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Mon, 16 Oct 2023 Feature Article

MAAT

MAAT

The third type of building materials in the season of kuroka is called Ma’at.

Maat's name comes from the word Maa with the feminine suffix "t." In short, Maa means "truth" but also righteousness, balance, order, and harmony. However, its most important meaning is "respect." This meaning of Maat is left out of Egyptologist discussions purposely. They don't want you to realize that the Kemetyu considered "respect" to be the fundamental deity of their spiritual system.

This is why the main training that the European system taught enslaved Africans is to disregard respect for each other. This training continued well after formal slavery. Disrespect has become the fundamental cultural behavior of Black American people. It's actually praised within Black culture (from the dozens to rap battles). To not be excessively disrespectful to other Black people is seen as weak in Black American culture.

Even between "friends," a communication based on disrespect is considered the norm. This is why the N word is so accepted, it represents the epitome of disrespect. Many who use it will argue that it has been "appropriated," yet I have NEVER known a Black person who uses the term only in positive contexts. Every single Black person I have heard use the term, also uses it often in negative contexts (broke ass n!&&@; black ass n!&&@; bitch ass n!&&@; ignint n!&&@; shisty n!&&@; triflin' n!&&@; etc). They just defend the word because they are psychologically trained to disrespect each other.

This absence of Maat, the deification of respectful living, is the reason Black Americans (and colonized Blacks throughout the world) remain in limbo. No matter how much education and money we acquire, our people remain the most impoverished and oppressed. This is because no matter how much we address racism from others, we don't address the culture of disrespect that has defined how we treat each other. Reclaim respect for your fellow Black man and you reclaim the power of Maat.

Maat is great not just because she is truth and respect, but because when you practice Maat, you bring her powers into existence. Many don't realize but the warrior deity Sekhmet is simply a version of Maat, who is also Het-Heru (House of the Hero). This is why a community of practitioners of Maat (truth and respect) are immune to oppression and defeat. If your people are oppressed and defeated, it is a direct result of them not venerating Maat and have thus not received the protection of Sekhmet.

Give thanks to MaTseba.
MaTseba
MoKga-a-Bjwala

Edward Mitole, PhD
Edward Mitole, PhD, © 2023

Dr Edward Mitole, Professor of Development Studies at the University of the State of the African Diaspora (USOAD) and Founder & Chair of the African Renaissance Project (ARP). More Edward Mitole is the most powerful proponent of the African Liberation Movement today, as well as the foremost black political thinker of our time. He is a speaker, activist, theoretician and organizer of campaigns such as “The Curriculum Must Fall” and "Africa Unite".

Following in the footsteps of previous black leaders such as Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, Mangaliso Sobukwe, Patrice Lumumba and Malcolm X, Edward Mitole points to a positive future for the African Continent through the slogan made famous by the Garvey Movement of the 1920s, “Africa for Africans, at home and abroad.” He sends a bold message, calling on African people worldwide to unite their homeland, liberate their people and dispense with colonial borders that continue to divide and oppress.
Column: Edward Mitole, PhD

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