The Real Black Mind Builders

Hotep (An Ancient Afrikan Kemetic word for Peace)!!!

Take notes!!!!!!!

“Powerful people cannot afford to educate the people that they oppress, because once you are truly educated, you will not ask for power. You will take it.”

-Dr. John Henrick Clarke

“The revolution will not be televised.”

-Gil Scott Heron

The systems of oppression, such as slavery, colonialism, apartheid, and segregation; made Black people believe that we had no history, culture, or spirituality before the coming of Europeans and Arabs. In fact, White hegemony, using White supremacy, taught us and the world, that we contributed absolutely nothing to the world’s civilizations and religions. Fortunately, in reaction to White hegemony (domination) falsifying information about the Afrika since the 1800s, Black people have created organizations and movements to rescue our history, culture, and spirituality. Many of us acquire the knowledge of self (Black consciousness) by fighting back systematic racism. Unfortunately, many of us limit our search for our blackness to one level of Black consciousness. We don’t realize that mother Afrika and her children of Black people sparked civilizations and religions all over the planet earth. To all my young homies (Black and Brown youth), the concept of stay woke is the very first stage of consciousness. However, you must keep reading and researching on Afrikan history, culture and spirituality to get to the higher stages of Afrikan centered Black consciousness for Black pride, Black power, and Black liberation.

In this new millennium, young people call your awareness to blackness being "woke." This is just the fist stage consciousness. You know that blackness in the world. However, the "woke" Black person has not reach the level of consciousness to apply their blackness to Black liberation struggles.

Prior to the millennium, when you embraced your blackness, it was called Black consciousness. This was the second stage being Black. Afrikan / Afrikan Americans began to connect our consciousness of blackness to some action. We worked to help empower Black people in government, non-profits, community-based organizations, schools, colleges, universities, the business sector, and in religions institutions.

However, in Afrocentricity, there is a deeper level of blackness. It is called-Afrikan centered Black consciousness. Black people used Afrikan centered Black consciousness as a pathway for independent Afrikan centered education, nation-building, self-determination, independent politics, independent businesses, and Black liberation.

ASCAC:

The Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC) is an independent study group organization founded in 1984 by Drs. John Henrik Clark, Jacob H. Carruthers, Yosef Ben-Jochannan, and Maulana Karenga (https://ascac.org/). It is devoted to the rescue, reconstruction, and restoration of Afrikan history and culture. But most importantly, ASCAC helps Black people develop an Afrikan centered world view. ASCAC is an organization that provides the opportunity for "African peoples to educate other African peoples about their culture." It was founded by scholars deeply rooted Afrikan American communities in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. It derives its membership from Afrikan / Afrikan Americans across class and occupational social classes. The ASCAC organization has since expanded into an international organization with membership regions representatives from the Caribbean, Afrika, and Europe. ASCAC has four commissions which advance this agenda: education, research, spiritual development, and creative production. Along with creating study groups throughout the world, ASCAC holds an annual conference, operates a youth enrichment program, and is editing a comprehensive history of Afrika.

Afrocentricity:

The movement of Afrocentricity is an Afrikan centered intellectual movement challenging White supremacist and racist notions about Black people, Afrika, Afrikan History, Afrikan culture, Afrikan spirituality, World History, Caribbean History, western religions, and American History. Some of Its leaders consists of the following scholars: Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop, Dr. John Henrick Clarke, Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannan, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, Dr. Asa Hilliard, Professor Jacob Carruthers, Professor Ashra Kwesi, Tony Browder, Professor Dr. Runoko Rashidi, Professor James Smalls, Dr. Naim Akbar, Dr. Lenard Jeffries, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, Dr. Marimba Ani, Dr. Charshee McIntyre, Dr. Amos Wilson, Dr. Maulana Karenga, and Dr. Molefe Kete Asante. Their commitment to Afrikan centered scholarship has led to the re-awaking of the Black mind in America and in the world in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Afrocentricity inspired Black people to acquire the knowledge of self and Hip Hop to become conscious. But most importantly, ASCAC helps Black people develop an Afrikan centered world view.

Ceremony without substance

The European Art of Deception and the Importance of an Afrikan centered analysis:

“if you stick a knife in my back nine inches, taking a knife out my back six inches is not progress. Progress is healing the wound the knife made is progress. Sometimes you won’t even acknowledge that the knife is there.”

– Malcolm X (Omawele El Malik El Shabazz)

We must be careful of White hegemony!!! Pulling down statues, movies, US Confederate flags, and European monuments are a great start to abolishing the symbols of White supremacy. But the substance of the real fight to end White supremacy will come from Black people, and the human family, completely destroying the culture of racist policies and procedures within American and the world’s institutions (i.e. schools, colleges, universities, fire departments, churches, synagogues, mosques, police departments, government, corporations, political parties, Hollywood corporate board rooms etc). But most importantly, if we are serious about Black lives mattering, then America and the world’s powers would give us our reparations owed to Black people for the centuries of enslavement (the Maafa) orchestrated by White hegemony. The enslavement of Black people made the western world wealthy and Afrikan world poor. While the world’s White population grew rich from slavery, the world’s Black population sank deep into permanent wells of poverty and oppression for generations. White hegemony knows what it did to Black was wrong. However, White hegemony is trying to exonerate itself from any culpability to Black oppression. White hegemony is very manipulative. It will make concessions to oppressed Black people to appear to be on our side. White hegemony will even use blackness, Black clergy, Black elected officials, sports, Black sports figures, rappers, singers, dancers, and capitalism to appeal to our hearts that progressives change has come to Black people. White hegemony will let you paint, in giant letters in the streets across America and Europe, ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER.’ When in reality, White hegemony was not made to redistribute the wealth to the Afrikan world to remedy the centuries of state sanctioned slave and racial discrimination in the Afrikan/ Afrikan American community. In other words, White hegemony is not given up reparations to its oppressed Black community without a fight. Remember folks, White hegemony absolutely does not want to be made accountable financially for the centuries of injustice towards Black people in America and in the world. We must also remember that the members of the White power structure are well studied. They have read books like, The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli and The Art of War by Sun Tzu, to deceptively maintain power and domination over Black people in Afrikan, in the Caribbean, in Europe, in America, and all over the planet earth. This is why our great ancestor Dr. John Clark continuously warns us about all these things, but we ain’t listening when he refers to White hegemony’s surface concessions in the Black world as “ceremony without substance.”

In conclusion, there are many us that have not given up on blackness. I happened to be one of many Blackmen that have not given up on blackness. Afrika has been in my spirit, heart, and mind since 1990. That is the year I became conscious of my blackness. Prior to 1990, I knew nothing about the value and the importance of my blackness. I, like many Black youth growing up in the post Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the late 1970s, and the 1980s in the Afrikan American community, were not taught on our blackness. Most leaders and organizations of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements had vanished, or became irrelevant, due to US government co-optation and repression. The schools in our neighborhoods, the religious institutions, and many family circles did not teach us our Afrikan History, Afrikan culture, and Afrikan spirituality to help us develop an Afrikan centered Black conscious love for our blackness. Organizations and movements like ASCAC and Afrocentricity in streets developed my Afrikan centered Black consciousness, and it developed the Afrikan centered consciousness in the masses of Black people in America and the world. But as time past on, and as the White hegemony maneuvered the power structure to discredit blackness, many of us stop teaching Afrikan centered Black consciousness to our youth. A new generation was produced without knowing their history and culture. Now I see the same thing happened to this millennial generation. Navigating through all this may be little tough to understand young brothers and sisters. But unfortunately, by turn of the 21st century, many of our strong and committed community Afrikan centered scholars were passing on to our Afrikan ancestors realm (they died). Many of them were replaced by Black scholars conceived by the White power structure. They came into being either completely Europeanized, and/or controlled by White hegemony and the systematic institutionalization of racism. As a result of this, we have in the Afrikan / Afrikan American community, plenty of highly educated Black scholars, but not enough highly educated Afrikan centered Black scholars today with the intellectual and scholarship temerity to challenge White supremacy. Many of these Black scholars do not know the basics of Afrikan History and culture to connect our people to Black pride, Black power, nation-building, and Black liberation. In fact, they don’t really know Afrikan History, culture, and spirituality to adequately to rescue and liberate the Black mind from European and Arab mental and cultural slavery. I am tired and frustrated of the many Black scholars of today. They are horrible. However, when I grow impatient with the lack of Afrikan centered Black scholars coming out of America’s colleges and universities today; my friend, my brother, and respected community journalist, Doshon Fard, always reminds me on the difference between a Black scholar and Afrikan centered Black scholar. He says,” it is all intentional. Our Afrocentric intellectual movement has been under attack for decades. White hegemony has been working to destroy our Black minds using Black scholars to do their bidding. This is why today brother Bashir we have a Dr Peniel E. Joseph and then we have a Dr. Molefe Asante.” This is why we must out work Black scholars controlled by White hegemony. We produced our own Afrikan centered Black scholars that will truly serve the interests of the Afrikan world community. Therefore, we must continue to create Afrikan centered community study groups and movements, like ASCAC (the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations) and Afrocentricity, that provide real research, facts, and text on our history, culture, and spirituality. If we fail to do these things, Black scholars controlled by White hegemony will lead us all back to mental slavery under the empires of America and the Western world.

Hotep!!!

Asante sana (Kiswahili for thank you very much) for reading my commentary.

O Dabo (Yoruba for go with God until we meet again)!!!

Bashir Muhammad Akinyele is a History Teacher, Black Studies Teacher, Community Activist, Chairperson of Weequahic High School's Black History Month Committee in Newark, NJ, commentary writer, and Co-Producer and Co-Host of the All Politics Are Local, the number #1 political Hip Hip radio show in America.

Note: Spelling Afrika with a k is not a typo. Using the k in Afrika is the Kiswahili way of writing Africa. Kiswahili is a Pan -Afrikan language. It is spoken in many countries in Afrika. Kiswahili is the language used in Kwanzaa. The holiday of Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26 to January 1.
#Hotep
#afrocentricity
#nationofislam
#kemet
#blacktheology
#kwanzaa
#blackstudies