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Obi Egbuna Jnr Simunye
FOR Africans living and functioning in 125 countries all over the world, the annals of history have been an incredible asset to us collectively, primarily because it serves as a constant reminder of a collection of unfinished business we have with our former colonisers and enslavers.

This serves as a reminder that US-EU Imperialism routinely stands on their moral high horse and soapbox, not only for the purpose of preaching the gospel of democracy and human rights, but openly gloating about possessing the type of political,economic, military and cultural power they simply do not deserve to have.

Beyond US-EU Imperialism’s racist and white supremacist disposition, which long ago exceeded repulsiveness, is how far they are willing to go to silence African voices representing our genuine organised resistance. It feels like an eternity since US-EU Imperialism arrived at the conclusion that the more brutal they are in disposing of our bravest frontline warriors, fear and apathy will have a crippling and domino effect, on those among us who are in a capacity to continue the work the fallen comrades leave behind.

Whether we are monitoring time courtesy of a clock, iPhone, wristwatch or calendar, it is very hard to stomach the fact that 50 years have come and gone since Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jnr was assassinated by the FBI-CIA at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee 7:01pm Central Time.

Because Dr King was guided by courage and selflessness he will eternally be an inspiration to Mother Africa’s children, regardless of where we fall on the ideological spectrum, even his harshest critics and detractors marvel at his willingness to face death on the battlefield on countless occasions.

Commenting on Dr King in his documentary titled “A Great and Mighty Walk” the iconic historian and writer Dr John Henrik Clarke made the following statement “ I think we should be slow in criticising Martin Luther King Jnr. He was brave enough to put his life on the line for what he believed in. We are still here talking, that’s proof of his bravery over ours”.

When explaining the immeasurable value of Dr King and Brother Malcolm the Pan-Africanist giant and icon Kwame Ture stated in a rather eloquent and simple fashion, “Dr King taught the youth of the 1960s the importance of confronting the enemy, while on the other hand Malcolm taught us the importance of understanding and exposing the enemy”.

It is exactly for this reason that whenever reflecting and sharing their illustrious history, the mighty people of Zimbabwe, reserve a special place in their hearts from fallen comrades like Herbert Wiltshire Chitepo, Dr Samuel Parirenyatwa, and J.Z. Moyo, which is very similar to how so-called African Americans look at the assassinations of Civil and Human Rights pioneers Medgar Evers and Herbert Lee in Mississippi or Black Panther Party for self-defence frontliners like Bobby Hutton in Oakland, California or Fred Hampton in Chicago.

On our beloved mother continent till this day fallen comrades Patrice Emery Lumumba, Felix Moumie in the Cameroon, Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique, Steve Biko in South Africa and Amilcar Cabral of Guinea Bissau are all discussed with the ultimate honour and reverence.

Those among us who uphold the revolutionary spirit of Africans in the Caribbean have soft spots in our hearts for Africans in the Caribbean who we lost in battle like Paul Bogle in Jamaica, Maurice Bishop in Grenada or Walter Rodney in Guyana.

Thanks to our revolutionary cultural foundation we never ignore our women, this provides a logical explanation why in Zimbabwe, any discussion about either the First, Second or Third Chimurenga always without fail begins with Mbuya Nehanda and the ground shattering rebellion she led against the British and Rhodesians way back in 1896.

When the Pan-Africanist and Anti Colonial father-figure Ahmed Seku Ture was showered with adulation and praise, he always insisted that the participants in the revolutionary process of Guinea, never forget to invoke the name of Sister Mbalia Camara, who was assassinated when a cowardly local chief and neo-colonialist stooge for French colonialism and imperialism Almamy David Sylla broke into her home and stabbed her with a sabre. At the time Sister Mbalia was on the verge of giving birth, and died a week after the birth of her child.

The people of Guinea consider this tragedy as what galvanised the masses of Guinea to embrace the fact that revolution was both necessary and inevitable.

We also have witnessed how every day Africans who are not on the battlefield like Emmitt Till in Mississippi, Trayvon Martin in Florida, or Carole Robertson,Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley and Addie Mae Collins in Birmingham, Alabama can intensify and ignite our efforts, because they became casualties of US-EU Imperialism’s appetite for destruction and fear that their empire is on the verge of forever crumbling.

At every phase of the African revolutionary process our most visible and strategic fighters have come to anticipate US-EU imperialism going beyond the call of duty to invent nickel and dime conspiracy theories, to suggest that some of the most cowardly and horrific assassinations, stem from bitter internal disputes that could not have been resolved amicably.

Because the Rhodesians had an extremely difficult time accepting how zanu and zapu were winning the armed struggle, a decision was made to not only assassinate Comrade Chitepo, but to frame the guerrilla extraordinaire General Josiah Magama Tongogara.

Thanks to the resolve of zanu-pf and the Zimbabwean masses, they overcame both the loss of Comrade Chitepo and the attempt to assassinate the character of Comrade Tongogara, which was arguably just as crippling as the image of Comrade Chitepo’s body being mutilated by a bomb.

It is no coincidence that at the height of the Third Chimurenga Former President and Liberation Icon Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe has been accused by regime agents for claiming the life of Comrade Tongogara. Following this blueprint the most opportunistic elements of the G40 cabal are spinning the neo-colonialist narrative blaming President Mnangagwa for an alleged coup and committing genocide against his own people not too long after independence.

Unfortunately, our so-called African American sisters and brothers feel more comfortable blaming the Honourable Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam for the assassination of Brother Malcolm, instead of uniting and rallying for the purpose of forcing US-EU imperialism to provide full disclosure concerning the role they played in what took place at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on February 21, 1965.

What this does is provide the same opportunists, who have concocted a multitude of conspiracy theories that end up absolving the FBI-CIA for Brother Malcolm’s demise, who conveniently turned a deaf ear, when Minister Farrakhan asked our community to work together to emphatically demand that US-EU imperialism reopen the trial so we can have all the evidence on the table once and for all.

Obi Egbuna Jnr is the US Correspondent to The Herald and the external relations officer of ZICUFA (Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association). His e-mail is [email protected]

This is exactly why the Civil and Human Rights movement allowed the myth that a misguided redneck named James Earl Ray claimed the life of Dr King, which made it easier to pursue a national holiday in his honour and strike a deal to have an ivory white monument in his honour very close in proximity from the buildings where his assassination was planned in the first place.

As a knee-jerk reaction to the Trump administration’s policies and inflammatory rhetoric we might get a rare act of militancy, that could result in Civil and Human rights groups asking a full disclosure from US-EU imperialism concerning that fateful evening in Memphis.

How can we forget the twisted mind of J. Edgar Hoover who suggested Dr King commit suicide in a letter he wrote him threatening to expose him as an immoral womaniser, which stemmed from his concept of preventing the Rise of a Messiah, that highlighted containing the efforts of Dr King, the Honourable Elijah Muhammad and Kwame Ture.

Sometimes those closest to some of our most revered historical figures have witnessed old friends submit to jealousy and envy, that results in efforts to demonise and shame them in a manner that made their enemies envious.

Both Dr King and Comrade Mugabe have been subjected to this dynamic. In the case of Dr King his closest confidant Reverend Ralph David Abernathy wrote a tell all book about Dr King titled “And The Walls Came Tumbling Down”. The late Zimbabwean national hero Edgar Tekere in his book “A Lifetime In Struggle” wrote what was very similar in approach.

The Revolutionary artist Robert Nesta Marley posed the question in “Redemption Song”, ‘’How long shall they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look?’’

An honest answer might be extremely incriminating.

Obi Egbuna Jnr is the US Correspondent to The Herald and the external relations officer of ZICUFA (Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association). His e-mail is [email protected]