Corporations are advertising everywhere, encouraging people to pay them in order to get DNA results confirming your ethnic background(s). In their television ads, most of these companies openly and freely use Africans (all people of African descent are Africans) to advertise their "services." From a marketing standpoint, that makes sense because most people in the Western world already have a pretty good idea where their ethnic stock derives. In fact, the only people who do not have this information are the descendants of Africa who are living in the Western Hemisphere. The transatlantic slave trade, the sole reason we are in this part of the world, wiped out any knowledge, records, or documentation of our origin. We were property just like the food you bought and consumed three years ago. There was no logical reason for you to hold onto the receipt for that food just like there was no logical reason for the people who kidnapped, bought, and sold our ancestors to hold onto those receipts. These corporations, capitalizing on the obvious emotional desire any human beings would have to know from whence they came, uses us in their advertising to highlight the point that they can help us reclaim our lost heritage. One commercial in particular shows an African woman recounting the pride she had in learning she derived from the Yoruba people of West Africa. Understanding the trauma we have experienced for the last 500+ years, I'm quite sure the producers of that commercial didn't have to push much for the legitimate emotion that woman displayed at adorning the Yoruba hat she purchased. The marketing is working. I know a number of people, family, friends, etc., who gleefully let me know they have ordered their results from this company, or that company. Those well meaning folks usually have a difficult time understanding why I haven't gone out and done the same. Their assumption, a reasonable one, is that I would be first to seek out those results since I have always had such an interest in Africa.
What those good people don't understand is my interest, as well as that of my comrades, in Africa, is cultural and historical, but for us, that vision is defined by our political objectives and ideology. Since we know everything is political we place our context against the same capitalist infrastructure that kidnapped and enslaved us in the first place. What's incredible is that so many of us wouldn't stop one second to ponder the irony that the same system that prevented us through systemic violence from knowing our true identity, would today find some way to turn around and charge us money for that information. Its the same as a thief stealing from you and then charging you to get your property back from them. That insanity probably sounds familiar because its a constant way of doing things by this backward system. From my perspective, no thanks. I pass on the test, and I'll explain all the reasons why.
My interest in being an African actually has very little to do with the fact it is the place where my ancestors came from. Its more so the fact us being stolen from Africa is part and parcel of the process that destabilized Africa, and consequently African people, worldwide. As a result, the only way we can regain our dignity, is by uniting and strengthening Africa (under one continental socialist government). So, what I'm saying is Africa for me is more about where we are going as a people then where we came from. That very fact makes my African identity primarily political, not biological. Since I see Africa through a political lense, I'm less concerned about the biological and geographical elements. I claim all of Africa because I understand our salvation is tied to the unification of all of Africa. And as a lost son of Africa I have the right to claim all of it. That's why Africans outside of Africa have always played a major role in developing Pan-Africanism, because of our relationship of being stolen from our mother. So, whether Akan, Ibo, Fulani, Hausa, Mandinka, Xhosa, Zulu, Shona, Kikuyu, etc., I claim all of it. Whether African born in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, Honduras, Canada, Britain, France, Australia, India, etc., I claim all of them under our political umbrella as African people because whether we left African 100,000 years ago, or five minutes ago, our salvation - collectively - is still politically tied to Africa's redemption.
The other reason the test doesn't interest me is because of the ideology that drives the political definition I mentioned above. That ideology - Nkrumahism/Tureism - taken from Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Ture, the two most prolific proponents of revolutionary Pan-Africanist ideology, has given us the gift of the revolutionary African personality (RAP). RAP is our ideological belief that every African has within them the three periods of African existence; traditional Africa. The Judeo-Christian period in Africa. And, the Islamic period in Africa. Every African has all three of those components. That isn't saying you believe yourself to be a Christian, but I'm saying you are part Muslim. What its saying is you may be a Christian, but somewhere in struggle to advance from where we started to where you are today, Islam played some role in your families transition just like traditional Africa plays a role. There are elements of traditional Africa within us whether we are conscious of it or not. There are elements of all three periods within us, whether we know it or not. And, those three influences are not evenly experienced meaning its not 33/3. In some of us, traditional may be dominant. In others the Christian or Islamic is dominant, but all of us have all three. It is with this understanding that we proclaim that each of us are also a manifestation of our collective, humanist, and egalitarian culture as African people. Our culture is not individualistic. Of course we are individuals, but the concept of the individual as a priority above the collective is foreign to African culture. Just as the concept that money is more important than people is foreign to African culture. That's why there is never any scenario where African people will be in a group and sit and watch a group of Africans terrorize Europeans, or anyone. Someone is going to intervene. When those Africans, angered by the verdict freeing all of those police terrorists, pulled that European from that truck in South Los Angeles, U.S., on April 29, 1992, and began to beat the stuffing out of him, Africans immediately intervened and saved that man's life. History is full of countless examples of Europeans standing around when we are beheaded, castrated, and having our limbs torn from their setting. Actually, doing those types of things to us was spectator sport for Europeans in colonial areas of Africa and the Western world. Clearly, our African culture is diametrically opposed to Western capitalism and imperialism. That's why we define our African identity primarily through a political vision because by doing so, we automatically create a strong weapon against the forces that oppress us. This understanding of being African raises the bar far above that of just a simple reflection of where we came from hundreds/thousands of years ago. Where we came from before has absolutely no bearing on what is happening to us today, but Africa has everything to do with where we are going to be tomorrow. So, I don't see the value of a test that tells me where in Africa I came from. I'm much more interested in building relationships in every part of Africa today that will lead me to the political power and organization that will permit us to overcome our issues. Kwame Nkrumah discussed how we have many differences as African people, all two billion of us in so many countries worldwide, but he also discussed how our futures are connected to how strong Africa is and that unifying force is much more important than the different languages, food, religion, and other things we do that are not the same. So, instead of amplifying the differences, we are interested in exploring the commonalities that will bring us together. For me, the test does nothing to advance that work. I was African before I was born. I was African when I born. I was African before I knew I was African and I'm African now. My great grandchildren will be African long after I'm gone, no matter where they live. No matter if they never were to set foot in Africa. Test or no test, all of this is ill refutable.
Finally, its actually fascinating that people who would be hesitant to provide details beyond the bill paying essentials to any of the corporations that provide the services they use e.g. electricity, internet, phone service, etc., would so willingly give their personal DNA information to those same type of corporations. Those corporations, despite their appearance in their commercials of helping us realize Pan-African identities, are capitalist entities at the end of the day. That means upon request, they will provide your personal DNA information to government police agencies to be used to set you up for crimes they desire to pin on our people. Also, they will use that scientific information to deport people, lock people up, and do all of the dirty things this system does to people on a daily basis.
To summarize, we advance the notion that we are Africans primarily because of our need to achieve our freedom and self-determination through Africa's unity and liberation. With this understanding, it becomes completely ill-relevant to focus, as many misdirected Africans do today, on what Africa is called or questioning the elements of our history e.g. the slave trade, that they just haven't taken the time to study and properly understand. To illustrate how absurd some of these positions are, it is easy to visualize that even if you claim you have no connection to Africa. No history from Africa. No future with Africa, whatever. If you look physically in a way that leads people to believe that you somehow connected to African people, then even - just for the sake of argument - that you really didn't have any connection to Africa, it can be easily argued that you would still need to have Africa liberated to even see the pressure against you lifted. So, no matter what conspiracy theories people believe. No matter what far out thoughts and beliefs we may have, until Africa is free, we will remain oppressed. If you can't see how that's a political analysis of our connection to Africa, I suggest you read this over and over again until you do. And, if you still don't understand why the DNA test is not central to our connection to our African identity, then read the sentence before this one over and over and then get back to us.
What those good people don't understand is my interest, as well as that of my comrades, in Africa, is cultural and historical, but for us, that vision is defined by our political objectives and ideology. Since we know everything is political we place our context against the same capitalist infrastructure that kidnapped and enslaved us in the first place. What's incredible is that so many of us wouldn't stop one second to ponder the irony that the same system that prevented us through systemic violence from knowing our true identity, would today find some way to turn around and charge us money for that information. Its the same as a thief stealing from you and then charging you to get your property back from them. That insanity probably sounds familiar because its a constant way of doing things by this backward system. From my perspective, no thanks. I pass on the test, and I'll explain all the reasons why.
My interest in being an African actually has very little to do with the fact it is the place where my ancestors came from. Its more so the fact us being stolen from Africa is part and parcel of the process that destabilized Africa, and consequently African people, worldwide. As a result, the only way we can regain our dignity, is by uniting and strengthening Africa (under one continental socialist government). So, what I'm saying is Africa for me is more about where we are going as a people then where we came from. That very fact makes my African identity primarily political, not biological. Since I see Africa through a political lense, I'm less concerned about the biological and geographical elements. I claim all of Africa because I understand our salvation is tied to the unification of all of Africa. And as a lost son of Africa I have the right to claim all of it. That's why Africans outside of Africa have always played a major role in developing Pan-Africanism, because of our relationship of being stolen from our mother. So, whether Akan, Ibo, Fulani, Hausa, Mandinka, Xhosa, Zulu, Shona, Kikuyu, etc., I claim all of it. Whether African born in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, Honduras, Canada, Britain, France, Australia, India, etc., I claim all of them under our political umbrella as African people because whether we left African 100,000 years ago, or five minutes ago, our salvation - collectively - is still politically tied to Africa's redemption.
The other reason the test doesn't interest me is because of the ideology that drives the political definition I mentioned above. That ideology - Nkrumahism/Tureism - taken from Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Ture, the two most prolific proponents of revolutionary Pan-Africanist ideology, has given us the gift of the revolutionary African personality (RAP). RAP is our ideological belief that every African has within them the three periods of African existence; traditional Africa. The Judeo-Christian period in Africa. And, the Islamic period in Africa. Every African has all three of those components. That isn't saying you believe yourself to be a Christian, but I'm saying you are part Muslim. What its saying is you may be a Christian, but somewhere in struggle to advance from where we started to where you are today, Islam played some role in your families transition just like traditional Africa plays a role. There are elements of traditional Africa within us whether we are conscious of it or not. There are elements of all three periods within us, whether we know it or not. And, those three influences are not evenly experienced meaning its not 33/3. In some of us, traditional may be dominant. In others the Christian or Islamic is dominant, but all of us have all three. It is with this understanding that we proclaim that each of us are also a manifestation of our collective, humanist, and egalitarian culture as African people. Our culture is not individualistic. Of course we are individuals, but the concept of the individual as a priority above the collective is foreign to African culture. Just as the concept that money is more important than people is foreign to African culture. That's why there is never any scenario where African people will be in a group and sit and watch a group of Africans terrorize Europeans, or anyone. Someone is going to intervene. When those Africans, angered by the verdict freeing all of those police terrorists, pulled that European from that truck in South Los Angeles, U.S., on April 29, 1992, and began to beat the stuffing out of him, Africans immediately intervened and saved that man's life. History is full of countless examples of Europeans standing around when we are beheaded, castrated, and having our limbs torn from their setting. Actually, doing those types of things to us was spectator sport for Europeans in colonial areas of Africa and the Western world. Clearly, our African culture is diametrically opposed to Western capitalism and imperialism. That's why we define our African identity primarily through a political vision because by doing so, we automatically create a strong weapon against the forces that oppress us. This understanding of being African raises the bar far above that of just a simple reflection of where we came from hundreds/thousands of years ago. Where we came from before has absolutely no bearing on what is happening to us today, but Africa has everything to do with where we are going to be tomorrow. So, I don't see the value of a test that tells me where in Africa I came from. I'm much more interested in building relationships in every part of Africa today that will lead me to the political power and organization that will permit us to overcome our issues. Kwame Nkrumah discussed how we have many differences as African people, all two billion of us in so many countries worldwide, but he also discussed how our futures are connected to how strong Africa is and that unifying force is much more important than the different languages, food, religion, and other things we do that are not the same. So, instead of amplifying the differences, we are interested in exploring the commonalities that will bring us together. For me, the test does nothing to advance that work. I was African before I was born. I was African when I born. I was African before I knew I was African and I'm African now. My great grandchildren will be African long after I'm gone, no matter where they live. No matter if they never were to set foot in Africa. Test or no test, all of this is ill refutable.
Finally, its actually fascinating that people who would be hesitant to provide details beyond the bill paying essentials to any of the corporations that provide the services they use e.g. electricity, internet, phone service, etc., would so willingly give their personal DNA information to those same type of corporations. Those corporations, despite their appearance in their commercials of helping us realize Pan-African identities, are capitalist entities at the end of the day. That means upon request, they will provide your personal DNA information to government police agencies to be used to set you up for crimes they desire to pin on our people. Also, they will use that scientific information to deport people, lock people up, and do all of the dirty things this system does to people on a daily basis.
To summarize, we advance the notion that we are Africans primarily because of our need to achieve our freedom and self-determination through Africa's unity and liberation. With this understanding, it becomes completely ill-relevant to focus, as many misdirected Africans do today, on what Africa is called or questioning the elements of our history e.g. the slave trade, that they just haven't taken the time to study and properly understand. To illustrate how absurd some of these positions are, it is easy to visualize that even if you claim you have no connection to Africa. No history from Africa. No future with Africa, whatever. If you look physically in a way that leads people to believe that you somehow connected to African people, then even - just for the sake of argument - that you really didn't have any connection to Africa, it can be easily argued that you would still need to have Africa liberated to even see the pressure against you lifted. So, no matter what conspiracy theories people believe. No matter what far out thoughts and beliefs we may have, until Africa is free, we will remain oppressed. If you can't see how that's a political analysis of our connection to Africa, I suggest you read this over and over again until you do. And, if you still don't understand why the DNA test is not central to our connection to our African identity, then read the sentence before this one over and over and then get back to us.
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