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Black Knowledge

How do you know where you're going if you don't know where you have been? As an African American it is imperative to know where you have come from. We as a race have come from picking cotton to owning our own businesses in less than 100 years, and that's something we should be proud of.

Although we have come a long way, we still have a journey to travel. A lot of our youth today do not even know that our history follows them everyday. When they talk on the phone, they don't even know that a black man invented that. When young girls are going to salons and getting their hair done, they don't even realize that a black woman, Madame C.J. Walker, invented black hair care. Or when they are driving in their cars and stop at light, they don't even know they are looking at a black man's invention. It's a infamy that those African Americans don't receive recognition for those things. They don't receive credit for that because we lack knowledge about it.  

So much wisdom can come from the knowledge of the past. Life is nothing but a cycle that repeats itself. The river of life continues to flow, but our ignorance is going to drown us. The greater the influence, the greater the outcome. But how can we know of our outcome, when we don't know who influenced it?

But yet, we continue to do nothing. A man that is silent is weak, a man that chooses to stay silent is even weaker. You may have looked at our race and thought "what has happened to us"? But never equate ignorance and poverty with being black. True we are no longer slaves physically, but we will always remain enslaved mentally if we don't gain the knowledge of our heritage and use it.

It seems as though the newer generations are so concerned with the present idols such as rappers, actors and singers that they refuse to learn about our past idols. For example, Martin and Malcom are just a few that have helped add to the foundation of our heritage. They died trying to make us equal and educated. How can we repay them?  By learning about and acknowledging our history. How would you feel if you died for your people, but they wouldn't even pick up a book to learn about it? You sometimes hear blacks saying how it is hard to make it but their own ignorance is what's bringing them down.

Popular culture is taking away from black culture. Our culture is being taken away by apathy so much that it is no longer distinct and is diminishing. Our children of today know nothing of hard work or the unity it took for us to survive as a race. If you take a look back into our history you'll see that blacks united together more as slaves than as (so-called) free citizens of this country.

We tend to think that by ignoring the past it didn't happen. What we need to do is not only talk about it, but travel to the places where they still have historical sites that commemorate the injustices of blacks. We have gotten so caught up in who's got what, we can't even reach our own level of greatness because we can't trust and stick together like we used to. Take a look at sports, we dominate that, but yet we don't even own the majority of the income generated by them.

Our knowledge of heritage is limited. If you ask any black person you'll get the same basic responses ..slavery, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King and so on. This is what they have been taught from the history books. But we need to go past the history books and more in depth with our heritage. We are so much more than what some books may say.

This country was built upon the blood, sweat and tears of our people. There is no reason to be uneducated about our race because there too many resources to get educated with. But we have to have the motivation and the right attitude to want to learn. This must start in the home. Parents need to get involved with their child's education. Parents run out and buy kids $200 tennis shoes, but will not spend $20 at a black history museum . What sense does that make?  Black history should not  be celebrated one month out of the year, because we are black all year around. Do we celebrate Martin Luther King Day appropriately? No, we are happy because we get a day off from our school or work. Is this how we value our heritage?  You may see young men walking around with Muhammad Ali or Bob Marley on their shirts, but if you ask them questions about them they couldn't tell you anything. They wouldn't even know what they stood for. Do we really see our past icons as fashion trends? Without our heritage we would not even exist.

Our heritage is what identifies us as African American people. Some might think that learning about our past is not important, but how can we understand the present if we don't know where it originated from? Learning about our culture strengthens us mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Its also helps us to not make the same mistakes twice.

We should be proud and happy that we are black, because no other race has gone through the struggles we have and survived. Our people were taken from their homeland, forced to work in fields, and then were beaten, raped, murdered and degraded. Did you know at a time blacks were only worth ¾ of a person? Now at this day and age, we have an African American woman that is running for president on the Democratic ticket. Wouldn't you call that an immense improvement?

When you read about your heritage you not only learn about other people, you are also learning about yourself. I feel that if a person can sit back and read about Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's wedding or the updates on the Kobe Bryant case, which has absolutely nothing to do with them, then they should be able to read about the people that put them where they are today.

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