RUEL E.LOWE's EDITORIAL: Has Pan-Africanism gone the way of the Dinosaurs? Under segregation and Jim Crow there was infinitely more black owned businesses, black institutions of higher learning....

Ruel E. Lowe

That’s a question we need to ask ourselves, and try to come up with a logical answer. Before we venture down the path of self-awareness and self-enlightenment, let’s pause to take a good look at ourselves today, and perform a comparison/contrast survey.

Under segregation and Jim Crow there was infinitely more black owned businesses, black institutions of higher learning were at their zenith, producing professionals in industry, the health field and commerce. Around that time the major sports team were becoming integrated, and the entertainment field was flooded with black entertainers! However there was one constant thread running through black society. 

You got it: Social responsibility! Today that animal (social responsibility), seem to have passed away and have been buried in a casket of indifference. In that bygone era personalities such as Joe Lewis, Louis Armstrong, Jackie Robinson and many other high profile black entertainer and others contributed to black social causes! In that era Pan-Africanism was on the upsurge led by stalwarts such as Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhamad, Malcolm X and many others, at that time black consciousness was the order of the day, brothers and sister expressed their African identity in their form of attire and appearance e.g. natural hair styles and dashikis and other forms of dress. Something we can never forget the fight for civil and human rights. more