“One must never stop reading. Read everything that you can read that is of standard knowledge. You must never–stop learning. The world’s greatest men and women were people who educated themselves outside of the university with all the knowledge that the university gives, and you have the opportunity of doing the same thing the university student does- read and study.”
Marcus Garvey
Because of his love of reading and desire to learn, 14 year old Garvey was allowed to work at his godfather’s print shop after school hours. Garvey was a very bright student and learned the print trade. His godfather also had an extensive book collection of which Marcus, by now an avid reader, made full use.
During his early travels to find employment and study the conditions of Black workers, he would publish weekly newspapers to report local news concerning our people. In his early 20’s, Mr. Garvey published numerous newspapers such as The Watchman, Jamaica; La Nacion, Costa Rica; La Presna, Colon Panama and The Bluefield Messenger, Costa Rica.
Mr. Garvey’s most successful and widely distributed paper was the weekly Negro World, which ran from 1918 to 1933 in Harlem, New York. The paper promoted Garvey’s Pan-African nationalist ideas and the global activity of the UNIA-ACL. French and Spanish language sections, were included in the paper, which in 1920 accomplished a circulation of over 70,000. Garvey also published other publications; The Daily Negro Times, Harlem 1822-1924; The Blackman, Kingston Jamaica, 1929-1931; The New Jamaican, Kingston, 1932-33; The Blackman magazine, which was started in Kingston in 1933 and continued in England until 1939.
Every single day and night, Black people spend countless binge hours watching Netflix, HBO, BET, Disney, and other networks that provide non-stop irrelevant entertainment that permeates through our households. This addictive programming is accompanied by greedy corporate commercials–with subliminal messages and catchy exploitive soulful jingles that serve as a complete waste of quality time. Black men simply cannot psychologically and mentally grow by watching eight hours of NFL football on Sunday.
**********
Thank you for reading Khabyr Hadas’ article on scoopnewsusa.com. For more on “Marcus Garvey and The Absolute Power of Reading, Part 2”, please subscribe to SCOOP USA Media. Print subscriptions are $75 and online subscriptions (Print, Digital, and VIZION) are $90. (52 weeks / 1 year).
