LIFESTYLE ing-class Black people of African descent around the world who lack direct control over their land and political, economic, and social affairs. While I had Pan-African leanings, my life fully transformed in 2015 when I read “The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey” during daily morning commutes to a left-leaning media organization where I worked as a health reporter. In October of that year, I quit that job to focus on my budding grassroots news organization The AllEyesOnDC Show, having accepted that Black journalists cannot tell the whole truth about the Black African experience under the auspices of white editors. Fifteen months prior, I left The Informer, where I learned the basics of grassroots journalism from the late, great Denise W. Barnes, to pursue this new opportunity. In my naiveté, I sought a full-time journalism job, my first out of graduate school, that would take me outside of Black news industry circles. However, just as had been the case in graduate school and at
internships at major media organizations, navigating non-Black media spaces became an exercise in repressing my passion for Black people and culture. As hard as I tried to coexist with white liberal coworkers and colleagues of color with similar sentiments, I just couldn’t ignore the lack of intimacy with which editors tackled my news pitches. Despite those hurdles, the final products, oftentimes about police-involved shootings, food deserts, the trauma of neighborhood violence, lead exposure, apprehensions about vaccines, and other racially relevant topics I tackled as a health reporter, had a Pan-African flair and included the voices of everyday people. But as Garvey wisely articulated in “Philosophy and Opinions,” the good fight couldn’t continue on the enemy’s court, even if those white colleagues had come to respect my unique perspective. Since leaving that job, I’ve carried on the legacy of Garvey and the Negro World newspaper with live news events at We Act Radio in Southeast, and Sankofa Video Books & Cafe in Northwest. Last year, I returned to The Informer as a politics and education reporter. As we quickly approach the four-year anniversary of The AllEyesOnDC Show in April, I can’t think of a situation that would make me any happier. While other influences pushed me in this direction, Mr. Garvey’s timeless words definitely inspired a sudden, but well-thought-out, career move that allowed me to truly embody my spirit as an African living in the Babylon system. For that, I am eternally grateful. Race first! WI
5 Sam P.K. Collins, founder and host of All Eyes on DC. (Facebook grab)
ed Negro Improvement Association and has long been heralded as the father of the Pan-African Movement. Dr. Garvey graduated from Wolmer’s Trust High School for Boys in Kingston in 1950; earned his B.S. degree from McGill University in Montréal, Canada in 1957; and his M.D., C.M. degree from McGill University Faculty of Medicine in 1961. He then embarked on a long, successful medical career in cities that include Montréal, New York City, Baltimore, serving both as an instructor in surgery and an attending-in-charge of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. And while he and his wife, Constance Lynch Garvey, now enjoy and celebrate their senior years, as well as their children, Nzinga, Makeda and Paul and grandchildren, he also continues to advance the philosophies first espoused by his father.
Washington Informer: What is the status of your mission to have your father’s name cleared through a presidential pardon? Dr. Garvey: As you know, we first submitted our request to President Barack Obama who failed to act for reasons he never explained publicly or to me. As for President Trump, we have not made any official application to him. Usually pardons are issued at the end of a president’s term but Trump has already broken with that tradition with the pardon of Jack Johnson. Roger Stone (Trump’s longtime confidant and former campaign advisor), for reasons still unclear to me, has suggested that Trump pardon my father. We’ve had no direct communication with Stone and I cannot say how he came to his conclusion – but I agree with his reasons. That said, we continue to
press on. WI: In earlier interviews, you talked about how difficult it was in your childhood with your father being labeled as a criminal. How did you make the transition that changed your perspective? Dr. Garvey: Like all others, maturity comes with attending school and college, reading and throughout one’s professional life. In my case, especially as I moved from one country to another, I became exposed to many different cultures and eventually developed a more expansive understanding of how the world works. As a child, with my dad being imprisoned both in Jamaica and in the U.S., his imprisonment came with certain connotations. But my mother raised me, as well as my brother (Marcus Jr.), and taught me how my father was victimized on two fronts: in Jamaica, under a co-
Walking in the Footsteps of Marcus Garvey By Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins In the 1920s, the United States, Britain, and France pressured the Liberian government to renege on a deal that would’ve allocated several acres of land to the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey and Black repatriates returning to the Motherland. Not long after, Garvey would be convicted of mail fraud and deported to his native Jamaica. Nearly a century later, Garvey’s legacy has even more relevance to those who call themselves Garveyites, including this American-born Liberian who reconciled the complexity of his Black African identity not too long ago. That journey continued last summer when I learned that Garvey had his eye on Cape Palmas, my father’s birthplace, as the ideal base for his Back-to-Africa movement. That discovery, made during a conference, further confirmed my calling as a grassroots journalist to represent the Black African nation — the millions of work-
GARVEY from Page 1 advancement of the Black Press and the crusade for racial equality and economic advancement for African Americans: the Rev. Frances Murphy Draper, the great-granddaughter of John Henry Murphy, Sr., a former slave and the founder of The Afro-American (1892); and Dr. Julius W. Garvey, the second-born son of Marcus Garvey who founded the Negro World in New York City in 1918. Dr. Garvey, a surgeon and medical professor, born Sept. 17, 1933 in Kingston, Jamaica (to Garvey and activist Amy Jacques Garvey), spoke to The Washington Informer in an exclusive interview about his life, since his retirement, and the continued relevance of the teachings of his father who, among his many accomplishments, founded the Unit-
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THE WASHINGTON INFORMER
The Legacy of Marcus Garvey
lonial system of oppression and in the U.S., by a racist system that disadvantaged African Americans and remained intent on keeping them down in terms of their rightful expression as human beings. This was imparted on me at a very early age. As I have read, traveled and studied, I have come to understand the impact of globalization, economic materialism and the ramifications of white supremacy as I moved from one plantation to another. In time, my thoughts have crystalized and coincided with my father’s evaluation. Looking back 100 years since he came to us, I realize that not a lot has changed. Even though people of color have achieved more political and social autonomy, we’re still deprived equal economic opportunities in terms in terms of being able to de-
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