An experience I had last Saturday prompted the reason behind this writing piece. While passing out postcards and information about African Liberation Day at the Malcolm X Jazz Festival in Oakland, California, U.S., I and another comrade encountered some Brothers, presumably (based on their literature) from the Hebrew Israelites. They have their uniforms and we have ours so I doubt there was any confusion from any of us as to what direction we consider ourselves headed in. One of the brothers gave me his literature and he immediately started to go into what it represents. I patiently listened and when he was finished, I attempted to give him our literature piece to which he responded "I can't hold anything!" I asked him to clarify and he said because he's passing out literature, he cannot hold anything else. I pointed out that besides whatever beliefs they have developed around the concept of holding someone else's literature (because that seemed to be underneath his strange statement), there was no difference between what he was doing and what I was doing e.g. passing out literature for our movements, causes, etc.
Our position has always been that our people need to be in organizations. We never quibble over which organization because we respect our people's ability to eventually figure out for themselves what direction is correct. The important thing is to be in some organization because if that's not happening, people can never engage in that journey. It would be like someone trying to learn how to drive without a vehicle. So, my issue would never be what those Brothers believe, etc. My issue is there is a growing element of younger African people who are involved and promoting a number of interesting ideas and belief systems. And, unfortunately, much of the time, these beliefs contain a strong dose of "I ain't no African" within the core of these so-called ideologies. Now, the day I meet any African anywhere who tells me they aren't African, and that person possesses a strong knowledge base about African history, culture, politics, spirituality, etc., then, I would have absolutely nothing to say. Of all the people peddling new age this and "I've got the solution" that, not once have I met one of them who has even a working knowledge of anything to do with Africa. This is the real issue because any tree without its roots is subject to fall into any situation.
Again, none of this is an attack against Hebrew Israelites, Moors, or any of the developing phenomenons among African people within the U.S. We just encourage our people to study more than just their own already existing philosophical concepts. We need that critical analysis piece. If you are going to argue with me that a significant number of Africans in the Western Hemisphere did not come here as a result of the slave trade, but because their families have been in this hemisphere for centuries, you should be able to demonstrate clear evidence of this. I've talked to literally thousands of Africans over the years in my organizing work in this part of the world and I haven't met a single person who didn't either have Southern U.S. roots (slavery), Caribbean or South American roots (slavery), names like Smith, Jones, Jackson, etc., (slavery), or a unique history connected to some of the Africans brought here in slavery who were able to return home to Africa e.g. places like Sierra Leone, Liberia, etc. I'm not saying no one exists who's roots were here. I'm just saying those people are few and far in between, The masses of us came here under the slave ship which means the only difference between us in the U.S., Caribbean, South America, and of course Africa, is where the boat stopped. Nothing else. These new age people probably feel some reason to be ashamed of being slaves. There is this confusion about slavery being a choice and all, but anyone of these people saying these things demonstrates a serious lack of understanding of how much our people resisted slavery. Once you learn of the successful Maroon rebellions (which actually explain much better how most of us as Moors got to the Western world), the masses of plantation uprisings, and the serious level of commitment coming from the people who carried out the Haitian Revolution and every revolt on down. And, the impact those revolts had on shaping the world we live in today, there is absolutely no reason to feel any shame towards any of our history. And, even the slightest understanding of our proud history as Fulani, Wolof, Fante, Mandinka, Ibo, Yoruba, Hausa, etc., would give anyone pride at being African.
So, as we move towards the 60th commemoration of African Liberation Day this weekend, here' s a call to everyone claiming to want consciousness on how to liberate African people. Our Chemeringa is never going to happen by trying to take shortcuts. Trying to make up things. Consciously or unconsciously disrespecting the spirit and struggle of our ancestors. Being lazy in our intellectual pursuits of our history isn't going to push us forward. There's no easy way and us developing schools of thought that really do nothing besides make us feel better about our oppression aren't going to help us either. The only thing that will assist us is our truth that we are Africans and until we connect to Africa and make her free, we are doomed. There is absolutely no way you can disrespect Africa and love yourself. Garvey told us that you cannot hate the roots and love the tree. You know you don't know anything about Africa. Nothing, except what the slave master has told us. Its time to correct that so we don't have to make up things. What we have in reality actually works out just perfectly.
Our position has always been that our people need to be in organizations. We never quibble over which organization because we respect our people's ability to eventually figure out for themselves what direction is correct. The important thing is to be in some organization because if that's not happening, people can never engage in that journey. It would be like someone trying to learn how to drive without a vehicle. So, my issue would never be what those Brothers believe, etc. My issue is there is a growing element of younger African people who are involved and promoting a number of interesting ideas and belief systems. And, unfortunately, much of the time, these beliefs contain a strong dose of "I ain't no African" within the core of these so-called ideologies. Now, the day I meet any African anywhere who tells me they aren't African, and that person possesses a strong knowledge base about African history, culture, politics, spirituality, etc., then, I would have absolutely nothing to say. Of all the people peddling new age this and "I've got the solution" that, not once have I met one of them who has even a working knowledge of anything to do with Africa. This is the real issue because any tree without its roots is subject to fall into any situation.
Again, none of this is an attack against Hebrew Israelites, Moors, or any of the developing phenomenons among African people within the U.S. We just encourage our people to study more than just their own already existing philosophical concepts. We need that critical analysis piece. If you are going to argue with me that a significant number of Africans in the Western Hemisphere did not come here as a result of the slave trade, but because their families have been in this hemisphere for centuries, you should be able to demonstrate clear evidence of this. I've talked to literally thousands of Africans over the years in my organizing work in this part of the world and I haven't met a single person who didn't either have Southern U.S. roots (slavery), Caribbean or South American roots (slavery), names like Smith, Jones, Jackson, etc., (slavery), or a unique history connected to some of the Africans brought here in slavery who were able to return home to Africa e.g. places like Sierra Leone, Liberia, etc. I'm not saying no one exists who's roots were here. I'm just saying those people are few and far in between, The masses of us came here under the slave ship which means the only difference between us in the U.S., Caribbean, South America, and of course Africa, is where the boat stopped. Nothing else. These new age people probably feel some reason to be ashamed of being slaves. There is this confusion about slavery being a choice and all, but anyone of these people saying these things demonstrates a serious lack of understanding of how much our people resisted slavery. Once you learn of the successful Maroon rebellions (which actually explain much better how most of us as Moors got to the Western world), the masses of plantation uprisings, and the serious level of commitment coming from the people who carried out the Haitian Revolution and every revolt on down. And, the impact those revolts had on shaping the world we live in today, there is absolutely no reason to feel any shame towards any of our history. And, even the slightest understanding of our proud history as Fulani, Wolof, Fante, Mandinka, Ibo, Yoruba, Hausa, etc., would give anyone pride at being African.
So, as we move towards the 60th commemoration of African Liberation Day this weekend, here' s a call to everyone claiming to want consciousness on how to liberate African people. Our Chemeringa is never going to happen by trying to take shortcuts. Trying to make up things. Consciously or unconsciously disrespecting the spirit and struggle of our ancestors. Being lazy in our intellectual pursuits of our history isn't going to push us forward. There's no easy way and us developing schools of thought that really do nothing besides make us feel better about our oppression aren't going to help us either. The only thing that will assist us is our truth that we are Africans and until we connect to Africa and make her free, we are doomed. There is absolutely no way you can disrespect Africa and love yourself. Garvey told us that you cannot hate the roots and love the tree. You know you don't know anything about Africa. Nothing, except what the slave master has told us. Its time to correct that so we don't have to make up things. What we have in reality actually works out just perfectly.
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