Tyrone Brackens
- Opinion
- July 31, 2019
- 3 views
The “Expert Testimony” of Social Allegiance: Building a foundation for “Social Interconnectedness” in our youth
The “Expert Testimony” of Social Allegiance: Building a foundation for “Social Interconnectedness” in our youth Without going outside his race, and even among the better classes with their ‘white’ culture and conscious American manners, but still Negro enough to be different, there is sufficient matter to furnish a black artist with a lifetime of creative work. ~Langston Hughes In 1892, Jane Addams presented a speech titled “The Subjective Necessity of Social Settlements” as part of a symposium concerning the theme of philanthropy and social progress; and it reflects an idea that is needed even now in this 21st century. The settlement movement in a sense creates the narrative for interpreting a democratic idea in terms of a social context, the progression of a race, and the promotion of a Christian ideology concerning charitable endeavors. It is a fundamental idea that I believe could rejuvenate our creative aspirations and liven our moral sentiments as we share our gifts with the world. There has been a growing sentiment in the black community for building programs of significance (daycare hubs, learning centers, libraries, healthcare centers, and music programs, etc.), as a means of expanding the artistic expression and economic advancement of our rise. Although, we have suffered at the hands of those who sees our “Social interconnectedness” as a threat, we are just getting started in the turn of this century. Although, the black mind wasn’t allowed to soak up information or read for the first two hundred years into this country, we somehow never really complained about the lag. That’s an achievement gap for you to digest – yet, we never seemed to fully disassociate from the ideology of group consciousness. Group consciousness in this instance refers to “Social Allegiance”, or an attitude towards self-identification with a particular group that shares the same philosophies or theological interjections (i.e. gangs, brotherhoods, social groups, business circles, cliques, and or mastermind alliances). Navigating this social world alone isn’t an option for the black mind. We need our allegiance to a particular social order which grants us an identity that we can unite towards our moral, economic, social and political benefit. Although, the African American spiritual heritage provides the most comprehensive and lasting mental structure for our existence, it isn’t always well received by those who see the Pastor as a drug dealer, con artist, womanizer and pimp. Driven by a longing for excellence and a social home the “Social Allegiance” to communal structures is more about fitting in rather than standing out. Nobody likes to be an outsider. Nobody likes to be the martyr for his or her race. It’s those rare individuals (Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Marcus Garvey, Medgar Evars, Bobby Seals, Assata Shakur etc.) that embrace the calling to revolutionize the historical narrative of our dynamic communal forces. History calls these individuals rebels, black sheeps, loners, outcasts and rejects. Yet, it’s these same individuals who refuse to bury their gifts by the mainstream hands of fate and allow their struggles to become reduced to sand. Again, it’s all about the collective narrative of a power used in tandem with the primal force…