Did you watch the Haiti Telethon this weekend? It was pretty good and they raised like 57 million dollars for aid. Amazing! The two performances that stood out
in my mind most were those of Wyclef Jean and Jay-Z/Rihanna. I remember that in Wyclef's he made a comment about being Hatian and furthermore being African.
So when I saw this video it made me think of that and how so many of our issues about hair, skin, etc stem from shame of our Blackness, our African-ness.
We are Africans. It's cool. We should be proud. You may not like all the song's lyrics or the video (some of it is quite silly,lol) but the message is clear.
I liked Justin Timberlake's performance. It was beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWhen he made that statement I stood up and started clapping, giving him a long standing ovation. I almost threw a shoe at my television because the cable mysteriously went off while he was speaking. I guess some people don't want to hear the truth?
ReplyDeleteWe are Africans, regardless of whether we've been to the continent or not, we are the descendants of Africans brought to the African Diaspora as property. What I do see in this country is that the majority of Americans of African descent have the hardest time acknowledging this because they've been conditioned to think other wise.
As long as some of us continue to deny our true heritage we will never fully achieve our destiny or embrace all which is ours. What I have learned is that the majority of our people throughout the Diaspora acknowledge their roots and claim African heritage in every aspect.
They admire us for our resilience,inspiration and the will to determine their own existence and achieve some of what we have achieved in this country, but many of us know nothing about them nor our we trying to learn anything about who they are.
I've met many people here and in some parts of the world who don't like to be referred as or to be called African anything. The only ones who don't are those who have let others label and define them and those who harbor self-hatred of every beautiful thing about themselves.
They are the ones who want to be accepted by those who have taught them to hate themselves, who only hate us because they hate who they are. We try to change everything about ourselves to be accepted by people who will never accept us.
We've got to extend our hand in solidarity and kinship because these individuals of the African Diaspora who are our family. I have yet to hear anyone say that the Haitian people are our family because yes they are and we've allowed the world to ignore their plight for a very long time. We've also allowed the world to exploit and ignore Africa for a very long time and until we have the courage to do something about it things will never change there.
It's a beautiful thing when we come together and it scares the hell out of a lot of people.If you care to, read some of the nasty comments that have come out during our support of the country.
We really need to build bridges and create networking opportunities that will not only change our lives, but theirs as well. I firmly believe that we hold the key to changing the reality of every individual of African descent in the world. We can create economic opportunities for us and for them by creating businesses that will make the country a viable partner in the world.
We've got to help our people to achieve prosperity the world over, we cry about what we don't have, some people have no idea the level of poverty they are allowed to live in involuntarily. We have the opportunities, they really have none, but still have hope of one day overcoming their oppressive circumstances.
I've cried many tears in my life and asked why are we such a hated people? I've asked my mother as a child why do they hate us so much? Everyday as long as I live the answer is being revealed to me as to why. I've cried many tears as to why can another human being mistreat another human being and allow them to suffer? Some people call it racism, there's no such thing because there is only one race and that's the human race. What man does to another human being in any form or whatever you want to call it is the inhuman treatment of another human being.
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ReplyDeleteNice video!
ReplyDelete@NaturallyLeslie thanks for posting the video
ReplyDelete@Divalocity PREACH!
You got it girl!
ReplyDeleteWe are Africans. My friend from A&T used to say that Blacks dread the thought of being African. I think for some there is some truth to that because there's a stigma connected to Africa--disease, famine, and government corruption. BUT I am very proud to say that "I am African", regardless of the fact that I have never placed my soles on it's earth. We all, indeed, are African and should be proud! *smile*
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