Cornerstone Principles that are essential to the
African Personality
There are three cornerstone principles that are
essential to the African Personality. They are humanism, egalitarianism, and
collectivism.
Humanism states that all people deserve respect
simply because they are a human being. Violations of humanism is when we give
people respect based upon how much money they seem to have, what family they
come from, how someone looks, what kind of car they drive, how large is their
house, how much education they have, what kind of job they have, etc. One of the
most harmful violations of humanism is the oppression and hatred of women. There
is a two line struggle among men about manhood. One line emphasizes love,
respect, and the emancipation of women. The other emphasizes the hatred ,
disrespect, and the oppression of women. The biggest internal contradiction that
we have as a people is that a substantial amount of African men identify their
manhood with the hatred, disrespect, and oppression of women. This is more
damaging then anything another nation/race can do to us.
Another one of the cornerstone principles is
egalitarianism. Egalitarianism recognizes that human beings have different
talents and different realities and not equal in the sense of the same
capability, equal strength, equal weight, etc, but it insists that every human being
has the right to develop to their full ability and capacity. We will quote
President Sekou Toure for an example, “For there to be equality, there must
therefore be equal conditions for each one, and that the section of society
which is persecuted, exploited, and arbitrarily retarded should be favored in
order to catch up with the section presently in advance. It is this training in
social life, by conferring the same aptitudes, and the same skills to the man
and woman which will constitute the source of happiness of society.”
Collectivism is another cornerstone principle of
Africa. Collectivism means that the family is more important than the
individual, the community is more important than the family, the nation is more
important than the community, all of humanity is more important than the nation.
Collectivism encourages us to think in big terms. To see the larger picture is
to be more clear and conscious. If all of humanity has its necessities in life
than the individual will be taken care of, but a individual can be doing very
well (i.e. Oprah Winfrey) and the masses of humanity can still be
suffering.
There is a big difference between personality and
individualism. Personality is me in relationship with everyone else,
individualism is me in spite of everyone one else. Individualism is against the
people. Individualism is smallness, and is the opposite of collectivism.
Individualism dictates that we have 52 countries in Africa, collectivism
dictates that we unify Africa. Individualism is selfishness. Selfish is when
someone is concerned chiefly or only with oneself, without regard to the well
being of others; egotistic. Egotism is the preoccupation with one’s own welfare
and advancement, the doctrine that morality has its foundations in
self-interest. Self-interest is personal advantage or interest; selfish motive
or gain. Selfishness is self indulgence. Self indulgence is excessive indulgence
of one’s own appetites and desires. Indulgence is something granted as a favor
or privilege, liberal or lenient treatment. Other words for selfish is stingy,
cheap, mean, smallness, self-centered, self-interested, solipsistic, infantile,
illiberal, greed, and self-important.
We must become self-reliance, which is the
reliance upon one’s own capabilities, judgment, or resources. We must become
self-sufficient which is to be able to provide for oneself without the help of
others. We must be self-sustaining which is to be capable of sustaining oneself
or itself independently. We can only be self-reliant, self-sufficient, and
self-sustaining in harmony and relationship to the people. We must emphasize
co-operation over competition, collectivism over individualism, respect for
humanity over greed. We must develop a profound love for our
nation-Africa.
To increase abiding satisfaction for the
masses of our people, and for all people, someone must sacrifice something of
their own happiness. This is a duty only for those who recognize it as a duty.
The larger the number ready to sacrifice, the smaller the total sacrifice
necessary. No person of education and culture and training, who proposes to face
the problems and solve them can hope for entire happiness. But with the death
of some of your happiness may
easily come increased happiness and satisfaction and fulfillment for other
people- strangers, unborn babies and uncreated worlds.
These principles come from the history of African
people and are the culture that the people have passed on for our survival. It
is very important that we know and practice these principles because we will
find that we can better solve our problems by practicing our culture. One big
problem is that many of us do not know our history and culture. So it is up to
those educators who were educated by the people to share the information with
the people.
We call on all humanity to practice these principals and to fight against those
ideas that are in opposition to these principles. These principles must be
taught to our youth. But in order to correctly teach the youth, we must be clear
on them ourselves as adults. These ideas came from the history and practices of
the people. This is why they are so
easy for everyone to understand. The people have been in the forefront of
pushing these correct ideas because they serve the people’s interest. We must
now become more conscious of these
principles and teach and practice them throughout the African world and as well
as all of
humanity.
