Black Lives Matter: From Holocaust to Lynching to Liberation

As John Quincy Adams so eloquently put it: "We are who we are, because we were who we were." Carter G. Woodson, in "The Mis-Education of the Negro" (1933), contends that African Americans have been educated away from their own culture and traditions and attached to the fringes of European culture; thus dislocated from themselves. He asserts that African Americans often valorize European culture to the detriment of our own heritage (p. 7). Although he does not advocate rejection of American citizenship or nationality, he believed that assuming African Americans hold the same position as European Americans vis-à-vis the realities of America would lead to the psychological and cultural death of the African American population. Furthermore, if education is ever to be substantive and meaningful within the context of American society, Woodson argues, it must first address the African's historical experiences, both in Africa and America (p. 7). In this book, I respond to Woodson's call to action by tracing out a self-selected, historical "Middle Passage" that will carry me from the African Holocaust to Liberation. In this way, I validate my own cultural heritage by creating a meaningful narrative, from the days of the African Holocaust, through lynching, and on to ultimate liberation."We were who we were. We are who we are." In acknowledging this fundamental truth, we consciously affirm that black lives matter. No black life is expendable, not in the days of the Middle Passage, not in the days of Willie Lynch and Lynch-law, not in the days of overt racism, racial profiling, or even at low levels of covert racial microaggression. Having said that, I give the final words to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate can not drive out hate, only love can do that."… (more)