Friday, April 1, 2011

John Henrik Clarke

John Henrik Clarke (January 1, 1915 - July 16, 1998)
I don't have much to say here, Mr. Clarke articulates my  views on the history of African-America better than I ever could, and his historical lessons should be  required for everyone, not just people of African descent. So, here are some quotes from "A Great and Mighty Walk," a film that explores his personal history and that of Africans and African-Americans. The full video is below.



"We have overused the word "Black." Because "Black" tells you how you look, but it don't tell you who you are."

"The passive resistance of the Civil Rights Movement was sold as a way of life. A strategy is never a way of life. A strategy is used in the way you use an orange...when the juice is gone, you throw it in the garbage."

"Religion is the organization of spirituality into something that became the hand maiden of conquerors. Nearly all religions were brought to people and imposed on people by conquerors, and used as the framework to control their minds."
 
"All people develop within a culture container that includes their geographical background, their religion, and their method of surviving in their original habitat. When you take a people out of the cultural surroundings in which they originally developed, you take away part of their humanity. African people living outside of Africa are so obsessed with surviving under conditions that they did not create that they often lack a universal view of their condition and how it started."

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