Cecile Johnson (USA) speech at the Global Conference on Multipolarity

Cecile Johnson (USA) speech at the Global Conference on Multipolarity

Cecile Johnson (USA), a human rights activist originally from Jamaica, speaks at the very end. A beautiful speech by a deep and sincere thinker.

Greetings my name is Cecile Johnson and I am an Afro-descendant

Human Rights Defender originally from Jamaica but who lives in the USA.

I am happy to be a part of this multipolarity conference. Thank you for hosting it.

This conference recognizes that “multipolarity is built on the recognition of the equal right of all peoples and cultures to go their own way, to build their own socio- political, economic and cultural systems.” Yet in the case of the Afro descendants in the USA that has not been the case. They are unrecognized as colonized by the USA and the world, when clearly the conditions and outcomes of their lives is that of a colonized people who should have fallen under the 1960 Decolonization act, and been allowed to create space within the US so that they are able to achieve Self Determination. Especially since many of their ancestors were actually indigenous to the land, having come through the 4 migrations already documented which place African people firmly in the Americas thousands of years ago.

So before we speak of creating new systems to initiate a new and better world order it’s important to me that the issue of the African descendant in America be addressed. We are over 42 million people and our plight cannot be left out of the movement to go forward to create a more just world.

This inability to see our need for decolonization is further exacerbated by our living in America, a country bent on forcing its social construct of race on us, “where Blacks were to be property that served Whites, and Whites were to be the only beneficiaries of the new country they created.”

This thought pattern exist globally where Western elite have been allowed to “pretend to have the right to establish international norms and rules,” through what Edward Shill describes as the concept of “Center and Periphery” where all the major institutions that are created by the elite set the rules and have the power. Where you are in the structure, depends on how much or how little power you have.

We of the Black race though acknowledged the cradle of civilization are in a constant struggle with Western thought which insist on marginalizing us and pretending through academia that we have made no contributions and that its Eurocentric thought is the only thoughts to be heard. What is it that facilitates this mindset that has allowed this Eurocentric group of less that 10% of the world’s population to dominate the world’s thought till now?

I say it’s the Trojan horse we called Western style education and academia which is used as a standard globally. They are elitist and created systems through curriculum which reinforces their worldview and dehumanizes those of the Black race.

It is also clear that the Catholic Church through its Papal Bulls set the stage for domination and slavery. This memory is important because this was the beginning of the 500+ year war launched against Africans and other indigenous people of the Americas and world and created these structures we are here to talk about today. This war has never officially ended.

The role of the church was critical in Colonization and its legacy cemented these dehumanizing anti-African/anti-Black attitudes amongst the people of the world and the remnants of this way of thinking form the baseline for all attitudes and actions towards us as people till today.

Through miseducation, it has become instinctual for most people to fear and or hate Black people. Even Black people hate themselves as evidenced by the use of skin bleachers to look more white. Why?

Edward Shill defines the relevance of color as “differences in pigmentation symbolizes ….

Differences between present wealth and power and present poverty and weakness, between present eminence in intellectual creativity and present intellectual unproductiveness. It is correlated with past events, above all, with past events of humiliation, injury and insult. Color is the short hand that evokes all of these grievances”.

The white media reinforces the negative images and the education given universally reinforces this low regard for people of African descent sometimes more pronounced in the absence of information on Black People, on Africa on our culture or numerous contributions. Why would I have learnt of John Glenn the Astronaut but not Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, the 3 AA mathematicians who worked for NASA and helped get the US into space. Why did it take 50+ years to learn of this? Because it didn’t match the lie that we were non- productive non contributors to the success of this nation.

“Multipolarity is built on the recognition of the equal right of all peoples and cultures to go their own way, to build their own socio-political, economic and cultural systems.” I call this SELF DETERMINATION. So why has the African/ the black man and woman in the world not been allowed to experience this these last 500  years? Why is our inheritance ethnocide, genocide, structural racism, poverty and underdevelopment?

How do we solve this challenge? This body of scholars needs to consider making education that is reflective of true history and values that espouse self determination and multi-polarity a first step in creating a world that is more equal. As a man thinketh so he is. And in this also acknowledge that the African descendants right to an education that reflects true history are a first step in the restoration of a people to their rightful place on the world stage. We cannot move forward without acknowledging how the world sees African people. It is time for a new multipolar way.

Thank you

 Многополярность и самоопределение

Cecile Johnson (USA) speech at the Global Conference on Multipolarity

Cecile Johnson (USA), a human rights activist originally from Jamaica, speaks at the very end. A beautiful speech by a deep and sincere thinker.

Greetings my name is Cecile Johnson and I am an Afro-descendant

Human Rights Defender originally from Jamaica but who lives in the USA.

I am happy to be a part of this multipolarity conference. Thank you for hosting it.

This conference recognizes that “multipolarity is built on the recognition of the equal right of all peoples and cultures to go their own way, to build their own socio- political, economic and cultural systems.” Yet in the case of the Afro descendants in the USA that has not been the case. They are unrecognized as colonized by the USA and the world, when clearly the conditions and outcomes of their lives is that of a colonized people who should have fallen under the 1960 Decolonization act, and been allowed to create space within the US so that they are able to achieve Self Determination. Especially since many of their ancestors were actually indigenous to the land, having come through the 4 migrations already documented which place African people firmly in the Americas thousands of years ago.

So before we speak of creating new systems to initiate a new and better world order it’s important to me that the issue of the African descendant in America be addressed. We are over 42 million people and our plight cannot be left out of the movement to go forward to create a more just world.

This inability to see our need for decolonization is further exacerbated by our living in America, a country bent on forcing its social construct of race on us, “where Blacks were to be property that served Whites, and Whites were to be the only beneficiaries of the new country they created.”

This thought pattern exist globally where Western elite have been allowed to “pretend to have the right to establish international norms and rules,” through what Edward Shill describes as the concept of “Center and Periphery” where all the major institutions that are created by the elite set the rules and have the power. Where you are in the structure, depends on how much or how little power you have.

We of the Black race though acknowledged the cradle of civilization are in a constant struggle with Western thought which insist on marginalizing us and pretending through academia that we have made no contributions and that its Eurocentric thought is the only thoughts to be heard. What is it that facilitates this mindset that has allowed this Eurocentric group of less that 10% of the world’s population to dominate the world’s thought till now?

I say it’s the Trojan horse we called Western style education and academia which is used as a standard globally. They are elitist and created systems through curriculum which reinforces their worldview and dehumanizes those of the Black race.

It is also clear that the Catholic Church through its Papal Bulls set the stage for domination and slavery. This memory is important because this was the beginning of the 500+ year war launched against Africans and other indigenous people of the Americas and world and created these structures we are here to talk about today. This war has never officially ended.

The role of the church was critical in Colonization and its legacy cemented these dehumanizing anti-African/anti-Black attitudes amongst the people of the world and the remnants of this way of thinking form the baseline for all attitudes and actions towards us as people till today.

Through miseducation, it has become instinctual for most people to fear and or hate Black people. Even Black people hate themselves as evidenced by the use of skin bleachers to look more white. Why?

Edward Shill defines the relevance of color as “differences in pigmentation symbolizes ….

Differences between present wealth and power and present poverty and weakness, between present eminence in intellectual creativity and present intellectual unproductiveness. It is correlated with past events, above all, with past events of humiliation, injury and insult. Color is the short hand that evokes all of these grievances”.

The white media reinforces the negative images and the education given universally reinforces this low regard for people of African descent sometimes more pronounced in the absence of information on Black People, on Africa on our culture or numerous contributions. Why would I have learnt of John Glenn the Astronaut but not Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, the 3 AA mathematicians who worked for NASA and helped get the US into space. Why did it take 50+ years to learn of this? Because it didn’t match the lie that we were non- productive non contributors to the success of this nation.

“Multipolarity is built on the recognition of the equal right of all peoples and cultures to go their own way, to build their own socio-political, economic and cultural systems.” I call this SELF DETERMINATION. So why has the African/ the black man and woman in the world not been allowed to experience this these last 500  years? Why is our inheritance ethnocide, genocide, structural racism, poverty and underdevelopment?

How do we solve this challenge? This body of scholars needs to consider making education that is reflective of true history and values that espouse self determination and multi-polarity a first step in creating a world that is more equal. As a man thinketh so he is. And in this also acknowledge that the African descendants right to an education that reflects true history are a first step in the restoration of a people to their rightful place on the world stage. We cannot move forward without acknowledging how the world sees African people. It is time for a new multipolar way.

Thank you

 Многополярность и самоопределение