Tools for Growth in Our Black Communities

By: Frank T. Scruggs

Although Community can mean a specific country, neighborhood, town or city for clarity's sake, use of the term Black Community in this article means the psycho-cultural or spiritual collective of African people throughout world.

The issues which should concern us as African Americans, as Black people are those of human rights and the effort to overcome and to grow beyond the devastating results of colonialism and effects of racism. Our survival as African peoples depends on us remaining vigilant and astute in seeking to construct a continuously healthy community. One that offers security, strength and well-being from this moment and to far points in our future. We must ensure that our national leaders and international organizations are responsible for securing our human rights which include but are not limited to protection from genocide in whatever form or shape; protection in actuality rather than merely reported news or academic studies.

Assuring a future for our children means freedom from modern enslavement and prostitution from those individuals and transnational crime organizations involved in human trafficking. Yes, many world communities of every hue are concerned with immigration and migration, food security and fresh water, economic security and cultural security. We know, as the world’s black community we now have the tools at hand to start securing the right to better lives and working through these concerns.

Our community is called on to continually better our ability to respond by obtaining the necessary education, job skills, training and other legitimate means to improve our own human capital. We are also well advised to come together as a community to practice the principle of Ujima, or collective work. This naturally evokes the responsibility to demonstrate that we need not fear being overtaken by corruption by adoption of Ujima guiding principles. Maulana Karenga has stated that, “Ujima, as a principle and practice, also means that we accept the fact that we are collectively responsible for our failures and setbacks as well as our victories and achievements such a commitment implies and encourages a vigorous capacity for self-criticism and self-correction.”

Another Afrocentric value that needs to be mentioned here is Ujamaa, or cooperative economics. Ujamaa stresses sharing wealth and working to achieve a measure of wealth that is evenly distributed. When Karenga discussed the principle of Ujamaa, he said; “[Ujamaa] grows out of the fundamental communal concept that social wealth belongs to the masses of the people who created it and that no one should have an unequal amount that it gives him/her the capacity to impose to impose unequal, exploitive or oppressive relations on others.” As we look forward towards a future in which African people will forever have a presence in the world necessitates that we as a Black community always be an active part of the equation within and outside of our own community. Sharing information with one another is a start. Interested in further exploration? Take a look at organizations such as the United Nations can offer to help us to better understand complex issues such as human rights issues. Examine the information they have posted at www.un.org . And also look at www.humanrights.com to examine the issue human rights. Modern slavery and human trafficking may be researched and explored at www.interpol.int.

The tools for growth for our Black community begin with understanding our issues and then seeking education of each of us individuals to examine all aspects important to building a healthy Black community; culturally, economically and politically. In this way the fruits of our efforts will always be felt collectively. Keep the conversation going and share your thoughts and comments with each other and me too…Contact me at frankt.scruggs@live.com