Not sure about the age range of the members of this site, but without giving my age; I will say that I’m old enough to remember when people were wearing Afros, shouting “Black Power!” and young enough to remember when Hip Hop took America by storm.
Basically, I’ve lived through a lot of history. And what is really quite apparent is the open level of self-hatred being expressed by African Americans.
Why do people who look like J.J. Evans on Good Times feeling it necessary to call themselves “mixed?” And just what does that mean? Is one of your parents of another race? Or are you referring to a GGG grandparent(white slave master) who raped your GGG grandmother? Or are you “mixed with Indian?” This being a fantasy for many AA’s. The reality is that only 5% of AA’s can actually claim Native American heritage. I really don’t understand what the incessant need to claim Indian heritage, given that there were Indian tribes that owned Black slaves. Link: CHEROKEE SLAVE REVOLT OF 1842: American Indians as Slave Owners Even when the slaves were emancipated, many tribes would not free theirs.
The greatest thing that ever happened to me is the day I began using my library card and learned Black history. Africa is the birthplace of man and civilization. It is the world’s hidden history. One so great, white men had to cover it up, in order to tell their lies. Whoever controls the narrative of history, can control minds. And white men knew this. How great was Africa? When Europe went through it’s Dark Age; Africa was already going through its third Golden Period. One of the greatest teachers of this history was the late Dr. John Henrick Clark. Link: John Henrik Clarke – A Great and Mighty Walk. I remember seeing this on cable over 14 years ago, before Dr. Clark’s death. And it made me want to explore more. I had already read The Autobiography of Malcolm X–3 times; The Autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, respectively. I also learned of another great teacher, Cheik Anta Diop, who challenged the entire world model of what history was when he confronted and asserted the African Origin of Ancient Egypt. Link: A Brief Biography of Cheikh Anta Diop. Another great book, that I highly recommend for every Black person on the planet is “The Destruction of Black Civilization” by the late Dr. Chancellor Williams. Link: [ame=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XPxgmbWzIY“]YouTube – The Destruction of Black Civilization, Dr Chancellor Williams – Part 1[/ame]. This book echoes and validates Dr. Clark, Cheikh Anta Diop as well as answer many questions Black people have always had about their origins and greatness of history. Originally published in 1974, this book is still in print and can be ordered. Link: [ame=”http://www.amazon.com/Destruction-Black-Civilization-Issues-D/dp/0883780305“]Amazon.com: Destruction of Black Civilization : Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C to 2000 A.D. (9780883780305): Chancellor Williams: Books@@AMEPARAM@@htt p://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xJwK5JsYL.@@AMEPAR AM@@51xJwK5JsYL[/ame].
In 2009, I completed a two volume biography of the late great W.E.B DuBois. Link:W.E.B. DuBois.
If you do not know Black history, you don’t know who you are.
As a teenager, I became curious about who I was and where I came from. Thus, I began a 25 year quest in learning the truth–NOT WHAT WHITE PEOPLE PUT IN THEIR HISstory books, but learning Black history exposed just how much they left out.
What a mighty people ancient Africans were, but then, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade interrupted that history. And ever since, Black people have been taught to believe the lies of white folks, who, quite frankly, were still living in caves when Africans were inventing math and studying the stars.
Typically, when I hear Black people exclaiming their “mixed roots.” I generally will roll my eyes. Why? It’s funny to me how some Black folks love to brag about their GGG grandparent being white. I guess subconsciously, this is a way to ingratiate themselves to whites. But Black folks who do this are really romanticizing slavery by proxy. The reason why most of us have a white GGG grandparent has more to do with proximity. Their GGG grandmother was selected, typically by age 13, for breeding or more bluntly, she was raped. The offspring would typically be sold off. So basically, the light skin and light eyes are extensions of a physical act–not a symbol of a loving union. In essence–violence is the catalyst of their existence.
It is offensive to me.
I don’t celebrate that. And no sensible person would.
From The Mind of Truthangel 