POLL: What are you?

[Tukuler al~Takruri]

Given these identity choices to which do you affiliate?

[asante]

What's the difference between "African" and Afrikan"?

[Tukuler al~Takruri]

It was introduced in 1973 and is short for all African & African Diaspora people never mind place of birth on the planet never mind divisions.

"Four Reasons for Using 'K' in Afrika"

The Nubian Message, North Carolina State University's African American student newspaper, was first published on November 30, 1992. This short article, appearing in multiple issues of the paper throughout the 1990s, was adapted from African American poet and educator Haki Madhubuti's [1973] work, From Plan to Planet: Life Studies--The Need for Afrikan Minds and Institutions. The article, as its title suggests, provided four reasons for using the letter "K" in "Afrika," "Afrikan," and "Afrikan American." The main reason was that Africans themselves use the letter "K" in these words; Europeans "polluted" the spelling by switching the "K" to a "C" during the attempted colonization of the African continent. The article argued that the spelling change represents cultural subordination that Africans and African Americans should reject. Reverting to the "K" spelling empowered people of African descent and created the foundation for a common identity between them.

The paper's choice to use "K" in "Afrika" and related words reveals the influences of Black nationalism on student editors. Although it varies in its specifics within different nations, Black nationalism as a whole emphasizes unity and self-determination for African people and their descendants. A key tenet of Black nationalism is independence from Anglo-American society and culture, and a shift towards (or back to) African society and culture.

[Tukuler al~Takruri]

Madhubuti, Haki R., 1942-
From plan to planet: life studies--The Need for Afrikan Minds and Institutions,.
[Detroit] Broadside Press [1973]



159 pages illustrations 23 cm
Contents: Comments: by an Afrikan in America --
The survival of black people: is it possible? --
We are an Afrikan people --
Retaking the takeable --
The need for an Afrikan education --
Where are the black educators who are educated blackly? --
Institutions: from plan to planet --
Communications: the language of control --
The new pimps/or it's hip to be black: the failure of black studies --
Life-studies --
To hate one's self and one's people --
From black purpose to Afrikan reality --
Is it best for black people? --
Mwalimu/mwanafunzi relationship (teacher/student) --
Money, power, sex: the European corruptibles --
A black value system: why the Nguzu Saba? --
Institutional funding: a word of caution --
The natural energy for positive movement --
Ain't no drug problem in the Italian community --
The "black arts" --
We are some funny "black artists" and everybody laughs at us --
The state of black "arts" is only the reflection of the state of the black "artist" --
The black writer and the black community --
Are black musicians serious? --
Black art/the politics of black poetry --
The necessity of control: publishing to distribution --
Worldview --
Fact is stranger than fiction --
Europe and Afrika: a poet's view --
Afrikan love --
White racism: a defense mechanism for ultimate evil --
Culture/commitment/conclusions for action --
Worldview: toward a functional reading list.
Responsibility: by Don L. Lee.