My view differs quite a bit from the other views expressed here, so far... But being perhaps the Eldest Black Man here, and having not read, or studied any specific courses on how to be a STRONG Black MAN in this American dominated HEGEMONY...
Somehow, i've stumbled into this position in life, and would like to share these views of what i've witnessed & felt along the way....
(This is quite long, but please bear with me, as the meat is in the latter half of it...)
The first truth i've learned , is that the Euro-centric view held as a bible of sorts, by all people classified as white on this planet, is held up as the STANDARD RULE for all people of any class or culture, regardless of their RACE or COLOR...
Meaning, if you want to "ascend upwardly", and in a respectful & noble manner, then you too, you must adhere to all the Euro-centric standards... THE BETTER EURO you ACT, the FURTHER UP YOU GO...
You can observe this yourself when you look around at the world which is set-up to operate under their sphere of influence... You either operate their way, or in a way that they approve of; Or, you simply won't get very far at all...
They've taken it upon themselves to RENAME & to REARRANGE everything that they've touched... And thru' the force of ARMED MIGHT, they have shoved these concepts down the throats of every one they've come into contact with...
With this said, i'll refrain from calling them the most vile, most evil & most corrupt people on the FACE of this planet, at this time...
They seem to have no consciousness when it comes to bringing another NATION, or people, under their control... Their ACTIONS advertise this over & over again, by the vast amount of brutality & destruction that's displayed during many of their operations... I.e., The Bombs in JAPAN, The Bombing of DRESDEN, The current on-slaught in IRAQ... They are show-offs.... And they do these things with FLAIR.... So who will be their next target?
Not i say's the WORLD....
All people, Black, White, or OTHER, seeing these operations will make value judgements based upon what & where they want to go in life... SUCCESSFUL people can, and will accept ths call for ASSIMILATION... OTHERS will resist the call initially; but, will eventually be dragged along (for a bit) because, partial ASSIMILATION must have taken place for an individual to have survived the alternatives...
The alternatives being Death, disease, incarceration, isolation, drug and/or mental abuse... It's hard to beat any of these alone... So just to keep on breathing, we've all assimilated to some degree....
Now that's where our "inter-racial" problems begin... (Black-on-Black Descrimination)... First, Notice all the action going on today in IRAQ... They will all, as a people, eventually submit to the power of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA....
Just as Black, or AFRICAN peoples all over the world has done, and have being doing, since JESUS CHRIST first set foot upon this EARTH... Say some 2000 years or so, ago.... With his arrival, the ISREALITES were dis-enfranchised & the GENTILES were suddenly accepted as GOD'S PEOPLE....
Since then, we have been locked in this BLACK/WHITE struggle for civilization... The entire WORLD has been re-arranged.. LANGUAGE has also been re-written... History has been "white-washed"... We have dropped our original link to our GOD(S), and have been led to this new GOD, that can only be reached thru' this new, pale-faced, blonde, & blued-eyed, "JESUS" concept...
So in our new found quest for acceptance & prosperity, we, like most others, have begun to play by the rules of the current game. We somehow forget that we are INNATE DIFFERENT, as we begin to read, study & assimilate them... After mastering their Language & their techniques, many of us are now trusted to sit among them and to administrate & admonish ourselves & others with the same amount of veracity, that they usually reserve for themselves...
It follows, the more we are like them, the more successful & prominent we can become... To show favor & to gain recognition, we must emulate them closely, while distancing ourselves from others of us, that have resisted the complete make-over...
This is where the "N-word", & issues of lite and dark-skin, nappy & straight-hair, and acting black/white comes into play... It was started during slavery as a means of keeping us divided... We knew this was their criteria, so many of us accepted & expanded upon it, as a means to show our willingness to be as much like them as possible, for personal gain... Usually INDIVIDUALLY...
Now the issues with the islanders are a bit more complexed.. They have all the same issues we have, but they have additional differences with us, as some of them believe that their enslavement was not as severe as ours... So that makes them BETTER BLACKS than we are...
Many of them lived on islands that were predominantly occupied by slaves... The plantations were smaller, the weather was better & there was no Harriet Tubman, so more freedom was afforded them...
They simply had no place to run to... For SLAVES, life wasn't that BAD, or so they say... They still out numbered the whites, but they presented no particular threat to their enslavers...
This resulted in their being assimilated much sooner than the rest of us...
Many of them feel that since they never came to AMERICA, and didn't suffer as we did, that they were not really enslaved...
Now how ironic is that???
On the other hand, they were able to come out from under the condition of slavery in much better shape than we did, so they divide themselves from us, on that point alone....
They neglect to understand that we all came over on slave boats, and that all our journeys began in AFRICA...
And then, there's those AFRICANS that got to stay at H O M E.. But again, it still makes no difference; they were not enslaved physically, in chains.. But in this case, the enslavement was more MENTAL... These MINDS were shackled & blown so badly that evenl today, they refuse to bite the hand of their COLONIAL MASTERS...
Eventho' some were freed up to 50 years ago, MOST still heel, roll-over & play dead, bark or bite each-other on command, stay put, fetch, jump-thru'-hoops, and will always come when the MASTER calls....
These ONES were so brutalized & put under foot at HOME, that WHITE PEOPLE still reign SUPREME on the CONTINENT... Even in South AFRICA, our riches Country, WHITES are still the biggest LAND OWNERS there, & we find ourselves CONDEMNing MUGABE, our neighbor & brother, for his attempts to RIGHT THIS W R O N G...
i am not knocking all CAPITALISM, nor all WHITE FOLKS either... We need to work with both of them & learn to CO-EXIST peacefully in this world, or we'll all go down... ALL i am saying is THEY both needs to be TWEAKED just a wee bit, if we are to USE THEMl... And we need to be the ONES DOing ALL THE TWEAKING....
This is just my view... Who see it differently???
Peace...
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