Weeks 34-36: Roots
A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. -Marcus Garvey In the past few weeks, many trees in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Gulf Coast have been uprooted by hurricanes and lay to waste, scattered across the landscape. So, too, have our “American” values. Protesters and counter protesters have continued to clash over the memorialization of Confederate leaders. NFL players have expanded their protests during the playing of the National Anthem, igniting a feud with our president and vice president. And most recently, an “Average American” used legally-purchased, semi-automatic weapons to open fire on concert goers in Las Vegas, killing 58 and wounding more than 500. Sparking an age old gun control debate. The quote I’m invoking this week comes from Marcus Garvey. In this quote, Garvey is talking about Africans. He was a proponent of Pan-Africanism. He felt like Africans needed to reclaim knowledge of their past th