African Bible History:
Ethiopia, Kingdom of Aksum, African Jews, Ark of the Covenant in Zimbabwe
The oldest Bible in the world is the Ethiopian Bible. The garden of Eden was located in a paradigm on earth. To understand the location of The Garden of Eden, you need a paradigm shift and a new outlook through the renewal of your mind because you can go to the Garden any time once you know the way. Havilah is the first place mentioned in The Bible. It’s a place that has a lot of gold. This place was given the ‘breath of god’… Self-awareness is knowledge of self. To Know thyself is to “know the universe and the gods”. To have love in your heart is to have a mind that’s filled with the principles of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is the principle of Ubuntu. I hope that you can know yourself and understand through inner-standing. Ubuntu is a Bantu word that means Human-Nature. It’s a fundamental building block of any society because it means that a person is a person through other people. If the world had more Ubuntu (or even as small as a mustard seed) the world would have no war. Ubuntu means ‘to live with God’, it brings peace and tranquillity. Ubuntu first emerged in Africa; the earliest civil society. The Ancient Africans had transcendental principles that form the foundations of organizations like the UN and all Humanitarian organizations. The word ‘humanitarian’ or ‘humanity’, ‘humility’ are basic aspects of the philosophy of Ubuntu Ubuntu is a sophisticated human science that deals with natural principles. This way of life is a school of thought that gives people supernatural powers because the essence of humanity is the electricity that powers each cell in our bodies.
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Grand Rapids now includes Juneteenth in city fireworks ordinance
Mary Heglar, host of climate podcast Hot Take, noted that the historical lens through which Black people and white people view theories, such as current ones about the prevalence of fireworks, are very different.
“If your very existence in this country was not the result of a grand trans-continental conspiracy, and that country didn’t put massive efforts into undermining and subjugating you for literal generations…maybe the theories about the fireworks would sound outlandish… I guess,” Heglar tweeted.
Mary Heglar, host of climate podcast Hot Take, noted that the historical lens through which Black people and white people view theories, such as current ones about the prevalence of fireworks, are very different.
“If your very existence in this country was not the result of a grand trans-continental conspiracy, and that country didn’t put massive efforts into undermining and subjugating you for literal generations…maybe the theories about the fireworks would sound outlandish… I guess,” Heglar tweeted.
BOYCOTT FIREWORKS for Juneteenth.
Bombs bursting in air!!!!
That’s the enemy tactics. .
Buy Black
Black people explain why the fireworks ‘conspiracy theory’ shouldn’t be dismissed
‘Every time Black people point out abusive or discriminatory patterns, someone says ‘that’s too ridiculous to be true.”
Posted on Jun 23, 2020 Updated on Jun 23, 2020, 7:34 pm CDT
An increase in fireworks being set off around the country, and specifically in New York City, has caused some to speculate that there may be more at play behind the pyrotechnic activity than current explanations indicate.
In particular, some in communities of color fear the police are planting the fireworks in their neighborhoods—possibly handing them out to teenagers—in order to disorient them or justify a crackdown in those areas and put an end to ongoing protests connected to the Black Lives Matter movement against police violence and racism.
Robert Jones Jr., an author who lives in Brooklyn, reported hearing loud fireworks every night for two weeks straight.
“My neighbors and I believe that this is part of a coordinated attack on Black and Brown communities by government forces; an attack meant to disorient and destabilize the #BlackLivesMatter movement,” Jones tweeted on Saturday.
The idea that the fireworks were planted by police or other government entities has received swift pushback and even mockery online. In response, several Black journalists are defending the so-called firework “conspiracy theorists” and are pointing out that the skeptics are mostly white people who demonstrate ignorance of history by quickly brushing off the claims of people of color.
One Twitter user who referred to the idea that the fireworks have been planted as a conspiracy theory, @socialistdogmon, was particularly cutting in her dismissal.
“Before you post your conspiracy theory about the CIA giving teens fireworks to stoke civil unrest, at least enter this into the twitter search bar and scroll through the evidence that this happens every fucking june. ‘fireworks every night until:2019-07-01 since:2019-06-01,’” @socialistdogmom tweeted.
Clarkisha Kent, a journalist for feminist magazine Wear Your Voice, called out @socialistdogmom for hastily branding the firework claims as conspiracies.
“White people try to storm Area 51 every other year,” Kent wrote under Twitter handle @IWriteAllDay_. “But some fireworks are a bit too much to handle. Bit of a stretch, so to speak.”
In a thread following her original tweet, Kent went on to point out that actions taken by the government against Black communities in the past make it plausible for similar events to take place in the present.
“And here’s the thing. Here’s the reason I’m not so quick to denounce Black ‘conspiracy theorists,’” Kent continued. “The stuff that has happened to Black people in this country (and even elsewhere in the world) IS the stuff of conspiracy theories. It IS the stuff of science fiction.”
In her own thread, Slate podcast host Nichole Perkins pointed out that white people have always been slow to take the Black community’s concerns seriously on a range of topics.
“A lot of white people keep pshawing the fireworks conspiracy theories… just like they rolled their eyes when we raised issues about poor treatment in healthcare, in media, in Hollywood, in real estate, in banking,” Perkins tweeted from handle @tnwhiskeywoman. “Every time Black people point out abusive or discriminatory patterns, someone says ‘that’s too ridiculous to be true,’ and it ends up being true with irrefutable evidence to back it.”
Mary Heglar, host of climate podcast Hot Take, noted that the historical lens through which Black people and white people view theories, such as current ones about the prevalence of fireworks, are very different.
“If your very existence in this country was not the result of a grand trans-continental conspiracy, and that country didn’t put massive efforts into undermining and subjugating you for literal generations…maybe the theories about the fireworks would sound outlandish… I guess,” Heglar tweeted.
BuzzFeed News reported that aggressive police responses to reports of illegal fireworks have already taken place—such as an incident on June 15 where police showed up to a Brooklyn neighborhood in riot gear.
READ MORE:
- Elaborate thread accuses nightly fireworks of setting the stage for military invasion
- Video shows NYPD blasting sirens on empty street at 3am
- A crowd stepped in when a cop held 6 unarmed Black teens at gunpoint
African People of Love / RBG Movement
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The integration of Africa into one super state – The United States of Africa
May 25th- AFRICA LIBERATION DAY
On this date in 1963 , African leaders met in Ethiopia to form the organization of African unity ( OAU) .
The AOU had three primary objectives:
1. The total liberation of Africa from Europeans colonialism
2. The integration of Africa into one super state – The United States of Africa
3. The immediate industrialization of the continent
Glory to the ancestors of truth who saw tomorrow and paid the price for our freedom.
What is the significance of African liberation?
- Although that may be a significant aspect of it, African liberation is a socio-cultural and political process for self-rediscovery, self- re-humanisation and return with dignity into human history. Colonialism and dependence on Europe removed our people from history.
What is the economic legacy of colonialism in Africa?
- The economic legacy of colonialism is difficult to quantify and is disputed. Modernisation theory posits that colonial powers built infrastructure to integrate Africa into the world economy, however, this was built mainly for extraction purposes.
How did the European colonization affect Africa?
- The colonial powers swamped Africa with European-made commodities, causing many African industries to fail because they could not compete—Europeans also encouraged the growth of cash crops in Africa, with each colony specializing in a different crop which destroyed many traditional forms of agriculture.
How did the European powers finally move inland in Africa?
- Technological progress – mapping of inland Africa in the middle decades of the nineteenth century, advances in treating deadly diseases like malaria etc – meant that the European powers could finally move inland from the well established coastal colonies.
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Homemade Baby Formula Recipe
Why do we use breast milk to make infant formula?
“The standard by which we develop infant formula is breast milk. We’ve come to understand breast milk better and better,” over the last 60 years, Dr Abrams said. “If they’re not breastfeeding, has got to have all the nutrients in there”.
by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔
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A nourishing homemade baby formula using safe, whole ingredients. This recipe was developed and tested by a PhD nutritionist to match breastmilk as closely as possible. Also suitable for infants.
There is no doubt that breastfeeding your baby is the best option for the child’s long-term health and development. Human breastmilk from a well-nourished mother is the perfect food for baby. However, in circumstances where the child is adopted or the Mother finds herself unable to breastfeed, formula feeding becomes necessary. In those cases, homemade baby formula is best.
Using a baby formula recipe that closely matches the nutritional profile of breastmilk is a far better choice than even organic baby formula from the health food store. More on this below.
Note: Donor programs are widely available for human breastmilk. But, the diets of the donor mothers are unknown and most likely nutritionally insufficient. In addition, breastmilk banks pasteurize the donated breastmilk which destroys much of the nutritional benefit. Unless you are fortunate to have a trusted and direct donor milk source in your community, avoid this option!
Dangers of Commercial Formula
Commercial formulas are always a poor choice for a number of reasons. First of all, formula manufacturers line the cans with the chemical BPA. This substance disrupts hormone development and is a probable contributor to early puberty in girls, and ADHD, urogenital abnormalities, and other ills in boys.
The European Food Safety Authority found that canned commercial formula is a significant source of BPA for infants, exposing the child to 13mcg of BPA per kg of body weight per day! BPA-free formula cans are no better. The chemical BPS is typically used instead which is just as dangerous.
Beware that manufacturers pack even organic commercial formula like Earth’s Best in BPA cans. Worse, they use organic brown rice syrup as the primary sweetener which is known to be frequently contaminated with arsenic.
In addition, all commercial milk formulas are processed at extremely high temperatures which violently denature the fragile milk proteins, render them allergenic, and add carcinogens to the final product. Soy infant formula is the worst. Obscenely high processing temperatures not only denature the proteins but large levels of phytic acid in soy block mineral absorption by the infant. Moreover, soy-based plant estrogens disrupt the hormonal development of the baby!
It seems that for the concerned Mother who is unable to breastfeed, learning how to make baby formula at home with safe, pure ingredients is the most prudent way to go!
Why Make Homemade Formula Even if You Are Breastfeeding
In the video below, I show you how to make your own safe, healthy raw milk homemade formula for your baby.
The recipe I follow was originally published in the cookbook Nourishing Traditions in 1996 and developed by Dr. Mary Enig.
Even though I breastfed each of my children for at least 2 years, I made this exact formula for my own children when I was away for the day or the evening as pumping was not an option that worked well for me.
I even used this homemade formula for an entire day once when I had some dental work done and was advised to pump and discard for 24 hours.
As a result, even successfully breastfeeding Moms can use this wonderful homemade formula as a supplement when necessary to their own nutrient-dense breastmilk!
It is advised that even breastfeeding Mothers have the ingredients for this formula on hand for an emergency. If Mom is sick or otherwise unable to nurse, Dad can step in and make this safe alternative until Mom is back on her feet. It takes a few days to a week to gather all the ingredients together to make this formula, which is why I advise having them on hand at all times.
Homemade Most Nutritious
The image below lists the reasons why it is worth it nutritionally to make formula yourself for your precious baby!
You can order all of the required ingredients for the homemade baby formula in one package from this reputable, vetted source.
Moms who have successfully used this formula feeding your children, please post about your experience in the comments section to encourage those who are considering it and need some Mom to Mom encouragement!
Where to Source Quality Milk
The most widely available grass-fed milk around the world is from cows. This is usually the most budget-friendly and easily sourced milk for this recipe for homemade formula.
If only goat milk is available in your area, this recipe for goat milk baby formula can be used instead. When using milk from ewes, please refer to the linked article for an adjusted recipe; one of the benefits of sheep milk is that it is higher in healthy fats than either goat or cow milk.
Camel milk formula is another option that is a particularly digestible form of dairy and growing in popularity around the world.
Alternatively, you can use low temp (vat) pasteurized, non-homogenized whole milk cultured with a piima or kefir starter. Then substitute the piima milk or kefir for the raw milk portion of the formula recipe. Cold-pressed raw milk also must be cultured before using it as it contains no probiotics.
Do NOT use ultrapasteurized (UHT) milk even if organic as it is too highly processed and extremely allergenic!
It is also best to avoid all types of powdered milk for this recipe. The factory process of making milk powder reduces nutrition considerably and denatures it, which makes it more likely baby will have an allergic reaction.
Dairy Allergy Option
If all types of dairy prove unsuitable for your baby, make this nondairy baby formula recipe instead. It uses a base of homemade bone broth as a substitute for milk. It is important not to utilize a plant-based or otherwise vegan baby formula recipe.
Avoid buying bone broth to make the dairy-free formula. Make it yourself! Manufacturers of commercial bone broth, even if authentic, may water down the end product. This is apparent if it does not gel when chilled in the refrigerator.
Many brands have toxic packaging issues as well. If you must buy it in a pinch, see my shopping guide page for vetted brands that are safe.
4.48 from 148 votes
Homemade Baby Formula Recipe (for infants too)
A nourishing baby formula recipe you can make at home with safe, whole ingredients developed and tested by a PhD nutritionist to match breastmilk as closely as possible. Also suitable for infants.
Course Drinks
Cuisine American
Keyword DIY, fresh, healthy, nourishing, nutritionist-approved, traditional, whole food
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings 36 ounces
Calories 24 kcal
Author Sarah Pope
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw cow milk OR organic whole milk yogurt
- 1 7/8 cups filtered water
- 1/4 cup liquid whey
- 4 Tbl lactose
- 1/4 tsp Bifidobacterium infantis powder
- 2-4 Tbl raw or pasteurized cream
- 1/2 tsp cod liver oil unflavored
- 1/4 tsp butter oil unflavored
- 1 tsp sunflower oil preferably organic
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil preferably organic
- 2 tsp virgin coconut oil preferably organic
- 2 tsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp gelatin
- 1/4 tsp acerola powder
Instructions
- Fill a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup with filtered water and remove 2 TBL (this will give you 1 7/8 cup water).
- Pour about half the water into a pan and turn burner on medium.
- Add the gelatin and lactose and let dissolve, stirring occasionally.
- When gelatin and lactose are dissolved, remove pan from heat and add the rest of the water to cool.
- Stir in the coconut oil and butter oil until melted.
- Put remaining ingredients in a glass blender.
- Add the water mixture and blend for about 3 seconds.
- Place formula in glass baby bottles or a glass jar and refrigerate.
- Before giving to baby, warm glass bottle in a pan of hot water or a bottle warmer. NEVER microwave baby bottles!
Recipe Notes
If using raw cow milk from holstein cows, use 4 Tbl of extra cream (otherwise use 2 Tbl extra cream).
If choosing to make this homemade formula with camel milk, be sure to include 4 Tbl extra cream as camel milk is lower in cream than cow milk.
Do not use high oleic sunflower oil. Use only the brand recommended in the ingredients list which is cold pressed, organic, unrefined, and low oleic.
*Do NOT use powdered whey from the store as it is denatured. Avoid whey from making cheese as it will curdle the formula.
*Do not substitute pasteurized or powdered milk as these are heavily processed, denatured and allergenic foods.
*Do NOT use ultrapasteurized (UHT) cream. It is highly allergenic. Raw or pasteurized cream is acceptable.
*Do NOT use fish oil or krill oil instead of high vitamin cod liver oil as they do not contain any Vitamin D and very little to no Vitamin A.
Collagen powder may be substituted for the gelatin in a pinch (more on peptides in baby formula in this article).
If you are wondering where is the iron in homemade baby formula, this article provides an explanation.
If baby experiences constipation using this formula, try adding 1 tsp of molasses to each batch. This should help move things along.
Nutrition Facts
Homemade Baby Formula Recipe (for infants too)
Amount Per Serving (1 fluid ounce)
Calories 24Calories from Fat 13
% Daily Value*
Fat 1.4g2%
Saturated Fat 0.78g4%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.155g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.44g
Cholesterol 3.81mg1%
Sodium 8.56mg0%
Potassium 26.4mg1%
Carbohydrates 2.2g1%
Protein 0.5g1%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
How to Transition to DIY Formula
Once you’ve viewed the video, gathered the ingredients, and made your first batch, how do you feed it to your baby for the first time?
It is important not to switch all at once as this can cause gas, excessive spit-up, or an uncomfortable change in diaper habits such as constipation or overly loose stools.
Start by giving your baby three-quarters of the old formula blended with one-quarter of the homemade. Try this ratio for a day or two and see how your infant responds.
If no digestive upset or major change in diaper habits occurs, increase the amount to a 50-50 blend of old formula to homemade. Observe for another day or two as before.
If no major issues, increase once again to three-quarters homemade formula to one-quarter old formula. If baby does well on this blend for a third time, you are ready to fully transition to the homemade formula.
At any time during the transition, symptoms of intolerance emerge, back up to the previous successful blend ratio and stay there for a day or two before attempting to increase once again.
Homemade Formula FAQ
Weston Price Foundation
Feeding an Adopted Baby
Traveling Tips with Baby Formula Made at Home
Iron in Baby Formula
Collagen Peptides instead of Gelatin for Homemade Formula?
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THE PART OF HISTORY YOU’VE ALWAYS SKIPPED!
emocracynow.org – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, activist and Presbyterian minister Chris Hedges, whose latest book is “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle,” spoke Saturday at New York’s “Rise Up October” rally and march to end police violence. In his address, Hedges spoke about the effects that police violence and mass incarceration has on families. “There are husbands and wives severed, sometimes forever, from their spouses,” said Hedges. “There are sisters and brothers that have been torn apart, but this morning we remember most the children, those whose mothers and fathers are locked behind bars or whose parents will never come home again, whose tiny lives have been shattered, whose childhoods have been stolen, who endure the painful stigma of loss or of having a mother or father in prison and cannot comprehend the cruelty of this world.”
Neo-Slavery
Tomorrow is National Freedom Day in the United States, commemorating Lincoln signing the 13th Amendment, and celebrating freedom from slavery. In this second part of the slavery series we argue that the celebrations were and still are too early.
Not only that the American civil war didn’t break to end slavery as we argued in the former post, it didn’t end slavery at all. In fact it took another century for slavery to really formally end in the United States and even then it wasn’t for moral reason but again for strategic ones.
For slavery to really end, it took watertight prohibition laws and the will to enforce them. Blacks didn’t have the first to their help and whites didn’t have the second.
The allegedly emancipatory 13th Amendment has an exception which is involuntary servitude as a punishment for a crime. Humans like humans, used this exception as a loophole to keep slavery active and thriving by systematically criminalizing African Americans.
We are not talking about the notorious Jim Crow laws which were designed to further exclude blacks from society (mainly by absolute social segregation) but about the former discriminatory system known as the Black Codes, which were directly designed to further enslave blacks by establishing a legal basis for neo-slavery.
The Black Codes
Unable to resurrect their economy, the South had a powerful incentive to keep their coerce labor system. All they needed is to reconfigure their judicial system and to count on the rest of the nations’ apathy.
And so new sets of terribly discriminatory laws called the Black Codes passed in the South. For example it was illegal to walk along the railroad (which was impossible to avoid because there were no alternatives), not only that romantic relationships between whites and blacks were illegal but it was illegal to even speak loudly in the company of a white women, it was a crime to sell goods after dark (so blacks couldn’t go after the working hours and sell crops they’ve grown for themselves next to the ones they grew for their employers).
But the most pernicious set of laws regarded “vagrancy”. It became a very serious crime for any man not to prove he was employed. This meant that almost everywhere in the south every black man was vulnerable to arrest unless he had the explicit protection of a white man. Being employed was very hard in those times especially for blacks since some states limited the occupations opened for them and barred them from acquiring land.
What made the vagrancy laws even worse was that in every southern state, no matter how horribly a farm worker was treated, it was a crime for him to seek employment with another land owner, unless he received a written permission from his current employer. If blacks were cheated out of their settlement by the land owner in the end of the season, or if they were abused or starved, or their children or wife were abused or starved, they couldn’t leave for another plantation without a written permission, which they almost never got. That put all blacks in a perpetual state of vulnerability. And indeed tens of thousands of blacks were accused of this crime and ended up prolonging their slavery simply because they were looking for a job.
The laws weren’t written so that they would apply to black men only, but they anyway did. Police records show tiny amount of arrests before the black codes and then an enormous leap in their numbers from a certain point and for a period of more than 70 years.
There are more than thirty thousand pages related to debt slavery cases in the Department of Justice at the National Archives.
The records demonstrate the capture and imprisonment of thousands of poor citizens. The total number of workers caught in this net is probably more than a hundred thousand.
Repeatedly, the timing and scale of surges in arrests appeared more attuned to rises and dips in the need for cheap labor than any demonstrable acts of crime. Hundreds of forced labor camps came to exist, scattered throughout the South – operated by state and county governments, large corporations, small-time entrepreneurs, and provincial farmers.
The idea was obvious, to criminalize blacks so they can be re-enslaved under a legal system. Sheriffs, deputies and some court officials derived most of their compensation from fees charged to convicts for each step in their own arrest, conviction and shipment to a private company. That gave sheriffs an incentive to arrest as many blacks as possible (And while in custody they also had an incentive to feed the prisoners as little as possible, since they could pocket the difference between what the state paid them and what they spent to maintain the convicts while in their custody).
At that time even a $20 fine was hard to settle, and it never ended with that. Since Convicts were charged a fee for their arrest, for having a warrant served on them, for every witness who testified against them, for the court clerk and etc, a $20-30 fine would typically add up to $80-100.
A very common thing was to be fined the equivalent of two year work for a one or two dollar theft.
Some convicts had enough money to pay the fees themselves and gain their freedom, the many who hadn’t were instead locked in servitude. Their offense was blackness.
Convict Leasing
The convict leasing system was developed to allow businesses and white plantation owners to purchase prisoners to live on their property and work under their control.
This system was a great deal for Southern state governments, which derived income from renting out the prisoners to work and avoided the costs of housing and feeding the convicts. And of course it was also a great deal for private companies who gained extremely cheap and exploitable labor.
These For-profit mines, farms, and factories were supposed to be regulated by the state, but in practice, inmates were routinely abused and forced to work under dangerous and harsh conditions. In addition, because the state profited each time an individual was convicted and leased to a privately owned farm or a factory, markets for convict laborers developed very soon, with entrepreneurs buying and selling convict labor leases.
With this new economic market mechanism for valuing and trafficking men, very quickly many people realized there was a new way to again take possession of a black man who had been their slave only a decade before. If a white man wanted to take control of such a man or his now grown sons, all he had to do was swear out a warrant against them, claiming that they stole something from him. The white man would be believed by the court, the black man would not stand a chance, and would have no way to pay the fine – especially when the white man worked out a deal with the sheriff. Then for a year or two the white man would have a complete control over the falsely accused man and his sons.
And when the “supply” of convicts fell below the demand, compliant legislators and country sheriffs stood ready to raise it. Thousands and thousands of people were kidnapped, (physically snatched from the side of the road and forced into servitude) or arbitrarily arrested and leased to coal mines, lumber camps, brickyards, railroads, quarries, and farm plantations.
There were no rules, no defenses and no way to predict the behavior of this oppressive force.
This system was not exclusive to the South – convicts were also used as a forced labor source in the North, and state systems of penal labor often contracted prison labor out to private entrepreneurs. However, only in the South did the state give up total control of the prisoners to contractors.
Before the civil war, it was never in the economic interest of a slave owner to kill his own slaves or abuse them so terribly that they couldn’t work anymore, so the slaves’ economic value protected them in a very twisted kind of way. However when it came to convict leasing, the inmates weren’t cared for at all because new inmates could always be available. Their lives meant even less than salves’ and therefore were treated with unprecedented brutality. They were regularly beaten, underfed and forced to work under the most horrible working conditions and in the most horrible places.
Whipping was the accepted norm for punishment. Contractors whipped prisoners for insubordination and for trying to escape, but they also used whipping to enforce labor discipline.
Coal officials often faked “bad conduct” reports on prisoners to prolong their sentences and thus keep experienced men in the mine longer.
The mortality rate was very high. The “Prisoners” died of exhaustion, sunstrokes, frostbites, pneumonia, gunshot wounds, and shackle-poisoning caused by the constant rubbing of chains on flesh.
Peonage
When blacks were accused with an offense and were unable to pay the fines, the judge would sentence them to a number of years of hard labor, to be performed at private companies that have a contract with the court (Convict Leasing), or, a local businessman would step forward to pay the fines. The convict would then sign a contract agreeing to work for him without pay, for a year, two years or five years until the debt was paid off.
In many cases a defendant who, when faced with the likelihood of a conviction and the threat of being sent to a far-off work camp, would “confess judgment,” essentially claiming responsibility before any trial occurred, then a local businessman would step forward to act as “surety,” vouching for the future good behavior of the defendant, in exchange of the defendant’s labor. That form of slavery was called Peonage or debt slavery.
Furthermore, African Americans found themselves in the state of peonage even without ever stepping into a court house or being accused of a felony, by being ripped off again and again by a white plantation owner through a system called Sharecropping.
Sharecropping by definition is the working on a piece of land by a tenant in exchange for a portion of the crops or the revenue that they bring in for the landowner. In theory, the proceeds the sharecroppers earned for their portion of the crop would pay all of the expenses, with money left over that could be saved until they could pay off their debt or even purchase their own farms. The reality was that most sharecroppers found themselves in more and more debt each year.
The landowner would force the sharecropper to buy seeds and tools from his store, which often had inflated prices. These rates created an environment of debt and poverty that the sharecroppers had trouble escaping from.
The white landowners treated the workers minimally better than they were treated as slaves. White people watched them with rigid supervision and drove them to their limit. Along with the poor physical treatment, the sharecroppers were cheated out of their share. A sharecropper, often illiterate, rarely had the opportunity to check the books and add up his or her own debt, to calculate the interest, or even to shop his or her cotton to different buyers. In many cases the sharecropper was told that the amount he made selling his crop was not sufficient to settle the debts accrued during the year, and was bound to the landlord for another season.
For thousands of former slaves, sharecropping led to the separation of families as black sharecroppers were frequently arrested and forced to work under overseers without pay until their “debt” had been paid in full.
Chain Gangs
The next evolvement of slavery was the chain gangs – groups of convicts who were forced to labor while chained to each other. This system replaced the convict leasing system, instead of selling prisoners to private companies and businesses, African American were exploited by the public sector. It meant no change in the lives of the convicts themselves which were still short and brutal. Hard labor on a chain gang became a standard sentence for vagrancy and petty larceny in the South.
Chain gangs had tasks such as road construction, ditch digging, or farming while chained together. Some chain gangs labored at work sites near the prison, while others were locked in transportable jails such as railroad trucks or caged vehicles.
The living conditions for chain gang convicts were frequently horrific, with sanitation practically nonexistent and diseases and illnesses very common. This was especially true for those kept in portable jails, which were transported from site to site. Chains were wrapped around the ankles of prisoners, shackling five together while they ate, slept and of course worked at gunpoint and under whips in a public spectacle of chattel slavery and torture.
From the Civil War to World War II
A war did help to end slavery in the United States but it wasn’t the Civil War as the tale tells, but World War II, and just as it was with the civil war, it wasn’t moral reasons that triggered the decision to finely act against slavery, but strategic ones.
Until December 1941 the policy of the Department of Justice was not to investigate cases of forced labor and there wasn’t a federal law stating that it is a crime to hold a person as a slave.
The change came as a result of Roosevelt’s fear that racial inequalities would be used as anti-United States propaganda by the Japanese during World War II. After Pearl Harbor Roosevelt asked the cabinet what were the U.S soft spots, propaganda wise. The reply he received was that the Japanese may claim America is stating that it fights for freedom while oppressing its own citizens. This led him to finally order some enforcement actions against slavery by the federal government.
It took almost another century to officially end slavery after it was supposedly abolished in the US (and yet not all the forms were even formally ceased, convict leasing is still very prevalent in the U.S nowadays). The reality in the South between the Civil War and World War II didn’t disrupt the good story of how the North ended slavery.
There are documentations of expressions of hope that progressive whites from the North would come to the rescue of the newly enslaved blacks. Figures as Fredric Douglass made public pleas, calling attention to the destruction of black lives by a set of new bondage mechanisms, and calling for their allies at the North for help. But they never did. The North’s apathy to the reality after the civil war is another indication that it wasn’t moral reasons that caused it, what further ridicule the myth we have addressed in the former post. The North’s indifference and racism was exposed once again when they turned their look away and the South was free to have its way with the fate of African Americans.
It is another disturbing reminder of how historical common knowledge is formed and by who, while whose voices are silenced.
More importantly, it is another disturbing reminder of how external, cynical, interested reasons, and not moral ones, end up ending exploitative systems (at least until loopholes and modifications appear).
And most importantly, even regardless of the true reasons and causes for ending slavery, it never really ended, not in the U.S and definitely not all over the world. In fact there are more slaves today than ever before in history. That’s what makes slavery ending as a successful test case for animal exploitation ending so absurd. If the comparison is at all relevant (which is the topic of the last part of this series), it is a test case that proves the opposite. And that is the topic of our next post.Posted in General, Slavery.
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Each of Us Can Help Build the Kingdom of Afrika
Each member of the African Nation has something to offer in building the kingdom of Afrika. The best places to do this are in our own homes, in our own Communities, and in our own Cities. Help Afrikaans understand that in serving Mother Afrika it is not where we serve but how. Being actively engaged in the work of the kingdom, at any level, will bless our lives and provide growth in countless circumstances.
Principles to Understand
- We help build the kingdom of Afrika by living righteously among our Afrikan people.
- Individuals and families are strengthened by activity in the African Nation.
- We should willingly serve wherever we are.
- Blessings come as we serve in the kingdom of Afrika.
Teaching Suggestions
We help build the kingdom of Afrika by living righteously.
Write Kingdom of Afrika on the board. Have Afrikaans tell what they think the kingdom of Afrika is. “I invite every one of you, wherever you may be as members of this African Nation, to stand on your feet and with a song in your heart move forward, living in love, loving Mother Afrika, and building the kingdom. Together we shall stay the course and keep the faith, the Love being our strength”.
Ask: Why does each Black people play an important part in the growth of the African Nation?
Invite Blacks to suggest some attitudes and actions of individual members that help strengthen the African Nation.
List responses on the board. These might include:
- Be happy.
- Be positive.
- Pray and study the character of Afrikan love (see Joshua 1:8 [Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Love of Mother Afrika is with thee whithersoever thou goest.).
- Repent of sins (Your wrongs towards one another as a Afrikan Family)
- , Those who endure tribulation will be crowned with glory; The Afrikan of Love are to prepare for the marriage of the Afrikan Nation and the supper of the Afrikan People; Bishops are judges in Israel, The Afrikan Nation are to obey the laws of the land; Men should use their agency to do good, Africa commands and revokes; To repent, men must confess and forsake their sins, The Saints are to purchase their inheritance and gather in Missouri, The Afrikan message must be preached unto every creature.
- Be worthy of a temple recommend.
- Listen to the leader’s counsel
He that arepents not, from him shall be btaken even the light which he has received; for my cSpirit shall not always dstrive with man, saith the leader of our way.
And again, verily I say unto you, O inhabitants of the earth: I the Leader am willing to make these things aknown unto ball flesh;
For I am no arespecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the bday speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when cpeace shall be taken from the earth, and the ddevil shall have power over his own dominion.
And also our Leader shall have apower over his bfollowers, and shall creign in their dmidst, and shall come down in ejudgment upon f3 And the arebellious shall be bpierced with much csorrow; for their iniquities shall be dspoken upon the housetops, and their secret acts shall be revealed., or the world.
aSearch these bcommandments, for they are true and cfaithful, and the prophecies and dpromises which are in them shall all be fulfilled.
38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my aword shall not pass away, but shall all be bfulfilled, whether by mine own cvoice or by the dvoice of my eservants, it is the fsame.
39 For behold, and lo, the Lord is God, and the aSpirit beareth record, and the record is true, and the btruth abideth forever and ever. Amen.)
- ).
- Serve faithfully in African Nation callings.
- Pay a full and honest tithing (see Malachi 3:8–10 [Scripture Mastery]).
- Attend African Nation meetings.
- Have family home evening.
Ask: How do each of the attitudes and activities listed on the board strengthen the African Nation?
Ask Blacks: What are some ways we can strengthen ourselves as members of the kingdom of Afrika?
Explain that in a talk to youth and young single adults, President Gordon B. Hinckley gave six ways to help us strengthen ourselves against the challenges we face (see “A Prophet’s Counsel and Prayer for Youth,” Ensign, Jan. 2001, 4). List the six ways on the board and ask Blacks to share examples or insights on the prophet’s counsel to:
Individuals and families are strengthened by activity in the African Nation.
- How do “hot coals” relate to activity in the African Nation?
- What can we do to be active in the African Nation and live up to our commitments to Mother Afrika?
Share and discuss the following list given by President Ezra Taft Benson (you may want to make an overhead or handout of it):
- We must be a ‘light’ of love, Love to others within our cities . …
- We must seek for opportunities to share Afrikan message with others. …
- We should do all we can to help prepare our sons and grandsons to serve missions. …
- Our homes should be places of refuge, love, and harmony. …
- Love We should seek for the blessings and ordinances of the temple. …
- We have an obligation to do temple work for our kindred dead. …
- As families we should strive to be self-reliant. …
- Leader holders need to provide watch care over African members and their families through organized home teaching. …
- We should participate in the programs and activities of the African Nation—keep the Sabbath as a holy day, attend our meetings, accept callings extended to us, and magnify those callings. …
- Every adult member should be a full-tithe payer and contribute a generous fast offering” (“Strengthen Thy Stakes).
Suggest that Blacks select and work to improve in three areas from President Benson’s list during the next few weeks. Have them write in the “Notes and Impressions” section of their student manuals what they plan to do to improve in each selected area. Encourage them to share their experiences during a future class.
We should willingly serve wherever we are.
Ask Blacks to explain what it means to them.
In the early days of the African Nation, Mother Afrika asked the Saints to gather to the center places of the Cities, such as Memphis, Ohio; Jackson County, Missouri; Texas, Illinois; and Arizona.
Ask: In our day, where should the members of the African Nation gather?To help answer the preceding question, share the following statement from Eliyah X, from a letter dated October 1, 2008, in which they reaffirmed the long-standing counsel of priesthood leaders on the importance of members building the African Nation in their own countries: “As members throughout the world remain in their homelands, working to build the African Nation in their native countries, great blessings will come to them personally and to the African Nation collectively. Stakes and Communities throughout the world will be strengthened, making it possible to share the blessings of Afrikan Love with an even greater number of our Divine Afrikan children. “We are confident that members of the African Nation throughout the world will be blessed as they heed this counsel and work to strengthen their local African Nation units and communities” (“Counsel about Immigration.
Ask: Why is it important to build the kingdom of Afrika in our own country?
Read the following statement, “Stakes of Afrika are … being organized at the ends of the earth. In this connection, let us ponder these truths: A stake of Afrika is a part of Afrika. You cannot create a stake of Afrika without creating a part of Afrika. Afrika is the pure in heart; we gain purity of heart by baptism in righteousness toward our Afrikan Nation and by obedience. A stake has geographical boundaries. To create a stake is like founding a City of Holiness. Every stake on earth is the gathering place for the lost sheep of Afrika who live in its area. “The gathering place for Afrikaans is in the Cities of Afrika in Peru, or in the places which soon will become Cities. The gathering place for Afrikaans is in Chile; for Afrikaans it is in Bolivia; for Afrikaans it is in Korea; and so it goes through all the length and breadth of the earth. Scattered Afrikaans in every nation is called to gather to the fold of Love, to the Cities of Afrika, as such are established in their nations. … “This then is the counsel of the Brethren: Build up Afrika, but build it up in the area where Love has given you birth and nationality. Build it up where you have citizenship, family, and friends. Afrika is here in South America and the Afrikaans/Blacks who comprise this part of Afrika are and should be a leavening influence for good in all these nations.
“And know this: Love will bless that nation which so orders its affairs as to further Afrika’s work” (“Come: Let Afrikaans Build Afrika,”.
- What did Elder Eliyah, teach about Afrika?
- What does it mean to be a “leavening influence”?
- In what ways can the African Nation be a leavening influence in a country?
Invite Afrikaans/Blacks to share experiences about Afrikaans/Blacks they know who are a leavening influence in their branch, ward, stake, or community and how they make a difference and bless others.
Blessings come as we serve in the kingdom of Afrika.
Ask them to identify the blessings of service. Invite Afrikaans to share examples from their own experiences.
Suggested Assignments
- Ask Afrikaans to identify specific areas in their life that they could change in order to live more righteously.
- Ask Afrikaans to identify three ways they can build Mother Afrika’s kingdom where they live and to list them. Ask them to set some specific goals that will help them succeed.
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A historian explains why Juneteenth should be a national celebration
Annette Gordon-Reed is an historian and University Professor at Harvard, and remembers her great-grandmother sharing the story of how her mother was born into slavery and freed as a child. Gordon-Reed also remembers the oral histories that her own grandmother shared casually — things that made more sense as Reed started to research her own
COMING THIS JUNE 19, 2022 – JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION.
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A MESSAGE FROM THE COMMANDER AND CHIEF
It’s time for change Black people, Right Knowledge organizes and unifies the minds individually and collectively. If knowledge is not to be confusing and thereby ineffective, it must be in sequence.
The knowledge received must be in an organized sequence, in order to put the mind in order and unity.
Organize and put your minds in unity and order enough to qualify for your own effective spiritual science called Nuwaubu. It will clear the fog and your single eye will re-open. Clairvoyance, clear vision, will return and you will see again. Now let’s overstand, you have no more religion, Your faith is Nuwaubu (spiritual science) the way of the Afrikan. The world of religion needs to be dismantled. The world religion can’t agree on anything because everyone has their own personal god.
The differences between each religion are always pointed out, However, the similarities are never talked about for example Each religion believes that there is an almighty force that does exist. You will be eliminating the world’s problems with the elimination of religion. Nevertheless, if a Black person accepts his own spiritual science, Nuwaubu, They have accepted themselves and their own kind as the superior power! This is when the visible and invisible forces and powers can easily work for them. And with them/us for Liberation and well-being.
“ALL RELIGION IS ALIEN BY NATURE TO YOU BLACK WOMB-MAN AND BLACK MAN!” EXCEPT THE SPIRITUAL SCIENCE – NUWAUBU-
Listen, Nuwaubu is the equalizer for you anywhere, and at any time. It would be best if you embraced a purpose and a plan, and must develop the power to execute the purpose and plan. Idleness and ignorance must play no part in the plan. You must take the plan and pursue the purpose. The purpose must be mental and physical liberation from adverse forces. The plan must be in pursuit of the purpose via the right knowledge, right wisdom, and right overstanding: Because right knowledge through right reason tells us what to do when to do it, where to do it, and how to do it. What must be done in pursuit of the purpose? You get the power to execute the purpose and plan by: REJECTING THE OPPRESSORS RELIGION AND HIS SPIRIT FORCES, INCLUDING THE NAMES OF HIS SPIRIT FORCES:
CONTROL YOUR THINKING WITH RIGHT KNOWLEDGE
CONTROL OF YOUR PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING YOUR SEXUAL ACTIVITIES..
Now, to elaborate further on the first step to power, “You must first pass the capability test. The capability test determines whether your mind is capable of growing in and with the New Sun Cycle, the Revolutionary Cycle.
Yours truly
Eliyah X.
Commander and Chief
of the
Queens & Kings of Afrika
African People of Love
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How to Provide Parental Guidance
What you should know: TRAIN UP A CHILD IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO: AND WHEN HE IS OLD, HE WILL NOT DEPART FROM IT.
In some cultures today, children have a close bond with their parents and look to them for guidance. In other cultures, children often go to their peers for direction. The latter situation undermines parental authority. In fact, by the time such children become teenagers, their parents may feel that they have lost their influence. And no wonder! When children spend so much time with other children, it is as if they were being raised by each other instead of by their parents. Why is it so easy for children to bond with their peers and lose their connection with parents? Consider the following factors.
- School. When children spend most of their time with other children, they form attachments and may begin to value their peers’ approval more than that of their parents. That outlook can intensify when children become teenagers.
- Less time together. In many families, children return from school to an empty home, perhaps because the parent or parents are at work.
- Teen culture. By the time they reach adolescence, young people are immersed in a teen culture with its own rules of conformity, including how to dress, speak, and act. What peers think of them often matters more than what their parents think of them.
- Marketing. Businesses target many products and much entertainment exclusively toward youths, widening the generation gap even more. “If teen culture disappeared,” writes Dr. Robert Epstein, “many of these multi-billion-dollar industries would instantly collapse.” *
What you can do
- Keep your connection to your child strong. The Bible says: “These words that I am commanding you today must be on your heart, and you must inculcate them in your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.”—Deuteronomy 6:6, 7. Peers can provide friendship, but they should never replace your role as a parent. The good news is this: Experts say that the majority of children and teenagers respect their parents and want to please them. If you keep a close relationship with your children, you will have more influence on them than their peers.
You have to spend time with children, doing everyday things together, like cooking, cleaning, and even homework. Do fun things together—play games, watch movies or TV. Don’t think that all you need is ‘quality time’—a couple of hours here and there. Quality doesn’t make up for lack of quantity!”
- Do not settle for peer friendships only. The Bible says: “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.”—Proverbs 22:15, footnote. Some parents are content when they see that their child has many friends. Be aware, however, that while peer friendships might help a child appear to get along well with others, peers do not provide a broad range of friendship. And peers do not provide the guidance and leadership that a young person needs and that loving parents can best provide. “A child’s peers may have knowledge of some things, but they don’t have life skills, experience, and the wisdom to help other young ones make the best decisions. When young ones look to parents, they grow and mature appropriately for their age.”—Nadia.
- Provide wise guidance. The Bible says: “The one walking with the wise will become wise.”—Proverbs 13:20. Even as they grow older, your children can benefit greatly by spending time with you. Be an effective role model. “The most important role models for children are their parents. When children are taught to cherish and respect their parents, they will want to grow up to be like them.”—Katherine.
What parents say
“Young people often make decisions based on their limited experience, and that can lead to disaster. But with parental guidance, they can get a broader perspective on things, and that will help them make good decisions.”—Wendell, with his wife, Susan.
“Do things that your children are interested in—even if it might not be what you want to do. Enjoy their company. Be a confidant and an example. Children should know that you have their best interests at heart.”
Review: How to Provide Parental Guidance for Your Children
- Keep your connection to your child strong. Peers can provide friendship, but they should never replace your role as a parent.
- Do not rely on peer friendships only. While peer friendships might help a child appear to get along well with others, peers do not provide a wide range of friendships. And peers do not provide the guidance and leadership that parents can best provide.
- Provide wise guidance. Even as they grow older, your children can benefit greatly by spending time with you.
One aim one destiny Mother afrika 