Digital Book launch of "Black Nomad - Dhimashada caqliga {Mental Death}"

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Madara x

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Greetings Fellow Somali's,

I've recently self-published my first digital book.

Book title: Black Nomad: Dhimashada caqliga {Mental Death}


Book abstract:
This book examines the public education system of the city of Toronto with a qualitative and ethnographic lens. In the first few chapters, the author utilizes his own experiences as a Black-Somali-Canadian to critically examine the anti-black-racism that pervades the city of Toronto. Using various conceptual frameworks, this book contends that the public education system of Toronto reproduces the practice of anti-black racism by committing structural violence against black students. Then, it discloses the methods via which school employees are intimidated and enticed to comply with the structural violence, that they witness in their schools. Additionally, this text unveils and unpacks two peculiar paradoxes [the paradox of the ‘Condemned creeds’ and the paradox of ‘rebellion’] that safeguard and strengthen the practices of structural violence and anti-black racism. In the final chapters, the text explores the role of gender as it relates to school-based structural violence; and it discusses why practices such as anti-black racism and structural violence are currently treated as necessary and beneficial.

You can read the whole book online for free here:
https://issuu.com/mahad.m.hori/docs/black_nomad_-_mental_death

And you can read it online or download it here: http://www.academia.edu/32804831/Black_Nomad_Dhimashada_caqliga_Mental_Death_

Long live the dervish dream,

Mahad.M.Hori
 

Madara x

Sleep soundly
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Madara x

Sleep soundly
Excerpt from book regarding the Concept of the 'Condemned Creeds':

"The‘condemned-creeds’ is a value system (or a world view) that’s maintained through a dual system of positive activities and negative activities. According to this value system, everyone should aspire to perform the positive activities, and no one should ever perform the negative activities." pg.9
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"As marginalized black youth, the ‘condemned-creeds’ reconfigured our existential situation by re-defining reality. Our attitudes, activities, and aspirations then adjusted to a reality wherein the ‘condemned-creeds’ was the invisible norm. In this sense, the‘condemned-creeds’ was itself a world view; for it was ‘The lens’ through which we saw, evaluated, and acted upon the world." pg.10

"Like all value systems, the ‘condemned-creeds’ had an evaluative component. This component assessed individual loyalty to group values. For example: Insofar as I didn't perform the negative activities, and performed the positive activities, I maintained group loyalty; and as a result, I would be encouraged with praises, and rewarded with privileges such as having the first puff of the blunt (weed), or cracking the bottle (alcohol). On the other hand, by performing the negative activities, one undermined group loyalty; and as a result, one would either get shamed with repercussions or entirely ex-communicated. The repercussions could be as trivial as teasing and as serious as violent shake-downs (robberies); and resisting violent repercussions with violence was the only way to evince loyalty to the‘condemned-creeds’." pg.11

"Within my Xaafadd, we learned to embody the popularized black persona of the thug by performing the positive activities of the ‘condemned-creeds’.Indeed, like a spectacle to be seen, we performed our parts; and in our performances, we were both the audience and the actors. We judged, imitated,rejected, and encouraged each other. Here, a type of informal education was operational; we were (actingand becoming black) embracing the ‘condemned-creeds’." pg.11
 
Excerpt from book regarding the Concept of the 'Condemned Creeds':

"The‘condemned-creeds’ is a value system (or a world view) that’s maintained through a dual system of positive activities and negative activities. According to this value system, everyone should aspire to perform the positive activities, and no one should ever perform the negative activities." pg.9
View attachment 17919
"As marginalized black youth, the ‘condemned-creeds’ reconfigured our existential situation by re-defining reality. Our attitudes, activities, and aspirations then adjusted to a reality wherein the ‘condemned-creeds’ was the invisible norm. In this sense, the‘condemned-creeds’ was itself a world view; for it was ‘The lens’ through which we saw, evaluated, and acted upon the world." pg.10

"Like all value systems, the ‘condemned-creeds’ had an evaluative component. This component assessed individual loyalty to group values. For example: Insofar as I didn't perform the negative activities, and performed the positive activities, I maintained group loyalty; and as a result, I would be encouraged with praises, and rewarded with privileges such as having the first puff of the blunt (weed), or cracking the bottle (alcohol). On the other hand, by performing the negative activities, one undermined group loyalty; and as a result, one would either get shamed with repercussions or entirely ex-communicated. The repercussions could be as trivial as teasing and as serious as violent shake-downs (robberies); and resisting violent repercussions with violence was the only way to evince loyalty to the‘condemned-creeds’." pg.11

"Within my Xaafadd, we learned to embody the popularized black persona of the thug by performing the positive activities of the ‘condemned-creeds’.Indeed, like a spectacle to be seen, we performed our parts; and in our performances, we were both the audience and the actors. We judged, imitated,rejected, and encouraged each other. Here, a type of informal education was operational; we were (actingand becoming black) embracing the ‘condemned-creeds’." pg.11

You make a good point about this 'condemned-creeds' viewpoint especially in how they are viewed as "positive" by undermined ethnic minorities/people of colour.

You also make a good primer to this in page 8 where you include your own personal anecdote:

IMG_20170514_130630.jpg


I'm not from Canada/north America, but it's easy to see that ethnic minorities (especially blacks) are placed into a box since birth/inception and regulalry face institional racism/discrimination from childhood so it's not surprising that some fall into this creed trope.

The funny thing about some of us (especially here on sspot:icon lol:) is that we don't think this viewpoint towards madows would affect us to such an extent since we're not AA/black (which I agree with btw) however, the average cadaan just sees us as "" anyway and (some) will negatively respond in kind as seen in this article about the stigmatisation of Somalis at school.

https://spokesman-recorder.com/2015/04/08/somali-students-protest-hostile-racial-school-climate/
 
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Madara x

Sleep soundly
You make a good point about this 'condemned-creeds' viewpoint especially in how they are viewed as "positive" by undermined ethnic minorities/people of colour.

You also make a good primer to this in page 8 where you include your own personal anecdote:

View attachment 17951

I'm not from Canada/north America, but it's easy to see that ethnic minorities (especially blacks) are placed into a box since birth/inception and regulalry face institional racism/discrimination from childhood so it's not surprising that some fall into this creed trope.

The funny thing about some of us (especially here on sspot:icon lol:) is that we don't think this viewpoint towards madows would affect us to such an extent since we're not AA/black (which I agree with btw) however, the average cadaan just sees us as "" anyway and (some) will negatively respond in kind as seen in this article about the stigmatisation of Somalis at school.

https://spokesman-recorder.com/2015/04/08/somali-students-protest-hostile-racial-school-climate/

Thanks for the feedback. And for checking the book out :)

The condemned-creeds is pretty wareer stuff. Psychologically, its a pretty serious wormhole.
Once your'e in it, and it becomes your world view, its really hard to discard it.:faysalwtf:

No black person can escape the curse of blackness. :farole:

The only way to deal with it is to tackle it head on, and break it to pieces.:birdman:

Thanks again for the feedback, and let me know what you think about the rest of the book. :yacadiim:
 
Your'e welcome. May you have a merry reading.
Thanks cousin .I stopped reading around page 5,the point at which you stated your mother and yourself fled beloved SomAlia, a land destroyed by colonialism and white supremacy .Good luck ,my dear fellow ,though I shall not personally partake in knee grow suugo science .

@Professor amun .please give me feedback if you read the book .
 

Madara x

Sleep soundly
Thanks cousin .I stopped reading around page 5,the point at which you stated your mother and yourself fled beloved SomAlia, a land destroyed by colonialism and white supremacy .Good luck ,my dear fellow ,though I shall not personally partake in knee grow suugo science .

@Professor amun .please give me feedback if you read the book .

No problem man. Those who are meant to read it will. All in due time.

"Sugo science" . . . That's such a creative term . . . i might just use it in my future works
 

xisaabiye

Ibnu Suxuufi Ibnu Al Dhoobe
Toronto isn't that bad for racism, and is a million times better than other parts of Canada. Even majority of the ghettos in Toronto became ghettos only because of the people who ruined the reputation of proper neighborhoods, an example is Dixon. I doubt it has anything to do with melanin, but instead what Somalis in the gta personify. If Somalis weren't mentally weak they would've paved their own way in Canada like the tamils,siikhs and even now many Jamaicans. Instead we chose to speak in ebonics, shake our booties and think we're 2pac incarnated:pachah1:
 

Madara x

Sleep soundly
Toronto isn't that bad for racism, and is a million times better than other parts of Canada. Even majority of the ghettos in Toronto became ghettos only because of the people who ruined the reputation of proper neighborhoods, an example is Dixon. I doubt it has anything to do with melanin, but instead what Somalis in the gta personify. If Somalis weren't mentally weak they would've paved their own way in Canada like the tamils,siikhs and even now many Jamaicans. Instead we chose to speak in ebonics, shake our booties and think we're 2pac incarnated:pachah1:

"If Somalis weren't mentally weak they would've paved their own way in Canada like the tamils,siikhs and even now many Jamaicans. Instead we chose to speak in ebonics, shake our booties and think we're 2pac incarnated" Do you really believe this?

The reality is much more complicated than how you packaged it buddy.

There are many factors at play such as structural violence, condemned creeds, anti-black racism, the paradox of the condemned-creeds, etc

It's easy to blame yourself & and to blame others. But its difficult to step into the Grey area.

Step into the Grey area with me.
 

xisaabiye

Ibnu Suxuufi Ibnu Al Dhoobe
"If Somalis weren't mentally weak they would've paved their own way in Canada like the tamils,siikhs and even now many Jamaicans. Instead we chose to speak in ebonics, shake our booties and think we're 2pac incarnated" Do you really believe this?

The reality is much more complicated than how you packaged it buddy.

There are many factors at play such as structural violence, condemned creeds, anti-black racism, the paradox of the condemned-creeds, etc

It's easy to blame yourself & and to blame others. But its difficult to step into the Grey area.

Step into the Grey area with me.

Bro somalis don't even have work ethic. I never seen somali dudes working a 9-5 throughout highschool. All they wanted to do was play ball, smoke geedo and wus oyin(basically be ). How come pakis, sri lankans, tamils and to an extent jamaicans were able to succeed while being born and raised in Toronto ghettos, yet somalis trailed behind and had the highest drop out rate in the Toronto district school board. Then the district school board wanted to start a programme to help these at risk students, and the somali community cried racism :heh:.
 

Madara x

Sleep soundly
Bro somalis don't even have work ethic. I never seen somali dudes working a 9-5 throughout highschool. All they wanted to do was play ball, smoke geedo and wus oyin(basically be ). How come pakis, sri lankans, tamils and to an extent jamaicans were able to succeed while being born and raised in Toronto ghettos, yet somalis trailed behind and had the highest drop out rate in the Toronto district school board. Then the district school board wanted to start a programme to help these at risk students, and the somali community cried racism :heh:.

I think that all of the communities you named [except pakis] were assailed with structural violence in the public schools. Like I've tried to demonstrate in the book, there are many factors [such as structural violence, anti-black racism, condemned-creeds, etc] that are causing the continuous insertion of Somali students into the school-to-prison pipleline.

In regards to why we are getting hit the hardest, my answer is this: we are targeted.

We are targeted because somebody has to always get targeted and excluded in this society.
Exclusion is necessary in cadaan society's in general. This is part of their socio-cultural conditioning.
If you don't believe that excluding a certain group is a necessary aspect of cadaan culture, watch this short story video, it is about a short-story that kids in Toronto high-school's study in their English classes, it's called 'The lottery':

We are also targeted because we are black and because we are a easy mark.
We have no way to retaliate because we can't even accept the idea that we are specifically being targeted.
So our denial makes it difficult to deal with the reality at hand.

Since we are dealing with invisible and yet potent systems of violence like anti-black racism and structural violence, we are bound to display signs of confusion and self-destructive behavior. The whole fiasco with the tdsb and the somali community in Toronto, was a episode of confusion. Many different factors were at play in that fiasco.

It's difficult to take on practices like structural violence and anti-black racism head on, but we can tackle the 'condemned-creeds'.
 

xisaabiye

Ibnu Suxuufi Ibnu Al Dhoobe
I think that all of the communities you named [except pakis] were assailed with structural violence in the public schools. Like I've tried to demonstrate in the book, there are many factors [such as structural violence, anti-black racism, condemned-creeds, etc] that are causing the continuous insertion of Somali students into the school-to-prison pipleline.

In regards to why we are getting hit the hardest, my answer is this: we are targeted.

We are targeted because somebody has to always get targeted and excluded in this society.
Exclusion is necessary in cadaan society's in general. This is part of their socio-cultural conditioning.
If you don't believe that excluding a certain group is a necessary aspect of cadaan culture, watch this short story video, it is about a short-story that kids in Toronto high-school's study in their English classes, it's called 'The lottery':

We are also targeted because we are black and because we are a easy mark.
We have no way to retaliate because we can't even accept the idea that we are specifically being targeted.
So our denial makes it difficult to deal with the reality at hand.

Since we are dealing with invisible and yet potent systems of violence like anti-black racism and structural violence, we are bound to display signs of confusion and self-destructive behavior. The whole fiasco with the tdsb and the somali community in Toronto, was a episode of confusion. Many different factors were at play in that fiasco.

It's difficult to take on practices like structural violence and anti-black racism head on, but we can tackle the 'condemned-creeds'.

If it's solely based on racism then how come nigerians, ethiopians and eritreans who make up a large percentage of the "black" populace don't suffer the same communal problems that Somalis do. I've seen eritreans and habashis who live on the wild side (partying drinking etc) but their mannerisms are controlled. All their hookah bars on the danforth strip are just mellow shukaansi zones, while where ever Somalis go they end up shooting the place up. They(eritreans and habesha) largely live in the gutters as well yet don't subscribe to the 2pac thug lifestyle.

I think somalis in Canada face an identity crisis more than anything. Complete lack of culture, and community. These other black ethnics have strong communities that are United and mingle heavily. While somalis choose to kill each other over neighbourhoods.

The main place where racism should be tackled is while pursuing careers. No one can deny there's always preference given to the white people.
 

Madara x

Sleep soundly
If it's solely based on racism then how come nigerians, ethiopians and eritreans who make up a large percentage of the "black" populace don't suffer the same communal problems that Somalis do. I've seen eritreans and habashis who live on the wild side (partying drinking etc) but their mannerisms are controlled. All their hookah bars on the danforth strip are just mellow shukaansi zones, while where ever Somalis go they end up shooting the place up. They(eritreans and habesha) largely live in the gutters as well yet don't subscribe to the 2pac thug lifestyle.

I think somalis in Canada face an identity crisis more than anything. Complete lack of culture, and community. These other black ethnics have strong communities that are United and mingle heavily. While somalis choose to kill each other over neighbourhoods.

The main place where racism should be tackled is while pursuing careers. No one can deny there's always preference given to the white people.

Different ethnic groups have used culture-specific methods to safeguard themselves from becoming the "condemned community" of the time. I don't think that any serious effort has been made [by us] to protect ourselves from the war that's being waged against us. So i agree with you in the sense that we have a eroding culture and divided community.

I'm telling you, for a fact, that if everyone understood what the condemned creeds is [and how it is a way of living in the world with a completely inverse and potentially self-destructive system of values], then something positive could happen. It's a 'world-view' that's rampant and hard to break way from. But it's existence must first be acknowledged.

And we can't acknowledge something we deny. AND If this self-denial isn't erased, then we might as well, dig our own graves.
 

Madara x

Sleep soundly
Excerpt from book regarding the practice of anti-black racism:

Section title: Final remarks on anti-black racism [Pg.20]

"In a world wherein the practice of anti-black racism is operative, black people are tethered by (a) anti- black persona’s (b) an anti-black morality, and (c) an anti-black beauty; and as we’ve seen, these three tethers are tied to colonial violence. With these tethers, and many others, black people are forced to exist in a coma state; they are reduced to objects of hatred that symbolize the culmination of anxieties."

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By hating, torturing, and killing black people, anti-black racists, who are either white or aspire to become white, find inner peace. In other words, they affirm their sanctity and sanity by sacrificing black people in ritualistic deaths (shootings, lynching’s, structural executions, etc.). Also, since anti-black racists are in a constant ‘mode-of-flight’ from their whole self (good with the evil), the purging of blacks is necessary for their psychological stability and inner-peace.

Furthermore, this demonic practice of anti-black racism, which is grounded in the popular opposition between the ‘good-white-beauty’ and the ‘evil-black-ugliness’, has been dissected by various defenders of justice. One such defender is Frantz fanon who, in his seminal text 'black skin's white masks', dexterously articulated this popular opposition when he exclaimed: “Darkness, obscurity, shadows, gloom, night, the labyrinth of the underworld, the murky depths, blackening someone's reputation; and on the other side, the bright look of innocence, the white dove of peace, magical heavenly light. A beautiful blond child- how much peace there is in that phrase, how much joy, and above all how much hope! No comparison with a beautiful black child; the adjectives literally don't go together.” (Fanon, 166)

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Madara x

Sleep soundly
Excerpt from book regarding the practice of anti-black racism:

Section title: On Structural Violence [Pg.44]

"To fully understand the concept of structural violence, we must first raise a very fundamental question; this question is: Could a structure be violent?
To answer this question, we should first know what the words ‘structure’ and ‘violent’ mean. So, let’s tackle the first word. A structure, to be exact, is defined as a complex object that is composed of different elements and parts. For the second word, which is violence, we shall employ a particular definition which was crafted by Johan Galtung; Galtung was the Norwegian sociologist and mathematician who invented the concept of structural violence." pg.44

"Galtung contended that violence is committed in any situation where individuals are being influenced so that their actual (bodily and mental) abilities are below their potential (bodily and mental) abilities. This complex definition of violence is deliberately broad; and it entails different types of violence, such as direct, structural, and cultural violence. Being essentially inclusive, this definition leaves room for other emerging abstractions of violence. Thus, it overrides the rigid, exclusive, naive, and popularized conceptualization of violence, which often equates violence with (and limits it to) physical violence. Since we’ve explained the key words in our question, let’s now craft a response to our query." Pg.44

"Firstly, it is obvious that the existence of a detailed arrangement of elements (a structure) signifies a subject (an architect), thus without an architect a
structure cannot come into existence. Secondly, since architects are people, and since people can commit violence, we come to the inevitable conclusion that architects can commit violence as well. So, if we accept that structures are created for specific purposes and by architects, then we must also admit that an architect could create a structure in order to commit violence. Hence, we can logically assert that a structure could in-fact commit violence." Pg.45

"For now, we shall endeavor to contextualize our distinct formulation of structural violence by contrasting it with another type of violence; namely direct violence. Direct violence, which is committed through a specific and identifiable actor, always entails a clear perpetrator-victim relation. For example: A shooting or stabbing would be classified as direct violence. On the other hand, structural Violence, which is committed through a structure, has no visible actors. Thus, there are no clear perpetrator-victim relations. For example: The creation of residential schools in Canada, wherein indigenous children were (a) stolen from their parents, (b) forcefully imprisoned inside white supremacist schools, (c) terrorized into hating
themselves and their culture, and (d) drugged, raped, brainwashed and coerced to commit suicide, is an example of structural violence in motion. Here, clearly, schools became violent structures that kill children." pg.46

To further demonstrate the differences between these two forms of violence, please consider the following table.


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Have you considered publishing on Amazon so we can read on our kindle? t.
 
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