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(Black History Month And Year Round Awareness)
Another Black History Month has come
And soon will be gone with a pseudo-focused
Apology on 400 years of slavery, while gracefully
Continuing to ignore things like 700 years
Of Moorish democratic rule in Euro-Spain,
And how early African explorers had traveled
And settled in various parts of ancient Asia, Europe,
And other places—including countries like Mexico—
Long before becoming victims of American slavery!
It’s ironic that as we have gone from
Celebrating Negro History Week to presently
Celebrating Black History Month—with its focus
On slavery, abolition, emancipation, civil rights,
Snail-paced growth in education, Voting rights,
Employment, and election to high political office—
That there is yet the sneaking implication that leads us
And our children to thinking that our Black lives here
Had their creative beginnings with American slavery:-
While praises must forever be due to the tenacity
Of those here who paved the way during slavery
And thereafter, we must make it abundantly clear
To the present and oncoming generations, that
Our beginning did not begin here in this stolen land that
God had already given to an anchored people of color.
While it is evident that the beginning of women and
Men on this planet had origins on the African continent,
The illusion is yet taught that human origin and civilization
Was probably more of a Mesopotamian-European cocooning:-
But let us not despair; the crushed and buried
Truth in this dirt of "his-story" will not be denied
Her assured resurrection! No, we must teach
Our children that their treasured—mattering—
Worldly origin, and the growth of our great being,
Did not begin with American slavery; rather, God’s
Edenic creation for all humanity was and remains
The blessed gardening in the womb of Africa!
Indeed, there is much throughout the year that
We must tell our children of our glorious origin
And the conquering sojourning of our evolution
On Earth—created in God’s peace and love—
Now gone astray in the Clorox-like human-hate
Phasing of a racist pigmentation ideology;
We must make our children aware of the great
Ancient African civilizations and their Kingdoms
And Empires that existed long before the blank
Caving of primitive others who stole our African
Greatness to be claimed as Greco-Roman genius:-
All of which today—though still veiled—remains
That well-known crime of “The White Man’s Burden”.
We must make the children aware that it was in
The North, South, East, and West, of the African
Continent where Black Africans became the first
Of agricultural, hunter-gatherer humans to evolve
Into settlers of extended family-like societies where
The earliest technology took root and led to African
Ancestors being the forerunners of the growth and
Development of civilization!
For our children, we must dispel the evil untruths
In “his story’s” racist archeologists, racist cartoonists—
And racist writers like Victor Hugo—who audaciously
Insinuated Europe as the “ultimate civilization”—
Deeming Africa, “utter barbarism”—and the racist
Poetic penning of Rudyard Kipling’s poem which was
Mendaciously titled, “The White Man’s Burden”—
Insinuating it to be the white man’s supreme moral
Duty to conquer and enslave the people of Africa!
We must make our children and their children
Aware that their treasured ancestors were not
Illiterate savages living in straw and mud huts
With only Stone Age technology; rather they
Must know that our earliest ancient ancestors
Were intelligent people of Africa who in ancient
Times developed agricultural skills, technology
To fashion iron tools and weapons, minted coins,
And built great cities and colossal monuments;
Many of which remain great wonders of the world.
Indeed, we, today’s penning griots—repositories
Of “ourstory”—must assure for coming generations
That the echoing sounds of Nok, Djenne, Bantu,
Aksum, Timbuktu, Kuba, Swahili, Kush, Ghana, Mali,
Songhai and Meroe become igniters of storytelling
Cherished keloid memories of “outstory’s” beginnings!
Indeed, fellow Griots of today, we must assure
That coming generations of Black Americans
Will always be aware that our history—"ourstory"—
Has its beginning with the glorious history of Africa;
Not with American slavery and that they are well
Aware that their ancestors—aborted from the womb
Of Africa—were not randomly chosen but explicitly
Chosen from African regions where Blacks had attained
Great ingenuity in agriculture, animal training, masonry,
Metallurgy, architecture, and various other technical
Skills in building civilized nations and empires:-
Indeed, enslavement was a well investigated
Thought-out plan for the white man’s burden
Of Europe and her bastard prodigal child—
In their not going quietly into the night
In establishing colonialism and the strange
Institution of slavery; thus let us ever be
Well aware of the past and post neo-his/story
And the ramifications of the manifest destinies—
But the God of the oppressed has always
Reconciled the living truth! So let us in our
Own reconciliation, forever remember whose
And who we were before being aborted from
Our homeland and packed down Like sardines
In the belly bowels of Middle Passage ships;
Thus, in coming celebrations of “ourstory” here,
Let us begin at the beginning: (A) review Middle
Passage Slavery interruption; (B) highlight how far
We have come, and then turn our attention
Towards (C) solving Black-on-Black crimes;
And calling the brothers and sisters together to get
Us back to being the great builders of liberated
Self-sustaining faithful Black family communities.
Let us be molders of new mattering Black lives—
Living the reality of God’s peace and love!
Hey, you beautiful ebony African Americans,
JB said that we should stand up and “Say It Loud!
Have you really heard what it is I’ve been saying?
Have you understood these screaming words?
Are you ready to rise and “Get On The Good Foot”?
Are you ready to be like “Papa”—with all this mess?
Finally, forever be aware of what our world would be like
If we did not have our ebon Queens who gave us navels,
And who spiritually strengthen us in our destiny control:-
