Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael) dies (multiple posts)

sixties-l@lists.village.virginia.edu
Tue, 17 Nov 1998 14:08:27 -0500

[MODERATOR'S NOTE: A flood of mail came into my box about Kwame
Ture's life and death. I've bundled all these posts together for
your convenience.]

[1]

From: IRSP <irsp@NETWIZARDS.NET
Subject: Perhaps final statement from Kwame Ture

Comrade:

This is a Press Release being sent worldwide regarding Kwame's perhaps
final
and most important tribute to Africa- his trip to Libya.

Could you please circulate this message and see that all the A/BSSA
students
are aware of it and spread the word.

The posting below was sent to us by our dear friends and close
alliance comrades in the All-African People's Revolutionary Party.

It is a statement from Kwame Ture, which we are advised may well
be among his last. Comrade Ture's health has been failing for several
years as he has battled cancer.

While we in the IRSCNA continue to hope for the best for this African
revolutionary who has always been among the greatest of friends to
the Irish revolution, we also recognize that best wishes are seldom
sufficient to alter the course of fate in such cases.

With this in mind, we send greetings to Kwame Ture, and all of our
sisters and brothers in the A-APRP. We acknowledge that we will continue
to draw upon his example in the many trials we encounter on the road to
revolution and be inspired by his words, example, and efforts. Finally,
we salute a man who contributed much to his people, to the international
working class, to the anti-imperialist struggle, to the Irish struggle,
to the
Irish Republican Socialist Movement especially, and to all who strive for
justice, equality, and liberation throughout the globe.

Kwame Ture we have never failed to count as among our very own; a friend,
ally, leader, and inspiration. You will live on in the memory of all who
continue
to struggle for the hope that is the revolution.

Forward Ever!

Peter Urban
North American Coordinator
Irish Republican Socialist Committees
2057 15th Street, Suite B
San Francisco, CA 94114
Phone/Fax 415-861-1355
irsp@netwiz.net
http://irsm.org/irsm/
http://irsm.org/irscna/

_____________________________________

Hell Yes,We are Going to Libya!
A Declaration to Africa and the World

Date: 5 November, 1998

From: Kwame Ture (formerly known as Stokely Carmichael)
Member of the Central Committee of the
All-African People's Revolutionary Party and the
Democratic Party of Guinea

Priority: To be embargoed until we board the plane

We know that one of the greatest crimes an individual can commit is that
of being ungrateful.

I have made many errors, but of one thing I am certain, my ability to
continue serving in the African and World Revolution is greatly
attributed to a number of contributions that I have received from the
masses of African and other Oppressed Peoples worldwide. We cite hear,
just a few examples.

In 1966, when I had just been elected Chairperson of the Student
Non-violent Coordinating Committee, my first official act, was to visit
the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. It is then that
he ordered all members of the Fruit of Islam to protect me wherever I
traveled, anywhere in the world. I am still under that umbrella of
protection today, here in Africa, in Guinea. I could never be
ungrateful to the Nation of Islam, to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, nor
to his incarnation - Minister Louis Farrakhan.

In 1967, U.S. imperialism was seriously planning to assassinate me. It
still is, this time by an FBI induced cancer, the latest in the white
man's arsenal of chemical and biological warfare, as I am more
determined to destroy it today than in 1967. It was Fidel Castro who
before the OLAS Conference said "if imperialism touches one grain of
hair on his head, we shall not let the fact pass without retaliation."
It was he, who on his own behalf, asked them all to stay in contact with
me when I returned to the United States to offer me protection. I could
never be ungrateful to the People of Cuba nor to Cuba's incarnation -
Fidel Castro.

In 1967, Presidents Ahmed Seku Ture and Kwame Nkrumah, through the
intercession of Shirley Graham DuBois, invited me to attend the 8th
Congress of the Democratic Party of Guinea (RDA). They invited me to
live, work, study and struggle here in Guinea, an invitation which I
readily accepted, despite tremendous criticism from almost every
quarter. Thirty years later, I still live in Guinea, working, studying
and struggling for the African Revolution. And I will continue to do so
until the last second, of the last minute, of the last hour, of the last
day. And it is my wish to sleep here in Guinea, eternally. I could
never be ungrateful to the People of Guinea, nor Guinea's and Africa's
incarnations - Ahmed Seku Ture and Kwame Nkrumah.

Today, on behalf of the All-African People's Revolutionary Party
(A-APRP), I am honored to accept a invitation that has been extended by
Brother Muammar Al Qathafi and the People of the Libyan Jamahiriya to
travel to Tripoli, which is in Africa, so that they might assist me in
my eternal fight, against an unyielding enemy. It would be ungrateful,
and unAfrican for me to refuse.

We wish to thank Brother Muammar and the People of the Libyan Jamahiriya
for sending us this hospital plane which I, and members of my
biological, ideological and social family now board. This act is just
one more act of an infinite number of Brother Muammar's and the Libyan
People's contributions to African and World Humanity. I am sure I will
never be ungrateful to the revolutionary People of the Libyan Jamahiriya
as long as I live, as I shall remain eternally steadfast and faithful to
revolutionary principles. And I know that my biological and ideological
family will remain steadfast and faithful as well.

Sisters and Brother, Comrades, we know that the Cuban and Libyan
Revolutions have a base of solid support among the Africans in United
States and around the world. Imperialism also knows this. This support
has been earned by Cuba and Libya, at great sacrifice. All Africans in
the United States know anytime imperialism is hunting an African
Revolutionary, if they make it to Cuba, as in baseball, they are home
safe. From Robert Williams to Assata Shakur, Cuba has paid a heavy
price as a haven for Revolutionaries throughout the world. We also
know, first hand, Libya's contributions to, and protection of African
and other Revolutionaries worldwide. U.S. imperialism is doing
everything possible to corrode Cuba's and Libya's support among the
Africans in the United States and the world.

Today, we board a hospital plane to travel nonstop from Conakry to
Tripoli, Libya, a revolutionary country, an African country. All of our
Brother, Sister and Allied Organizations, worldwide, have been requested
by our Party, the All-African People's Revolutionary Party, to join us
in Tripoli; and on our return from Tripoli to Conakry. Travel to a
revolutionary country, especially one in Africa, must lead to concrete
action to advance the African and World Revolution. We have a heightened
responsibility to help protect Cuba and Libya at this time. We must
move before U.S. imperialism is strengthened and attacks, not after, by
strengthening our people ideologically and practically now. We must
cement Cuba and Libya to Africa, and to African People worldwide, and
vice versa.

We must make it clear, that an embargo and travel ban against Cuba and
Libya, is an embargo and travel ban against Africa and against 1 billion
African People who are scattered, suffering and struggling in every
corner of the world. We must make it crystal clear that if you attack
Cuba and Libya, you attack all African People worldwide, and we must
break U.S. imperialism's hands off Cuba and Libya. We must end this
illegal and immoral embargo and travel ban now. And with this act, by
our example of boarding this hospital plane, we declare an end, once and
for all, to this illegal and immoral embargo and travel ban, an end to
this latest crime against African and World Humanity.

As children, we joined the Freedom Rides to break the back of
segregation and apartheid in interstate transportation in the United
States. Today, we ride on the front of the bus, we charter buses to
take one million men, women and children to marches in Washington,
Philadelphia, New York and Atlanta. And we will never turn back.

In the 1960's, we said "Hell No, we won't go" to Vietnam, to fight
against a people who never called us a nigger, and we didn't go. We
said that they would defeat U.S. imperialism, and the heroic Vietnamese
People, under the sterling example and leadership of the eternal Ho Chi
Minh did.

Today, we say "Hell yes, we are going to Libya." We are traveling
nonstop, all the way, from Conakry to Tripoli, and we warn the U.S.
government not to interfere. We are certain today, that the people of
Cuba and Libya, under the steadfast leadership of Fidel Castro and
Muammar Qathafi will be victorious. The embargo and travel ban against
Libya, Cuba, North Sudan, Korea, Iraq and Iran is finished, as of this
day. The All-African People's Revolutionary Party is honored to make
our humble contribution towards this end. We thank you. As African
youth worldwide say, "the beat goes on."

As always, we remain Ready for Revolution!

Kwame Ture
Central Committee Member of the
All-African People's Revolutionary Party and the Democratic Party of
Guinea
Conakry, Guinea

North American Coordinator
Irish Republican Socialist Committees
2057 15th Street, Suite B
San Francisco, CA 94114
Phone/Fax 415-861-1355
irsp@netwiz.net
http://irsm.org/irsm/
http://irsm.org/irscna/
_____________________________

[2]

Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 11:20:22 -0800
From: M.D.C.Bowen <mdcbowen@mindspring.com>
To: bpp-faq@mindspring.com, iktome@nosferatu.cas.usf.edu
Subject: BPP News & Update

http://www.panix.com/~mbowen/sf/faq025.htm

Monday, November 16, 1998 Published at 05:25 GMT

World: Americas

Black Panther leader dies

Mr Ture was jailed more than 30 times

The Black Panther leader Stokely Carmichael, who
made "black power" a rallying cry in America, has died
of cancer at the age of 57.

He died at his home in Guinea where he lived under his
African name, Kwame Ture.

As leader of the Black Panther Party, Mr Ture was one
of the most fiery and visible activists in the American
black rights movement in the 1960s.

US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who visited Mr Ture
last week, described him as a committed opponent of
racial apartheid.

"He wanted for his last days to be in Guinea ... amongst
the people of Africa,'' Mr Jackson said.

"He was one of our generation who was determined to give his
life to transforming America and Africa.

"He was committed to ending racial apartheid in our
country. He helped to bring those walls down."

Mr Ture was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996.

An ardent socialist, he was treated in Cuba and received
financial help for his treatment from Nation of Islam
leader Louis Farrakhan.

FREEDOM RIDE TO PRISON

Mr Ture was born in Trinidad on 29 June, 1941, but
moved to New York with his parents when he was 11
where he moved in middle-class white circles.

In 1960 he enrolled at Howard University in Washington,
where he studied philosophy and plunged into the civil
rights revolution.

At that time black college students were being beaten
and arrested for daring to sit at whites-only Southern
lunch counters.

Mr Ture joined the first of the freedom rides - bus trips
aimed at desegregating public transport.

And he suffered the first of about three dozen jailings
when he reached Mississippi.

He was elected national chairman of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1966.

Mr Ture raised the cry of "black power", meaning
political and economic empowerment, as he led a
freedom march in Mississippi.

"We want control of the institutions of the communities
where we live and we want to stop the exploitation of non
white people around the world," he explained.

In 1968, he left the SNCC for the Black Panthers, but
broke with that urban-guerrilla movement the following
year because it favoured working with radical whites.

He said history showed such alliances had "led to
complete subversion of the blacks by the whites''.

Mr Ture moved to Guinea with his then-wife, South
African-born singer and activist Miriam Makeba.

There, with a new name taken from the African leaders
Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sekou Toure, he organised
the All-African People's Revolutionary Party.

He continued preaching black power and championing
socialism while condemning America, capitalism and
Zionism.

BANNED FROM TRINIDAD

Mr Ture was banned from Trinidad and Tobago in 1970
by a black-led government which feared he would further
the islands' own "Black Power" revolt.

The government eventually quelled the uprising after
jailing several black activists.

One of those activists, Khafre Kambon said: "He lived a
life of poverty although he raised millions of dollars for his
party."
____________________________

[3]

From: david horowitz <dhorowitz@earthlink.net>

Stokeley Carmichael (1941-1998): One Who Will Not Be Missed

by David Horowitz

Kwame Ture aka Stokely Carmichael is dead of prostate cancer at the age
of 57. This was a bad man, and the world will not miss him. A West
Indian immigrant to America, Carmichael hated his adopted country from
youth to old age, and never bothered once to acknowledge the immense
privileges and personal recognition it undeservedly gave him.

As Stokely Carmichael, his chief claim to fame was to lead young Turks
in the civil rights movement in pushing Martin Luther King aside,
denouncing him as an Uncle Tom. In 1966, Carmichael emerged as the chief
spokesman for the "black power" movement, which replaced King's goals
of integration and a color-blind society with images of political violence
and race hatred. In 1967, when Israel was attacked by six Arab nations,
Carmichael announced that "the only good Zionist is a dead Zionist," and
became the first prominent American figure since Senator Bilbo in the
1940s to spew anti-Semitic bile into the public arena.

The following year Carmichael began a campaign to promote armed warfare
in American cities and was briefly made prime minister of the Black
Panther Party for his efforts. Ever the racist, Carmichael tried to
persuade the Panthers to break off their alliances with whites but
failed. This led to his expulsion from the Panthers and a ritual beating
by his former partners. Shortly thereafter Carmichael left the United
States for Africa.

In Africa, Carmichael changed his name to Kwame Ture, thereby honoring
two dictators (Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure)who caused untold misery to
their own peoples. He took up residence as the personal guest of Toure,
Guinea's paranoid dictator, whose reputation was built on the
torture-murders of thousands of his subjects. Some 250,000 Guineans were
driven into exile during Carmichael's stay there.

Returning to the United States in the late Eighties, he took to the
lecture circuit as a racial hate-monger, attacking Jews, whites and
America to approving audiences on American university campuses. In the
end he found a fitting refuge in the racial sewer of the Nation of
Islam, as a protege of its Jew-baiting, America-hating, racist leader
Louis Farrakhan. Carmichael's farewell shot was to accuse "the forces of
American imperialism" of causing the prostate cancer that would have
killed him much sooner if it had not been for the creative medical
contributions of so many Jews, whites and Americans.