Beaucoup New Orleans

By GARRICK A. FARRIA

One of the most exciting cities in the world, New Orleans, LA, is well known for its cuisine, music, architecture, landscape, and the warmth and hospitality of its people.  This collection offers an exploration of Black cultural life in New Orleans spanning various generations and from a uniquely Africana perspective.

In Beaucoup New Orleans, attorney Garrick Farria serves up several short stories, essays, poems, vignettes, biographical sketches, and plays covering topics as vast and varied as treatments of life in Central and Southwestern Africa (ancestral regions of early African inhabitants of Southeastern Lousiana), to historical New Orleans area maroon societies and enslaved rebellions, turn of the 20th-century life in New Orleans, to post-Katrina Union Organizing, to partying with the Mardi Gras Indians, and everything in between. Farria examines firsthand documents and other historical records and uses that data to weave fantastic tales about some of the most important populations in the City, its Black residents.

 

Garrick A. Farria, Esq. was born at Sara Mayo Hospital in Uptown New Orleans to a family with generational ties to the City.  Upon graduating from The Ohio State University with an M.A. in African and African-American Studies in 1998 he returned to New Orleans to become an Admissions Counselor at the University of New Orleans, with primary responsibility for recruiting students from the New Orleans Public School System (NOPS). 

In 2000, Farria joined the Greater New Orleans Hotel, Hospitality, and Restaurant Organizing Council (HOTROC) as the Research and Political Director.  This campaign was powered by the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, the former Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, and the Operating Engineers Local Union.  The project had aims of organizing 100,000 hospitality workers across Southeast Louisiana.

Farria left the City in 2002 to pursue other Union opportunities, but returned in 2005 as the Louisiana District manager for the newly merged union, UNITE HERE, and represented various union members who worked at National Linen, Kenneth Gordon, Loews Hotel Properties, the Fairmount Hotel, the Superdome, and at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center through Aramark Convention Services, and workers at the Louis Armstrong International Airport through Delaware North companies and LSG/Sky Chef.

 

Farria and eighteen of his family members were stuck in New Orleans during the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and spent over twenty-seven hours on an elevated stretch of the I-610 interstate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: GARRICK A. FARRIA
• Release date: Feb 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201269890

Book preview

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Farria Law Group

Haslet, TX 76052

www.farrialaw.com

©2022 by Garrick A. Farria

All Rights Reserved

Any references to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of drafting; neither the Farria Law Group nor Garrick A. Farria is responsible for inaccurate information or bad URLs.

All images are either licensed or have been granted use permission from the original holder, are family photos, or were taken by Garrick A. Farria, Esq. Attribution is supplied where appropriate or necessary. The wiki commons photos are attributed as follows: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0, 3.0., and 4.0.

Farria, Garrick Arthur

Cover Photo: Garrick A. Farria and unknown Mardi Gras Indian Youth Mardi Gras Day, New Orleans, La 1982

Includes bibliographical references and footnotes

Cover & Book Formatting By : Junaid Saif (Fiverr : C8v_Logos, Facebook : D-Design) ISBN: 978-0-578-37404-8

1.

New Orleans—Black Culture--Memoirs

2.

Creative Work—Africana Culture in America, Africana Studies 3.

Short Stories—Poetry—Plays—Essays

G and The Deekie

Garrick A. Farria and Demitrius J. Singh

About the Author

Garrick A. Farria, born in New Orleans, LA, grew up in Cincinnati, OH. He attended several area high schools including, Walnut Hills High School and Cincinnati Country Day School and, received a post-graduate diploma at Blair Academy (Blairstown, NJ).

Garrick received a Bachelor of Arts degree in African and African American Studies from Temple University, a Master of Arts degree in African American and African Studies from The Ohio State University (with a thesis titled A Historiography of Pan-Africanism and its Relationship to the Emigrationist Movement from 1829-1908), and received a Juris Doctorate from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law (now TAMU School of Law).

Garrick has been a member of the State Bar of Texas since 2011 and is admitted to practice in the Northern District of Texas. Garrick focuses his law practice primarily on the areas of Employment and Labor Law, Civil Rights, and Criminal Defense.

Garrick has over fifteen years of experience working in the American Labor Movement with two of the oldest industrial and service-based unions in North America, namely UNITE! (And UNITE-HERE) and the Service Employees International Union. Garrick and his family were stuck in Hurricane Katrina.

At the same time, he served as the UNITE-HERE Louisiana District Manager representing union members at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the Louisiana Superdome, the old Fairmont Hotel, Loews Hotel, and the Alsco Linen industrial laundry in the Lower 9th Ward.

Garrick and his wife Denita Singh have been married for nineteen years and have been living in Tarrant County, Texas, since their post-Katrina relocation. They have a son they are incredibly proud of named Demitrius. His parents, parents-in-law, siblings, and countless nieces, nephews, aunties, uncles, cousins, and friends along the way have been tremendous blessings.

Garrick has authored American Terrorism: A Brief Legal History Of The Lynching of Black Folk in The United States (2020) and African Origin of Civilization Myth or Reality: A Deep Dive (2021).

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Garrick A. Farria at the Lorraine Motel Historical Preservation Site and National Civil Rights Monument, Memphis, TN.

A gunman lynched Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968, at this location 4

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Acknowledgments

Special shout out to my wife Denita

Singh Farria and her best friend

Chante Johnson. Without their

assistance on our last trip to New

Orleans, this book would not be

possible.

I want to thank my Auntie Alethia

Coxen, my Auntie Cabrenthia

Rolling, my cousin Shanna Coxen,

my cousin Frank Moore, Jr., my

cousin Samate Landor, and my

mother Rhodia Charlton for sending

me the bulk of the family photos

used throughout this work.

I want to thank our dear sisters Lisa

C. Moore, Jasmaine Talley, and the

other staff at the Amistad Research

Center, currently located on the

campus of Tulane University, for their patience in working through several scheduled appointments. This project could not have been completed without their compassionate professionalism.

Special Thanks go to my brothers, Dr. Kelly Harris, and Dr. Amzie Moore, II, and the efforts they personally took to help make sure this book was published.

Special thanks to my family members making up the Landor Research Group.

They bad ya’ll.

Always Looking Out

Kevin Rolling and Garrick A. Farria

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Dedication

This humble collection of thoughts, ideas, concepts, recollections, and reflections is dedicated to the ancestors. The Rollings, The Baxters, The Landors, and the Farrias. I hope ya’ll had as much fun bearing witness to this I as I had word-painting it.

And to The Dr. Rivers Frederick Junior High School Flames everywhere. We love ya’ll. Ya’ll raised us right.

Ida Mae Gi-Gi Baxter Farria

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Opening Thoughts

I love this book. I had so much fun writing this one. This is the result of a series of creative eruptions spanning decades. The ever-present magma which sprouted forth is really a simple combination of undying love for the City of my birth, New Orleans, and a lifetime spent in the diligent study of Black folk wherever we find ourselves on the planet. Sometimes that study was blessedly spent sitting at the feet of master teachers and prayerfully, this work is a positive reflection of them.

Rhodia Rolling Farria Charlton, Garrick A. Farria, Nayo Landor If I did my job, then this collection may draw a few laughs, possibly some sympathy, empathy, perhaps a tear or two, and maybe convince some to either go back home and sit a spell, visit for the first time, or revisit it.

Some of these works may hit folk differently, and that’s the point. I just wanted to spend a few minutes clarifying something before ya’ll dig in.

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Some of this stuff really is what I see, feel, hear, smell, and taste as I close my eyes and draw these word swords on paper. Getting my Hampate Ba on, taking cues from that great Malian scholar, this collection of works speaks to both the functions of the Doma in some West African traditional society as well as the functions of a Djeli, who the French narrowly called Griots.i So, as you read on, I guess part of the journey is figuring out which is which.

I hope readers enjoy this one. I certainly enjoyed writing this. I tried to recapture the sights, sounds, moods, and flavor of all those experiences I went through across time and space.

Hopefully, it hits ya’ll. Some kind of way. And be sure to check the endnotes.

Auntie Yvonne Bienvenue, Grandpa Leo Walter Rolling, Auntie Ada Landor at Trissy’s Wedding

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Grandma Ida Gi-Gi Baxter Farria, Rhodia Rolling Farria Charlton, Garrick A. Farria, Grandpa Arthur A. Farria, Sr.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACT I

Can I Get Dat Outcha?

Keeping Our Circle Tight A Critical Review of K.K.B. Fu-Kiau’s Mbongi, An African Traditional Political Institution

A Revolution in Writing The Perfect Nine-Ways of Knowing/Systems of Thought; Cultural Meaning Making: A Critical Review of Ngugi’ wa Thiongo’s The Perfect Nine

The Coming Is Africana: A Critical Review of Daniel Black’s The Coming Soul of a Drummer

Going Holla at Baba

There Is No We

ACT II

Bay Bay!

How Do It Free Us? A Critical Review of Hoolandsworth’s treatment of The Louisiana Native Guards

1208 Saratoga Street

Redemption Song

King of Ethiopia

International Man on the Move Notes on the Life and Times of Dr. Rivers Frederick

A Look at Queen Mother Audley Moore Brief Reflections of a Life Spent in the Struggle

SS Salmacca

ACT III

Beaucoup New Orleans

Beaucoup New Orleans

Midnight Writer

Mercy Me Hospital

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Happy Hour

Busted

Take Yo’ Drunken Ass Home, Ode to a Legend

Clean Getaway

Mbongi at Congo Square

Christmas on Bayou St. John

Prayer for a Frozen Mule

A Song for Freida

ACT IV

Huh Brah

Concrete Mattresses

Secret Sauce

Hustlers

Murda Capital

Decatur Street

ACT V

All On a Mardi Gras Day

Big Frank

No Public Restrooms

Who Shot the La La?

Super Sunday

Mardi Gras Blues

Port Wine

Hey, Mista Throw Me Something

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ACT IV

Going By the Hucka-Buck Lady

Road Trip

Squire

The Book of Khalid

White Devils

Dipping in the Deep Well

ACT VI

A Lil’ Lagniappe

Quick Thoughts on an Outstanding Book A Critical Review of New Orleans Voodoo Handbook by Kenan Filaz

Funky Butt Philosopher

Union Man, Mr. Garrick

15 Minutes

Red Beans and Rice

ACT VII

Dat 2nd Line

Homegrown Tourist

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The Dome

Photo Credit: Chante Johnson

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Union Stuff

Garrick A. Farria and Denita Singh-Farria

Photo Credit: Chante Johnson

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Demitrius Singh, Garrick A. Farria, and Rene Farria Gov. P.B.S. Pinchback is often confused with Homer Plessy, this mural corrects that misinformation.

Photo Credits: Chante Johnson

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Sending Doncelyn off right

Tyrone Billew

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Ronita Farria Dean, Doncelyn Landor, Cabrenthia Rolling 17

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Jerren Farria Masking on Mardi Gras Day

Ja’nae Simpson and Denita Singh-Farria

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Juanita Mom Simpson

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Cousin Carrie Tucker Benjamin

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Louis Armstrong Park Photo Credit Chante Johnson

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All That Jazz: Photo Credit Chante Johnson

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Photo Credits: Chante Johnson

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Photo Credit: Rhodia Rolling Farria Charlton

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Deanie’s.

Beach Day

Rhodia Charlton, Denita Singh Farria, Terrilyn Jackson, Garrick A. Farria 26

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By Mo’lee

William Scott Dean, II, Arthur A. Farria, Jr., Garrick A. Farria, Jerren J. Farria Demond Domino and Garrick A. Farria

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Seated: Auntie Ada Landor, Auntie Yvonne Landor Bienvenue, Grandma Joyce Landor Rolling

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My Two Paw-Paws: Eagle and Con Sharing a Christmas Toast Arthur A. Farria, Sr. and Leo Walter Rolling

Aunties Lenthia Rolling and Yvonne Landor Bienvenue 29

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Auntie Myrtle Billew

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Rhodia Rolling Farria Charlton, Garrick A, Farria, Cabremthia Rolling, Jerren Farria 31

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Blunts, Moores, and Cozens by Gi-Gi

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Great Grandma Alberta Guy Gee Baxter, Rhodia Rolling Farria Charlton, Grandma Ida

Gi-Gi Baxter Farria

Grandma Ida Mae Baxter Farria and Grandpa Arthur A. Farria, Sr.

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Shantrell Stewart and Raynell Rolling, Jr.

Trabaza Trady Billew

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Auntie Lenthia Rolling, Jerren J. Farria, and Cousin Roncelyn Jackson 35

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Connie Rolling Franklin, Chekesha Rolling, Raynell Rolling, Sr.

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Uncle Harold Arnold and Auntie Tara Farria Arnold

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Auntie Elaine Stewart

Uncle Claude Stewart

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Darrell Blunt, Tyrome Blunt, Auntie Alethia Mo’Lee Coxen, Karen Blunt Dalco, Shanna Coxen, Talecia Blunt

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Auntie Rhonda Ms. Moe Moore, Ebony Moore, Frank Moore, Jr., Big Frank Moore, Sr.

Carrie Tucker Benjamin, Auntie Rhonda Ms. Moe Moore, Jasmine Benjamin-Smith, PhD

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Derrick Moore

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Tanya Moore and Talecia Blunt

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Photo Credits: Chante Johnson

Bayou at LaFreniere Park Photo Credits: Chante Johnson 43

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Storks on the Move, LaFreniere Park Bird Sanctuary Photo Credit: Chante Johnson Some Farria’s cutting up in Keller, TX

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Happy Holidays from New Orleans

Grandpa Leo and some of his angels

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Auntie Deborah Blunt, Ida Mae Gi-Gi Baxter Farria, and Michelle Blunt Wright Blunts and Coxens

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Some Farrias huddled up

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Rhodia Rolling Farria Charlton, 50th High School Reunion Arthur A. Farria, Jr. 50th High School Reunion

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A Whole Mess of Farrias

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Farves

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Shanna Coxen

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Me and the Fox Garrick A. Farria and Arthur A. Farria, Jr.

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ACT I

Can I Get Dat

Outcha?

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Keeping Our Circle Tight A Critical Review of K.K.B. Fu-Kiau’s Mbongi, An African Traditional Political Institution

A Revolution in Writing The Perfect Nine-Ways of Knowing/Systems of Thought; Cultural Meaning Making: A Critical Review of Ngugi’ wa Thiongo’s The Perfect Nine

The Coming Is Africana: A Critical Review of Daniel Black’s The Coming Soul of a Drummer

Going Holla at Baba

There Is No We

The Soul of a Drummer

Donnon Johnson about to jam out

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Keeping Our Circle Tight A Critical Review of K.K.B. Fu-Kiau’s Mbongi, An African Traditional Political Institution

NOTES ON THE INTRODUCTION AND CHAPTER 1, MBONGI

Mbongi: public council house; institution of debates and of conceptualization, the community parliament; the popular court of justice among African people; source-fireplace.

Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau (1934-2013) was born in what is now called Zaire and has given us some serious work, worthy of our full attention and consideration here, originally published in 1981; I am reading from the English translation.ii From the opening pages and through the end of the first chapter, FK sets the table for his baseline arguments that a) current continental African leadership should reject Western notions and theories of leadership and b) they should adopt more traditional leadership modalities, like the Central and Southern African Mbongi.

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For the purpose of this examination, the type of Mbongi analyzed is prevalent

colonially broken rings (per FK) we call DRC, Zaire, Zambia, and Namibia and Bantu people like the Kongo, Ki-Kongo, and Ki-Bantu's like the Fang, Luba, Bemba, Sona, Mbunda. Zulu, Xosa, etc. where it is knowns as Mbongi, Boko, Yemba, Lusanga, and Kioto, etc.

The book starts with a succinct description that a Mbongi is the most important political institution in every rural Bantu community. It’s a humble construction, usually highlighted by the placement of the Kikulu stool (the literal seat that transfers the past). And it is typically in the middle of the village. This sacred space without walls where serious matters of community concern, like social matters, politics, and the basic economic needs of the community are raised, addressed, and decided upon.

This was critical for a couple of reasons. First, community roles and responsibilities were defined and maintained in a society that didn’t rely on written rules and a codified body of law. FK anchors the Mbongi concept by first walking us through the etymology of the Kikongo word and concept. Then he sets the foundation by teaching us a series of Mbongi related proverbs, which would have been re-enforced through Bantu ways of knowing and movement and memory through initiation, secret societies, etc.

Second, the Mbongi was easily hidden from all the colonizers when it needed to be conducted in secrecy and it was usually kept distinct from the colonizer’s church, which sought to destroy it at first, then in most places decided to co-exist as best it could. This was a major mode of cultural meaning-making.

And it was the sacred circle many a plot was hatched and executed.

FK repeats his belief both African leaders and the masses of African people in the industrialized areas are convinced that the colonizer’s ice is colder

when it comes to governance, politics, and economics at their own peril. And have either forgotten about the Mbongi, don’t understand the concept, or are simply embarrassed by the expected constructive criticism such a system organically generates. And because of this FK boldly states that the Mbongi then is the first and only institution that had and still has the real power in modern Africa of each regional system concerning the political art of leading people according to their fundamental African oral institutions. As this is a value-based system, the elders and leaders of the group have to have earned and hold the deep trust of the rest of the community. This seems to be the beeswax holding the locs together.

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Fascinating leadership concept. The circle. The Kikulu sits with the leader

of a given Mbongi but rotates. There appears to be a leadership council of elders who likely oversee the calling, decorum and closing of the Mbongi itself but so far it appears that everyone in the circle has their say. Elegant in its simplicity but stunning in its effectiveness as it clearly only works within a governance structure based on and steeped in the same value system, education, socialization structures, ways of knowing, and cultural modes of expression.

NOTES ON CHAPTER II, MBONGI AS A POLITICAL INSTITUTION

Kinzonzi katoma, ku Mbongi; kabiya mpe, ku Mbongi Proverb 1.11

All polities, good or bad, should be discussed (openly) in the Mbongi, the public-council house.

FK starts this chapter by expounding the importance of the physical placement of the Mbongi in the center of the village and the survival of the concept through colonization, especially surviving the frontal (and ancillary) assaults of the missionaries. He drives the point home that the Mbongi was often the crucible of revolutionary thought and praxis and uses an example from the early days of the Belgian conquest of Zaire and the development of the Tembo anti-Belgian Imperialism underground movement from the Manaianga region.

These Africans turned all the way up, beginning to openly do so in 1906 until leader Phillippe Mbumba, was captured and exiled to another region of Upper Zaire. The thing about the Tembo was that it started as a Mbongi within the

Church. Even the Africans swept up in the Madness had enough of their good sense left to activate their deeply planted ways of knowing when they realized that colonialism was not in the interest of Zaire and mounted up, so to speak.

That Mbongi spirit also manifested in the church in other ways, and FK

discusses the messianic Kintwadi, started in 1921 by Simon Kimbangu, and literally came to mean Union, Communalism’, and Collectivism in Western languages. From the beginning of Kintwadi FK notes that the main objective was spiritual and physical liberation of the oppressed in Zaire/the Congo specifically but the liberation of Black Africans generally speaking.

By the ’50s a third religious student, Mpuyi-from the Kingila Village, used 58

a Mbongi to get his Honorable Elijah Muhammad on. In a direct attack on Christianity, this brother called it Yimbwa or poison/opium. On fire, he bellowed that Mbungulu, the Christian fiery lakes of hell didn’t exist, because our ancestors, the holiest people in history, didn’t have a concept for it.

FK argues that there are some modern African countries under neocolonialism that look at the church as a Mbongi of refuge by that he means that it was the one place people could gather and discuss problems affecting their basic political and economic needs, even the revolutionary plots.

Despite the tortures of colonialism and the white washing of the people, the Mbingi survived. Part of the reason was in addition to the governing body functions, the youth were obliged to sit and observe the proceedings and get their education in the community "politics, proverbs, social alliances, wars, professions, techniques, wisdom, and science.

FK does an excellent job explaining the Mbongi makeup from the Mfumu-Mbongi (the chief of the Mbongi), Landi kia Mfumu –Mbongi (the assistant Mbongi chief), Mfumu dikanda (chief of the extended family), Nzoni (almost like a special prosecutor from outside the specific community, but is from another group in the region), The N’Swami (The secretive investigators, seekers of truth), The Na-Maokolo (the knotted information archivist, etc.

Every role played by these individual formations is critical to the success of the Mbongi and the health of the community. And the rituals are equally important as well, from the call of the Mbongi and the ritual horn to the tying/

untying of the knot symbolizing a community decision.

NOTES ON CHAPTER III,

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE MBONGI

Mbongi yakondwa ntungasani; (nga) ka nkote ko zo e? Proverb 1.8

Mbongi where self-criticism is not tolerated is a strange and inconceivable political institution

This chapter starts with a reminder of the despisement of Kimonkwami in the Mbongi, or an egotistical notion of I or the elevation of the individual above the group. This reminds me of the Republic of New Afrika, the Black nationalist formation created after the death of Malcolm X that believed that Africans in America needs their own separate landmass within the borders of the contiguous US region. Please see Edward Onaci’s book Free the Land, Mama Tamu Manyama’s book 1148 Lewis Street, respectively.iii The RNA would 59

always capitalize the We and use a lower case I in their correspondence and greetings.

FK reminds us that Mbongi is the principal organizing institution of the community. This opening quote above speaks to the fact that individualism is downplayed, every community member, regardless of station, has the right to speak and that speech becomes a part of the community and Ntungasani

(Self-criticism) is that gas in the engineiv.

FK does note here, however, that women’s roles in the Mbongi may have been slight, given the familial, domestic, economic, etc. roles that women had to play which took up chunks of their time. He has id they were often the Maokokolo or the archivist, and they were usually expert witnesses on issues related to land, forestry, and community diplomacy as the women were respected as the best farmers and had the most contact with the land, their economic acumen, and their unmatched skill in handling family affairs.

The key point FK is making here is that Mbongi political structure is strong and self-sufficient because it is based on African reality and bound by the common aspiration of keeping the community strong. FK then lays out the assorted styles of Mbongi between Mfundu (commission/cabinet group) and Kindingizi (ministry) and the ways both styles are keenly focused on avoiding any corruption, or what they call political cancer.

FK walks through the politics of Kindingizi, the politics of Dictatorship, the Politics of Kimfumu-mayala, Reactionary politics, Lukolomono, Revolution, and the Politics of Mfundu.

NOTES ON CHAPTER IV, MFUNDU IN ITS DIVISIONS

Mfundu za mbongi wafundundumuna mambu ye biblia mu kanda ka zisumbwanga ko Proverb 1.15

The commissions of the Mbongi (which dig up /reveal social dealings and conflict) are incorruptible.

In this chapter, FK uses his explanation of the Mfundu leadership substructure to excoriate modern African leaders. He accuses modern leadership (again, he originally wrote this in 1981) of purposefully ignoring the Mbongi and specifically the Mfundu committee structures. FK defines Mfundu as "a group 60

of authorities of the political system of the Mbongi" and holds that this subgroup system is the key to fighting off corruption within the ranks.

FK also spends some time discussing the various punishments for those found guilty of corruption, including payment of a correctional fine, exile, public shaming, etc. FK ends this short chapter with a stinging critique of Ian Smith, the eternal enemy of African people especially Zimbabweans, and a riveting defense of the Bantu systems.

NOTES ON CHAPTER V, THE KISINSI SYSTEM

Mbil’a boko ni beto kulu Proverb 2.1

The call of Boko belongs to all of us.

This brief chapter offers a fascinating look at how this particular governance structure approached issues of citizenship, the treatment of aliens (what we might call immigration), and even how marriage and birth played into this overall system.

Aliens were generally welcomed into the fold, into the Kanda (community, race, society) provided that she is ready to respect the systems prevailing within the organizational structure of that Kanda. So, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that aliens were often given access to work (which was seen as a basic survival mechanism), the ability to marry, and could even assume Mfundu leadership in limited situations. There is also a breakdown of the diverse types of aliens and how they are worked into the community, namely the Nnanga, the Minyisila, and the Nzieti.

This was a really good chapter. FK addresses how the community provides comfort and support to children, families, and groups within the Kanda. FK

notes that chattel slavery didn’t exist in Pre-colonial African society and shows that things like orphanages and prisons didn’t exist either (in much the same way Chancellor Williams noted and highlighted in his classic Destruction of Black Civilization). One of the most powerful points in this chapter was FK's admission that Kanda’s without a strong Mbongi know they can be overrun by aliens, so they strike that balance between humanism and understanding human nature.

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NOTES ON CHAPTER VI, MBONGI AND ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

Mbongi walunda mbongo a kanda Proverb 1.2

The Mbongi takes care of human as well as material goods of the community.

This brief chapter offers a brilliant review of Kanda economic theory and praxis. FK notes that "political power among the Bantu is a shared power; their system of economy, like their political system, is a shared system. With that FK spends a couple of pages juxtaposing what he referred to as the

pyramid system with the flat/horizontally spiral system.

In crude terms, the pyramid system is described as one promoting individual wealth and gathering of stuff. While the flat spiral system is viewed in more communalistic terms. This point was hammered home when FK proclaimed that there is no landlord in the Mbongi system, only the Kanda (the whole community); and the land, source of life/happiness, belongs to the Kanda.

FK calls the Mbongi economic model to be replicated across the Continent for a couple of reasons, 1) it’s steeped in African ways of knowing in this case Bantu cosmology, epistemology, and 2) the imposition of Western economic and political philosophy is crippling because they are diametrically opposed to African ways of knowing.

NOTES ON CHAPTER VII, A WORD OF CONCLUSION

To be African, Africa must necessarily stand upon the foundation of its own reworked and reclaimed systems Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau, 1981

(Fu-Kiau, K. K. Mbongi, Atlanta Afrikan Djeli Publishers 2007; pp.74).

FK is serious about the need to implement Mbongi and discard non-African systems across the Continent. To that end, he calls for the establishment of regional commissions to look at:

1) The a range of factors that separate and unite African people as a whole

2)

The creation of regional/national teams dedicated to studying solution feasibility and implementation

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3)

The formalized study of the ways/means needed to encourage social and cultural contacts between African people

4)

A re-ascension of African languages (like Ngugi, Armah, Obenga, and so many others have routinely called for)

5) The creation of African cultural centers focused on national development through the study of African culture, economics, and politics, and

6) Submitting recommendations to African governments based on the will of the people concerning:

a.

National policy and government

b.

Community and economy

c. Responsibilities in the process of nation-building d.

The army and the people

e.

The preservation of national languages

f.

Agricultural and national security

g.

Constituency and voting issues

h.

Human rights

The goal for FK is the liberation of the continent, now firmly locked in the grip of neocolonialism and neoliberalism alike.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This is an incredible little book. FK makes a compelling case for this rural system of governance to be strongly considered, not just by powerful elites by all of us looking to strengthen or build our own formations. There is something to be said that First World nations had their unique versions of circular leadership. There is elegance and beauty in its simplicity and community, collective affirming orientation. And looking at how covid 19, vaccine hoarding by the Global North, and what we are witnessing in Ethiopia, Sudan, Azania, etc. there is no time like the present to send Northern ways of knowing back to them.

Clearly, like Diop’s 15 point plan laid out in Black Africa, it would be a monumental task for FK’s plan to get any serious consideration but with the 63

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advent of social media, groundswells may start sprouting if more people start to embrace this workv. The obstacles are as visible as the Rwenzori Mountains but given the dire straits Africans across the globe are facing, every idea, concept, plan, tactic, should be on the table and up for discussion. This includes FK’s call for us to return to those rural Africans in the bush, those unsophisticated, country bumpkins without banks, and constitutions, and border patrols may have been sitting on the keys to our various organizational struggles this whole time.

Maybe. maybe we get one inch closer to freedom by figuring that out.

This book is highly recommended for those who are keenly interested in traditional African systems of governance, social order, and other ways of knowing. FK had wanted to see this book translated into Kiswahili, Tshiluba, and Lingala. It should be translated into as many African languages as possible.

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A Revolution in Writing The Perfect Nine-Ways of Knowing/Systems of Thought; Cultural Meaning Making:

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF NGUGI’S THE PERFECT NINE

Ngugi Wa Thiong’o is widely heralded as one of the greatest living writers and an international treasure of the world African Family, this work is a glowing example of his brilliance and literary genius.

This Kenyan creation story (specifically from the Gikuyu tradition) is a beautiful, revolutionary remix that elevates the role of women while taking dead aim at the misogyny that often cripples other cosmogonies across the continent of Africa and throughout world history.

Written in epic poem form, the imagery is almost used rhythmically, and the words seem to jump off the page to the sculpted beat. Ngugi is just showing off in this one, kind of like Stevie in the 70s.

The story begins with the glorious union of the forbears of the nation in their female and male formation. The Perfect Nine then (actually ten) are the birth

children of the nation; ten of the most beautiful women that the world had ever known. Yet, while their outer beauty was known to cause and settle disputes, freezing men and beasts alike in their tracks, and sway nature itself; Ngugi used their inner beauty to display the types of traits that should make up a society’s moral