Comment from the Philly Locs Conference

From: Kenyalyn M. Makone-Anunda
To: jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Sent: Mon, October 5, 2009 10:59:14 AM
Subject: Feedback: Locs Conference October 3-4, 2009


Dear Marvinx,



It is not often that I write commentaries but you asked for some feedback.



You will not remember me because so many people must have come by your table. However, the title of your book dis-stablized me so much so that I returned on Sunday - drove all the way from Delaware to purchase the $5 mythology series. I strive not to use graphic language in my speech so it is jarring to see it in text. I strive to avoid most graphic communicative language as much as possible, so I was surprised to find myself intrigued and captivated by the boldness of the title. It was awkward experience to visit your table. Perhaps because I am researching female circumcision in Africa which was a rite of passage ritual for me at age 9.



We are a people coming to the truth too late. We have taught each other that one can only stand guard over their own soul and that we are unable to be our communities keeper . I speak to my daughter and two sons about the choices available to them today. I tell my children that they have absolute freedom of choice to do whatever action they desire. But I also tell them that what they do not have is the freedom to chose the consequences of those choices whether deliberate or unintentional. The laws of the universe; the laws of nature; and also the laws of society determine the consequences of our choices. I tell them the truth not so much that they will change the world but that they can protect, guard and armor themselves. Ultimately, we are all individually responsible for whatever choices we make.



Slavery and its aftermath did not happen in a vacuum. In Africa, Africans sold Africans into slavery; colonialism was only able to flourish because African chiefdoms worked against themselves and each other (then and now); its African women who accept and engage in polygamy (then and now); its African women who circumcise the girl child (then and now); it’s a black women beauty industry that mutilate ’s African hair (then and now); and the list could go on…... It’s not that I am without hope but it’s a lonely place to be when one can see past the rhetoric. Traumatized and broken we are a people coming to the truth too late. In many, many areas of our lives the “horse has already left the barn.”



Perhaps there should be a Mythology Eight that attempts to address what could be done after the horse has left the barn…..?



Kenya



Kenyalyn Makone-Anunda

Assistant Director

Institute of Global Management Studies/CIBER

Temple University - Fox School of Business

506 Alter Hall 1801 Liacouras Walk

Philadelphia, PA 19122

T: (215) 204-3671

F: (215) 204-1662

E: kmakone.anunda@temple.edu

www.fox.temple.edu/ciber