The Road To Awakening II

Unity: The state of being united or being joined as a whole

What is it about this word that makes it soo hard for us as a people to do?

I read a book recently saying that our issues with unity go all the way back to the teachings of Willie Lynch. There was a speech where he taught slave owners how to basically make and keep a slave. In regards to unity, which was a factor he put a lot of emphasis on, he said that in order to break that it was imperative to magnify the differences between the slaves. These differences could range anywhere from age to skin tone (sound familiar?). Once that was accomplished it would become nearly impossible to mend. Below is an excerpt of that portion of the speech....

"..........I HAVE OUTLINED A NUMBER OF DIFFERENCES AMONG THE SLAVES; AND I TAKE THESE DIFFERENCES AND MAKE THEM BIGGER. I USE FEAR, DISTRUST AND ENVY FOR CONTROL PURPOSES. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies and it will work throughout the South. Take this simple little list of differences and think about them. On top of my list is “AGE,” but it’s there only because it starts with an “a.” The second is “COLOR” or shade. There is INTELLIGENCE, SIZE, SEX, SIZES OF PLANTATIONS, STATUS on plantations, ATTITUDE of owners, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, East, West, North, South, have fine hair, course hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action, but before that, I shall assure you that DISTRUST IS STRONGER THAN TRUST AND ENVY STRONGER THAN ADULATION, RESPECT OR ADMIRATION. The Black slaves after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for HUNDREDS of years, maybe THOUSANDS. Don’t forget, you must pitch the OLD black male vs. the YOUNG black male, and the YOUNG black male against the OLD black male. You must use the DARK skin slaves vs. the LIGHT skin slaves, and the LIGHT skin slaves vs. the DARK skin slaves. You must use the FEMALE vs. the MALE, and the MALE vs. the FEMALE. You must also have white servants and overseers [who] distrust all Blacks. But it is NECESSARY THAT YOUR SLAVES TRUST AND DEPEND ON US. THEY MUST LOVE, RESPECT AND TRUST ONLY US. Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control. Use them. Have your wives and children use them, never miss an opportunity. IF USED INTENSELY FOR ONE YEAR, THE SLAVES THEMSELVES WILL REMAIN PERPETUALLY DISTRUSTFUL..."

Fast forward to now and you can clearly see the effects of this thinking. Because we're soo focused on what makes us different, we can't see the things that make us one. And in turn we can't see the power in our unity.

For example, recently there's been a couple school supply drives happening around the city. And even though each individual drive was successful in its own right, could you imagine the impact coming together would have made. I've really never understood the difficulty in that. But after thinking and talking to people about it, it all comes down to pride. Each person wants the credit of their organization doing it. With that thinking the real reason for doing it gets lost.

On a larger scale we can look at all of the rallies and town hall meetings that have been happening. Again each one has had its own level of success, but if joined together could increase its reach.

This blatant lack of unity just illustrates one point... If we can't come together to execute an event, how in the world are we supposed to be taken seriously.

So how do we start to do that???

#lifestyle #empowerment #africanamerican