Terae Soumah

Avec la Clé attempts to answer the question of what the Lumumba legacy means to contemporary youth of Congo. For three months in 2021, I met weekly with a small group of artists from various domains to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of Lumumba’s assassination. After reading his original writings, participants engaged in discussion, analysis, and creative response to explore and reflect on the current state of the republic, their communities, and their individual lives. Together we then composed, directed, and presented a creative work expressing their perspective on life in Congo, 60 years after the death of independence leader and first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba.

As a scholar of the vision and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. I designed this community change project to incorporate King ideology with my doctoral research into Congolese youth movements, leadership identity development, and traditional African leadership models. In his address to youth in August 1960, Patrice Lumumba acknowledged that his fight for independence and the right to self-determination was a fight on behalf of the youth of the country by saying “…the future of our beloved country belongs to them.” His vision for the country echoed many of King’s sentiments: nonviolence, an emphasis on partnership, community and unity in an effort to elevate the opportunities for all, equally.

The day will come when history will speak. But it will not be the history which will be taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United Nations…Africa will write its own history and in both north and south it will be a history of glory and dignity.

– Patrice Lumumba