Black Holocaust Remembrance Day
By
Professor Zaki Amir the invisibleman
Begun in Harlem, New York by the late Dr. Kuba Abu Kuss former National Representative of the Lost Found Nation of Islam in the 90’s and continued in Washington D.C. by Chief Minister Najee Muhammad, of the LFNOI, Black Holocaust Remembrance Day is held every April to commemorate Afrodescendant ancestors brought to America to be slaves.
Our understanding for Holocaust in this article is “Mass Murder.” Some scholars numbered over 10,000,000 deaths of Africans brought to the Western Hemisphere for the purposes of slavery.
Why continue the commemoration of what happened to our ancestors hundreds of years ago, was asked of Chief Minister Najee Muhammad who stated, “To remember those who died during the “Middle Passage” and those who survived that long perilous journey across the Atlantic Ocean is what we should do.”
He added, “We would not be alive today if they had not survived.” He then cited p. 148 of Bullwhip Days the Slave Remember an Oral History Edited by James Mellon published in 1988 which says, “My marster owned three plantations and three hundred slaves. He started out wid’ two o’man slaves and raised three hundred slaves. One wuz called and I quote, “Short Peggy” and the odder wuz called “Long Peggy”. Long Peggy had twenty five chilluns. Long Peggy, a black o’man was boss ob de plantation. Marster freed here atter she had twenty five chlliuns. Just think o’ dat – raisin three hundred slaves wid two o’mans. It sho’ is de trufe, do.”
Chief Minister Najee Muhammad clarified the reason for the commemoration with these words, “Black Holocaust Remembrance Day is to remind ourselves and the world that the “Worst Crime” against any people happened to our ancestors,” as he talked about how they were taken from their homes and trafficked like products, sold on auction blocks and held in bondage for over 310 years.
Slavery was a part of the American fabric before she became a nation in 1787 with the ratification of the United States Constitution.
12 of American Presidents were slave owners. Eight owned our ancestors while in office. General George Washington being the first Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Johnson, with Ulysses S. Grant being the last president to personally own an enslaved person.
Congressman Al Green of Texas sponsored House Resolution 517 to bring about Slavery Remembrance Day in 2021 which passed the House of Representatives but remains in committee in the Senate with no action taken.
Black Holocaust Remembrance Day is more than just saying our ancestors died, it is a way to memorialize them and further explanation by Chief Minister Muhammad advanced this thought, “We are at this point and time standing as living testimonies of our ancestors,” he said, “allowing them to speak from their graves through us their descendants,” finishing his comments with, “They knew we would cry out for justice against America for them, and we are.”
Prior to African American, we were known as Black, Negro, Colored, Nigger, Slave. Ex- slave or freed man were names given to us before La Ceiba, Honduras 2002.
Afrodescendant was ratified as the name we chose for ourselves and is now the political identity of 19 countries in the Slavery Diaspora numbering over 250 million.
Final thoughts on Black Holocaust Remembrance Day from Chief Minister Muhammad was, “Our ancestors knew we would stand up in the future and strike a blow for justice on their behalf, and Black Holocaust Remembrance keeps them alive and helps keep our fight for “Reparations” on the front burner.
Link to Black Holocaust Remembrance Day: April 28th, 2024
Held at Joe’s Emporium 3309 Bunker Hill Rd. Mt. Rainer, Maryland – for info call 202- 505-1382
THE BLACK HOLOCAUST - YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW - 2024 (youtube.com)
Muhammad Speaks (@muhammadspeaksnews) / X (twitter.com)
muhammad speaks news - YouTube
Livestream - YouTube: @muhammadspeaksnews
**** Books Recommended by Chief Najee Muhammad***
1. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome Dr. Joy De Gruy
2. Slave & Citizen Frank Tannenbaum
3. Sugar and Slaves Richard S. Dunn
4. Black Labor White Wealth Dr. Claud Anderson
5. 100 years of Lynching Ralph Ginzburg
6. Bullwhip Days the Slave Remember an Oral History Edited by James Mellon
7. Negro Slavery in Arkansas Orville W. Taylor
8. The Slave Ship A Human History Marcus Rediker
9. The African Presence in Ancient America They Came Before Columbus Ivan Van Sertiman
10. The Souls of Black Folk W.E.B. Dubois
Website for first -hand accounts of slavery
About this Collection | Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress (loc.gov)
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