THROWING OFF THE OPPRESSOR IN BLACK AND WHITE, A COMPARISON

As slavery in the Americas was ending, in 1884, at the request of Portugal, German Chancellor Otto Von Bismark called together the major western powers of the Europe to negotiate.....(wait for it)...the control of Africa
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At the time, 80% of Africa remained under traditional and local control. But none of the black leaders of African countries were invited to attend the meeting.
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The Berlin Conference was Africa's undoing in more ways than one.
"The colonial powers superimposed their domains on the African continent. Independence wouldn't begin to return to Africa until 1950 (because WWII broke them financially?) By that time the Africa "had acquired a legacy of political, fragmentation that could neither be eliminated nor made to operate satisfactorily"

You know what? I'm thinking Africa, and Black Americans for that matter,  are functioning just fine because because compared to white Americans in the United States. Blacks here and abroad in Africa have only recently thrown off its oppressors if you think about it



SOME THINGS TO COMPARE
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WHITE AMERICANS IN THE UNITED STATES

The core of The United States declared Independence from England in 1776

This country was unstable and had a civil war as a result, followed by a reconstruction. All of this instability didn't end until approximately 100 years later ( in 1877)

And then it wasn't common for white people to be able to read until 1900 or so.

That's a gap of 124 years between white people getting their "freedom" and just beginning to do things like read.

BLACK AMERICANS IN THE UNITED STATES

Black people in the United States escaped slavery, part 1, on January 31, 1865.

Debt Peonage, in a sharecropping disguise, came along to re-enslave black people again despite being outlawed in 1867.   

Sharecropping, when whites and blacks were involved in it together, was very nearly another form of ownership via the creation of debt.  A black person  basically rents land and tools at an unknown or a changing price. The black person uses the land and tools to grow crops. But he or she can be paid a lot less than white people for the same tobacco crop then wind up owing the white land owner (former slave owner) more money than he or she took in on the a good crop of tobacco.   

 Black people in the United States escaped slavery Part 2 (Jim Crow-official and unofficial) after The Civil Rights Movement ended in 1968. Jim Crow deserves the identity "slavery part 2" because blacks could be arrested almost anything. Almost any behavior not subservient could get a person killed. And in the south,  one could be arrested for things like loitering, put in prison, then hired out to work for free on the plantations nearby. 

So, black Americans have NOT had 100 years worth of "freedom" and "equality" yet. We can already read though 124 years haven't passed yet despite the fact that it was illegal for us to for a very long time. Maybe our communities will be stable after 100 years has passed too, in 2068  --just as long as it took for white people.

Who knows what 124 years of freedom and equality will look like for black people in 2092. I already know it'll look better than it did for white people. Like I said, we can all, for the most part, read. 

And keep in mind that our oppressor is still here, with us, not across an entire ocean like the were for early white Americans.

In other words, we as black Americans, are moving at a GREAT PACE as compared to the pace of white Americans.

BLACK AFRICANS IN AFRICA

.As I understand it, white European folks didn't start letting go of their ill gotten gains, via The Berlin Conference, until about the 1950s. And that's probably because Hitler broke the bank. 

Black Africans have NOT had 100 years to stabilize yet either. And they won't have had 124 years worth of "official" freedom until 2074.

So, I don't think white Americans or Europeans have any room to feel superior here either.

CONCLUSIONS:

1) SUCCESS TAKES TIME. 

2) OPPRESSION TO SUCCESS TAKES A LOT OF TIME

3) SUPERIORITY IS AN ILLUSION. 

WE BE STRONG.

LIKE ERNESTINE SHEPARD, WE ROCK.

DON'T YOU EVER FORGET IT
Who is Ernestine Shepard? The answer is here:
https://www.new-you.me/2014/04/10/ask-ernestine-shepherd-worlds-oldest-female-bodybuilder-guinness-world-records-new-you-magazine-dubai/










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