The first thing it mentioned was the disunity amongst black people. It seems as if black people are generally divided and we are always using our differences as a reason to be against each other. For example Africans v Caribbeans, light skin v dark skin, black on black violence, tribalism etc. It is non stop. I always ask myself why this is, why can't we just accept the fact that we are all black and unite with one another? why do we always see each other as enemies? Why do we always look for differences instead of similarities? This reminds me of the quote "united we stand and divided we fall". It seems as if as a race we have fallen since we are always divided. Sometimes I look at the Asian community and envy them, they are much more united than we are.
This reminded me of the famous 'Willie Lynch Speech' which was a speech given by William Lynch a slave owner in 1712 in the USA who was addressing other slave owners about how to control their slaves. Here is an extract:
"The black slave, 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 VS. the young black males, and the young black male against the old black male. You must use the dark skinned slaves VS. the light skin slaves. You must use the female VS the male, and the male VS, the female. You must always have your servants and OVERSEERS distrust all blacks, but it is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us.
Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control, use them. Never miss an opportunity.
My plan is guaranteed, and the good thing about this plan is that if used intensely for one year the slave will remain perpetually distrustful."
This speech breaks my heart every time I read it. It is so sad to see something derogatory that was said about black people a couple of hundred years ago to still be very evident today. To think that there was a time in history where Africa was very rich and powerful with strong empires. Then Africans became enslaved, colonized, oppressed and degraded. However there are many black people who fought for the freedom of our people and the future generations of black people. Sometimes the behaviour of some negative black people makes me think that those freedom fighters had died in vain.
There are now more opportunities for black people compared to say 50 years ago, but instead of making the most of them (don't get me wrong there are many blacks that do) some decide to waste their lives. I am sick of seeing people who have potential but choose not to fulfil it and say "It's because I'm black". So what? Are there not plenty of successful blacks out there? So what if racism is a barrier it does not mean you should stop trying to be successful. You are the author of your life.
Another point made in the video is that black people are being financially exploited. This is true, if you look at the Jewish and Asian communities they tend to understand the nature of business. This is something more black people need to learn. For example black people are large consumers of hair products and the majority of these hair shops are run by Asians who are making a lot of money from our community. Though there are black owned businesses there are not many. There is also this whole show off/stunting culture (especially in hip hop) where people feel the need to show off their expensive cars, designer labels, and how much money (or stacks) they have. This is detrimental and encourages non wealthy people to buy designer items so they can show it off to their peers. These labels they mainly buy i.e Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel etc are by European designers who are becoming even richer. We consume a lot but most of the money does not even go back to our own communities (whereas it does in the Asian & Jewish community).
We need to learn from our Jewish and Asian counterparts and have more of our own businesses and sell our own products. We should learn more about the creation of wealth, investing and supporting each other more. We should celebrate the success of others instead of trying to pull them down. We need to stop dividing ourselves and most of all we need to WAKE UP! All those black people doing positive things in their life continue what you are doing. I hope one day as a race we will be more united and not continue to allow ourselves to be exploited.
Written by Dinah