Have You Had Enough Of Poor African American Leadership?

THREE BLIND MICE

Poor Black Leaderships is to Blame for the conditions in the Black Community, and those of us who continue to accept it. Our preachers, politicians, social, civic and community leaders serve us up to their masters and we remain silent as they help us commit homicide, suicide and “mentacide” through their non-existing or poor leadership. The first solution to this madness is for African Americans to redefine leadership as “Results Based”. That means we must identify our own problems and needs and demand that those who lead us, whether elected, appointed or annointed provide solutions immediately, within 30-60 Days.

If they don’t or can’t, we must never vote for them, acknowledge them or recognize them as our leaders. My mentor and role model the late William “Bill” Moss exemplified courage in action as a Black Man, and he said in his book “Enough Is Enough”. Enough of the high paid religious, political, nonprofit and social Poverty Pimps in the Black African American Community who refuse to address the needs of the Black Community, even offer solutions. They must be identified, told to change their behavior or made irrelevant.

Our babies are dying, families are homeless, unemployed and suffering while they do nothing but make excuses. The Black Community is in a Depression and we need new and old leadership ready to solve problems, provide innovative solutions, instead of the same old excuses and blame game. If you consider yourself a leader, then lead or get the hell out the way. The mark of insanity in 2011 is to keep the same people as our leaders, doing the same things, with no new ideas or solutions and expecting, hoping, praying that things will get better. You got to be crazy as hell, if that’s your mindset. Eventually, things will get better, after all history tells us that, but how bad can you stand it to get before then. What are you personally willing to sacrifice? For some who are unemployed, lost their home and health insurance, on welfare and food stamps and suffering from depression, things are already too bad.

The second solutions is for people in your town, neighborhood or community to come together at your local mosque, church, library or recreation center to discuss the skills, talents and ideas that you collectively have. The goal should be to create economic opportunities for yourselves within your community. Focus on products and services to the elderly, young, hospitals, transportation and delivery, cleaning services, music, publishing, healthy foods, technology and renewable energy areas. Plan to Collectively Compete!!!!! Pool your resources to established community cooperatives. Move at the speed of business and think creatively and innovatively. Create something by competing collectively. Where there is a Will, there’s A Way, but where there is No Will, there are Excuses and if you really don’t want to do something, any excuse will do. For those tired and want take back control of your community and future, I offer respectfully offer my two cents for your consideration.

C. Earl Campbell,

Something too think about?

It’s only getting worse. The divide between the black man and the black woman. It is now clear that with time each side is recruiting with more success from the neutral pool into its army of “they aint shit”. The women have their “he aint shit” team and the men their “she aint shit” crew. The hate continues to build up.

But, just when did the black man/woman become what she is, and what caused it? Neither side seems to have the interest in finding out the real cause of the problem. Or is it simply the thinking ability that is too thin to lead the individual to realise that no problem is rootless… How is it that both sides fail to realise that unless the problem is addressed from its gist it will just continue to grow.

Both sides claim to KNOW… perhaps that’s the problem – that we think we know even when we don’t; that we speak too much and think too little. Have we really failed to realise that we are only feeding the beast? What then is the solution? That since the black man/woman aint shit, all black women should get white men and all black men should marry white? Seriously…

We cannot ignore that there is a problem here, but… we are only acting out as vessels – transporting the decay into the next generation. A corrupt man is made by a corrupt woman and a corrupt woman is created by a corrupt man. A man will not know how to love his woman if his mother did not teach him; and a woman without proper fatherhood will be empty. This is the fruit of the absence of positivity in both camps. Who is the problem? Neither, both of them are just end products of the problem, who happen to be simple reactionaries rather than actual thinkers and shapers of their reality.

Our problem is essentially and fundamentally cultural in nature. It is here that we can make a difference. Unless we start pouring our energy into creating a positive culture in the black world by out-rooting negative thought and detaching our society from the love of ignorance, we will remain in this painful circle. We need to reform our ways of thinking, not to attach each other. We must see the veil that hangs between us and unhook it from where it hangs.

The attitude we are creating of going against each other through the divide of gender is only going to keep the black race in the gutter. What future do we expect to carve out for our children with this mentality? It will only further galvanise self-hate into their beings and confine them to a more painful existence than the one that now defines us.

What we need to do is teach our children how self-hate and ignorance of self has destroyed our capacity to relate lovingly towards ourselves and each other. We need to break the chain of ignorance and self-hate that we inherited form our colonised parents and start building a better future – a much noble destiny in which our children will be defined by a culture of positive thought.

Culture. That is the key. Our total composition of thought, speech and action should be transformed through sharing of knowledge and wisdom that is undergirded by our true knowledge of self.

You know there something wrong in a people’s perception of reality when they want to have someone who is shit, and complain because everyone s/he finds is not. Perhaps the actual problem is that we ARE shit. Perhaps we should strive to NOT BE shit.

Black Woman I need you,You need me,and the Children need us…we’ve got to make this work

I’ve been surfing the web a lot lately and stumbling upon various websites that deal with the relations of black men and women, especially when it comes to intimacy. I see all types of different things said. Some websites argue that black women are the cause of all the misery with the defiant behavior and overbearing personalities. She just does’t know when to be quiet and back down. Others argue that black men are the cause since they step out on their women and refuse to take care of the children they create with these same women. Simply put, black men leave their women with babies and marry white women. Well, I’m here to tell you, both sides have their issues, and until they get resolved, we’re going to continue to raise children in broken and unstable homes.

Let’s start with the black woman. For some reason, every time I see a young black woman in the mall, grocery store, or on my college campus, there’s several reactions that I get in they’re with their boyfriend. Some smile, which is a sign that she’s secure in herself and has nothing to worry about. Others get fidgety, fumbling around with things, acting like they’re to busy to notice anything if I do decide to run up on their man and try anything foolish. But the most common reaction, the one that gets under my skin, is when one of my own Sisters feels like she needs to give me the evil look and grab her man like he’s about to take flight. Girl, the fact that he’s sitting with you is all I need to know that he is taken, even if he isn’t your boyfriend just yet. There’s no need to feel like you need to hold this man down to keep him from looking or talking to me. If you’re secure in your own and you know that you’re doing anything and everything to keep his loving where it needs to be, let that man go. He can be as free as a bird and still won’t fly away from you.

I’ll admit, women go to some extreme measures to keep their men, especially when they feel like the man is going to go out and cheat or buy that expensive TV set instead of paying the bills. Black women, like all women around the world, tend to nag their men to clean up, watch the kids, change the channel, get a job, start working out, and whatever other little thing she can possibly find that’s wrong with him, while also working on his last damn nerve. Again, I will admit that all women are good for this, black, white, Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc. I’m guilty of this also, more often than I thought apparently. But this doesn’t let black men off the hook. You have your own short comings that need to be dealt with.

First off, I’m tired of every single black man I walk past trying to label me something different. I am not your shawty, ma, sweetheart, baby, etc. Even if you’re fine as sin, I’m not going to delay my trip, turn around, and come crawling back to you and leave my phone number in the plam of your hand (or your Blackberry). You have legs, if you want it come get it. And I strongly suggest that you think before you speak if you suggest to get anywhere. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not the passive type. If I see something I want, I’m going to have it. Case closed. But if you want me to entertain you and the prospect of a date with you, you better not come at me like you did the lady before me, or the one walking down the street after me. That’s not going to work.

Additionally, Black men want their women to respect them as men, but not all men are deserving of this. You want Black women to bow down and claim the role of house wives, just as various other types of women do, but a large percentage of Black men are not claiming their roles as providers, protectors, and consolers. I’m not saying that a man has to bring in all the money or more money than I do. I will gladly step aside for a strong black man that asserts his dominance, despite the amount of money he makes. But do not expect me, or any other Black woman, to take you seriously if you’re not doing what you need to do, emotionally or financially.

Stand up and raise your children. That would be a start. And I don’t mean raise like child support raise, I mean like take your children to dinner, Chuck E. Cheese. Take your daughters out shopping or to a baseball game. Take your sons to buy their first suit or to a local book store or poetry slam (if that’s that you’re into of course). Money does not raise children (although it does help, so send those child support checks where/when they are due). You want Black women to respect you as heads of the households? Raise your children in those households, whether you live there or not. That would definitely take one of the main arguments Black women make off of the table.

Also Black men, stick with the one you’re with. Now this is not just a Black problem, as we have witnessed with the recent run-ins involving Tiger Woods, Jesse James, and Larry King. Men in general have just been getting a bad reputation this year. But this doesn’t excuse the behavior of Black men all around America. There is no reason why six women have the same baby father. That’s just wrong, and nasty if you think about it thoroughly. There is a shortage of Black men in relation to Black women, but that doesn’t mean that every Black man should go out and get their fair share of women. It creates all types of problems, especially in a society that stresses monogamy (and a large percentage African-Americans look down on polygamy, but we allow our Black men and women to cheat all the time). Get it together. Love the one you’re with completely, and you’ll see how different your relationships become. If you have a good woman, not someone who just nags and refuses to work with you, then you will be just fine, and you will receive her whole and complete being (as long as you return the favor).

So what’s my solution? Compromise. Black women cannot ask their men to be heads of the household and continue to fight back against everything that he attempts to implement or get done. Sometimes you just need to shut-up and do what the man says. It’s that simple. Black men cannot expect their women to respect them as their leaders, their providers, or their Lovers, if the women are constantly forced to do the jobs of these same men. Step up, be a real man. Put your foot down as much as you want, but make sure you drop your wallet too, and take care of your children while you’re at it. A woman has no choice but to respect a man that handles his business. She doesn’t have to like him. But she must respect his authority.

So try it out in your own relationships, both the new and the old. Compromise and communication. You’ll be surprised how different your relationship becomes. Who knows, we might actually create a society of happy, healthy, Black relationships.

Men up…My brother our babie’s need us to be father’s….She can’t do it alone

It’s something like an epidemic. Every day I see young mothers walking with their baby strollers, holding another child’s hand, alone. Where is the baby’s father? I bet you the mother is wondering the same exact thing.

But this article isn’t about young Black men abandoning the mothers of their children. I could definitely rant about the lack of fathers in the Black communities raising children from relationships gone wrong. It seems the epidemic becomes worse when the man goes on to have more children with another women. It’s like the children from the first relationship are a burden, or don’t exist at all.*

My bone to pick is with the Black creatures that try to weasel their way out of taking care of children that they brought into the world. Skip their child support payments. Go MIA when it’s time to take their children for the weekend (which I may add is just 2 days while the mother cares for this child for the rest of the week). But yet, they’ll be the first one taking the credit at award ceremonies, sports games, and graduations.

It is not in my nature to tear down any Black man. The world does that enough as it is. But I am going to call you out. It’s a shame that you’re okay with your children feeling unwanted and unloved. It’s a disgrace that you’re okay with making your God given creation feel like their a burden to you, especially if you have a new family apart from them. Think about having to deal with that as a child and living with that as you grow into an adult. How many Black children all around the world can say that they felt like their fathers didn’t want them? To many. Way too many.

So I’m not offering a solution to this problem right now, because the solution is so damn obvious! It seems as though these men have all the manhood in the world when they’re making these babies, but suddenly lose their balls when it’s time to man up and raise their children, and not just financially. These men are making it seem like it’s okay to make babies and let the mothers deal with all the work that goes into it.

Get it together Black men.**

*I must take the time out to give credit to those men who stand by the mother of their children, despite a break-up, support their children financially, and are a regular part of their children’s lives. I LOVE strong Black men, especially when they play a part in creating another generation of positive Black male leaders.

**Black women are not off the hook with this one. There are mothers that abandon their children and dump the burden of raising children on their single fathers. You are just as guilty and give your children a skewed view of what it means to be a parent. Get your stuff together too. You’re just as guilty

Walk a mile in my shoe’s,(1) Black Woman (2) A Mother (3) Alone

I’ve done a post about Black Fathers but I have neglected to express my ideas and views on Black Motherhood and its importance to our community. So let me do that now.

What does Black Motherhood actually mean? Who the hell knows? Does it mean waking up with your child every morning and making sure they get to school okay? Sometimes. Does it mean having to build your children up and making them believe that everything is possible while the world shoves obstacles in their way? Mostly. Does it mean putting up with Black Men who “ain’t shit” because that is what is expected from them? Hell no. No. HELL TO THE NO!

See, a lot of Black Mothers are convinced that the person they decide to conceive with will never become a dead beat father like so many other Black Men have in he past. Yet, it continues to happen every day. Why? Again, who knows? Is it because many Black Women expect and allow their Black Men to abandon their children? Perhaps. Is it because Black Women have this Super Woman complex and feel that they can do anything and everything on their own, without a man’s help? Possibly. Is it because secretly some Black Women, like all races of women, love to play the victim and have people feel sorry for them because their irresponsible, unreliable Black Man abandoned them yet again? Maybe. Is it because some women hope their men will leave so that they can collect WIC, foodstamps, unemployment, AND child support? That could be it.

Whatever the reason is for Black Women around the world to allow their Black Men to abandon them and their children, it needs to stop. Black Women: Stand up and be more careful who you have children with. And for the record: IT IS NOT OKAY FOR YOUR BLACK MAN TO LEAVE YOU TO CARE FOR A CHILD ALONE – DO NOT EXPECT/TOLERATE THAT!! I understand that things may not work out. I also understand that it is difficult to make someone do something that they do not want to do, especially when you cannot track the person down. But a wise man once told me that excuses are the tools of the weak. Make it happen. And if its just too difficult for you to track the Black Father and convince/force him to take care of his Black Child, make sure you make an impact on your children so that it doesn’t happen again. Without turning them against the opposite sex of course. None of that “Black men ain’t shit” crap and “You ain’t nothing because your daddy wasn’t nothing either” etc. And if I ever hear anything like that wherever I am, I will say something. So just be prepared.

Okay, rant done. How do I feel about Black Motherhood? It takes a special kind of woman to be a Black Mother. It takes a special kind of woman to raise Greatness when the world does not recognize its potential. It takes a special kind of woman to love and care for a child that is labeled so many things outside of their own home. But women do it every day. So kudos to you.*

So what about my mom? Simply put, I was blessed with an awesome mother who would do just about anything in the world for me. She, like most mothers in Black America, was a single parent who managed to encourage me all the way through school and see me off to college, where I am currently. She has her faults. We’ve had our disagreements, and I am learning some things about her today that I could never have imagined about her before. But to this day she continues to provide me with the things that I need, despite the fact that I should have been deemed as an “independent” some years ago, according to white America. But I digress.

Black Motherhood encompasses so many things. It is filled with great moments and moments when tears of pain and sorrow are abundant. But in the end, the Black Mother is the creator and sustainer of our community. She is where it all comes from. Where it all originates. She has to power to create, multiply, and uplift the Black Community. She is IT. And once Black Women realize that they hold this power, and do not have to tolerate certain behaviors from any person on this planet, we will create a population of Black Mothers such as the world has never seen before.

I can’t wait.

*If you are a Black Woman (or Black Parents) that are fortunate enough to be blessed with a Black Son, you have an especially daunting task. I am here to tell you, you have the power to change your family, your community, and the world, and it lives and abides in your son. I’m not taking away from families with Black Daughters, they are an amazing blessing all to themselves. But a Black Son….enough said……

WE MUST NEVER FORGET

This is 2011 and we still have Black people hanging from trees?

All Americans today should remember that slavery and the slave-economy were around at the time of the American founding. Had the American Founders tried to abolish slavery from the nation that they were founding, there would have been no United States of America. The United States was founded on a compromise regarding slavery.
The United States has a brutal history of domestic violence. It is an ugly episode in our national history that has long been neglected. Of the several varieties of American violence, one type stands out as one of the most inhuman chapters in the history of the world—the violence committed against Negro citizens in America by white people. This unit of post Reconstruction Afro-American history will examine anti-Black violence from the 1880s to the 1950s. The phenomenon of lynching and the major race riots of this period, called the American Dark Ages by historian Rayford W. Logan, will be covered.
Immediately following the end of Reconstruction, the Federal Government of the United States restored white supremacist control to the South and adopted a “laissez-faire” policy in regard to the Negro. The Negro was betrayed by his country. This policy resulted in Negro disfranchisement, social, educational and employment discrimination, and peonage. Deprived of their civil and human rights, Blacks were reduced to a status of quasislavery or “second-class” citizenship. A tense atmosphere of racial hatred, ignorance and fear bred lawless mass violence, murder and lynching.

In the last decades of the nineteenth century, the lynching of Black people in the Southern and border states became an institutionalized method used by whites to terrorize Blacks and maintain white supremacy. In the South, during the period 1880 to 1940, there was deep-seated and all-pervading hatred and fear of the Negro which led white mobs to turn to “lynch law” as a means of social control. Lynchings—open public murders of individuals suspected of crime conceived and carried out more or less spontaneously by a mob—seem to have been an American invention. In Lynch-Law, the first scholarly investigation of lynching, written in 1905, author James E. Cutler stated that “lynching is a criminal practice which is peculiar to the United States.”1
Most of the lynchings were by hanging or shooting, or both. However, many were of a more hideous nature—burning at the stake, maiming, dismemberment, castration, and other brutal methods of physical torture. Lynching therefore was a cruel combination of racism and sadism, which was utilized primarily to sustain the caste system in the South. Many white people believed that Negroes could only be controlled by fear. To them, lynching was seen as the most effective means of control.
Lynchings occurred throughout the United States; it was not a sectional crime. However, the great majority of lynchings in the United States took place in the Southern and border states. According to social economist Gunnar Myrdal: “The Southern states account for nine-tenths of the lynchings. More than two-thirds of the remaining one-tenth occurred in the six states which immediately border the South: Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kansas.”4 Mississippi, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama were the leading lynching states. These five states furnished nearly half the total victims. Mississippi had the highest incidence of lynchings in the South as well as the highest for the nation, with Georgia and Texas taking second and third places, respectively. However, there were lynchings in the North and West. In fact, every state in the continental United States with the exception of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont has had lynching casualties.

The causes assigned by whites in justification or explanation of lynching Black people include everything from major crimes to minor offenses. In many cases, Blacks were lynched for no reason at all other than race prejudice. Southern folk tradition has held that Negroes were lynched only for the crimes of raping white women—”the nameless crime”—and murder. However, the statistics do not sustain this impression.

The accusations against persons lynched, according to the Tuskegee Institute records for the years 1882 to 1951, were: in 41 per cent for felonious assault, 19.2 per cent for rape, 6.1 per cent for attempted rape, 4.9 per cent for robbery and theft, 1.8 per cent for insult to white persons, and 22.7 per cent for miscellaneous offenses or no offense at a 11.5 In the last category are all sorts of trivial “offenses” such as “disputing with a white man,” attempting to register to vote, “unpopularity”, self-defense, testifying against a white man, “asking a white woman in marriage”, and “peeping in a window.”

Being charged with a crime did not necessarily mean that the person charged was guilty of the crime. Mob victims ware often known to have been innocent of misdeeds. A special study by Arthur Raper of nearly one hundred lynchings convinced him that approximately one-third of the victims were falsely accused.6 Occasionally mobs were mistaken in the identity of their victims.

Lynchings occurred most commonly in the smaller towns and isolated rural communities of the South where people were poor, mostly illiterate, and where there was a noticeable lack of wholesome community recreation. The people who composed mobs in such neighborhoods were usually small land holders, tenant farmers and common laborers, whose economic status was very similar to that of the Negro. They frequently found Black men economic competitors and bitterly resented any Negro progress. Their starved emotions made the raising of a mob a quick and simple process, and racial antagonism made the killing of Negroes a type of local amusement which broke the monotony of rural life. Although most participants in the lynching mobs were from the lower strata of Southern white society, occasionally middle and upper class whites took part, and generally condoned the illegal activity. Many Southern politicians and officials supported “lynch-law”, and came to power on a platform of race prejudice.

Lynching was a local community affair. When the sentiment of a community favored lynching the laws were difficult or impossible to enforce. State authorities often attempted to prevent lynchings, but seldom punished the mob participants. Because of the tight hold on the courts by local public opinion, lynchers were rarely ever indicted by a grand jury or sentenced. The judge, prosecutor, jurors and witnesses—all white—were usually in sympathy with the lynchers. If sentenced, the participants in the lynch mobs were usually pardoned. Local police and sheriffs rarely did anything to defend Negro citizens and often supported lynchings. Arthur Raper estimated, from his study of one hundred lynchings, that “at least one-half of the lynchings are carried out with police officers participating, and that in nine-tenths of the others the officers either condone or wink at the mob action.
The work of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was tremendously effective in awakening the nation to the urgency of stopping lynching. The NAACP, an interracial civil rights protest organization founded in 1909, made thorough investigations of lynchings and other crimes committed against Negroes, and informed the public concerning them. In 1919 the NAACP published Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States, 1889-1918, which was a revelation of the causes of lynching and the circumstances under which the crimes occurred. Beginning in 1921, the NAACP sponsored antilynching legislation such as the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill and numerous other proposals to make lynching a federal crime
They’re saying he hung himself but I have doubt in my mind that he actually did that. That wasn’t his character. This wasn’t a suicide, this was a homicide,” said Sunflower, Miss., Mayor Michael Pembleton, Jr. to The Final Call.

The body of Mr. Carter, 26, was found Dec. 3 hanging from an oak tree in the predominately White North Greenwood area of Leflore County

Ten steps to turn your hobby into a 2011 Business

Don’t put your dreams of financial independence on hold

Given the state of the United States economy, you might assume that turning your hobby into a small business right now isn’t the best idea. On the contrary, launching your own small business in a down economy can be a very smart move – if you plan in advance and set yourself up for success from the start.

Here are 10 tips that all budding entrepreneurs can follow to make their dreams of owning a small business a reality in 2011:

1. Develop a business plan
While preparing a business plan is a requirement for any small business owner seeking to raise start-up funding through a traditional loan or venture capital, every business can benefit from this practice. Your business plan should define your business, its products and services, while outlining your business goals, operating procedures and competition.

2. Consider incorporating your business or forming an LLC
While many small businesses choose never to incorporate, there are many benefits to doing so. “Incorporating your business or forming a limited liability corporation (LLC) is important because it helps protect your personal assets from business debts and liabilities,” says Karen Kobelski, general manager of BizFilings, a full-service online incorporation service provider offering small business owners fast, easy and economical ways to form a corporation or other business structure online or by phone. “However, incorporating isn’t just about protecting your personal assets; other benefits of incorporation include tax advantages and greater credibility with customers and business partners, which can give incorporated businesses a much-needed advantage over non-incorporated operations.”

3. Select an accountant and attorney
Many small business owners seek advice from accountants and attorneys. As you research your options, get referrals from friends and family and turn to professionals who have worked with other small business owners or companies in your specific industry.

4. Get necessary tax identification numbers, business licenses and permits
If your small business will rely on employees, a federal tax identification number or employer identification number (EIN) is required. Most businesses will also require licenses and/or permits to operate in your city, municipality, county and/or state.

5. Insure your business and investigate other requirements
Some industries have specific insurance requirements – do your homework. It’s also important to research additional government tax and insurance requirements that might apply to your business, particularly if you plan on having employees.

6. Open a business bank account
When you own your own business, it’s crucial to separate business finances from personal ones, so opening a business account is key. If your business is not incorporated, most banks will require a DBA (doing business as); contact your bank about requirements prior to opening an account.

7. Arrange your business accounting and apply for loans
It is critical to properly account for all business disbursements, payments received, invoices, etc., whether you use an accountant or handle the finances yourself. If you don’t have enough capital to start a business, seek funding from banks or through Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs.

8. Establish a business line of credit
Establishing business credit will help reduce the number of times your company prepays for purchased products/services and helps establish a strong credit history, a beneficial practice when negotiating vendor and supplier relationships.

9. Ready your workspace
For home-based small businesses, make sure that you are meeting the zoning requirements for your area. Non-home-based businesses will likely require office space, which could lead to the purchase/lease of furniture and office equipment. Planning for this in advance will ensure that you have enough money to cover these costs.

10. Create a brand identity and start marketing your business
To diversify your business from the competition, you should establish your company’s identity and start publicizing your products and services.

Consider developing a unique business logo to include on business cards and letterhead, advertising your business in the local telephone directory, and developing customer leads — from friends, family, and business associates. These activities will help potential customers find and remember your business and should reflect the personality of your organization.

Don’t put your dreams of financial independence and doing what you love on hold until the world starts turning in your favor; start planning for your future today.

Spiritual foundation of Maat vs. Religious teachings of Christianity

Beyond religion and into life

Scholars and Pan-Africanists agree that Africans were the earth’s first people, with the first philosophies, sciences, arts, and spiritual concepts. Our ancient African ancestors believed in a well-rounded life, unity with the Creator, and oneness with one another. Maat, an Egyptian philosophy and way of life, is a concept of spiritual being some African scholars argue is the foundation of all religions.
In the impressive halls of Kemet’s (Egypt) majestic monuments, ancient writings inscribed on the walls of pyramids reveal a universal message of truth, justice, and righteousness. Ancient Africans did not practice religion; instead they followed a natural order of living and incorporated principles that were supposed to have led to a more balanced life.
Maat consists of 42 admonitions or negative confessions and seven cardinal virtues: Truth, justice, rightness, harmony, balance, reciprocity, and order. A close comparison of the confessions to the much younger Biblical Ten Commandments yields a stunning revelation: The Ten Commandments may have come from Maat.
For example, admonition 18, according to the Metu Neter (a book of spiritual guidelines), says, “I have not set my mouth in motion against any person.” In comparison, Commandment 9 says: “Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Admonition 20 says, “I have not defiled the wife of any man.” Commandment 10 says, “Thou shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” And the list goes on.
Long Beach State University Africana Studies professor and Seba (moral teacher of Maat), Maulana Karenga writes in his book, entitled “Maat, The Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt,” that the ancient Kemetic philosophy set into motion the moral principles of modern religions.
“There is clearly an interest in the ideal as a point of departure and motivation for philosophical discourse in the same sense (that) the ideal motivates discourse in other religious and ethical traditions,” Karenga writes, “i.e., the central idea of iwa (character) in Ifa, ‘adl (justice) in Islam, jen in Confucianism, nirvana in Buddhism, dharma in Hinduism, tzedek in Judaism, agape in Christianity, etc.”
According to Karenga’s research, Maatian influences and practices date as far back as 3100 and 2150 B.C., while other heavily used Biblical principles like the Ten Commandments, were written by Moses around 1500 B.C.
Maatian principles, practices, and virtues are represented by an Egyptian woman or goddess who is also called Maat. She is depicted with wings or sitting with a scepter and ankh in either hand, and an ostrich feather atop her head. Depictions of the goddess began to appear during the Old Kingdom (some time around 2700 B.C.)

Maat in death
On the Papyrus of Ani, a scene of judgment begins with the Great Hall of Maati. Here is where Anpu, the god of embalming, leads all men and women who have died into judgment. Individuals have to answer for their actions, attempting to justify themselves with righteousness they demonstrated on earth, according to Maatian principles and virtues.
Karenga writes that Maat not only teaches to deny evil, but to promote good and do righteousness.
“The deceased declares her virtues saying that she did Maat in Egypt, and lives on Maat,” he states. “Moreover, the deceased declares that he has done what was worthy of praise by others and that which pleased God. Especially important, the deceased declares moral concern and care for the most vulnerable of society…”
Anpu, weighs the heart of a person on the balance (scale) of Ra (God) against the feather of Maat. This determines, if a soul is worthy to enter into Aaru (the Field of Reeds), where the ancient gods roamed for eternity, or be devoured by Ammut, and have no chance for further existence. Djehuti, “the scribe of heaven and lord of just measure,” is pictured next to the balance. His job is to record and announce the results.
At the end of the Papyrus of Ani, sits Asar “whose resurrection from the dead, symbolized and promised eternal life through righteousness for human beings,” his wife Auset and Nebt-Hetn his sister. Ra and the Heliopolitan Ennead (The Great Nine Divine Powers) are also pictured on the papyrus. A side note: Different papyrus judgment scenes have more than nine divine powers, but Ra is always at the head.
The Biblical judgment scene according to Revelation 20:11-15 is similar. (According to Revelation 1, the author is John the Apostle. The book is a vision God gave him about the final judgment.) In the last days, the book of life was opened and the dead were “judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” before the throne of God. Those who were not found in the book were cast into the lake of fire, eternal death. Those who were found worthy were given everlasting life. Upon closer examination, other parallels can be found.
Many religions teach morality and righteous living. Maat, although it is not a religion, is a spiritual foundation from which many would argue the world’s religions gleaned. Maat is simply a way of life that is acceptable to people across different faiths

Honoring the ancestors in religion

Our connection to the afterlife

Ancestry is a highly regarded realm of life among many of us in our domestic sectors and even abroad. Many families have a deep reverence for those who have passed on to another life beyond the clouds in heaven or a life among the spirits in a realm unseen by the human eye.

Memorials in honor of the ancestors may remain on mantels in homes, or a small token from their former life may be kept away in a relatives, and loved ones’ secret space.

Ancestors not directly related to us like Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, or Menkaure (a pharaoh of the fourth Dynasty) may even hold a special place in our hearts.

For ages, African people have honored the ancestors before prayers in libations, in seeking guidance, and in the way they worshipped. And ancestors are indeed people, but who are no longer encased in a fleshly vessel. In traditional African religions, these passed on people are those who died a good death and who lived a life that was righteous and promoted peace. In many cases, those who are adopted into the ancestral world must have produced children, but in some cases, those without are extended the honor as well.

They are proof to those living on earth that life continues beyond the physical body. Ancestors are the connection to another dimension of life and praying, seeking, and speaking to them is a way people stay connected and maintain relationships between loved ones and honored ones.

“African Folklore: An Encyclopedia” by Philip M. Peek and Kwesi Yankah says ancestors are the greatest and most powerful link between families and God.

“Ancestors form the spiritual segment of their families and are the most intimate link between their living descendants and the spiritual world of God, the gods, and other spirit powers. They serve as intermediaries and mediators between their descendants and the spirit world, promoting the welfare of their descendants,” Peek and Yankah write.

A common phrase in the Black community or any group for that matter is, “Grandma is watching over us right now” or “Uncle sent a sign from above.” Our traditions, our sayings and our beliefs stem greatly from our ancestral understanding of the afterlife. Like our continental brothers and sisters invested in their traditional religious practices, many in the Diaspora believe our ancestors offer some type of protection or prayers for our sake. Peek and Yankah concede that the role of passed-on relatives and precious members of the community is to advise descendants, reward good behavior or ignore “belligerent and negligent” behavior, without taking the place of the Supreme Being.

Honoring the ancestors usually involves some sort of ritual whether that is a libation, prayer, offering, sacrifice or celebration. Not to be confused with worship, those who practice African traditional religions or religious sacraments may take a few moments before a family discussion, important event, or a sermon to call on the names of the ancestors to ask for their blessings and wisdom.

“Libation in traditional African cultures is a magico-religious ritual and is part of worship and prayers, which expresses the indispensable spiritual unity between the living and the dead,” Peek and Yankah conclude. “It represents one way that the African concepts of communion among family, lineage, and clan members is reinforced. Belief in the reliance of human beings on the Supreme Being, the ancestors, and the deities is also reflected in African libation practice.”

Many of us are familiar with the communion practice of drinking wine in the memory of Christ’s blood sacrifice and eating bread to represent his body. In a sense, this type of libation for an ancestor of the Christian family is frequently practiced in most Christian churches. However, it is not directly called a libation, but a communion between the “dead” and the living.

“Libations, therefore, symbolize the human wish to maintain an equilibrium of interaction with supernatural forces,” says the Encyclopedia.

Ancestors, although they may not physically walk among us, are felt in everyday life—at least in the belief of African traditionalists. They are the ones who keep us connected, reminded and in line with God. They are a supernatural connection between this life and the afterlife

Net worth must be counted in wealth accumulation

What you keep is key

Many of us were taught to go to school, get a good job, make a lot of money, get married, buy a nice house and nice cars, have kids, take great vacations and maybe save some of what was left over for a rainy day.

For those who came before us, that lifestyle made some sense, but in those days, working a good job long enough ensured a hefty pension to live off of during retirement. Also, a home mortgage was usually paid off by that time, too, so there were few expenses to deal with in the golden years.

Worst case scenario, if there was no pension, there was Social Security to depend on. For the majority of us, nowadays, those glory days are gone, and the onus is ours to secure a favorable financial future; to ensure that we live a debt-free, healthy, wealthy and exciting life and retirement in our golden years.

When talking about financial freedom, we are really talking about developing thoughts and taking actions–of an investor and a millionaire–to secure a nest egg big enough for a great lifestyle now, and later on in life, for ourselves and others. In the book, “The Millionaire Real Estate Investor,” by Gary Keller and Dave Jenks, the authors write that another crucial area of finances the millionaire investor focuses on is her net worth–a strong measurement of wealth.

When I started on this quest for financial freedom, I thought investing was just a way to make big money now, to get rich quick, and live the life of those I used to see on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”

I graduated as an accounting and finance major, and learned about how to look at and analyze the finances for a corporation, but never was taught to apply these same concepts and tools to my personal finances.

After reading the books “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “Cashflow Quadrant,” by Robert Kiyosaki, though, I finally started to learn what all those financial statements and terms really meant, and how I could use that information to build my own wealth.

I also found out that financial success is not measured by how much money I make, but how much I keep after the bills are paid, and what I do with that money (positive cash flow). This led me to learn the importance of my net worth.

Your net worth consists of three parts: What you own, what you owe and the difference between what you own and what you owe. For instance, if you own real estate, stocks, businesses, etc., and were to sell them all, whatever you can sell them for today would be the total value of your assets. Let’s say, for example, you own a house and rental property worth $400,000, stocks (or money in an IRA or 401k) worth $50,000, a business that you could sell today for $40,000 and a car worth $10,000. That total—the total value of your assets—is $500,000.

Now, look at all of your debts (also called liabilities)—your mortgage, credit cards, business loans, car loans, student loans etc., and the total you owe, if you were to pay the balances off in full today.

Let’s say you owe $250,000 all together for your two property (your home and the rental house) mortgages, $50,000 for your credit cards, $20,000 for your business loans, $50,000 for your student loans and $10,000 for your car loan.

That total—the total balance of your liabilities—is $380,000. Your net worth is figured out by subtracting your total liabilities from your total assets–in this case, $500,000 minus $380,000. In this example, your total net worth would be $120,000. What this means is that if you sold all of your assets and paid off all of your liabilities (leaving you debt-free), $120,000 would be left in your hands (before taxes are paid). This is a very simplified version of what we call a balance sheet, the name for the financial statement that shows your net worth. With this information in hand, take time to list your own assets and your liabilities to figure out your net worth. If you already know it, you are ahead of the game.

Knowing your net worth is vital to your financial life, because this lets you know where you are on the wealth-building scale. Track and analyze your assets, liabilities and net worth monthly (at least) and yearly to find ways to increase your net worth. Here is a quick and fast method to use to see how well you are doing with your net worth–take a look at your net worth, look at your present expenses for the year, and see how long (i.e., how many years) you would be able to live off of your net worth without working a job. How does it look? Let’s apply this method to the example we used earlier. There your a net worth was $120,000, so you know you have $30,000 in total expenses each year. That means, without working a job or having any steady income, you would be able to survive on that nest egg of $120,000 for about four years. Like I said, this is a quick and fast method, so it is not perfect. What it does, though, is get you to start seeing how your net worth relates to your present and future financial life and how it affects your goals and dreams. Tracking, analyzing and planning your net worth is one of the keys to getting you out of the rat race of life, the never-ending cycle of working to pay bills.

Finally, understand that real wealth-building lies in planting a seed now for some time in the future, and it takes time. I learned that the hard way, but you don’t have to. Know that when you invest in anything in life, it takes some time for the fruits of your labor to manifest—in relationships, businesses, investments, etc. So, take the time to track, plan, learn about and grow your net worth. Your financial freedom depends on it