Sa

Sa – the strength of the relationship; tying individuals into the concerted effort. Sa is the fundamental understanding that the power of the group is much more important than the pursuit of individual interest. The group is the primary unit of analysis in the determination of individual survival and empowerment. Sa is the idea that the group is the most powerful form of human consciousness.

Our ancestors understood “Sa” as the foundation of all their nationbuilding activities. For a true Afrikan, it is a personal philsophy of  “I am because we are.”

Without Sa, there is only the illusion of progress.

-Lazarus

The Strength of the Linchpin

History is what happened to us in the past. Heritage is what, in the present, we understand about our history. Hope is what we give to the future based on what has happened in the past and what we understand about that experience.

[Consider the following analogy...] Between every car on a train there is a linchpin. The linchpin joins the front car to the one that is next behind. It is not the strength of the front car that pulls the back car.  It is the strength of the linchpin, which joins the first to the last.  Do you see?  Our history has been strong and deserves a future.  Our hope is great and needs a pull from the past.  History, however, does not touch Hope without Heritage.  History cannot touch Hope unless we stand as the linchpin, joining the past to the future.

Cathy Hughes

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I ask…

Do we truly feel the gravity of this responsibility?

Knowing that our ancestors had the foresight to consider many generations into the future, are our ancestors proud of our deeds or are they frowning at our inertia?  Just as we, the descendants of our ancestors, depended on them. It will be our descendants, who will look on us as their ancestors.  Can our descendants depend on us?

Makes me wonder… How will our generation will be looked upon 500, 1000 or even 2500 years from now?  Will they owe us an unpayable debt of gratitude?  Will they read their ourstory and find inspiration? ….

Begin with the End.

-Lazarus

What do you do for a living?

What I do “for a living” and what I do for a paycheck, I’ve found, are two different things.

A better question would be… “What must I do for a living?”

For a living … I must feed my mind and soul.  And then dispense that knowledge, love, and self-respect to my community.

I must be a doer, a nationbuilder, a maker of my people’s way, a perimeter defender of our most precious rescources (our children, our women, our elders), … A Warrior-Scholar, an Asafo Nyansafo, a Jegna, a Mwalimu.¹

Build your Afrikan resumé!
(Warriors Wanted – Unqualified candidates need not apply.)

 -Lazarus

¹Medase pa to Obadele Kambon and Mwalimu K. Bomani Baruti for these concepts.

I am we

There’s an old African saying, “I am we.”  If you met an Afrikan in ancient times and asked who he was he would reply, “I am we.”

Huey P. Newton
Revolutionary Suicide

What is your Purpose?

Life is an important function. It was given for the purpose of expression. The flower expresses itself through the beauty of its bloom. The vine expresses itself through its rambling search in settling its own peculiar nature. The tree expresses itself in its smiling green leaves, shaking branches and sometimes hanging fruit. The lark expresses itself in its laughter and song. The river expresses itself in its gentle meandering unto the sea and man expreses himself according to the idealistic visions of his nature. There is a scope for each life. Let yours find its scope and fully express itself.

Man should have a purpose and that purpose he should always keep in view, with the hope of achieving it in the fullest satisfaction to himself. Be not aimless, drifting and floating with the tide that doesn’t go your way. To find your purpose, you must search yourself and with the knowledge of what is good and what is bad, select your course, steering towards the particular object of your dream or desire.

Never enter upon life’s journey without a program. Simpleton as you may be, you can have a program. No ship ever reaches port without a positive destination beforehand, otherwise it will drift on the mighty ocean to be overtaken by the storm or the ill wind that blows. The sensible captain goes to sea with a chart to map out his course so as to reach his harbor of safety. Your program is your chart through life. Everything you do, do it by method. Nothing succeeds continuously or repeatedly by chance.

Marcus Mosiah Garvey
Message to the People: The Course of African Philosophy