Thanks to the Thoughts of The Ghetto Intellectual, I have been put on to two more natives of the Black Star nation of Ghana who represent our past & future greatness in practicing the national mantra “Forward Ever Backward Never”! I can’t say it enough that information is power  & unity of global Africans always has & will create our revolutionary greatness that has & is feared by so many. It seems the idea of free trade & sankofa has always gone hand in hand for the sons & daughters of the Black Star nation of Ghana, be it in our distant past or present future.

“They said that the Negro had no initiative; that he was not a business man, but a laborer; that he had not the brain to engineer a corporation, to own and run ships; that he had no knowledge of navigation, therefore the proposition was impossible.Oh! ye of little faith. The Eternal has happened.”
- Marcus Garvey, on the launching of the Black Star Line

Many may have heard of the great Marcus Mosiah Garvey’s  Black Star Line & his call for global Africans of Diaspora to return to Africa to claim their rightful land, place in history & build economic wealth & self sufficiency for the common good & unification of global Africans; however, few including myself, have ever heard of Chief Alfred Sam, known to be a native son of Ghana who started a similar movement of global Africans returning to Ghana circa 1914, leaving Galveston, Oklahoma to Ghana on an old German Steamer named Liberia that Chief Alfred Sam had purchased for the passage.

“Alfred C. “Chief” Sam inspired hundreds of African American Oklahomans to follow him back to their “ancestral home,” Africa. Expounding the virtues of Africa’s Gold Coast with tales of diamonds lying on the ground after a rain, trees that produced bread, and sugar cane as large as stove pipes, Sam, who claimed to be an African chief, sold passage to Africa in large, camp-style meetings throughout Oklahoma in 1913. By purchasing twenty-five dollars worth of stock from Sam’s Akim Trading Company, an African American could retain passage for the whole family to the Gold Coast of Africa. Sam claimed he had access to land that the group could colonize. Hundreds of Oklahoma families not only purchased the stock but sold their possessions to take the trip. Governmental agencies from Oklahoma, the United States, and England discouraged the enterprise, and most African Americans newspapers attacked the chief and his scheme. Nevertheless, the adherents could not be swayed. One of the leaders in Sam’s movement published the African Pioneer, at the All-Black town of Boley, to champion and defend the venture…” READ MORE

“Chief Alfred Sam (18?-1930s), a Gold Coast merchant and a pioneer pan-Africanist, was the first black African in the 20th century to attempt to settle Afro-Americans in Africa. He was born at Appasu, in what was then the West Akyem district, but nothing is known of his family or the date of his birth. He was educated at the Basel Mission School at Kyebi, the capital of Akyem Abuakwa, and took to trading. His title ‘Chief’ was a courtesy title often taken by Gold Coasters who travelled to Britain or the U. S. Chief Sam, who for sometime had been engaged in the export of rubber and other goods to America, as well as in the import business, in February 1913 formed the Akyem Trading Company Ltd., incorporated under the laws of South Dakota, in the United States. The object of the company was to open up trade between West Africa on the one hand, and Europe and the United States on the other, to develop Africa industrially for the benefit of Africa and the world, and to encourage the emigration of the best Afro-American farmers and mechanics from the United States to different parts of West Africa, “so that the knowledge of practical and modern agriculture may be quickened by contact.” The company’s shipping line was known as the Ethiopian Steamship Line, a precursor of Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line, which Kwame Nkrumah was later to adopt as the name for Ghana’s national shipping line after independence...” READ MORE

As Africa’s fashion industry continues to grow from a multi -million dollar industry to a multi-billion dollar industry, Black Stars like Adwoa Adu have put their visionary ideas at the forefront of developing the Made in Africa label as a viable globally recognized label that will help build Africa immeasurably in the future. With a Masters degree in Micro-finance  & a dream of helping Africans become economically empowered through fair trade practices in toe, Adwoa embarked on a mission to Ghana through an internship from  CCI (Canadian Crossroads International) & came back to Canada as a new entrepreneur opening up a retail boutique called Arm Candy Casa in the heart of downtown Toronto, to house, showcase & sell products  made by Africans & fair trade companies, while at the same time educating the public on how their support of these products aid in the financial empowerment of Africans who need & are looking for hand ups instead of hand outs! As the UN declares 2011: International Year of Descendants of Africans, the global call for new generation Africa to step up to help build the continent is taking shape  & being employed. As Adwoa Adu says “One drop of water can grow into an ocean“!

“Among the Yonge Street bustle and streams of stores you will find on a quaint little street off Yonge, Elm Street a chic, stylish, hand bag and accessory store called Arm Candy Casa. Are you a woman who is confident, stylish, loves quality leather goods, and doesn’t follow the trends? Well this may be your new handbag and accessory store! Arm Candy Casa opened its doors in May 2008 to the hip, trendy, ever stylish downtown core and what a success it was been! Owner Adwoa Adu is a self proclaimed accessory and hand bag junky by nature that has turned her passion into a store that not only carries some of the hottest bags that I have ever seen but also promotes free trade, socially conscious and independent designers…” READ MORE

Ghana’s former President Jerry John Rawlings pushed for the granting of free visa & ultimately dual citizenship for African-Americans during a meeting at the White House with former President Clinton. He proposed the right of abode in a form of dual citizenship whereas African descendants in the Diaspora would get the Sankofa stamp in their passport, eliminating the need for a visa. President Rawlings at the time encouraged Diasporan Africans to return back to Africa to help build the continent & Ghana in particular, calling it “The Joseph Project“. I remember President Clinton weirdly laughing & shrugging it off as some sort of joke as if the Black Americans would just get up & go to Africa as American Jews packed up & settled in Israel. President Rawlings proposal never came to fruition for Diasporan Africans, but it led the way to granting dual citzenship for Ghanaian ex-pats living abroad. Now the issue has come up again in 2010, which many are calling the new decade of Africa with the world cup in Africa for the first time & what seems to be a new global scramble for Africa.

As a Pan-Africanist, I would love to see this happen in order to unite global Africans in & out of the continent, but I also agree with Marcus Garvey’s quote : “Africa for the Africans… at home and abroad! I have no desire to take all black people back to Africa; there are blacks who are no good here and will likewise be no good there…”

“At the conclusion of an official visit to Ghana, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade announced his intention to introduce a legislation allowing members of the global African Diaspora to visit Senegal without need of a visa. The Senegalese leader was in Accra to participate in an International Colloquium honouring the legacy of Ghana’s first President Kwame Nkrumah. In addition, this historic legislation would include a provision allowing members of the Diaspora to acquire a special passport…” Source:Read More

Dual Citizenship
Excerpt taken from:The President’s News Conference With President Jerry John Rawlings of Ghana-February 24, 1999

Q. President Rawlings, I think I’m on the wrong side of the room. I apologize, but I have a question for you.

President Rawlings. I understand. Actually, I was actually briefed that most of the questions would be directed at the President. [Laughter] I was made to understand that, don’t be surprised if most of the questions are related to American domestic situations and not the fact that I’m here from Africa. Thank you. Carry on, please. [Laughter]

Q. Well, I’ve heard that Ghana is offering some sort of dual citizenship to African-Americans. Is that true? What does it mean, and what’s the reasoning behind it?

President Rawlings. It’s very true. Sorry, do you mind if I—is it something connected to the question?

President Clinton. Answer this one, and then if you want to call on him, it’s fine.

President Rawlings. Very soon, our Parliament will be passing the bill to grant black Americans their dual citizenship, as far as Ghana is concerned, and you’ll have the right of dual abode.

Q. What does it mean?

President Rawlings. What does it mean?

Q. Yes.

President Rawlings. You wouldn’t need a visa; you wouldn’t need whatever it is to enter my country. You will have the freedom to move around as any fellow Ghanaian, and that will not deny you your American citizenship, either.

Q. What’s the reasoning behind it?

President Rawlings. What’s the reason behind it?

Q. Yes.

President Rawlings. Do German-Americans, do Israeli-Americans—are they denied the right of their citizenship back at home? No, no, please, if I’m wrong, can you correct me?

Q. I don’t know. [Laughter]

President Rawlings. Quite frankly, I mean, I could go on and on. But the point is that, I mean, you’re our kith and kin. If others can refer to themselves as Jewish Americans or German-Americans or Irish-Americans, whatever it is, Italian-Americans, and you’re calling yourself African——

Q. Americans.

President Rawlings. ——whatever it is. [Laughter] I mean, where do you come from? After all, I mean, my continent is the mother of—what do you call it?—not all continents but humanity and civilization as we’ve come to know today. I mean, is there any reason why you should not have the right to enjoy the citizenship of where you come from?

President Clinton. I’m just sorry I can’t do it. [Laughter] I don’t qualify. [Laughter]

President Rawlings. No, no, wait a minute, sir. Hold on, Mr. President. [Laughter] No, no. You’re not going to explain this for me. [Laughter]

Let’s put it this way. I’m rather surprised that you’re asking me this question. I should be asking you, I mean, how on God’s possible— whatever it is—could you be asking me a question like this? [Laughter] Because, I mean——

Q. Would it be dual loyalty?

President Rawlings. Well, I guess that’s what we have a bit of—we don’t have any problem with that. I think—when I look into that issue, I have a problem with you, because you’re demanding loyalty to the American Constitution, and yet I cannot demand the same kind of loyalty to my country. And this is where I’m beginning to have a problem. But nonetheless, there’s no reason why I will deny my fellow black African the right to enjoy the citizenship as I enjoy as an African.

President Clinton. Let me just try to—the general rule is that dual citizenship laws are, by definition, controlled by the citizenship conditions of both countries. And it’s not unheard of for Americans to have dual citizenship.

Interestingly enough, after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the breakup of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, we’ve had American citizens who had roots, for example, in the Baltic States. One went home to his country and became the Ambassador. I don’t know if he had to give up his American citizenship, or not. It would be a function of the law. But there are— and the laws operate differently in different countries. But almost all countries allow some form of dual citizenship.

Now, second thing is, the President didn’t mention this, but if Ghana does this, it certainly won’t hurt in trying to get more Americans interested in Ghana, going to Ghana, and contributing to Ghana’s future. I thought it was quite a clever idea myself. [Laughter]

Thank you very much.

President Rawlings. No, no, no. Hold on, Mr. President. [Laughter] On one condition—that if you fall foul of the laws and regulations of my country, the—what do you call it?—the judiciary, the police, and the laws of my country will take their course without the American Government attempting to intervene, to say, this is a citizen of my country.

President Clinton. I think that’s what the rule is.

President Rawlings. Thank you, sir.

President Clinton. There’s a whole lot of law on that. I think that’s the rule.

Thank you.

Q. I want to say to you something.

President Rawlings. Yes, sir.

Q. You know, we the people——

President Rawlings. Yes sir.

Q. ——of African descent that are Latino, are ready, willing, and able to cooperate with Africa—[inaudible]—and our experience, the President of the Dominican Republic, and I, as a Cuban-American, reside here for—[inaudible]—are ready and willing to help you in the African initiative. And I guarantee you with my friend of the Republican Party is going to give me 100 percent support for the initiatives of the President of Africa—[inaudible]. So you have the cooperation of the Latinos, like the Jewish have for their people in Israel.— READ MORE

Billions have been raised so far in charitable donations for Haiti, but more & more Haitians are dying every day after surviving being buried alive in years of poverty & the rubble of the earthquake, having only their sheer will to live to hold onto. International bureaucracy & power struggles of people with invested interest more in economy than humanity is becoming the continued cause of many Haitians being handed their final death certificates.

We need to be diligent & aware about keeping up with who is controlling the purse strings of all the humanitarian aid & the future sovereignty of Haiti. We can raise all the money we want to help Haiti, but Haiti will still be in the same condition & possibly worse, with an achieved loss of sovereignty if Haitians & Pan-Africanists at large do not come to the aid of their brothers & sisters in attaining & retaining economic empowerment & sovereignty. We have seen throughout the history of the world that a nation’s power & health rests upon its economic power & health; however for many African nations & Diasporans, genuinely fighting to attain this reality has been less & less of a priority because it has been easier & less work to collect foreign aid in return for resources, to leave the health & upliftment from poverty of their citizens to NGO’s & to just silently exist without much fight nor change within broken systems of governance, as long as the few in power continue to hold their titles as beneficiaries.

“Something in the nature of an economic revolution is required. Our development has been held back for too long by the colonial-type economy. We need to reorganize entirely, so that each country can specialize in producing the goods and crops for which it is best suited…..We have the blessing of the wealth of our vast resources, the power of our talents and the potentialities of our people. Let us grasp now the opportunities before us and meet the challenge to our survival. ” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s First President

We need to be diligent about not turning a blind eye to where all the Haitian relief funds are going when there are so many still begging & waiting for relief. Where is all that money being allocated to? Who is watching over the money & making the decisions on how it is spent? These are the questions we should never stop asking as we give of ourselves in charity because what is the point of charity when the situation of the people is never helped, but rather seems to get worse than better? This is the question we should be asking the Red Cross & the 10,000 + NGO/charities that were in Haiti prior to the quake & the numerous more that are in Haiti now.

“We shall measure our progress by the improvement in the health of our people; by the number of children in school, and by the quality of their education; by the availability of water and electricity in our towns and villages, and by the happiness which our people take in being able to manage their own affairs. The welfare of our people is our chief pride, and it is by this that my Government will ask to be judged.” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

February honors Black History month in America- we should not & can not allow the history of Black people throughout Africa & her Diaspora to be written in the same way in the next decade as it has been written in the past because that only will show the lack of forward movement & the acceptance of stagnation amongst Black people globally. If this decade is going to be diffrent than the last decade for Haiti & Black people globally, then we must recognize our common struggle, the same struggle that became the catalyst for the movement of Pan-Africanism.

We need this new decade to be a revival of Pan-Africanism with new, young, intelligent, concerned, enlightened, awake, aware, unabashed,unbought, unbossed, pride filled Black people in the likeness of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, W.E.B Dubois, Jomo Kenyatta, Marcus Garvey,Patrice Lumumba, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Ahmed Sékou Touré ,Gamal Abd El Nasser,Haile Selassie,Bob Marley, Fela Anikulapo Kuti etc. -everyday people turned leaders who knew,understood & accepted that although they have been spread all over the world, their legacy empowerment & economic freedom is intertwined in the legacy, empowerment & economic freedom of Africa-the spiritual birthplace of home. The type of feeling of home where one always comes back to pay homage while seeking the guidance & comfort of mama Africa’s bosom -the only true mother of our blood & roots regardless of our adopted mother nations.

There are the Kimmie Weeks of Africa & the Wyclef Jean’s of the Diaspora, who need to join forces with the likes of people like Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah, daughter of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who has decided to take on the mantle of her father by starting a new intelligent revolution toward real resolution. There needs to be a new era/new decade of Pan-Africanism with a Pan-African summit based on the original teachings & goals of empowerment & health through our collective economic freedom at the forefront.

“She is emerging as the new face of the current crop of selfless continental African leaders who think more about the development and prosperity of sub-Saharan Africa, first and foremost than looting from the continent.” Ghanaweb.com.

Sami Nkrumah & the growing crop of new thinkers & leaders are the only way to make this new decade, a decade where Africa & the Diaspora truly gets our house in order in efforts to write our own history in the manner that we would like to be recognized & heralded. We can’t rest on touting the legacy & greatness of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah or Toussaint L’Ouverture when there has been little to no forward movement created by the generations after them, in terms of the level of global respect & conditions of Africans & her Diasporans.

“Achieving political and economic liberation, social justice and national and continental unity including the African Diaspora are yet to be realized.” Samia Nkrumah

Pan-African movement
“Movement dedicated to establishing independence for African nations and cultivating unity among black people throughout the world. It originated in conferences held in London (1900, 1919, 1921, 1923) and other cities. W.E.B. Du Bois was a principal early leader. The important sixth Pan-African conference (Manchester, 1945) included Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah. The first truly intergovernmental conference was held in Accra, Ghana, in 1958, where Patrice Lumumba was a key speaker. The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) was founded by Robert M. Sobukwe and others in South Africa in 1959 as a political alternative to the African National Congress, which was seen as contaminated by non-African influences. The founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU; now the African Union) by Julius Nyerere and others in 1963 was a milestone, and the OAU soon became the most important Pan-Africanist organization.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60U0IV20100131

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/haiti/story/1455459.html

http://mashable.com/2010/01/13/haiti-red-cross-donations/

http://open.salon.com/blog/ezili_danto/2009/10/13/oil_in_haiti_-_economic_reasons_for_the_unus_occupation

“When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.” — Jomo Kenyatta, Pan-Africanist & first president of Kenya

“It is said, of course that we have no capital, no industrial skill, no communications, no internal markets, and that we cannot even agree among ourselves how best to utilize our resources for our own social needs…Yet all the stock exchanges in the world are pre-occupied with Africa’s gold, diamonds, uranium, platinum, copper and iron ores. Our CAPITAL flows out in streams to irrigate the whole system of Western economy. Fifty-two per cent of the gold in Fort Knox at this moment, where the USA stores its bullion, is believed to have originated from OUR shores. Africa provides more than 60 per cent of the world’s gold. A great deal of the uranium for nuclear power, of copper for electronics, of titanium for supersonic projectiles, of iron and steel for heavy industries, of other minerals and raw materials for lighter industries – the basic economic might of the foreign Powers – comes from OUR continent.” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

http://ghanaianoracle.wordpress.com/the-history-of-ghana/

The Achievements and Failures of President Kwame Nkrumah
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/cia_nkrumah.php

Richard Helms (CIA) file on Nkrumah
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/cia_nkrumah.php

“Countrymen, the task ahead is great indeed, and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it is a noble and glorious challenge – a challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, the courage to achieve – to achieve the highest excellencies and the fullest greatness of man. Dare we ask for more in life? ”
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah -Address to the National Assembly. 12 June 1965