“The Stone that the Builder refused, will always be the head corner stone.” (Psalm 118:22, Matt. 21:42)
The teachings of Marcus Garvey provide a blueprint for the Black Man’s cause. Garvey’s analysis pre-destines the eventual reorganization of the world into a state of true peace; lasting peace. And his vision for this peace foresees the African –at home and abroad - building Himself into a nation.
Let us not stumble by subjecting ourselves to causes that are not built upon this foundation, but let us also understand what is asked of us:
Marcus Garvey explained –what should be clear for all to see- that the cause of the Black Man, wherever he finds Himself in the world, is fundamentally the cause of the African continent:
1) The Black Man in the West - except for a few Black explorers - is there today as a direct consequence of the economic and military subjugation of the African continent to foreign rule, and the extraction of it’s resources for use in foreign economies.
2) The Black Man’s economic and political freedom -wherever He finds himself today- necessarily requires an overcoming of the forces that continue the neocolonial subjugation of Africa, since –after all - these forces are non other than the political, economic, and other institutions of precisely those Western countries the Black Man currently inhabits in the largest numbers.
Wherever the Black Man is fighting for Equal Rights and Justice in any of the nations of the West, he is ill-advised to abandon the greater call of ‘Africa, for the Africans’. For only through Greater African Sovereignty –by organizing Himself into a global MAJORITY- can the Black Man ultimately rise from MINORITY status and second-class treatment in any Western country, and thus secure true political and economic freedom.
Marcus Garvey’s analysis prescribes repatriation as the logical solution to the Black Man’s current, ongoing situation. In fact, Marcus Garvey viewed repatriation as so fundamental he saw it synonymous to the Black Man’s cause: Succeed in repatriating the Black Man, and you will have succeeded in ending the continued exploitation of the African continent; Or, to succeed in extracting yourself from the economics of your exploitation, you must ultimately raise a nation for yourself.
From my own exposure to Garvey, I maintain that repatriation remains the essential building stone of the Black Man’s Struggle for Freedom today. And like Garvey, I also believe that the cause of the Black Man world wide must first and foremost be a MORAL cause. As such, although the Black Man should be prepared to take up arms for the cause of liberation (and has done so valiantly in literally every war for freedom in modern history), the cause of the Black Man Rising is on principle NOT one that can be won with war and weapons of war: For if the Black Man is to rise as Champion of Peace and Freedom through Rule of Justice, then the Black Man must be resolutely guided by the principle of “ONE PEOPLE, ONE WORLD, ONE LOVE.” at all times.
Indeed, as Champion of a Moral Cause, the African – if He is to win today’s battle for ideological world supremacy- must firmly set before Himself the ideological pillars that Marcus Garvey aligned for us: “JUSTICE, LOVE, CHARITY, MERCY AND EQUITY.”.
It is the Black Man’s own History which confirms that any undertaking, on such moral grounds is destined to succeed. And it is in continuing this legacy, that the Black Man of today must rise in supreme confidence for the cause of Africa: Confident not in a misguided sense of exceptionalism, but confident in the sovereignty of God: The guaranteed, and confirmed victory of Good over Evil.
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"Let us in shaping our own Destiny set before us the qualities of human JUSTICE, LOVE, CHARITY, MERCY AND EQUITY. Upon such foundation let us build a race, and I feel that the God who is Divine, the Almighty Creator of the world, shall forever bless this race of ours, and who to tell that we shall not teach men the way to life, liberty and true happiness" - Marcus Garvey. Philosophy&Opinions of Marcus Garvey; Or, Africa for the Africans, (p. 14)
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