We often hear the refrain that Black folks are oppressed in this country. When that is stated, there will be some people who agree with the statement and others who will disagree saying that black folk are playing the “victim game”.
Let’s look at the question.

Even though being called ignorant is often intended as an insult, in reality it isn’t an insult at all. Simply put, to be ignorant just means that a person doesn’t know something. It means that they are unaware or uninformed. Not knowing something is not bad in and of itself, however, it is when a person doesn’t know and doesn’t want to know that it becomes a bad thing. I call that stupid.

In the Western world, there is a “science” that studies almost everything. So...historiography is the study of the writing of history. When I was in school, I actually hated history. It was taught in such a boring manner. That is not a reflection on my teachers because, that is how they were taught.

Politics is not something that I consider myself to be as well versed on as I should be. But there are some thoughts and questions that I’d like to share. My mother and grandmother would often quote proverbs (biblical, Afrikan or even Shakespeare) and say, “food for thought”. I am sharing my thoughts on politicians and politics as “food” to stimulate thought. Obviously, everyone has (or should have) their own opinion, which should be respected (if it is thoughtful, logical and not foolish).

Racism is a word that we’ve heard used in all kinds of contexts for many years. Many use it in an accusing way, many use it in a defensive way and others may use it as a way of explaining things. However, in a world where the same thing can mean different things to different people, I will attempt to answer some questions about the “R” word.

When I played on the marching band in high school and college, there was a marching activity that was called “marking time”. This meant that we were high stepping in the same place-not moving forward. In some respects, this can be applied to AUSA (Afrikans from the United States of America) since our Ancestors were kidnapped and brought to these shores in chains. We’ve been having many of the same debates for more than 200 years. What are these debates? Read on.

Afrika has been called “The Dark Continent” which suggests that there is little known about Afrika and that Afrika is a place buried in the darkness of ignorance, hunger, poverty and warfare. Most television coverage and documentaries do little to change this perception. However, let’s shed some light on this “darkness”.

Amnesia is loss of memory. Afrikans all over the world including Afrikans from the United States of America (AUSA) have been miseducated and dis-educated away from our true history over many generations. Actually, after our Ancestors were kidnapped and brought to America in chains, we were not allowed to have any education at all. It was even a crime for us to even learn to read. Because much of our true history has been hidden, ignored, distorted, or claimed by others, it could be said that we AUSA have developed a form of amnesia as a people. How do successfully cure ourselves?

Oftentimes, we hear words and even sometimes use them without really taking the time to fully understand their true meaning and impact. We frequently look at these words as abstract and don’t realize how the concepts that these words represent have impacted us. One such word is genocide. As usual, we should look at the definition before opening a potential “can of worms”.

In previous articles, we have discussed words that were deceptive in that they gave a subliminal or subconscious picture that was not necessarily always associated with the word. One of these words was “slave” and the definition used was “a person who is excessively dependent or controlled by something or someone”.

When I was a single young man, I enjoyed listening to the older men and Elders in the barbershop. There was so much wisdom there!! One frequent topic was women. I remember one man saying, “I chased my wife until she caught me”. Everyone laughed, knowingly, but it struck a nerve with me and I’ve never forgotten it. As I grow older, I had an opportunity to observe and experience this paradoxical practice of “playing hard to get.”

The relationship of AUSA (Afrikans from the United States of America) with police in America is not complicated. It is today, unfortunately, what it was intended to be, adversarial. Why? Let’s look at the history.

There was a television show when I was growing up that was very popular and also very full of stereotypes . It was called “The Lone Ranger”. The hero was a masked white man who rode a white horse and wore a white hat (the white meant that he was a “good guy”). His sidekick was a Native American man named Tonto who kowtowed to the lone ranger and frequented suffered from and had to be rescued from other, more racist ranchers and cowboys by the lone ranger, who he called “kemo sabe”. Later, I became aware of a joke involving these characters.

It would appear that there has been an unfortunate generational disconnect in the AUSA (Afrikans from the United States of America) community. Instead of the respectful intergenerational communication and transmission of information and wisdom that was (and frequently still is) standard practice in Afrika and even among AUSA in America many years ago, there is a divide and mistrust now that threatens our existence.

Environmental Racism is a term coined by Dr. Benjamin Chavis in 1983 when he was with the United Church of Christ. The term refers to the targeting of a specific population for abnormal exposure to harmful material. At least 16 studies since 1980 have concluded that race, not class or socioeconomic level is the determining factor in locating polluting facilities and waste sites. The last study to draw this conclusion was done by the E.P.A. in 2018. The term “environmental racism” is no longer used frequently but has been replaced by a phrase which is less accurate but more comfortable and accepted by those who commit the actions that define environmental racism.