I am proud to be an African American Female with a father who grew up sharecropping and VERY poor.  My mother grew up in a family with a mother who cleaned houses and a father who worked for the railroad and later for a wrecker company.  Needless to say, hard work was not foreign to them.  No they did not shovel the speech of the “work hard and you can be whatever you want to be because it is the American Dream.”  They did tell all nine of us that if we put and kept God first, worked hard and remained respectful, we will be able to endure anything.   Family history has been and will always be extremely important to me but African history was not pushed during my childhood.  Some may think that was a bad thing, but it was not bad for me.  They did stress education so naturally African American history was an unspoken MUST on Life’s syllabus of knowledge.  Where am I going with this?  I’m glad you asked.

Through the years my parents worked hard to create a home for themselves and their nine children.  They invested time and prayer into their grandchildren.  They dedicated their lives to nurturing whomever they encountered, regardless the age of the individual.  These are the things that I have striven to continue and teach my son and those around me.  I love my home, neighbors, and neighborhood.  I HAVE NO INTENTION OF MOVING . . . ANYWHERE!!!  There are some who have said that because of “IQ45″,  moving to Africa should be considered.  I don’t want to go.  DOES THIS MAKE ME ANY LESS BLACK?  AM I DISRESPECTING MY HERITAGE?  Some may say yes and that is fine.  If they want to go, safe travels is my wish for them.  As for me, this is where I was born and raised.  I appreciate the freedoms that I.   I am advocating for what I, and my neighbors, are entitled to in our community.  Again, Does not wanting to move to Africa make me any less black?”

The Black Star Line (1919-1923) was  “a steamship corporation established in 1919 by Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey, the leader of the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). The name, inspired by a British luxury steamship line called the White Star Line, was applied to a highly ambitious and ultimately mismanaged corporation. Similarly to the UNIA’s Negro Factories Corporation, the BSL was part of a larger effort on the part of Garvey to encourage black self-determination and economic independence. Garvey saw that blacks across the globe were largely being exploited and left out of the global economy. The BSL would partly remedy that situation by facilitating the shipment of goods amongst the far-flung people of the African Diaspora, thereby fostering the growth of a self-reliant and resilient global black economy.  The BSL would also transport emigrants to Africa for the establishment of a black nation-state.”

Self-determination and economic independence.  Self reliance and resiliency.  Those are attributes that my father and mother instilled in us.  These are attributes that should be possessed by EVERY human being regardless of creed or ethnicity.

So if you are moving to Africa to get away from “IQ45”, you are moving for the wrong reasons. There may be some Africans who don’t you to come to their continent.  If you are considering the move to be in an environment simply to have more people that look like you in charge, I would admonish you to do your research.  White people do not have the corner market on evil dealings in government.

I love being who I am and that will never change.  I love my African American heritage as well as my African Heritage.  I can celebrate them all and still live in the United States.  This is just my view.

~~~Malinda~~~