In 1951, Libya was officially the poorest country in the world. In 2011 it had the highest human development index in Africa. God made that possible through Col. Gaddafi. He was lynched like a petty thief as a reward. In fact was shot and stabbed to death by a baying mob, after the convoy he was travelling in was bombed by the French Airforce . Remember Sirte? His birth place in Southern Libya? I doubt you do. 
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, a Ghana trained pupil teacher will this month celebrate his 90th birthday to the glory and in honor of God plus to serve as a remainder that the Blackman is capable of handling his own affairs……did I just hear Osagyefo Dr Nkrumah fart #tweaaa in his grave? Well I didn’t. I doubt Kwame Nkrumah had any plans of handing over the reins of political power to anybody whilst he were alive. For better or for worse.
African Americans and most black people in the diaspora will spend this whole month of February celebrating a cast of black skinned humans who suffered and toiled for the sake of, and as part of the black race’s efforts to see her descendants manage its own affairs within the context of equal rights. The list of martyrs and trail blazers include but not limited to Harriet Tubman, Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, Dr Joseph Boakye Danquah, Dr Maya Angelou, Dr Yaba Blay , Dr Paa Bobo Edward Osei Poku “Hammer of the Last 2”and on a more serious note, Kanye Omari West. No pun intended. No gnashing of teeth. No batting of eyelids. No Hissing of #Yesus . Just plain Kanye.
For some mundane reason I have been re-reading Malcom Little’s autobiography but Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings has truncated the academic orgasm Mr X’s encore usually provokes. But check this irony I have managed to sift from Brother Malcom’s life story. During the 1935 Harlem riots (which was sparked after a white police officer had shot and killed a Black unarmed uniformed Soldier), Negroes took advantage of the situation to loot……properly. But there was this Chinese man who survived the wave of ‘positive defiance’ by simply hanging a hastily written short notice in front of his covienience store and it read, “ Me. Coloured too!”
The scavenging black youth who went hoping for a ‘lick’ are on record to have been seen standing in front of the China shop laughing and appreciating the little man’s cleverness. His property was the only one that survived the onslaught. I referred to the above extract because I want to make some little practical sense of this quote” The more contact we have with one another and the more we come to understand each other’s values, the greater will be our mutual respect” by Nobel Peace Prize Winner (ask Mandela, he had to ‘go inside’ for 27yrs before he could win that thing) Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama. He is as I write; living in exile after over 50 years in India while his fellow Tibetians are yet to ‘breathe’ any form of respect borne out of equal rights from their Chinese oppressors.
The African American cites the Hebrew concept of sustainance and preservation of its culture and identity as proof of why blacks should celebrate Black History. Morgan Freeman believes it is unfair and unnecessary to mark Black history. I, Richard Agyemang Berko believe it should be celebrated so it keeps us in the fantasy world where we conveniently and falsely accuse the White Man for the reason we are where we are…..
And errrm maybe there is a reason it has taken 2-time Grammy Award winning legendary black Reggae musician called Burning Spear, 35 years to find a lawyer he can trust to be able to issue this statement: “Burning Spear will take legal action to regain control of his publishing Rights. With regards to Tammi Music and Studio One. By taking legal action this will send a strong message, artist has rights that need to be respected. The time is right to move ahead with legal action to protect and defend I MAN legacy. Nothing is for life Our Publishing is our old age pension. One should respect that”. He is 68 yrs old……Tweaaaaaa
Twitter: @richardbardman
email: uhuruberko@gmail.com
