Amber Spencer: Learning, Wisond, and the African Experience

One of the points in Dr. Carr's lecture that stuck out to me was when he asked the question: "What's wrong with black people?" What struck me even more was the answer that was given to this question which was that we exist with "no sense of ourselves outside of that unfixable model." The solution of this problem is that we need to erase it and move on. I interpreted this as meaning that as black people, we cannot stick to the stereotypes that the world places on us. It is our job to prove to others, as well as ourselves, that we are capable of doing anything that we desire and that African Americans are intellectual. Sometimes it seems as though people forget that, so I believe that it is our job as black people to remember this and live by it.

Another point that Dr. Carr made was when he said not to compare, but to embrace the whole experience. People are always quick to compare others value and importance to the world, but maybe if we stopped comparing everything to each other, we could fully understand and experience the beauty that everyone brings to the world. One example he presented was how people compared Harriet Tubman to Barack Obama. He pointed out that both of them did amazing things and influenced people's lives. We need to embrace the greatness of both rather than focusing on just one person and what they did. African Americans have made a large impact in our world, and we must start embracing everyone rather than focusing on a select few.

One last point that Dr. Carr brought up was when he discussed the Genealogy of African learning and wisdom of this world. Before now, I was not aware that so many things originated from Africa. It also amazes me how every language has some degree of origin to the African language. This shows that Africa has had a massive impact on the world, and that is something that was not brought to my attention until I heard Dr. Carr's lecture. This lecture really opened my eyes and allowed me to learn new things about Africa in relation to the world.