Concrete Solutions - Continue Your Foundation

Hello All (Expecially those that have started this project);

Welcome back! It is time for installment 2 in the series of Concrete Solutions. Please direct everyone that you think can benifit (everyone) to read this series.
We left with the assignment of you starting a discussion with your immediate family about your family's history. I hope that you did so and would like to write in on the results of your experience. I was fortunate that family history has always been important to my family, even if more so on my Father's side. My Mother's side comes from the history of slavery. We were slaves in Kentucky. We became sharecroppers when slavery was abolished and still hold some land in the same area. My Grandmother's Grandmother had children with a white man. My Grandmother is reluctant to go into details so I do not know the full circumstances of that relationship. My Grandmother was and still is, at 90, very proud of being able to "Pass". Ask an Elder if you don't know what that is. Grandma very typically married a very darkskinned Black Man and became an atypical Black housewife that did not work outside the home. She is very bourgeousie. In Kansas City, my Grandfather worked very hard to support his two daughters and to please his trophy wife. A white friend of my Granddad "fronted" for him so that they could buy a home in the then white part of town. He taught several trades and history in highschool and owned his own business making leather goods. His hand made shoes and pocketbooks were sought after by Blacks and whites from all over Missouri and Kansas. My Mother married an African Man and moved to the other side of the earth from her parents. They met in college. My Father is Ashanti from Ghana. He was part of a program to educate and create an elite corp to run the country when whites ran home (England) when Ghana gained independence. He was educated in the U.S. and went back home to help Ghana grow. My parents had three boys. More on thier life in later installments. This is just a part of my Family's histoy.
As I have said, our collective history is scattered and poorly documented, poorly taught and shared. that is except for the misery. We must document and teach our history right down to the individual family level. Families build communities and communities build nations! This is why strong Black Families are so dangerous to the oppressor. We need more than mere dates and names memorized once per year. We need to remember the real people and the context of their situations. We need to remember the significations od the events and the true meanings of historical moments. Our Families are made of real people that give us meaning and pride. They give us and our children (very important) reasons to be proud and hold high the Family name. They give us a real reason to be and do better, generation after generation.
Let's break down the history of our Families here in America. We all know the story but let's break it down. Break it down like the infamous slave owner Willie (William) Lynch did in 1712 (very important that you look him up). He boldly claimed that if you destroy the African's and the slave's Family you would be able to control them for about three hundred years. You do the math! The methods were simple then and are simple now. Horrible but simple and effective. One example is that Africans from the same tribe were separated and mixed with Africans from other tribes. They were different and unfamiliar and could not communicate with eachother. This diminished the strength that comes from Family. The African did learn that they had to put differences aside and woork together for real survival. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. We should rediscover that for today's world. Once in the Americas' We were separated and mixed up again and again and again. This was meant to keep us from forming permanent bonds and establishing roots, Families. This is encouraged today to the point that we do it on our own, to ourselves. We have learned to let oour differences keep us scared of eachother, blame eachother, and hurt eachother in unimaginable ways. Our jealousy and mistrust of eachother allows other to exploit and control us. We have been taught to hate ourselves and strive to be something we are not. There is Dark skin verse Light skin, and what is "good" hair? My Grandma is a good example of this. It is laughable on the surface but deep enough to take up valueable energy and resources that should be at work strengthening our people. Our weakness has made us dependent on our oppressors. We are still dependent on the slave owner for every thing!
Your next assignment is to find out something new (for you) and truthful about Africa and also about Blacks in America (or Europe). That is two new and truthful Black history peices. Find out if something that you were taught about us is true or false. Start building your second Concrete Solution by educating yourself and Family about us and our real history. In the next installment we will discuss more ways our Families were destroyed and our dependence on the oppressor, the reasons and solutions. I hope that you keep up with this. You can watch the pride and strength grow in your Children and Family as you begin to really see who you are. If you make a sincere and real effort you will see the growth, I promise! We are on our way to building strong Families, strong Communities, and a Great Movement! Let's build a Great Nation!!!

Sincerely,
The Mr. RAA

Begin Your Solution - Laying Foundation

Hello Everyone!
I am writing this as a continuing series and hope that it inspires thought, feedback and education for me, and change in all of our lives and communities. I don't care who you are, let's grow together!
I am RAA. I am attempting to help with real and concrete solutions to the collective problems faced by African Americans. I know that you have heard that before and been disappointed. I humbly ask you for a chance. I come to you as you. By that I mean that I am a typical African American man heading my family and home. I do not claim to be a so-called intellectual. I do not believe in complaining without offering real solutions. I also vote! This gives me the right to complain and challenge issues openly. I truly hope that this is helpful to you and your family. I truly hope that you will not only pass this on in the effort to continue the movement, but that you add your solutions to this. We must strengthen eachother, we must depend on eachother, we must be for eachother. Remember, we do not need permission to be successful, but our survival depends on it.
I call myself RAA because I have the honor to have been born of an African Father and an American Mother. I am a Real African American! My Mother's side of the family has come through the historical experience of slavery in America. We pulled ourslves up by our bootstraps only to face continual institutional racism. My Mother's side includes all of the elements necessary to be classified as Black in America. My Father's side of the family has it's roots in Kumasi, or the Boso region of Ghana. Our family is an integral part of the Ashanti Tribe. We are Akan people. Our family has helped to build and maintain history and traditions. We have fought slavery and colonialism. Through it all we have vigilantly guarded and passed down tribal and family values. We have always known that the destruction of our values would lead to our ultimate destruction. My Father's side includes every element necessary to be classified as African. I am a Real African American, RAA!
I would like to take on the discussion of the condition of Blacks in America. True, it has all been said and discussed over and over again. I ask youo not to turn away but to engage me. I hope to provoke you into action. I want to challenge you to challenge everything about yourself. I dare you to challenge the things that you have been told are true about yourself. I dare you to really get off of your butt and better yourself as a human being. It doesn't matter what race you are, when you better yourself you better us all. As African Americans though, I double dare you to go through this process. You have been looking for a leader, take control yourself! Take control yourself and move to the better side of life. I double dog dare you to stop punking out! Be careful, you see, you might like what I am saying now, but you may be offended soon. Especially if you are one of those that pump your fist everytime you here someone speak. Your are a "yes" man that really doesn't do anything. You are dangerous to yourself and the Movement. We need leaders with answers not empty vessels able to be filled with any idea that may be flitting past at the moment. It is not about the right answers, it is about the efforts, the actions. It is about making the effort to try out all of the positive ideas until you find success and then building upon that success. The only way to collectively continue the Movement is with real men with gonads and real women with guts.
Let's start at the beginning with our history. History is the foundation of any people. The history of the African in America is scattered and poorly documented. It is even more poorly taught and shared, that is except for the misery. It is our misery that dominates our story in America. We must educate ourselves on our history in it's entirety. We must teach the truth of ourselves to ourselves. We must stop learning the history of ourselves from other people who fear us knowing our truth. We must stop taking our 'truths' from a people who's prosperity depends entirely on our ignorance. I would like lay a concrete solution building block here, at the truth about oour history. start with the history of your individual family. What ever it may be, start sharing your family stories with eachother, especially you children. It doesn't have to go back a thousand years, just start with what you know and ask questions of your family's elders. Then expand to include the history of your community and then the nation. You will see strength building in you and your Clan. It is called pride! Give this first concrete block a try. I will share with you my experience on my next installment of this series. I want to read what has happened in your Clan as you lay your first concrete block. Send your input and please keep up, there are many concrete solutions for us to lay. Next time I will talk about true history and building stronger families right here and now! With all of us working together we will build a great Movement - a Great Nation!!!

Sincerely,
The Mr. RAA