- Mar 25, 2012
- 8
- 23
If "our sole responsibility is in 'combating injustices'", when and/or how do we begin to build and create healthy, self-sustaining communities for ourselves? Surely the mere absence of injustice itself cannot and will not accomplish this task.I explain to Sister Destee the heart of my communication: We combat injustices.
But that's just it.
So as far as "responsibility" is concerned, our sole responsibility is in 'combating injustices.' When we teach around this, mentioning "Self-discipline" and "Where we spend" and "How we treat our children" we lose the focus. We, in fact, become "objective" as they want us to be, rather than "subjective," as we ought to be.
We are "Oppressed" but we are not "oppressing ourselves." So to speak, there is a difference between "financing one's oppression" and "financing one's oppressor." Unfortunately, our well-meaning people are too focused on the former, and that's where even they mess up.
More clearly: We should vet what we teach, because our children are being mis-educated. If our children were properly being taught, we would not need to teach them. This we often forget. That is, we forget that in the background is the Oppressor whom needs to be counter-acted.
Because frankly, 15th Century Africa didn't have everything together. But without the European there would be no trans-Atlantic enslavement. Responsibility of oppression is entirely on the Oppressor; and the counter-action requires the Oppressed's acknowledgement thereupon.
In sister Destee's original post, the hole in the roof represents the problem. The landlord refusing to fix the hole represents the injustice. Therefore, since we live in the home, we would be wise to assume responsibility for repairing the roof (solving the problem), while simultaneously pursuing our case against the landlord (combating injustice).
The point is we cannot become so engaged in combating injustice and oppression that we forget to build and create for ourselves. Historically speaking, the greatest defense against injustice and oppression is the assumption of responsibility for oneself and one's people in spite of these factors. The Japanese-post WWII used this strategy quite effectively.