The Transformational Agenda Magazine 26th Edition

In this series of articles we consider the 400 years it has been since the first person was brought from Africa to America to be sold as property. The articles in the series include:

• 400 Years of Triumph Has Brought You to Today
• You Exist Today Because
• Culture is Everything
• The Power of Culture
• Living the Culture of the Enslaved
• If a piece of history of a people doesn’t get resolved…
• Unconscious Cultural Intergenerational Trauma
• We Remain Disempowered By Our Past
• So The Beat Goes On
• The Power of Spirit is Tragically Being Ignored
• Healing Is Exactly What Is Needed
• The Beauty of the Situation
• The Secret of Life

400 Years of Triumph has Brought You to Today

400 YEARS OF TRIUMPH—were endured, in order to bring you to today.

During slavery we had absolutely no control over our destiny what-so-ever; and slavery lasted legally in America for 247 years. Following the legal end of slavery, freedom reigned for eight years of incredible accomplishment, which would become known as the Reconstruction Era. Then the union soldiers headed home and our nation left us at the mercy of southern barbarianism. Our ancestors were left unprotected as the Ku Klux Klan proved to be brutal terrorists, while state after state proved ready, willing, and able to pass the laws necessary to establish “slavery by another name”, which lasted 100 years. This century of unchecked reign of terror and horror, history gave the gentle sounding non-descriptive name of Jim Crow. 

Through it all our ancestors chose life, so that we might know today, and through it all they never stopped resisting. They kept pushing this nation toward living up to the lofty aspirations inscribed by those whom we refer to as ‘the founding fathers.’ Our ancestors neither sought the release of death nor killed everyone in the dark of night. They had made a decision to endure what-ever-may-be, rather than allow the accessorial blood line to end. Their sacrifice gifted us with life, and they deserve our admiration, respect, acclamations, and celebration.

Source:
This article is comprised of excerpts from the book “The Obsession of a Lifetime: The Healing of the African American Community and Racial Reconciliation in America.
©2016 by Howard Denson

The Transformational Agenda Magazine 26th Edition