Natural Mystic

It's Monday afternoon and I'm sitting alone at home listening to Bob Marley's Natural Mystic and I can't help wonder if twenty years from now people will be singing the same song wondering if change really can be expected. Forty years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for equality and lost his life. Marley sang of a brighter day but cancer subdued his body before he realized it. Twenty years ago a Captain by the name of Sankara took over an impoverished country and made the people take their own lives and fates into their own hands. He renamed the country and turned it around. In four short years he accomplished what has eluded many for decades. What became of him? He was awarded a bullet for his actions. There are too many people for me to keep going on and on. There are too many Bikos, Nkrumahs, Lumumbas, and Machels to mention them all at once. There are many who died in oblivion. Many we can only recognize if we slow down to look deeply into the freedom flame that burns within us. We realize them because they are the timbers that keep that flame alive. Their ideas are the food that keeps that cherished beacon guiding us along the path.
And so the song plays over and over "There is a natural mystic, flowing through the air" for over twenty years the song has been around, the mystic has been around longer. For centuries our forefathers experienced it. Fought to keep it alive. They suffered and died so that it would still be there for us to experience, to cherish. See, it let's us know that we weren't always slaves. We weren't always the conquered, the savages that could only attain salvation through the bible and whip. No, far from it, it let's us know that we were once free. We don't need the invaders to show us the way to salvation. Our salvation is not necessarily the salvation of the invader. Our salvation is something more than that. It is not brought about by submission but rather by upliftment. This is what the mystic is telling us "if you listen carefully". We uplift ourselves and we will attain that salvation. How can one see his way if his head is bowed in submission? How else can one see where her future lies if her head is not uplifted and looking at the far horizon?
This is the natural mystic that burns within each and everyone of us. Fortunately, it is not limited to Africans or African-Americans. It is there for all humanity, for all to experience and understand that we are all one despite our many differences.
In no way am I promoting the idea that Africans are better that other people. That would make me no different from other oppressors for that is where the seed of oppression is sown and later reaped. We are all the same, and if anyone tells you I'm against white people or asians then they don't know me. My mother is white, I recognize and understand that side of me the same way I do my father's side. What I am against is someone thinking that they are better than others because of their skin color, region of origin, economic status, etc.
What I am for is the call for the people to listen carefully to what that natural mystic is telling them. To see the smiles on their face as it tells them about their past and future, as it enhances their present. Listen carefully and hear what you've been missing.

Kenya appeals for $406M in urgent food aid: The begging continues

We continue to be beggars hoping for foreigners to throw us a bone so we don't starve. Our leaders drive the latest expensive cars and have enough to eat while the little person starves. Kenya now joins countries like Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and others that have to beg for food. Pathetic. We can solve these problems ourselves by addressing issues such as irrigation, soil erosion, and planting vegetation that fight the spread of the deserts. We can do this.

Should Bashir be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court?

Has he actually done worse crimes against humanity than Bush?

Manifesto Afrikana

1. First of all, tell yourself that the situation in Africa is reversible, we (Africans) are capable of removing ourselves from the predicament we, and our ancestors, allowed thieving, murdering outsiders to put us in.
2. Secondly, we are all skilled at some profession or the other. We all have talents, let’s put them to use in raising our profiles. Remember, no one culture is above all the rest. We all have something that benefits the continent as a whole, let’s share with the rest. If you can write a play, write it about the good and evils of Africa. Write a novel about a culture you know well. Paint a painting showing life in Africa. Carve or paint traditional art. Embrace performing arts. If you are a doctor, what are you doing to further that profession among your people? If you are in advertising, find an African industry you can lend your expertise to. Find something you can do to better mother Africa. Don’t think the task is meaningless or unattainable. That is a result of years and years of conditioning. A house is built by laying bricks one by one. One by one we can rebuild our house.
3. Respect our women. Women are an integral part of our society. We refer to Africa as mother Africa, not Father Africa. It is in our nature to love our women, to treat them respectfully, and listen to their advice. They are naturally more nurturing and level-minded. We should put this nurturing trait to use while we nurse our mother Africa back to health.
4. Do not be afraid or intimidated. Do not let someone else blow out the candle that is lit within you. Only you can do that, no one else. Be strong. In humans, that candle light can withstand hurricanes and earthquakes. It is the light of your soul. It is your soul. Look in the eyes of some people and you can see it burning brightly. Unfortunately, you can also not see it in the eyes of many people, but these are people that rarely look you in the eye so it’s easy not to notice. Be strong, know that no amount of intimidations, threats, discouragements, or hurts can put out that light that burns within.
5. Today, not tomorrow, is the day to act. Sign up, let us know your story, let us know what you are doing. Wear our flag proudly. Raise it up. It’s red, black, and green with a yellow “A” in the black part. Red is for the blood that has been shed to liberate our motherland. The color that flows within us. Black is for our skin. Though the skin shades differ, we are bound together by this color, we are all black. It’s not a negative color, it’s beautiful. Green is the lush land that is our home. The environment, mother nature herself. The Yellow A is for Africa. Yellow for the richness in our hearts. The richness in our ground. The precious wealth that keeps the world moving, without which it dies. It is out of the black because they go together hand-in-hand. Out of our blackness comes our wealth, the wealth of the world. Only we control this. Wake up.

6. Demand that the law is the law. We can not be changing the constitution every time a new dictator takes over. We need a solid foundation. We need laws that outlive our so-called leaders. We have to have laws that are not “eraser laws”, laws that cannot be changed to fit every despot’s wishes. We have to demand this. It is our right, and we have to have it.
7. We have to respect our elders but in today’s age our elders are controlled by forces whose interests are against ours. We need new blood in our leadership. We need people who are not afraid, whose visions are for the advancement of our Africa. We need new Lumumbas, new Sankaras. We need people who are unafraid to die for what they believe. People who know and fully understand what the word sacrifice truly is.
8. Let us sign a petition to the AU demanding the interests of the people be put in front of diplomacy. If a leadership is failing, it’s the job of the rest of the leaders to help them or ask them to step aside. It’s the job of all of us to care for each and every person, we did not establish the borders on our motherland. Why then do we live by them? If the AU is incapable of caring for the people we need another organization for the people, by the people that can put the welfare of the people, and not just that of the leadership, ahead. I will have the petition up soon.
9. We have to acknowledge the existence of classes but not condone the exclusion of any one class from the political process. True change comes from the bottom up, not the top down. The people at the top do not to give up any privileges unless they are assured that their security is guaranteed. There can be no peace when citizens go hungry while others grow obese in their gluttonous indiscipline. Peace is the stillness of mind from worry about the safety of one’s well-being, be it physical, mental, or spiritual. We have to guarantee that this inclusion extends to region, tribe, race, religion, and any other medium through which we measure our diversity.
10. The African is second to no other race or creed. All men are equal in the eyes of existence and all deserve the opportunity to pursue happiness, so long as it does not encroach on another’s quest.

Why do we put up with the likes of Kony and Museveni?

Why do we have to sit and deal with the likes of these two men? Kony has been waging a war he knows he can't win, however, he knows he can't completely be defeated by the Ugandan army alone. So, why does the African community sit and do nothing to force this guy to abandon his murderous rampage? And why did Museveni order the offensive against the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) that was poorly planned and executed? An offensive that enraged the LRA and gave them a reason to commit attrocities they have perfected over the past two decades. Something they hadn't been able to do much of in the past couple of years.
We need to come together to stop senseless wars like this and we need to bolster struggling governments. We are only as strong and stable as the weakest, failed state among us. We need to serious look at Khaddafi's idea of a united African state that is not bound by borders. These borders were established by Europeans without any African representation or even consultation. When we continue to abide by them we are paying homage to our European masters who continue to govern us through, among other things, our limitations to these borders.
Let's make our voices heard to end Kony's nonsense war.