A book entitled “The Black Race by Ho Chi Minh and Selected Works on Systemic Racism” made debut in Canada at a virtual launch on February 20 during which participants highly valued the late Vietnamese leader’s thought of the issue.

President Ho Chi Minh at his working room
in the Viet Bac revolutionary base in 1951

The author, Prof. Nguyen Dai Trang, chose February to introduce this book, with the English and Vietnamese versions, as this is the month when many festivals and events take place in Canada to honour heritage of African-Canadians.

Trang, who has spent more than 25 years on collecting, studying, and writing about President Ho Chi Minh, told the Vietnam News Agency that “The Black Race” was written in French by Ho Chi Minh in 1925, and its Russian version was published in the former Soviet Union (now Russia) in 1928.

Only few people have a chance to read it, she said, and not many readers have known about his considerable influence on the national liberation movements in Africa, as well as the movements protesting against wars and seeking equality for people of African descent in the US.

This has encouraged Trang to gather 20 articles by Ho Chi Minh, including 12 from “The Black Race” and seven others written in the 1922 - 1924 and 1963 - 1966 periods, in this book, she noted.

She added that the death of African-American man George Floyd from police violence in late May 2020, which triggered a wave of anti-racism protests, further fueled her efforts to complete the book about Ho Chi Minh’s thought of racial equality, which has become more urgent than ever.

Prof. Anita Agrawal, an activist for gender and income equality and CEO of Best Bargains Jewellery, emphasised the historical and contemporary significance of the selected works on racism by Ho Chi Minh.

Agrawal said she is impressed that pressing issues like the fight for equality for the coloured people, especially the black, were mentioned by the late leader nearly 100 years ago.

Femi Oloruntoba, co-Director of the Canada - Vietnam Trade Council, described the selected works by Ho Chi Minh as a great reminder so that coloured people can gain lessons when taking part in the “Black Lives Matter” movement and building future action plans.