By Berthony Napoleon and Rey Robinson
The “Teaching Our Own History (TOOH) Task Force” tasked my organization, Five and Two Solutions Group Inc. (FTSG) to write this article “Reviewing Our Past.” I accepted the task as a privilege and honor. This came about after a briefing that encompassed pre-slavery to present day, provided to the Task Force on the “Five and Two Solutions’ New World African (NWA) Studies, A Primer to Decision Making Process.” NWA is also an Ayisyen (Haitian) word which means black.
The New World African (NWA) concept highlights the peculiarity of the Africans captured in Africa, sold, shipped in chains and scattered within the Americas and the Caribbean in slavery under the whip of the Christian Empires of Europe, sanctioned by Pope Nicolas V. e program’s critical thinking, and historical analysis within the context of: Security, economic, diplomacy, informational and immigration stimulate the imagination of the African American Youth, to dig into the functionality of history. Reviewing our past critically, helps African American Youth: – To know: Who, what, where, why, when and how of slavery (to develop a never again attitude).
– To acknowledge as Africans, we were once sovereign, many were royalties, and to discover the scattered Africans in the New World, increasing African-American’s worldview to enable vision for critical decision making. – To cultivate a common consciousness amongst the Nwas; an identity to advance our narrative and testimony, in order to tell our own story. – To get wisdom and understanding to rebuild our Spiritual, Educational and Entrepreneurial systems. – To understand the status quo, and to take appropriate actions favorable to our community.
– To develop informed visionary leaders who can in turn build their people self sufficiency and self-reliantly. Conclusion: African American Youth in the aggregate are not grateful to their ancestors, and are not prepared to make informed decisions that are beneficial to their self-interest. e education system is inadequate to prepare African American youth. To reverse the trend, we need to “Teach Our Own History (TOOH).” Make “NWA” history part of the learning regiment of our community, to develop visionary leaders with authentic belief systems in their People. We have launched a statewide task force in conjunction with the Florida General Baptist Convention, Inc., Reverend Dr. Carl Johnson, President, to demand that the governor of Florida and the State Department of Education, teach black history accurately, factually and forthrightly.
