“The First Supper” by Tavares Strachan reimagines Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” with Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey, Marsha P. Johnson, Matthew Henson, Shirley Chisholm, Emperor Haile Selassie. On display with “Entangled Pasts: 1768-Now” at the @royalacademy in London.
Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister and great leader of the Congo, was tortured, executed in a firing squad, and his body was dissolved in sulfuric acid by Belgium and USA allies because he tried to protect his country's minerals. Today there is unrest in Congo with an occurrence of genocide in the Country.
His last words were: “My dear countrymen! In joy and in sorrow, I will always be with you.
It was together with you that I fought to free my country from foreign rule.
Together with you, I am fighting to strengthen our national independence.
Together with you, I will fight to preserve the integrity and national unity of the Republic of the Congo.
Neither cruelty, nor violence, nor torture will make me beg for mercy, because I prefer to die with my head raised high, with unshakeable faith.
In my country’s predestination rather than live in submission, forsaking my sacred principles”. ~ Patrice Lumumba