“The colonized man who writes for his people ought to use the past with the intention of opening the future as an invitation to action and a basis for hope.”
Frantz Fanon
Our Great historian and statesman, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, informed us that “if we continue to let strangers write our history, we will continue to be strangers to ourselves.” Immediately after reading that statement, I knew that I wanted to write to and for our people. Since that time, I have been very grateful that the creator is using me as a vessel to tell our story in the best interest of us, Black people.
I also continue to be greatly influenced by the powerful journalistic integrity of Philadelphia writers, journalists, columnists, and publishers that have made enormous sacrifices to keep our people informed and inspired. The history of Black men and women such as James Spady, Sonny Driver, Sherri Darden, Charles L. Blockson, Acel Moore, Chuck Stone, Muhammad Ahmad (Maxwell Stanford jr.) Mumia Abu-Jamal, Shahrazad Ali, Tyree Johnson, Brahim Ahmaddiya, Heshimu Jaramogi, Dr. Edward Robinson, Sonia Sanchez, Alain Locke, Lynn Washington, Henry D’Bernardo, Ishakamusa Barashango, Del Jones (War Correspondent) Junious R. Stanton, and Molefi Asante help to keep me grounded and committed!
Twenty-one years ago, I wrote and published my fourth book “Afrikan Struggle Inherited.”
Afrikan Struggle Inherited is a tremendous (550) page historical journey of Black leadership, resistance, love, unity, pain, challenge, sacrifice, honor, legacy, and determination. The reader is enlightened with essential levels of the African Liberation struggle from 2000 B.C. to 2004 A.D.
Each chapter unfolds and confronts the realities of war, prison, and slavery in a most direct and intense way.
The eleven (11) chapters of Afrikan Struggle Inherited are accompanied by powerful photos, sketches, charts, and graphs and guide the reader through the earliest contact between Africans and Caucasians. I methodically unfold the earliest migration stages of the white caveman and woman desperately penetrating the exterior of Mother Africa, from a cold, savage, uncivilized Europe.
Chapter(2) describes plantation life and the repressive regulations governing that system. The infamous Dred Scott case, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and the Black Codes are explored and tied to the generational devastation of African people.
Chapters (3, 4, and 5) go deeper into the analysis of the various levels of incarceration for Africans, such as the massive ships used to transport our ancestors from Africa to strategic geographical areas around the globe, to various forms of the death penalty, and the use of Black people as guinea pigs during the Philadelphia Holmesburg Prison experiments sanctioned by the University of Pennsylvania.
Chapter (5) focuses on the countless resistance efforts of Black warriors on both sides of the ocean, both female and male, such as Assata Shakur, Ramona Africa, Queen Hatshepsut, and Winnie Mandela.
As the pages are turned, the reader will learn about the powerful legacies of the mighty Hannibal of Carthage, Nat Turner, Shaka Zulu, Cetewayo, the Maroons of the West Indies, Toussaint L’Overture, and Imam Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown) among others.
Chapter (6) overviews various forms of America’s wretched penitentiaries and the torture they inflicted on our people.
**********
Thank you for reading Khabyr Hadas’ article on scoopnewsusa.com. For more on “African Struggle inherited turning the pages of our history”, please subscribe to SCOOP USA Media. Print subscriptions are $75 and online subscriptions (Print, Digital, and VIZION) are $90. (52 weeks / 1 year).