Hundreds of years have passed since the slave ships docked on the coast of America with its payload of slaves ready to be sold on its auction blocks. And now over 400 years later we as a black community still deal with the issues that are a direct result of the inhumane treatment of our ancestors. The baggage of that era has gripped us tightly and forced separations within ourselves and our family units. Several shinning stars have come forward with solutions to the desperate needs of our generation and community as a whole but if the underlining problems are not addressed the solutions will carry no weight.
Through introspection and self analyzation I understand what is needed to at least put us back on sort of path of completeness. The honorable Elijah Mohammad during the height of the civil rights movement wrote a book aimed directly at the Blackman….it was a Message to the Blackman in America which outlined some of the problems and solutions for black males in a society not of his own. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan called for a Million March on Washington D.C. also to discuss the issues that blackmen must face on a daily in this society and how to become productive citizens in our communities. But I noticed what is needed along with teaching the black man once again how to be man is to come to the realization that the problems we have faced for so many years in this country are a result of our own actions.
We have spent so much wasted time in analyzing the triggers for our behaviors but we never have taken the time to accept responsibility for them. We men are warriors by nature, we are descendents of a culture in which the MEN are the ones who stand up to the enemy and protect the familial unit. So long have we focused on the hardships placed on us by the insane acts of our oppressors that we never took the time to ponder the true and underlying question….WHY DID WE ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Why did we allow our kinsmen and our women to be stripped from our homeland and placed in shackles to be carted across the high seas like cheap cargo for sale in the marketplace. Why did we allow our women to be mistreated and raped in the night by the slave master and then have the audacity to look our wives in the eyes and feel like a man. I do not intend to disrespect our forefathers who struggled to give us the opportunities that we have today but in the same token I do not feel I should be reserved in regards of our blackmen allowing themselves to be broken down psychologically, spiritually and physically by the white man.
As a Blackman in America born as a descendant of slaves I am outraged at my own behavior and the behavior of my other brothers in my generation and of past generations. It is time we issue an apology to our women, something we have failed to do since the end of slavery…..this apology has been a long time coming and I don’t especially expect it to be received as easily as it is given. On behalf of all blackmen through our history in America I would like to officially apologize to the black woman.
WE would like to apologize to my queen for allowing her and our children to be herded off like cattle in chains and beaten with whips. To be dehumanized while having to stand in my place and take the role as the head of our household and teaching our sons how to be men because of my absence.
WE would like to apologize for not being the protector and allowing her to be sexually mistreated at the hands of another man and still expect her to be my backbone and my support through my trials and tribulations but never being solely there to understand hers.
WE would like to apologize for my blatant disregard to my family while focusing my energies on less meaningful and aesthetic properties.
WE would like to apologize wholeheartedly to her for having to witness the spirit of our people die in my hands and doing nothing to revive it.
WE would like to apologize to the false hope in which I have instilled in her for a better tomorrow when I myself failed to plan and execute a strategy.
WE apologize deeply for not realizing the worth she has brought to my life as a Blackman who has been torn down by the world and always had her to lean on.
WE apologize for not allowing her to understand the confines of my mind and believing that I was stronger for not showing the human emotion for which I have buried from even myself.
WE apologize for walking away from her and leaving her alone to struggle to put food in my children’s mouths and clothes on their backs while I roam the earth in search of what I need to further myself.
WE apologize for all the excuses for why I have not been a real man but only an illusion of one.
LASTLY WE APOLOGIZE FOR WAITING THIS LONG TO SIMPLY SAY I AM SORRY MY QUEEN!!!!
WE understand wholeheartedly that this does not erase anything that has occurred throughout our long history together in this wilderness of North America, but I will say that this shall be and needs to be a new beginning to all men of color for we all in some way or another have many things that we must repent for but at least this can be a starting point of us healing ourselves.
Someone very special to me made me realize and begin the journey to combat the underlying reasons for my own self degradation. Buried deep inside of us all are remnants of our ancestors still fresh with the wounds and emotional scars placed on us by those who hated us so much and in turn taught us how to hate ourselves even more. So to my black brothers I think we need to walk up to our sisters whom ever they may be or what ever relation they may have in our lives and formally apologize. Once we as MEN can lift that burden from our shoulders which we have subconsciensely carried around since we reached this country; then and truly then will be able to repair the broken relationships we have caused and mend our communities. Once this is done we shall be one again, we shall be Warriors again. We will be able to cleanse our souls of the guilt of the oppressed and take the right paths to complete understanding of self. And never again will we allow our people to be broken. This is our battle cry!!
It is refreshing to see the role of the warriors during the time the African was enslaved is being taken into consideration. It is not often that Black Men acknowledge that perhaps more steps could have been taken during that time to have a defense for what would become the downfall of an entire nation.
Now that it has been acknowledged, we need not dwell, because it is more important to identify those things that contributed to the position we allowed ourselves to be in; so that we can resolve the problems as to not repeat the mistakes and move forward to create a new nation on the very ground on which we live.
QUESTION...
In your opinion: what were those flaws in the Black Man/Woman's character, our community, our systems, our thought processes, etc., that resulted in us becoming completely unarmed, dazed and confused for hundreds of years?
