Blessings Baba Ras Marcus,

This moving passage has always stood out to I. In my opinion it speaks to the critical relationship between father and son, and the critical role of marking a young man's transition into adulthood. It impresses me so that HIM was just thirteen at the time of his appointment as Dejazmatch. Do InI know if this is the norm for such titles or was this becasue of his father's failing health?

I sight it as particularly interesting because one of the greatest lackings in Western culture, in my opinion, is a manner of marking early adolescence with a rite of passage / period of transition that guides the youth into adulthood. Again and again I read about various indigenous cultures that had / have very specific ways of marking this delicate time in one's life and guiding the transition for the youth. In Western culture there is a glorification of youth and it seems that adolescence is treated as the "last hurrah" of childhood; instead of preparing the youth for adulthood they are expected to run wild and act out the loss of their "innocence".

The fact that his father gave HIM his own separate house to live in at this time is highly significant to I. To I it is not only in recognition of the title of Dejazmatch, but in order to provide HIM with the separate space necessary during this period of transition into adulthood. In social services (group homes etc) Black youth are so over-represented, I have often thought that it is at least in part due to the lack of rites of passage built in to this culture to enable them a separate space during this time. Many seem to use placement in this manner, as a way to "get away" from their families TEMPORARILY, in order to establish their man- or wombman-hood. It's as if they are forced to 'get into trouble' to achieve this natural need for space from their 'childhood lives'...

The manner in which HIM's father prepared him for what was to come, in my opinion, can not be underestimated in how it helped HIM to become a great leader.

I sight that the lesson for InI people is that the role of the father in a boy's life can not be overstated, and that InI youth need guidance and need to be expected to behave as responsible young men and wombmen during their adolescence. There need to be expectations of greatness, not just for ones and ones born into royalty and other such high status families. InI have to expect greatness from all of our youth in order for them to overstand what they can achieve and believe that they can become great African men and women.