Marimba Ani-To Be Afrikan

What does it mean to be Afrikan?
Afrikan people today do not seem to understand or even know where they came from. They are falling into the stereotypes made to negatively influence our people. "To Be Afrikan" can help us understand our Afrikan roots. In this essay I will explain what caused the first dehumanizing act. I will also explain what we as a people may believe it means to be "black", and finally I will explain our true roots.

To begin, according to Ani, slavery was the start of our dehumanizing. It was the roots to the plant that was created to destroy our roots. The worst thing that happened was the destruction of the knowledge we held of our true identity. We were no longer allowed to go by our ways.

As a reaction to slavery, we think we should act as we see ourselves acting. Because of that, we grow up with wrong information. We learn that all we can be (or all we are good at) is rapping, being a gangster, or playing basketball. That truly is not all we are meant to be.

The true roots we share are much greater than some can imagine. We were creators of magnificent work of art. We were the originators of so many things done continuously now. Things such as dance, music and hip-hop. We are so much better than we act.

Slavery started this false educating of our race. People get the wrong ideas of what we should be in the future. Our true roots will expose our greatness. "To Be Afrikan"
shows me so much about our race and I believe it can help many others like me. To succeed in the future, you need to know about the past, our roots.