Page 5 - Florida Sentinel 4-5-16 Edition

Editorials
Ghana’s Slave Castles
The Return Of A Fallen Legend
What’s Love Got To Do With Gangs And Isis?
W hat do gang members and ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) have in common? This is a question posed by a member of a group that gathered recently in response to a news clip about a former young female ISIS recruit. The recruit stated, “It gets lonely here” (grandparents’ farm home where she was raised) . . . “I felt excited because I had
made a lot of new friends (on social media).”
She obviously had no friends, felt disconnected from her
grandparents and family, and was looking to feel being part of a group. No doubt, what she craved (but as a member of ISIS, did not find) was love.
This is also one of the main reasons why youths join gangs based upon interviews with former gang members. A will- ingness to do anything to “feel accepted,” to “become like part of a family,” “have protection,” “have a group of friends who cared about me” are some of the comments former gang members made.
The group concluded that a little bit of love, attention, and support would go a long way in raising children who would resist becoming gang members and/or joining organizations like ISIS. Youth and young adults without close family ties, who spend little time talking to and interacting with family members, who have low self-esteem, and who feel a need to belong and be accepted are prime targets for gangs and for groups like ISIS.
Homeland Security would do well if it could recommend that a prime antidote to criminal/mob attitudes begins at home with family members who show each other more love, spend quality time talking, hugging, and supporting each other. People who feel loved, protected, and within their own families usually will not look elsewhere for a feeling of one- ness: call it carpet-bombing with Tender Loving Care (TLC).
Many Black Americans long to travel to our Mother Land, Africa. I know as a child, I al- ways dreamed of visiting Africa, kneeling down to kiss mother earth, and to walk the part of West Africa from which my an- cestors came. As an adult, I have been awed by family and friends who were blessed to visit Dakar, Senegal, and La Goree Island, the most well- known and most frequent des- tination for Black people interested in the Atlantic Slave Trade.
However, relatively few slaves were imprisoned and transported from this island. La Goree is also a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cul- tural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage site.
The “main British hub of the Transatlantic slave trade in West Africa from 1665 to 1807 was the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana. In fact, the Cape Coast Castle was not built for the slave trade, but was built in 1555 as a trading post by the Portuguese and then in 1652 as a fort by Sweden for its gold, spice, clothing, sugar, and tim- ber trade.
During its early history, Cape Coast was “seized, at- tacked, exchanged, sold, and abandoned” for four centuries in struggles between Europeans for domination of the Gold Coast trade. The Cape Coast Castle was never a site for roy-
In prison, receiving good news is rare. The amount of negative energy is often so overwhelming that a person may go months, sometimes years, without experiencing anything positive.
This is why, when I recently saw Anthony “Mace” Lewis listed as one of the in- dividuals slated to be released from prison after being granted clemency, I was ec- static. Even though the news didn’t affect me directly, it felt good knowing that someone truly deserving of some relief was being given a chance to re- turn home.
To grasp why the release of Mace Lewis is so significant, you have to understand that this is a man who, despite his circumstances (he was given a federal life sentence in 1994 for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine), dedicated his time inside of prison to help-
alty, except for the short period the British colonial government and troops occupied the fort. Above the dark dungeons used for housing slaves waiting to be transported by ships, were the light, airy, spacious, and beau- tifully decorated living rooms with parquet floors.
Between 1482 and 1786, nearly 40 trading fortresses and castles were built along a 310 mile-long coastline of Ghana and are now considered “ances- tral graveyards” because of the centuries of calcified slave bones, flesh, excrement and food that cover cobblestone floors of dungeons where slaves were kept. Without water and sanitation, illness claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of slaves.
Once the slaves were cap- tured, slave traders began a psychological and physical abuse regimen designed to break the captives spirit and will to resist. The slaves were kept in small room dungeons anywhere from three weeks to a year while waiting for the slave ships to make their round-trips. As many as 500 slaves were kept in a 500 square foot dark and dank space.
The British, Swedish, Por- tuguese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, and French traders and governments built the castles and forts, and sold slaves as merchandise along with the
ing other men, who may have been unjustly prosecuted, fight their cases. His unselfish efforts not only earned him the reputation of being a “beast” at law work, they ce- mented his standing as one of the few solid guys in the sys- tem.
What I admire the most about Mace is the fact that, unlike many of his contempo- raries, his release doesn’t come with any baggage. He never resorted to informing on his best friends, cousins or brothers just to receive a lighter sentence and because of that, when he hits the streets, he doesn’t have to con- cern himself with looking over his shoulders for fear of being the target of retribution or live with the daily guilt of knowing that he sacrificed someone else’s life to save his own. In essence, he is free in more ways than one.
gold and other commodities shipped to the Americas. In fact, the Portuguese and British sold more slaves than any other country.
Estimates of ten to twelve million slaves were shipped across the Atlantic, excluding those slaves who died between their capture and arrival in the Americas. These numbers do not reflect the children, weak and elderly Africans who were deliberately killed during slav- ing raids on African villages. Slavers instigated wars between African communities as a means of a continuous supply of slaves to trade.
Currently, the castles and forts stand as monuments ded- icated by African countries to preserving the history of the slave trade and attracting thou- sands of visitors each year. UN- ESCO has designated several of the castles and forts as World Heritage Monuments. A plaque on the dungeon wall in the Elmina Castle reads, “In Ever- lasting Memory of the anguish of our ancestors. May those who died, rest in peace. May those who return find their roots. May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity. We the living vow to uphold this.”
But seeing the walls of the slave castles are best described by a journalist who wrote, “The image still comes back to me... and like a wound that never re- ally heals, it causes a sharp and lingering pain. But the stories etched in those dungeon walls have a healing power, too. They summon feelings of great pride, telling me that I am a descen- dant of those nameless spirits of the dead that prevail, unvan- quished still.” What more need be said. Harrambee.
Mace took the extremely uncommon route of owning up to his mistakes like a man. He stayed patient. He main- tained his faith. And now, through President Barack Obama’s clemency initiative, he is able to finally walk out of prison while proving every- one, who prematurely wrote his obituary, wrong.
This summer should be a beautiful one for the Lewis family now that their prince is homeward bound. And I’m sure that they, along with Mace’s most trusted com- rade, Knott Jenkins (the other half of the infamous dy- namic duo), have something spectacular planned to cele- brate the occasion.
Personally, I couldn’t be any happier for Mr. Mace Lewis. His freedom gives all those, still praying for another chance, a glimmer of hope. And for that I believe his re- turn not only warrants a salute, but a toast as well be- cause the party could just be beginning.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Pub- lishing Company. Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: therealcbarr2@yahoo.com.
TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5
Total School Shake-Up Needs Explanation
Y es, we as well as countless other supporters of a produc- tive and fair-minded school system have been proud proponents of the Hillsborough Public School System in its continuous initiative to take its place among the best schools in America if not the world. But here, lately, it seems events in our school system’s organization have given us cause to
wonder.
Take, for instance, what recently happened in the Hills-
borough County Public Schools administration when most if not all of its executive administrators except for its super- intendent received notice that their jobs might possibly be up for grabs. Perhaps, it came as no surprise to them who were directly involved. But to us, it was like a splash in the face with ice cold water.
What on earth or in-house could have happened to cause such a shake-up? Should Superintendent Jeff Eakins’ expla- nation have been sufficient? He said, “It’s not that I have lost confidence, but I am looking for the right skill-sets [and] this allows me the opportunity to look at all potential appli- cants.” No one doubts that change is inevitable when it comes. However, regarding this latest turn of events, we are convinced teachers, parents, students, and supporters of all that is ethical and reasonable need to know more about our superintendent’s decision.
Therefore, we request Superintendent Eakins to call a news conference making plain what so-called skill-sets he doesn’t already possess, explaining when he realized he didn’t have them, laying out specifically what he intends to do to get what he needs, and while he’s speaking, explaining to us how he intends to maintain diversity in his adminis- trative staff. We and the Hillsborough Community will ea- gerly await his certainly instructive response.