This is Black History Month. In these parts it means that the month of October at various Colleges, Universities and City Councils around the UK will have an event, public talk or debate on offer. 2007 has so far been marked by an emphasis put on the Anti-Slavery Act of 1807 to end slavery in the British Empire. For the Dread Team, it is overdue and appropriate that the Western world takes ownership of its oppressive past and realise that the destructive powers of slavery are still with us today.
But Black History does not need a constant reminescing of Afrikan bondage, still existing today through racial discrimination and the inequality of economic opportunities for our peoples and nations. As a people, we agree, we need to stay connected to our common narrative of enslavement. However, together we must also rise above our current circumstance through unity and action. We must OWN our God-given right to unquestioned equality. We must positively assert the most beautiful tenets of humanity, because this was the Ancestors' way. We must KNOW our Ancestors, their history and customs, BEFORE they passed through the cold rock of one-way slave forts in Western Africa.
Black History month celebrations for some are synonymous with sad stories of persecution, death and dying repeated over and over again, making a few martyrs heros. But Black History month could mean more. Even in conscious places of higher learning like universities, Black students will often avoid participating in events organised whose focus is slavery or some related topic. At some level this position may be myopic, but it is the way some of us have learned to deal with feeling shame of belonging to a defeated, oppressed and impoverished race of man and women. Let us reassure them that while more empowering and forward-looking events and programmes can and will be organised, pride on who we are and in where we come from is the first step. Looking away won't show the full reflection.
Black History month is also the celebration, for instance, of unity of purpose and partnership. We often hear of men and women who come together powerfully in peace time or times of crisis to unite under the banner of truth and rights. Afrikans have the iconic figures of Solomon and Makeda (Queen of Sheba), Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King, Nelson and Winnie Mandela and there are many others. Black History month should be given to a celebration of such partnerships that consolidate the foundations of our future prosperity as a race, and also brings great minds together in a unity of purpose. We should not refrain from uncovering such themes of partnerships and accomplishments whatever the field of excellence.
Because, we must remember that the patriarchal and misogyistic culture to which we belong is not our original or true culture. Like the symbolic Egyptian Ankh, bearing the symbols of both the male and female to equal the completeness of Life, we cannot be complete until the gasping chasm of male-female disparity is finally sealed. Until the historic scars of slavery, the pressures that emasculated our men and super-sexualised and denigrated our women, are finally acknowledged and resolved. Therefore the theme of gender equality and the restoration of healthy romantic BLack relationships is thoroughly intertwined with our ultimate struggle for liberty.
So, we ask you, how should Black History month be celebrated?
BLessed love
Dread Team
