Happy Civil Rights Commemoration 2011

Many people think the Civil Rights Movement is old hat, but for African-Americans in particular and Americans in general, many aspects of the Civil Rights Movement may take another hundred years to become equitable. From the field of communications for instance: the majority of African-Americans in the United States still receive most of their news and information, researched, edited and disseminated through the eyes of the descendants of Slave holders. While the descendants of Slave holders are of no fault, they too have a skewed view of the world – as amended through the experiences, cover ups, prejudices and apologies of Slave politics.

From the time African Slaves arrived in the United States (most captured between the Senegal to Angola wars), communications were used to reduce their humanity to that of beasts for free labor. After Slaves were declared free, they and their descendants were treated by thousands of Americans as 3/4ths of a person; and this view traversed the world. Even with the pre and post efforts of the Civil Rights Movement, where some broke free to become successful professionals and wealthy entrepreneurs, we were still treated as 3/4ths of a person. During the 20th Century, many financially free used their skills and resources to create communications and other businesses, targeted to build a legacy of pride and credibility for African-Americans. These efforts have allowed us to see ourselves and our possibilities through empathetic eyes. But, an estimated 10 million Slaves arrived in the Americas and today African-Americans number 36+ million; there are just too many stories for a few thousand people to tell. So we each must tell our own.

The world is in an Information Revolution and for the first time in the history of the United States, we can get our news, define ourselves, and make decisions about our communities and our station in life as 4/4ths of a human being. Those of us, who don’t know the country of our lineage can research, listen, learn and talk directly to African peoples via the web. We can begin stitching together the missing family, stories, culture, experiences and legacy of our heritage. In lieu of that, we can also learn about a favorite people or place on the continent and make the connections to adopt a country.

African-Americans, like many under-represented groups in the USA, have an unparalleled open access opportunity to use the tools and resources of the Information Revolution, to provide ourselves an equitable living. If we consider ourselves equal to others, then the issues of the world bear equal weight. We need to muster our super-human integrity, as we have done so many times in the past, to help solve local to global problems. In order to prepare ourselves for the tasks before us, we must look at our dreams, goals and experiences and match them with the education, skills and communications resources necessary to get out there as global citizens, and help save a corner of the world.

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