| Balozi R.M.Z. Harvey | |
| Office: | Executive Director of Harlem Third World Trade Center |
| Honorific-Prefix: | Honorable |
| Office1: | Executive Director of Essex County Economic Development and Affirmative Action |
| Birth Name: | Robert Alexander Harvey |
| Birth Date: | 1940 1, mf=yes |
| Alma Mater: | I East Orange High SchoolI Seton Hall University (BA)I United Nations International School |
| Term Start1: | 1967 |
| Term End1: | 2016 |
"Balozi" Robert Zayd Muhammad Harvey (January 26, 1940 – December 28, 2016) was an American diplomat,[1] community organizer, activist and executive director, based in New Jersey and New York. Balozi worked both domestically and internationally. Harvey was given the title "Balozi" ('ambassador' or 'statesmen' in Swahili)[2] by former President of Tanzania Julius K. Nyerere in 1964.[3]
Robert Alexander Harvey was born in East Orange, New Jersey, on January 26, 1940, to Clifton Harvey and Willie Bell Harvey, who raised their son Catholic.[4] His father was a cook for Marcus Garvey and an activist in the Pan-African Movement. He graduated from East Orange High School in 1957 and enlisted in the United States Air Force, where he served with the Strategic Air Command for four years before being honorably discharged in 1961.
Harvey went on to study at Seton Hall University, where his major was political science. After graduating college, Harvey attended the United Nations language school in New York, where he learned Swahili, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and Zulu.[5]
In 1965, Harvey converted from Christianity to Islam by joining the Nation of Islam, where he later became an advocate for the holiday Kwanzaa.[6] He married Karimu F. Hill in 1979, who served as the Judge of the Municipal Court of East Orange.[7] Since 1982, Harvey has resided in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. He had six children and five grandchildren.[8]
In 1961, the same year as his discharge, Harvey involved himself with the Black Power Movement. He said that he helped other people of African descent to "locate their Blackness through feelings of exile and against the backdrop of a postcolonial Africa."[9] A few years later, in 1964, Harvey returned to Africa as a personal guest of former President Julius K. "Mwalimu" Nyerere of the United Republic of Tanzania, a proponent of North-South Dialogue who named him "Balozi" (Swahili for 'ambassador' and/or 'statesman').[10]
In 1966, 18 months after his return to the United States, he served as the job recruiter for Tanzania. In 1967, Balozi founded and became Chairman of the Black Community Development Organization.[11] Balozi attended the inaugural Kwanzaa celebration launched by Malanga Karenga in Los Angeles, California, in 1967. Balozi participated in a 1968 rally against the proposed construction of the Route 75 highway, an eight lane highway planned to run North to South; he thought that it would have cut the Central Ward in half and displaced thousands of Black and Puerto Rican residents.[12]
As part of the Peace and Power campaign, Balozi composed one third of a triumvirate of political leaders within the Committee for a United Newark (CFUN), alongside Amiri Baraka and Mfundishi Maasi. Their campaign efforts aided in electing Kenneth A. Gibson, the first Black mayor of Newark, in 1970. Harvey continued his work through the Newark mayor's office as a Special Aide in the Office of Honorary Kenneth A. Gibson, for whom he handled international relations and protocol.[13] In 1969, due to conflicts from Baraka's push for centralizing CFUN and prioritizing political education, the BCD and other groups such as the Sisters of Black Culture departed CFUN.[14]
Starting in 1970, Harvey would operate as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Representative to the United Nations for the Congress of Afrikan People.[15] Harvey would be placed in charge of CAP's International Affairs and lead the East Orange branch of CAP. In 1971, Harvey traveled alongside other CAP leaders to the Miako Uhuru, the tenth celebration of Tanzania's independence. Aside from the National Council of Black Churchmen, CAP was the only other official delegation from the United States to attend the event.[16] While at the United Nations, Balozi would serve as the Impresario for the Ballet Africana, the national troupe of Guinea, at the request of the Guinean government. By October of 1974, after Baraka pushed for the CAP to embrace Maoism as its core ideology, Balozi had resigned from his position as head of CAP's International Affairs, and had departed from the organization.[17]
From 1973 to 1977, Harvey headed the Drug & Alcohol Control for the city of East Orange, New Jersey, under the leadership of Mayor William S. Hart. He was then assigned as Mayoral Liaison to the UN where he worked to strengthen trade between developing nations and Newark, New Jersey. In 1978, Harvey worked as Mayoral Liaison to the Newark–Rutgers University Small Business Development Center, and he also served as the President of the Newark United Nations Association. In 1982, Harvey was appointed executive director of the HTWTI, Harlem Third World Trade Institute, upon the recommendation of US Congressman Charles B. Rangel. The institute is responsible for the hosting and partnership of government officials and business leaders, and acts as the international trade and investment promotion agency for the HUDC, the Harlem Urban Development Corporation.[18] Harvey also acted as an investment consultant to the HUDC in New York City.[19] [20] That year, he also served as a consultant to the Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials.[21] During his 13 years as executive director, the Institute facilitated international transactions in excess of $30 million. In addition, 47 Heads of State and Government and 400 high-level government and business leaders visited Harlem, United States, as guests. HTWTI promoted the proposed $150 million Harlem International Trade Center.[22]
In 1983, the United Nations African and Caribbean Diplomatic Corps, under the joint chairmanship of Ambassador Oumarou G. Youssoufou, Executive Secretary of the Organization of African Unity to the United Nations and Ambassador Serge Charles of Haiti, honored Balozi at a testimonial dinner. A year later, he formed and became chairman of the Essex County Pan-African Cultural Society. Harvey was also elected to the Board of Directors of the New York City Partnership, Inc.[23] The Partnership was headed by David Rockefeller, Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank.Harvey worked closely with several foreign dignitaries. He was installed as King Nana Kablam I of the village of Azzuretti in the Ivory Coast, and once described it as "...perhaps the greatest highlight of my life." He was appointed as Special Presidential Envoy of the Government of Liberia by President of the Republic of Liberia, H.E. Charles G. Taylor. Balozi was honored at the Rites of Passage ceremony at the Alexandria Balloon Festival in Pittstown in August 1994.[24] The event was attended by about 25 chiefs from Africa and their queens.
In 1995, Balozi formed and became Chairman of Balozi & Associates (B&A), an international trade and investment consulting firm.[25] The firm opened offices in New York City, East Orange (New Jersey), London, Paris and Monrovia (Liberia), and developed an $800 million satellite project in Africa with client ACTEL in conjunction with Lockheed Martin. He also established and became Chairman/CEO of His Majesty Traders, a business entity, and later founded and became Chairman of Human Bridges, Inc., a nonprofit charity. Balozi also served as the Director of Global Mining Consultants (England) and the Director of Guardian Scientific Africa (United States) between 1998 and 2000.
Between 2001 and 2002, Harvey served as Executive Vice President of Egg Solution, Inc., a European optical technology manufacturer with offices in Paris, New York, and Los Angeles. A resident of Essex County, Harvey was appointed Director of OCDAA, the Office of Cultural Diversity and Affirmative Action, in 2003.[26] Through his post, he served as a member of the Essex County Disparity Study Commission and the Essex County Juvenile Justice Disparities Working Group. In 2004, Harvey was appointed as executive director of the EDC,[27] [28] the Essex County Economic Development Corporation and Essex County Office of Cultural Diversity and Affirmative Action, serving in the role until 2007. A year later, in January 2004, Balozi was appointed as executive director of the Essex County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) by County Executive DiVincenzo.[29]
In May 2006, Balozi was honored as the Grand Marshall of the 40th Annual African-American Heritage New Jersey State-wide Parade. Harvey retired from his diplomatic career in September 2007. His "Legacy & Retirement Dinner" was held at the Sheraton Hotel at Newark Airport, New Jersey.Harvey gave opening remarks at the 20th Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Annual Day at the United Nations Headquarters on July 28, 2008.[30] He encouraged everyone there to celebrate Ahmadou Bamba by wearing traditional African dress, something he said he began to do himself in 1987 in homage to his friend President Sankara of Burkina Faso, who was assassinated that year. He emphasized for those within the African Diaspora to wear black and green to distinguish themselves from their African brothers, who were dressed in white.
In 2008, Harvey participated in the "Bridging the Gap" Symposium presented by Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker's African Commission and the African Institute of Essex County College to discuss political relationships between the people of African descent at home and abroad.[31] In 2009, he was an honorary committee member for Amiri Baraka's 75th birthday celebration, along with Maya Angelou and Danny Glover.[32]
He was a member of the Essex County Workforce Investment Board (WIB) and served as the County Executive's Municipal Liaison to the Township of Irvington, New Jersey.[33] On April 26, 2016, the NAACP Chapter of the Oranges and Maplewood awarded Harvey its Presidential Award during the Freedom Fund brunch.[34]
In 1965, Balozi converted to Islam from Catholicism while working with President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania in Eastern Africa.[35] He assumed the Muslim name Zayd Muhammad.
He was named the North American Representative and Spokesman for Cheikh Moutada M'Backe, spiritual leader of the Mourid Islamic Community headquartered in Touba, Senegal.[36] [37] Harvey served as the President of the Mourid Islamic Community in America (MICA). In this role, his primary responsibility was to assist Murid officials in making administrative decisions.[38] At the time, he was reportedly the only American to head a predominantly African Sufi organization.[39] During Sheikh Mourtalla's first visit to the United States in 1988, Balozi was responsible for financing Sheikh Mourtalla's first visit to the United States.[40]
In 1990, the Hijrah Project was started with the goal of the construction of an educational institute in Touba. As part of his N'Digel (protocols of governance), Sheikh Mourtada M'Backe produced two documents, one of which was a letter taken to New York to be delivered to Balozi.[41] This letter gave Balozi authorization to organize a celebration of Khadimou Rassoul. The letter stated that all talibes, both American and Senegalese, were expected to follow Balozi's guidance. In 1996, Balozi was included among a delegation from the World Islamic Peoples' Leadership for a proposed meeting with UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to discuss the matter of recent American threats concerning Tarhuna and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
He made over 200 trips to the African continent collecting art and artifacts. Some were gifts from African leaders.
Harvey died on December 28, 2016, at the age of 76.[42] [43] His funeral was held on December 31, 2016, with Maulana Karenga giving an homage to Balozi during the event. Newark mayor Ras Baraka issued a statement following Harvey's death, stating "Few have done more to build bridges between African nations and the Black communities of America."[44] Following Harvey's death, the Balozi R.M.Z. Harvey Foundation was created in his honor.[45] [46] Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. would dedicate a bronze plaque in Balozi's honor in Essex County's Legend Way.