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"Although Lincoln gets credit for freeing the slaves, he was more interested in saving the Union than in making sure African Americans were treated fairly..."
Dear friends,
The recent appointment of Michael Steele, an African American, as chairman of the Republican Party represents the acknowledgement of the fact that the African American vote cannot be taken for granted as it has been by the GOP since the Sixties.
On the link below, in his usual brilliant fashion, veteran columnist George Curry who is now with the Philadelphia Inquirer takes us on an historical tour of the relationship between Blacks and the GOP, from Lincoln until today.
Cheers!
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/george_curry/20090219_Beyond_the_Spin__How_the_GOP_lost_blacks.html
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"We have much reason to be thankful that President Obama is not of Nigerian origin..."
Dear friends,
As my longtime dear friend and brother, Nigerian educator, scholar and author Okey Ndibe has insisted, “Africa has been portrayed as a continent of losers. Who wants to be associated with losers?”.
Consequently, one of the most symbolic victories for those of us who have spent so much of our energies contributing to the struggle, over the past several centuries, to win the minds of African people here in the Diaspora - as well as those on the Mother continent - has been the election of a person to the presidency of the United States of America who has an African name. Many more African Americans will now not be so ashamed of being associated with Africa.
After all, as has been pointed out on this blog in the past, the great Marcus Garvey reminded us that, “"This propaganda of dis-associating Western Negroes from Africa is not a new one. For many years white propagandists have been printing tons of literature to impress scattered Ethiopia, especially that portion within their civilization, with the idea that Africa is a despised place, inhabited by savages, and cannibals, where no civilized human being should go, especially black civilized human beings." (Philosophy & Opinions of Marcus Garvey, edited by Amy Jacques-Garvey)
And so the other half of what we call racism - that is, the systematic oppression and exploitation of, particularly African American people in this country – in its historical context, has been what I call programmatic self-hatred. Moreover, this “other half” of racism, that is, self-hatred, unfortunately, is displayed by African Americans in a wide range of situations. For example, it is evident when some of our folks will not acknowledge their African American fellows on the streets (by either looking downwards or turning their heads) - to drive-by shootings in ghettos. As well, through our government- and corporate-controlled media, Black self-hatred is showcased daily through popular “comedy” television shows and movies, along with the equal buffoonery of “Black” plays in theatre houses all across America, all of which provide themes that allow us to either laugh at ourselves, or, in the case of many Black “dramas”, have European American (i.e., white) folks feeling sorry for us.
But racist self-hatred runs through the blood of all non-European peoples these days. That makes sense, since just as in other forms of oppression like sexism, for instance, the oppressed must necessarily internalize their oppression, in order for the injustice to proliferate. Otherwise, the oppressors would have to constantly spend their time killing and engaging in other abuses, in an attempt to get the latter to conform. To be sure, in that kind of scenario, the rulers would be unable to get their victims to do much work, much less make profits for them.
Finally, on the link below is a beautiful and humorous piece from a new online news service called the "Nigerian Village Square". With all of the corruption and internecine warfare that seems to be so endemic to most of the domains of the continent (i.e., Africa), let us hope that those of us in the Diaspora, someday soon, emotionally, spiritually, and practically re-unite with our people on the continent, and embrace Africa’s return to the prosperity She once knew. As well, let us hope that one day the continent will be called the United States of Africa.
One Love, One Heart, One Spirit,
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/sheyi-oriade/thank-god-obama-is-not-of-nigerian-o.html
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