01/08/2015
ANCESTRY: Today marks an event in the timeline of millions of Africans living in the diaspora- Emancipation. The word in itself suggests the conclusion of multiple forms of bo***ge that the African slave came under from his Colonial oppressors. Bo***ge at that time was legal, religious, social and political and it was expected that the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 which received Royal Assent on the 28 day of August 1833 would be the instrument to remove these bo***ges from about the body and psyche of the African slave. The Long Title of the Act stated thus:
An Act for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Colonies; for promoting the Industry of the manumitted Slaves; and for compensating the Persons hitherto entitled to the Services of such Slaves.
Two key attributes of this Act I wish to mention and remind the descendants of African men and women who were kings and made slaves. First, the Act recognizes that INDUSTRY (not Reparation) would have been the liberating balm for the African whilst COMPENSATION (more like Reparation) for the White oppressors (I use this phrase in this context to underscore the wretchedness of the paradox. Secondly, the Act never was a symbol that what the Colonial did to Africans and the African Continent was wrong. These two attributes to my mind have had a debilitating effect on the African psyche.
ASIDE: It is small wonder to my mind that years after this Act Africans are ready to shun characters (character as in symbols) of their African-NESS and embrace hastily characters of their former White oppressors.
I for my own part wish to return to the Act and its call for promoting INDUSTRY as a mechanism whereby the African may achieve parity and freedom. Africans aren't seen as contributors to the world economy, the molders of the minds of this planet, the generational healers of the universe's infirm. These are our historical industries. It is not coincidental that every precious metal every resource that God has given to man could be found on a single Continent- Africa. To my mind this is evidence that our first God given instincts were to be industrious. This proclivity to be fed by the hand of "Massa" is alien to the descendants of kings.
LANDS must be reclaimed COOPERATIVES must be established ENTERPRISE must be taught and pursued with unimagined zeal this is the challenge I issue to the 21st Century Negro.
To be truly free we must break our dependency on the State (the new "Massas") who feed, clothe and educate us according to their own perceptions of what the descendants of kings should be fed, wear and learn.
To be truly free we must deliberately disengage from practices that promote the perception that the descendants of kings are lazy, criminally inclined, promiscuous and unenterprising.
To be truly free we must embrace this one modicum of truth that all men were created equal!
J. Anthony Bond
