The long and short of the Collective Culture Movement’s mission lies within the answer of one simple question: “What are you doing or know is being done for the betterment of Black Communities?”

The Birth of a Movement
In 2006, while contemplating a Black Heritage Month Theme for Multiple Shades of You Online (www.msoyonline.com), I was reminded of my first visit to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. On what seemed to be an ordinary day I discovered the extraordinary story of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg. He was a Puerto-Rican born black scholar; an amazing man who was once told by his fifth grade teacher that “Black people have no history, no heroes, no great moments.” Because of this statement and his insatiable thirst for knowledge, Arturo began collecting books and artifacts about people of African decent. His personal collection became the foundation of the Schomburg Center and is in essence a testament to the need for a Collective Culture Movement.

The Movement of which I speak is presently a personal thought that I hope will become a reality. It is a dream too long deferred: actualizing positive growth within Black Communities through the accurate accounting of African American History, which we can individually obtain by the constant collection and communication of our culture. This may sound like a mouthful, but it’s far from complicated or overly idealistic. The long and short of the Collective Culture Movement’s mission lies within the answer of one simple question: “What are you doing or know is being done for the betterment of Black Communities?” I believe the communal answer to this question can essentially create a knowledge base that through its existence alone has the power to turn our smaller, individual socio-political initiatives into a larger collective of Black Networks, Resources, and Information. Collecting information about anything and everything that can positively enhance Black People is something that every single Black person can do and should do.

Taking a page from Shomburg’s book each African American can rise above stereotypical misconceptions by seeking out truth. Out of one man’s curiosity came the enlightenment of many. We can break the dark clutches of poverty, family dysfunction, and prejudice by making a greater effort to educate ourselves and our children about the accomplishments and struggles of our predecessors and peers. All that is required to bridge this generational gap and remove these mental shackles is your personal commitment to bringing our past into our future.

Why is the Collective Culture Movement important?

Divided, but not conquered:
The Importance of the Collective Culture Movement

From slavery to slave mentality, African Americans have undergone years of systematic division. Field slaves and house slaves had issues. Black Men and Women have issues. Black parents and children have issues. Dark Skinned Blacks and Light Skinned Blacks have issues. Caribbean Blacks and American Blacks have issues. Civil Rights Blacks and Hip Hop Generation Blacks have issues. The list of social and mental partitions within the Black Community is endless, but not pointless. They are the strategic tools of a system that for the most part has successfully kept African Americans socially down and mentally scarred.

However nonexistent many Americans claim racism to be, those of us who live within these divisions are painfully aware of the burdens most blacks still must bear. From the Block to the Boardroom, African Americans are collectively stagnant because of these divisions placed between us. Those Blacks with enough drive and support to actualize their dreams are constantly consumed by a “There can be only one complex” or “You have to be the first one complex.” All too often successful Blacks forgo their identity, compete for the spot of the Token Negro, feel isolated in White Worlds, or walk down a lonely path of social injustice to open doors for themselves and younger generations. Those Blacks left on the Block have their own burdens. Whether it be struggling through poverty and limited career opportunities, feeling like outcasts by the few blacks that make it or having a limited view of the accomplishments Blacks have made, these individuals are all too often lost within the limitations of the mind and a society created to keep them down.

And yet one can lose sight of these limitations and divisions when contemplating the vast number of African Americans partaking in positive social change everyday. Divided, but not conquered, you and I can be the grassroots fighters and social pioneers that prove both the necessity and possibility of more than one Oprah or Malcolm X. Every time we educate ourselves and others about the accomplishments of our Black predecessors and peers, we are collectively preserving our culture for generations to come. By sharing the stories / socio-political initiatives that connect us we can defeat a system designed to tear us apart.

A Quote from Tupac Shakur:
“We talk a lot about Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr, but it's time to be like them, as strong as them. They were mortal men like us and every one of us can be like them.”

What does it mean to joint the Collective Culture Movement?
How does the Collective Culture Movement Work?

CCM works in two simple steps; the giving and receiving of information.

1. Expose yourself to new African American Content. There is more to learn about your culture beyond the boundaries of BET and UPN.

2. Share information about something Black that you are affiliated with and/or know of. Word of mouth advertising is a powerful tool; use it to help Black Business and Black Communities grow.

Black History a poem for the Collective Culture Movement
by LaShanda Henry

I am to be collected
Consumed and contemplated
Communicated, feared, and revered
Loved and hated
Highly debated across color lines and social circles

I am to be collected
Protected, printed and passed
Free at last to be told
Free at last to be changed and rearranged
Worn like old fashion
That never goes out of style
I’ll be the end at which every black child’s future begins

I am to be collected
Recycled and yet a-cyclically preserved
Conserved through the ever present perfection of past
Accessible in a class
But best heard between my pepes in casual conversation
Communication keeps me real and you realized
A gift to be re-gifted
A soul forever uplifted

I
am
to be
collected