SELMA AND BLOODY SUNDAY MARCH 7-2020

Fifty-five years ago today on March 7-1965 African Americans in Selma, Alabama were brutalized, viciously beaten and killed as they attempted to bring attention to the fact that as US citizens they were prevented from voting by white Americans. Since the enslavement of Africans was abolished on January 1-1865 white people in the southern states had unleashed a campaign of terror on African Americans to “keep them in their place” as third class citizens in the country where African blood, sweat, tears and coerced, unpaid labour had enriched generations of white people.


Murphy Browne © Saturday, March 7-2020


SELMA AND BLOODY SUNDAY


“I know you are asking today, ‘How long will it take?’ I come to say to you this afternoon however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth pressed to earth will rise again. I know you are asking today, ‘How long will it take? How long will prejudice blind the visions of men, darken their understanding, and drive bright-eyed wisdom from her sacred throne? When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma and Birmingham and communities all over the South, be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men? When will the radiant star of hope be plunged against the nocturnal bosom of this lonely night, plucked from weary souls with chains of fear and the manacles of death? How long will justice be crucified, and truth bear it?’ I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because ‘truth crushed to earth will rise again.’ How long? Not long, because ‘no lie can live forever.’ How long? Not long, because ‘you shall reap what you sow.’ How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”


Excerpt from “How long, Not long” speech made by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on March 25, 1965 on the steps of the capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., made his famous “How long, Not long” speech on the steps of the state capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama on the completion of the 54 mile long Selma to Montgomery march to petition for African American right to vote. On Sunday, March 21, 1965 approximately 8,000 people assembled at Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Selma, Alabama in preparation for the to 54 mile walk to Montgomery, the state capital. On March 25 a group of approximately 25,000 people gathered to listen to Dr. King speak after the completion of the 4 day, 54 mile walk Although Dr. King was the recognized leader of that 3rd attempt during March 1965 to make the journey from Selma to Montgomery, there were many African Americans in Alabama and specifically Selma who had worked for years advocating for African American right to vote. The movie “Selma” which is in the theatres in time for Martin Luther King Jr., Day 2015 pays tribute to some of those activists. The movie “Selma” brings to life on “the big screen” the story of the African American struggle during March 1965 to gain what is the right of every citizen (the right to elect our government representatives.) African Americans in the southern US states were denied that right even though they and their ancestors built the US economy with their blood, sweat, tears and (during slavery) unpaid labour. 

Reading and even writing about “Bloody Sunday” the first attempt on March 7, 1965 to walk from Selma to Montgomery did not prepare me for the sight of that fateful day acted out on screen “in living colour.” I re-read John Lewis’ 1998 published book “Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement” on the January 3-4 weekend and then went to see the movie “Selma” on Thursday, January 8. Even with Lewis’ description of police using “rubber hose wrapped with barbed wire” to brutally beat peaceful African Americans I was not prepared for the sights on the screen as I watched “Selma.” In his description of March 7, 1965 Lewis writes: “I was bleeding badly. My head was exploding with pain. There was mayhem all around me. I could see a young kid – a teenaged boy- sitting on the ground with a gaping cut in his head, the blood just gushing out. Several women, including Mrs. Boynton, were lying on the pavement and the grass median. People were weeping. Some were vomiting from the tear gas. Men on horses were moving in all directions, purposely riding over the top of fallen people, bringing their animals’ hooves down on shoulders, stomachs and legs.” Lewis suffered a fractured skull from the vicious police attack on March 7, 1965 and he carries the scars from that “Bloody Sunday” of 55 years ago.

The movie “Selma” presents the brutal facts of “Bloody Sunday” and many of those who laid their lives on the line are portrayed. The Mrs. Boynton that Lewis refers in his book is Amelia Boynton Robinson (born on August 18, 1911) who was a 54 year old Civil Rights activist in 1965. In December 2014, Boynton Robinson was 103 years old when she was interviewed by the New York Post and spoke of being savagely beaten by White police who then pumped tear gas into the unconscious woman’s throat leaving her for dead. Boynton Robinson recovered and photographs of her unconscious on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965 remain as evidence of that horrific day. She plans to attend the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in March 2015. In “Selma” Boynton Robinson is portrayed by African Trinidad actress Lorraine Toussaint who visited Boynton Robinson when she was researching the role.

Following the savage and vicious beating and other brutality visited upon peaceful African Americans by White police in Selma, caught on camera for the world to witness, American President Johnson was shamed into signing the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965. The signing of the Voting Rights Act did not change the attitude of White people in the South and especially did not affect the behaviour of those who were in power. From the history channel website: “Although the Voting Rights Act passed, state and local enforcement of the law was weak and it was often outright ignored, mainly in the South and in areas where the proportion of blacks in the population was high and their vote threatened the political status quo.” In the movie “Selma” President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act in the presence of Dr. King and other Civil Rights activists.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., would have been 91 years old on January 15, 2020 if he had survived the single (.30-06 bullet) fired from a Remington Model 760 that entered through his right cheek, breaking his jaw and several vertebrae as it traveled down his spinal cord, severing his jugular vein and major arteries before lodging in his shoulder on April 4, 1968 at 6:01 p.m. After viewing “Selma” I have to wonder what Dr. King would say of the recent spate of White police killing African American men, women and children. Would he still say: “Not long, because ‘you shall reap what you sow.’ How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice?” Since 1965 “Not long” seems like a very long time!

Murphy Browne © Saturday, March 7-2020

CELEBRATING GHANA DAY IN GUYANA

Murphy Browne © March 6-2020

CELEBRATING GHANA DAY IN GUYANA

On March 6-1957, Ghana gained independence from Britain. Ghana became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and was led to independence by Kwame Nkrumah who transformed the country into a republic. The country was the first to gain independence from European colonialism. Before it was colonised, Ghana was made up of a number of independent kingdoms, including Gonja and Dagomba in the north, Ashanti in the interior, and the Fanti states along the coast. The flag of the newly independent state was designed by Theodosia Salome Okoh. The red signified those who had died for independence, the gold is the mineral wealth with the green representing the rich grasslands of the area. The black star is the symbol of the people and of African emancipation. 

The first Prime Minister of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah was a prominent Pan-African organizer whose vision and bold leadership helped lead Ghana to independence in 1957. Nkrumah was born on September 21-1909, in the British colony of Nkroful, on the Gold Coast. Nkrumah received his post-secondary education in the United States. He received both his Bachelor of Arts (1939) and Bachelor of Theology (1942) from Lincoln University and continued his education at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Masters of Philosophy and a Masters of Education (1942, 1943). While in college, Nkrumah became increasingly active in the Pan-African movement, the African Students Association of America, and the West African Students’ Union. In 1945 Nkrumah played a central role in organizing the Fifth Pan-Africanist Congress.

In 1947 Nkrumah’s activism attracted the attention of Ghanaian politician J. B. Danquah, who hired Nkrumah to serve as general secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention, an organization pursuing independence for the British colony. However, ideological differences between the two men led Nkrumah to found his own party, the Convention People’s Party (CPP), in 1949. Nkrumah and the CPP sought self-government through the nonviolent strategy of “positive action.” Much like Martin Luther King’s nonviolent strategies, positive action employed the tactics of protest and strike against colonial administration.

In 1951 Nkrumah and the CPP received a decisive majority of votes in Ghana’s first general elections, and on 22 March 1952, Nkrumah became the first prime minister of the Gold Coast. It would be five more years before full independence was realized, and the Gold Coast became the self-governed nation of Ghana.

Kwame Nkrumah (1909 - 1972), led his country, Ghana, to independence from British colonization and exploitation. Nkrumah was an admirer and a protege of Pan-Africanist leader Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Garvey’s philosophies spurred the modern Pan-African movement which inspired Africans to fight for their independence from European colonizers. Garvey inspired many African leaders including Martin Luther King Jr., El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X), Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Kambarage Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah. On March 6-1957, Ghana’s Independence Day, Nkrumah said; “We are going to see that we create our own African personality and identity. We again rededicate ourselves in the struggle to emancipate other countries in Africa; for our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.” A jubilant Ghanaian nation named their venerated leader “Osagyefo” (the victorious one.) Ghana’s independence was celebrated in the African Diaspora, from New York in North America to New Amsterdam in South America. Nkrumah set the example and led the struggle for Africans to gain independence from white colonial rule. Ghana’s independence intensified the call for freedom from colonization on the African continent. Whether they were colonized by the French, the Germans, the Portuguese, the Belgians, the Spanish, the British or any other white tribe, Africans were encouraged to fight for their independence because of the success of “Osagyefo.”

Independence Day is an official state holiday celebrated by Ghanaians and the Ghanaian diaspora, which is celebrated on March 6 every year. As a child growing up in Berbice, Guyana, the celebration of Ghana’s Independence Day was an occasion to wear African wraps, eat, drink and be merry. Some of my ancestors (and the ancestors of many African Guyanese) were taken from the area that today is known as Ghana. Much of the remnants of African culture in the form of music, dance, food and dress in Guyana, that survived the enslavement of Africans in Guyana, was adopted from Ghanaian culture. The Anancy stories, (Brer Anansi) from Ghana, were our bedtime stories. The National Hero of Guyana, Kofi, was an Akan man who was taken from Ghana and enslaved in Berbice. Kofi led the Berbice Uprising which began on February 23-1763, defeating the Dutch slaveholders. For many years, African Guyanese celebrated Ghana’s Independence Day. There has been a revival of the celebration over the past decade through the

African Cultural Development Association (ACDA) and the Ghana Day Organisation, led by Sister Penda Geyan.

Murphy Browne © March 6-2020