A Rap: Black Hatred

This video showed up either on my Facebook or Twitter timeline.  I've forgotten which site that fast.   I ponder the issue of black hatred or self hatred often because in the media and out in real life I see so much evidence that many black people aren't comfortable with their own being. I see it in both black males and females.  I see self hatred as a kind of blasphemy.  To hate the features God intended a person to have is not only abnormal but an insult to God.  

Some black self hatred in America comes as a result of being severed from our homeland and true identity.  There are not many good blueprints for black people in America to go by so more and more we have been cast away into dysfunction.  As a people we have been existing in dysfunction for a very long time, but only now it is widespread. 

In this case I'm excusing this rapper's language.  He uses less profanity than most rappers including my old favorite Tupac. 

I'm also posting the piece below in italics.  I can't remember where I got it online exactly.  I saved it to my documents months ago.  There is much truth in the piece, but I disagree somewhat that Africans are in as bad a shape as we in the Diaspora here in the US especially.  Here's why. I haven't been to any countries where large populations of black people of African descent live such as Brazil and some other parts of Latin America or the Caribbean, so I can't critique, but I know African Americans very well, all of our pathologies.  I feel that many continental Africans lack self-confidence in standing up to various forms of oppression and exploitation, but one strength many have is that they still respect marriage and have a desire to be wedded and to have an intact family and community structure. Africa is not the West where the individual rules.  The clan and the tribe hasn't been erased there.  I don't believe that illegitimacy and divorce is as rampant in Africa as here.  Also many Africans value education. They don't see learning as being "white"  as some African Americans have described getting an education. Overall American culture is anti-intellectual. But too often all the shortcomings, ills, and recklessness of the society blacks in America take on with a hardy vengeance.  This all goes back to self-hatred and lack of  a true and meaningful identity.  Our history didn't begin with the nightmare and oppression of slavery in the Americas, and we haven't reached the pinnacle as a group because of President Obama.  Very very far from it.  

Therefore, I will end in a bit and allow you to ponder like I often do. 

One way we can conquer our self hatred as a people is to connect with Africans online since most of us will never get to Africa.  I've been to two African countries and have meet many Africans from various countries over the years.  My view of self began to slowly change when I set foot on the continent.  It took many many years, but I changed into more of a complete person.  Today I see myself as an African of the Diaspora.  There is no nationality, country, or continent named "black."  Black is a misnomer and too limited in scope for me.  I alienates me from my origins.  Like "American" it just isn't detailed enough for my tastes, describing the essence of who I am.  It's too new, inaccurate, and limiting.  Shame over my skin color or hair texture has nothing to do with me refusing to go solely by the description of black.  I don't have any shame over my features. But I want more. I want to identify myself with my ancestry and a particular geographic region which I relate to the most.  There is nothing wrong with that. I have a longing for this, and I will not deny my longing.  It is my right. However, "African" doesn't quite go deep enough as well for somewhere on that vast continent in a little spot among some tribe or clan is my true home.  I am a part of Africa whether north, south, east, west.  We are one, and I am proud to be who I am.  Everyone should be. 

I have come to the conclusion that the majority of Afrikan men and women in the UK -- and most certainly in places like the USA and Caribbean, and most probably in Afrika -- are 'functionally mentally ill'. By this I mean that whilst most people in this category can function effectively at a certain level, i.e. hold down a job, obey the rules and laws of society, maintain social relationships over a prolonged period time, use their cognitive skills to solve various problems, there is something fundamentally wrong or missing at the heart of their psyche. This affective gap manifests itself in a deep-seated but unrecognised sense of racial inferiority, an inability to admire the Afrikan physiological and cultural aesthetic, a lack of racial self-esteem and confidence and a profound difficulty in working effectively with other Afrikans, often induced by the inability to trust one another. This functional mental illness is one of the main reasons that most Afrikan controlled countries are economic and social basket cases. It explains the widespread use of skin bleaching agents by Afrikan women and why Afrikan women who 'go natural' with their hair often provoke such enormous and negative emotional reactions from other women who use chemicals to straighten their hair, or who wear wigs, weaves, extensions etc. It explains why Afrikans find it so hard to forgive each other and yet can forgive Caucasians in South Afrika (and other places) for their atrocities without any strong demand for justice or reparations. It explains why we are in such a mess and yet so many of us think we are 'doing well' as individuals. It explains why so many Brothers think that 'things' will help them to feel whole and never learn the lessons when they don't. It is time for a rethink. Time to get down beneath the rhetoric and the kente cloth (or Versace) and deal with the pain. Deal with the pain of being rejected by your absent father, the pain of never being hugged by your physically present but emotionally absent father, the pain of belonging to a defeated and oppressed race, the pain of having to go to your oppressor for the means to live, the pain of a lifetime of insults and accusing looks, the pain of being rejected by your women, the pain of somehow feeling less than a man. We are a group of men who have been conquered and we have failed in our single most important task, namely the protection and defence of our community. However, no matter that many battles have been lost, the war continues apace. Can we face ourselves in the mirror of our ancestors and those yet to be born and summon the will and self-belief to win? For win we must. You cannot have an honourable defeat at the hands of white supremacy. Let's do some healing and some cleansing and build a nation of men our women and children can be proud of."

Paul Ifayomi Grant
Niggers, Negroes, Black People & Afrikans

The Difference Between African-American and African Tweeps

I’m sorry if anyone who is black in this country is offended that I might refer to you as an African-American. I'm not ashamed.  I've said before on here I now go solely by "African" and proudly so. Many are ashamed of, hate or dismiss Africa, and don't want the title of even "African-American."  There is no nationality, country or continent called "Black."  You're keeping yourself in limbo actually by calling yourself just "black."  You're going by a label someone imposed on you.  And believe me, there are some American types who want to keep you confused and in limbo because as long as you're separated from your essence and origin you will remain confused and ultimately less of a threat intellectually and politically here or internationally.  I don't think many other hyphenated Americans are in this much self denial (there are the Michelle Malkins), but I don't have any statistics to back up this argument.  I've even heard some older black people say they are "American" not "African-American."  Old people can be confused too.  Confusion is not just the dominion of the young because there are some young people who are far more socially and politically conscious than their elders.  We live in times of confusion and massive triviality, and it's spreading.  

I've notice this confusion and triviality on Twitter in the Tweets of a few too many African-Americans versus Africans on the continent. Now there are some aware (conscious) African-Americans Tweeps, but they're in a tiny minority.  A sizable amount of Africans often Tweet things of more importance than my people here who too often seem to be into what's on TV, relationships (usually the failed or abusive kind), Tweets cluttered with raunchiness, or just posting sheer mindlessness.  I have to wonder if they even know the meaning of some of the one, two, or three word sentences they post. I certainly don't.  There are also the black Twitter prostitutes, cleavage and more, who appeared after the white Twitter prostitutes.  We as a people love to pick up the worse behavior of the whites.  The few good ideas they have we tend to ignore.  This has been going on a long time.  It's time for a change, and I'm not talking about the Obama kind.  Sadly, fake change and crumbs is all we feel we deserve as a people.

I probably have more Africans who follow me and I follow them back on Twitter than African-Americans.  That's fine with me, but it also makes me feel a little blue.  My Tweets are probably too international for the tastes of those from here.  I am also highly critical of the US domestically as a "culture" and internationally as a self-proclaimed human rights leader. No, I am no cheerleader for here.  I know the past and present history of this country very well. Yes, we have patriotic blacks too, but they don't generally post the US flag everywhere and love guns with an outrageous passion, but these types tend to get a violently allergic reaction at the thought of getting to close to our cousins in the Motherland. Does it mean we have to go back to Africa?  God forbid!  No, but you could move beyond Obama and Tyler Perry in your thinking. There is a world outside of America, you know, but perhaps you don't.

Twitter was once seen as the more intellectual relative of Facebook.  There are some highly intelligent people on Facebook, and a few of them happen to be my Facebook friends.  Everyone on Facebook is not on there just for play or for show.  Recently with the so-called Arab Spring there are people or groups who have popped up on these two most famous social network sites who promote killings and all out war, especially in the case of Libya and Syria, so it goes to show that Facebook and Twitter can become whatever you want it to be...  However, I prefer mine to be beyond the usual. I think if people can use them for killings, sweet nothings, and the mediocre, they can also be used to promote meaningful thought, wisdom, and information.

People might say that so many African-Americans Tweet lobotomized thought because their lives are not as difficult as Africans in Africa.  Perhaps this is somewhat true, but so much of African-American life is a sea of confusion and in shambles in this country.  That we would be Tweeting nothings and the grotesque is sad while many Africans are Tweeting substance. Some of the Africans have a more international awareness in many cases than many African-Americans.  Some also have a very deep understanding of what is happening in their own countries and on the continent. There is an extremely high level of sophistication in Tweets by Africans like @MrBasabose among others. He happens to be one of my favorites.  I actually learn from his Tweets.

I have felt for a long time that despite all the problems and perils, African-Americans and Africans need to connect more.  Here in America too many of us live in an isolation of ignorance.  It's a solitary confinement of confusion, propaganda, and eternal schoolboy and schoolgirl thought.  I would say 10% to at most 20% of the US population is sophisticated about how the world works, but even in my encounters with people here with degrees I see a lot of willful ignorance. It's chic to be ignorant in America even if you have a diploma.  I see it in other groups too, but here it's abysmal. 

It's far overdue that more African-Americans begin investigating and connecting with our people back home and those who have come over here and haven't lost their identity. As a people we are in some cases in a state of ravage far worst than Africans when you look at the state of our families and communities.  We've lived through a special and hidden war and not too much is left. It's time to rebuild and get back on the road we were on in the 70s. We were finding our way back then, but something happened. We've lost a whole generation. 

Even if we can't connect with live Africans there is the virtual universe where many of them will welcome us if we are willing to change our attitudes and overcome the poisoned lies and myths we have been told for too long. We must overcome our own self-hatred and suspicion and then we will be willing to connect with our people across the sea. When I was in Botswana years ago through Peace Corps I was asked why don't black Americans come here.  The whites do, but they never do.  We want more black Americans to come. 

We need to begin thinking about connecting with people who really accept us, not scratching at the door of folks who continuously one way or the other reject us or pretend to accept us out of guilt or as the fad of the day.

I've generalized some here, but I've also told about what I've witnessed.  I hope you get my point.

Unfinished?

Yet again I've changed my mind about what I would post on this blog.  I have several titles and portions of blog posts stored in the drafts section of this blog.  I was going to write about observations I've made of behavior on social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, but when I was looking through my poetry notebook tonight to add a poem to my poetry blog, I noticed an unfinished poem I'd started.  I don't know if it will lie dormant and unfinished or whether a lightning strike of ideas will come and I will extend it. 

The unfinished poem I was looking at has the title "Dear Sisters".  It's basically a letter to African-American women, my sisters on the African continent, and my other sisters in other parts of the so-called Third World, the places that have been colonized and raped repeatedly for several centuries now, the places where the lie was put out that the people must be civilized even though they had already been civilized centuries before.  Individuals and whole civilizations are conditioned into low self-esteem and self-destruction, so in my own tiny way with my few abilities I want to cut some links in the chain.  

I will say here and now, I do not and have never considered myself to be a feminist.  I am not a middle class white woman.  A one size fits all white, American, northwestern European female template is not the remedy for all women on this planet.  In some of our cultures, far back, especially in African cultures, women already had strength and the right kind of freedom.  Debauchery and chaos is not freedom.  Being liberated into self-destruction and shame is not freedom. Losing the essence and nature of a female to become a pseudo-male is not freedom.  Emasculating your men is not freedom. Morals, intellect, grace, dignity, appreciation of beauty, wisdom, maturity, sense of duty without complaint are all the things our foremothers had.  We didn't have to be taught by a European woman how to live. So why this questioning and confusion about who we really are and what we can be?  We already IS. We don't have to be taught.

I've seen how the women's liberation model has in some ways been a catastrophe in the African-American community. Our family structure has dissolved itself.  Many African-American women feel they don't need a man.  We feel we can go it always alone and don't need protection.  And now we have no protection as a group now.  A war hasn't killed our men like it has in some places, but in America there has been and still is a special and secret war. Not too long ago I read a comment on an article about black male and female relationships posted by a racist troll who said that no one wanted black women and that we are so "butt ugly" that even our own men were abandoning us for white women. When I see or read the blatant and see the subtle racism, I go more within myself and realize the dangers to my people and others.  This country and the world is not post-racial. That disingenuous slogan about here and if it is applied anywhere is laughable and highly dangerous.


I started rediscovering Africa again last year during the Libyan war and seeing on YouTube the lynching and butchering of blacks there. I read the stories of survivors and witnesses. My journey as an African (not an African-American) of the diaspora began 20 years ago when I was in Peace Corps in Botswana.  What happened in Libya on all fronts changed me and forced me to look within.  Right now I am reading a book called Introduction to African Civilizations by John G. Jackson, edited by the great Pan-Africanist scholar John Henrik Clarke. I was embraced in Africa.  I now have both proud Africans as Facebook friends and followers on Twitter.  I am looking and searching for the truth about my people.  I am also drawing parallels between what happened to Africa when the Western European first penetrated it and what is now happening in the Middle East and Africa. The only thing is the guns are just bigger and the tricks are just slicker. The destruction of these civilizations are starting again, only this time the whole world might not survive.  

So on to my little unfinished poem.  It's a letter. Let's see how it goes.  Perhaps it's already complete.


Dear Sisters
My dear African sisters of the Diaspora 
and my sisters on the other side of 
the powerful seas, you too of other proud 
and long traditions now under assault.
We need to walk in beauty again and abolish
any alien way, any abnormality that lessens us 
as the beautiful daughters of God,
we sisters and lovers of true men.
We need to splash ourselves
in the rose water of beauty and 
genuine femininity.