Van Jones is one of the most brilliant analysts on TV that I watch and listen to when I get a chance.
A few days after a video showing the murder of Ahmaud Arbery was seen on TV, I heard him ask, also on TV, a very sober question. Paraphrased, it went something along the following line: If we go out for a jog and get murdered, what else can we do? I wish I could remember or locate a recording of his very humble question word for word in order to keep its originality.
The question is one of those that struck me the moment I heard it. I also had a reaction for the question at a moment's notice. I have been thinking about it since then.
I have no morality to suggest to an African American, let alone Van Jones, what else to do when they raise this kind of questions. I keep learning the centuries of pains, struggles, and successes, that African Americans had gone through. As an African living in America, I consider and should consider myself a beneficiary of the centuries of struggles of early Africans in America and African Americans for the progress they have achieved toward equality on this continent.
Then again, I also think that even as a chap on the street or a little brother, I have some intuition and perspective to consider about the very important question that Van Jones asked.
In this forum commentary, I am using Van Jones as a representative of other African Americans who may have a similar question and might find it worthwhile to consider the intuition and perspective of this chap on the street or a little brother.
I was in high school in Ethiopia when Michael Jackson, wearing his zipper jacket, and Madonna Lousie Ciccone became the top American celebrities in music. I have had some chances to listen to some of their songs even during those days as I also tried to learn the English language in its American accent.
The names Michael Jackson and Madonna, who was then known by her first name only, became some of the windows through which I could understand and be inspired by the success stories of a democratic country, the U.S.A., as I understood it then.
I was very ignorant about the pains that they went through and continued to go through. I imagined that by that time, the system that caused the pain was history and that the two celebrities were symbols of unfettered talent that anyone could demonstrate unhindered.
Years later after I arrived in the U.S. for further education, I heard for the first time the phrase "colored people" during a chat with an American friend. The moment I heard it, I failed to contain my surprise about the phrase and asked my friend: "Are there colorless people?" Seemingly a little subdued by my visible amusement about the expression and quick question, my friend tried to explain it. Nothing was more explanatory to me than the self explanatory phrase that I heard for the first time that day.
On another day after I arrived in the U.S., I heard on TV, by chance, the Reverend Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton say something along the following line: We always excel on a level playing field. I couldn't remember which one of them said it because I mistook one for the other when I was relatively new in the U.S.
However, I remember the expression, if not word for word. I understood the expression then as a rhetoric because I believed and continue to believe that when nurtured in a conducive environment, every human brain is infinitely powerful in terms of thinking.
Yet, I still ask myself why he said that even as I remember the accomplishments of Pele in soccer, Michael Jackson in moon dance, Michael Jordan in basketball, Tiger Woods in golf, Simone Biles in gymnastics, and so on and on.
What I would suggest for consideration may be nothing new in terms of demonstrating talent. It is only to find that level playing field in Africa. It is not even a suggestion by any stretch of the imagination to give up on America by asking what else can we do? I think that I have a good grasp of how much the labor and pain of African American's has built up America. It is about doing both in business even if it means investing a penny in Africa for every dollar invested in America.
Finding a level playing field in Africa may not come overnight because of the effect of colonization of much of it and the subsequent chaos it left behind.
Nonetheless, I would ask if it is not wiser to start at this time a project that may become fully successful a century from now in terms of having that level playing field. I understand how selfish this may sound to come from an African as a suggestion to African Americans to establish a level playing field in Africa.
To the extent that there is a wish to see both Africa and African Americans rise and come to a level playing field instead of becoming sandwiched between the powers be, I see no shame in it.
If in a century from now, equally powerful rockets start to fly into space out of Africa instead of watching them rise from the U.S. and China, to consider one scenario as an example, the world may become a more stable, balanced, and level playing field. That stability can be likened to that which can be achieved by using the proverbial three pillars.
I am sure that the EU, Latin America, and the resilient Russia will not be sitting idly by as the world advances into the future.
I am also aware of the history of the relationship between Africans and African Americans in recent times as I also try to understand the common continent's ancient history.
If the first African arrived in the America 401 years ago, the African Pharaoh Akhenaten who introduced monotheism to his people in Africa and became part of the faith tradition of much of the world, if not all, lived some 3,300 years ago. That means the history of Africans coming to America after being abducted from their own continent has a time span of less than 12 percent of the time since its own Pharaoh introduced monotheism to his people.
If the time since the Emancipation Proclamation of about 156 years is counted out, that time span would be about seven percent.
The Emancipation Proclamation could have been followed by a gradual Reintegration of African Americans into Africa. Evidently, the realities on the ground in both Africa and America were unyielding because of the history of colonization and systematic repression.
The reality of our time suggests that something else can be chosen to be done with available resources in order to achieve something not for the self but oneself's future generations by contemplating scenarios a century into the future.
The Hollywood sign in Los Angeles was another thing that introduced me to the U.S. when I was in high school in Ethiopia and was able to watch some American movies.
About a couple of years ago, I heard in the news that some graffiti was put on LeBron James' mansion in or around the city, if I remember the news correctly.
Earlier this year, I also watched in the news King James arriving in Los Angeles to mourn the shocking death of the late Kobe Bryant.
If I remember correctly, King James expressed at the time of the graffiti news that as much as he has been successful in America, his mansion became a target like that in America.
I don't mean to recount these kinds of stories here. I only mean to suggest that there is something else to consider doing, which is to find small ways of economic re-integration in Africa while still continuing to build on the progresses made in America. As a matter of fact, I think that failing to do that in order to achieve a complete disentanglement from the oppressor and long-term reintegration with the organic community may be a sign of the Stockholm Syndrome.
I am sure that finding a level playing field in Africa is not going to be an easy walk. I am also sure that abducting people of one continent and almost genocidal destruction of natives from yet other continents wasn't easy, either. I think that that was the most unnatural experiment in the history of mankind and that it is unraveling naturally.
It is my understanding that the term the wild west is both metaphorical and physical. If explorers like John Muir have traversed the physical wild west, I am positive that African Americans with financial resources can traverse Africa and help make it a level playing field.
A colleague of mine once told me that a known philosopher was asked sometime in the distant past about who knows the most. The historical philosopher's answer was whoever has traveled the most.
Expressing that one is a victim may earn one some sympathies for the moment. Demonstrating victory may earn one a lot of respect.
I don't underestimate the debate in America, including by African Americans, in order to achieve a continued progress. However, I don't think that the debate between choosing a known king and a known charlatan can be as productive as finding your own path of victory.
I think that finding one's own path of victory demands that one needs to be both logically and philosophically correct.
To the extent that there are no colorless people, how is the label colored people either logically or philosophically correct? One of the poster ladies of the wild west may relish saying repeatedly "colored communities in our country."
The Black Lives Matter movement is one for a noble cause. But how is the expression both logically and philosophically correct for such a noble cause? Is it life or labor that is more precious? I don't know what philosophers may say about it in order to answer the question. My simple answer is that life is more precious than labor. So, if it is arguable that life is more precious than labor and the barbaric takeaway of one labor freely ended about a century and a half ego through the Emancipation Proclamation, doesn't the expression Black Lives Matter suggest that this struggle is worse than that which led to the Emancipation Proclamation? I think it implies it. If so, how is it that the expression doesn't devalue the progress made, not in spite of African Americans but because of African Americans, since that proclamation? One activist once wrote: "They put us down and we are putting ourselves downer."
Furthermore, doesn't it imply that some party out there, instead of the Almighty, deems entitled to destinies of the lives of African Americans. Because of that implication, every time I hear or read this expression, starting from the moment I heard it for the first time, I feel deeply insulted. This is because I know that only the Almighty deems the destiny of my life and no savage elements out there are entitled to determine it. Many times I even wonder that if the wild elements wouldn't self-destruct if it weren't for the leaders from the rest of the world. This is not to underestimate in anyway the tragic deaths of many in the hand of others. This is only about asking the farsightedness of the messaging even in light of these tragic murders.
In addition, it is not only the grown ups that hear the expression. It is also the young people who need to be inspired, not demoralized in their formative years.
I ask myself why is that a different expression doesn't convey the same message for the same noble cause? One line in America's pledge of allegiance is justice for all. I see no problem in saying justice for all, justice matters, liberty matters in order to advance the peaceful protests.
Finding one's own path of victory means helping lead others as well. One of the many famous lines in President Obama's campaign speeches when he was a candidate was the following: "We are not blue states and we are not red states. We are the United States of America."
So, how is that the expression Black Lives Matter doesn't devalue the legacy of this message and, for that matter, the successful campaigning and Presidency of Obama?
Many people subscribe to political correctness. I have no training or expertise in politics. My intuition guides me to find both logical and philosophical correctness when it comes to social science and matters.
I have previously heard multiple times the question: What is in a name? Perhaps, a question must be added: What is in an expression, including in colored people and Black Lives Matter.
Speaking of the question what is in a name, venturing into Africa also means uncovering its landscapes, its Roses, Heathers, Daisies, Lilies, Bidens, Kellys, and so on in Africa's local languages. It means uncovering its Yosemites, Grand Canyons, and so on. It suffices to say that the African continent is bigger than the United States in order to get a sense of what else can be done.
When it is made a level playing field in the future, future players will have options to play in Africa's Augusta or Wimbledon or rotate between them.
To come back to the bottom line of my suggestion in my long winded scribble on a forum and by way of possibly reaching other African Americans as well, find a way to get a level playing field in Africa not for our generation, not for the next generation, may be not even the generation that follows it. But for a generation that will live without having any doubts if that generation's lives matter. A harder work will only make that time span much shorter.