“What we do for ourselves depends on what we know about ourselves
and what we accept about ourselves,” Dr. John Henrik Clarke
In order to change the African consciousness, we must change the information in the African mind.
To break the chains of psychological slavery, we must be aware of our culture, particularly before European invasions and the tragic events of our enslavement.
Sisters and brothers, more than any time before, we must realize the grave importance of restructuring our current colonized thoughts and practices on every level. We must learn and help each other recover memory, suppressed principles, and practices of our traditional African culture.
We must rescue and reconstruct our Black culture and traditional ways of life. Black people in America put themselves under a lot of stress trying to function with a European value system and lifestyle. The strain that is put on the body and mind is tremendous. This stress has led to millions of premature deaths among our people. Functioning outside of our culture can cause physical as well as mental death and deterioration of the soul; we literally see it every day.
I realize that there has been a generational level of cultural ignorance within our communities that has been perpetuated for centuries. This ignorance can even permeate within a family structure that generates a phenomenal level of love and gratitude. Simply put, you can’t teach your child what you don’t know!
“The secret that Europeans discovered in their history is that culture carries rules for thinking- and if you could impose your culture on your victims, you could limit the creativity of their vision, destroying their ability to act with will and intent and in their own best interest.” Marimba An
Dr. Wade Noble teaches us that “culture dictates behavior. Culture is a process that gives people a general design for living and patterns for interpreting their reality. If culture is a pattern for interpreting reality (and we are following white culture), then our conception of reality is European-centered, which means that we will work in the best interest of Europeans because this has become our reality.”
The foundation of practicing our true culture is knowing our history. The identification of one’s past history is an essential step toward liberation. This article is an attempt to remind us of our ways of life before the interruption and cultural derailment took place.
Our heritage and our traditional values are essential to restoring our greatness. Values are categories of commitment and priorities that can enhance or diminish our possibilities and potential as a people. Our heritage is what we have inherited from our ancestors. It encompasses our traits, norms, and customary behaviors. African heritage is our ROOTS, our lineage, and our legacies. Heritage deals with our biological and genetic inheritance.
Revisitation notes before Colonization
Our ancestors in Africa built countless civilizations lasting over 1,000 years, without a network of jails and without a word in our vocabulary that meant prison or jail. We had no orphanages because no one discarded their children; there were no adoptions.
There was no use for old folk homes or senior citizen facilities because no one discarded their mother, father, or grandparents.
There was no need for lawyers because everyone knew the laws. We were well aware that people made the laws and that laws don’t make the people. All laws were family-based. We naturally behaved in harmony with each other. Writers (scribes) wrote down and documented the observed cooperative rules of our relationships. Our ancestors observed the behavior and then wrote the laws.
Poverty was a foreign subject. Traditionally and historically, we always shared the land and distributed the resources amongst the people. Black societies had the village/community as its base, and most things were jointly owned by the group. There was no such thing as individual land ownership–land belonged to the people.
Our mental attitude towards problems presented by life, in general, was that of experiencing situations; Africans experience situations, and other ethnicities experience problems.
Traditionally, we could always comfortably stay with people of other cultures and would be able to contribute to the culture of the community we had joined.
Spirituality and religion
Our people never had religious conflicts. All Black people had a common origin and the same fundamental religious beliefs throughout the continent. Our traditional culture is dominantly tolerant of religious differences. European culture is dominantly intolerant of religious differences. Even the early colonization of this country was a result of people looking for religious freedom. Mother Africa has a history of granting asylum to all religions.
Traditionally, our worship manifests in our daily lives. It was not logical to have a particular building (in which) all worship would be conducted. God is always in communication with us and, therefore, merited attention everywhere and anywhere. It was white missionaries who indoctrinated and confused our people with superstition, hellfire, and eternal flames.
“When the white man came, we had the land, and they had the bible- they taught us to pray with our eyes closed when we opened them, we had the Bible, and they had the land.” -Jomo Kenyatta
Khabyr Hadas is a Pan-African Educator, Garveyite, and author of Oneness of the Blacks and Afrikan Struggle Inherited. He is a graduate of Cheyney University and teaches African History and Culture at Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School, founded by Baba John Skeif in 1972. khabyrhadas@gmail.com
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