The Black Awakening Movement encourages what we are calling Black Reform. We believe our goals will be easier to accomplish if we reform ourselves in a way that helps to protect us from the psychological oppression we endure everyday. Strengthening ourselves individually can also help to strengthen our ability to fight injustice. Black reform is about changing ourselves -for ourselves- not for others. For centuries, we as Black people have been abused mentally, physically, economically, spiritually, etc. and we need to heal.

The Black Awakening Movement encourages these nine reforms to be implemented as soon as possible. These reforms are suggested for all Black people and also serve as a condition of membership into the Black Awakening Movement.

1.) Black Unity, in order to achieve the liberation we seek, Black Unity is imperative. Black Unity occurs on multiple levels (in families, communities, organizations and worldwide). Division has been used a tactic to keep us from the unity that would liberate us. This reform calls for  immediate dedication to Black Unity and the ceasing of any actions that promote division amongst Black People. (See Why Black People Must Unite)

2.) Self Education, Our history was stolen from us but we must attempt to remember and recover as much of it as possible. Our history starts in Africa and our children must know that in order to return to their natural selves. This reform calls for commitment to educating ourselves and our children about our history and about racism to the best of our ability. (Browse our website for educational tools).

3.) Spiritual and Mental Healing, we as a people have been through a great deal of suffering, consciously and unconsciously. For this reason, we need to heal. We encourage the use of healing through the method of your preference including but not limited to: individual therapy, group therapy, self-help groups, substance abuse counseling, spiritual practices, mental freedom and awareness, meditation, yoga, connecting with ancestors, learning ancient healing and spiritual practices, etc. This reform calls for immediate healing and/or increase in healing behaviors. (See Our Healing Page For More Info)

4.) Change in Food Intake as many of our nutritional experts have shown us, many of us are dying from diseases due to the food we eat. Many of the foods we consume are harmful and disease-producing. We cannot afford to lose anymore of our people from something that is preventable. We must move toward eating foods that are natural, healthy and life-giving.  This reform calls for an immediate effort to improve the quality of the food that we are consuming and to make sure that our children are consuming healthy foods (See Our Healing Page For More Info)

5.) Strengthening of Black Families, Black Unity starts with the family. This includes all types of families.  We must work to create families centered in love and trust. We must also seek to give our children positive role models where they lack them. This reform calls for immediate dedication to improving family connections as much as possible and giving our children as much love & attention as possible.

6.) Change in harmful language,  How we speak to each other matters. For so long, we have been torn down psychologically as a people through derogatory words and simultaneous systemic oppression. We must speak to each other in a way that builds each other up rather than using words that feed into negative ideas about each other. This reform calls for an immediate decrease of the use of the word “nigger” (or “coon” or “bitch” or the like) and suggests an increase in the use of words such as “brother” and “sister” when identifying each other.

7.) Change in Harmful Actions Many of our harmful actions are a result of systemic and psychological oppression. We must move away from engaging in activities that lead to our own destruction (i.e violence, drug use, unnecessary illegal actions, etc.). This reform calls for a full commitment to discontinuing any actions that hurt us or our people..

8.) Filtering Media Influences the media has long been used to manipulate and distract us. Destructive messages are often sent to us through music and television. We must carefully examine the music we listen to, the movies we watch, and the news we believe.  This reform calls for an immediate decrease in mainstream media sources and an increase in ‘conscious’ media outlets.

9.) Change in Thought Process In order to achieve liberation, we must believe that we can achieve it. Pessimistic and negative thinking has been ingrained in many of us through programming and negative influences. By becoming more conscious of how we are thinking and what we are thinking on a daily basis, we can move toward thinking that supports our liberation. This reform calls for an increased awareness of our thinking patterns and active work to think and speak in a way that affirms liberation 

This is only the beginning of what we need to do….

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If you have any suggestions for these reforms, please feel free to email blackawakeningmovement@gmail.com