GARVEY LIVES!!! GARVEY LIVES!!! GARVEY LIVES!!!
MOSIAH LIVES!!! MOSIAH LIVES!!! MOSIAH LIVES!!!
One of the reasons the UNIA-ACL was so successful in its heyday was that it was family oriented. Married couples joined the orgnaisation, or as single people they met and married after joining, as was famously the case with Earl Little and Louise Langdon – the parents of Omowale Malcolm X. (1) Consequently,, the children then would be raised and grow-up in this context. Members like Mama Ruth Smith and Mama Mariamne Samad have attested to this, while legendary activist Queen Mother Moore joined as a teenager indicating that it was suitable environment for this age group. Indeed, Mama Ruth Smith, former assistant to UNIA-ACL International Madame DeMena, speaking to author Jeannette Smith-Irvin in 1987, recalled:
“All my social activities were in the UNIA – my life my ideas revolved around the organization.” (2)
She added that she herself married within the organisation, had to leave when the marriage broke down and then re-joined after extricating herself from that matriomonial bind. (3) Linking this to the essential principles of Afrikan Fundamentalism, familyhood is obviously a primal expression of ‘Race First’ as well as a necessary element of ‘Self Reliance’, which itself is a foundational aspect of Nationhood. All of which is sustained by Afrikan Spiritual Orthodoxy. (4)
From this, it is clear that one of the fundamental ways the liberation movement has been attacked has been via the Afrikan family. As well as direct attacks on organisations, an arguably more effective and insidious method has been through neoliberal public policies that have been deployed in the USA and UK for the last half century or more that has seen declines in marriage rates, family cohesion. (5)
In a searing 1979 essay entitled War on African Familyhood, Iva E Carruthers exposed the full extent of the European imperative and our inherent resistance in response to it when she asserts that “The struggle for African independence throughout the world is inextricably connected to the battle for definition and control of black familyhood.” She goes on to say:
“To be sure, prior to Aryan intrusion, African familyhood was vital to the world view characterised by collective identity, i.e. the community and oneness with nature, i.e. the Creator and the universe. It is precisely for that reason that the Aryan has always ditected special attention to destroying African familyhood, because from family flows life, community, institutions and civilization. It is our ability to survive all these assaults that attests to the correctness of our traditional way. Our recent history reveals an amazing capacity to adapt our families, but we must not let that blind us to the necessity to control our family.” (6)
That control must now take into account increasing scarcity of resources, and political instability, to a significant extent driven by emboldened so-called “right-wing populism” as well as factors like the 4th Industrial Revolution where manufactured social crises always seem to be on the horizon. (7) As such, our capcity to negotiate these becomes paramount, particularly in a geo-political context where Afrikans in the so-called west are increasingly comtemplating ‘forwarding out of Babylon’ to the Motherland and the Caribbean, not to mention resurgent Pan-Afrikan sentiments fuelled by efforts in the Sahel region. (8)
In the current context where mass organising is still very much the proverbial work in progress we will need to reconstute our “amazing capacity to adapt our families” towards preparedness and self-reliance. (9) This is just as the Most Eminent Prophet and King, His Excellency Marcus Mosiah Garvey exhorted in his address to the Second UNIA Convention in 1921:
“I am asking you to prepare yourselves, and prepare your race the world over, because the conflict is coming, not because you will it, not because you desire it, but because you will be forced into it. The conflict between the races is drawing nearer and nearer.” (10)
In Papa Garvey’s time, responses could be filtered through auxilaries like the Black Cross Nurses and the Royal African Legion among members whose lives revolved around the organisation. Part of the multifacted work ahead lies in trying to somehow simultaneously engaging these tasks while building a Movement.
1) Sinai Fleary (30/10/24) The Grenadian mother who inspired Malcolm X’s fight for justice. https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/world-news/2024/10/30/the-grenadian-mother-who-inspired-malcolm-xs-fight-for-justice/
2) Jeannette Smith-Irvin, (1989) Marcus Garvey’s Foot Soldiers of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Africa World Press. p. 59-60.
3) Ibid.
4) Black History Studies (15/11/24) Film Screening ‘The Promised Ship’ – Friday 15 November 2024. https://blackhistorystudies.com/event/film-screening-the-promised-ship-friday-15-november-2024/
5) Derek Kirton (20/10/18) Neoliberalism, ‘race’ and child welfare in Critical and Radical Social Work, Volume 6: Issue 3. p. 311–327. https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/crsw/6/3/article-p311.xml; Gwendoline M. Alphonso (2021) Political-Economic Roots of Coercion : Slavery, Neoliberalism, and the Racial Family Policy Logic of Child and Social Welfare in Columbia Journal Of Race And Law, Vol. 11, No. 3. file:///home/olatunji/Downloads/Alphonso_2021_Political-Economic%20Roots%20of%20Coercion.pdf; Dawne Marie Mouzon (26/10/13) Why Has Marriage Declined among Black Americans? https://scholars.org/brief/why-has-marriage-declined-among-black-americans; Daniel Lilley (10/05/23) Who gets married and who doesn’t – evidence from the 2021 Census. https://www.civitas.org.uk/2023/05/10/who-gets-married-and-who-doesnt-evidence-from-the-2021-census/; Christine Barrow, (2019) Can there be Love in the Caribbean? in Caribbean Review of Gender Studies, Issue 13: 233–266. https://sta.uwi.edu/crgs/june2019/documents/CRGS_13_Pgs233-266_Cbarrow_CanThereBeLove.pdf. In the UK: “27 per cent of Black Caribbeans and those of mixed ethnic group White and Black Caribbean are married. Conversely, 43.5 per cent of White British individuals and over 60 per cent of Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi individuals are married.” In the USA: “In 1960, 61% of blacks were married in 1960, but by 2008 it was only 32%. Blacks also get divorced more often and remarry less frequently than whites. In the Caribbean: “In 1996, with the rate peaking at 13.9. Subsequently though, the total dropped to 1890 in 2016, giving a rate of 6.8. Only 23.8 percent of the adult population is married and the proportion of female-headed households stands at 47.5 percent “
6) Iva E Carruthers (1979) War on African Familyhood in Roseann P Bell, Bettye J Parker, Beverly Guy-Sheftall (Eds) Sturdy Black Bridges : Visions Of Black Women in Literature. Anchor Books. p. 8-9.
7) Afrika Speaks with Alkebu-Lan On Galaxy Radio (24/05/21) How will the “Great Reset” affect Afrikan Liberation? https://www.mixcloud.com/AfrikaSpeaks/how-will-the-great-reset-affect-afrikan-liberation-240521/; Afrika Speaks with Alkebu-Lan on Galaxy Radio (11/03/24) Food Security:What does it mean? https://www.mixcloud.com/AfrikaSpeaks/food-security-what-does-it-mean-110324/; Afrika Speaks with Alkebu-Lan on Galaxy Radio (12/08/24) UK Riots: Why Now? https://alkebulan.org/2024/08/12/aswag-497-uk-riots-why-now/
8) Sinai Fleary (31/03/22) BLAXIT: Black Brits head for a new life in Africa and the Caribbean. https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/features-news/2022/03/31/blaxit/; African News Network (02/05/25) AFRICOM’s-Accusations-Ignite-Pan-African-Unity-as-Support-for-Traoré-Surges-Worldwide. https://africannewsnetwork.org/news/AFRICOM%E2%80%99s-Accusations-Ignite-Pan-African-Unity-as-Support-for-Traor%C3%A9-Surges-Worldwide
9) Nicole Jackson (28/02/18) Black Love as Activism. https://www.aaihs.org/black-love-as-activism/; Sheila D. Brown, JD (2023) Make Water Safe Methods & Tools. https://www.sheilabrownspeaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/The-Pillar-of-Water-Updated-Cheat-Sheet-2023.pdf
10) BlackPast (28/09/11) (1921) Marcus Garvey “Address to the Second UNIA Convention.” https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1921-marcus-garvey-address-second-unia-convention/
we ask the question:
What is the role of the family in liberation?
1) What are the biggest challenges currently facing Black families?
2) What impact has declining marriage rates had?
3) Is it time to ‘forward out of Babylon’?
4) Is there a war on Black familyhood? Are we prepared for it?
Our Special Guests:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centred Education Consultant. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 40 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.
Sis. Ka’Bu Ma’at Kheru MPhil, MA, MBA: is a Pan African Advocate for Social Justice and a multifaceted International Broadcast Journalist, Market Researcher Communications Consultant and Analyst, with over 20yrs in the Global Marketing and Broadcast Industries. Sis. Ka’Bu is the host of the internationally renowned The Africa Forum: Running African at Grove Broadcasting Company. She is also the author of three books of poetry A Hint of Blue, Jungle Me and most recently Making Kenke From Memory: A Sankofic Journey.
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