Bridges and Borders (with video)

This blog post was actually suggested to me based on an interaction I had with a peer of mine not too long ago in a group on Facebook. This group, I must start off saying is an AMAZING group and has held my attention since I joined it maybe a week and a half ago. It's called La Conga De America, has awesome administration *shout out to the administrators* and awesome members *yup you guys too* and it continues to grow daily. In this group there are people from all over the country (and world I believe) who participate in sharing, debating, teaching, learning, laughing, empathyzing, and just overall interacting as a sort of cyber family. It's time much better spent than the hours on end of Mafia Wars, or Farmville(not knocking the game heads) because of the sense of familiarity and the dual value of education AND entertainment. It's an awesome group, awesome awesome awesome and I could write about it all day but it's not the topic of discussion today.

Moving on...
There was a debate of sorts between me and an admin (way to be a rebel Rahkim) that seemed to be the result in a difference in position.After the debate however I realized that we stand on a united front as far as what we aim to accomplish but the way we go about accomplishing them...eh Let me explain...

As most of you may well know I have a strong affinity for the latino culture, namely those latinos in the Caribbean. (RE: My post "Negro, Blanco y Rojo por todas partes!" ) It started as I learned to speak spanish in school and I fell in love with the language. Soon I realized that you cannot separate the language from the culture and I began to embrace it..so on and so fourth....

What most of you however may NOT know is that I'm also an advocate for the advancement and unity of people of color, not exclusive to blacks or people of African ancestory however very strongly focused on those people's who's culture is the result of the FORCED migration of African's throughout the world known as the MAAFA (or African diaspora). These include the North and South American continents, carribean, and the rest of the world! I have a very strong love for my people, for the varying shades of skin, varying grades of hair, our rich heritage through music, dance, food, science, medicine, mathematics and the list is long before finished. It pains me however to know that within our people there's so much self hate, insecurities, false pride, and any otherwise dividing factors as skin shade, hair grade, location of birth, or which conquering people's piece of land your ancestor's landed on.

With that being said, I always in this group promote (if I can) the inclusion of black american's (also referred to as African American's or AA's) in our discussions so as not to allow the gap to widen as for the unity of our beautiful people. THIS is what started the debate as many people of color do NOT identify with their African roots, I imagine many more don't want to be associated with black american's at all...In fact, most black american's would rather not be associated with being a black american...sad but true. So my constant re-introduction of this concept was warned as being something that wouldn't be readily accepted by many as it's already almost too much to ask of these people to accept that they have an African heritage and to be proud of it! (and I'm not talking about anyone in the group because we all seem to be pretty well informed) It came down to an issue of diplomacy (in my eyes anyway) vs. bluntness. Here's the break down though...FACT! European's got word of this awesome and exotic "new spot" (that incidently already had people living there) and wanted to expand their world. FACT! Those Europeans came over and killed off (through diseases and physical force) the native habitants of these lands, those who didn't die were made slaves, often raped, and/or "converted and civilized". FACT! They felt alot needed to be accomplished and the peoples who they decimated were all but extinct so they needed some source of free labor...slave trade began, African's were transported, mixing, mixing, mixing years later you have what you call in this area a latino. Fact! In order to make lemonade you need lemon, sugar, and water. Why is that important? You'll see...

Fact! In order to make lemonade you need lemon, sugar, and water.

So I like my lemonade analogy(...sorry if you don't but you'll deal with it) because I feel its MOST appropriate. You see, if anyone has made homemade lemonade they know that you need a certain percentage of water, sugar, and lemon juice to make it at least somewhat desirable. That, if Grandma made it, it's usually a perfect balance of tart/sweetness, that if lil Jonny made it, it's probably too sweet, and that if you made it...well it may not be sweet enough! That being the case...regardless of who made it,and how it tastes it's still LEMONADE!!! So most of you may have been able to follow me so far but for those of you who didn't I'm simply saying that in order to make a latino (yea Rahkim we're doing a science project) or rather the make up of the peoples historically known as latinos include those ancestors who were the conquerers, those ancestors who were the native people and those ancestors who were the Africans. Some people however refuse to acknowledge a part of their history..which is almost the same as taking out the lemon from the lemonade isn't it? You'll simply have sugar water. Having cleared up what a latino is, this is generally the case with all BLACK people in whatever part of the world they were dropped off and whoever was responsible for making the lemonade (too much sugar, not enough, or just right akin to being darker, lighter, or in the middle). Now let me put in a disclaimer to say simply that for one...I'm not calling you guys lemonade and for two the analogy isn't meant to be taken literally as its just here to help illustrate my point that point being you cannot have one without the other...it's pure nonsense. Now that we're both had time to calm down (because we are both very passionate about what we feel is correct) I can see the logic in his approach...introducing truths slowly...however too often it's the black American who's left out in the cold and...I cannot sit there and let it be that way. Truth is we'll all in the same struggle...

MY PEOPLE! PLEASE HEAR ME! It doesn't matter where your ancestors landed...you and I are the same. ACCEPT and LOVE your African heritage...it's what gives you your beauty! Embrace your brother be he from England or Japan...Santo Domingo or Haiti...Colombia or Mexico! Stop leaving your brothers and sisters here in America in the dark...embrace us too! Because to those eyes that can see, and those responsible for our being this way...BLACK IS BLACK...and thats Wesly Snipes black or A-Rod Black or Michael Jackson Black...BLACK IS BLACK AND BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL!