"Blackness" by Elder Kwasi

Today, I received a note from Dr Drew Lanham, a Black ornithologist (study of birds), who had these revealing words to say about black birds,

" Treasure them-they are under appreciated and often persecuted.  The depreciation of Blackness extends into the bird world and so I value them."

 

Knowing the euro historical culture as I do, I should not have been surprised at their hatred for anything Black, but yet I was.

 

According to the popular rendering of their historical contact with Black Afrikans, they say that in early times, there was no cultural bias against Afrikans, even though their color was noted.  We know, of course, that ancient Afrikan empires were often world beaters that other less advanced ccultures including euros, emulated, and aspired to.  Afrika then could defend itself nicely and therefore any hatred of Blackness by others was likely muted or subliminal.

 

But, as Dr Asa used to say, 'history happens to all', and as time passed, things changed to the point that when the Greeks invaded KMT in the 3rd century BCE, their former educators and benefactors, they began a campaign of anti-Blackness by literally changing the names of so much of KMT, such as the Hapi River to the Nile River, King Khifu to Cheops, Ausar to Osiris, Auset to Isis, and so forth.  They changed the traditional Afrikan names of practically everything from birds to cities, mountains, rivers, everything.

 

Later, euro 'thinkers' such as Hegel and others began a campaign to demonize, trivialize, marginalize and under evaluate Blake people and their ancient culture as likely justifications for their invasions, enslavements and theft of Afrika and Afrika.

 

How well they seceded is measured in our predicament today wherein we have imitated our oppressors hatred of us and our traditional culture in many ways from religions to bleached skin, blue-eyed contact lens, nose straightening, homosexuality and more.

 

In my day, we used to say 'stay Black until I get back' which obviously did not refer to skin color, but to Black culture.  And that is the essence of Blackness, our traditional Afrikan (Black) culture.

 

We must consciously strive to maintain our own indigenous Afrikan culture, for when that is lost, there is nothing left us for us as black people.  We can help assure our culture by unrequited acts of love and caring for our Black people and the Afrikan culture from which we sprang.  Kwasi