Remember Marcus Garvey
Let true Black love arise
The Honorable Marcus Garvey reentered the public consciousness through his posthumous pardon from President Biden. It is obviously long overdue but there is something about empires apologizing that intrigues me. Apologies are a significant step toward redemption but what we need even more is metanoia.
Metanoia is repentance and changing direction. It is not just saying “i am sorry” with your words but it is expressing your desire to interrupt the offensive act by changing your behavior.
So while it is awesome and worthy of celebration that Marcus Garvey has been pardoned, we live in a nation where all of what Garvey fought for and inspired is under duress. The dignity and flourishing of Black people was his life’s work. As federal government employees, who are 18.2% Black, are currently being dismissed and offered severance packages, one must wonder what will happen to the Black middle class during this current administration and for years to come.
Federal jobs have been instrumental in the construction of the Black middle class. Eroding this access point creates a crisis and undoubtedly will further economic strain. Garvey’s pardon and Trump’s policies happening mere days from each other illustrate how far this nation has to go in order to achieve the metanoia experience we so desperately need.
So what do we do as the empire erodes and rejects the repentance that would redeem it? We remember Marcus Garvey.
All we gots to do is, let true Black love arise
And hatred scatter, even melt like when the fire light the wax, yes- Burning Spear
Every crisis—and make no mistake, this is a crisis—comes with a lesson and an opportunity. Perhaps this is a time for us to sustain an economy of love where the margins have their needs met, we operate in a spirit of mutuality and cooperative economics, and we move—in spirit and in mind—out of the burning house.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery! None but ourselves can free our minds.
- Marcus Garvey