The Gantt Report
I was listening to some people discuss the uprising in Egypt and they were saying how bad it is there and how wonderful it is in the United States.
I thought to myself, I must be dreaming. How could the modern day Babylon be better than the cradle of civilization?
I would have loved to live in ancient Egypt. It would have been great to learn science from people that invented calendars and built pyramids. How nice it would have been to hang out with beautiful queens and lovely ladies like Cleopatra.
And in a second thought, I wondered why so many African Americans felt different than I do about our rich African history and culture that included our Black Egyptian ancestors that are the forefathers of today’s Egyptian citizens.
Just like the runaway slaves in Colonial America, some Blacks wonder if anywhere is better than where we are right now.
Here are some questions to ponder when comparing the lives and status of people living in other countries.
Where else in the world do we have a history of slave life comparable to what we have here? Where were we whipped and beaten the way we were whipped and beaten here? Where were our families sold and separated the way we were sold here?
In what countries are we second, third and fourth class citizens, the way we are here? Where can we be falsely arrested, falsely charged, over prosecuted, over sentenced and disproportionately given death sentences the way that we are here?
Where can we be trapped in a vicious cycle of poor neighborhoods, poor schools, poor education, poor jobs and poor opportunity than in the poor neighborhoods we have in America?
It seems sometimes that as bad as the media portrays some parts of the world, there are places on the globe that are better for some African Americans than it is in America’s ghettos, barrios and neighborhood traps.
The people in Egypt will one day be just fine. Their current struggle reminds me of the so-called great March on Washington.
Back then a small group of poor southerners from Mississippi and other southern states got together and said we need to rise up, protest and march on Washington. The momentum got so great the powers of that day couldn’t stop the march so the Negro and white leaders decided to join it. Of course the protest was watered down until it merely amounted to some somewhat memorable speeches, the most notable of which was Dr. King’s I Have A Dream speech.
All of a sudden, today the United States and other countries seek to side with Egyptian protesters that are calling for an immediate change in Egyptian leadership. History sometimes repeats itself.
Don’t ignore what’s going on in Egypt. If you do, you be ignoring yourself. Egyptians are Africans and most Africans are Black.
The Gantt Reports supports our African brothers in their quest for government and political reform.
