http://www.uky.edu/StudentOrgs/AWARE/archives/lynch.html
Today at work, we had a series of presentations for Black History Month. There were various presentations ranging from the birth of the black sorority and fraternity, to talks about African culture and African games. The presentation my coworker and I (but mostly him...actually completely him) gave was on the infamous Willie Lynch speech of 1712. Above is a link to the speech, and some quick background can be found on Wikipedia, but I encourage you to read the speech before continuing, as you will not get the full impact of what I am talking about otherwise.
There is much debate as to whether the story is contrived or real, but regardless it still sends a powerful message to generations past and present. As the speech goes, Lynch devised a plan on how to control slaves more effectively than with hangings. He told the slave owners to cause division among slaves based on age, "'Color' or shade, intelligence, size, sex, size of plantations, status on plantation, attitude of owners, whether the slave live in the valley, on hill, East, West, North, South, have fine hair, coarse hair, or is tall or short." He asserts that distrust and envy will be greater among the slaves than admiration and trust, and that the slaves must love and trust only the owners. Finally, he claims that if this method is used rigorously, it will create a cycle for generations.
And he was right. You could go through each category he listed and find correlations in today's black community. For instance, some of you may have heard arguments about whether lighter skinned black people are more stuck up, or better looking, than darker skinned black people. Some of the mentality can be attributed to the fact that the fair skinned black people were given house jobs as opposed to field jobs, as well as better clothes and over all treatment. Another correlation you see is between where a person lives. Today's communities as a whole claim West Coast, East Coast, "Dirty South", and "Killadelphia", just to name a few. And even within those, several more microcosms will form till neighborhoods are split into "territories". Finally, fine hair versus coarse hair, or as you may have heard, good hair versus bad hair. There is no such thing as good hair or bad hair, however these are just a few of the mentalities and stereotypes that are perpetuated in our society.
Of course, this is not completely due to the actions taken by slave owners, but the remnants of the mentality instilled in slaves remains. To shed more light on this, consider this theoretical experiment. Five gorillas (and if you do not believe gorillas would act this way, substitute the animal at your leisure) are placed in a room with a banana on the ceiling and a ladder leading to it. Every time one of the gorillas reaches for the banana, they are all sprayed with ice cold water. Eventually the gorillas start to restrain one another if any gorilla tries to go after the banana so soon no gorillas go after it. When this happens, one gorilla is replaced by a new gorilla and when this gorilla tries to go after the banana, it is restrained by the others. Eventually, it learns not to go after the banana, and when this happens a new gorilla is substituted for an older one, till there is a total of five new gorillas. However, none of them go after the banana, even though they do not know why. It has become a characteristic passed on from one generation to the next to not reach for the banana, even though the new generation doesn't know why.
To bring this to a close, it is important for not only the black community, but all minority communities to understand their history and the attitudes and mentalities upon which our society was formed. In all communities, there is division based on shade, sex, and where you live among other things. Furthermore, even if you do not identify with your historical motherland, it is important to know where you come from. Knowing where you came from helps you decide where you are going and it is still part of your history. Understanding the stereotypes and mentalities that have made us who we are as a people today is the first step to breaking them and succeeding.
Black History is not something long past to be forgiven and forgotten. Black History is struggle that we must remember, embrace, and use as an impetus to change.
Black History is Our History. Black History is Our Story.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
In Honor of Black History Month...
Friday, January 18, 2008
Africa open for Business! (Mkeka Redux)
*If you do not see a video above, please go to this link to watch it(updated 1/19/2008):
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/127
I listened recently to a talk from Ms. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a renowned Nigerian woman, who was talking about ways to help Africa as a whole. Her major topics in the talk (if you do not have the time to listen to the whole thing) were corruption and foreign investment. She started with a story of how a Nigerian man who worked for an oil company and as a politician was recently caught and jailed in London for embezzling eight million dollars worth of stolen funds into his personal accounts. However, he escaped from London (dressed as a woman), and made it back to Nigeria. Since in Nigeria politicians have immunity from certain laws, he could not be tried. However, his state legislature was so enraged that they managed to impeach then arrest him. Justice was served, and yet this is not the Africa you hear about everyday. But there is an air of change in the way that many African countries are run, and Ngozi is at the forefront of these changes.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweali is the former vice president of the World Bank, and Nigeria's first female Finance and Foreign Minister. She has dedicated her life to fighting corruption in Nigeria so that more success stories like these can become a reality. She has begun her fight against both internal corruption and a large part of corruption which comes from overseas. Many people and companies outside of Africa will make deals with corrupt Nigerian businessmen in order to gain a higher profit. To this, she says, "Is that not corruption? In this country (the united States), if you receive stolen goods, are you not prosecuted?". However, with help from a willing President, Nigeria is now putting programs in place to reclaim the money being siphoned out of the economy by corrupt dealings. Her other major argument is that Nigerians are grateful, but tired, of receiving aid. To draw on Ngozi's sentiments, the best way to help Africans, and in fact any persons from any underdeveloped country, is to help them stand on their own two feet. She calls for investment, not hand outs, in African countries that are beginning to start the long process of stabilization.
I feel that Ngozi really hits the nail on the head with this speech. For so long, Africa has been stigmatized by the "Neighborhood effect", as she calls it. This is where the conflicts and problems of one or two countries effects how the global community views the continent as a whole. In reality, many African countries are beginning the long process of rooting out corruption and stabilizing themselves. So maybe she is right and the best way to help is simply to do business with them. Invest in and buy goods from companies that invest in African countries so as new African businesses form, their expansion is not stifled by a lack of interest in their services. Not only would this bring honest and hard earned money into the economy, but it will also help the common man since more jobs would be created.
These jobs could positively impact the attitudes and practices of African peoples and governments. And if you are wondering how investing could actually do all this, well maybe the key is in Ngozi's words:
"There is no issue with fighting malaria and putting money in that and saving children's lives. That's not what I am saying, that is fine. But imagine the impact on a family if the parents can be employed, and make sure their children go to school, that they can buy the drugs to fight the disease themselves... isn't that a wonderful opportunity? Isn't that the way to go?"
It is, as with all things, not the cure all. But it is a very good start.
