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The State of Black Romance
Are black men taught NOT to love Black women, or are these men just plain and simple really and truly "dogs"? It is a question that plagues the mind of many young women of African descent, come to think of it, it probably plagues the mind of a lot of women who are not of African descent as well. That however is a story for another day. It has been said, if it is to remain a sustaining force in our lives, black love must be nourished, it must be cherished, it must be protected and it certainly needs to be celebrated and uplifted. I know a great many people are tired of hearing this after a year but, it needs to reflect something akin to the American president and his first lady.
The state of black romance is in one word, and one word only, distress. Many young black women out there who are searching for a husband in the black community often feel as though the pool from which to choose is slim and in some areas growing reeds. What are they doing wrong or many times, what is wrong with these young black men? The same goes for young men who, believe it or not ladies, are out there in full force looking for wives. They too are shaking heads and wondering what is the problem?
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Elmina: Ghana's Gold Coast Fortress
Elmina Castle was erected by the Portuguese in 1482 as São Jorge da Mina (St. George of the Mine) Castle, also known simply as Mina or Feitoria da Mina) in present-day Elmina, Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast). It was the first trading post built on the Gulf of Guinea, so is the oldest European building in existence below the Sahara. First established as a trade settlement, the castle later became one of the most important stops on the route of the Atlantic Slave Trade. The Dutch seized the fort from the Portuguese in 1637, and took over all the Portuguese Gold Coast in 1642. The slave trade continued under the Dutch until 1871 when the fort became a possession of the British Empire. Britain granted the Gold Coast its independence in 1957, and control of the castle was transferred to the nation formed out of the colony, present-day Ghana.
The people living along the West African coast at Elmina around the fifteenth century were presumably Fante. The Fante ethnicity bears an uncertain relationship to "Akan," itself a word connoting conquest and warfare. Among their ancestors were merchants and miners trading gold into the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds from medieval times. The ancestors of the Akan-speakers of the forests however undoubtedly came from north of the forest.
The tribal people on the West African coast were organized into numerous small chiefdoms that were drawn according to kinship lines. Family was extremely important in society, and family heads were united in communities under a recognized chief. Along the Gold Coast alone, more than twenty independent kingdom-states existed. Elmina lay between two different Fante kingdoms, Fetu and Eguafo. While there was a relative degree of interstate rivalry, tribes generally intermingled freely. Trade between chiefdoms was important for the economy. The coastal people also had strong trade relations with the Sudanese empire to the north.
West Africans nurtured ancient connections to other parts of the world. Common metals trade, iconic artistic forms, and agricultural borrowing show that trans-Saharn and regional coastal connections thrived. The Portuguese in 1471 were the first Europeans to "discover" the Gold Coast as such, but not necessarily the first sailors to reach the port.
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Musik section provided by Gidilounge.com. Videos provided by Metacafe.com. All rights reserved. Special Thanks to; Shola Ayeni, Lanre Fajumo, Seun Joshua, Charles Adade, W.E.B Dubois & Google.com, for contributions to this spread.
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At age 14, in poverty and famine, a Malawian boy built a windmill to power his family's home. Now at 22, William Kamkwamba, who speaks at TED, here, for the second time, shares in his own words the moving tale of invention that changed his life.
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CURRENT TOPICS
THE STATE OF BLACK ROMANCE
IS AFRICA A PAWN IN THE BATTLE OF RELIGION?
Is Africa a Pawn in the battle over Religion?
Dr. Charles Adade & Seun 'Shay' Joshua
Recently, as many in the world are aware, a young Nigerian by the name of Abdul Farouk Mutallab, failed in an attempt to destroy an airliner traveling into the United States and take with it the lives of close to 300 individuals. This is another vivid example of why countless nations around the world have implemented national policies that state, the institution of religion and politics must be seperate. These two ideologies can't and should never be fully integral with one another. Sadly however, all of that is simply... not a reality.
Religion and politics are a dangerous combination all over the globe. Africa is certainly not an exception. From Nigeria to Sudan, from the Ivory Coast to Gambia, and from Egypt to Swaziland, religious division and the conflicts that it has served as a spark for, have left in their trail large amounts of death and destruction. The civil war in the Ivory Coast is the latest in this despicably long saga of religious conflicts in Africa. No doubt when one begins to think of the purpose of religion, stories like those of suicide bombings and rapes in the cause of religion, could even turn a man or woman of sincere faith into an unbeliever. Africa, prior to the advent of its two main religions, Islam and Christianity, was a continent filled with different tribes and kingdoms, that possesed many of there own laws, customs and most certainly religious ideologies. Both Christianity and Islam came to the continent by ways of conquest, trade, manipulation and contact with other groups of people who passed through the lands for various reason's.
According to Dr. Charles Adade of Vancouver, Canada, "what makes Africa’s case in regards to religion even most tragic and ironic is that none of the religions that are causing antagonism and wreaking havoc on the continent are indigenous to Africa, at least not in their current forms! The question is why are two Sudanese who speak the same language and share the same substrate culture slaughtering each other in the name of an alien religion." Is Africa a pawn in the global battle over religion? In the eyes of many scholars known and unknown, the answer to that question is yes. In Africa, a curious litany of factors, including the colonial legacy, geopolitics aka tribalism, machinations of ruthless politicians and all too pervasive ignorance, account for this truly sad situation.
Charles Adade is a professor based in Vancouver, Canada.
Seun Joshua is a writer/designer based in New York, NY and Baltimore, Maryland. When he's not writing, he works in the fields of residential and web design.
Liberia: Legacy of Civil War
Former Liberian warlords General Rambo, General Bin Laden and General Butt Naked (how cute, sure mom is proud) give us guided tours of some of the most dangerous, impoverished areas including jails, brothels, and heroin dens. Despite the UN’s intervention in the country, the majority of Liberia’s young people live in desperate poverty. Surrounded by filth, drug addiction, and teenage prostitution, the ex child soldiers who were forced into war struggle to fend for themselves by any means necessary.
As the former Liberian President Charles Taylor fights accusations of mass war crimes in The Hague, the people strive for positive change against all odds. America’s one and only foray into African colonialism is keeping a very uneasy peace indeed. If you think your life is bad, trust me...it could be worse. Africa and the diaspora wake up, this is how some in the world see you.
VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED, DUE TO LANGUAGE, DRUG USE, REFERENCE TO SEXUAL INTERCOURSE and ANOTHER SAD REFERENCE TO NIGERIANS.
PAT on the Devil’s pact
Lanre Fajumo
I woke up on the morning of the 13th of January and logged on to twitter and facebook like I usually do to find status updates and tweets about earthquake, deaths and chaos in Haiti. I watched helplessly like everyone else through the box in my front room as the extent of the damage began to unfold. What was even more moving was the quick and generous response from every part of the world with charity organizations sending out contact details for people to make donations. As I made my meager contribution I wished I could do more to help and so I did the only thing I knew to do PRAY! for my brothers and sisters going through the most unimaginable loss. I looked at the faces staring back at me from my computer screens and it did feel like a mirror reflection. Thousands of people with the same skin colour and hair texture as mine, all displaced in one way or another. I could not help but think if not for the grace of God there goes I.
You can imagine my utter disbelief when a few hours after the news of the earthquake broke, Pat Robertson, the preacher man and televangelist said the Haitians are in the situation they are in because of the ‘pact’ they made with the devil. I watched the video a couple of times just to be sure I was hearing right. That the Haitians were basically being punished by God because of the sins of their ancestors?? SO, I went looking for history on what actually happened way back then. I needed to know where I stood as a believer in God because if Pat is God’s spokesman then a few years down the line, I or my children might be punished for the sins of my great grandfather and grandfather who were both Ifa priests way before my dad and my mum met! I needed to know how to prepare for my future.
Without going into too much detail about history, Haiti, which became the first independent black republic in 1804, was the product of a successful slave revolution led by Toussaint Louverture. The nation as a unified entity of African slaves, subsequently defeated the French army sent by Napoleon. The devil’s pact that Pat Robertson refers to is the Bois Caïman Ceremony that in Haitian national mythology initiated the revolution. The following text is normally attributed to its leader, a Vodou priest, Dutty Boukman;
“The god who created the earth; who created the sun that gives us light. The god who holds up the ocean; who makes the thunder roar. Our God who has ears to hear. You who are hidden in the clouds; who watch us from where you are. You see all that the white has made us suffer. The white man’s god asks him to commit crimes. But the god within us wants to do good. Our god, who is so good, so just, He orders us to revenge our wrongs. It’s He who will direct our arms and bring us the victory. It’s He who will assist us. We all should throw away the image of the white men’s god who is so pitiless. Listen to the voice for liberty that speaks in all our hearts.”
When I read the statement above, I remembered the Paul’s encounter with the Men at Athens on one of his many travels.
‘Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you’
You will need to read the whole chapter of Acts 17 to get the full picture. I however reckon that if the French masters believed that it was their God given right to oppress and rule over their fellow human beings just because of the colour of their skin, and that the black man is destined by God to be a slave for life, then they would most undoubtedly have believed that a ‘god’ apart from their ‘God’ must have set the slaves free! What Pat was invariably saying was that the Haitians should have stayed slaves and then God would have blessed their land but because they revolted and won with the help of the devil, God is very angry with them and has plagued them with curses. Some people see Pat Robertson as a representative of the Christian community (whatever that means) and sadly enough some blindly believe that what happened on the 12th of January in Haiti is due to this 200 year old curse! I have read through this bible and I’m still learning so I won’t claim to have some superior or spiritual knowledge about why disaster occurs but I know that God is not the source of evil. I also believe that He expects us to rise and help in whatever way we can when others experience difficulties. Was it not Jesus who said to mourn with those who mourn? Ok, maybe it was Paul who said it but I think it’s not right to beat down an already fallen soldier.
What I would like to ask Pat if I had the chance would be how he knew what the devil’s response was, when the said pact was made and when he became the devil’s advocate. I won’t go into past allegations that have been made against Pat regarding his financial connections with some African leaders concerning blood diamond, but if there’s anyone who needs God’s mercy and grace, it would be Pat. I suggest he join the rest of us who daily hold on to this inexhaustible virtue of God.
More works from this author can be found @ www.exhalejustbreathe.blogspot.com
Lanre Fajumo is a singer songwriter based in London UK and currently working on her first novel. When she's not writing or singing, she organizes a live music and poetry event called Exhale!
EDITORS NOTE
OUR HISTORY & OUR PEOPLE
Documentary Trailer, Click continued below to view parts 1 through 3 of Documentary. Part 5 through 8 will be available shortly.
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