Ever Since I can remember mother Africa has been a part of my life. The fact that I was born outside of her protective
bosom made it imperative for me to always re-orient myself to her direction. My family saw fit that we were going to know
this distant yet forever present sustaining energy force called mother Africa. Through
travel, education, and social interaction I was able to know the mother that was stolen from me before I was even born. Now I’m not talking about being separated from my biological African Mother. I’m talking about being separated from the land, language and legacy that
belong to my people but was thoroughly stripped from us during the European slave trade.
This is the Mother that has been hidden, lost and betrayed by her would be suitors that I had to chase. The Mother that The American school system calls “the dark continent” or “the land of
savages” or the many other pejoratives that she has been called.
This journey as a Diasporic African has not been a sweet one but one that was necessary
given the specific circumstances that we born into the new-odd world that has been forged by enslavement and capitalism on
these shores in the western hemisphere. I am compelled to say that I have been
educated in the ways of my ancestors past in order to be able to strive for our future as Africans at home and abroad. Every where we turn we can see that the subject of debate in the world has been mother
Africa. One thing seems to always until recently always been missing
and that was the Africans were not present at many of these debates about her economic, social or cultural direction. Since 1441 C.E. (Common Era) and the inception of European slavery others have tried
to control the rudder of Africa’s Destiny. Even as a Diasporic
African I understand that the task of Africa is too set it’s own agenda and mold it’s own destiny through the
eyes of an African and no one else. As slavery fragmented millions of us with
our mother land the Berlin conference was the next step in our cultural abduction it was a critical blow
that fragmented our continent in an un-natural way. Just as civil war separates
brother from brother, the false boundaries that we did not draw separate us today. The
falsities include but are not limited to differences in education, language, law, politics, religion, family, labor, etc.
Not knowing my mother’s bosom has caused me to intensely cling to her once
I found her. And I mean cling to her literally just as a new born chimp clings
to its mothers hide. For any of us to have any direction we must face our mother
land for guidance. If She is lost to the world storm of geo-politics, neo-colonialism,
and passive fascism then all of her crewman that are on extended leave will also be lost.
To strengthen Mother Africa’s hull we must all be willing to pick up a hammer and repair her wherever we see
weaknesses. This will make it much easier for her to keep sailing in the dangerous
waters that are before her. As Marcus Garvey said “Africa for
the Africans”. We as people of African descent and/or heritage must realize
that if there are 700,000+ dead in Darfur or a water shortage in Guinea or
an attack on African womanhood any where or a Hurricane Katrina type disaster that it affects all of us equally. Until we attain that mindset as others in the world have then we will forever be begging at the feet of
the people that have caused many of the problems that we face today.
Through out the years I have involved myself in political action
groups such as the United African Movement, CEMOTAP (The Committee to Eliminate Media to African People, The ANSWER Coalition
and many activities that surround the many challenges we face today as contemporary Africans in America, challenges such as
gentrification, police brutality, education, unemployment, woman’s rights and children’s rights. During this period
I have seen victories, draws, and betrayal but the constant through out every given situation is that a people dedicated to
anything, no matter how daunting the challenge can overcome any situation put before them.
Sometimes my mind wanders to the time of enslavement for our people and I try to envision what it must have been like. The many horrors that we must have witnessed endured and overcame for our future generations
to exist. I thank those ancestors and take something very important in what they
experienced. I take the strength, wisdom and guidance from their experience to
fuel our current challenges and fights today. I know that we in the so called modern world have it much easier than our predecessors
in many aspects but in no way does that mean that we may struggle any less than they did.
To be honest we should struggle even harder, knowing what they endured in order for us just too merely exist.
The challenges that face Africa and her scattered children are not easy and
do not have simple solutions. In no way does that mean they are not solvable problems.
The constant that we must understand is that in order to change them we must come together in the spirit of Pan- Africanism
and togetherness to change them. Remember the family that FIGHTS together Stays
together.
Asante Sana, Alluta Continua
The Struggle Continues - Nova Felder
