Black and Comely Me
TO FREE OURSELVES FROM MENTAL
SLAVERY
Let us for the purpose of this discourse establish two
points of reference. They are Black with all its connotations for people of
African origin, and White to signify all those who are not of African descent. For
starters, we all know there was a period in history when Black men were forcibly
abducted from their homeland in Africa, and transported like animals or crops
in very harsh circumstances from their roots and disbursed abroad. And it
cannot be denied that black slavery constituted one of the darkest and most
shameful pages in human history. African slavery, Black slavery was inhumane
barbaric and contrary to the jus naturale, a standard which the Romans recognized
as the law of nature.
On the other hand slavery,
as far as it was recognized as part of the jus gentium, the law which the
nations accepted as law which applied to them to the exclusion of those in
servitude, was abolished in the West Indies in 1834, almost two hundred years
ago. Yet today we still hear cries of injustice and demands for reparation.
It is averred here that
every people on earth have been at some time in their history enslaved at one
time and in some way of another. So why, therefore, do the scars of slavery
remain with this one group of people, namely, black people more than any other?
Indeed we know not only have other people been enslaved acts of genocide, for
instance, have been documented throughout the ages. So the question is worth
repeating and the facts are worth noting, why has slavery it seems attached exclusively
to African slavery?
Ethnicity
We find in the bible, for instance, in Jeremiah, the question, “Can an
Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard his spot?” The question is not pointing
to race, or ethnicity, but rather a practical question. Indeed it is a statement of fact that a Black
person will always remain a Black person, at least in the eyes of the White
person, however hard he tries to cover up or change his complexion. So if you
are black, it matters not that your great grandfather was liberated two hundred
years ago; you will always be looked upon as a slave, or the son of a slave.
Not so a white person. Many of the people now residing in the United States for
example, and who are the most fiercely racist people on earth, have ancestors
who arrived there as the most menial and down trodden peasants on earth, often
in conditions worse than slavery. But after a few generations, they have cast
off their lot and their shackles and because the colour of their skin remains
the same, today they are White Supremacists. And therein lies a significant difference.
A White slave does not have to change his spot to be a White Supremacist.
Racism
There is no doubt that Racism has played and continue to play, a significant role
in determining how Black people think and feel about themselves. As someone
said to me recently, “It is easy for those who have managed to throw off their
shackles not to understand why others can’t.” Indeed the fact is racist
comments, behaviour, employment policies, and continual prejudice in every
facet of society are like daggers in the wounds of the black race and have forced
many to view their circumstances and their lots as hopeless; and simply slump
their shoulders and give up and give in. Surely there has been lots of shallow
attempts to stem if not stop the growing cancer of racism in the world; but it
is well said, “You can shake a man’s hand, but you cannot shake his heart.
Racism, in spite of all the official pronouncements, lip service and political posturing
is as alive and well today as it has ever been. A man who is armed with a knife
in his bosom is perhaps even more dangerous than one armed with a knife in his
hand.
Psychological Inertia
A by-product of racism is psychological inertia. Imagine you even as a brave
person is awaked in the middle of the night by someone holding a gun on you and
saying, “Don’t you dare move.” Brave yes, but scared to death nonetheless, you
freeze. Imagine too you are at the bottom of a mountain; you are wounded but resilient;
and you use every ounce of your strength to drag yourself to the top of that
mountain; and each time you are almost there, some one kicks or pushes you
down. After several attempts, unless you are made of steel, not just flesh and
blood, you are very likely to give up. To understand why so many Black people
just give up and stop trying, is to understand these two examples of psychological
inertia; a frozen of frigid state which paralyses the will and makes one impotent
to act.
Inferiority Complex
Then there are those Blacks who develop inferiority complexes which manifest
themselves in different ways. Many lose their natural impulse for
self-importance. They do not see themselves as beautiful and comely. So they
resort to many pathetic ways to try and hide their natural black and beautiful
bodies, especially their faces. They bleach their shins and paint their faces, until
they look like manikins and statuettes and then they overexpose their faces,
stand in front of the camera and then say, “Aren’t I lovely?” There is no more
pathetic complex in my view, than that when you tell yourself that because of
the colour of your skin you are not worthy to look at. If you, as a Black
person do not love and admire and feel proud of who you are, then why should
the White man look at you and say, Oh there goes a beautiful Black person.
Self-Delusion
Recently I saw a march in London by a group of people claiming reparation from
presumably the Government for again presumably African deprivation. I really
have no idea, how they can in anyway prove that their present circumstances are
as a direct consequence of some wrong that was done to their ancestors. If the
government were to agree to make reparation, who would be the beneficiaries, I
wonder. Their ancestors have been dead for over two hundred years so they can’t
benefit. Some of them, many of them,
would have a hard time actually proving that they were in some way related to
one of the ancestors that were taken away and enslaved. Would they, are they,
demanding that the Western governments, the United States, Spain, France and
Britain return to Africa and carry back with them all the gold and precious
stones and minerals extracted over the centuries? As an African friend of mine
used to be fond of saying when we were both students in London, “that would be an
extravagant wish.”
Solution.
My considered and sincere solution would be for people called Black to forget
the negatives in their history and live for today and tomorrow for themselves and
their children. Many of our ancestors threw off their yokes and made names for
themselves by becoming self-sufficient, land and property owners, artisans,
tradesmen, and so on, over a hundred years ago. So why should we today, a
hundred years later, wallow in the pit of self-pity?
“Let us be the rational,
intelligent, and self-assured people God created us to be. Let us not let into
our hearts the idea that there is no soundness in reason, and admit that we ourselves
are not yet sound and strive like men for reason,” I remember someone saying.
I say we have been lying
on this bed of affliction for far too long. Let us take the advice that Jesus
gave to the paralytic man, “Take up thy bed and walk.” The late great Bob Marley sang, “Emancipate
yourself from mental slavery, none but yourself can free your mind.” And to
that I say, Amen. And as Colombo would
say, “Just one more thing,” Listen again to Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” I
am going to do so in just a minute.
