A TAOBQ Open Letter: Why I Say No To “Slavery Memorial Day”, “Slavery Remembrance Day” And Similar Terminology

A TAOBQ Open Letter: Why I Say No To “Slavery Memorial Day”, “Slavery Remembrance Day” And Similar Terminology

August 23 2012

By Kwaku

TAOBQ (The African Or Black Question) co-ordinator

Today and in the next few days, there will be a number of events across Britain marking “Slavery Remembrance Day”, “Slavery Memorial Day”, and another terminology I came across a few days ago, “Slave Remembrance Day”. I believe these terminologies to be misnomers, and do not do justice to the spirit of what they purport be commemorating. The preferred terminology ought to be the International Day of AfricanResistance Against Enslavement.

Hence this open letter, and for those that like their commucations in bite-size form, the conversations can continue on Twitter using hashtags  #NotSMD or #NotSRD.

The marking of August 23 is an initiative of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), which was adopted in 1997. If you have not heard of this national commemoration, it’s not surprising. Member states are merely “invited to give this international day all due prominence and to mobilise their educational, scientific, artistic and cultural communities, youth and, in general, civil society”.

Re-wind to 2007, which was the bicentennial of the 1807 Abolition Of The Slave Trade Act. This Act, championed in parliament by William Wilberforce, did not, and was not intended to end chattel enslavement. But many people were not to know that, as numerous publications and commentators, either directly or implicitly talked about the Act in terms of having abolished chattel enslavement.

During that period of self-congratulatory, back-patting commemorations of Britain having taken the moral high ground by abolishing the vile “trade”, which was the trafficking of African people, the Government initially wanted an annual commemoration of the trafficking and abolition to be on March 25 – the date the Act was passed 200 years ago.

Many grassroots organisations, conscious pundits, and indeed the then London Mayor Ken Livingstone, opposed this. They suggested that the August 23 date be adopted. It was not until the end of the bicentennial year, in December that the Government finally announced its adoption of August 23.

Whilst the Government used the UNESCO’s Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition terminology, some organisations, including trade unions and anti-racist organisations, decided to opt for “Slavery Remembrance Day” or “Slavery Memorial Day”.

But before then, among the first libraries and museums that took up the challenge of commemorating August 23 in Britain is the National Museums Liverpool (NML), which began its “Slavery Remembrance Day” events in 1999, the year the city of Liverpool “apologised” for its prominent role in the so-called “slave trade”.

NML, and now through its specialist wing, the International Slavery Musuem (ISM), which was inuagurated in 2007, has continued to regularly put on a range of August 23 activities. Whilst its programmes are perhaps one of the best on offer – reasons which will be explained later – the museum is one of the institutions that have popularised the “Slavery Remembrance Day” terminology in Britain.

NML states on its website that “the date has been designated by UNESCO as Slavery Remembrance Day, a reminder that enslaved Africans were the main agents of their own liberation.” The first part of the statement is erroneous.

This is how UNESCO described the initiative in 1998, when it first marked August 23: “By its decision to proclaim 23 August each year as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, UNESCO sought to pay tribute to the tireless struggle of the slaves for their freedom.”  And UNESCO has been consistent in using its official terminology ever since.

As embracing as the UNESCO terminology may seem, some pan-Africanists have an issue with the kind of focus the terminology so easily lends itself to. So at a meeting of the Recovered Histories London Regional Network in 2008, a new terminology was adopted: International Day of African Resistance Against Enslavement.

This terminology, which I implore all Africanists and true African supporters to use, underscores the significance of August 23 1791, which heralded the start of the Haitian Revolution - the first successful revolution by enslaved Africans in the so-called New World, and which partly led to the abolition of the trafficking of Africans.

The Haitian link puts the focus on the activism of Africans. The other terminologies so easily lend themselves to Wilberfest type programming, where the focus is often on European abolitionists like Wilberforce, the ‘magnanimity’ of the British for abolishing chattel enslavement, whilst the Africans are usually seen as poor, pathetic enslaved people, and their determination in fighting for their own freedom seldom highlighted.

Using the International Day of African Resistance Against Enslavement terminology does not necessarily mean locating every event around the narrow focus of Haiti, August 23 and African resistance. What it offers is a great opportunity to highlight and re-tell African histories of resilience and overcoming against great odds across the diaspora and over the ages.

This can help empower Africans, particularly young people who are disconnected with their African roots, whilst also highlighting some of the less well-known histories and counter-balancing some of the mis-information about chattel enslavement and its abolition.

Personally, I have been using the oportunity to deliver programmes that use the Haitian revolution as a springboard to highlight a range of global African histories with a connection to August, which incidentally has been re-named by a Garveyite organisation as Mosiah month in honour of the great pan-Africanist icon, Marcus Garvey.

Garvey, who is one of the NARM role models (African British male role models spanning 1907-2007), was born 125 years ago on 17th August and his UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association) organisation offers a number of historical markers in August.

This year, the guest speaker at one of the NLM/ISM events is Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of African-American civil rights leader Dr King. In addition to delivering a memorial speech, he will also unveil a plaque on one of the museum’s buildings to be named after his father.  Another talks programme is ‘We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For’, where the topic for discussion is not just on historical and contemporary African heroes and heroines, but crucially, it welcomes the inclusion of community grass roots heroes.

Talking about grass roots heroes, there is no doubt that next year being the 50th anniversary of Dr King’s ‘I Have A Dream Speech’, there will be a surfeit of King/‘I Have A Dream Speech’ related events.

But how many of the historians, programmers and organisers of those type of events will look at highlighting some of the local heroes I highlight in the NARM book? For example, Paul Stephenson, the leader of the Bristol Bus Boycott, which officially ended on August 28 1963, the same day Dr King made his famous speech.

If we don’t know of Stephenson or the Bristol Bus Boycott, we should take the opportunity to acquaint ourselves with what ought to be an important part of African British history, instead of forever harking back to the United States, as if we do not have  any African-driven civil rights activism in Britain.

Incidentally, if you decide to make the effort, please do not rely on the New York Times website, where there is a feature on the international influence of Dr King. It has an aside, which mentions Stephenson and the bus boycott. Sadly, in  spite of my pointing out an error to the editorial department and the author, who is an Oxford University history tutor, the esteemed newspaper’s website continues to declare “Mr. Stephenson’s bus boycott was actually a strike by drivers seeking better working conditions rather than a copy of Montgomery’s passenger boycott.”

Anyone who’s read anything about the Bristol Bus Boycott would know that it was a fight against the colour bar practised by the bus company and a trade union, which discriminated against non-Europeans by not allowing their employment as bus drivers or conductors.

Last year, I selected some NARM role models, like Asquith Xavier, CLR James, Dr Harold Moody, Henry Sylvester Williams, and Ladipo Solanke, to tell a range of AfricanBritish civil rights histories across London during African History Month (25 years after its introduction to Britain, it’s time to ditch the now meaningless Black History Month terminology).

Another NARM role model, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, is the subject of an August 23 event at London’s National Portrait Gallery, where his images are part of an on-going exhibition until March 2013. This is how the gallery’s website promotes the event highlighting the African British composer who died 100 years ago: “On Slavery Remembrance Day celebrate the remarkable life of a composer who rose from humble beginnings to international celebrity. With biographer Charles Elford.”

Upon first reading this blurb, I wondered about the relevance of linking this event to August 23. Coleridge-Taylor was born in London in 1875, well after the abolition of chattel enslavement. His father was a London-trained doctor who came from Sierra Leone’s middle class.

If this event was merely going to focus on the great achievements of one of Britain’s most famous composers of the early 1900s – his ‘Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast’ was a major hit, which had numerous performances at prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, and whose fame was such that he went on three tours of the US, where he became the first African to conduct an all European orchestra and was feted at the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt – it could have been done any other day.

However, I know Elford is passionate about Coleridge-Taylor and as the author of the novelised biography ‘Black Mahler’, I expect he will also highlight Coleridge-Taylor’s activism as a pan-Africanist, the aplomb with which he dealt with racism, the challenges and the doors he opened as an African within the Western musical world and beyond in the late 19th/early 20th century. This is what would make August 23 relevant, as it highlights the spirit and connection to the global African histories of struggles and resistance.

Going back to the International Slavery Museum. I must confess I had never been keen on visiting it. Thankfully earlier this year, I took the opportunity offered by a guest speaker engagement at the Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts to pay a visit. The more I saw during my guided visit, the more I dropped off the baggage I had come in with.

My last Open Letter in 2009 was entitled ‘African (Black) History Month Aim Not Achieved/African History Is Wider Than Enslavement’. In it, I advocated that our history was much wider than just the enslavement period, which was what the Government had managed to get into the school’s history curriculum starting in 2008. It also advocated using the International Day of African Resistance Against Enslavement terminology, and that the August 23 date “must be used to focus on the resistance led by Africans.”

I had imagined that the ISM was simply a Wilberfest time capsule. Looking at the exhibits, reading the captions and engaging with the various audio-visual resources, I was amazed at the fair representation of the issues in terms of language and focus, and there was no over-emphasis of the European abolitionists.

Also, surprisingly, it was not as its name might have implied, focused on just enslavement, rebellions and the abolition – it actually covered a much wider area, and in language that showed respect and sensitivity. Issues that link to contemporary times, such as racism, colonialism, African nationalism, civil rights, reparations, and popular culture have some prominence. This includes a highly recommended video show that tells centuries of global African history within a few minutes.

I later discovered the museum’s stance is in part due to its having input from clued up people from Liverpool’s African community throughout the process, from its inception, to acquisitions, installations and its on-going programming.

My only issue, which I pointed out to staff was one caption which stated that in 1772, Lord Mansfield declared enslavement illegal. Lord Mansfield’s judgment in the Somersett case did not definitively pronounce on the legality or illegality of enslavement.

Which leads me to one last point. Among the museum’s facilities is the Campaign Zone, where organisations like Liverpool’s anti-human trafficking group Stop The Traffik (STT) use for meetings. The STT cause is of course laudable, and deserves all the support and publicity it can get. However, my view is that modern day slavery and chattel enslavement must not be mentioned in the same breadth, as if the former is simply a continuation of the latter.

It is not. Whilst they both keep people in servitude, today’s slavery or human trafficking is illegal. The victims have human rights, and when the traffickers are caught, they do face the law. In the case of chattel enslavement, victims were deemed to be “property”, and had no rights whatsoever. This perverse notion meant that an enslaver could torture or kill an enslaved African, without facing criminal prosecution.

This is shown in the Zong massacre, which involved 132 Africans being thrown overboard during the Middle Passage on the orders of the ship’s captain, and the subsequent insurance claim for loss of property (chattel). Lord Chief Justice Mansfield in his 1783 summing up of the jury's verdict, echoed the prevalent view of the time, which was that what happened to those Africans was “the same as if horses had been thrown over board.” None of the Zong’s crew were charged for the killing of over 100 people!

This is why the kind of servitude I’ve just illustrated should be distinguished from other forms of servitude and be described as “chattel enslavement” – language is very important in dealing with these matters.

In 1937, William Prescott, a former enslaved African in the United States said: “They will remember that we were sold. But they won’t remember that we were strong. They will remember that we were bought. But not that we were brave.” This is what terminologies like “Slavery Memorial Day” and “Slavery Remembrance Day” invariably leave us with.

No to “SlaveryMemorial Day and "Slavery Remembrance Day”, yes to International Day Of African Resistance Against Enslavement!

© 2012 Kwaku

www.TAOBQ.blogspot.com

Thinking about language in teaching African history - the TAOBQ Primer

By Kwaku

TAOBQ co-ordinator

As we are in August (also known by Africanists as Mosiah month), and before the so-called Slavery Memorial Day and Black History Month comes upon us, I thought I’d post this piece, which hopefully should engender some (re-)thinking or discussion on the way we use language to tell, teach or perpetuate history.

Caution, especially for African and Africanist historians:

a) History is not neutral, no matter how much some academics may pretend that it is

We ALL have baggage and an agenda, which impacts to some degree upon the way we interpret, teach (or regurgitate) history. This African proverb underscores the point: “Until the lions tell their tale, history shall always glorify the hunter.”

b) Do not be fooled by the supposed notion of neutrality in telling history.
Or else, you will in the main be regurgitating a Western view of African history. Do tell the truth, including uncomfortable truths. However, be guided by an Africanist eye or viewpoint. 

c) David Livingstone discovered Victoria Falls

So until Livingstone came along, there were no Africans living around that region in present day Zambia and Zimbabwe, and did they not know of the falls they call Mosi-oa-Tunya?

d) Christopher Columbus discovered America

Does that mean the Native Americans and all who came before Columbus to the Americas (such as the African Olmec civilisation, which pre-dated the Columbus “discovery” by thousands of years) had no idea where they were?

Here are some terms that one needs to be mindful of:

1) Who is a person of African descent?

If it’s accepted that Africa is the cradle of civilisation, then every human -  European, Asian, etc is of African descent! Hence, the best terminology ought to be African, African people, or people of African heritage (the present evolution of the human race shows various distinct heritages).

2) Black or African?
African, European, Asian – these represent groups of people linked to a land mass of their “recent anthropological development”. If you can find a land mass known as Black, Blackland, Blackistan, etc, then you are welcome to describe its people as Blacks. Until then, the terminology ought to be African, African people, or people of African heritage. See the TAOBQ blog for further arguments and resources.

3) Caribbean or African Caribbean?

A Caribbean is a person whose antecedents are located in the Caribbean. As such a person can be of Carib, European, Asian or African heritage. The word Caribbean should not be assumed to refer to a person of African heritage. The correct terminology ought to be African Caribbean (or African, where geo-specificity is not important).

4) African Caribbean or West Indian?

It seems older folks, especially those steeped in the colonial era, are used to the West Indian terminology. Whilst the younger generation, particularly conscious Africanists, prefer the African Caribbean terminology. Some don’t relate to the West Indian terminology firstly because that area got its name from Columbus’ mistaken belief that he had reached the Indies, and secondly as one African Caribbean remarked: Do I look Indian? In spite of institutions such as the University of the West Indies or the West Indies cricket team, West Indian is today not the best terminology to describe an African Caribbean.

5) African Caribbean, African or African/African Caribbean
There is no doubt that the African presence in Britain has in the last few decades been dominated by the African Caribbeans, be it in numbers within the country’s population, music or sports. However within the last few years, the profile of those of continental African backgrounds has risen as they have made great strides across population size, music and sports. Hence there’s now a need to use the correct terminology to identify the precise grouping: African Caribbean represents only Africans with Caribbean antecedents; African represents all peoples of African heritage, irrespective of whether they were born in Britain, the Caribbean or Africa; African/African Caribbean highlights, especially where cultural inclusiveness needs emphasis, continental Africans, and Africans with Caribbean antecedents.

6) Black And Asian, BAME etc or African And Asian?

There was a time when every non-European was described as “black”. For example the first 3 “black” MPs were not those elected in 1987, but rather those who straddled the late 19^th to early 20^th century, who were all of Asian heritage! In the 1960s/70s, “black” was adopted as an all-embracing political term mainly for non-Europeans (and some marginalised or discriminated peoples of European heritage). Since the 1990s, we’ve seen terminology such as Black And Asian, Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) etc creep into our vocabulary. Who does the “Black” represent, besides Africans? Hence, if one can’t use the singular political “black” to include Africans and Asians, then one should be more precise by using the African And Asian terminology.

7) Who are "people of colour" or "coloured"?
No one! These meaningless colour-focused terminologies presuppose that some people are different because either they are "not of colour" or superior. When you go to the paint shop, you have the choice of numerous colours, such as white, black, yellow, red, brown, green - so who then is or isn't a person of colour? Is white not also a colour?

8) Black History Month or African History Month?

When Black History Month (BHM) was first introduced in Britain in 1987, it was in a climate of heightened anti-racism activism, Leftist politics, and pride and solidarity in embracing the political term “black”. Although it was championed by European, Asian and African politicians, BHM was premised on the African Jubilee Year Declaration. The Jubilee year run from August 1987, marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great pan-Africanist icon Marcus Garvey, who was born on August 17 1887, right through to 1988, marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Organisation Of African Unity on May 25, and the 150th anniversary of the end of chattel enslavement in the British Caribbean, which was on August 1 1838. The Declaration aimed to combat racism towards Africans by enjoining statutory bodies such as Councils to promote programmes that highlighted the contributions of Africa(ns) to the economic, cultural and political life of London and Britain. Sections of the 1976 Race Relations Act were used to buttress the demands. However 25 years on, with most Councils and other statutory bodies either having abandoned or reduced support for BHM, it is now time for individuals and community organisations to take the lead in funding programmes and giving them a global African history focus. Hence, the legacy of BHM ought to be the adoption of the unambiguous terminology: African History Month (AHM).

9) Slavery Memorial Day, International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition or International Day of African Resistance Against Enslavement?
Some Africans object to the colloquial term Slavery Memorial Day and UNESCO’s International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, because both terms focus negatively on enslaved Africans (constantly labelling them as ‘slaves’) and not highlighting their fight for their own freedom. The preferred term is International Day of African Resistance Against Enslavement, because it underscores the significance of August 23 (1791), which heralded the start of the Haitian Revolution, the first successful revolution by enslaved Africans in the so-called New World, which directly led to the abolition of the trafficking of Africans.

10) Slave or Enslaved?
The preference is for enslaved, simply because it conjures up a connection of someone else, the enslaver, who put the victim into the state of enslavement.

11) Slavery or Chattel Enslavement (Slavery)?
All human groupings over the ages have had some form of servitude within their societies, with varying degrees of brutality and lack of human rights. However what is popularly referred to as the "trans-Atlantic trade", or the trafficking of Africans, was the most extreme, in that Africans were reduced in the eyes of European enslavers and sympathisers to non-human beings, equal to inanimate property.  They had no human rights whatsoever - check the Zong massacre. This form of servitude is incomparable to most forms, and certainly should not be linked to "modern day slavery". Which is why one needs to make the distinction by using either "chattel enslavement" or "chattel slavery".

12) Africa Is A Continent not a Country!
Africa is a continent with over fifty countries. So it's not proper to make statements like I went to Germany, India and Africa. It begs the question, where in Africa?  Ditto: They do x in Africa. Better state the country or countries, or else the impression left is that x takes places across all parts of Africa.
 

© 2012 Kwaku
If you would like to use information, please cite www.taobq.blogspot.com. To contact: jointheaobq@gmail.com.

Kwaku is a history consultant and TAOBQ co-ordinator.

Colours For African Pride And For Marking Atrocities Against Africans?

June 20 2016
By Kwaku
TAOBQ co-ordinator

Following the terrorist attacks on Paris in 2015, who can forget the widespread exposure of the French flag colours of red, white and blue?

Facebook provided a filter for the colours on the profiles of subscribers who wanted to show solidarity with Parisians. The French tri-colour run across mastheads, such as Metro, the free London newspaper, whilst the colours were projected upon some of the city's buildings.

This year, following the massacre at the Orlando gay club, Metro's masthead was adorned with the multi-colours of the LGBT community's flag which was also photoshopped into the front page photo. Google incorporated the colours within its logo. And seeing the rainbow flag flying at half mast at the US embassy in Berne, Switzerland, one can imagine the same happened at other US embassies across the world.

This got me thinking - when do newspapers, corporate behemoths, or embassies show sympathy or solidarity by displaying symbolic colours when atrocities are inflicted against Africans?

Then it occurred to me that it wasn't so simple. What flag or colours are there that universally represent Africans? Not the green, white and yellow of the African Union (AU), as the organisation represents only continental Africa. The ratification of a 2012 proposed 6th region that could make African diasporan countries such as Haiti eligible for state membership seems far off.

There are two competing pan-African colours - red, gold and green, which is inspired by Ethiopia's green, gold and red flag, and the red, black and green of the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association-African Communities League) flag.

Moving forward, I propose a combination of both flags, thus creating a Global African flag consisting of red, black, gold and green, which can represent people of African heritage, be they from the African continent or the African diaspora.

 NOTE: As of June 10 2020, the 4 band version was 

adopted as the Global African Quad flag.

Without taking anything away from the two pan-African tri-colours, there's no reason why this "unifying" quad-colour can not come to symbolise African pride, unity, or solidarity.

The Global African flag was created in 2014 to illustrate the August 31 Declared African History Reflection Day press release published on the TAOBQ blog on September 1 2014. This year, TAOBQ along with African Histories Revisited/BTWSC, will be marking the third African History Reflection Day (AHRD) as part of African History Reflection Day: An Xtra History & Reasoning Session at Harrow Mencap. Expect the Global African flag, and Afriphobia, to be some of the topics that come up for discussion.

If one's in sympathy with using certain colours to symbolise solidarity with Africans, particularly when atrocities are inflicted against them, then it's up to one to be pro-active and not wait for mainstream newspapers, corporate behemoths or embassies. They will only co-opt such a move after some groundswell has been created from the grassroots up.

Finally, whilst AHRD is inspired by a UNIA declaration, it's important to note that there are a number of global African histories connected to the month of August. One of which is the inspiration for a UN/UNESCO initiative which has noble aims, but which is mollified and undermined by what some heritage establishments call Slavery Remembrance (or Memorial) Day, but which conscious Africans call International Day Of African Resistance Against Enslavement - August 23.

August 23 And The Significance Of August Within Global African History is a free inter-generational event which takes place Tuesday Aug. 23 2016, 6.15-8.15pm at Unite HQ in Holborn, central London. To book: http://bit.ly/Aug232016.

Engaging With The African Identity

An updated version of a Voice Opinion piece by Kwaku

I’d like to begin by looking back at last year. The United Nations (UN) declared 2011 the International Year For People Of African Descent (IYPAD). On August 23, I presented a programme at Westminster City Hall to mark International Day Of African Resistance Against Enslavement - as an Africanist, I don’t call it International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, as suggested by the UN, or Slavery Memorial Day, as favoured by British institutions.

After that programme ended, I began filming a guerrilla documentary motivated by the IYPAD initiative, which I thought provided a good opportunity to investigate the issue of the African identity. Each contributor was asked whether they were African or black, and if they knew about the IYPAD initiative. Sadly, IYPAD was a missed opportunity to address the issue of African identity.

If we lived in our motherlands, say, Ghana or Jamaica, perhaps the issue would not be so pressing. However, for those of us living in the diaspora, it’s something we need to deal with. Racial identity is crucial to a people’s psyche and progress, and it is for this reason that I believe we should address the issue.

Non-Europeans in this country have historically been called black. Between the 1960s to 1980s, politically active Africans and Asians came together under the political black banner to fight racism. Organisations such as Southall Black Sisters, and Labour Party’s Black Sections, were made up of Africans and Asians. Black Sections counted the Asian politician Keith Vaz among its crop of four black MPs from the 1987 general election.

But in recent years black organisations have launched under terms such as Black and Asian, and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic. The Asians, whether or not they were born in the UK, have claimed a separate identity. So why don’t these organisations just change Black to African?

Our African identity in no way devalues the battles that have been fought and won by Black organisations and movements. The African-Americans describe themselves as Africans without rejecting Black Power. And by the same token, I’m not against organisations that go under the political Black, so long as African members are not described as black.

Some of us prefer to be described as West Indian or Caribbean. One can argue that the West Indians are actually the Europeans who went to the Caribbean as planters, business people and enslavers, whilst the enslaved Africans there were called African or negro.

The term Caribbean does not necessarily refer to people of African heritage. Strictly speaking, it refers to the Carib people. But even if it’s widened to cover people living in the Caribbean, then that includes Asians and Europeans. So unless it is qualified, as in African Caribbean, it could mean anything.

There is the argument that Africans born in the UK are British. That can be correct with regards to nationality, but not ethnicity/race. An African born in China is still African, and not Chinese. As Malcolm X said, if a cat gives birth in an oven, it produces kittens, not biscuits.

I’ll highlight two groups who prefer to be called black, British, or anything else but African. The first group actually have parents who come directly from the African continent. The main reason for this dis-engagement with their African identity is rooted firstly in poor knowledge about Africa and its history, and secondly the negative imagery and stereotypes associated with Africa.

These reasons also apply to the second group, who have their antecedents located in the Caribbean. But it’s compounded by the notion that Africans sold their forebears into enslavement, they’ve never been to Africa, they don’t know which part of Africa they come from, they can’t speak an African language, or that they have European blood.

There are some Africans who live on the African continent who do not speak any African language. Does this mean they are not Africans?

Yes, some selfish and mis-guided Africans were involved in the enslavement of fellow Africans. But there are traitors within every ethnicity/race. For example, there were Jews who collaborated with the Nazis, but I wonder if there are Jews who disassociate from their Jewish heritage because of the behaviour of the Jewish collaborators.

Putting aside offsprings of relatively recent mixed heritage relationships, one wonders what’s so unappealing about the African identity that some people whose phenotype is unmistakably African, but have a drop or two of European blood rooted in enslavement, prefer to disassociate from their African identity, whilst clinging to the vestiges of enslavement/colonialism and questionable associations with the oppressors.

Racial identity should be tied to land, and there is no land called Blackland, Blackistan, etc.

Incidentally, it is worth remembering the National Front or other racists don’t distinguish between Africans born on the continent, Africans from the diaspora, or Africans born in the UK with British passports, or those with some European blood!

I’ll end by referring to the IYPAD. The expression “African descent” is beginning to fall out of favour. There are those trying out expressions such as “African ascendant”. Interestingly, Dr Runoko Rashidi states in the TAOBQ film that African descendants are the Europeans (and I imagine any other race/ethnicity  that’s come out of Africa). These days I choice plainly African, African heritage, or global African.

Kwaku is the founder of BritishBlackMusic.com/Black Music Congress and leads on The African Or Black Question (TAOBQ) campaign and its You Are African discussion and film screening on Jan. 20 2012 at Westminster City Hall.  www.TAOBQ.blogspot.com. 

22/01/2012 Update: Following the first TAOBQ event on January 20 2012, the campaign has moved past discussing whether or not one is African. For those at the event who passed unopposed the motion that they were African, and all other like minded people, the next step is to deal with TAOBQ: What It Means To Be A Global African? provisionally set for April 2012.

TAOBQ Press Release: Attendees Affirm We Are African

22/01/2012

Immediate Release

From being called Africans, Negroes, Moors, Blackamoores, Coloureds, Blacks, attendees at the first TAOBQ (The African Or Black Question) event declare: “We Are African”

At the first TAOBQ (The African Or Black Question) event held last Friday (Jan. 20), a motion moved by Southwark Cllr Martin Seaton asking the attendees to affirm they were African was carried unopposed.

This comes at a time when the issue of racism, racial identity and terms like “black community” have been in the media spotlight due to the recent court case regarding the murder of Stephen Lawrence, and Diane Abbott’s tweet controversy, which started with someone questioning the blanket expression “black community”.

The TAOBQ is a year-long campaign which focuses on three key points: People of African heritage to be referred to as African, or British African rather than black; African history to be made accessible and mainstreamed; and Africans without African names to consider adopting African names for easy recognition of their race/ethnicity.

The TAOBQ event, which consisted of the screening of ‘The African Or Black Question’, a guerrilla film examining the African racial identity by TAOBQ campaign co-ordinator Kwaku, and a discussion entitled ‘You Are African’, took place at Westminster City Hall.

The documentary film, which features randomly chosen subjects, including some well known figures such as former Brent South MP and junior minister Dawn Butler, defence lawyer Courtney Griffiths QC, political activist Lee Jasper, community activist Toyin Agbetu, and historians Dr Kimani Nehusi and Dr Lez Henry, examines not just racial identity. Each contributor also opines about the United Nation’s declaration of 2011 as the International Year For People Of African Descent, which passed by many unnoticed.

The well attended event facilitated by Kwaku, included Butler, Agbetu, Southwark Cllr Michael Situ, veteran community activists Eric and Jessica Huntley, NUS Black Students’ Officer Kanja Sesay, pan-Africanist journalist Mandingo, verteran photographer James Barnor, and Windrush Society founder Arthur Torrington CBE.

In a small way, this event links back to another meeting in which Africans convened in London to take charge of their identity and destiny – the 1900 Pan-African Conference, which took place at the nearby Westminster Town Hall (now Caxton Hall).

“Last year, I had to present a programme at Westminster City Hall marking August 23, which British institutions call Slavery Memorial Day, but which conscious Africans call the International Day Of African Resistance Against Enslavement on account of the UN having chosen that date because it was the start of the Haitian Revolution,” says Kwaku.

“A day or two before that event, I thought I’d film a documentary focused on asking Africans in London their thoughts on the UN initiative, and their views on whether they preferred to be called African or black?

“We’d planned on having a number of events discussing the African or black identity issue. But since Cllr Seaton, without prompting from us, brought forward the issue, which was carried unopposed, we’ve decided to move to the next stage. This includes workshops to examine what it means to be a global African. We expect to have some concrete outcomes from these workshops, to help move forward the African communities in Britain.”

Kwaku

jointheaobq@gmail.com

www.taobq.blogspot.com
www.taobq.eventbrite.com

ENDS

High resolution photos available upon request

TAOBQ background resources” www.taobq.blogspot.com

First TAOBQ press releases: http://www.taobq.blogspot.com/p/press-release.html

1.           TAOBQ campaign issues must be raised both within the African and host communities, particularly within the media, statutory, community and educational organisations.

2.           TAOBQ is meant to be a year-long campaign, ending December 2012, by which time it is hoped that the recommendations would have started a consciousness and debate in and outside the African communities in Britain.

3.           During the campaign period, TAOBQ will continue to engage using on and offline opportunities to highlight the core issues. Updates will be posted on www.taobq.blogspot.com, and social networks such as FaceBook, Twitter, and YouTube – follow us by searching on TAOBQ.

4.           Whilst we reject “black” as a race/ethnicity descriptor, we are not against “black” as a singular, unifying political descriptor

5.           The first offline event was January 20 2012 – we expect to do more events in 2012, and potential partners and media outlets are welcome to get in touch.

6.            We also want to use the medium of theatre to discuss the issues – so if you are a drama or theatre company, we are looking for a partner to produce a play based on a completed script.

7.           If we are unable to go the whole hog, like actor/playwright Kwame Kwei Armah (formerly Ian Roberts), having just one African name can make the same point. Despite the opportunities offered by DNA in tracing one’s genealogy, one does not necessarily need to go through the expense of tracing lineage to a particular area in Africa in order to find a name. If one accepts that one is African, then with the help of books or online searches, one can choose an African name one likes. An easy start may be to investigate the day names given based on day of birth in Ghana.