THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY
T R A V E L N O T E S
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WE ARE ONE AFRICAN PEOPLE
RUNOKO RASHIDI IN TRIVANDRUM, INDIA, APRIL 14, 1998
ON THE OCCASION OF THE BIRTHDAY OF DR. B.R. AMBEDKAR
STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE
KERALA DALIT PANTHERS AND THE BLACK PEOPLE OF INDIA
| DEDICATED TO BROTHER KWAME TURE |
Jai Bhim!
I bring you greetings from the Black people of America. I have now been in India for the last two weeks. I have visited Bihar in the North. I have just returned from Nagpur in Central India. And now I am at home with by Black brothers and sisters in Kerala. For the first time since I have been in India I feel that I have finally come to be with my family. I proudly salute the Kerala Dalit Panthers. I have been told that it is my job to inspire you, but instead I am the one who has been inspired by you.
Thousands of years ago the first men and the first women on this planet came out of Africa and they were Black people. Not only were the first people Black, but the people to develop the earliest civilizations in the world were also Black people. It is very important that we talk about the achievements of the past so that we can begin to give our people a sense of pride and dignity.
In India Black people built the earliest civilization. In Africa Black people built the earliest civilization. And then the White man came. In India you call them Aryans. In Africa we call them Europeans. The Aryans came and the Europeans came and they enslaved our people all over the world.
Slaves did not come from Africa. Africans were captured in Africa and enslaved and taken all over the world. In Africa Black men and women and children were hunted like animals. The people were branded with hot irons and all of our women were raped. Shackles and chains were placed on our hands and our feet, and we were taken across the ocean to America. But every step of the way African people--my people, my ancestors, Black people--fought the White man. Even when they burned us alive, even when they castrated us, even when they hung us from trees, our people fought. And that is what I wish to talk to you about tonight--the resistance of Black people to oppression.
I am here tonight to help establish a bond between the Black people of America and the Dalits, the Black Untouchables of India, that will never be broken. Our greatest leader was a Black man named Marcus Garvey. Marcus Garvey to us is what Dr. Ambedkar has been to you. He is our greatest leader. Marcus Garvey organized six million African people. He organized a Black army and he taught Black people in America to be proud of themselves. But the most celebrated of all the Black organizations of America has been the Black Panther Party.
In 1966, in America an organization called the Black Panther Party was formed and it was formed to defend the rights of Black people by any means necessary. Some of the members of the Black Panther Party were sent to prison. Some of the members of the Black Panther Party were murdered. But their deeds and their accomplishments will never die. The Black Panther Party was formed over thirty years ago, but time has not diminished the glory of their deeds.
The Black Panther Party is important to us because it showed that Black men and Black women can stand up and fight for the rights of Black people. The Black Panther Party of America struck fear into the hearts of White people in America--into the hearts of the White oppressors of Black people in America. You must strike that same fear in the heart of the Brahminical forces of India.
Although Black people in America are downtrodden, we are standing up and we will never be defeated. We realize today, perhaps for the first time, both in India and in America, that nobody can save us but us. The Communist Party will not save us. The Brahmins and the Aryans will not save us. Mohandas Gandhi and the Hindus will not save us. The only ones who will save us is us.
Today in America Black people are standing up. Three years ago in the United States more than one million Black men took to the streets of the nation's capitol. One year ago two million--two million--Black women took to the streets of America to protest against oppression. This year there is a call for for three million Black youth to take to the streets of New York City in America and stand up for the interests of Black people.
I never imagined when I came to India that I would be marching in a demonstration with my brothers and sisters with their fists in the air saying "Black is beautiful! Black is strong!" When I go back to America, the fact that I have been with you will inspire our people to greater efforts, once I tell them that there is a Black consciousness movement on the rise in India.
I am here to tell you, as I stand here drenched with perspiration, that I love you and that we are one people. I am here to tell you that the Black Untouchables of India--the Dalit--and the Black people of America form one human family. Don't stop! Don't turn back. Be proud of yourselves and realize what a united people can accomplish.
We pledge our undying loyalty and our undying support to the Kerala Dalit Panthers. We will never forget you. We will never forsake you. Jai Bhim!
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