Change the Channel

Over the past few weeks, I was reminded of how often we neglect the past. I was reminded of this from the celebrations and specials and television segments specifically designed to target our attention on the recanting of the Jewish Holocaust. The specials were touching and diversified. Some were on individual survivors and notorious death camps while others were human, ranging from one area teacher’s vow to not let her students forget of this terrible time on our history to personal memories of the infamous hardship families faced in their effort to escape the deadly vise of Hitler’s evil. I was glad to see the effort the major media had made to remind us of this problematic period in our history. Yet at the same time, I was heart torn for I had never seen such recanting of the period of slavery and its aftermath in a similar vein.We often forget or worse, are unaware of how the Portuguese led the West to Africa and introduced to the world the term Negro. The term was used because according to Europeans, the most arresting characteristics of the people of Africa were our skin color. For it was during this moment on the globe when the people with the least amount of skin pigmentation came into contact with those with the most.
The impact of Europeans on Africans can best be reflected in the relationship of one culture dominating or superseding another. In slavery, the views, beliefs and practices of Europeans were imposed on individuals of African origin. As a result, through the slave experience, Africans developed a disorientated self-image based on the standards set and described by Europeans. I hope we never forget or desire to forget about this period, and if the mainstream media want to forget, then let us change the channel.