NewAfricanPerspective

The Other Side Of African/Black History Month

2011-09-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

The Other Side Of African/Black History Month

By: Awula Serwah & Kwaku
First published on Ligali.org on 12 September 2011

Awula Serwah & Kwaku reflect on the challenges and progressive way forward for African history Month in the UK.

We have mixed feelings when we hear or read that some councils are reluctant to celebrate African/Black History Month (A/BHM). Why? Because much of what’s put out as A/BHM fare is often devoid of history. It often entertains but seldom increases knowledge of African history. So for example, we did not join the bandwagon last year demanding that London Mayor Boris Johnson reinstates his massively slashed A/BHM budget. But on the other hand, we did not oppose those who were campaigning for the budget to be re-instated.

This is because public bodies such as councils, have a duty to celebrate initiatives such as A/BHM. The 1987 African Jubilee Year Declaration, which most London councils signed up to, enjoined them to mark A/BHM. The Declaration drew its strength from sections of the 1976 Race Relations Act, strengthened by the 2000 Amended Race Relations Acts, which enjoins them to “promote race equality, equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups”.

The Declaration recognised the contributions of Africans to the cultural, economic and political life of London and the UK, and called upon councils to recognise this fact and take their duties as enjoined by the Race Relations Act very seriously, and to do everything in their power to ensure that African* children did not lose the fact of the genius of their African-ness.

We have to acknowledge that a lot of events billed as A/BHM events have little to do with history, and donot improve knowledge of African history. Face painting, fashion shows, singing and dancing etc. taking place in October, are billed as A/BHM events, when in reality they are simply entertainment.

There is nothing wrong with singing and dancing, and it has its place, but A/BHM is not about entertainment. It is an opportunity to learn about African history and achievements, which are largely absent in the mainstream. By focusing on pure entertainment, we perpetuate the perception that our areas of expertise are limited to entertainment. Besides, we have a regular diet of entertainment and culture throughout the year.

We can of course argue that we do not want one month or a season to focus on our history, and that our achievements should be in the in the curriculum and mainstream 12 months of the year, and not just in October.

This is a valid argument. However, if we are arguing that councils have a duty to celebrate A/BHM, then we must ensure that where possible, informed Africans are in the driving seat or part of the decision-making process, and that A/BHM events improve knowledge of our history from an African perspective.

The Right Focus: African History Speaks 2008

Africans have achieved

It is unfortunate that some A/BHM events focus on enslavement, as if our history starts with enslavement and that there are no other worthy stories to be explored. Others simply regurgitate information on the “usual suspects” - Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and now President Obama, etc., overlooking what has happened in Britain.

Perhaps some of our young people will show more respect for their elders when they learn what has been achieved through sacrifice and activism of their elders and forebears in Britain.

It’s not just Boris Johnson’s City Hall cuts we should be focusing on - after the hullabaloo in 2007, where all the London councils were involved in promoting Wilberfarce and A/BHM events, some councils have since either reduced or totally cut their A/BHM budgets.

Hillingdon for example, does not support A/BHM, which has been replaced with a patchy Hillingdon History Month in October. An African councillor in Hillingdon, Cllr June Nelson*, is putting forward a motion for the Council to re-instate A/BHM. Also, this year, Westminster has cut its A/BHM funding. It had done some good work in the past, particularly in making accessible the rich African history within its archives, and providing talks that highlighted key historic figures who operated within the borough.

Boroughs can be brought to account, if there is the will within the community to seriously engage with such structures. A case in point is Harrow Council. Thanks to the intervention of informed Africans, A/BHM in Harrow is now about the history of Africans, and it is made clear that the term African refers to the continent of Africa and its diaspora. Whilst the process is driven by Africans, the aim is for everyone irrespective of race, to participate in the events, and improve their knowledge of African history. In addition, there is an annual theme for funded events, which must have clear learning outcomes for participants.

A/BHM should always offer an opportunity for all sections of the community to learn something positive about the history of Africa and its diaspora. Perhaps before each A/BHM event, a short statement should be read, reiterating the reasons why A/BHM came into being, lest we forget. (Click to see Harrow position paper).

It is amazing the number of times, in defending the maintenance of A/BHM, Africans say things like “We don’t know our history” or “They didn’t teach us African history in school”. It will be irresponsible of Africans to wait each year for BHM to learn about their history. There are a numerous and free resources available that provide information on African history from an African perspective. It is our responsibility to educate ourselves and our children on African history. We can decide to buy our children books and resources that will raise their self-esteem, or buy them the latest electronic games - the choice is ours. Finance is no excuse. There are families on minimum wage or benefits who raise their children with positive African values, history, and knowledge of who they are.

It is important for us to acknowledge what Africans have achieved in spite of the barriers. We should not, like the mainstream, continuously tell the one or two stories, such as the poor and helpless story, or the under-achievement story. Also in light of the August 2011 incidents, African pundits and teachers should be mindful of pushing the notion that Africans did not suffer loss, because they do not own property or businesses.

Africans have owned property and businesses in Britain for centuries. One of the Sons Of Africa abolitionists, Ignatius Sancho, voted in the 1780 parliamentary elections. In those days non-property owners could not vote, and Sancho was able to vote because he was a business owner – a shopkeeper, in Westminster.

We cannot afford to rob our children of hope by regurgitating the tired story of Africans in Britain as powerless victims of the system, who do not own anything. We are the descendants of overcomers, the likes of Nana of the Maroons, Marcus Garvey, Paul Stephenson, etc. It is important that we tell the story of Africans who have navigated the system, own businesses and property, and have broken the glass ceiling to demonstrate that whilst we must redouble our efforts to remove barriers, some Africans have been able to jump over the barriers and achieve. We do not lose anything by hearing their stories, and they can sow the seeds of inspiration to achieve great things.

Click to find out about the NARM (Naming And Role Model) African British Civil Rights History BHM 2011 events across London

* Press release following Cllr June Nelson A/BHM motion, which was defeated in Hillingdon Council, issued by the Labour Group Office:

Press Release

At the full council meeting on Thursday 8^th September Cllr June Nelson gave an impassioned speech in moving a Labour Motion calling for the Council to re-instate October as Black History Month. This is because the internationally recognised Black History Month has, for the past few years, been renamed in Hillingdon to “Hillingdon History Month” and the commemoration and celebration of the achievements of African people has been watered down considerably.

The ruling Conservative group on Hillingdon Council, who are responsible for the renaming of the month and the move of focus away from Black people, voted the motion down on a very flawed argument that they were being inclusive by dedicating the month to all the residents of the borough, rather than just those from the Black community. The Conservative group also called for a recorded vote, so that they could use their flawed argument against the Labour group in their political propaganda.

This one issue highlights just how badly the Conservatives in Hillingdon understand what it means by being inclusive and cultivating true community spirit across all strands of our society. What they just don’t understand is that in order for communities to come together and breakdown barriers, they must understand and celebrate their differences.

During the debate Cllr John Major highlighted the flawed thinking of the Tory group be illustrating that throughout the year there are a number of days and weeks dedicated to one particular group or another, but none of these are at the exclusion of others, but they serve to focus attention on that particular group or issue, so that everyone understands and that any myths or fears of what makes us different are dispelled.

After the meeting Cllr Mo Khursheed, Leader of the Labour Group, said

“The flawed thinking of the Tory group is exactly what creates tensions and issues amongst our community. The renaming of “Black History Month” to “Hillingdon History Month” on the basis that it includes all residents and not just the Black ones amounts to the same as renaming “Christmas” to “Hillingdon Winter Festival” on the basis that it will include all residents and not just the Christian ones.

Continued…….2/…

- 2 -

The Tories used to claim that it was the “loony left” that was to blame for political correctness gone mad, but the flawed thinking of this Tory council proves otherwise.”

Cllr Khursheed added

“I am glad that the Tories called for a recorded vote because you only have to look at the makeup of the Labour Group to see that we represent the whole community, and as such we welcome diversity and anything that will help different sections of our community understand each other, celebrate our differences and break down barriers.”

Silas Zephania's 'Nationality' Reviewed By Ekow Asante

2011-09-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

14 year old Ghanaian secondary school boy Ekow Asante reviews UK conscious rapper Silas Zephania's single 'Nationality', taken from his album 'War Begins Where Reason Ends'.

This is a song by Silas Zephania, who is an African who grew up in London. He composed this song and talked about the toil Africans have been through. He starts his song by saying “I’m not ashamed of who I am, I’m proud to be African why because it’s my heritage”. This shows that he is someone who understands the greatness of Africa which produced great people such as Martin Luther King, Kwame Nkrumah, the pharaohs of Egypt and many others.

Next he mentions great things that were found in Ethiopia, which is what is believed to be the first human fossil and also talks about other great leaders, like King Shaka. He is an African who wants to show the world that all Africans are the future and he wants us to rise up and change for the better.

Later on in the song he says Africa is the richest in resources and then he mentions a couple of countries. He also mentions the people of Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago and black Americans, and he ends by saying all Africans should unite.

I personally think this song is a good song with a good motive and the chorus which goes “I’m not afraid of who I am, I’m proud to be African. Why? Because it’s my heritage motherland. People stand up from Zimbabwe to Egypt, be proud to hold your flags up” is one of the best choruses I have heard.

Marking August 23: What Are We Commemorating & What Should We Be Commemorating?

2011-09-04T02:21:00.002-07:00

In light of some of the programmes I've recently delivered, it's good to see more individuals and organisations are marking August 23. In 2007 the British Government adopted the UNESCO-approved date as an annual day for reflecting upon the trans-Atlantic enslavement and its abolition.

However informed Africans object to both the colloquial term Slavery Memorial Day and UNESCO's term - International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, simply because it focuses negatively on Africans (as slaves as opposed to enslaved, etc) and does not sufficiently highlight their determination in fighting for their emancipation.

The preferred term is International Day of African Resistance Against Enslavement, because it underscores the significance of August 23 (1791), which heralded the start of the Haitian Revolution, the first successful revolution by enslaved Africans in the so-called New World, which directly led to the abolition of the trafficking of Africans.

In light of the UN declaring 2011 International Year for People of African Descent, I'd hope many more people will embrace and highlight this date as an important one within global African history.

But so long as it's given an African focus, instead of the Western spin of hapless Africans waiting for European abolitionists to emancipate them.

Chimamanda Adichie Highlights The Danger Of The Single Story

2011-09-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

Nigerian-born writer and speaker Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie provides one of the most engaging and articulate voices, which forces one to take a different perspective on Africa and how it has been ("mis")viewed and mis-represented over the generations! Watch her 2009 TED presentation below and get a different view on Africa and Africans!

Terrorists And Freedom Fighters?

2011-08-29T14:16:00.000-07:00

There is saying that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. But who determines who is a freedom fighter, and who is a terrorist?

Today, Nelson Mandela is feted by Western powers as an iconic statesman and a man of peace. Ironically, until July 2008, Mandela and ANC party members were barred from entering the United States, except the United Nations headquarters in New York, without a special waiver from the US Secretary of state. This is because they were considered terrorists.

The struggle to free their people from brutal oppression by the South African apartheid regime earned them the terrorist label. The West did little to help those murdered, tortured and traumatised by the oppressive apartheid regime, but described those who sought to liberate them as terrorists.

Menachem Begin led the bombing of the King David Hotel in British controlled Jerusalem in June 1946, whilst fighting for the creation of the state of Israel. More than ninety people were killed, mostly British officials. Eventually, the Zionists achieved their objectives and sixty years later, on 11 May 1949, Israel took its seat as a member of the United Nations.

The inhabitants of the land at the time were forced to leave their homes and many of them and their offspring are currently in over-crowded refugee camps. In 1978, Menachem Begin who became Prime Minister of Israel, received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Hamas fighters who are struggling to regain control of their ancestral land, where they lived prior to 1949, are referred to as terrorists. As far as they are concerned, their land has been occupied by Israel.

Today, there is a blockade on Gaza, and Israel controls most of what goes in and out of Gaza. Many Palestinians live in over-crowded conditions, reminiscent of the Warsaw ghetto established by the Nazis in the early 1940s. Persons suspected to be Hamas operatives are assassinated and the world is silent, because they have been described as terrorists. If non-Hamas personnel are killed, they are seen as collateral damage.

During the second world war, France’s Vichy government under Pétain’s leadership had an agreement with Nazi Germany, and allowed Germany to occupy France. The Free French or French resistance would not sit idly by and allow their country to be occupied.

They resisted Germany’s occupation. They resorted to an armed struggle and a campaign of sabotage in order to liberate occupied France. Germany responded with disproportionate brutality, and for every German killed a number of innocent French civilians were executed.

During Tony Blair’s visit to Syria in 2001, the country’s then newly installed President Bashar al-Assad was reported to have told Blair that those seeking the liberation of Palestine could not be classed as terrorists, and compared them to the French resistance.

Prior to 1959, Cuba under the Batista regime, was seen as a gambling and vice resort. Whilst the elite lived well, the vast majority of the population lived in poverty. Fidel Castro, who was from a privileged background, thought the stark contrast between his affluent lifestyle and the dire poverty around him was unacceptable.

With Che Guevara and others, he eventually overthrew Batista’s regime. Today, despite the challenges, and the US embargo and funding of anti-Castro insurgent groups, Cuba has free education and one of the highest literacy rates. Regarding health, all the key indicators from infant mortality to life expectancy are among the best in the Americas.

Its doctor to patient ratio is one of the highest in the world. Health care has now become a major export. Cuba sends hundreds of doctors and health workers to disadvantaged parts of Latin America and Africa. Castro was however described as a dictator.

Kwame Nkrumah was a visionary who was dissatisfied with his country, then called the Gold Coast by the British, being ruled by a colonial power. He was of the view that self-government with danger was preferable to servitude in tranquility. His struggle for independence led to his being imprisoned by the British. Eventually in 1957, he became the country’s first leader and changed the colonial name of his country to Ghana.

Ghana was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence, and set an example for other countries. This came about because people were prepared to fight the unjust status quo.

So I ask again, who determines who is a freedom fighter and who is a terrorist?

Ms Serwah is a NewAfricanPerspective blogger

Post 'Invictus' Film Screening Feedback

2011-04-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

I finally got to watch the Clint Eastwood directed film, which highlights how President Mandela used the Afrikaneer-dominated Springboks rugby team to help hold the Rainbow Nation together. The film centres around the period of the 1995 rugby world cup, and how Mandela inspired the so-so national team to win the Cup!

Morgan Freeman's performance was so good - he certainly had the accent locked down for most of the time - someone in the audience wondered if that was actually Mandela in the film during the post-screening discussion.

When we were asked whether apartheid still still existed, I said the the separation of people by their race may have been abolished. However, the legacy still exists. For majority of South Africans, nothing much has changed.

The heads of Government may be African, but the status quo pretty much is intact, in that many of the important institutions are still headed and controlled by the Europeans. Mandela ascended to the Presidency on a wave of euphoria and a great deal of goodwill. Sadly the programme for housing, education and employment falls far short of what was promised.

Whilst many Africans exist in abject poverty, South Africa is now facing a new phenomena - poor white working class, who are now jobless and homeless, and whose lives are not much different from their African counterparts.

Of course some Africans have progressed within the post-apartheid era - they now have quite a few African millionaires, etc.

On the way home, I wondered why Mandela could be so forgiving to his former oppressors - he allowed old street names to remain, he had tea with them, attended their funerals, etc - but sadly could not forgive and save his marriage to Winnie, who kept his name and memory alive whilst he languished in jail.

This Saturday, April 9 2011, I'll be at the BFI to watch Menelek Shabazz's documentary feature 'The Story Of Lovers Rock', which chronicles the history

of Britain's contribution to black music, or more specifically, reggae, which is known as lovers rock. There are memories of those who rubbed off the wallpaper smooching to the sweet, soulful sounds of lovers rock, plus performances by some of the best exponents, such as Janet Kay, Carroll Thompson, etc. Click for BFI screening.

'Why Don't Black People Vote?' A Quick Feedback

2011-03-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

Having organised BTWSC’s ‘An Evening With Supt Leroy Logan MBE’ event (yes, it was well attended, and underscores the fact that African (black) people are not a homogenous lot with same tastes and opinions) at Willesden Green Library Centre in north-west London on Friday, I was back there on Sunday to attend Black Youth Drugsline’s ‘Why Don’t Black People Vote?’ film screening and panel discussion.

The documentary, made by Rashid Nix, was filmed mainly in south London borough of Lambeth’s Coldharbour ward, which includes Brixton, an area with a large and long-established African population.

Unfortunately a very small number of those eligible to vote exercised that right during the London Mayorial election. Nix, who lives in that ward, decided to find out why his fellow African neighbours don’t vote in their numbers.

Anyone he could get on camera was asked “Why don’t black people vote?” Although a few of the interviewees said they had voted, the overwhelming majority not only do not vote but seldom gave a good reason for not voting. There were the usual excuses, such as all politicians are the same, they don’t represent us, they don’t do anything for us, and the lack of African candidates.

After the screening, we heard from a panel which included Nix, entrepreneur Ron Shillingford, community activist Lee Jasper, Black Student Union Kenja Sessay, community activist Dr Cecil Gutzmore, and a lady from the Uhuru Movement, whose name has escaped me. Among the latter’s comments was the fact that people of African descent, we were African, as opposed to black. A point I concur with.

During the screening, I made a few notes. However, by the time we got to the Q&A section, there was little time, so I not touch on all of the points I would like to have made. Hence the reason for this blog, which allows me to cover all the points I would have liked to have made.

Whilst I understand the rationale for the film’s title, I would have preferred preferred ‘Why Don’t Some Africans Vote?’ Because I vote, and so do most of the eligible Africans I know. Or ‘Why Don’t Africans Engage With Politics?’ Because, as Nix showed in the film, it took him less than 5 minutes to cast his vote. However, there is more to democracy than just voting. What happens before we even have a chance to vote? That’s politics.

A number of the film’s interviewees talked about the lack of African candidates. Also, some in the film, such as Operation Black Vote (OBV) highlighted the sleeping giant that is the untapped “black vote”, whilst some on the panel, like Shillingford advocated the use of “block voting” or “tactical voting” to effect the desired outcome.

”First of all, I do not think most African candidates can be elected solely by relying on the African electorate. And secondly, elected representatives, no matter their race, are supposed to represent the whole of their constituency, and not just their immediate community. Of course, some like the late Bernie Grant, was not just a good constituency MP, but also devoted time to African-interest issues.

But before we even get to that stage, one of the important questions we need to ask is, How can we expect to see African candidates if we are not engaged with the political process? Before we can have Africans on the ballot papers, they need to be selected. The selection is done only by party members.

I, for example, have joined the Labour Party because I want to have Dawn Butler - she opened the event by talking about the political process and explaining why we should engage with it – re-selected as the Brent Central Labour candidate. It’s my one vote, and the votes of like-minded people within the party that is going to make her re-selection a reality. Being outside the party and just wishing for an African candidate will not make a difference.

I agree with Nix, who disagreed with someone from the audience who suggested we didn’t vote because we’re an oppressed people. Whilst I agree with Gutzmore, who talked about us being oppressed, from a global political and economic perspective, I don’t when it boils down to a personal level. We disempower ourselves if we think we’re oppressed. Because it disables us from doing anything – from exercising our power, our rights, and from voting.

It’s this same notion of giving power to external personalities and organisations, by repeatedly focusing on “they” and “them” as the reasons for not doing anything or the cause of our problems, instead of focusing on “I” and “us” as the means of moving forward. The battle, it seems to me is in the mind. Some of our great political leaders, Steve Biko and Marcus Garvey, urge us to get out of that mental trap.

If you’d permit me, I’ll like to quote from ‘African Voices: Quotation By People Of African Descent’, a book I compiled with Ms Serwah. Biko said: “The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” Whilst Garvey urged his followers saying: "None but ourselves can free the mind... The man who is not able to develop and use his mind is bound to be the slave of the other man who uses his mind."

By the way, Tuggstar, who provided the edutainment, was brilliant. He delivered a conscious rhyme that was an ode to Malcolm X. What talent! How does he remember all those lines?

Kwaku

NewAfricanPerspective.Blogspot.com

June Is British Black Music Month: A range of events throughout June to mid-July: www.britishblackmusic.com editor@britishblackmusic.com

VORP (Voice Of Responsible Parents) Victims & Witnesses Of Crime Conference: Saturday July 2 or 9, 12noon-5pm including lunch. Free: info@btwsc.com

NARM (Naming And Role Model) African British Civil Rights History: Inter-generational BHM presentation and quiz. Thursday October 27 2011, 6.30-8.30pm. Free: info@btwsc.com

Sixth Annual Huntley Conference: A Quick Feedback & Positing The African British Descriptor

2011-03-29T03:48:00.000-07:00

I recently produced the NARM (Naming And Role Model) DVD and book, which highlights a number of African British male role models. So I was especially keen to attend this year’s Huntley Conference, which took place last Saturday (19/02/11) at the London Metropolitan Archives. Because it featured two NARM role models I have great admiration for: veteran publisher Eric Huntley and the-latest.com editor and activist Marc Wadsworth. The former provided a rundown of African British cultural history, whilst the latter, focused on our political history.

The conference’s theme, inspired by the Wailers’ song, was entitled ‘Get Up! Stand Up! Campaigning For Rights, Respect And Self-Reliance’. So I was expecting Voice columnist and former activist Darcus Howe to speak to the theme by delivering a presentation full of brimstone and fire. Instead, Howe held a conversation, talking about the period he arrived in Britain, the advice of walking a few paces behind white girl-friends, the great potential lost to the Caribbean because of the demise of the West Indies Federation, how he became a West Indian in Britain, and shared some Trini in-jokes.

Later on, I heard one of the participants comment “This is a good Caribbean event.” I thought it was at a “black” event, or better still, an African British history event. Because of the lack of time, Colin Prescod decided to forgo the discussion session. That robbed me of the opportunity to point out that we need to be shaping our identity as African British people. This is inclusive of all peoples of African descent, as opposed to "black", which some people of Caribbean antecedence equate with being Caribbean.

One example that springs to mind was my hearing someone of Caribbean antecedence saying that Black History Month (BHM) was about Caribbean heritage, because they, unlike continental Africans, did not know their history. It’s a somewhat prevalent but fallacious position. The Windrush generation resulted in the majority of Africans here being of Caribbean antecedence, so perhaps it’s understandable that some people would routinely equate “black” with Caribbean.

But times are a-changing – there is a hegemony shift on the horizon. Continental Africans are coming through in various fields, such as mainstream politics, and increasingly in music, where artists such as Tinie Tempah, Tinchy Stryder, and Sway are more likely to talk about gari than dumpling. The population projections also show continental Africans growing at a faster rate compared to those of Caribbean antecedence. This is why I believe we should be looking at ourselves as African British. It’s unifying, and to quote a line from a former Wailer: “No matter where you come from, as long as you’re a black man, you’re an African.”

Back to the conference, Prescod allowed one question, which came from him. He asked the speakers what they thought of the march planned for March 2 to mark the 30^th anniversary of the Black People’s Day Of Action. Wadsworth said he would not mind attending. But surprisingly, Howe, who was a member of the New Cross Massacre Action Committee and a prime co-organiser of the 1981 march, poured scorn on the upcoming march. The once radical community activist, and one of the Mangrove Nine who challenged police racism in the early 1970s, said he did not want to be "kettled" by the police. So he would probably stand at some safe distance and watch the proceedings. If it looked successful, he might join, otherwise he’d return to his south London home. Perhaps, it was one of his Trini in-jokes. If it was, I did not get it and did not laugh.

Kwaku

Black Music Congress

June Is British Black Music Month: A range of events throughout June to mid-July: www.britishblackmusic.com editor@britishblackmusic.com

VORP (Voice Of Responsible Parents) Victims & Witnesses Of Crime Conference: Saturday July 2 or 9, 12noon-5pm including lunch. Free: info@btwsc.com

NARM (Naming And Role Model) African British Civil Rights History: Inter-generational BHM presentation and quiz. Thursday October 27 2011, 6.30-8.30pm. Free: info@btwsc.com

NewAfricanPerspective: BBM Dozen: Music To Uplift You in 2011

2010-12-27T07:13:00.000-08:00

NewAfricanPerspective: BBM Dozen: Music To Uplift You in 2011

BBM Dozen: Music To Uplift You in 2011

2010-12-27T06:38:00.000-08:00

During British Black Music Month in June 2010, Toyin at Nyansapo Radio requested my top 12 "militant tunes". I put this list together, drawn exclusively from the British black music canon, which I hope will minister to you, uplift and encourage you:

1. Gabrielle 'Ten Years On' - we have to plan, think, reflect sometimes - it's NOT always ACTION straight-away

2. Soul II Soul 'Keep On Moving' - we sometimes need exhortation, encouragement to move on and up

3. Young Disciples 'Apparently Nothing' - the funkiness of the groove and sweet sound of Carleen Anderson's vocals belie the deep socio and political critique of the song

4. HKB Finn 'Don't Give Up The Fight (Sisters)' - the title is self explanatory

5. McKoy 'Fight' - conscious, uplifting soul music

6. Aswad 'Back To Africa' - articulating the 1970s experience of the disenfranchised African youths and looking to Africa and Rasta

7. Aswad 'Three Babylon' - a telling view of the police from disenfranchised African youths

8. Steel Pulse 'Ku Klux Klan' - it's about racism here in the UK, not in America's Deep South

9. Bashy 'Black Boys' - a young African turning things around by focusing on positives and bigging up fellow African youths

10. Des'ree 'I Ain't Movin'' - enough said

11. Eddy Grant 'Give Me Hope Jo'Anna' - rare crossover political song!

12. Labi Siffre '(Something Inside) So Strong' - The more you refuse to hear my voice, the louder I will sing - enough said!

Kwaku
Black Music Congress (BMC)
www.britishblackmusic.com

Three Oxford University Educated Africans, 2 Different Perspectives

2010-11-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

Former Ghanaian President John Kuffour saw no need for Europeans to apologise for the trans-Atlantic enslavement of Africans, nor did he think there was a case for reparations for enslavement and colonialisation. He was happy to officially open University of Hull’s Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation in 2006. When he spoke of Wilberforce’s “legacy”, one hopes he saw the Abolitionist’s work in terms of end the trafficking, and not enslavement itself.

Another Oxbridge educated Ghanaian head of state, former Prime Minister Kofi Busia, was so steeped in a Western mindset, he famously informed the British media: “Oxford made me what I am today.” A highly educated man, but from whose perspective?

There’s nothing wrong with Oxford or Western education per se. It’s how it’s viewed and applied that’s at issue. Take for instance the pan-Africanist Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem. Even though he applied for the Rhodes scholarship, he did not give the selection panel an easy ride. He deliberately wore traditional Africans clothes to the interview and quizzed the panel as to why they’d want to associate someone like him with a scholarship that perpetuates the image of the imperialist and colonizer of southern Africa. Becoming a Rhodes scholar, the elite amongst the scholarships, did not stop Abdul-Raheem being an ardent pan-Africanist champion in and outside Oxford University.

He certainly was not made by Oxford. He learnt from Oxford, but nevertheless had an Africanist perspective, which was not dulled by his Oxbridge education. Ditto the likes of Kwame Nkrumah, who had a Western education, but still managed to have a (pan-)Africanist viewpoint.

WHY WE ALL NEED BLACK HISTORY MONTH

2010-10-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

WHY WE ALL NEED BLACK HISTORY MONTH

A position paper prepared for the Harrow BHM 2010 Steering Group by Kwaku

Last year, I read a run-down of how Black History Month came about, having started in America in 1926. A summary can be found on page 4 of the Events Programme.

This year, I’d like to focus a bit on What is Black History Month or BHM? And Why it is needed.

The start of BHM in Britain can be traced to a young African boy of Caribbean heritage, who asked his mother: "Mum, why can't I be white?"

Ironically he was named Marcus, in honour of the great pan-Africanist icon Marcus Garvey. That not withstanding, we can see how negative impressions or lack of positive images and achievement had impacted on the boy’s psyche, identity and self-worth, at such an early age.

A colleague of the boy’s mother, Akyaaba Addai Sebo, who was then working at the GLC, decided to do something to combat what was causing inferiority complexes in some of our African children.

Incidentally, when we use the term African in this forum, we mean anyone of African heritage where from the African continent or its diaspora.

Sebo decided to use history – African history to empower Africans to improve their self-worth and knowledge, and indeed for the wider community to also learn more about the achievements of Africans, which is not often found in mainstream education or media.

In short, the primary aim of BHM is to provide African people, who are generally marginalised and disadvantaged on numerous fronts, a positive environment to improve self-esteem and self-worth, and also knowledge about themselves.

This is what the late Bernie Grant MP said when BHM was introduced to the UK: "Ignorance of black history and heritage breeds low self-esteem".

At a time when Africans generally speaking tend to habit the lower ends of the academic league tables, and are over-represented within the criminal justice system, knowledge of self and respect for self and each other, are some of the tools we need in combating some of society’s ills and prejudices.

Recently, there has been both confusion and a move to have everybody that can be mustered under the black banner for BHM. However it is worth pointing out that BHM is singularly about the African experience. Which is the reason some refer to it simply as African History Month.

BHM was launched in London under the African Jubilee Year Declaration. The Jubilee year run from August 1987, marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great pan-Africanist icon Marcus Garvey, who was born August 17 1887, right through to 1988, marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Organisation Of African Unity on May 25, and the 150th anniversary of the end of chattel enslavement in the British Caribbean, which was on August 1.

We should repeat here that unlike the supposedly “more humane” indentured servant system, the cruel chattel enslavement system was confined to Africans.

This is why in Harrow BHM is focused on African history, but with a British link, where possible, and is also driven by Africans, but for the whole of the Community to participate in. We also do things a bit differently by expecting participants to leave with at least a couple of clearly definable learning outcomes.

Back to the introducion of BHM to the UK, Statutory bodies such as Councils were convinced to buy into the Declaration, which consisted of a number of commitments. These included the demonstration of anti-racist, anti-apartheid, and human rights policies.

There was also a commitment to promote positive imagery, achievements and contributions of Africans at home and abroad over a wide range of endeavours, plus naming buildings, parks or monuments or streets after notable Africans, such as the CLR James Library in Hackney, and Mandela Street in Camden.

Finally, the commitment extended to solidarity with the freedom struggles across Africa. Remember, in 1987, countries such as South Africa and Namibia were not politically free.

The Declaration also bound Councils to undertake to organise events that publicise, encourage and implement the tenets of the Declaration and to encourage other Councils and statutory bodies to do likewise

However although the Declaration did not have legal backing, it was underpinned by an important section in the 1976 Race Relations Act, which is extended in the post-Steve Lawrence Inquiry inspired 2000 Race Relations Amendment Act.

The Act demands of statutory bodies such as Councils, and educational bodies to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination; and to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between people of different racial groups. BHM is certainly an important plank when it comes to the last point. No doubt our Councillors and Council staff especially are aware of this.

Even without the legal requirement, BHM should be a catalyst for inspiring development of extra curricular activity in schools – and we don’t mean face-painting or “African dance”, whatever that means, encourage the formation of Saturday schools and African parents education/mentoring groups.

We believe BHM programmes should be designed to
a) educate the community, Africans and non-Africans, about African history and achievements,

b) not focus solely on song and dance, except where its primary aim is to tell or underscore history, rather than purely to entertain and

c) show that African History is much wider than enslavement. This is because although enslavement had devastating consequences, and its effects are still with us, it took place over a relatively short period of the African history time continuum, and there’s lots more besides that can be explored.

Finally, do we need BHM? Certainly Yes, so long as the mainstream arena, be it education, media or other social outlets, do not adequately reflect the histories and achievements of Africans.

A community that’s better informed about each other should hopefully make for better community cohesion based on informed views, rather than prejudices. This is the aim of Harrow BHM’s events starting from today, and hopefully beyond October.

Harrow BHM Steering Group

Reflecting On 2007 For Kilombo Magazine

2010-10-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Kilombo Article
by Kwaku

I’m the founder of BritishBlackmusic.com and Black Music Congress, which are focused on developing the British black music sector through debates, networking, and music industry education.

Perhaps more relevant for readers of this magazine is BTWSC, a pan-London voluntary organisation I run with its Ghanaian-born barrister and co-ordinator Ms Serwah. BTWSC uses the creative arts to develop potential, raise aspirations, and promote social inclusion. I also teach, write, facilitate courses and community events.

I would like to use this article to give some background about myself, reflect on 2007, and round up with what’s in store for 2008.

Although I’m British-born, I’m very proud of my Ghanaian and African heritage. I use one name – Kwaku, because it’s the only name I have that tells people that I’m African. It was a conscious decision I made in the late 1980s, when I started in the journalism game.

Now, I enjoy using just one name, because I also love telling people who ask for a surname that I only use one name.

Why should I bother with a surname? Of course I do have one. But it’s European – something to do with colonialization, and besides it carries no weight in England, although in Ghana, it has the advantage of being a fairly well-known name.

A year ago most of us were marking – I will not use the word ‘commemorating’ – the Abolition Of The Slave Trade Act of 1807 and Ghana’s 50th anniversary of ‘independence’.

I will start by concentrating on the 1807 Act. We organised and spoke on a few Abolition-themed events last year. BTWSC is part of Truth2007, a grassroots organisation set up to put forward the African/African-Caribbean perspective in contrast to the British Government-backed Abolition activities. The latter was referred to by some of us as Wilberfest, on account of the overwhelming focus wrongly put on the British MP William Wilberforce as an Abolitionist and the man who freed enslaved Africans.

By the way, as a way of marking the legacy of those enslaved Africans, I’ve vowed that as of 2008, the descriptor to use for people of African descent, irrespective of where their antecedence is located, should be African, instead of black.

One of the founding members of Truth2007 is Ligali, the London-based African rights and media monitoring group. It was Ligali founder Toyin Agbetu who interrupted the Abolition memorial service at Westminster Cathedral, and requested the Queen, the Prime Minister, and the Arch-bishop, apologise for the role of the monarchy, Government and church in the trans-Atlantic ‘trade’ of enslaved Africans.

Agbetu was writing about how we were in line for a commemoration of the Abolition that would white-wash the facts long before 2007. He also tried unsuccessfully to engage the authorities in order to have the roles of Africans properly reflected in the Abolition story.

Indeed, my interest in the whole Abolition issue stemmed from reading an article Toyin had published in one of Britain’s African newspapers.

I then published articles in the African press in 2006, which basically stated that as we get ready to mark the bicentennial of the Abolition Of The Slave Trade Act and the twentieth anniversary of Black History Month in Britain, we must take from it two things.

Firstly, everyone of African descent would do more to honour the memory of the enslaved Africans if they referred to themselves as Africans or African-British. I pointed out the Asians born in Britain or from east Africa, refer to themselves simply as Asian.

Secondly, I pointed out the Black History Month concept was introduced to Britain in 1987 during the African Jubilee Year, as a way of highlighting Africa’s contribution to the world’s civilisation and uplifting people of African descent. So I called for Black History Month to be African and history focused, as opposed to a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural celebration, which provided little or no African history content.

Back to the Abolition – Ms Serwah and I spent much of 2007 correcting individuals, newspapers and websites that the 1807 Act did NOT seek to abolish enslavement. We also conducted lectures on enslavement and the Abolition for university students and local authority staff.

It seemed hardly anyone had read the 1807 Act. Had Africans read it, they might not have celebrated it – the worse ones being a dinner & dance and a football tournament, to commemorate an Act that enshrined discrimination against Africans by stating that Africans who served in the King’s army were not entitled to pension!

BTWSC organised talks programmes, ‘Abolition Truths’ and ‘Putting Abolition & Slavery Into Perspective’, and edu-tainment music programmes, ‘Then To Now’ and ‘From The Talking Drums To Rap And Grime’, aimed at raising awareness that the 1807 Act did not abolish the enslavement of Africans, and it was efforts by African abolitionists in Britain like Olaudah Equiano and Ottobah Cugoano, and leaders across the colonies such as Toussaint L’Ouverture of Haiti, Nana (Nanny) and Sam Sharpe of Jamaica, and Bussa of Barbados to name a few, that brought about the 1807 Act and the 1833 Abolition Of Slavery Act.

Indeed, because of the misunderstanding and mis-information, BTWSC will be publishing an Abolition primer this year for young and old alike, to find about the basic facts.

Regarding Ghana’s golden jubilee, someone said the fact that the country had survived that long without any major skirmishes was reason enough to celebrate. It did not seem reason enough, until one saw what has been happening in Kenya. One hopes that the maturity that has followed recent elections in Ghana continue after this December elections.

That said, I find very little to celebrate. I’ve already highlighted many of the issues in my Travelogue feature in the January 2008 edition of New African. All I’ll add here is that it worries me when our leaders think the way to develop is either to sell our assets to foreigners or continually ask for foreign aid. Also, not having a handle on the way Accra, for example, has expanded without adequate infrastructure, which results in regular interruption of water and electricity supplies is unacceptable for a nation that aims to be the hub of the sub-region.

I marked the jubilee with a small Ghana @ 50? display of Ghanaian goods during the BTWSC Abolition events, and An Evening With Mr K B Asante, where the esteemed former Ghanaian diplomat read from his ‘Voice From Afar’ book, and fielded questions ranging from his time working with Ghana’s first president Dr Kwame Nkrumah, to the vision for Ghana.

We launched the BTWSC Professor Allotey Science Prize in London in October. The Prize, which is named after the renowned eponymous Ghanaian mathematician and physicist, aims to popularise the sciences among young Africans in Britain and Ghana. The Prize, which has a laptop computer as the top prize, will also be presented to the best student at Professor Allotey’s wife Ase Allotey’s alma mater Aburi Secondary School in April 2008.

I started 2008 as one of the panellists on the Ghana We Can Do Better Conference, which highlighted some of the work done by Ghanaians in London, and sought ways in which we can positively impact upon Ghana.

One of the suggestions I put forward was that if we who are overseas have ideas that we believe will benefit Ghana, we have to be mindful not to drive it through in a patronising manner, and that it would be an advantage to work through local personalities or agencies to champion the idea.

Feedback To London Mayor's Drastic Black History Month Funding Cut

2010-03-14T22:09:00.000-07:00

As someone who organises African/Black History Month (BHM) events, I am disappointed that London Mayor Boris Johnson has made serious cuts to his BHM budget. However, whilst I won’t dissuade those campaigning for a re-instatement of the budget, I’m focusing on self-reliance.

When Boris got into City Hall in 2008, I had a discussion with someone who also organises community events. He expected Johnson to cut the BHM budget, but he thought this would make us more self-reliant, and that many programmes would be delivered out of necessity, rather than the availability of a grant.

In Harrow last October, for example, when the Council’s oversight meant no BHM grant was offered, apart from two events I was involved in, In Search Of Achievers Closer To Home and the Harrow NARM (Naming And Role Model) Photograghic Exhibition, none of the organisations that had previously delivered BHM events with Council funding organised any events.

Also, I wonder how those complaining about the Mayor’s budget cut have actually attended any of the Mayor’s sponsored BHM events?

Back to the Harrow experience, when nothing much happened, all of a sudden we had some people calling and emailing, asking what was happening to Black History Month? But when the NARM exhibition was extended within Harrow libraries to four residencies right into March 2010, none of those people bothered to attend that or other African history related events they were invited to.

It seems there are some people who just want to know that there are numerous BHM events, though they are not particularly interested in attending. But once funding is cut, they are ready to make noise about how there needs to be more BHM events.

Quite frankly, I think many BHM events do not do anything to improve anyone’s knowledge of African history. The majority are focused on 'culture', rather than history. I am not decrying culture, after all I’m the founder of the Black Music Congress and have a passion for promoting British black music and culture.

However BHM isn’t about singing and dancing, which may make one feel good but not necessarily raise awareness of our history. Nor is it about face-painting, food, and other activities not related to history. We should not also tolerate the same-old, and often lazy “black history” focused just on Mary Seacole, Martin Luther King, and now, Barack Obama.

In Harrow, we fought for the Council to devolve the running of BHM to community groups. The Council has decided to fund a Black History Season that ends in March. And even though the budget has been cut in recent years from £10k to £5k, better programmes are being delivered, because not only do funded events have to be focused within an African history context, there also must be learning outcomes for the audience.

So, for example, even though Messrs Coleridge-Taylor & Pine, which takes place on March 23 at Harrow’s Council Chamber, is about the British classical composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and jazz musician Courtney Pine, the focus is not on entertainment, but on learning about the works and lives of the two musicians, and their contributions to world civilisation and history.

Also, I believe BHM events should not only highlight history, but should where possible, have a British connection, either in content or by pointing to references or connections closer to home.

So if, for example, an event should re-visit the American civil rights and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, it would help if the audience were made aware of some of the civil rights activities that took place in Britain, including the Bristol Bus Boycott, which ended on the same day MLK delivered his famous I Have A Dream speech.

The Bristol Bus Boycott is one of the many African British histories that comes out of my talking through the subjects of the NARM photographs.

The moral here is that a budget cut does not necessarily mean poor quality events; a multiplicity of BHM events does not necessarily mean our knowledge of African history is improved; and that many of those complaining about the Mayor’s budget cut would not necessarily participate if there was a plethora of Mayor-funded BHM events.

Finally, even though statutory bodies, such as the Mayoralty and Councils, are enjoined to support the tenets of BHM, and they ought to be providing adequate BHM funding, I would rather we found ways within our own means to empower ourselves and particularly those of us who routinely claim “we don’t know our history”, rather than concern ourselves with budgets which have in the main been used to entertain, rather than educate us.

Kwaku

Our related events in March 2010:
BTWSC:

March 16, 5-7pm: launch of African Voices: Quotations By People Of African Descent book at Houses Of Parliament with Brent South MP and Minister for Youth Citizens & Engagement Dawn Butler MP. For more info: www.btwsc.com/AfricanVoices

Late March: confirmation of accreditation of new course Copyright, Contract, Music & Cultural Industries. BTWSC’s other accredited courses are Event Planning, Music Industry Overview, African History Overview, Training For Trainers. For more info: info@btwsc.com

BLACK MUSIC CONGRESS:
March 23, 12noon-2pm: Copyright + Music Industry + Music Industry Education – 2010, Where Are We At? A free conference at Houses Of Parliament with Minister for Higher Education & Intellectual Property David Lammy MP and stakeholders covering legal, consumers, musicians, music industry and education. For more information: editor@britishblackmusic.com

June-early July: June Is British Black Music Month. BMC and partners deliver a range of events from talks, performances to education. For more info: editor@britishblackmusic.com

AKOBEN AWARDS
March 23, 6.30-8.30pm: Messrs Coleridge-Taylor & Pine at the Council Chamber, Harrow Civic Centre as part of Harrow Black History Season. A free audio-visual presentation and discussion on the lives and works of African British classical composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and jazz musician Courtney Pine. For more info: akobenawards@gmail.com

Q&A With Ekow Asante Aged 12

2009-12-14T09:32:00.000-08:00

What is pan-Africanism? Pan-Africanism is a movement which seeks to unite all Africans in the world.

What was Ghana called before independence? Gold Coast.

Why did Kwame Nkrumah choose the name Ghana? He chose it because it used to be a great West African empire.

Name some African leaders and tell us why they are great.
Kofi Annan: He became the UN Secretary General and he helped to reduce poverty.
Nnamdi Azikiwe: he fought for Nigeria’s independence.
Nelson Mandela: he also fought for South African independence.

By Ekow Asante aged 12. Accra, Ghana

Black S/Hero - South Africa: Hamilton Naki, the unsung hero

2009-12-13T09:56:00.000-08:00

South Africa: Hamilton Naki, the unsung hero.

Did you know that a black man, Hamilton Naki, played a major role in the first human heart transplant heart transplant in 1967, but was forced by apartheid South Africa South Africa to pretend he was just a gardener? Yet, without Naki's surgical skills, that medical breakthrough might not have happened. Tom Mbakwe reports.

Hamilton Naki had no formal training in medicine, but he is one of Africa's best-kept medical secret. Thirty-seven years after the first human transplant that propelled the South African surgeon, Christiaan Barnard Christiaan into the limelight, the truth about Naki's role in that groundbreaking operation is finally coming to light and his achievements are now the centre of several accolades.

Last year, the British daily, The Guardian, interviewed Naki and aptly summed his amazing tale thus: "Two men transplanted the first human heart. One ended up rich and famous--the other had to pretend to be a gardener." Until now!

Today, as deserved praise and tribute pile up on this unpretentious 78-year-old pensioner, his reaction is as humble as the man himself:

"I want you to know that you have made me very happy, and may God bless you for that," he said in an acceptance speech to the London-based Black S/Heroes Award (BSA) committee, which recently honoured him for his services to medicine.

The BSA is an annual award set up in 2003 by the BTWSC, a London-based voluntary organisation that encourages the development of potential through the use of the creative arts. BTWSC stems from the initials of the organisation's first project, a writing competition called "Beyond The Will Smith Challenge" that encouraged young people to write poems, songs and articles with a positive theme.

The aim of the BSA award is to honour unsung contemporary men and women of African descent (both at home and in the Diaspora), who deserve recognition for acts that are inspirational to humankind. And no better candidate deserved the 2003 award than Hamilton Naki.

While most people associate Dr Christiaan Barnard, who died two years ago with the first successful human heart transplant in 1967, the role that Naki played at the Groote Schuur in Cape Town - on that momentous day and subsequent years--was kept secret. Those who attempted to reveal his crucial role were threatened with imprisonment.

As The Guardian put it: "With as photogenic a celebrity as Barnard, the journalists and photographers who crammed into Groote Schuur Hospital had little reason to notice a figure in a white coat lurking on the fringes. Had they asked, they would have been told that Hamilton Naki was a cleaner and gardener who washed floors and swept leaves (at the Hospital). What else, after all, would a black man be doing in a research institute in apartheid South Africa?

"Nobody thought to even ask the question and it is only now, almost four decades later, that the truth has emerged. Naki was not a gardener. The employment records (at Groote Schuur Hospital) which described him thus for 50 years were a lie, a fiction to fit the edicts of a racist state.

"Naki was a surgeon--a pioneering surgeon considered by colleagues to be the most technically gifted of the entire Hospital's medical team. Without him, the transplant might never have happened," The Guardian added for good measure.

Naki's story is one that exposes not only the worst ills and dehumanising schemes of the apartheid regime, but also proves how insecure members of the white-only government were towards embracing black people who were more intelligent and better skilled than them.

Naki was not only barred from training as a doctor, but in the whites-only operating theatre where he was considered an aberration, he was initially not allowed to slice white flesh. "Nobody was to say what I was doing," Naki revealed last year. "A black person was not supposed to be doing such things. That was the law of the land."

Although forced to be invisible at Groote Schuur Groote Schuur, Naki still proved his prowess as a natural surgeon by performing laboratory experiments on animals. He went on to teach white doctors and medical students lots of things about surgery - an unusual occurrence in the apartheid era.

But despite this discrimination, Naki was Dr Barnard's obvious choice for assistant when he introduced his ambitious new open-heart surgery open-heart surgery

Any surgical procedure opening the heart and exposing one or more of its chambers, most often to repair valve disease or correct congenital heart malformations (see congenital heart disease). techniques in 1967. Yet, even Barnard would not publicly acknowledge Naki's role. It was only towards the end of his life that Barnard (who died on 2 September 2001) revealed his admiration for Naki's skill and dexterity: "He probably had more technical skill than I had," Barnard finally admitted publicly in the evening of his life.

But it was all a hush-hush affair on 3 December 1967, when Barnard performed that famous first heart transplant on the 55-year-old diabetic patient, Louis Washkansky. It was Naki who led Barnard's team of medics for the 48-hour operation that removed the accident-victim Denise Darvall's heart to be transplanted into Washkansky.

Recalls Naki: "Your hands got tired. We were exhausted." But that was not all. When the news of the transplant broke out, the world media was all over Barnard. But where was Naki? "I was called one of the backroom boys. They put the white people out front. If people published pictures of me, they would go to jail," he says.

Is he bitter? "Not at all. It was the way things were. They pretended I was a cleaner." But not any more.

Naki was born in 1926 in Ngcingane, a small village in the Eastern Cape. At the age of 14, he went to Cape Town Cape Town to look for work and was lucky to be hired by the University of Cape Town as a gardener.

In 1954, he was chosen to help Dr Robert Goetz with laboratory animals. Dr Goetz was a Jewish doctor who had left Germany for South Africa. Naki loved his work. Arriving at 6 am every morning, and no matter how far he had to travel, he almost never missed a day at work. By the early 1960s, he was slicing, stitching and using drips on the laboratory animals.

Recalling his days with Dr Goetz, Naki says: "Ooh yes. At that time there was no one else you can see, no one else willing to do that sort of work ... It was difficult work but I wanted to learn."

His colleagues admired his steady hand, and many of the surgeons who trained in Cape Town learned from him. One such surgeon was Rosemary Hickman, who told The Guardian: "Despite his limited conventional education, he had an amazing ability to learn anatomical names and recognise anomalies."

Before the BTWSC award, Naki had already received the Order of the Mapungubwe -one of the highest honours in South Africa. His exploits are now the subject of a yet-to-be made documentary (and perhaps a feature) film proposed by the South African film company, Ad Astera, under the apt title: "Hands of a forgotten Hero".

The film producer, Dirk de Villiers, who was a friend of Dr Barnard's, says Barnard tipped him off about his (Barnard's) collaboration with Naki, and his outstanding role in heart surgery. "A lot of stories have been told about Barnard, but this (Naki's) is one that has not been told," says De Villiers.

But despite his achievements, Naki now lives on the pension of a gardener.

"When I read about him and the fact that not only had official recognition been withheld from this inspirational figure, but also that he was living on a gardener's pension, I decided to do something more than commiserate,” said the BTWSC co-ordinator and co-founder of the Black S/Heroes Award (BSA), Ms Serwah. "This is why we are publicly recognising Naki."

The award and a cheque for [pounds sterling]1,000 were received on behalf of Naki by the South African acting deputy high commissioner in London, Sisa Ncwana, who said he was honoured by the award.

L-R: Asante, Wadsworth, Cllr Nana Asante-Twumasi,
Ms Serwah, Kwaku, Mrs Matilda Asante, Ncwan

"Naki is a man who participated in the great history-making event," Ncwana said. "It was a great feat indeed and we will remember him for his humility. It is with the same humility that I today receive this award--not for the South African High Commission in London, but for the people of South Africa as a whole."

Speaking at the same event, K. B. Asante, one time Ghanaian high commissioner in London, said what disadvantaged people needed was the restoration of self-confidence and hope. "It is therefore right that the BTWSC, which inspires individuals to develop their potential, should at its first annual general meeting highlight the exploits of an unsung hero."

Asante continued: "Hamilton Naki had no formal medical training. Yet, he played a leading role in the first successful human heart transplant. But apartheid South Africa did not give him any recognition because that would be contrary to the stereotyped disparaging character imposed on the African people.

In honouring him, Asante said, the BTWSC was reminding all people of African descent that they had a history in which great black men and women played heroic roles, and of which they should be proud.

"Their history is not that of meaningless gyrations of the human torso as one former Oxford professor would have us believe," Asante said. "We have men and women from whom we can take inspiration and rise to great heights. It is necessary that, as we take pride in the achievements of our sung or unsung people, we should be inspired by their vision to attain heights of self-confidence and creativity."

Naki ended his acceptance note thus: "We, the people of South Africa, will never forget the day when we saw the moon, the sun and the stars all at the same time. That is the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990. But for him, maybe I wouldn't be receiving this award today. Because of that, I dedicate this award to him and all other freedom fighters around Africa. Forward with Black S/Heroes!"

COPYRIGHT 2004 IC Publications Ltd.

Photos courtesy of BTWSC (www.btwsc.com)

RIP: Hamilton Naki (26 June 1926 – 29 May 2005)

Open Letter by The Equiano Society's Arthur Torrington To Anti-Slavery International

2009-12-02T01:08:00.000-08:00

AN OPEN LETTER TO: ANTI-SLAVERY INTERNATIONAL
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TO
The Trustees & Directors
Anti-Slavery International
Thomas Clarkson House
The Stableyard
Broomgrove Road
LONDON, SW9 9TL 10 JUNE 2007

Dear Sir/Madam

I write about my concern that Anti-Slavery International’s (ASI) promotional material is causing misunderstanding among many people of the main issues and legacies of transatlantic enslavement. For example, one of your Fact Sheet ‘Slavery Past and Present’ has a picture showing white sailors taking black Africans below the deck of a slave ship. References to the enslavement of Africans, and British involvement are closely associated with your publicity. There is even a tendency for some White commentators to say or imply that we should not be bothering too much about the stories of the past that give details of African enslavement, but that we should be working to abolish modern slavery. I often hear this as organisations and individuals commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Abolition Act.

This is serious matter because very many African and African Caribbean youth today do not know the history and legacies of the enslavement of their ancestors. For decades the British education system has excluded such studies from the national curriculum. This year, the Government has taken action to address the issue.

I know that some Black organisations and individuals are not happy with some of Anti-Slavery International’s promotional and fundraising material, but are reluctant to write to you, because of the respect that others have for the good work that you do. But, this is done at the expenses of portraying negative images of Black people, and giving the wrong impression to British society. Your material closely associates African enslavement and modern slavery. Whereas, legacies like the consequences of colonialism, poverty in the Caribbean and Africa after 1838, racism, exclusion, racial discrimination, etc do not receive as many column inches in your publicity. You have ensured that your publicity material features more prominently throughout the bicentenary of the 1807 Abolition Act.

Slavery existed worldwide before Africans were enslaved and taken to the Caribbean and the Americas. That institution was maintained in different forms in many pre-15th century civilisations and cultures. In fact, it goes back thousands of years. But, we should not equate transatlantic enslavement conducted mainly by some Europeans with what is happening today. Your promotional and fundraising material tends to give the impression that modern slavery/trafficking has its history in transatlantic enslavement, whereas this is not really so, and may be misleading. It is evident that capitalism and human greed drive the actions of men and women who conduct slavery and trafficking today. Modern slavery, trafficking, etc are also present within Eastern European, Asian, Chinese and other nations, so why do African people almost always feature in your promotional material? Is it that the images of suffering black African people raise more money for your organisation?

I am asking Anti-Slavery International to reconsider how its promotional material is presented.

Yours faithfully

Arthur Torrington

Response To ‘Race chief may quit in row over Brown's all white Cabinet'

2009-12-02T00:38:00.000-08:00

Dear Sir,

I read with interest the article entitled ‘Race chief may quit in row over Brown's all white Cabinet'* in the July 14th 2007 issue of the Mail newspaper.

Mr. Trevor Phillips, Chairman of the Committee for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR), is alleged to have threatened to quit in protest against Prime Minister’s Gordon Brown’s over all white Cabinet. He is apparently concerned that too few ethnic minorities and women have been appointed to Mr. Brown’s Cabinet.

I am confident that Mr. Phillips is aware that although it is a positive step to have ethnic minorities represented in Cabinet, it is even more important that those appointed to Cabinet or Committees, work for, and not against the interests of any groups they might represent.

For example, the mere fact that a person of African descent is in Cabinet or on a committee, does not necessarily mean that he or she will represent the
interests of Africans. A case in point is the commemoration of the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. According to information available, there were Africans including Mr. Phillips on the Advisory Group set up to oversee the 2007 commemoration events.

Sadly, the commemoration appears to have been largely used as an opportunity to deify William Wilberforce. Worse still, the 2007 commemoration events and publicity have on the whole, wrongly portrayed Africans as a group of amorphous victims waiting to be freed by Europeans. The focus of the commemoration was not on Africans like Nana (Nanny) of the Maroons, Toussaint L'ouverture, Dessalines, Sam Sharp, Cugoana and Equiano, to name a few who fought for the freedom of enslaved Africans. The commemoration was largely focused on William Wilberforce, and gave the erroneous impression that he almost single-handedly abolished the Slave Trade, and the efforts of others, both in the UK and abroad have largely been overlooked.

The CRE had the opportunity to set the record straight, promote race equality, and empower young people of African descent during its own commemoration event, which featured Mr Philips, by focusing on the resilience of enslaved Africans who strategised and organised rebellions to free themselves and their fellow men from enslavement.

The CRE commemoration event could have focused on the likes of Queen Nzinga of Angola who fought to ensure that her people were not enslaved, relevant readings from books of African abolitionists such as Olaudah Equiano, Ottobah Cugoano, or Phyllis Wheatley, would have shown how Africans used their writing to stir the conscience of the British public, and to demonstrate that Africans had intellect and were not merely passive onlookers during the Abolition process. Crucially, relevant readings from Equiano’s book would have demonstrated the difference between servitude in Africa, and chattel slavery under the slave trade, and helped dispel the myth that there was a similar kind of slavery in Africa. Sadly, the CRE missed
the opportunity.

I communicated with the CRE before their event to find out whether there would be readings from the books of African abolitionists, but I failed to get a definitive response. Nearly two months after the event, I still can not get a definitive answer as to whose readings were dramatised apart from William Wilberforce’s.

As the CRE Abolition commemoration event was put together under Mr Phillips’ watch, he could take inspiration from the adage “Charity begins at home”, and focus on ensuring that his new quango maximises its opportunities to promote race equality, which is not enhanced by failing to give prominence to the endeavours and achievements of African people.

Ms Serwah
NewAfricanPerspective

*Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-468480/Race-chief-quit-row'

Open Letter: African (Black) History Month Aim Not Achieved/African History Is Wider Than Enslavement

2009-12-02T00:17:00.001-08:00

Oct. 16 2009

Twenty-years ago visionaries like Akyaaba Addai Sebo, who worked at the now defunct Greater London Council (GLC) as a co-ordinator of Special Projects, initiated the Black History Month concept in Britain. Black History Month (BHM), or African History Month (AHM)* as some prefer to call it, has its genesis in Negro History Week, which was initiated in the US by American historian Dr Carter G Woodson in 1926.

The aim was to highlight the contributions of people of African descent to world civilisation and humanity, which is marginalised by mainstream education, and often undermined by the media, so that all, regardless of their ethnic background, would have a better understanding of the contributions of Africans. It was also to raise the self-esteem of African youths, and to empower them to reach their full potential with the knowledge of the achievements of their forefathers.

However the lofty aims of AHM are seldom realised because many AHM events either focus on culture and/or entertainment, the enslavement period, or regurgitate the same world history centred around personalities mostly from outside Britain. Important as they are, we need to focus on history, and one that incorporates a British context.

Many people can name the likes of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King of the US, or Mandela in South Africa - but how many notable Africans, barring entertainers and sports personalities, can we name from Britain?

We all seem to know about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1956, but how many of us know of Paul Stephenson and the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963? Or Learie (later Lord) Constantine and his landmark ‘Color Bar’ legal case of 1943, after he had been refused accommodation by a London hotel. Do we know about the work of Dame Jocelyn Barrow^ in multicultural education and the efforts which led to the enactment of Britain’s Race Relations Acts, or the entrepreneurial flair of Dyke & Dryden, and the then teenaged Alexander Amosu, who developed multi-million businesses in hair and beauty, and ringtones?

Less than a month ago, she was in the news, but how many know that the most senior Government legal advisor Baroness Scotland is African? Few people may know of Dr Mark Richards, either because he’s in academia or because he prefers to DJ on a community radio station. He happens to be a renowned scientist, who also indulges in his passion for music. And over in Scotland, there is another renowned (but now retired) scientist, Professor Geoff Palmer, who is a leading authority on grain science.

These are just some of the role models we’ll be highlighting to help bridge the knowledge gap regarding African British achievers at the In Search Of Achievers Close To Home event on Monday October 19 in the Council Chamber at Harrow Civic Centre.**

In a week in which I have had to listen to teachers excitedly talking about Martin Luther King and “African dancing” as the highlight of their school AHM programme, listen to a talk of the African presence in Britain from Roman times to the mid 20th century which over-focused on the enslavement period, I believe all is not lost judging by an excellent video shown at a north London school where I made an AHM presentation. The video was made by Year 9 students aged 13-14 and focused on African British personalities and history.

Which brings me to a campaign we’re launching called African History Is Wider Than Enslavement (AHIWTE). If we want to redress the balance of a Euro-centric education and media coverage, we must meaningfully engage with and learn about African history, as part of mainstream history, and not focus on enslavement (or “slavery history”). Although knowledge of the enslavement period is necessary, and enslavement had and still has devastating effects on Africans globally, it took place over a relatively short period within our rich history, which began long before enslavement.

Teaching “slavery history” inevitably put the focus on the likes of William Wilberforce, who is mistakenly put forward as having ended enslavement, when in fact the 1807 Abolition Bill did not aim to end enslavement, but aimed to put an end to the trafficking of enslaved Africans from Africa.

Teaching African history, on the other hand, should highlight Africa as the cradle of civilisation with seats of learning going back centuries, such as the University of Timbuktu; architectural feats, such as the Great Zimbabwe stone walls and the rock-hewn churches in Ethiopia; and freedom fighters like Queen Nzinga of Angola and Tousssaint L’Ouverture of Haiti.

This is the first of two reasons for the AHIWTE campaign – to push for an education in and outside mainstream education which focuses on the length and breadth of African history, as opposed to just enslavement, where the African is often portrayed as either submissive or complicit, and Europeans are lauded for ending enslavement.

The second reason is to push for August 23 to be recognised as International Day of African Resistance Against Enslavement, rather than the UNESCO phraseology - International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. UNESCO chose August 23 in recognition of the start of the Haitian Revolution. As the only successful African-led revolution in the so-called New World, the date must be used to focus on the resistance led by Africans, and not remembering a vile “trade” or trafficking of human beings.

You can feedback on the AHIWTE campaign by going to: www.btwsc.com/AHIWTE.

Ends

Kwaku
BTWSC
info@btwsc.com
www.btwsc.com

NOTES
1 *AFRICAN HISTORY MONTH
The reason why conscious people now prefer the term African History Month is because when Black History Month was launched in 1987 by the likes of Akyaaba Addai Sebo, it aimed to empower Africans, particularly the youth, through positive display of their history and contributions to mankind. Not only was it squarely located within a global African and historical context, the launch also marked the African Jubilee Year. However in recent years, the aim has been diluted by turning BHM into a “multicultural “event, where other cultures such as Asian, Irish, Eastern European, are shoe-horned under the BHM banner. Whilst multiculturalism has its place, so too does African History Month, where anyone irrespective of race, can participate and learn about African history. www.btwsc.com/BHM_Projects.

2 The author is the programme designer and main tutor on BTWSC projects

3 BTWSC is a pan-London voluntary not-for-profit organisation which aims to develop potential, raise aspirations and promote social cohesion. Its projects are aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at people from socially disadvantaged or excluded backgrounds or areas. For more information: www.btwsc.com (About Us)

4 BTWSC has developed an accessible and OCN Level 2 accredited African history overview course. Overview Of African History: From Freedom To Enslavement To Physical Freedom can be completed over a few days or evenings, and qualification is upon submission of assignment. It covers empires, artifacts, griots, enslavement and the 1807 and 1833 Abolition Acts, African abolitionists and freedom fighters, diasporic issues, post-colonial Africa

5 **In Search Of Achievers Closer To Home
What: Free, family-friendly audio-visual event featuring African British achievers based on a) the NARM (Naming And Role Models) Project (www.btwsc.com/NARM), which highlights African British male role models spanning 1907-2007 and b) What They Said I Should Be: The Story Of African British Female Movers & Shakers video featuring an Attorney General, MP, community activist, business woman, classical composer, and PR guru, some conscious poetry and rap; plus fundraiser for Harrow Mayor Cllr Eric Silver's chosen charity Easyriders Wheelchairs Programme

When: Monday 19th October 2009, 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Refreshments & Registration from 6.15pm to 6.30pm

Where: Council Chamber, Harrow Civic Centre, Station Road, Middlesex HA1 2UL

For more information: info@btwsc.com 020 8450 5987

^ Dame Jocelyn Barrow is one of 7 women featured in the BTWSC produced DVD What They Said I Should Be: The Story Of African British Female Movers & Shakers. www.btwsc.com/WTSISB.

African History Is Wider than Enslavement

2009-08-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

Ms Serwah from the New African Perspective submits a powerful opinion piece explaining why African History must not be restricted to the 'black' history of enslavement.

First published in the March 2009 by Ligali's Nyansapo e-newsletter

I am saddened each time I hear people of African descent saying that enslavement should be taught in schools. Yesterday I was at City Hall when a teacher made a similar comment, but thankfully Kwaku set the record straight. African History, which includes enslavement, should be taught in schools. The curriculum in general, should reflect the contribution of people of African descent to world civilization. In my view, teaching enslavement in isolation is disempowering. This is because Africans are usually presented as amorphous victims, and when it comes to the Abolition, African abolitionists and freedom fighters are not given sufficient recognition, and the spotlight is usually on Europeans, such as William Wilberforce.

Africa’s history spans thousands of years, and does not begin and end with enslavement. Although enslavement had devastating consequences which are still with us, it took place over a relatively short period of time compared to the length of African history. Paul Obinna has produced a Timeline to help us appreciate the length and breadth of African history. Last October, during African History Month in Harrow, organisations including BTWSC and Akoben Awards, put on events on Africa Before Enslavement highlighting African empires, education, architecture, and art to raise awareness and dispel the notion that African history is almost synonymous with enslavement.

I also believe that we should rethink the idea of an enslavement memorial, and replace this with a memorial in honour of African abolitionists and freedom fighters highlighting the likes of Queen Nzingah, Ottabah Cugoano, Olaudah Equiano, Harriet Tubman, Toussaint L’Ouverture, Sam Sharp, and Paul Bogle, to name a few.

Ms Serwah

NewAfricanPerspective

http://newafricanperspective.blogspot.com

Abolition: Open Letter To The Press

2007-04-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Open Letter To The Press

March 21 2007

Dear Editor,

With the ‘Amazing Grace’ movie now on general release, there seems to be even more confusion regarding the abolition of slavery. The public seems to have swallowed the myth that William Wilberforce was an anti-slavery pioneer who ended slavery almost single-handedly.

Wilberforce was not an anti-slavery pioneer. For example, despite his efforts in Parliament, which held to the Abolition Of The Slave Trade Act in 1807, in the same year, he published a pamphlet in which he said "it would be wrong to emancipate (the slaves). To grant freedom to them immediately would be to insure not only their masters' ruin, but their own.” Wilberforce is also reported to have voted to send British troops to Haiti to quell Toussaint L’Ouverture’s revolt to free enslaved Africans, and in 1824 he opposed the likes of Elizaeth Heyrick, who argued for the immediate abolition of slavery.

Although he was later persuaded to join the campaign for the immediate abolition of slavery, Wilberforce retired from Parliament in 1825 and did not play a pivotal role in the passing of the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1833 – the led to the eventual emancipation of the African slaves.

A large section of the public wrongly believe Britain is commemorating 200 years since slavery was abolished. Sadly, one of the terrible consequences of not abolishing the slave trade and slavery at the same time is the number of Africans who were thrown into the Atlantic Sea between 1807 when the British slave trade was outlawed, and 1833, when slavery was actually abolished. The reason is that after with the passing of the Slave Trade Act, British captains risked a fine of £100 for every slave found onboard. So when they saw the approaching British navy and realised their ships would be searched, captains often ordered the Africans to be thrown overboard to avoid the fines. This situation would have been avoided if slavery and the slave trade had been abolished at the same time.

Whilst the number of slaves brought to the New World may have decreased after 1807, as slavery itself was not abolished, children born to enslaved Africans increased the slave population.

It is a travesty that the Africans from Nana of the Maroons to Ottobah Cuguano and Olaudah Equiano in Britain, Toussaint L’Ouverture in Haiti, and Sam Sharp in Jamaica, to name a few, and the Quakers, and the likes of Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson are largely overlooked whilst one is promoted in films and the press as almost single-handedly bringing an end to slavery.

Best wishes

Ms Serwah
www.NewAfricanPerspective.blogspot.com

Facts on John Newton & some relevant dates regarding the slave trade

2007-04-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

Facts on John Newton & some relevant dates regarding the slave trade

24th July 1725 - John Newton is born.
At the age of 11, he makes his first sea journey with his father, and sails with him on six voyages until his father retires in 1742.
1743- A press gang force Newton into naval service on HMS Harwich. He tries to escape, but is captured and punished. He is later exchanged into service on a slave ship which sails to Sierra Leone.
He becomes the servant of a slave trader who treats him badly.
1748 - Newton is rescued by a sea captain who had been asked by his father to look out for him.
12th May 1748 - on their return trip to England on the slave ship the Greyhound, there is a storm, and the ship is in danger of sinking. Newton calls on the Lord, and has his encounter with God.
He gives up drinking, gambling and profanity after the encounter, but becomes an active participant in the trans- Atlantic slave trade.
1748-1749 - on his return to England, he obtains a position as first mate on the slave trading vessel, the Brownlow.
He makes three further sea journeys as captain of slave ships.
1750 - He captains the slave ship the Duke of Argyle.
1752-53 and 1753-54 - He captains the slave ship the African.
The slave trade involved the dehumanisation of Africans who were treated as property, kidnapped, raped, and murdered. African women were raped on slave ships.
1754 - Newton retires from the slave trade after a serious illness.
1764 - He is ordained.
1772 - He is believed to have written the Amazing Grace hymn, but he does not condemn the slave trade.
1772 - Lord Mansfield rules in Somerset case that slavery is “so odious that nothing can be suffered to support it but positive law’ and frees Somersett a runaway slave.
1783 - The Society of Friends (Quakers) sponsor an anti-slavery petition in Parliament.
1787 - The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade is formed. The founding members are nine Quakers and three Anglicans including Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp. Newton is not a founding member.
1787 - Ottobah Cugoano an African abolitionist publishes ‘Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Commerce of the Human Species, which stirs public opinion against the slave trade.
1787 - William Wilberforce is persuaded to lead the Parliamentary campaign against the slave trade.
1788 - Newton finally publicly speaks out against the slave trade, and acknowledges that it is wrong in his pamphlet ‘Thoughts on the African Slave Trade’ which talks about the horrors of the slave trade.
1789 - Abolitionist Olaudah Equiano publishes ‘The interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano’ which provides a first hand account of the horrors of the slave trade and enslavement.
1789 - Wilberforce makes his first parliamentary speech against the slave trade.
1807 - The British Parliament passes the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, which abolishes the slave trade, but not slavery.
1807 - John Newton dies on 21st December.

Compiled by Ms Serwah

What Are We Actually Commemorating? The 1807 Act Did NOT Abolish Slavery!

2007-04-27T03:32:00.000-07:00

March 26 2007

STOP PRESS

Kwaku

· On March 25 2007 Britain officially commemorated the bi-centenary anniversary of the Abolition Of The Slave TRADE Act of 1807

· The William Wilberforce biopic ‘Amazing Grace’ is now on general release nation-wide

But what are we actually commemorating?

Was slavery abolished in 1807? NO

Were the slaves set free from 1807? NO

Were children born after the Act born free? NO

Are we highlighting the suffering of the slaves? YES

Are we highlighting the inhumanity of the enslavers? NO

2007 is NOT 200 years since the abolition of slavery*

A number of African organisations in Britain have argued that 1807 was of no particular significance to Africans. This is because although the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act abolished the British trans-Atlantic trafficking of Africans to the ‘new world’, it did not emancipate enslaved Africans.

Those in the 'new world' remained enslaved, and continued to endure the horrors and cruelties of slavery. Children born to them increased the numbers of enslaved Africans, and they could still be ‘sold’ and separated from their families. In addition, Africans living in Britain who had bought their freedom still run the risk of being kidnapped and sent to the new world as 'slaves'.

*The abolition of Slavery Act was not passed until 1833, and even then not all Africans were emancipated. Those over the age of six remained part free and part slave for a further four years!

· For most enslaved Africans, emancipation did not come until after 1837

· The slave ‘owners’ received £20 million in compensation. The enslaved Africans had to work partly free to ‘buy’ their freedom

So search your heart and mind, then answer these two questions: What are we commemorating in 2007? Who are we commemorating in 2007?

In 2007 we have easy access to the truth. For the sake of humanity, please circulate the truth. We owe it to ourselves to acquaint ourselves with the truth, and leave the spin and misinformation for inconsequential issues.

Kwaku

newAP@hotmail.co.uk

http://www.newafricanperspective.blogspot.com/

Abolition: Update I

2007-03-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

Brent Council’s Black & Asian Staff Forum organised a very well-attended talk programme on March 14 2007 at Brent Town Hall on the theme: ‘Turning Negatives Into Positives’. Kwaku was invited to speak on the topic of Abolition. Starting from the first visit to the coast of west Africa by Europeans in the 1470s, he touched on many of the points covered in the Handy Events Summary found below in this blog. Although one must accept that there can be no excuse for the heinous crime of slavery, in line with the theme of the programme, to round off his talk, Kwaku asked the audience to quickly jot down issues they found positive or negative from the slavery to abolition narrative. The feedback is itemised below.

One person noted that more should have been said about the African freedom fighters, such as Sam Sharpe. Each area within the so-called ‘New World’ has its share of freedom fighters, from Nana (Nanny) the Maroon in Jamaica, Kofi in Guyana, Bussa in Barbados, etc. Also, some people asked about books and other resources to improve their knowledge on the subject.

First of all, the libraries provide a useful and free resource, as does the internet, though the latter requires caution to be exercised. A few websites are highlighted in the ‘Was William Willberforce REALLY An Anti-abolition Pioneer?’ blog below. For those that are interested, the book I gave out, it is entitled ‘Made In Britain: inspirational role models from British Black and Minority Ethnic communities’ (Steve D’Souza & Patrick Clarke) (Pearson £9.99).

A new book coming out this month, which I’ll be buying at Amazon.co.uk because it is being offered at half price is ‘The Oxford Companion To Black British History’ (David Dabydeen & Cecily Jones) (Oxford University Press £30). There is the perennial tome ‘Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain: Black People in Britain Since 1504’ (Peter Fryer) (PlutoPress !8.99). The following self-descript titles may be of interest: The Trader, the Owner, the Slave: Parallel Lives in the Age of Slavery by James Walvin; The Hottentot Venus: The Life and Death of Saartjie Baartman (Born 1789 - Buried 2002) by Rachel Holmes; The Great Abolition Sham: The True Story of the End of the British Slave Trade by Michael Jordan; The Unfree French: Life Under the Occupation by Richard Vinen; Inner Workings: Literary Essays 2000-2005 by J.M. Coetzee; Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism by Christopher Leslie Brown; Abolition!: The Struggle to Abolish Slavery in the British Empire by Richard Reddie; Black Ivory: Slavery in the British Empire by James Walvin; The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) by Olaudah Equiano; A Short History of Slavery by James Walvin; and Bury the Chains: The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery by Adam Hochschild.

Finally, Ms Serwah was invited on March 16 2007 to give two separate talks on the Abolition to journalism students at City University. Though their questions showed an interest in the subject, the revelation at the start of each talk that these students were generally unaware of the commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade, the African freedom fighters, or even William Wilberforce or the currently promoted film ‘Amazing Grace’, has led Kwaku and Ms Serwah to think about producing a short film, which shows the Abolition narrative in an engaging manner – to be kept informed on programmes of this project, you can join our mailing list be emailing editor@britishblackmusic.com (subject line: please add me to your mailing list).

ISSUES RAISED
Anger
Another form of exploitation began after slavery was abolished, which was colonisation
Black race/people undervalued
Brutality
Dehumanisation of the African
Destroyed families and cultures
Enforced labour
Forced removal from homeland
Had the abolitionists made a case that the Africans had been kidnapped, perhaps millions would have been saved/freed sooner
Hatred
Inhuman
Lack of self-worth
Loss of lives
Loss of self confidence
Lost relatives
Mental slavery still persists
No belonging
No home
No land
No money/payment
No reparations
Post 1807 abolition of slave trade - people were killed/thrown overboard to avoid fines from the illegal trade in slave trafficking
Post 1807 abolition of slave trade – slavery still continued
That there was no law against slavery, but there was a law against kidnapping, and the Africans were kidnapped
The trade has stopped, but it is still an issue within our lives
Undermined the black race

Africa has a vast and rich history - slavery was an odious crime against humanity – however Africa’s history is much wider than just slavery
Culture/diversity brought to different countries outside of Africa
Determination to make the most of the freedom acquired
Encouragement
Fighters
Forgiveness
Freedom
Hope
In the long run, the trade and slavery were abolished
Increased cultural awareness
Independence
Movement of our people – a widened African diaspora
Resilience: ‘(Something Inside) So Strong’
Shared history
Slavery to be remembered, but strength taken from it for us to move on
Strength
To be proud of being black
We need to familiarise ourselves and educate ourselves about history, and take control of our lives

Kwaku

Correcting History: Too Much Music And Dance Dilutes Black History Month

2007-03-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

Opinion piece by Kwaku published by New Nation Nov. 13 2006 p.8

Having just celebrated another Black History Month (BHM), and with next year being the 20th anniversary of BHM in Britain and the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Act, which abolished the British slave trade, I feel moved to turn the focus towards how we can be empowered by these landmark events.

My local newspapers, and other publications, have described BHM as a celebration of black culture, black history and culture, or black and Asian, and sometimes ethnic minority, cultures. I contend that they are wrong. Why?

Let’s go to the genesis of BHM. Dr Carter G Woodson started it in 1926 as Negro History Week, because he found very little black representation within American history books. BHM was launched in Britain in 1987 by the now defunct Greater London Council’s London Strategic Policy Committee (LSPC).

The reasons October was chosen include the fact that it is the month that generally marks the end of harvest across west Africa, and is a period of reconciliation and reflection. BHM was launched within the context of the African Jubilee Year, which covered August 1987 to July 1988.

The Jubilee was also launched by the LSCP, with a pro-Africanist declaration, which included anti-apartheid, anti-racist commitments, and focus on promoting positive images and understanding of Africans and people of African descent.

This background puts my stance into context. Most BHM programmes are overwhelmingly represented as a cultural event, in short, a time for singing, dancing, and drumming. I am not against these activities – after all, I’m the founder of the Black Music Congress (BMC). I love music and performance, and I believe culture forms an important part of history.

However, my beef is that the import of BHM has been diluted. The end result of many of these cultural events are devoid of a historical context, and only re-affirm the stereotype that black people are good at singing, drumming and dancing. What do we take with us after attending such events? Great entertainment, but very little focus on history, to challenge and inspire minds.

It’s relatively “easy” to pull crowds with cultural events - a celebrity here, a singer there, and people flock in to be entertained. So I salute those that persevere with history-based events, which generally don’t draw huge audiences.

Why? Is it because we don’t like to be mentally stimulated, or don’t like history? That said, Robin Walker’s ‘When We Ruled’ book launch and question and answer session on African history at Harlesden Library was ram-packed.

BMC and BTWSC organised the Brent Black Music History Discussion in Brent and The N-Word & Insidious Racism Debate in Harrow. These talks programmes had good attendances, without celebrities to promote them. October should be the month when British society see black people with fresh eyes and respect, because of the role they have played, and continue to play, not just in the arts and sports, but other fields of endeavour, such as finance and the sciences.

BHM has a practical function, which benefits both black and non-black people. I find many BHM events regaling about great achievements, such as the pyramids in northern Africa, or the great kings and queens that have come out of Africa. This is all well and good, but it can sometimes be tokenistic. The driving reason of such commemorations should be aimed at educating the whole community. But more specifically, to instil some self-worth, confidence and aspiration within the black community, particularly the youth.

Look at the educational indices. Africans and African-Caribbeans usually figure around the bottom. Look at prisons - we are over-represented. Whilst the reasons are multi-faceted, the lack of self-worth and positive imagery, have been shown to be contributory factors. It is for this reason that I believe BHM should be focused on history, specifically African or African-Caribbean. Not only because the Jubilee declaration, within which BHM was launched here, was African-centred, but also because the positivity instilled can only enrich the whole community – less ASBOs and prison sentences, more reason for staying in school or pursing one’s true potential.

This year, the Harrow BHM Forum funded BHM events that were history-focused, and also highlighted black scientists and inventors. During the ‘N-Word & Insidious Racism Debate’, we awarded the BTWSC Black S/Heroes Award 2006 to Ghanaian mathematician and physicist Professor Francis KA Allottey. We also launched the Prof. Allotey Science Prize, which will go to a Harrow secondary school student of African descent.

Here is an example of how we can use BHM to empower us – we learn about a giant in the sciences – the Allotey Formalism method of determining matter in space is named after the Ghanaian scientist, and we use the Prize to encourage science take up among our youths, who at school are routinely directed into the arts and sport, whether or not they’re best suited to these fields. That in itself is a form of insidious racism.

I think the 200th anniversary of the British abolition of the slave trade, should not be a time for mindless celebration, but rather, serious reflection. One of the issues I wish we’d ponder upon is how we identify ourselves.

Those slaves were Africans. Isn’t it funny how some of their descendants, whether born in the Caribbean, Britain or the Americas, are happy to call themselves by the N-word, but find it offensive to be referred to as Africans?

I know the New Nation has made an effort by referring to black people as African Caribbean. It’s a start, but I say, let the significance of the 200th anniversary be the time that black people of African descent describe themselves simply as Africans, or similarly to the Americans, as African-British. Remember Peter Tosh’s words: “No matter where you come from, as long as you’re a black man, you’re an African.”

Finally, arts minister David Lammy, who’s overseeing the nation’s 2007 commemoration plans, recently hinted that the teaching of slavery could become part of the school curriculum. What I’d add is that there’s a form of slavery which no curriculum or BHM event will change, if we do not have self-worth, and grounding in who we are as individuals and a people. To quote another Wailer, Bob Marley: “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.”

Kwaku

2007-03-17T06:40:00.000-07:00

The Role Of Africans Overlooked In Anti-slavery Campaign

Opinion piece by Ms Serwah published in The Voice Mar. 12-18 2007, p.11 & 14

As Britain reflects on the abolition of the slave trade, the Africans who spearheaded the end of the Maafa (Kiswahili term that describes the African holocaust), and the slave revolts, particularly those led by Toussaint Louverture in Haiti and Sam Sharp in Jamaica, are largely overlooked. The planned Abolition Of Slave Trade Act celebrations/commemorations are overwhelmingly focused on William Wilberforce. Why is the spotlight not on the likes of Olaudah Equiano and Ottobah Cugoano, who campaigned against the maafa, or even the Quakers or Thomas Clarkson?

There appears to be confusion between The Slave Trade Act passed in 1807, and the 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act, particularly as some ill-informed sections of the media compound the situation by referring to the commemorations as the “abolition of slavery”. The ‘Amazing Grace’ movie seems to add to the confusion by portraying William Wilberforce as an anti-slavery pioneer, when in fact he was against the immediate abolition of slavery.

According to historical accounts, the Society of Friends (Quakers), began the British campaign to end the slave trade, and presented the first anti-slavery petition to parliament on 17 June 1783. In 1787 the Quakers helped form the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The twelve founding members included nine Quakers, and Anglicans Granville Sharp, and Thomas Clarkson, who was known as the architect of the campaign and founding father of the anti-slavery movement in Britain.
In 1787, Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, a freed African slave living in England published ‘Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Commerce of the Human Species’, which stirred public opinion against the slave trade.

At the time, only members of the Church of England (Anglicans) could take up seats in the British parliament. Some accounts credit Sir Charles and his wife Lady Middleton with persuading Wilberforce (originally an Anglican) to lead the parliamentary campaign. Other accounts credit Thomas Clarkson. What is not in issue is that William Wilberforce was persuaded to join the campaign, and he made his first parliamentary speech against the slave trade in 1789.

Whilst the likes of Thomas Fowell Buxton argued that the only way to end the suffering of slaves was to abolish slavery, Wilberforce disagreed. He pointed out in a pamphlet he wrote in 1807 that: "It would be wrong to emancipate (the slaves). To grant freedom to them immediately would be to insure not only their masters' ruin, but their own. They must (first) be trained and educated for freedom…” . How would we react today to the argument that to immediately free women who have been trafficked for prostitution purposes would ruin those who trafficked them?

In 1824, Wilberforce opposed Elizabeth Heyrick, a key figure in the formation of women’s Anti-Slavery Societies, who published ‘Immediate not Gradual Abolition’ in which she argued for the immediate emancipation of slaves.
With the passing of The Slave Trade Act in 1807, British captains risked a fine of £100 for every slave found on board their ships. When they were in danger of being caught by the British navy, captains often ordered the slaves to be thrown overboard. This situation would have been avoided, if slavery and the slave trade were abolished at the same time.

Should we elevate those whose arguments against the immediate abolition of slavery contributed to thousands of Africans being thrown overboard between 1807, when the Slave Trade Act made trafficking of slaves illegal and 1833 when slavery was abolished?

Thankfully, Wilberforce was eventually persuaded to join the anti-slavery campaign, but as he retired from Parliament in 1825, he did not play a pivotal role in the passing of the Abolition of Slavery Act. It seems a betrayal to Africans to dismiss their contribution, and highlight William Wilberforce as an anti-slavery pioneer.

Conservative estimates put the number of Africans who died as a result of the slave trade at 20 million, more than three times the number of Jews who died through the holocaust. As we reflect on 200 years since the abolition of the slave trade, let us ensure that the truth, no matter how uncomfortable, is told. We should also reflect on why it took the British public so long to express outrage about the dehumanisation, kidnapping, and inhuman enslavement of Africans.

Ms Serwah

2007-03-17T06:37:00.000-07:00

Spreading The Gospel Of Self-empowerment

Opinion piece by Kwaku published in The Voice, Feb. 26-Mar. 4 2007, p.11

As the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Abolition Of The Slave Trade Act approaches, two issues particularly exercise my mind.

Please allow me to dip into the Wailers’ songbook to make my points. Peter Tosh sang: “No matter where you come from, as long as you’re a black man, you’re an African.” Bob Marley urged us to “emancipate yourselves from mental slavery,” as “none but ourselves can free our minds.”

After the noise regarding coins, postage stamps, conferences, concerts, seminars and other abolition ceremonies has subsided, it is worth reminding ourselves that those we mourn were Africans. Hence, let the significance of the bicentennial anniversary be that black people of African descent reclaim their identity by describing themselves simply as Africans, or as African-British. People of Asian descent born in Britain, or who came from east Africa, call themselves Asians, even though they may never have visited the Indian sub-continent.

In addition, the term black, has become almost meaningless. It was a construct for political expediency and funding reasons, particularly in the ‘60s and ‘70s. But now, one can almost fit any non-Caucasian under the term black!

As an aside, it’s worth pointing out that the said commemoration is not about the abolition of slavery, but rather, the British slave trade. Also, let’s not forget the fact that Africans were at the forefront of the abolition campaign. Men such as Ignatius Sancho and Olaudah Equiano examplify self-empowerment, which can inspire us today.

We seem to live in a world where we’ve forgotten about empowering ourselves, and think it’s all up to ‘them’. Nevertheless, I am encouraged to spread the gospel of not waiting for ‘them’ to do it, but rather what can ‘I’ or ‘we’ do for self.

Recently, I led a Heritage Lottery funded video project for pan-London voluntary organisation BTWSC, which develops potential and promotes social inclusion. Some of the encouraging points from the Brent Black Music History Project (BBMHP) was that although life was harder in the ‘60s and ‘70s, people like Sonny Roberts, founder of the first black owned studio and label, Planetone, and the Palmer brothers, who set up Pama Records (forerunner of Jet Star), built their businesses without any hand outs or infrastructural support.

Perhaps we could empower ourselves by looking at role models who achieved in a much more hostile environment. This year, Pama/Jet Star will celebrate forty years in the music industry.

Forty years ago, it was even more difficult for people of African descent to access finance. Instead of throwing their arms in the air, and saying ‘they’ will not give us finance, our parents and grandparents were resourceful and used the ‘partner’ system to provide finance, which was by us for us. There was no time for victim mentality. They started up businesses and bought houses, albeit often in the poorer neighbourhoods.

I also looked at how the Ruff Cutt band came by their name. Although they did not have the expertise, they pulled together to successfully sound-proof their rehearsal space, so they could practice without disturbing the complaining neighbours. In those days, it seems to me that it was do it yourself or lose the opportunity.

Today, we are to some extent, like elephants in a circus that are unaware of their potential, and think the string round their neck controls them. We need to free our minds and realise that in a sense, ‘they’ control us in as much as we allow them to.

Yes, the educational system and society in general, encourages the erroneous belief that people of African origin have not achieved anything, and encourages anti-intellectualism in our young people. What is the way forward? What should parents do? Merely moaning is insufficient. As we move to have the curriculum reflect the truth, we should teach our children, find books for them to read in order to expand their horizons and self-belief.

In an interview with rising British R&B singer-songwriter Nate James for my BritishBlackMusic.com website, he was emphatic about some of the reasons for his success. “I don’t wait around for people,” asserted Nate. “I like to make things happen myself! If you rely on others, there’s more chance of being let down. It’s surprising what you can achieve when you put your mind to something!”

As founder of the Black Music Congress, I chaired a debate in January entitled ‘To What Extent Does Music Influence Behaviour?’ A resolution calling for action by taking personal responsibility and campaigning for respectful, responsible radio was passed. I look forward to receiving feedback regarding some of the personal and collective actions taken by participants at our next debate in June.

I will leave you with the AIM mantra offered by Jet Star’s head of business affairs Hugh Francis at the BBMHP DVD launch, which should help empower us all: if you have Ambition, Imagination and Motivation, you should have success.

Kwaku

Abolition: Handy Events Summary

2007-03-06T16:04:00.000-08:00

Facts on some important events prior to the passing of British Abolition of Slave Trade Act in 1807 and the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1833

Euro-centric accounts often ignore the role of African freedom fighters in the struggle to end the trafficking of Africans, and enslavement. One of the first documented African revolts was in 1526 in San Miguel de Gualdape (a Spanish colony possibly in present day South Carolina)), but this accounts starts with 1720. The list of events is not exhaustive, and others are welcome to improve on it.

1720-1739 Nanny of the Maroons leads revolts in Jamaica.
1763 Kofi (Cuffy) leads a revolt in Berbice (former Dutch Caribbean colony), present day Guyana.
1768 Court discharges Jonathan Strong an enslaved African brought to London by his ‘master’.
1769 Abolitionist Granville Sharp publishes a pamphlet entitled “A representation of the injustice and dangerous tendency of tolerating slavery in England”.
1771 Granville Sharp applies for habeas corpus regarding Somersett, an enslaved African brought to Britain by his ‘master’. Somersett run away, was captured and imprisoned on a ship bound for Jamaica.
1772 Lord Mansfield rules that that slavery is “so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it, but positive law.” In the absence of a positive law, Somersett is freed.
1783 The Society of Friends (Quakers) sponsor an anti-slavery petition in Parliament.
1787 Ottobah Cugoano, a former enslaved African, publishes ‘Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Commerce of the Human Species’, which stirs public opinion in England. He demands the abolition of the slave trade and the freeing of the enslaved.
1787 Quakers help form the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Founding members include Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson described as the architect of the campaign and founding father of the anti-slavery movement in Britain.
1787 British Parliamentarian William Wilberforce is persuaded to join the campaign for the abolition of the ‘slave trade.’
1789 Wilberforce makes his first Parliamentary speech against the ‘slave trade’.
1789 Abolitionist Olaudah Equiano publishes ‘The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano’, which provides a first hand account of the horrors of enslavement and vital information to the anti-slavery movement’.
1791 Toussaint Louverture’s Haiti revolt shocks Britain which had wanted to seize Haiti. (Haiti was under French rule).
1792 Abolition bill passed by House of Commons but rejected in House of Lords.
1792 Denmark passes a law abolishing the slave trade.
1794 French National Convention abolishes slavery in all its territories (law repealed by Napoleon in 1802).
1804 Dessalines declares Haiti a free republic.
1807 Wilberforce writes in pamphlet which states that: "It would be wrong to emancipate (the slaves). To grant freedom to them immediately would be to insure not only their masters' ruin, but their own. They must (first) be trained and educated for freedom…”
1824 Robert Wedderburn, a lifelong campaigner against enslavement, whose mother was an enslaved African, publishes a book entitled ‘The Horrors of Slavery’.
1824 Elizabeth Heyrick, a key figure in the women’s Anti-Slavery Societies, publishes a pamphlet entitled ‘Immediate not Gradual Abolition’. Wilberforce opposes her.
1825 Wilberforce retires from Parliament.
1831 Sam Sharpe leads the greatest Jamaican revolt against enslavement.
1831 ‘The History of Mary Prince’ an account of the life of former enslaved African Mary Prince is published in Britain. It galvanises the anti-slavery movement.
1833 The revolts of enslaved Africans were costing the British government heavily, and this coupled with the growing industrial revolution, made enslavement less profitable. The Abolition of Slavery Act is passed in March 1833 and ‘slave owners’ are given twenty millions pounds compensation.

Compiled by Ms Serwah, http://newafricanperspective.blogspot.com/

Was William Wilberforce REALLY an anti-slavery PIONEER?

2007-02-22T11:39:00.000-08:00

The Amazing Grace film is said to be based on “the life of anti-slavery pioneer William Wilberforce”. First of all, let us not confuse the campaign for the abolition of the slave trade, with the anti-slavery campaign. One campaign was to end the trafficking of human beings, and the other campaign was to abolish the institution of slavery. Secondly, let’s understand who a pioneer is. Longmans’ English Larousse describes a pioneer as “a person who plays a leading part in the early development of something”.

By way of background, in 17 June 1783, before William Wilberforce became involved in the anti-slave trade campaign, the Society of Friends (Quakers) presented an anti-slavery petition to parliament through Sir Cecil Wray (Member of Parliament for Retford). According to historical accounts, the British campaign to end the slave trade was begun by Quakers, who saw the trade as a violation of their fundamental belief in the equality of all. In 1787 the Quakers helped form the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The twelve founding members included nine Quakers, and Anglicans Granville Sharp, and Thomas Clarkson, who was known as the architect of the campaign and founding father of the anti-slavery movement in Britain.

In the same year, Ottobah Cugoano, a freed African slave living in England published the ‘Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Commerce of the Human Species’, which stirred public opinion against the slave trade.

It must be noted that in 1787 Britain only members of the Church of England (Anglicans) could take up seats in parliament. Some accounts credit Sir Charles and his wife Lady Middleton with persuading Wilberforce (originally an Anglican) to lead the parliamentary campaign against the slave trade in 1787. Other accounts credit Thomas Clarkson. What is not in issue is that William Wilberforce was persuaded to join the campaign. Two years later, on 12th May, 1789, Wilberforce made his first speech against the slave trade in Parliament.

Was Wilberforce an anti-slavery pioneer? Various historical accounts have conveniently overlooked the uncomfortable fact that Wilberforce was initially against the immediate abolition of slavery. He came round to campaigning against slavery in later years. Whilst the anti-slave trade campaign and the likes of Thomas Fowell Buxton argued that the only way to end the suffering of slaves was to abolish slavery, Wilberforce disagreed. He pointed out in a pamphlet he wrote in 1807 that: "It would be wrong to emancipate (the slaves). To grant freedom to them immediately would be to insure not only their masters' ruin, but their own. They must (first) be trained and educated for freedom…”

In 1824 Elizabeth Heyrick, a key figure in the formation of the Female Anti-Slavery Societies, published a pamphlet entitled ‘Immediate not Gradual Abolition’ in which she argued for the immediate emancipation of the slaves in the British colonies. She is reported to have come into conflict with William Wilberforce, who instructed leaders of the anti-slavery movement not to speak at women's anti-slavery societies.

Wilberforce was eventually persuaded to join the anti-slavery campaign, but as he retired from the House of Commons in 1825, he did not play a pivotal role in the passing of the Abolition Of Slavery Act in 1833.

One of the terrible consequences of the refusal to abolish slavery, but rather to abolish the slave trade, was the number of Africans who were thrown overboard between 1807 when the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act abolished the slave trade in the British Empire and made it illegal to carry slaves in British ships, and 1833 when slavery was abolished. This was because with the passing of The Slave Trade Act, British captains risked a fine of £100 for every slave found on board their ships. When they were in danger of being captured by the British navy, captains often ordered the slaves to be thrown into the sea. This situation would have been avoided if slavery had been abolished at the same time as the abolition of the slave trade.

Sadly, the numerous Africans who spearheaded the end of slavery through various means, including the slave revolts are hardly mentioned in Euro-centric accounts of the abolition of slavery. These Africans sacrificed their lives to end the Maafa (Kiswahili term that describes the African holocaust) before Wilberforce became convinced of the need to do so.

In Britain, Africans such as Olaudah Equiano, and Ottobah Cugoano, campaigned tirelessly against the slave trade. Wilberforce certainly played a role in the abolition of the slave trade, but it seems a betrayal to Africans to dismiss their contribution, and highlight William Wilberforce as an anti-slavery pioneer.

Conservative estimates are that 20 million Africans died as a result of the slave trade, more than three times the number of people who died through the Jewish Holocaust. As we reflect on 200 years since the abolition of the slave trade, let us ensure that the truth, no matter how uncomfortable, is told. We should also reflect on why it took Christians and the British public so long to express outrage about the dehumanisation, kidnapping, and inhuman enslavement of Africans

There are many websites where relevant resources on the anti-slavery story can be found. These include:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism
http://www.preda.org/archives/research/cl/r06081701.html
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REwilberforce.htm
http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/themes/96/96075.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ramsay_(abolitionist)
http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/the_film.php
http://www.garstangfairtrade.org.uk/slave_trade.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Middleton,_1st_Baron_Barham
http://www.quaker.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=92262
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REheyrick.htm
http://www.britannia.com/bios/wilberforce.html
http://www.understandingslavery.com/teachingslavetrade/introduction/keyhistorical/?page=4
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilberforce_william.shtml

Ms Serwah