The greatest of Evils will flourish during times of extreme amnesia. When beings forget the lessons of the land, the lessons of life, and the original reasons for existence, evil moves to fill the void.

        Time never stops and nature always changes. To live with nature is to accept change and grow. Change brings an opportunity to learn something new, an opportunity to grow in new directions. To reject change is to reject growth. To reject growth is to reject life. To reject life is to reject the teachings of the Creator of all existence.

        True change is never something that is forced on others. True change is a manifestation of the love within all beings. Love/Change/Life originates in the spark of Godhead within each and every life force in existence. You must love yourself. You must learn how to conduct yourself so that you can live with yourself and others in a harmonious communion with all life. In that way you can accept knowledge and change as a Godsend. Those who reject the opportunity for inner change have forgotten the reason for life. Those who seek to force change on others are suffering from delusions of normality. They think they live the proper life. They have forgotten all the changes they made in the past to put themselves in the positions they presently occupy. The changes individuals make in themselves over a single lifetime have to be small due to the shortness of our lives. True change originates within each individual whereas the effects are mainly observable in our offspring. Therefore, in order to observe real change we must examine the record of life that we call history. We must know more than the history of war and dominance. We must learn the history of all aspects of Life, Death, Love, And Illusion. When the history of war is studied don’t just study the words of the victors, study the loser’s version, and study the version of those that observed the battle and took no sides. The truth can be found only after divergent opinions are taken into consideration.

        The history of beings cannot truthfully be studied in monthly or yearly increments. The minimum unit of examination has to be the decade. Nations and cultures must be examined over centuries. In this way you will come to realize that at one time the dominant culture was the poorest, most subservient culture on the face of the land. You will be able to see what the mighty did to fall and what the lowly did to rise. No one leads forever except the Creator. The Creator is the exception that verifies the rule. The Creator began all life and made all the rules. The first rule of creation is to love yourself and give love to all who wish to receive love. A gift of love should be freely given and freely received. When the gift is misused or rejected the giver should withdraw and apologize. Any attempt to force a love offering on another is proof that there is no love in the offering.

        The creator never forces beings to change. We have a choice. Whenever a group of beings forces another group of beings to make changes against their will the first group is not acting with love. The Creator is love. The Creator acts to manifest love. When beings show love for each other and all things they are acting in harmony with the Creator. They are acting in God’s will. To do the opposite is to oppose God’s will and to act in an anti-Godlike manner.

        In our day there are a people and their culture that seeks to force its ways on all the land. They will do anything and say anything to achieve dominance over all life. In their most holy of books they claim ownership of the image of God and mistranslate his word to say they were given dominion over all life on this planet. They even teach us as children that life has always been as it is today. These are the ultimate lies designed to indoctrinate the spirit with despair and hopelessness. These most heinous of lies are designed to destroy the spirit of love and truth in all of us in the hope that we will not even attempt to alter our way of living. The culture that would spread such filth will eventually destroy itself. Such a culture must be avoided and rejected. Such a culture is anti-love, anti-change, and anti-life. They are the enemy. Don’t give them Love, show them Love. AVOID THEM FOR THEY CARRY THE PLAGUE!

  (This essay was originally written for a presentation at a seminar. A few small and important nuggets  of information contained in this essay were used previously by me.)  

                                                               Introduction

    Historically, people of Afrikan ascent in America have been involved in a struggle to receive a quality education during the entire period they have lived in America under the domination of Euro-Americans. During enslavement Afrikans were taught only enough of the english language to enable them to understand the orders and demands of their owners. In this period of America’s history, the teaching of Afrikans to read and write in the language of their masters was forbidden under penalty of death. The White people of the ruling class believed that an Afrikan who learned to read and write would no longer be a good worker for her or his owner. After slavery, the White ruling class of the United States of America approved the teaching of Afrikans. Since 1863 the focus of the struggle for "quality" education between White Americans and Afrikan-Americans has been over the control of the content of the education given to Afrikan-American children.

    Several studies have been conducted that provide evidence of the compatibility and joint operating design of traditional American beliefs/cultural values and white supremacists goals (Kharem: 2000, Ani: 1994, Harvey: 1981, Aden: 1989, Cress-Welsing: 1991). The leadership of the Afrikan community in America has always been divided into two basic groups or factions. The first group receives support and guidance from the white majority and seeks to join the society of whites by adopting their cultural standards wherever possible. The second group seeks to retain and develop a cultural perspective that has a strong foundation in the civilizations of the original people of the Afrikan continent with a minimal use and adoption of American/Western European values. As a result, these two groups of Afrikan-Americans have developed a competition that has negatively affected the Afrikan race as a whole. They have allowed themselves to be pitted against each other for the benefit of people who do not like them. Each faction has positive and negative characteristics. It is both an honorable and morally correct goal for members of the first group of Afrikan-Americans to attempt to join the White society of America as a member of equal status. There are many benefits to be gained by Afrikan-Americans who are allowed to integrate with/into white society. It is also possible to reduce tensions experienced between the White and Black people of America when the people of each group get to know each other on a personal basis. However, it must be acknowledged that the societies created by White people rarely have full employment, equal pay for similar jobs, or an education system that responds to the needs of all individuals as a tenet of its foundation. Many white women and men are allowed/induced to fail (Icke: 1995 & 1999, Epperson: 1985, EIR: 1992). Thus, it is an unrealistic goal to expect all the people of Afrikan descent in America to be able to join the white society of America on an equal basis with white people. With this caveat in mind, the second group of Afrikan-Americans has always chosen to accept the limitations of integration as it is formulated. Consequently, a large group of Afrikans in America felt no desire to lose themselves in a sea of milky whiteness (Blyden: 1992, Cuffe: 1988; Wesley: 1961, Boyd: 2000). To ensure the continued survival of the large majority of Afrikan-Americans who either do not want to or will not be allowed to integrate with/into white society, a philosophy currently termed Afrikan-centered or Africentrism has been developed. The term Africentrism and Afrikan-centered is a relatively new name for a long tradition of Black consciousness in America going back to Elijah Muhammad, Marcus Garvey, David Walker, Sojourner Truth, and beyond.

    Moreover, the African-centered concept has drawn a great deal of criticism and outright resistance from many groups. White people of all political persuasions, the Afrikan-Americans of the first group, and other ethnic/racial groups (MacCann: 1988, de la Torre: 1996) work against the goals of the Africentrist scholars and organizations. This goal of this paper is to conduct a preliminary examination of some of the issues addressed by the Afrikan-centered concept and offer a guiding principle that may lead to a tentative resolution of the division between the two groups of Afrikan-Americans.

    Notably, the terms Afrikan-American and Black are used interchangeably. This reflects the usage of these terms since the 1960’s among people of Afrikan ancestry who trace their familial lineage through several generations of native-born people in America. The term negro is used to refer to the people of Afrikan ancestry who reject their Afrikan culture/heritage or embrace a culture/heritage other than Afrikan as being superior to their own. (To reflect the use of the term negro as a means of assisting the cultural genocide of the people of Afrika this word will be spelled with a small ‘n’ throughout the paper (Wilson: 1993, ben-Jochanan: 1985). The word Afrika and any derivative of this word will be spelled with a ‘k’ instead of a ‘c’.)

                                                  Education and Culture

    Life goals are formulated and accomplished by culture as defined by groups of people. The main definition of culture is "The result of the training and refining of the mind, emotions, manners, taste, etc" (Webster’s: 1979). The process of training and refining the mind is constantly occurring in all our lives on two basic tracks. Our immediate family and community have long been considered the primary instruments in the transmission of culture (Mason: 1960). The family and community operate in a direct but subtle/casual way to shape our beliefs. We accept much that we learn in both circles without questioning the validity/truth of the data. As such, this knowledge forms the foundational belief system about the world at large. More purposeful training occurs in educational school systems that teach children in large numbers. A school system must be organized by people to show other people how to successfully maneuver through life. The education process in the western world is a very powerful blue print for shaping the values we later transmit by culture (Karioki: 1979). As the example from Webster’s Dictionary shows culture is commonly spoken of in neutral or positive terms. However, there is a power system embedded in culture:

    Culture is the social-institution instrument which is crucial for facilitating a people’s adaptation to the complexities of their world. Therefore its functional structure, cohesiveness, resilience, flexibility, responsivity to reality, evolutionary growth and development, or the relative lack thereof, to a very significant extent determines its longevity and quality of life. Culture is learned and is the result of conceptually created designs and patterns for living with and relating to others and the cosmos (Wilson: 1998).

    From their life experiences, a group develops a set of rules and procedures for meeting their needs. The set of rules and procedures, together with a supporting set of ideas and values, is called a culture (Horton and Hunt: 1968)

    It is somewhat dishonest to speak of culture as a neutral, helpful thing that is available to all for the mutual benefit of everyone. In a society that consists of one racial, ethnic or religious group their culture would be beneficial for those within that particular society. Yet, those living outside of and in close relations to the monocultural society may have difficulty relating with people raised within the monocultural society. In culturally diverse nations, dominant groups often use educational systems to promote continued dominance of their values and interests (Shujaa: 1994). Even when attempts are made to teach from a multicultural perspective, the dominant group or people who are trained by the dominant group, tend to share/support their values, and education standards (De la Torres: 1996). Schools do much more than teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. Education can assist in the development of knowledge and citizenship skills plus present a historical framework for effective functioning by everyone in a given society (Shujaa: 1994). If the education given to children can assist them to become productive adults, then the question must be asked: Is the opposite true? Can education be used to retard and inhibit the development of the necessary knowledge and citizenship skills utilized by a culture to operate in successfully within society? The proponents of an Afrikan centered educational concept believe "mainstream" system has a negative effect on youth of Afrikan ancestry (Banks, Hogue, Timberlake & Liddle: 1996).

                                               A Brief Analysis of the Hidden Agenda

    Before examining the historical attempts to educate Afrikan-American youth in America, it must be pointed out that the United Nations entered a treaty of the International Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, resolution 96, dated Dec. 11, 1946 which stated:

                                 ARTICLE TWO

    In the present convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such:

1) Killing members of the group

2) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group

3) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part

4) Imposing measures to prevent births within the group

5) And Forcibly transferring children of a group to another group

    Traditional civil rights organizations make a strong case for Sections A and C of this signed treaty speaking to the physically negative actions of White society on Afrikans in America. The proponents of Afrikan centered education make the case that Section B (mental harm) is a result of the school integration experiment. Scholars and educators of all races, ethnicities, and political persuasion conveniently overlook the effects of Section E on Afrikan-American children. The busing of Afrikan-American youth to White schools and the practice of recruiting a number of Afrikan-American youth to attend school in predominately white neighborhoods reduces the opportunities available for the child to build a mental and spiritual connection with peers in their own neighborhood. The White educational/mental framework of the schools teaches Afrikan-American youths a culture that is alien to their own. This practice was recognized as genocidal when Native American children were put in the Reservation Boarding School systems from 1870 to 1928 (Adams: 1995). Why is this practice no longer considered genocide? School integration and busing was a response to remedy the historically unbalanced, unequal and decidedly inferior education given to young "negro" children in the segregated schools of a segregated America (Harvey: 1981). White and Jewish advisors limited the options available for the Negro leaders of the Civil Rights movement to actions that were acceptable to the ruling class (Cokely: 1996). It was decided that money and resources would only be allocated evenly among the races if the children were educated together.

    The current crop of Afrikan-American leaders (Afrikan centered or not) have all received their training/status from the mainstream education system. The positivistic/neutral view of American or Western European culture as a "universal" culture has been accepted with minor reservations by all the traditional civil rights leaders and organizations in America. As a result of their adoption of Western European or American values, every strategy they created for ending racial injustice in America has been oriented towards including Afrikan-Americans in the businesses and neighborhoods of Whites to the exclusion of any alternatives. Education has played a major role in creating the current dysfunctional culture in Black America. To quote Chairman Mao Tse Tung (1936):

    It is well known that when you do anything, unless you understand its actual circumstances, its nature and its relations to other things, you will not know the laws governing it, or know how to do it, or be able to do it well".

    A review of the past actions of all the participants in the struggle to educate Afrikan-American children is mandatory for a complete understanding and analysis of education’s function in the advancement or retardation of Afrikan culture.

                               The Foundation of "Negro" Education in America

    The majority of Afrikans were brought to North America to work as slaves in the 15th century BCE (Wood: 1974). Western Afrika was the source for most of these people who were enslaved by Europeans. This is no surprise considering the advanced farming and metallurgical knowledge and skills possessed by the Afrikans of this area (Jackson: 1995). Education in traditional Afrikan societies was based on an oral tradition that utilized apprenticeships between the young and the old (Wood: 1974). An apprentice based education system is one that has a minimal need for books. A person makes advancement in his or her chosen field by demonstrating competence and skill on the job. Traditional Afrikan societies did not ordinarily write everyday duties down (Griaule: 1970). The absence of books and written documents in Afrikan culture led the early Arab and Caucasian invaders to believe Afrikans did not possess the ability to write. This is one reason among many that Afrikans were felt to be inferior to other races. Deeply spiritual concepts and what we now call metaphysical ideas were often written in symbolic codes for those initiated into secret societies (Schwaller de Lubicz: 1995). For several hundred years White people in America forbade Afrikans to speak their original language or learn to read and write in English. Afrikan people enslaved in America were tortured and punished by death for learning how to read english (Higgenbotham: 1978). The ability to read and write in english was promoted by both whites and Afrikans to be a marker of freedom.

    In this venture, the education of the "Negro" (formerly Afrikans) in America began with the efforts of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the American Missionary Association in 1863 (Frazier: 1957). Agents from these two organizations traveled in the wake of the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War. All the schools of the South and Midwest United States that are now known as Historically Black Colleges were created, financially supported, and intellectually organized by White northern industrialists and several (mainly Protestant) religious institutions. The stated emphasis of negro education was on the heart and hand rather than the head of the negro (Pierce: 1947 ‘from Frazier’). The Whites wanted to create a class of negroes to continue working in menial positions unwanted by white people. The pattern for docility in the "negro" was established in the states of New England and New York where according to DuBois, "…the Negroes were merely house servants or farm hands and were treated neither better nor worse than servants in general in those days" (1896). The states of the Northern United States reduced their need for new people from Afrika by gradually converting to an industrial based economy. The states of the Southern United States continued massive importation of new Afrikans due to their reliance on agriculture and mining as the basis of their economy. The constant importation of new Afrikans for the dangerous jobs and harsh working conditions in the Southern United States meant there was no need for a "measured sophisticated" program of indoctrination by southern Whites (DuBois: 1896).

    In the years of the antebellum period many free Blacks accumulated a degree of wealth in New Orleans. The experiences of Blacks in New Orleans during reconstruction mirrored that of many Blacks in America. Afrikan-Americans were winning inclusion into public schools and even sending their children to desegregated schools. However, the end of reconstruction saw a return of disenfranchisement. Racial hatred and fear among Whites led them to impose second-class citizenship on Blacks. Whites re-instituted segregation and gave a restricting type of education to Blacks (Devore: 1989). In the late 1940’s and throughout the 1950’s the negro leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and their Jewish advisors launched a strategy of using the federal courts to change the segregation laws in the areas of education and business (Robinson: 1976, Miller: 1995, Devore: 1989).

    The overwhelming preponderance of facts from the historical record shows that White people of America have never wanted Black people of America to control the education of black children. A study of Afrikan-American parents in New Orleans (Louisiana) documents their struggles between 1862-1960 to give their children a quality education (Devore: 1989). In 1966, Black parents of Harlem, New York were rebuffed in their efforts to establish community control of the schools in their borough (Byndloss: 2001). The African centered concept was not an issue, nor was there a request made for a higher school operating budget. In response to many recognized studies indicating that Black males needed extra assistance in school, the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Public School system wanted to create an all-male Afrikan American Immersion academy. The National NAACP Legal and Defense Fund filed a brief against this plan stating that this type of school would be harmful to Blacks and turn the decision to integrate schools made in Brown vs. the Board of Education on its head. The National Organization of Women’s Legal and Defense Fund filed a brief against the plan stating that an all male academy would be harmful to girls. A similar opposition developed in 1991 when the Detroit (Michigan) Public School system wanted to open three all male Afrikan centered academies. Why does any attempt to address the special needs of Afrikan-Americans meet opposition from whites in general and negro supporters in particular? Why is it important to negroes who have integrated with/into White society that Blacks who have different plans be stopped?

                              Some Positive and Negative Effects of Social Change

    Fundamentally, there are two types of social change strategies. These are to work within the offending system or to work outside of the offending system. To be sure, the plans and strategies used to accomplish both are not totally separate and can operate along a continuum. The efforts to solve social problems by initiating policies that assist people to operate more effectively within a problematic system can be characterized as social changes of the first order (Brookins: 1996). A social change program of the first order is not designed to modify the system fundamentally but to help those within the system to adapt to new processes. As a result, individuals can improve on a singular basis. The strategies utilized by negro civil rights leaders and their Jewish advisors in the United States have usually been of the first order type. Efforts to solve social problems that effect both the fundamental assumptions and operational order of systems are social changes of the second order (Brookins: 1996). When this type of strategy is used an individual will also improve on a singular basis. Second order changes include challenging the status quo to change the structure of the system by removing the blocks and regulations put in place by racial hatred. The door will be opened for groups of formerly oppressed individuals to function more effectively. Under first order changes, the solution for racist behavior in the workplace would be the creation of diversity training programs for employees and officers of an offensive company. Under second order changes the solution for racist behavior would be the admission by the company that racism is systemic within their policies. Measures would then be taken to reduce and eliminate all vestiges of racist acts and policies. Social changes of the second order are the pathway to realizing a real change in the status quo according to some scholars (Myers: 1988; Brookins: 1996).

    Second order changes are not suggested simply for cosmetic or group egotistic reasons. There have been several studies that report a connection between the mental health of Afrikan-Americans and racial socialization (Cross: 1971, 1978, 1994; White and Burke: 1987; Parham and Helms: 1985b). The socialization processes of a culture are designed to show children how to function properly in the society at large. Afrikan-American families are like all other families in the world. They want their children to be successful in any and everything they try to accomplish. It is difficult for Afrikan-American adults to teach their children how to be successful in a society that regards them as a negative, destructive people. It is doubly difficult for Afrikan-American parents who have not achieved much success to teach their children how to become successful. How does someone teach something that they have not personally experienced and do not know? The parent’s viewpoint on the Afrikan-American culture and history along with coping strategies for dealing with racism is part of the socialization process on the family level (Bowman & Howard: 1985). This portion of the socialization process is called racial socialization (Stevenson & Renard: 1993). The family and society at-large (through the education process, media, and other means) help to shape everyone’s individual personality. Synthesizing many components that include values, self-perception, beliefs, and expectations will contribute to the development of self-identity. Racial socialization has multiple adaptive functions for Afrikan-American youth. In addition to coping strategies it may also strengthen a person’s responses to the harmful effects of America’s racist socio-economic environment by providing a solid foundation for the individual’s racial identity (Stevenson: 1994). Racial identity is one of the most salient issues Afrikan-Americans must resolve in their personal lives (Aries and Moorehead: 1989). Theorists who have studied racial identity development among Black people in America describe it as flowing on a progression from low or deracinated self identity to a high internalized Afrikan-American identity (Cross: 1978, Parham, & Helms: 1985a, Cross, Parham, & Helms: 1991). Deracinated Afrikan-Americans exhibit negative self-concepts with depression, anxiety, and feelings of incompetence being strongly manifested with regularity (Carter & Helms: 1987). On the other hand, those people with a highly internalized Afrikan-American identity exhibit high self esteem and a healthy integration between the real and ideal selves.

    Cross (1971) introduced a test for the concept of "Nigrescence" postulating that Afrikan-Americans often undergo a "negro to Black" conversion through a process covering five stages of racial identity development:

1) Pre-encounter (pre-discovery) – The individual possesses a Eurocentric worldview.

2) Encounter (discovery) – The individual has an experience that causes her or him to question their current personal feelings about herself or himself, in particular, as a Black person or Black people in general.

3) Immersion-emersion – The individual seeks to understand and liberate herself or himself from Eurocentric beliefs by becoming immersed in Black Afrikan culture. This has a simultaneous effect of guilt, rage, and a sense of Black pride.

4) Internalization – Many Afrikan-Americans do not progress beyond this stage. It is characterized by three possible conclusions: a) rejection of Blackness, b) fixation at the third stage, or c) internalization. Those who internalize reach a level of inner security and self-confidence with her or his Blackness (Parham: 1989). They know many positive things about being Afrikan-American but have not decided to act on the knowledge in a manner discernible to the public at large.

5) Internalization-commitment - In addition to internalizing a positive Black image the individual at the fifth stage makes a personal commitment to perform some action that will help other Blacks and themselves (Cross: 1971).

    This model has not been used a great deal by researchers to examine the total relationship between racial identity, socialization, acculturation, and self esteem. Those who have used the ‘Nigrescence" model differed in how they constructed their studies but all agree that there is a movement through definite sequences that can be characterized in stages. The reaction of the individual to socially oppressive phenomena helps to fuel the journey for racial development. As a person progresses through these stages, an attitudinal shift from negative to positive self-perception is often the result (Parham and Helms: 1993). It is very important to acknowledge, at this point in the paper, that many Afrikan-American families have a pro-Black perspective that is discussed at home among the adults and passed on to the children as the guiding factor of the inter-racial socializing process. Those Blacks raised in this type of family have been prepared to interact with White people with a level of understanding that avoids the experiences of the pre-encounter stage. This also reduces the shock of the encounter stage. The initial encounter of an Afrikan-American child who is properly prepared by their family finds the familial viewpoint validated. The Immersion-Emersion stage will be experienced with very little guilt or rage.

    Individuals mentally operating in the pre-encounter stage have a pro-White/anti-Black attitude. The social ideals of Whites in general are valued to the devaluation of Black social ideals. People who are mentally operating at this stage typically are not interested in the traditions and principles of their native culture. They also do not identify with Blacks or have a sense of what it means to be Black. It is further found that pre-encounter individuals will not be able to fully attach themselves to either the White or the Black group. Pre-encounter individuals generally exhibit a high degree of self-hatred that is characterized by depression, low self-esteem, anxiety, and feelings of incompetence. Denigrating your own people leaves you personally defenseless and unable to get help when confronted with racist situations (Cress-Welsing: 1991, Fuller: 1971).

    It can be safely said that persons who live within pre-encounter parameters constantly live with some level of psychological distress. The induction of low level psychological distress is one of the purposes of sending Afrikan-American children to "mainstream" or "Eurocentric" schools (Ani: 1994). Persons who live and operate in continuously stressful life situations have difficulty making long-term plans and the decisions necessary for the preservation and prosperity of themselves, their family, and friends of their own racial group. They are susceptible to the influence of someone who offers a limited, temporary relief from one of their many problems. We can compare the actions of pre-encounter individuals to the young lady in the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin.

    In the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin a lady made a deal with a troll, Rumpelstiltskin, for the secret method of spinning regular wool into gold on a magical loom. She promised to give the troll her first born child in return for this knowledge. After receiving the knowledge and spinning much gold she forgot about her deal with Rumpelstiltskin. When she had her first child the troll, Rumpelstiltskin came to receive his payment. The lady not only refused to give her first born to the troll she had a hunter kill Rumpelstiltskin.

    The leadership of the negro community in America (like the lady in the story) made a deal with the White ruling class (similar to Rumpelstiltskin in the story) for the acquirement of riches in exchange for giving up all their children through integration. (The lady in the story only promised to give up her first born child, so in effect, she worked a better deal.) If Blacks began educating their own children according to their own standards Black people would fulfill the role of the lady in the story of Rumpelstiltskin by breaking the deal after receiving the secrets to making money. It is extremely important to the continued prosperous existence of White society that Blacks in America never gain the ability to educate all their children in a manner deemed correct by Blacks (Wilson: 1993).

    All of the negative findings in pre-encounter individuals are reversed in Black people with a positive internalized Afrikan-American identity (Akbar: 1984; Cross: 1971, Parham and Helms: 1981, Smith: 2000). Self-esteem is high, their real and ideal selves are functioning in an integrative, supportive manner, and they have low levels of depression. Racial socialization in those Black people with an internalized sense of Africentricity is positively associated with racial identity. An internalized Afrikan-American identity helps create and maintain a positive state of mental health in Black people. Living and conducting your life in support of and with the support of your own people is conducive to achieving your highest goals. This is not an attempt to imply that pre-encounter people cannot be financially successful, but that their success is limited to goals and parameters set by the larger White society. The wealth accumulated by negroes who participate in first order type social change strategies usually does not stay within their family beyond their immediate heirs. The people who are offered to the general public as examples of successful Afrikan-Americans do not earn the bulk of their income from within the Black community and do not invest the bulk of their income in the Black community (www.blackenterprise.com: 2001). In a compilation consisting of fifteen categories the 100 most prosperous Afrikan-American businesses earned less than 10% of the total earnings in fourteen categories for the year 2000. (For the magazine’s rating purposes a business was considered Afrikan-American if it is at least 51% Black owned.) The neglect of Afrikan-Americans to invest individually in their own businesses or en masse in the wealth producing businesses of White America is a result of the Eurocentric orientation of those individuals and businesses presented to us as Afrikan-American leaders (Wilson: 1991). The bulk of Afrikan-American income is used in hallucinatory flights of consumerism (Anderson: 1994, Wilson: 1998, Frazier: 1957).

                                                               Conclusions

    Economies are created by a shared cultural ideal. Often, researchers express the belief that Afrikan-Americans as a group are cultureless due to the violence and abuse suffered during the enslavement period (Jones: 1991). Other researchers look to the social activities Blacks in America have borrowed from Whites as a measure of Afrikan-American culture (Edwards: 1999). Food, music, and religion are the categories chosen as possible indicators of Afrikan-American culture. The foods typically considered hallmarks of Afrikan-American culture are extremely vitamin and mineral deficient (Afrika: 2000, Clark: 1995). Nutritionists of every race and nationality report these are the very foods and preparation techniques to be avoided. The music styles typically considered hallmarks of Afrikan-American culture are devoid of positive spiritual content (King: 1999, Gadalla: 2001). The perspective of the religions advanced as hallmarks of Afrikan-American culture embrace submissive, subservient ideologies that are not practiced by the European/Americans or Arabs that taught them to us (Yakini: 2000, Hemmit: 1999 & 2000, Valentine 1998 & 2000). We must avoid social and mental traps.

    Be that as it may, Afrikan-Americans as a group and people of Afrikan descent all over the world will continue to experience a negative economic situation while living according to the cultural dictates of others. Attempts to teach Afrikan-centered values to Black children in an education system must begin at the pre-school level. High school and college age youth have formed so many alternate beliefs that high levels of resistance must be overcome prior to transmitting Africentric concepts (Richardson: 2000, Frisby: 1992). The most important thing Afrikan centered scholars and parents can do is to extend an "olive branch", a peace offering, to their Eurocentric family members. There will be no cooperation in the Black community until there is cooperation within the Black family. It is not uncommon for everyone to work with people on jobs or in school who you do not like and do not like you. We all must work to overcome the artificial barriers of class, sex, ethnicity, race, and any other divisive subcategory. The hardest, most important, and most satisfying struggle you can ever wage for Afrikan-American progress is to reconcile with the members of your own family so that you can all do something positive as a unit. In order for true reconciliation between the two factions to take place, we must release our personal agendas for the good of our people as a whole. The first step is nothing more radical than a phone call to that estranged member of your family to inquire about their health. It is not important to engage them in a discussion of current events. Afrikan-American people have this type of conversation everyday when they make an effort to get along with a co-worker who does not understand Black people. We must extend the same consideration to our own family. As we show our children that we as adults have a working relationship they will follow our example by developing and maintaining a connection with their peers. Afrikan-Americans must develop a united front to improve the quality of the education our children receive. Notions of superior Afrikan-ness held by the Africentric-minded are just as wrong as the submissive feelings of self hatred held by Eurocentric minded negroes. An Afrikan Centered Education is the most effective way to raise the youth of Black America to achieve the most they can in life.

                                     Bibliography

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Haroon Kharem, Dissertation: 2000. Pennsylvania State University

Frances Cress-Welsing, The Isis Papers: 1991. Third World Press, Chicago, Ill

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