Black People : Something to think about...

AUM said:
Thanks Blackbird for shining a light through the darkness (Osirus=Lighthouse). As far as the word "ni&&er" relating to Niger is concerned, you are right. I know that you would find these links interesting, talking about the ancient Hindu word 'Nagas'
http://www.khandro.net/mysterious_naga.htm
http://www.khandro.net/mysterious_nagas_2.htm

HTP

"Om"

Thanks AUM, I appreciate your presence. I will forever say "OM" and remember Earth. I see where you are coming with "nagas." Definitely!

Queen and Purple Moons,

Let's all develop our concept of Blackness and what Blackness mean. Okay, and let's say within two weeks, we all get back to share our concepts and discuss creating a "What Blackness Means To Me" Campaign. We can coordinate localized events to be held on Marcus Garvey's Birthday this August. We missed Juneteenth, unless you have things already set for this to happen.

I will create a thread for it.

Blackbird
Em-Power Project Coordinator (notice us)

I love each kink,
sista dey represent each day cotton thorns pierce your hand
and my soul
your smooth cocoa complexion in the foreground of my light peanut butter speaks Black Love so many wayz....(someone finish)
 
somin to read... from: The color of Words: An Encylcopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States... by Philip H. Herbst

these are jus wat i thought were some of the important/ interesting parts:

From a word in Old English, black, according to The Oxford English Dict.(89), has long referred to things deadly, milignant, foul or soiled, wicked, disastrous, or existing outside of grace.
( and from a modern dictionary:Cheerless and depressing/Evil; wicked/Soiled, as from soot; dirty/Of or belonging to a racial group having brown to black skin, especially one of African origin: the Black population of South Africa/Of or belonging to an American ethnic group descended from African peoples having dark skin; African-American-http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=black )


Even the light-skinned people semed so dark to the English that they tended to call these people too, by the monolithic term blk (simularly, they came to apply it to Native Americans in the British colonies). It was "an exaggerated term which in itself suggests that the Negro's complexion had powerful impact on their perception".

Blk was often regarded as a slave term for AA,who avoided it after the civil war. blk americans had preferred African, free person orf color (by the 1840's, free blk people took pride in the initials f.m.c and f.w.c, "free man of color" and "free woamn of color," used after their signitures), Afro- American (first recorded 1853), and colored.

In the late 1960's the noun and adj blk was converted by blk people, expecially younger ones from an epithet used by yts to an ingroup preference. As a word that conotes "sinister", "evil", or "angry", blk was appropriate for a miitant stragety that sought to make blk people feared ( as oposed to controlled, persecuted, or patronized) and to present "blkness" as deliberatly in oppostion to "ytness"

Although some blks protest the strong racial sense term, blk is likely to persist for its simplicity and its symmetry with white.

Blk is also currently used by the fed govt in gathering census data. "Being blk speaks directly to my heart, while being AA speaks to my mind" More than an identification of a group, blk is a way of life that see itself in oppostion to the yt socitey. ( relates to my questioning of a blk experience)

when blk is capitalized....it may bring the blk culture in parallel with other ethnic or national groups whose names are also capitalized and suggest importance of the term as a socail and cultural indentity.

The US cultural, legal, and Census Bureau def of blk has been "any person with known blk ancestry"( aka as the :eek:ne drop rule)



that book was published in 1997. and its written by a yt man- if that matters to anyone. im not sayin belive what u read- cuz blk is a beautiful thing to me- jus like others have expressed in this thread- but i jus wanted 2 put this info out there to read.
 
DreamFunk,
The questions and answers you raised are very interesting and tend to be polarizing or to bring polarization to the surface. i basically agree with what you said concerning Black and White.

As the thread is entitled Something to think about...it brought to the fore in my mind something i have been concerned about for several decades and that is, how best we can work in harmony in spite of our various ideological differences.

Each group seems to think it's the only right one and all have documented evidence for their positions that they accept and want others to accept.

And some of them will actually go to blows if necessary with the other group that they claim is their brothers and sisters and should think just like them.

in my minds eye, considering oneself as Black or not is not the force needed for success.

it is now though quite obvious to me that the winning direction must be able to recognize the ideological different positions held by Our People and be able to work with all and for progress of all in spite of these differences of ideology and be able to elist large groups of those who hold these varying positions to do the same.

It's a mamoth job........who is rising to the task---Humans, Blacks, Africans, African Americans, Muslims, Christians, Coloreds, People of Color, Masons, Elks, Greeks, ................You, me....who?
 
NNQueen said:
Are you suggesting that we should reject the term "black" for the same reasons we rejected the name "negro"?

...well, I think the most important thing as of now is just the understanding....there's a big difference in doing something "just because" and actually having understanding...and once a fearless heart/mind gains a true understanding, I think it it is almost inevitable for that soul to choose the right path....and no, I don't think one term such as "black" should be replaced by another such as "negro".



NNQueen said:
If what we call ourselves gives credence to either a dependent state of mind versus and independent state, then what terminology do you suggest WE use to describe who we are as a nation of people, whose national origin is rooted in the African Continent?

....I have no problem with African-American, Afro-American, Aframerican, or whatever other variation one may come up with....and honestly, I think opinions of native Africans concerning this should also be heard.



NNQueen said:
Also, how do you (or is it even necessary to) make the distinction between US and THEM who may also be "from" Africa, but don't look like US? Hopefully I am clear in framing my question and haven't confused you.

...are you speaking of native Africans or European-Africans..???....I just want to be sure.
.
 

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