Page 182 - A People Called Afrika

A PEOPLE CALLED AFRIKA

to ‘entertain’ and tickle people’s fancy, instead of honing their
skills for the purposes of edification and strengthening of the
community and the continent. Those who say they are doing
what they do in order to improve society are quickly exposed
to be pursuing a pay day and most tend to end up in the same
pool of compromise as those who are openly pursuing money.

Artistic creativity is an expression of divinity. Through ar-
tistic expression one is able to transcend the physical realm
and access the mental and spiritual planes and articulate un-
spoken words and hidden thoughts that communities may
not have had the courage or the wisdom to comprehend
and convey. This gives the people power to make decisions
and to act on the basis of what has now been brought forth
(created) from the unseen. There is so much power in it
that it has been tapped into and corrupted for purposes of
manipulation by Hollywood, the global music industry, pol-
iticians, the media and those striving to push specific agen-
das. We need to recover what we have foolishly given away
and cheapened as Afrikans, or that we have mingled with
the seed of corruption, and turn it once again to a means
through which the Creator can express Himself in His people.

Afrika’s family system
Family, brotherhood, livestock and land formed, and still
form, a major part of the traditional Afrikan family and eco-
nomic system. Family for an Afrikan means more than just the
ability to have a wife or raise children and feed them; it is to
them a mark of manliness, womanliness and social status. A
man’s ranking in his community, and therefore his ability to
speak at the table of decision making was linked to the state of
his family and his herd or herds. This is still at play even today.

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