Africa & Aboriginal Tuesdays: Placing Racism In Its Proper Context by C.C. Blackman

We as African People must collectively place racism in its proper context. Racism against Black People is defeated by our unity as a people. Racism is the ultimate excuse of those who still embrace “nigger mentality.” They blame their ignorant attitudes and lack of progress on racism. They blame their apathy toward the Black struggle and their mistreatment of other Black People on White racism.

To overcome this, African People who still think that racism prevents us from unifying and controlling our destiny as a people need to be reminded of the following facts:

1. European racism, and the assertion that African people were sub-human and inferior, was nothing more than a convenient excuse for the total exploitation and subjugation of African people during slavery. These negative attitudes towards Blacks have been exported around the world to other races of people making racism toward Africa and African people a worldwide sickness among the practitioners of racism.

2. African People should not waste their time by being hypersensitive to racism. Instead we should focus on making collective progress among ourselves by supporting and building our own institutions. If we commit ourselves to the empowerment of our own race then no force on this planet will be able to prevent us from achieving it.

3. The wealth created by the enslavement of African People in the Western Hemisphere created the wealth that led directly to the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Invention. The vast wealth of America is part of the legacy of our enslaved African ancestors. We as African People have a duty to amass some of that wealth and return it to Africa and African people wherever they may be.

4. African People, in response to a sense of racist rejection, must not seek to win acceptance and approval from Whites and other races of people. This is silly. You only make them feel superior and make yourself look foolish. Accept your African-ness. Accept your Blackness. Accept your people and make constant progress. If you do this you will develop an indifference to racist attitudes. You will understand that the racist is sick and as long as no overt action is made against you, based on their racist attitudes and behavior, it does not merit your attention.

5. When dealing with overt racism put it in check if you can. Never be surprised by racism. The African race has been maligned for the past 500 years. Attitudes around the world won’t change overnight. They will change when we take charge of our collective struggle as a people.

6. One hates who one wrongs. It is easier to justify and attempt to trivialize the mistreatment of African People by non-Blacks if they can blame the Black victims of racism for their own mistreatment and exploitation. Ironically, we as African People are to some degree to blame for our mistreatment and exploitation by people from other races when we encourage our own oppression by failing to aid support and unite with the members of our own race.

7. A world totally unconcerned with race may be the dream of humanity, however, that day has not come. Africans and the African race can move the world closer to that goal by ending the oppression, manipulation and exploitation of African people worldwide. Africans can gain the respect and admiration of the entire world by organizing itself and the African continent.

African People, who pretend to be unaware of race, when the African race is in turmoil, ultimately cannot be respected by enlightened members of other races. Everyone knows that charity and service should begin at home. All of the peoples of the Earth celebrate their uniqueness and look to the development of their ancestral homeland. Chinese People all over this globe are concerned about China. Indians, wherever they may be, are interested in the development of India. Arabs are concerned about that section of the globe where they are from. Caucasians care about Europe and the condition of White People all over the world.

It is time for Africans to be concerned about the proper development of the African continent and the African People’s future around this world. African People should not be deceived into thinking that they have dignity in their apathy to the cause of African progress because they feel financially and socially well off in some Western country. This kind of thinking is devastating to the struggling millions in Africa and is an insult to our African ancestors. When Western Europe was in ruins after World War II, the United States came up with the Marshall Plan to aid and help rebuild Europe. Today, the nations of Egypt and Israel receive more foreign aid from the United States than all of Black Africa.

The nearly 36 million African Americans who pay taxes in the United States should insist that the United States take a more active role in relieving suffering and in helping to develop Africa. Instead of fighting for reparations from the United States, for the enslavement of our African ancestors, African People should be demanding that the United States government come up with a Marshall Plan for Africa, which has never recovered from the slave trade.

C.C. Blackman is a public speaker and the author of "Towards The Destruction of A Nigger Mentality." He can be contacted via email at info@nubiandirections.com and through www.nubiandirections.com

C.C. Blackman

Tuesday, November 1, 2005

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