Mon, 04.30.2018
The Alarm of Oppression
I recently researched the Herero people of Namibia and came across the Berlin Conference of 1898. I was stunned yet educated by a missing piece in what was making my alarm ring. This gathering of whites in Germany calculated an assault on Africa after American slavery to usher in European colonization. From Demark to Portugal, from the Netherlands to France; they carved off African countries and territories between them for human ruin for financial gain.
Like many, I often wonder why (in general) white America despises African America so much. I’m over 65 and know we’ve not done anything to justify this hatred and it is more about whites rather than about me. Yet historically there was this space after American emancipation that wasn’t clear in my soul. It needed verification beyond reconstruction, Jim Crow, Red Summers, and Poll Taxes leading up to WW I and WW II. The Berlin Conference and the diabolical deeds of Europeans to eradicate black Africa for their greed against our humanity set off my alarm again.
Apathy in America by some members of my black community hinders our overall progress. Because of privilege, some white allies choose not to grasp their kinship to what their race is responsible for. Also, important is how the victims and perpetrators of the trauma inflicted by the results of this 1898 plan are recognized.
I must reinforce a healthier suspicion of whiteness beyond political affiliation to include their tribal and clan-oriented values. This alarm challenges me to find better ways to work towards Kings ‘Promise Land’ or ‘Our Own House’ as Malcolm once said. Starting with bettering more or my aspects to extending them from home to the world I engage with. As our moral compass responds to the alarm everyone must do more. Stay Woke
by B. Mchie
