The following article is a copy of a response letter sent to the Editor of "African Business and Culture" magazine based in London.
Congratulations again on being able to continue informing the Global African community through your timely magazine.
I must, however, comment on the article entitled "Black Teenage Pregnancy" by Sophia Carvalho in your summer 2000, issue number 12.
It is now common practice for the "conscious community" to ridicule and revile, rather than reward young girls and young boys for teenage pregnancy or "underage pregnancy" as some people call it. They are seen as irresponsible and careless for doing something which is both natural and necessary. Instead of attacking them we should be creating secure, comfortable, support structures and educational institutions within our community that will encourage our youngsters to reproduce. We need more - not less - many, many more African warriors to replace the hundreds of millions who have been killed and the billions who have been denied birth. (see Population Bomb)
Where in the book of social biology does it say that a person who is already ovulating or producing semen can be too young to have a child? Surely, a person who is naturally capable of reproduction is old enough - or young enough - to be a parent. Rather than falling into the trap so well laid by our enemies, we should first look at ourselves and see whether we deserve to walk in the shadow of our courageous Ancestors for the survival of our people. I know that pregnancy at any age where there is no support either from the father, the parents, grand parents, extended family or the wider community of relatives, friends and neighbours etc. "can be disastrous" for any and every woman. But in a supportive environment, her pregnancy would be a blessing, a joyous event for her and the child. She should be honoured for producing one like us who would be nurtured to continue the work that the positive among us have been committed to.
So why do we vilify, decry, attack, these young people who are giving us that which we need so badly? Is it because we cannot see the need for more of us? Or is it that we refuse to take responsibility to satisfy that need?
The writer recognises the value of the extended family in the support of our young mothers in the Caribbean but does not suggest that the same could apply today. Today, instead of supporting each other we end up abusing and abandoning each other. Today, we see in the UK, the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and in parts of Africa, the extended family is no longer family. Too many are hell bent on chasing down the "almighty dollar". Too many are fighting each other for the meagre crumbs from our stolen resources. (see The Fox And The Hunt) Too many scream: "Oh no! Not another mouth to feed; another one to compete against." Unless we change our attitudes, our enemies may even give us the whole loaf but we will still continue fighting each other.
We have to stop feeling so negative about ourselves, our own future. We have to start re-educating ourselves to the idea that those who are producing children at a young age, whether by accident or by design, are producing our most valuable asset in this life - African children.
The author accuses young girls of "getting themselves pregnant even though contraception and sex education are now widely available?" Girls and young women are not all Hermaphrodites - and even they do not impregnate themselves. Boys, young men and sometimes older men, get girls or young women pregnant. There are many reasons, some positive, some negative, why women get pregnant. Pregnancy is the result of a woman's social interaction. In other words we are all responsible for her pregnancy. When we as a community can say: "Yes, we do want to have another child.", no Sister, young or old, will ever again have to say: "Oh shit! I'm pregnant."
Whenever an African woman becomes pregnant, whether she is a young girl under the age of consent or an older woman, she should be happy and confident that she is in an environment where she would be valued and supported. Every African child that is born increases the value of the African community and we should rejoice and be thankful for the gift of another jewel in our crown. We and our pregnant women should be aware that they are carriers of our most precious treasures.
It has often been said that children should not be making babies when they can't even look after themselves. But why should any child have to look after itself? We, their parents, their relatives, the community should be looking after them - and each other.
There are also those who say that we should get the economics right first before we start having more babies, because there is not enough to feed all of us. But history has proven that as populations increase, the wealth which is generated is always proportionately greater than the increase in population. So, basically, the more people we have the more wealthy we become - in more ways than one. Whether that wealth benefits the whole community, whether we relate on a sharing, caring basis or on a competitive, dog-eat-dog level, depends on our socio-political relationships not on our numbers.
The author says: "Black female adolescents need responsible social and spiritual development to become whole, complete adults before birthing new life." If our Ancestors had waited for such development before bringing new life, most of us would not have been born.
Every new birth presents another opportunity for positive change in the world. If we say only "conscious" young women should be allowed to become mothers, we open up a whole new can of worms and end up denying our future - exactly what our enemies want. The United Nations' Population Control pundits preach that Global Africa would be better off if we had less children. But we all know that the best, cheapest, most efficient way to destroy a people is to convince them that they would be better off without children.
The Global African population has already been decimated by over five hundred years of systematic and unrelenting genocidal warfare against us. It is therefore, the duty of every African person to go forth and multiply or do whatever is possible to make it easier for those of us who can to do so. I am confident that it will happen.
May the Ancestors guide and protect you on our way.
Love and Life
Spartacus R.
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© S. R. Bedeau 1997-2003. All rights reserved.