Attitudes:  Are They Transmitted through DNA? ©
 

©By Kali Sichen
 

Today, a young Ghanaian postal worker was upset when I asked her a simple question, “Why does it take 30 days for a registered letter to be delivered from this post office, when I was told earlier this week at the main post office that delivery will take 7 to 10 days?” 

 

This question was quite valid to me, since the two post offices were in the same town.  But the young girl was annoyed that I had the audacity to question her, so I asked to speak to the postal manager.  I had to decide how to post some documents without spending three hundred thousand cedis, which is the monthly salary for many working people in this town.

 

Based on the answer from the postal manager, I decided to check the speed of the mail and bought a simple stamp, with no frills or registration.  I gave the same postal clerk the single bill to pay for the stamp; she picked it up by the edge, as if it was infected with a virus, and dropped it on the counter.  I thanked her for being so “gracious” and took my letter to the box and posted it.

 

I have found this attitude to be very common among the working women in the service sector, especially in government offices in Ghana.  It is as if they are annoyed that they have to be on the job, and even more annoyed that you want them to perform their job!  Then I remembered that this attitude is about the same as that which we see in America, among some African American women, especially those in government jobs and the social service sector.  Many of the women act as if they are doing you a favor to even be there, and if they actually do the job they are paid to do, then you should bow down to them with gratitude and thanks.

 

One of the best comedy skits that I have seen on “Saturday Night Live” comedy show in America was a take off on the African American female postal worker.  The postal worker had extra long false fingernails painted with extravagant designs, a hairdo that required stiff hair gel; she had an attitude that would make you beat your chest in anger.  Whoever wrote that skit certainly had that experience more than one time, because the skit was perfectly written and executed.  I laughed until I was almost in tears.

 

According to my own experience, not just in the post office, but in many other stores and services, this “chip on the shoulder, what are you asking me to do” attitude is prevalent among the African women and the African American women.   This is certainly not a condemnation of all African American women or Ghanaian women, because I have had good service from most.  Is it just a coincidence that their expressions, the same smacking of the lips, sucking of the teeth, rolling of the neck, rolling of the eyes are the same in many African countries as well as it is in America?  So I wonder if this attitude is transmitted in the D. N. A. 

 

Sometimes I see gestures, posturing and hand waving that look just like the folks standing on the corners in “the hood” in America.  This tells me for sure that we are the same people.  We just haven’t had the exposure to each other’s every day life, through media or any other source that we can imitate.  The idiosyncrasies are too similar, and must just “run in the blood”, in the D.N.A.    

 

We really have to learn to treat each other better, both on the continent and in the Diaspora.  I believe that this lack of respect for our sisters and brothers is simply a lack of respect for ourselves.  We can not make progress if we harbor so much self hatred.  I have seen the same workers change their attitude when dealing with people of races other than our own.  No African would dare to display that disrespectful attitude toward a white woman or a white man.  They are simply too afraid of Europeans.  So they grin and shuffle whenever a white person approaches them, the same as many of our people do in the States.

 

I have witnessed this change of attitude when dealing with the clerks in the local Shell station store in Elmina.  The women have always had an attitude when I visit the store, and there have been times when I refused to purchase the products because of their nasty attitudes.  It appears as if they don’t want to issue a receipt for purchases; the women assume a very nasty posture when I ask for a receipt.  One day I refuse the purchase because of the poor service.  As I was leaving, a European woman was entering the store, so I decided to observe the clerk’s behavior.  The same clerk, who always treated me like dirt, smiled and gave the European woman the most gracious service.

 

Here is another case in point. There are two wonderful ladies who work at my local post office in South Atlanta, Georgia, USA.  Because of my mail order business in Georgia, I see these women three to five times a week.  They are friendly and helpful, and give me all the respect.  One day, however, I arrived at the post office at my usual late hour, near closing time, and one of the ladies told me she was in a very bad mood.  I understood, and kept to my business without any small talk.  But when the white woman from a local business, whom I always meet at the post office around closing time, arrived a few minutes later, the postal clerk cheerfully greeted her with smiles, laughter and small talk.  I made no comment; I simply noted how she changed when she dealt with white people.   This behavior is just an example of how we interact with each other, and how we change that behavior when interacting with others whom we either fear or whom we hold in reverence.

 

One unfortunate exposure that is having a negative influence in the youth here in Ghana, is the “bad boy, hoodlum, rap videos” that are being shown on TV.  I have seen some young boys wearing their trousers low down over their rear end, exposing their underwear.  I am told that the Ghanaian members of parliament are planning to outlaw this type of dress.  Sure, freedom of expression is something that we all desire, but to mimic such behavior, which has its roots in the American prison environment, is not only stupid, but it is self-effacing and self destructive. 

 

It is my understanding that this style of wearing over-sized low ridding trousers came out of the American prison population.  Prisoners are given standard sizes and are not allowed to wear a belt.  So if the pants are too big, it just rides the rear end.  For this style of dress to have infiltrated the African American popular culture, and then to move to the African continent, begs for an answer; “If our role model, idol and aspiration is to become a prisoner, what kind of value system is this?!”

 

I enjoy the Nigerian produced movies that are shown on television here in Ghana.  I like the simplicity of the stories, some which are based on traditional lore and legends. However, I am beginning to see a change in the story lines lately, with the Hollywood gangster image, and violence toward women mimicked on the screen.  I was in a department store watching an ongoing video which was playing on simultaneously on several televisions; I was comparing the picture quality, and planning to purchase a TV set.  As I gazed at the screens, I realized that something was happening to the woman.  There was a man sitting in front of the woman, the woman was moaning and groaning in great pain and agony.  The man appeared to be poking something between her legs.  I continued to watch the TV screens, amazed that such a scene would be on public display for all to see.  Out from between the woman’s legs, the man brought a bloody Coca Cola bottle!  The woman was being raped with a Coke bottle!

 

I was outraged!  I asked the sales clerk if he knew the nature of the video that was showing.  Did he know what was happening to that woman on the screen?  He laughed and ignored me.  I asked to see his manager.  He pointed to a western suited East Indian near the check out line.  I approached the manager and tugged at his arm to follow me.  He was shocked that I would touch him, he being the boss and used to the unspoken caste/class system in place in most African nations, i.e., white man on top, brown man in the middle and black man at the bottom.  He jerked his arm away from me, but I continued to hold him to the television section of the store.  Everyone was amazed that I would take the man by the coat, but as they realized that I was an American, they thought that I just didn’t know better. 

 

I told the Indian about the scene in the video, and reprimanded him for allowing such a horrible movie to be in the public view.  He blamed the sales clerk saying, “Oh, these are just Junior Secondary School graduates, they don’t have class or sophistication.”  I responded, “But you hired them and you are responsible!”  He took the video out of the DVD player and gave it to me.  “You can have it,” he said.  I took the DVD, bent it and gave it back to him.

 

Just a few years ago, a scene like that, a woman being raped, would never be shown on Ghana television, and even though the movie was on a DVD, years ago that level of cruelty and violence against women was not projected in movies produced in Africa.  So the Western influence has penetrated into the culture too much, and scenes such as this will certainly have an impact on the populous. Many of them believe that they should imitate everything that they see from Europe and America which shines and glitters.

 

Many behaviors are created by repeated exposure and circumstances.  The “Willie Lynch Syndrome” is still very much alive in Africa, as it is throughout the African Diaspora.  As the seasoned slave master from the West Indies , Willie Lynch, taught the new Virginia slave master back in the 17^th century ”How to Make a Slave”; 
 

“Separate them in every imaginable way, especially by color, by height, by age, by hair texture and by sex, and teach them to distrust each other, and to love only you, the slave master.  They will teach their children and this behavior will be self perpetuating for four hundred years” 
 

Some attitudes, I believe, are a genetic memory.  The fun loving, singing and dancing, optimistic, happy and smiling, lively and sociable outlook that we see widespread throughout the African societies, is simply the nature of a people who were blessed by God with abundant food, warm weather and close family ties.  Nature did not harm us, but supported us in our natural, easy-living tropical environ.  Just as we find Europeans who are cold, unfriendly, selfish, combative, war-mongering and self-absorbed, they are reflective of a hostile environment that demanded that they overpower the elements of the freezing cold weather to survive.

 

Our four hundred years of the “Willie Lynch Syndrome” is over, and we need to move forward.  One major element which contributes greatly to the perpetuation of this syndrome is the image of the “Savior, Jesus Christ”, as a blond haired, blue eyed man.  This image is especially powerful in Africa, because of the myth of white supremacy and the lack of exposure of the masses of people to the Caucasian race. 

 

In America, because we African Americans have so much exposure to Euro-Americans, at work, in school, on television, everywhere we look, we see them in all their disguises, and we know who they really are.  Most Africans have never sat down with a European to talk or eat or socialize or exchange ideas in a one-on-one and equal setting.  Therefore, they do not know the true nature of the European race.

 

I know that one can not paint everyone with a broad brush, but there are personality differences that are characteristic of a people.  I see it clearly in African societies, just as in the African American society.  Even though we have been separated for hundreds of years, the genetic memory and behavioral patterns still live, and it is very difficult to erase.  Our names have been changed, our language is changed our clothing is changed, our education is changed and our religion is changed, but our behavior has not changed; we are the same people.   Apparently, it runs in our genes, our D.N.A.   Let us hold on to the positive traits and nurture those; let us caste out those negative behaviors that keep us angry at each other, and divided from one another.  The strong D.N.A. can thrust us forward into a new beginning for the twenty-first century.  In the words of the great Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, “Forward Ever, Backwards – Never!!”

 

Totting Christianity to Africa~
Diaspora Africans Don the Cloak of Missionary©
 

By Kali Sichen, Iture, Elmina, Ghana, West Africa

I escaped the New World in search of peace, quiet and comfort.  The stresses of the “civilized world” had taken its toll on me; to save myself, I traveled a tiny fishing village from which many of my forefathers were captured and sold into slavery.  It was a fitting retreat to secure a bit of solace from a demanding business and a demanding relationship. 

Mother Luck found me a comfortable place to live, with a mature woman from New York, who had made a place of retreat for her children and friends, comfort in the Mother Land.  As Luck would have it, I asked if there was possibly a permanent place to lay my head, and within a day, I was introduced to a local man who domiciled in France. He had built a vacation cottage on the ocean front.  He was returning to France in a few days, and was looking to lease his cottage for two years.

As Destiny would dictate as well, the cottage was beside a church pastured by European American Christian Missionaries, who had raised a family in Africa.  However, the family no longer lived at the Mission.  Rumor had it that they were out of town when they ventured into a remote village with the message that those villages didn’t want to hear. 

That wasn’t the end of my confrontation with the Christian dogma.  As a child of 12 years, I rejected Christianity when I discovered the hypocrisy of the church elders and community leaders in the southern town where I grew up. To further complicate my own beliefs and values,  I received messages to expect family friends in Elmina, who were passing through on tour.  Ironically, both of the friends were women, and both were Christian ministers.

This posed a dilemma for me.  Both of the women I knew and loved; they both were really good people.  They were sincere, good hearted and out to make a difference in the lives of the people they met.  These women were not at all in the category of the pedophile priests who disgraced Catholicism, the television preaching warmongering hypocrites who blemished the face of evangelism and the Baptist ministers who don’t know how to keep their pants up and their hands out of their parishioners’ pockets.  

These two women were matured women who had worked hard all their lives, had raised wonderful children and still had more time and more heart to give in service to others.  So I thought to myself, how do I handle this situation, with people I deeply respect and admire, who were totting a philosophy that I questioned?   Then I asked, why are they totting this philosophy?

It has been extremely difficult to teach the truth about anything in America.  Americans have been hoodwinked into thinking that they live in a country of freedom of information, freedom of the press and freedom of expression.  What the majority of the people do not understand is that none of this is true.  Revelations over the past months have uncovered a leadership, presidential and congressional, whose greatest efforts are designed to keep the public from knowing the truth about anything.  All forms of media, including radio, television, newspapers and magazines all belong to a few wealthy families, and only the news that serves their interest in published.  

Educational institutions do an even greater disservice in teaching truth, especially about the history of this world.  As a result, the Christian dogma, which sanctioned the genocide of Native Americans, the robbery of their land, the enslavement of Africans for the wealth and financial gain of the ruling class, has left out the truth about these evil deeds from the books used for education and learning.  They have instead justified their evil deed in the name of teaching “Christian values” and “salvation through Christ”.

What I can’t understand is how anyone, especially intelligent, educated thinkers, can not see that those who are bringing the teachings of Christ are doing the greatest evil in this world, in the name of Christ.  Why can’t these women, whom I respect and appreciate so much, see that the greatest enemy to the well being of the people, to whom they are preaching the word of Christ, is the messenger whose word they preach, the Church elders?

When I listen to “Christians” speak of their “salvation”, I believe that they leave their thinking brains on the bed pillows when they go to church.  Logic would ask questions, especially in Africa, how has Christ saved them when they sit at the entry to a gold mine in their own land, and beg for food?  Why is it that the wealth, by which the entire world sets a standard value, gold, is found mostly in the land where the poorest people live?  If Christ is your salvation, why are you suffering from a lack of basic survival goods and services?

Then my question to the Diaspora African missionaries is this – “How can you support a doctrine that denies the basic survival goods and human rights to the people to whom you minister?”  In the case of my two women ministers, I know that they both are aware that the wealth of the European and American people comes out of Africa.  If the natural resources of Africa were to cease shipping tomorrow, every assembly line, every production facility, every stock market in the world would collapse within 24 hours, and the world’s economy would crash within three days.

So what do the African people get for holding the world on their shoulders?  They get “salvation through the blood of Christ”.  They don’t get enough food, clothing, health care, clean water, roads, decent housing or education for their children– any of these!  They just get “salvation”. 

Frankly, I wish I knew what “salvation” means!!  If salvation means to “save”, then how are they being “saved”, and what are they being “saved” from?  Salvation can mean “deliverance”; are the Africans being delivered from poverty, hunger, poor health care?  Salvation can mean “rescue”; are the Africans being rescued from hopelessness, exploitation or malnutrition?  Salvation can mean “recovery”; are the Africans recovering their stolen land, their stolen resources and their stolen people? 

Most interesting of all is that “deliverance” can mean “escape”.  This, I believe, is the true meaning of “salvation through the blood of Christ”.  Salvation, as it applies to the Christian doctrine serving the African people, is that they are provided an “escape” from the truth of their lives.  Instead of food they are feed rhetoric, instead of water they drink Christian gospel songs which don’t even apply to them; i.e., “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, to save a wretch like me”. This song was written by a slave trader who knew that trafficking in human beings was a wretched business, hence, he was the “wretch” who was grateful to be saved.  This song doesn’t apply to the African.

Another song, “I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it someday for a crown”.  Africans were wearing crowns when they were given Christianity, and in exchange for the crowns, their Kings were given the title of “chief”, which stripped them of their royal titles.  Instead of wearing their own traditional clothing today, their meager salaries only allow them to purchase those discarded, used clothing of their European and American exploiters.

This one day allowed for “escape” from your earthly burdens, to seek “salvation” in a promised afterlife, keeps the African in tow, so that their Euro-American exploiters can continue to enjoy this life in the “here and now”.  If all who use these words would just simply take your brains with you to church next Sunday, and ask questions about the sermon you are being “spoon-fed”, you would leave the church with clarity and focus, instead of more sand in your eyes.

The masses have been mesmerized, put to sleep, and zombe-fied, walking around in a deep sleep, under the spell of an evil demon, in the guise of Christian church elders.  The preachers and elders have convinced the people, in spite of all logical evidence, that he is their salvation.

It is the lack of education about yourself and your history, which has placed all the people in this stupor.  You cannot operate in darkness, and it is the darkness of ignorance and knowledge of your self and your history, that allows for the evil demon to possess you!

Both of the women ministers are well educated.  In fact, one who just graduated from Divinity school was traveling with her professor on a group tour of Africa.  Hence, you must question the type of education they received.  Were they given the true history of Christianity?  Do they know about the original battle that loomed over Christianity from its inception in Africa until the days of Constantine and the Council of Nicea in 425 AD?  Do they know about Constantine’s ongoing dispute with the African Elders of the Church, and Aurius in particular?  Do they know the role of the Roman Ptolemy family and Serapes, who wanted to introduce himself and the Romans as “gods” into the hierarchy of the saints?   Do they know about the oldest church in Europe, built by Africans in Constantinople, in honor of the Mother-Goddess of Wisdom, the Hygia Sophia?  Do they know that the first popes of the Church, which was the Coptic Egyptian Christian church, were Africans?  Do they know about the paintings of Michelangelo and the depiction of Jesus as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man?  Do they know who Joshua Ben Pendera was, and how the life of Jesus of the New Testament was based on the true history of this man?  Do they know how women were removed from the Holy Trinity at the inception of the patriarchal dominance of the Church, i.e., the Father, Son & Holy Ghost instead of the Father, Mother and Son?  Do they know that the original Madonna and Child were not Mary and Jesus but Isis (Auset) and Horus (Heru), the Black Madonna who is still worshiped in Europe, and the Vatican instead of the white Mary and Jesus?   Can women go forward into a church that denies them their just place in the hierarchy and the scriptures?

If these teachings were not a part of the learning of the Christian missionaries, then they have not been given the truth in the so-called “truths” that they preach. As a result, they are totting the deceptions and lies of enslavement and indoctrination to Africa for the “slave master” himself.  No longer does the European or American missionary have to endanger his own life in the tropical heat, risking malaria and other tropical diseases.  He has sufficiently trained his “servants” in the Diaspora to act on his behalf, to assure his dominance and white supremacy for at least another generation.

I do not blame these wonderful women whose hearts and souls are given to their work.  They are victims of a cruel demon who purports to be godly.   If the “devil” lives among us, who is credited with the “sins” that we are to be “saved” from really exists, and possesses all this power, don’t we realize that he would disguise himself as a saint to lure us into his unsuspecting trap?  Certainly he would point to someone else as the “evil one” as is the case today, with Christianity and Judaism pointing to Islam as the “demon” and Islam pointing to Christianity and Judaism as the “demon”.  Critical analysis is needed by thinking persons to examine these “isms” for themselves, in order to free themselves from religious dogma and “false prophets”. 
 

As for the “gifts” the African Diaspora missionaries bring to Africa, I have heard many church preachers and elders brag about the churches, clinics and schools their American parishioners are building in Africa.  Clinics and schools are desperately needed, provided they are not a continuation of the religious dogma and indoctrination processes.  I believe that these congregations would better serve these African communities by digging wells for fresh, clean water, providing sanitation in the form of toilets and bathing facilities and assisting with irrigation in dry places so that the people would thrive in a truly “clean and godly” environment.  Sanitation is far more needed in Africa than any church, and if each congregation in the African Diaspora provides one village with just these facilities, that congregation has really acted in the true sense of Christian salvation.

I know that by writing these words and asking these questions, I will be called all kinds of names, “savage, heathen, demon, and devil worshipper, blasphemous” and a multitude of words even more damaging.  But I quote a friend and elder, “Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance.”
 

In concluding, I beg you to please investigate these religious teachings before repeating words you don’t understand and “totting indoctrination and mental enslavement” to people you think you are “saving”!!  Investigate, read your history, ask questions at the theology schools, ask questions of your minister.  If they are unable to give you sensible and concise answers, you are being misled and mis-educated. 

Accept nothing on blind faith!  Don’t be led to the “gas chambers” on blind faith!  Don’t feed your children (your future) or your parishioners a “faith” just because you were fed that same “faith”.  “Faith pills” do not always cure us from disease; sometimes they kill us!