Marcus Garvey: The Moorish American's Perspective (Part 1)

It is my proud pleasure to share with you important information concerning Noble Drew Ali and Marcus Garvey from a Divine Minister of the Moorish Science Temple of America, Azeem Hopkins-Bey. Brother Bey has done great works for the temple and is a scholar of the teachings of Noble Drew Ali.  In addition, he is an author of "What Your History Books Failed to Tell you," and is host of Know Thy Self , a blog talk radio show that is very informative on the plight of Asiatics all over the world.

Brother Bey is shining light on a previous blog of mine, "Why Marcus Garvey Wouldn't Support 
the M.S.T. of A." His perspective and understanding is most needed as he is a minister for the movement. Thus without further due, we can finally quench the thirst for all seekers who find my blog searching for "Garvey and Drew Ali." This is just a first in this series from Brother Bey by the way. Enjoy.

S. Sobek: Why do you think there is an inherent problem with people perceiving Marcus Garvey as the John the Baptist or Forerunner for Noble Drew Ali?

A.H. Bey: 
There has been much controversy concerning the linkage of Marcus Garvey to Prophet Noble Drew Ali. This controversy has arisen due to an erroneous perception of the term “Harbinger” and “Forerunner.”  For the sake of intelligibility, we sincerely offer the meaning to the aforementioned terms without nuance. Harbinger is defined as, “one that pioneers in or initiates major change; one that presages or foreshadows what is to come; precursor; forerunner.” The term “Forerunner” is defined as, “one that precedes and indicates the approach of another; a person of thing paving the way for the success or accomplishment of another.” Through understanding the definitions given, one would grasp the nature of Marcus Garvey’s mission. When Marcus Garvey stated, “We want a Nationality similar to that of the English, the French, the Italian, the German…we want Nationality and government…”, this message obviously was the forerunner to the message brought by Prophet Noble Drew Ali.

S. Sobek:  If Marcus Garvey was the forerunner to Noble Drew Ali, why did he refer to his people as Negroes, why didn’t he say Asiatic or Moorish?
Ostensibly, his task/mission as forerunner was to prepare his people for the message brought by Prophet Noble Drew Ali; his responsibility was not to bring precisely the same message as Prophet Noble Drew Ali. If the people would have immediately accepted the teachings of Prophet Noble Drew Ali, there would not have been a need for a forerunner. We must keep in mind that Asiatics in America at that time were at least one generation removed from slavery (1865), and the language they spoke was the language of the negro. Consequently, the condition called for the necessity of Garvey to articulate implementing the vernacular of the so-called negro to clearly communicate the preparation rite bestowed upon them, which was nationalistic in nature.
S.Sobek:  Noble Drew Ali imposed the Moorish-American flag, a red flag with a five pointed green star in the middle for Moorish-Americans; however, Garvey already established a red, black and green flag to represent "negroes."  Why was it necessary for Ali to introduce an new flag?

A.H. Bey: 
Quite simply, the red, black, and green flag is not a national flag whereas one can utilize to trace themselves back to their ancient forefathers. The red, black, and green was the banner of the UNIA, and it was primarily flown on Marcus Garvey’s fleet of ships known as the Black Star Line. The red, black, and the green banner introduced the thought, idea, and notion of national flag to the so-called negro. In fact, the banner was created in 1920 by the members of the UNIA in response to the enormously popular 1900 coon song “Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon,” which has been cited as one of the three coon songs that firmly established the term coon in the American vocabulary.

A 1921 report appearing in the Africa Times and Orient Review (published by Duse Muhammad Ali), for which Marcus Garvey previously worked, quoted him regarding the importance of the flag where it states, “Show me the race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride....” The red, black, and green was the forerunner to the red flag with a five pointed green star in the center, i.e. the Moorish flag which is over 10,000 years old.

Stay Plugged for Part Two Tomorrow!