NY Burial Ground

This week's lecture was the best thus far. I have never been so engaged in any topic about my ancestors. Professor Mack deserves the acknowledgement for studying our ancestry when government officials have come and try to take away the bit of history we know about people of Africa descent.

            From about the 1690s until 1794, both free and enslaved Africans were buried in a 6.6-acre burial ground in New York. Lost to history due to landfill and development, the grounds were rediscovered in 1991 as a consequence of the planned construction of a Federal office building.

            The remains of former Africans showed a sense of unity. They looked out for one another, which is rare nowadays. I was petrified of the skeletons of a mother and her unborn child. I marched to the white house this week, and the pain upon my feet was nothing compared to the cracked skulls of women who carried hundreds of pounds on their head. I cannot begin to feel the abuse of my ancestors. Although when we think of early African existence in the Americas as slaves, but all Africans were not enslaved. 

The Convocation

I feel to be an HBCU, a University has too have two qualities. The school's majority must be of African American descent, and the school must have been teaching African Americas for a significantly long time. The, Convocation is an example of of an event that is both. The Convocation I felt brought me too realization of how special and historical a University I am attending. Watching the professors and hearing the choir and band selection. I felt gave myself a sense of identity and link too all my students and friends around me. A link based in the pride of the University we all attend. In conclusion, throughout a life time you certain memories stand out; your first kiss, getting married, prom, graduation. For me, watching The Convocation, freshman year of college will standout too me because of the connection i felt while there with the rest of the student body.

Kwame Wutoh

African Burial in New York

Its crazy how our government, is supposedly set up too promote equal opportunity, and care for people of all ethnicities, however at the discovery of what should be a historical landmark,(The New York Burial Ground), is instead the used as the support for construction of buildings. People ancestors graves where disturbed and hampered with. The people of the burial ground are human records of what the lifestyle was for slaves. Their bodies hold answers too questions about some of the first slaves in the "New World". And the sight if not left in peace would be better used as a way too research, and least of all as the landscape of construction work. All in all, I feel that events such as this display how curropt our government still is. These, souls literally helped mold America into the powerful nation it is today, I feel it is appalling that those souls graves should be thanked for their work in such an disrespectful way.

Kwame Wutoh

New York Burial Ground

To be honest, I was not to fond of this weeks lecture about the New York Burial Ground by Professor Mack. Although he presented to the class a very defying topic, but as he told us about our ancestors and their remaining, there was not too much meaning to it. I still do not know why we have to learn about this, like what more can we do. The significance of the burial site was that all the remains were so defined in great detail to the point where you can see the dissimilar physical aspects of remaining but what exactly did that suppose to mean knowing this information. I understand that knowing this information should affect us in some way, shape, or form but I really did not get any overwhelming feeling in regards to this presentation, maybe it was just because of the instructor. Overall it was a respectable lecture but we should have had a better speaker with more definition in his teachings.

Nsibidi -Means love and unity, and indigenous form of writing aside from hieroglyphics

Asase Ye Duru- Divinity of the world, assembles wealth might and authority, reminds us of the importance of life

Medicine wheel -they were discover primarily by archeologist, sacred hoop, shows the belief in the interconnect of the world, the cyclicality of the nature, and the a understanding of the astronomical world

Tanit -the early African Muslims who have been here since the early 1600s

Yegba-One of the gods that was found in Nigeria and was bought to the western hem by enslaved Africans who continued the tradition. Also means the Guardian of the cross roads, also the trickster

In general, the impression of the entire monument is that it is history , our history at that, and that we could really learn something from this. Hopefully when I visit the monument I want to be empathetic to our ancestors who had to experience this tragic incident. I want to feel like I was once a part of it. I believe that Howard University was chosen to study this burial site because of many of our ethnic backgrounds, our enhanced educational knowledge on African American history, and the quality of our professor’s. Yes this has inspired me to become a part of this legacy because I want to matter, I want to be a part of something that is bigger than me, but that I can still make a positive effect on.

African Burial Ground

So of course after last week seminar I wanted to know more about the New York African Burial ground. So this week the entire lecture was about the New York African Burial Site. At the beginning of the lecture I expected to have no reaction as a scholar.  So when I first heard about the New York African Burial Ground. I expected for into to be this great monument remembering the African slaves. I was wrong they continued to build the buildings right over the graves of millions of Africans. I felt hurt and upset after this lecture. I felt that if that was any other ethnicity grave the government would have handled it in a different way. I mean the up side to this horrible crime committed by the United States government was the remains were sent to Howard University to be looked over. Now after realize the true facts of the burial ground I am even more excited about visiting on October 1^st. The lecture was truly very interesting. It made me ask the question of how many other African burial grounds have been ignored and build right over. This lecture was great and filled with a ton of information. I also watched the Ancestral rights of return. It was very interesting because it talked about the 490 African bodies been returned to the grave. It also talked about Howard University participation in looking over the bodies.

(Courtesy of google images)

Howard University Convocation 144 Years

(Courtesy of google images)

What is Convocation? This is the question I asked my roommate all day Wednesday and Thursday because that is when I realized one of my classes would be canceled. Then I realized it was mandatory for me to attend. So Friday morning I ate breakfast from the cafe. Then I headed to Convocation. After receiving the program I realized it was to celebrate Howard University’s One Hundred and forty-Four Years being open as a University. Now I can truly say I expected nothing from Convocation but of course I walked away with inspiration to be a better scholar. In the convocation they talked about the pass but put great importance on the present and future. The convocation orator was Michael L. Lomax he spoke about Historical Black Colleges and Universities as a group and how they are so important for the African American community. Covocation was not only about Howard University but the state of all HBCU's. It was also brought up how we will be the donors of Howard University once we are alumni.  When I left convocation I had no doubt Howard University is the school for me. The one thing I took from convocation is the past is the past and I must focus on the present and future. 

144th Opening Convocation

On Friday September 23, 2011, I attended my very first convocation. Before I attended, I didn't know what to expect. Upperclassman said that it was basically a blessing over the school year. My initial thought was why so late, then followed by that I thought: better late than never. I was curious to see what exactly it would consist of. I must admit that my curiosity was just that; a slight "I wonder what this is about," it wasn't a, "I'm so curious. I'm excited to go to another lecture." I suppose one could say that my excitement to go was little to none. With the little motivation I had (freshman seminar blog being the only true motivation), I rounded up several girls on my floor and we made our way to Cramton Auditorium. Since this is a so far honest blog, I must admit that I was a little late for the event. For when I woke up, even my little motivation didn't seem like enough to get me out of my comfortable bed. With all my will power I mustered up the strenghth to go. Not too far into the convocation, all of my negative energy had turned into positive energy. To my suprise I was actually understanding and relating to what orator, Micheal L. Lomax was saying. Overall, his point was that Howard's present student's and faculty can not rely on the past accomplishments. We can't continue to say that Howard is the best because of what happenED, we need to be able to say Howard is the best because of what is happenING. This point made me realize that our future must be greater than our past. We must continue the legacy. Another great point brought up was that the faculty must realize that the students sitting in their class are the next world leaders of the black community. We are the future so they must take that into account. He said that they should treat us with respect because we are Howard's future sponser's and donator's. When we leave and venture into our own lives we will be considered Howard alumni. The teaching's we learn matter and our accompolishments will reflect or education here at this institution. Reflecting back on the convocation I can say I'm glad my motivation (freshman seminar) was worth it.

African Burial Ground National Monument

The lecture given this week was unlike any other lecture before it. Instead of textual evidence, pictures were used to expalin the history and meaning of the sacred African Burial Monument. Professor Mack demonstrated great passion for the site which encouraged me to want to gain more knowledge as to why it was so important. Not only was I encouraged to gain more knowledge, but also to experience and see this sacred monument for myself. In general I learned a lot of background information on the burial site. At first I didn't completely understand the necessity and importance of the the burial ground, but not to far into the lecture it had clicked as to why it was so important. Reflecting back on the, a key idea that stood out to me was the fact that the bones of the slaves told so much history about their lives and living conditions. One bone could tell the story of someon's whole life. It became apparent to me why it was so amazing that
Howard researchers are the ones who were able to find and analyze these bones. They literally held history in their hands, and from it they were able to teach the world alot about slaves in that time period, especially ones that were located in New York. Not only did I learn the importance of the site, but I was also exposed to a deeper meaning behind just the actual bones. It was also reveled to me that the fact that African American slaves had the honor to be buried and not just dumped in a whole shows a sense of humanity towards the slaves; that's not to say that slave owners were nice, but it does show there was some type of relationship between them two. It also possible reveals that slaveowners knew that they hadn't treated the slaves fair during their life so the LEAST they could do, was to properly bury them and respect the work that they had done during their lifetime.

Digital Gallery Talk; Ancestral Rites of Return:
This short clip was basically explaining how sacred the burial ground truly is. The narrator LaShaya Howie said, "The reburial marked a victory for the African descending community. For those community members the reburial reclaimed the existing sanctity by restoring over the 400 ancestors who had been removed." I completely agree with this statement and it just shows how important the burial ground is to the world, specifically the African American community. She also commented on Howard a couple of times; Howard was the place they held the blessing ceremony of the spirits and Howard researchers spent 10 years analyzing the bones. Howard gave a tremendous contribution to the sacred monument and it reminds me of how Howard scholars greatly contribute to the human progression, especially the black culture. This is a great example of how scholars across various fields of study advanced and transformed academic knowledge related to enduring problems of the human condition.

The Memorial and It's Symbols:
Medicine Wheel

http://iw4da.org/products.html

Matie Masie

http://www.happyleopard.com/past_projects3.html

Akoma
http://destinationduafe.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/

Tanit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Tunisia

Yowa

http://landofkam.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/why-is-kamta-kamitic-shamanism-and-the-maa-aankh-cosmogram-so-important-to-me/

Our Lost

Is what people make of African American history really reality ? Meaning that we have no history, no culture, no tradition, well Dr. Mano certainly pointed it out to me. We as human beings of course have many remenants as blacks but by us going through the Middle Passsage, we have forgotten it because we have not been reminded of it. Over the years we, as blacks have been imperialized, colonialized, to ways that has not been like our own. So subliminally but not directly, our culture and way of doing things  has been forgotten. Apparently it was lost but the main objective now should be about how we can get it pack, and find passages to be remember as one also.

In the lecture was confused me the most was that he adressed what roles African Americans had but he did not really point out the good reality of what the blacks experienced. As of right now, I am kind of stuck right now because even though he did deliver a prominant lecture , much of what he was saying was similar to the other main points that he was trying to address. With that said, it was hard for me to really write about this lecture in particular. One thing that did really catch my eye was when he began saying that blacks usuallly never have copulaor subject verb agreement, and for over generations, this scenario has not been looked at like that. We today just announce this kind of termonology as " slang ", in which is ok as long as you know when this type of lauguage is appropriate and when it is not.

On the other spectrum, Dr. Mano was correct when he assisted that the only culture or memiors that has been carried on from Africa or it's people consist of music, speech, food, religon, and art. Contrary to this being a fact, in most situations this is all that is carried on from another country or continent. In all respect, what else should be carried on?

Overall this was not one of the most interesting or mind blogging lectures that I have heard.

Abandonment and Dismemberment: “Something Torn and New”

This is my fifth week at Howard University. I am truly starting to get in the move of things. In freshman seminar this week the topic was Abandonment and Dismemberment: “Something Torn and New”.  This week in freshman seminar I really had no idea how the discussion would go. The discussion actually was good it went over the history of black people. It showed how some of the African culture was retained in African American culture. This lecture really talked about the African American culture and how we as a people are still so close to African roots.  Dr. Beatty showed how are African roots was not Dismembered just changed over the years. Another key part of this lecture was understanding that we as students must be the ones that define our culture. Rather than have someone else depict our history. The freshman seminar class will be going to New York African Burial Ground which I am super excited about seeing. I enjoyed the lecture again this week. All of the lectures or beginning to tie in with each other. So now I am wondering how this upcoming Monday lecture is going to be.

Abandonment and Dismemberment: "Something Torn and New"

After the lecture taught this week by Dr. Mario Beatty; I was left highly informed and eager for the next lecture to expand on the points that were made. Three keys points that stood out to me was idea of how Africans felt dismembered from their past life, their contribution to human progression using science and technology, and their creation of social structure, language, and self goverance. Dr. Beatty began the lecture by involving students so that they could understand the African people on an emotional level during their experience of slavery and whilethey were in the Middle Passage. We began to think of ways they became dismembered from their own culture. It is an obvious fact that they felt dismembered, but Dr. Beatty brought to our attention a less obvious fact: Africans were dismembered, but they didnt completely loose everything. They still had there hope and their faith. The way they danced, the way they sang, the stories they told never changed. Who they were as a people still remained. They were still strong and their bond only got stronger.
Historians define dimembermant as loss and emptiness, but it was argued that though they had these feelings, they were'nt severe enough to keep themselves from progressing. Despite their suppression they still were able to contribute to human progression showing their great strength. They made jobs for themselves and created the tools to do the jobs effieciently. They made their own musical instrustments, medicine, cultivated their own food, and made their own tools and supplies.
Not only did they contribute to science and technology, but they also created a lifestyle for themselves. I learned during the lecture that they created they own social structure; meaning they created roles of the people within their communities and the duties of that role. They also created a hierachy to create some sort of order within their culture. Finally, they used what they were taught (Christianity) and Re-Africanized the Christian religion to make it their own.
By considering all three points, I have concluded this fact: When taken away from the previous lives, Africans felt a sense of dismemberment form their culture. Thoughnthey experienced this natural emotion, despite what historians teach, they remained true to themselves, and ultimately took a horrible situation and made good of it. They learned to work together to create their own language, social stucture, technology, and science.

Abandonment & Dismemberment

 This week, Dr. Mario Beatty, who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Afro American Studies at Howard University, was our guest speaker. In May 2008, he became the first African American to present a paper at the Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists in Rhodes, Greece. One of the foremost American students of Ancient Egyptian Language of his generation, Beatty has also mastered Hieratic, Demiotic and Coptic language, enabling him to conduct translations of texts that stretch between the nearly three thousand years of classical African history.

The Middle Passage

      Dr. Beatty discussed the Middle Passage. During 1492-1776 there were 6 ½ million people in the New World; 5 out of 6 were African. Africans were dispersed all over the Americas from Jamaica to the Caribbean.  
      We discussed the narratives of loss and emptiness.                               
 "When you are conceptualized as empty, you are filled with everything you encounter."- Mario Beatty.


      
    When our ancestors were brought to the Americas, they lost their culture and language. However, as throughout out history, they adapted. They practiced  Christianity because it was the Europeans religion. Africans took what they already knew about their God, and incorporated it into their faith in the New World.


Although many people try to denounce slang, it goes back to slavery. It was the only way our people knew how to communicate. Blacks were not allowed to get an education; our intelligence was a weapon against the enemy. 
   Many Africans created maroon communities, where the African culture was still intact. Europeans did their best to break them up.        



   The most important lesson of the lecture was that we must know our history, and conduct research on African history. If we don't take the initiative to do it, no one will.

Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility

    On Tuesday, Dr. Segun Gbadegesin focused on the true meaning of Omoluabi, which is broken down into the syllables Omo Olu Iwa Bi, a child begotten of the chief or source of Iwa. Dr. Gbadegesin started the lecture by telling the story of Iwa, who was the wife of Orunmila, the god of wisdom, and how she represented patience, existence, and good character. All of these characteristics tie into the meaning of Omoluabi. However, good character was the key word to remember. Hence, Iwa loba awure: good character is the greatest talisman. Iwa meant nothing without Orunmila. Dr. Gbadegesin went on to describe ways to develop good character, one being, correcting the common mis-educations This exemplifies the type of person that we all should strive to be. 


Most stories dealt with African ethics, which developed from The Principles of Maat, The Books of Instructions, The Pyramid Texts, or The Coffin Texts. Many religions we know of today have taken concepts from such texts. Example, the Ten Commandments shows resemblance to the Coffin Texts. This concept reveals the mis-education of blacks not having morality, in view of the fact that many character values today, have stemmed from the teachings of African stories.


The entire lecture was based around the concept of never to lose character, which are based around the principles of goddess Ma’at.
“Honor may vanish from your house

Cosmetic beauty may fade

Iwa is what endures even into the grave

Take care of your iwa”
– A Yoruba poem

     The Yoruba poem sums of the entire lecture. Its focal point is the construction of Iwa/ character, if nothing else. Even long after you leave Earth your name will always remain. 

     This lecture allowed me to reflect upon the value of my character and existence, as well as my role in society as a leader.

OMOLUABI: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility

This is my third week in freshman seminar. While my fourth week at Howard University. I can truly say freshman seminar is really big help. It constantly speaks on inspirational subjects. It is truly empowering for me to get through the week. The main three points of this week lecture was: character, service to self and others, and the human conditions. The character part of the lecture was the best part for me. It went past outer beauty and talked about the soul. It put great importance on you are as person. The second part was about service to self and others. This talked about how we as students must tech other what we know. We have information to share, not to withhold.  Then the third was the human condition. It talks about how we must understand the conditions of others to truly help them. This was also very big to me because it made me think. It made me think about the human condition as a group of people.  This lecture was a great start from last weeks because it showed us are responsibility as citizens of the world.

The New

Dr. G’s lecture was very intriguing and it caught my attention. His views on how to develop more knowledge more efficiently was great. His teaching on different topics was helpful. I enjoyed hearing him speak on how to transform and advance old, misunderstood knowledge, find your identity, and give Ijuba to those in the past. He proved that sayings that people usually question like , “Africans have no history” or “There is no Black philosophy” are completely redundant because we have remnants that demonstrate our history of philosophy that goes back centuries ago. The Goddess Ma’at and the Principles of Ma’at are just two examples of the beliefs and structure the Ancient Egyptians held as a form of specific philosophy. It’s disturbing  to know so many people transition  through life ignorant to the fact that they hold fabricated knowledge of our history by books or in which they solemnly believe. I like when Dr. G explained the difference between knowledge, to be able to acquire information, and wisdom, to have the knowledge and have the common since to apply to your daily life. Wisdom is not something that comes easily, it comes through experience and learning and we should all strive for it as he addressed that knowledge is not going to do the job.

To anticipate on gaining wisdom will also help you to become better person. He spoke a lot about how critical it is to have good character; to lose your character is to lose oneself. Omoluabi is a term which mentions that “A person of character, disciplined, and self-improving, thus earning the respect of peers and community…” This term is also related to Iwa, the general idea of how good existence and charisma. “Honor may vanish from your house, Cosmetic beauty may fade, Iwa is what endures even into the grave, Take care of your Iwa.” This quote strains the significance of good character and everyone should take this notion into consideration.

At last the point he made that was in relation to paying Ijuba, homage, to our ancestors. It is way of being thankful for everything we have been set and recognizing that we are here on this earth because of our ancestors so we should also give some assistance to that. We should also give homage to ourselves and those around us who may indeed need help in their everyday life. Inclusively,  I found Dr. G’s lecture to be very illuminating and I enjoyed getting supplementary knowledge on topics that are rarely ever discussed in everyday life.

Omuluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibilty

Dr. Gbadegesin really analyzed and broked down the research question in his own understanding. He went in depth of what the question was asking and how to approach it. He said that we must acknowledge the human condition and its enduring problems, the role of various fieldsof study, in the production , advancement, and transformation of academic knowledge related to those problems. Of all he talked about his three main points were: transforming academic knowledge into wisdom, the ignorance surrounding the African history, and of course Omoluabi. He focused alot on the concept that one needs more than knowledge, they must also have wissdom. Not only should they have have wisdom but to be completely educated, you must transform the learned knowledge ino wisdom. The process doesn't stop there either; one must also apply that wisdom to inform others. In his powerpoint he defined wisdom or someone that has wisdom as someone that is skilled in turning his/her knowldege to serve the process of human relations. From this definition and his elaboration in what it meant to be wise and how one must transform knowledge into wisdom, I concluded that even though knowledge is necissary to have, it means nothing if it isn't transformed into wisdom. I also came to the conclusion that having wisdom alone is not enough. If one has wisdom but never applies it and use it to serve others than it means nothing. To have true wisom one must first transform their acaddemic knowledge into wisdom and then use that new wisdom to "serve the process of human relations." Despite the fact that I grasped the concept of the idea that one must transfom knowledge into wisdom it wasn't clear as to how. Yes, it was stated that knowledge isn't enough, but it was not stated how to actually go about transforming it. I too had this dilemma with Dr. Carr. Their viewpoint on wisdom versus knowledge was the same, but they both never went into detail as to how one must go about this transformation. Dr. G also commented on the ignorance surrounding African history. He brought up the idea that academic knowledge was sometimes innaccurate. He said that academic knowledge teaches that Africans have no history and that there is no Black Philosophy. In his lecture he went about prooving how influential Anciet Egypt/Africa was to the progression of human progress. This topic also reminded me a lot of Dr. Carr's because he too taught on how significant Africans was to language and human progression period. By hearing about the importance of Ancient Africa I was taken back because like Dr. G said we are taught the only history of Africans were slavery. We meaning me, wasn't taugh about the positives of African history only the depression of my people. I was taught about the Europeans and Englishmen contributing to the human progression by agriculture and eventually technology. I was never taught that African's created hieroglyphics or any of their contributions to the world. The lecture given by both Dr. Carr and Dr. G were very informative in that aspect. Finally, Dr. G taught us what Omoluabi was. He define it as a child begotten of the chief (source) of Iwa. It was someone of character, disciplined, self improving, and uses practical wisdom for the benefit of society. This definition was self explanatory and I was quickly able to link it to the his main focus: transforming learned knowledge into wisdom. He used this term to once again explain the true meaning of what it means to be wise. A person who gains academic knowledge, transforms it into wisdom, and finally uses it to benefit society, much like the Ancient Africans did. Like my ancestors I too want to be labled as an Omoluabi!

Learning, Wisdom and the African World Experience:Mbongi

 This is my third week at Howard University. This week in freshman seminar, the lecture was “Learning, Wisdom and the African World Experience: An Mbongi.” I truly loved this lecture. It made me think about the community I live in and the type of impact I will have on the community. It also made me think about the different Mbongi I have with people.  This was like a history lesson of African Americans in a really quick format. To me, the best part of the lecture was how everything continued to connect back to our education.

The one thing that I learned was that I truly did not understand before was the concept of Mbongi.  Mbongi is either a physical and intellectual space, or “common shelter” which constitutes many traditional African functions including law and order, cultural education, maintenance of social and political life, conflict resolution, the council of elders, and more. One of the questions during this lecture was “When will be done talking and do something, as a group and not individual achievers? Is this even possible?”  When I read this question it made me wonder does my individual accomplishment really make that big of a difference in the world? Or is it only the accomplishments of the group that can truly change the world.

History Often Repeats Itself

       Our lecture speaker, Dr.Carr,was amazing this week. I had no previous knowledge on anything spoken during the Learning, Wisdom and the African World Experience: An Mbongi lecture.I learned four new mbongi terms: boko, yemba, lusanga, and kioto. 
       
       Our people (Africans) were forced to come to America. We adapted to the Standard American English language; that goes to show that we are intellectual human beings.We speak languages in which others cannot understand. Our ancestors took re-membered fragments of African speech and grammar and created new languages, known as Creole, Ebonics, Patois.... etc.(Ngũgĩ, Something Torn and New, pp. 45)


   You have have to know where you come from, in order to get where you are going. As I am a part of the younger generation, I seek every resource to learn more about my ancestors."If you want to hide something from a black person, out it in a book." Anything we want to know about our ancestors is readily in front of us; whether it is a song, book,picture,poem,bible,etc.


There was a text quoted from E. Franklin Frazier’s Failure of the Negro Intellectual, that I will never forget.
       “educated Negroes or Negro intellectuals have failed to achieve any intellectual freedom.  In fact…it appears that the Negro 
intellectual is unconscious of the extent to which his thinking is 
restricted to sterile repetition of the safe and conventional ideas 
current in American society.  We have no philosophers or 
thinkers…men who have reflected on the fundamental problems 
which always concerned philosophers such as the nature of 
human knowledge and the meaning or lack of meaning of human 
existence.” 

E. Franklin Frazier
(via E. Franklin Frazier was a leading American sociologist and scholar.)

Learning and Wisdom

Since I've been on campus at Howard University, this has been one of the most inspiring lectures that I have endured. Dr. Carr is a very empowering and intelligent speaker and with that said, listening to him and fallowing his keys points was not so difficult , it just engaged myself more in his teaching. One of the key points that really caught my eye is when he spoke upon the fact that Africans, which were Egyptians, was the first human species to begin , created, hieroglyphics. That was beautiful to me because people talk about Africa and Africans being such a rural and diseased infested place that they forget to acknowledge us as a surviving and growing community that was not always like that. Another keep point that I thought was very when he stated the information on "The Great Equalizer ", that our economy will be based on how well we are informed and educated. obviously to live up to this nature, you of course have to be present, you have to read and write so that you can improvise on the information that is being given to you. Never just settle for what someone is telling you, go back to the text so you can have your own reassurance on what someone is telling you. Lastly, I appreciated him deliberating on the fact that we, as an Mbongi, have to distinguish our intellectual ability to become a more wiser and keen human being. In all that Dr. Carr addressed, even though it was quite fast and overwhelming, I'm sure that everyone got something out of his teachings. And I look forward to hearing our next weeks lecture.