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Articles from Kwasi Anan Kumasi |
Modern Day Slavery Kwasi Anan Kumasi Does slavery still exist? Of course it does, right here in America. “On Dec. 31st, 2005 there were 2,193,798 people in u.s. prisons and jails. The united states incarcerates a greater share of its population, 737, per 100,000 residents, than any other country on the planet. “ A break down of the statistics will show that incarceration is not an equal opportunity punishment. U.S. incarceration rates by race: June 30, 2006: Whites: 409 per 100,000 Latinos: 1,038 per 100,000 Blacks: 2,468 per 100,000 Males by race: Whites males: 736 per 100,000 Latino males: 1,862 per 100,000 Black males: 4,789 per 100,000, 4,053 more than whites Black males ages 25-29: 11,695 per 100,000(That’s 11.7% of Black men in their late 20s As a former imprisoned, enslaved Black man, I experienced this first hand. My two sons are experiencing the same as I write this. This form of slavery isn’t much different from days of old. The men are taken away from their women, in some cases families are completely destroyed. The children are not sold, but are often split apart, being placed in homes. The women are taken by the master , WELFARE. They are left to fend for themselves, often ending up in prisons themselves. And quite often get adapted to remaining by themselves because it is often easier than loving a man with so much against him. The man himself is taken to the Massa, stripped naked, degraded, de-humanized. Locked up, in many cases, in a cage 23 of the 24 hours a day for refusal to slave, or even something as trivial as not shaving. Myself, as a dreadlock wearing Black man, refusal to cut them would guarantee me a stay in solitary confinement for the duration of my sentence. Only in federal prison can a man who has made a vow not to cut his locs, keep it. There are a lot, a lot, Uhmm, lots of my brothers and sisters in the feds. Another form of slavery got us there, we’ll discuss that in a minute. Mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, wives and babies- ingmommas, siblings, grandparents all torn apart by this racial injustice. Like being sold across the country, sometimes there is so much distance between incarcerated members of the family and home that visits are often impossible. I know of an instance of a grandmother not being able to visit an hour and a half away, do to her health. I could hear her suffering over the phone. I know of a mother who is torn apart over her sons incarceration, distance from her, and the fact that she holds her now ex-husband responsible. An ex-husband torn from the loss of family and the condemnation that perhaps it is his fault for letting the modern form of slavery get a hold of not one but both of my sons. Perhaps I could have sheltered them from the storm of bondage slavery in America. Just maybe if I had said no to another form of slavery… The dope game, better known as Americas WAR ON DRUGS, Even better known by the enlightened, As the WAR ON BLACKS in America. “Most drug offenders are white. Five times as many whites use drugs as Blacks. Yet Blacks comprise the great majority of drug offenders sent to prison. The solution to this racial inequity is not to incarcerate more whites, but to reduce the use of prison for low-level drug offenders and to increase the availability of substance abuse treatment.”(source: Human Rights Watch, “Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs”, Washington, DC: Human Rights Watch, 200). Maybe if I had been strong enough to resist making money off of the suffering of mainly, my people, my community. But the unconscious don’ t think that way. The unconscious can’t get past the “making more money than I can on a job mentality”. We can’t think past the minimum wage that most of us will be forced to work for. We can’t get past the fact that , now minimum wage wouldn’t be so bad if everything wasn’t so expensive and, oh yeah, it’s not easy to get that job now that we have this huge spot on our application. We had to fill in that slot that asks; have you ever been convicted of a felony? Some employers will be up front about not hiring you. Some just file it, in the trash. So you see, once you’re locked away from society, those walls follow you to the “free world”. How can you teach your youth to stay out of the game when they’ve witnessed you excel in it. Because you fell, got trapped, no they think they can play the game better than you did. So I ask again, could I have stopped them? Could I have saved my sons? They had a lot more to contend with than just me. “Because of their extraordinary rate of incarceration, one in every 20 black men over the age of 18 is in a state or federal prison, compared to one in every 180 whites.” In five states, between one in 13 and one in 14 Black men are in prison.(Human Rights Watch, 2000). I wasn’t thinking that my family just wanted for me to be at home with them, instead of, first the streets then prison. They would rather do without things than me, you think? Or were they already victims? Commercial enslavement is perhaps the cruelest form of slavery today. Wanting to be like the Joneses, is probably the most crippling factor towards our race. We all strive to accumulate objects of our desire, material consumption is killing our race. WE sell drugs, our women ,our children, we do whatever it takes even working ourselves to death. Even working two and three jobs is not sufficient, if enough money is made then we just perpetuate the myth that we can only be happy if you have , and the need to do whatever it takes to have. After all if you have to work all the time, haven’t you just neglected your youth, you do not have the time to raise them. Is it better to neglect them while in the home or out of it? Neither is sufficient, so what to do? Many black men and women for that matter face this dilemma on a daily basis. Enslaved by commercialism, is almost like being enslaved by Willie Lynch. Later for that though. Still think slavery is over? WAKE UP!! PEACE AND BLESSINGS Kwasi |
Africans in America ARE We Merely Pawns In This Society? We as Africans brought to the America’s, have been pitted against one another every since our ancestors were brought unwillingly, to this side of the Atlantic. In the days of enslavement, Africans were manipulated against each other by the use of a plan instituted by a white man named Willie Lynch, a man whose very name became synonymous with hanging. This white man was invited to America to give a speech on how to control the enslaved. He had a master plan to make and keep those in slavery docile and hating each other over such things as the different complexions of our skin, nose size and other, seemingly to me, trivial things such as hair type. He was very adept at making one African man or woman, feel superior or inferior to other Africans. He along with those who perpetrated the implementation of this plan pawned the people. You don’t believe me? Google “the Willie Lynch letters” then go to “the making of a slave”. That was the start of our self-hatred, which allowed the whites to use certain of us against the others. Since the time of the rebellions of an enslaved people, there have been persons of our race, who turn against the race to ensure their own well being not even considering the well being of the people. Our greatest enemy is fear, distrust, and being envious. These things allowed infiltrators to penetrate the minds of our African ancestors, which allowed the oppressors to manipulate them to keep themselves in slavery. As one nation of undivided Africans knowing their place and who they were, would not have remained in captivity. Give thanks to those ancestors who did not become docile, and fought slavery with every breath taken. These are a few lines from the letter: second is "COLOR" or shade, there is INTELLIGENCE, SIZE, SEX, SIZES OF PLANTATIONS, STATUS on plantations, ATTITUDE of owners, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, East, West, North, South, have fine hair, course hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action, but before that, I shall assure you that DISTRUST IS STRONGER THAN TRUST AND ENVY STRONGER THAN ADULATION, RESPECT OR ADMIRATION. The Black slaves after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self refueling and self generating for HUNDREDS of years, maybe THOUSANDS. Manipulated, used, abused, pawned. What about after the illusion of freedom? You know, after Lincoln “emancipated” us or my word emanci-gated us, by opening the gates of slavery only to keep us on a leash of slavery. The KLU Klux Klan was founded in 1865 by veterans of the confederate army in the southern state of Tennessee. Its purpose was to restore white supremacy. Intimidation (fear), assault, and murder, where the tools used to “keep the newly freed Africans in line”. This domestic terrorist organization reigned terror across the south to the extent of a further docility. The fear of losing lives became heightened because of the knowledge that the value of the freed slave was much less than that of the enslaved. |
Note; check out the feet under the robes, they have unity why not we? This fear and intimidation caused certain individuals to divulge information that would most likely get another killed. Or on a daily basis keep the Africans from forming the unity structure to overcome their oppressive state. Fear is a powerful oppressor it will stop progress in its tracks, but what happens when fear is not enough? Forward to the sixties, the Equal Rights Movement, and into the present, instead of a Willie Lynch and an organization of enslavers, and the KKK, the government steps in with COINTELPRO. COINTELPRO was the US governments’ network of spies, infiltrators trained and used to get inside and destroy organizations such as the Black Panther Party for Self-defense and MOVE. They infiltrated the organizations of Dr. King and Malcolm X, culminating in their deaths. It was COINTELPROs’ mission to undermine any positive, intellectual leader or movement within the Black community. They used their Black traitors to cause discord amongst the individuals of these movements, that which if successful would have advanced our people far beyond the status that we hold today. The actions of COINTELPRO were not only aimed at these ground breaking organizations, they were also aimed at individuals like Tupac and Biggie. Individuals whom through their music and friendship held in their hands the ability to unite east coast and west coast youth, who would posses tremendous power once enlightened. A force the US government could not afford to flourish. You see, because they know there is power in numbers. They have also studied and continue to study the scenarios of a united Africa in this land and abroad and will do whatever it takes to inhibit the trust between Africans in America. Not to mention an alliance, a reconnection of Africans worldwide. Don’t forget the so called war on drugs, the war on terror. We continue to be lied to, exploited, and pitted as animals against one another. It’s time people to stop being pawned. Uncover your eyes and open our minds to the natural connections between Africans no matter what physical place we happen to be in. The connections that the fear of loss of jobs, incarceration, or even death; the distrust that we have towards fellow Africans; the envy that we have been conditioned to have can not continue to deter us from uniting. We must rise above the individual differences, petty jealousies, and the need to be more and have more individually so that we can Be MORE and HAVE MORE collectively. Can you imagine Africans from all walks of life working together in a collective, aiming for the common good of the whole race? The street soldiers, revolutionaries, churches, neighborhoods, Black empowerment and improvement organizations, Black colleges, entertainers and sports stars striving together physically, financially, and mentally to bring about a complete change (revolution). Then we can stop being pawns. (Additional Note: = "Henty Berry, speaking in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1832, described the situation as it existed in many parts of the South at this time: "We have, as far as possible, closed every avenue by which light may enter their (the slaves) minds. If we could extinguish the capacity to see the light, our work would be complete; they would then be on a level with the beasts of the field and we should be safe. I am not certain that we would not do it, if we could find out the process and that the plea of necessity." From Brown America, the story of a “ New Race” by Edwin R. Embree. 1931 The Viking Press. PEACE AND BLESSINGS Kwasi Anan |
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