It’s that time again. The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming and families, tribes and clans are planning their Summer vacations. This June, amidst the relaxed atmosphere and gracious hospitality of beautiful Sea Island, Georgia, the great tribes of the world will once again hold their own family reunion. The 2004 annual G8 economic summit will be the setting for the leaders of the world’s eight great industrial powers to wine and dine and soak up the sun in opulence and splendor. They will gather together on soil stolen from former slaves, for the sake of discussing their continued mastery of the universe.

There won’t be any African nations represented, since by definition it is a gathering of the world’s most prolific economic powers. Consequently, there won’t be any Black people in attendance either, except for maybe the waiters, bartenders and maids. Africa and Africans will only be discussed in terms of alleviating obstacles that lead to future return on their investments. It is doubtful that the establishment of autonomous, self sustaining African nations on an equal footing with the rest of the nations of the world will be one of their goals. It is also doubtful, that they will seriously discuss reparations for former slaves, the spread of AIDS throughout the African Diaspora, or the empowerment and demarginalization of Black women.

These are amongst the major issues facing Black people worldwide, yet they are not being seriously discussed in this forum or any other where non-Blacks discuss the greatest problems facing the planet. Nor should they be expected to. If these issues are to be dealt with, they must be dealt with by us. By “us”, I particularly refer to “African-American” as we find ourselves in the position of being the wealthiest, most highly educated and affluent Black people in the world. We find ourselves in this position not because of our own machinations, but because we have been willing co-conspirators to the establishment of the greatest mercantile power in human history. A position that has been achieved to the detriment and decline of other nations. Incidentally, we find ourselves in the position of being the only people on the planet whose sole agenda is to help other races to rule the world. We do not seek power for ourselves or help to establish power for our own people. We have no homeland. We are at the mercy of our masters plans having none of our own.

Our complacency with and complicity in this situation leaves most of us unable to recognize this as a problem at all. We consider ourselves “Americans” and many of us have realized the “American Dream.” We don’t feel any connection to Africa or any other African people. Most of us feel that these other people have either organized improperly to secure their liberties or that their “Great Emancipators” must not be as warm hearted or industrious as our American benefactors. While I will not debate America’s influence toward restraining the growth and prosperity of these other nations and consequently the creation of their oppressed classes, I think it is worth noting that this is not the first time a “minority” population within a prosperous, Western society find themselves in a similar position as “African-Americans” in the twenty first century.

Prior to the “Nazification” of Germany, Jews enjoyed economic prosperity and legal equality, similar to and in some cases superior to native Germans. They settled into a certain complacency, satisfied that they were indispensable to the German way of life. After World War I, faced with economic insecurity and in search of a “scapegoat” to blame for their woes, the German people sought to eliminate enough of the population to restore economic prosperity. The easiest way they found to do this was to wipe out one entire group of people – the Jews. The Jewish populations of Western Europe were oblivious to their impending doom almost up until the very day they were herded into the ghettoes. Since that dark period they have openly exclaimed “Never Again!!!!” Have we????

All people should be programmatic in their own self interest. All people should build institutions for their own empowerment. All people should have a homeland where they are welcome in good times and have safe haven in bad times. All people should be free to express their culture without regard for the judgment of others. All people are created equal and should carve out their own destiny to the Glory of God.