DON LEMON'S NEW STORY.

Don Lemon was in the news again; first he was not born "straight", and now his family tree consisted of people coming out of the dark days in the South, the segregationists South, with black blood being part of their genes; and that family members have sometimes suffered the consequences of being what they were, due to the color of their skin.

There was also a documentary mini-series on CNN recently, in which the players have had tremendously "good education", especially in science and technology disciplines; and from what they were telling the public, there was a sub-culture in America consisting of people of African ancestry. It (sub-culture) was what they were, and therefore they should be recognized as such.

In other words, presently, they were "blacks in America", and that was all there was to it; Period. Any reference of Africa, in their view, was immaterial and insignificant to their lives.

However, many people saw them as pompous and ignorant. They were like plants growing out of the ground without roots; yet, in the back of their minds, that was not true. That was even impossible, for to exist without racial affinities, was exactly like "cutting the nose to spite the face".

It was as if they were hurt for being what they were or for being black; or that was how they all sounded like. On top of that, to connect them with Africa was an anathema. They would prefer to be Americans first and blacks second. The rest of their backgrounds was history, and though, it (history) should not be forgotten, there was no need of going back to it.

For in their minds, bygones should be left to be bygones; and so their roots were not, and should not be part of their everyday conversations. However, that would be ludicrous, because a lot of people would be, say, Italian Americans, and they were proud of that; or Irish-Americans, and they still have associations connecting them to their "source", from whence their forefathers came.

Lo and behold, that was where the secret lied, for the advancement in anything, be it art, education, culture, philosophy, and so on and so forth. That those people, who were connecting with their sources or whose sources meant something to them became the good products in American society.

The reason being that they have their historical trees to be barking up, and those trees have ancestral roots, which extracted and attracted the good things to them.

Lemon talking of his aunts and cousins not being black, and that they could pass for being something else, did not hold water in this day and age. It was true that certain things like that were happening in Louisiana and Mississippi many years ago; but times have changed to such an extent that people being multi-racial were not specifically discussed in social circles as they used to be, and that they were common.

In other words, it was not an original subject in society anymore. In fact, it was banal. They, having multi-racial ethnicity, could call themselves any names they chose; and that only hard core racists elements could bring someone's color or background up, as being what it was not.

The point was that, when indigenous Africans heard stories like the one Lemon was telling, or listened to the individuals on the program titled "THE NEW PROMISED LAND/SILICON VALLEY", they (Africans) have to assume that those black Americans have askew minds.

They should ask themselves the question, why the European slave traders went past the Native American or the Red Indian, the Latin speaking groups now inhabiting Mexico, Central and South America, and then decided to bring their black ancestors from the continent of Africa?

The human traffic across the Atlantic Ocean, though inhumane, was a super-natural event, which for some reason or another, foresaw that the African continent would one day need doctors, engineers and technologists of all kinds, due to the enormous raw materials that the continent had.

Now, where would such an army of specialists come from? Would it not be the same people that left, or were forcefully removed from their homelands in Africa, who were coming back to fulfill that "promise"?

One could say that Africa was in need of the expertise that many of those educated black Americans had. If so, why was that continent still be in the dark ages?

Could it not be that those, whose ancestral homes were looted at one time were eschewing their responsibility to go back and help Africa in its development, even in the 21st Century?

To remain in affluent America, and to tell stories; or present a program to represent a sub-cultural existence in American society was not the answer. Besides, where was their dignity? Should they be regarded as being different? NO! No one would be foolish enough to picture them in any other way, but people of African make up.

Africa would always be rich; but where were those, who could use its resources to make it richer still?

The late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it correctly, that his "children will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." and that should be the thought that black Americans should be made to carry always.

Also, they were being called "African Americans" to dignify them; it was an honor and not an insult against them or their forebears, who were fortunately physically and mentally strong, and therefore were able to endure slavery, for them to be living today.