Garvey is ‘our African great spirit’ – Ras Shaka

The Nyabinghi warriors are asking African ancestors to remember that they are “Kings and Queens of Africa”, as the late Marcus Garvey whose birthday was on April 17 would have wanted them to.

Warriors Zadito Bulze, and Ras Shaka (who uses no surname), spoke to SEARCHLIGHT on the eve of Garvey’s birthday. The “Black people prophet and leader and liberator”, as Marcus Moziah Garvey is known by the Nyabinghi people, was born in 1887.

“He began his journey as a journalist for a newspaper and then while treading along his way he was confronted by serious racism and then that took him on his journey towards black education, towards the consciousness of our people,” Shaka explained.

Marcus Garvey

He noted that there are Garvey’s teachings that they want people to remember during the time of his birth. “A nation or people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without root, and we all would know that a tree without root cannot grow,” he stated.

In order to grow as a people Shaka explained that one has to know where they came from and where they’re going.

“Now, to get along this way, according to Mr Marcus Garvey, the first thing is self confidence. When you have self confidence, you are twice a winner on the battle or life,” the Rastafarian commented.

“Without self confidence you are twice defeated,” he added.

Secondly, he reminded, “Now Mr Marcus Garvey teaches us that the greatest weapon that they use against us is division and the only way that we could overthrow that weapon is with unity as a people we must come together.” “We must set up businesses among ourselves, buy and sell and work among ourselves,” he said.

“Mr Garvey teach us that our ancestors in the days of yore had created a great civilization, and with our unity today we will great an even greater civilization than that of our ancestors,” Shaka stressed.

Once people do not work together what happens is that there is a “whole bag of petty differences,” he says.

In answering the question of what Garvey means to the Nyabinghi, he informed, “Marcus Garvey is our prophet, Black peoples prophet, not just rasta, not just Nyabinghi.”

“He said Africa is for the Africans, those at home, and those abroad, so Marcus Garvey the greatest pan Africanist to ever live is the western leader of the children of the prisoners of war,” he revealed. He noted that black people were never slaves, and that “With this knowledge that our ancestors were not slaves we have to know that we cannot be slaves today.”

He commented, “This is what Marcus Garvey is trying to insist on us that we are not no little piece of scrap of paper, or some kinda dirty sponge thrown away in some kinda gutter sucking up all kinda…we are a people with a great history, a great past, which we can develop today.”

Garvey is, “our African great spirit that was sent by our African great ancestors among us to remind us of who we are,” Shaka said, further, “We are royal blood. We are Kings and Queens of Africa.”

“We have to keep the African spirit alive, although it cannot die, but it will die inside of us,” he said.