-----Original Message-----
From: Art McGee <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 10 September 1999 00:28
Subject: [BRC-NEWS] To Be Afrikan
>http://www.wanonline.com/blackhistory/blackhistory6248.html
>
>World African Network
>
>February 26, 1999
>
>To Be Afrikan
>
>by Dr. Marimba Ani <[log in to unmask]>
>
>All people, all over the world, throughout history have shared in common
>the fact that they belong to a culture of origin. That is a universal
>reality. Another equally important universal reality is that there are
>many, many different cultures in the world and each of them is unique.
>
>The uniqueness of a culture is what gives specialness to its members. The
>members of a culture are bonded together by their shared culture, which
>gives them a sense of collective identity.
>
>"We are an Afrikan people," simply reveals that there are values,
>traditions and a heritage that we share because we have a common origin.
>The cultural process is naturally a ongoing, which allows people to
>continuously affirm their connectedness through being linked to their
>origins.
>
>However, the continuity of our cultural identity has been interrupted
>cruelly and unnaturally by the experience of slavery. We as a people are
>still suffering from this crime because we have not been allowed to find
>our way back to the sense of cultural identity and continuity which would
>transform us into a unified and whole people. We have not been able to
>function in the world with a collective consciousness that naturally
>imparts a strong sense of cultural roots.
>
>The term "Maafa" (from the book, "Let The Circle Be Unbroken) is a
>kiswahili word for "disaster" that we are now using to reclaim our right
>to tell our own story. Maafa refers to the enslavement of our people and
>to the sustained attempt to dehumanize us. Because the Maafa has
>disconnected us from our cultural origins, we have remained vulnerable in
>a social order that does not reflect our cultural identity.
>
>We are people of African ancestry living in denial of who we are. We have
>lost our strength as a people. We are losing our children to systems which
>miseducate them. Our families are disintegrating before our eyes. Our
>numbers are growing in the statistics of drug addiction and incarceration.
>
>Responsible national Black organizations are seeking remedies to these
>problems, but we are not speaking with one voice. We need to work together
>as a family who supports its members and who is responsible for their
>welfare. We must use the most valuable asset that we have: That is the
>spirit of our people. It is that spirit that connects us to our Afrikan
>roots.
>
>Slowly, we are awakening to the need to claim our cultural legacy. The
>term "Sankofa" from Akan tradition in Ghana, West Africa tells us to
>return to the Source so that we can go forward with strength and clarity.
>Culture is a powerful tool for inspiring human beings and bringing them
>together in a concerted "family" action.
>
>Our cultural roots are the most ancient in the world. The spiritual
>concepts of our Ancestors gave birth to religious thought African people
>believe in the oneness of the African family through sacred time, which
>unites the past, the present and the future.
>
>Our Ancestors live with us. They created the first civilizations thousands
>of years ago and they suffered the pain of the Maafa. And yet, they were
>able to endure the most disastrous and dehumanizing circumstances ever
>perpetrated against a group of people, only because of the power of the
>African spirit. They did not have the freedom to affirm their cultural
>heritage. We now have that choice. In the African view of life it is our
>responsibility to honor their name.
>
>This is perhaps our moment of truth. We must come together as a family. We
>must do all that we can do to uplift our people. Otherwise, we are still
>denying who we are and bringing dishonor to our "family name;" to our
>Ancestors.
>
>The answer to our social dilemma is the resocialization of our people into
>the cultural value-system that affirms our spiritual being. Our Ancestors
>are calling us "home", back to our cultural selves. We must begin the
>process of Sankofa.
>
>--
>
>Dr. Marimba Ani, an activist in the African Liberation Movement, worked as
>field-organizer for the Student Nonviolent Committee (SNCC) in Mississippi
>in the 60s. She has continued her activism through her scholarship.
>
>She has created African-centered theoretical concepts that have assisted
>in the developing of an African Cultural Science. At this time, she is
>actively involved in retrieving philosophy and in the re-creation of
>ritual, so that they can be used for the transformation and healing of
>people of African descent
>
>Currently, Dr. Ani teaches in the Black and Puerto Rican Studies
>Department of Hunter College in New York.
>
>She is credited with writing the scholarly works "Let The Circle Be
>Unbroken" and "Yurugu: An African-centered Critique of European Cultural
>Thought and Behavior," as well as articles that have appeared in scholarly
>journals.
>
>Copyright (c) 1999 Dr. Marimba Ani. All Rights Reserved.
>
>
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