Reparations March 1st August 2014

Emancipation Day 2014

On the morning of Friday 1st August 2014, the Afrikan family gathered in Brixton South London.

On this day we re-affirmed our commitment of each other and to our ancestors. 

On this day we showed that despite differences in perspective, we are able to work together on things that we have in common.

"Leaders are people who raise the standard by which they judge themselves, and by which they are willing to be judged. A love of high quality, we must remember is essential in a leader."

His Imperial Majesty 

Emperor Haile Selassie First

Those who have taken the initiative, must remember that our liberty can not be defined by an event, however powerful that event may be. We are in a process and the building of institutions is a crucial aspect of this process. 

We made an important step this day and it is also significant that we are  marking the one hundred anniversary of the establishment of the UNIA (ACL). Which was brought into being on the 20th July 1914 by the Right Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

Let us remember that a step is the beginning of a journey and not the culmination. 

We have come a long way, however we still have a long way to go!

I can say, that, I am proud to have taken part in the march, but euphoria aside, we have been at this point several times before. Let us now advance to victory and do not falter.  

A New Day?

Emancipation deferred!

The Stone that the builder refuse.......

 Recently I have been involved in some renovation work in "my" garden. As the picture suggests I have had to do some physically demanding work.

Now this may not seem to be a momentous event, however, for someone such as myself who has fallen into office work and has managed to avoid strenuous work for several years, it did make me contemplate my journey and that of my forbears.
The fact of the matter is that I found it very difficult to swing my sledgehammer for much more than 6 - 7 minutes at a time. I wanted to stop, take a break, get a drink, whatever. Then I felt ashamed of myself , as I remembered the souls who lived through chattel bondage and colonisation.
Every Time I hear the sound of the whip.........
You may rightly ask where is all this leading, well here it is. Tomorrow 1 August 2014 is Emancipation Day. That is, it is the anniversary of the day in 1833 when the Abolition of Slavery Act  [Emancipation Proclamation] came into force. On this day Afrikans in the British carried beyond were declared free. There was great rejoicing and families gathered together and gave thanks to the creator that they had lived to see this day. Yet, what was the reality of this event. True, they were in some sense no longer compelled to work for their slave master from "can't see in the morning 'til can't see at night." Officially they could govern their own lives, but the actuality was  this, on the Monday morning after the declaration, most had to return to their "former" master and beg for some work, as they were now solely responsible for providing food, clothes and shelter for themselves and their families. No land was handed over to them, no monies were made available to them to get started, no effort was made to assist them in becoming self sufficient. Instead, the planters were given a gift of £20,000,000 as compensation for loss of stock. In fact if you read the Hansard of 24 July 1833 Mr Fowell Buxton said,