| Author | Message | ||
     Dahomeyahosi Newbie Poster Username: Dahomeyahosi Post Number: 13 Registered: 01-2006 Rating: N/A |
I suppose ideally all people would be one but I'm honestly more concerned with preserving African cultures than the "black" race. An amorphous black race devoid of culture is not something I'm interested in. What difference does it make if blacks hold power if those black people are culturally Arab or European? Does skin color have that hold on Americans? I don't understand this mindset but it seems prevalent amongst Americans and many Africans as well. I'd rather stand in solidarity with a person who is non-black but culturally West African than someone who is black but culturally western. My ethnicity, rather than my race, is of utmost importance. I think it's very possible and also very necessary to have a multi-cultural West Africa where people respect one another and I also think that is consistent with traditional West African ways (my parents say there were no large scale bloodbaths when people understood who they were). The senseless killing, maiming, and dictatorial styles of government are a result of self-hate which is now self-perpetuated unaided by whites. A return to the traditional things that make sense is therefore necessary to overcome this self hate. I don't believe people don't go out indiscriminately killing people who look like them (while carefully sparing those who don't) unless they hate themselves. So in a way I believe it it "tribalism" that will get us where we need to be in West Africa. But only the sort of tribalism where people not only proudly assert their ethnicity and allow themselves to be guided by others who share it, but actually believe in its traditional values. I don't think this will happen in my lifetime but I'll never say never because that can kill a spirit. |