Wikipedia

Republic of New Afrika

(Redirected from New Africa)
"New Africa" redirects here. For the album by Grachan Moncur III, see New Africa (album).

The Republic of New Afrika (RNA), founded in 1968 as the Republic of New Africa, is a black nationalist organization and black separatist movement in the United States popularized by black militant groups. The larger New Afrika movement in particular has three goals:

  • Creation of an independent black-majority country situated in the Southeastern United States, in the heart of an area of black-majority population.
  • Payment by the federal government of several billion dollars in reparations to African American descendants of slaves for the damages inflicted on Africans and their descendants by chattel enslavement, Jim Crow laws, and modern-day forms of racism.
  • A referendum of all African Americans to determine their desires for citizenship; movement leaders say their ancestors were not offered a choice in this matter after emancipation in 1865 following the American Civil War.
Republic of New Afrika
Flag of RNA
Flag of the Republic of New Afrika
US States identified as subjugated national territory at the 1968 foundational conference[1]
US States identified as subjugated national territory at the 1968 foundational conference[1]
CapitalJackson, Mississippi
Largest cityNew Orleans
Official languagesAfrican-American English
Demonym(s)New Afrikan
Government
• President
Sah Ankh Sa Ma’at[2]
• Vice President
Ayodele Kofie
Area
• Total
750,503 km2 (289,771 sq mi)
Population
• 2022 census
22,427,294

History

edit

The idea of the RNA arose following the events of the 1967 Detroit riot.[3]: 276  It was the first separate nation declared by African Americans in the United States.[3]: 276 

The vision for this country was first promulgated by the Malcolm X Society[4] on March 31, 1968, at a Black Government Conference held in Detroit, Michigan. The conference participants drafted a constitution and declaration of independence,[4] and they identified five Southern states Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina (with adjoining areas in East Texas and North Florida) as subjugated national territory.[1]

The Black Government Conference was convened by the Malcolm X Society and the Group on Advanced Leadership (GOAL), two influential Detroit-based black organizations with broad followings. The attendees produced a Declaration of Independence, a constitution, and the framework for a provisional government.[3]: 276 

The RNA elected black leaders from a number of different organizations as provisional government officials.[3]: 276  Robert F. Williams, then living in exile in China, was chosen as the first president of the provisional government; attorney Milton Henry (a student of Malcolm X's teachings) was named first vice president;[5] and Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X, served as second vice president. Imari Obadele was its first Minister of Information.[3]: 267  An RNA delegation traveled to China to meet Williams in June 1968.[3]: 276  Williams accepted the position and proposed diplomatic initiatives for the RNA to undertake.[3]: 276 

The Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (PG-RNA) advocated/advocates a form of cooperative economics through the building of New Communities—named after the Ujamaa concept promoted by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. It proposed militant self-defense through the building of local people's militias and a standing army to be called the Black Legion; and the building of racially based organizations to champion the right of self-determination for people of black African descent.[citation needed]

The organization was involved in numerous controversial issues. For example, it attempted to assist Oceanhill-Brownsville area in Brooklyn to secede from the United States during the 1968 conflict over control of public schools. Additionally, it was involved with shootouts at New Bethel Baptist Church in 1969 (during the one-year anniversary of the founding) and another in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1971. (It had announced that the capital of the Republic would be in Hinds County, Mississippi, located on a member's farm.) In the confrontations, law-enforcement officials were killed and injured. Organization members were prosecuted for the crimes the members claimed was in self defense.[6]

Notable members

edit

Leaders

edit

Publications

edit
  • The Article Three Brief. 1973. (New Afrikans fought U.S. Marshals in an effort to retain control of the independent New Afrikan communities shortly after the U.S. Civil War.)
  • Obadele, Imari Abubakari. Foundations of the Black Nation, Detroit: House of Songay, 1975.
  • Brother Imari [Obadele, Imari]. War In America: The Malcolm X Doctrine, Chicago: Ujamaa Distributors, 1977.
  • Kehinde, Muata. RNA President Imari Obadele is Free After Years of Illegal U.S. Imprisonment. In Burning Spear Louisville: African Peoples Socialist Party, 1980. pp. 4–28
  • Obadele, Imari Abubakari. The Malcolm Generation & Other Stories, Philadelphia: House of Songhay, 1982.
  • Taifa, Nkechi; Lumumba, Chokwe (1993) [1983, 1987]. Reparations Yes (3rd ed.). Baton Rouge: House of Songhay.
  • Obadele, Imari Abubakari. Free The Land!: The True Story of the Trials of the RNA-11 Washington, D.C. House of Songhay, 1984.
  • New Afrikan State-Building in North America. Ann Arbor. Univ. of Michigan Microfilm, 1985, pp. 345–357.
  • "The First New Afrikan States". In The Black Collegian, Jan./Feb. 1986.
  • A Beginner's Outline of the History of Afrikan People, 1st ed. Washington, D.C. House of Songhay, Commission for Positive Education, 1987.
  • America The Nation-State. Washington, D.C. and Baton Rouge. House of Songhay, Commission for Positive Education, 1989, 1988.
  • Walker, Kwaku, and Walker, Abena. Black Genius. Baton Rouge. House of Songhay, Commission for Positive Education, 1991.
  • Afoh, Kwame, Lumumba, Chokwe, and Obafemi, Ahmed. A Brief History of the Black Struggle in America, With Obadele's Macro-Level Theory of Human Organization. Baton Rouge. House of Songhay, Commission for Positive Education, 1991.
  • RNA. A People's Struggle. RNA, Box 90604, Washington, D.C. 20090–0604.
  • The Republic of New Africa New Afrikan Ujamaa: The Economics of the Republic of New Africa. 21p. San Francisco. 1970.
  • Obadele, Imari Abubakari. The Struggle for Independence and Reparations from the United States 142p. Baton Rouge. House of Songhay, 2004.
  • Obadele, Imari A., editor De-Colonization U.S.A.: The Independence Struggle of the Black Nation in the United States Centering on the 1996 United Nations Petition 228p. Baton Rouge. The Malcolm Generation, 1997.

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Taifa, Nkechi (2015). "Republic of New Afrika". In Shujaa, Mwalimu J.; Shujaa, Kenya J. (eds.). The SAGE Encyclopedia of African Cultural Heritage in North America. SAGE Publications, Inc. doi:10.4135/9781483346373. ISBN 9781483346373.
  2. ^ "Info | PGRNA".
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Li, Hongshan (2024). Fighting on the Cultural Front: U.S.-China Relations in the Cold War. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231207058. JSTOR 10.7312/li--20704.
  4. ^ a b Mjagkij, Nina (2013-05-13). Organizing Black America. Routledge. ISBN 978-1135581237.
  5. ^ a b Salvatore, N. A. (2005). Singing in a Strange Land: C. L. Franklin, the Black Church, and the Transformation of America. New York: Little, Brown and Company.
  6. ^ "Brown-Tougaloo Project". cds.library.brown.edu. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
edit
edit

Archives

edit

Articles and reports

edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Republic_of_New_Afrika&oldid=1259306240"