MARCH ON WASHINGTON AUGUST 28-1963

 

MARCH ON WASHINGTON AUGUST 28-1963

Murphy Browne © August 28-2020 

Fifty-seven years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” In 2020, many people around the world still remember the "dream" he had that his four children would "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." On August 28, 1963, Dr. King also spoke out against poverty, police brutality and the restriction to voting rights for African Americans. On August 28, 2020, it seems that the “dream” is more like a nightmare for African Americans who continue to experience being “judged by the color of their skin.” In 2020, African Americans also continue to experience high levels of poverty, police brutality and restrictions to their voting rights. 

Today, fifty-seven years later, the words Dr. King spoke on August 28, 1963, remain relevant. His powerful words  are connected to the global protests that were galvanized by the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA that have taken place this summer against the killings of unarmed African Americans. These protests against the continued devaluation of African lives including the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, the recent (August 23, 2020) shooting of 29 year old Jacob Blake and many other egregious acts of violence against unarmed African Americans by white police and civilians, are reminiscent of the murder of 14 year old Emmett Till. The 14-year-old was tortured and lynched by two white men in Money, Mississippi, exactly eight years before Dr. King’s speech, on August 28, 1955.  

 

On August 28, 2020, we are reminded of Dr. King’s legacy and the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement he led until his assassination on April 4, 1968. In August 2020, it was the sight of a White police officer in  Minneapolis, Minnesota, kneeling for almost nine minutes on the neck of an African American man, George Floyd, as the life slowly drained out of his body on May 25, 2020, that brought many people into the streets during a pandemic, to protest the killing of yet another “Black man” by a White man. So powerful and influential were the words Dr. King spoke on August 28, 1963 that the legacy of Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement are frequently discussed and emulated internationally.  

 

On August 28, 2020, African Americans are facing two diseases—COVID 19, which has disproportionately impacted African American communities, and white supremacy. These two diseases have caused the significant disparities in education, healthcare, the justice system, policing, and more to become glaringly obvious. On this day 57 years ago, Dr. King said: “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.” Democracy can only be realized with the active participation of informed citizens, who access knowledge and information about their history and who are capable of and exercise critical thinking. As one of the people who influenced Dr. King, the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey (born August 17, 1887) famously said: “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” We must make the effort to understand and interpret our past, so that we may move together from the nightmare of police brutality that has caused continued protests, into the direction of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. 

 

 On August 28, 2020, the actions of white supremacists in the USA, from the top down, make a mockery of the words Dr. King spoke on that fateful day, August 28, 1963, fifty-seven years ago. 

 

Murphy Browne © August 28-2020 

 

BLACK AUGUST 2020

 BLACK AUGUST 2020 

 

Murphy Browne © August 20-2020 

 

“A Disparate Impact,” the second interim report in the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into racial profiling and racial discrimination of Black persons by the Toronto Police Service (TPS), confirms that Black people are more likely than others to be arrested, charged, over-charged, struck, shot or killed by Toronto police. 

 

August 10, 2020, Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC)  

 

August is a month with significant events and historic anniversaries for our community, including Black August, Emancipation Day, Marcus Mosiah Garvey’s birthday, the beginning of the Haitian Revolution and the unveiling of the Red, Black and Green Pan-African flag. Black August is a month and a time to celebrate, commemorate and remember our freedom fighters and revolutionaries past and present. We have had freedom fighters and revolutionaries in every generation and in every African community from the first kidnapping of Africans by Europeans, throughout their enslavement and colonization into the 21^st century of August 2020. 

 

The tradition of commemorating Black August began in 1971 during a prison uprising when African American activist and member of the Black Panther Party, George Jackson, was killed on August 21, 1971. Black August is an annual remembrance of resistance and righteous rebellion. Events and anniversaries remembered during Black August include the kidnapping, torture and lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till on August 28-1955 and the “I Have a Dream” speech of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 8 years later, on August 28-1963. Reaction to the lynching of Emmett Till is considered the spark that lit the Civil Rights Movement. A month after Emmett Till was lynched in Money, Mississippi, Dr. King stated that it “might be considered one of the most brutal and inhuman crimes of the twentieth century.” Dr. King frequently used the lynching of Emmett Till as an example of “the evil of racial injustice,” and he spoke about “the crying voice of a little Emmett Till, screaming from the rushing waters in [Mississippi].” When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat as she sat in the “Colored” section of a Montgomery, Alabama bus, to a White man who could not find a seat in the crowded “White” seating section of the segregated bus, she was thinking about 14 year old Emmett Till who had been lynched three months before. Years later when Rosa Parks was asked why she did not move from her seat on December 1, 1955, she replied: “I thought of Emmett Till and I couldn’t go back.”  

 

In August 2020, it was the sight of a White police officer in  Minneapolis, Minnesota, kneeling for almost nine minutes on the neck of an African American man, George Floyd, as the life slowly drained out of his body on May 25, 2020, that brought many people into the streets during a pandemic, to protest the killing of yet another “Black man” by a White man. While this scenario was recorded in the USA and shared internationally, the racial profiling, brutalization, maiming and killing of African Canadians by White police also happens in Canada. The USA and Canada share a similar history of the enslavement of Africans, segregation and White supremacy. Black August is commemorated in Canada because of that shared history and common experience. The enslavement of Africans in Canada was abolished 186 years ago, on August 1, 1834 yet the legacy of that enslavement persists into the 21^st century. During the enslavement of Africans in Canada, White slaveholders exerted control over the bodies of the enslaved Africans. In the 21^st century that control manifests itself in policing, racial profiling, the justice system and incarceration rate of “Black bodies.” 

 

The Executive summary of “A Disparate Impact,” the second interim report which was released by the OHRC, acknowledges that: “Black people are more likely to be arrested by the Toronto police. Black people are more likely to be charged and over-charged by the Toronto Police. Black people are more likely to be struck, shot or killed by the Toronto police.” The OHRC used Toronto Police Service data as part of its inquiry into racial profiling and racial discrimination of “Black persons” by the Toronto Police Service (TPS.) The OHRC acknowledged that its findings “confirms what Black communities have told us – that they are subjected to a disproportionate burden of law enforcement in a way that is consistent with systemic racism and anti-Black racial bias.” 

 

The result of this latest study comes from TPS data ranging from 2013 to 2017, but this information “collected and analyzed by a team of experts,” which “reflects the many ways Black communities are over-charged and over-policed, ranging from laying low-quality discretionary charges to police use of force,” is nothing new. The concept of “Black August” has been embraced in Canada for many years and especially in 2020 with the uprising to address anti-Black racism, including the brutal beating of Dafonte Miller by two White men, one of who was found guilty of assault and the other found not guilty even though they knocked Miller’s left eye out of its socket. Black August should be more widely recognized in Canada as we grapple with anti-Black racism in this Great White North.  

 

Murphy Browne © August 20-2020 

ISSAC HAYES AUGUST 20-1942

 

Isaac Hayes would have been 78 years old on August 20, 2020.

Murphy Browne © August 2010

Isaac Lee Hayes Jr., was born on August 20th 1942 in Covington, Tennessee. He transitioned to the ancestral realm on August 10th, 2008, ten days before his 66th birthday. Hayes was famous for a voice that made you think of stroking lush black velvet. The experience of listening to his second album Hot Buttered Soul released in July 12, 1969 with 12 minutes of “Walk on by” and 18 minutes of “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” can only be surpassed by watching him perform. The man looks as good as he sounds, with signature dark glasses, sculpted body, clean shaven head and those lips! Hayes was also a song writer whose work brought other performers fame. He wrote the lyrics for several Sam and Dave hit recordings including, Soul Man; Hold On, I'm Coming; I Thank You and When Something Is Wrong With My Baby. His most famous work which garnered him an Oscar in 1972, was the theme from the movie Shaft. The Theme From Shaft also won two Grammys, a Golden Globe award and the NAACP Image Award. The Theme From Shaft was popular worldwide (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2cHkMwzOiM.) Hayes won a third Grammy for his album "Black Moses." The music Hayes composed has been sampled by hip-hop, rap and R&B artists. Since 1990, he has been sampled over 140 times by various artists including Destiny’s Child, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, TLC and Tupac.

Hayes proved to be much more than an entertainer with a gorgeous face and body. He was also a civil rights activist who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. just before Dr. King was assassinated and was scheduled to meet with him the day he died. Like many African Americans, Hayes was traumatized by Dr. King’s assassination. In an interview with Rob Bowman author of Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story Of Stax Records he said: "It affected me for a whole year, I could not create properly. I was so bitter and so angry. I thought, What can I do? Well, I can't do a thing about it so let me become successful and powerful enough where I can have a voice to make a difference. So I went back to work and started writing again."

Hayes’s life changed significantly when he and Dionne Warwick accepted an invitation from the Cultural Minister of Ghana to visit the Cape Coast and Elmina slave castles. In 1992, walking through the dungeons, listening to the horrifying stories told by the guide, like many Africans in the Diaspora who visit these places, Hayes was reduced to tears. In an interview he told a journalist; "It was almost like I heard the voices of my ancestors saying, 'We've come back home through you. The circle is complete. Now, you know what you must do'." Returning to America, the entertainer/civil rights activist made use of his celebrity status as he embarked on a mission to raise awareness in the African-American community of the need to build schools, conquer illiteracy and support the economic development of African nations. He spoke to African-American community groups and Black expos around the country. He encouraged everyone he met to visit Africa, to interact with the people, or to at least support economic development of African countries.

One speaking engagement in Queens, New York, was attended by princess Naa Asie Ocansey of the Ada Traditional area in Ghana. Impressed with Hayes’s passion and commitment to working for the development of African countries, Naa Asie contacted her father, Nene Kubi III, Dzasetse (King Maker) of the Ada Traditional area and made arrangements for Hayes’s enstoolment (coronation.) The coronation rituals were conducted in late December 1992. The coronation was attended by the group Public Enemy who performed at concerts with Hayes at Cape Coast Castle and in Accra, Ghana's capital city.

Hayes was given the royal name: Nene Katey Ocansey I. "Nene means king in the Ga Dialect," he explained. "Katey means brave warrior who can calm the wild beast in the elements. Ocansey is a family name, the most powerful of the ten clans in my region, Ada, which means I do as I say!" He was appointed King For Development over the region and given land on which to build a palace. Hayes did not build a palace; instead he built an 8,000 square foot school “NekoTech” which opened in 2000 and is designed to link children in Africa with those in American inner cities via the Internet.

Not one to rest on his laurels, he also created the Isaac Hayes Foundation, whose global mission is to “help people become whole by advancing the causes of literacy, music education, nutritional programs and organizing programs that raise self-esteem among the underprivileged.” Hayes visited the World Literacy Crusade's Compton Literacy Project in 1994 where he heard the life-changing stories from youth and adults using the Applied Scholastics Study Technology there. World Literacy Crusade is a grassroots literacy movement formed in 1992 by the Reverend Alfreddie Johnson Jr., the pastor of True Faith Christian Church, (a Baptist congregation in Compton, California) community leaders, ministers, parents, youth and educators concerned about the growing rate of illiteracy and related social ills in their communities. In addition to helping youth and adults struggling with illiteracy, through an affiliated organization American Health and Education Clinics, World Literacy Crusade also helps people with criminal records and those addicted to drugs to reform and reclaim their lives. Hayes became the International Spokesperson for the World Literacy Crusade. He worked tirelessly to help expand the community programs in several countries, making media appearances, regularly hosting events and speaking at conferences to raise awareness and funding for the World Literacy Crusade.

We have lost a griot, “A mighty tree has fallen.” Isaac Hayes will be missed and many will feel as the man himself sang, that they “Never can say goodbye.”

Murphy Browne © August 2010

100 YEARS OF THE RED, BLACK AND GREEN PAN-AFRICAN FLAG

 Murphy Browne © August 6-2020 

 

THE RED, BLACK AND GREEN FLAG  

 

On August 13, 1920 during a month-long Convention of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) the Pan-African flag was formally adopted. The Pan-African colours of Red, Black and Green were chosen by Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr, who founded the UNIA-ACL organization in 1914. The Pan-African flag has been used in various Pan-African Movements and the Red, Black and Green colours were chosen by some African countries as the colours for the flags of their independent nations, including Kenya and Malawi. The Red, Black and Green, Pan-African flag is also used during the celebration of Kwanzaa (December 21 – January 1.) 

 

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. was born in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica on August 17, 1887. In 1910, he began traveling throughout the Caribbean and Central America. During his travels, he saw that Africans in the Diaspora lived in countries colonized by Europeans and seemed to be at the bottom of the societies in which they lived. Garvey also noted that there was hardly any unity in the African communities as they were subjected to the “divide and conquer” tactics of European colonization. Garvey was determined "to unite all people of African ancestry of the world to one great body to establish a country and absolute government of their own." In 1914, he returned to Jamaica and founded the UNIA-ACL.  

 

Although Garvey founded the UNIA-ACL in Jamaica, the organization flourished and became influential after Garvey immigrated to the USA in 1916. Garvey dedicated his life to inculcating racial pride in Africans, encouraged economic self-sufficiency and the formation of an independent nation on the African continent. During Garvey’s lifetime, Africans in the Diaspora (descendants of enslaved Africans) were living in countries that were colonized by Europeans. Africans living on the African continent at the time (except Ethiopia) were living in countries that were colonized by Europeans. The UNIA-ACL flourished during a time when there was no internet or social media and is today recognized as the most successful organizing of Africans (Diasporic and continental.) The appeal and influence of the UNIA-ACL were felt in the Americas, including the USA and Canada, in the Caribbean and in Africa. In 1920, the UNIA-ACL had 1,100 chapters in 40 countries. By 1926, the membership of the organization had grown to over six million members. 

 

In 1918 Garvey began publishing the “Negro World,” a newspaper, which included articles written by such African American luminaries as Duse Mohamed Ali, Zora Neale Hurston, Arthur Schomburg and Carter Godwin Woodson. The “Negro World” was published weekly in Harlem, New York and distributed to the UNIA-ACL chapters in more than 40 countries. At its peak, the “Negro World” had a circulation of 200,000. Garvey and his message, through the UNIA-ACL, influenced millions. In 1919 Garvey purchased an auditorium in Harlem and named it Liberty Hall. He held nightly meetings in Liberty Hall to audiences of as many as 6,000 people. 

 

Inspired by the thoughts and philosophies of Garvey, the citizens of several African countries were influenced to fight for their freedom from European colonization. Many African leaders from the African continent and in the Diaspora were influenced by the UNIA-ACL, including Nelson Mandela, Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah, Elijah Muhammad, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  

 

Garvey encouraged his followers to establish businesses and support those businesses. He set the example by establishing “The Negro Factories Corporation” on January 30, 1920. In May 1920, Garvey reported that the corporation had a steam laundry in Harlem. In June 1920, the Corporation opened the Universal Steam Laundry, with the Universal Tailoring and Dress Making department where UNIA-ACL uniforms and insignia were manufactured and clothing was designed for sale and for UNIA-ACL fashion shows at Liberty Hall. The Corporation also owned three grocery stores in Harlem. 

 

Garvey was targeted by J. Edgar Hoover, from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), because of his activism and influence in the African American community. Hoover referred to Garvey as a “notorious Negro agitator” and hired the first African American FBI agent in 1919 to spy on Garvey. Hoover hounded Garvey,  manufacturing “evidence” that eventually led to the waning of the influential UNIA-ACL and the destruction of Garvey’s plans for an economically self-sufficient African American population. Garvey became the first of Jamaica’s 7 National Heroes in 1969. In 2020, 80 years after he transitioned to the ancestral realm on June 10, 1940, the words of Garvey remain pertinent: “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” On August 13, 2020, the Red, Black and Green Pan-African flag will be 100 years old.  

 

Murphy Browne © August 6-2020 

JAMAICA INDEPENDENCE DAY AUGUST 6-2020

Murphy Browne © August 6-2020 

JAMAICA INDEPENDENCE DAY AUGUST 6-2020 

Today the people of Jamaica are celebrating 58 years of Independence. The island was first seen by Europeans when Christopher Columbus with a crew of Spaniards made his second journey to what Europeans referred to as the New World. Columbus had been searching for a way East but lost his way and thought he had reached India so mistakenly referred to the indigenous people as Indians. Columbus’ arrival signaled the end of the indigenous population of the island. Foreign European diseases to which the Arawaks had no immunity and a combination of inhumane treatment by the Europeans who attempted to enslave the Arawaks along with the suicide of many, decimated the population of indigenous people. After losing their enslaved native labour force the Spaniards began importing enslaved Africans who were kidnapped and taken from the African continent. The tribal conflict in Europe spilled over to the New World where Europeans fought for domination of the lucrative slave trade and the new fertile lands. The Spanish in Jamaica were under constant attack by British pirates encouraged by the British government who coveted the rich land.  

Jamaica was a British colony for 307 years from 1655 to 1962. On May 5, 1494, the Spanish invaded the island which was the home of the Arawaks also called Tainos. They are believed to have travelled from South America 2,500 years ago and named the island Xaymaca, which meant “land of wood and water.” The Spaniards, who invaded and occupied the island until May 10, 1655, tortured and killed the people they found there to get possession of the island. The Spaniards so overworked and brutalized the Arawaks/Tainos that eventually the entire population of Arawaks/Tainos had either fled the island or was dead. The process of genocide was aided by the introduction of European diseases to island, to which the Arawaks/Tainos had little or no resistance. On May 10, 1655, the British led by Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables launched a successful attack on Jamaica. The Spaniards surrendered to the British, freed the Africans they had enslaved and then fled to Cuba. The enslaved Africans who were set free when the Spaniard enslavers fled to Cuba, in turn fled to freedom in the mountains of Jamaica, they and their descendants became known as the Maroons. 

The British (English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh) in turn took Africans to the island after they occupied the island. The British did not want to share the island with a group of formerly enslaved Africans living in the hills of Jamaica and tried to re-enslave the Maroons. The British waged war against the Maroons in an effort to conquer and re-enslave them. Although the 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 square miles) Caribbean island is the 3rd largest island in the area and the British had enough land, they were determined to own the entire island and enslave every African, including the Maroons. This new community of freed Africans made life difficult for the British whose enslaved Africans would hear stories of the Maroon communities. The most famous of the Maroon leaders is Nanny (the sole female of Jamaica’s 7 National Heroes) whose exploits and fame are legendary. The fighting spirit of enslaved Africans and Maroons in Jamaica is legendary even contributing to the start of the Haitian Revolution. The complete emancipation of Africans by the British government on August 1, 1838 owes much to that fighting spirit which continued until Jamaica was granted independence from British colonial rule 124 years later, on August 6, 1962. 

Murphy Browne © August 6-2020