Kemet (Egypt)
Answering an essential question
There are times when I receive e-mails, usually related to history, to which I cannot quickly respond. There are those who probably think it is an act of arrogance. Time is so precious, and some requests, such as the one below, require serious time.
Normally, I would answer with two or three sentences and move on. However, this one demanded more attention, particularly after reading the heading: “Please help me to understand.” The message was, “Egypt is really only a small part of the whole of Africa...So why then do so many African Americans look to Egypt to bolster their self esteem? Thank you.” Hopefully, the answer will satisfy others who have the same interest.
Dear Art: This is a long story, but I will try to make it short. During slavery, Afrikan peoples were taken out of the history books and denied any part of ancient history, other than slavery. Kemet (Egypt) is where civilization began (not Mesopotamia, as has been falsely reported), giving birth to: science, mathematics (arithmetic to physics), law, engineering, writing, alphabet, agriculture, architecture, astronomy, medicine, art, spiritual thought, music, dance and so many other human creations. This is admitted in most of academia, and the media. National Geographic (which made King Tut a Caucasian on their cover), works over time to make the creators of the above white, when Europe, Greece or Rome did not exist when the Sphinx, and the three pyramids of Giza were built.
Western scholars admit that Kemet (Egypt) was the greatest ancient civilization on the planet. In so doing, their historians, anthropologists, archeologists, and others had to give credit for this greatness to whites and Arabs. ‘This was a civilization founded by white or Semitic people from the North. These baseless claims were widespread within the ranks of Egyptologists, and they helped inspire both H. M. Herget’s 1941 National Geographic Magazine paintings of pale-skinned Egyptians and the imaginary white images created by Hollywood, which together have deceived the public for the past half-century.’” (Manu Ampim. The Vanishing Evidence Of Classical African Civilizations.)
These same scholars and writers began changing the complexion of great individuals, such as: Beethoven, Hannibal, Dumas, and many others, from black to white. They could not conceive that people of Afrikan descent could have possibly done anything of significance, since their historical legacy, according to various scholars, was only as slaves.
The other area of great concern, white and Arab scholars constantly say that people of Afrikan descent had nothing to do with Kemet (Egypt); that they only came from West Afrika. Thanks to the work of several black scholars researching migratory patterns, comparing artifacts, and tracing the ancestry of some of the largest cultures in West Afrika, i.e. the Yoruba, Ashanti, Mandinka, and several others, have found that their origin is in Kemet (Egypt). Scholars of European and Arab descent won’t even touch this area of research. They are claiming the ancient Kamites (Egyptians) looked like the present day Arabs, who were originally black Afrikans. So-called Arabs did not enter Kemet until around 7th century A.D., during the Islamic revolution. The legacy of Afrikans in Kemet dates back to some 10,000B.C.E.
As long as the myth of Europeans or Arabs is ‘promoted’ as the ancient inhabitants of Kemet, there is always going to be this confusion, and why you asked the question you did. The ancient inhabitants of Kemet, who created the great gifts for the world, were black, and there is undeniable proof to support this.
One of the most important books on this subject is Nile Valley Civilizations, which contains various chapters by scholars of different disciplines, edited by Ivan Van Sertima. You might also want to look at the UNESCO General History of Africa II, particularly in the Introduction, the section, Origin of the Ancient Egyptians. Annex to Chapter 1: Report of the symposium on The Peopling of Ancient Egypt and the Deciphering of the Meroitic Script. But beware; you have to read between the lines. Though some concessions are made, there is not a willingness to make a wholesale statement that the ancient Kamites (Egyptians) were black. Unfortunately, we are bombarded with European and Arab propaganda to think otherwise.
Afrikan people have been denied a respectful place in history for so long, that a stand has taken place to correct what has been deliberately made wrong. The war is not over, and sad to say, we may have to wait until some of these old propaganda scholars die off until real historic truth is faced, realized and incorporated in the history books our children learn in school. There are just a handful of teachers who know and teach accurate historical lessons, expose their students to this knowledge, and at the same time have to defend themselves in the academic institutions they teach. American educational philosophy is based on Greco Roman/Judeo Christian objectives, as opposed to teaching the truth. And that, in a nutshell, is the answer to your question.
- Dr. Kwaku website: www.drkwaku.com
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LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Passover, which celebrates what the Hebrew Bible describes as God’s deliverance of the Israelites from bondage, begins at sundown today.
Jews of all denominations and traditions will gather for a ritual meal called a Seder, which means order.
It features six symbolic foods, including matzo, a cracker-like unleavened bread symbolizing the Exodus from ancient Egypt when there was not enough time to let the bread rise.
With all this talk about slavery and “Django: Unchained” we bring into focus writer Alex Haley, the man who dared to write a groundbreaking novel about his ancestors entitled “Roots.”
“Roots,” which originally aired in 1977 on the ABC Network, literally captured the heart and imagination of America and the world. Never before had anything focusing on the subject of slavery ever graced the airwaves with such power and authority as this mini-series.
During the 40 years or so of the modern evolution of the Black Studies movement in America’s colleges and universities, we have made major progress in research, writing, teaching and authorship. We have also sometimes accepted the stories we’ve been too often told as true without critical examination. In fact, there is much to be said for providing people who have most often been taught and told relentlessly that they have no worthwhile history and contributions that they actually have much, much more than anyone knows.
Score one for the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, and Najee Ali, director of Project Islamic Hope, for their very emotional outcry about the so-called “Django Unchained” slave dolls. On Friday, Jan. 18, the Weinstein Co. announced that it has asked toy maker NECA to discontinue the “Django Unchained” action figure dolls after receiving complaints that the dolls were offensive and trivialized the horrors of slavery.
