The Heroes That Molded Me
(The African-Americans)
Some of my readers have asked me to name some of the people who helped me navigate the intellectual contours that shaped my perception of the world.
I begin my list with three outstanding Diasporan Africans who should be known to every African. It is a serious indictment of our educational system that the stories of these giants of our race do not form part of our school curriculum.
Marcus Garvey
Without hesitation, Marcus Mosiah Garvey tops my list of African Americans from whom I have learned so much. There are many of them.
To call Marcus Garvey Amazing would be an understatement. The Man was a Wizard on so many different levels.
Without the technological tools we take for granted today, and with the entire machinery and resources of the world’s leading predatory imperialist country, the USA, deployed against him, Marcus Garvey managed to not only build the most prominent Black organization ever (see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Negro_Improvement_Association_and_African_Communities_League,) but he also established the commercial enterprises to run his multifarious activities.
Marcus Garvey, in full Marcus Moziah Garvey (born August 17, 1887, St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica—died June 10, 1940, London, England), was a charismatic Black leader who organized the first significant American Black nationalist movement (1919–26), based in New York City's Harlem. Marcus Garvey. View Media Page. born August 17, 1887.” - www.britannica.com › ... › Social Movements & Trends
Marcus Garvey was a tireless and unrelenting warrior for Global Black Emancipation.
His untiring efforts and absolute devotion to the emancipation of Black people made me consider Marcus Garvey the Greatest African after Imhotep.
The failure of Barack Obama, who played the race card when he found it helpful, to pardon Marcus Garvey remains one of the reasons I continue to regard him as a Race Traitor and a Sellout. Few American presidents have had any compunction in pardoning their cronies and friends.
Here are some of my favorite quotations from Marcus Garvey:
If we as a people realized the greatness from which we came, we would be less likely to disrespect ourselves.
The Black skin is not a badge of shame but a glorious symbol of national greatness.
I trust that you will live so well today that you realize that you are masters of your destiny. If there is anything you want in this world, strike out with confidence and faith in yourself and reach for it.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds.
A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.
I have no desire to take all black people back to Africa; there are blacks who are no good here and will likewise be no good there.”
If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life.
Take advantage of every opportunity; where there is none, make it for yourself.
Liberate the minds of men, and ultimately, you will liberate the bodies of men.
With confidence, you have won before you have started.
Malcolm X, original name Malcolm Little, Muslim name el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, (born May 19, 1925, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.—died February 21, 1965, New York, New York), African American leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam who articulated concepts of race pride and Black nationalism in the early 1960s.” -
Malcolm X | Biography, Nation of Islam, Assassination, & Facts ...
www.britannica.com › ... › Politics & Political Systems
Malcolm X remains one of my enduring heroes for his power of self-redemption, sharp oratorical skills, fearlessness, and inimitable intellect.
I found something worthy of salute in a man who picked himself up from the bottom of the worst dredges and educated himself sufficiently enough to speak to millions.
I have also tried to emulate Malcolm X's transformation from a bigoted individual to a broad-minded humanist.
Reading Malcolm X's works and listening to his speeches helped me transform from a thoughtless agitator into a more humane and considerably wiser person.
Some of my favorite Malcolm X quotes:
“A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.”
“We are nonviolent with people who are nonviolent with us.”
“Don’t be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn’t do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today.”
“My alma mater was books, a good library… I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.”
“Stumbling is not falling.”
“There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time.”
“They put your mind right in a bag and take it wherever they want.”
“We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock; Plymouth Rock landed on us.”
“Concerning nonviolence, it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks.”
“A race of people is like an individual man; until it uses its own talent, takes pride in its own history, expresses its own culture, affirms its own selfhood, it can never fulfill itself.”
“I, for one, believe that if you give people a thorough understanding of what confronts them and the basic causes that produce it, they’ll create their own program, and when the people create a program, you get action.”
“If you’re not ready to die for it, put the word ‘freedom’ out of your vocabulary.”
“I feel like a man who has been asleep somewhat and under someone else’s control. I feel that what I’m thinking and saying is now for myself. Before it was for and by the guidance of Elijah Muhammad. Now I think with my own mind, sir!”
“I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those that do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice, and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation.”
“It is a time for martyrs now, and if I am to be one, it will be for the cause of brotherhood. That’s the only thing that can save this country.”
“Without education, you’re not going anywhere in this world.”
“When a person places the proper value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom. Whenever you hear a man saying he wants freedom, but in the next breath, he is going to tell you what he won’t do to get it or what he doesn’t believe in doing in order to get it, he doesn’t believe in freedom. A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire . . . or preserve his freedom.”
“You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.”
“Dr. King wants the same thing I want. Freedom.
“I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.”
Stokely Carmichael, original name of Kwame Ture, (born June 29, 1941, Port of Spain, Trinidad—died November 15, 1998, Conakry, Guinea), West-Indian-born civil rights activist, leader of Black nationalism in the United States in the 1960s and originator of its rallying slogan, “Black power.” Stokely Carmichael. - Stokely Carmichael | Biography & Facts | Britannica
www.britannica.com › ... › Human Rights
Kwame Ture is one of the best minds to grace the Pan-Africanism constellation.
As dashingly beautiful as they come, the man formerly Stokely Carmichael was one of the most highly educated minds in the Black Emancipation Struggle. He was an original thinker with a razor-sharp intellect.
Alas, KT suffered the same fate as the heroes before him; he was sold out by the people he struggled to emancipate.
My Kwame Ture’s favorite quotes
"An organization which claims to be working for the needs of a community - as SNCC does - must work to provide that community with a position of strength to make its voice heard. This is the significance of black power beyond the slogan."
"Seems to me that the institutions that function in this country are clearly racist and that they're built upon racism."
"We wanted to say that this is a student conference, as it should be, held on a campus, and that we're not ever to be caught up in the intellectual masturbation of the question of Black Power."
"Leaders in Africa are so corrupt that we are certain if we put dogs in uniforms and put guns on their shoulders, we'd be hard put to distinguish them."
"Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy, we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom."
"One of the tragedies of the struggle against racism is that up to now, there has been no national organization which could speak to the growing militancy of young black people in the urban ghetto."
"Our grandfathers had to run, run, run. My generation's out of breath. We ain't running no more."
"There is a higher law than the law of government. That's the law of conscience."
"We had no more courage than Harriet Tubman or Marcus Garvey had in their times. We just had a more vulnerable enemy."
"A man is born free."
"Before a group can enter the open society, it must first close ranks."
“If you think that your history begins with slavery and colonialism, then the best that you can hope to be is a good slave."
"The first need of a free people is to define their own terms."
"The masses don't shed their blood for the benefit of a few individuals."
"I knew that I could vote and that that wasn't a privilege; it was my right. Every time I tried, I was shot, killed or jailed, beaten or economically deprived."
“If a white man wants to lynch me, that's his problem. If he's got the power to lynch me, that's my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it's a question of power. Racism gets its power from capitalism. Thus, if you're anti-racist, whether you know it or not, you must be anti-capitalist. The power for racism the power for sexism comes from capitalism, not an attitude.
"I usually say I did the best I could with what I had. I have no major regrets."
I shall try to write about more of those from whom I have benefited in my quest for intellectual development.
Happy 2025 to you all.
I thank you for your support in keeping this platform form. Appreciated!
©️ Fẹ̀mi Akọ̀mọ̀làfẹ̀
(Farmer, Writer, Published Author, Essayist, Satirist, and Social Commentator.)
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Three excellent mentors, Femi. We all can learn from them.