Garvey debunked the commonly held myth about Black people being visited with a biblical Hamitic curse, telling Blacks that their history was one of greatness, achievement and pride. UNIA and the "Negro World" sponsored Black beauty contests and published photographs of Black women, Garvey called them "Black Queens of beauty," and numerous cultural programs aimed at uplifting the Black race.
To the critics who assailed Garvey over the fact that he was placing too much emphasis on the issue of Blackness and race, who claimed that his focus should have been on the broader problem of humanity, Garvey, in his typical blunt fashion, argued that it was not humanity which was being lynched, burned, Jim crowed and segregated - but Black people.
So deep was the issue of race to Garvey that he has left us with a major statement on the primacy of race in all things. This is how he put it:
"In a world of wolves one should go armed, and one of the most powerful defensive weapons within the reach of Negroes is the practice of race first in all parts of the world." It is a lesson which modern-day Black leaders would do well to revisit.
(2) Garveyism's economic program. Garveyism placed economic emphasis on the development of Black-owned businesses. That is because although Garvey believed that the racial consciousness of Black people was of paramount importance, he also understood that without economic clout Blacks would still be the targets of exploitation, oppression and discrimination. Garveyism leaves a practical approach to the issue of Black economics which is more than applicable in today's troubled times of economic scarcity.
Marcus Garvey was not just an excellent orator. He was a Pan-Africanist revolutionary who believed in positive action. The Black Star Lines (an international commercial and passenger steamship line), the African Commercial League, and African Factories Corporation (formed in 1922) were economic organizations developed by Garvey aimed at the economic liberation of the Black man.
And although many reactionary scholars pushing a Eurocentric line have tried to ridicule the idea of the Black Star Line, the powerful example of a great visionary can never be smeared. Garvey understood the importance of international trade and Black self-reliance. It was this self-reliance which led him and his followers to form Black-owned laundries, Black-owned restaurants, and Black-owned grocery stores. Garvey encouraged Blacks to buy from Black businesses and even went so far as to have Black-factories manufacture Black dolls for Black children.
Undoubtedly these principles of Garveyism should be dusted off by the leaders of Black America and the Caribbean today and used as a guide to positive action in these days when the Black Diaspora is coming under attack and the gains of past years are being threatened with erosion.
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