New Warriorship

The following is an excerpt from the upcoming book entitled, "Its All Gumbo to Me" by Dr. C.M. Ellis.

"...What does it mean to be a warrior? While there are many different connotations that can arise from hearing the word, for sure we think of a fighter. We may think of someone who has a direct responsibility to stand between the aggressors and the tribe.

I spent twenty (20) years in the United States Army. I always saw my role in service to be a warrior for my nation. Perhaps that was more of a romantic notion than anything that mirrors the warriors of tribes inside Africa and other tribal areas, but it was my belief and it served me well.

When I look at those many years, a few things stand out and, in my opinion, what stands out is quite profound. First, to be a warrior for the nation it takes a separation from what you may understand so that you can be trained up in the way of the warrior. In the service it is usually called Basic Training. Second, a good warrior is not made overnight. I made seargent in the Army. It took about 4 years. Along the way there were many "training" and "social" aspects that had to occur so that I would be prepared to assume the responsibilities. I was offered a scholarship to become an Army officer. That took two years. When I was commissioned a Second Lieutenant it began a new degree of warrior training. I made Captain eight years later. Along the way, many, many, many, many (did I say many) things occurred that proved my ability to be a senior leader and warrior for my nation. The third thing, and perhaps the most important, is that I learned the only way this nation can have a sense of safety from the role of the armed forces is because there are many tangible events that occur in the military that make even the most mediocre soldier a capable individual.

Why do I bring this up? It is my contention that we need a revival of what it means to be a warrior for our people in this America. Certainly there are groups, religious and not, doing this everyday. I applaud them and all those who contribute to their efforts. But I am calling for a new approach from the academic community, especially Brothers like me and others who have secured their academic future. I am calling for a New Warriorship that involves the direct intervention into the Kindegarten, elementary, middle/Jr. High, High School and undergraduate collegiate levels of formal education. I am calling for the direct intervention into the communities of our brothers and sisters for the purpose of providing the structure that creates warriors.

New warriorship is a matter of defining our role as being the protectors of our communities through business, legal, psychological, environmental, cultural, technological, and political savy-just to name a few. New warriorship refers to young African American females and males gaining critical and structural development in all aspects of the American culture so that our collective intellect can be called upon to answer to biased assaults on our people. As this is not something done overnight, it will take the longsuffering love of the committed to plant the seed in our towns and cities and then grow the movement with the likeminded to create a cadre of warriors in every corner of the nation.

New Warriorship is based on the love teaching of King with the intensity of Malcolm. New Warriorship does seek to create an empire to compete with an American empire, rather, New Warriorship seeks to ground African American people, and like minded people, to mother earth and the Great Spirit above to reinforce the point that we do not control that which God has created nor do we seek to enslave as we have been enslaved. We seek to liberate a people, and summarily, a nation from the bondage of our history. This is done by cultivating the character of our warriors to do "intellectual" battle with greater degrees of integrity and fortitude than that of our agressors..."

Peace and Blessings