Pain of Questioning Our Potential
“Do you believe that you can be great? Have you recognized your own potential but had others question you? ”
The IBFA is currently in the middle of #DecolonizeDecember and healing and reflecting in preparation for 2021. As an organization, we are calling our members to take the rest of the year to reflect, get rid of all the distractions around us and start the process of healing. We believe that Black healing is foundational to Black freedom. #DecolonizeDecember is a social media campaign the IBFA is doing where we are putting out Black information that addresses White thinking. Basically, White thinking is all the stuff we learn in school and see in media. White thinking is pretty much anything that does not uplift Black people, or if it does, some kind of way, Whites get the credit. This article will explain how White thinking limits Black people’s potential. As the Director of Political Education, it is my job to do all that I can to make sure we get as much of White thinking out of our minds as possible. My role is connected to the bigger goal of the IBFA, we want to cleanse Whiteness out of every area of our being: our minds, our bodies and our souls. Within this context, this article asks Black people to get yo mind right by getting that White thinking about what you can do out of your head. We declare that it is time to heal from the pain by recognizing our full potential.
White Supremacy's goal is to stop Black people from discovering their full potential. It does this a number of ways: by keeping us unaware of our great history, by placing value on potential based on money, and, ultimately, getting people to think that Black people are not really capable of being great. George James, in Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy, shows that technology, philosophy and many dope contributions to world civilizations that are attributed to Europeans are actually the work of Africans. While we hear about Plato, Socrates and others, we learn nothing about Kemetic philosophy. Although Africa is the birthplace of humanity, we are the original people, we have the longest history, have made the most contributions to world history, have had the longest ruling kingdoms and on and, not only is that information kept from us, we are told the opposite. This old White dude that is well respected and taught in many universities around the world, Georg Hegel, said Africa “is no historical part of the world; it has no movement or development to exhibit.”
Think about it. How much of our education, media and all the things that give us information present a similar idea about Africa to the world? Not to forget about the violence and acts of terror and trauma inflicted onto Black people. When we bring the stereotypes from White Supremacy together with Black trauma, it begins to make sense that other Blacks would think less of us and that we would think less of ourselves.
Now we understand why those three people could not or did not fully recognize my potential. Most importantly and first of all, Black human, do you recognize your own potential? Do you see yourself in line with a great people who built pyramids that are still standing today? Do you see yourself inventing, creating or doing something that could change the world? Malcolm X asked, "who taught you to hate yourself?"There are times when others can see the potential inside of an individual but we all need to come to a point where we recognize our own greatness. This is why some of our ancestors and our own people say we need to recognize the God inside of us.
With a recognition of our own greatness in place, we can now begin to understand the pain of having others limit our potential. When those three people asked me what I was doing, they could not imagine me doing something that was that important. I do want to be fair to them. When the first one asked, it made perfect sense to ask a former professor with a PhD who was not teaching what he was doing. The next two times were rooted in a similar thought pattern, but the reason the continual questioning bothered me was because I have the potential to be so much more than a college professor. As the Director of Political Education for the IBFA, I can play a role in freeing millions of Black people and creating new paths for our future generations. We have a clear vision within the IBFA with practical steps to get our people free. I have a glimpse of my potential and it hurts when those closest to me do not think that is possible.
If you have recognized your own potential and others do not affirm that, I am here to affirm that feeling. It is not you. You are not off. Yes, you are feeling the pain of others not seeing what you can see. If you do not recognize your own potential, take some time the rest of this year, get rid of the distractions in your life and reflect on your passions and dreams. There is greatness inside of you Black human. Lastly, this is for all of us, we need to affirm the potential in our Black family. I am pretty sure that when those three questioned me, they did not intend to harm me. When I scroll through social media, I see the opposite. I see Black people tear each other down. we rarely see Black people fulfilling their potential. It is on us as a collective community of Black people to affirm the potential inside each other.
Director of Political Education
Dr. Travis “Hood Scholar” Harris
I was on the verge of tears when I hit up our Mission Director, Tory Russell. The third time in less than half a day someone asked me "what are you doing" and "what do you have to do?" The third time hit my soul. A deep sense of pain swelled up within me. The first person who asked was a Black academic, someone with a PhD. These questions were rooted in me not teaching. If you want to know more about me no longer teaching, here is a quick overview. The other two came from two immediate family members. When the question was asked the third time, it was the combination of being asked back to back and being asked by people who are close to me. These were not the only reasons why they were so painful, they hurt so bad because they did not fully recognize my potential and the importance of my work. They did this while I have a glimpse of what I can do. I believe in myself, I recognize my potential and I will be great. Do you believe that you can be great? Have you recognized your own potential but had others question you? Have you ever had someone close to you limit what they think you can do in their mind? This article names the pain of others not recognizing your potential. This is the main point and take away. The IBFA affirms your pain. We believe you. Black people, if others are dissing your potential, peep this quick article.
“We want to cleanse Whiteness out of every area of our being: our minds, our bodies, and our souls.”
“Technology, philosophy and many dope contributions to world civilizations that are attributed to Europeans are actually the work of Africans.”
Built in 2500s bc AND STILL STANDING TODay, thE “GREAT PYRAMID.” FOR 3-D MODEL, VISIT http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/gizaintro/
“It is not you. You are not off. Yes, you are feeling the pain of others not seeing what you can see. ”