Honoring Lumumba In The Obama Era

[link to dailycensored.com]

By Obi Egbuna

For African people who respect the sacred tradition of remembering our fallen freedom fighters in the context of gaining inspiration to advance our liberation struggle forward,we pledge to the ancestors that Monday, January 17th 2011 will never be forgotten. At the same time Africans in the US on a mass level were celebrating the 25th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday becoming a national holiday, the 50th anniversary of Patrice Lumumba’s assassination was commemorated by Africans and freedom-loving people all over the globe.

The fact that these celebrations occurred simultaneously was truly poetic justice in every respect. Especially since the US Government is willing to do everything in its power,to prevent at all costs, having to openly acknowledge they killed Dr. King in cold blood.

It is glaringly obvious that US Imperialists feel relieved that Africans have yet to bring the country to an absolute standstill concerning a trial that would reveal exactly how Dr. King was cowardly gunned down in Memphis,Tennessee. We must also reject any attempt at an apology from the US Government concerning Lumumba’s death.This is an extremely important stand for African people to take collectively even if the apology were to come directly from US president Barack Obama himself, especially if the US flag- a true symbol of rape, plunder, and genocide- was in the background.

Any attempt at an apology by President Obama for the role of the CIA in Lumumba’s murder would be at best insincere upon noting that this outrageous crime against humanity was followed up by building a wall of defense around the neo-colonialist war criminal Mobutu Sese Seko whose palms were stained with Lumumba’s blood. The story of Lumumba and the Congolese National Movement is even more relevant today than it was when he was physically alive at the height of anti-colonialist resistance on the African continent.