There is an old saying “Those who fail to learn from history are bound to repeat it.” Thus, only from studying and learning our history will we have learned what, and by extension how, to avoid past mistakes and accelerate our growth.
Africans and their descendants in the Americas have been celebrating, in one form or another, from the beginning of the colonial period in the early 1600s. Fundamentally we celebrate the recognition of our existence and contribution to our community, that’s what motivates us to do better the next day. Our biggest challenge has been determining not who we are as much as what we have contributed, for to a large extent the latter defines our humanity. In which case it has become imperative for afro-descendants to learn of and teach our own history if we are to not only prevent similar wrong-doing but also improve our quality of life. History is told and recorded by the self-proclaimed “victors” and it’s only when the afro-descendent master and control the message, as well as the media, will we have the tools to win an equitable seat at the table in our community and the world at large.
Over the past six centuries volumes have been written of the great success of “mankind”, culturally, economically, politically, etc. This history to a large extent is used to justify the world order as we know it today, with little regard to the contributions of the Africans and their descendants. The celebration the African descendants has been manifesting is that of the power of our spiritual endurance and survival to produce and contribute beyond our share to the growth of all.
How it came to be?
In the beginning the immediate and direct beneficiaries were the European countries who financed, supplied and protected the colonist entrepreneurs and industries for the sole purpose of enriching their mother European countries. By the mid-1850s emancipation period, an estimated 10 million recently liberated African slaves and their descendants became the largest pool of manual labor who drove the economic development of the Americas’ nations, from Canada all the way down to Argentina and the Caribbean. Today each of these nations enjoy a multiethnic and pluricultural population with major differences in their educational system imparting tainted historical contribution of each sector of the population, resulting in continued questioning our humanity based on race and culture.
In the Americas currently there is an estimated one-third of the population (200M+) who identify itself as afro-descendant, whose ancestors have clearly demonstrated their contribution to the development of the continent over the centuries as slaves and later as manual laborers in transportation, extracting minerals, developing agriculture, construction of infrastructure, and clearing mountainous pathways for new cities.
A heartfelt legacy
The legacy of centuries of racism is manifested in modern day economic, political and social exclusion and neglect, where governments are unable, and the ruling class are unwilling, to build a fully participatory democracy. Despite these odds African descendants celebrate every day to affirm our humanity, potential to grow and contribute to a society greater than one of segregated citizenship. A well-known investor suggested a very valuable idea “The best investment you can make is in yourself”. Our utmost focus should always be on personal growth.
