I Am Marcus Garvey

I Am Marcus Garvey, A Monologue by Marvin X

 The Most Honorable Marcus Garvey

Poet, Playwright Marvin X

photo Kamau Amen Ra (RIP)

I am Marcus Garvey, Jamaican born African man. The winds of Jamaica blew my soul, body
spirit far and wide. I was a printer then took off to see the world, to unravel the riddles of the
Black man, African man, trapped deep down in the belly of the beast called colonialism.
I traveled the Americas, Costa Rica, Panamá, Honduras. I saw the suffering workers in these
lands, studied their condition and determined to free them. I went to England where I met Duse
Muhammad Ali, the Pan African who taught me One God, One Aim, One Destiny, Africa for the
Africans, those at home and those abroad. I wrote in Ali’s Oriental Times and Review, so did
Booker T. I wanted to meet Booker T so I went to the USA but Booker T. died before I could
meet him. I was heartbroken not to meet the man who wrote Up From Slavery, who founded
Tuskegee, who said do for self, you can accomplish what you will.

I wanted to know what happened to the Black man’s land, how did it become the pleasure
of Europeans, the richest continent in the world. I wanted to make the Black man independent
standing tall in his own land, not under the boot of Europeans. Africa for the Africans, those at
home and those abroad.

Where is our flag? In my disgust at the white man’s song “Everybody
got a flag cept a coon,” God blessed me with the Red, Black and Green, Red for blood of one
hundred million, Black for all African people, Green for our Motherland. Fly the Red, Black and
Green, let the ancestors know you know them, honor and respect them, the living and yet unborn.

I am Marcus Garvey. Let our African legions march, let black nurses heal the wounds of our despair,
let the African poets sing songs of freedom, let the colonialists dred the sound of our valiant voices
singing in the winds of freedom, independence and joy.

I am Marcus Garvey, let my newspaper The Negro World spread the truth of our Blackness,
African pride and glory. We shall spread the words of freedom throughout the Pan African world,
millions shall join the UNIA, United Negro Improvement Association, millions in the USA,
Caribbean, Europe and the Motherland.

No matter those who oppose us, the winds of time shall oppose them in their wickedness,
sycophants of colonialism, yes, bootlickers who think they are smart but only outsmart themselves.
Their idea of freedom is yet slavery for independence is the dream of every true man and woman.
No man is free under the yoke of another. Yet some intellectual black fools hate the idea of true
freedom. They set traps for me at every turn, in league with the FBI and other agencies around the
world.

The devil sent Negroes to sabotage my ships The Black Star Line. Black spies infiltrated our UNIA.
The FBI began with their spies in my midst, along with  the jealous, envious Negroes who hated
Blackness. We call them Black men with white hearts. Somebody said these Negroes are white men
dipped in chocolate! In Spanish we call them coffee con leche!

I am Marcus Garvey. What was the Harlem Renaissance without me? I published all the poets in my
newspaper. It was the spirit of Blackness that made the Renaissance possible, not white patronage
that made us exotic birds of paradise.

I am Marcus Garvey. With the help of sell out Negroes, call ‘em niggas, the USA falsely charged me
with mail fraud and jailed me, then deported me. I passed away in London, never visiting Africa.
Yet today, the Red, Black and Green is the Universal African flag of liberation. Long live Black
Nationalism, long live Pan Africanism. One God, One Aim, One Destiny. Africa for Africans, those
at home and abroad. Up you mighty Race, you can accomplish what you will!

Yes, look for me in the whirlwind, look for me in the storms, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes in
diverse places. Look for me in the eyes of our children who carry the torch of freedom in the morrow
of their bones!

--Marvin X
10/7/18