While painfully taking an exhaustive look at the physical, mental, and emotional enslavement of my people, I discovered the brainwashing manual and guidebook was none other than the bible. The religion of Christianity tweaked account less stories and used them to enslave and entangle Afrikaans into a web of lies and deception. Abruptly I stumbled into myself; I was an Afrikaan, the one renamed colored, negro, nigger, and African American.

I quickly discovered that what we, as Afrikaans, had been taught about the beginning of civilization and who we are primarily lies. The religion christianity, as we know it today, was thoughtfully prepared, adopted, and presented by the Roman Empire. Its mission was to control the hearts and minds of those who believe, or as it were in the case of the enslaved Afrikaans, a forced discourse for submission. Inside the hands and within the hearts of European settlers, their book of bible rules, managed by personal interpretation, was hailed ashore to the already occupied Americas, confidently bearing the image of its creators.

After christianity was erected, it filtered back into Afrika, carried by missionaries. Diluting Afrikkan Spirituality and enslaving many to its embellished god. My ancestors became “believers” of this elaborate folktale enticed by trade, heaven, and avoidance of hell. But I, on the other hand, had succumbed to it by illiterate choice. My eyes widened with unanswered questions. Had we all been duped into thinking we needed to be forgiven and saved from something?

I have revised “The Man in the Black Suit” not to adjust my life story; these events are engraved in time. The revision is to give adulation to whom it is due. Neither my survival nor yours should be credited to a god designed by human minds, a conceptualized image rendered by a race of people striving to become superior.

I also give homage to my ancestors, who are now positioned outside of time and gazing inwardly, providing me instructions and guidance, which I am receptive to through my intuition. They continue to encourage me along my journey through time; these are my Heroes! Not to be classified or reclassified as human bodies with wings named angels, but I speak about my lineage, my lifeline, and those who continue to live fervently through me.

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Janis Todd-Randall

Visionary | Warrior