Banneker City LCC of the Pan-African Federalist Movement

This weekend, we give honor and praise to the late Malcolm X: Black America's diplomat and a proponent for global Afrikan unity.

We inherited that movement and will ensure that it continues. As we do so, we learn from people like Baba A. Peter Bailey.

Baba, a confidante of Malcolm X and a staunch advocate for Pan-Afrikan unity, stands next to Atty. Nkechi Taifa as they reflect on Bro. Malcolm's legacy and the work that's yet to be done.

To learn more about a youth-led movement based in North America for the United Afrikan States, like this page.

The actions and policies of the government rarely reflect the will of the people. That's why it's best to differentiate between the government and the grassroots in any type of discussion about politics.

On this day, we observe the anniversary of Malcolm X's assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.

Let's be very clear that Malcolm X was NOT a civil rights leader as historians like to call him. He was a Black nationalist and Pan-Africanist who fought for human rights and self-determination.

The aforementioned causes are much broader and impactful than civil rights. Malcolm X's work laid the foundation for much of the grassroots organizing that continues this day across the Pan-African world.

More to come in a video.

"We know that there are differences among us. Africans enjoy different cultures, distinctive values, special attributes. But we also know that unity can be and been attained among men of the most disparate origins, that differences of race, of religion, of culture, of tradition, are no insuperable obstacle to the coming together or peoples. History teaches us that unity is strength and cautions us to submerge and overcome our differences in the quest for common goals, to strive, with all our combined strength, for the path to true African brotherhood and unity."

H.I.M. Emperor Haile Selassie I
May 16, 1963

TODAY at Anacostia Library, we are putting a microscope on Mauritania where the slave trade still goes on to this day.

Our special guest will talk to us about her advocacy and what she's doing to raise awareness. Please make plans to stop through at 6pm.

Again, Anacostia Neighborhood Library (1800 Good Hope Road SE), 6pm to 730pm.

A photo from Bro. Sam P.K. Collins' Black August/Garvey Month presentation about Pan-African Federalism and the meaning of sovereignty.

Join us at Sankofa Video Books & Cafe on the evening of August 17 from 6pm to 8pm for a Black August/Garvey Month reasoning and workshop.

Below is what you can expect to see.

- The North America PAFM youth commission's resolution about the movement for the United African States.

- A reading of and reasoning around Babylon Be Still by Sam P.K. Collins

- An analysis of Black August from Kokayi Kairi Patterson , an acupuncturist and colleague of Dr. Mutulu Shakur (RIZ)

- The need for Pan-African sovereignty that centers on male-female balance from Sheila Brown, a Garveyite and Amy Jacques Garvey scholar.

Please tap in either in person or virtually. This is a working session that promises to build into something greater, and part of an ongoing global movement for African sovereignty.

A message from PAFM North America youth coordinator Sam P.K. Collins on the 131st earth strong of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I Speeches & Quotes.

The farther I go along on my trod, the more I am able to overstand and appreci-love His Majesty's significance.

Two years ago, His Majesty's birthday, and the month of July, also known as Judah month, inspired the reading of the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. That book included many scriptures about the fight against Babylon and the ascent of a Black king that would further legitimize and energize a repatriation movement.

In the months leading up to His Majesty's 131st earth strong, I gained further insight on his role in the formation of the Organization of African Unity. Of course, it wasn't done in a way that satisfied the desires of Osegyfo Kwame Nkrumah, but a United African States, like what Nkrumah intended, is the mantle for the next generation of Rastafari, and Pan Africanists as a whole, to take on at this juncture in the ongoing fight for sovereignty.

The beauty of Rastafari lies in the practical application and the literal fulfillment of the scriptures I at one point in my life had come to reject. Of course, I cannot ignore the teachings of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, for that's what inculcated the Race First philosophy that inspired and fed my nationalist fervor. However, Emperor Haile Selassie helped me rise beyond the confines of race so that I can establish a nobility rooted in Africanity.

The time for a new type of nationalism is upon us in which all women and men are able to coexist in the world. That doesn't disregard the need for African Unity and I-ni-versal African sovereignty. As a matter of fact, it necessitates it.

Without global African sovereignty, no one is free. International governing bodies such as the United Nations and the African Union, a shell of what the OAU was, must be taken to task for what they haven't done in Africa's best interests and what they've allowed to impede Africa's progress. Without centralized power coming from the grassroots, it's impossible to shape a government that represents the people.

As the world turns toward Africa, it's time to look deep in ourselves to fulfill our potential. That begins with a change in self then a collective effort to break the chains of neocolonialism. The ball is in our court, but, believe it or not, we have much to work with what His Majesty left us.

ICYMI: DaQuan Lawrence, our lead coordinator in D.C., and Damian Bascom, one of our local coordinators, conducted a Juneteenth community cleanup in Congress Heights on June 17. More to come in the future.