quote:
Originally posted by Faheem:
It appear that these brothers you spoke with have yet to ascertain that one does not have to believe as they believe to be a helper in the cause of Allah or a helper of Black men and women in America. Far too many Black folk are simply looking to raise the number of those who believe as they do without actually making sure that what they believe works for that man or woman. If one has a belief system and it works for him and his family and it does not work against Black upward mobility, why should one seek to change their belief system in regards to religion? So many of us still fail to realize that religion is an internal divisive tool, that blinds Black folk to the external tool that continue to hinder our upward mobility and that is Race. Only a fool will choose a religion over his people.
Good point. I think that this is a legacy of colonial domination. Since forced assimilation to a colonizer's/enslavers/oppressors religion and culture happenned to us...many of us repeat this action towards each other when we think we have "found" or "have" the "one and only true way" ... Not realizing that truth is subjective and spirituality/religion is inherantly not a "one size fits all" kind of thing since all spiritual expressions develop out of specific cultures and specific circumstances, for the specific needs of different peoples. Making one no more "tyhe only way" than the other for all...unless of course one is specifically designed to, or unintentionally causing harm to said people.
What you said reminded me of something I read earlier today...
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WHEN RELIGIOUS CONCERNS BECOME MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR HUMAN RIGHTS
(taken from a yet unpublished book)
CHAPTER ONE:
SO BROKEN IN SPIRIT THAT YOU BELIEVE YOUR RIGHTS ARE WRONG When a people have been robbed of everything, brutalized, dehumanized, and stripped of their fundamental human rights for centuries, they may become so accustomed to the sight of their stifled humanity hanging from the tree of injustice, that it eventually becomes normal, natural, and acceptable.
This is not surprising, because such a history of fear and terrorism has the potential to subdue and domesticate any species, even to the extent that their future generations may be characterized by a weak and broken will, and a docile mentality.
Just like the animal who has similarly undergone CENTURIES OF DOMESTICATION, such people may become so broken and subdued that they would accept the hopelessness of cage-life, and subconsciously see themselves as eternal losers in an irreversible drama.
Everyone who is an inheritor of this history should do a self-check to search for the deep-down belief that the injustice done to Africa is an irreversible drama in which Blacks are eternal losers. Where there is evidence of inaction and indifference towards the cause of Reparations, there is proof that the feeling of being an eternal loser is firmly stamped in one's psyche.
Afflicted by enforced amnesia which has left only a vague idea of the ordeal that they have gone through, slave-descendants will hardly understand its long-term consequences. They may therefore remain indifferent and apathetic as their rights continue to be made to seem wrong, and lose the confidence to even speak of Reparations, far less agitate for it.
The long feeling of powerlessness, hopelessness, vulnerable dependency, fear, and inferiority, can even shrink the slave's SELF-ESTEEM to the point that he himself would believe that his rights are wrong, and that The Robber's wrong version of rights is correct.
This easily happens when your self-esteem has been beaten down to zero, and The Robber's opinion has the blessing of "the authorities" and the backing of the much feared "law." Against such psychological odds, the idea of Reparations is bound to seem hopeless and ridiculous.
It is inevitable that after so many generations of dehumanization and domestication, a new mind-set would have been formed, for that is what domestication of a species is supposed to achieve....an entirely new docile and controllable mind-set. After such a long period of systematic breaking-in, the brave warrior who would fiercely stand up for his rights would only be found in the museum, and in the dusty pages of some history book, but never on the modern plantation.
What would have evolved on the modern plantation is an apathetic Negro who firmly believes that he is an eternal loser beyond hope of ever regaining his stolen inheritance. This sick condition is very much in evidence when religious debate takes precedence over the human rights debate on the modern plantation.
Having been reshaped by the tools of domestication, it is more than likely that the Negro's head would have swapped places with his belly and genitals, and his dominant passion would be food, fun and sex...or religion. The realization that he has a responsibility to the coming generations to reclaim his stolen inheritance will not dawn on the Negro, because he has been sapped of his self confidence by centuries of terrorism and domestication. He would have developed a narrow short-term view on life that goes no farther than the scramble for crumbs, and in the most crucial of times when his ship is sinking, the Negro would be joking, sporting, overeating, over-screwing or arguing about religion. Rather than take to the battle field in pursuit of his rights, the Negro will furtively seek "a safe place" in the hope that when the battle for his human rights is over, OTHERS will have secured for him a safe inheritance.
Such is the effect of the breaking-in process on the Negro that he is the least concerned about the importance of his own humanity. He has become so accustomed to living without it that to him the term now sounds like an abstract luxury that he cannot afford. If the Negro really knew the long-term implications of his history, he would overstand that the only place where he can discard the idea of Reparations is in the same dustbin where he is unwittingly throwing away his offspring's prospects for a better life complete with their restored humanity.
Most of us who have passed through the loins of this slave-breaking process can see, if we only open our eyes, how it works to this very day, pressuring us to abandon our manhood, pressuring us to abandon our self respect and our nobility, pressuring us to abandon our sense of group solidarity, pressuring us to spy on one another, pressuring us to sell out one another, pressuring us to conform to the pre-designed inferior role of Negro-hood.
What therefore are the consequences for a people who have been broken-in and stripped of their humanity to the point where they have lost all confidence in self?
The consequences are tragic. Loss of trust and confidence in self equals loss of trust and confidence in your mother, your father, your brother, and your race. It also equals loss of trust and confidence in your own God, and ultimately loss of trust and confidence in the cause of justice. It could be said of such people: Their God has been imprisoned.
A BROKEN PEOPLE are never able to muster the ambition, the hunger, the drive, the focus, the commitment, the determination, the self-belief, and the self discipline that it would take to establish their rights on earth. As long as they remain locked down in this spiritual coma, their stay on earth will always be dependent on the permission of those who see themselves as "The Owners." They will always find themselves on election-day having to choose between the Devil and Satan.
If one were to venture into the inner sanctuaries of such people one would see sitting in the centre, an idol of the white slave-master with a dollar bill sign stuck to its forehead while holding in its hand the rod of individualism. In the lap of this idol one will also see the spirit of confusion dressed in the garments of religion. These are the evil entities that prevent cohesion and maintain a permanent state of distraction.
Ras Jahaziel
www.rastafarivisions.com
....but I'm sure you know about that...}
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