Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 May 2000 — Page 6

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THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY, MAY 19,

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African Liberation Day 2000 weeken

By DR. CONRAD W. WORRILL This is the first of a two-part article on the origin and development of African Liberation Day (ALD). The celebration of African Liberation Day in the United States began in May of 1972 in Washington. More than 60,000 people participated in this historic event. In 1973, ALD was decentralized and Chicago sponsored its first ALD celebration in May of that year. Since that time, we have cel-

ebrated ALD in various ways, with parades, rallies and cultural programs. From the 1980s through 1997, NBUF’s Chicago Chapter sponsored ALD on the Westside, where we marched down Madison Street and culminated with a rally and cultural programs in Garfield Park. These ALD events have been very successful and we have been honored to sponsor them. In recent years, we have moved the celebration to the Southside of Chicago and have changed the format of our festivities. This year, the Chicago chapter,

COMMENTARY

in conjunction with the Conscious Music Coalition and the Legacy Theater have decided to expand the celebration into a weekend of events and activities with an African Marketplace beginning Friday, May 19th through Saturday, May 20th. This celebration will take place at the Legacy Theater at 12952 S. Western Ave. At 6 p.m.. May 19, we pay tribute to the 75th anniversary of the birth of Malcolm X. On May 20, there will be a special

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Memories of Malcolm

By ROD ROSS Staff Writer On May 19, El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X) would have been 75 years old. Our memories of him are frozen in time as a charismatic, fiery and youthful man. Local businessman, Warren Greene lived in New York for several years and has his.own persona] recollections of Malcolm X in Harlem. “My aunt was a friend of Betty Shabazz and I heard Malcolm speak numerous times. I met him, but we didn’t actually have a conversation. He was always surrounded by security. In the ‘60s most people wanted to belong to something and Malcolm had incredible organizational skills. With his dynamic personality, he was able to attract a lot of follow-

ers from the Nation of Islam to his organization,” said Greene. “I believe this was the main reason for the conflict between him and the Nation of Islam.” In the years since 1%5, Malcolm X has been elevated to icon status and admired as a hero by many. We are left now to wonder what he might have accomplished had he lived. “It’s really amazing to me that he is viewed this favorably now, because he was so despised back then. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to accomplish that much, when you look back on it. But one thing he did, and I don’t know if it was planned or not, was to cause the power structure to work with Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm did not support non-violence. You see, they would not deal with Malcolm and they didn’t want to deal with

Dr. King, really. Malcolm revealed what the alternative was, so they went with King. Today, this country is starved for leadership and the qualities that Malcolm displayed are rare,” said Greene. Perhaps Malcolm X’s true legacy is the continuing influence he has on young people today when they learn about him and his uncompromising commitment to the liberation of Black people worldwide, by any means necessary. His autobiography is considered one of the most important books written in the 20th century. And as Ossie Davis said in Malcolm’s eulogy, “We honor Malcolm because he was a prince. He was our Black manhood... He was not afraid to die because he loved us so.”

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showing of the movie “SankofrTbt noon. Dr. Leonard Jeffries of New York will be keynote speaker bpginning at 3 p.m., and on Saturday evening Kwame Steve Cohb, Chavunduka, Maggie Browg, Michael Ross, Keith M. Kelly., Sherrie Scott, and others will perr form. Show time begins at 7 p.m. (For more information call: 708-389-9929,773-268-7500, ext. 144, 773-667-7578, or 708-293-0925.) African Liberation Day has become an institution throughout the African world. It is a day when all people of African ancestry should come together. Whether you were bom in Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola, Haiti, Jamaica, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Belize, Bahia, Canada, Cuba, Puerto’ Rico, pr Chicago, as long as you are Black, you are an African, with a common heritage, and a common set of conditions. , As we prepare to participate in the upcoming weekend of events and activities, we must always remember the origin and developr ment of African Liberation Day. Our ancestor, Kwame Tune, explained, “ALD was founded by Kwame Nkrumah on the occasion of the First Conference of Independent States held in Accra, Ghana and attended by eight independent states. The 15th of April was declared African Freedom Day ip mark each year the onward process of the liberation movement, and tf> symbolize the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation.” ; r , Further, the AAPRP (All-Afri-can People’s Revolutionary Party) points out that, “On the 25th of May 1963, 31 African heads of state convened a summit meeting to found the Organization pf African Unity. They proclaimed May 25th as ALD and called for mass demonstrations and manifestations in every comer of Africa and the African Diaspora.” , The capturing of millions of African people, who were placed in slavery and introduced into the Wesfem hemisphere as property and commodities, is the backdrop upon which we commemorate African Liberation Day. It was the slave trade industry of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries involving Britain, France, Portugal, Spain and Germany that served as the foundation for these Western powers and provided them the margin of profit in getting the greatest return off their investment. The Western world still seeks to keep Africa and African people worldwide in bondage, so they can continue to maximize the greatest return off their initial investment. After chattel slavery was abolished in England and the United States, the slave trade industry began to wind down. The former slave-trading nations found themselves no longer needing slaves, but yet stumbled upon the natural resources of Africa. They began to fight each other over the gold, diamonds and other mineral resources they were discovering. This resulted in the calling of the Berlin Conference in 1884, where the European powers united to divide the continent of Africa among themselves. It has been discussed, historically, that those who control Africa, control the world. Therefore, the Berlin Conference was a crowning blow in African history. The results of this conference led to the carving up of Africa so that France, Britain, Portugal, Spain and Germany controlled separate territories throughout the continent. This became known as the colonial period in African history. The colonial period in Africa, just as the enslavement of African people captured and brought to North America, had a devastating impact on Africa and African people. It was not until the early 1950s that the first African country gained political independence in the movement to reclaim Africa. That country was Ghana under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah, who led the Ghanaian people in their fight against British colonialism. I will continue the discussion of the origin and development of African Liberation Day in next week’s column.