| FOREWORD From W. E. B. DuBois to Richard Wright, from Richard Alien to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from Marcus Garvey to Malcolm X, and from Sojourner Truth to Barbara Jordan, the sons and daughters of ex-slaves have struggled with their reality and with their identity. Moving from forced labor and outhouses to preferred cabinet posts at the White House, the so-called "black experience" in America has been filled with violence, neglect, manipulation and overt hostility. Yet, despite it all, the sons and daughters of Africa have prevailed in America. African, Born in America is but a glimpse-an almost uncanny peak-into a life born on American soil and spanning some sixty years "as a 'foreigner' in a hostile land," as the author told me privately. This book, therefore, is autobiographical; it is sociological; and it is political. It is, indeed, a sociopolitical autobiography. But, it is not "negative." It is not 'hateful' and it is not 'revolutionary.' It is, at best, reflective, descriptive and challenging. As the reader looks into this much of the life of the author, what he sees in the backdrop is a larger picture of American society. As such, it gives all of us cause to reflect; and it offers the sons and daughters of Africa viable alternatives for constructive action. In writing this book, "because I had to," the author confesses: "Never before in my lifetime have I chanced upon a book like this one, which looked at the plight of Africans born in America, still existing in America and elect to remain in America and say to them, up front: 'You hardly have a ringer on the real pulse of your existence.' Nor is such a statement intended to imply that Africans are worse off than are white Americans... ." African, Born in America, is a 'personal statement.' It is "a mini course in self-realization." What Dr.Anderson has done is to utilize his Ivy League education to juxtapose philosophical viewpoints with the hard realities of overt and covert racism embedded in the body politic of American society. But he goes farther: he draws a parallel between his social development and his psychological evolution, which leads ultimately to drawing what must be viewed as a "political picture" of the reality of Africans born in America, in particular, and those born anywhere in the Diaspora in general. This book is a refreshing 'call' to discussion: an open invitation to look, through the eyes of this writer, at questions that have long plagued our community, in way s that even our greatest scholars and most articulate spokespersons have failed to present clearly, in terms that make "common sense," which even our children can understand. Because of his special talent, of making issues simple and easy to reduce to a common-sense measure of validity, Anderson's book is likely to become the most important 'event' since Marcus Garvey, in the lives of the sons and daughters of Africa, wherever they may be found. As for me, I am pleased to see this book come along to stimulate discussion and provoke new questions about old issues, while at the same time offering very sensible solutions to many of the most frustrating concerns that have plagued the race through the years. One thing further, this book is a very important book for white people to read as well, especially those who really want to know "what" has been created and what is being created by the subtle manifestations of racism that even people of good will tend to tolerate in open society. The tone of African, Born in America, is optimism; yet, in a philosophical-and perhaps even political-sense, the book carries an implicit warning, of a global menace stretching beyond the shores of the United States of America.
Dick Gregory, Fruitarian Gabon, Central Africa
|