of tears, fire, and blood

"...Hard torches of the sun will shine for us again

They'll dry the tears in eyes and spittle on your face.

The moment when you break the chains,

the heavy fetters,

The evil cruel times will go never to come again...."

excerpt of a poem

"Dawn in the Heart of Africa"

by PATRICE LUMUMBA

ANCESTOR

PATRICE EMERY LUMUMBA

Born 1925 Crossed over 1961

First prime minister (1960-1961) of the Congo (later Zaire).

"We have seen the appalling suffering of those who had their political opinions and religious beliefs dismissed as exiles in their own country, their lot was truly worse than death. We have seen magnificent houses in the towns for the whites, and crumbling straw huts for the blacks; a black man could not go to the cinema, or a restaurant, or a shop that was meant for 'Europeans,' a black man would always travel in the lowest part of a ship, under the feet of the whites in their luxurious cabins.
And finally, who can ever forget the shooting in which so many of our brothers died; or the cells where those who refused to submit any longer to the rule of a 'justice' of oppression and exploitation were put away? "

of tears, fire, and blood

EXCERT OF FAMOUS SPEECH BY PATRICE LUMUMBA

He was ousted, seized, brutalised and humiliated publicly before being murdered secretly. Reports suggest that his remains were cut up and placed in sulfuric acid in an attempted destroy the evidence of heinous crimes .

WE POUR LIBATIONS IN HIS HONOUR
MAY THE ANCESTORS BE PLEASED WITH HIS EFFORTS