A New Way of Being
Consideration of the necessity of love as a unifying force in our communities and in our world is a central theme within Afrikin. Fundamental values are renewed as we share different perspectives on our future as an intergenerational and multi-cultural global society. Universal love is the active ingredient to move forward with the internal work needed to remove the barriers that divide us and in fostering respect for ourselves and others. Within a world plagued with conflict and trauma, Afrikin now reveals an amalgam of ethnicities and a unifying identity that reflects the indigenous past and expanding future.
Afrikin aims to advance human justice through education and information to affect how individuals view themselves and the world surrounding them. Humans now find themselves at a crossroads — a place where decisive action must be taken to move forward in facing the “accelerating decline of Earth’s natural life-support systems” and the continuing inhumanity on the part of its inhabitants toward each other. There is a need for an exchange that crosses boundaries and utilizes a new vocabulary on the importance of strengthening ourselves, our families, and our communities on the basis of love.
Our hope is that Love will allow us to surpass the identity politics and many other social constructs currently in place for a new way of being. We will know that we have achieved mutual respect when there is no need for label identifiers for fellow human beings. This is how language works: It reflects the relationships between speakers and groups. Lauren Hall-Lew, a sociolinguist at the University of Edinburgh says: “If a word that refers to something always appears in sentences where that thing is framed negatively, then that term will take on that negativity.” It is time we let Love be our guidepost. Let the context of we speak of each other be that of how we would like to be spoken of. Let it always reflect Love…
Check out our Youtube Transcultural playlist to gain some insight on what the Afrikin Transcultural experience.