In the Service of our Ancestors and African Love,
Listen Seeker, I come in peace,
“An overwhelming power of our oppressors or some stern adversity, breathren, may force you to forsake me, but even then will I not leave you. I will take me to the mountains, and there in the dreary seclusion of the wilderness, though alone, will I stand firmly in defense of our cause.” — Martin Delany
I have been silent for a while, but I have not yet been silenced. Our Race needs to know how to keep an open channel for communication but use their channels for intelligent, relevant and uplifting conversations. Today, we have either closed channels, or an inundation of unintelligent, irrelevant or degrading memes, rants, monologues and dialogues [it’s been this way for over a century.] And what good is this when Africans the world over demand to put in work to steer from what seems like imminent and depressing failures?
As an Organizer, I’ve tried the gamut, observed more and vetted a plethora of ideas. Organizing in the west is not easy. For one, the white race insists for any organization to be registered and therefore controlled by them. To defend this, the white race set into the mind of the Black Race to never finance anything the white race can finance. The Black Race says, ‘the white race can pay you to teach our children,’ or ‘the white race can pay you to run a talent show.’ This pattern of white-financed Black organizations is a bane on Black life. Yet black-financed has little success to vaunt.
Until now,
Call to Action: Become an Editor-In-Chief of a Local African Liberation Paper
By Onitaset Kumat
Any veteran of African Action-based Power-oriented Organizations has likely heard in many iterations–“let’s do something for the youth.” This usually involves teaching, showcases, sports or trips. Yet any novice of european action-based power-oriented organizations has likely never heard a similar sentiment. The reasons are varied. Africans are without an educational institution for their children; europeans have several. Africans are a family-centered Race; europeans aren’t. Africans adults are very removed from their natures; european adults are very ingrained. However, despite the reasons, the undeniable reality as to which race practices Power must be considered.
We’ve done the shows, run the sports programs, taught the children, traveled to Africa; and to Black finance these has rarely been profitable. The youth must be in our objectives–but it behooves us to recall and remember what the youth of our ancestors were called to do. Were they the sole focus of the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) of the past? The Black Panther Party (BPP) of the past? Even the African Nationalist Pioneer Movement (ANPM) of the past? Or the Mau Mau of the past? The Zulu? What were the roles of the children? How were the children involved?
One insight into how children were involved in an African Action-based Power-oriented Organization comes to us from the UNIA under the leadership of Marcus Garvey. The UNIA printed a newspaper around the world despite that, like today, Africans were not a reading Race. The youth of this time, however, had the intelligent and inspiring occupation of memorizing the articles in the newspaper and reciting those articles in community meetings in order to inform people all over the world about the messages of the UNIA and therefore African liberation.
It’s self-evident then what our next move must be.
The African uses social media, video streaming websites, printers and other means of mass communication that if used innovatively and effectively can turn the tide for the Black Race and allow for not only the goal of including the Black family and Black talent in African Liberation; but actually have a concrete effect on the local communities of Black people.
I call for African readers to become editors-in-chief for their own Black-financed papers, and recruit local talent (young and old) to put together a paper which includes interest stories, local articles, entertaining events and national messages. With these papers, the youth can submit articles–and more importantly recite articles at local events, on the internet, and in public spaces.
Every paper that wishes to be archived on the African Blood Siblings website need only ask. The papers should be locally edited–but if they contain organizations for readers to join, people of interest in the community (or the international stage), business profiles [paid advertisement or unpaid], coupons or product overviews, a historical article or a look at history, relationship advice, or homework help, fiction, or comics, the paper may gain more traction than one that focuses solely on only one of the above.
Whether the paper is a monthly, quarterly, weekly, or annual paper is up to you. I recommend making a call to the community to determine who your initial writers, artists and editors will be. This is your call-to-action. When different parts of the world put their papers and videos on either this website or another–the local communities can connect with the international communities and the local stories can become international stories–and when our local mentalities become international mentalities–our local power will be international power.
Ase
African Blood Siblings 