This Brothah is so deep. There's so much I can type on this section, but I'm about to run to the store, so I'll be brief. One thing I would like to state is, that even under the oppression of colonialism, there are vestiges of traditional Afrikan culture in modern-day Africa. I even witnessed that last summer in Kenya. The wife of the cook where we stayed called one of her twins "Mami". The white people in my group thought that made absolutely no sense...to refer to your own child as "Mami", when YOU are the 'Mommy'. It just was not logical. I understood it, because I've seen people in Latin cultures do it, and even Black Americans will call so-called grown children Lil' Mama, or boys Lil' Big Man. According to Dr. Some', the Dagara recognize the very young as Elders, just like the very old, because the very young are Spirits who just came forth from the Spirit World, and the very old are about to return there. This is why the very young and very old have a natural affinity for one another. They are on the same wavelength. I think that Black Americans and Latin Americans remember that on some level, from traditional Africa, and are acting this phenomenon out, w/o even knowing why. I also know from personal experience that the very young DEFINITELY know things that they have not even lived long enough to know, and when they encounter certain things for supposedly the first time, they know all about it already. When my niece was 2, my brother-in-law was playing blues from the Mississippi Delta one day. My niece JUMPED UP, held on to the doorway, and did this DIP, as if to say, "Umph! This is my SONG!" Like old folks do when they dance to this music in jukejoints. The whole family just stared at her in disbelief. It was uncanny. Finally my sister broke our silence and exclaimed, "UMPH! You must have really felt that, huh?" That is just one instance of many behaviors that she exhibited early on that made it clear that she had been here before. Another example: my supervisor had a 2-year old when I did my grad externship. She told me that she turned out all the lights in her house one Friday night, burned a white candle in the middle of the living room floor(we were reading Tapping the Power W/in-Iyanla Vanzant at the time) and sat across it from her daughter. She said she looked very deeply into her daughters eyes and said, "My Spirit is speaking to your Spirit now. I'd like to know, why are you here?" She said her daughter did not bat an eye, stared back at her equally as intently, AT AGE TWO, and stated, "To show you your true worth, and power, through what I do, since I came from you." It freaked her out so badly, that when she told me the story Monday morning, she took me into a private area of the office, so no one else would overhear and think she was a lunatic. LAST NIGHT, on dr. Chissel's radio station, Iyanla Vanzant touched on this subject, and described an experience with her grandson when he was 3. She stated that her grandson, from the backseat of her car said, "Yeye, don't go into that place where you're going." She replied, "Why not?" He said, "Because I'm a church man, and you're a church woman. But BEFORE you were the church man, and I was a church woman." Iyanla said she was freaked out by what he said, but she trusted that his wisdom was coming from an Ancestral Space, so she heeded his advice, and changed her course immediately.

Another part about this section that moved me was Dr. Some's distinction on what it means to be an Elder, and how once you acquire a certain amount of wisdom, and are able to share it w/ others, in such a way that they are able to improve their life situations, you qualify as an Elder. It is not based on whether you are past 65, or whatever. Based on his definition then, that means that I could be an Elder, which is a really cool thought.