Babylon Prism

Babylon Prism

Babylon, back weh!
With your ism, schism...
Refracting JAH Light
Through your dutty prism
While JAH People unite
You create your division
But you can’t check the light
That we shine from within

You’ve taken our spirituality
And turned it into religion
Replacing our roots and culture
With your own evangelism
Creating doctrines and dogmas
That have fueled fanaticism
But the truth is too big
To fit in your catechism

You’ve distorted our diversity
And you’ve created racialism
Drawn beguiling borderlines
To impose your tribalism
Disposed age-old traditions
For your cold intellectualism
If it doesn’t fit your world
Then you call it “barbarism”

Babylon, back weh!
With your ism, schism...
Refracting JAH Light
Through your dutty prism
While JAH People unite
You create your division
But you can’t check the light
That we shine from within

JAH Ancient Monarchy...
You dubbed it as despotism
Then took Selassie’s Throne
In the name of communism
Today, leaders of the world
Play a game of egotism
We vote in your elections
But we have no real decision

You’ve denied us of simplicity
For your new materialism
Turning women into placards
To sell us your sexism
The earth has been stripped
For your mercantilism
You’ve prostituted our dignity
For your commercialism

Babylon, back weh!
With your ism, schism...
Refracting JAH Light
Through your dutty prism
While JAH People unite
You create your division
But you can’t check the light
That we shine from within

Babylon, back weh!
With your ism, schism...
We burn out all illusions!
We’re free from your prison!

JMC 
11/30/14
(c) 2014

Reunion

Reunion

Once, in another lifetime
Some ancient time ago
I must have been in your arms
In the comfort of your bosom
And ever since then
I've been thinking of you
The constant fire lamp in my soul
Now I know, now I can see
You, before me
Green trees and red earth
Where my spirit was birthed
Mama Africa...

JMC 
7/25/12
(c) 2012

Written somewhere over Africa, before landing in Accra, Ghana. Released as Ghana celebrates its 56th Independence Day, March 6th 2013.

Africa Bound

Today on the 120th Earthlight of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I, I prepare for my journey to Africa tomorrow. My wife and I will be travelling to Ghana to spend time with her family and see her homeland again after three years of being away. For me, it has been a lifetime of being away. To claim Ghana or anywhere in Africa as a “home” would be something I could never have imagined before I was married, and although this is my first trod to the Motherland, knowing that my Empresses’ family is there to receive me gives me that joyous feeling of home already. Africa awaits with open arms.

Words escape me as I am writing this because I am overwhelmed with many thoughts and emotions. In fact, I’ve had a hard time articulating anything when people ask me about it. As a Rastaman, this is a dream come true... stepping on African soil, sacred land. I feel like an ancient soul finally finding peace in my roots. Many people in the West do not have the opportunity to travel to Africa, nor do they have the connections to do so with comfort and security. I am very blessed and very fortunate in that regard. More so, I am meeting the rest of my wife’s family, relations that I have only been able to speak with on the phone. To greet my mother-in-law and my siblings-in-law for the first time will be an honor and an experience that I have not yet fully conceived. To spend time learning more about them and growing as family will be the ultimate blessing. In a day I will be enjoying  their company, music, and food in Accra, Ghana... a world away from Connecticut.

A world away indeed... As much as I am familiar with Africa, it is another thing to be there and live it. Everything I understand about Ghana or Africa in general may or may not completely change or evolve. I don’t really know what to expect, but I have a positive mind and therefore I am confident in having good expectations for this voyage. As exciting and new as it will be, I feel that it will also provide the inspiration to reinvigorate my spirit. Going to Ghana will help me to reflect more on my livity and trod with Rastafari. I plan to keep a journal during my stay, and write often. Mental exhaustion has affected my ability to write as much as I once enjoyed, even during these summer months. There will be much to think about, and much to say, this is for certain. From my perspective as constant student of African History, I will see places that I have learned about only in books or documentaries such as the legacy of the Ashanti Empire, the Elmina and Cape Coast Castles, and the resting places of Kwame Nkrumah and W. E. B. Du Bois... just to name a few. I will be completely absorbed in my “dreamland across the sea”, as many reggae songs have evoked.

I know that this will be the first of many trips to Ghana because of my family, but I hesitate to presume too much simply because I am in awe of the fact. It is my hope that I explore and grow close to Ghana more and more, this haven for African Liberation and progress. It is also my hope that I am able to experience other regions of Africa and ultimately Ethiopia. What better way to celebrate the birth of the great King Selassie I than with a trip to Mama Africa? It will be a time of cultural and educational exchange, an opportunity to become acquainted with my African brethren and for them to know me in turn.... something His Majesty always promoted. It is a blessing that I am extremely grateful for. I am so excited to meet new family, and I am so deeply moved to experience this ancient land. I am eager to soak it all in and share my travels with the massive when I return. Until that time, blessings! Mama Africa, we are coming home...

JAHsh, The Obroni Rastaman

“Hello, Mama Africa, how are you?
I'm feeling fine and I hope you're fine too 
Hello, Mama Africa, how are you ?
I hope when you hear these words 
Your greys turn blue, greys turn blue”
- Garnett Silk

African Unity

Africa. When I bring up the name of the mother of all continents with students in my classroom, or in conversations with average everyday people, I can already predict the type of commentary I’ll receive: “poor people, war, primitive, disease, wild animals”, and so forth. Even if we dismiss the attitudes spawned out of bigotry or ignorance held by the international community (which we cannot), at the very least the perception of Africa is a pessimistic one. Why does it appear to so many people as if no good can ever come out of Africa? Why does it seem like the media only reports on the failure and depravity of African nations? How can the richest and most ancient continent on Earth have the poorest people? As a Rastaman and a teacher, I do my best to address the negative attitudes about Africa. Yes, the continent still suffers very much, but now more than ever in modern times there are some wonderful things to say about Mama Africa as she moves toward a renaissance. We celebrate African Liberation Day, or Africa Day, as the beginning of a new independent Africa and the harbinger of good things that are yet to come.

On this day, May 25th, 1963, the charter for the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was signed by 32 independent African nations, just a few short years after they gained independence from their colonial European powers. Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia presided over the formation of the OAU (now the African Union) along with other revolutionary African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana with the goal of urging the African nations to unite on common ground. While some leaders were in favor of more gradual efforts to unify, others like Nkrumah who held socialist and Pan-Africanist ideas, looked to create a strong federation, a United States of Africa. This was a manifestation of the dreams held by the Pan-African Congress first organized by W.E.B. Du Bois, and the efforts of so many other freedom-fighters from Africa and the African Diaspora in the Caribbean and America seeking to eradicate colonialism. The OAU was the foundation for African solidarity, for having a collective voice, for building a real economic and political future, to defend human rights and raise the living standards of Africans at home and abroad. However, political self-determination came with many challenges for the newly independent nations and for those nations still to be liberated. Remember, Britain did not decolonize Zimbabwe until 1980, and an apartheid government existed in South Africa until 1994.

For centuries, Africa, with all of its wealth and its once proud trade empires of ancient and medieval times, had been exploited of its natural and human resources, damaged and segmented by the slave trade and colonialism brought by both the Arab and European world. After so many years of darkness, a swift strengthening and healing could not be possible for these vulnerable nations. Borders were drawn across the African continent, leaving nations with diverse ethnic groups, cultures, and religions that became the catalysts for conflict and control. During the Cold War the United States and USSR competed for influence in independent Africa, seeking resources and strategic locations. Since independence, political turmoil has resulted in frequent military coups, and true democracy is frequently stifled by one-party systems and eventually dictatorships. Natural resources have been exploited by either imperialist economies or warlords seeking regional control. Furthermore, foreign assistance largely ceased along with the Cold War and many African nations were left in debt to the IMF and the World Bank, beholden to foreign governments and businesses, the people of these countries have suffered through poverty and the other problems that spawn from it. 

In the midst of all the chaos and crisis, some heroes of the African independence movement were ousted from power by rivals or became despotic rulers. Kwame Nkrumah, the father of my wife’s native country Ghana, the leader who proclaimed “self-government now”, was one of those. When he became the first president of Ghana, some of his political tactics were considered to be authoritarian, and in efforts to modernize the country, the nation fell into debt which eventually led to him being overthrown (some say with the help of the CIA). Now decades later, many Ghanaians regard Nkrumah as a hero who tried to build up the nation and who promoted the liberation and unification of the whole African continent. Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya was another founding African statesman and the first president of his country who had also been criticized during his reign and yet has been regarded as a hero. Along with Kwame Nkrumah, Kenyatta was one of the first African leaders to get involved and collaborate with W.E.B. DuBois and the Pan-Africanist Congress. Before Kenya’s independence he was imprisoned by the British for allegedly aiding the Mau Mau rebellion. He was also the inspiration of reggae’s Burning Spear. Finally, there is the father of African unity, H.I.M. Haile Selassie I who was overthrown by the Communist Derg leader Mengistu Haile Mariam after famine caused distress amongst the people. Yet, Emperor Selassie I had modernized Ethiopia, promoted education, made the ancient monarchy a constitutional one, and helped lay the foundation for the OAU (and now the African Union), in his own capital of Addis Ababa. Critics who claimed that H.I.M. was an autocrat used fraudulent reasons to take power. Derg supporters and foreign journalists like Ryszard Kapuściński (who was a Communist and sympathetic to Mariam) spread and wrote deceitful things about Haile Selassie I and ignored the arrests and executions of university students, intellectuals and politicians and the forceful exile of the royal family by the military coup. Why can’t the world honor these men and their achievements without discrediting them?

I do not advocate totalitarianism, corruption, or the violation of human rights... but let’s be honest. Many of the same things that African leaders, past and present, have been blamed for are things that go unnoticed or whitewashed in the politics of the Western world.  Particularly in regard to Emperor Haile Selassie I, Kwame Nkrumah, and Jomo Kenyatta, where no violence or terrible infringements of human rights have ever been honestly attributed to them. These great men were liberators and sought the unification of the entire African continent and to say that their leadership needs to be measured against the example of American or Western democracy is unsuited and unfair especially when examples of good governance were absent even during colonial rule (besides Ethiopia). There are many perspectives and authors to history. Some of these views are right and some are wrong... and more often than not, there is a blending of both. Ultimately the Truth does reveal itself, and I believe it will favor those who fought for the rights and dignity of the oppressed by any means necessary. Of course there have been dictators in the truest sense of the word like Mobutu Sese Seko, Idi Amin, Charles Taylor, and others who have used torture, murder, war, and political manipulation to keep power. Fortunately, over the years the citizens of many of these African countries have forced dictatorships to hold elections and transition to some form of democracy. 

Over the past few months the news stories coming out of Africa have been bleak, as usual... and underreported, as usual. The military Islamist organization called Boko Haram is still terrorizing Nigeria with violence, ethnic attacks and a coup d’état took place in Mali, battles in the new country of South Sudan, political commotion in Senegal, and continued problems in the Congo and Somalia. Oh, and of course you had the flash-in-the-pan that was “Kony 2012”, a YouTube popularity contest to find Uganda warlord, Joseph Kony, whom people have known about for over 20 years. In fact there are existing documentaries about Kony and the LRA that are at least 10 years old now. What have been the real actual fruits of this campaign besides a few sensationalized news stories aired for a couple of weeks in April? Not to take anything away from the terrible amounts of suffering that people endure in these war-torn and unstable areas, but this is the image of Africa that we are left with: a helpless, despaired, “dark continent”... unable to rise on its own without the help of some well-intended Western college students, missionaries, and celebrities. It perpetuates the notion that Africa is unable to help itself and become great again. However, on the flip-side is plenty of evidence that Africa is on the rise.

There are many hopeful signs that point to a good future for Africa. Africa is in the midst of a population explosion, middle classes are emerging, business entrepreneurship is evolving, urbanization is spreading, and economies are growing with the help of new foreign investment, particularly from China. There is more freedom from Western influences and more competition in the African economies, which means that foreign interests have to play by African rules. With such changes, livelihoods are changing for the better as well. Many young, globally connected, and increasingly more educated Africans are demanding political changes, better healthcare, functional governments, free elections, and are realizing the necessity for being the creators of their own destinies. Africa is slowly and steadily on the rise. The flaws and failures will eventually even out after many years of growing pains. For all of the negative incidents shown in the news, not enough of the African success stories are highlighted for others to see, like the economic gains of today’s Ghana and Mozambique. It is important to look at these many factors when examining Africa. To do so is not ignoring the problems that currently exist, but rather being optimistic of the things that are sure to come. 

Look to Mama Africa with optimism and hope, just like the Pan-Africanist leaders, Selassie, Nkrumah, and Kenyatta. Like DuBois, George Padmore and Dudley Thompson from America and the Caribbean. No matter who you are or where you come from, Africa is the birthplace of humanity and the foundation of our global future. The whole world is Africa. So, let us hail up Africa, like Marcus Garvey once wrote:

Hail! United States of Africa-free!

Hail! Motherland most bright, divinely fair!

State in perfect sisterhood united,

Born of truth; mighty thou shalt ever be.

- “Hail, United States of Africa” by Marcus Garvey

Happy African Liberation Day; Africa Unite, 

JAHsh

Kwame Nkrumah & H.I.M. Haile Selassie I

Boko Haram

Boko Haram

Boko Haram, stop planting di bomb
JAH gonna whip down yuh organization
Boko Haram, me seh what a bam bam
Stop antagonizing all of the Nigerian

Boko Haram set upon Goodluck Jonathan
Putting the whole nation inna state of alarm
Boko Haram deh in the northern region
Making the Muslim fight all the Christian

Boko Haram must put down the weapon
Kalashnikovs inna Kano keep firing on
Boko Haram killing men like chicken
See the blood run like oil from the palm

Boko Haram, stop all the terrorism
Africans murdering more African
Boko Haram, setting off detonation
All in the name of your false religion

Boko Haram, you better take caution
And Abubakar Shekau, your wicked imam
Boko Haram, promoting pure confusion
Just wait 'til the day when Selassie I come

Boko Haram, yuh must practice salaam
Allah never tell yuh fi kidnap the children
Boko Haram, stop all the violent action
All of this wrong is only serving Satan

JMC
1/28/12
(c) 2012

Boko Haram is a radical Islamic sect which is responsible for attacking communities in northern Nigeria. They threaten to make war on the people and the government until the whole country converts to their brand of Islam, even though Nigeria is almost half Muslim and half Christian. This is one of the many conflicts taking place in Africa that barely gets any coverage in the western world. Rastafari say to stop the war and Africa, unite!