Black History – Black Future – Black Manifesto
They molded, carved and shaped us to their liking, and complain about what we have become. We are their, unforeseen, creation.
We must make a conscious effort to get back what the devil stoled from us.
Many will agree; he stoled our heritage, hidden and buried our African-American history so deep that it has taken the most savvy prospectors and data miners to assumable a patchwork of facts, biographies and events to try and resurrect what should have been proud memories of our past inheritance.
That said, our black communities have assimilated and been acculturated to the point that apathy rules over our desire to understand who we used to be. We have been directed in such a way, that we fail to realize the many contributions we have made that makes this country so attractive to other peoples of the world. The failure to understand who we were is the very reason we are who we are today. It is our responsibility to disrupt and ameliorate this issue and piece back together our, confiscated, history.
History is the memory of the world. The only memories that we black folk have are the memories that have been decremently and deliberately filtered to us. To be black, they taught us, came with inferiority and shame-nothing positive or up-lifting. We have no self to be proud of, so we emulate the caricatures and labels that they provided and continue to provide us.
Our history, in this land, has been ignored or at best seriously marginalized. If we want to regain our self-worth and stop the cannibalism that currently exists in many of our African-American neighborhoods, a starting point might be to, reach back and learn true American history. For, African-American history has not been interwoven with the events of it’s time; therefore, you will not learn it in that context. We must juxtaposition our history with other events and discoveries to weave the true American history for ourselves; self-enlightenment.
Make no mistake, slavery had a great deal to do with our current attitudes and behaviors but remember slavery was about economics, and though Jim Crow was part of the same fabric as slavery, it [Jim Crow] was about hatred and classism-we must outwit these mental barriers and move beyond these debilitating institutions to respect ourselves, dignify ourselves. No more blaming others for our current situation(s). Use slavery and Jim Crow, if we must, as negative reinforcements, along with the many positive aspects of our rich history to be the catalyst to drive us to achieve greater ends.
In the pejorative sense; the way the world views us seems to be pervasive and permanent, however, we can change and control how we view ourselves. Since the early years of the African diaspora, colonial racism has dominated the black – white relationship. And with the current president of the United States being a black man [Barack Obama], racism seems to have reached an old familiar pitch.
How do we combat self-hatred and racism? The only viable answer is in two parts, the first is the continued pursuit of education. The second part is to derive the new age “Black Manifesto” in honor of past struggled Movements, yet with a futuristic twist that reunites our people around a moral standard to travel into the future with. The idea of becoming educated was imbued into every generation of blacks born in this country up until the early nineteen seventies. During the Black power movement, we embraced our blackness and most of the leaders of our movement were pursuing postgraduate degrees. Many things can be attributed to the lack of vigilance on our part for letting this main ingredient slip from our culture. With this understanding of our past, we can look forward in unison for mutual benefit. Since the end of the movement the next generation lost the passion for mainstream knowledge. They have twisted the idea of speaking properly and being educated as “trying to be white”. Educate yourself not only of your today, but your yesteryear, only then will your future become vivid. Get back what the devil stole from you and true freedom will follow.
by Mickey Chavis