The establishment and the annual celebration of Black History month is a good thing because it seeks to look for positives in the monstrous historical abuse meted out to the Black over centuries; The period enables us to remember our forebears that faced great deprivations as slaves in the new lands, we mourn them and must not forget their contributions, their labors, and their very life spent for others.
A closer look at the events of slavery tells a story of weakness on the part of the Africans; Disunity, low-level vision, the poor organization of society, and bad leadership; are the same ailments that are still very much current in Black African societies. I suspect that for many black people, the celebration in the month of February is not necessarily a joyful one, but a reminder of the history that can repeat itself and lessons unlearned.
In his great research work titled African Triple Heritage, Kenyan Professor of African Studies, Dr. Ali Mazrui (1933-2014) opined that Black African Cultures usually accept anything large, big, or great as special, with the likelihood of divine backing and the challenge such natural phenomenon offers may signal a reference point, a place to stop and proceed no further; for example large rivers, great mountains or special land structural formations that form barriers may be God’s idea of boundaries for tribes.
The professor thought this may be a reason why Africans never developed great technologies to conquer their landscape in addition to their Philosophies of adjusting to nature, rather than adjusting nature to themselves, an extension of ancestral and nature worship. However, there is a need to break this barrier even because so many black people still operate within their clans; they are in Europe and in America but still refuse to think big, break new grounds, cross boundaries and establish new bonds.
Those men that traversed boundaries like Magellan, and Columbus meet new peoples, learn new means and methods, obtain greater wealth and show the way to others. Poverty lives with men that roam in small circles. Expanded coasts open the eyes to new opportunities. Those that interact with others partake in the opportunities encountered. This is the lesson of organizations like Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc, very large numbers of people pass through them leaving the owners with riches, when Black people also network, the interactions will circulate riches. It is time to expand our coast, cross frontiers, build new bridges, make new friends and receive the blessing that goes with it.
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