The Negro

This article is dedicated to or is about the Negro. It is a paper that argues against ‘racism.’
By Negro here is meant that person said to be black, that person said to be indigenous to Africa, the ‘black man.’
For many years, black people have lived as part human, not recognized as equal to the other racial groups. What should not be lost on anyone is that all through this time, black people have indeed been full and equal human beings. They never ceased, not for a fraction of a second, to be human.
It is important that black people, wherever they happen to be, must never forget this. That over the years black people have been disparaged and scorned is now an immutable historical fact. It is a curious fixture of the present that discrimination against them, to a lesser degree, continues to happen today.
On the other hand, that this happened is beneficial. It is because of this very pressure that black people have suffered that there shall emerge amongst them the finest of world citizens.
The seed for such production has already been planted. It is irreversible now. Global leadership order is changing. In the coming years, black people shall continue to play a more visible and dominant role in global leadership.

Black people themselves, and the rest of the world, shall continue to be amazed at what the future shall produce from amongst black people.

In the not so distant future, black people shall guide the world. For the experience that they have undergone, they possess the best education for global leadership on human relations, and through it, global well being.

Blacks are the ones best placed not to commit the terrible atrocities that have been perpetrated against them. Call it the ‘Nelson Mandela Phenomenon.’ Note why Nelson Mandela is now revered; when, as a reaction, you take the aggressor’s eye when he has removed yours, you lower yourself to his contemptible level, you become just as base as he, and note that no one is deified for such behaviour.

Black people, as a collective, are not innately stupid. Yes, granted, there does exist imbeciles amongst them, just like such idiots are found amongst other racial groups, but such an occurrence does not make the whole race despicable or inferior.

Black people have beneficial mental abilities. They are intelligent. Black people have beneficial and admirable artistic talents. They can stupefy. Black people have beneficial and admirable physical qualities. They possess remarkable physical strength and fascinating beauty.

Yes, they can fly (Bessie Coleman). Yes, they can run (Jesse Owens). Yes, they can box (Cassius Clay). Yes, they can talk (Oprah Winfrey). Yes, the can sing (Michael Jackson). Yes, they can lead (Nelson Mandela). Yes, they can survive (like the rest of us).

The list is indeed long.
What has been written above about the qualities of black people is also true of people belonging to other racial groups. Beneficial and admirable mental, physical and artistic attributes are not a preserve of black people only nor are they a preserve of any single racial group of people. They are the preserve of all healthy human beings.

Nonetheless, education was earlier denied to black people so that they could be ‘kept in their place.’ To denigrate their beauty, black people were deliberately and repeatedly portrayed as promiscuous even when statistics argued to the converse.Further, to belittle their achievements in arts, their excellence is laughed at by stating that these are the fields reserved for minorities, people with limited opportunities or cognitive abilities, like them.This mischaracterisation will change. It has been changing for some time.
For example, that today Barack Obama, a black man, is president of the United States of America is very important for people all over the world. That there now exists such a vivid visual example of achievement at the highest level of national, even global leadership by a man of colour ministers to the very core of humanity about human potential in general.

That such talent should be reposed in one as black is indeed revealing and inspiring.
This is a clear example of what the Reverend Martin Luther King dreamt of when he referred to the ‘content of one’s character’ as the right yardstick for judging people and not the colour of their skin.
Barack Obama was not an accident. Barack Obama did not become President of the United States by chance. That Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America today is a product of the seed that many black people hundreds of years before him planted.

Many black people died for Barack Obama to be where he is today. It was not easy. It was a battle, a painful and bloody battle. This must never be forgotten.

This is why just being President of the United States of America, the mere fact itself, is so important for black people the world over. What happens after his coronation, during his presidency, is secondary and of limited significance. What happened when he won is legendary. That is a good enough lesson for all humanity.

His becoming President was an event of such historical significance that it shall remain a key lesson in human relations for millennia to come. What many black people could, in the past only dream of, is now reality. The mere importance of the event produced sincere tears in the eyes of many discerning historians. What could not, became. The unthinkable happened! The slave had now become master, the symbolism all so real and touching, utterly inspirational and divine. Like Jesus, we wept!

The victory for black people through the victory of Barack Obama lies in the victory itself. His mere ascendancy to the highest political office on Earth is of such significance to black people and all humanity that it should not be lost on anyone. It is symbolic.

Further, never has the fight for human dignity been so vividly highlighted as it has been through the terrible injustice occasioned on black people. That the restoration of human dignity is occurring and shall continue to occur through black people is a poignant lesson for all humanity. In the order of life, where ignorance is rife, a chosen people had to suffer this. This was the Negro’s cross to bear on behalf of the rest of humanity, sort of, attainment of global enlightenment through the persecution of the Negro.

No one ever succeeded or will ever succeed to forever denigrate God’s creation.
Though it was in 1990 that the last formal chains of segregation against the black man were broken in South Africa, segregation against black people still occurs. It is still part of the culture of people in many parts of the world today.

You see, legislation can change overnight but human behaviour does not. It takes time. It is only with the passage of time, with the requisite investment aimed at a change in the orientation of children that lasting change will take place.

Nonetheless, black people will eventually thank God for what has, over the years, happened to them, for their suffering. The revelation of the reason for the preparation that black people have undergone, so painfully for so many years, shall soon dawn on them, and all in the world.

The world shall become a better place for the experience of the Negro.

That many black people today are bitter because of how badly treated they have been over the years (through slavery, colonialism, apartheid, imperialism, etc.) is understandable. This bitterness only reflects their normalcy. It is vital that they should be bitter for it is through the full appreciation of this bitterness/pain that the lesson shall be fully learnt, the preparation thorough and complete. Their persecution is a resource for global well being. It has its purpose.

Dear reader, note that without adversity, the world would be without heroes.

It will not be easy, it has not been. Nonetheless, blacks shall, for a period of time when their lesson stays relevant and before the cycle moves on, lead the world. Then the magnificence of God shall be reasserted in all its glory. This lesson now awaits the world. The hour is coming.

The degree of the suffering that black people have endured from other racial groups shall determine the degree to which they are refined. That they have been so debased shall produce in them the very best of human beings that the world has ever seen.

Suffering has its purpose. It is a key resource for survival. Peace follows suffering. Everything has meaning.

In unprecedented numbers, the world shall witness the emergence of a crop of the finest human beings that it has never before seen. Most of these people shall be black. It is these people that have now earned the moral authority on the dignity of human beings, no one else.

Carbon is now indeed becoming diamond!
In 1957, discussing the topic ‘The New Negro’ on an NBC Television programme called The Open Mind these were the closing words of Reverend Martin Luther King: ‘Well I...when I think of the question of progress in the area of race relations, I prefer to be realistic, and when I say that I mean I try to look at it not from the pessimistic point of view or optimistic but rather from the realistic point of view. I think we have come a long, long way but we have a long, long way to go. But it seems to me that if we would press on with determination, moral courage, and yet wise restraint and calm reasonableness, in a few years we will reach the goal. I, I have a great deal of faith in the future, and the outcome, I am not despairing.’

In closing the program, the host Richard D. Heffner, author and historian, said: ‘And, as long as we have men like you, we can all have faith.’

Men like the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. will always be there on Earth. Richard D. Heffner needn’t worry. They occur in all races.

Hope is. Have faith. Always look on the bright side, dear reader.
The ability for the world to right itself is within its blueprint. It is our trump card. In time, this always happens. It is God’s secret.

CHANGE

Change now and change your future, stay the same and continue to gain the same things you have been getting until now!

THE LIMITS OF LANGUAGE

Speaking is not indispensable. It is communicating that is.

You see, many years ago, before people learned to speak, they could communicate.

A language is merely a medium of communication. It is not the language that is important.

It is what the language conveys that matters.

For purposes of this article, by language is meant that medium of communication that relies on phonation.

You see, dear reader, not all people can speak. On the other hand, all people can communicate.

This reality clearly captures the folly of laying too much emphasis on the ability to speak, to literally lend voice to one’s thoughts.

In future, Zambia should elect a president who cannot speak English, or better still, one that cannot speak at all.

It is difficult to imagine this, yet allow it, but it should be permitted because it is not the speech of a person that we should focus upon, it is the content of his mind that we must decipher and understand.

From the outset, let me state that this article does not present an argument against language or speaking.

This paper merely argues against the exaggerated emphasis that human societies have placed on language.

This paper argues for letting all people communicate.

You see, dear reader, language can indeed be a barrier to communication.

Let me illustrate.

Take Zambia for instance. Zambia has adopted English as its official language.

Now, dear reader, how many Zambians today, in April of 2011, can speak in English let alone understand it well?

The answer to this question ought to worry every advocate of communication.

The answer is that only a small fraction of the 13 million Zambians can articulate their thoughts fluently in English or understand thoughts articulated to them fluently in English.

From the foregoing, you will then see that when emphasis is placed on the expression of one’s thoughts in one language this then becomes a veritable barrier not only to communication but to the participation by people in matters dear to their own welfare.

Lamentably, sometimes such emphasis, a veritable form of segregation is legislated for and enforced by law.

Through such fallible legislation, many people, people that have something of value to ‘say’ or communicate are not allowed to do so and by such exclusion, many human societies are denied the indispensable contribution to human advancement from many.

In Zambia, if a person cannot speak in English or understand what is being said in English, such a person is often viewed as possessing a lower standing in society.

Such a person is treated askance, frowned upon and shunned as if with a disgusting disease.

People that are so discriminated against are often viewed as inferior in intelligence or backward.

This is wrong.

Though it truly reflects intelligence, the ability to speak a language, be it English or any other, is not a direct or reliable or sole measure of an individual’s intelligence.

There are many people in the world today that simply cannot speak and yet they are intelligent, knowledgeable and wise.

Note that.

You see dear reader, there should come a time in the life of Zambia as a nation when one should be allowed to become Republican president without placing one’s language as a precondition, without insisting that such a person should be able to speak at all or speak in a particular language such as English.

It is not the language that one uses that is important. It is what they have to communicate that we must place the premium on.

Besides, should interpretation be called for when one wishes to communicate, let the services of one so coached in such ways be engaged for purposes of ensuring that the audience receives the message from the one sending it.

Media of communication are many.

Dear reader, observe that in human life, there is both verbal and non-verbal communication. And fluency in both these ways of communicating can indeed be attained.

It is not that we should let the people speak; it is that we should let the people communicate.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a Republican president expressing his or her thoughts in Chitonga, Chichewa, Icibemba or Kikaonde.

Such an approach to communication would broaden the field for people to participate in their own governance without the now extant subtle yet real exclusive practice.

In addition, such an approach would enable all to benefit from the thoughts of many.

At present, only a few exposed citizens have the opportunity to undertake national activities for the sole reason that they can express themselves well in English, althogh itself a foreign language.

The shameful thing is that the excluded many are very knowledgeable people, are profoundly intelligent and are admirably wise.

Usual are the moments when out of courtesy people do not protest when their leader addresses them in English.

Despite their not understanding what their leader is saying, they remain quiet based on the fear of being found out that they cannot understand him or her or merely because of sheer politeness.

In times like these, communication then fails.

The leader then goes away mistakenly thinking he passed on the message, and the audience leaves quietly disgruntled and muttering under their breath their anger at the arrogance that seemingly educated people tend to exhibit. Discord remains.

Dear reader, there should come a time in Zambia when fluent in Chikunda, a Republican president will articulate in that language the contents of a National Development Plan (NDP) to the country’s citizens.

An interpreter or interpreters will then play their part to make the message understandable to the rest of the citizens that are Chikunda-naive.

Such a level of national tolerance and acceptance shall veritably reflect a higher state of being for the country.

The argument in this article is that the deaf and dumb are not idiots.

An idiot is here defined as a person whose mental capacity is so rudimentary as to render such a person non-functional.

The deaf and dumb, you see, are truly not idiots.

Many of them, if not all, are highly intelligent people, people that possess knowledge and wisdom, who merely suffered the misfortune of losing the ability to speak and hear either from birth or afterwards.

Now, dear reader, here is the million dollar question. Would you allow a deaf and dumb person to become your Republican president?

Chances are, because you are so bigoted, you would not allow it and yet it is perfectly in order that such a person should be offered an equal chance at such leadership.

The probability of a deaf and dumb person becoming Republican president anywhere in the world is a slim one if at all extant.

This is so not because such people cannot lead. It is because society is so mistakenly prejudiced. It is because we do not exist in a barrier-free environment.

Though Nature provides for such people to lead, on the other hand, man has mistakenly erected huge barriers such as language which preclude the participation of such people in national leadership as exemplified above.

Dear reader, note that a ‘deaf and dumb’ person is here used metaphorically as well as literally.

A deaf and dumb person is in this paper illustrated as a proxy for someone who cannot speak.

After all, as an example, if you cannot speak Chichewa or French, aren’t you really deaf and dumb in as far as that language is concerned? I know I am although I'm trying to learn as much Chichewa as I can & my girlfriends been very supportive, when it comes to French let's not even go there.

You see, the use of language is a veritable exaggerated fixture in the lives of human beings.

When emphasis is placed on speaking one particular language for communication in a nation, this then represents a clear barrier that excludes the participation of many in their own affairs.

Barriers can be a good thing. Naturally, barriers define what should be done and what should not.

For instance, in Nature, barriers prescribe the boundaries of what is evil and what is not. Nonetheless, barriers to human survival and prosperity ought to be eliminated.

Dear reader, English in Zambia is a veritable barrier to the progress of many.

Though its use should not be abolished but encouraged instead, the use of other languages, languages that Zambians are comfortable with and fluent in should also be legislated for, encouraged and reach wide acceptance.

Knowledge, intelligence and wisdom are not expressed in one language.

These are universal to all human beings.

Yes, let the people speak, but more importantly, let the people communicate.

You see, a visit to the lion’s den teaches one a lot about the lion.

Similarly, your habitat says a lot about you, dear reader.

HOW MANY WORDS CAN A DOG UNDERSTAND?

"I'll teach my dog 100 words," says the boy in the children's story of the same name. But can he really? Dog owners love to gush about canine intelligence. So it would come as no surprise to them that research supports their beliefs that dogs have a profound mental capacity. But how much of our language do dogs really understand? It turns out that the language comprehension of some dogs rivals that of apes and parrots, not to mention the average 3-year-old!!
Since at least the 1970s, when researchers successfully trained chimpanzees to use and read words in sign language we have known that language, in a loose sense of the term, is not unique to humans. Animals have the brain power to understand human language and use their own languages in surprisingly profound ways. We all know parrots can be trained to speak human words. And dogs will react to the word "walk" with a knowing, tail-wagging enthusiasm.
How deep is the dog's bank of human words?
After being featured on a t.v show for his ability to understand 200 words, a border collie named Rico intrigued some researchers at the Max Planck institute. These researchers asked if they could bring Rico in to perform some experiments to find out just how far they could stretch the dogs language ability. The answer: surprisingly far.
At first, the researchers wanted to verify in a controlled setting whether Rico really knew 200 words. To do this, they collected 10 items with which Rico was familiar. At the verbal command of his owner, they had him fetch a specific item from a separate room. Rico performed very well at this task, but the researchers wanted to challenge him further. Next, they chose a new item -- one that Rico had never seen in his life -- and placed it in the room among the familiar items. The owner requested that new item by name and, lo and behold, Rico brought back the new item.
Researchers performed this test several times, each time with another new item, and found that Rico brought back the correct item an impressive 70 percent of the time. This demonstrated not only that the dog had a large vocabulary, but also that he knew how to use the process of elimination.
Impressed as they were, researchers pushed Rico further with an even more difficult task. They wanted to find out whether Rico could remember the items that he learned in the experiment after only one exposure, a process called fast-mapping, which children can do. One month after Rico proved his language abilities in the lab, researchers brought him back in. This time, they put one of the new items that Rico correctly fetched a month earlier in a room with four familiar and four unfamiliar items. When his owner requested it, Rico was able to correctly fetch the item he had learned a month previous as much as 50 percent of the time. Though that might not seem remarkable, it was to the researchers, because this success rate compares with that of 3-year-old children.
However, whether a dog's "understanding" of a word compares to a child's is another matter.

Sex in todays world precedes marriage

Before marriage comes sex. For purposes of the case that is made in this article, marriage refers to that human construct which defines a relationship between a man and a woman and which relationship is reinforced either by law or custom.

Also note that the definition of marriage, still between man and woman, rightly differs from one human community to another.

My friend marriage is a product of a powerful and inescapable primordial urge to proliferate our species. It is founded on immutable human instincts. Marriage is a framework under which order is established for a man to sexually relate with a woman and vice versa.

Worth mentioning is that what is integrally implicit in any marriage is sex. However, note that sex predates marriage.

For reasons of maintaining societal order and the promotion of human survival, sex before marriage is outlawed in many human communities.

Nonetheless, note that between two mature or naturally ripe individuals, male and female, and in an environment that is devoid of harm, sex is without wrong.
What makes the act of sex wrong is when it is done recklessly, when it is done without due regard for the safety of the persons involved in it.

For example, when one individual has signed a binding contract with another to have sex only with that person and this contract is flouted by one without the consent of the two, it is then that sex becomes inimical to survival and is wrong.

Further, when the one that indulges in sex is not aware of the consequences of the act, beneficial or not or carelessly ignores the harmful effects of such indulgence, that is when wrongness occurs.

you should note that whether marriage exists or not, people will always have sex, people will mate. Again this assertion about mating refers to that act of sex between a man and a woman. That this is the case is as a result of a primeval dictate of nature. This has always been the case from the beginning of the existence of man. It is an irresistible compulsion.

Now take the interesting case of what is referred to as an ‘early marriage.’
What, truly, is an early marriage, dear reader? What really is this thing?

Many human communities recognise this phenomenon called ‘early marriage.’ These communities have even gone further to mount campaigns against this perceived retrogressive reality amongst them. But then what is the truth?

The truth dear reader is that there is no such thing as an ‘early marriage.’
‘Early marriages’ only exist against a backdrop of human concerns/constructs.

What renders ‘early marriages’ extant is the human desire for a person, either male or female, but mostly female to follow a selected path of life, a path chosen by society for its perceived beneficial value.

Noteworthy is that this selected path is said to be normal merely for the numbers of people that follow it. This is referred to as numerical/statistical normality. For the reason that many people do something then that particular thing becomes everyday, it becomes normal. Worth mentioning is that this normalcy is regardless of that done thing being misleading or wrong.

For example, society expects the girl child to complete what is called ‘formal education’ before such a child marries. So if the girl child marries before completion of ‘school’ then her marriage is deemed early. Note the here ‘early’ also denotes undesirable.

However, dear reader, note that not all that is undesirable by man is wrong.
Earlier in this article I made a startling assertion that there is no such thing as an ‘early marriage.’ Now listen.

You see, adolescence is a natural period that refers to that time in the life of a child when he or she becomes sexually mature. It is a dictate of Nature.

It is not uncommon to find many sexually mature people in many countries that are legally still classified as minors. This is anomalous and misleading. This anomaly is established because there is a lack of harmony between the law of man and that of Nature. There is discord between the two.

Adolescence usually and normally occurs in the teenage years. From the age, say of about thirteen, sexual maturity dawns on the human person. Note that sexual maturity or maturity for the purpose of human survival in general, occurs earlier in the female than in the male.

On the other hand, take Zambia for instance, anyone aged sixteen and below is, by law, a minor. And it is illegal in Zambia for anyone falling in the mentioned age category to have sex. This causes an existential problem. It is not sustainable.

You see, when sexual maturity dawns in a human being, the urge to have sex is so powerful that it is very difficult to resist it. In fact, such resistance can be said to be inimical to the health of a human being. To wholly resist it might lead to both mental and physical diseases.

Today, this maturity manifests itself as what is erroneously referred to as the ‘rebelliousness of adolescents.’

In addition, the high rates of masturbation amongst persons that sexually mature but are outlawed by society to freely have sex are partly explained by the felt and healthy need for sexual release in this group of human beings.

A cautionary word though is that freely giving in to the pubertal sexual urge does not mean sexual control has no place in human life. It has.

Now if one is sexually mature, why should it be said to be wrong for that person to marry? Why should the marriage involving such a sexually mature ‘minor’ be said to an early one and hence undesirable?

If  Nature certifies one ready to procreate, why should man disagree?

The argument that such procreational-urge products (marriages), anytime that Nature dictates that they occur, are at variance with the social growth and development path of a person is a false construct. It is a misleading case because it is only made valid by the insistence by man that we all ought to conform to what man creates as the desirable life path such as the existing educational systems which are blind to human biological progression and development.

Shouldn’t efforts be made to conform our human behavioral practices such as the said formal education systems to the dictates of Nature? Why shouldn’t such people be allowed to marry and simultaneously also be allowed to continue with their education? Is there a conflict between marriage and education? Fact is, formal human learning structures are only slow and mal-adjusted.

Further, note that there is scientific evidence that having children late is not the right conduct for women. When women have children late it is not uncommon for them to have life-threatening difficulties or for the children to suffer genetic aberrations.

My friend shouldn’t the discord that exists between human law or human societal customs and the dictates of Nature be eliminated and harmony restored?
Truly there is no such thing as an ‘early marriage.’ What has given rise to this phenomenon is man’s own failure to acknowledge and conform to his own natural growth and development pattern. What actually occurs in rural and traditional societies, where ‘early marriages are said to be rife, is in fact closer to the expected normal conduct of human beings.
This discord in our existential circumstances is inimical to societal wellbeing in the long run. It creates wrongness where there is none. It creates stigma where there ought to be none. It is a veritable reflection of the ignorance that still bedevils man. It is an anachronism.

Man or woman will have sex when his or her condition compels him or her to. Note that. And when this occurs between mature persons of the opposite sex and the environment under which this is done is devoid of circumstances inimical to the survival and wellbeing of those involved there is nothing wrong with their indulgence whatsoever. Strange stuff, isn’t it? Yet true!

The foregoing argument is akin to the predicament that Catholic priests find themselves in, and for as long as the Church insists on their celibacy, their having sex, a dictate of Nature shall always be viewed as wrong when, in fact, it is merely a reflection of their natural constitution.

Guys life continues. The age of enlightenment is not over. Indeed each day we live and learn.

Existential variances as highlighted in this article will stun when revealed but, in due course, the requisite order for human existence, survival and prosperity shall force itself upon us and all shock will wear off and we shall all be better for the change that shall be occasioned.

Note that all that we do, by way of law or custom, must necessarily be in the interests of human survival and prosperity.

Nevertheless, observe that instincts are more powerful than reason!