I
had the privilege of attending and
addressing the All African
Diaspora Summit at the University of Cape
Coast in Ghana. Convened by
Dr. Edward Bush, President of Cosumnes River
College, a community
college near Sacramento, California, the
conference drew more than
400 attendees, many from the California
Community College system but
others from other colleges and universities
in the United States and
on the African continent. The keynote
speakers included Dr. Anthony
Browder, Dr. Chike Akua, and me. We all
pushed the envelope in
defining education and how it must be
redefined to respond to the
needs of a global African people. As Audre
Lorde said, “The
master’s tools will not dismantle the
master’s house.” In other
words, traditional, rote, European education
will not empower Black
people to embrace our destiny. Conventional
wisdom certainly has its
place, but another way of considering
contemporary education is to
reflect on Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s
declaration that it took him 30
years to get Harvard out of him.
Visiting
the
African continent is a first step
toward considering how
conventional education has a
brainwashing effect. Connecting
ourselves to the African continent
is equally essential. That’s why
I was honored to spend a bit of
time with Dr. Ereika Bennett, the
founder and CEO of theDiaspora
Africa Forum
(DAF). The Africa Union recognizes
this organization as the sixth
region of Africa. The five
established regions of Africa are
North,
South, East, West, and Central
Africa. The sixth region is the
Diaspora, the collection of 250
million African descendent people
who
live all over the globe. Thanks to
ambassador Bennett (officially
recognized as Diasporan Ambassador
to the Africa Union), the DAF now
has a flag and will soon have a
national anthem. Bennett has been a
tireless advocate for the viability
of the African continent and also
an advocate for diasporan interests
on the continent, including the
possibility of dual citizenship
(which exists in Ghana), the right
of
abode, and the ability to do
business and to invest.
Many
African Americans recognize our ancestral
roots, but we must do more
than that. Dr. Toni Luck, an activist and
entrepreneur serving on the
DAF board, says that we can support DAF, its
efforts to build bridges
between the US and the African continent,
and educational efforts to
support African youth. She suggests that we
all need to expand our
knowledge of the African continent, both in
the past and today, and
become advocates for Africa in the United
States.
I
agree with her. Even the least conscious
person possibly owns a piece
of kente cloth, a few cowrie shells, or
African-inspired clothing.
However, when we get past that symbolic
sentimentality, we might all
ask ourselves what we have done for Africa
lately. Wearing African
garb on our bodies does not necessarily
demonstrate that we are Pan
African people in our minds.
I
had the privilege of visiting the WEB DuBois
Center in Accra, where
Dr. DuBois is buried, and the DAF house is
located. My visit to the
DuBois Center, which I visit whenever I am
in Ghana, is an
opportunity for me to reflect on our roots
and our need for
reeducation. For example, I referred to the
buildings at Elmina as
“castles,” Dr. Browder reminded me that
these should be described
more as “dungeons” than castles. Indeed,
when I considered the
square footage of these odious edifices,
most of the space was used
to shackle, torture, murder, and export our
people to the service of
global predatory capitalism. Not castles,
but dungeons and hell
holes. As aware as I think I am, I needed my
brother’s perspective
to remind me that we must always examine the
lens through which we
view the world and question whose lens we
have adopted.
Hundreds
of
US educators had the opportunity
through the Africa Diaspora
Education Summit to unpack western
education and to consider its
dismantling. Carter G. Woodson
said it took him 30 years to get
Harvard out of him. How long will
it take for you to get colonialism
out of you? Connecting with the Diaspora
Africa Forum
(DAF) might help.
