There’s perhaps nothing quite like the way the One Africa! One Nation! Uhuru Flea Marketplace excites the African community in Southwest Philly. Saturday, April 11 marked the 15th annual celebration of the Uhuru Health Festival and Marketplace, where comrades throughout the Northern Region make what at this point qualifies as a monthly pilgrimage to west Philly’s Clark Park on 43rd & Chester Avenue to organize and build a dual and contending economy for the African community
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Chatters of “Uhuru comrade” rang in the early hours of the park as those who had not seen each other since the last market in 2025 greeted once more and hankered down for a productive day of organizing in the tame April sun of mid-spring.
The metallic whirrs of Comrade Kiongozi’s drills pierced the air as he built our trusty portable stage that has held many a revolutionary, like African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) Chairman Omali Yeshitela, African National Women’s Organization (ANWO) President Yejide Orunmila, All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project (AAPDEP) Director Aisha Fields, and APSP Northern Regional Representative Nkululeko Sechaba.
The park’s flora rustled with a chilly yet welcome breeze as music began to flow from the sound system managed by our Comrade DJ Duiji 13. And the busy hours of the morning passed smoothly despite what felt like a thousand and one vendors milled about the park, set up their tables, requested help, supplies, parking guidance, and any number of minutia that the Uhuru Flea Market team were prepped and ready to receive and resolve.
The program kicked off with welcome and salutations, followed by a healing soundbath performance from sister Monique from the Black Farmers Cooperative, a newly-won health partner of the Uhuru Health Festival, continued by a libations ceremony and tribute to fallen comrades led by Comrade Shabaka.
Various fitness demonstrations with Nate McIntyre, Divine Allah, and dance activities like Soul Line Dance with Gloria Kingcade put the health in the health festival as it showed African people that we have the power to take control of our own health.
This year’s health festival brought together long-time Uhuru Flea Market heavy-hitters, including vendors and endorsers like Nana Bey, Maureen Baquerro, Queen Samia Mu-El, Moravia Health, Refugee Health Partners, African Family Health Organization (AFAHO), and so many more.
Through the work of our fearless Program Coordinator and resident DJ, Comrade Cota, the Uhuru Health Festival also welcomed new faces and organizations to its network like Comrade Ismael Jimenez. Comrade Ismael unites with the work of the Uhuru Movement and was himself the target of censorship and suspended from his role of Social Studies Director at the School District of Philadelphia for including the truth of colonialism in public school curricula.
Comrade Ismael delivered a powerful keynote address, pointing out the need to see ourselves as one African people facing the same warfare that is also being waged in Iran and Palestine, and he called on people to show material solidarity with organizations like the Uhuru Movement.
Other new endorsers and health partners included Black Farmers Cooperative, 5SavesLives, and Iansá Magazine.
The excitement the Uhuru Health Festival presents is not only vested in the fact that it brings together local African businesses that are skilled in their craft, but also in the fact that every opportunity is taken to deepen the masses’ understanding of what it means to build an economy independent of the current parasitic order. This is through saturating the park with copies of The Burning Spear, engaging passersby with issues facing their community, or emphasizing the anti-colonial project of the Uhuru Movement in between sets.
The Uhuru Health Festival market then becomes a transformative space where political education, culture, health, and a great day in the park all come together to capture the imaginations of African people, to envision what a liberated territory could look like and to empower Africans to work toward building it.
Build African Self-Determination!
To learn more about the Uhuru Flea Markets in Philly, visit OneAfricaMarketPhilly.org. To get involved, email UhuruFleaMarkets@gmail.com.
