AIM Academy would like to thank the Delaware Juneteenth Observance Committee and Amiyr Abdul Latiyf Hamin for the for the information that created this course.

"Blessed are those who struggle, Oppression is worse than the grave; Better to die for a noble cause, than to live and die a slave".        

~ “The Last Poets”

While, Juneteenth celebrates almost the last vestige of slavery in the United States, the Delaware Juneteenth Observance Committee, is more concerned about establishing a correct understanding for descendants of Africa about the real story of the slavery institution in the Americas.

Too often, history portrays slavery in America in a light that lessens the reality of the MAAFA (African holocaust). It paints a picture of European compassion that freed slaves, omits serious facts about slavery that, like the MAAFA, continues today in various forms, and lists outright lies and distortions that prevent all Americans from actually dealing with this horrible time in its past that TRUTH could very well be the spark that heals America of the race problem.

Our theme this year is "Blessed Are Those Who Struggled for Freedom". Too often Africans born in America are led to celebrate a false sense of freedom, while little is taught about how captive Africans freedom was obtained. Also, Africans born in America are led to live a life of shame because they are led to believe that our, ancestors basically acquiesced to our servitude with acceptance, which is humiliating to say the least. Lastly, it is our belief that much of the self-hate displayed by our people, in its various forms (i.e. inter-group violence,

dysfunctional families, disunity, and senseless assimilation of other cultures in place of what Culture was lost) is a major cause of our lack of upper mobility and success in schools, work, and the pride to establish self-sufficiency and high moral values, which is real independence.

Juneteenth, like Kwanzaa, so-called Black History Month and African American heroes’ birth celebrations, are golden opportunities to reflect, energize and mobilize our people, in the name of truth, righteousness and bettering our Communities. So, as we celebrate and commemorate our accomplishments, we also recognize the magnificence of our ancestors who struggled to get us to where we are today, and who have been slighted in history. We do this because it is our belief, that through correcting false history given to us by those who enslaved our ancestors, it can be a help to our people in the right understanding of what is the cost and responsibilities of freedom.

As the old ancient African says, “Until the lion tells his side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”

We encourage everyone to continue to “Think, Create and Collaborate,” and unleash the power of technology to teach, share, and inspire.