The 10 Most Prevalent Impediments to African Unity
 

I was reading Nile Contributions to Civilization, by Anthony T. Browder, and I wanted to share something with you all so that we could talk about it. :) Dr. Asa G. Hilliard, III (who wrote the introduction of Browder's 1st book), describes the 10 most prevalent impediments to African unity by stating:

Consider these things carefully and realize that they account for our overall lack of unity and direction.

1) We let our names go. The first step towards disorientation is to surrender your name.

2) We have surrendered our way of life (culture). We have stopped speaking the language we knew and we have stopped behaving as African people behave. We have lost our way of doing things and we have adopted the ways of people unlike ourselves.

3) We have lost our appetite because we have lost our names and our culture. Even when those among us recreate our culture and present it to us, we no longer have an appetite for it. We have a greater appetite for the culture of people other than our own.

4) We have a general loss of memory. Few of us can tell the story of African people without beginning it with slavery. It is as if slavery were the only thing that happened to African people.

5) We have created false memories. Not only have we lost the true memory of African people, we now have a host of other memories which are totally removed from the truth.

6) We lost our land. Anytime you lose your mooring on the land, you lose your capacity to protect your possessions.

7) We have lost our independent production capacity. We have become consumers, rather than producers.

8) We have lost independent control of ourselves. We have little or no control of our educational process, our economic situation, our communications, or our politics.

9) We have lost our sensitivity. We have lost the ability to perceive when people are doing things to us which are detrimental. We accept inaccurate perceptions without criticisms.

10) As a cumulative result of all things, we have lost our solidarity...our unity. When we lost our unity, we lost our political advantage, economical advantage, and even our mental orientation. We lost a sense of self and a clear sense of belonging. We also lost a clear sense of wholeness, continuity, and purpose.

There is no amount of information alone which can correct all of the problems that I've just identified. A large part of what we must do is to get our memories back in tact and regain our orientation.

Food for thought . . .

Hey Ideal08 great topic! :)

I have long since begun on my quest to reclaim my heritage even though it's to the dismay of others. Many say.."You can't trace your roots back that far", "All you're going to find are slaveowners", or "Why are you doing that"?I refuse to leave this earth not knowing where I came from.I wish more people felt like me.I would say more, but I'll PM you for more on the topic.

Re: The 10 Most Prevalent Impediments to African Unity
 

This is SO true. All of it. I think the most important one is forgetting/not caring to know history. Those who forget the past...you know.

Essentialist rhetoric.
 

I have reservations about a few points on this list.

There is this idea in some circles that there is some mythic African culture. Africa is a continent, and as such has MYRIAD cultures. What do you say is this "African culture"? Is it Ethiopian? Egyptian? Nigerian? One of the hundreds of tribes?

What culture have WE lost? How do WE find this mythic culture? There were and are a million of them! We shouldn't identify with them because we're black, but if there is something that appeals to us spiritually within them.

It is my humble opinion, just judging by the people with whom I have come in contact that there really is NO common thread between blacks. The closest you can get is the fact that somone consciously self-identifies as black. We don't always have the same features, the same economic background, the same culture, or really ANYTHING in common except that we see ourselves as part of some sort of community. Whether that is based on an African identity or not is up to the individual.

Just because someone makes the decision that African culture is not what they want, or what makes them happy, what right have any of us to judge them? I firmly believe in the ideal of a black community, but a lot of people don't, for various reasons, some of them quite understandable.

This just sounds like essentialism, and I think that's a door that shouldn't be opened. I am NOT African, I am if ANYTHING Jamaican-American. That is my culture, that is what raised me and I love it. I have little allegiance to some idea of an African self-identity because I don't need it to feel like I have a community, or some obligation to my community.

I absolutely love Dr. Asa G. Hilliard. Last year, I read an artcile by him on the problems of the Black community in America. He proposed that we are living against our nature. He argued that many of our cultural values and standards were lost as a result of slavery and because of that, blacks are attempting to live and operate under ideals and standards that are inherently foreign to us, even though that is what we are taught all of our lives. It's like the way the rules that we are following here, in America, go against our natural instincts. It was very interesting and eye-opening to say the least.

I really wish that I could remember the name of that essay.

I agree with these statements except for the word "lost." We did not LOSE anything, it was brutally SNATCHED from us. Our last names, religions, original languages of our ancestors... all of that was FORCED out of our memories and cultures by white culture punishing us if we spoke to each other in our native tongue, from changing our names and punishing us if we used our native names, by raping our women and "prizing" individuals with the least amount of black blood, etc, etc....
But again, yes, our native selves was stolen from us, but no one is going to GIVE it back... we must reclaim it!

GREAT POST
 

Man, I must say, this has been one of the most thought-provokng posts in some time.

Posted by ClassyLady
I completely agree with this. I think that White people basically created the world of consumer capitalism and exploitation, etc. through their domination and enslavement of colored people all around the world. American culture does not fit as easily with us and I think that's one of the reasons why we have lower levels of income, education, political power, etc. and high levels of incarcerations, etc.

Re: Essentialist rhetoric.
 

In a number of his books, the late Dr C.A. Diop talks about the cultural unity of Africa. He distinguishes between behaviors that are regional and religious and identifies similarities that can be found on any part of the continent. Many of these behaviors and ideas are found in Black America even today.

I don't have too much time right now but check out some of his books. They can be found at most black bookstores and some libraries.