Most of you call yourselves Americans, of either the African or black persuasion. Some of you are proud of your knowledge of our culture and history. Some of you know your slave roots and embrace them.

Now we are a free people. Though a minority, we have overcome obstacle after obstacle to stand where we are today. Many have fought and died with us to so that we may have what we have today. Freed Africans. Black Americans. Living communally with those who long ago enslaved us. How far we have come indeed.

But still, we struggle. Though we have advanced, our way has ever been obstructed. Every inch of ground we have gained, we have suffered for it. Every liberty has been hard earned. But with all this we still find that our oppression exists. We find that our equality is not complete We find that our standards are still below those with whom we are said to be equal.

How much further must we go until the hill is climbed? How much more must we struggle? How much longer must we endure?

On the first day of January, in 1863, we were emancipated. It has been 140 years of obstacles since then. One hundred and forty years of inequality, oppression, and struggle. How long until the problems of our minority are addressed?

On the surface, it glitters like gold. But a discerning eye can easily see that it is illusion. Freedom? Since when? What do you call freedom? Freedom is not equal rights and it is not reparations. It is not the liberty to chose an education and a career. It is not the freedom to pursue happiness through monetary means. That is illusion.

In 1776, we were slaves. The constitution did not apply to the property of its citizens. Though we had no freedom, we were fed. Though we had no liberties, we were clothed. Though we had no valuables, we were sheltered. Our needs were provided for, as long as we were subservient.

In 1863, along with our freedom, we were promised a means to provide for ourselves. But to provide for ourselves required money and not all of us had our promise fulfilled. We had no means and no manner through which to provide for ourselves except by labor.

So our captors became our employers, and our chains were exchanged for wages. Freedom with a price is no freedom at all. But in time, the shame wore off and the disgrace faded. Our lot increased and our bonds no longer chafe. Now the bonds are almost imaginary.

Except when we lose our jobs, or get behind in taxes, or fall into too much debt, and it takes everything we have just to eat. Every dime we can manage to keep a roof over our heads.

We were promised freedom, but we did not receive it. We were promised equality, but we do not enjoy it. Today, we still struggle for these but also we struggle against ourselves.

We have but a memory of what freedom was like. It was in our own country, under our own rule, under our own conditions. We were matchless warriors, feared and renown in all the civilized world. We possessed true freedom then, in our own lands.

But what happened? How did we fall to such a low? We remember nothing of our former nation, nothing of our former selves. We remember Africa, and that is all. In our pride we were brought down low. In our exalted state, we were humbled. In our arrogance, we lost everything we ever had, even our heritage.

So now we come to this, ignorant of ourselves. Priding ourselves in a history that does not include us, in a country that does not represent us. Calling ourselves by names that were not intended for us, speaking a language that did not belong to us, worshiping a god that was introduced to us.

Because of our pride, our arrogance, we are living history. We are watching what was written millennia ago unfold. We are bearing the curse of "our" God. One that He swore would come upon us when we turned away from Him. Our history is written in the pages of a book, though you do not recognize it. Our plight predicted within its pages long ago.

We lost our memories, but our memories did not lose us. We forgot our God, but He did not forget us. We forsook His Law, and we have suffered the Wrath of He who created us. No, not Jesus.

Jehovah. God Almighty.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.

Our captors taught us Jesus, but based that teaching on the history of "our" people. In doing so, they directed us away from truth. They call the LORD Jehovah a trinity. Our captors tell us Jesus has already come and redeemed us. They say the Old Testament does not apply to us because the person we have been looking for has already arrived.

See, here, in the New Testament: your lord and savior is Jesus. He is the Messiah Jehovah promised to Israel. Jesus is equal to Israel's Jehovah so it is okay to worship Jesus also as God.

What more could we do but accept their words? How could we "not" believe the only things our captors have ever taught us? But why do we believe them? Why have we never stopped to ask ourselves, 'have our captors been truthful to us'? When we first came to be among them, there was no trust, no love between us.

They believed in Jesus as God when they enslaved us, and they founded their country on him. Yet they hunted us like dogs in their back yards. Strung us up like hunting trophies, and were on time for Sunday school. Then, when they 'freed' us, they introduced us to their bloody god, and now we serve him as our own.

Why did you believe the words of your captors and did not check for yourselves? Your captors told you Jesus was Israel's Messiah, but you don't even know who Israel is. Your captors told you that Jesus is the One who was prophesied of old times to come and fulfill the Law. But you don't even know the Law.

As long as we continue to believe them we will continue to suffer. As long as we see Jesus as god, or as our savoir, we will continue to suffer the curse Jehovah decreed upon us all those centuries ago. Jehovah cursed the people Israel, and though we do not recognize ourselves as Israel, the curse marks us true. Read Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Micah and the Prophets. See what has befallen us.

In a land not our own, serving other gods we nor our ancestors knew, oppressed by our captors until only a people no longer considered a nation would remain, a people who would become a proverb, a shaking of the head and a byword. Know what that byword is? Of course you do. Nigger.

Pierces straight to the heart. You have been lied to all these years, and the truth has been in front of your faces each and every one of them. But none of you thought to investigate it. No one thought to check into it. No one thought to question....

But I did. And now I'm telling you about it. Read your history. Know why you can be a byword called nigger, and know why it refers to your whole race. Because Jehovah God decreed it would be so long ago. And now it is done.

There is only one way to lift the curse, black people. Israel, you who are no longer a nation, you who are a byword, a proverb or a shaking of the head.

Read "your" history. Know why I say, Israel, the LORD our God is One. Believe your captors at your own peril and continue to suffer the curse.

Return to the God of "our" ancestors, and prepare to be redeemed. Jehovah has promised release from our oppression. Our captors told us Jesus was that release, then why are we still oppressed? Why are we still a byword, the sons and daughters of slaves?

Because you have been sold a lie.

To contact the author email at: soul_doctor73@hotmail.com