Greetings bredren,
I do not disagree with much of what you have posted recently re. your frustrations with the board and the way it is used, and i think you know that i do try to use this space for reasoning when i'm here. i actually share your disappointment about the lack of actual reasoning going on recently, however i also recognize that I myself do not have so much time to contribute to getting some topics going or to contribute in valuable ways to the threads being posted by others. i do not post here just for the sake of it, and usually think a lot about what i'm writing when i do. This takes time, and my schedule has changed in the past couple of years such that I can not spend as much time reasoning here as I might like to. And of course even when one does take the time, there's no guarantee that one's thoughts or interests spark the interest of others and lead to productive exchange. All of that takes time. I was happy to respond to your post about Cain for example, and was interested in how InI might develop our thinking around the issues you and I were raising, but unfortunately it seemed to I that even you were more interested in arguing with 360 than reasoning.(http://www.rastafarispeaks.com/cgi-bin/forum/config.pl?read=109706)

The thing is, it's much easier to take shots at one another and keep the communication going that way, than to really engage with the complicated issues that InI-- ALL of us-- are facing and struggling with every day. (For I, you might be surprised to know, the bickering is almost preferable to endless links and quotes that to I would be better used sparingly and to emphasize or illustrate points being used in reasoning rather than just collected on the board. I sight your bickering keeps some form of personal connection going, as warped as that may seem...)

So here are the major topics I see in your posts that InI might unpack for reasoning:

With all that is going on in the world, and on the continent of Africa in particular since we are African liberationists here, how *should* InI govern ourselves from day to day? How should we express our discontent? Our outrage?

How do we situate ourselves within a global system of white supremacy? How do we work to subvert that system? Is it even possible to do so while living within and participating in that system?

How should/ do we respond to the oppressive and genocidal policies of the governments of the countries in which we live? What should individuals do and how, to protest and oppose the wars?

Does any action ever *count*, or make a difference worth measuring, if it takes place on the micro/ local level?

I struggle with all of these issues in a variety of ways. As a community worker, for example, I have often been concerned about negotiating my focus on the community and working for various forms of community development while also being a dedicated mother to my own son. Does/ should the *greater good* of the community ever take priority over my self as one parent of one child? Or is my individual responsibility to that one child my always and forever number one priority? It could be argued, that by making my son my number one priority before my work int he community, I *am* doing community work, because I'm ensuring that he will becomes the kind of young man who will be able to contribute to that community in valuable ways.

I see Rasi's move to the continent similarly. Yes, there are enormous problems in the world and they certainly are not going to be solved by one family repatriating. AFRICOM is going down whether Rasi and his kids are in Africa or North America. I agree with you that no one is going to stop white supremacy by walking down the beach. But sheez man, if those babies were walking down the street with their Daddy in Philly or Toronto, or where ever,how would that be any better? In the end Rasi has pissed me off nuff times on this board over the years but I have respect for the bredren for following his convictions and taking actions to make what for him and his family has clearly been a positive and deeply significant change.

On the macro level struggle is constant. So does that mean we should all be miserable and never feel good? Should we give up on our individual little lives and families and communities and dedicate ourselves to experiencing no pleasure at all until the global system of white supremacy has been dismantled? Maybe, but I'm not entirely sure that human beings are made that way. I'm not. I am a deeply flawed woman doing my best to effect change in ways that I can tackle through my work and in my community. I am painfully aware, believe me, of how Western I am in my thinking and lifestyle.... as i take this time in front of my laptop, having a cup of organic fair trade coffee, conscious that I am putting off other *work* that I *have* to do...

If you say that people like I will never change the world you may very well be right. But I do stand a chance at making a really significant difference in the communities in which I live and work. Your outrage about that, about all of the distractions and deception that keep us from dealing with things on the level of the macro, as far as I'm concerned, is absolutely the right human response. So what else do we do? Today? Tomorrow?

with love & respect,
rosalind