Four powerful ideas Pan-African martyr Walter Rodney taught us

Walter Rodney‘s was the kind of mind that was truly generational and it was not simply because he was superbly intelligent. But Rodney was an activist-academic in a way that you could dispute neither his brains nor his bravery.

In a way, he lived a life that asked questions of those who say they are progressive or revolutionary. Throughout his time, it is as if Rodney was telling other leftists, “Enough of your theories and ideas. Walk the talk.”

He put his body on the line, quite literally. Born on this day March 23, 1942, Rodney was assassinated in a car bomb in his hometown of Georgetown, Guyana, in June 1980.

He was aged just 38. But Africans on the continent and in the diaspora have Rodney to thank for so much.

He was an academic historian who produced the monumental critical historical work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.

Rodney was a politician who left us with a blueprint on how to force people in power to reckon with the truths of the disenfranchised and underprivileged.

Many believe Rodney was assassinated because of his politics.

He died young but his thoughts seem eternally worthy. We take a look at four quotes through which Africans and people of African descent can find empowerment.