GARVEY LIVES!

MOSIAH LIVES!

The success of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and Afrikan Communities League (UNIA-ACL) wasn’t built solely on irrepresible character and legendry oratory of it’s leader Marcus Mosiah Garvey, monumental as these attributes were.  What put the organisation in a class of its own was its ability to make manifest its visionary pronouncements.  This was done by establishing institutions and resources to cater for the needs of the entire community.  This included auxilaries like The Universal African Legions, The Universal Black Cross Nurses, The Universal African Motor Corps, The Universal Negro Improvement Association Choirs, The Black Star Lines Redemption Corporation and juvenile sections, as well as groundbreaking initiatives like The Black Star Line Steamship Corporation, The Negro Factories Corporation, The Negro World and the African Orthodox Church. (1)  The late warrior scholar Amos Wilson summed up the overall impact of the Garvey movement as a yardstick for subsequent nationalists:

“In the organization of Marcus Garvey we see the advancement of a culture, not just a political ideology, but a full culture that concerned itself with the reconstruction of the family, the education of the children, the development of an economic system – ultimately with the development of a nation and the development of a people.” (2)

One the most effective and iconic auxiliaries was the  Universal Black Cross Nurses who were “ready to serve in battle against oppression as nurturers of the spirit and caretakers of the body… as a symbol of UNIA womanhood ready to serve on the fictive battlefield to reclaim Africa.” (3)

Formally incorporated by UNIA-ACL International Organizer Mama Henrietta Vinton Davis in 1921, the Black Cross Nurses were effectively the international health service of the race providing medical care and health education around the world.  They also “performed social welfare and organizational functions such as providing clothing for the needy, running soup kitchens and visiting the sick.” (4)

At a time when most medical institutions refused entry to Afrikan women, the Black Cross Nurses received careful instruction, in most cases by either a trained nurse or doctor.  At the end of courses that lasted from six months to a year, a graduation ceremony was held and diploma issued prior to the donning of either the all-white uniform worn in public events or the green and white uniform worn while at work. (5)

Clearly, given the poor health outcomes experienced by Afrikans globally from maternal mortality (https://www.mixcloud.com/AfrikaSpeaks/can-we-be-liberated-if-black-maternal-mortality-rates-are-so-high-130519/) to prostrate cancer (https://www.mixcloud.com/AfrikaSpeaks/do-we-take-prostate-cancer-seriously-enough-170619/), the Afrikan world could probably benefit from an equivalent of the Black Cross Nurses today.  Afrikan children are reported to have generally have poorer health outcomes, while the adults  have the highest level of low satisfaction with life in spite of being significantly less likely to smoke and account for a lower percentage of alcohol-related hospital admissions. (6)

One area that doesn’t receive enough attention, is the issue of sexual health.  “In the UK, people of black ethnicity experience a disproportionate burden of HiV and STI (Sexually Transmitted Infections). For example, despite making up 1.8% of the UK population, black African men and women account for almost one-third of  people accessing HIV care.” (7)

Another study by Wayal and colleagues describes:

“A lower self-reported “sexual competence” at sexual debut among black African  women than among white British women. Low sexual competence meant failure to mee at least one of four criteria: contraceptive protection, autonomy of decision, both partners equally willing, and that it happened at the right time. Any of these criteria, but especially those related to timing and consent, might reflect lower control over circumstances of sexual debut, which is often related to coercion. Experiences of coercion and violence by partners are consistently elated to women’s risk of STI, unplanned pregnancy, and other adverse sexual health outcomes in many settings.” (8)

There is also research that suggests that although “white women were more likely than women from any other ethnic group to report two or more new partners in the last year (In particular, women of black/mixed African and black/mixed Caribbean were more than 50% less likely to report multiple new partners in the last year compared with white women)…  black/mixed Caribbean women were approximately 60% more likely to report a last year STI diagnosis than white women. Following additional adjustment for various high-risk behaviours, the association between ethnicity and STI history became slightly stronger.” (9)

So although the ideology of white supremacy has historically projected all manner of sexual proclivities on to Afrikan people, (10) the research suggests, at least, that this is not the case.  One study concludes “a history of STI was reported more frequently by men and women of black/mixed Caribbean ethnicity, compared with white men and women. This was not explained by reported sexual behaviours.”  (11) It could be explained by white men and women have greater frequency of STI but simply not reporting it.

But the nature of engagement with health services should also be explored.  As noted above “black African men and women account for almost one-third of  people accessing HIV care.”  Yet mainstream sexual health campaigns often solely feature white or gay men, meaning those who may be at risk tend to believe they’re not and remain uninformed.

Sis. Rianna Raymond-Williams, a sexual health advisor for the NHS, has noted that when it comes to initiatives like the PrEP impact trial (PrEP – HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis,  is a medicine for HIV negative people, is taken before sex, so it is pre-exposure. Prophylaxis means to prevent infection – in this case HIV. It can reduce the risk of acquiring HIV when taken as instructed) the Afrikan community is overlooked:

“Working as a sexual health advisor for the NHS, I regularly see patients who take sexual risks, which increases their possibility of acquiring an infection. In line with positive health promotion and safer sex messaging, I agreed to be a part of Terrence Higgins Trust campaign to promote PrEP use and access to those who are at risk, particularly black women like me, who are often left out of the PrEP conversation.” (12)

Sis. Rianna concludes “we have a long way to go before black women are sufficiently represented in the fight to make PrEP more accessible.”  However, evidence shows that it is not just in the area of sexual health that the Afrikan community is poorly served (if at all) by the existing agencies.  This current state of affairs must beg a re-examination of the successful strategies used by the UNIA-ACL almost a century ago.

(1) Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka (2007) Garvey Lives!!! The Black Star of hope shines forever. The Whirlwind, Edition 5. P. 6-7.  Also see Constitution and By-Laws Of The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League August 1929 Of The World with Amendments of 1938.

(2) Amos Wilson (1999) Afrikan-Centered Consciousness Versus the New World Order: Garveyism in the Age of Globalism.  Afrokan World Infosystems. p. 74

(3) Natanya Duncan (2009) The ‘Efficient Womanhood’ Of The Universal Negro Improvement Association: 1919-1930.Unpublished Thesis. p. 138

(4) Keisha Blain (2018) Set The World On Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom.University of Pennsylvania Press 5. p. 29-30.

(5) Duncan. Op. Cit. p. 135

(6) Public Health England (2017) Public Health Outcomes Framework: Health Equity Report Focus on ethnicity. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/733093/PHOF_Health_Equity_Report.pdf. p. 9-10

(7) Rachel Margaret Coyle, Ada Rose Miltz, Fiona Clampe, Janey Sewell,Andrew N Phillips, Andrew Speakman, Jyoti Dhar, Lorraine Sherr, S Tariq Sadiq,Stephen Taylor, Daniel Rivens, Simon Collins, Jonathan Elford, Jane Anderson, Alison Rodger, On Behalf Of The AURAH Study Group (2018) Ethnicity and sexual risk in heterosexual people attending sexual health clinics in England: a cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire study. https://sti.bmj.com/content/sextrans/94/5/384.full.pdf

(8) Rachel Jewkes, Kristin Dunkle (2017) Drivers of ethnic disparities in sexual health in the UK.  https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2468-2667%2817%2930182-2

(9) Coyle, et al. Op. Cit.

(10) Angela Davis (1981) Women, Race & Class. The Women’s Press. p. 176

(11) Coyle, et al. Op. Cit.

(12) Rianna Raymond-Williams (24/06/19) We need to do a better job of including black women in conversations about HIV and PrEP. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/black-women-hiv-prep-sti-terrence-higgins-trust-a8972241.html

we ask the question:

Do we need to develop our own health services?

1) Did you know that the Black Cross Nurses were so widespread?

2) Do we really have the highest level of low satisfaction with life ?

3) Is sexual health something we take seriously enough?

4) Why does the research indicate that Afrikan women engage engage in fewer risk behaviours yet have a higher level of STIs?

Our Special Guest:

Sis. Rianna Raymond-Williams: is a sexual health advisor for the NHS.  She is also the founder and managing editor of Shine Aloud magazine, focusing on young people and sexual health as one of a range of ways she wants to engage young people in sexual health information, and also empower adults to have healthier conversations with young people about managing and maintaining their health.  Since its founding they have produced seven sexual health publications and one animation, accessed by over 40,000 young people; and worked with over 50 companies and organisations.  As an Erasmus+ coordinator, Sis. Rianna ahs worked with the Ubele social enterprise to evaluate their Untold Empowerment project that seeks to make links with Afrikans across Europe.