To Speak

The moment I fell in love with this course was during our lecture on Lumumba. I was ineffably moved by the man’s fierce, unapologetic and unprecedented commitment to speaking the truth, his uncompromised ability of seeing beauty in a tarnished world, and his endless struggle of restoring that beauty to the world. More recently, I have immensely come to love the “Black, Lesbian, Feminist,” Audre Lorde, who speaks of the transformation of silence into language and action. The ability to speak the unmitigated truth in the pursuit of love and redemption has been a pervasive and enduring theme throughout the Black Radical Tradition, as portrayed by figures such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Toni Morrison. Through this blog, I will bring together Lumumba and Audre Lorde upon this theme.

Lumumba sees the pain, reality, but also the unparalleled beauty of Africa. Even in a world where the colonial states constantly preyed on Congo, the Congolese themselves made a mockery out of ‘independence,’ and even kin refused loyalty, Lumumba stands – dauntless, unbreakable, and unapologetically himself. He sees something that others simply refuse to see- the latent potential of goodness, the faith of capacity, the Dionysus in us- all of us. Even when we are conspiring, conniving, or just plain bad, Lumumba dissects the beauty amidst the ugliness. He constantly voices the truth and seeks redemption through his words, “I speak and I awaken.” The ability to speak this truth enables him to expose lies and bear witness. He himself testifies to the power of the spoken word when he says, “My only arms are my words, I speak and I awaken, I am not a redresser of wrongs, nor a miracle worker, I am a redresser of life, I speak and I give back Africa to herself. I speak and I give back Africa to the world! I speak and, attacking the very base of oppression and servitude, I make fraternity possible for the first time!” Words are indeed his weapons against oppression, and gateways into a homelier world.

Audre Lorde also beautifully articulates the power of the spoken word. She guides us that what is most important must be spoken even it comes “at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.” Lumumba’s words always fell on deaf ears; yet, only through words he could give a name to suffering and unmask evils. Words are the “transformation of silence into language and action.” Even though, ultimately his words are the cause of his death, they are more profoundly the cause of his afterlife. His death is so grievable because it is an irrevocable lamentation of the kind, homely, and beautiful world which he so passionately spoke of. He bears witness to life through his death; his words remind of the goodness lying latent in all of us, and of a world worth dying for. Lorde reminds us that our “silence will not protect us,” but for every true word that we speak, we draw closer to each other and collectively seek a world that is home to us. We are not just casualties, but also warriors, united in a “war against the tyrannies of silence.” In the end, Lumumba, the Dionysus who speaks the truth lives, while others who choose to remain silent, die. He is indeed a martyr, a shaheed, bearing witness to beauty and redemption. 

 Silence is death, stagnation, and the inevitable perpetuation of oppression. In the end, Lorde tells us that only through speaking the truth “we can survive, by taking part in a process of life that is creative and continuing, that is growth.” Malcolm’s life, as an antidote to rigidity or silence, is a testament to this. In fact, what the Black African Tradition teaches us that we have a responsibility to recognize these words and say them, before "that weight of silence chokes us." This lesson deeply resonates with us amidst the many injustices and sufferings prevailing .Only through truth we address the question of difference as a creative catalyst of change, introduce invention into existence, and carve a way forward into a redeemed future. A Decolonial future.