Words of wisdom for the Black-race
I do not trust people who don’t love themselves and yet tell me, ‘I love you.’ There is an African saying which is: be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt”.
Mayo Angeloou
African-Americans have not yet learned that no other people have continued worshipping another’s God, especially their slave master’s god or gods and freed themselves from cultural and physical genocide. Why should Africans and African-Americans be the only exception to this historic reality?”
Dr. Ben
I freed thousands of slaves. I could have freed thousands more if they had known they were slaves.”
Mama Harriet Tubman
Whoever controls the images, controls your self-esteem, self-respect and self-development. Whoever controls the history, controls the vision.”
Dr. Leonard Jeffries
Self-love is a game-changer and the mother of all political systems, research & development investments, military adventures, and intense creativity and innovation cultures of the European, Asian and Middle Eastern races.
Dr Israel Nonyerem Davidson
Part 1 of this article examined ongoing events and trends that threaten the productivity and survival of black people, both in the United States, Europe and Africa. The article provided various illustration of the challenges facing Black people all over the world. In the US in particular, a super power and champion of democracy and human rights, take employment: Black people remain crowded into the lowest rungs of the ladder…that is, if they can find work at all… Or housing: Black people face the highest levels of racial residential segregation in the world—shunted into neglected neighborhoods lacking decent parks and grocery stores and often with no hospitals at all. .. Or healthcare: Black infants face mortality rates comparable to those in the Third World country of Malaysia, and African-Americans generally are infected by HIV at rates that rival those in sub-Saharan Africa. Overall the disparities in healthcare are so great that one former U.S. Surgeon General recently wrote, “If we had eliminated disparities in health in the last century, there would have been 85,000 fewer black deaths overall in 2000.”.. Or education: Today the schools are more segregated than they have been since the 1960s with urban, predominantly Black and Latino schools receiving fewer resources”. (revcom.us). These are part of the trends that have confined the black race to the bottom of the league of progressive races. This part 2 of the article continues from where the first part left off in terms of why Blacks are leading in every negative area of life.
3. Access to information
The most basic foundation of power in the world comes from having information and controlling it. Not being aware of opportunities due to lack of consistent access to information is an important reason for some Black people lagging behind in the progress ladder. In health care for example, many Black men lack basic information about the prostate gland, prostate problems, consequences of prostate cancer, and recognition of the need to have the prostate checked by a healthcare provider. The reason is that many black men don’t read. Many African students, for example, focus their reading on core textbooks and reference materials relevant to their program of study. The inability to read widely and explore knowledge beyond MTV, Facebook, Holly Scriptures and Internet Chat Forums, is limiting the level of Black people’s exposure to opportunities and quality information vital for accessing the realities of their world, reprogramming non-value adding mind-sets, defeating long-held baseless stereotypes about others, and uniting around a common cause. This point is driven home by a contributor on Lisa Islam’s documentary on Press TV:
You have to be at the right place, the right time with the right credentials. As my God mother says a lot of times, we are not so much different from others. We are just disconnected. How do we stay connected? Most of us don’t read physical newspapers or news online. You know the old saying that if you want to keep something from Black people, write it down because they won’t read it.
For example, it is a generally acknowledged fact that most Nigerians don’t read. If most people can develop the habit of reading, Nigerians and their leaders will realise the challenges facing them as both Black people and Nigerians. In United States, for example, presidents are judged on their economic, military, and political accomplishments, and by their ability to keep up-to-date in knowledge through reading. The importance of reading to politicians is discussed in the following video 3.
Video 3 – Importance to politicians of reading
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Below is an extract from an article read on a New York radio station by Dee Lee, Harvard educator, and written by a Caucasian. The title is Blacks don’t read: They are still our slaves:
“We can continue to reap profits from the Blacks without the effort of physical slavery. Look at the current methods of containment that they use on themselves: IGNORANCE, GREED, and SELFISHNESS. ,,Their IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment. A great man said, “The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in a book.” We now live in the Information Age. They have gained the opportunity to read any book on any subject through the efforts of their fight for freedom, yet they refuse to read… GREED is another powerful weapon of containment. Being primarily a consumer people, they function totally by greed. They continually want more, with little thought for saving or investing. The vast majority of their people are still in poverty because their greed holds them back from collectively making better communities. ..SELFISHNESS, ingrained in their minds through slavery, is one of the major ways we can continue to contain them. Their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work together on any project or endeavour of substance. When they do get together, their selfishness lets their egos get in the way of their goal” (rumormillnews).
Whether the article actually came from a Caucasian or imaginary, the message conveyed by the extract above is simple and thought-provoking. Note that it is not talking about illiteracy but rather about choosing not to read when it is in one’s interest to do so. Ignorance, greed and selfishness are indeed three formidable stumbling blocks to Black man’s progress, and lack of interest in reading fuels them all. If only our politicians are prolific readers, the cry of our people will reach them first hand, they will be in tune with the social and economic realities on the ground, their leadership will be informed by lessons from autobiographies of great men and women of history, and road maps to our development and progress will be different from what they are today.
4. Imposition of Western values and cultures
Western cultures and values have, more often than not, been imposed on Africans through the US/European controlled UN and foreign aid, with devastating consequences. For example, at a time when African regions are under enormous pressure from very intense conflicts, drought/famine, flood, economic crisis, hunger and starvation, poor governance, poverty, threat from aids and terrorism, an exceptionally important “TECHNOLOGY” the British prime minister wishes to impose on Africa is homosexuality. Though 41 (76%) nations within the 54-member Commonwealth have laws banning homosexual acts, the British Prime minister, wishes to force the will of 13 (24%) nations on the majority. Where has the principle of democracy gone? The International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said he is willing to reduce aid to Uganda and Ghana unless they also drop laws against gays. Southeast African country Malawi – which has received £200 million from Britain over the past three years – has already had its aid cut to £19 million after jailing gay couple Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga for fourteen years. African countries, which either punish or plan to punish homosexuality with discriminatory legislation will be forced to comply by withdrawing aid – said the prime minister. Note, there is no threat of credible sanctions from the prime minister, EU, USA or UN against African countries with poor governance, corrupt practices, looting of national treasury, and capital flights, which have crippled Africa – the richest continent on mother earth. If African nations succumb to this disrespectful threat i.e. foreign aid in exchange for an alien way of life, who knows what comes next – demand for sex with dogs and horses?
August Wilson Jr (1945) once wrote, “as long as the colored man look to white folks to put the crown on what he says . . . as long as he looks to white folks for approval . . . then he ain’t never gonna find out who he is and what he’s about”. Our traditional foods, traditional dressing and dress codes, languages, traditional medicine, and value systems are under serious threat. It is interesting to note how Europeans brain wash Africa into accepting that its way of life is either barbaric or falls short of human rights. We have been made to believe we are uneducated unless we can speak European languages and pile up European qualifications. We are not civilised unless we adopt and practice European way of life. We have no democratic government unless we adopt American presidential or the British Westminster systems. Our traditional marriage systems, handed down generations, and which have served us so well in protecting our family institution, are not civilised and authentic enough unless we obtain a registry certificate; which by the way is easily ripped by divorce lawyers. As we abandon the traditions and values that made us who we are, and the ancestral treasures we know best, for alien cultures and values we could never be perfect in and a powerful weapon of containment; we are left exposed, vulnerable, and confused. We lose our sense of self-worth, self-
Video 4
Mohammed Ali Irish Television Interview (1972)
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In defense of Europeans and Americans; it is important to point out that every action or policy of theirs is geared towards serving own national interests. Pursuing national interests is the patriotic duty of every government. Apart from during slavery, Europeans and Americans have hardly imposed their way of life/policy with force on Africa . Every policy towards Africa is presented as a choice, though packaged and delivered in ways and manner that make refusal difficult. If African leaders have their own national interest at heart, they can equally reject non-value adding/selfish European/US/UN policies and proposals and face the short-term consequences. Look at it this way; if an individual succeeds in convincing you to sell your mother and lease his own, then it is either your mother is worthless to you, or the individual is mentally superior. Either way, you have no grounds to blame anyone but yourself. There is a basic principle of life that still hunts the unity and purpose of the Black race:
African-Americans have not yet learned that no other people have continued worshipping another’s God, especially their slave master’s god or gods and freed themselves from cultural and physical genocide. Why should Africans and African-Americans be the only exception to this historic reality?”
Dr. Ben