BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Opinion 

No More Pain: Spirituality in the Black Community

January 17, 2018 Jaykwon Hosey African Americans, Black America, Black Churches, Black People, Christianity

107

SHARES

ShareTweetSubscribe

The Black community has sought to struggle for social equality, religious freedom has been the spearhead of their fight against oppressive structures. With respect to wherever you may fall on the religious spectrum, every form of spirituality has been essential to the Black experience, while also being expressed in unique ways within Black culture. Additionally, religion has very much been a coping mechanism for African-Americans in the face of suffering.

Black Church

If anyone intimately knows about suffering, it would be African-Americans. Suffering can be a cause of the powers that be, natural experiences, or life’s inconveniences. In the Christian language, a religion of suffering does not only entail complacency in the midst of evil, but rather one to seek good during a fallen world and pressing forward. Suffering is unfortunately something that no human has managed to escape; it is inevitable. If you are living, at some point you will experience some form of anguish.
Jesus has never promised that his people would be exempt from experiencing turmoil in life. In fact, God, from a biblical standpoint, arranges our inconveniences for eternal purposes, while simultaneously promising to walk with us through our suffering. One of my favorite writers, Ta-Nehisi Coates, further explains this point in his book “Between The World And Me.”
Coates expresses:
“I could not retreat, as did so many, into the church and its mysteries…. We would not kneel before their God. And so I had no sense that any just God was on my side. “The meek shall inherit the earth” meant nothing to me. The meek were battered in West Baltimore, stomped out at Walbrook Junction, bashed up on Park Heights, and raped in the showers of the city jail.”
Like Coates, none of us have a place to retreat in response to the dope boys on the corner, that the prison system craves, or the young men abandoned by the system that have been in Rikers Island Prison throughout the time that Kalief Browder spent there. God, being all-powerful and all-knowing is an everlasting paradox. However, our doubt has not caught God by surprise, nor does the evil and suffering of this world.

Why is Black Theology Significant?

In Christianity, there is a lot of range for intellectualism, feminism, and Black politics. Through these margins, Black Christians have room to biblically theorize and strike the status quo head on. Most well-known revolutionaries, who were Black Christians, have been unapologetic in their exposing of the systems that have winked at American capitalism for centuries. African-American Christians were not reluctant to condemn white people for their involvement in the suffering of their brothers and sisters, as well as their religion that subtly reinforced the idea that black people were to naively accept their social condition.

Black theology must be recognized as a doctrine that springs from the depths of the souls of an oppressed group of people. This expression of Christianity is an affront on the white-washed religion that was used to colonize and enslave Africans. Additionally, this theology confronts the notion that any group must trustingly endure suffering inflicted upon them. The significance of spirituality in the Black community is its response to a world that has excluded Black self-esteem and sanctioned our pain by stripping our independence throughout history. Religion has been the only constant peace in times of suffering since slavery. In any case, God does not insist upon us blindly accepting any form of suffering that comes outside of his will.
Copyright ©2018 The Black Detour All Rights Reserved.
Facebook Comments

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Black History Month

International Decade for People of African Descent, which commenced January 1, 2015 and ends December 31, 2024

Africa Now! September 16, 2015 Haki Madhubuti and Pan-Africanism & Communism

1. Radio Broadcasts
2. Africa Now! September 16, 2015 Haki Madhubuti and Pan-Africanism & Communism

Africa Now! September 16, 2015
Topics and Guests: Liberation Cultural Activist Haki Madhubuti; and Pan-Africanism and Communism.

In Africa Now!'s continuing spotlight on the International Decade for People of African Descent, which commenced January 1, 2015 and ends December 31, 2024 today the show features two writers who have connected the peoples of the African World with their writings—Dr. Haki Madhubuti and Professor Hakim Adi.

Their works have highlighted the liberation struggle in the African World. 

We start with a previous conversation with Dr. Haki Madhubuti and in the second part of the show Africa Now! talks to Professor Hakim Adi on Pan-Africanism and Communism.

For over 40 years Professor Haki Madhubuti has been a pivotal figure in the development of a strong Black literary tradition and a major figure of the Black Arts Movement.

He has published more than 31 books (some under his former name, Don L. Lee) and is one of the world’s best-selling authors of poetry and non-fiction. Madhubuti’s latest books are Honoring Genius: Gwendolyn Brooks: The Narrative of Craft, Art, Kindness and Justice (2011) and By Any Means Necessary, Malcolm X: Real, Not Reinvented (co-edited with Herb Boyd, Ron Daniels and Maulana Karenga, 2012).

In 1967 he founded Third World Press, the oldest independent publisher of Black thought and literature in the country.  For more than forty-five years, Third World Press has published a rich tradition of African American writing by authors such as poet and publisher, Dudley Randall; Illinois Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, Gwendolyn Brooks; poets Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Mari Evans, Margaret Walker, and more.

The connection of Pan-Africanism and Communism is the subject matter in the book Pan-Africanism and Communism: The Communist International, Africa and The Diaspora, 1919-1939 by Hakim Adi.

Sage Journals states that “Hakim Adi in Pan-Africanism and Communism sets out to demonstrate historically the ways in which Pan-Africanism and Communism were not such completely separate currents in the inter-war period…but rather became briefly, to some extent, fused in the struggle for black and colonial liberation. …Adi’s Pan-Africanism and Communism stands as a valuable and pioneering institutional history of the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers (ITUCNW), which he rightly notes was ‘a communist organization with a Pan-Africanist orientation.’”

Dr. Hakim Adi is currently Reader in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora at the University of Chichester in England.  Professor Adi has written extensively of Pan-Africanism and the modern political history of the African Diaspora.  He is the author of West Africans in Britain 1900-1960: Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and Communism (London, 1998); joint author with M. Sherwood of The 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress Revisited (London, 1995) and Pan-African History: Political Figures from Africa and the Diaspora since 1787 (London, 2003).

Click here to listen to Africa Now! of September 16, 2015--Liberation Cultural Activist Haki Madhubuti; and Pan-Africanism and Communism.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC.  Tune into Africa Now! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (Eastern).

Can Vision 2022 Turn South African Football Around?

ByThandisizwe Mgudlwa

- Khuluma AFRICA

February 16, 2018

Share on Facebook

Tweet on Twitter

• UPDATED
• tweet

According to the South Africa Football Association (SAFA), "Vision 2022 is a fundamental rebuilding of the structures of SAFA at all levels to create the conditions that will bring about the sustained international success of our national teams.

BAFANA BAFANA have missed out on the participation of CHAN 2018 and the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia to kick start on June 14 – July 15.

It is in that spirit that a proper and broad debate of Vision 2022 must be entertained.

According to the South Africa Football Association (SAFA), "Vision 2022 is a fundamental rebuilding of the structures of SAFA at all levels to create the conditions that will bring about the sustained international success of our national teams.

We have set our sights on a long-term development plan to achieve the goal of always being in the top 3 of the African rankings, and in the top 20 of the World rankings.

10% of the South African population must play football. Therefore, we need to redouble our efforts to:  Launch a vibrant schools football programme; and  Strengthen women’s football significantly."

Since the days of Clive Barker, by far the best coach Bafana Bafana has ever had. Things have rather turned sour.

Further, the 1996 AFCON winning team, consisted of very experienced players who had achieved a lot in their careers prior to presenting the national team.

Hence, it was easier for Barker to motivate the team; this was on top of Barker's tactical and technical prowess.

On the other hand, Barker's track record as a top coach and the players were automatically and naturally inspired.

And remembering that also in 1996, Orlando Pirates became Africa's most powerful club after securing the Africa Super Cup, and becoming the first southern African club in 1995 to win the prestigious African Champions Cup, at club level.

Not forgetting other Bafana Bafana achievements, like the silver medal in AFCON 1998, a bronze in 2000 and the African/Asian Cup glory in 1999.

Since 1994 - 1996, Barker won all the Four Nations tournaments we participated in.

After Barker was given the reigns. He quickly turned Bafana Bafana's fortunes around. Barker  establishing the team as an African powerhouse, easily topping their 1996 Nations Cup qualifying group in 1995.

Then South Africa were awarded the rights to host the 1996 tournament after initial hosts Kenya withdraw. Bafana Bafana went on to win the tournament on home soil, beating Tunisia 2-0 in the final.

In 1997 Barker ensured that South Africa would make their debut World Cup appearance for the World Cup 1998 which was hosted and won by France.

Barker was sacked in December 1997. And he missed out on an opportunity to defend his 1996 Nation Cup glory and also missed out on leading the team at its first World Cup in France.

But Barker's achievements, had confirmed that South Africa had arrived, not only on the African stage, but internationally as well.

Also in 1996, Bafana Bafana, had been honoured by FIFA, with its FIFA Best Mover of the Year Award, signaling that South Africa was the best footballing country in the world in 1996.

During Barker's reign of Bafana Bafana, South Africa was ranked NO 16 in the World and NO 1 in Africa. Today, they are NO 81 in the World and 18 in Africa.

Most soccer commentary has indicated that after Barker's exit as the South African senior football men's national team, the standard of Bafana Bafana went down from the days of Clive Barker at the helm.

Turning back to the current era, a lot has changed.

In fact, South Africa is not longer the most feared football nation in Africa as it once was.

These days, however, soccer commentators and experts regularly and correctly predict that South Africa would be knocked out in the groups stages of a tournament. That is if they manage to qualify for that tournament in the first place.

And they are spot on, since the departure of Barker as Bafana Bafana coach,  South Africa has only qualified once, for the 2002 World Cup under, Carlos Queiroz, who by the way was sacked before the start of the 2002 World Cup.

In 2010, South Africa qualified for the World Cup as hosts. And again they were knocked out in the groups stages just like their two previous World Cup appearances.

Unlike many other former Bafana Bafana coaches with achievements to show; and who have had more than one spell with Bafana Bafana, Barker is the only coach not to be given another chance. The question is WHY?

Just days after Bafana Bafana's early exit in the 1997 Confederations Cup, a caller in the Radio Metro, now METROFM, Sports Show alleged that some of the players were asked by certain SAFA officials to underperformed so that Barker could be discredited and fired.

And a big question that must be on top of the minds of South African soccer 'gods', is what is to be done to turn things around and make Bafana Bafana Africa's most powerful footballing nation again?

The South African Football Association (SAFA), responsible for Bafana Bafana, now needs to find the same magic, and at least innovation shown by the then SAFA boss, the late great Solomon 'Sticks' Morewa, when Bafana Bafana became African champions.

A first by a southern African country. Zambia subsequently became the second southern African nation to lift the Nations Cup when they won the AFCON 2012.

Morewa was controversially sacked after suspicious findings during the Government appointed Pickard Commission. Morewa sacking would later prove too costly for Bafana Bafana and South African football at large.

To answer the question of making Bafana Bafana the best again:

# SAFA must understand that it beats the purpose of having a senior national men's football team, when it boasts about the progress of the junior national teams, when Bafana Bafana are not progressing.

# SAFA has to see that this unbalanced performance scale would ultimately demotivate juniors;  and, up and coming players from achieving their level best if they know that Bafana Bafana are not progressing but digressing from the 1996 AFCON glory.

# A more professional approach in appointing coaches, should be that all coaches appointed for the country's national teams including women national teams, must be coaches that have won a FIFA/CAF recognized tournaments and/or awards.

In this case, Barker should make a return to the national team and be given the right to select his assistance coaches and technical team of his choice.

 # The senior coach must be encouraged to appoint a professional technical staff, consisting of at least 15 qualified soccer experts with noteworthy achievements in the game either as player and/or coaches, inline with the international benchmarks.

These experts should also consist of former Bafana Bafana coaches, like Jomo Sono, Trott Moloto, Shakes Mashaba among others.

#  Only the best performing players must do duty for the national team at all times, irrespective of how old a player maybe.

In other words, Bafana Bafana must never be a platform for developing players. Bafana Bafana must always be the ultimate benchmark for any South African footballer to aspire to play for.

Only the best performing players who are capable of producing a winning result must be allowed to play.

# Most importantly though, is that SAFA must in the process of re-igniting the most loved sport in South Africa, broaden and widely sell the programme, VISION 2022, to all corners of the country.

This would have to be backed by a mass national participation football  educational and training programme at all levels of the game and complemented by multiple football tournaments nationally to give all players enough opportunity  to develop and reach their full potential.

This must be a process that will get all football stakeholders and lovers, be it spectators, administrators, players, coaches, sponsors etc, to come back into the game on a fulltime basis.

And in the process take the beautiful game to the highest of levels.

This must be done for the sake of football and the nation.


UPDATED

Questions & Answers With Toyin Umesiri, Convener and Host of The Trade with Africa Business Summit 2018

 
Toyin Umesiri

The Trade with Africa Business Summit 2018 is the inaugural event that convenes global business leaders, innovators and change agents driving sustainable agriculture, global trade, digital acceleration, and women empowerment on the continent of Africa. It aims to create trade linkages by bringing together business leaders and their supporting service providers from U.S. and African countries to engage in actionable dialog that will accelerate economic growth for both regions. THANDISIZWE MGUDLWA, spoke to Toyin Umesiri the convener and host of this event. Toyin is the Founder & CEO of Nazaru LLC, a U.S. based company that is focused on increasing U.S. and Africa trade.

1.    What is the ‘Trade with Africa Business Summit 2018’ event all about?
We know that African countries are racing to strengthen economic ties with various regions around the world to drive increased economic growth, job creation and diversification of investment. For the past 20 years the primary vehicle for U.S. engagement in Africa has leaned heavily towards foreign aid and I believe now is the time for U.S. businesses to play a more significant role to secure mutually beneficial business partnerships.

Trade with Africa Business Summit is focused on bringing this much needed conversation on Africa to “corporate America”. With the population rise on the continent of Africa and the projected economic growth, U.S. businesses should lean in further to participate commercially in the economic growth that is occurring. Africa is home to over 1 billion people with a strong youth population and a rapidly growing productive workforce. Africa can no longer be ignored or seen as a region of only war, famine and disease and by 2050 it is projected that Africa would have doubled its population.  For those that are actively involved already this is a not a secret however there is a significant portion of corporate America that is heavily misinformed about Africa. The Trade with Africa Business Summit is an active step to engage U.S. and African businesses in actionable dialog to accelerate economic growth for both regions.
The inaugural event taking place on May 10th and 11th of 2018 will be held in Bentonville, Arkansas.  Bentonville is the home town of the largest retailer: Walmart, and is a thriving trade and economic hub and hence the perfect location to establish new trade opportunities.

2. Who should attend and what are the benefits?

The benefits of attending are multifold; For Bentonville and U.S. based businesses it serves to showcase the vast opportunities in Africa, create linkages where they could either export to or source goods from under favorable trade policies, and allow for an opportunity to address with high-level officials critical concerns or impediments to doing business. For African Exporters, business leaders and Governments leaders, it would offer an opportunity to promote their country, help expand the offerings under AGOA, create jobs, and increase investment. For African businesses, it will also get them within proximity to the largest importers, help prepare them to pitch their goods, and open a pipeline that can then be continued through sustainable business partnerships. This event also positions the state of Arkansas as a favorable destination for African business & political leaders looking to create partnerships with the U.S.

3.     What is the exact relation between 'Trade with Africa Business Summit 2018 and Nazaru LLC?

The Trade with Africa Business Summit is a production of Nazaru LLC. The event is being executed in partnership and support of key organization like the World Trade Center and USAID East Africa Trade and Investment Hub. We know that creating productive dialogue starts by highlighting the strengths that Africa has to offer U.S. investors looking to partner on the continent. There is currently opportunities yet untapped particularly in the small-medium business communities in Africa as well as the U.S. We are creating an all-encompassing one-stop shop where SMEs Large Scale organizations across Africa and the United States can find answers and solutions to trade.

4.    As the CEO of Nazaru, what are the most notable experiences you have encountered in relation to hosting Trade with Africa Business Summit?

When it comes to U.S. trade with Africa, creating awareness is key. Unfortunately many still do not realize that there is a functioning side to Africa and there is a growing segment that is on the rise to claim global significance in years to come. If U.S. media will dedicate resources to highlighting these stories it will significantly benefit both regions.  Many do not know what success looks like.

In 2000, the United States established the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to support U.S. trade with Africa. Although some level of success has been accomplished, U.S. still engages at less than 2% of total global trade with Sub-Saharan Africa. On the U.S. side there are several constraints including lack of awareness, supporting business data, and misconception and information gap. On the African side there is lack of information related to available business partnerships and opportunities for African businesses as well as education on ways to secure investments needed to build the level of capacity required to meet U.S. standards.

We are creating a platforms that allows business executives to hear from other leaders that are actively investing on what is working and to also become aware of what the investment opportunities are. With focus on positively impacting Agriculture, Technology, Education and Health sectors we also help address questions like “What does Africa need?” “What are the technical expertise required to FastTrack economic growth? “And where are the high growth areas?” We want people to know how to engage strategically and also how to view the region within reward-risk framework.

5.     Are there any obstacles standing in the way of both Nazaru and the Trade with Africa Business Summit achieving their aims and objectives?

We have the support of major stakeholders and we are now focused on getting the word out as we want more people to get involved

6  Do you have any additional information you would like to share with the public?

In partnership with the tourism board of the city of Bentonville we are looking forward to hosting U.S. and African business leaders, Government agencies & service providers, exporters, commodity Buyers, non for profit organizations with interests in the region, “Africans in diaspora” and friends of Africa looking to reconnect with the region.