EMERGENCY PETITION: Help Evacuate US Citizens, Ghanaian Americans Et Al Back to the US

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

This is another outcome of the COVID19 plandemic:  Several African American citizens who were visiting Africa have been stranded as a result of quarantine, and shut downs, and have no way of returning home.  They have been trying to get assistance from the American embassies, but are finding little to no help whatsoever.  This is indeed tragic.  Please sign the petition.  They are in very compromised situations.  I'm sure when they went there - whether for business or pleasure, they did not anticipate being stranded and penniless there.  

STAY BLESSED

 

CALLING ALL AFRICANS! EMERGENCY PETITION FROM BROTHER NOVA FELDER PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
 

 

To:

EMERGENCY, CALLING ALL AFRICANS, CALLING ALL AFRICANS, CALLING ALL AFRICANS!

 

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY

 

TRUMP'S U.S. EMBASSY HAS BEEN TREATING AFRICANS FROM AMERICA WHO HAVE VISITED WEST AFRICA JUST AS YOU WOULD EXPECT BUT WE MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. 

 

Please visit the links  below and support the petition from Brother Nova Felder (Dr. Jack Felder's Son)  

Nova M. Felder (Nana Asare Asamani I) Nkusa Henne of the Royal State of Akwamu, Eastern Region, Ghana 🇬🇭 

“Private U.S. citizen inquiries should contact the Office of Overseas Citizens Services at 888-407-4747 or from overseas at 202-501-4444.”

 

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/07/23/stranded-in-ghana--two-new-yorkers-say-state-department-failing-to-bring-them-home

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/07/26/stuck-in-ghana-with-no-way-home--new-yorkers-plan-to-sue-us-government?cid=share_clip

https://parkchestertimes.com/afro-american-activists-call-on-government-to-rescue-800-stranded-citizens-in-ghana-threaten-legal-action

http://m.amsterdamnews.com/news/2020/jul/23/petition-us-citizens-ghanaian-americans-and-lawful/?page=2

Updated petition letter to the US Embassy Ghana and The State Department and any other concerned parties.

This is the Letter that I sent to the Embassy and State Department regarding our situation in Ghana, I am asking you all to fill out the details and please send to the government agencies, NGOs mentioned here and any others that may be able to help our current situation here in Ghana.  Please any help and ideas regarding our situation is encouraged.  

I also urge you to share on your social media platforms as well. 

I can be reached via email (nova.felder@gmail.com) for any assistance or media inquiries. I represent a group of a few hundred of us marooned here in Ghana from the states.  Many of our situations are dire. 

Thank you for your time, effort and consideration regarding our situation. 

To contact the Department of State: 

https://register.state.gov/contactus/completed

US Embassy in Ghana e-mail address: acsaccra@state.gov

To search for your congress person’s contact information: https://www.congress.gov/

To search for your senator’s contact information: https://www.senate.gov/

This link is to contact the White House:  https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Amnesty International: report@aiusa.org

UN Human Rights Council: 

InfoDesk@ohchr.org

Human Rights Watch:

wordenm@hrw.org

mailto:bogertc@hrw.org

The letter is below, please fill in your details and copy and paste the text as is to the various entities mentioned above.  Please forward to any other pertinent government agencies, politicians and or non-profits that may be able to advocate for us. 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------PETITION----------------------------------------------------------

__________________________________________________________________

[Insert Name Here First, Last]

 

_________________________________________________________________

[Insert Address  Here] 

To whom it may concern, 

Petition for U.S. Citizens, Ghanaian Americans and "Legal Permanent Residents" to be helped with evacuation back to the United States: 

There are numerous (potentially in the thousands) US Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents marooned here in Ghana.  Many of us planned and prepared for short stays for a few weeks and swift departure back to the United States. 

To

Most of us marooned here in Ghana have no income to speak of and are dealing with the financial pressures of life here as well as in the United States.  Many are facing evictions from their apartments and foreclosures on their homes back in the United States.  Some are facing being let go from their jobs.  It is impossible for us to get most financial benefits such as Unemployment from the U.S. because of current laws governing such programs and restrict you from participating because you are in a foreign locale.  All of us stranded here have financial obligations in both countries, a few of us are on the verge of being homeless as of now at home and abroad.  We can not afford further hotel fees and barely have enough money for our dietary needs.  There is also an air of being exploited financially through scams and other unsavory happenings because of our situation.  A few of us have experienced this. 

There are also those that have drained their finances and bank accounts paying bills in the states and financing themselves here in Ghana that do not have the requisite funds to even purchase a ticket to get back to the United States.  We need a solution for these Americans as well. 

Many of us are parents of young children and took short trips for business or leisure and have been caught in the international Covid-19 Pandemic border closures. Nonetheless we need to get back to our children. 

Then there are the elderly and the infirmed that have not had medical care and prescriptions refilled for months. Along with this there are others that need medical procedures that are not available here in Ghana.  

We are all exhausted and at our ends with dealing with this crisis. This does not mean that we are beaten nor are not willing to stand up for ourselves and our rights that are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and international law.  We all stand on our God given rights as human beings. 

Just recently (July 17th, 2020) a group of 50 Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents risked a trip via road from Ghana to Lomé, Togo.  Our group successfully petitioned the Ghana Foreign Ministry and the Togo Embassy in Ghana for entry into Togo to leave on a flight leaving from Togo’s capital Lomé to Newark-Liberty International (July 17th, 2020).  We won the permit for travel for those that were desperate to leave for the many reasons mentioned previously.  It is not the responsibility of the Ghana government nor the Togolese government to make a way back to the United States for Americans, they have a responsibility to their sovereigns just as the U.S. governments has to their sovereigns.  We are thankful and grateful for their assistance but no American should have to risk having to cross a dangerous & contentious border by road especially during this time of the “Corona Virus Pandemic” nor should they have to potentially travel on a 15-20 hour road trip that is very dangerous just to get a flight back to the United States.  

This is unacceptable by any standard.  The State Department and Consular Affairs guarantee American’s safety abroad.  We feel that this situation is putting many of us in harm’s way as people’s desperation  grows and options to get back to the United Statesbecome more stringent. 

We are demanding the United States State Department and U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana organize several flights a week until the majority of us get back to the United States in a safe and sound manner.  We are also demanding financial assistance to those that may need it, for a return flight or incidentals here on the ground.  Even if the flights are commercial options and not repatriation flights this would be sufficient.  The guiding principle of the State Department and it’s embassies around the world is to provide safety for Americans, this situation has already put many of us in an unsafe and dangerous position as stated previously.

We are simply demanding that the State Department, U.S. Embassy in Ghana and U.S. Consular Affairs live up to and carry out their mission of “Safety. Security. Service. Our highest priority is to protect the lives and interests of U.S. citizens overseas. We do this through routine and emergency services to Americans at our embassies and consulates around the world. We serve our fellow citizens during their most important moments – births, deaths, disasters, arrests, and medical emergencies. The Bureau of Consular Affairs formulates and implements policy relating to immigration and consular services and ensures responsive and efficient provision of consular services overseas.”  Note, that the most pertinent section “Our highest priority is to protect the lives and interests of U.S. citizens overseas” is not being carried out currently in regards to our situation at the moment. 

We the marooned U.S. Citizens, Legal Permanent Residents and loved ones believe that our situation is an emergency one and needs to be handled expeditiously and with care!  We also know with confidence that The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Ghana have the logistical know how and will to carry out this mission. 

Yours patriotically, 

_________________________________________________________

[Insert Name Here] 

and 

 

"The US Citizens, Permanent Residents and family & friends of those Americans Marooned in Ghana!"

 

 

 

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African Caribbean Business Council coHost African Heritage & Cultural Night with NBA

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

The second annual African and Caribbean Business Council Heritage Night event was held at Wells Fargo Arena, on March 29, 2017,  in conjunction with the NBA's 76ers and other local and international organizations.  Mounting on the success of the first event, which was held in 2016, the thrust is to expand interaction and business collaborations between the ACBC and the NBA and their 76ers Franchise.  

The Hon. Stanley L. Straughter hosted the ACBC/NBA Night of Heritage event at the Wells Fargo Arena

The event was held at the Wells Fargo Arena and started prior to the game between the 76ers and the Atlanta SeaHawks, in a small private meeting room adjacent to the stadium. 

Hosted by the Hon. Stanley Straughter, and Co-cordinated by Nick Toland, 76ers director of public affairs,  participants from Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Philadelphia City Government, parts of the Caribbean and African American participants were brought up to date on developments in different parts of Africa and the Caribbean subsequent to the 2016 election; as well as business opportunities and options in Philadelphia. 

Nick Toland, NBA/76ers Public Affairs Manager 

The African and Caribbean Business Council (ACBC) has organized the Ghana Chamber, the Mali Chamber, the Ivorian Chamber, works with the Haitian community, and also the Camarounian Chamber, as well as the Jamaican Trade Council of Greater Philadelphia. 

According to Straughter, "We were trying to organize the event in such a way that our entire collaborative effort, along with the African Diasporian effort in Philadelphia, is not only meaningful, but substantive in the fact that we can get things done. We can get to almost any country in Africa; we have also signed a MOU with the African Union, the African Diasporian Forum  that will give us access to many countries.  So we are making this happen for all our people and traveling with us and have them set up businesses and offices in Philadelphia."

The Hon. Jannie Blackwell,City Council Member & Chair of Mayor's Commission on Africa and the Caribbean in Philadelphia , enjoying the 76ers game after the meeting.

Ms. Natalie Jackson spoke about what Mayor Kenney is doing to enhance international business relations in Philadelphia, "We at the City of Philadelphia, not only under the leadership of Mayor Kenney, but Harold Epps, take the international population very seriously.  The thing is that people of color were not applying to some of the commerce profit programs.  If they were applying, they were not getting the grants.  Either it was the translation, they didn't know the information - so what we have done is develop a program that's targeted at immigrants. 

NATALIE JACKSON - THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMERCE DEPT.

It's a $50,000 grant, forgivable grant to either the instore or the business; we also have a storefront improvement grant, which is $15,000 with a 15% match - to improve the appearance of the storefront of the business. What we have done is hire a coach to go out to the business and look at their marketing, their business plans; look at their finances.  For as long as they apply for these programs they are awarded these grants - one of our first cases is on Woodland Ave., we have completely redone the storefront, we've spoke into marketing; and now she's had an increase in revenue, we're looking at next steps.  So I just want to let you know that we are taking this very seriously.  We want more people who look like us to get some of this money because it's green; and we want them to participate in the City of Philadelphia programs.  I as the director of Business Technical Assistance and Program Training, would be the person who has to run that program, and would be the person that, if you have any questions.  I thank you from the City of Philadelphia, and the Department of Commerce. "

She contented  "Dr. Azuka mentioned Camaroun, and Douala, Philadelphia's sister city. And this year, we're having an inbound delegation to Philadelphia with the Mayor of Douala and other business leaders. The director of commerce, Harold Epps, has agreed to a return visit to Ghana with Dr. Quartey - we're working out the mechanics and logistics of that.  I will keep everybody informed - say listen Stan, I want to go; so it's up to us.  On April 13 and 14, the incumbent vice president of Liberia will be here - we're trying to get him arranged to go to City Council meeting, so I'll keep you posted.  We will also a little business round table with him as well, about who we are and what we're doing.  We're asking for $150,000 to match our African Caribbean resource center that we're putting in; so that's pending and I keep talking to them.  They know that we're interested, but giving us a letter of support that Dr. Azuka's taken we can't say anything bad about him." 

Rebekar Marler of Mastermind Coaching Solutions, is engaged in an initiative in Ghana, Liberia, and other places, is serving as one of the co-sponsors of the ACBC/NBA Heritage Event.   According to Marlowe, "We were asked to go to some large financial training firms in the area in the fall.  We fell in love with the clients, had a great experience, and as an outgrowth of that we're been working with them in leadership coaching and consulting.   

Rebekar Marler of Mastermind Coaching Solutions 

She continued, "What's different about us in terms of executive coaching - but people believe that no matter where you go people need more in their lives than work.  The research is showing what people are looking for, even though jobs are so hard to come by,  people are looking for a place where they can make meaning.  Where they actually feel invested, and feel like more of their needs are met - it's not just about the money.  It's not just the carrot at the end of the stick.  And what's interesting is how millennials are creating this push in that direction. So this is the first time in history we have four different generations in the workplace at the same time; and it's creating an opportunity to really help people see what it means to work together in teams - to actually work with each other.  It's a people-first philosophy.  And it's great to have coaching - but how do you actually coach and create a culture in a way so that everyone, people on the front line, middle management, and the streets get the benefit.  The reason our name is coaching solutions, not just coaching individuals - helping people create cultures where everyone feels like they matter.  The way that we meet our needs is not so hard to come by - it's how we connect to other people and how we feel supported and valued in our work."

Dr. Quartey of Ghana, and founding Chairman of the ACBC, and a very dynamic contributing member, stated:  "We have been doing trade missions to Gabon, Nigeria, and other parts of Africa and the Caribbean.  We are hoping that this year we will get the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, to Philadelphia.  I sent a delegation to Ghana last week; they met with him, and he's agreed to come. So I have to schedule the time that he will be coming," he stated enthusiastically

Dr. Quartey of Ghana Announcing a Presidential Visit from Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo to Philadelphia and to Lincoln University, Alma Mater of Kwame Nkrumah, in the fall

"We are now collaborating with Lincoln University.  I don't want to give you details of what we are doing, but he's coming to Philly and he will be at Lincoln University.  You know that our founder of Ghana went to Lincoln University, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. So just keep your ears open, and we'll let you know when the President is coming.  He will be the only President from Africa to come to Philadelphia on a governmental mission.   One time I had President JJ Rawlings was here; but he came here as my invitee, so the government wasn't that much involved, but the State did a lot for him - they had a big dinner for JJ Rawlings.  I had a problem with the mayor.  The mayor said he didn't invite him - so he didn't receive him. I'm not a politician, I'm always in the background - plus politicians sometimes, I don't know how they think.  I just want to make sure that you know that the President of Ghana is coming to Philadelphia."

Keynote speaker, Ambassador Dr. Robin Renee Sanders spoke eloquently on the current development in Africa and the need for sustainability. Highlighting the necessity for the development of small and medium sized business enterprises, and home grown businesses in Africa, she discussed the potential for economic empowerment government support across the continent was forthcoming. Having just completed a comprehensive book entitled "THE RISE OF AFRICA'S SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZE ENTERPRISES: Spurring Development & Growing the Middle Class."  PhD in Information Systems and Communication - and a Masters in Political Science

Ambassador Dr. Robin Renee Sanders 

Sanders has served as head of the National Security Council at the White House; served under both the Bush and Clinton Administrations, and has served with every president over the past twenty years.  She has served at the Wharton College, served as the US Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo and Nigeria; guest speaker on African issues on CNN and the news media.  

As she addressed the audience, she started by saying: "Notice that I say "Africa" not "African" - which was strategic in my concept - because I wanted to include everybody that has a connection with the Continent - whether you are here, live on the Continent, in the Caribbean - wherever you are, you are part of the Greater Africa Community."

She further stated that until recently, most of the conversations she's had about Africa's progress has been bad news, but very little in the way of the good news ever reaches the public.  The focus on SME's or income generating projects.  

Stan Straughter with ACBCVice-Ptesident Kayode Malomo following the workshop at the 76ers Game

NOTE:  SME stands for Small and Medium sized Enterprises 

She noted that people generally  ignored how much money that was spent in the post independent period on the governments,  did not have any overall impact on job creation and cutting the poverty level.  In the post independent period of 40 years, from 1960 to 2000, $235 trillion dollars has been spent on development.

Starting in 2000 there was a pivot in development in Africa driven by Generation Xers and followed by Millennials - they saw a developmental void, difficult to find jobs, to obtain credit.  The development paradigm took place they decided to design their own work force and quality of life for themselves and their families. 

The message is that we - Africans, African Americans, Caribbeans and those of African heritage is that we have to define our own lives and our own way forward.

They created new applications and new tools to address some of the age old development issues.   She calls the pivot the FUTUREMORROW - looking at the future and tomorrow - combining those two and looking to develop a different paradigm.  "We don't want to work for somebody necessarily, but to find a way to change our quality of life." Business aiding development - business mindset helping on the development side, where they make money, but continue coming back to the community.  

Population of the Continent is approximately 1.1 billion people.  How do you help people get out of poverty and stay out of poverty.  The definition of Middle Class in Africa is a lot different than in the Western world, where their criteria is as little as $4.00 per day income - which, if anything happens to impact that meagre amount, the family is forced back into the level of poverty.  

Among the major issues covered in her talk were the concepts of Africans developing their own homegrown businesses - and making sure that they are sustainable - so they can employ other Africans to expand the programs.

In questioning her about some of the concerns of events taking place in Africa, the subject of the presence came up, but was not covered adequately.  Additionally the concept of teaching Africans technology by sending them to get their training in Japan, which was significantly more technologically advanced, and more involved with teaching quality control - as a way of beginning to develop their own rich  resources was also broached.

According to the Ambassador, "While social media has had the greatest impacts on development of SMEs;  the technological impact was not sufficient, at this juncture to sustain the economy."  However these are issues that can be addressed and resolved in the future.  

Ambassador Sanders book, THE RISE OF AFRICA'S SMALL AND MEDIU SIZED ENTERPRISES: Spurring Development & Growing the Middle Class," is a comprehensive overview with recommendations and analyses on the future of Africa as it continues to expand and grow into the 21st Century.  

She consistently cites and applauds the efforts being made in Rwanda, where they now have MADE IN RWANDA FRIDAYS, featuring home grown and designed products for sale.  She also cites South Africa where the small businesses now host annual expose, called the MAKHELEWANE FESTIVAL  where private homes are turned into business stalls for the day, and people purchases from their neighbors.   Somalia, likewise, has created an Entrepreneur of the Year Award, to encourage individual business development.  

She states:  "Bottom line, what I am calling for is an Africa SME Strategic Plan (SSP)  where all organizations, done countries, foundations, and private sector entities have a universally agreed-upon approach to assist Africa's SME's.

Among the many other recommendations, the cited these as paramount:

1) Longer Term mentoring programs (2 - 3 years;

2) Increased creative credit mechanisms such as warehouse financing, lower and tiered loan and insurance programs;

3) Fixed partnerships with US Businesses in similar sectors (I would also ad Japanese businesses )

4) Targeted regional and foreign export opportunities

5)  Regionally based industry clusters/SEZs (a big center per REC area)

6. Increased assistance to move more SMEs from the informal to the formal sector

7) Increased capacity building and training

8) Comprehensive technological and vocational training programs started at the school level, as well as specialized training programs for adults who missed the opportunity of attending a school. 

Following the meeting, everyone headed for a private box to enjoy the 76ers and some Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches.

Philadelphia 76er vs. The Atlanta Sea Hawks  

The third annual ACBC / NBA event will  be held in 2018.  It would be a great idea to calendar it in so that you are included in the event.  In the interim, please attend the Mayor's commission on African and Caribbean the second Wednesday of each month at City Hall - 6 PM to 8 PM, and become involved in the many activities that are ongoing in working with the African, Caribbean and African American communities of Philadelphia.

Now that you know 

What Are You Going to Do About It?

Stay Blessed & 

ECLECTICALLY BLACK

Gloria 

The Great Marcus Garvey - Stop Honoring Him and Start Imitating Him!!!

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

Ever since I can remember - as a kid in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - there has always been some reverence, reference and respect for the Great Marcus Garvey - whether it was in my home, the homes of my friends, or in school - especially during "Negro History Week" (which later became Black History Month).  

I remember looking at all the clippings my mom, Ruby Love, my aunts and my Maternal Grandparents had of him - some actual photos of him - and being fascinated by this guy in the ornate hat with all the feathers in the big car.  Not that he was particularly attractive;but there was something magnetic about him with that look of confident superiority on his face. There were pictures of him in huge parades with lots of Black people marching with him or following him.   We had a book at home called the "Afro/Asian Encyclopedia" that that this photo of Garvey (below) in it.  From about the fourth grade, all the way through high school, we did school  plays about him, and the guys had to learn his speeches - of course we didn't know much about his Jamaican accent - in fact, I didn't realize that he had one until I was at Lincoln University,  during my Junior year of college.

The First Picture I remember seeing of Garvey as a kid in Oklahoma City, OK

But Garvey fascinated me because he had so many Black people who were ready to move back to Africa - he had so many Black people who loved him.  People always spoke of him in awe - and some with regret that the move never actually happened.  

However,  I never heard about the "betrayal," and what had happened to destroy his movement until we really began to study him in earnest at Douglass Sr. High School.  I was a sophomore then, and it was a sad, cautionary tale that - to some extent - is still played out throughout the Diaspora - where we still are prone to divide and conquer along the lines of skin color and hair texture (and in Africa, along tribal lines).  

You see, according to our instructors, Garvey had an extreme distrust of lighter skinned Black people, because they had a tendency to consider themselves superior to darker skinned Black people.  He trusted those who were his skin tone or darker - which should have worked.  However, these same individuals had a tendency to see themselves as inferior to light skinned Blacks, and had absolutely no experience in dealing with whites in anything other than a subservient manner.  For that reason, they were afraid to criticize or challenge anything these folks said or did in a forthright, open manner.  Especially with whites, where they still had the subconscious fear of reprisal.  So when they were entrusted to purchase the ships for the Black Star Line (BSL), they not only did not do their due diligence in inspecting the ships for seaworthiness, they were so snowed in by the smiles and deference paid to them by these shady dealers, there were several other legalities they neglected to take care of.  

Fold in the conspiracy to entrap Garvey in any way they could; plus the fact that the US and Goodyear Rubber and Tire (a Liberian based British owned company) was afraid that if knowledgeable Black people from the US repatriated to  Africa, it would spell the end of their hegemony over their rubber and cocoa holdings in Africa.  So they conspired with the American government to stop him.  

When it became apparent that these ships were little more than "Leakin' Lenas", painted up to look brand new,  and were no more sea worthy than a paper sail boat, the concept of charging Garvey with conspiracy to commit mail fraud by selling stock to purchase and equip the ships was cooked up.  

When Garvey was arrested, millions of Black Americans came to his rescue.  There was no way the US government could have held a trial with so many of his followers coming forth to protect him.  So, the Brits and the US conspired to have the trial held in Great Britain - claiming that because he was Jamaican, he was still a British subject.  However, if the mail fraud was against the US government, the trial by right should have been held in the US.  Somehow that little factor did not deter the two conspiratorial governments from extraditing him to England anyway. 

The other factor was that the US government knew that few, if any of Garvey's American followers could afford to travel back and forth between the US and Great Britain to either  serve as witnesses, or to provide financial support for his legal representation.  They knew if they delayed the trial long enough, it would dissipate the enthusiasm.  {By the way, I know that some of my friends in the ministry will not like this, but this was the time the rise in Black gospel music and certain types of  uber-religious, negro ministers  began to take place to redirect our attention from Garvey. SMH}

The other - and perhaps most egregious - tragedy during the Garvey era, was the shameless manner in which the meanstream media pitted Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois against each other.  Garvey was  a 101% unadulterated Black man; DuBois, on the other hand was proud of his so-called French Huguenot, mixed background.  What the white media did was to court DuBois as an "expert" on the Back to Africa movement posited by Garvey, and then gave them the front page of their newspapers to "duke" it out.  The invectives these two great men leveled against each other, to the amusement of the racist white readers, was something that our educators at Douglass Sr. High School taught us to never fall prey to.  

W.E.B. DuBOIS

One of the things I will always remember from Mr. Buford and Mr. Harris was this:  "The minute the white newspapers spend the time and the money vilifying a Black man, that Black man (they said Negro back then folks,but we're Black now) must be doing something right - and the white press is trying to poison our minds against him.  The more bad things they say about him, you can bet he is the one closest to the truth, and they are frightened that if we know it, we will follow him.  No matter what they say, he's the one you're supposed to back up.  The more nice things they have to say about the other one, that's the one you cannot and must not trust."  Never forgot that as long as I've lived - and it's almost always turned out to be the total truth.    

You would have thought DuBois, in all his education, could have figured this out - but noooooo!  He just kept on pontificating.  Then when Garvey was extradited, they dropped his behind like a hot potato. He had served his purpose.  He himself came under scrutiny later for certain leanings towards communism - and later - in the 1960s found himself repatriating to Ghana, the very place for which President Kwame Nkrumah named Black Star Square, after Garvey.  DuBois  made a very late, lame and humble apology to Black Americans - waaaaay too late to do many of us any good.  (I still love and respect DuBois - IJS - we all seem to be prone in one way or the other to whites when they shine us on, SMH).  

Can you imagine how great it would have been if these three men could have synthesized their considerable intelligence, talents, and knowhow - Africa and African Americans would be their own sovereign powers right now - oh well....!!! 

I've heard several people who are contemporary historians say some negative things against the Great Booker T Washington, without realizing that they have been fed a line of guff.  Whites are so afraid that Black folks will follow either Garvey, Washington or both, that they have done a great deal to sully his reputation.  Most forget that Garvey was not only an admirer of Washington's, but learned a great deal from his efforts - from founding Tuskeegee Institute, to developing self-help and self-development protocols; to co-founding 5,000 all Black schools throughout the US by leveraging his friendship with Julius Rosenwald - entrepreneur of the Sears Roebuck company (co-founder of Sears Roebuck was Black, folks).  

BOOKER TALIAFERRO WASHINGTON 

So where do you think we got this concept of calling him an Uncle Tom?  His speech "Separate But Equal" was a classic  strategic speech that many so-called modern contemporaries have distorted and contorted to be used against him; but that is the very speech that inspired Garvey, and caused him to come to America to work with Washington.  He wanted to establish the same program in the US and Jamaica that Washington had espoused.  He was not saying that he wanted integration, or segregation - but that Black people should be rising their own boats instead of trying to climb aboard the same ships that threw them overboard in the first place.  

In reading the autobiography of sister/Soror Ida B. Wells Barnett, which was written during the lifetimes of these three great men, showed the bravery and spirit of Washington, who was the driving force behind the progress of so many African Americans right under the nose of "Jim Crow" repressive and racist laws.  

The Great Journalist/Acitivist/Sister/Soror IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT

My Senior Thesis at Lincoln University was a comparison between these three great men. And they were definitely great Black men from which we can actually forge a synthesis from which to forge our way forward.  Add to them the great Carter G. Woodson - who knew and understood the absolute necessity for knowing our history, loving ourselves, maintaining our creativity and talent, and developing our own economic power and source;  George Washington Carver - the great scientist/inventor, who likewise loved Black people, and constantly and continuously used his imagination, scientific knowhow, and creativity to continually develop thousands of products from the simplest to the most complex - including my favorite, PEANUT BUTTER - to enhance the world; Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. who passed more legislation for Black people in Congress - and whose record has yet to be broken; and our most recent ancestor: DR. SEBI- who defied big Pharma and has come up with cures in real time to so many ailments that he became a threat to their industry and had to flee the country in order to continue healing people.  

I just had to use this quote from Booker T. Washington 

- it's as true 

today as it was 100 years ago.  SMH

As we approach Garvey's Birthday of AUGUST 17, we should begin developing the means by which we not only honor him but emulate him - truly teach what he did by teaching each other, our children and ourselves how to do it.  Tired of the accolades - if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then we need to each become imitators of Marcus Garvey.  There are surely curriculum masters in the realm of Black education, who can take the Philosophies and Opinions of Marcus Garvey (the unexpurgated version) and turn it into a text book, work book, training manual from which we can all begin to develop our own paradigm shift.  Garvey didn't have a cell phone, or the movie theatre, and very limited access to the telephone - but he motivated and moved millions of Black people to come together and form businesses, banks, schools, factories, communities, hospitals, and so much more -- WHAT'S OUR EXCUSE - and please don't give me that tired old lie that Black folks can't trust each other or don't work together - because I've seen us in action for something less worthy and we make it happen.

I am a firm believer in the fact that if we did it before, we can do it again, and this time 1000 times better.  We have nothing to lose but the chains around our brains.  UP YOU MIGHT RACE!!!

Stay Blessed & 

ECLECTICALLY BLACK 

Gloria 

Wednesday, August 17, 2016 

5:00PM-7:00PM

Dr. Molefi Kete Asante - 

"A Memorial in Honor of Marcus Garvey"

Dr. Asante is Professor and Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Temple University.  He is also President and Senior Fellow of the MKA Institute.

Come join us and celebrate the legacy of Marcus Garvey!

Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies

5535 Germantown Avenue

Philadelphia, PA 19144

www.MKAInstitute.com

BELOW ARE SOME POSTS ON GARVEY THAT ARE ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL - AND I WANT TO THANK MY FACEBOOK FRIENDS FOR SHARING THEM:  

MARCUS GARVEY WAS THE FOUNDER OF 

 Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL)

“Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World”: The Principles of the Universal Negro Improvement Association

After fighting World War I, ostensibly to defend democracy and the right of self-determination, thousands of African-American soldiers returned home to face intensified discrimination, segregation, and racial violence. Drawing on this frustration, Marcus Garvey attracted thousands of disillusioned black working-class and lower middle-class followers to his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). The UNIA, committed to notions of racial purity and separatism, insisted that salvation for African Americans meant building an autonomous, black-led nation in Africa. The Black Star Line, an all-black shipping company chartered by the UNIA, was the movement’s boldest and most important project, and many African Americans bought shares of stock in the company. A 1920 Black Star Line business meeting in Harlem’s Liberty Hall brought together 25,000 UNIA delegates from around the world, and produced an important statement of principles, the “Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World.”

Preamble

Be It Resolved, That the Negro people of the world, through their chosen representatives in convention assembled in Liberty Hall, in the City of New York and United States of America, from August 1 to August 31, in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty, protest against the wrongs and injustices they are suffering at the hands of their white brethren, and state what they deem their fair and just rights, as well as the treatment they propose to demand of all men in the future.

We complain:

1. That nowhere in the world, with few exceptions, are black men accorded equal treatment with white men, although in the same situation and circumstances, but, on the contrary, are discriminated against and denied the common rights due to human beings for no other reason than their race and color. 

We are not willingly accepted as guests in the public hotels and inns of the world for no other reason than our race and color.

2. In certain parts of the United States of America our race is denied the right of public trial accorded to other races when accused of crime, but are lynched and burned by mobs, and such brutal and inhuman treatment is even practiced upon our women.

3. That European nations have parcelled out among them and taken possession of nearly all of the continent of Africa, and the natives are compelled to surrender their lands to aliens and are treated in most instances like slaves.

4. In the southern portion of the United States of America, although citizens under the Federal Constitution, and in some States almost equal to the whites in population and are qualified land owners and taxpayers, we are, nevertheless, denied all voice in the making and administration of the laws and are taxed without representation by the State governments, and at the same time compelled to do military service in defense of the country.

5. On the public conveyances and common carriers in the southern portion of the United States we are jim-crowed and compelled to accept separate and inferior accommodations and made to pay the same fare charged for first-class accommodations, and our families are often humiliated and insulted by drunken white men who habitually pass through the jim-crow cars going to the smoking car.

6. The physicians of our race are denied the right to attend their patients while in the public hospitals of the cities and States where they reside in certain parts of the United States.

Our children are forced to attend inferior separate schools for shorter terms than white children, and the public school funds are unequally divided between the white and colored schools.

7. We are discriminated against and denied an equal chance to earn wages for the support of our families, and in many instances are refused admission into labor unions and nearly everywhere are paid smaller wages than white men.

8. In the Civil Service and departmental offices we are everywhere discriminated against and made to feel that to be a black man in Europe, America and the West Indies is equivalent to being an outcast and a leper among the races of men, no matter what the character attainments of the black men may be.

9. In the British and other West Indian islands and colonies Negroes are secretly and cunningly discriminated against and denied those fuller rights of government to which white citizens are appointed, nominated and elected.

10. That our people in those parts are forced to work for lower wages than the average standard of white men and are kept in conditions repugnant to good civilized tastes and customs.

11. That the many acts of injustices against members of our race before the courts of law in the respective islands and colonies are of such nature as to create disgust and disrespect for the white man’s sense of justice.

12. Against all such inhuman, unchristian and uncivilized treatment we here and now emphatically protest, and invoke the condemnation of all mankind.

In order to encourage our race all over the world and to stimulate it to overcome the handicaps and difficulties surrounding it, and to push forward to a higher and grander destiny, we demand and insist on the following

Declaration of Rights:
1. Be it known to all men that whereas all men are created equal and entitled to the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and because of this we, the duly elected representatives of the Negro peoples of the world, invoking the aid of the just and Almighty God, do declare all men, women and children of our blood throughout the world free denizens, and do claim them as free citizens of Africa, the Motherland of all Negroes.

2. That we believe in the supreme authority of our race in all things racial; that all things are created and given to man as a common possession; that there should be an equitable distribution and apportionment of all such things, and in consideration of the fact that as a race we are now deprived of those things that are morally and legally ours, we believed it right that all such things should be acquired and held by whatsoever means possible.

3. That we believe the Negro, like any other race, should be governed by the ethics of civilization, and therefore should not be deprived of any of those rights or privileges common to other human beings.

4. We declare that Negroes, wheresoever they form a community among themselves should be given the right to elect their own representatives to represent them in Legislatures, courts of law, or such institutions as may exercise control over that particular community.

5. We assert that the Negro is entitled to even-handed justice before all courts of law and equity in whatever country he may be found, and when this is denied him on account of his race or color such denial is an insult to the race as a whole and should be resented by the entire body of Negroes.

6. We declare it unfair and prejudicial to the rights of Negroes in communities where they exist in considerable numbers to be tried by a judge and jury composed entirely of an alien race, but in all such cases members of our race are entitled to representation on the jury.

7. We believe that any law or practice that tends to deprive any African of his land or the privileges of free citizenship within his country is unjust and immoral, and no native should respect any such law or practice.

8. We declare taxation without representation unjust and tyran[n]ous, and there should be no obligation on the part of the Negro to obey the levy of a tax by any law-making body from which he is excluded and denied representation on account of his race and color.

9. We believe that any law especially directed against the Negro to his detriment and singling him out because of his race or color is unfair and immoral, and should not be respected.

10. We believe all men entitled to common human respect and that our race should in no way tolerate any insults that may be interpreted to mean disrespect to our race or color.

11. We deprecate the use of the term “nigger” as applied to Negroes, and demand that the word “Negro” be written with a capital “N.” (WE CAN AMEND THAT TO READ "BLACK" WITH A CAPITAL "B")

12. We believe that the Negro should adopt every means to protect himself against barbarous practices inflicted upon him because of color.

13. We believe in the freedom of Africa for the Negro people of the world, and by the principle of Europe for the Europeans and Asia for the Asiatics, we also demand Africa for the Africans at home and abroad.

14. We believe in the inherent right of the Negro to possess himself of Africa and that his possession of same shall not be regarded as an infringement of any claim or purchase made by any race or nation.

15. We strongly condemn the cupidity of those nations of the world who, by open aggression or secret schemes, have seized the territories and inexhaustible natural wealth of Africa, and we place on record our most solemn determination to reclaim the treasures and possession of the vast continent of our forefathers.

16. We believe all men should live in peace one with the other, but when races and nations provoke the ire of other races and nations by attempting to infringe upon their rights[,] war becomes inevitable, and the attempt in any way to free one’s self or protect one’s rights or heritage becomes justifiable.

17. Whereas the lynching, by burning, hanging or any other means, of human beings is a barbarous practice and a shame and disgrace to civilization, we therefore declare any country guilty of such atrocities outside the pale of civilization.

18. We protest against the atrocious crime of whipping, flogging and overworking of the native tribes of Africa and Negroes everywhere. These are methods that should be abolished and all means should be taken to prevent a continuance of such brutal practices.

19. We protest against the atrocious practice of shaving the heads of Africans, especially of African women or individuals of Negro blood, when placed in prison as a punishment for crime by an alien race.

10. We protest against segregated districts, separate public conveyances, industrial discrimination, lynchings and limitations of political privileges of any Negro citizen in any part of the world on account of race, color or creed, and will exert our full influence and power against all such.

21. We protest against any punishment inflicted upon a Negro with severity, as against lighter punishment inflicted upon another of an alien race for like offense, as an act of prejudice and injustice, and should be resented by the entire race.

22. We protest against the system of education in any country where Negroes are denied the same privileges and advantages as other races.

23. We declare it inhuman and unfair to boycott Negroes from industries and labor in any part of the world.

24. We believe in the doctrine of the freedom of the press, and we therefore emphatically protest against the suppression of Negro newspapers and periodicals in various parts of the world, and call upon Negroes everywhere to employ all available means to prevent such suppression.

25. We further demand free speech universally for all men.

26. We hereby protest against the publication of scandalous and inflammatory articles by an alien press tending to create racial strife and the exhibition of picture films showing the Negro as a cannibal.

27. We believe in the self-determination of all peoples.

28. We declare for the freedom of religious worship.

29. With the help of Almighty God we declare ourselves the sworn protectors of the honor and virtue of our women and children, and pledge our lives for their protection and defense everywhere and under all circumstances from wrongs and outrages.

30. We demand the right of an unlimited and unprejudiced education for ourselves and our posterity forever[.]

31. We declare that the teaching in any school by alien teachers to our boys and girls, that the alien race is superior to the Negro race, is an insult to the Negro people of the world.

32. Where Negroes form a part of the citizenry of any country, and pass the civil service examination of such country, we declare them entitled to the same consideration as other citizens as to appointments in such civil service.

33. We vigorously protest against the increasingly unfair and unjust treatment accorded Negro travelers on land and sea by the agents and employee of railroad and steamship companies, and insist that for equal fare we receive equal privileges with travelers of other races.

34. We declare it unjust for any country, State or nation to enact laws tending to hinder and obstruct the free immigration of Negroes on account of their race and color.

35. That the right of the Negro to travel unmolested throughout the world be not abridged by any person or persons, and all Negroes are called upon to give aid to a fellow Negro when thus molested.

36. We declare that all Negroes are entitled to the same right to travel over the world as other men. 

37. We hereby demand that the governments of the world recognize our leader and his representatives chosen by the race to look after the welfare of our people under such governments.

38. We demand complete control of our social institutions without interference by any alien race or races.

39. That the colors, Red, Black and Green, be the colors of the Negro race.

40. Resolved, That the anthem “Ethiopia, Thou Land of Our Fathers etc.,” shall be the anthem of the Negro race. . . .

41. We believe that any limited liberty which deprives one of the complete rights and prerogatives of full citizenship is but a modified form of slavery.

42. We declare it an injustice to our people and a serious Impediment to the health of the race to deny to competent licensed Negro physicians the right to practice in the public hospitals of the communities in which they reside, for no other reason than their race and color.

43. We call upon the various government[s] of the world to accept and acknowledge Negro representatives who shall be sent to the said governments to represent the general welfare of the Negro peoples of the world.

44. We deplore and protest against the practice of confining juvenile prisoners in prisons with adults, and we recommend that such youthful prisoners be taught gainful trades under human[e] supervision.

45. Be it further resolved, That we as a race of people declare the League of Nations null and void as far as the Negro is concerned, in that it seeks to deprive Negroes of their liberty.

46. We demand of all men to do unto us as we would do unto them, in the name of justice; and we cheerfully accord to all men all the rights we claim herein for ourselves.

47. We declare that no Negro shall engage himself in battle for an alien race without first obtaining the consent of the leader of the Negro people of the world, except in a matter of national self-defense.

48. We protest against the practice of drafting Negroes and sending them to war with alien forces without proper training, and demand in all cases that Negro soldiers be given the same training as the aliens.

49. We demand that instructions given Negro children in schools include the subject of “Negro History,” to their benefit.

50. We demand a free and unfettered commercial intercourse with all the Negro people of the world.

51. We declare for the absolute freedom of the seas for all peoples.

52. We demand that our duly accredited representatives be given proper recognition in all leagues, conferences, conventions or courts of international arbitration wherever human rights are discussed.

53. We proclaim the 31st day of August of each year to be an international holiday to be observed by all Negroes.

54. We want all men to know that we shall maintain and contend for the freedom and equality of every man, woman and child of our race, with our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

These rights we believe to be justly ours and proper for the protection of the Negro race at large, and because of this belief we, on behalf of the four hundred million Negroes of the world, do pledge herein the sacred blood of the race in defense, and we hereby subscribe our names as a guarantee of the truthfulness and faithfulness hereof, in the presence of Almighty God, on this 13th day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty.

Source: UNIA Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World, New York, August 13, 1920. Reprinted in Robert Hill, ed., The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Papers, vol. 2 (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1983), 571–580.

See Also:Robert Bagnall on "The Madness of Marcus Garvey"
"The Collapse of the Only Thing in the Garvey Movement Which Was Original or Promising": Du Bois on Garvey
"The Black Star Line": Singing a Song of Garveyism
"If You Believe the Negro Has a Soul": "Back to Africa" with Marcus Garvey

POSTED BY :   Flenoy Withers III

 THE FOLLOWING WAS POSTED ON FACEBOOK, AND CAN BE FOUND IN WIKIPEDIA 

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

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. was born August 17, 1887. He was an African-American Black Nationalist leader, who was a proponent of the "Back to Africa" movement in the United States.

Early Life

Garvey was the youngest of 11 children from Saint Ann's Bay, Jamaica. He left school at the age of 14 to serve as a printer's apprentice. A few years later, he took a job at a printing company in Kingston, where in 1907 he led a printers' strike for higher wages. Garvey then traveled to South America and Central America. In 1912, he went to England, where he became interested in African history and culture. He returned to Jamaica in 1914 and shortly thereafter founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and the African Communities League. In 1916 he moved to the United States and settled in New York City. There he incorporated the UNIA and started a weekly newspaper, the Negro World.

His Work

A persuasive orator and author, Garvey urged American Blacks to be proud of their race and preached their return to their ancestral homeland, Africa. To this end, he founded the Black Star Line in 1919 to provide steamship transportation, and the Negro Factories Corporation to encourage black economic independence. Marcus Garvey attracted thousands of supporters and claimed two million members for the UNIA. He suffered a series of economic disasters, however, and in 1922 he was arrested for mail fraud. Garvey served as his own defense attorney at his trial, was convicted, and went to prison in 1925.

His Trial

When the trial ended on 23 June 1923, Garvey had been sentenced to five years in prison. Garvey blamed Jewish jurors and a Jewish federal judge, Julian Mack, for his conviction. He felt they had been biased because of their political objections to his meeting with the acting imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan the year before. In 1928, Garvey told a journalist: "When they wanted to get me they had a Jewish judge try me, and a Jewish prosecutor. I would have been freed but two Jews on the jury held out against me ten hours and succeeded in convicting me, whereupon the Jewish judge gave me the maximum penalty."

In 1928, Garvey travelled to Geneva to present the Petition of the Negro Race. This petition outlined the worldwide abuse of Africans to the League of Nations. In September 1929, he founded the People's Political Party (PPP), Jamaica's first modern political party, which focused on workers' rights, education, and aid to the poor. Also in 1929, Garvey was elected councilor for the Allman Town Division of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC). However, he lost his seat because of having to serve a prison sentence for contempt of court. But, in 1930, Garvey was re-elected, unopposed, along with two other PPP candidates.

In April 1931, Garvey launched the Edelweiss Amusement Company. He set the company up to help artists earn their livelihood from their craft. Several Jamaican entertainers — Kidd Harold, Ernest Cupidon, Bim & Bam, and Ranny Williams — went on to become popular after receiving initial exposure that the company gave them. In 1935, Garvey left Jamaica for London. He lived and worked in London until his death in 1940. During these last five years, Garvey remained active and in touch with events in war-torn Ethiopia (then known as Abyssinia) and in the West Indies. In 1937, he wrote the poem Ras Nasibu Of Ogaden. in honor of Ethiopian Army Commander (Ras) Nasibu Emmanual. In 1938, he gave evidence before the West Indian Royal Commission on conditions there. Also in 1938 he set up the School of African Philosophy in Toronto to train UNIA leaders. He continued to work on the magazine The Black Man.

His sentence was commuted two years later, but he was immediately deported to Jamaica. Unable to resurrect the UNIA or regain his influence, Marcus Garvey moved to London, where he died in 1940.

His Influence

Schools, colleges, highways, and buildings in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the United States have been named in his honor. The UNIA red, black, and green flag has been adopted as the Black Liberation Flag. Since 1980, Garvey's bust has been housed in the Organization of American States' Hall of Heroes in Washington, D.C.

Malcolm X's parents, Earl and Louise Little, met at a UNIA convention in Montreal. Earl was the president of the UNIA division in Omaha, Nebraska and sold the Negro World newspaper, for which Louise covered UNIA activities.
Kwame Nkrumah named the national shipping line of Ghana the Black Star Line in honor of Garvey and the UNIA. Nkrumah also named the national soccer team the Black Stars as well. The black star at the center of Ghana's flag is also inspired by the Black Star.

During a trip to Jamaica, Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta Scott King visited the shrine of Marcus Garvey on 20 June 1965 and laid a wreath. In a speech he told the audience that Garvey "was the first man of color to lead and develop a mass movement. He was the first man on a mass scale and level to give millions of Negroes a sense of dignity and destiny. And make the Negro feel he was somebody."

Dr. King was a posthumous recipient of the first Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights on 10 December 1968 issued by the Jamaican Government and presented to King's widow. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Marcus Garvey on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

Source: Wikipedia

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NOTE:  ONE OF THE WONDERFUL THINGS THAT GARVEY DID WAS HELP BLACK TRADESMEN START AND RUN THEIR OWN BLACK OWNED FACTORIES AND MANUFACTURING PLANTS.  

THE CITATION BELOW IS FROM WIKIPEDIA - JUST HOW HE WAS ABLE TO DO SO WAS NOT DETAILED IN THE CITATION; HOWEVER, IT MAY BE SOMETHING THAT OUR SO-CALLED MODERN DAY TECHIES CAN DISCERN AND BEGIN TO DEVELOP IN REAL TIME - THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF FACTORIES STANDING IDLE ON THE RUST BELT OF THE EAST COAST - WHERE THE JOBS MANUFACTURING HAS BEEN SHIPPED OVER SEAS BY GREEDY BUSINESS MEN - TIME TO BRING THEM BACK HOME.  THIS WAS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA HAD AS PART OF HIS AGENDA - TIME TO GET THE JOB DONE.

Negro Factories Corporation was one of the ventures of Marcus Garvey's UNIA-ACL, a black nationalist and pan-Africanist organization.^[1] The Negro Factories Corporation sought to, "build and operate factories in the big industrial centers of the United States, Central America, the West Indies and Africa to manufacture every marketable commodity."^[2] A chain of grocery stores, a restaurant, a steam laundry, a tailor and dressmaking shop, a millinery store and a publishing house, were also started.^[2]

BOOK:

1.  "Black Moses: The Story of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement ... - E. David Cronon - Google Books". Books.google.com. 1960-03-15. Retrieved 2013-11-19.

NOW THAT YOU KNOW, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Stay Blessed &

ECLECTICALLY BLACK - Gloria 

eclecticallyblacknews@gmail.com