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Marcus Mosiah Garvey

Obi Egbuna Jr Simunye—

On Wednesday November 23, the US-EU Imperialist news conglomerate CNN published an appeal by the biological son of the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Dr Julius Garvey appropriately entitled “Pardon my Father Mr President”.The purpose of the document is to demand that Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey finally be pardoned for the bogus mail fraud charges which were trumped up by the US government, that not only led to nearly three years of Comrade Garvey’s incarceration, but eventually led to his deportation.

This appeal also reminds Africans at home and abroad that this entire scheme was diabolically masterminded by one of the most wicked men of the 20th century, former FBI director and war criminal J Edgar Hoover.

Dr Garvey begins this powerful and thought-provoking piece with the following comment “ If you have been following the news for the last year, you have undoubtedly read much about the activities and purview of the FBI.

“For me, the role of the bureau in the lives of Americans has special resonance. To elaborate, I’d like to introduce you to my father.’’

The strategic brilliance and manipulation of our former colonial and slave master’s mother tongue could easily be overlooked by the casual reader, however, it is safe to say President Obama and the members of his Cabinet, got the message loud and clear.

What Dr Garvey was able to do was let it be known emphatically that he is not appealing to President Obama as an African, but as the face of the most violent and hypocritical government history’s annals have ever witnessed.

While it can be aggressively argued that the masses of so-called African Americans have been in political hibernation during Obama’s tenure in the White House, or rather in a trance due to post racial era hypnosis, Dr Garvey and the Justice 4 Garvey movement’s aim at turning Obama’s attention for the need to posthumously pardon one of Africa’s brightest sons and lifting US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe go hand in hand.

Because President Obama has made an art out of superficially embracing his African ancestry when it is completely safe and convenient, the demand to pardon Cde Garvey and lift US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe, represent visionary and bravery on the part of those who believe holding President Obama’s feet to the fire takes precedence over sugar-coating his legacy, which is indirectly becoming an apologist for the recent atrocities committed by US-EU Imperialism and those who participated in the enslavement of our ancestors and the invasion of our mother continent.

Before so-called African Americans, who worship the ground Obama walks on twist their lips or suck their teeth in response to these sentiments, they cannot deny when the president came to Selma, Alabama in 2008 and 2015, spoke at Madiba Nelson Mandela’s funeral in 2014, spoke at the launching of Dr King’s memorial in 2011 or the opening of the so-called African-American Museum of History and Culture, each and every one of these overtures appeared as natural as redneck hillbillies square dancing to James Brown and Parliament Funkadelic on the television show “Soul Train”.

What would add fuel to the fire is if all of the so-called African Americans, who have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama like Reverend Joseph Lowery, Oprah Winfrey, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bill Russell ,Sidney Poitier, Stevie Wonder, Toni Morrison, Diana Ross to name a few, threaten to give back their medals if Comrade Garvey is not pardoned or US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe are not lifted at once.

A forewarning should be issued to President Obama apologists that under no circumstances should they propagate the notion because he had a Caucasian mother and went to Harvard for law school, Dr W.E.B. DuBois is more relatable to him than Cde Garvey, because in the final analysis, President Obama is not cut from either one of these brothers’ cloth.

Another so-called African American of note, who we must not allow to go into hiding concerning the pardoning of Cde Garvey and lifting US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe is former US Attorney-General Holder, who as a college student in 1969, was part of a demonstration that occupied the ROTC at Columbia University and renamed it the Malcolm X Student Centre.

Unfortunately, like so-many African Americans who label selling out growing up and joining the real world, in 2004 Attorney Holder represented the Fortune 500 powerhouse Chiquita Brands International, who was facing criminal charges for giving protection money to the United Self Defence Forces of Colombia, who is on the US government’s list of foreign terrorist organisations.

Thanks to attorney holder, the criminal charges against Chiquita were dropped and in return paid a $25 million fine, which for them was a slap on the wrist.

If Attorney Holder can find the time to defend the likes of Chiquita Brands International, surely he can talk some sense into President Obama that will result in the pardoning of Comrade Garvey and openly admitting that extending US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe was not only wrong, but has run its course as a political and diplomatic strategy.

Since Dr Garvey has made a living as a thoracic and cardiac surgeon, surely he can understand how US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe have compromised the health infrastructure of Zimbabwe, it would be timely if Dr Garvey uses the platform afforded to him because of how we collectively revere his father, to begin high level engagement with Dr David Parirenyatwa and the Ministry of Health and Child Care concerning a joint strategy to fight sanctions.

It was delightful to know that Dr Garvey spoke at the 10th annual Sobukwe Lecture at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa, meaning in addition to honouring and commemorating Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe, the founder of the Pan African Congress of Azania, Dr Garvey got to retrace the steps of President Mugabe, who was first introduced to Nationalist and Pan Africanist ideas in the same exact physical space.

We are sure Dr Garvey understands embracing President Mugabe and zanu-pf today is the best way to honour the legacy of Mangaliso Sobukwe and the core meaning of the slogan IZWE LETHU I AFRIKA which means the land is ours.

In his first message to Negroes of the world from Atlanta Prison, Cde Garvey stated “I do not want at this time to write anything that would make it difficult for you to meet the opposition of the enemy without my assistance.

“Suffice to say that the history of the outrage shall form a splendid chapter in the history of Africa redeemed, when black men will no longer be under the heels of others but have a civilisation and country of their own”.

Those eloquent words by the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey explain why fighting to have him posthumously pardoned and fighting to lift US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe are the responsibility of all those who embrace the African revolutionary path.

Obi Egbuna Jr is the US Correspondent for The Herald and external relations officer of ZICUFA (Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association, his email is [email protected]