BLACK HISTORY MONTH: African Americans Emerging into the Twenty-First Century

DARE TO BE FREE

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August 28, 1963, Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., voiced his dream – a dream that echoed around the world. His eloquent words of hope for a brighter future in an almost perfect utopia burned its message in the hearts of all Americans, stirred up our emotions, and vibrated the walls of our souls. Whites and Blacks alike were affected by this dream that “…one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’…” No one familiar with the insufferable conditions of the not-so-distant past can doubt that African Americans are much better off today than they were twenty to thirty years ago; however, the improvement was gradual and uneven – and now some elements may even have deteriorated. The dream remains more a goal than a reality.

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Entering the twenty-first century, African Americans were still battling the tragic but enduring effects of pervasive racism and degrading slavery. Racism, with its corrosive and bitter social perversions, remained alive as a malignant cancer, sometimes disguised as benevolence. Having passed the apex of its global dominance, European colonialism left behind an aftermath of seriously distorted values, self-alienation, cultural debasement, and confused identity.

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Although slavery in the United States officially ended in the late nineteenth century, it has a lingering impact on the descendants of its victims. Many African Americans, never being personally afflicted with the robes of slavery, still suffer from aborted initiative, ruptured lineage (both literal and figurative), generalized cultural bastardization, and destroyed self-image.

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African Americans today desperately need to regain control over the presentation, discussion, and interpretation of their own experiences, cultural imperatives, and their lives. There is clearly a series of problems that must be addressed and surmounted if African Americans are to recover the sense of positive identity necessary for their psychological wholeness – and for genuine, cogent, and authentic cultural expression.

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By having their individual identities stolen, African Americans also face a waning of identity as a distinct community and the resulting loss of a clear appreciation for African American common interests. Even though the majority of African Americans do live – and have always lived – in communities that are overwhelmingly populated by African Americans, they too often and too completely confuse African American interests with the surrounding Eurocentric cultural. As an assimilated cultural, we often imitate and emulate European cultural; and neglect our own. We admire their heroes and undermine our own. Phillis Wheatley’s testament “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” says it best, “…[African Americans] sometimes see themselves through the eyes of others, even though that view is contradicted by their own objective condition.”

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Today, many African Americans have no higher ambition than the acquisition of luxury goods as individual markers of prestige and privilege. Many African Americans have prized individual success over collective advancement and thereby underdeveloped our communities. Many African Americans also undermine – perhaps even destroy – the development of our youth by their failure to foster coherent social values that reward those who direct energy toward collective growth.

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In this era of internationalism, African Americans are still prone to cling to national, (and even more so, local neighborhood identities), without fully grasping the need to adopt a larger, global identity derived not just from common historical and cultural roots but also from similar economic and political yokes. African Americans must learn to see themselves as an aggregate of vital communities with particular national experiences subsumed within a unified global African population.

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It is extremely important that African Americans remember that all people have lineages that give them a sense of place, a mark in geography, and a body of shared experiences over a specific time period. African American heritage is a complex set of factors that include African cultural. From this fact comes an inner need to know, acknowledge, and extend both their direct and symbolic legacies. The features of African American culture are self-validating, requiring no external sanctions or acceptance. Bill Russell, the former great basketball star, stated in his book, Go Up For Glory, that on his first trip to Africa he was “…confronted with deep emotional feelings of returning to a homeland.” When asked why he was there, he answered without even thinking, “I came here because I believe that somewhere in Africa is my ancestral home. I came here because I am drawn here, like any man, drawn to seek the land of my ancestors.” After being misquoted by the white American press as to why he went to Africa, he clarified his position by stating, “…I understand that the [American] Irish are proud of Ireland, the [American] Italians are proud of Italy, the [American] Jews are proud of Israel. Just like them, I am proud of my ancestral home – West Africa.” Therefore, culture is the African Americans’ most essential source of identity. It is their garment against the wind, the core testament of their own humanity.

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One of the consequences of slavery was the loss of a sense of ownership on one’s own self. The question of manhood – a frequent theme in African American literature and history – is profoundly related to this issue. It often gives vocal and visual evidence of itself through assertive and sometimes violent reactions to oppressive confrontations, belittling encounters, and humiliating situations. Accepting the existential challenge of being – of owning one’s own self, empowers African American men and women to refuse to cower in the face of indifference, threats, and assaults. It encourages them to dare to be free – dare to use their own talents to interpret their own experiences from their own perspectives.

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In the face of controversy – threats – physical punishment – and even death, the ancestors of African Americans did not deter nor detour from daring to be free. The African Americans of today are the recipients of a glorious legacy left by brave African American heroes who dared to be free, the likes of Fredrick Douglas; W.E.B. DuBois; Booker T. Washington; Malcolm X; Martin Luther King, Jr.; and countless others. In each era of African American history, the torch of freedom was passed down and handed to various individuals who, in the face of extreme adversity, bravely dared to be free. In the twentieth century, this torch was handled by many individuals.

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The dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. is still a dream and not a reality for millions of African Americans. There are individuals, organizations, and institutions determined to kill his dream and destroy the hope of African Americans: that freedom’s bell will ring in the hearts and minds of all Americans; and that equality will be the American lifestyle.

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As we approach the first decade in the twenty-first this freedom torch must be passed on to our African American youth. The time for preparations is now. As long as prejudice and racism exist, this race for freedom and equality is not over. Who will be our new leaders? Who will bravely pick up the torch passed down by former freedom fighters and entered this relay race for freedom and equality – a race not won by the swiftest but by those who endure? Who will take the torch? Will you dare to be free?