African Opinion - Freedom Archives

Photo : Miss Miriant Mkeba
Re-united After 300 Years
The will of hate had it so that
after 30() years of parting Stokelyy
Carmic-bael from Trinidad, West Indies,
and Miriam Makeba from
South Africa appeared recently on a
television program in New York as
man and wife. Carmichael and Alakeba
ran into each other in the
United States and put to an end the
concocted concept, of their common
enemy, that "East is East and West
is West never the twain shall ineet ."
The instigators of separation probably
had forgotten the dominance of
that. "precious ties of blood" and
that, identity (if color in this case .
Carmichael was dragged away
from iMakeba, placed on the "Good
Ship desrts", brought to Iamestown,
Virginia (1011) A.D . ), dragooned to
the Caribbean and bartered for molasses.
IIe returned to the United
States, attended Howard University
and became a leader ]it the fight for
freedom .
Both revealed tlw repressive systems
under which then groxv were one
and the same.
A talented artist, Miss Makeba
geared her songs which translate the
agony of her people in South Africa
now under sicgc. lw European gangsters
.
Barred by Collusion
The songs of the talented African
artist so enlighting, to her brothers
AFRICAN OPINION
a
LAND GRANT TO AFRICAN-AMERICANS
On their second trip to Africa in
,search for settlement areas, Rev.
1V inston G . Evans, Executive Director
and Mr. Dewey Weaver,
'treasurer respectively, of the Ethiopian
World Federation, Inc . of
Chicago, Illinois, announce that the
result of their mission far exceeds
their expectations.
leaving Chicago by air in Decenther,
1968, the couple visited Liberia,
Senegal, Ghana and Ethiopia . In
Accra, Ghana the Federation estab-
Iished registration and requested land
for mutual development, the leaders
reported .
The two representatives then departed
for Ethiopia where the World
Federation had received 10,000 acres
granted by Ills \lajcsty, Emperor
flaile Selassie while he was on a
visit to the United States in 1967 .
Rev . Evans and Mr . Weaver receivecl
assistance from the Ethiopian
Minister of Agriculture and the
Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce in
their travel activities along with an
expert from the Agricultural Department
who accompanied them to the
.ites, thev stated .
Appeal for Settlers
h:vans and Weaver examined and
slu ve)ed sites in "Bale Province"
;irn(l in "Lobe." Supplies were fur-
and sisters oil this side, of the Atlantic,
that her album began to hit
high in circulation until, it was revealed,
she married Stokely Carntich,
el .
The Vampires, the Conspirators,
with policy to keep Africans apart
stepped in, clamped down and slow
clown the allnun's sale. The action is
viewed ns a display of displeasure
over a domestic union and camouflag,
i ug thi i r cha ;-rin by using the
confrontation between Carmichael
and the authorities as a cloak .
Carmichael ran into conflict with
the State Department when he ignored
its directive and visited North
Vietnam, China and Cuba. for which
his passport was confiscated.
nislaed by a "Dr . Fischer, head of
the United States Agency for International
Development to Ethiopia,
the officials said .
The land grant will be used for
comnninity building, raising live
stock, agriculture and other undertakings,
by returnees in collaboration
with the brothers there and with the
help of both governments, the Ethiopian
and the United States .
"We have already a 500 acre grant
at Shashamane and at Arussie . Administrator
.James Piper and wife,
have built it up in ten years with a
growing number of homes, two
sch(x)ls, a recreation center and the
ten room Malakii E . Bayen Health
clinic and staffs . Living on that land
grant are families from the West
Indies and the United States ."
The Illinois branch of the Ethiopiaau
World Federation, Inc,, with
offices at 6341 So . Dorchester Avenue,
Chicago, is "appealing for
thousands from the United States
and West Indies . Emphasis is placed
on farmers, mechanics, technicians,
business men and women along with
professionals and those with the
know-how to help in the rebuilding
of Africa. All are needed - young,
old, rich and poor ." There is room
and opportunities for many more
who are seeking a climate to live in
security and freedom from fear .
The Black Power advocate somewhat
amusingly revealed further that
he got back his passport but, for some
mysterious reasons, he is barred from
many states in the Caribbean and
other places "not off limit" including
Trinidad, where he was born and
where his relatives reside .
He went on further to compare
the difficulties he is facing with those
practiced on Marcus Garvey, who advocated
"Africa for the Africans at
home and abroad ." The presentation
throws light on the problems that
black people face, one after another.
All said and done, the hand of
fate has put together again, two
African nationals and their respective
kinsmen, after 300 years apart .
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