#RolandMartinUnfiltered - AU Ambassador To The U.S. Offers Masterful History Lesson Dissecting 'The Legacy Of Colonization'

Episode Date: June 13, 2019

Roland Martin and the #RolandMartinUnfiltered cameras attended the HBCU Africa Homecoming Media Launch on Monday. The event marked a starting point for the African Diaspora Nation to launch a one-stop clearing house to expand educational and economic opportunity exchange between Africa and Black America. During the launch, Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao, the Permanent Representative of the African Union Representational Mission to the United States of America offered a masterful history lesson breaking down how Africa was divided into tiny little countries during the Berlin Conference of 1884 and how the nations of Africa are still being adversely impacted. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an i of return, 400 years in August, when 20-odd Africans first arrived on the shores of Virginia. And today I attended the media announcement of HBCU Africa Homecoming. And what this is is connecting HBCUs with the continent. And so we covered the whole event. After we finish today's show, we're going to live stream that whole event. So you can see all the different comments that people had to make there. But but I have to I have to speak to speak to this.

And it was a sister who was the ambassador of the African mission here. And she opened this thing up. And I really want you to hear what she has to say, because she makes a direct connection between what the colonizers did to the continent in 1884 to also what is happening today in terms of this whole dysfunction that exists with Africa, but also with those of us who our ancestors come from the motherland. And so I want to play this for you, which is an excerpt from what she had to say. Then we're going to chat with her about our panel. I really think you're going to be blown away about what she has to say.

Go right ahead. We were way ahead of them in our civilization. They set out to destroy us. And Berlin Conference put the nail on that coffin. Na kufanya Berlin kwa kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kufanya kuf China. They gave Togo. You see, the EU realizes individual little countries, they can survive on the world stage. So they come together as the European Union. Now picture

this now. So they cut up this Africa into the tiny little countries, small economies that could never survive on their own, but gave them the same sovereignty as the big boys. So that way, when the little bitty countries go to the world stage for the purposes of development and discussing trade,

they are wannabe boxers who are being thrown into the heavyweight boxing ring every day. How do you put China in the same boxing ring with Iswatini? Iswatini has 1.2 million people. China has 1.4 billion people. And you put them on the same stage and say, go at it, negotiate. Are you with me? This is insanity of the highest order. How have we allowed this carnage to go on?

When Iswatini is thrown in the same boxing ring with China and Iswatini collapses before Iswatini even gets on the stage, the world says, Iswatini, what's wrong with you? Why can't you take care of your people? But China came in and said, Iswatini, give me all your gold or else. And if Iswatini does not agree, they just go on next door to Lesotho and give Lesotho an extra dollar. And if Lesotho doesn't take it, they just jump on to Togo, Central Africa Republic. It was all by design, 1884.

They did something else in addition to chopping us up. They also set out to make the African believe that everything African was bad and undesirable and everything Western, particularly French and British, was more desirable. We call that the legacy of colonization.

Prior to that, they started long working on the slaves. Make them think everything about them, forget anything about Africa. Where you come from is a horrible place, diseased and dying people constantly at war with themselves, uncivilized. Cut out any communications with them. You need to just know what we tell you. And we call that the legacy of slavery. So that's where you look at where we are today.

135 years later, a system that was put in place to see to it that Africa and her children are forever defeated, that Africa is forever exploited, remains in place today. Alive and we sit here and we ask yourselves why isn't Africa moving forward why does Africa continue to be

taken advantage of I'll tell you why very simply until Africa comes together as a continent speaking with one voice, one continent, one people, nothing, and I repeat, nothing is going to change. As individual little African countries, we are wannabe boxers. We will never make it fighting against the heavyweights. We must speak with one voice. And this is exactly this is exactly what our Pan-African leaders wanted to see happen in 1963 when they came together in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They clearly stated that Africa

for the Africans at home and abroad and that African Union was now. They said Africa must speak with one voice. It is the only way for Africa to take its rightful place on the world stage. Sadly, when they went to Addis Ababa in 1963, they were divided. We had two factions, the Casablanca group and the Monrovia group. The Casablanca group were saying Africa for the Africans at home and abroad and African Union now. This was Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Only seven. The other 25 of the 32 who attended were the Monrovia group, they were the nationalists.

They said, let's go slow. Let's kind of wait on this Pan-African thing. 55 years later, 56 this year, we're still going slow. As if it wasn't bad enough that we're still going slow. As if it wasn't bad enough that we were divided up into the tiny little countries that we are today. The gift that Berlin Conference gave us. One other thing that France did

between 1958 and 1961 in the name of giving us our independence as African countries. France forced the francophone and I hate that terminology there is no such thing as francophone anglophone they made it up but for the purposes of communication I will use that. 14 of those countries, they said, in order for you to get your independence from us, you must sign this document. You thought they could have found a better name for the document. The document was called the Pact for the Continuation.

I repeat, the Pact for the Continuation of Colonization. We are talking about giving you independence. But sign this pact for the continuation of colonization in a different format. And I'm going to highlight some of those issues that they said you must agree to if you are going to be independent. Hello. kwa mfano ya kwaadhi ya kutoka kwa kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutoka kutyo kutoka kufanya kwa kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo

kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kufanya kufanya kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo kutoka kufanya kwa hivyo 85% bank deposits from each and every one of you. Deposit those funds in the French stock market under the French name. And you may or may not know the returns.

Today as we speak, the latest figures are saying for every $14 billion that France invests in the stock market from Africa, they are realizing upwards of 300 billion in return. Every year, year in, year out, because of these deposits from the African countries, France is taking out of Africa over 500 billion dollars. Now figure it out. For every 14 billion, the returns on the investment are over 300 billion and they are taking over 500 billion. So in actuality, France is taking out of Africa trillions of dollars, year in and year out,

from us poor people, Africans. Back to the pact. So should you want to access some of your money that you have deposited with France, you have to submit your country's financial returns. And if approved, you get to get it as a loan. You can only access up to 20% of your money year in, year out, as a loan at commercial interest rates. Kwa hivyo, kutoka kutoka kama kutoka. Kwa hivyo, kutoka kama kutoka kama kutoka. Kwa hivyo, kutoka kama kutoka kama kutoka. Kwa hivyo, kutoka kama kutoka kama kutoka. Kwa hivyo, kutoka kama kutoka kama kutoka.

Kwa hivyo, kutoka kama kutoka kama kutoka. all your oil discovered, yet to be discovered, France and French companies have the first right of refusal. If there's anything left over that the French companies do not want, your people might have. To this day. They said you will only use the currency that we created for you because you're special Africans. We call it the Sefa. There was the Central African Sefa and the Western African Sefa,

same animal. And that France is the only one that can print it for you. 1958. Fast forward. They're still printing it for us. And if you start misbehaving, they just stop printing your money and your country's in trouble. They also said your language of instruction shall be French, whether you like it or not.

That France will have military presence in your country. That your military can only be trained by France. That you can only buy military equipment from France, that you cannot have any military alliance with your neighbor, and that in the event of war your allegiance is only to France. And furthermore, because they have military presence in your country, they can invade you without notice, should they feel that the interests of France in your country are

being violated. Teach, sister, teach. Speak up, sister. Fast forward 2019. Nothing has changed. The same people who have the audacity to tell us that we are poor countries, they are taking trillions out of Africa every year.

And what is the African doing? Like an obedient, programmed black man, we just give in. We know the facts. But we just do nothing about it. mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu ya kutoka mungu to their military, they are now in your country. They can invade you. They have the permission to do so. They can destabilize you. And then one might say, why is it that African leaders haven't done anything about this deplorable situation? Well, let me tell you, my brothers and sisters, they have tried.

Documented to this day, 22 coups where leaders were assassinated. France had something to do with it. The first seven, when they decided they were pulling out of the CFA and that they're gonna bring their own money, they were assassinated. Every time an African leader has tried to do what's best for their country, they were assassinated. Majority of them aided by France.

It's a known fact. And then others, they were just mercenaries who felt that when there was a natural resource discovered in one country, they wanted to create a coup. So while the country is thrown into a civil war, they're siphoning the natural resource. We know of one particular story that had we not known about it, it would have been, oh there we go again, the Africans. In about 25

years ago, a group of young rich white kids were having fun in Cape Town. They found out that there was oil in Equatorial Guinea that had just been discovered and they wanted it. So they set out a plan to have a coup in Equatorial Guinea. So while the Guineans are busy fighting a civil war, they will be suffering the oil. But they made one mistake. There were two plans. One was to leave South Africa, stop in Zimbabwe, pick up more ammunition on their way to hunt in Equatorial Guinea. Another plane was taking off in the Caribbean that had this puppet diaspora who was supposed to be the next president.

Mugabe wondered why such young people needed such powerful ammunition to go hunt in Equatorial Guinea. In doing his research further, he found out that this was a coup in the making. He allowed them to land in Zimbabwe. They loaded their plane, and just before takeoff, they were all arrested. The ringleader of that group was none other than the son of the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher. She had to fly to Zimbabwe and paid handsomely to get her son out. The last one of those prisoners left Zimbabwe about six, seven years ago. Had these young people succeeded, it would have been another coup. There you go, the Africans again.

Such, my brothers and sisters, is the story of your Africa. They don't do coups anymore. They simply create instability. So when you hear of an instability in an African country, ask yourself, what is really going on? Because what they are telling you is really going on is just a shiny object. The real issue is over here.

And you need to stop before you start being used as an instrument of your own self-destruction. She's did it. That is so powerful. instrument of your own self-destruction. She's did it. That is so powerful and it's so true. I spent a lot of time on the continent and it is beyond disturbing to see the after-effects of the reality of the exploitation that continues to go on there. And I am so happy that she had the opportunity, that we, that you got the opportunity to capture her breaking that down. Because one thing I can say that I think is important that African Americans understand is that white supremacy is stunningly consistent. I don't care where it appears on this planet. if it appears in the form

of colonization of the motherland, if it appears in the form of slavery, white Jim Crow and oppression here in America, if it appears in the form of oppression of our brothers and sisters in South America, it is stunningly consistent. They utilize the same methods everywhere, killing our leaders, exploiting us economically. It is the same. And so when we try to segregate ourselves and say that as African-Americans, our experiences are way different. Let me just say we do have a distinct culture, but we have a very similar history and a very similar contemporary reality when it comes to dealing with the after effects of supposed white supremacy. So Shannon what this initiative is is that first of all there were a number of African leaders that were actually educated at HBCUs. Kwame Nkrumah and many others of course who led Ghana

and the first prime minister was educated at HBCUs and so what they're trying to do is link many of those countries on the continent to HBCUs Morgan State's president Dr. David Wilson talked about them establishing a footprint there as well. And they'll be taking a trip there August 1st through the 10th and trying to do more. And so, again, it's called the HBCU Africa Homecoming. Today was a media launch. Go ahead. You know, seeing this and hearing this, it's heartbreaking, you know seeing this and hearing this it's heartbreaking you know um to understand

that this has been going on from back then to a little bit further to a little bit to now you know um and it's not something that i would hazard a guess that many African-Americans are aware of. Not in the full detail. And I made a point when I stood up there. I said probably if you ask 98 percent of black folks about the 1884 Berlin Conference, they would have no idea what you're talking about. Ninety nine point nine. So we get so wrapped up in our struggles here. there are similar struggles that really are not as dissimilar as people would like to say that are going on in all other parts of the world, specifically Africa and South America.

And Theresa, what's important here is the ability to be able to connect, and that is to connect African Americans with the continent. When you talk about the natural alliance, it's there, but you've got to have folks who hook it together. Reverend Leon Sullivan, of course, the late Leon Sullivan, he did this for many years out of Philadelphia, having the annual conferences there as well. And it's interesting because one year, they were going to have one of the annual conferences there,

and I had these folks who, as a matter of fact, I probably still have the emails around here somewhere. And I was one of the I probably still have the emails around somewhere and they were I was one of folks They were trying to invite and I couldn't go but they were sitting here blowing me up No, you shouldn't go Because oh this particular leader here with what they have done You know in terms of you know, how corrupt they are and I'm sitting there going We can say that about a whole lot of folks here as well and the reality is they need our help we

need their help as well so why would we not work together we should work together and I think that connect ability aspect that you're talking about from the US to Africa we can't just vacation to our motherland we have to make sure that institutions elected elected officials, those community leaders and those influencers are now reaching back and saying, listen, I don't want to just vacation in Ghana. I want to actually learn and educate the next generation, the current generation, and see how we can better communicate, how we can better help them out of their struggle. Because, again, what's lacking in a lot of these public and charter schools is the education of blackness.

And so without that, without not knowing where white supremacy comes from, where civil disruption or disobedience is coming from, it's coming from a pattern long standing before we even came to today and figured out, oh, these are actual titles. No, this has existed since the 1800s. So I think that is a great initiative that the HBCU wants to do. And also, I don't want to just tag it at HBCUs. I want to look at private institutions, the one who has the millions, the University of Pennsylvania, the Harvard's, the Yale Laws, and see outside of the innovation and technology, are they willing to actually go back and want to help people more and more? And a gift, actually, is Reverend Leon Sullivan. My apologies. Louis Sullivan, of course, was a brother who was Secretary of Health and Human Services

under President George W. Bush and who led Morehouse School of Medicine, Reverend Leon Sullivan. And it was like seven years ago when he had the Sullivan Summit, and it was Equatorial Guinea. And these human rights watchers were saying, oh, no, they shouldn't have this conference there. But when we talk about what's going on here and again, we shot the whole we shot the whole media launch. I'm going to live stream it for you, which also, again, folks, this just underscores why this platform matters.

There were two other media people there and they were African. Nobody else was there there and so I was invited and I certainly appreciate that a chance to address them as well and one of things I talked about was why you must have a communication apparatus that's also one of the reasons why we don't know which is also why and I said it there my whole point about HBC use as well why you have to have those HBC use also sending out their information letting folks know about what's going on because otherwise we're existing in these silos and so

knowing what's going on is critically important which is why it's important for you to support roller button unfiltered because we have to have a platform that's covering our issues while i was there uh the brother who heads communications up for Ghana said, hey, he would love to talk more. Of course, they are talking about travel. They're doing a number of events in Ghana this year because of the year of return. Senegal. So people are planning all sorts of trips back to the motherland this year because it's the year of return. And so in talking, the brother said, hey, I would love to have the ambassador of Ghana come on your show. The reality is there is no place. There's no place for these African leaders to talk to black folks.

Don't exist. Not like you're going to be on a lot of these radio shows. And so we have to. That's why this platform has have an ability to be able to communicate so we want you to support us at rolandmartinunfiltered.com join our bring the funk fan club every dollar you give goes to support uh the show as well and so we're looking forward to you doing that so again rolandmartinunfiltered.com you can pay via cash app paypal square you name it it's all there on the website all right folks back to that video in just one moment all right folks they folks, they're back. MarijuanaStock.org is another great investment opportunity. If you were lucky enough to invest in their last crowdfunding campaign, you know they raised a lot of money in just a few months investing in legal marijuana farms. Those initial investors now own

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