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African Unity American Style?
Posted By: Ayinde In Response To: Re: in closing (rasi)
Date: Saturday, 29 October 2005, at 9:11 a.m.
The African/Rastafari focus is not about rasi's context of Africans who are nationals of The United States of America (I am not saying this is definitely your position). It seems there are other discriminatory issues we will have to soon address in relation to attitudes from Africans who feel their U.S. situation and perspectives should be the dominant one (I am starting to feel this may have something to do with some hostility). It seems if issues do not fit your awareness then you are not interested in what other Black Africans think is valid (no problem there). But you go a step further and try to insult other Black Africans who present legitimate views for consideration. I have spelt out why Colorism is a valid issue to discuss. Eja and others feel the same way.
You have not proven how discussing Colorism, and evalutating situations with that in mind is "redundant, and to some degree dogmatic and divisive."
http://www.rastafarispeaks.com/cgi-bin/forum/config.pl?noframes;read=61515
Eja as well as a few others have their observations of Rastafarians that have merit. Instead of you taking time to examine these views, you seek to heap scorn on people who clearly are pro-Black African, and are presenting real situations for consideration. You seem to reserve your worst venom for people who are associated with this website and/or those who share our views on Black African issues.
Look, whatever you speculate about I or this website is up to you.
Here again you chose not to respond to the essence of my comments but instead proceeded to distract by trying to drag the website, which is a collective effort, into the debate. I am not debating that, so I will just state my points.
"w/ all due respect, this diatribe sounds a little tribalistic to me." That was a hostile response. This is how you promote 'unity'? It is evident that Eja put some thought into that post, and it was not casually posted. Eja does not come over anti-Black or deserving of such a dismissive and mean-spirited response. However you could very well feel that way.
The quote from Haile Selassie does not support the way you entered the debate; it does not support referring to Eja's comments as 'tribalistic diatribe'. In my view you intended to inflame. No big thing if that was your intention. You got the response.
What Eja wrote about could have been understood from reading this board over time and/or from interacting with some Rastafarians. Mentioning the different aspects of African culture that Rastafarians practice does not prove that many are making a conscious effort to learn and understand Africa in its widest dynamic. I have spent time with many Rastas who were ignorant of Africa in general. They were simply armed with many of Haile Selassie's quotations.
However, I know many Rastas who are above average in their awareness of Black African social issues and African history. One's perspective on Rastafarians would depend on the type of Rastafarians they are familiar with. On the Internet many who claim to be Rastafarians only dwell on the Amharic aspect of Ethiopia. They do not deal with broader Continental and Diasporan issues. Eja's generalization has merit when evaluated from different points of view.
Many did not understand how the Rastafari Movement incorporated many African traditions. People came to the movement with what they retained from our past. It is not as if the Rastafari Movement was designed by a group of people who were able to take into consideration the intricacies of social interactions all over Africa. It is a work in progress with no overall mortal leaders. I know we here are attempting to get all aspects of indigenous African culture to be taken into consideration.
I see much merit in Eja's entire post. Many aspects of it were debated on the board before you entered the thread. You skipped over the extended debate, ignoring many aspects of his post that were debated (on the Questions thread). You came on the thread when Colorism was being addressed. You and some others seem to have a problem whenever Colorism is mentioned. Whether you want to admit it or not, the impediments of Colorism are the reality that many Black Africans have to deal with on a daily basis. Therefore I consider your reaction to such debates as attempts to maintain divisions.
You said:
"If I did not take the time, to ask questions, read reason, observe then I could make many GENERAL assumptions about you/Rastafari Speaks based on the surface presentation, and I would be as wrong/ill-informed as i believe Eja to be in those generalities he posted in the thread in which you refer."YOU did not take time to ask questions and reason the points Eja raised before commenting with your inflammatory 'diatribe and tribalistic' comment. You are unable to discredit Colorism as an important issue to be addressed although you DISHONESTLY called it redundant. As far as I am concerned your general assumptions about I and this website remain wrong and ill-informed. I am not convinced otherwise, I don't need convincing otherwise, and I am not deliberately doing anything to convince you otherwise.
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