“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”
—Rosa Parks
Training Black Spirit
Copyright: © 2016: William L. Conwill
ISBN: 978-1-57951-223-1
Published by
Ronin Publishing, Inc.
PO Box 3436
Oakland, CA 94609
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author or the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
Production:
Cover & Book Design: Beverly A. Potter
Cover image: © Can Stock Photo Inc/Kozzi
Fonts:
African, Allen R. Walden
African Gold, Christopher Kollat, Linotype
Gurnsey, Fonthead
Kalimba Family, John Vargas Biltren
Venis, Chank
Library of Congress Card Number: 2016941113
Distributed to the book trade by PGW
To the new generation of black teens, especially,
Alicia King
Braylon Conwill
Daphne Woolridge
Davia Conwill
Donald Woolridge
James E. Lowe
Joseph McFarland
Olivia King
Quinten Conwill
Sonrisa King
and to those who nurture them to adulthood.
“As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will always speak for peace, and no one can silence me in this.”
—Paul Robeson
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.”
—Nelson Mandela
Table of Contents
Foreword
Ethics
Working With Teens in Groups
Adinkra Symbols
Ethical Principles & Values as Means of Self-Defense
Charisma & Leadership
Protect Yourself
Nurture Courage
Respect Parents
Patience
Unity in Diversity
Wisdom
Divine Power
Defy Difficulties
Abundance
Peacemaking
Strategy
Adaptability
Caring
Strength & Humility
Set Limits
Justice
Support
Independence
Circumspection
Sharing
Serve Others
Faith
God is Here
Hope
Infinity of the Soul
Trust in God
Praise God
Intelligence
Tenderness
Power
Faithfulness
Persistence
Death
Readiness
Practical Knowledge
Improve Yourself
Possessiveness
Toughness
Supportiveness
Cooperation
Propriety
Author Bio
William L. Conwill has a remarkably versatile background in psychology, philosophy, theology, education, martial arts, and fatherhood. This wealth of experience and knowledge makes him more than qualified to offer character-building and consciousness-raising guidelines to teenagers, especially to African American youth who are disproportionately vulnerable to being adversely affected by endemic social injustices and by what progressive, emancipatory theologians call the systemic evils of our society’s interlocking inequalities of race, class, and gender.
These evils amount to injurious forms of structural violence—whether blatant or subtle in how they are manifested. According to the late Martin Luther King, Jr.’s social vision, there are three giant evils in the world that should be countered, and to the extent possible, eradicated: racism, poverty, and militarism. These constitute the larger backdrop for the local stage upon which young black men and women can deploy the ethics explained in this insightful handbook.
The guidelines presented in this book represent ethical principles and spiritual values that, if truly comprehended and appropriately applied, can help black youth make their way through the challenges they are likely to face in their passage from childhood and adolescence into full adulthood. The journey toward adulthood is often complicated by various sorts of constraints and obstacles that need to be overcome through effective problem solving and an optimistic sense that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
The wider environmental or societal context in which the journey toward adulthood takes place is ultimately influenced by forces much larger than the interpersonal interactions and conflicts that are the immediate sources of the dilemmas youth must learn to navigate skillfully and responsibly. Navigation across a challenging terrain can be enhanced if informed and guided by principles that have been tried, tested, and adapted for new generations.
Developing principled behaviors and deeper understandings of the world may lead individuals to directions where the application of ethical precepts may have implications for dilemmas at the micro and macro levels. In other words, some of the spiritual values