What's Yobè?
Inspired by the life of Kamerunian Freedom Fighter, Ruben Um Nyobè, Yobè is Afrikan Spirituality and Combatives, a comprehensive lifestyle designed for people of African descent to heal from racial trauma and historical suffering through learning African-centered spiritual systems and self defense. As such, Yobè is an African (Alkebulan) Martial Art (Montu) purposed for the liberation and restoration of our Black cultural and spiritual identity before slavery and colonialism. It is a sacred science and a way of life for people of African descent.Through our online rites of passage program, get access to numerous detailed video lessons released each week, live online workshops, rank testing, and much more!
Yobè Af-Ra-Kan Warrior Collective
We are moving more and more off social media with less information about Yobè available publicly. Membership in the collective is selective as the warrior collective is designed to help men of Afrikan descent heal and train together. This includes our Rites of Passage Program which consisting of weekly live Zoom classes every Wednesday Night from 9pm-10pm EST. Participation in our Warrior Classes and the Collective are by invite only. Contact Mwalimu Brother Rob at Afara@AfricanMartialArts.com for more information and to enroll.
Ruben Um Nyobè
Although Ruben Um Nyobè is not well known, he was a major figure in the African independence movement in the mid-20th century. He was born in 1913 in Song Mpeck, Kamerun which was a German colony at the time, but like much of Africa, was divided up by France and Great Britain after World War I. Although educated in Christianity and baptized, Um Nyobè denounced the Catholic Church due to its role in the proliferation of slavery and colonialism.
Um Nyobè was the first African leader to claim the independence of his nation in front of the United Nations General Assembly. During the assembly, he continuously railed against French colonial rule in Cameroon and called for the immediate and unconditional reunification of the divided French and British Cameroon.
The French responded by persecuting Um Nyobè's Cameroon People's Union (UPC), murdering many of its members, arresting others, and exiling the rest. Ruben Um Nyobè himself was murdered by the French government on September 13, 1958. If that wasn't enough, the French administration burned all of his writings and prohibited Cameroonians from even speaking his name. This prohibition remained in effect until the 1990s. Today, we remember Ruben Um Nyobè, his name, his life, his legacy.