By Baba Dr. Wade Ifágbemì Sàngódáre Nobles,
ABPsi-Bay Area Chapter Elder Emeritus
Climate change is a critically important issue for all people, especially Black people. As seen through the lens of Skh, The Science of Being and UbuNtu, the core grounding thought in African philosophy, climate as an expression of the eco-system is most important, yet least understood by every day, walk-around, regular Black folk.
Advanced African (Black) Psychology, Skh, recognizes that we are “Spirit Beings” just as the environment and its various climatic conditions are spirit-defined and spirit-driven. The “Ntu” in UbuNtu is the modal point at which all be-ing assumes concrete form. Ntu is a mode of be-ing in the process of continual unfolding. Through UbuNtu, people are seen as MuNtu, intelligent beings that are living, the dwellers of the after-life (dead), those yet-to-be-born as well as the orishas, loas and ancestors.
The environment is seen as KiNtu, all the material, physical phenomena like mountains, animals, trees, rivers, plants, etc. Even feelings like joy, beauty, laughter, love, sadness, hate, etc. are considered spirit and called KuNtu. Time, place and space are called HaNtu.
At the level of spirit (essence), people (MuNtu) and plants (KiNtu) as ecosystems are the same. In fact, the essential relationship we all learned in elementary school was that “people breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide; plants take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen.” Hence, people and plants need each other.
Black people (MuNtu) are inextricably related to everything in the natural environment (KiNtu). This oneness is also revealed in the statement “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu,” meaning, it is in recognizing others as human and acting on those bases, that one becomes fully human. As equally spirit beings, our becoming fully human depends on our recognizing the spiritness of other beings (and nature). In fact, the natural world is a spirit-driven actor that responds to destructive and threatening treatment. Some even believe that the uncommon heat waves, floods, earthquakes, droughts, arctic storms and glacial meltdowns being experienced are spirit-defined consequences of a contaminated Earth and toxic environment.
If we look at today’s Oakland skyline with the imposition of high-rise buildings, apartment complexes, luxury condominiums, and concrete parking lots, one can see that Oakland is or has become the epitome of a concrete jungle that is absent of or has minimal acreage dedicated to natural life.
Oakland as a “being” is screaming, “I can’t breathe!” Climate change, from this perspective, should be included in the compendium of anti-Black phenomena like government-sanctioned police killings, poorly funded schools, food deserts, unemployment, political disenfranchisement, cultural appropriation, classism, sexism, white supremist, etc.
Though hidden right before our eyes, the most obvious visible climate assaults in the Black community are toxic waste dumps, poor sanitation, water pollution, asbestos infiltration, diminished Black farming, asthma corridors, and energy apartheid. These are ever-present yet invisible as the results of climate change in a spirit-defined ecosystem, an ecosystem that has been ‘de-spirited’ by a Western culture that sanctions these anti-Black phenomena. As these realities have impact on KiNtu (the natural environment), they also have negative impacts on Black people (MuNtu).
UbuNtu and Skh should be lifted up as critical meaning-making thought systems that can be used to change the fundamental understanding of our contemporary worldview and episteme. This will allow us to address the essence (spirit) of climate that is an expression of our ecosystem.
Accordingly, we can then see our relationship with the Earth and the destiny of its living resources. Understanding and sharing this should be the work of Black teachers, preachers, counselors, advisors, parents and those of us in every walk of life.
Black people as DEMM (divine energy made manifest) people cannot walk in the world as Dignity itself, if the planet is polluted. With or through UbuNtu, if the environment is not well, then the people cannot be well and vice versa. Black people cannot live as beings characterized by confidence, competence, and a sense of full possibilities and unlimited potentialities who walk in the world with Dignity when the environment is being harmed and destroyed.
When we rescue and reclaim our way, the issue of addressing our ecosystem and preventing the deterioration of the climate will be the Black way of life. Climate change is Black people’s business. Locally, nationally and globally, Black people, with the help of the Bay Area Chapter of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi-Bay Area), the UbuNtu Climate Change Initiative, and like organizations, must organize and fight against the agents and agencies profiteering and orchestrating the harm and killing of Black people and the planet, ergo, climate change.
The ABPsi-Bay Area is a restorative (healing) resource committed to providing the Post Newspaper Group readership with monthly discussions about critical issues in Black Mental Health. Join us at our monthly chapter meetings every third Saturday via Zoom and/or contact us at [email protected].
