Ahmed Obafemi
Comrad Ahmed Obafemi has made his transition to the Ancestral realm; to Ahmed I salute you with a clenched-fist as you are now a New Afrikan Freedom-Fighting Ancestors!
Reading about the death of Ahmed Obafemi caused me to go into immediate memory mode of the elder Comrad.
Ahmed had an extensive revolutionary portfolio, he was a former Eastern Regional Vice President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, founding member of Freedom Now, the New Afrikan People’s Organization, and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. He was a key organizer in the grassroots movement that changed Lenox Ave to Malcolm X Blvd in Harlem NY.
Ahmed represented the New Afrikan Independence Movement (NAIM) internationally in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Libya, Ghana, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Cuba, Germany, France, Canada and South Africa. Ahmed's leadership work initiated alliances with national liberation struggles and progressive organizations inside the U.S. borders and worldwide.
In 1984 I was a founding member of the Detroit Chapter of the New Afrikan Peoples' Organization (NAPO) along with Chokwe Lumumba, Kwame Kenyatta, and several others; I met Comrad Ahmed Obafemi head of the New York NAPO Chapter for the first time the same year.
Ahmed was a seasoned New Afrikan that included being a political prisoner; he was a political firebrand. Ahmed was a frequent flyer to Detroit as a speaker at NAPO's events and forums at the Malcolm X Center for Black Survival located on Dexter.
Ahmed was a fiery tell it like it is speaker, away from his podium presence I had some significant one-on-one conversations with him regarding some weaknesses I had identified in the New Afrikan Independence Movement (NAIM).
One of those identified weaknesses was a mediocre level of theoretical development of New Afrikans I had encountered; he agreed in general and told me to write Atiba Shana 'Yaki' of the New Afrikan Prisoners Organization (NAPO) who was locked-down in Dixon, Illinois. Ahmed felt Yaki was one of the best New Afrikan theoreticians to be mentored by and gave me his contact information.
Due to Ahmed's encouragement I would have back and forth insightful indeed rewarding theoretical exchanges through letters with Yaki for many years along with personal visits with him. To decrease theoretical mediocrity and increase theoretical competency I exposed Yaki's writings to younger New Afrikans the same way Ahmed introduced me to a source.
Reflecting back one of my key memories of Ahmed was an incident at Black Nation Day (1988) in Atlanta I believe it was at Clark College where campus police along with Atlanta police tried to disrupt 'buffalo' their way into the Nation Day proceedings and they were stopped head on 'boldly' and effectively by Ahmed who was coordinating the New Afrikan Security Union (NASU).
When Ahmed moved to Birmingham, Alabama from New York I visited him. In my early years as a New Afrikan Ahmed was a solid mentor, he didn't duck and dodge internal questions, he was a 'straight-shooter' a put it on the line type of Comrad deserving of ongoing remembrance and recognition!!
Comrad Ahmed Obafemi has made his transition to the Ancestral realm; to Ahmed I salute you with a clenched-fist as you are now a New Afrikan Freedom-Fighting Ancestors!
Reading about the death of Ahmed Obafemi caused me to go into immediate memory mode of the elder Comrad.
Ahmed had an extensive revolutionary portfolio, he was a former Eastern Regional Vice President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, founding member of Freedom Now, the New Afrikan People’s Organization, and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. He was a key organizer in the grassroots movement that changed Lenox Ave to Malcolm X Blvd in Harlem NY.
Ahmed represented the New Afrikan Independence Movement (NAIM) internationally in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Libya, Ghana, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Cuba, Germany, France, Canada and South Africa. Ahmed's leadership work initiated alliances with national liberation struggles and progressive organizations inside the U.S. borders and worldwide.
In 1984 I was a founding member of the Detroit Chapter of the New Afrikan Peoples' Organization (NAPO) along with Chokwe Lumumba, Kwame Kenyatta, and several others; I met Comrad Ahmed Obafemi head of the New York NAPO Chapter for the first time the same year.
Ahmed was a seasoned New Afrikan that included being a political prisoner; he was a political firebrand. Ahmed was a frequent flyer to Detroit as a speaker at NAPO's events and forums at the Malcolm X Center for Black Survival located on Dexter.
Ahmed was a fiery tell it like it is speaker, away from his podium presence I had some significant one-on-one conversations with him regarding some weaknesses I had identified in the New Afrikan Independence Movement (NAIM).
One of those identified weaknesses was a mediocre level of theoretical development of New Afrikans I had encountered; he agreed in general and told me to write Atiba Shana 'Yaki' of the New Afrikan Prisoners Organization (NAPO) who was locked-down in Dixon, Illinois. Ahmed felt Yaki was one of the best New Afrikan theoreticians to be mentored by and gave me his contact information.
Due to Ahmed's encouragement I would have back and forth insightful indeed rewarding theoretical exchanges through letters with Yaki for many years along with personal visits with him. To decrease theoretical mediocrity and increase theoretical competency I exposed Yaki's writings to younger New Afrikans the same way Ahmed introduced me to a source.
Reflecting back one of my key memories of Ahmed was an incident at Black Nation Day (1988) in Atlanta I believe it was at Clark College where campus police along with Atlanta police tried to disrupt 'buffalo' their way into the Nation Day proceedings and they were stopped head on 'boldly' and effectively by Ahmed who was coordinating the New Afrikan Security Union (NASU).
When Ahmed moved to Birmingham, Alabama from New York I visited him. In my early years as a New Afrikan Ahmed was a solid mentor, he didn't duck and dodge internal questions, he was a 'straight-shooter' a put it on the line type of Comrad deserving of ongoing remembrance and recognition!!