There are those scholars who have internalized the

value system of white supremacy. They, generally, never question any

theories, models, perceptions, assumptions or concepts that come from

the minds of White males in the world. They then proceed to write and

teach rooted in the assumption that white scholars cannot be

questioned in their social, cultural, philosophical or theological

approaches to the human condition. In general their very merit as

scholars is rooted in their approval by the white male developed and

controlled institutions of higher learning, and they depend on the

validation of the white male as the source of their professionalism

and views. This group of scholars within the global African community

can command accesss to the media, major publishing companies, the

university lecture circuit, and even access to other nation of African

people. These scholars, in conjunction with a very dishonest

mainstream African media in the U.S., the Caribbean and on the African

continent then engage in reinforcing white supremacy simply because

that endorsement pays well, supports the business, provides the

indivdual with economic stability and personal notoriety. Even those

who take the position of being progressive, liberal and radical only

do so within the context of White male cultural thought. They only

referrence other Africans who reference radical, progressive and

liberal whites. Such scholars attempt to control the direction of the

conversation of African people. They are more prone to talk in

‘universal’ themes, ‘international’ themes, ‘humanism’ themes and

‘class’ themes which are all inventions of the white male mind in

their concept, assumptions, values to serve the purpose of his

maintenance of human supremacy. Thus the conversation for them is

always ‘how do we transcend race to a common dialogue of humanity’

which is always based on how the white world wants to transcend race.

For them the goal is for African people to prove to the white world

that African people are worthy of respect, regard and assistance

whether that argument is posed from the conservative right or the

radical left of white cultural thought. In essence they spend a life

time promoting world white nationalism disguised as ‘modernity,

technological advancement and social democracy’ as defined by the

white male mind. They have not had an original thought ever and

denounce original thought as invalid and unrealistic because it does

not allow African people to learn how to live in a white cultural and

social reality. Their combined force of conversation then attempts to

drown out the second type of scholar, the African-centered,

Nationalist and Pan-Africanism scholar. This type of scholar has

struggled for two centuries to be heard by African people yet this

scholar has had to contend with the power of white supremacy by way of

the first scholar, the media preference of the first scholar and the

innate selfl-preservation of white male culture that has created a

climate and environment to starve his scholar out. This scholar has

learned the theories, models, perceptions, and concepts and

assumptions of the same schools of the white male thought as the first

group of scholars yet this scholar has not only chosen to challenge

their fundamental validity but has moved into the direction of

replacing them with sound thinking that comes out of an African way of

looking at the human condition rooted in those cultural concepts,

theories, models, perceptions and assumptions of a fundamentally

African value system. This scholar has been a student of Jeffersonian

philosophy, Marxism, Christianity, Islam, capitalism, industrialism,

and found all of them to be unAfrican in nature, sensibility and

application. This scholar has started from the position that the

white male is not above being challenged in ALL of his theories,

models, approaches, assumptions and concepts about anything human.

This scholar takes the position that the white male is no more

intelligent than any other group of people on the planet. He has

merely had the ability to use seduction, coercion and brutal violence

to persuade the rest of humanity that he is the ultimate

representative of civilization, human achievement and human

aspiration. These scholars, however, have generally worked in

isolation from one another, without the advantage of financial support

that their peers have received continuously. They have had to

struggle against a mainstream African American, Caribbean and

continental African media that has been convinced of the credibility

that anything worth doing must be a copy of the white male model of

human intellect and social organization. These scholars for the most

part have not headed any historically Black college departments in

America, nor have they been made the heads of such departments in

Caribbean and African universities. Often times these scholars have

not only struggled to print their material but to get it advertised in

the mainstream black media. They have never been featured on

mainstream black controlled programming on a regular basis. They have

not been offered syndication by the Black media in the U. S., in the

Caribbean or on the African continent. They have had to pursue an

intellectual guerrilla strategy to get exposure in the Black world

globally. The power of white male supremacy is such that those

African people on the right of the white male cultural perspective and

those on the left of the white male cultural perspective have attacked

them with equal venom, and where they have not been attacked, they

have been deliberately ridiculed or questioned. Those who have

challenged them have read nothing of Martin R. Delany, Paul Cuffee,

Edward Wilmot Blyden, Marcus Garvey, Ida B. Wells, Queen Nzingha,

Queen Asantewaa, Cheikh Anta Diop, Denmark Vesey, Nat Turner, etc..

Their books have not been used by the vast majority of Black history

courses in the U.S. And of course they have not been approached by

most universities in the Caribbean and on the African continent to use

their books for courses. Yet this group of scholars has always

attempted to put the needs of African people first, realizing that the

other groups on the planet do not need our help, and are generally

helping themselves bettter than we are helping ourselves. All of

these scholars have started with the assumption that we have enough

genius within our ranks to solve our problems if we are willing to

think ourside of the Eurocentric cultural box. For them, we need to

learn how to think from a position of power; work together to

establish a position of power and be able to threaten retaliation from

a position of power.”

 

Baye Kes Ba Me-Ra

“Two Types of Scholars in The Global African Community