The Black world should consider the other side of this story.  Here is a war hero who is still strong and vigorous with a clear mind and a determined idea to do what is right.  He could be swayed by world opinion and weak African leaders who only want to appear as �good boys� for Europe and America.  He could be swayed by the idea of democracy and an opposition party that is bought and paid for by the White farmers, England and, yes, even America.  Yet, he has stayed the course.  For this reason, the Black world should stand up for President Robert Mugabe.

How do we show our support?  First by beginning a mass letter writing campaign from concerned Africans at home and abroad.  The letters can be addressed as follows:

His Excellency Robert Mugabe
President of the Republic of Zimbabwe
State House
Harare, Zimbabwe (Africa)

We should let him know that there are those in the Black/African world who separate the truth from the propaganda. We understand clearly what we are seeing and hearing.  We also know something about the objectives of those who oppose what is just and right.  We feel that true justice is the return of land to the African people.  This is what is troubling the Western world, because it causes them to look at their own history and injustices.

A review of history tells us of the first White settlers who came to what is now called Zimbabwe in 1890.  It was Cecil Rhodes who sent in over 200 farmers, miners, soldiers, and others that he called the pioneer column.  He also sent 300 policemen from Johannesburg under what was called the British South African Company (BSA).  Rhodes� objective was to find gold and expand British influence, according to the writings of historian Dr. Henry Louis Gates.  They found little gold, and they turned to farming and cattle ranching.  The settlers began forcing the Africans from the land into tribal reserves.  Therefore, this land which is in question today is land that was stolen from the Africans when those who came looking for gold and other mineral riches did not find them, but instead they found fertile land which could be farmed and used for cattle raising. 

The African leaders of Zimbabwe turned to the British crown for protection against this design.  However, England gave Cecil Rhodes the green light and he continued to take land from the Africans.  He re-named the land Rhodesia after himself.  To add insult to injury, they began to impose taxes on the Africans, which had to be paid in cash.  This is how the first rebellion against White rule began that lasted from 1896 to 1897.  This rebellion against White occupation, the robbery and oppression of the African people was brutally suppressed.  There were no other rebellions until the war of liberation began in the early 1960s.

As the question of land in Zimbabwe is at the top of the news, someone needs to take a moment to review the history of how not only land was stolen from the people, but their cattle and crops were stolen as well.  In the 1930s, the Whites who controlled the country allotted land according to race.  As a result, Whites ended up with most of the land.  They displaced the Black people on native reserves.  The Black people were allowed few educational opportunities.  Instead, they gave them a form of vocational training.  This training is similar to what took place in America for Blacks where we were primarily trained to be serviceable to White America.  In Zimbabwe, the African people were trained to be serviceable to the White colonial settlers who robbed their land.

Labor conditions and wages were below standards, as it was generally whenever White settlers occupied the land owned by the Africans.  They would pay them the lowest wages for the hardest work.  Not only did they keep the wages low, but trade unions were forbidden in domestic service, mining and agriculture.  These are the three largest sectors of employment in the country of Zimbabwe. 

Those who are not yet old enough to remember should know the history of when the Europeans of Britain saw the handwriting on the wall. They granted independence to Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which are now Zambia and Malawi.  Yet, it was the hardcore Whites of Southern Rhodesia (which is now Zimbabwe) under the leadership of Ian Smith, who resisted and fought a bitter battle for independence to maintain their oppressive rule over the Black people of what was then called Southern Rhodesia.

The battle and struggle for land which lasted until independence, came to the Africans in April of 1980.  It has always been the question of land, the land that belonged to the African people.  To have fought this long struggle for the rights to their own land that was stolen from them, and to make them appear as a brute force because they are so-called taking land from innocent Whites is far from the truth.  Many do not know of the long struggle of the leader of Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe, who spent nearly 10 years in prison.  He also lived and taught in Ghana where his first wife Sally was from.  Many do not know of his years in Tanzania and the ongoing struggle until independence. 

Few know about the negotiations at the Lancaster House where America and England made promises and then broke them.  There should be no question about what side the African world should stand on when it comes to the question of land in Zimbabwe.  Black Americans have similar circumstances.

Seventy years ago in America, Black people owned approximately sixteen million acres of land.  Now, according to what I learned at the Reparations March, we are down to approximately three million acres.  Most of this land was stolen from us through unjust laws and practices.  In Mississippi, there was a law that if your mother and father owned 1,000 acres of land and they passed away, the land would be divided amongst the descendants.  If one of the descendants decided to sell his/her portion, then all of the land had to be sold.  Also the local government would not send appropriate tax information to Black landowners, and a year later they would present them with a summons claiming that their land was sold for back taxes.

The land question in Zimbabwe is clear, for the land belongs to the Africans.  It was robbed from the Africans and should be returned to the Africans.  Now after fighting a war of liberation over their land, the land should be returned to them.  The Black/African world should stand with Mugabe.  All of those African presidents who have lifted up their voice to condemn their brother, should receive a letter from the African world.  They should be told that if they disagree with their brother and they do not have anything good to say about him, it is better in the face of attacks from Europe and America that they save their comments and speak to him in private! 

We must stand with President Robert Mugabe and the land reforms in the country of Zimbabwe.  As our nationalist brothers and sisters in America say, �Free The Land!�