Currently Disadvantaged
Originally posted in Jonathan Patamedi Lebea's blog, (http://pjlebea.wordpress.com/), this piece still blows me away.
Posted on January 8, 2013 by pjlebea
Back then, we were unfairly treated; we were denied the opportunities they had; we were the unfortunate; we were considered the lesser; we were the poorly educated and similarly compensated; we were the slaves. Now we are free. Free to be black.
The disadvantages we had then are nothing more than remnants of our past and the greater part of our pain. We are now emancipated from that humiliation and degradation – free from the disadvantage of being who we are. We were who they said we were; our own identities disregarded. Our colour was our caption, our calibre – our colour was our curse. We didn’t have much and at times we had nothing at all. What good was the education? What good was the work? What good was anything without freedom and dignity? We wanted more than what they were willing to give. We deserved more than they had the power to give.
Who we are is who they are – people; beings of immeasurable potential and incredible power,; creatures of intense emotion made by and for love; humans that want nothing more than to succeed and proceed their efforts in their lifetime and lifetimes to come. We all want and need, live and breathe, fail and succeed. All of us, none different in humanity to the other. We all are, and all someday won’t be anymore.
Yet for some unbeknown reason, years after our release from the oppressor’s will, we still find ourselves firmly rooted in his opinions. We detested the man and fought our way out from under his foot, but forgot our minds in his palm. Oppression is an intellectual evil that can never made be right with good deeds. Oppression needs a new way of thinking to be counteracted… It needs a new state of mind.
Freedom has absolutely nothing to do with what you can or cannot do; freedom is about what you can or cannot think. I’ll repeat that: freedom is not about being able to do as you will; freedom is the beauty of thinking for yourself.
There is nothing previous about the disadvantages of black people in this modern day. If they thought of this themselves, they would know. Our minds are still chained to their opinions of us. As their discrimination and judgement of our kind charges forth, our minds dragged helplessly behind it. This has gone on for so long that they trust us enough to put us in the driver’s seat of our own hatred. After all these years, we know the way all too well. And like children all too excited to finally be behind the wheel, we fail to see ourselves heading down the path of our destruction.
To make things right, one needs a clear understanding of what it is exactly that is wrong. And what is wrong is our understanding of ourselves as a people. We need to be re-taught who we are, and no longer subscribe to their ideas of who we should be. I cringe at the sound of the word ‘freedom’ stumbling out of a black mouth that speaks carelessly because it now has the right to do so. Our freedom will only be reclaimed in our thinking. National freedom is of no value to mental slavery. Equality means nothing to the submissive. We are so used to being oppressed we assumed the roles of our own oppressors. We only remember how to be slaves, so we became our own slaves. Only knowing how to fight, we strike, march and protest before we ask… could it be that we subconsciously believe we do not deserve? Only the man who believes he has nothing fights for everything. Back then we were wrong having done nothing. Now we create chaos in the name of peace. We seem to create a great inconvenience for our conveniences, causing a great disservice for our services. Our minds are stuck in the struggle, so much so that with every new, smarter and stronger generation, they fight even harder against the fears of their parents. We should daily, take up arms and wage war against our mental state of being. For some unfortunate reason we seem to believe we are now nothing more than ‘freed slaves’. We carry on like beasts that broke free from their cages and what we do in/ with our ‘freedom’ only justifies the reason we were caged in the first place. It only proves that we indeed are beasts.
Today, we are unfairly treated, denied the opportunities they have, unfortunate, considered the lesser, poorly educated and similarly compensated… we are, still, the slaves. Yes, now we are free, but we are free to be the same black, even under our own rule. The problem is that we are still black. Proof that we still live under someone else’s definition of who we are is how we refer to ourselves. This classification of ‘black’ was never one we gave to ourselves. No, they called us black many years ago and till this day we never contested it. Instead, we lived it.
Consider this, when we had it all and were truly free in our land, we were Africans. It all went wrong when they classified us as black and we accepted it.
Jonathan Patamedi Lebea
@proetic_justice
Posted on January 8, 2013 by pjlebea
Back then, we were unfairly treated; we were denied the opportunities they had; we were the unfortunate; we were considered the lesser; we were the poorly educated and similarly compensated; we were the slaves. Now we are free. Free to be black.
The disadvantages we had then are nothing more than remnants of our past and the greater part of our pain. We are now emancipated from that humiliation and degradation – free from the disadvantage of being who we are. We were who they said we were; our own identities disregarded. Our colour was our caption, our calibre – our colour was our curse. We didn’t have much and at times we had nothing at all. What good was the education? What good was the work? What good was anything without freedom and dignity? We wanted more than what they were willing to give. We deserved more than they had the power to give.
Who we are is who they are – people; beings of immeasurable potential and incredible power,; creatures of intense emotion made by and for love; humans that want nothing more than to succeed and proceed their efforts in their lifetime and lifetimes to come. We all want and need, live and breathe, fail and succeed. All of us, none different in humanity to the other. We all are, and all someday won’t be anymore.
Yet for some unbeknown reason, years after our release from the oppressor’s will, we still find ourselves firmly rooted in his opinions. We detested the man and fought our way out from under his foot, but forgot our minds in his palm. Oppression is an intellectual evil that can never made be right with good deeds. Oppression needs a new way of thinking to be counteracted… It needs a new state of mind.
Freedom has absolutely nothing to do with what you can or cannot do; freedom is about what you can or cannot think. I’ll repeat that: freedom is not about being able to do as you will; freedom is the beauty of thinking for yourself.
There is nothing previous about the disadvantages of black people in this modern day. If they thought of this themselves, they would know. Our minds are still chained to their opinions of us. As their discrimination and judgement of our kind charges forth, our minds dragged helplessly behind it. This has gone on for so long that they trust us enough to put us in the driver’s seat of our own hatred. After all these years, we know the way all too well. And like children all too excited to finally be behind the wheel, we fail to see ourselves heading down the path of our destruction.
To make things right, one needs a clear understanding of what it is exactly that is wrong. And what is wrong is our understanding of ourselves as a people. We need to be re-taught who we are, and no longer subscribe to their ideas of who we should be. I cringe at the sound of the word ‘freedom’ stumbling out of a black mouth that speaks carelessly because it now has the right to do so. Our freedom will only be reclaimed in our thinking. National freedom is of no value to mental slavery. Equality means nothing to the submissive. We are so used to being oppressed we assumed the roles of our own oppressors. We only remember how to be slaves, so we became our own slaves. Only knowing how to fight, we strike, march and protest before we ask… could it be that we subconsciously believe we do not deserve? Only the man who believes he has nothing fights for everything. Back then we were wrong having done nothing. Now we create chaos in the name of peace. We seem to create a great inconvenience for our conveniences, causing a great disservice for our services. Our minds are stuck in the struggle, so much so that with every new, smarter and stronger generation, they fight even harder against the fears of their parents. We should daily, take up arms and wage war against our mental state of being. For some unfortunate reason we seem to believe we are now nothing more than ‘freed slaves’. We carry on like beasts that broke free from their cages and what we do in/ with our ‘freedom’ only justifies the reason we were caged in the first place. It only proves that we indeed are beasts.
Today, we are unfairly treated, denied the opportunities they have, unfortunate, considered the lesser, poorly educated and similarly compensated… we are, still, the slaves. Yes, now we are free, but we are free to be the same black, even under our own rule. The problem is that we are still black. Proof that we still live under someone else’s definition of who we are is how we refer to ourselves. This classification of ‘black’ was never one we gave to ourselves. No, they called us black many years ago and till this day we never contested it. Instead, we lived it.
Consider this, when we had it all and were truly free in our land, we were Africans. It all went wrong when they classified us as black and we accepted it.
Jonathan Patamedi Lebea
@proetic_justice
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