Wabun Inini

Talking Feather interviews Wabun Inini WaBun-Inini: A true American hero Posted: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 By Obi Egbuna July 29, 2008 Harare ONE of the most tragic lessons that continues to be overlooked in the history of the United States is that the country is nothing, but a settler colony. This means the so-called founding fathers, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the rest of their gang, should be referred to as the first thieves. When we as Africans at home or abroad begin looking at US history with the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights or the Articles of Confederation, we must realise we are slapping the indigenous inhabitants of this land in the face, which is not culturally or politically acceptable. On October 13, 2007, the international fraternity of freedom fighters who believe in solidarity and world peace lost a brave and devoted comrade. His colonial name was Vernon Bellecourt but his "warrior" name was WaBun-Inini, which means "Man of Dawn". The Native American community compared this loss to when the Palestinians lost Yasser Arafat, when the African-American community lost Dr Martin Luther King Jnr and Malcolm X and when the Asian world lost Mao Tse Tung, Kim Il Sung and Ho Chi Minh. What made WaBun-Inini special was his commitment to internationalism. While he was very culturally grounded and was proud of his indigenous roots, he never hesitated using whatever platform to lend support to other oppressed people's struggles in every corner of the world.