(ThyBlackMan.com) First allow me to thank you for your presence and willingness to read this letter. Thank you for your attempts to teach black America about our culture as well as your dedication to reproducing information from past scholars, teachers and historians. You have quite a way of rewording content and making it your own and for that, we are grateful. Nonetheless, we have many issues that need to be addressed today so that we as a people can shift from reading history to accepting our position in creating a future worth living to see.
For years we have listened to you in the break room, on the corner, on YouTube as well as numerous other platforms limiting the term “consciousness” to the black experiences and knowledge thereof. We have grown tired of your antics to make us believe that enlightenment is a process of learning knowledge outside of self. You have continuously given out false African history and traditions merely to further your agenda of procrastination.
We have paid close attention to you studying your books, attending your lectures and buying your DVDs and while we admire your commitment to your studies, we’ve also noticed the rate of high blood pressure, poverty and estrangement from family running high among members of the black conscious community. We hear you speaking about the importance of
family and community yet your actions seem to be unaligned with your speech.
We have grown tired of hearing about your back to Africa movement. A movement geared towards encouraging us to pack up, close shop and relocate to a place that few of you have actually visited. We’d like to note that the majority of black conscious folks haven’t been able to visit the Motherland due to finances. We are unable to follow you in this agenda, primarily because you’ve yet to discuss a plan of what’s to happen once we’re in Africa.
We’ve heard your cries to leave the black church, white Jesus and the bible yet we can’t help but notice that within your community you quote elders such as Marcus Garvey, El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and Dick Gregory just as much, if not more than devout Christians recite scriptures from the bible. We ask what good is your conscious community if members have joined and turned away from their beliefs, not because they felt you were right but because they were intellectually intimated by you? We wonder if your intimidation techniques are the reason your movement has been stagnant for 10+ years? Many followers yet few believers.
We have grown tired of hearing countless stories of how we built the pyramids. We are aware of the location of the pyramids, we acknowledge that they were built by our ancestors yet we can’t ignore the fact that even with this knowledge of empowerment, the black conscious community has failed to build a subdivision, school or doghouse for that matter. We have noticed that with this powerful wisdom of what our ancestors have done in past times, we as a people still lack architectural schools of higher education. We don’t understand your attempts to glorify our ancestors as one’s we should worship when our ancestors engaged in competing to be better than the generations that proceeded them. Why are we not competing with our ancestors?
We have grown tired of your constant pressure to study the people of Africa when we should be studying their lifestyle and behaviors. Your studies have yet to eliminate the rampant spread of HIV, AIDS, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression and suicide that is plaguing our communities. It’s hard to find time to ponder on when we were kings and queens when you have bigger problems such as getting the finances to purchase your prescriptions.
And about this “kings and queens” thing, if every black person back on the continent was a ruler who exactly were their subjects?
We have heard your pleas to join you in consuming knowledge and while the history of our ancestors does intrigue us, we are in a battle of our own here in 2014. Many of the black leaders you worship have integrated us into a school system which is now forcing us to drug our children under the guise of being autistic, having ADD or ADHD. We were integrated into a food industry that is now selling food products full of monsanto.
We are at odds with the prison industrial complex which continues to incarcerate young black men and women disproportionately to other races. We are having to compete viciously with one another to attain well paying careers, homes in safer neighborhoods and reliable transportation.
We can’t move forward at this pace. There will never be unity, history shows us that our ancestors too went to war with one another, Tribes have been fighting one another since the beginning of time. We
can’t all move to Africa, many of us have ancestral roots in various places throughout the world. We all can’t afford to invest in your debates which destroys much more than it builds.
We are asking you to join us at the table to deal with the problems WE are facing today. How do we fight and strive for reparations for our ancestors when we, ourselves are pinned to the ground by our opponent?
Let’s stop it with the attempt to run away from the issues, let’s stop pretending that merely reading and reciting information can make the problem go away, let’s stop pretending that getting all the people on one page at the same time is possible. Let’s deal with whats in front of us, and work with those who are available.
Let’s change the focus of the black conscious community and let our first order of business be learning thyself. Knowing what our personal purpose, strengths, gifts and talents are. Rather than investing so much time into getting the community on one accord, let’s focus on fulfilling our personal duty within the community. If you are stepping up as a teacher, teach insight that empowers our people rather tearing them down. Personal responsibility is the order of the day! By doing your part, you create a space for others to join in and do the same. It’s something about seeing a person in action, seeing a person making a change that makes you want to get your affairs in order.
The days of black leaders have passed! We need no more leaders, we need responsible, devoted, self invested folk to step forward and fulfill their personal duties.
We need classes on agriculture and farming. We need classes on architecture and engineering. We need no more debates, we need spaces that uplift family and reconnect us to our spiritual selves. You’ve been studying 10+ years, here’s your chance to show us what our ancestors were able to do by doing it. Remember seeing is still believing.
Signed,
We The People for Empowerment