During the 1950s and 60s, there was a movement to eradicate civil and human rights injustices against people of Afrikan descent. It was a very costly struggle involving loss of life, homes, jobs, the vote, and every imaginable possession one could own. It was a struggle that saw the determination of a people that would not bend no matter the consequences. People of all age groups, economic and educational levels, put life on the line to actualize the title of a song of that era, Aintgonna let nobody, turn me around.
The signing of the Civil Rights Act was a momentous occasion, ultimately changing social life, as we knew it. Unfortunately, it did nothing to change the history of Afrikan people. Children are still being taught that Columbus discovered America, rather than Afrikans were in the Americas centuries before Columbus.They are also being taught that civilization began with the Greeks and Romans, when the Nile Valley civilizations existed thousands of years before both. Having a realistic depiction of Afrikan world history in the classroom, literature, films, etc., is the new battleground if the young and adults or ever going to have a clear understanding of the accomplishments of their ancestors, and for them to continue.
The agenda of the todays intellectual war is for the present generations to not to know the progress their ancestors acheived. Therefore, they will not be inspired to continue that tradition, and to understand that if determined, there is no force on earth that can stop them. This is the supreme fear of western civilization, and the nucleus of the continuance of white supremacy.
Intellectual slavery is conducted on two fronts. The two greatest diversions are to keep intellectual discussions concentrated on slavery and race. Not to dismiss slavery as a legitimate area of Afrikan world history, but to make it the main focus in the classroom, literature and documentaries is a planned attempt to hide and obstruct how Afrikan people developed the foundation for civilization, which the world now enjoys.
Race is the other diversion. It was a nefarious concept developed by European anthropologists to divide and classify different cultural groups. No need to discuss that whites were placed on top, while dark skinned people were placed on the bottom of the human ladder. What is most disturbing is that there are academicians and social scientists who feel race should be the main topic in departments that specialize in various cultural groups.
The hidden agenda is to stay away from topics that might inspire students of Afrikan descent from realizing their full greatness, and that this started with their own ancestors. Walking into an educational institution knowing that your ancient ancestors, and even some current people, were and are some of the greatest and most powerful people on the planet, is a mental shield against those who would tell you just the opposite, constantly throwing slavery and race in your face.
Any child of Afrikan descent that attends school, or young adults who attend a university, have absolutely no idea that the whole concept of education, schools and universities, faculties and departments were developed by their ancestors in the Nile Valley. This is by design.
When they study science, engineering, chemistry, medicine, law, city planning, architecture, mathematics, and a host of other disciplines, students, as well as the general public, have no clue that it was the Afrikans in the Nile Valley and beyond who created these wondrous gifts. Even when we sit down to write, it is those same Afrikans who gave us the alphabet and the art of writing. There is hardly any major area in western civilization that Afrikans did not have their hands in. That is an inspirational formula for success, and why slavery and race are used to disguise this knowledge. In fact, anyone who promotes those two points as the main issues people of Afrikan descent should focus on, are knowingly and/or unknowingly upholding the premise of racism/white supremacy.
This is exactly why the new civil/human rights struggle is for control of the intellect, centered on history. Without knowledge of self, one may fall in the trap of following someone elses cultural habits and traditions, ending up in the abyss of nothingness. In later years, one may still be tripping around,telling family and friends, Im tryingto find myself, rather than waking up in the morning, looking in the mirror, and realizing, I am a child of the Creator, I am beautiful, and my ancestors gave this world special gifts, so we can make this a better world.
If we do not control our own intellect, and fail to expose the next generations to our true history, that will never happen.
– Dr. Kwakus class, Afrikan World Civilizations (Part II), is conducted on Friday evenings, 7-9 p.m. at Kaos Studios in Leimert Park. For details go to: www.drkwaku.com.
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