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The spirit of Sankofa


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“Sankofa is an Akan word meaning we must go back to our roots in order to move forward, to gather the best of what our past has to teach us,

so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward,

can we start the process of becoming problem solvers by experiencing an Sankofa moment of us all focusing our mistreatment and becoming united

 as one people, who are being mistreated all around the world, because of the color in our skin in the spirit of Sankofa. Will this is dismantle white

supremacy/racism? 

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It's pretty obvious that what our past taught us was  to try and avoid being sold into slavery. If failing at this, attempting  to hook up with Harriet Tubman was a good idea, or if you were really tired of being in bondage, going on a suicide mission with Nat Turner could put an end to that.  It goes without saying that the white race had and has supreme power and was and is treacherous and cruel enough to exercise it. If you're looking for a hero from the past, Frederick Douglass would fit the bill.  

What do you think we should learn from the past?   

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Trust me when I say to you that if you investigate this matter in a serious matter you will be able to answer the aforementioned question of ‘What would America be without her Slaves /Negroes/Blacks?’ “Nothing!!!!!!” because she would not even exist were it not for the contributions of enslaved Africans.  We are a proud people who built a nation without any directions.  We are the only people/culture who freed ourselves without a war or bomb....Looking back to bring forth.....

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On 4/16/2016 at 1:05 PM, Dr. Jazzy said:

Trust me when I say to you that if you investigate this matter in a serious matter you will be able to answer the aforementioned question of ‘What would America be without her Slaves /Negroes/Blacks?’ “Nothing!!!!!!” because she would not even exist were it not for the contributions of enslaved Africans. 

I don't trust you. I think you are immersed in the hype of revisionist history. Many ethnicities contributed to the continued existence of the United States of America from Maine to California and all the territories in between, including places like North and South Dakota and Utah and Idaho.  The difference was that black slave labor was free while the immigrants who helped build this country were paid low wages.   

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Surely it is pretty obvious that America's wealth was generated on the backs of enslaved Africans. 

But we are mistreated globally, not because of the color of our skin, but because of greed.  The color of our skin, as the reason for mistreatment, is a relatively new idea.

Evil and greedy people will mistreat others using a variety of reasons to justify their behavior.  Religion has tool for this purpose oppressing people for longer than racism has.  

@Dr. Jazzy, even if we got rid of racism in it's entirely today, we would still be oppressed, because people will still be evil and greedy.

In addition to evil and greedy people, we'd also have to deal with ignorant/stupid people.  These are the people who are easily manipulated by the evil and greedy folks to believe in the racism, while only marginally benefiting from it. These ignorant ones are the ones who fight and die to support a system that does even benefit them. Like hundreds of thousands of the white people who fought and died in the Civil War for the right to enslave Black folks.  The majority of those maimed and killed couldn't even afford to own a slave.

So while racism continues to be a serious problem.  Our biggest problem is evil, greed, and ignorance.  You solve those problems, racism will take care of itself. 

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In a word, "Yes."  

But the "we" is not Black folks but the collective we. Don't ask me how to "we" do it because I'm certain I don't know.  

Perhaps it is our lot as humanity; to never ever being able to have anything nice with without having to worry about someone else, who is willing to amass an army, and travel the Earth to rape, pillage and plunder all that you hold dear.

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Western Civilization has people of African descent going in the wrong "direction" as far as social customs are concerned. 
For that reason, I don't think it's such a bad idea to go back and STUDY our roots for a basic blueprint of our proper "nature" as a people of African descent.  Knowing what foods we should eat, hair and skin products to use, marital customs, and other social habits to practice.  Knowing this will probably point us in the RIGHT direction, by giving us social customs that jive more with OUR nature as people of African descent instead of continuing to follow destructive Western culture.

However once we're pointed in the right direction, after that we should PROCEED in that direction and continue onward towards more and more scientific and technological progress in higher and higher stages.

Otherwise, it makes no sense to go "back" to the same vulnerable condition that allowed our people to be enslaved in the first place.

 

 

Troy
 

But we are mistreated globally, not because of the color of our skin, but because of greed.  The color of our skin, as the reason for mistreatment, is a relatively new idea

You'd be suprised at how far back anti-Black racism goes.

When a Caucasian people called "Aryans" first invaded India over 3 thousands years ago they encountered the Black skinned Dravidians in Mohenjo Daro and other cities and after killing and enslaving them set up a caste system based on race and skin color that was more elaborate than what the United States had in the antebellum South.  Infact in India today you still find the darkest skinned people on the bottom of society as a result of this original race based caste system that is over 3,000 years old.
Similar anti-Black systems can be found in communities around the Middle East and North Africa.

I agree with you that ignorane (and fear) are the biggest enemies to the Black race.
Infact, they are the two biggest enemies to HUMANITY.


Eliminate ignorance and fear and over 95% of human problems would not only be solved....they probably would never materialize in the first place.

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Pioneer, you know that story about an Aryan invasion of India has been largely discredited as myth or perhaps British propaganda.  At any rate there is not evidence that this occurred.  There however is ample evidence to show that America's "peculiar institution" was indeed peculiar because enslavement was based upon one's phenotype (one's so called "race"), in perpetuity. This was an American invention.

Again while eliminating ignorance, would help you still have to stamp out unbridled greed and evil.  The guys running roughshod over the country, and our economy, know what they are doing and how they are hurting people to enrich themselves beyond imagination--They just don't care.  And they are too powerful for anyone to do anything about it.

 

 

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Troy

Pioneer, you know that story about an Aryan invasion of India has been largely discredited as myth or perhaps British propaganda. At any rate there is not evidence that this occurred. There however is ample evidence to show that America's "peculiar institution" was indeed peculiar because enslavement was based upon one's phenotype (one's so called "race"), in perpetuity. This was an American invention.


Yes, I've heard from a few who have fell victim to skilled revisionists that the "Aryan Invasion" was no longer valid history.  But historians have been known to lie and distort history depending on the political atmosphere of the day.  So how can we allow people WHO'S OWN credibility is often called into question..."discredit" anything of history?

It would be best to look at the evidence and decide the truth for ourselves. Most of the evidence points to the fact that there was INDEED an invasion by Aryans from the Northwest who came in and conquered the darker skinned natives of that region:

1. The languages that dominate northern India are Indo-European and vastly different than the Tamil and other Dravidian laguages of the South and Eastern part of India.

2. The PEOPLE of Northern India tend to be lighter (with more Caucasian features like blonde hair and blue eyes that can't be blamed on less sunlight) than the darker skinned Indians of the South.

3. The caste system of social heirarchy that still exists and is being practiced in many parts of India today is actually called the "Varna" or COLOR system and it was originally based directly on the amount of Aryan/White blood a person had in determinine their social status.
Pure Aryans were at the top, pure Dravidians (Black Indians) were on the bottom.

The Black Untouchables (lowest caste) had the most oppressive and dangerous jobs and this system was strictly enforced for thousands of years.

The evidence of the Aryan invasion is crystal clear, the British just exploited a system that already existed.


Again, race and skin color being attached to slavery and oppression isn't unique just to the United States.
The same racist codes of oppression were practiced in Mexico, Cuba, Brazil and through out Central and South America.
If Blacks weren't being persecuted for their skin color then Native Americans were.

On the flip side.......
Muslim Arabs and Muslim Africans enslaved millions of Whites from eastern Europe specifically.
So much so that that word "slavery" actually comes from the ethnic term "Slavic" from all the Slavs/Eastern Europeans who were captured and enslaved.
They were taken to Arabia and North Africa to be used as slaves, concubines, and gladiators and were known as "Mamlukes".

So my basic point is while most slavery was based on warfare and the enemy being captured and bonded, there are cases of history before America where race was a determinine factor in enslavement and oppression.

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Sara

I pretty much agree on the "revisionist history," P. Although I've never seen any blond, blue-eyed Indians. They tend simply to have paler skin. Pretty much everyone in the highest caste, the Brahmins, are pale-faced

They are few, but they're there.
Usually in the mountainous Northwest parts of the nation where the first Aryans settled.
You find them in Pakistan and Afghanistan too.

Most of them don't come to the West as often as the darker Indians because they already enjoy a very prestigious social and economic life in India being of the higher castes.
It's similar to how most of the Mexicans who come to the U.S. tend to be the darker Indian and Meztizos while the ligher Spaniard Mexicans rarely see a need to come here as they already enjoy a high standard of living in Mexico.

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Sara

You're talking about LEGAL immigration.
I'm talking about immigration in general, both legal and illegal.
By and large, most of the Mexicans who come to the United States are the smaller darker ones of Indian/Meztizo heritage seeking the economic prosperity they can't find in Mexico.
The White Spanish Mexicans have most of the wealth and good government positions on lock.

 


As far as how Europeans judge eachother's purity......
Italians, Spaniards, and Greeks continue to catch hell from the rest of Europe because of their African and Arab ancestry and cultural attributes.
During the recent Greek monetary crisis, Germans and other Norther Europeans constantly used the same stereotypes against the Greeks and Italians as they typically used on Blacks.
Calling them lazy, less hard working, undisciplined, reckless, care-free, ect......
They never let them forget that Black and Arab influence that separates them from their more "pure" European brethern.

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Sara

 
More people immigrate to this country legally than illegally. (smh)

Thanks for that information.
Although it's useless as far as THIS conversation is concerned, perhaps the fact will be useful at some point in the future, lol.

By the way,
Stop shaking your head so much honey you're ruining something you might need.

 

 

 

Don't know where you live, but all I see are the lighter-skinned ones in Illinois. In fact, it's so rare to see a darker one, that I'm always taken aback when I do! At any rate, if what you say is true, you obviously have a link that can corroborate it. Please share.

I live just outside of the Detroit area.
We have a barrio of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans on the southwest side of the city just like Chicago has a barrio on the westside.  Most so-called Mexicans in Illinois and other parts of the Midwest are lighter skinned because they are MIXED with Whites whom they've been marrying and interbreeding with for generations.
So they look different than the darker more indigenous looking Mexican from Mexico.

Most of the darker Mexicans can be found in places like Texas, Arizona, Utah, Montana, and other places either out West or closer to the border of Mexico where they are larger in numbers and tend to marry and reproduce more with eachother.
And their darkness isn't due to the climate either, because I used to live in Oregon an the illegal immigrants who were working in the rural areas of Oregon and Washington state where you got less than 3 months of sunshine days a year were STILL almost as dark as the average AfroAmerican.

You see this same thing is seen among Italians on the Eastcoast.

Go to New York or Philadelphia and most of the Italians are dark complexioned with Black hair and a larger nose and have a "middle eastern" look about them
The ones out West look like the ordinary White man, many with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Why?

Because of the large population, Italians on the Eastcoast are more likely to marry and reproduce with other Italians thus maintaining the same genetics.

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Sara

I'd like to thank you for all that information you gave me!
I already knew much of it.
And as for the information that I didn't know.....I'm still not too sure what I'm gonna do with it.
However, I'd like to thank you for it.

As for your question, I'm not sure who the man is but judging from his uniform I'm guessing he was one of the key figures of the Mexican Revolution.

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