to respect the life and property of fellow-citizens and foreigners who have settled in our country; if the conduct of these foreigners leaves much to be desired, our Justice will promptly expel them from the territory of the republic; if, on the contrary, their conduct is good, they must be left in peace, for they, too, are working for our country’s prosperity.

The Congo’s independence is a decisive step towards the liberation of the whole African continent.

Our government, a government of national and popular unity, will serve its country.

I call on all Congolese citizens, men, women and children, to set themselves resolutely to the task of creating a national economy and ensuring our economic independence.

Eternal glory to the fighters for national liberation!

Long live independence and African unity!

Long live the independent and sovereign Congo!

That speech sealed his death warrant. Only three months later,  after being arrested, beaten and tortured, Patrice Lumumba, was shot and killed by firing squad – an act that was committed with the assistance of the governments of Belgium and the United States. The Belgian government officially apologized in 2002, but the United States refuses to this day to admit wrong doing.

Belgian troops later confessed to disposing of Lumumba’s body by chopping it into pieces and melting his body down with acid. Each of the men kept one of his teeth as souvenirs.

In Congo, Lumumba’s assassination was a black eye on the country’s already dismal history. It was a stumbling block to the ideals of national unity, economic independence and pan-African solidarity that Lumumba had championed, as well as a shattering blow to the hopes of millions of Congolese for freedom and prosperity.

The assassination took place after white powers had divided  the country against itself  into four separate governments: the central government in Kinshasa (then Léopoldville); a rival central government by Lumumba’s followers in Kisangani (then Stanleyville); and the secessionist regimes in the mineral-rich provinces of Katanga and South Kasai. Since Lumumba’s physical elimination had removed what the west saw as the major threat to their interests in the Congo, internationally-led efforts were undertaken to restore the authority of the moderate and pro-western regime in Kinshasa over the entire country. These resulted in ending the Lumumbist regime in Kisangani in August 1961, the secession of South Kasai in September 1962, and the Katanga secession in January 1963.

Classic  divide-and-conquer.

After Lumumba was dead and gone, Joseph Mobuto, the US strategic ally in Africa for 30 years, was installed as ruler. Congo was too rich, too big, and too important for the west to lose control as they would have had Lumumba lived. During his three-decade rule, Mobutu would run his country, bursting with natural resources, into the depths of poverty. It took a civil war to oust him, and Congo has seen little peace since. Today, at least five countries are fighting in Congo and Lumumba’s son, an opposition leader, spent several weeks in a Kinshasa jail cell on politically motivated charges.

Why the Congo Catches Hell

The answer here is simple;

If countries were measured by their minwral wealth, the Congo would be the richest country on Earth. Instead it is one of the poorest.

A stable and self- respecting Congolese government would demand fair prices for its natural resources, and would bring its people up from poverty and destitution – likely making the Congo an African superpower. Instead, the United States and NATO work hard to keep the country in a state of confusion, division, and warfare so they cna keep carting away resources without giving any material benefit to to people of the land. Any high minded negro that attempts to mess with the Wests money and exploitation – be he Lumumba, Nkunda, or anybody else, meets the wrath of the rich white alliance called the United Nations.

Proof of US Involvement

 CIA agent John Stockwell gave this interview to Democracy Now! nearly 5 years after the assassination.

JOHN STOCKWELL: The CIA had developed a program to assassinate Lumumba, under Devlin’s encouragement and management. The program they developed, the operation, didn’t work. They didn’t follow through on it. It was to give poison to Lumumba. And they couldn’t find a setting in which to get the poison to him successfully in a way that it wouldn’t appear to be a CIA operation. I mean, you couldn’t invite him to a cocktail party and give him a drink and have him die a short time later, obviously. And so, they gave up on it. They got cold feet. And instead, they handled it by the chief of station talking to Mobutu about the threat that Lumumba posed, and Mobutu going out and killing Lumumba, having his men kill Lumumba.

                         INTERVIEWER: What about the CIA’s relationship with Mobutu? Were they paying him money?

JOHN STOCKWELL: Yes, indeed. I was there in 1968 when the chief of station told the story about having been, the day before that day, having gone to make payment to Mobutu of cash — $25,000 — and Mobutu saying, “Keep the money. I don’t need it.” And by then, of course, Mobutu’s European bank account was so huge that $25,000 was nothing to him.

The decision to kill Lumumba came straight from the top: President Eisenthow himself. Forty years after the murder of the Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba, evidence has emerged in Washington that President Dwight Eisenhower directly ordered the CIA to “eliminate” him. The evidence comes in a previously unpublished 1975 interview with the minute-taker at an August 1960 White House meeting of Eisenhower and his national security advisers on the Congo crisis. The minute-taker, Robert Johnson, said in the interview that he vividly recalled the president turning to Allen Dulles, director of the CIA, “in the full hearing of all those in attendance, and saying something to the effect that Lumumba should be eliminated”.

Mr Johnson recalled: “There was stunned silence for about 15 seconds and the meeting continued.”

What Lumumba Means Today

We can learn three things from the assassination of Patrice Lumumba:

1. Division is a more powerful weapon than any bomb or bullet. For the Black men and women in America engaged in in-fighting, finger pointing, and pointless debate, you are playing right into the hands of theose who would seek to prevent the rise of another Lumumba or the rise of any form of Black self-determination.

2. No movement can succeed if it is based on ethnic exclusivity. Lumumba’s party won sweeping victory because the principles it stood for were not based on a particular ethnicity or ideology, but on the universal principles of self-determination, sovereignty, and nationalism. For those of us building our movements today, its important that you not construct your philosophy based on one exclusive ideology (Christianity, the Nation of Islam), on one tactical philosophy (militarism, economic sovereignty, spirituality), or the philosophies of one ethnic group (Blacks in America, Blacks in Brazil, Ethiopian Blacks, Sub-Saharan African Blacks)

3. The CIA and FBI tactics that worked then, work now. To formulate a strategy against these tactics in the future, look to the past.

#consciousculturefriday is a weekly series that highlights Black conscious media, spirituality, food, and fashion.

A 5-Step Body Cleansing Plan for 2012

This post will teach you both how to cleanse your body for the new year, and how to keep your body clean with new dietary practices. I’m not a vegan or vegetarian (I eat mercury-free fish), but this article takes the best practices from nutritional science combined with the most recent holistic knowledge from teachers like Dr. Llaila Afrika, Dr. Phil Valentine, and Djehuty Maat-Ra to bring you a sensible plan for radiant health.

This is a 3 Page post, so make sure you move to the next page when youre done here!

What is “Detoxing”

Detoxing is the process of removing toxins from the body. This process is almost always accompanied by a period of withdrawal as the body releases its dependence on the substances that it has gotten used to.

Toxins come from the faucet water, sodas, milk, and other artificial drinks, and from the flesh of dead animals, chemically treated and genetically modified crops, and processed sugars and starches.

Why Detoxing is VITAL

Your diet determines how well or how poorly your body functions. You may have a body full of energy, vitality, and capable of superior performance, or you can have a body full of cancer-causing agents, poisonous sediments, and energy draining waste products. You choose which one you want with every sip and bite you take. What you put on your plate is the difference between a long life of radiant health, or a premature and painful death.

My man, Denmark Vesey said it first, and said it best:

1) Nutrition always helps to make you healthier.

2) Pharmaceuticals sometimes help.  More often than not, hurt.

Illness is most often the result of nutritional deficiency.

Plantation doctors are trained to treat illness as a drug deficiency.

Why?  There is profit in making people sick and selling them drugs to stay alive.  Hustle Hard.

(check him out at denmarkvesey.blogspot.com)
The legendary Dr. Afrika wrote

In today’s medicine, you have to keep going back to the doctors for more procedures. It is not that your doctor doesn’t care about you. He is also concerned about making money… lots of money. According to the ADA, doctors make an average of $209,000 per year and surgeons make $500,000 up.

Now, its true that your body already has defense mechanisms and detox systems in place: that’s what your liver, kidneys, and skin do. But these organs are only evolved enough to deal with our original diet of simple proteins, carbohydrates, and fibers. Not this

Or this

Or this

Eating that crap floods your system with so many toxins so quickly that your system is overwhelmed and you are put to sleep (hence, the itis).

Again, detoxing your body is vital and mandatory if you wish to live a long, healthy life of radiant consciousness!

Stokely Carmichael, who later became known as Kwame Ture was the Father of the Black Power movement, and one of the most important Black men of the 20th Century.

Born on June 29, 1941, in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Stokely Carmichael was the son of Adolphus (a carpenter) and Mabel (also known as Mae Charles) Carmichael. 

Like many families, his immigrated to the United States 1952 in search of better opportunities for the young Stokely, who possessed a remarkable mind. He transitioned from thech elite Tranquility Government Primary School in Trinidad to the premier science magnet school in the United States, the Bronx High School of Science – known for its 7 Nobel Prize winning physicists, 6 Pulitzer Prize winners, and long list of scientists, CEO’s, and celebrities who have changed the world. Upon graduating, Stokely was offered several full scholarships to white Universities, but turned them down for enrollment at the historically Black Howard University.

It was there that his career as an activist began.

Bloody Lowndes and The March Against Fear

By the ripe old age of 19, Stokely had already become a nationally recognized activist at a time when the civil rights movement was in high gear.

Carmichael and other SNCC members left college campus and travelled to Lowndes County, Alabama, known as “Bloody Lowndes” for its violence against blacks. Although 80 percent of the population was black, there were no black elected officials. Economically dependent on white plantation owners, many were afraid to join civil rights efforts. And none had been allowed to register to vote until early 1965. Carmichael went door to door, day after day to educate and register the otherwise uninformed eligible Black voters, and helped to increase the number of registered black voters from 70 to 2,600 — 300 more than the number of registered white voters.

On June 6, 1966, James Meredith started a solitary March Against Fear for 220 miles from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, to protest against racism. Soon after starting his march he was shot by a sniper. When Carmicael heard the news, he decided to join other civil rights leaders (including martin Luther King Jr,  Floyd McKissick, the Human Rights Medical Committee and other civil rights organizations ) to continue the march on Meredith’s behalf.

Note: The NAACP didn’t want anything to do with the march.

 Ordinary people both black and white came from the South and all parts of the country to participate. The marchers slept on the ground outside or in large tents, and were fed mainly by local communities.

On the early evening of Thursday, June 16, 1966, when the marchers arrived in  Canton, Mississippi, the marchers began to set up their tents for the night on the grounds of the all black Stone Street Negro Elementary School. Permission to use the school grounds had been granted by the black school board but was later revoked by white city officials.

When law enforcement demanded they vacate the premises, Carmichael took to the stage and thundered “We don’t want anybody to move! The time for running has come to an end. You tell them white folk in Mississippi that all the scared niggers are dead. You tell them they shot on the rabbits, they going to deal with some men!”

The National Guard  and State Troopers unleashed hell.

One of the protesters there recalled; “ It was like a scene of hell with the smoke rising and people vomiting and crawling around and choking and crying. And then there was a kind of an eerie silence and the one thing you could hear over and over again was this thug, thug, thug sound. And what it was was Mississippi troopers kicking people on the ground or hitting them with their rifle butts.”

By June 26, when the march entered its end point at Jackson,Mississippi it was estimated to be 15,000 strong. Its passage was warmly welcomed in the black neighborhoods and by some whites. However, many whites jeered and threatened the marchers; others simply stayed indoors. The March Against Fear was the last great march of the southern civil rights movement. The call for power would now be raised in communities across the nation, challenging Americans to look at the realities of their democracy.

The Doctrine of Black Power

We have to march to a position where we can see a strength and unity amongst each other. And the last thing we have to do is to build a power base so strong in this country that we’ll bring them to their knees every time they mess with us. – Stokely Carmichael

According to Carmichael, black power represented political unity through robust self-determination: “It is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations.” Black organizations like the NAACP had been founded and controlled by white Jews, and the Civil Rights movement had been hijacked by white liberals.

“It scared people because they did not understand, they could not subtract violence from power. They could only see power as a violent instrument accompanying it” said one activist present when the term was first introduced.”

Carmichael had first introduced the doctrine of Black Power during an address at UC Berkeley on October of 1966. In the speech, he is quoted as saying

Now we are now engaged in a psychological struggle in this country, and that is whether or not black people will have the right to use the words they want to use without white people giving their sanction to it; and that we maintain, whether they like it or not, we gonna use the word “Black Power” — and let them address themselves to that; but that we are not going to wait for white people to sanction Black Power. We’re tired waiting; every time black people move in this country, they’re forced to defend their position before they move. It’s time that the people who are supposed to be defending their position do that. That’s white people. They ought to start defending themselves as to why they have oppressed and exploited us.

Exodus to Africa

Like all of the most important figures of the Black Power era, Stokley was subject to intense government surveillance and subversive efforts. FBI documents (shown below) obtained through the Freedom of Information Act describe Carmichael as a dangerous subversive and an “enemy of the state”.

In 1969, under pressure from the FBI, Stokely left the United States and lived the rest off his life out i Africa under the name of Kwame Ture. There, he became a member of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah‘s socialist All-African People’s Revolutionary Party that would lead the military struggle against settler colonialism, Zionism, neo-colonialism, imperialism and all other forms of capitalist oppression and exploitation. He remained a party leader from 1970 until his death on November 15, 1998

The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party is still alive and well, and aims to form a United Socialist African government. The party believes Africa must first be united before they can accelerate economically and technologically. According to the party, such maximum development would guarantee a balanced use of the material resources and human potential of Africa along the lines of an integrated economy, and within corresponding divisions of production, eliminating all unnecessary forms of competition, economic hostility and replication and resulting in true freedom.

Kwame’s Last Freedom Ride

Kwame Ture remained an activist until the last day of his life. Shortly before his death, he was  awarded the Qathafi International Human Rights Prize, and was invited by Muammar Al Qathafi  himself to take hospice in Tripoli and participate in the Pan-African Conference there.

This flight was to be Kwame’s Last Freedom Ride, a revolutionary act to break, once and for all, the immoral and illegal United States government’s travel bans, sanctions, embargoes and blockades against the peoples and Governments of Côte d’Ivoire,  the Congo, Cuba, Iran,  Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria; blockades that had been in place for decades, and some of which are still in place today.

Kwame knew that he would die in route or shortly upon his arrival in Tripoli. But consistent with how he lived his life, was determined to die in Africa and in service to his people. The members of his family, including his mother Mabel Carmichael, and the cadre of the A-APRP who enabled and empowered Kwame to make this Last Freedom Ride, were prepared to die with him.

He made his transition to the ancestors, on November 15, 1998, in Conakry, Guinea. His revolutionary voice and Pan-Africanist vision is still reverberating in every corner of Africa, the African Diaspora and the World. It reverberates despite the unrelenting, massive and word-wide conspiracy to silence, co-opt, contain and crush Kwame’s voice and vision, and his legacy of revolutionary struggle and sacrifice for Black Power.

One of Kwame Toure’s final interviews:

Books and DVDs

• What can we do to honor Kwame Toure’s memory?

• How important was Kwame Toure to contributing to our doctrine of a United Black America today?

• How many Black men and women do you know that have no idea who he was? Buy one of the books or DVDs above, or share this article with them!

It should first be said that these Twelve Jewels are not just the foundation of Islam, they are the foundation of any legitimate civilization. With these jewels, we Black men and women in America must first civilize ourselves so that we may then civilize the rest of the world – leading Africa and all her lost children into a new global renaissance of Original Values .

The word ISLAM here does not denote the actual religion of Islam, but is an acronym for I, Self-Lord and Master, or I am self-sovereign. It is a belief that the Black man and woman who is conscious of themselves, their place (their cipher), and their power in the universe is sovereign.

Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding

Knowledge is the foundation of all things, and the attainment of knowledge should be the life-long mission of every Black man and woman on the planet. There are some who will say that “there is too much emphasis on information and not enough emphasis on action in the Conscious movement”.

• Any idiot can run out onto a battlefield screaming and full of passion.But without sufficient knowledge of the enemy, their capabilities, and your strengths and weaknesses, you will be shot to pieces.
•  Any moron can open an investment account. Without sufficient knowledge of the forces behind the markets you may find yourself investing in a sinking ship.
• Any fool can have a child. Without knowing the best practices for teaching and nurturing your child, you may doom that child to a life all too familiar to many Black youth.

The more you read and learn, the less your adversary will know.

It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles;

If you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one;

If you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.

-The Art of War

Understanding is clarity, born of knowledge and wisdom. For instance, you may tell your teenage child not to text and drive. Your child, in her foolishness, does so anyway and crashes. It is now clear to her why she should not text and drive. She both knows and understands the dangers.

Likewise, Black men and women know on a subtle level that something is “wrong” with their place in the world, and that we need to do “something”, but it is only after knowledge of this matrix is received and the perpetrators of our condition are exposed does it become clear specifically what must be done.

Wisdom is “a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgements and actions in keeping with this understanding”. One can only become wise wih the accumulation of knowledge, and the experience born out of the constant practical application of that knowledge.

From wisdom’s power, Authority is born.

Freedom , Justice , and Equality

Freedom is not unrestrained lawlessness – its not a license to kill, rape, or do harm. All Earthly beings are bound by certain universal laws – the law of change, the law that all life is sacred and should be preserved in balance, that our earth should not be defiled, and that no man should exercise unrighteous dominance over another to name a few. Specifically, as Black men and women, we struggle to be free of manipulation, domination, and attacks (see this and this).

Justice and equality, or ma’at, was first conceptualized by the Black men and women of Kemet 4,000 years ago. According to the laws of ma’at, balance embraced all aspects of existence, including the basic equilibrium of the universe, the relationship between constituent parts, the cycle of the seasons, heavenly movements, religious observations and fair dealings, honesty and truthfulness in social interactions.

Equality is based on the concept that all men and women are sovereign. Therefore, one should not unjustly manipulate, deny, or dominate another. Original people respected this rule, and it led to their downfall - they treated white invaders as equals and offered them these jewels. Had they more knowledge of their true intentions, they would have invested more time in civilizing them rather than allowing them to enter our dominions and unleash hell amongst us. Now, our world has been unbalanced by the oppression of the white values system, and only when the sovereignty of all peoples are respected can we bring balance back to the world.

Food, Clothing , and Shelter

You must feed the people if you want to lead the people – Asad

Food, shelter, and clothing are the requirements for human survival, for if any of these are inadequately met then nothing else matters. Indeed, if these requirements are not met, the human body simply cannot continue to function.Literally, you must feed the people if you wish to legitimately lead the people. When the people are starving, heads roll. Just ask Marie Antoinette. Any government that seeks to benevolently rule its people should ensure that food, clothing, and shelter are provided for ALL of their people, not just those who can afford it.

Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The amount and type of clothing worn depends on functional considerations (such as a need for warmth or protection from the elements) and social considerations. Physically, clothes can regulate temperature and provide a hygienic barrier, keeping toxins away from the body and limiting the transmission of germs. Clothing also provides protection from harmful UV radiation. In many societies, norms about clothing reflect standards of modesty, religion, gender, and social status. E way we dress as a people speak more about our character than any words could. For instance, a woman who says “I’m not a slut” while wearing very provocative clothing can hardly be believed. A man who dresses like a child, with sagging jeans and airbrushed shirts, can hardly be taken seriously.

Shelter is protection from threats. These threats can be natural ( cold, heat, precipitation ), political ( genocide, oppressive regimes, warfare ), or social (unrest, ethnic violence, discrimination). No country that permits homelessness, genocide, warfare, or discrimination can be considered civilized.

Love, Peace, and Happiness

The ultimate manifestations of a mature civilization. A people full of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding who are fed and sheltered by a benevolent government that protects the freedom, justice, and equality of the people will have evolved beyond hatred, war, and depression.

Love is the will to extend ones self for the purpose of nurturing ones spiritual growth, or the spiritual growth of another. We have written about what love means here.

Peace is the only feasible end result of our struggle.

Happiness is true enlightenment, freedom from the constraints of physical, emotional and mental illness.

Indeed, these final three jewels are the manifestations of heaven on Earth. Our struggle will then our be at an end, and our next stage of evolution and enlightenment will begin.

Peace!

#consciousculturefriday is a weekly series here at United Black America that highlights Black conscious media, spirituality, fashion, and the Black men and women behind it all.

This weeks feature is the just released Black Power Mixtape, a documentary that covers the birth and death of the “Black Power” movement, and the physical and psychological bloodbath that ensued throughout.  

The first thing that hit me about this documentary was the sound… Questlove (of the Roots) , Eryka Badu, Talib Kweli, Alicia Keys, and John Forte all add their commentary and musically tell the story of the frustrations, hopes, heartbreaks, and dreams deferred of the Black Power generation in ways that words never could. You can get a feel for the DVD with this preview:

The project is a compilation of news coverage from Sweden that looked at the Black Power movement through the foreign eyes of a Sweedish camera crew. The mixtape is told in nine chapters that span from 1967 into 1975 and introduces viewers to many of the Black revolutionaries  that shaped the world we live in today.

Little known stories that you have probably never heard like Joan Little’s, Shirley Chisholm’s, George Jackson’s, and Angela Davis’ comes to mind. The documentary also gave a fresh voice to big names like Stokely Carmichael, Elridge Cleaver, Martin Luther King Jr, and Huey P. Newton.

The spirit of the time was captured bluntly, particularly the tumult that followed 1968, and the destruction of the movement. In 1968 Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, Martin Luther King was assassinated, Mark Clark, Fred Hampton, and Medgar Evers were all assassinated, and Nixon was elected.

Following the full scale crushing of the Black Power movement, Stokley Charmichael, Elridge Cleaver, and hundreds of activists all went into exile or became political prisoners. 300 urban rebellions, 60,000 arrests, and 250 deaths at the hands of law enforcement brought America to its knees. And on the backdrop of the war in Vietnam, the United States saw its nadir.

1975 was the year that all the efforts of the government’s war on Black America were successful. The introduction of cocaine and heroin destroyed the revolutionary spirit of the Black Power movement, and neighborhoods were reduced to dangerous slums. The Black Panther Party had been destroyed, and Farrakhan made his bid for power over the corrupt Nation of Islam. Its here that the mixtape ends.

Click Here to Buy Now!

This is one of my new favorites, so I highly recommend you grab it on Amazon by clicking the cover above. Every DVD you buy on this site supports our efforts to build a Black economy, and it creates demand for projects like these. On top of that, you build your consciousness and knowledge of self.

Once you are done watching it, let the other readers know what your opinion of the project is. Some other questions to build on are:

• What is the legacy of the Black Power movement
• What were the goals of the Black Power movement
• Have those goals been achieved? Why or why not?
• How has your opinion changed about the Black Power era after watching the DVD?

Contribute to the conversation in the comments section below. Peace!