Stella Needs a New Groove!

---Too many of us are hung up on what we don't have, can't have, or won't ever have. We spend too much energy being down, when we could use that same energy -- if not less of it -- doing, or at least trying to do, some of the things we really want to do" ---Terry McMillan

Stella getting her groove back...

For the most part I'm happy. As I've alluded to in previous posts, I am at a good place with my life yet lately I've had to go back to my earlier proclamation and thoroughly examine its sincerity. Am I really content with the spaces that the universe has tossed me in or do I announce that I am, with the hopes of shadowing the delicacy of these petals that I claim have grown in strength? This state of so called mental liberation that I preach to self and others, does it really serve anything greater than the brief periods of self satisfaction that lead me to believe that I have done my part for humanity? Do these notes and rambles, written with expectations that they might lift a heavy heart out of misery heal me or do they heal a nation? Does this count as me actively getting up and boldly declaring that I wish to become a martyr for my people? Do I walk the talk of a true revolutionary as well as I write it on these pages? Do I even know the duties of a true comrade or am I taken aback by the glorified tales of our struggle heroes.

Audience of mine, Stella might seem like she's in tune with the timeless melodies of the revolution, she might bop her head and stomp her feet from time to time, give the impression that she can break it down on the dance floor of black-consciousness advocacy, anti-capitalism, pro pan-Afrikanism, the liberalist and socialist movements but can Stella even bust a lyric that might guide and bring you in tune with what the real revolution in essence is about. Does Stella even know what a revolution sounds like? Can she identify the beat to the struggle?

Last night, at a wonderful dinner with class mates, was the usual long table conversations and chit chats. Now, these people have demonstrated an intellectual grasp of some of the most pressing issues of South Africa, of ubuntuism, of what real democracy entails and of what the political landscape of this country is in need of. Yet last night, between wine sips and pasta servings was a continuous rant. A black rant.

Last night we dined and whined so much about our blackness that our white counterparts went out for a suspiciously lengthy smoking break. We talked about the successes of personalities such as Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith and Beyonce and to a lesser extent, those of Morris Chestnut, Vivica Fox and....well "black" entertainers as they so put it.

The argument that one of them made is that to be successful as a black folk, one has to let go of their "blackness" to find themselves appealing to a more affluent audience which naturally is the audience that holds the decision making powers as far as ones success goes. In my simple interpretation, the only alarms that were going off from this black, angry outburst was that white supremacy still rules and consequently still pulls the decision making reigns in all aspects that concern our well being as a black people- a truth that despite my being aware of, still causes great discomfort at the conscious realization of the world order as it currently is.

Now, I don't know much about how far back this world order goes. Though I would like to think that probably every continent has taken part in its practices, whether through apartheid, imperialism and other systems of oppression in Africa or the racial segregation of the 60's in the United States, oppression of the black people has been a prevailing force since the days of Jim Crow and continues to leave emotional scars that refuse to heal to this day. Scars that are still puss-filled with the pretense that black people are finally emancipated. Yes, we are free from the physical chains but the shackles that they so persuasively tie to our minds are far more dangerous and can only cause the ultimate collapse to the progression of our people. The advent of true acknowledgement that the jim crow laws still exist however concealed to the confines of our slave mentalities will be the start of our revolution.

My believe is that a true revolutionary stays true to self and his people. A true revolutionary is not bothered by street or party politics, he is too preoccupied with the real slave masters, the capitalists that still have mama Afrika at the whelm of their greedy pursuits. True revolutionaries will shine a light by educating and enlightening their people and attempting to unchain western influences. A true revolutionary will make it a point to let their people know of their blessings because it is only when one awakens to their blessings that they can only ever be free from the clutches of imperfection.

We can't break down the walls of oppression, capitalism or exploitation when we don't even know how they affect us at an individual level. Only when we know of our position in the fight will we then willingly give it all we can.

This Stella is somewhere mid air, half stepping to the influx of western ideologies. But this Stella has stopped dancing to the rhythms of illusions of freedom, is in search of a new melody, one that will see her tapping out of this shell and into her own...This Stella is creating her own harmony for her and her people to groove to.

 

"The state has not failed to protect us from our enemy, the state IS our enemey...."

 

 

 

Until next post,

 

Africa Rising, Peace & Revolution...