How I Met Stokely Carmichael

When we arrived in Conakry, the capital and checked into one of their best hotels, the desk clerk recognizing  me as an American, informed me that Stokely Carmichael was a guest. I gave the desk clerk a tip and asked him to tell Mr. Carmichael that I wanted to meet him.

The following day, I was given the room number and time. Boy, can you imagine that I was meeting The Stokely Carmichael one of the founders of the Black Panthers. I was ecstatic and nervous.

Upon entering the dim room, I believe his wife was sleeping; I noticed he was wearing a white African outfit. we sat on the couch and proceeded to talk. He informed me that he was now known as Quamé Touré which was a name given to him by the president of the country, Pres. Sekou Touré.

We had a lively conversation talking about my gold business and what had happened to him. He asked me how I was coping in the US.

He was very clear about the following positions :

• Black Americans should have their own country
• It should be somewhere like Texas or California
• We should fight to get it

I immediately disagreed saying that we should pursue wealth. How can we fight a war with no money?  The focus should be on the accumulation of wealth and the education of our children.

He was a separatist but was willing to listen to my position. In other words, we agreed to disagree. He did not try to change my mind. He was very kind. He could have loudly blown me off.

I thanked him for meeting and praised him for what he had done. I also told him how proud I was to meet the “Man”. I then wished him well and left to go up-country to buy this high purity gold dust. It was 93% pure by the way.

After checking out of the hotel, and before going up-country, I went to stay with the Tolbert’s. The two sons, who escaped Sergeant Doe’s coup and murder of their father who was the first president of Liberia and other members of their family. This is a story for another time.

Quamé Touré aka Stokely Carmichael died on November 15, 1998.

Here are some quotes from Mr. Touré:

• There is a higher law than the law of government. That's the law of conscience
• The secret of life is to have no fear; it's the only way to function.
• Before a group can enter the open society, it must first close ranks
• Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom