Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 March 2004 — Page 5

FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 2004

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

PAGE AS

EDUCATION DOES MAHER

A metaphysical journey through Africa brings enlightenment

By LEROY ROBINSON As we move closer towards our next program. Bridging the Gap: From Africa to America, we move a step closer towards unconditional freedom. As all the great minds ponder the condition of “Black America," those working in the specialty fields of criminology, divinity, education, psychology, and sociology, would only need to sit back and observe the relationship, or lack there of, between Africans and African Americans and clearly see why there is great turmoil in many African countries and great turmoil in many Afri-can-American communities. In preparing for the above program, I have been provided with the wonderful opportunity, with the blessings of our ancestors, to travel metaphysically, throughout the African continent. Upon my arrival in the West African nation of Senegal, I was able to witness and tour the House of Slaves on Goree Island. Off the Senegalese coast, this island touched me as I heard the voices and felt the spirits of our ancestors who were piled 20 people deep in 2 1/2 square meter cells, prior to beingshipped to the “New World.” I was informed that millions of Africans died in captivity on the island prior to them leaving the shores of their homeland. I then was able to travel a little farther south to Liberia, one of only two African nations that were never colonized by the “strangers” from Europe. This is the nation that Marcus Garvey spoke so highly of and the nation that was to become the home to the African Americans who yvere unable to integrate into mainstream 19th century America. These African Americans or Negroes were to be “repatriated” back to this independent African nation. I then crossed over into the bordering country’, Sierra Leone, where my real education began. Here is where I met my tour guide, a young man not yet 21, who informed me that as a young elementary' school student, he was never taught that the “Negro” in America, were really African Americans ... the long lost brothers and sisters that had been kidnapped centuries before. In his country', he stated, the people were taught that African Americans were just “Black” Americans with no relationship to those on the •African continent. This young wise man also informed me that he and his native countrymen were never taught the history' of their country or any other African nation. Only the history ofthe colonial powers was taught. The great Egyptians and the great empires of Mali, Songhai, and Ghana were never taught in the school system. Timbuktu was never mentioned in a history hook. But once I was informed that the public school “his-story” books were written by the British (colonial power) and the public school system was set up and ran by the British, it was easier to understand why there was no history of Sierra Leone prior to colonization. My education continued as this young African explained to me the role of the missionaries who came to spread the “good news” and what eventually became of the many traditional spiritual beliefs that are now called voodoo by those in the West. The “strangers,” as my tour guide called them, were warmly accepted and he keenly remembers the large majority of them being Americans, but not the Black Americans. He could' not understand why the Black Americans, who seemed to have so much in America, did not come to help as the others did. My education and trip towards freedom continued as I moved northeast across the continent and headed towards Egypt. This visit was truly an eye opener as I found out where Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates studied, and it also became clear where the term “Greek philosophy" came from. Then I started to see the similarities in the founding ofthe “New World," and how much of the

principal foundation came from Greece, which came from Egypt. These things are all evident on the one-dollar bill, with the pyramid, the Masonic symbolism, and even thesymbolic “all-seeing-eye” of Horns that sits above the pyramid. As I left Egypt, being more “enlightened" than ever before, I continued scratching my head and wondering why this type of education was being kept from the locals and not beingtaught in the school systems of Africa or in America. I continued along the southeast coast of the continent and madeastop in Uganda where I met a wise and compassionate Catholic nun. Here is where I learned the art of story telling and the importance of learning history from the elders. Many native Africans, I learned, only use the European school system to advance in the European controlled society. But in regards to customs, traditions, and African history prior to colonialism, the elders w ere responsible for passing this information on to the future generations. Here in Uganda, while being educated by the elder nun, I also learned the importance of hard work, sacrifice, and living life with

a purpose. I also learned about the unpleasant chil warthat took place during the Idi Amin regime and the role that the Western W’orld plays in many of the events that are now commonplace on the African continent. And sadly, I learned while touring the diamond mines in this area, the enormous role that financial riches and the opportunity to make money plays in the exploitation of human beings ... and the extent to which man will go for the sake of the American dollar. I went a little farther south to the nation of Tanzania, where anthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey found the oldest human remains. Remains that are said to be 20 million years old and belong to that of a dark skinned African. This Africanus skull, as it is called, is the oldest human remains ever discovered on Earth. Again, scratching my head, I wondered why aren’t the ancestors of these human remains, on the African continent and throughout the world, being provided with this type of information. I continued my journey and during my last stop, in South Africa, I met ayoung man in Soweto,

who had the unpleasant experience of living through the entire horrific period of apartheid. He took me to the shantytowns, in which many still do not have electricity and running water. Here I witnessed some of the most inhumane living conditions of any people on Earth. Soweto is another part of the African world where the American and European influence is obvious, but where the large majority of ilative Black Africans are suffering in misery. Apartheid has now ended there, but many of the old habits and customs are still in place ...just not in a legal sense. I could not stay in the shantytowns to long; as my soul and spirit had taken a major hit listening to the stories from the elders about the nightly raids and the daily torture of those who tried to resist. In my mind as I boarded my airplane; reflecting on my travel, and heading back to the states, the picture began to become a little clearer. After witnessing the current state of Black America, particularly ouryoungpeople, it became very clear that the education or lack thereof, is what was missing. Similar to the Africans, who were

not taught any African history prior to European imperialism, African Americans have been cut off from their ancestors, culture, and history as w ell. From an international perspective, African Americans are living as foreigners in a "strange" land with no information or knowledge on where w e are from and how we arrived here. Also, we have no instruction or guidaneeon what our purpose is while we are here. Most African-Ameri-can children “conclude" from their elementary American history instruction that life for them started in the involuntary servitude position known as slavery. Simply put, we are witnessing several generations of lost children (African Americans) who were forcibly removed from their parents’ home (Africa) and both (parent and child) were made to believe that neither ofthe other oneeverexisted. Throughout history’, there are many that went to great lengths to see to it that the mother and father were nev er reunited with their child. A child with no parents has no guidance and a child with no guidance has no future. When a child loses the ability to grasp the past and the future, the entire

communi tv wi II fo rever be i n t u rmoil.The annual f amily reunion, that African Americans hold so dear in their customs and traditions, needs to expand and include those from the homeland. With this reunion and the proper re-education on both sides ofthe Atlantic, unconditional f reedom, independence, and emancipation will be achieved. Author, columnist, and historian Leroy Robinson will be speaking at Marian College (Marian Hall Room 2">U March 2, r ) at 7 p.m. about his most recent book, Voluntiin Scn itiutc. The lecture is free and open to the public and is titled. “State of the Union ... in Black America.” The event is brought *o you by Union for Black Identity (UBI). Author of newly released hook, entitled Voluntary Senitude: Breaking the Chains: Mental and Psychological Slauay on sale at X-Pression Bookstore & Gallery. For speaking engagements or education w orkshops, contact me at: educationdoesmattcr(</ hotm.ul.com or write me at: 9701 E. b'.'lrd St., Indianapolis, IN46236. My contact number is (317) 302-0272.

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