Murphy
Browne © August 13-2018
AUGUST
13-1920 RED BLACK AND GREEN
Ninety
eight years ago on August 13-1920 the members of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association and African Communities League (U.N.I.A.-ACL)
voted to accept the “The Declaration of Rights of the African/Negro
Peoples of the World.” This revolutionary document was one of the
earliest and most complete documents advocating human rights and
detailing the abuses against Africans worldwide. It also sought the
uplift of Africans everywhere and encouraged self-reliance and
nationhood. One of the most notable declarations of “The
Declaration of Rights of the African/Negro Peoples of the World”
was article 39 proclaiming the red, black and green flag the official
banner of the Africans.
For
the entire month of August 1920, the U.N.I.A.-ACL founded by the
Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey held its first international
convention in New York City. Many events were held at the New York
Liberty Hall with its biggest events held at Madison Square Garden.
An estimated 25,000 Africans from all around the world attended the
convention including delegates from 25 African countries. On August
13, 1920, they voted and made the declaration official. One of the
most notable declarations of this document was one proclaiming the
red, black and green colours the official colours representing the
African race. Since then the red, black and green flag has become a
symbol of African unity and pride all over the world. Many African
countries (including Ghana and Kenya) sport the colours in their
flags, symbolizing the influence of Marcus Mosiah Garvey. The red,
black and green flag became a symbol of Black pride, Black power, and
Black nationalism in the USA during the 1960s. During the Pan-African
Kwanzaa celebration (December 26-January 1) the colours red, black
and green are used as well.
“THE
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS OF THE AFRICAN/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.”
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.
20.
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.
Murphy
Browne © August 13-2018
