Pan-Africanism In Copenhagen

Last night I went to Danmark Sociale Forum to hear a talk on Pan-Africanism by Lee C. Robinson of African Awareness Association, Inc. He flew all the way in from Richmond, Va., and it was great to sit somewhere in Denmark and hear names like Kwame Toure, Assata Shakur, Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. De Bois...
On the desk were copies of Tony Martin's The Pan African Connection (I once drove from NYC to Boston with Prof. Martin listening to Billy Holiday...years ago and when we drove up to his house there was a notice on his door about the passing of his mother. I was on my way to work at a farm and Prof. Martin's books have been in my life since I was about twelve. His work introduced me to the teachings and accomplishments of Marcus Garvey); Eric Williams' Capitalism and Slavery and Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.
Mr. Robinson spoke about the importance of understanding African history, the origins and platform of the Pan-African Movement, the significance of the choice of words we use to identify ourselves and the fact that although Africa has a history of over 300,000 years as opposed to Europes 10,000, there is still very little common knowledge of the historical accomplishments of people who come from the continent we call Africa.
Afterwards we shared our ideas with each other and I gave him a copy of The Organist's Daughter. It was a very much needed moment for me--to re-connect with names and histories I had studied and have been an integral part of me, to know that there were many throughout the Diaspora who were thinking about the same issues I have been thinking about and that others have not only been thinking about these issues, but doing something about them.
I would like to express a hearty thank-you to Mr. Robinson for his work and commitment to this movement that has been existence ever since our predecessors' feet landed unwillingly on foreign soil.
Peace & Blessing,
the lab