Just a little babble, a side comment not a slide or a snide comment, just some wee little babble, a few syllables from the Tower of Babylon, and it's not a laughing matter either.
Black Man from Songs in the Key of Life tells the whole story.
The way I see it, the term, "The Black Race" - contrasted with "The Human Race" or "Mankind" sounds so exclusive! "The Black Race'' can sometimes be used in a pejorative sense, pointing at a marginalised and despised folk pretty much like "the shuffering servant of Isaiah chapter 53" - not a Yoruba elder from ancient Egypt but one more recently sired in "The Dark Continent", on sojourn over there in the New World Diaspora, sitting over there and asking questions about us and our place in "The Family of Mankind" - Humankind, painful questions, such as "What has The Black Race ever achieved - in the modern world?" - so, that, understandably, when Ulli Beier got to Papua New Guinea - from Osogbo - it was said of him that he had finally arrived at " the last area of darkness".
The last question, the most up-to-date one for that matter, is always, "What has the Black Race been doing for you lately?" Nothing? The Black Race, the Mother of all Races?
As The Last Poets put it all over these lyrics,
"Niggers play football, baseball and basketball
while the white man cuttin' off their balls"
This time it is that " The Black Race" should be proud of " a walking library" by the name of a someone known as " Olutoyin Ayinde". How much more of an all-embracing encouragement, and what a change in meaning and what a difference it would be, with no race excluded, if the statement had read " Fantastic Olutoyin Ayinde: a walking library, a credit to the Human Race" and thereby, to all mankind. No backhand, White supremacist compliment, meant. Dr. Oohay of all mankind, gets the drift.
Earlier this morning whilst waiting for the results of the Swedish General Elections which are still trickling in, I listened to this podcast and learned a little from it. ( The rabbis say that your state of knowledge never stands still and that if it doesn't increase, then it's surely decreasing:
What Science Tells us about Race and RacismMy first reaction was, " How come the Black Race is not being represented on the discussion panel?
It's a vast subject: Race, Racism…
Is being regarded as "a credit to the Black race" not a backhanded "white supremacist" compliment that upholds and promotes "race" as a ("natural") truth instead of "race" as an invidious and insidious fallacy (and thus a most dangerous phenomenon)?Race is a fallacy, but ironically, invidiously, and insidiously, racism is an overwhelming reality.
On Sunday, September 11, 2022, 8:11 AM, 'Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:Olutoyin ayinde is a consumate professional town planner and former commissioner for urban and physical planning lsgos state. He is a credit to the Black Race.I have not read , the Black man's dilemma by the veteran journalist Areoye oyebola but I would like to read itI have just read an interview in the punch today september 112022 on why buildings collapse in nigeria particularly in lagos.Lagos has be in the news relatedly the surveyor General has been protesting at the lagos government flouting rules with respect to the practice of land surveying.Olutoyin ayinde understands his subject I daresay he can hold his own any where in the world! A wise publisher. Book publisher should go after him and other people like him to harvest his knowledge and wealth of experience .interview in the newspaper is good but its not enough.we need books to thoroughly thrash the issue of town planning in lagos and nigeria in particular .book for the family library, academic library, children's library school library, public library,administrative library etc can the Librarians and publishers please step forward to salute olutoyin ayinde an illustrious son of Africa.It's said when an elder dies in Africa whole libraries are lost.please let us save this library that is olutoyin ayinde.let us drink from this library that is olutoyin ayinde.--
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