The Black Man’s Heritage

By Sam Adeyemi

I have always been fascinated by the obedience of animals used in circus shows. Some time ago, I discovered how the elephant is tamed and programmed. It is held down by a chain for so long that the limitation imposed by the chain is registered on its mind. Likewise, when we have been in an environment for so long, the environment moves inside us such that we now carry that environment wherever we go. Oppressed people around the world usually find it difficult to break out of their experience.

What Is Wrong with Being Black? is a classic. In it, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo shows with overwhelming proof that the black man was once free and prosperous. And that he built the first civilization. Then he shows how the black man was trapped in spiritual, political and economic chains through idolatry and disobedience to God. The obvious fact is that the chains eventually moved from the legs and neck of the black man into his mind and heart.

Slavery and colonisation can be devastating in their impact on a people’s psyche. They breed low self-esteem. They confuse a person’s sense of identity and make a victor to see himself as a victim. Slavery and colonisation entrench poverty since a slave not only loses the right to own anything, he is owned. The slave then is tempted to overvalue material things, and to define himself by their acquisition. Slavery and colonisation also breed an attitude of irresponsibility. The slave is used to having the slave master provide his basic needs, it becomes a big task to build systems and create wealth. And of course, slavery and colonisation breed mediocrity. The slave quarters are usually slums, inferior in standard to the master’s quarters. The black man’s capacity for putting up with a poor standard of living is legendary.

When slavery was abolished and when independence was granted to colonised territories, the chain was taken off the neck of our elephant. The big challenge now is to get the elephant to be the person he is, but which he doesn’t realise he is. This change must begin somewhere deep in the soul of the black man. He needs a spiritual rebirth, because, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Galatians 4:1-2 (NIV) says: “What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.”

The black man is no longer a slave but he is thinking and behaving like one. The cure for his ailment is for a new programme to be written on his hardware. And that is the responsibility of leadership. Unfortunately, a leader with the mindset of a slave cannot lead others out of the slavery mindset, characterised by low self-esteem, mediocrity, identity crisis, poverty mentality and a sense of irresponsibility. Most of those in leadership in black communities are beset by spiritual immaturity.

Ecclesiastes 10:16 (NKJV) says; “Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning.”

This describes the situation of the first Adam. He had an adult body when he was only a few hours old. He failed miserably when he was tempted to prove his identity by eating the forbidden fruit. But Jesus is described as the last Adam in the bible. He did not begin his life in an adult body. He had the opportunity to be mentored by natural parents and directly by the Spirit of God. The day He was baptized, God presented Him to the world as a mature son. When the devil asked Him to turn a stone into bread to prove He was the son of God, He declined. His sense of identity was not in material acquisition. It was in the knowledge that as God’s son, He was already rich and provision would come as long as He was focused on solving people’s problems.

We need leaders like that, who do not have poverty mentality; leaders who do not have low self-esteem. Leaders who will not need to use their position to enrich themselves. We need leaders who won’t try to use money to cure their emotional insecurity.

When Jesus needed to feed a crowd, He multiplied the loaves. He offered the kind of leadership the black man needs to break out of his predicament. It must be leadership that is not self-centered but has compassion on the helpless and downtrodden. Our concept of leadership has been that of superiority and domination. Jesus said the best leader is the servant, that He came to serve not to be served. The leader is mature, who realises that in the eyes of God, he is not more valuable than the beggar on the roadside, and seeks to find ways to elevate the beggar’s status. He can address a gateman or cleaner as ‘sir’ or ‘ma’.

Jesus asked people to change their way of life because He was introducing God’s kingdom or system. Then He told them that it was truth (unchanging principles and intangible resources) that would make them free.

The black man needs tutors and guardians who know that true wealth is not material. It is essentially thoughts, plans and ideas. Africa has 40 per cent of the world’s mineral resources and only 10 per cent of its population but is still the poorest continent. Our poverty is not caused by lack of money. It’s a mindset; a mental structure that the average child born in our environment inherits. The leader who can introduce a wealth-creating mindset is critical to the black man’s prosperity. We need leaders who will help us to see people and time also as critical resources.

Jesus spoke about the future and how to control it from the present. Unfortunately, the black man sees the future as something that cannot be controlled. He sees the world as being under the control of overwhelming invisible forces, hence his excessive belief in sorcery and witchcraft. He is not practical but believes in mysterious living. However, we know that the future can be controlled through vision and careful planning.

I believe that it is the black man’s destiny to provide leadership in our world, like he once did. The black race needs transformational leaders who will transform our perspectives to life in politics, the economy, education, media, family, religion, entertainment, sports, science and technology. We need leaders who have been transformed. We need leaders who can dream like Dr Martin Luther King Jr. We can only reproduce what we are.

Jesus invested a new mental structure in His followers that has survived for 2000 years. Will we rise beyond spiritual immaturity to provide the kind of leadership that will make impact for the next 2000 years? Or should God wait for our generation to pass on so He can use our children? I believe that What is Wrong with Being Black by Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo should be included in our school curriculum.

– An address given at the public presentation of the book “What is Wrong with Being Black” by Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo.

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