What: Ɔkyeame Ɔsͻfoͻ Obadele Kwame Kambon Lecture entitled The Role of Afrikan Languages in Afrikan Liberation followed by Abibitumi Kasa Member Open Discussion
Who: You Afrikan!
When: March 15, 2009 @ 6:30PM EST
Where: Abibitumi Kasa Member Classroom
How: Register at free forum at http://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/register.php then click “member classroom” or on this link: http://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/chat/flashchat.php
A continuing part of our Abibitumi Kasa fundraiser:
http://www.abibitumikasa.com/fundraiser.html

Why: "It has been said that 'power is the ability to define reality and have others respond to that definition is if it were their own.' Further, the reality of today is based upon the concepts and theories of yesterday. These are concepts that are eternally linked to a specific culture. A specific language with a specific history. According to Ngugi wa Thiong’O 'language carries culture, and culture carries...the entire body of values by which we come to perceive ourselves and our place in the world.' It is said that, 'the one who prescribes the diameter of your knowledge determines the circumference of your activity.' In other words, 'a cow grazes where it is tied' and 'cattle is only as good as the field in which it grazes.' How WE are able to and choose to conceive of the world is mediated by language. It is through conceptual incarceration within the prison of an alien language designed and intended to serve only its master, that the alien is able to shape Our destiny by shaping Our very thoughts. It is said:

watch your thoughts for they become your actions
watch your actions for they become your habits
watch your habits for they become your character
watch your character for it becomes your destiny

As it is individually, so it is collectively. For it is said that 'the actions of one generation become the history of the next generation. The actions of many generations become the traditions of a people.' Afrikans in general and Diasporan Afrikans in particular have endeavored to re-conceptualize the world through language. Oftentimes, lacking other options, through the language forced upon US. However, it is said, 'the dog does not prefer bones to meat, it is just that no one ever gives him meat.' WE are the long awaited hunters. 'You are the slave of the one whose handcuffs are on your wrists,' WE are the long awaited liberators. WE, entrusted by Our ancestors. WE, the guardians of Our languages, hold the key to re-conceptualizing reality for the best interests of Afrikans throughout the world, Continental and Diasporan. That WE may speak Our reality into the future; that WE may shape the destiny of Our children, of Our children’s children, of Our children’s children’s children, and for the still more beautyful ones yet to be born."