Dr. Maulana Karenga: The Joy and Justice of Archbishop Tutu

The Joy and Justice of Archbishop Tutu: In Remembrance, Reflection and Honor Dr. Maulana Karenga |01-02-22 | Surely, we as African persons and an African people, join our South African sisters and brothers, other Africans everywhere, and other freedom and justice loving people of the world in paying rightful and reverent homage at this moment of the grievous passing and joyous rising of Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu; son of Zacharias and Aletha Matlare Tutu; husband of Nomalizo Leah Schenxane Tutu; father of Trevor Thamsanga, Naomi Nontombi, Mpho Andrea and Theresa Thandeka. We honor him in his name and work, as honored priest and prophet of his faith; self-giving servant of his people; theologian who placed at the center of his thought and practice the good of humanity and the well-being of the world; human rights activist who taught and fought for the dignity and rights of human beings in all their differences and diversities; and highly esteemed, eminent and essential African witness to the peoples of the world. We praise him in his name Mpilo, life and health, which was a sign of the work he would do and the struggle he would wage in the interests of the life and health of the people. A sign too of the life of joy he would live and the struggle he would wage in the midst and movement of his people to end the racist sickness and savagery of apartheid and achieve with them liberation, justice and a good life, a life of health, happiness, well-being and flourishing. May the joy he brought and the good he left last forever. Hotep. Ashe. Heri. Makube njalo phakade (May it be so forever.) I had met and briefly talked with Archbishop Tutu twice: once at a reception for him at Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley's house, May 1985, during the apartheid period and afterwards, May 1990 when he visited and lectured at California State University, Long Beach where I serve as professor and chair of the Department of Africana Studies. And I've read his works and listened to interviews and lectures by him, and his joy of life and struggle and his profound commitment to justice were at all times vital, visceral and visible. His joyful approach recalls the sacred teachings of our ancestors in the Odu Ifa that says, "Let's do things with joy. . . For surely humans have been divinely chosen to bring good into the world" and this is the fundamental mission and meaning of human life. Our beloved brother thought and talked in world-encompassing ways, for he knew with Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune that "Our task is to rebuild the world. It is nothing less than this." But he asked us to work for justice, peace and good wherever we are and know that will add up and affect the way of the world. Thus, he tells us, "Do your little bit of good where you are; (for) it is the little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." He considered silence complicity and claims of neutrality in the struggles for liberation and justice sinister and self-deceptive. For he said, "Those who turn a blind eye to injustice actually perpetuate injustice. If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor." Clearly Nana Mpilo was deeply rooted in his Christian faith and understood that the moral measure of our work and societies is defined and determined by how we treat the most vulnerable among us. Indeed, this is an ancient African moral imperative, summed up in the sacred teachings of our ancestors in the Husia which says we are morally obligated "to bear witness to truth and set the scales of justice in their proper place, especially among those who have no voice," the devalued, the disempowered, the poor, the downtrodden and the oppressed. Reaffirming this principle in the context of his faith, he declared that he serves "a God notoriously biased in favor of the weak, of the oppressed, of the suffering, of the orphan, of the widow, of the alien," i.e., the stranger, the immigrant, the different and vulnerable. Indeed, he not only criticized and condemned the racist and brutish White apartheid rulers and regime for their savage suppression and denial of the rights and dignity of African people, he also criticized the post-apartheid ANC government for not delivering the anticipated and deserved benefits of liberation and ending the grinding poverty of the masses. He criticized all schemes and policies which in his assessment fell short of substantive freedom and justice. Thus, in his visit to the U.S. during the height of internal and world-wide resistance to apartheid, he told the House Foreign Affairs Committee, "We do not want to make our chains more comfortable. We want to remove them." This recalls Nana Frederick Douglass' liberational contention that the need and way forward is not to hug our chains, but to break them. Again, Nana Tutu worked and struggled for liberation, justice and peace, not only in South Africa, but in the whole world. Although the corporate media did not cover or praise him for it, of all his audacious and uncompromising positions taken, none was more consistent and definitive than his stand for the liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian people from what he described as a brutal apartheid Israeli occupation with parallels to apartheid South Africa. And as President Nelson Mandela before him, he would not retract or relent in his support of the self-determination and human rights of the Palestinian people. He maintained that "Goodness will prevail in the end." And in this hard-won, carefully and caringly built and constantly defended space, real freedom, justice and peace will emerge, not only for the Palestinian people, but for each and every one everywhere, in a word, all the peoples of the world. Archbishop Tutu stressed our shared humanity, using the Zulu concept of ubuntu which he defined as "the essence of being human." Like similar communitarian concepts in other African cultures, it, he says, "speaks particularly about the fact you can't exist as a human being in isolation; it speaks about our interconnectedness," our interdependence and our capacity for collectively creating and sharing good. Against vulgar isolationist individualism, he maintains that "You can't be human all by yourself." Indeed, he affirms, "we can only be human together in relationships." This is expressed in the essential ubuntu affirmation, "umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu – a human being is a human being through other human beings!" Thus, Nana Mpilo wants us to see ourselves in each other, in how we relate to and treat each other, and how we work and share goodness with each other. If we are self-consciously related and interconnected, and we think and act in other-directed ways, he teaches us, we become generous and just, gentle, kind, compassionate and considerate, in a word, we do good in the world. And he taught "when you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity." This recalls and raises up the sacred teaching of Odu Ifa that says, "Doing good worldwide is the best example (expression) of character." His assertion that "My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up in what is yours" recalls Dr. Martin L. King's earlier statement "We are caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny." Nana Mpilo tells us that "No human made problems are intractable when humans put their heads together with their earnest desire to overcome them." And "no peace is impossible when people are determined to achieve it." But he knew, as Nana King rightly asserted, "True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice" for all of us. Archbishop Tutu, it is reported, when asked how he would like to be remembered, said we should say: "He loved. He laughed. He cried. He was forgiven. He forgave. Greatly privileged." Clearly, he felt greatly privileged and honored by the mission which heaven and history had assigned him and he carried it out with deep sensitivity, sagacity, compassion and courage. He loved the people and the struggle. He laughed with joy at the presence and possibility of the good. He cried about injustice and resisted it. And he posed solving the problem of forgiving and being forgiven as key to our future. We don't have to agree with every point he made, but we must concede he was a model and mirror in the best of African and human traditions of work and struggle to bring and sustain good in the world and leaving a legacy worthy of both preservation through self-conscious commitment and emulation through sincere and sustained practice. Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach; Executive Director, African American Cultural Center (Us); Creator of Kwanzaa; and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, The Message and Meaning of Kwanzaa: Bringing Good Into the World and Essays on Struggle: Position and Analysis, www.AfricanAmericanCulturalCenter-LA.org; www.OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org; www.MaulanaKarenga.org.

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5th Annual African Day Parade, Sunday, October 9, In Harlem USA

5th Annual Harlem African Day Parade, Sunday, October 9, 2011, from 11:00AM til 4:00PM - from Malcolm X and 135th to 122nd Street and over to Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. There will be a street festival at the ACP State Office Building, with live entertainment on stage. Additionally, on Thursday, October 6, there will be a fundraiser at the State Office Building, Windows Over Harlem, starting at 5:30 til 8:30; food, entertainment; private auction; souvenir and gift items etc for sale.

A consortium of Africans in America, primarily from the New York City area ( with participation from New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and DC Areas, as well) have come together to present a parade of pride in their heritage and their continent.

This is the fifth such parade, and the only parade of its kind, by Africans for Africans and people of African descent, including those of us in the 6th Diasporic African region of the US and the Caribbean.

The brainchild and inspiration of Mr. Momadou Kone, of the Ivory Coast, who brought Africans from all over the continent together six years ago, in 2005, to form the parade, it had been held each year until 2010, primarily financed out of Mr. Kone's personal funds, with assistance from those who likewise believed in the need for a parade of pride.

However, 2010 posed grim problems since Mr. Kone, who had been downsized out of his position, and his compatriots, who were facing a similar belt tightening situation, did not have the financial wherewithal to pull it off.

Not wanting to let too much time elapse before holding another parade, Kone contacted those who had been involved in the previous endeavors, bringing together new recruits, and is working to make this the start of something truly big.

With countries such as Ghana, Camaroun, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, the USA, and many others involved in the planning of this year's festivities, it has the making of a spectacular event.

A portion of the proceeds from the parade will go to establish an African Learning Center in Harlem; the first one ever developed by Africans themselves. Additionally, a portion of the funds will go toward scholarships, and the famine in East Africa. This annual event reaches out to all the countries on the Continent of Africa to show pride, unity, and combat the ever increasing negative images portrayed in the media about Africa and people of African heritage.

"It gives us an opportunity to work together in a positive effort to bring about something great of which we all can be proud, and at the same time teach our people, our children and each other about the great legacy and future Africa has for us all." (GDW)

This also marks the celebration of Nigeria's independence from British rule. There will be a lot of cross-pollination of ceremonies with parades, parties, and libations throughout the entire week.

Individuals interested in either participating in the parade or contributing to the parade can contact Ms. Adesuwa Enabulele at (347) 813-3761, or emailing her at apenabulele@gmail.com; you can also contact Bill Perkin's office at (212) 222-7315 - speak with Ms. Cordell Cleare.

So come out and join the Parade and wear something Afri-Centric!

STAY BLESSED &

ECLECTICALLY BLACK

Gloria Dulan-Wilson

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Uhuru Movement Celebrating the life of Omali Yeshitela (formerly known as Joseph Waller)

Join the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library of the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg on Thursday, January 21 in celebrating the life and work of Omali Yeshitela (formerly known as Joseph Waller), leader of the Uhuru Movement and Chairman of the African People's Socialist Party.
USF librarian Jim Schnur will conduct an interview with Chairman Omali which will be accompanied by videos and photos of the Chairman's life and campaigns.

Chairman Omali has been honored by the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library of the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg which recently announced its new special collection of Yeshitela's writings and works. The newly acquired collection will be on display at the event.

The University of South Florida-St.Petersburg has put together the largest collection of the works of Omali Yeshitela in the world. The Chairman was chosen because he was born in St. Petersburg and has achieved international influence over national and world events.

The event will begin at 6pm and feature an African dessert buffet, an interview with questions from the audience and a personal book signing by Omali Yeshitela.

For more information call 727.821.6621 or email adminasst@apspuhuru.org.

African People's Socialist Party • UhuruNews.com • info@apspuhuru.org • 727-821-6620

Interfaith discussion in the wake of Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab North West Airlines plot

The African Council of Imams, Leaders of the interfaith based organizations across New York and the United African Congress invite the public to an interfaith community dialogue to discuss the recent developments surrounding the North West Airline plane bomb plot and the mounting tide of terrorism threats


In the wake of the shocking bomb plot by Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the Council of African Imams in collaboration with the United African Congress, the African Advisory Council and faith based organizations across New York City invite you to an Interfaith Dialogue on Friday, January 8, 2010.

Leaders from faith based organizations and institutions have been invited to this citywide dialogue that will address the views of the faith based community in the ongoing developments concerning the North West Airline plane bomb plot and the growing resurgence of terrorism around the world.

Will the voices of the faith based community inform the ongoing discussions on terrorism? Will they define terrorism as a product of religion, culture or affluence? These and many more questions will define our role as law abiding citizens residing in the United States.

The recent developments on the US bound Northwest Airline on December 25, 2009 have moved the US government, the international community and other policy makers to search for answers.

Please join the African Council of Imams, the United African Congress, the African Advisory Council, African Community leaders in New York and government officials in informing the ongoing discussions about the reported Plane bomb plot by Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab.

When: Friday, January 8, 2010

Where: Masjid Aqsa, 2136 8th Avenue (Fredrick Douglas Blvd), Between 115th & 116th New York NY 1026.

Time: 1pm.
RSVP:Mr. Spencer Chiimbwe- 347 209 8300, Mr. Bourema Niambele- 917 291 3833

An Open Email to Dr. Darsi Ferrer Ramirez: Imprisonment is an occupational hazard for activists who make mistakes!

All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC)

The Inheritor and Continuator of the Revolutionary Theory and Practice of
Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure and Kwame Ture
www.a-aprp-gc.org – info@a-aprp-gc.org


Part 1 of 3 parts – December 14, 2009
An Open Email to Dr. Darsi Ferrer Ramirez:
Imprisonment is an occupational hazard for activists who make mistakes!

Dr. Ferrer,

You are accused of illegal possession of two bags of cement that cost about $8 in state-owned stores. Yusnaimy Jorge Soca, your wife, has publicly said, in the Uncommon Sense blog, that “When he was arrested, the police raided our house, supposedly, due to [a] tip that we were buying construction materials with an illegal origin. During that fake search in our house, they confiscated two bags of cement and some metal sheets. … What nobody understands is, why they didn’t show any interest in the bag of cement, the gravel and the sand piles we have had in the house’s front porch, in plain view, for almost a year?” She also said that you were using the cement to fix a hole in the ceiling of your house. If this is true, this was not a political act. It was an error, with tragic repercussions for you, your family, and the people and cause you serve. We beg you, as members of the A-APRP (GC), to not compound this error, this tragedy, by attempting to politicize and build a movement around your case. We speak to you as your older sisters and brothers. We speak to you from experience---collective and individual.

You know that stealing from state workplaces in Cuba, the “rerouting of resources,” is so common that some Cubans dismiss it as an acceptable part of daily life. Cubans call it “por la izquierda,” on the left. In November 2005, Fidel calculated that this “rerouting” could be costing the state as much as $200 million. He accidentally discovered state workers boldly selling stolen construction materials in a public market, and reportedly asked, “Just how many ways of stealing do we have in this country?” Raul has called it a “deadly cancer,” plaguing the Revolution. In March 2009, he allegedly replaced most of his cabinet, “in part, on the grounds that they were too cozy with foreign business men and lax in controlling graft beneath them.”

Corruption in Cuba did not begin in 1959, when the July 26 Movement seized power. “There is hardly a period in the history of Cuba,” according to Robert Buddan, on page 97 of The Foundation of Caribbean Politics, “that is not replete with descriptions of corruption in government, through every administration.” In 1942, according to Wikipedia, “the British Foreign Office reported that the U.S. State Department was “very worried” about corruption under Fulgencio Batista, describing the problem as “endemic” and exceeding “anything which had gone on previously.” Batista was African. He was also a prostitute and a pimp for U.S. Mafia bosses and businessmen, who by the way were European. Eduardo Chibas dedicated his life to fighting corruption under the presidencies of Ramon Grau and Carlos Prio. Dating as far back as August 23, 1498, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain sent Francisco de Bobadilla to Havana to relieve Christopher Columbus, and his two brothers, Diego and Bartholomew, of their command in Cuba. They were accused of mismanagement and of being rebellious subjects. They were arrested and shipped back to Spain in chains. When it became clear to the Monarchs that Bobadilla had abused the trust they placed in him, they ordered Columbus’ release, and assured him of their royal favor. But they did not restore him to his position as Governor of the West Indies.

In their paper, Housing Policy in Castro’s Cuba, Teddy Kapur and Alastair Smith, report that from 1959 to 1993, the housing stock in Cuba grew 80%, with the construction by the government of 1.3 million dwellings, while the population only grew 57%. The largest population growth occurred in the African community. The gusanos, the Cuban worms, fled to the comfort and safety of Miami. That exodus was overwhelmingly European/persons of Spanish descent. “The staggering need for housing,” according to Kapur and Smith, “has left the government in a perpetual chase to build enough units to distribute to needy families. … From 1971 to 1985, the need for housing grew from 745,000 units to 888,000 units.” The proportion of housing in good or average condition grew from 53% in 1953 to 83% in 1993. Leaseholders in government housing pay no more than 10% of their income on rent. The actual range is from 3-7%. The average state employee makes $10 per month. The price of vacant lots was set at $4 per square meter. Homeownership in Cuba is 85%, higher than in the African community in Chicago. A typical apartment in Havana is valued at between 4,500 to 10,500 pesos. Between 1996 and 2000, 141,000 units were added and 250,000 units restored in the Habana Vieja district. One half of these units were through individual efforts thanks to remittances from Cubans in Miami and one half through governmental efforts. The cost of rehabilitating all of Havana is estimated to be $14 billion.

Members of our organization, the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC), have traveled to Cuba, for more than 4 decades. And we will travel to Cuba again, again, and again. We do not respect, accept, and will not obey the illegal and immoral ban on travel to Cuba. We know how the people of Cuba live, because we stay with them, not in tourist hotels. We know that one of Cuba’s greatest needs is for paint and cement. We know that Cuba is a major producer of cement, for the entire Caribbean, but its production capacity is outstripped by its needs; and severely damaged by the illegal and immoral embargo which the government of the united snakes has imposed for more than 40 years. Cuba is also suffering, like many countries in the Caribbean, from a wave of hurricanes that ravage its infrastructure. Thanks to its planning and organization however, the best in the world, few casualties are sustained. We have heard that the penalty for stealing a cow is higher than for killing a child, a woman or a man. If so, it should be, since that cow, in its lifetime, produces milk for thousands of children, and will feed, when it can produce no more milk, hundreds of women and men.

Dr. Ferrer,

Corruption is also pandemic in the united snakes, from Wall Street to the White House to the Governors Mansion in Illinois and the Mayor’s Office in Chicago. Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is accused of trying to sell Barrack Obama’s senatorial seat to the highest bidder. Blago is also accused of attempting to “use a $1.8-billion tollway project as a carrot to lure $500,000 in campaign contributions” from a Toronto-based cement company. These are not political acts! Michael Scott, the chairperson of the Chicago School Board, an African, plead guilty to misusing his School Board credit card to pay $3,000 in expenses for his and his wife’s trip to Copenhagen to lobby for Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. His death, whether by murder as some believe or suicide as the coroner and police have ruled, is not political! The Mayor of Baltimore, an African woman, was recently convicted for buying a Nintendo with gift cards that were donated to the City for distribution to the poor. Her crime was not political! It was a crime against the City of Baltimore and all its citizens. She is not a political prisoner!

Theft of public resources and public trust, the creative “mobilization of resources,” is called many names in Chicago, including “pay-to-play,” patronage, etc. The bourgeois Nationalist Movement calls it “nationalization,” not socialist nationalization, but nationalization for individuals and elites, and justifies it by saying that they are taking back what the slave masters, the imperialists stole from us. Some call it “reparations” for the crimes they committed against us during our almost 6 centuries-long and continuing Maafa (1415 to today). But, there can be no justification for theft from the people, from the people’s institutions, from the people’s state. There can be no justification for stealing xerox paper or toilet paper from Bennett College, Cornell University, Emory University, the University of Maryland at College Park, the Center for Inner City Studies at Northeastern Illinois University or Princeton University; or for stealing pennies from the collection plates or frozen chicken from the kitchens at Trinity United Church of Christ and Allen Temple Baptist Church. God forbade it, and the laws of Cuba and the united snakes forbid it as well. Corruption and confusion—moral and spiritual, political and economic, is also pandemic in the civil and women’s rights, nationalist and Pan-African Movements in the united snakes and worldwide, and in the church as well. It is a ticking time bomb that is waiting to explode/implode and be exposed.

Our Party, the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC), is the inheritor and continuator of the revolutionary theory and practice of Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure and Kwame Ture. We have supported the Cuban Revolution since its victory in 1959, and will continue to do so. We will not join forces with the enemies of the Cuban Revolution, who are also the enemies of African and World Humanity, not even to save our own lives. We are asked to support you, simply because of the color of your skin. You and we know that this request is unacceptable. The A-APRP (GC), adheres to the principle of class as primary in relationship to nationality, as enunciated by Ahmed Sekou Toure who correctly said at the so-called 6th Pan-African Congress in Dar es Salaam in 1974: “Fidel is more of a brother to me than Mobutu.” We say today, for the entire world to hear, that Raul is more of a brother to us than Batista or Carlos Moore. The class implications of this statement are undeniable, correct and clear.

Dr. Ferrer,

The crime that you are accused of is not political; and you are not a political prisoner. If you had those bags of cement, as your wife reported, and can not produce a valid receipt documenting there purchase, then you are guilty of possessing stolen property, the peoples’ property, state property at the very least. You are simply another brother who made a mistake, a tragic mistake, like millions of our brothers and sisters who are languishing in prisons in every corner of Africa and the African Diaspora. You are at best, a socio-economic prisoner, not a political one. If you insist that you are a political prisoner, please explain to us what your political ideology and objectives are. We beg you to not make another mistake. Please, do not be misused by forces that have no regard for you or for African People in any corner of the world. Do not become a pawn, cannon fodder, in a filthy and immoral game. It will be tragic for all forces concerned.

Raul,

The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC) is confident that you and the highest levels of the Cuban government will insure and protect Dr. Ferrer’s civil rights, especially his human and civil right to a just, impartial and swift hearing. We know the Cuban Revolution will ensure his health and safety while he is incarcerated. We are also confident that you will continue to root out and crush corruption in any and all of its manifestations and forms, in Cuba in general, and in the housing and cement industry in particular, without pity or mercy, without regard to national (race or ethnicity), gender or age, status, stature or situation. Oppressed humanity will be forever grateful to you!

Ready for the Revolution!
Members of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC)

See also:
Part 2: Open Email to African Intellectuals: Conscience cannot be sustained on a foundation of corruption!
Part 3: Open Email to Dr. Carlos Moore: We are known by the company we keep, and the lies we tell!