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To Integrate or Segregate?

For decades now this debate has been going on and I would like to put it to rest once and for all. As humans integration is integral. However I believe there are more important issues that need to be dealt with before integration can happen freely without any 'hang ups'. It would be wonderful for Africans to integrate in society freely without even treated as Africans but simply as people, however I believe that integration as we know it may not be the answer just yet. My reason for saying this is that I believe the black 'community' is divided on all fronts and will need to be united together before they can integrate in the wider society successfully. Ever since, slavery, colonisation and modern day politics, blacks have been separated, to make them believe they are different from each other, which caused a lot of friction within the community. Have a look at the proposals set up by Willie Lynch, which is effectively still in effect How to Make a Slave

(Courtesy of FCN Publishing, FinalCall.com) hence why I think we as a people need to 're-integrate'

The black community has progressed and is still doing so ever since those bad old days. Despite the many negative things associated with blacks it must be said that as a nation they are making huge steps towards success. They should be allowed to live out their struggle and share ideas amongst one another and recreate a common bond amongst each other without interference. I believe when this happens issues such as the dogma 'black on black' crime could be reduced as the separate communities in the black community would have a better understanding of each other, black business relations would grow etc. Still we beg for integration with the wider society, often called white society forgetting that blacks/Africans worldwide need to integrate with each other as there is prejudice within the black community itself and UNTIL those issues are dealt with I do not believe that integration with the wider society is that important. My reason for saying this is there are far too many problems in this community to be worried about integration. We watch the news everyday and see black on black murders, what could eventually stop this? Integration within the black community? Why is there a disproportionate number of black males in the prison? This problem could be solved by the black communities integrating with themselves to see how they could end dogmas like this. Why the school system fails predominantly black boys or Afro Caribbean boys, which sees less of them in university? In my opinion, integration within the black community could solve this, we need to be asking questions about ourselves. Black schools wouldn?t be a bad idea as they could study the national curriculum as well as black African history as children could grow up knowing how they end up in this society without feeling alienated. They would feel a part of the society rather than the opposite. My reason for saying that black schools would be an excellent idea is that I believe the teaching of black African history since the beginning of time or even (Ancient Egyptian times) will never be included in the national curriculum

When it comes to the wider society I am all for integration as we are all humans and have different cultures but I do not think a community can integrate properly without integration among themselves first. We live in a multicultural society where there is choice in many things. For example if I feel like having ?Chinese food? for dinner I will simply order from a Chinese shop or Indian then I?ll order from an Indian restaurant. However as Afro Caribbean I do not think ordering West Indian food from a Chinese shop makes any sense at all or buying West Indian food from Indian shops logical. Indeed if there was integration among the black community or Afro Caribbean community they would have the common sense to know that selling their own food is correct. On the other hand go to any shop in London that sells African Food. I can guarantee that predominantly they will be called ?Afro Centre for Food? or ?Afro World? etc. Only the owners of these shops are not Afro, or African as they put it. In this example business is business and you cannot blame the retailers. It is the black community that allows this as they are the ones buying it. Small issues such as this will tell you that the black communities have not fully integrated just yet as they have been separated for so long.

Religion is another factor that divides this community. It can be said that this alone could, and is causing the greatest division. If integration was acted upon within this community then you wouldn?t have people with loud speakers shouting in your ears about ?accept our way of living or burn in hell?. If this community integrates as a community on this topic and find the origins of religion then this would be more comprehensible and we wouldn't have to fight about what we believe is right or wrong as we would 'know' rather than 'believe' in something. Essentially we would understand that we are paying respect,praises etc to the same deity, then we could move on to more important things that directly affects our lives.

This is just my observation of the current state of affairs within this community and the question of integration. What about segregation? Well no one would relish the times when toilets were made separate and restaurants separate as that is just backwards and inhumane. This is where I think integration is essential as human beings as we must be able to live and work together if not in harmony but with respect as we're all trying to make a living by earning that money, which is now becoming the most important thing rather than race itself. Indeed everyone on this earth is made different and should be proud to be different as we all contribute different and essential things, which makes the world so interesting. At the same time I believe everyone should be free to practice their own cultures within a society without being eaten up by any major or popular culture, as multiculturalism effectively means several different cultures co-existing together in one society. It is essential that this ?community? stay together and sort their problems out rather than blame other people for misfortunes such as black on black murders or any other disaster that happens. If this doesn't happen subsequently what will happen is that the 'goodie two shoes' in the community will find these problems too much and effectively leave the community and try to 'integrate' in some other 'community'. This is already happening as many could quite rightly say that there is indeed NO black community! One would be justified in saying this because the black community is so divided it makes it difficult to even mention 'black' and 'community' in the same sentence. Older black folks will tell you that in times when everything was stacked against them there was more a sense of a 'Black Community' as they had to stick together regardless of their differences as they had one major thing in common. At the moment it's all individualism, which will lead to brain drain where the 'educated blacks' leave the community. If this continues, as the community progresses (and the problems not dealt with) these individuals will continue to escape the 'community' to try and find refuge in another, in the long run, alienating themselves...from themselves. It is therefore imperative that the black 'community' integrate with each other on all fronts in order to properly do the same with other communities. Like I always say when I'm stating my opinion, this is my opinion on the topic. If you wish to send in a comment regarding this topic then send them in or better yet catch me in the forum!

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