The Official Report

Howard University Student Association

In conjunction with the Kwame Ture Society for Africana Studies and
the Political and Educational Action Committee

The Inaugural Pan-African Youth Summit

a Report

By: Joshua Myers, Co-Coordinator

For the first time in the known history of Howard University,
students attempted to bring together the youth of the entire African
world to have a conversation about issues pertaining to the political,
social, and economic fortunes of people of African descent. From
February 23-28, 2009, the summit was successful in bringing together
250 students, elders, and leaders of the worldwide African community
and hundreds more through a live stream of the events. Participants
ranged from activists from Nigeria, the international president of the
Universal Negro Improvement Association, members of the All-African
People’s Revolutionary Party to 120 Howard students, professors, and
staff to officials representing the government of Venezuela. This
summit provided the community a much needed chance to have the all
important intergenerational transmission of knowledge and experiences
in struggle, so that we may move forward. The planners of the summit
have thus agreed to create the Pan-African Youth Collective, a group
of pan-African activists dedicated to convening the summit each year
and to the completion of a project that deals with the issues
discussed. Here we will provide some highlights of the summit.

The summit was comprised of six days and five themes. Each theme
represented a focus area on issues as they pertained to African people
throughout the world.

The first day was coordinated by Amanda Lockett and Saraya
Wintersmith and focused on issues pertaining to the education of
African people throughout the world. The first panel of the day
featured Dr. Greg Carr, Dr. Acklyn Lynch, and Mjiba Frehiwot. Carr
presented his ideas about the usefulness of the academy in terms of
being a conduit for the liberation of African people. He stated that
the system was not set up in the best interest for African people, and
that we should use the privilege of ‘being left alone’ to have
conversations about how to secure the best future for African people.
Ms. Freihowit debunked the myth that success in the academy can lead
to victory for African people. In fact, she showed the fallacy using
herself as an example. Instead she offered the alternative of joining
organizations to affect meaningful change. Dr. Acklyn Lynch amazed
summit attendees with an eloquent recantation of the history of the
pan-African movement within the academy. He showed the ways in which
we can carve out maroon space in an intellectual environment. He
walked through the history of the movement, and showed that there is
nothing new under the sun, and urged us to remember lessons of our
history. The next panel, entitled ‘Educating our Children’, focused on
methods of raising African children. The consensus of the panel
comprised of George Mason professor Dr. Kmt Shockley and Roots School
principal Bernida Thompson, was that African-centered education was
the only option available for the effective rearing of our children
today. They both underscored both theoretical and practical
applications for their position and were well received by the
audience. The last panel was geared toward the topic of building a
pan-African education for all. Panelist and filmmaker Haile Gerima
warned summit attendees about the fraudulent people out there claiming
‘pan-Africanism’ but showed that their practice indicated otherwise.
T’Shango Mbilishaka shared his experiences in the field of education
and how it keeps him going strong for the benefit of African children.
UNIA legal counsel, Faruq Muhammad shared his personal experiences in
the struggle for African liberation and the need to prepare us for
coming changes. Between each panel the dance group N’saa provided
showcases of Africana talent and student playwright Joshua Nelson
debuted his play Tomorrow.

The second day featured passionate activist and a ‘fiery
orator’. Coordinated by Bakari Jackson, the day focused on the
Political Economy as it affected people of African descent. Diop
Olugbala, of the UHURU movement, kicked off the first panel on ‘The
Military Industrial Complex and the Financial Crisis’, with a brief
overview of issues affecting people of African descent across the
Diaspora and linked the common thread of classism playing a role. He,
throughout the day issued the call to build the African Socialist
International with the UHURU movement. A representative of the
government of Venezuela, labor attaché Marcos Garcia spoke on the
movement in Venezuela, and how the government was actively seeking to
strengthen pan-African ties with not only Caribbean countries but with
countries on the continent. He spoke about the Chavez administration’s
plans to increase their presence in Africa. Chioma Oruh, also of the
UHURU movement and Resist Africom, spoke on the military industrial
complex and its relation to Africa command. Banbose Shango, a member
of the Venezuelan Solidarity Network and the A-APRP, spoke of the need
to remember the struggles of various countries in the Caribbean and
the work the A-APRP is doing to aid in the development of a
revolutionary pan-African movement in Cuba, Haiti, and other nations.
The second panel was on youth and unemployment in the African Diaspora
and featured activist Nefta Freeman, of the Institute for Policy
Studies, student Jerell Blakely, and Ben Woods of the Malcolm X
Grassroots Movement. This panel hashed out some harsh statistics and
attempted to delineate an economic agenda to address these concerns.
Panelists spoke on the questions of socialism and capitalism. Woods
warned that when we talk about socialism, that he meant the cultural
sensibilities of African ways providing for the community and not
necessarily the European concept. Freeman provided a lecture on the
issues facing Zimbabwe during lunch, and he charged us to believe none
of what we hear and some of what we see in regards to situation in
Zimbabwe. While many organizations are divided about their analysis of
the situation, the common ground, Freeman stated, was that ‘we should
all be against the sanctions on the country’. He then issued the call
to get involved in t he movement to end these sanctions. The next
panel focused on science, technology and pan-Africanism. Panelists
John Tharakan and Bob Stephenson, both Howard University professors in
Engineering spoke on appropriate technology and activism in
engineering respectively. Student representative of the organization
Engineers Without Borders, Bianca Baily spoke on specific ways
students can get involved with technology in the Diaspora announcing
trips the organization planned to sponsor to Bahia, Brazil and Kenya
to build infrastructure. Howard professor, A-APRP member, and advisor
to the steering committee outlined some key steps for institutions to
take in bringing appropriate technology to the people in need. The
next part of the summit was a roundtable discussion where members of
the community got the chance to ask questions and engage the elders in
attendance, of those were Mama Marilyn Preston Killingham, the 10th
president of the UNIA Senghor Baye, and Baba Tariq Oduno. Congolese
activist Kambale Musavuli, who explained the need for issues in the
Congo to be present on every Pan-African agenda, as instructed by
Kwame Nkrumah, initiated the discussion. The discussion, moderated by
Dr. Greg Carr was centered mainly around the way to go forward in the
discourse on pan-African movements. After the roundtable discussion,
‘fiery orator’, Mukasa Da Da (formerly known as Willie Ricks) offered
a rousing history of the movement toward Pan-Africanism from the
60s-forward. Recounting some of the stories that have yet to be
written, Mukasa plainly stated the need to develop the next generation
of leaders, and inspired the participants to view themselves as
Africans and to relish in it.

The third day focused on health and nutrition in the Diaspora.
Coordinator Makina Table sought to bring to light her vision of
looking at non-traditional approaches to health and their relevance
for African people. The first panel focused on nutrition and featured
Howard professors Dr. Quito Swan and Mark Mack. Swan spoke on the need
to rethink how we came to eat the foods we eat, and offered
alternative foods that we should begin to incorporate into our diets.
Mack gave some insight into the startling statistics as if effects
African people and obesity. He stated that we as Africans must ‘eat to
live and not live to eat’. Tiana Matthews, a HU graduate centered her
presentation on food oppression, while anesthesiologist, Dr. Jawara
Hunter presented on the link between stressors and good health. A
holistic health panel that featured practitioners Stephanie Mwangazaa
Brown and Dr. Kokayi Nichols followed this panel. They spoke on the
various myths and theories that make up our daily lives. From the
amounts of sugar we ingest daily to the various amounts of stress that
unknowingly piles up in our lives, their presentations provided some
much needed insights. Darrell Fogan continued on with some
non-traditional ways of approaching healthcare. The panel concluded
with a discussion on vegan lifestyles by Dr. Baruch, of Everlasting
Life, who provided meals during the weeklong summit. The next panel
dealt with psychological impact of standards of beauty in the African
community. The panel featured students Kim Howard and Will Brown who
spoke on their various experiences. Psychologist and HU professor, Dr.
Camara Jules Harrell spoke on the origins of these perceptions, which
included white supremacy and racism in the media and other outlets. HU
professors Dr. Tariqah Nuriddin, and Nubia Kai Al Nura-Salaam
contributed insights as well. The last panel of the day featured
members of the community who have actually worked within the
healthcare system, and addressed the state of healthcare in the
Pan-African community. The panel consisted of HU professor Krista
Johnson, Dr. Chinua Akukwe of the Africa Union Africa Diaspora Health
Initiative, Dr. Clarence Hall of Africare, and Dr. Nomonde Xundu
representing the Embassy of South Africa. This panel discussed the
impact of policy on the health care system that directly affects
African people. They offered some of their insights as to the
optimistic happenings in the pan-African community.

Shamette Franklin coordinated a very important and rarely talked
about piece of the summit, that of Gender and Family. During the first
panel HU professor Dr. Quito Swan and History PhD. Candidate Iyelli
Ichile Hanks spoke of the history of the African family. The focused
on different cultural imprints and how they were disrupted with the
maafa. Dr. Swan focused on the history of Bermuda as it pertains to
pan-Africanism, and often neglected topic. This followed with a
genealogy workshop, which featured Franklin and planning committee
member James Morgan, both of whom offered steps of how to do
genealogical studies. The second panel featured Haitian national
brother Dantes Augustin, Mama Marilyn Preston Killingham, and Gillian
Moise of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School. Entitled, “Sacrifice
and Struggle”, this panel offered a glimpse of some of the
implications of participating in freedom struggles for the family.
Mama Marilyn spoke on her long history of engaging in struggle, and
emphasized that this is a sacrifice that we must cherish. The last
part of the day featured a workshop conducted by Dr. Mark Bolden, Dr.
Quito Swan, and Iyelli Hanks that focused on the relationships, family
life, as it relates to our Africanity. Bolden posed the question of
“Who is ready to get married to an African man or woman today?” This
sparked an interesting dialogue in terms of marriage as it relates to
nation building in the pan-African community.

Day Five’s theme was spirituality. Jaminnia States and Sawdayah
Brownlee coordinated the day. It featured a myriad of student
participants on both the graduate and undergraduate level. The first
panel featured students of various faiths and how they dealt with
essential questions. This was geared at showing the unity of Africans
of different faiths, and how we work together toward a common goal.
The keynote followed and featured Dr. Jeff Menzise of Fisk University.
His brilliant presentation dealt with the many issues that we face as
a result of the cultural unconsciousness in the African community. He
reminded us of very simple cultural practices that were once important
to us but lost in translation. He then showed us the way to reclaim
them, and led us after lunch into a breathing workshop which was aimed
at teaching us how to deal with various issues as a result of our
oppression. His presentation was wide ranging and gave us many tools
in the spiritual realm to be able to deal with the mess we’re in. The
day concluded with States and Brownlee joined by Temple scholars and
Howard alums Ava Wilson and Courtney Javois presenting on how
spirituality was used historically as a tool of liberation. Citing
examples of the Haitian revolution and Civil Rights Movement, this
panel was aimed at unifying ourselves in the spiritual realm toward
our goal of liberation.

The final day concluded the conference with a student-elder
intergenerational dialogue. The first panel featured students Melvin
Barolle, PhD Candidate, undergraduates Nana Brantuo and Nkoyo Efretei,
and Mjiba Frehiwot came back to share some additional insights. This
panel spoke on how students in the academy work to bridge the gap
between others in the African community to bring about change. They
spoke about how students can get involved, and members of the
community shared how they felt about the current situation. The next
panel was a dynamic one indeed, as we talked about the role of
Africans in the Diaspora in developing the continent. Hope Masters, of
the Sullivan Foundation who provided her perspective as to how this
should be achieved, led it off. Gregory Jenkins, a physicist and HU
professor, talked about his various trips to Senegal bringing needed
technology to the community. Akil Khalfani, of Essex Community College
gave his insights as to how Africans in America raise their
consciousness enough to view themselves as a larger community. Bob
Brown, of the A-APRP, brought it all together as he spoke about how to
bring revolutionaries and non-revolutionaries who were interested in
Africa, and use each other to actually bring about revolution. He
emphasized the importance of using all of the tools at our disposal to
begin to have real meaningful change on the continent. As summit
attendees participated in the Pan-African Marketplace throughout the
day, we were able to sit at the feet of elders in the struggle and
gain insights. The final event of the summit, the keynote lecture by
Dr. Jared Ball of Morgan State University, was interactive opportunity
to begin to realize and see the revolution through the lens of the
historical plight of post-apartheid South Africa.

As the summit concluded, co-coordinator Austin Thompson outlined
plans to begin the process of creating the Pan-African Youth
Collective. The information about this process will be forthcoming.
Please email panafricanyouthsummit2009@gmail.com for additional
questions and/or concerns. The summit would like to thank the staff,
attendees, and Howard University for a successful summit.