11 films with the power to change the course of black history #blackhistorymonth

By Olympia Auset AFROPUNK contributor

In February, we are met with snippets and soundbites about the “first black person” to do this or that. These facts are great to know, but do they give us the depth we need to excel? Celebrations of our history should give us a clear idea of who we are, where we’ve been, and how to get where we are going.

In an education system that leaves much unsaid, the internet gives us the chance to truly inform ourselves. If more of us had a clear picture of our past, it would be easier to change the world.

While everyone’s still in a watching mood 😉, here are 11 awesome films which will change the course of Black History. We hope you watch each one and keep the spirit alive throughout 2018 and beyond!

Whose History is it Anyway?

Black history and pro-blackness can often be ironically Eurocentric. Slavery and colonization are widely accepted as the starting point of our story, in a lens which limits our appreciation of our past to post-slavery, post-colonial achievements, showing us only fragments of our greatness. It is often based on history as told by Europeans.

These two films present great evidence of African civilizations which existed and achieved long before Europeans inhabited Earth.

The Pyramid Code- Episode 3 — Sacred Cosmology 28:00
This episode’s numerous compelling and surprising facts include analysis of the Dogon Tribe of Mali. Dogon cave paintings depicted the star Sirius B, its weight, and its thousands of years long path through the sky, long before Western Science “discovered” these things.

African Kingdoms- Episode 1- Nubia
10,000 year old carvings depict complex agricultural life in the Saharan desert, long before the time many of us were taught agriculture started on Earth. If you learned world history in the 90’s, this is a great refresher course in newly discovered African history.

Africans Outside of Africa

The great measures taken by colonizers to erase and edit history include raping and killing entire communities across the world. This makes it necessary for us to pay careful and close attention to the clues we have. Rabbit Proof Fence shows the Australian government’s miscegenation program, which forced aboriginals to bear children with British settlers to erase their African features until 1970. Afro-indigenous populations exist everywhere from China to the United States, letting us know that Africans inhabited every corner of this planet prior to European conquest.
Rabbit Proof Fence

It didn’t end with slavery or with civil rights.

Textbook history teaches us that slavery ended in 1864 and that Africans in America “got their rights” in the civil rights era. The films below reveal how racism continued to wreck African American lives well into the 90’s and beyond, painting a broader picture of the depth and extent of white supremacy than is popularly shown.

Bastards Of The Party
Bastards Of The Party’s strong revelations include how LA gangs formed as a response to klansmen, a CIA agent’s testimony of his hand in killing and overthrowing Black Panther leadership, the CIA’s involvement with crack, and how the police department intentionally ended the 1992 gang truce.

The Murder of Fred Hampton
If you have never heard the story of Fred Hampton, this film will make your jaw drop. It shows the rise of powerful, charismatic leader of Chicago’s Black Panther Party chapter, his accomplishments at a young age, and how the FBI conspired with the local police department to murder him. Here, we find the all to familiar sight of officers acquitted, and bold faced lies told in the face of overwhelming evidence.

Harvest Of Empire
Harvest of Empire provides powerful insight into the oppressive hand European nations play in countries across the world, particularly in South America. While African-Americans are often pit against Latin Americans, understanding why immigrants come here is key to ending the oppression of both groups, just as their understanding African history is vital.

Honorable Mention: Racism: A History- Episode 2

WE CAN CHANGE IT.

When we learn the truth, it becomes our job to apply it wisely. So often, the problems of the past and present are discussed with no path for a way forward. The films below provide inspirational stories of how we can create healing, strength, and triumph in the face of adversities we face today.

Physical Health

African-Americans lead every other ethnic group in death from preventable diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and stroke in a quiet form of genocide no one is being held accountable for. These films can help us save lives and build minds and bodies strong enough to create sound communities.

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days Watch 5 people cure their diabetes using food in just 1 month.

Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead

Mental Health

Dhamma Brothers Vipassana is a meditation course available across the planet with powerful abilities to release people from grudges, traumas, addiction, and suffering. Emotional healing is key to humanity’s growth and creating the future we deserve. It can provide the medicine we need to wake up from the nightmares of colonialism and slavery, and should be prioritized in all movements. In Dhamma Brothers, prisoners in Alabama are introduced to the technique with heart warming results.

Financial Health

Thrive gives an excellent view of how money is created, how banking works, and how consumerism is designed to disempower people. Every American, and especially every African-American must understand these concepts to get ahead of the game, place themselves at the helm of new money systems being created, and learn how to spend their resources wisely toward powerful ends.

Honorable Mention: Forks Over Knives

We hope the things you learn make you better advocate, activist, average person, and empower you to create solutions for your community. Please watch, and share with friends.

This post was originally published on Medium.com

A creator of experiences for information, inspiration, empowerment, and good. Suprmarkt.la