Dr. Mario Beatty Lecture

Posted by Gladys Creppy-Hetherington at Sunday, September 18, 2011 6:01:19 PM EDT

Dr. Mario Beatty’s lecture was quite confusing to me. I kind of felt like he was rushing so much and that I could not quite keep up with him at times. Some points did capture my interest, however; the whole idea that Africans were greatly affected by being forced away from their lives and put in such unfamiliar circumstances is something I completely agree with. I know that it was probably not easy on their psyche but I do admire that they were able to adapt and even prosper, to whatever extent, in such harsh and unfair conditions.

I was also very interested when Dr. Beatty discussed how American history does not contain the extreme impact that Africans have had on this nation. I agree with this because all you see or learn in school regarding Africans usually deals with the civil rights movement or slavery. Though these are important events, you don’t really hear about other impacts we’ve had on America such as bringing music and trades such as agricultural cultivation and carpentry that are essentials in the American world. There are so many other events that have taken place in America, that I feel African Americans have had an impact on that are just not mentioned in the “American” history.

In his lecture, Dr Beatty also discussed how Africans to this day, are still changing and adapting themselves to current social conditions just as our ancestors had when they were first brought to America. Dr. Beatty refers to this as an explanation of dismemberment. This can easily be seen in society by the way African Americans dress and comport themselves. We perm our hair so it can be straight like the white men’s, we follow styles that the white man has set, and we act like the white men and cringe away from anything that might somehow associate us with Africa. This is very disappointing to me because when I look around at our race, I see so much wasted potential that could be used to better our entire race. And how we could learn so much from our pass and how we went about life in Africa before it was completely ripped from our hands.

Self governance is also something I truly believe that the African American race should truly take into mind. I believe that we need to break free from the people that have oppressed us for so long in order to regain control of our lives. That is the only way that we would be able to break the boundaries that have been set by our oppressors so in the end, we can achieve the true greatness that we were meant to fulfill.