Will there be a Revolution?

REVOLUTION

Six years ago I wrote a post about Mike Brown. Here we are again, another unarmed black male being killed by a racist Police officer.  2020 has been a crazy year to say the least. We heard about the story about Ahmaud Aubery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and more recently Ryshard Brooks.

There have been many similar deaths for a number of years but the murder of George Floyd literally caused a major worldwide shift. I think it is due to the nature of his death, a police officer putting his knee on George's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, while he was begging for his life. This reminded me of Eric Garner's death, because they both said "I can't Breathe" whilst dying.  

There were hundreds of protests which took place around the world. Protests  took place in every single state in the USA, Canada, all over Europe ( I went to a protest in London), Australia, New Zealand, South America, middle east,  Africa and Asia.  All 54 African leaders united and demanded that the UN have a meeting about racism against black people. This has never happened before in history. People of all races came together to protest the racial injustice in the world.

Almost every company has  issued a statement expressing that they are against racism and support the Black Lives Matter movement (though I do not believe they are all being genuine). Many of these companies are having diversity meetings and training.  Some companies have shared data in regards to the number of black employees they have, including in leadership positions, and have made pledges to increase the number of black employees in leadership roles.

I have seen many other positive actions which have emanated from this shift. I've seen that black businesses are being promoted more and black people are taking part in initiatives to support black businesses (group economics).  For example, here in the UK we have Black pound Day. More black people are unifying (which I love because I believe in Pan-Africanism),  huge amounts of money are being donated to help black organisations. Statues of racists are being pulled down, laws and policies are being enacted, councils are agreeing to defund Police departments in the USA, meetings have  happened in the USA senate, and in the White House regarding police brutality and racism. Some white people are educating themselves about the black experience, and many racist white people are losing their jobs! (goodbye Karen!).

On July 4 2020 I saw a viral video of a 1500 strong, armed Black Militia Group called NFAC (Not

F***ing around Coalition) led by Grandmaster Jay, marching in Stone Mountain, Georgia after threats had been made by the KKK that they were going to kill black people. I loved seeing this imagery of strong brave black men (and women) who  are willing to protect each other by any means necessary. The white supremacists were scared!. These are the images we need to see instead of the usual victim role we are used to seeing. Our ancestors were fighters and always resisted against the oppressors.

George Floyd did not die in vain. His death has sparked a huge increase in the Black Lives Matter movement which is literally changing the world. The discussion of racism is everywhere. I believe that the COVID-19 pandemic, as unfortunate as it is, has helped the shift. As more people are at home due to quarantine they have more time on their hands, and are able to focus more on what is going on in the world as distractions have been removed. 

The world is changing before our very eyes. The system of White supremacy is starting to be dismantled. Many of the young generation  (especially white people) have a different mentality to those of the older generation. This gives me hope. Though I believe things will improve,  I do not believe that  racism is ever going to completely end. The onus should not be on black people to end racism, as racism was  created by white people, therefore only they can end it. I do not believe that black people should be begging racist whites for equality or their validation. I believe that as black people we should demand it! we should not give all our power to Massa but empower ourselves. When a racist white person does something bad to a black person there needs to be consequences. We also need to create our own establishments, our own networks and do things that benefit us instead of everyone else. We can learn from our Asian and Jewish Counterparts who practice this. The global African diaspora need to collectively  focus  on gaining economic power. With  economic power it would become difficult for racist whites to mistreat us. We need to liberate ourselves to power and do for self.

Black in Asia and Australasia

When we think of Black people, we tend to think of those of African descent in Africa, Europe and the Americas. However, many people don't know that there are huge black populations in Asia and Australasia, and I don't mean the recent migration to Asia by continental Africans. I'm talking about Black people who have lived in Asia/Australasia for thousands of years.

They are usually referred to as "Negrito" which comes from the Spanish word for black.

Ancient Vietnamese

Ainu of Japan

Kaffir of Sri Lanka

Jarawa of Andaman Islands (India)

Melanesians of Papua New Guinea

Aeta of Philippines

Khoisan tribe - the original Chinese

Semang of Malaysia

Indigenous Fijians

Maniq of Malaysia

Siddi of India

Australian Aboriginie

The History of Systemic White Supremacy

White supremacy is a belief that the white race is superior over every other race and should therefore be dominant over these "lesser" races. However, this belief held by some white people who are racist is systemic and permeates into every aspect of our lives including, education, media, law, religion , politics, economics, science etc. I am going to explore the history of systematic white supremacy.

Slavery

The first systematic act of white supremacy was started by the Portuguese in 1441. Portuguese explorer Antão Gonçalves was the first European to buy Africans as slaves. This started a whole institution which would last for 400 years. Other European countries became involved in the slave trade including, Spain, UK, France and Holland.

During the trans Atlantic slave trade, Africans were kidnapped from their lands to never see their homes, family and friends ever again. They were marched to the coast and were branded with hot irons. They were forced into slave dungeons in cramped conditions until a slave ship came to the coast to transport them. They were also cramped on the ships, and had to urinate, defacate and vomit where they were. It's estimated that 2/3 of them died due to the inhumane conditions.

Europeans stripped enslaved Africans of their African identity. Their African names were taken and they were given European names. They were beaten if they spoke their native tongue and were forced to speak the language of their oppressor. They were banned from practicing their own religion and were forcibly converted to Christianity where they had to pray to images of white Jesus. Africans were not allowed to read, if a slave could read and their slave owner found out they would be killed, this was a form of mind control. Multiple slaves were not allowed to gather together without a white person being present. Women were repeatedly raped. Men were also raped (this was called buck breaking),  slave owners would get their most rebellious male slave then anally rape him in front of his wife, children, and the rest of the slaves on the plantation to emasculate him.  Families were often split up, an enslaved women could have her children sold off to other plantations to never see them again. If a slave tried to runaway and got caught they would be brutally punished, this included getting whipped or having body parts chopped off. There were also breeding farms where the stronger, healthy enslaved Africans were forced to have sex with each other so that they could reproduce many children.

Scientists used pseudo science to "prove" that black people were inferior. In 1851, an American Physician, Samuel A Cartwright said that slaves that ran away had a mental condition called  Drapetomania. Slaves were also used for medical experiments. James Marion Sims, also known as the father of gynaecology was a physician who used to do experiments on enslaved African women, without using anaesthesia, many of whom died. He believed that black people could not feel pain. This is a notion which is still prevalent by people in the medical field today.

Enslaved Africans were told that they were less than humans, they were ugly and savages that needed "civilising". Europeans forced the belief that being white was superior, pure and beautiful. This was the beginning of the indoctrination and brainwashing of black people to develop an inferiority complex which unfortunately exists within some black people till this day. Slavery ended in different colonies between 1838 - 1888, but the effects of this remained long lasting.

Colonisation and the Scramble of Africa

As slavery ended the colonisation of Africa by Europeans began. In 1884, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck organised the Berlin Conference. The purpose of this conference was for European nations to decide which parts of Africa they would control. This was supposed to stop wars amongst the Europeans over land. There were 14 European countries involved including  France, UK, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, USA plus more. No African was involved. When dividing Africa, they totally ignored the different cultures and ethnic groups. This led people who were from the same tribe to be on opposite sides of the border, and people from different tribes now being within the same borders. By 1914 90% of Africa had been colonised and Africa had been divided into 50 Countries. Liberia and Ethiopia were the only nations that were independent. The boundaries/borders created in this conference still remain today. It has also been the cause of conflict and division in Africa.

Europeans colonised Africa by using force and violence.  They imposed their way of life on Africans such as their language and religion. They also imposed their ideologies such as whites being superior. They forced their culture onto Africans, while disregarding the culture already in Africa. They were also stealing natural resources from Africa. There were also multiple massacres committed by Europeans, one example is  King Leopold II of Belgium who was responsible for the deaths of over 10 million Congolese people.

The decolonisation of Africa happened between the 1950's - 1975 when Africans fought the Europeans for their independence. Many African leaders who either successfully led their countries to independence or wanted to separate their countries from European influence in order to progress, were often killed or removed by European powers. This included leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Patrice Lumumba of Congo,  Thomas Sanakara of Burkina Faso as well a many others. European powers would then put their corrupted African "Puppets" who would follow their agendas, to lead these countries so that they could continue to steal resources from Africa, and keep Africa underdeveloped.

Unfortunately the legacy of slavery and colonisation and its affects still exists. When Haiti successfully gained independence from France in 1804, the French made Haiti pay them 90 million Francs (equivalent to $21 billion) for their "loss of slaves". Haiti only finished paying this in 1947. French colonies in Africa are are still obliged to pay a colonial tax to France which amounts to $500billion per year. Up until 2015, in the UK the British government were using taxpayers money to pay slave owners and their descendants for compensation after slavery was abolished. The enslaved Africans did not get a penny.

This is the reason why Africa is not as rich as Europe and has a higher rate of poverty. Europe and America would not be rich if it wasn't for Africa. The wealth of the west comes from slavery, looting and the pillaging of Africa. That is why we shouldn't judge Africa of African people by European standards. The racist ideology that black people are inferior has spread worldwide, hence why black people are the most disrespected race on the planet. No matter where black people are in the world, whether Europe, the America's, Asia or Australasia, they face discrimination and maltreatment.  Anti-blackness is global and even exists within the black community. This is a narrative that needs to change. My next blog post will explore how the legacy of slavery and colonisation affects black people today.

Was Slavery a choice?

Around this time 2 years ago Kanye West made the controversial comment that "slavery was a choice" while he was at the TMZ headquarters. At the time, like many black people, I was offended by what he said. Looking back at it, Kanye was just ignorant about black history and I can't blame him, or those who say "we are not our ancestors". In the west, what you are taught about Black history is that Europeans came to Africa, stole millions of African's with the help of other Africans, put them on  ships and took them to the America's where they were enslaved and worked on plantations for hundreds of years until the government, who out of the kindness of their hearts decided to abolish slavery. This narrative is false.

We are not taught about are the hundreds of slave revolts which took place in Africa,  on the slave ships and in the America's. We are not taught about the key figures who led these revolts. This post is to educate you about some of the revolts and freedom fighters, I urge to do further research on the African resistance to slavery..

Africa

The majority of the rebellions took place on the west coast of Africa. There were Africans who fought with Europeans to prevent them from  capturing and enslaving other Africans.  Some Africans would keep watch for European ships. Some were prepared and killed any European that stepped foot on their shores.

Queen Nzinga of Angola was born in 1583 to the Ndongo royal family. At this time, the slave trade was in full effect and the Portuguese were carrying out slave raids.  Queen Nzinga was military trained by her father and learned how to speak fluent Portuguese. This helped her to negotiate a Peace treaty with the Portuguese in 1622, which included the withdrawal of Portuguese troops and sovereignty for the Ndongo people. However, the Portuguese did not adhere to the treaty and continued the raids. This led to Queen Nzinga fighting numerous battles (some of which she won) against the Portuguese for 30 years to prevent them from capturing africans. After this a new peace treaty was signed between the two parties.

Slave ships 

There were 450 recorded forms of resistance on slave ships.

Amistad
In 1839 a slave ship called 'Amistad' which contained 53 Africans who were illegally captured, had set sail from Cuba to another island. One of the Africans, Joseph Cinque managed to break his shackles and then freed the other Africans on the ship. They revolted and killed the Captain and the cook but spared the life of the navigator who promised to sail the ship back to Sierra Leone, where the captured Africans were from. Instead, the navigator sailed the ship to the USA. The Africans were jailed and a long complex trial took place, about the status of the Africans. Eventually, the Court held that the African's could be returned to Africa as they had been captured illegally. In 1842 they arrived back in Sierra Leone.

The Marlborough revolt
In 1752 an english owned slave ship, the Marlborough contained 420 Africans from the west coast of Africa. Three days after the ship had sailed, the African captives revolted and killed 33 out of the 35 crew members. The remaining two crew members were used to sail the ship back to Africa where the captives returned.

Unites States of America

The USA alone had 250 slave rebellions who took place during the period of slavery.

Nat Turner
Nat Turner was a slave who became a preacher, he planned a rebellion and believed that he was led by God. On 21 August 1891, he along with other African slaves armed themselves with weapons and went from plantation to plantation killing all the white inhabitants, and freeing the slaves. Around 70 black people joined him. About 50-60 white people were killed including women and children. The state militia put an end to the rebellion and Nat Turner was eventually executed after being found whilst in hiding. Many of the black people involved were also executed and black people who were not involved in the rebellion were also killed by whites. This rebellion had created fear in the white communities.

Seminole/Gullah wars

A lot of enslaved Africans used to escape to the south in Florida, where a population of Seminole Indians lived. These africans assimilated with the seminole Indians and they became "Black Seminoles". As Florida was owned by Spain they allowed the black Seminoles to have settlements there. This was a safe haven for escaped slaves. The American government did not like this and wanted to take their land and remove them. As a result there were three wars which took place between 1817–18, 1835–42 and 1855–58. The second Seminole war was the longest war where 1500 US Soilders were killed. The Black Seminoles used Guerrilla warfare tactics and were known for heavily arming themselves. After the third war many of them migrated to Mexico while some remained in Florida.

Caribbean

The Bussa Rebelloin
Bussa was an enslaved African who led the biggest slave revolt in Barbados with 400 slaves  in April 1816. Many plantations were burned down as the slaves revolted. During battle, Bussa was killed but the slaves continued to fight the British militia, unfortunately the slaves were defeated. However, the legacy of Bussa remains.



Haiti 
The biggest rebellion in history was the Haitian revolution. It was started in 1791 By Dutty Bookman, an enslaved African and Voodou priest. In August, he presided over a voodoo ceremony, which was the start of the revolt. A week later 1800 plantations had been destroyed and 1000 slave owners were killed. The French killed Dutty Boukman in November 1791 and put his head on display as a warning to other slaves. This did not stop the revolution. The rebellion was then led by General Toussaint Louverture who successfully led the revolt and emancipated the slaves. He ruled Haiti until 1803 when he was captured and imprisoned by the French until he died. His general Jean-Jacque Dessalines took over and defeated the French army in 1803. Haiti was declared an independent nation in 1804, Dessalines ordered the killing of all the French people on the island. Haiti became the first black nation to become independent and successfully overthrow European rule. He ruled Haiti until his assassination in 1806. (You can watch 1804 by Tariq Nasheed which explains the revolution in depth)

South America

Zumba palmemra
Palmares in Brazil was established around 1605 by 40 enslaved Africans
who had escaped slavery. They discovered the first government of free Africans known as the Republic of Palmares.The population continued to grow until about 30,000 people. Zumbi became the king of Palmares and led resistance against the Portuguese, who kept attacking them. The Palmares military were experts in self defence . Zumbi never bowed down to the Portuguese and kept fighting against slavery. Zumbi was captured and killed on November 20, 1695. His legacy remains in Brazil.

The Berbice Slave uprising Cuffy was originally from Ghana and was enslaved in Guyana . On 23 Feburary 1763, he armed himself with weapons and along with numerous slaves, attacked slave owners seizing control over their plantations and freeing slaves. About 3000 blacks were part of the revolt and began to take control of some of the regions . Many white people had fled for their safety. In 1764 European troops came to put an end to the rebellion and took control of the land.


This is only a very tiny amount of the revolts that took place. Africans have always resisted against oppression, this includes slaves poisoning their masters, breaking machinery, refusing to work etc. Africans were not passive docile people but were freedom fighters (some were warriors) who fought hard for the freedoms that we have today. We are our ancestors.