Greetings!

We all by now should know that Garvey’s relationship with H.I.M. started off fine, but somehow ended up growing sour, and Garvey openly castigated H.I.M. as, among other things, a “bad historian” etc, but I think we -- the children of today -- can only say the outbreak of the war (WWII) had a huge bearing on this relationship, which, by all evidence, had started out fine. Tensions and pressures caused by the war strained the “friendship” between these two honourable men … (after greedy Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia …) …

Here are 2 of my favourites from the bulk of Garvey’s famous and very powerful words:

(In his capacity as President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), Garvey sent a cable to His Majesty Ras Tafari that read: )

[Quote]

"Greetings from Ethiopians of [the] Western World. May your reign be peaceful, prosperous, progressive. Long live your Majesty!"
…

That communiqué was printed in the New York-based Negro World newspaper on November 8, 1930. On that same day, Garvey published an article in his Jamaican newspaper, The Blackman, that read:

“Last Sunday, a great ceremony took place at Addis Ababa, the capital of Abyssinia. It was the coronation of the new Emperor of Ethiopia -- Ras Tafari. From reports and expectations, the scene was one of great splendour, and will long be remembered by those who were present. Several of the leading nations of Europe sent representatives to the coronation, thereby paying their respects to a rising Negro nation that is destined to play a great part in the future history of the world. Abyssinia is the land of the blacks and we are glad to learn that even though Europeans have been trying to impress the Abyssinians that they are not belonging to the Negro Race, they have learned the retort that they are, and they are proud to be so.

Ras Tafari has travelled to Europe and America and is therefore no stranger to European hypocrisy and methods; he, therefore, must be regarded as a kind of a modern Emperor, and from what we understand and know of him, he intends to introduce modern methods and systems into his country. Already he has started to recruit from different sections of the world competent men in different branches of science to help to develop his country to the position that she should occupy among the other nations of the world.

We do hope that Ras Tafari will live long to carry out his wonderful intentions. From what we have heard and what we do know, he is ready and willing to extend the hand of invitation to any Negro who desires to settle in his kingdom. We know of many who are gone to Abyssinia and who have given good report of the great possibilities there, which they are striving to take advantage of. The Psalmist prophesied that Princes would come out of Egypt and Ethiopia would stretch forth her hands unto God. We have no doubt that the time is now come. Ethiopia is now really stretching forth her hands. This great kingdom of the East has been hidden for many centuries, but gradually she is rising to take a leading place in the world and it is for us of the Negro race to assist in every way to hold up the hand of Emperor Ras Tafari.”

[End quote]

Another citation, actually my all-round favourite of Garvey’s:

[Quote]

“The campaign of abuse and imprisonment against your leaders is but a part of the plan to harass and discourage you on the way towards destiny. But no sober-minded Negro will allow himself to be fooled by the design of the wicked. The wicked we have always had and will ever have. The wicked and unjust have opposed reforms in every age and under all circumstances. They crucified a Christ and drove His apostles from pillar to post. They made, by their wicked acts, martyrs of those who have lived and died for a principle and an idea; so let them go on. They, too, in this age shall drink the bitter dregs of sorrow and remorse, even as succeeding generations of those who crucified Christ and persecuted His disciples have become the cursed creatures of righteousness. Let our traitors sell themselves to the propaganda of the enemy who seeks to destroy the race! They, too, like the character of old, will find no use for the bits of silver.”

[End quote]
…

I know most of us most likely (already) know this, but I thought I should still recite: …

Garvey was the *FIRST* black man to proudly and very confidently awaken his people to take pride in themselves, their racial identity, their past civilisation, their glory and dignity as Afrikans. To me, Garvey opened the seals which revealed our ("robbed") history, this haggard present, and he ushered in promises of a glorious future! Marcus Garvey was indeed like Moses in the Bible!! … He was a very religious man, as we all know; and very charismatic man: *HE TAUGHT BLACKS THAT WE ARE ALL AFRIKANS*!!! That is his greatest achievement to date, though often deliberately IGNORED by most people, and I think it is an achievement which no man shall equal. For that, I think he was “rewarded” with both love and hate in his time, by both black and white; but I also think that he probably had as many black enemies as he had white “admirers” … Looked at within the context of those times, I would like to think most whites either liked and/or respected him or they really just hated him, perhaps even feared him and were afraid of him and his authority.

Of course it is Garvey who awakened Afro-centrism. Of course *all* renowned black civil rights leaders of the latter half of the 20th century in the "New World" (… like Dr. Martin Luther the King, the fiery Malcolm X …), and *all* Afrikan leaders who fought for freedom from white colonialism from around 1930 onward in Afrika, were directly inspired by Garvey's teachings, or so they later said … This includes Afrikan freedom fighters, politicians and intellectuals such as {the great!} Nelson Mandela (S/Africa), Albert Luthuli (also from S/Africa), Kwame Nkrumah (of Ghana), Patrice Lumumba (of Zaire/“Belgian” Congo) , the “Mzee” Jomo Kenyatta (the Mau-Mau warrior!) and his trusted deadlocked Commander Mwariama (of Kenya), Samora Machel (of Mozambique), Kenneth Kaunda (of Zambia), Julius Nyerere (of Tanzania), other Afrikan Warriors of the “Old Guard” and many more freedom fighters still fighting ….

GARVEY LIT A FIRE THAT STILL KEEPS ON BURNING!!!

For accurate information on the Right Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey and/or the UNIA-ACL, visit http://www.unia-acl.org/

UP YOU MIGHTY RACE, YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH WHAT YOU WILL!

ONE GOD! – ONE AIM!! – ONE DESTINY!!!

ONE LOVE!!!!