Home  News National News There’s much more to be done
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There’s much more to be done |
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Written by Sonia Morgan and (Damian Woolcock
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Sunday, 22 June 2008 |
Dr. Julius Garvey, son of world renowned 1920’s Black Social Justice leader, Marcus Garvey, addressed Caribbean American Heritage Month and his father’s vision for Blacks on Saturday at the African American Research Library on Sistrunk Blvd.
He opened discussion for the recognition of the contributions of people of Caribbean descent to the United States. Dr. Garvey told the National Weekly as a Caribbean American who was born in Jamaica and have been living in the US since 70s, he, like many participates both cultures. “It’s important that we recognize both of those heritages,” pointing out that although Caribbean people have somewhat of a different history from African Americans, both peoples can “secure [their] identity as a people and reach back to the Mother Land to make that link.”
He added that while Caribbean people are proud of their heritage, we are “very happy to become integrated in the American body politic.”
When asked if he thinks his father’s vision is any nearer to being realized, he said, “Many things have changed in the US., since my father died in 1940. There have been a lot of changes like the Civil Rights Act and many more freedoms afforded to African Americans.” He added that there are more job opportunities for Blacks and they have successfully participated in the economy of the country.
While many universities opened up to African Americans and some have been serving as mayors and governors, there is “More to be done to get to a level playing field because the levels of wealth of the average African American is about 60 percent of the average European American,” he told the National Weekly.
One of the significant developments is the nomination of Barack Obama. “I don’t think anybody in the US would have predicted this two years ago. It’s extremely significant that an African American person can be the Democratic Nomination. This has put an African American person on the world stage that will dispel some of the stereotypes of African American people.”
He said his father would “be very pleased. I think it represents an ideal for an African person but does not represent the totality of what Africans need. My father was a pan-Africanist and what he feels that we need as an African people is a sense of identity that is based on our African history and culture. We need to be able to control our resources on the African continent. And we need to have a unity of the 600 million African people around the globe and that’s the only way we can be a strong entity and the only way we can sit at the table of nations. While this is an advancement for Africans in America and around the world, [Obama would be] an African American president of all Americans, not a president of Africans living in America.
Dr. Garvey said he thinks Virginia Senator Jim Web would make a good running mate for Obama, pointed out that he could bring out the Virginia vote.
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