Fly Yo Flag, North American African

August 17 will mark the 128th birthday of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey,  the visionary Jamaican-born leader who built the Universal Negro Improvement  Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) into the largest  mass movement for liberation in the history of Africans in America and perhaps  the world! As such, I have long advocated that August 17th, his birthday, be  celebrated as Universal African Flag Day. Black Arts Movement poet/organizer Marvin X at his Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown  Oakland. Marvin has proclaimed 14th Street the Black Arts Movement District.  "The people are urgently awaiting  to see the day when the Red, Black and Green will fly up and down 14th Street, i.e. BAM Way. Also, they  want  me to write a play about Marcus Garvey and perform the role of Garvey. Now, I have to think about this latter  request, but it is not difficult to write about someone I love, Marcus Garvey! For sure, I am an actor and, in the words of ancestor Paul Robeson, an artistic freedom fighter." An unapologetic Pan-Africanist, Garvey believed that Black people everywhere  should unite and fight to liberate Africa, the motherland, from the brutal clutches  of European colonialism – Africa should be the base for global Black Power! Hence  he said, “I know no national boundary where the Negro is concerned. The whole  world is my province until Africa is free.” At a time when people of African descent were besieged, belittled , marginalized,  exploited and oppressed everywhere, Garvey sought to instill a sense of pride  in the history and heritage of a great people,noting that: “Apeople without the knowledge  of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” He declared that “God  and Nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own created genius we make  ourselves what we want to be… Let the sky and God be our limit and Eternity our measurement.” Garvey was determined to rally a beleaguered people and mold them into a formidable  force committed to self-reliance, self-determination and nationhood.   The UNIA was organized  like a nation in-waiting with military, economic/commercial, educational, health, religious  and administrative divisions.   He also created literature, music, images and symbols,  designed to promote pride and unity. For example, theUniversal Ethiopian Anthem  was adopted as the official song of the organization. But, the most powerful and lasting symbol of unity that Garvey presented and bequeathed  to African people was a Flag, the Red,Black and Green. Garvey was keenly aware of  the psycho-cultural value of symbols to an oppressed/battered people. The impetus to put  forth a flag became even more urgent because of the white supremacist song that  became very popular in the early part of the 20th century – “Every Race Has a Flag but  the Coon.” The Red, Black and Green was officially ratified as the Flag for African  people at the 1920 UNIA Convention – which led Garvey to proclaim: “Show me the  race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride.  Aye! In song and mimicry they have said, ‘Every race has a flag but the coon.’ How  true! Aye! But that was said of us four years ago. They can’t say it now….” The colors of the Flag were meant to have significance for Black/African people  globally. In the   ceremonies of IBW’s public events, the Flag is saluted by reciting  words that embody the essence of what   we believe Garvey intended to be the meaning  of the colors: Red, for the blood and suffering of African people; Black for the color  and culture of our people; Green, for the land stolen from us which we will reclaim  to build our nation. The Red, Black and Green Flag was meant to be a symbol of Pan  African Unity! Indeed, the influence of Garvey was such that the colors appear  in the Flags of Malawi, Kenya and Ghana in Africa and St. Kitts and Nevis in the  Caribbean. In the era of the 60’s when Black Power, Black Nationalism and Pan Africanism  reemerged as a dominant force in the Black Freedom Struggle in the U.S.,the   Red,Black and Green was frequently in full flourish at rallies and demonstrations.  And, it was common to see sisters and brothers with buttons, hats, scarves and   clothing with the colors of the Flag in the design. The colors of the Black  Liberation Flag, as it came to be known, were in! It was a symbol of  Black pride, unity, resistance and the struggle for self-determination and  independence. I shall never forget the hundreds of Flags waving in the  breeze on African Liberation Day in 1972 where some 25,000 gathered  in Washington, D.C. to demand the liberation of the last colonies in Africa.  It was a glorious site, one Marcus Garvey must have been pleased with from  his ascendant perch with the ancestors! It was to preserve and promote this spirit of unity, pride and resistance   and to keep the legacy of Marcus Garvey alive as an impeccable  model of the struggle for Black/African self-determination that I wrote  an article some years ago proposing that Garvey’s birthday be declared   Universal African Flag Day. In the article I noted that in New York  on the day of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, the Puerto Rican  Flag is on prominent display through-out the City. The same applies  for the Parades of Dominicans, Colombians and other Latino nationalities  in New York. And, at some of the largest pro-immigration reform  demonstrations a few years ago there was a sea of Mexican Flags —  so much so that it provoked a backlash by opponents of reform,  who labeled the demonstrators un-American. I firmly believe that Africans in America, indeed, African people  everywhere should embrace the Red, Black and Green as our Flag   and fly/display it during rallies, demonstrations, public events and   Black/African holidays as a unifying, Pan African symbol of   self-affirmation, resistance and self-determination. And, on the   birthday of Marcus Garvey, Universal African Flag Day, the   Red, Black and Green should be proudly on display everywhere! Frankly, my initial calls for Garvey’s birthday to be declared   Universal African Flag Day, as an act of Kujichagulia/Self-determination,  did not get much traction. But, sparked by the Black Lives Matter Movement,  there is a new spirit of resistance in the air. I am noticing more and more   Red, Black and Green Flags at rallies and demonstrations. Therefore,  encouraged by these events,the forthcoming Millions Peoples March for  Justice; the urging of Dr. Segun Shabaka of the New York Chapter of  the National Association of Kawaida Organizations (NAKO); and, with  the blessing of Dr. Julius Garvey, the son of Marcus Garvey, I am renewing  the call for August 17th to be affirmed as Universal African Flag Day. Moreover, in this season of heightened resistance, it is only appropriate that  we request that President Obama exonerate the Honorable Marcus Garvey  of the trumped up charges of which he was convicted as one of the first  victims of the FBI. Marcus Garvey’s life and legacy matter to Black/African  people. Therefore, we are obligated to fight to clear his name! So, sisters and  brothers let’s do it. Fly the Flag and Fight for the Exoneration  of Marcus Garvey! #FlytheRedBlackand Green August 17. Dr. Ron Daniels is President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century  and Distinguished Lecturer at York College City University of New York.  His articles and essays also appear on the IBW website www.ibw21.org   and www.northstarnews.com. To send a message, arrange media interviews  or speaking engagements, Dr. Daniels can be reached via email at info@ibw21.org  Marvin X and student at his Academy of da Corner. Will Marvin X perform the role of Marcus Garvey? The Red, Black and Green was officially ratified as the Flag for African  people at the 1920 UNIA Convention – which led Garvey to proclaim: “Show me the  race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride.  Aye! In song and mimicry they have said, ‘Every race has a flag but the coon.’ How  true! Aye! But that was said of us four years ago. They can’t say it now….”