![]() This definition has mainly been in the shadows of others where we are defined as the “other” or “outsiders” who are “not good enough” according to Eurocentric standards. This, in turn, has led to inferiority complex and negative self-image because, for the most part, we have been defined by others – and not in the most positive of terms to say the least. The black race has gone through many dehumanising experiences, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism, neo-colonialism and all manner of discrimination and degradation. As Professor Ali Mazrui would say, a white Marxist could cease to be a Marxist, but he cannot cease to be white. In short, we could cease to be many things, but we cannot cease to be African. When I started to reflect seriously on Pan Africanism, I came to the “sobering” realisation that this was about who we were as a people and what we have been experiencing. ![]() We were fighting against white racism and I did not want to reverse white racism with black racism, so I thought. In my younger days I regarded myself as a Marxist and as a result I was also not too keen to embrace Pan Africanism because I wrongly thought that it was a racist ideology. In paying tribute to Brother Bankie, Whatson, who was speaking off the cuff, said something that has stuck in my mind forever, namely: “I do not remember a day in my life when I was not a Pan Africanist.” That sounds so simple, yet it is very profound.Ī few years back before I started to pay serious attention to the Pan African cause, I thought Pan Africanism was just some kind of pastime intellectual romanticism. Whatson is a UK-based trade unionist and a committed Pan Africanist in his own right. On the list of those who were lined up to pay tribute to Brother Bankie at the funeral was a certain Glenory Whatson, who spoke on behalf of Global Africa. However, what I can say in one short sentence is that, for the life of mine I have met very few people who are totally given to a cause the way this man was committed to Pan Africanism. I think there are people who were more close to him than I was and who are thus better qualified to write about his life. This memorial essay is not about the life of Brother Bankie per se, but it is rather about the Pan African cause, a cause he totally dedicated his whole life to. We laid him to rest in Windhoek, Namibia in 2017 after his tragic passing a month or so earlier.Īt the request of the widow, Sister Rita, I had the honour to conduct the funeral service, in my capacity as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. August 1 marked the first anniversary of the burial of Brother Bankie Forster Bankie.
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