Who

Equism is a not-for-profit cooperative, mutually owned by its members.  Any profits earned, (minus operating expenses, and retained earnings for research and future growth and development (yearly, neither to exceed 20% of profits combined), are distributed to the members based on their participation in the consumption of the goods and services offered.  Citizens also receive earnings dividends through their deposits in our true Central Bank, owned by the people, not privately-owned banks under Capitalism.

Equism is organized and managed by members of our ‘tribe’.  Members of the Board of Directors (9 – 18 men and women) must be at least 72 years old.

Equism is the culmination of the ideas and works of such great men as both the Honorable Marcus Garvey and his movement, the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), for Amer Africans to return to Africa; and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s platform, the Nation of Islam (NOI), which advocated that Amer Africans separate into a  territory of our own in 5 Southern States in America (Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi). 

Both men are my mentors.  Garvey and Muhammad did not, nor do I, believe integration was or is a viable option to achieve freedom, justice, and equality of opportunity for Africans scattered in the Diaspora.

Among the men and women that I would also like to pay respect to are the following international patriots, knowing that I have unknowingly left a few off the list; my namesake, Patrice Lumumba, is first and foremost; Chaka Zulu, Cheikh Anton Diop, Samora Michel, Nelson Mandela, Queen Nzinga, Kwame Nkrumah, Robert Mugabe, Chris Hani, and even Idi Amin, who eschewed white rule, are to be remembered.

In the Western Hemisphere, aside from my mentors, I would like to acknowledge Franz Fanon, Ivan Van Sertima, Toussaint l’ Overture, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Denmark Vesey, Malcom X, Martin L. King, Jr., Carter G. Woodson, Chancellor Williams, Haki Madhubuti, Maulana Ron Karenga, Stokely Carmichael, Fred Hampton, Huey Newton, and Muhammad Ali.

The best way for me to describe Equism is to offer the poem Brother Muhammad Ali delivered to an over-crowded Harvard University audience in 1975.  It is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the shortest poem in history.

“Me, We.” Muhammad Ali, 1975

I can only hope you understand.  

Individually and collectively, it means all of us. 

We are truly in this together.