The Lessons of Ubuntu: How an African Philosophy Can Inspire Racial Healing in America
4/5
()
About this ebook
Mathabane touched the hearts of millions of people around the world with his powerful memoir, Kaffir Boy, about growing up under apartheid in South Africa and was praised by Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton. In his new book, The Lessons of Ubuntu: How an African Philosophy Can Inspire Racial Healing in America, Mathabane draws on his experiences with racism and racial healing in both Africa and America, where he has lived for the past thirty-seven years, to provide a timely and provocative approach to the search for solutions to America’s biggest and most intractable social problem: the divide between the races.
In his new book, Mathabane tells what each of us can do to become agents for racial healing and justice by learning how to practice the ten principles of Ubuntu, an African philosophy based on the concept of our shared humanity. The book’s chapters on obstacles correlate to chapters on Ubuntu principles:
By practicing Ubuntu in our daily lives, we can learn that hatred is not innate, that even racists can change, and that diversity is America’s greatest strength and the key to ensuring our future.
Concerned by the violent protests on university campuses and city streets, and the killing of black men by the police, Mathabane challenges both blacks and whites to use the lessons of Ubuntu to overcome the stereotypes and mistaken beliefs that we have about each other so that we can connect as allies in the quest for racial justice.
Mark Mathabane
Mark Mathabane is the author of Kaffir Boy, and his articles on race and education have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, People, and other major publications. He has also been featured on numerous radio and TV shows, including Oprah, NPR’s Fresh Air, CNN, NBC’s Today, and Charlie Rose. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his family.
Related to The Lessons of Ubuntu
Related ebooks
Ubuntu and the Reconstitution of Community Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhenomenology of Decolonizing the University: Essays in the Contemporary Thoughts of Afrikology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWords and Worlds of Wisdom: (An African Cosmology) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeading Through African Ubuntu Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhite Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Negro Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Philosophy and African Development: Theory and Practice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfrican Humanity: Shaking Foundations: a Sociological, Theological, Psychological Study Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Holding Space: A Storytelling Approach to Trampling Diversity and Inclusion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gift of Black Folk Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoul Talk: The New Spirituality of African American Women Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pan-Africanism: Political Philosophy and Socio-Economic Anthropology for African Liberation and Governance: Vol 3. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Mungi Ngomane's Everyday Ubuntu Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfrican Intellectuals and Decolonization Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeeds of Revolution: A Collection of Axioms, Passages and Proverbs, Volume 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Souls of Black Folk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Philosophy of Ubuntu and the Origins of Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfrican Traditional Religion Encounters Christianity: The Resilience of a Demonized Religion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMagenge, We Need to Talk: Conversations with Black Men Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDecolonising Colonial Education: Doing Away with Relics and Toxicity Embedded in the Racist Dominant Grand Narrative Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art Of Black Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Negro Problem Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mis-Education of the Negro Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDivorcing Jesus: A Spiritual Love Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Guide to Life: African Proverbs Made Relevant Today Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dialogue with the Self: 'Unlocking the Door to Your True Self Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmancipation of a Black Atheist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wisdom of Listening: Pieces of Gold From a Decade of interviewing and life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParenting for Liberation: A Guide for Raising Black Children Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Popular Culture & Media Studies For You
The Dream Dictionary from A to Z [Revised edition]: The Ultimate A–Z to Interpret the Secrets of Your Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Element Encyclopedia of 20,000 Dreams: The Ultimate A–Z to Interpret the Secrets of Your Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Notebook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The NES Encyclopedia: Every Game Released for the Nintendo Entertainment System Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Gays: A Homosexual History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know: Secrets, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, and Absurdities Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Psychology of Totalitarianism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pimpology: The 48 Laws of the Game Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hollywood's Dark History: Silver Screen Scandals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And The Mountains Echoed Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Hate Inc.: Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Communion: The Female Search for Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thick: And Other Essays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Encyclopedia Gothica Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Regarding the Pain of Others Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Truth: Sex, Love, Commitment, and the Puzzle of the Male Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Butts: A Backstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Libromancy: On Selling Books and Reading Books in the Twenty-first Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of Monsters: The Origins of the Creatures We Love to Fear Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Lessons of Ubuntu
4 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mark Mathabane gives the reader a vivid account of being a black man in South Africa and America. Unfortunately, the experiences are much the same in both countries. This latest book by Mathabane describes what needs to be done to bring racial healing between blacks and whites. The first part of the book describes ten obstacles to racial healing. The second half of the book outlines the ten principles of Ubuntu, an African philosophy emphasizing the bond connecting all humanity. Mathabane recognizes that racial biases are held by both blacks and whites. Racial healing and peace requires practicing empathy, compromise, learning, nonviolence, change, forgiveness, restorative justice, love, spirituality, and hope. Mathabane provides examples of each of these principles put into practice. He explains what the Ubuntu principles are but does not provide a how-to guide to their implementation. His book does provide the inspiration to take action on closing the racial divide.
Book preview
The Lessons of Ubuntu - Mark Mathabane
PART ONE
THE TEN OBSTACLES TO RACIAL HEALING
Chapter 1
The Teaching of Hatred
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
—Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
When I ask black youths raised in America’s inner cities how they formed their first impressions of white people and what led them to learn hatred, many answer: the police. In the wake of all the deaths of black men and women at the hands of the police, it’s no surprise. I have little doubt that had the killers of Michael Brown and Tamir Rice spoken the language of Ubuntu, which humanizes through empathy, instead of the language of confrontation, the tragedies that ensued, which were driven by fear of black youths as predators, might have been averted. The officers would have erred on the side assuming that Tamir’s gun was fake, and that Michael’s attitude was nothing but bluster, which is essential for survival in a