UNIA HIGH COMMISSIONER & AMBASSADOR TO ZIMBABWE ANNOUNCES POSTCOLONIAL CULTURAL & ECONOMIC CONFERENCE
by Hon. H. E. Wesley

History tells us that the Arabs entered Africa thirteen centuries ago with the expressed intention of expanding their geo-economic/political position in the world. To gain their objective they met Africans in Africa with the Quran in one hand and their sword in the other. The Arabs enslaved Africans under the notion that their God repudiates blackness. Today, they claim North Africa as theirs. It is as if there is an Arab proverb that says -- God rewarded North Africa to Arabs as a reward for their aggression against Black People. The European followed suit and used their guns and the Bible to further enslave Africans. The European empire that once debased the length and breadth of Africa using their Christian missionaries at the point position have in many ways lost out on the African prize, but they are relentlessly looking for a point of return. This action is characterized as neo-colonialism.

In David Lamb’s book, The Africans, New York: Random House, 1982 (pages 130-147) he does not try to sell the notion that white missionaries were softhearted toward Africans, but he does suggest that they did do some good. The point here is that whereas Arabs and Euro-Americans used God to justify their vile action against Black People, the Black Church in the West was institutionalized by the Black Clergy in order to relieve some of the suffering of the slave population as a Divine order from God the Father, The Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Black Church of old was invaluable but the job is not finished.

THE BLACK CHURCH IN THE WEST HAS A VITAL ROLE TO PLAY

The PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference offers the Black Church an opportunity to join in on the new task of today by returning to Africa and taking an active part in learning and teaching the spiritual and economic components of Africans’ global potential. All members are requested to do what they can to move this message forward.

The action of Euro-Americans in general as far as the African slave trade is concerned as well as the specific actions of the United States Government from the era of the Dred Scott Decision to the present era of Hurricane Katrina proves the continued bald-face impudence of Euro-Americans regarding African people. If God gave the White Race racial sovereignty, did He not also give racial dominion to the Black Race? Civil rights falls far short of sovereignty.

The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League is currently organizing a consortium of African nationalistic organizations. The Black Church teaches that charity begins at home. Therefore, the Global Black Church should not be afraid of standing up for African sovereignty and teach a new-age racial love grounded in solidarity as a spiritual/material matter. The PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference offers a forum for that purpose.

The venue for the PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference is planned for 2010 on the continent of Africa. The UNIA local divisions should endeavor to sell the Black Churches and other African nationalist community-based organizations on the concept of joining the global African consortium and taking an active part in getting their membership (as many as possible) to begin planning to participate under the banner of Africa for Africans, those at home and those abroad. If we all put our shoulders to the wheel, we can make it happen.

FOR MANY OF US WE THINK THAT OUR HISTORY BEGINS IN THE STORY OF SLAVERY. IN FACT MANY OF US HAVE NOT LEARNED OF ANY OTHER PART OF OUR HISTORY.IN SPITE OF ALL THAT HAS HAPPENED WE HAVE MANAGED TO MAKE THE WORLD RESPECT OUR CAPACITY TO SURVIVE. WE WHO HAVE CONQUERED THE WORLD BOTH IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE AND OUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WORLD, WE STILL HAVE NOT BEEN HEALED FROM THE DEVASTATION OF THE SLAVE TRADE...UNTIL NOW.

It was in the person of Marcus Garvy that the chance to regain our rightful place showed up as a real possibility and it is because of Mr. Garvey the The UNIA-ACL under the leadership of today's president general Mr. Miller that we are preparing to heal ourselves. The whole of the Black World is at a point where we are prepared to turn yet another page in the journal of our history. The UNIA-ACL is determined to return our people to it's traditional greatness. We are looking toward the redemption of Africa...but before we do that...we must come together and Heal ourselves.

One God One! Aim One! Destiny!

AFRICAN OPINION Vol.1