Imagine A Black Nation

In Memory of Imari Obadele By Marvin X

Related RBG Studies Collection

RBG-Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (PG-RNA) Historical

Studies Collection

The Republic of New Afrika (PG-RNA), was/is a socio-political Nationhood Movement that proposed three

objectives. First, the creation of an independent Afrikan in American-majority country situated in the

southeastern United States. A similar claim is made for all the black-majority counties and cities throughout the

United States. Second, the payment of several billion dollars in reparations from the US government for the

damages inflicted on Afrikans and their descendants by chattel enslavement, Jim Crow segregation, and

persistent modern-day forms of racism. Third, a referendum of all Afrikans in Americans in order to decide

what should be done with regard to their citizenship. Regarding the latter, it was claimed that Afrikans in

Americans were not given a choice in this matter after emancipation. The vision for this country was first

promulgated on March 31, 1968, at a Black Government Conference held in Detroit, Michigan. Its proponents

lay claim to five Southern states: (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina); and the

black-majority counties adjacent to this area in Arkansas, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida.

Collection Icebreaker Video: RBG-SS MMxtp -04- B.I.G.Nel-R.B.G.ft.RBG SS "Green, Red and Black"

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Imagine A Black Nation In Memory of Imari Obadele By Marvin X

RBG Communiversity

Imagine A Black Nation

In Memory of Imari Obadele

By Marvin X

Source: http://www.nathanielturner.com/imagineablacknation.htm

What happened to Nation Time, the dreams, visions, revision,

disillusion, a time of hope unfulfilled, Driftin and Driftin like that Charles Brown tune, no more

imagination beyond a return to ancient Kemet, the land we fled four thousand years ago, thus an

impossible return, for who can go home after four thousand years, except a mad Jew, and we see

what terror he caused upon return.

But it is a mental drift, the most terrible kind, most wretched because it tears at the heart as well

as the mind, thus we are drenched in sweat upon awakening from the nightmare of imagination

and must face the bright sun of reality.

Shall we drift from here to eternity, for how can we avoid synchronizing our dreams with reality,

finally and forever, standing on solid ground as we move into the future of a thousand

tomorrows.

Imagine a nation, a land of soul people who are healing their wounds from centuries of terror,

who blame no one except themselves for the terror, for the ship and whip, the cross and lynching

tree, yes, the strange fruit of the last supper in paradise, before entering the door of no return.

Imagine a nation, somewhere in the South where our people died, where we can honor their

bones and blood shed in the sun and night, where their spirits still dance in the swamp and river

bottoms, the plantations and huts still standing, where spirits go wild in the wind and in the

stillness of summer.

Imagine a nation, perhaps Up South in the wicked cities that defied the hope and dreams of

generations, maybe there we shall declare ourselves free and claim sovereignty, a place called

the Republic of Pan Africa, like Brooklyn. where we have gathered for the first time in four

thousand years, de facto capital of the Diaspora, coming from Mississippi, North and South

Carolina Africans, Jamaica and Haitian Africans, Nigerian, Ghanaian and Senegalese, bound

together again, this time forever on Fulton Street and streets too many to name.

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And yes, there is pain and rivalry, jealousy and envy, love and hate in the night, but we are there

in the sun, in the snow, a nation not yet standing, not fully sensing our power, strength, the full

strength of a mighty nation forced together again, not since fleeing the pyramids and pharaohs,

the murders for succession, the flight of queens with sons and daughters who did not assume the

throne. And there was drought and famine forcing them up the Nile, the mighty Congo and

Niger.

Imagine, the Republic of Pan Africa, not the nationalism of fools, but the product of engineers,

planners and builders who began with a thought centuries ago in the cane, cotton and rice fields,

the woods of Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, the railroad of Harriet Tubman, the

womanhood of Sojourner Truth, but caught, yes, as [James] Cone said, between the cross and the

lynching tree.

But it was the thought that refused to die, yet resurrected every season like the Nile, the dream of

the homeland where we must be taken in once again. Have we not paid for this land with sweat,

blood and tears? It is ours so claim the portion we desire, stand upon the ground and cry liberty

or death, but have we not died a million times, even now at this hour we crucify ourselves for

failing to stand tall as full men and women, our children annihilate themselves like Buddhist

monks on fire in Vietnam, only because we have not passed on ancestor tales of liberty and

freedom, discipline and work.

Imagine a nation, days of absence from our animal selves, and the donning of our divinity,

wherein we hate each other no more, never again, the jealousy, the Willie Lynch syndrome,

Yacoub’s children playing with steel, some genetic defect in our divine nature.

Imagine a nation, removed from those we cannot live with in peace, thus we part from them and

their wickedness, taking with us only the genius of our minds, for look at the fruit of our labor

under the sun, surely we can do the same for ourselves as we did for the master, transcending the

pyramids with our original creations for now and tomorrow.

But the question is not if or when America falls, but what is the post-American plan for North

American Africans? Will they finally acquire the sovereignty as a nation of self-determined

people, will they secure a land base with access to the sea and mineral rich for their centuries of

free and nearly free labor under the sun? Or will they sit with dicks in their hands and hearts

racing while other ethnic groups secure the division of this stolen property.

Surely the Native Americans will want their fair share, the Latinos, the Asians, and poor

whites—will the so called Negro sit around waiting for the Master to return, or will he go about,

finally and without hesitation, doing for self, reconstructing his fallen cities, getting control of

the infrastructure, water, electricity, roads, schools, work places, airports.

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Long ago he called for Black Power, with the coming fall of

America, he will have the opportunity to fulfill his dreams. Oh, it

cannot happen? America is too strong. Firstly, you have no real

idea how strong America is just as you have no idea how strong

you are—you are so full of fear you cannot and never have been

able to think straight. Every thought you ever thought has been

wrong simply because it was not thinking outside the box of

Americana because you have been confined to the box and never

had a chance to consider the configuration of your society except

for your 19th century thinkers and dreamers, and your 20th

century thinkers and planners. Garvey and Elijah Muhammad.

Imari dreamed of the Republic of New Africa.

But where is Egypt, Rome, Greece, Great Britain and the Soviet

Union? Does the Chinaman have a chance today--you haven't

heard that racist remark recently, for the Chinese have a very

good chance to rule the world. so why do you think America shall

remain forever and forever in its present condition?

It will absolutely change because its ethnic minorities will soon become the majority, so why are

not your leaders planning for the future and our well-deserved fair share? If and when America,

as did the Soviet Union, falls apart, what do you want? A job? A job, a job!

You mean after 400 years of free and nearly free labor, you only desire a job? Are you crazy, are

you totally insane or just lazy, like a whore awaiting marching orders from her pimp—not

knowing the pimp is dead, he was killed in a shootout with rivals. Your leaders, why are they

running around licking the behinds of the the Democratic and Republican parties rather than

establishing an independent political entity that will take us into the future? They shall be

charged for their shortsightedness, their myopia of the mind.

As sister Zetha Nobles said recently, our goal should not be to achieve parity with white

Americans (which is mediocrity, at best), but with India and China. We should forget about

equality with Americans and see the global picture and imagine our role in it. But we are so

blinded by white supremacy that all we see is white, white, white. Look around, the world is no

longer white. Power will not be white in the not so distant future—can you look ahead a few

days and plan accordingly or shall you sit on your behinds awaiting the crumbs from the fall of

America? Imagine a nation!

Source: BlackbirdPressNews

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Related Historical News Report Snippets

Imari Obadele Father of Reparations" dies in Ga.

The Associated Press

ATLANTA—Imari Obadele, the former leader of the Republic of New Africa separatist group,

has died. He was 79.Obadele's daughters, Marilyn Obadele and Vivian Gafford, said Tuesday

that their father died of massive stroke Monday in Atlanta.

Known as the "Father of Reparations," Obadele was a staunch supporter of Malcom X and

eventually became President of the Republic of New Africa, which sought to establish its own

nation in the South.

He was president when, in 1971, city police and FBI agents battled RNA members who were

inside a fortified home in Jackson, Miss. One police officer was killed and two others were

wounded in the shootout.

Obadele spent more than five years in prison for conspiracy but was not charged with murder.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Picayune Item

* * * * *

I just received the sad news that one of our tallest trees in the forest of Black intellectual

Nationalism has unfortunately made transition. Dr. Imari Abukari Obadele was the founder of

the Republic of New Afrika that came out of the 1968's convention of Black government held in

Detroit. Dr.Obadele and his brother (Milton) were both friends of Malcolm during the early mid

sixties. They were the ones who brought him (Malcolm) in to Detroit to give that historic speech

that we love so much called "Message to the Grass roots."

After Malcolm's assassination they developed what was called the 'Malcolm X Society' that led

to the Republic of New Afrika (RNA) in 1968, then Chokwe Lummumba emerged out of that

group to form the New Afikan Peoples Organization (NAPO); all of this led to

the Provisional Government of New Afrika and the Five States formation in the South (South

Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, forgot fifth one), all under the constitutional right to

develop a self-determined Plebiscite political independent states.

In short, I don't believe we utilized Dr. Obadele's call to "Free The Land" the way he outlined

everything in his wonderful autobiography. Dr. Obadele went back to school, after brief time in

jail because of being setup, and achieved his doctorate degree, I think in Government. Also, it

was Dr. Obadele who founded The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America

(N'COBRA), which further augment his fight for reparation. Dr. Obadele has written numerous

books and articles on Government, 40 acres and a Mule, Reparation, and others. Also, he even

wrote a very valuable book on Ancient Egypt in which some of the African-centered community

either neglects or don't appreciate (I never hear any one cite it as a source of reference).

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Nevertheless, Dr. Obadele has left his mark in our movement for liberation in this country by

example! Libation Poured!—Hannibal Cassanova

* * * * *

On January 18, 2010 genius giant of the New Afrikan Independence Movement, Dr. Imari

Abubakari Obadele I transitioned to the ancestral realm. It was the Washington, D.C. community

that welcomed Brother Imari after his release from unjust incarceration orchestrated by the once

secret and illegal COINTELPO (FBI counterintelligence program against the Black Liberation

Movement). He spent several years living and rebuilding in Washington, DC.

Brother Imari was an ardent follower of Malcolm X,

indeed it was Imari and his brother Gaidi (formerly

known as Richard and Milton Henry) who brought

Malcolm to Detroit in 1963 when he delivered his

prolific speech, "Message to the Grassroots." Malcolm

often said that if the Henry brothers ever needed him, he

would be right there.

Obadele is a founder and former President of the

Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika,

and a founder and leader of NCOBRA—National

Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. He

received his PhD after imprisonment, and retired from

teaching at Prairie View in Texas, living in Baton

Rouge with his wife, Johnita.

He is the author of numerous books and pamphlets, including Foundations of the Black Nation,

War in America, Free the Land, Reparations Yes, The Malcolm Generation, America the Nation

State, and others.

Join the Washington, D.C. area community in a Memorial Tribute to Dr. Imari Abubakari

Obadele, on the day of the assassination of Malcolm X—Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 5:00 p.m.

If you are interested in saying a brief reflection at the Tribute through words, song, or poem,

please contact 888-245-4789 and leave your contact information and a representative from the

committee will get back to you.

See video of January 30 Obadele funeral service in link below. In the words of Brother Imari . . .

FREE THE LAND!

Source: Kalamu and Facebook

* * * * *

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Imari Obadele, who fought for

reparations, dies a 79—Mr. Obadele

was born Richard Bullock Henry in

Philadelphia on May 2, 1930, one of 12

children. He was an avid Boy Scout and

as a young man helped his brother

Milton start a civil rights organization

that had W. E. B. Du Bois as a speaker.

When Milton moved to Detroit, Richard

followed.

Richard worked there as a newspaper

reporter and as a technical writer for the

military. In 1963, he refused to let his

son Freddy go to school and learn from

textbooks he considered racist.

Richard’s brother was a close friend of

Malcolm X, and after Malcolm’s murder

in 1965, Richard and Milton Henry

helped form the Malcolm X Society to

promote his views. Malcolm, in the face

of continuing bloodshed in the civil

rights struggle, had become increasingly

frustrated with the philosophy of

nonviolent resistance espoused by Dr.

King and others. The Henry brothers

began to embrace black separatism.

In 1968, they and others formed the Republic of New Afrika and adopted African names; Milton

became Gaidi Obadele. (Obadele is a Yoruba word meaning “the king arrives at home.”) At the

group’s inaugural meeting in Detroit, about 200 delegates signed a declaration of independence

and a “government in exile” was set up. Mr. Obadele was chosen information minister, and he

published a handbook, “War in America.”

A paramilitary unit, the Black Legion, to be clad in black uniforms with leopard-skin epaulettes,

was formed.

In March 1969, a gun battle erupted between police officers and the Black Legionnaires outside a

Detroit church, leaving one officer dead. The militants were tried but not convicted in a trial that

drew conflicting testimony about the confrontation.

The Republic of New Afrika splintered the next year, with Milton, or Gaidi Obadele, saying he

now rejected violence. Imari, who had now been elected president, led about 100 followers to

Mississippi to build a black nation. After a deal to buy 18 acres from a farmer collapsed, the

group established a headquarters in a house in Jackson.

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The local police and F.B.I. agents raided the house on Aug. 18, 1971. Some news reports said the

purpose of the raid was to arrest a suspect in the Detroit killing. Others said the goal was to stop

treasonous activities or to search for arms. Each side said the other fired first in a gun battle that

left one officer dead.

Though indicted in the killing, Mr. Obadele was found to have been 10 blocks away during the

raid and charges were dropped. But in a related proceeding, he was convicted of conspiracy to

assault a federal agent and was sent to prison.

Mr. Obadele later earned a Ph.D. in political science from Temple University. He taught at

several colleges, including Prairie View A&M University in Texas.

He is survived by his daughters Marilyn Obadele and Vivian Gafford; his sons Imari II and

Freddy Sterling Young; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

In 1983, Mr. Obadele was a defense witness in the trial of Cynthia Boston, a Republic of New

Afrika member who was convicted in the holdup of a Brinks armored car in 1981. On the stand,

he defended armed struggle.

“We cannot tell somebody who is underground what to do,” he said. “If people feel that they

must attack people who have been attacking and destroying and harming our people, then that is

a decision they have to make.” NYTtimes

* * * * *

I met Imari through my participation in NCOBRA and became friends with him. He was a

passionate and forceful advocate of his vision,. It is not mentioned . . . but he was also a strong

fighter for the equal participation of women in the movement; a viewpoint not common among

the boiler plated nationalists of the time. He published a book on women in the reparations

movement. I was mesmerized by the relationship he and Johnita displayed. I told them once if I

were ever to find someone, I'd want to have a relationship just like theirs. Apparently all wasn't

as it seemed. But he was a brilliant guy. His contributions long will be remembered. Rest in

peace, Bro. Imari.-Damu—Jean Damu