Sunday, May 6, 2018

THOUGHTS ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE

THOUGHTS ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE – still evolving¬_ PLEASE SHARE In the strictest definition of the word culture – that is, people with a common language place art belief sense of oneness awareness of the diaspora – the Black Americans culture is still developing; it is not yet mature. Some black folk find it difficult to say they are an American. As a collective, we do not see ourselves Americans. Most of us don’t consider ourselves Africans even though we admit having African roots. We are not a homogeneous group of people. We are clumps of black people scattered about the United States with each clump having only a vague notion of its relationship to other clumps. The African Diaspora is little more than a cliché to most of us. We neither have a collective consciousness of other Africans scattered about the globe nor they of us. Without shared common goals a collective consciousness can never be developed. We are ambivalent about calling ourselves Americans. Our social and political views are all over the place. Until we agree on essential goals designed to benefit all African Americans our culture will not mature to the point of benefit for all. Our place in this country has been bought and paid for by the involuntary and voluntary labor and blood of our fathers and mothers, our fore-parents and our African ancestors. The mortgage has been burned. We maintain our citizenship by serving in the defense of this nation, by maintaining our homes, our neighborhoods and paying our taxes. We don’t have to ask permission to be here in America: it is our home. And everything around us should speak to that fact. We should pay our artist and architects to make that abundantly clear in all of their works. Their works should inspire and inform all who live or set foot in these United States that we are a proud people; that we live here; that this is our home. adolphusward@aol.com

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