Reclaiming Our Roots: The Crucial Significance of Historical Self-Understanding for Black Empowerment

When we think of the concepts of reclaiming our roots and historical self-understanding, the first things that come to mind are issues of identity and connecting more deeply with who we are. The value of these processes are hard to appreciate for those who are surrounded by their history and institutions that reinforce pride in who they are.

As Black people—regardless of where we are from—we have a unique history that binds us whether we want to be bound or not. From the psychologically uplifting truth of our long period of world domination as the first modern humans on earth, to the stifling realities of Arab and European slavery and colonization that place us in the position of powerlessness that we live within today, our history gives us context for who we’ve been, who we are, and who we are capable of becoming. Void of this consciousness, we float like leaves in the wind, landing wherever the elements are most receptive to our presence—and where receptivity is not present, we assimilate with the precision of chameleons matching the branch of a tree.

There are so many empty, surface-level narratives that we hold on to and retell to give meaning to who we are, without truly knowing the complexities of the stories we attempt to leverage to give meaning to our lives. Without well-orchestrated efforts to learn these details, we remain insecure about who we truly are, why we are the subject of so much disparity, and how we came to become the object of universal contempt.

When one knows what their identity represents historically, it is much easier for them to understand what they represent presently. It is much easier for them to know why they are seen as they are seen. And it is much easier for them to be objective about what needs to be done for them to transcend their group’s current situation in a way that is truly authentic—inherently repudiating the need for assimilation—and prioritizing uplifting the group at large. History gives humans a sense of belonging and purpose, both within the group they are part of and within the world at large.

These are universal truths that go beyond race. However, the reality is that race has been weaponized to uplift some and deprive others. As a result, issues of history have become synonymous with issues of race—so much so that when we think of history from a White European perspective, we think of power and when we think of history from a Black African perspective, we think of powerlessness. The ability to think is a gift from God that every human has. However, when we live within the constraints of such dichotomies—as if they are absolute—we relinquish our agency to educate ourselves and others on the fuller picture.

This is why at DIFFvelopment, our mission is to re-empower the global Black community through historically centered re-education that empowers aspiring Black visionaries to develop their world differently. We achieve this in a number of unique ways that speak most effectively to the audience we have in mind. For example, through our flagship summer program, targeting college students, we expose beneficiaries to the agency they have to solve their community’s problems by exposing them to the agency our African forefathers had to prevent and minimize the problems of their day. This provides them with an objective and empowered way to look at their community’s situation. For example, when looking at the Transatlantic Slave Trade, we explore where African leaders fell short and what role they played in allowing the situation to evolve into the travesty that has culminated into the worldwide anti-Black racism and racialized disparities we see today. One example of this was highlighted by Ike Okonta (2020):

Extensive studies on firearm technology in Africa show that there were no instances in which the pre-colonial African rulers provided the necessary resources or attempted to create the economic and social conditions that would have enabled their indigenous craftsmen to produce the gun in its entirety and in the quantity needed to supply entire armies, like those of the Ashanti and Zulus. In fact, none of the purportedly wealthy and powerful African monarchs is recorded to have any active interest in the acquisition of gun technology or invested any significant resources toward the production of firearms, a critical technology they needed to defeat their invaders.

Exploring such history empowers Black people to contextualize their present and explore how they can shift the trajectory of the Black experience in the future.

Donate here and become part of our vision to create a world where Black people know their history and view themselves as part of a collective global community that is empowered and responsible for identifying, defining and solving its own socioeconomic issues through visionary entrepreneurship, wealth building and philanthropy.