Ethnocentric Consciousness
From The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
Ethnocentric Consciousness
"If we look at our relationship to the
Koreans, to Dominicans to other groups we will see the same relationships where
these groups have entered into the Afrikan American nation, set up shop, and
shipped out its wealth day by day, night by night. Yet the Afrikan American
entrepreneurial nation is not permitted to set up shop in their midst, is not
permitted to carry wealth from their nations. They then grow fat on the surplus they gain from the Afrikan
American nation. This means then that of we think of ourselves as a nation we
must protect our internal markets from the intrusion of outsiders. We must not
permit them entry into our nation. As I look down 125th Street (in Harlem) and
see our people locked out on the outside, I agree with our vendors that if
black men and black women cannot make a living on that street then no other
people should be permitted to make a living on that street. We are not
obligated in any kind of way to feed the children of other people before we
feed our own!" Amos Wilson Afrikan Centered Consciousness Versus The
New World Order Afrikan World Infosystems page 124
As this election cycle (some call it a circus)
plays out it should be abundantly clear to us that as a group of people we are
on the margins of this whole thing. Dr Ben Carson's brief participation as a
candidate on the Republican Party aside, this election makes it crystal clear
all we do as a people is talk and maybe vote. But by now it is becoming obvious
that in most cases, particularly during presidential campaigns voting is a
farce and a sham.
Voter
participation is up in 2016 for the Republicans because Donald Trump is in the
race, he has name recognition and his message resonates with whites who feel
betrayed, disaffected and alienated from the system , they are people who see
their nest eggs and their future dwindling or gone altogether. They feel
helpless and in many instances powerless. The see the system is not on their
side. Research is bearing their feelings
out, the findings clearly show this system is not responsive to their wishes or
needs.
"A new Pew Research study reports some 61 percent of Americans feel
bothered 'a lot' that 'wealthy people don’t pay their fair tax share'. Besides
just campaign finance reform, poll, after poll, after poll, after poll, after poll, after poll, shows most Americans also favor raising taxes on the
very wealthy. So if Congress is supposed to represent the majority of the
people in a democracy, why haven't they raised taxes on the wealthy — or
reformed campaign finance laws? It's because members of Congress usually do the
bidding of their biggest campaign contributors (the wealthy), those who would
see their taxes increased. Not to mention, wealthy members of Congress (meaning
most) would also see their own taxes increased." Studies Show Congress
Favors the Rich, Bud Myers
http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/studies-show-congress-favors-rich-5733
The system is rigged against common folks. In addition to
the class dynamics we also have the issues of color, race and racism to contend
with. We are so accustomed to it, we
fail to acknowledge it in our personal and collective lives, because we have
been duped into acquiescing to it and accepting it as our norm. The leaders the white oligarchs have foisted upon us do not view the structure and
operation of the US
system from a ethnocentric perspective, they lump everyone together in an
assimilationist agenda which is a huge mistake. The framers of this system were
rich white men mostly White Anglo Saxon Protestants, members of secret
societies such as the Scottish Rite Masonic Order. The early colonial population
included a smattering of other ethnic groups such as the Jews, Swedes, Dutch,
Irish, Germans along with Native Americans and Africans who were excluded from
citizenship. The white ethnic groups tended to live, trade and socialize with
each other (if they weren't indentured servants) then outreached to a larger
community once they established their own bases of operation or business.
Africans from various tribal groups mostly from West
Africa were kidnapped and brought to these shores lumped together and forced by
law into subordinated, dominated non-citizen status from colonial times that
carried over once the colonies broke free from England and set up their own
government. It took centuries of agitation, struggle and sacrifice to dismantle
slavery and the subsequent forms of quasi-slavery the ruling classes imposed
upon us following a very brief period of integration and citizenship called
Reconstruction.
Our African tribal and cultural heritage was obliterated
by the slave experience. Unlike European Americans most of us have no idea what
areas of Africa we originally came from, what
languages we spoke or what spiritual traditions we held. What little we
retained was mixed in with the norms of whatever European or Native Americans
we lived around. For the most part the European oppressors forbade the
retention of African norms and culture and did everything in their power to
stamp them out via ridicule, Euroentric indoctrination and violence.
With the end of slavery and the imposition of color and
racial apartheid in America,
we attempted to forge some semblance of self-sustained community and identity.
We called ourselves African, colored, Abyssinian, Ethiopian, Negro,
Afro-American, Black and now African-American. We've attempted to raise
ourselves up socially and economically, we started all Black towns when we left
the South and migrated West and we returned to Africa
to resettle and start over there. We've struggled to forge a place for
ourselves here in the midst of virulent oppression and hatred. We've met struggle
and obstruction at every turn.
Despite the unrelenting
violence visited upon us, the willful destruction of incorporated Black towns
(yes we had our own towns in the Mid West and West after the War Between the
Sates), whole African-American sections of white towns like Tulsa Oklahoma
the countless attacks and race riots visited upon us, we persisted. Leaders like Martin R. Delaney, Booker T.
Washington Marcus Garvey and Elijah Muhammad urged us to be self-sufficient,
proud of who we are and to build on our greatness. Two generations out of slavery we were
attempting to build a viable economic infrastructure in the midst of vicious state
sanctioned and enforced racial oppression.
We were on a roll. In the early 1900's we had more back
owned banks and insurance companies than we do today! Unlike today, Black
leaders in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries called for
building businesses and creating economic opportunities for our people. In 1898
John Hope said, "To the finite vision, to say the least, the policy of avoiding
entrance in the world's business would be suicide for the Negro. Yet as a
matter of great account we ought to note that as good a showing as we have
made, that showing is but as pebbles on the shore of business enterprise."
Hope served as President of Morehouse and Atlanta Universities
and was a staunch advocate of Black entrepreneurship.
Men and women like John Hope, Booker T. Washington and Madam
C.J. Walker thought in ethnocentric terms, they realized we live in a pluralistic
society made up of numerous ethnic and racial groups who have their own social
and economic organizations and institutions and they wanted Africans in America
to thrive and be able to stand on our own economically. They promoted business
and entrepreneurship as a means of
elevation and advancement.
Today we need to rethink and reenergize that philosophy, strategize
and work towards being self-sufficient and forming a viable economic base
within our communities. We have to think in terms of service, supplying the
basics such as: start up capital, savings and thrift promotion, providing food,
clothing, shelter and land ownership so our people can thrive instead of just being consumers and spenders. This will
require a group or ethnocentric orientation, a consciousness of thinking doing
and being for self based upon our love of ourselves and our people! If we don't
,we'll end up worse off than we were during slavery: dependant, deprived and
dominated but without the righteous leadership that pushed for
self-sufficiency.
-30-
Classism The Root of Trump and Sanders' Popularity
From the Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
Classism, The Roots of Trump and Sanders Popularity
"Classism is the systemic assignment of
characteristics of worth and ability based on social class. It includes
individual attitudes and behaviors; systems of polices and practices set up to
benefit the upper classes at the expense of the lower classes, resulting in
drastic income and wealth inequality; and the rationale and the culture that
perpetuates these systems and unequal valuing. Classism is differential
treatment based on social class or perceived social class. Classism s the
systemic oppression of subordinated groups (people without endowed or acquired
economic power, social influence or privilege) by the dominant groups (those
who have access to control of the necessary resources by which other people
make their living). Classism is the systemic oppression of subordinated class
groups to advantage and strengthen the dominant class groups. Classism is held
in place by a system of beliefs and cultural attitudes that ranks people
according to economic status, family lineage, job status, level of education
and so on. " Economic Apartheid in America by Chuck Collins and Felice
Yeskel The New Press Revised and Updated Edition page 143
The ruling
class and their minions in the media, government and social control apparatus
are extremely distressed and apoplectic about the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie
Sanders on the political scene. These two are exposing the endemic graft,
corruption and inequality in the American system despite the 1%'s best efforts
to mock and marginalize them, discount them and use dirty tricks to get them
out of their respective races for their party's nomination. Thus far they have
not been able to dissuade the rabble (that's what they call common folks) from
joining the growing resistance against the status quo. Now the ruling oligarchs
are getting really desperate, they sense a genuine uneasiness and angst amongst
the masses and they fear they will not be able to keep us in check much longer.
The last thing the blue bloods want is a return to the 1960's and 70's style of
wholesale opposition and resistance against the system. They will do anything
in their power using their vast resources to derail or co-opt any grass roots
opposition to the political duopoly of the Democrat and Republican con game.
In the past
anyone who dared to openly speak about class warfare was demonized and
eventually eliminated. Remember how Obama bum rushed the Occupy Wall Street
movement all over the country in 2012? North Carolina Senator John Edwards was
run out of the 2008 presidential race because he was talking about income
inequality and classism. The ruling class used their corporate media to expose
his extramarital affair to turn public opinion against him. They did the same
thing to Elliot Spitzer the former New York Governor when he started talking about
the Wall Street shenanigans and going after the big wigs. They used the fact he
was frequenting a high class brothel to turn public opinion against him and
force him to resign.
Going back further the ruling class murdered
Robert Kennedy and had former Alabama Governor George Wallace shot to get them
out of the 1968 presidential race because they were challenging the
establishment's agenda. Earlier they murdered Martin Luther King Jr. because he
was talking about income and wealth inequality defying the system, calling for
an end to the war in Southeast Asia, radical
changes at home and income redistribution! The ruling class in America
is psychopathic, ruthless, and cold blooded. They think nothing of
assassinating people to maintain the status quo and keep their power and
control in check
Now the Democratic
Party shot callers are rigging the primary elections using party rules about
"super delegates" who are not bound by the will and vote of the
people to steal votes from Bernie Sanders just like the Republicans did to Ron
Paul in 2012. The Republican Party a white bread political party known for its
exclusion, snobbishness and racism has the audacity to vilify Donald Trump and
call him xenophobic and racist. That's like the kettle calling the pot black!
The
Republicans are desperate to stop Donald Trump who they regard as an outsider
even though he is part of the 1% crowd. Trump uses his own money so he is neutralizing
their rules, he can't be bribed or bought off, his life is an open book so they
can't white-mail him with anything. The ruling class is so desperate, they have
enlisted their good ol boy buddy George Soros to manipulate MoveOn.org, Black
Lives Matter two of the organizations he
directly funds and some other dissidents he pays to disrupt Trump's campaign
rallies so the media can blame Trump for the ruckus!
For added measure they are now sending threatening
letters to his sister who is a Federal appellate judge and his daughter. That
is some low life stuff. It's not like the oligarchs don't know the people are
pissed off, the approval ratings of the US Congress are at historical lows
almost single digits!
Last month a poll of potential voters showed
only 11% think the Congress has not sold hem out. "Positive reviews of Congress just barely
crack double-digits this month, while voters continue to believe that most
representatives - including their own - are selling their votes. A new
Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 11% of Likely U.S.
Voters think Congress is doing a good or excellent job. That’s up slightly from
nine percent (9%) in the previous two surveys which was the lowest positive
rating since the start of the new Republican-led Congress in January of last
year. Sixty percent (60%) say Congress is doing a poor job, showing little
change from the previous survey and generally in line with findings over the
past year." http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/congressional_performance
The rabble is
waking up to the distain and contempt the super rich and their governmental
flunkies hold for us. The Sanders and Trump candidacies are feeding on the
angst and anger of the people. Sanders is capitalizing on the idealism of young
people, mostly college students who don't trust they system, who find
themselves in humongous debt, unable to find good jobs and many are living at
home with their parents because they can't afford to venture out on their own.
On the
other hand Donald Trump is resonating with older voters who feel betrayed by the
system, especially whites who see their incomes going down, their standard of
living in decline and their sense of national pride fading. Trump uses simple
slogans and nationalistic rhetoric to boost hope in a morally rotten
socio-economic-political system. The question is will the Republic Party big
wigs even allow him to be the nominee? They are back room dealing, sharpening
their knives doing everything in their power to demonize him and derail his
campaign; but nothing seems to be working!
Both Sanders and Trump are pointing fingers at
the system, at the status quo and are calling for the very thing the ruling
elites fear most, real change. We've heard this before and I suspect we'll
experience the same results in 2016. Barack Obama's presidential campaign team
won PR/Advertising awards for the way their slogans swayed the masses. "The
campaign that drove
Barack Obama to
victory in the
US
presidential election has claimed two top awards at the Cannes Lions
International Advertising Awards. The campaign, submitted by Obama for
America, has
been hailed as a masterful combination of new media, door-to-door and community
grass roots campaigning with a clever tactical use of traditional TV
advertising. The campaign won two grands prix in the Titanium and Integrated
Lions categories. To win the Titanium grand prix, a campaign must involve a
breakthrough idea that is 'provocative, challenges assumptions and points to a
new direction'". http://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/jun/29/barack-obama-cannes-lions.
It was classic mind entrainment and we fell for it hook line and sinker.
It's
unlikely this election will bring substantive change even if Trump or Sanders
were to win any more than electing Barack Obama changed things for Black folks
(it hasn't see http://blackagendareport.com/content/expansion-black-american-misery-under-barack-obama%E2%80%99s-watch).
Presidential elections won't work because we are in an all out, full fledged class
war in this country and the 1% control the whole process. They always have
since the founding of this nation. But they keep the delusion that this is a
democracy that every vote counts going.
The
wolves don't want the sheep to know we are the main menu, or at least we are
getting constantly sheared by them and their system. In 2016 America it goes
beyond color and race, it's us the 99% vs the 1% crowd. The only way a small group
of plutocrats can maintain their death grip on the world's resources and people
is to keep the rest of us divided distracted, discombobulated and dumbed down. But
now many see beyond the veil and they crave real change.
There
are some who are enthusiastic about Sanders and Trumps' candidacy while others
are prepping for a revolution, buying guns and ammunition. Black folks seem to
be the only group not strategizing, organizing, making plans or doing anything
except foolishly looking to Hillary Clinton the Queen of political opportunism,
a virulent warmonger ("We came we saw he died." referring to Muamar Gaddafi)
and racist in the vain hope she will help us. Probably won't happen. The Clintons sold white folks
out so why would we think she'll help us?!
If Sanders
or Trump are derailed by the ruling class will there be open hostilities, riots
or "revolution"? What will the ruling class do to assuage the masses
after Sanders and Trump exposed the corruption in the system? Time will tell.
-30-
The Real Struggle
From the Ramparts
Junious
Ricardo Stanton
The
Real Struggle
"For we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12
As the political circus plays itself out, thinking people
can see the psychopathy, mendacity and hypocrisy of this culture on full
display in living color. The crass quest
for power and the weaknesses and corruption of the American political system
are apparent to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. The campaigns
feature several distinct styles and approaches. For the Republicans except for Donald
Trump their approach is to maintain the status quo, to talk tough on foreign
policy to keep the military industrial complex humming along making record
profits off of the totally bogus War on Terror, to continue the failed trickle
down policies of Reagan and Bu$h II, the tax cuts and corporate welfare for the
rich while sawing away at social programs and the safety nets of the "New
Deal" and "Great Society".
Donald Trump exploded on the scene and upset the
Republican Party's apple cart using slogans like: "America doesn't win anymore", "we have
to negotiate smarter" and "make America great again", and the
crowds love it. His rhetoric appeals to the very people Republican big wigs
dismiss, misuse, abuse and manipulate: disaffected blue collar workers, people
who have lost their jobs or who are working two and three jobs just to make
ends meet who see their standard of living imploding out from under them,
whites who under an Obama administration cannot relate at all to the government
because of their own racism. Trump's convoluted message of populism and
nationalism resonates with white folks of all ages and demographics. He tells
the truth about how he uses a corrupt
and rigged system to do business and he has been successful at it. He tells the
truth about how he contributes to both political parties, so that when he calls
they answer the phone. He tells the truth about how the government has left the
borders open and defenseless while wasting lives and money conducting regime
change overseas that has made the situation worse! Trump has hit upon a formula
to get the people out, he is a part of the 1% but he claims he wants to give
back, that he empathizes with the masses, unlike the other empty suit
Republican candidates who want to continue the NeoCon agenda of perpetual wars
and trickle down economics. Even if Trump wins the nomination the Republican
big wigs view him as a serious threat to their agenda and they will do almost
anything to derail his momentum.
On the Democratic side of the coin we have Bernie Sanders
a Socialist who rails against income inequality, wealth disparities and corrupt
campaign financing against Hillary Clinton the personification of political opportunism, corruption and all
that ails this nation. Sanders' appeal is to young folks who more and more see
themselves as debt slaves with limited opportunities and possibilities for
their lives. Hillary Clinton appeals to older folks, the ubber rich and the
traditionalists within the Democratic Party. Wall Street, the Pharmaceutical
industry, the big insurance companies, international investment houses, the
bio-tech industry and military industrial complex all are for Hillary. Rank and
file Democrats too lazy to think for themselves, too brain dead to connect the
dots on how Bill and Hillary Clinton sold organized labor and American workers
out with their "international trade deals" like NAFTA and GATT, who
set up the machinery and laid the foundation for the mass incarceration of
Black and Brown people with their support for the anti-crime and anti-welfare
legislation and how the Clinton-Gore embrace of corporate fascism set the stage
for what was to come after the Clinton Presidency will go for the Hillary
Clinton okey-doke.
Senator Sander's is calling for a "political
revolution" by asking young people to sign up, vote and support the very
system doing them in! This system is too corrupt to be fixed by either
political party because they are the problem! Meanwhile Hillary Clinton is
scrambling to redefine her message and rebrand herself as a
"Progressive" as opposed to the crass opportunist, money grubbing, corporate
sycophant and warmonger she has been the past several years.
Trump poses a threat to the Republican oligarchs and they
are funneling mad money to take him down. He is being demonized as a racist,
demagogue and the New Hitler by the very political party made up of patriarchal
chauvinists known for their racial exclusion, whiteness, sexism, warmongering
and class warfare!? During the last presidential cycle their standard bearer
was Mitt Romney who was so out of touch with the common folks he couldn't tell us
how many houses he owned. Mitt Romney the man who made his fortune as a
corporate raider, plunderer criticizes Trump for not revealing his income tax
returns but Romney only reveal his a few weeks before the presidential election
in 2012. We can't make this stuff up, the hypocrisy is on display for the whole
world to see.
I point these things out to show just how deceitful and
corrupt the US
political and economic systems are. We have been brainwashed to believe the American
political system is fair and democratic; nothing is further from the truth. We
do not need a political revolution we need a change in consciousness, values
and behavior. Martin Luther King Jr remarked in a speech exactly one year to the
day before the US
government assassinated him, “We as a
nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin … the
shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines
and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more
important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and
militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
Today the triplets of unrepentant racism, gross
materialism and hubristic military misadventure are metastasizing throughout
this nation far more aggressively than they were in 1967. In 1967 there was
organized and strident opposition to the ruling class' insanity. That level and
energy of resistance is lacking today. The ruling elites using their mind
control apparatus and mind entrainment technology have seduced us with their
fear mongering, their xenophobia and marginalization of criticism into
accepting economic apartheid, debt peonage, wage serfdom and imminent socio-economic
collapse. We can do better we have an obligation to do better!
The embers of resistance are flickering. The dynamic human
spirit abhors stultification. We have been DIVINELY designed to be expansive
and unstoppable. We cannot do it alone we need to come together. This is what
Occupy Wall Street, the original unco-opted Tea Party, the militia movements, the
original unfunded Black Lives Matter and the Trump and Sanders campaigns
reflect a desire for real change, to do and be better.
But it is not enough. Discontent and dissatisfaction are
only the catalysts. We have to move beyond slogans, rhetoric and protest to a
commitment to real change, a change of consciousness, values, behaviors and
action. We each have to know intuitively
we have intrinsic value and worth. We have to know what this means for us and
others. We have to see it in ourselves and each other, respect it nurture it
and encourage it in all of us, even those we differ with or may not like. This
is the beginning of a spiritual and psychological movement requiring a change
of mind a refocus on the important things self neighbor and the world. This
change will result in institutional changes and a new way of living. We can do
this.
-30-
African Concepts of Being
From the Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
African Concept of Being
"In the
eternal cycle of Afrikan life, a human being is acknowledged as having come
from the spirit world (the ancestors and the source of life and being.) Spiritual
reality manifests as 'human beingness.' Thus, the Afrikan human being (Muntu)
comes with a consciousness (‘Kra,). His or her 'destiny' (Nkrabea) is carried within
the ‘Kra and contains a 'mission,' a 'message,' an 'intelligence.' We who are
Afrikan have chosen to be so. To choose to be Afrikan is to choose to fight for
Afrika, otherwise, why come back? We believe that each of us is an ancestor
returned. Rebirth into Afrikanness is, then, both a privilege and a duty. We achieve
continued connection to the Afrikan family and we become part of the race army.
As Afrikans, we have serious work to do. Being Afrikan is not meant to be
easy." Dr Marimba Ani A Praise Song for Dr Frances Cress Welsing Our Race
Champion http://atlantablackstar.com/2016/02/22/a-praise-song-for-dr-frances-cress-welsing-our-race-champion/
During the month of February we talked about rethinking
African History, reexamining what our African ancestors wrought from antiquity
to the present and repositioning African History as the oldest, longest
chronicle of human progress on earth. We spoke about huge megaliths throughout
the continent that are eons old, that demonstrate an advanced ability to move,
carve and arrange stones many weighing tons from one place to another. Not only
did they move, carve and arrange those stones but they did so within a
metaphysical and astronomic context which showed not only a fascination with
the heavens, an attempt to map and track the stars but also a proclivity to
arrange their lives in an orderly manner just like what they saw in the
heavens.
Africans are a spiritual people. Out of our spirituality
came values and social organization that prioritized an awe of spirit, of nature,
harmony, balance, cooperation, mutual aid and exemplary moral character. Our
ancestors said the universe was teleological meaning is was intelligently
designed with purpose and meaning and everything flowed from this purpose and
meaning (Divine Order, Ma'at).
Africans created the first notions of ethics and morality
and their deep thought laid the foundation for what we call philosophy, a Greek
word literally meaning the love of wisdom. However this love of wisdom was not
what the West means. In the West philosophy is abstract notions of existence
from a mostly material perspective, linear thinking or how many angels can
dance on the head of a pin for example. For Africans philosophy is practical,
pragmatic and applicable on very level.
African deep thought was about pondering the nature of
existence, the universe, how we all are intricately interconnected and related
to the universe and its CREATOR. African deep thought was very ancient, holistic
and universal. For example almost every ethnic and tribal group had/has a word
for the universal life force/intelligence that permeates all creation. The Zulus
of South Africa call it Umoya. Umoya is the core essence of
existence and it is malleable for the benefit of the people but it's misuse can
result in negative consequences.
"Zulu tradition explains the world, natural, human,
or otherwise as imbued with a force ‘Umoya’, this force is spirit, life force
and air, all as one. Nothing is without it, and it affects every state and
level of our being. This is an important truth, which corresponds with other
shamanic principles all over the world. The super-nature acts are a bending of,
or a manipulating of this force, which is mastered by various individuals in
Zulu spiritual practice, and this force can be bent for a positive or negative
effect, with great consequences. The belief in the super-nature processes is
innate in Zulu cultural tradition; it is an intrinsically part of existence and
not taken lightly. The Sangoma is not seen as a master or mistress of magick
but rather as a healer who knows how to deal with the imbalance of Umoya and
the bending or manipulating which may have taken place to cause the imbalance.
All in ancient Zulu cultural tradition must lead to balance, equilibrium and an
awareness of such harmonies so that the individual and communities can learn
from it, correct it and maintain the appropriate balance. It can be tipped so
easily through carelessness, ignorance, greed, neglect, lust, negative intent
or lack of respect of the ancestors, and when this happens, the lesson or
outcome maybe illness or adversity in all its forms; for individuals or the
greater community." The Zulu People
http://lightworkers.org/wisdom/julie-miller/186568/zulu-people
Africans knew there was energy surrounding, penetrating
and resident in them. They also learned how to access and use this energy/intelligence/spirit.
Throughout all human history there have been those who were especially adept at
recognizing, channeling and manipulating this energy. In European language they
are called Shaman, Medicine Men and Women, healers, priests or witches and
wizards. Indigenous Africans called them many names. It must be kept in mind
that for Africans good character, ethics, harmony, balance and cooperation were
essential values they lived by not only within their immediate families but the
larger community, their environment and the vast spirit world.
"The ancestors are not seen as separate
from Ubuntu; they are the wisdom keepers of Ubuntu as they pass
from body to spirit and maintain contact with those who are still in the
physical body. The concept of body, mind and soul and ancestral practice also
includes issues of ecology. This issue is an important part of life, especially
in the way the Zulu and African peoples relate to nature. The African concept
of spirituality is ecological, manifesting, sensitivity towards and solidarity
with the earth. The Zulu’s regard Mother Nature not as an object of
subjugation, but as a mother and symbol of the divine; in ancient tradition,
Zulu and African peoples would not cut a tree without certain rituals, the
people are connected to nature. The tree treated no differently in respect than
a human would be. The relationship with the whole of nature was important,
nurturing it instead of dominating it. Life in an African village is connected
to the entire God-source created part
of life." ibid
One reason I say we need to relearn and embrace our
Africanity and our deep thought, philosophy and metaphysical legacy is because
it was what helped us to thrive and advance and when necessary to fight and
defeat our enemies. Calling upon the deep knowledge of the spirit realm is what
allowed indigenous Africans like the Ashanti, Zulus, Kongo and Diasporan
African settlements in the Caribbean, South America and US called Palmares,
Haitians, Saramakas and Maroons to stand bravely against the weapons of mass
destruction of the Europeans and hold our own. This is the main reason
Europeans don't want us to know who we are or our glorious history. This is why
their "educational system" is designed to negate us and African on
every level.
One reason African warriors were so fierce is because our
deep thought about the nature of existence taught them life was eternal. We
understood when the life force left the physical shell of our bodies, it did
not cease, the spirit continued to exist. So the fear of extinction and
annihilation was not in them; it did not deter them from their task of defending
and protecting the community.
Most African societies hold that reincarnation is real, that
children are ancestors returning to the earth realm to serve the community
again. "It is not widely
realized, however, that reincarnation is an essential tenet of many traditional
African religious systems and philosophies. Belief in rebirth has been reported
amongst peoples scattered the length and breadth of the mighty continent:
Akamba (Kenya), Akan (Ghana), Lango (Uganda), Luo (Zambia), Ndebele (Zimbabwe),
Sebei (Uganda), Yoruba (Nigeria), Shona (Zimbabwe), Nupe (Nigeria), Illa
(Zambia), and many others. There is, of course, a wide variation in understanding
of the processes of rebirth: beliefs range from that in a 'partial'
reincarnation of an ancestor in one or several individuals strictly within the
same family, to that in an endless cycle of rebirths linked to a notion of
cleansing and refinement of the inner nature. As there are endless shades of
understanding, reincarnation is known by many names: amongst the Yorubas of
Nigeria rebirth is referred to in various ways, including Yiya
omo, translated as the 'shooting forth of a branch'
or 'turning to be child,' and A-tun-wa, 'another
coming.' The Aboh-speaking peoples of the Ibo family of nations in Nigeria
speak of Inua u'we or
'returning to life,' as they believe death is an end to one life only and a
gateway to another; man must be reborn, for reincarnation is a spiritual
necessity." Reincarnation in African Traditional Religion by Andrew
Rooke http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/world/africa/af-rook2.htm
Africans
are a deep and creative people. We need to fully reclaim our deepness and creativity.
We have to replace our culturally induced shame and self-hatred with pride and
a sense of divine purpose. We need to resurrect the ancient African ideas about the nature of existence, what it
means to be human and our role in the cosmic scheme. We must accept we are the
caretakers and custodians of the planet. As such we have to reclaim our spirit,
reconnect to THE ONE SOURCE of ALL, restore and live Ma'at, neutralize and
nullify the usurpers and restore righteousness to the planet. This is our task,
our destiny and our calling anything less is an affront to the ancestors and
THE CREATOR.
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