By Nicole James Scott, NDG Contributing Writer
Hollywood has made sure the biblical story of the Hebrew children held in captivity in the land of Egypt is one well known even among the greatest non-believer. A story when juxtaposed against the plight of the African in America bears striking similarities—a subjugated people with no rights the state is bound to respect, the incessant victims of injustice, exploitation, and state sanctioned murder. Such precarious conditions, which led Moses to command Pharaoh to “let my people go.” Today with not only the swelling oppression of Blacks under the current “Pharaoh”, but also a foreseeable bleak future, perhaps the directive should not simply be Pharaoh let our people go, but that we let him go.
When analyzing the collective experience of Blacks in America following the emancipation up to the present, there has been very little change in the state of Black America. Figures from a recent study are a telltale sign of how far we have yet to come. African-Americans are still unemployed at an exceedingly greater rate than their White counterparts. Within the last half century, the income gap has only narrowed by 7 percent while the wealth gap has continuously grown. Although Blacks make up roughly 13 percent of the overall population, we account for 24 percent of those living in poverty and 11 percent living in deep poverty.
The economic front is not the only area in which Blacks are poorly faring. Since 1980 the number of incarcerated Blacks has tripled with Blacks comprising almost 38 percent of the federal prison population, likewise for Black men at the state level, and Black women account for twice the number of White women incarcerated. Black men are killed by police at 21 times the rate of White men. One out of every three Black men will enter the criminal justice system at some point in his life.
So African-Americans are losing the battle economically as well as socially but how are we faring educationally? What is the state of health for Black America? In one word: critical. With such a grim trajectory, with Blacks having waged a continual fight for equality, to have our humanity recognized and with the ever-increasing signs that our reality is going to get worse, especially with the current Commander in Chief, why would we not consider returning from whence we came? It is a valid question, one community organizer and activist Zarakyah Ben Sar Amadiel is asking Black America.
Amadiel, who is the director of the Peace Diet Program, a non-profit community-based project providing nutritional counseling to combat the psychological trauma experienced by Blacks in America. Blacks residing in low-income areas in particular, strongly believe President Donald Trump’s election has fueled a resurrection of overt white supremacy and racism and Blacks in America should view this as a calling card.
“The time is now. When you see the actual election of a white nationalist and not just the president but the administration and those policies start to be enacted, the time is appropriate for us to make the move toward self-sufficiency,” Amadiel said.
Despite President Trump’s numerous denials that he is racist, his first 90 days in office, the policies he has put forth and his overwhelmingly White administration who themselves have a highly problematic past, convey a glaringly different truth. As the old saying goes if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.
The following bills have been introduced following Trump’s election just to get a glimpse of what this current administration has in store:
• HR 861 Terminate the Environmental Protection Agency
• HR 610 Tax dollars for private schools, reducing public school funding
• HR 899 Terminate the Department of Education
• HJR 69 Repeal Rule Protecting Wildlife
• HR 370 Repeal Affordable Care Act
• HR 354 Defund Planned Parenthood
• HR 785 National Right to Work (this one ends unions)
• HR 83 Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Bill
• HR 147 Criminalizing Abortion (“Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act”)
• HR 808 Sanctions against Iran
While many African-Americans are fixated on the latest mainstream media propaganda or drama, the American empire is folding right before our eyes.
“The writing is on the wall, from an infrastructural perspective. There have been numerous reports talking about crumbling infrastructure and in total collapse. The economy is collapsing. The political structure, the last bastion of false hope is now Swiss cheese”, says Amadiel. “Even Whites are seeking other options if they have them.”
For second or third-plus generation Blacks born in America the idea of repatriating to Africa can seem frightening, unreasonable, even impossible but the Gahn Institute for Sustainable Solutions (GISS), an organization that Amadiel chairs, has laid out a comprehensive plan to assist Blacks interested in repatriation. The 6-8 week course provides advice and insight on everything from healthcare, housing, career and entrepreneurial opportunities, to preparatory steps toward relocating, what to expect when you arrive, everyday life and how to sustain yourself.
Topping the list of African countries offering Blacks in America citizenship is Ghana who recently granted 26 African-Americans full citizenship, eight of which were participants in the GISS program.
“A lot of people have recently just seen the writing on the wall [with the election of Trump]. I think a lot of people are certainly reacting to that”, said Amadiel who himself will be repatriating to Kenya in one year. “I was born here and I don’t live an entirely uncomfortable life. But at the same time as a parent, I think it is abusive to think I can raise my child here [in America] in safety.”
For those who still hold skepticism, Amadiel offers these words of encouragement, “We cannot grow and reach the full potential of our legacy in an environment that will never send us the proper, positive signals for advancement and evolution. That’s not to say that Africa is some paradise but at the bare minimum, it provides us with the opportunity to build the kind of world we want. If you find yourself surrounded behind enemy lines you retreat to a position that gives you a better vantage of strength, to fight back. If you recognize that you are in a weakened position, and it’s pretty clear that we are. If you see that you are surrounded by those who continuously seek to do you harm then the rational course of action is to go to a place that offers you some greater opportunity of empowerment. And that empowerment comes with healing and reconnection with yourself and legacy, your soil, your environment and not just from a geopolitical or ideological perspective, but psychological and genetic as well because all of those things are important. And at a certain point, you just have to break away. Isn’t that how America was founded?”
To learn more about repatriating to an African country and/or the Peace Diet Program contact Zarakyah Ben Sar Amadiel at the following:
Troy Withers, Jr. (Zarakyah Ahmadiel)
Chairman, Gahn Institute for Sustainable Solutions
Director, Peace Diet Program
(773) 454-4494
Zarakyah7@gmail.com
