"They can't hate you when you smiling"

It was literary movement of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s that began among French-speaking African and Caribbean writers living in Paris as a protest against French colonial rule and the policy of assimilation.

     Négritude is the self-created object that negates the very objectivity of black existence itself—where humans are reduced to pure animal-objects (slaves)—in a becoming-human. It refers to a collective identity of the African Diaspora born of a common historical and cultural experience of subjugation.

They believed that the shared black heritage of members of the African Diaspora was the best tool in fighting against French political and intellectual hegemony and domination.

Why can’t we (African Americans) believe that our shared heritage is the best tool in fighting off American political and intellectual hegemony and domination?

1. Understand that there are successes and failure in all walks, and you shouldn’t give up because of a failure — it’s a step toward success.

2. Always recall that no matter how talented and gifted you are, someone else has made it possible for you to be where you are, and those folks should be thanked.

3. Finally and most important, as you climb up the ladder of success, keep the door open and lift others as you climb.