" How African or How American are you? Ramping up the Cultural Discussion and Its Implications"

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:10]Woo! Here we go. ALL RIGHT. ALL RIGHT.

[00:00:13]ALL RIGHT. CHECK. CHECK. CHECK. CHECK.

[00:00:16]All right. This is the finale, the grand finale for this year's uh wonderful, amazing, transformative lineup. So, make sure you stay tuned and get ready because I'm already hearing some things about next year and you do not want to miss it. You know, it's it's always important to plan ahead. I know one person we will not have um I'll give you a hint. You got an orange face and fake hair and I'm just I don't know all who's going to be here, but I know who's not going to be here.

[00:00:45]Um today we have an interesting discussion. How African or how AfricanAmerican are you?

[00:00:51]Some people feel felt triggered right then when I said that. you know, how African how AfricanAmerican are you?

[00:00:57]We're ramping up these cultural discussions. I'll never forget when um it was Dr. Asanti was having a conversation with Dr. Dr. Coringa and they were talking about this cultural crisis and I'm always in debate with people about what's the main problem, right? I people in my family say, you know, if we just get our economics right, that'll be 90% of our I said, no, no, no. You you can have a lot of money and be a bigger problem, >> right? If you don't have consciousness, it has to start with consciousness. and and I recognized that when I got to meet some some some wealthy Afroans and I said they they making problems, you know, they today we we are in for a treat and it's important for us to spread this message. So people watching online, make sure you support the institute, the MK Institute, 5535 Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia. If you're ever in the city, make sure that you stop by when we're having an event.

[00:01:47]You can check the website, you know, for details and spread the word about the great work that's happening at the institute because another thing I always hear is we need our own institutions.

[00:01:57]Have y'all ever said that or heard that in a discussion about liberation and culture and black history? You know, it always gets down to we need to get our own school. We need to get a Well, right now we have something of our own.

[00:02:08]>> That's right.

[00:02:08]>> And I remember Yeah, that's that's something worth clapping about.

[00:02:12]I remember it was the the agent provocator Darth Perry Gil Noble like it is was interviewing him and and he was talking about the watch writer workshop and he said it burned down right and he said it was arson and Gil Noble said how do you know it was arson Darth Perry looked Gil Noble writer's eye said cuz I did it he said wait a minute you was helping them to work and to build there and you were the one he said yeah he said what did you He said, "Did you use something sophisticated?" He said, "No, no, you don't want to look too sophisticated."

[00:02:46]He said, "You want to look like it's somebody that's disgruntled, you know, and came back and got mad." So, here you got a black man that was working to build and to program at the watch writers workshop that was working for the police department and it was an agent provocator was infiltrating the same organization he was a part of. So, when Malcolm said, you know, greetings to my my friends and my enemies, right, he was on point. So I think it's important when we have our own to make sure we support institutions that we control. So without further ado, I'm going to allow you to enjoy some of the fruits of the labor, the lifelong labor of somebody who has remained dedicated to his community and his people. Cuz some of us would have just bought a villa, you know, got some chickens and some some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some so some some gardening and and been been away from America forever. So when somebody has a choice whether to remain with you in the struggle and stay in the trenches with you, I think it says a lot because we've seen a lot of people that have wrote a book.

[00:03:40]>> That's right.

[00:03:41]>> I'm not talking about nobody in particular. I'm not talking about Talcan. I'm not talking about McKessan Day, but they was real popular for about eight months. They started running for political office and writing books. I ain't heard from them brothers since.

[00:03:57]Here you got somebody that's been in the struggle, in the trenches, on the front line for decades. And when he had the opportunity at that crossroads to go and leave Clarence Thomas style, >> he got deeper into the community and dedicated not only his time but also his resources. So clap it up. Show your love for the one and only Dr. Malef Ket asanteana.

[00:04:24]See Santisana. Um let me read you something uh before I start uh that actually uh came across from uh Echoes of Africa.

[00:04:38]They told me they told us our names were too hard to pronounce.

[00:04:46]>> So we named our children after the people who colonized us.

[00:04:54]>> You see that? Yes.

[00:04:58]>> In uh in Kenya, you'll meet a Johnstone.

[00:05:04]So those of you in Nairobi, listen to this.

[00:05:07]In Nigeria, you in Lagos, listen to this. You'll meet a Patricia.

[00:05:15]In Ghana, you'll meet a comfort Elizabeth.

[00:05:22]But in London, you will not meet any English person who is chickwendu.

[00:05:30]In Paris, you will not meet an amara.

[00:05:36]This isn't about preference.

[00:05:38]It's about what happens when you're taught your identity is a burden.

[00:05:45]>> Colonial governments made it policy. In Belgian Congo, you couldn't get baptized without a so-called Christian name.

[00:05:55]In French West Africa, so-called native names were banned from official documents.

[00:06:03]Your name became evidence of your savagery.

[00:06:10]Missionaries completed the job. To be saved and go to heaven, you needed a Christian name.

[00:06:18]To ascend school, you needed a European name.

[00:06:23]To get employed, you needed a civilized name.

[00:06:28]Your grandmother's name wouldn't get you hired.

[00:06:32]Today, that psychology remains.

[00:06:36]Parents fear their child will be mocked or denied opportunities or asked to repeat their name five times at Starbucks.

[00:06:49]So they choose Daniel over Dubaku before the baby even breathes.

[00:06:57]Meanwhile, the colonizers keep their names intact.

[00:07:04]A British man named Bartholomew expects you to pronounce it correctly.

[00:07:11]A French woman named Genevieve won't simplify it for you.

[00:07:19]But chim becomes chips or chuk woo becomes oni.

[00:07:30]We shorten ourselves. Some say it's just adaptation.

[00:07:35]But adaptation is what you do to survive, not what you do to thrive. And nobody asks the colonizer to adapt. Your name is not just sound. It's history, identity, resistance.

[00:07:54]When you erase it, you participate in your own colonization.

[00:07:59]And when you reclaim it, you take back power.

[00:08:03]So here's the question. If a Nigerian child can learn to say Swatzenegger, why can't a British child learn to say Aasum?

[00:08:17]If our tongues can bend to their languages, why wouldn't theirs bend to our names?

[00:08:24]And when will we stop asking our children to make themselves smaller?

[00:08:34]If you believe this, if you believe our names deserve the same respect as any other names, let me have you applause.

[00:08:43]Let me hear you applause. Yeah.

[00:08:47]>> This is from the echoes of Africa. It's a very powerful statement. I remember when uh in 1972 uh I changed my name from the slave name uh to uh the name I have now. One of the things some people said, "Well, you've already written five books under the old slave name. Don't you think that people will forget you?" I said, 'N no, I'm going to I'm going I'm going to ensure that people will not think that I was British by having that old name. And and that's what I've tried to do. And I think that is important for us in terms of our consciousness. It is extremely to me it is like almost the first level of just arriving at agency. You know what I'm saying? I claim myself.

[00:09:40]I don't I'm not claiming myself for other people. I'm just claiming myself for who I am. You see, >> so I just want to uh say that we're just happy uh today to see you. We've had a wonderful conference. Uh we had a powerful conference. In fact, uh people came all the way from many many places to this conference and it was exciting.

[00:10:05]It was uh it was well done. Uh we had great volunteers.

[00:10:11]Uh it was just beautiful. Uh universal right publication was our partner in it and uh it it will be historic. We are writing up the proceedings and the resolutions now and we just really really just very very very happy and we pleased with all of the presenters who presented. Um, so I just wanted to uh make that uh statement and um and I want to also I make a a statement that really is um about the calendar. Uh the calendar this is our last uh inperson event until August to the to the last week in August. But and we'll send you that information. But uh for uh this last one, want want you to know that we have um a couple of announcements. One is that the Od Festival will be uh from the 7th to the 14th. So we're looking for forward to all of our people and our people who who love what we're doing to attend the Odun odund festival which is the largest African festival held in the United States and it's held right here in Philadelphia and it's been held for many years and uh Boommy uh who is the leader of this uh is really uh looking forward to a a very powerful celebration this year uh where we go to the river and like uh in the ancient times the people went to the river of Oshune uh near Oshobbo in Nigeria we go uh to the river uh here.

[00:11:59]So uh we we look forward to that. Okay.

[00:12:03]And um the the other thing that I would like to uh really just announce because since we're not going to be back here until August is that in the meantime uh one of our great leaders and intellectuals uh is going to just change addresses and that's Dr. Na dove and uh she is of course uh one of the pillars of our uh of our board as well as of our speakers and our scholars. Uh there's uh no person who has done more for this institution in terms of scholarship and being a consistent person than she she uh has been. Uh but uh she's she's moving on and uh uh we're we're going to uh uh you know we're going to we're going to miss her. Uh and uh I wanted to let people know however that she is a senior fellow at the institute and as a senior fellow she will be offering by Zoom uh classes uh through the institute. And for those of you who are uh uh not here in Philadelphia, uh but even those of you who are in Philadelphia who would like to attend her classes beginning in the fall, possibly in September or October, uh you can do that. Uh she's going to be online. And so uh we will have two classes that we will offer. One will be African womanism.

[00:13:45]That's different from feminism and it's different from Africana womanism be called African womanism. That class will be offered. And the other class that will be offered is shake a joke and the two cradle theory. And and if you are interested in either of those classes, uh we we would appreciate you sending us an email. And here's take your time and write the email address. It is the th the MKA Institute.

[00:14:27]The MKA Institute.

[00:14:31]at the mkainstitute.com.

[00:14:36]So it's it's very simple the MKA Institute at the MKA institute.com and uh we we we we are uh uh we'll be uh have the fee structure is very very uh small because we're just asking uh people for uh this course to uh uh to give us uh $50 for the course and the course will be about a semester long. So this will be uh a course do either of these courses. If you interested in either of these courses, you sign up and we will we will have you teaching these courses. We will over the next few uh months uh and uh in the next year hopefully have several more courses that we will be offering. I I hope to offer a course on ancient uh kmetic language. So these courses we will be offering and hopefully we can get uh Dr. Jabali Aday to offer a course. we're going to have a number of uh outstanding scholars offering courses over the next year or two. So that's put that on your put that down and and then we we'll be very happy that you will have done that. Um I just want to make a a just a couple more uh announcements and statements. Um I I hear that Julius Mal Lima in South Africa has been released and that's a good thing. uh there there is no way it seems to me and this is a public uh comment that I I'm making regarding the situation in South Africa which of course is quite complex but Julius Mal Lima has inspired the people of South Africa at least the youth and the the future of South Africa are the youth and the important thing about the youth in South Africa is that Malima in his uh bid to demonstrate uh the agency of African people have just simply identified what some of the real problems are and and for that uh there has been a problem with some of the people. So I just want you to understand that Mal Lima's uh uh spirit is the spirit of young Africa and and that spirit is that you cannot have a situation where you have u uh a a population of nearly 50 million people and yet uh a population of five million of those people control 80% of the wealth. that doesn't make any sense and didn't make any sense uh uh 10 years ago. It didn't make any sense 20 years ago and it certainly doesn't make any sense now. And the fact that he speaks out against this and says that that is not correct uh should not put Malima in any difficulty in his own country, but it has. And uh fortunately uh I I just heard uh that he is uh released from prison uh for now. I mean you have to say for now because you don't know what will happen. I mean if I mean you look at the uh situation in this country where you have a president who had 34 felony accounts and he became the president of the United States of America. you know that corruption is not uh simply a local situation. It is everywhere and it is deeply embedded in the administration of this country. Uh the the other point that I want to raise just as a moment I'm doing this because this is African liberation day. You may not know, but this is African liberation day. And um uh the synagogules issue uh is one that is very close to me because I for many years uh uh the synagogues uh always gave me a passport and I always remembered that Sagal was uh one of those countries where there was a a con consistent uh quietness in the political structure.

[00:19:26]It was it was stable, mature. It had been since the days of Leopole Sting.

[00:19:34]So, uh recently of course as you know uh they had an election and in the election uh uh Jumai Fi won uh the election uh and appointed his friend uh Sonko as the prime minister. Now uh you have to understand historically how this happened. Uh the the people the masses of the people wanted Sonko to be president but the previous government arrested Seonko because he was so popular and they put him in jail and then once he was out of jail they said because you've been in jail you can't run for president. So he asked his friend um FI would he run for president and Fi said yes and they were they were together but both both were tax collectors and they said yes we're going to change this country. So Fi ran uh and the people knew that he was running for Seonko uh and he won and immediately after he won. Then several things happened in Nishair and Burkina Faso and Mali. You had basically revolutionary governments uh mainly led by uh Ibraim Trayori who is the leader uh of the group of people in Burkina Faso who decided that he um and the people of Nijair and the people of Mali should uh form what some of us already called in the United States of Africa. that they they have basically that that uh that these three states these three nations uh Burkina Faso, Mali and Nijair are are the naent the beginning of the United States of Africa. There there 54 countries or so in Africa. So you got to get all the others. Got to get you get the other 51 of 50. But but right now you got three.

[00:22:02]But the people in Sagal had hope that in their election that they would also join with Mali, Mkina Faso and Nijair and be a revolutionary uh government against the colonial interest. Uh and the first thing apparently they say that FI did was uh to go to France and meet with Mcronone.

[00:22:29]Well, Mcronone is uh toxic >> uh to West Africa because uh there would be no France economically if it were not for uh what France has done to the African nations particularly economically and through their resources. In fact, uh uh the uh French nuclear industry runs because of the uranium that they had taken from Nijair. So it's a whole big problem now in synagogue that the synagogules people are saying we thought that fi and we know we we know we we recognize fi in many ways and we were had great high hopes for fight but uh the the matter reached a high point yesterday or maybe day before yesterday. It reached a high point when FI decided that he would fire the prime minister Sonko who was the one that the people wanted to be the president in the first place.

[00:23:35]So right now in in the country I love Sagal there is chaos and the chaos is because the young people uh particularly in the the medinas various places are really rising up against the government uh because they are saying that the real president is Sonko and it is not FI. So this is just one of the issues that's going on on the continent. The continent is in in a lot of trouble in many ways.

[00:24:09]I mean uh the war in Sudan where you have uh the uh the government, the army, uh fighting with this force that everybody knows is a force that is being uh I mean supported by outside interests. uh is is really critical because not only is uh that battle in Sudan uh uh critical I it's very dangerous because you have the uh United Emirates uh supporting one side and you have Egypt uh supporting another side and these two uh countries uh in terms of their uh involvement in Sudan have different interests.

[00:24:59]Uh, one interest is that the Ethiopians have built uh the Grand Renaissance Dam and that Renaissance dam uh actually has damned uh the Nile River out of the Blue Nile coming out of uh Ethiopia which the Ethiopians call the Abai river. That river has been damned. Well, Egypt uh contends that uh they are taking water from Egypt and that uh that if necessary, they would even like to attack the dam and they need Sudan's help to do it. So, they're supporting the army of Sudan in fighting against the RSF. And the RSF of course is they're not uh uh good guys either because they are actually trying to destroy Darur and they have created genocide in that area. So so that's going on. At the same time, we have a continent where in Congo uh the uh the fight over the uh real resources, material resources that will lead to uh and that has led to the modern world uh is really uh has intensified in the eastern part of Congo. And there are many pe many players there. There there there are at least six or seven nations who are involved in supporting different sides in that war because people are trying to control the resources uh uh the mineral resources in Congo which is of course the richest nation on the earth mile for mile in terms of mineral resources. So so that's that's the the situation that we're living through now. Um the African liberation day uh was uh created uh to commemorate uh 1963.

[00:27:05]Uh because 1963 you had the creation of what they called at that time the organization of African unity. And that organization of African unity was the first time that African nations had come together and say let's uh do uh there were several things they wanted to do but the the principal thing they wanted to do let's rid the continent of all colonial oppression that's why the OU was formed and and part of that was uh uh uh because of apartheid died in South Africa at the time and because there were still uh some uh governments that were uh suffering under uh the lingering uh uh colonialism and they said we want so they had to set had a second thing they wanted to do and that was uh we rid the govern the continent of colonial control and secondly we will um unite as as a whole continental nation. Those were the two things and and the leader of these uh this idea uh were a number of people but mainly Halis Salassie at the time and uh uh andwame in Kruma. Now, I just I'm going to be brief on this cuz then I get to my topic which won't be long. But he here's the thing in this regard. The the organization of African unity, the OU as it was called, succeeded in ridding the nation uh the continent of colonialism with the end of apartheid. when Nelson Mandela walked out of prison say okay this the last vestage of colonialism uh the continent is free we don't have any oppressive structures however what occurred after that was that the OU because of its charter and structure uh since it had finished had completed one of its goals had to figure out how do you deal with now the United States of Africa and that's where things fell apart and things fell apart because uh there were many uh different uh segments of organization that were created uh with different interests. Some say for example health issues uh on the continent uh children uh uh uh abuse of women there many different segments of the OAU and so uh Gaddafi as president of Libya and then as president uh because you this thing uh went around from uh country to country but during the time of his presidency of the of the OAU He asked them that they need to get a new charter and a new organization. So they created a new organization 2002.

[00:30:31]That new organization was called the African Union.

[00:30:37]And what was his purpose? Gaddafi was quite clear about it. The purpose was to bring into existence one continental African state.

[00:30:51]which would mean that it would be uh the uh second uh most populous state in the world. It would be one of the largest states in the world if not the largest state in the world. It would have uh one of the largest coastlines of any state.

[00:31:14]It would have the great potential of the people on the continent interacting with each other and they would have different goals than the organization of African Union. So the rather the organization of African unity. This African Union was to bring into existence all these things.

[00:31:37]So so that that is where we are. This is talk about African liberation and uh and and I know tomorrow we'll be talking about African liberation day all day because that is the actual day. So I just wanted to give you that uh that little bit of information. Now today I wanted to um I wanted to deal with a question that really uh is and and and and those of you who are listening who are in Africa or Europe or or Caribbean um you you may you may find this a little um local or provincial because uh I'm going to talk about something that's raising its head in the United states and I think that we need to be uh very clear and very careful about it and uh and I think to understand uh the profound nature of the question that is before us is uh what is who is African what is African and what is American in order to do that I think it's important to address the question of history and consciousness uh that that that's you you have to do that because if you don't address history and consciousness you always get it wrong. If you don't start at the beginning you get it wrong. You have to start at the beginning. You have to know that the initial uh reaction you remember in this country when Africans were brought here and began to establish institutions uh they called their institutions African.

[00:33:24]This is why you had the African Methodist Episcopal Church, for example, AM. They didn't they didn't that was their that's they they named that Richard Allen them. This is why you had the the Episcopal uh uh St. Thomas. They just they were African Episcopal that they they did that and that that was in the 1700s.

[00:33:46]They they named themselves African.

[00:33:50]Nobody said you, you know, they were colored or negro or not even black. They were African.

[00:33:58]1793.

[00:34:00]>> Then they created other organizations, you know, the charity organizations.

[00:34:05]They call them African African charity organization. They they they had many right here in the city of Philadelphia. Philadelphia was a great city for the African institutions.

[00:34:18]Uh this changed in Philadelphia and in the United States uh I believe with the end of the enslavement with the end of the enslavement in 1865 in this country what you had then were a lot of people who were saying well you know uh the now we are citizens.

[00:34:44]The 14th amendment made us citizens.

[00:34:47]So we are not African.

[00:34:50]We are colored citizens of America. So they they became color. They said we we're colored. That became a big word. I remember when I was young, I mean we had a magazine called Colored America. That was a magazine. Had many colored magazines because we were colored. We we were no longer African. In fact, the Methodist church denomination had a new denomination they call the CME.

[00:35:19]You may not have heard of that, but in the south we had the colored Methodists, right?

[00:35:23]>> Yeah. The colored Methodist. So, you had the African Methodist in the 1700s.

[00:35:31]In the 1800s and 1900s, you had the colored Methodist. You see, so it became changed. We was changing our identity, our concepts were were changing.

[00:35:43]So here's the thing and I'll show Yeah.

[00:35:48]Is this a one?

[00:35:52]Yeah. Right. Okay. Thank you. So here's the thing.

[00:35:56]These are the continents.

[00:35:59]There's Africa, there's Asia, Antarctica, North America, South America, Europe, Austria.

[00:36:07]those those are the continents and in fact some people claim that Europe is not a continent that really it's a part of Asia but you know you you can check that out yourself and some people say Australia is an island but go ahead and check it out but right now this is what we normally say that the these are the continents now uh there are several things that happen in terms of homo sapiens All homo sapiens, that's humanity, everybody in this room and outside of this room, this audience, everybody on the earth originated in terms of DNA in Africa.

[00:36:52]>> Yes, sir.

[00:36:54]>> That is science. There's no there's no disputing of that. In other words, they call that monogenesis, meaning one place of genesis. It's it's just based on science is contrary to the idea of polygenesis which claimed uh during the most racist period in this country that homo sapiens emerged in different continents at different period of time that there were Asian homo sapiens, North American homo sapiens, South American homo sapiens, European homo sapiens, Australian homosap Now that but that is not science. Science is that everybody originated on the continent of Africa and actually migrated to all these other continents.

[00:37:47]>> That is science. And if people read science, they know that. But the eugenicist and the racist would like for you to believe that no, we are we're we're all different forms and so on. and they're looking fundamentally at normally at physiology or physio physical types you see. Uh but uh here's the thing.

[00:38:14]To say, and this is important, to say African is to refer to someone whose recent ancestry, say 20 generations on either the paternal or maternal side goes back to the African continent. This is this is if you're talking in a contemporary sense, if you're talking in a universal sense, all of us are Africans. But in what we when we're talking about African today, we normally talking about people who go who whose ancestry in the last 20 generation uh would go back uh to the continent of Africa on either side, whether your father's side or your mother's side, to the continent. I call that ancestral identity.

[00:39:07]Ancestral identity. Now this is important to understand that. Keep that in mind. That's ancestral identity. But we have shown that one can also have another kind of uh identity and that is what I call culturally African.

[00:39:26]That's a person that a person may have accepted certain values, customs and practices that are related to people of ancestral Africanity and hence become African by virtue of culture.

[00:39:46]We have seen this in terms of religion especially Euroba, Santaia and Kadumblé and this is you have to understand this.

[00:39:57]Let me tell you what I mean by this.

[00:40:00]So there is ancestral identity and there is cultural identity. All right. But uh I I've traveled many places in the world and I've seen in uh Brazil for example in Cuba and uh in Haiti I I've seen that there are people of different physical types who practice these African cultural values.

[00:40:29]So in one sense if you were making just a physical uh examination you would say I wonder how they uh deal with Kadumblé how they deal with Euroba how they deal with Santoriia but it's a cultural thing and that I'll come back to that it's a very important thing because I tell people that sometimes you look at people physical types and they may look like you But they are not you because their culture and their value system is not yours. And I always use the example of Clarence Thomas. I always say Clarence Thomas and I came from the same region of Georgia, but we're different. We we're totally different. Our culture and values and and and what he's accepted as his traditions, I don't accept as mine.

[00:41:24]So it's a whole different thing like that. So, so the so that that's why I say there's a cultural identity and culturally African as well as uh ancestral in the United States in Brazil and Mexico and Colombia and Uruguay. There are instances where someone who has African ancestry takes on European culture without taking on European ancestry.

[00:41:57]Let me put it another way for you. There are people in those countries and in this country who actually uh you can think that they are ancestrally African and I told you because Thomas is one but who take on that uh but take on European uh uh uh culture uh without taking on European ancestry.

[00:42:28]You see, the the history of African identity in the United States uh is complicated by several factors.

[00:42:40]One, people from Africa came from various parts of the continent.

[00:42:45]Two, a history of European and African offspring. And third, the lack of knowledge and loss of consciousness leading to self-denial regarding African origin. So here's what I've done. You know, I'm always trying to think of a new way of tackling these issues.

[00:43:08]Um here's what what I mean there there are um in Africa sometime people say and this is because of the again the African Union remember the African Union organization of African unity before they came up with uh five regions of Africa right and um uh they came up with these regions and then uh uh then other people who are mainly Europeans who have written about Africa write about Africa um south of the Sahara and they talk about Africa North Africa and then they say Africa south of Sahara. No, no, no. I decided another way to do it. Africans who live north of the equator and Africans who live south of the equator. That's a better way to do it. And and when you do it that way, you you you find out that it's not just the physical types because there are all physical types in all all those parts.

[00:44:15]Um you you have different types of Africans uh in the north of north of the equator and you have different types of Africans south of the equator. And that's the best way for us to move forward when we start talking about uh what what is how do we look at Africa and and I look at it some people come from north of the equator and some people come from south of the equator.

[00:44:40]This is very important to have this discussion and that's a discussion that we have rarely had. Uh and the reason let me just go to the next slide here.

[00:44:54]Uh let's see here.

[00:44:57]Uh okay, did that one. Okay, so here's here's what I said to you about factors coming from these different uh these different uh uh ethnic groups. And we don't use the word tribes. We we say that tribes is uh reserved for it's a dimminionative that Europeans use to relate to African people when they would call Europeans nations or ethnic groups.

[00:45:30]But when it came to Africa or native indigenous people here or uh South Pacific people, they call them tribes.

[00:45:39]But we don't use that. We just call them ethnic people or nations. that that that's what we have to do. So so but there there there's the origin of numerous ethnic groups uh and descendants of indigenous and Europeans uh and also the loss of knowledge and history. Those are the three factors that have a big problem uh with uh the identity question. There's a group I think they call them or something like that that part of their problem is a loss of knowledge in history. I mean people who simply uh argue uh uh for uh giving some special place to uh the descendants of people who were enslaved uh as as opposed to uh enslaved in the United States I should say because I think they call them um I can't remember what it mean American was American descendants of slaves American descendants of slaves I haven't had much to do with these people but I they're totally confused and part of it is a loss of knowledge and history and and therefore it gives you confusion. Okay.

[00:46:51]Uh so but the different ethnic histories such as Ebo, Hower uh uh Bamina, Wolaf, Bameali, Engola, Pago, Euroba, Fanti and uh maybe several hundred other of these groups because there were more than a 100 different ethnic groups that were brought to the US and I'm sure that in South America is the came that people came from all these different ethnic groups uh and and and were forced into uh enslavement.

[00:47:30]In addition uh to this new created African is the indigenous and European cultures and physical types that are now part of the African in the Americas. uh the African and the Americas uh really in the in both Americas, the North and South are diverse in terms of physical types, but the ancestry is continental African and also in many cases culturally African. The loss of culture and history help to define helps to define the African in the United States.

[00:48:11]Those who retain or seek to retain the culture and history appear more conscious than those who simply have abandoned their culture and their history.

[00:48:25]Now the peculiar thing is this and this can occur even in Africa itself by the way. It's just not we we think sometime is because I emphasize the American context but it could it could occur in Africans on the continent itself and I've seen it on the continent of Africa. I mean I just read to you the echoes of Africa. We're talking about uh names like Jstone in Kenya or or Patricia in Nigeria. You see, I mean, what causes this this particular peculiar uh wholesale abandonment of culture to escape the negative images that have come to be considered Kenyan, Rwandis or Evorian just to name some possibilities.

[00:49:16]To be liberated means to be liberated from the mental, ideological, cultural, political, economic, and physical oppression that exists. To be African is fundamentally to adhere to the values that have been handed down from generation to generation.

[00:49:40]We had neither capitalism nor socialism in our classical civilization.

[00:49:48]Most African societies operated based on respect.

[00:49:53]This is very important.

[00:49:56]Respect is central to African cultural values. It's absolute. This is where the respect for the elders come.

[00:50:07]This is where you honor the elder. This is a very powerful determining uh characteristic of the culture. Some called it ancestral reverence, but it was respect for the good lives that made our lives better. And this is so when uh people pass away uh we have respect for them in the lives that they have lived. You see respect is a powerful concept. It means treating someone or something with care with value and consideration.

[00:50:52]To respect someone is to recognize their worth, feelings, rights, and humanity.

[00:51:02]Consequently, this involves taking care of the ancestors memory through rituals by following and appreciating traditions.

[00:51:13]This is why in the traditions of African culture, you have the children honoring always the elders and the ancestors and participating in rituals like that. This is not and I would say it is not just um Africa. I see it sometimes in the eastern cultures in China. I've seen it as well when I've traveled in China, the same with the respect for the ancestors and the elders. You know, every every shop I went into in Beijing would have an ancestral altar, you see, in the shop. I mean, this is like what is this for? It is because they have this sense of respect for the elders and and for the ancestors. Um now on the other hand and I'll be finished with this soon citizenship came into being as part of the nation state when you have see in the old days they had kingdoms mostly kingdoms but uh the creation of the nation state and the boundaries of the nation state was actually brought into existence around 1648. 8 and what was called the treaty of Ves failia and in that treaty of Vesfailia what the reason they had to have that was because the Europeans have been at war for like 30 or 40 years and they said wait a minute let's not have all these wars let's just set the boundaries for different nations and then we will know that we are not violating your boundary because this is the marker you see and they set those and Then they established rules and they called the concept sovereignty.

[00:53:06]That's where it came from. That's concept of sovereignty didn't exist before that. There was no such thing like that. They didn't have that in ancient Africa. You I'm a sovereign state. No, no, no, no, no. Your state may run over into somebody else's. If your language you no you're no longer speaking your here, you speaking Ebo, then I must be in Ebo territory. It's a whole different thing. But then you set up these boundaries, you see, and you create these states. And then when you create states, then the concept of citizenship becomes important.

[00:53:42]And uh to be American means to be a citizen of the United States of America through either birth or naturalization.

[00:53:55]That's how you get to be a citizen of the United States. You're either born in the United States or you become naturalized as a United States citizen.

[00:54:05]Thank you very much. The birthright citizenship came into being in 1865.

[00:54:14]Naturalization citizenship was passed in 1790 as one of the first acts of the United States Congress to say all these white people who are living here, you're citizens now.

[00:54:36]All you have to prove is you've been in the country for two years and you haven't created any crimes. then you're a citizen. That was the 179.

[00:54:46]That's the natural you're a naturalized citizen. Even if you're not if you're born in London, you still naturalized citizen in the United States. That's that's where naturalization comes from.

[00:54:58]And I just want to rather citizenship.

[00:55:01]So the thing about citizenship is that it doesn't matter your ancestry.

[00:55:07]It doesn't matter your um region of origin.

[00:55:12]It doesn't matter what your name is. I mean, you could have J Japanese name. Uh you could have a um you could have u po Portuguese name. It doesn't matter.

[00:55:29]That has nothing to do with it.

[00:55:31]Citizenship is that you are uh you have been born in the US or you have been naturalized. Now what Trump is trying to do in the United States is get rid of what they call the birthright citizenship.

[00:55:50]Birthright citizenship came into being at the 14th amendment of the constitution. Why did they need birthright uh citizenship? They needed birthright citizenship because most of the African people uh who were freed during the uh during 1865 after in the Civil War, most of us were born in the United States, but we were not citizens.

[00:56:19]So, they had to figure out how do you make them citizens? You have to say, well, if they're born in the United States, they're citizens. And that's what they did. Now Trump wants to say, "No, no, no, no. Let's take that back.

[00:56:31]We made a mistake. We said all these people were going to be citizens because they were born here. Let's say no. You only have birth right citizenship like that." Well, the government has to determine whether or not you're a citizen or not. You see? So, so that's the one of the problems. What we see now is the attempt on the part of the so-called white people to avoid the ultimate end to the charade that they are soal a pure race.

[00:57:02]That's that's what this about.

[00:57:05]You see the the first of all there no pure first of all race is a bad term anyway. And we we we we we had a resolution at our conference last weekend that we're going to abandon the concept of race. It doesn't make any sense. And when you hear people argue around race, it really is crazy. It's not just a false biological concept. It is a twisted, immoral, unethical way of trying to punish some people and award others.

[00:57:38]This is a terrible concept. Um it's a charade. uh those people are what what what we are finding is that um we we the idea of keeping immigrants out of this country uh that's also part of that whole struggle and we have to say that the idea of American citizenship is indeed uh one that uh is granted to people in the society if they are naturalized or if they're born in the country. So, uh I'm going to stop here and say I appreciate you for listening to me. Uh this will this is streamed on um YouTube and uh I want to repeat again one thing before I close and that is that we will have uh two courses offered by Dr. Na Dove. one on African womanism and the other one on shake a job the two cradle theory uh in the fall. So, if you interested in these courses, there is a fee for them, but if you it's a it's a small fee, but if you're interested in these courses, please write uh to us at the thmka institute uh at the mkainstitute.com.

[00:59:09]All right. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

[00:59:18]FOR ALL THOSE watching on YouTube and around the world, we just want to say thank you for another great year of programming from the MK Institute. And make sure you support the institute. Go to the mkinstitute.com, log on to get updates, to find out more about the courses that will be offered in the future and to make sure we support independent institutions.

[00:59:37]All right, take care. A Are there question?

[00:59:51]>> Yeah, >> there there are some questions. Ian has questions from online.

[00:59:56]>> Prov Zizwei asked how one should address the relationship between cultural innovations and cultural traditions.

[01:00:05]>> That's a good question. how we should address the idea of cultural innovations and cultural traditions.

[01:00:14]Um each generation uh must uh in its own way uh deal with that because the idea of generation uh is one where you have uh innovations based on traditions. This is how uh societies uh progress or advance. uh you have uh fundamentally um uh I always say like this generation that we're in and a generation actually is about 25 or 30 years uh will come up with ideas and concepts that in a few years will be uh we will we another generation won't understand them and that's a big big problem. Uh Dr. Dav you want to Just one minute.

[01:01:09]>> I'm thinking that we have to be specific about cultural innovations and so on because we have two competing cultures that are the major types of cultures that we live in here in the US. So one one culture may see its innovation right >> as a certain thing which may be to murder the first nations people lands people >> or another culture may see that we should um >> have sciences that are not killing sciences but sciences that bring peace building >> uh homes uh you know Those are both innovations, >> right? Different color. Oh, that's beautiful. Well, this is why this is why you're teaching for us because I agree. I think is very very profound because there are different very different kinds of ways in terms of uh uh how you innovate and it's like um it's like uh people used to give the example that the Chinese uh invented uh uh fireworks uh before Europe but they did not use their fire they didn't put them in cannons they use them for celebrations you see so it depends or what your culture is to a large degree. Yes.

[01:02:38]>> Yeah. Uh several years ago uh we addressed a group of students at Lincoln University and we asked them the question, what does it mean to be African and what does it mean to be American? Would you like to put some definitions on that those terms?

[01:02:54]>> Oh, I I thought I think Okay. All right.

[01:02:58]I did that. Okay. To be American I do that. To be American is is simpler. uh to be American is to be actually um a citizen of the United States of America.

[01:03:11]And of course uh one can get very deep in this and say that the United States of America is itself uh a a fabricated a fabrication on made on top of the indigenous populations already polity that existed in this country. So it's sort of like you know you come in and you create a new system and then you also create new laws and basically that's what it means citizenship but but to be African I think is both ancestrally and culturally what you have to have those components in order to be be African.

[01:03:56]>> Uh I have a comment and a question. Yes.

[01:03:58]>> Yeah. From well Baranca it's my hometown. It's in Colombia in the north part of Colombia and in Baranca we have a a problem is like a African many African people doesn't recognize themselves as African or Afro descendant because of the mixture with uh the other cultures but the problem with that is that we enjoy many African things that we didn't know and in some point how African we were and then for instance in the music >> I mean we I remember because we have a carnival that is very popular and then from long time ago I mean like as since I have memory in Barancia we used to listen music from Congo, >> Cameroon and and and and West Africa and even people don't understand a word what people are what they are singing but we we feel it for the rhythm. Yes. And it's so connected to us to our roots that when Shakira who's also from Baranca in 20 in 2010 and she had to make the first song for the uh FIFA.

[01:05:07]>> Yes. She uh played the song Waka Waka.

[01:05:12]>> Yes. And in that moment she was like a saying that was her inspiration. But indeed the first time that I listened to Waka Waka I said that's not Shakira's inspiration. We have been listening Waka Waka from shyo childhood because that was a song that was very popular in in Barancija. That's right. So what I mean is like uh when we don't know what our identity is and is connected it's very easy that those people who are from the city but they don't recognize with into this African roots when they have the opportunity they take this roots and they do what is pro uh cultural appropriation and they make money with that. So it means we are African when they when it's convenient for them.

[01:05:55]Absolutely. You know, and it's like a very difficult to fight with that in a in a city with like um Baranca where many people don't defend their values because indeed they don't recognize themselves as African. That's right. And and the other and the question had to do with the slides about the division of the continent because I saw that you separate South America, America. You separate South America and North North America, but then Central America and the Caribbean disappear if you make that division. So I don't understand.

[01:06:24]>> No, no. I'm I'm just it's continent of Africa I'm talking about.

[01:06:28]>> I didn't make I I didn't make a division of the world. It's a I didn't I don't think so. I think it's you know I'm saying that on the African continent uh you have people who who claim uh that uh there is Africa north of the Sahara and south of the Sahara. And my idea is that the Sahara is Africa. You can't there's no south or I mean there's no there's no line straight across the Sahara that separates uh the continent uh and the and the desert uh has been growing for the last three or 4 thousand years. Uh and at one time it was was very fertile uh and green. So, so I just think that we need to rethink everything. Everything. Here's what I say. I I I I remember when I was a president of the SNIK organization at UCLA, HR Brown used to say, if white people say it, you got to question it.

[01:07:38]So, white people say that Africa, there's Africa south of the Sahara and north of the Sahara. You say, no, there's there's Africa. The Sahara is in Africa.

[01:07:50]There are black people who live, if you want to go by color, black people who live in the desert. Ride Campbell. So you can't there's no that's you can't make no argument like that. That's why I say if you want to make an argument, you can say there's Africa, part of it is south of the equator, part of it is north of the equator. That's better.

[01:08:12]>> Um Dr. left his shante. I just came back from Ghana a little bit over two weeks ago and one of my favorite sayings bywami and Kummer is he's not African because he was born in Africa, he's African because Africa was born in him.

[01:08:26]>> Absolutely. And I think sometimes we we we we lose that and we buy into concepts that because our ancestor was stolen, kidnapped from Africa, brought over to Americans, and then they told us we Americans, we negate our Africanism.

[01:08:42]>> That's right.

[01:08:43]>> And I think that thank God that you broke it down culturally.

[01:08:47]>> Yes.

[01:08:47]>> Because what I see here as we continue to have this souljourn here and North America that the culture is not working for us. That's right.

[01:08:56]>> We losing our African culture cuz when I was over in Ghana just a couple of weeks ago, the elders are still revered.

[01:09:03]>> Yes.

[01:09:04]>> They still have reverence for their traditions. Even though you might see Christianity, but when you go to them ceremonies, they pulled on libations and they acknowledging their wear and the African culture. That's right.

[01:09:15]>> And I think what I see here and I I was Haiti in Haiti years ago, twice, two times in Haiti. And when we was kidnapped and brought to this continent of North America, we were stripped more so than our brothers and sisters that was talking to Cuba and to Haiti and to South America. So we have a little bit more challenge and recapturing our African culture. That's what I see.

[01:09:38]>> I think that brother J, I really appreciate that. I think you're right because there is of course a profound um uh I mean the the severity of the enslavement uh may very well be uh an indication of how much we have lost because of course even in Brazil and in my in in the senses when I went to Colombia I don't I I went to uh Barancia as well but in uh Palenke and then Choo uh I still you see African culture. So uh it depends on what the influences are and how much we have lost our history and our knowledge. But you are perfectly right about the respect that you see uh in uh in in a country like Ghana for the elders and the ancestors. In fact, there's always u and the porn of the libation porn of the libation for the ancestors. It's very important. Yes. Uh Reverend Joe, >> I certainly want to thank Dr. Smith for bringing me here.

[01:10:47]>> Yes.

[01:10:47]>> The scriptures say without vision the people perish without the people the vision will perish. I'm glad you took the vision and have these Sunday lectures. This is outstanding. So I I can't wait till summertime.

[01:11:01]be over with to get back into >> Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[01:11:05]>> I want I want Mr. Stan to help me with this one. I'm from North Philly and most cases we we we told everybody how to dress. We had no trouble wearing a tag knit shirt. I ain't never heard no African knit, nothing. They didn't mention that, but they they had us wearing somebody else's clothes.

[01:11:23]>> That's right. Last but not least, um we need to tell all Africans in America, we might be broke, but we're not we're not poor. We may be broke. There's a difference, but we're not poor because Africa is the richest country in the world. Somebody just came back from Ghana. I met it the other day. They said, "How can it be that Ghana has all it riches and they're poor and broke?"

[01:11:49]So, something's got to be done about that. So, thank you, Doc.

[01:11:52]>> Thank you very much. the the economic question uh is definitely something that we have to pay attention to and I want to thank you publicly for the support that the academy of life has given to the institute. You have really uh given us great support this year and we hope that we all continue. I want to thank also all the board members of this uh institution and uh or Ian and I want to thank Ian for sitting in for for Carlton for sitting for Carlton rescuing Carlton here. So go ahead Ian.

[01:12:31]>> How should one address the relationship between cultural innovations and cultural traditions?

[01:12:37]>> Oh I think they that's the one you asked before. Yeah, they said you didn't answer it.

[01:12:42]>> See, I didn't answer it. How how you should address I think you should address that. I think you should address that question always with a historical context. I think that's the best way to address the question of innovation and uh and um and tradition. And I think that Dr. Dove sort of gave us situ an answer to that. And I think that that's the key. I mean we we we certainly are uh engaged. We we are we have also been African people have been extremely creative. Uh but I sometimes say that creativity based on the traditions is one thing. The one big um issue that we have to continue to work on is maintenance. In other words, you can create but can you maintain? And if you can't maintain what you create, then there's a problem. We just want to thank everybody uh for being here today. And we say we call upon our ancestors far and near, the mother of our mothers, the father of our fathers to render mercy and to bear witness for the liberation and the victory of all oppressed people forever. It is done.

[01:13:55]>> Thank you.

[01:13:57]>> I appreciate you.

[01:14:02]>> Thank you.

[01:14:09]Hey. Yeah. Yeah. How you doing, man?

[01:14:12]>> You okay?

[01:14:15]>> Can I just do that?

[01:14:29]Trying to kill me.

[01:14:33]I always appreciate you.

[01:14:38]>> You showing off, man.

[01:14:41]>> That conference got me buzzing, man. I don't know about y'all, but I was buzzing for about three days. I've been buzzing, just feeling good about it.

[01:14:51]>> Nope. No, he didn't want to take Oh, he had like a guy shooting like B-roll, you know what I mean? But not like the footage, not like what happened.

[01:15:00]>> Yes. It's a sizzle. Yes, that is correct. That is correct. That is correct. But yeah, he didn't want to shoot it. He didn't want to film it.

[01:15:08]They would have charged him anyway. So, >> they charge for everything.

[01:15:12]>> I mean, that's what they do.

[01:15:14]>> That's how they miss.

[01:15:16]>> They ain't missing nothing.

[01:15:18]>> They come with 10 people 10 million. Exact.

[01:15:23]They don't play that. They said we want a piece of everything you do.