Reflections on Pan-Africanism - Straight Talk Africa

In this edition of Straight Talk Africa, host Shaka Ssali explores the concept of Pan-Africanism and its significance. He is joined by Louise Uwacu, Host and Producer of "U&I" television talk show on Show TV in Vancouver, Canada, Michael A. Brown, Lobbyist and Former Vice Chairman Democratic National Committee Finance Committee and Educator and Activist Raphael C. Jackson.
#PanAfricanism

[@skimanization]

I remember an old Afrika story of an old man who had sons( I don't remember how many...maybe 5 or 6) and they used to fight and defeated as individuals with boys from other villages. Sometimes they would quarrel amongst themselves. They would always come home badly beaten and the would nurse their wounds. One day the old man called all his sons and gathered them together, and he had a pile of fighting sticks. He asked them one by one to brake one of the fighting sticks, all of them managed to break it. Then he took all the sticks and bind them into a bundle, and asked them one by one to break it. After many attempts, they couldn't. He laughed and then said, "individually you'll always be defeated by your enemies but, if united, like this bundle, you'll always defeat all your enemies". No country in the continent of Afrika will ever defeat a European, American, Asiatic, Arabian, countries alone. Therefore, Pan-Africanism was what all the great African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Haile Sellassie, etc. in Africa and the black leaders in the diaspora Marcus Garvey, Dubois, Stokely Carmichael, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear etc. advocated. Unity is Strength. Divided we fall, United we stand. PAN-AFRICANISM.

[@kwamezulushabazz]

Great story. Thanks for sharing it.

[@festuseugeneresearchinstitute.]

True fact, let us not relent in educating our young once about the importance of Pan-Africanism

[@abassakesse1446]

Africans need be ready to fight our fight our own fight instead of standing on someone shoulder

[@bobbye.wright4424]

Over 175million afrikans in the americas

[@mavolaj-dauniverse8487]

Woow didn't no

[@WhatsinterestigToday]

Hi Mr Ssali, Sir. I am loving your shows. Just a side question: I am curious to know whether you were named after Shaka Zulu or was it independent, rather based on given names in your region?

[@lubowa6949]

This conversation

[@MsTriteseariaCammy]

Nothing good for Africa is going to happen until the Berlin Conference is reversed undone dissolved you cannot flourish under a tyranny system set up to Forever keep you defeated you must contend with the Berlin Conference you must get rid of the foreign influences in order to give Africans the Fresh Start they need to develop the continent

[@suzyomanda4359]

I always enjoy your program Shaka Ssali

[@cjgmc1]

This gentleman is a suave dresser.

[@rizza7862]

@19:17,Paul Cuffe,the "Original Father of Pan-Africanism",he preceded Garvey by almost one hundred years. He made 2-3 voyages to Africa with his own ship. He was from Massachusetts. He was an international trader,,ship builder,abolitionist,carpenter and a sailor. He transported many Black American families by way of England to Sierra Leone. He was a great man and is rarely mentioned in Black/Pan-African history.

[@lenrodnzulubaraka5829]

As an African living in the Diaspora, I am always interested in any information that throws light on the plight of Africans globally. It is indeed useful for Africans to know of the glories of our past as a people, but the glories of the past mean nothing if in the context of the world today Africans continue to occupy the basement of achievement. If black people were the first builders of civilization then why are we not building great societies in continental Africa and in the Diaspora? If we accept the Biblical narrative as factual then it becomes evident that black people when compared to Jews are underachieving in a very significant way. Jews have been forced to deal with slavery, discrimination, pogroms, and a holocaust and yet they are over-represented among Nobel Prize recipients, great thinkers, and the doers of great deeds. Jews in spite of their historical handicaps have been able to amass great wealth where ever they have settled on the earth. Something seems to be missing from the black equation. If other groups of people can pass through experiences similar to ours and yet rise to the pinnacle of power and success in today's world then it means that black people potentially can transform their circumstances and elevate themselves from the tail status to the head status. I continue to be an advocate of the concept that the greatest obstacle in the path to African greatness in today's world is the ignorance of our past and our limited awareness of who we truly are as a people. Continental Africans and Africans in the Diaspora communicate in the languages of our colonizers. We eat the food and wear the clothing of our colonizers. Our political and educational standards are set by our colonizers. We have abandoned the Gods of our ancestors and we have embraced new Gods who neither look like us nor care too much about the plight of African people. Additionally, continental Africans and Africans in the Diaspora seem quite content to feast on a set of cultural norms that originated in the minds of our colonizers. Africans have been whitewashed and transformed into anemic versions of their colonizers. Africans try to speak, dress, eat, behave, worship, and look like their colonizers. The tragedy in all this is that Africans can never be Europeans and we are only wasting our substance trying to be that which we can never become. The path to glory for Africans lies in the acceptance of our unique African essence. Not only must we learn and know the story of our past but we must also celebrate our identity as Africans. In the same way that Jews look to Jerusalem and Muslims look to Mecca, Africans must look to Africa. Africans in the Diaspora should consciously be thinking about and planning a hajj to the Mother Land. Rather than spending our tourist dollars in Trump's America or in xenophobic fortress Europe, we should be looking to travel to Africa and to other countries with a majority of melanin-rich inhabitants. In addition to weaponizing our tourist dollars, African people need to learn the first law of racial economics. This law states that no race can give away its wealth to other races and still become rich and powerful. Black dollars must bounce around in black communities among black people. Ask around among other racial groups or observe the economic practices of other groups for yourself. If other racial groups hardly ever spend their dollars with black people why are black people spending so much of their money with other racial groups? African greatness is achievable but like all other groups who have achieved greatest in modern times, Africans have to rediscover ourselves. We have to stop trying to be what we can never be and most importantly we have to learn and apply all the principles that lead to outstanding achievement. It will take a lot of hard work and discipline but these are traits that should be second nature to Africans after four hundred years of slavery.

[@vincentmbogo4767]

Very insightiful

[@opisthognathous]

Please can I ask a simple question? Which of the thousands of languages in Africa should be selected as our national language to replace French and English?

[@lenrodnzulubaraka5829]

@@opisthognathous Any one that Africans can agree on.

[@kadogo7712]

Interesting panafricanism conversation

[@realisticnewsviewer3316]

Not black, but Habasha: Ethiopian means pan Africanism. Amhara/Tigray or habesha are owner of Africa they’ve been a part of Berlin meeting. habesha are only African civilization existed in the history.

[@dpage2269]

I need someone to produce my Pan African videos. Get@me

[@aiyumva]

Uwacu's hairstyle is on point. Typically african

[@Peter-the-Angry]

youre not vegetarian if you eat meat seldomly. Africa has a wide range or cultures and food to say we're all vegetarian is incorrect.