~WORD~

Mbongi- “A house without a room; The Mbongi is a space where public investigation and discussion of concerns are held.” When Dr. Greg Carr began to speak about Mbongi he stated that when participating in an Mbongi, “One must be very clear honest and engaging.” He also taught us that we participate in Mbongi more often than we realize. For example this weekend my floor mate and I had an Mbongi. As I styled her hair we spoke about everything; school, relationships and family, we advised each other and when it was all said in done I realized how much closer we had become and how good I felt after being able to open up, speak honestly and engage her in things that were important to me. Dr. Carr then spoke of terms that were related to Mbongi these terms were; Boko, Yemba, Lusanga, and Kioto. When I think about it these terms are all affiliated with my most memorable Mbongi. For example the Mbongi always seemed to be in a place where I felt free to be myself (Yemba), amongst a group of diverse people, who gathered together (Lusanga) to discuss different opinions and view points (Boko) and together shared a sense of relief (Kioto) when the Mbongi was over. An Mbongi was Dr Carr’s prime example of how African Americans still have their heritage but sometimes fail to realize it, he states, “Let’s be clear! Black people have not lost our culture we use it every day but what we don’t often do is connect our learning to our wisdom and are experience then gets diminished by folks who have no idea who we are, sometimes we don’t know.”

Africa- The start of human knowledge; another main topic of discussion was Africa, the mother land. Dr. Carr let us know that Africans created, “Writing, counting, sciences, arts, spiritual systems and formal teachings.” He spoke about amen, an Egyptian word, one of the oldest words in the human language. He spoke about hieroglyphs, “Howard has two of the only African Americans in the world who can read and write Egyptian language,” which was something I was shocked to here but very proud of. Djehuty and Ma’at, the creators of letters and scribes, which is the foundation of all human knowledge, were also a topic of discussion. I really enjoyed this part of the lecture because I find it intriguing how the world makes sure to make Africa’s down falls known but they find it hard to give us credit where it is due. Also I think it’s important for African Americans to understand just how great of a people we are, and it’s time to set are standards and expectations higher. Howard is such a special school and I see it as a privilege to go here for it’s a place where we can learn and grow as a people without boundaries and without losing site of who we really are.

America the Great- It ain’t so great anymore. I love that Dr. Carr emphasized the fact that we are world citizens. He stated that, “Howard’s bigger than America, America ain’t gonna be here much longer anyway. Let’s be clear we live in the world and were citizens of the world.” I really like this quote because I really do feel like a citizen of the world and I think that it’s important for people to travel and to become well rounded human beings for there is so much to learn from other cultures. America will not be around forever and we will eventually have to move on to bigger and better things. When that day comes maybe then things will be peaceful, when everyone is the minority somewhere, when were not able to judge anyone by the color of their skin but instead their character; I’m looking forward to that day!