Marcus Garvey is still relevant today

Why Marcus Garvey is still Relevant Today

BY MELODY CAMMOCK-GAYLE

"WE must canonise our own saints, create our own martyrs, and elevate to positions of fame and honour black men and women who have made their distinct contributions to our racial history."

As the National Heroes' Day celebrations take centre stage, and our heroes are brought to the fore, I thought this a fitting time as any to explain why for me, Marcus Garvey is as relevant today as he was 80 years ago, albeit in a different time and social context.

And I'm not suggesting that the achievements and contributions of our other heroes and heroine are less significant, because undoubtedly each, in his/her own right, has done much for our development as a people and a country.

And no, I'm not a racist, nor do I believe in emigrating to Africa. In fact, I see past colour and I do try to judge each person on the content of his/her character.  I am a Jamaican and the world is my oyster.  But Garvey stands out, because many of the dreams he wanted for the black race in the 1900s, I want for Jamaica today.

"The ends you serve that are selfish will take you no further than yourself, but the ends you serve that are for all, in common, will take you into eternity."

Born in St Ann, in 1887, Marcus Mosiah Garvey is celebrated as the first black man to lead and develop a mass movement of people. He was the first man, on a mass scale, to give millions of blacks a sense of dignity and destiny.  He was a visionary, whose teachings and philosophies are as relevant today as they were a century ago, especially for a country with a 90 per cent population of black people, though in a totally different time.

Among the main tenets of his teachings were: a sense of pride in self, as a black race; respect for each other and the idea of black enterprise and entrepreneurship.  If we would get these right, then Jamaica and the conceptual framework referred to as Brand Jamaica would be unstoppable.

Garvey taught self-belief, positive self-esteem and self-respect to black people at a time when the black race was considered less than second-class citizens.  Such a concept was revolutionary then, and in some ways still revolutionary now.

He emphasised education, and an awareness and appreciation of our rich African heritage, as avenues to locate a deep sense of self-identity, which engenders personal and national growth.  To achieve greatness, Garvey believed that a people needed to believe in themselves, understand history and arm themselves with the knowledge of how to move forward co-operatively.

"The black skin is not a badge of shame, but rather a glorious symbol of national greatness."

It is therefore surprising that, more than 70 years after Marcus Garvey's death, we are still struggling with issues of love for our black self, so much so that skin-bleaching is a near epidemic. As Jamaicans, we need to draw pride from somewhere; pride in ourselves, pride in our country, pride in our achievements. Thus my strong belief is that Garveyism should be taught in schools from the primary level. Too many of our youth have little sense of identity, no idea of their past, and no interest in their future.

Understanding that the theoretical construct of national identity is about collectivity and connectivity, Garvey's teaching will help to provide that cognitive, moral, and emotional connection, which must be made between an individual and his/her broader community or category.  With this in place, we would have created a system of meaning which allows people to feel a sense of oneness, security, inclusion, and belonging.

Collective identity guides individual action, provides a moral compass and emotional connection with other people who share similar interests and ideologies in a broader community. Self-belief affects self-image, which affects nation development. A people who love themselves don't deface their skin.  A people who love their nation don't deface national symbols, throw garbage on roads or in gullies, or urinate at every street corner or display blatant disregard for law and order.

Pride in self must overflow to respect for each other.  A people working together for the development of self and nation have no time to annihilate the brother working beside him.
 

"The Negro will have to build his own government, industry, art, science, literature and culture, before the world will stop to consider him."

Garvey also believed in economic self-sufficiency and financial independence, seeing this as the black race's only protection against discrimination.  Once this economic foundation was created, they could then move on to social and political pursuits.  Still, 50 years after Independence, Jamaica has neither economic self-sufficiency nor financial independence.

Sadly, we have not been able to curb spending, while our taste for everything foreign continues to drive us deeper into debt.  Last year the food import bill alone stood at US$959 million.  Despite the Government's campaign to 'Eat what we grow; Grow what we eat' there has been little overall traction in encouraging demand for locally produced products or injecting enthusiasm in local manufacturing. But, this is where we need to look if we are to experience any economic success as a nation. Garvey truly got it right.

So, as the great visionary Marcus Garvey said: "We Are arbiters of our own destiny. God and nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own creative genius we make ourselves what we want to be." So, I guess the question is what do we want to be?

"Intelligence rules the world, ignorance carries the burden."

Melody Cammock-Gayle is the director — business development and marketing at Communications & Business Solutions (CBS) Limited. cbsmarketingja@gmail.com

October 21, 2013

 Jamaica Observer

The negative media portrayal of black males as criminals

Who is George Zimmerman? Some people say he is a white American; others say he is a Latino American of mixed race, but the fact is he killed a teenage African American young man. However, in the news reports Zimmerman claims that he shot a suspicious looking young black man walking in his neighbourhood. But what clues Zimmerman had to claim that the young black man looked suspicious and suspicious of what? It is obvious that Mr Zimmerman has been influenced by popular western media that portray black men as criminals.

Most people think that George Zimmerman is a racist and he targeted a young black male and committed a hate crime and he should be punished for his bigotry and murder. However, if George Zimmerman was black man and he killed a young white man, most likely in American society he would have been charged with murder, but in the United Sates race is a factor that determines people’s ethnicity and class status. But then again, race and class discrimination is not isolated to American society, because lots of people all over the world are living with hate. They hate other human beings for various reasons beside race.

In the Caribbean there are many people as Zimmerman and sometimes they do stupid things, if and when they have privilege to exercise their powers in society. For example, Caribbean men and women in the police and military service who have the privilege to carry weapons to serve and protect the state, sometimes kill innocent civilians by abusing state power. In most cases, the police and soldiers in Caribbean countries are black and they abuse civilians of all different races for various reasons. And sometimes the state covers up the crimes they commit, when it suits the interest of those in higher authority.

Race, class and gender are social factors that determine people’s status within society. In the United States black people are an ethnic minority that has a lot of social problems. High rate of gun crime, racism, unemployment and drugs are daily dilemmas black Americans have to deal with in their community. 

However, these social dilemmas have created a sort of perception that all black people, especially black men, are suspected drug dealers and thieves, and we cannot deny the fact that George Zimmerman has targeted the young black man as a suspected criminal, who he perceived had some kind of intention to commit a crime in the neighbourhood. Therefore, in the process of confrontation, he shot the unarmed young black man dead.

Most of us as adult black males can visualise what this young black man went through before he was fatally shot. Personally, I experienced the negative stereotype of what is expected of a black man. On many occasions persons of other racial backgrounds approach me and ask if I have drugs to sell and when I reply to them that I do not use or sell drugs, they usually act like if they are surprised. I have experienced some folks of other racial backgrounds make racial jokes when they see a police cruiser passing and telling their black coworkers to look out, the cops are coming for them. 

In North America, the concept that certain crimes fit people of a particular race is no hidden thing and it is sometimes promoted in some media outlets. We cannot deny that Mr Zimmerman must have gravitated to this kind of negative media portrayal that associates some particular criminal activities with black males. 

However, the young black man Trayvon Martin is dead but Mr Zimmerman is alive and living as a free human being, while black folks and other people of good reasoning conscience protest against racism. But this tragedy won’t be the last racially profiling killing. Racism is alive globally in all societies where people of different race and ethnicities reside together. People who follow the Marxist ideology principles believe that capitalism is the root of racism. Some religious folks blame the devil for instilling racism in people’s mind. Many other people have their own views about racism.

However, I believe that racism will never be eliminated from society because some folks who are racists usually accuse anti-racist people of being racists too and in other cases religious doctrines and holy books’ teachings are being used to justify racism. But as I look at black people on the television news media protesting against George Zimmerman as a racist murderer, I wonder how many of them are conscious of the racial dilemma they encounter on a daily basis, even though they are sensitive enough to protest against racism and the killing of the young black man, but at the same time they are being brainwashed by the same mainstream media that are destroying the fabric of black society.

April 7, 2012

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