Terminology that I’ve entitled “Cultural Self-Colonization” is a psychological condition that perpetuates the terrible continuance of separating and dividing our beautiful Black selves from one another by highlighting and targeting the so-called differences in the traditional cultural patterns and geographical locations that we inhabit.
This condition and mental illness have developed into an intergenerational virus that must be cured. The first step to developing a strong immune system against this virus is to recognize that it even exists. Once you internally admit that it is real, you then proceed to analyze yourself and how you personally feel about other Black people and why.
To have that honest conversation with yourself can be somewhat difficult. It literally embarrasses me to think of all the irrelevant and weak reasons why Black people don’t like other Black people.
The divide and conquer strategy that was implemented against us centuries ago has become a viral, self-inflicting, and self-sustaining umbrella covering a multitude of Black generations.
Most Dark-skinned Africans from the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean Islands despise being called Black or African.
Yes, you might call yourself or identify with the Jamaicans, Nigerians, Ethiopians, Sudanese, South African, Angolan, Ghanian, African-American, Algerian, Zulu, Ashanti, Kukuyu, Fulani, and Wolof. However, I believe that we are all Africans first.
Cultural Re-armament
Dr. Amos Wilson teaches us that “the primary tools used by Pan-African Nationalists in breaking the mental chains of subordination are historical and cultural re-armament.
Author Haki Madhubiti explains that “the movers and shakers of early Black Nationalism will remain unnamed and unknown due to the non-existence of documentation in the 17th and 18th century. In the U.S. prior to the 20th century, there were few original documents written about Black Nationalist practices that were authored by Black people. However, it must be made crystal clear that writing and reading by enslaved Africans was against the law and, in most cases, was punishable by death. Yet, we do know from the records of white settlers that from our initial contact on the continent of Africa and (subsequently) the Americas, there was never peaceful co-existence between Blacks and whites.
Today, we fortunately have many Black historians and scholars who are unfolding our rich and historical journey layer by layer. Authors such as Cheikh Anta Diop, Ivan Van Sertima, Runoko Rashidi, Edward Blyden, John G. Jackson, Charshee McIntyre, J. A. Rogers, Dr. Yusef Ben-Jochannan, Drusilla Dungee Houston, Maulana Karenga, Ishakumusa Barashango, Asa Hilliard, Marimba Ani, Mumia Abu Jamaal, Oba, T. Shaka, Chancellor Williams, Molefi Asante, and Dr. John Henrik Clarke have helped to give us a tremendous view of who we are and where we come from. Our historians and Griots are helping to restore our memory; when you know better, you definitely do better.
The restoration of memory should begin as early as possible. The sacred Black mother must begin to teach her child while in the womb.
That same Black mother must realize that we are not the only people who have forgotten who we are. We are a people who have forgiven those who have violated our most sacred and honored traditions and customs.
“Pan-Africanism is an inner need to know ourselves. We need to keep looking at each other until we annihilate our own suspicious moves and recognize the same energy looking back at all of us, over all the seas and all the centuries.” Carol Gerrard
“The economic philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that our people need to be re-educated into the importance of controlling the economy of the community in which you live…which means that we won’t have to constantly be involved in picketing and boycotting other people in other communities in order to get jobs.”
Malcolm X
Khabyr Hadas is a Pan-African Educator, teacher, and author of Oneness of the Blacks and African Struggle Inherited. On Saturday, Feb 22, 2025, Hadas will present a Chronological History of Marcus Garvey @ Urban Art Gallery 260 S. 52 Street (4 pm-6 pm) khabyrhadas@Gmail.com
‘Those Not Yet Free’ Pan-African Nationalism (pt 3)
