But God

Living while Black (LWB) is hard in America. Black existence, while driving a car, attending a barbecue, coming home to an apartment, walking a dog, or even waiting for a cab is suspicious or threatening to someone. Unemployment is twice the national rate of unemployment. Black families have 5% of the wealth white families have. The national climate has rapidly changed from the hopeful “
In Ghana, the Akan people developed an elaborate set of hieroglyphic symbols representing timeless wisdom called Adinkra symbols. Two of these symbols resonate with the current life situation of African Americans: Sankofa and Gye Nyame. Sankofa is often represented by a bird whose head is turned around to pluck an egg off of its tail. It means that in order to go forward, we often need to first go back. In other words, we should build our future on the wisdom and success of our ancestors. The other Adinkra symbol, Gye Nyame, means “except for God.” It is like the Biblical Hebrew name for God, El Shaddai, which means Lord God Almighty. Modern African Americans owe a lot to our ancestors. While toiling in conditions of unspeakable torture and humiliation, many of them kept their eyes on Jesus. They talked to him, listened to him, rejoiced in him, and danced before him. Their relationship with the living God was so precious that many of them risked whipping and even death because they kept praying and praising the Lord. They knew God was not the god of the slave masters. He was the God who sets the captives free. Their circumstances were many times
How? How can a
Black Christians need to start by talking to their families. They need to capture the stories of their elders chronicling their faith. They should read biographies of early Black Christians such as Frederick Douglass, Amanda Berry Smith, George Washington Carver, William Seymour