|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Moderated by: Saida.M, safetyblitz, Raven, Miss Brighter Days, LadyDay, Kunjufu, Kibibi, Happiness, Dillinger, Breadfruit, Backatya |
|
|
| Author | |
|---|
Dillinger
Administrator
| Joined: | Sunday August 24th, 2003 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 78 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: |    |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Thursday May 13th, 2004 01:16 |
|
'Being Black' is a book which has been published and is already in circulation please visit http://www.beingblack.org.uk for more information.
This is the Big Question, what in your own personal words what does 'Being Black' mean to you and/or What is 'Black Culture'?
Last edited on Thursday May 13th, 2004 08:35 by
____________________
War is not the answer! Only love can conquer!
____________________
Click here for your Black Profile
|
Miss Brighter Days
Villager
| Joined: | Saturday February 14th, 2004 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 2260 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Thursday May 13th, 2004 15:18 |
|
There is so much that i could say about what it means to me to be black.
But for now i will say this. Being black is my essence.Last edited on Thursday May 13th, 2004 15:25 by Miss Brighter Days
____________________
If the TRUTH is told the YOUTH can Grow/Try to survive/Before they take CONTROL - NAS
Just because 1 million people believe something, it doesn't make it a fact!
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
|
The Watcher
Villager
| Joined: | Tuesday May 11th, 2004 |
| Location: | London, United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 11353 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Thursday May 13th, 2004 16:51 |
|
Surley it just means that your skin is black (well dark borwn obviously), that your roots are in Africa and that's about it. It's not a state of mind or an essence, it's a physical/factual thing. For that reason one can't achieve blackness nor can one lose it (MichaelJackson excluded). So an Eminem or JLo for all the effort can't ever be black or a Chris Eubank for all of he's effort can't ever be less black.
Its not an attitude or culture, its what you look like and where you're from
____________________
Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I...
____________________
Click here for your Black Profile
|
Kunjufu
Villager
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Thursday May 13th, 2004 19:01 |
|
Ok People can I just explain/expand on the purpose of this Thread and this section of the forum, i believe that what is required is thoughts, feelings or essays from our perspective about what is to black(personally I would have said African, African Carribean) in 21st Century Britian & America..
So this forum is NOT specifically about discussing what it is to be black, but for people to share, define and to articulate how they feel about themselves and their culture from whatever perspective... Like i said before it could be in the form of a poem, essay or a thesis.. All i would add is that if you do share a poem or essay on this subject, obviously take copyright precautions to ensure that you're recognised for your thoughts ok..
Ok hopefully thats a bit clearer So please can people young & old working class and proffessional please share their viewpoint in whatever format...this will beneficial in more ways than you can imagine so Here is a really good opportunity to tell people what we think and feel instead of allowing others to do it for us...let use it..
____________________
African heart, African mind
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
|
Dada
Villager
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Thursday May 13th, 2004 19:21 |
|
One the one hand I very much agree with Drunk Monkey, the reality is a lot more than that.
What drives Chris Eubank to be what he is ?
What drives Michael Jackson to be what he is ?
Whilst there are a lot of aspects that make one who they are, like being male, I am "Black" by default. Given my existing environment and all things being equal, given a choice I would not change for the world.
Chris Eubank is comfortable in his skin but not with his cultural background whereas Michael Jackson is unhappy with both. Both display the extreme inferiority complex of the Diasporian Black Man, both are loved by their host Cultures. Both have found "acceptance" by the Culture they seek to join. Both are thought of as eccentric for trying to be what they are not.
For most "Black" Men or Women, a White person is required before the any acknowledgment of being black exists. That's what makes it a negative experience. In Africa, many african countries, where White people are not seen, people are not "Black" they are tribal. They are themselves, their characters. The introduction of White, rather than Indian, or Oriental and the weight of Historical baggage associated with Cauasians creates a template negative basis of viewing a black man, either of one's self or from their perspective.
That is not to say that it is a negative to be black in white society, only one is judged automatically from negative criteria first " Oh your like a White Man really" or " Youre not like most Black People" are comparitive statements that start from a premise of the negative contradicted by a "Reality of knowledge".
In discussions else where, it has been agrued that Blacks cannot be racist to Whites. I disagree. But what I have observed is being in a minority being White carries more priviliges in Majority black Countries than burdens. The same cannot be said for Blacks in White countries.
Anyhow just some random thoughts.
____________________
"Knowledge Dispells Fear"
____________________
Click here for your Black Profile
|
Seventh_Angel
Villager
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Friday May 14th, 2004 01:19 |
|
Salaam (Peace) to all...
To me, "being Black" means being a direct Descendant of the Originator of the Heavens and the Earth, Who Created Himself out of the Triple Darkness of Space, before ever there was a Sun, Moon and Stars.
It means having the same Essence and Nature as the Supreme Being, which also means having the same Values, or Morality, as the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth.
The Hon. Elijah Muhammad asked us the question, "Who is the Original Man?" And the answer he gave us is, "The Original Man is the Asiatic Black Man, the Maker, the Owner, the Cream of the Planet Earth, God of the Universe."
He also said, Concerning the Originator, "He Created Himself out of that which comes last (the material of the Darkness) so there will never be a last to Himself."
To be Black, to me, means to have the Potential to Manifest the Power and the Wisdom of Almighty God, our Father. I use the word "potential" because "being black" in and of itself only speaks of our Potential. If that potential is not CULTIVATED, then our "being black" is of no more significance than the color of our shoes.
"It is RIGHTEOUSNESS that exalteth a Nation."
RM
____________________
"WAKE UP, Neo...the MATRIX has you!!"
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
|
GRUMPLE
Villager
| Joined: | Thursday February 5th, 2004 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 6 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Friday May 14th, 2004 06:53 |
|
WHATS THIS ASIATIC BLACK MAN NONSENSE havent you looked at the FOSSIL RECORD ! I take exception to you Elijah Muhammed followers continually ignoring the AFRIKAN origin of THE BLACK MAN and henceforth the human race..
YEAH THERE ARE BLACK MAN IN ASIA BUT THEY CAME FROM AFRIKA AFRIKA AFRIKA
AFRIKA AFRIKA AFRIKA GRRRRRRR !!!!!!
Last edited on Friday May 14th, 2004 06:58 by GRUMPLE
____________________
Click here for your Black Profile
|
Seventh_Angel
Villager
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Friday May 14th, 2004 07:35 |
|
As-Salaam Alaikum (Peace be Unto You)
GRUMPLE wrote: WHATS THIS ASIATIC BLACK MAN NONSENSE havent you looked at the FOSSIL RECORD ! I take exception to you Elijah Muhammed followers continually ignoring the AFRIKAN origin of THE BLACK MAN and henceforth the human race..
AFRIKA AFRIKA AFRIKA GRRRRRRR !!!!!!
origin: [Middle English origine, ancestry, from Latin org, orgin-, from orr, to arise, be born. See er-1 in Indo-European Roots.] The point at which something comes into existence or from which it derives or is derived; The first existence or beginning of anything; the birth; That from which anything primarily proceeds; the fountain; the spring; the cause; the occasion.
exist (ex-sist) => [L., existere or exsistere - ex(out) + sistere(to cause to stand, to set, put, place...)] to step out, or step forth; to emerge or appear.
With all due respect, Afrika is NOT the ORIGIN - the Cause of the Existence - of the Black Man. Fossil records are not the ultimate authority, as We existed long before the oldest known "fossil records". We existed before there was any place for fossils to be found. We did not Originate from a Land Mass. Our Origin is in the Creator of the Universe, who is Just as Real as You and I.
To say that Afrika - a land mass - is our "origin" - the beginning or cause of our existence - is to suggest that we just arose from the dust of this planet, which could not be true if We are the Creators of Heaven and Earth, which we are. This parallels the fallacy of "Darwinism".
The Term "Asiatic" merely refers to the Planet we live on, as the Whole Planet, according to the Teachings of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, was once called "Asia". We are referred to as the "Asiatic" Black Man, as opposed to the "Martian" Black Man, or the "Venusian" Black Man.
Not one of us who have Afrikan ancestry can, or should, deny that ancestry. But if we want to talk about the ORIGIN of the Black Man and Woman, we have to go beyond Afrika, all the way back to a time BEFORE there was a Sun, Moon and Star. Before there was a place called "Afrika", We were Here...We Existed.
I am not Black because of a land mass. I am Black because I am the Progeny of a Black Creator, who Created a Form for Himself from the Black Matter of Space.
I realize this is difficult for some to take, but some of the best medicine we can take is hard to get down. So it is with unfamiliar and/or unpopular Truths.
By the Way...Growling is for animals.
Peace n Love,
RM
Last edited on Friday May 14th, 2004 07:39 by Seventh_Angel
____________________
"WAKE UP, Neo...the MATRIX has you!!"
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
|
Kennedy
Administrator
| Joined: | Friday August 8th, 2003 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 138 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Friday May 14th, 2004 11:50 |
|
What is required in this area of the forum is for you to share your personal account on being Black, what being black means to you. When you wake up and go through your daily life, what is it like being black. Whether positive or negative, educating funny, stimulating or not but mainly a true reflection on your personal experience of being black.
As mentioned before this forum is not for discussion here as it is your true personal experience that we would like you to express!
Please avoid from responding to another members post, simply post your own personal experience on being black.
If you do respond to a persons post that post will be removed. (No disrespect intented)
Most of us on this board secretly know what it is like being black, but the purpose of this is to share the experience with others, you may learn from other people experiences.
So once again please do not respond to the posts, simply post your own experience on what it is being black. Oh yeah and have fun at the same time!!!
____________________
Click here for your Black Profile
|
Dillinger
Administrator
| Joined: | Sunday August 24th, 2003 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 78 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Friday May 14th, 2004 13:45 |
|
| It is easy to get in a debate about wether we should be called black or even whether we were the first or last race to grace this earth, however that is not what we are trying to encourage here. This forum is trying to get the different view points of what 'black' is to those who identify themselves as 'Black' basicaly trying to find out what 'Being Black' means to them.
____________________
War is not the answer! Only love can conquer!
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
|
LadyDay
Super Moderator
| Joined: | Thursday October 2nd, 2003 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 6156 |
| Photo: | [Download] |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Friday May 14th, 2004 21:25 |
|
black when refering to people is so broad and far reaching. to just simply be black is just to be born into a racial group of which and whom europeans have for the last few centuries defined us by a shade of colour that is false. False in the sense that our skin colour ranges from palest beiges to brown to blue-black. we are a people that all would agree at one point had the same origination. however times have moved on and the so called motherland is no longer a pivotal point to all who are black.To some extent being defined as black is far better than being called coloured. It would seem so as that is what those who came before us fought long and hard to change.
To be black is to possess a huge wealth of strenghth and courage even in the face of adveristy. we as a people have the most infectious culture there is. Yet some fail to realise how diverse we are too. we are polysemic multifaceted. we are blessed.
listen to my blues listen to my soul listen feel my presence. I can understand why so many fear us as soon we will come to a point where no one can hold us down.
its one thing to be born black that is something you cant escape. however the experience the community the culture no matter how many time people borrow it its all ours.
____________________
I am too blessed to be stressed and too anointed to be disappointed!
Think outside of the box...Think in spirit
Act as if it were impossible to fail!!!
____________________
Click here for your Black Profile
|
LadyDay
Super Moderator
| Joined: | Thursday October 2nd, 2003 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 6156 |
| Photo: | [Download] |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Friday May 14th, 2004 21:36 |
|
oh yeah i forgot to add. for me the negative sides of being black is the ignorance of every other race around. how many times does someone look on me and just see a stereotype. a girl at work has gotten herself into trouble for doing bad things. now all of a sudden everyone asking me one of few black women are you into that(breaking the law) do you know whats happening with her case etc etc. really how am i supposed to know. i feel like damn just because i am of the same race does not mean i know whats going on in everyones life who is black.
tw black guys at work seem threatened by me. they have accused me of thinking i am more black than them. i feel that because i am well clued up on my people makes them feel uncomfortable. i cant help their inferiority complex.
good things although some may say we dont stick together my experience is that we do so in our own way. i love the power being black gives me. w.e.dubois in the souls of black folk states so truly that we see everything in two eyes. we know our perspective aswell as how others see things or percieve us. its is so true as i feel i experience this everyday.
____________________
I am too blessed to be stressed and too anointed to be disappointed!
Think outside of the box...Think in spirit
Act as if it were impossible to fail!!!
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
|
Bredder Tukoma
Villager
| Joined: | Saturday February 21st, 2004 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 3143 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Saturday May 15th, 2004 00:26 |
|
A thought that came to mind when first saw the new forum..Having to cream your skin (especially in a cold climate) and ensuring that black peter pan look (young and fresh into old age).. trivial i know but i heard the early chinese historians speak of an indigenous people in South China... "when the Chou conquered the polical power of the Shang Dynasty they described the inhabitants of the area as having black and oily skin" Afican presence in Early Asia.. even then the bros & sisters were creaming themselves... who would walk street with that pale grey near dead look..
after a few days reflection....
Knowing that by chance of nature and the Creators will that people like me first roamed the earth,
knowing that my skin offers natural protection in the sunlight (again by the grace of nature/God what you will..
feeling angry/pity when the young/old white woman in front of you clutches on to that handbag ever so tightly/ or crosses the road looking furtively behind her in the early evening as you amble behind her..
feeling despair sometimes when i hear of my fellow blacks acting against our interest/
really feeling the pain of shows like roots/amistad (cant watch them for long /feel vex after and yes i feel its a natural reaction which cannot/should not be neutered)...
nodding/acknowledging and hey even stricking a conversation with a black person that you might see in the outer hebradides(spelling) (in the bush in Scotland for US) but would walk past in any major city...
blah blah blah....
rambles of a black man
the new novel
offtopic.
Fernando- you know im buying your book right.... your sales pitch has worked ok.
Peace Out Last edited on Saturday May 15th, 2004 00:44 by Bredder Tukoma
____________________
Click here for your Black Profile
|
Bredder Tukoma
Villager
| Joined: | Saturday February 21st, 2004 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 3143 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Saturday May 15th, 2004 00:42 |
|
the ancient Epgytians known as Kemet which interpreted by African scholars = Land of the Blacks/(majority of Euro scholars enterpretation =black land/soil)
Ancient Sumer who were also known as the blackheads the Akkadadians(i stand to be corrected) identified themselves as that...blackheads
I wonder if they formed there view of themselves in relation to others or was their identification indigenous to themselves... just a thought that came to mind from a previous post which was true in all respects..
MansaMusa
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
|
Peacemaker
Villager
| Joined: | Saturday May 15th, 2004 |
| Location: | ><_>< |
| Posts: | 3892 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Saturday May 15th, 2004 10:31 |
|
This is the Big Question, what in your own personal words what does 'Being Black' mean to you and/or What is 'Black Culture'?
Doesn't mean much to me personally, I'd certainly hate to think that being black had any dominance over my own individual personality and tastes.
____________________
____________________
Click here for your Black Profile
|
the soul machine
Villager
| Joined: | Saturday May 15th, 2004 |
| Location: | London, United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 853 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Saturday May 15th, 2004 12:19 |
|
man being black here in the uk is some else in fact beign balckanywhere is tuff, back wen i was in atlanta i never experienced no one starring at me in a trube like this country, they act like your gonna rob them or something, wen there a free sit they move way over to were they got thier own white folks.( not that many blacks even use the tube) na wa.
(some of them)(not that america is better but atlanta at least isbetter compared to other us states).
in ukwalking past someone at night they pin down thier car doors, anyway thats the hardship of being black,whitewomen come on to me but thier men get jealous i say av fun wiv them but never av children wiv them., countries like germany are worse they stare at u like u from outa space. any way i love evrything thing bout bieng black i love ma skin, i love my looks i love ma hair i love my atittude something the whiteman will never have no matter how many times they tanne theyll always be pail white.
____________________
Fashion is merely a form of ugliness so unbearable that we are compelled to alter it every six months.
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
|
Sage
Moderator
| Joined: | Friday November 7th, 2003 |
| Location: | Yugoslavia |
| Posts: | 4601 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Saturday May 15th, 2004 17:16 |
|
My experience in this skin...
As a little girl....It's having my hair platted, braided and or hot-combed and feeling like a princess after my mother worked her magic on my thick locks. I especially liked it when she put my hair in afro-puffs.
Dressing up for church on Sunday and once there seeing the elder women sporting their big church hats and trying to stay awake as the Baptist minister goes on and on for what seems like hours.
Gospel music.
Eating waltermelon slices, sugar cane and frozen kool-aid in the summer....flagging down the ice-cream man or saving up my pennies for a trip to the neighborhood candy lady.
Noticing that a lot of the women in the community were thick and other women aspiried to be like them and the men wanted to be with them.
Lying in the bosom of my late grand-mother as she comforted me after I would get upset my mother had to go off to work.
Playing hop-scotch, tag, marbles, or watching the neighborhood boys play basketball and street football as we cheered them on.
Watching the Jackson 5 on their own variety show on television and wanting to marry Michael when I grew up.
Hearing Motown and songs by Al green and other soul artists playing through out the house and wondering why that music seemingly put the grown folk in a trance.
Trying to figure out why the grown-folks danced so closely to one another. They called it slow-dancing, I thought it was yukky, LOL!
Displaying respect to all the elders...saying yes mam and yes sir, or leaving the room when grown-folks were talking and never even thinking about talking back to our parents or anyone in authority.
Visting my great grandmother and great grandfather's barber and beauty shop.
Seeing Blackploitation flicks and Kung-fu films at the local theater.
Staying in line or behaving when not around my family for fear Miss Rosie or some other elder from the community would tell my mama. Back then the village helped raised the children.
Getting the Look from my mama when I got out of line.
Seeing others getting a spanking....and back then it wasn't even remotely considered child abuse.
Noticing company that came over to our house had to stay in the living room. They didn't dare go past my grandfather when they came over to see one of his kids.
Feeling safe in a community of people who looked just like me.
As a pre-teen/teenager...platting, braiding my uncles hair or the hair of their friends.
Playing card games like spades and wiz.
Backyard dances.
Grits, biscuits, eggs, bacon for breakfast.
Listening to relatives and friends joust verbally with one another while playing the Dozens at social gatherings that we call get-togethers.
Enjoying barbeque, fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread, sweet potatoe pie and other Soul food delicacies on Sundays after church or when a loved one has passed on or some other type of celebration or special ocassion.
Seeing others dousing their food with hot sauce.
Beginning to not feel so safe because my community is changing. Although the people look like me, we no longer act the same.
As a young woman....changing neighborhoods and going to a racially mixed school and being somewhat oblivious to our new surrounding until one day someone lets us know we are different. We wake up to our car being spray-painted with the letters KKK on the passenger door.
Seeing grandpa's beautiful charcoal skin getting more age-lines and wondering why he had to work so hard for a company that never paid him what he deserved.
Also wondering why my mama worked so hard as well, at one point we rarely saw her because she worked two jobs to make ends meet for me and my sister.
Riding the same city buses in which Rosa Parks had earlier. And appreciating the fact I could sit up front or in the middle or in the back if I wanted to.
Listening to my mama talk about the past and how difficult it was for our people. She remembers how a local store owner got outed as a klansman, the little girls that got killed in the church bombing, not being able to go through the front door of certain department stores and other establishments if we were allowed in at all...But she also tells us about the pride that existed with our people..how our communities were always clean, very little crime, children for the most part lived in stable homes, the adults were very successful in business and other professions.
Seeing the Afro turn into the Geri curl.
Hearing my first rap song by the Sugar Hill Gang.
Being terrifed that my body was changing...at this point the curves were kicking in, good-bye tomboy hello young lady.
Now it's off to college....a historically black university, where again everyone looks like me. It's the same school my mom graduated from and I'm proud to follow in her foot-steps.
Making the honor society.
Attending the football games, and seeing our people support each other in such a positive way. Getting down to the music the bands play in the stands and enjoying them during the half-time show.
Watching The Cosby show on television...and thinking how our image on the tube is changing.
Being followed in the department store by security who think only black women shoplift.
Seeing black women labeled as welfare queens on the nightly news and our men as lawbreakers.
Seeing a couple of uncles I grew up with serve in the military....following those who had come before them like the Tuskegee airmen, the Buffalo soldiers. I'm sure they were conflicted about serving...one day I will ask.
My first job....I'm the only minority in the newsroom.
Realizing that no matter what I did, I had to work twice as hard.
My grand father dies of cancer. The only adult male role-model I grew up around. There are other illnesses in my family...heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or sugar as it is sometimes called.
Meeting some of the biggest names in the civil rights movement while on assignment.
Visiting the church where MLK once preached for a press conference and being in awe to be standing inside a place he once graced.
Going to the beauty shop and socializing with the other sistas as we talk about our lives and children.
Taking my daughter so she can exprience this part of our culture and to get her hair braided for the summer.
Noticing my daughter does some of the same things I did as a child, she licks the spoon and the bowls in which my mother has prepared cake batter, and she finds comfort lying in my mother's bosom as I did with my grandmama around the same age.
Feeling helpless when my own child got her first taste of prejudice at school and her not understanding it.
Seeing that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Schools are just as segregated as they were when my mother came up, so are a lot of the neighborhoods, discrimination and racism still exist, no surprise there. We get judged as wholes, when one black person does something bad, we all are assumed to be the same way. I don't like that at all. Things are better for us as a people but we still have a long ways to go.
The experience could be the food, the way we celebrate, the way we talk and communicate with each other, our sense of style or the way we make do with virtually nothing in the material sense. I guess I can sum up the experience this way...it's being from a people of strength who could have been crushed given the circumstances we have encountered throughout history, being from a people with the ability to forgive the unforgivable, being from a group who tolerate the intolerable, being from a people who can laugh when we should or could be crying, being from a people who smile even when in pain, and mostly the black experience is having to navigate through two different worlds.
Last edited on Saturday May 15th, 2004 18:53 by Sage
____________________
Click here for your Black Profile
|
AMANDLA
Villager
| Joined: | Saturday May 15th, 2004 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 2 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Saturday May 15th, 2004 18:47 |
|
Hi guys. First of all let me say that I am glad that I have found a forum specific to my needs as a black man. I have been logging onto a UK general forum and fighting against pure hatred of my race, Asians, Muslims, etc in the UK.
Being black for me has always meant knowing my roots which are from Africa via Jamaica. As a Jamaican English guy, my blackness has always associated me with the rich food, music, arts, people, struggles, anger, violence, love, spirituality, fear, joy, aspirations, destruction, confusion, pride, strength, compassion, courage of my people and I could go on and on.
The links that we have with Africa are somehow loss. We look at images of our people suffering and jump back into our BMW, Audi and support Germany! We are truly loss children who have no way of relating to our ancestors who struggled to get us where we are.
Being black for me is like being on a journey, and we will only know the answer when this life ends and the new one begins.
Attachment: xy_0203.jpg (Downloaded 1317 times)
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
|
AMANDLA
Villager
| Joined: | Saturday May 15th, 2004 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 2 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Saturday May 15th, 2004 18:55 |
|
Ladyday,
I know what you mean. I worked in Sweden for two months and got everything from sexually harrassed to racially harrassed. I couldn't wait to get back home. Makes me think about my Grandad who was over here in the forties, must have been hard.
My dad told me to watch everthing that I say and do, because I am forever an ambassador to the black race and people will judge me and every black person on their personal contacts. More of us, especially black men must work hard, be positive and show them that their pre conceptions are wrong...
____________________
Click here for your Black Profile
|
the black prince
Villager
| Joined: | Saturday May 15th, 2004 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 12 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Saturday May 15th, 2004 22:17 |
|
we need to wake up as a race. think about it. we were once kings in egypt. i dont care wot any proffessor tells u at any university - africans built the pyramids. and we did this as a gateway from this world to the next - astronomically the pyramids are the most accurate man made intsrument in correlation to the stars.
however that was a very long time ago. since then we've gone through slavery in the east and west (arabs as well as europeans had us in chains). our entire continent was colinized and forced to adopt the tongues of europe and arabia. today africa is ravaged with aids, poverty and political instability. the media portrays africa and africans as a savage entity, rarely promoting our acheivements. our brothers and sisters who were sold off know little of their ancestors, and deny the fact that their african. born and living in england i feel pain whenever i see africa on the news, children crying and no sign of any change. i feel even more pain knowing as a race we are so divided. we kill each other over drugs and money. were scatterd all over the world, in america in europe in asia yet we have not flourished because we have never been united.
i regard myself as african NOT BLACK. black is a term white europeans used during slavery to describe the people they were putting in chains as slaves (negro is italian for black). Im african because that is the cradle of civilisation. the peoples of africa are many shades of dark brown to light brown. we've bin blessed with a skin colour that protects us from the harmful effects of the sun. however this is not to say that im sum kind of uncle tom wanna be white person like micheal jackson or chris eubank. politically i will always call myself black as a sign of rebelion to any1 who wants 2 oppress me or my people, if thats what it takes to be united then so be it. by no means am i rascist, i just want to see a change happen.
and in respone to the question "what is like to be black" i have a simple answer. a gift. its a gift to be black because it means im not given a head start in life. it means i have to work hard for everything i accomplish. i have to go through more truama and more prejudice than ne1 else. as a people we have been deprived of our own beautiful history. its up 2 us in this life time and in our childerns life time to give new meaning to the term black. we must stop killing ourselves and realise we are at the bottom of the barrel, and no ones gonna help us up apart from ourselves. i really do beleive some time in the 21st century a leader will emerge for all black people around the world, sum1 we can all be proud to follow. but i aint gonna sit round and wait for a messiah to come save me, hell no. ima work hard and through education (not drugs, sport, music or any other sterotype associated with black people) i'll acheive my aims.
salaama
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
|
Princess Omega
Villager
| Joined: | Sunday May 16th, 2004 |
| Location: | London, United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 11 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Sunday May 16th, 2004 18:16 |
|
Black is not just the colour of your skin, it is also a culture. When you say black, are you referring to the clour of the skin or the culture. As i see it, when you say black (meaning the colour) you are referring to every person who is the clour black, from somalians to Jamaicans. Weh you refer to the culture black, it has a diffrent meaning. African and Somalian and American and Nigerian (just examples) are all brought up differently in a black culture. Being black is not just the clour of your skin, its what you believe in, its your ambitions and determinations and most of all, being black is having the ability to keep your head up high, even though Europeans are waiting for you to fail, so that they can laugh at you.
 Aim High! Never let your colour be an excuse to hold you down!
____________________
So many people out there are devils in disguise!
____________________
Click here for your Black Profile
|
Peacemaker
Villager
| Joined: | Saturday May 15th, 2004 |
| Location: | ><_>< |
| Posts: | 3892 |
| Photo: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
Click here for your Black Profile
Search for Black Sites
|
Posted: Monday May 17th, 2004 11:29 |
| | | |
