Last Monday, Americans honored the legacy of civil rights icon, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year’s celebration took on an added meaning against the backdrop of President Trump’s recent racially tinged comments. While in the land of my birth, for over a year now, the people of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia activated and ratcheted the revolution for the restoration of the “won and lost” independence.
While Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech remains very popular especially among Africans, today in the face of the daunting challenges and setbacks that have beset the Ambazonian revolution, one of Dr. King’s priceless themes worth revisiting is “Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution.” The version I laid hands on is Dr. King’s address at Morehouse College Commencement, 2 June 1959. It is worth remarking here that MLK delivered variations of this theme throughout the 1960s.
As I watched the march past, I could relate to the many issues that defined the long march: “Black Lives Matter,” “Jobs not Jails,” “Statehood for DC” to name but these. Conspicuously absent today were the many Africans from the infamous “s…h…” countries that would have seized the moment to register their discontent. One could not help but ask for example where all the many champions for Ambazonia/Southern Cameroons were?
Reflecting on the current state of the Ambazonia revolution, the words of Dr King to the 1959 graduating class of Morehouse College remain relevant: “The great challenge facing every member of this graduating class is to remain awake, alert and creative through this great revolution.” This is and should be the abiding message to every Ambazonian. This is the MLK challenge to every Ambazonian.
The grave danger at this time is to be complacent or disappointed especially with some of our leaders in jails in the colonialist’s dungeon and their accomplices in neighboring Nigeria abducting Sisiku AyukTabe of the Interim government and some members of his cabinet, increasing number of refugees streaming in from Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia and the bloodbath cum impending genocide as a result of the provocation of the occupying forces of La Republique. We have come too far and must hold the fort. Let us remain awake, alert and creative.
Each of us must avoid becoming the Ambazonian “Rip Van Winkle.” The coward is said to have gone up to the mountain for a long sleep during the American Revolution. In Dr. King’s words: “When he went up, the wall had a picture of King George III of England. When he came down it had the picture of another George, George Washington…When he started his quiet sleep America was still under the domination of the British Empire. When he came down she was a free and independent nation. There is nothing more tragic than to sleep through a revolution.” Ambazonians wake up, be alert and creative.
Dr. King defined this in another of his famous quotes: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
The harsh conditions of the elements of nature with the frigid cold did not deter some of us from joining the Peace Parade along the hallowed streets of South East D.C dedicated to the iconic Martin Luther King Jr. In the context of the Ambazonian struggle and against the backdrop of President’s Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign which seems to be a euphemism for “America Alone,” it seems foolhardy to engage in politically charged activism like the Ambazonia Revolution. Yet, Rev Dr King’s rousing speech makes the strong case for why Americans need to be engaged in struggles like Ambazonia’s. Even though referring to the abject poverty he witnessed in India, one could paraphrase King’s words to refer to Ambazonia thus:
“Can we in America stand idly by and not be concerned? The answer is an emphatic No because the destiny of America is tied up with the destiny of Ambazonia (Southern Cameroons). As long as Ambazonia (Southern Cameroons) or any other nation is insecure, we can never be totally secure. We must use our vast resources of wealth to aid the developed nations of the world. Too often have we used our wealth to establish military bases, while neglecting the need of establishing bases of genuine concern and understanding.”
We the Ambazonian Diaspora in the United States of America must move the struggle beyond the noisy chat rooms of our “Whatsapp” groups and enlist our friends at work, church and clubs. While charity truly begins at home, it becomes selfish if it remains at home. We must remind Americans that the destiny of Ambazonia is inextricably bound with the destiny of America where some of us have found refuge. Rev King has provided us the words to avail of in this campaign of enlisting America’s support: “No nation or individual is independent; we are interdependent. We are caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality.” Each of us must become an Ambassador for the Ambazonian revolution.
It is thus pathetic to see that our activism has not risen beyond the confines of our quarrels on social media and hence we have not been able to convict the consciences of our American friends. We need a groundswell of actions like those of the proud and courageous Ambazonians in Boston who convinced their local council to take up the Ambazonian issue. If all the Ambazonians in the US could follow this model and engage their local politicians in a more deliberate fashion, then maybe, just maybe we will get the US to do what they did to bring down Apartheid in South Africa. It is unfathomable to imagine that Ambazonians in the US were unable to get 100.000 signatures last year to bring the Ambazonia issue to the White House. It is unconscionable to imagine that we have not been able to get the crowds at our demonstration that will shut down traffic and bring on the attention to our revolution.
Yes, all politics is local and it is a numbers game. Let us activate Ambazonian Revolution 2.0. In celebrating the legacy of this luminary of the civil rights movement, let us celebrate the legacy of Mancho Bibixy, Sisiku Julius AyukTabe and our leaders incarcerated and abducted in foreign dungeons of La Republique du Cameroun and Nigeria.
Even though a Catholic hymn, I can bet my last dime that Rev. Dr. King must have reflected on the following words of Faber which in the current context of our incarcerated leaders and compatriots ring out loud:
Faith of our Fathers! living still
In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword:
Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy
Whene’er we hear that glorious word.
Faith of our Fathers! Holy Faith!
We will be true to thee till death.
Our Fathers, chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free:
How sweet would be their children’s fate,
If they, like them, could die for thee!
Faith of our Fathers! Holy Faith!
We will be true to thee till death.
Buoyed by these words, we Ambazonians must “remain awake, alert and creative.” Happy Martin Luther King Day.
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: Ambazonia, Ambazonia Diaspora, Black Lives Matter, I Have a dream, Rev Dr Martin Luther King jr, Rip Van Winkle, Southern Cameroons | Leave a comment »
