b'BLACK HISTORYKnow Our History, Empower Your FutureInsearchingforthecausesofthe self-destructivebehaviorofBlackThe only way to Americans,scholarsdiscoveredyears ago,thatwehaveaveryhighself- end this self hatred esteem despite our racial history. Only recently has it been discovered that as Black Americans, we also have a veryis to educate all of low racial (group) -esteem.This low racial-esteem causes a deep- us about our true rooted self-hatred, and it all comes from an absence of ancestral history in com- History.binationwithasystemicbeliefinall thingstheconquerors-of-oldhadwrit-ten about our ancestors. We have beenBorn in New Bedford Massachusetts force-fed history books that painted usas a free man, his father Kofi Slocum assavagesandmadetobelievethat("Kofi" is a Twi word for a boy born on our race has made little to no positiveFriday, so we believe he was an Ashanti contributions to the human family tree. from Ghana) had been a slave who was ThisistherootofwhyBlackoneventually freed and became a farmer. Black crime is so high. As Black menIn1766,Mr.Kofipurchaseda116-andwomenwemayfeelgoodaboutacre farm in Dartmouth, Mass., which ourselves, but we hate our own people.he left upon his death in 1772 to Paul This realization allows us to understandandhisbrotherJohn.Paul\'smother why black entertainers, politicians, andwas Ruth Moses, a Wampanoag Native athletes often, do little to help empowerAmerican.the people of their own race. Startingasawhaler,thenmoving The only way to end this self-hatredintomaritimetrading,PaulCuffee is to educate each other about our trueeventuallyboughtandbuiltships, history and create a balance betweendevelopinghisownmaritimeenter-self-esteem and racial-esteem. Here isprise that involved trading the length my offering. of the U.S. Atlantic coast, with trips to the Caribbean and Europe.By Randy McCowan, Publisher On April 19, 1812, U.S. Customs in Westport,Mass.,seizedCuffee\'sship PaulCuffee(1759-1817)was,inanditscargouponitsreturnfrom his time, the wealthiest Black man inSierraLeoneandGreatBritainfor America.Hewasashipbuilderwhobeing in Violation of the 1807 British ownedsixofhisownships,andaembargo.Whencustomsrefusedto colonizerthe first to take free blacksreleasehisproperty,Cuffeesought back to Africa (Sierra Leone). Continued on Page 22BODY OF CHRIST NEWS APRIL 2019 13'