Brother Khalfani Personified African Unity

The Honorable. Kamau Khalfani. (Kevin Lawrence)

The Third Assistant President General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association & Africans Communities League¹

The Field Director of PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference²

On February 2nd 2011 Brother Kamau Khalfani left this earth to follow the ranks of the UNIA & ACL, Ancestor. It is hoped that this announcement will serve as a placement guide considering the work this Brother has done to uplift his people. First of all it should be noted that he served his people with a physician’s instinct for diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. We, his family did not always grasp his message. Now that he has been taken, a few of us felt the need have to review his file. This is what we will project as a partial scorecard of this Garveyites contribution to the history of the UNIA and the establishment of PCEC. Of course Brother Kamau has a history outside the UNIA. Bernard White, exiled Program Director of WBAI Pacifica Radio, released this statement:

"For all those who knew Khalfani there was never a question that he loved his people, cherished his history and was uncompromising in the struggle of Africans to be free. There is no question that he will be missed." bw

Whereas there is untold millions of UNIA & ACL members who have lift this earth, Brother Kamau is the first Official UNIA/PCEC Ancestor we can claim. That being the case we submit this PCEC report to the Ancestors and the global African Family at large.

The PostColonial Cultural & Economic Conference, (PCEC) is the creation of the 21^st century UNIA & ACL. As such it can be looked upon as an extension of the great work started by our illustrious leader the Right Excellent Marcus M. Garvey. (1887-1940). PCEC is a component of Black Racial Freedom; as such it isn’t the beginning and is not the end. The fact that the UNIA & ACL is planning PCEC indicates that it is another effort in our 100-year-old history to obtain Racial Unity and Freedom. (2014 represents our 100th anniversary). For the UNIA & ACL Freedom is the first and last thing on our Pan African agenda. We are not trying to mystify the concept – the Race First doctrine is the first and last stop to Black Racial Wholeness. That is to say -- the Race First doctrine suggest that the Black Race is ready to embrace Race Wholeness. Wholeness is the state of complete Black Racial freedom.

Wholeness is not about choosing this or that. Wholeness is not about being good instead of bad, pure instead of impure. Wholeness has no divisions. Wholeness is everything. As such it must be the beginning and the end at the same time.

Planning for a successful PCEC is centered of bring various factions of the Black Race across the globe coming together for a month long Conference on the Continent of Africa. When one considers the current cultural and economic condition of the global Black Family, the predictability forecast for PCEC is like trying to escape the fear of failure by trusting in God. The problem is – it won’t work. The reason – on one hand trust characterizes intellect, on the other emotions. If we based our efforts on intellect, intellect opened the door to doubt. And emotion opens the door to hurt. Neither doubt nor hurt describes PCEC success. It was the Field Director’s main job to assist in planning for PCEC by turning 100 Years of UNIA historical insight into a practical way of moving towards a successful Conference in 2014.

The postcolonial history of the UNIA & ACL like the record of the Black Race is an accounting of divisions, splitting ups, partitions and such like. The history of slavery and colonialism is the dividing up of the African Family. Kamau’s credo was African Unity. He saw Africans not as Black Christians, Moslems, and what have you – he said the Global African Family should surrender to being African; not professing to be Zimbabwean, or Jamaicans, Black Britons, Black Frenchmen, nor Nigerians, being African is the label of choice!

During a 2010 PCEC Planning assembly Kamau made the statement, “every Pan African organization across the globe claims Garveyism as their ideology but there is no unity of purpose.” He said, “When I bring this matter up in my travels, it is clear to me that PCEC has turned into the war in your soul. However, this level, the conflict is very subtle”. All of which sounded very odd, because Kamau tended not to think of the Black Racial problems as cosmic battle between God and Satan. I remember thinking to myself -- if the brother is correct our problems are titanic. At a meeting that took place on December 6-8, 2011 in Raleigh, NC Kamau’s theme was the same. On February 2, 2011 my friend and brother died. I have been thinking long and hard about this. What was his message? What was Kamau’s message? This question has to be answered so I placed it in the hands of all the ancestors. What was the underlying message behind the statement “PCEC has turned into “the war in your soul.”

Deep meditation leads me to the following conclusion. Kamau was saying -- the African Family need to get closer to our true African self. And as we do, we will begin to sense that we are part of everything African. Boundaries will soften and disappear. There's a blissful feeling of merging confidence appearing in my soul but as this beautiful experience presented itself, there was also one last resistance that cropped up. If we were to make such statements to African Nationalist, what would they turn around and say? Every Pan African leader, every African government principal will immediately expose his or her ego, saying in response, "What about me? I don't want to give up my position and blend into Garveyism for the sake of unity or anything else. I will repeat Brother Kamau’s words PCEC has turned into the war in your soul!

It has been our personal ego that has guided the African leadership through a postcolonial world of^- infinite diversity. Here we are touting the idea of African unity thinking African unity serves our purpose and the scenario we are facing deals with the power of the African ego. Look at the situation. No wonder the ego feels fatally threatened; it sees its usefulness (and its domination) coming to an end with unity

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Could it be that Brother Kamau in death is appealing to all of his associates -- not to allow our ego to mistakes surrender for death. (He surrendered to death and could it be that he is now more powerful than ever? To be an African whole involves all of us to surrendering to our African-ness. You give up one way of seeing yourself, and in its place a new way dawns. "Surrender" isn't a welcome word to the ego, because it connotes failure, loss of control, passivity, the end of power. When you lose an argument, aren't you surrendering to the winner? Of course. Any situation couched in terms of winning and losing makes surrender seem weak, shameful, depressing, and unworthy. These are all feelings at the ego level. However seeing ourselves without the ego, surrender becomes natural and desirable. A mother who gives her children what they need isn't losing, even though one could say she’s surrendering her needs in favor of her children's. That would be a false perspective. When you give of yourself out of love, you lose nothing. In fact, loving surrender is like a gain. You sense of self expands beyond ego-driven needs and desires. Needs and desires can never lead to love. However, surrender is not of the mind. You cannot think your way there. Instead, you must journey into pure African consciousness, before words and thoughts arise. That's the whole purpose of meditation, to carry you beyond the thinking mind, which means beyond conflict.

We can now place PCEC back on track. PCEC is about nudging the global African Community to experience the true self completely. This can be achieved by going into the mantra meditation that originated with our Ancient Ancestors. Brother Kamau as PCEC Field Director was seeking a 21^st century path that would prod the global African Family to awaken to an African vision of wholeness.

But what is our vision of wholeness. It does not matter. We don't want to turn PCEC into a mother’s kind of conditioning, where our mind convinces itself that it is peaceful or has found silence, and a pleasant mood. The UNIA’s 100-year history warns us that the worst thing PCEC can do is deliver what we as Garveyites expect. The idea of PCEC is to find truth. The global African Family has no need to reach consensus that simply turns the Black Race on to a new version of our old colonel-driven selves. It will not serve our racial purpose to "improve" ourselves by feeling, and looking better.

PCEC CANNOT develop into a racial exercise of denial, resistance, hidden fears, and repressed hopes. Therefore, the UNIA/PCEC Field Director – now an Ancestor suggested that we should understand –

• Safe Versus Unsafe by being established in our African true self.

• Love Versus Fear by aligning ourselves with the African love force within us.

• When the subject is Desire Verse Necessity – the solution is Choice-less awareness, And

• When the issue is One Versus the Many – Surrender to being African

So our good Brother has passed on but before died he lead by example. He worked with the UNIA to lay out a vision of African unity as the solution to cultural and economic situation. The 21^st century African must come to realize, the instant that life is split into good and evil, the self follows suit, the Black Race follows suit. A divided self, a divided Black Race cannot make itself whole. There must be another level of life that is whole already. Casting our eyes over the invisible world, the ancient sagas of Africa, realized that it was indescribable. Traditional African Religion from thousands of years ago was the first to declare, "Those who know it speak of it not. Those who speak of it know it not."

But of course people weren't thrilled to hear this teaching then or now. Today as then Black people want help with their everyday problems. If a vision cannot be turned into practice, it's arid and useless. The ancient sages weren't trying to discourage their listeners. Quite the opposite, they were trying to give a reliable map, and where that map leads is to African unity consciousness. Brother Kamau was keen to draw the same map in vivid, modern 21^st century colors. Now it's up to us, those he left behind to follow it. I am sure he would say to all Pan African leaders the world over – PCEC isn't a fearsome opponent, but a worthy one. As powerful as PCEC is, the power of wholeness within the ranks of the global African Family is Infinitely greater, and by a miracle of creation it is within our grasp. Think about, and when you are done thinking, act on your decision.

When Kamau was among us he ended his conversations by saying --BE AT PEACE. Today we say to the Brother – REST IN PEACE.

Submitted by H. E. Wesley Jr.

High Commissioner and Ambassador to Zimbabwe

Director of Operations, PCEC

February 8, 2011