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attax, living in foreign countries has given me another perspective, their
own and different from the 'American', black point of view of their 'self'. Also, many African friends who ask questions or say things about American blacks, their attitude of self defeat, their despair, their lack of 'forward movement' within this nation of 'endless possiblities', are pointed in the direction of The History of Black America by me.
They grow up surrounded by black people with self esteem and hope and places to grow. I have had many foreign students living in my home and I have tried to explain America to them by making them read and not just the 'usual accepted white majority history'.
I make no excuses for anyone, whites nor blacks, just want them to see what has formed us into the society that we experience today. I would love to have black American students spend two years of their highschool youth in Africa where they would be part of the majority, where being yourself means something so different, where they would grow bigger and where their ideas of who they are would change.
What Malcolm X experienced over there was mind changing for him.....where he would have gone with it is unknown, but he definitely changed some. I wish that he had more time to go there more often and lead people in another direction.
If we only learn the 'beaten down history' then we feel justified in making excuses and not moving forward. There are so many ways to 'keep hope alive' and not just Jesse's, and the focus can't be just on keeping hope alive; it is too small a concept to build upon.
posted by
benzinha
on May 18, 2004 at 11:27 AM
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