90 years after forming the UNIA, Marcus Garvey’s Unmatched Impact Celebrated In South Florida

MIAMI – In 1918, Marcus Garvey incorporated the UNIA, the organization which was to have the most profound effect of any Black organization organized with the objective of improving the overall conditions of people of African ascent “at Home and Abroad.”

Five years before that, he had already boldly prophesied a historic role for ‘West Indians’ in shaping the future of the world. Arriving in the United States in 1916, he soon added Black Americans to that Prophecy.

Almost a century later, one South Florida-based organization, IMI Inc, is celebrating 21 years of using that fact to motivate and mobilize Blacks toward a more profound understanding and application of the cultural basis of the spiritual, economic, social, and political movement inspired by Marcus Garvey.

South Florida’s 21st Annual Marcus Garvey Birthday Celebrations, which takes place on the campus of Florida Memorial University, a historically Black university, on September 13, is taking place against the historic background of an African-American poised to possibly be elected President of the United States.

“2008 is indeed one of the most momentous periods in the history of the United States, and indeed, the world,” says Ras Don Rico Ricketts, founder of IMI Inc, “And the probable election of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States is likely to be only one of the reasons.”

“There are some people, myself included, who insist that the New Ethiopian/African Millennium, the so-called ‘start’ of which was celebrated last year, is properly to be marked from September 11, 2008.”

Ricketts adds that, he says, would put Obama’s election onto the long-expected and closely-watched ‘time track’ toward an even more dramatic future for the US and the world.

It is primarily for that reason that the annual events – which include the Annual Marcus Garvey Lecture/Forum and LIONSPLASH; a Back to School Family Fun Day & Cultural Concert – have been moved from thei usual start date of August 17, Marcus Garvey’s birthday, to September.

The Marcus Garvey Celebrations will be marking that September weekend as significant, by joining in celebration of the Ethiopian/African New Year/New Millennium with the Rastafarian community worldwide on September 10 and 11, and in the Celebrations marking Florida Memorial University’s 40th Anniversary, on Saturday, September 13, from noon till midnight.