Mis-Education Of The Negro then....African American Today

In his 1933 book Mis-education of the Negro, Carter G. Woodson largely criticizes the educational system and the wicked cycle that results from mis-educated individuals, graduating from school and later teaching the mis-education to others.  It's largely a critique of history taught in schools with little to no mention of the accomplisments made by the Negro.  Woodson believed the lack of Negro history would crystalize into deep insecurities, intra racial divides and greater racial hostilities.  Certainly, this has become a reality in recent history and evident in our dissolution as the "top" minority, if you will.  However, the concern at hand is the continued mis-education of the now African American by those that look just like us.

 We are at a time of utmost vigilance due to our condition in the U.S., our relevance to white America, more aptly our postion with the U.S. government as to how meaningful our existance is within the country.  I submit, that we need not concern ourselves with how relevant we are to the government, but how relevent we are to each other and to the rest of the world that world be referred to as 'black."  This would require re-evaluating ourselves, who we are and what we know.  What we know about history in general, and know about ourselves historically.  Not only historically, but legally who we are in this country and the western hemisphere.   As Woodson points out, it  is crucial for our collective social consciousness and mental well being as a group to have a true understanding of ourselves.

 Education should be an ongoing process.  What Dr. Woodson learned and knew should no longer be a mainstay of our "curriculum" so to speak.  Or, more accurately, we should now utilize his knowledge and understanding as part of an educational foundation, but no longer the cornerstone, since we have learned of our status here before the advent of Columbus.   All too many "leaders", ministers, teachers, educators and speakers are mis-educating African Americans by tying them to certain labels and classifications.  These labels that were acceptable at one point in time of our history, should now be dispensed with.  I submit, that by classifying ourselves with such misnomers we are paving the way to our own mental subjugation and political/economic demise.

Immediatley, we should dispatch such labels and terms as descendents of slaves, African diaspora, slaves, minority, middle passage, maafa, Negro, African American, Afro American, Black, or even African unless you were born and raised on the continent.  And, even calling one's self an African, being native to the continent is questionable.  These labels and terms like slave, descendents of slaves, Negro and African American tend to bind people to just that, and some of which we never were.  This infection is so deeply entrenched, that when mentioned to a sister that there were free "Black" people during the times of the enslavement in the United States and western hemisphere, she exclaimed in disbelief that such was true.  Unless we surpass the former education we will wallow in the muck and mire of ignorace and remain enslaved to this system.

Comments

[Anna Renee]

Hey Brother! I hear you concerning what we call ourselves and agree with you that we should stop using minority, descendants of slaves, slaves and negro;
but how do we differenciate ourselves and our cultural experiences based on where we are in the world, if we don't use African American, African Diaspora, Black or even African? Or maybe we shouldn't differentiate ourselves by country as the whites do?

Peace!

[[Victor Amenta]]

In fact Anna Renee, I think would should differentiate ourselves by country as one way to begin a process of mental renewal. Terms such as African American displaces us yet again. This puts us in a continent to continent perspective still without a nation or country. Additionally, there is no real true evidence of a MASSIVE slave trade between Africa and the Ameircas. The vast majority of enslavement came by the capturing of the copper color skin tone people of the Americas and enslaving us here. The slave trading went on primarily between North, South and Central America and the surrounding islands, not from Africa. To this, no one had EVER located a sunken slave ship between Africa and America. There has been one found in the Florida coastal area, but none in the middle of the Atlantic. This is the reason we should dispense with African Diaspora and Maafa. We Black (for this purpose) people are rightly the original Americans and we should claim this. To be American is in no way to claim allegiance with the dasterdly deeds commited by the U.S. government.

Peace my sista, and thanks for coming over!

[[Victor Amenta]]

We are the Americans, so called white folk are the invaders and foreigners.