Family First

There is nothing more vital to the development of society and nation than the family unit. This statement has become cliché and even fodder for those misguided Africans who believe that the mother-father model is antiquated and unnecessary. These people are complete fools. Due to the adverse affects European culture’s hegemony and all out hostility towards African culture, the family unit in much of the African world is all but destroyed.

The family nourishes, protects, and cultivates the nation. Like many Africans living in the West, I grew up in a single parent home headed by my mother, and co-piloted by grandmother. These two women exemplified African womanhood, and provided me with structured and disciplined home. Despite not having many material resources, I had comparable exposure to culture and places that rivaled children from much more affluent two parent homes. Though we were poor, one would never make that assumption from conversing with us, visiting our home, or monitoring our scholastic, athletic and artistic achievements. Am I writing this to boast? No, I am simply attempting to underscore the importance and impact that strong family units can have on the development of children. Yes there were drug dealers, drug addicts, thieves, killers, and prostitutes in my neighborhood. And yes there was a level of negative impact that they had on my development. But because of my family, I never viewed the “street life” as a viable vocation. The point is that you don’t have to be rich to talk to your children. You don’t have to be rich to stay in contact with their teachers. You don’t have to be rich to take them to the park.

Africans (particularly in America) have been conditioned to believe that their meager finances, somehow gives them license to behave in a savage manner. Some of us call it being “ghetto”, but most of us have come to believe that acting “ghetto” is somehow synonymous with blackness. We have come to pity ourselves to the point that we have not only become stagnant but are developmentally moving backwards.

As a generation “Xer” who grew up during the height of the crack, HIV/AIDS, and violent crime epidemic I never in a million years would have guessed that out situation could get any worse than it was in the 1980’s and 1990’s. SURPRISE! It somehow has.

Despite being in a far worse economic situation than we are today, and not having a fraction of the opportunities in European society, how was it that crime was much lower, entrepreneurship greater, and a general sense of civility and community infinitely stronger in the pre-Integration south than they are today? Naturally apologists will immediately point to the fact that there is a growing black middle class, higher enrollment in college, and more black millionaires than ever before. That’s nice. But making such an argument is akin to saying that someone in 1940 with $100 is worse off than someone in 2006 with $1,000. Just as inflation nullifies that argument, so too does the general improved state of affairs for all Americans compared to Africans nullify the aforementioned argument. Has there been a significant closing of the gap between African and White income levels? How about college enrollment for black men to their female counterparts? How about the outrageous proportion of blacks to whites in prison? How about murder rates? How about academic achievement? Let’s be clear, mediocre growth does not constitute progress. Having a few high profile examples of “success” like Oprah Winfrey and Bob Johnson does not constitute growth.

Again, what was it that allowed us to maintain thriving communities exemplified by the 27 "all black" towns of Oklahoma in the early part of the twentieth century? Aside from the obvious separation factor (which will be discussion topic later), one would have to point to the strength of the family unit. The strength of the family unit led to institution (Black doctors, lawyers, schools, centers of commerce) strength, which in turn led to community strength. Success stories such as Rosewood, FL and Tulsa “Black Wall Street”, OK were not without fault or issue but serve as wonderful models of strong, tight knit communities spawned by strong and stable families.

We had communities where every adult had license to discipline any child. These were communities where social services were almost unheard of because when Mama died, then Aunt Barbara took you in. These were communities where children learned the value of hard work and the importance of education. These were communities where Daddy had his shotgun ready if someone disrespected the women in his family. These were communities that were more traditionally African than they ever would have imagined.


Just as the notion of strong family and village was the bedrock of all African society and allowed them to develop great nation states, achieve excellence in the arts, sciences, and commerce, so to did it work for our communities in the West. The founders, influencers and developers of this nation typically did not come from dysfunctional (in the European sense) families. Generational wealth (monetary and otherwise) put men like Thomas Jefferson, John Rockefeller and John F. Kennedy in positions to dictate the formation of this society. Is this a coincidence? History unequivocally bears witness that this is a pattern for the formation of all villages, tribes, communities and nations.

Though institutions are the vehicle for societal development and perpetuity, they are impossible to create and maintain without strong family units. How can the average African even dare to think in institutional terms when they are constantly dealing with family drama, attempting to reconcile traumatic childhoods, and beginning their adult lives shackled with debt because their parents did not understand personal finance? A paradigm shift must occur in our conception of family in order for us to avoid extinction. In a civilized society the family is the source of strength and support for the individual. Sadly, we have gone so far from center as a people, that all too often our families are the major impediment to our growth.

But here’s the conundrum: How can strong families develop strong institutions when nearly everything in European society and culture is diametrically opposed to the African family paradigm?

Our task is far too great to complete with disjointed and dysfunctional homes. Our spousal responsibilities are just as important as our parental responsibilities. We can no longer haphazardly maintain our homes, and leave to chance the fate of the next generation of builders, strategists and freedom fighters. Cooperative marriages are infinitely vital to the dual responsibility of building strong institutions and family.

The great challenge is producing inspired and evolved offspring, while simultaneously developing institutions to propagate our culture to the masses. We cannot make the drastic error of continually sacrificing our own children’s well being in the struggle to develop institutions . We must attempt to produce supportive environments which cultivate African leadership and warriorship for our children. This takes a united intermediate and extended family approach,which is why it is so vital to produce cooperative and loving African male and female relationships as the foundation. Animosity and resentment towards the parents (and by extension the movement) is sewn into the children, when weak and inbalanced male-female relationships exist.

The most revolutionary act is to raise revolutionary children. One of the greatest failures of community activist is that they are often times ineffective in developing children who pick up the torch of resistance once they pass. The accomplishments that one makes in this short physical life are largely nullified when they bring dysfunctional and uninspired children into the world. Our goal for our children should be for them to be greater than us. Where would be today if our great warriors children were not only "as great" as their parents but greater? We must rid ourselves of the messianic and egocentric pathology that the fate of the movement is based upon our miniscule time on this planet. As our wise sage Aye Kwei Armah implores, "We must plan for millennia to come."

We Can't Afford Specialists

We all need to have specialties, but none of us can afford to be specialists. Africans the world-over are in such a dynamically retched condition that those of us who are the torch bearers of resistance must make ourselves as dynamic as possible. Anything that is related to improving the condition of black people should become familiar to us. We must possess a cursory knowledge of all aspects of nation building. Aside from it being insulting to the ancestors, it is foolish for any of us to focus all of our energy and talents on single vocations, or related vocations. Whether you enjoy it or not, do you starve because you don’t know how to cook, or do you learn in order to survive? Even if you do not personally cook the meal, how would you know if the meal is being properly prepared if you don’t have a minimal knowledge of how to prepare the meal?

Malcolm X said that “In a revolution you are swinging not singing”. Because of European culture’s focus on fragmentation, Africans have become obsessed with the notion of specialization. We have fallen into the trap of believing that the creator has only blessed us with singular qualities. Therefore when we find that we have an orientation towards a particular activity or skill we become obsessed with the notion that we have to narrowly pursue this talent to the exclusion of others. You often hear statements like “I know was born to do this”, or “I can’t do nothing else but this” or “God gave me the vision that I must spend my whole life doing this”. If these notions are true and yet there are literally millions of necessary disciplines and skill sets needed to develop a society, why would God give blacks exclusive province in entertainment, art, athletics, and the social sciences? All of these areas are vital, but not nearly enough to develop a vibrant perpetuitous society.

So because of socialized selfishness we ignore or are scared away by the disciplines that are the bedrock of nation building such as architecture, engineering, mathematical theory, physics, agriculture, transportation, economics, and finance. What is the contradiction in owning a fortune 500 company and being a visual artist? Just because I love to paint does that mean that I must focus all of my productive time and energy on it? Will my song or poem build railway lines in Africa? Just because I love to teach children, or have a passion in helping people overcome addiction, should I not actively develop a strategy to independently fund those activities? Who’s going to build your schools and programs but us?

Institutions: If you Build it, They'll Come Pt.1

Question: Once a general consensus is reached for a program that is good for all people of African descent, how can it be implemented?

I grew up in what most people would call an Afro-Centric home. My mother molded me from conception to be a leader and fighter for my people. I was exposed to the works of illuminaries such as Chancellor Williams, Carter G. Woodson, John Henrik Clarke, and Haki Madhubuti by the age of ten. I spent time and was exposed to black organizations from the NAACP to the All African People's Revolutionary Party. But outside of my loving and fruitful home was neighborhood that was completely dichotomous to my home. So although I was fed a constant diet of self pride and knowledge, the neighborhood and school system had an uncanny way of diluting that message. Ultimately I suffered from a ubiquitous state of conflict. It seemed that no matter how much I volunteered, spoke, and dedicated myself to the "cause", there was a general lack of tangible progress. Like millions of other Africans at this crossroads I began to ask myself, "how come this ain't workin'?"

If "somethin' ain't workin'" you don't continue to do the same thing and expect a different result. From what I understand that is the very definition of insanity. A cursory examination of the history of struggle for Africans reveals a disturbing trend. Whether it be Malcolm X, Patrice Lumumba, or Marcus Garvey, our movements and organizations have been effectively thwarted by the assassination and/or imprisonment of its leaders. This point has been risen countless times by numerous scholars, but where their analysis sometime provides well thought practical solutions, they often lack implementable strategic planning. How is it that a people who were the mother and father's of institution and society building (i.e. KMT, Kush, Zimbabwe, Benin, etc.), constantly undermined by the deaths and imprisonments of individuals.

In order to begin the process of building strong institutions, we must first answer critical questions such as:
-Why are institutions important to developing society?
-What should these institutions look like?
-How do you ensure perpetuity for the institutions?
-With all of the wonderful scholarship that we have produced, why is the study of society and nation building in the extreme minority?
-Do these so called leaders have the requisite skills to even begin the conceptualization process for constructing such societies?
-Can even you be a leader without these skills?
-Why are fancy speeches and publications given more praise than substantive work that produces perpetuity?
-What paradigm is used for conceiving of building societies and nations?

Africans, the time for cute catch phrases and band aid approach programs is over. Our people are dying by the thousands. We must think beyond, local, regional and national terms. From Puerto Rico to Cleveland no matter where one goes in this world, Blacks are at the bottom of society. If all the Europeans seized to exist tomorrow, we would still commit atrocities against each other because there are no institutions in place to perpetuate an African centered existence. More on this topic in the blog. Stay tuned.

Allow me to introduce myself

Welcome to Densu's blog. I hope to take you all on a journay of discovery enlightenment and discourse to improve the condition of African people around the globe. Improve is actually a major understatement, as our ultimate goal should be to collaborate to develop implementable strategies to restore our people back to a place of glory and prominance. This blog will not pull any punches, and will attempt to be as blatant as possible in developing solutions. Later for the hand holding and hymns. This is serious business.