“DAN BROWN NEW MASONIC BOOK: SOLOMON KEY WILL NOT REVEAL ANYTHING NEW”
by:Fahim A. Knight
Dan Brown came to national prominence based on his book titled, “The Da Vinci Code” in which he decodes the symbolism associated with the man known as Jesus the Christ to the western world, but better known in the East as Yeshua Ben Yosef (Jesus the Son of Joseph). The authenticity of Jesus divinity and the misconceptions associated with his earthly existence has been shrouded in secrecy for over 2000 years; in particular how the European Bishops at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. set up Christianity and mystified the man called Jesus. We have known for a very long time that Jesus was of human extraction and he was married and had children. (Reference: “The Hiram Key” by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas and “Turning Hiram Key” by Robert Lomas)
Dan Brown’s so-called novel “The Da Vinci Code” only further exposed the erroneous belief that Jesus divinity and celestial persona was all concocted by Constantine and the Roman Catholic Church. The Priory of Sion is a Masonic styled organization and for generations has held the secret that Jesus bloodline was passed down through Mary Magdalene (Perhaps only a Masonic organization could conceal a secret like this for 2000 years) and Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci's masterful piece the last supper depiction of Jesus and his disciples actually shows a woman and some scholars of the Holy Grail maintained that Jesus was intimately involved and married to the biblical Mary Magdalene. “The Da Vince Code” was full of Masonic enigmas and brainteasers. (Reference: “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown)
Dan Brown strikes me to be an intellectual genius, and yet simultaneously an intellectual coward. This writer believes that he chooses to classify his “non-fiction” works as “fiction” and better yet as novels in order to elude and shirk scholarly requisites associated with nonfiction work as it pertains to meeting the higher standards of evidentiary proof and documentation verification. Moreover, by exposing some of the hidden inner secrets that have been tucked away by the Vatican, Christendom, Freemasonry, etc. Brown’s esoteric revelations (hidden truths) is portrayed by the Hidden Hand as one having a colorful imagination, and in the same breathe dismisses his findings as mere conspiracy theories and the discussion of truth possibilities are strategically relegated to unempirical speculation and the ignorant masses remain confound because they find more credibility in the arch deceivers spin rooms.
The rulers of this world have always been operating off a higher knowledge base, which is covertly communicated and displayed in codes, symbolisms, metaphors, cryptogram, secret language, etc. There is without a doubt that the Founding Fathers of the United States were ignited by the knowledge of Scottish Rite Freemasonry and York Rite Freemasonry in the form of Speculative (philosophical) Freemasonry (although that wisdom and knowledge never exceeded 33rd Degrees) that arrived to Europe from Kemet (Egypt). These so-called enlighten men by embracing Freemasonry delved deeper into the esoteric, occult, metaphysical sciences, etc., which externally transformed itself into mastering the seven liberal arts or sciences that under girds the philosophical foundation of Freemasonry—Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy (the number seven is a Masonic number and in numerology it is interpreted to meaning completion).
Kemet (Egypt) introduced to the world a higher form of creative and intellectual civilization. For example, the building of the Great Pyramid sits on 13 acres of land and in the center of the earth, it took two million five hundred thousands stones to construct the pyramid. Moreover, each stone weighed two and one half tons and the stones were dug from a quarry 800 miles away (some even believe that stones were transported by sound). The scholar Erich Van Danikens in his book titled, “The Chariots of the Gods” maintained that space aliens descended from outer space and they were the ones responsible for constructing these spiritual temples. The ORIGINAL MAN WAS THE FIRST MASTER BUILDER and the secret of the temple still remains a mystery today and the majesty of its architecture is unduplicated.(Reference: “Freemasonry: Ancient Egypt and the Islamic Destiny” by Mustafa El-Amin).
Freemasonry espouses these sciences as building blocks to creating the macrocosm and microcosm universe that exist within and without the human being and the Founding Fathers embraced Freemasonry and stood as the so-called enlighten ones stimulated to lead the uninitiated (those that wallop in “darkness”). The Founding Fathers actually discovered the greatest hidden secret of all times, which is MAN IS GOD AND GOD IS MAN and the Egyptian Mystery Systems taught this reality and on the Temple walls in Kemet (Egypt) the Metu Neter (hieroglyphics) read “MAN KNOW THAT SELF” and next to that understanding, is to know that The SECRET TO FREEMASONRY, IS THERE IS NO SECRET, BECAUSE ALL THAT IS UNDER THE SUN HAS BEEN REVEALED. (Reference: “Stolen Legacy” by George G.M. James).
Freemasonry also teaches the importance of mastering the five sciences of architecture—Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite (viewed in Operative Masonry and worked in Speculative Masonry) these lessons are imparted on the second degree—Fellowcraft level. There is without a doubt that Greece and Rome were fed by Kemet (Egypt) and George G.M. James in his monumental book titled, “Stolen Legacy” thoroughly documents this history. (Reference: “The Lodge and the Craft” by Rollin C. Blackmer).
If Dan Brown truly wants know or solve the mystery to the United States Capital and its Masonic influence, which there is overwhelm evidence that leads to Kemet (Egypt) and the answers to this conundrum can be found right there, in which Freemasonry borrowed over 90 % of it present day ciphers, secret codes, rituals, etc. And the layout of the US Capitol is a miniature duplicate of landmarks found in Kemet (Egypt) before Alexander raided the libraries in Kemet (Egypt) in 332 B.C—Ramsees, Akhenaton, Imhotep, etc., had built a marvelous civilization that even when Count Volney arrived in the late 1700s he was amazed at the Majesty of Sphinx. (Reference: “African Origins of Freemasonry” by Zachary P. Gremillion).
Some scholars argue that the British settlers in 17th Century had been introduced to Freemasonry in England and on the European side, Freemasonry sought of formalized itself in around 1717 and the United Grand Lodge of England was established. Thus, the Masonic influence in the United States was here as early as the 1770 and some scholars maintain that the Boston Tea Party was initiated and instigated by Freemasons which eventually led to the American Revolution (1776). This act of economic and social rebellion aimed at the tyranny of Great Britain set the stage for Freemasons to exert political influence in America for many years to come. There is also a belief that the Illuminati under Adam Weishaupt had co-opted American Freemasonry and some believe a more sinister agenda evolved and the Founding Fathers were under the political influence of this Bavarian secret society. (Reference: “The Meaning of Masonry” by W.L. Wilmshurst).
This writer loves the gamut of literature and has a deep sense of appreciation for fictional writer’s creative, artistic, and imaginable talents to turn words into thought provoking novels, scenes, plots, settings—genre and literary exploring without boundaries or intellectual restraints, fictional writing in one sense is freedom—consisting of no confined limitations or boundaries . Webster’s Dictionary defines the word novel as, “a fictional prose work with a relatively long and often complex plot, usually divided into chapters, in which the story traditionally develops through the thoughts and actions of its characters” And define the word fiction as being “something that is untrue and has been made up to deceive people.”
Dan Brown has the autonomy of writing as a novelist and taking on serious scholarly topics that are ordinarily associated with history, religion and social science, but by classifying his works as fiction; he is not obligatory to meet the scholarly guidelines and requirements of those that write pure history. However, he has strategically given himself room for creative maneuvering which also allows him to hide behind the word “fiction” and more importantly permits him to circumvent the scientific approach to research and stringent required citations constraints, as well as meeting all scholarly objectivity prescribed by the history profession.
Historians and social scientists understand the concept of objectivity and most historians look to peer review in order gather some assessment and general knowledge about how their work is being received by the scholarly experts; because as Historians it is important to know what others think of your work and scholarship, within the historical profession. Those who write and submit scholarly papers and those who author manuscripts are all subject to peer review (positive and negative feedback)
These works like “Da Vinci Code” and “Solomon Key” by mere fictional definition do not have to meet the evaluation, quantitative and empirical academic guidelines ordinarily applied to certain type non-fictional research. But scholars like Dan Brown want it both ways, by writing aspects of legitimate and pure history which is comparative to any historian’s works, but without the benefit of historical critical analysis and review. He’s fully aware by deciding on declaring his works fiction and he doesn’t have to face off with the historians head on and defend the contentions of his theses from the basis of history.
The so-called historians then dismisses the likes of Brown as journalist (arrogantly referring to them as non-historians) with an attempt to diminish their scholarly credibility and in a sense demean them for daring to take on history half-heartily and producing “unscientific” work that is quasi-historical in intent and demeanor. Thus, he just proclaims “fiction” and all academic scrutiny dissipate in midair and he is not obligated to defend his intellectual discourse because he can just hide behind the title fiction. By definition novels do not have to be consistent with the discipline of history in accuracy or truth, as far as, meeting the standards of objectivity that is associated with developing pure empirical historical research that is void of emotionalism. Moreover, having a focus of allowing the data be the guide of the research and the determining factor of how the facts play out and this alone will determine, how the of study of events, persons and dates will be interpreted, documented and recorded as our written testimony.
Dan Brown’s new book that is projected to be in print sometime in December 2008 is titled, “Solomon Key” which he is going to illustrate the Masonic influence; in particular on the Washington, D.C. and the Capitol in general. Many Freemasonry scholars have dealt with this subject on a grand scale. The architecture and the layout of the United States Capitol were physically laid out by Masons.
Allen E. Roberts in his book titled, “The Craft and Its Symbols: Opening the Door to Masonic Symbolism” he reproduces a picture for Acacia Mutual Life Insurance Company it stated, “Shown above (the actual photo depicted in the book) is President George Washington, in full Masonic regalia and surrounded by brother Master Masons, laying the cornerstone of the United States Capitol Building on September 18, 1793. It is believed that during these ceremonies he used the square and level to lay the stone according to traditional Masonic rites. This cornerstone laying is one of the most important events in the history of Masonry in the United States.” (Reference: “The Craft and Its Symbols: Opening the Door to Masonic Symbolism” by Allen Roberts).
The majority of the so-called founding fathers of these United States were Freemasons. For example, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and the Capitol were designed based on construction style and philosophical outlook indigenousness to the East. There appeared a recent article on internet titled, “US Author to Unveil Washington's Masonic Past” authored by Virginie Montet.
The article gives the readers somewhat a prelude to Brown’s book as stated above titled, “Solomon’s Key” stated, “The first US president after whom the city is named, George Washington, was a Mason, as were his fellow founding fathers James Madison and Benjamin Franklin, plus James Hoban, the architect of the White House. The broad steps, stone sphinxes and colonnades of a Masonic temple dominate a corner of 16th Street near the city center -- one of a number of Masonic lodges in the capital -- and just a stone's throw from the White House. Elias cites theories that the city's streets themselves are laid out in the shape of secret Masonic signs. "It may be a coincidence, but there are indications that are difficult to ignore," he said. Establishing the nation's capital, George Washington is said to have demanded that it be laid out in a symbolic square. "It's fascinating. If you take an aerial view of Washington, you cannot but see the perfect square and the compass which are the universal symbols of Freemasonry ... meaning rectitude and equality," he said. "Was it on purpose? I don't know, but I think it's difficult to ignore those mysterious aspects," he added. "It adds another level of mystery to the city of Washington." The shape of a square and compass is also formed by drawing a line on the map between two of the city's major landmarks, the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial, and along the walls of the White House and the Jefferson Memorial.” (Reference: “US Author to Unveil Washington's Masonic Past” by Virginie Montet).
Brown set out to prove that the Capitol from its monuments, architecture style, and the position of certain streets are tied to Masonic occult and esoteric ideology. He was very successful with his book titled, “The Da Vinci Code” and in fact the book ranks number 14 in the history of best sellers all time list. Brown’s book eventually made its way to the big screen and he made a sizable amount of money for that non-fictional novel. But the curator and archivist Mark Talbert for the George Washington Memorial Museum in Alexandra stated that he was anxious about Brown’s new Masonic novel. I have had email contact with Talbert back in the summer in reference to his 5000 Masonic book collection. He stated, “"I'm nervous about it because I don't think he does very good research," Talbert said of Brown and his new book.”But fiction writers are fiction writers.”
Anthony Browder in his book titled, “Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization” he stated, “There are a number of cities and monuments in the United States that were influenced by Nile Valley architecture and symbolism. Probably one of the most easily recognizable symbols can be found in the nation’s capital, Washington, D. C. Of all the monuments that could have been built to honor George Washington, one has to wonder why and obelisk was selected. It is not a structure indigenous to the United States, nor does it represent the cultures of France, Germany, Britain or any other European nation. The obelisk’s relationship to Egypt, Egypt’s relationship to Masonry and Masonry’s relationship to George Washington and the Founding Fathers provides the only logical reason for the selection of the obelisk as a fitting memorial to George Washington.”
Browder goes on to state, “The Washington Monument was completed on December 6, 1888. On that day, a Masonic ceremony was performed to formally dedicate the memorial to George Washington. This structure is 555 feet 5/8 inches and is the tallest obelisk in the world. Current architectural restrictions in the District of Columbia forbid the construction of any building taller than 13 stories. The unique height regulation has been in effect since 1894, when objection was made to the height of the newly completed Cairo apartments and hotel in Northwest Washington.” (Reference: “Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization” by Anthony Browder).
The Capitol City is geographical set-up on the points of the square and compass and we are taught in Masonic History that King Solomon’s so-called Temple had different gates—East, West, South, and North gates. The three conspirators who murdered Grand Master Hiram Abiff tried to bury his body in different parts of the Temple and it was King Solomon who sent trackers out in the four directions to seek and find those responsible for kidnapping Hiram Abiff and disrupting the unfinished work left on the trestle board.
King Solomon was eventually informed that Hiram Abiff was found murdered and buried in a shallow grave. BUT IT WOULD BE KING SOLOMON WHO APPLIED THREE GRIPS AND ON THE THIRD GRIP, HIRAM ABIFF WAS RAISED FROM A DEAD LEVEL. Dan Brown choosing to title his book “Solomon Key” was perhaps based on the essentiality of King Solomon and his KEY role in the modern evolution of Freemasonry and lastly KING SOLOMON gave the Masons the “substitute password” which so-called revived the Craft. There is a lot of allegory in this legend. (Reference: “Who was Hiram Abiff” by JSM Ward).
Ed Decker who authored the book titled, “The Dark Side of Freemasonry” stated, “I discovered in Washington, D.C. that the streets around the White House were laid out by a Masonic Architect, and they are laid out in the form of the Goat of Mendes and compass and square of Freemasonry. The Capitol building and its streets actually form the Goat of Mendes, and the square and compass of Freemasonry intersect the Washington Monument right in dead line with it. The left leg of the Masonic compass sits on top of the White House, and the right leg sits on the Jefferson Memorial.” (Reference: “The Dark Side of Freemasonry” by Ed Decker).
Brown’s proposed new novel “Solomon Key” in order to make a serious impact will have to delve deeper than re-exposing the Masonic Architecture layout of the Capitol because this is erstwhile revelation. For example, why did the so-called Founding Fathers thought it necessary to construct the seat of the United States Government in relationship to Masonic Code? What can we ascertain from these Freemasonic edifices as far as, ideological and philosophical intent of the Founding Fathers?
Browder Stated, “In 1790, a permanent site was chosen for the capital of the new nation. One hundred square miles of rural land from Maryland and Virginia banks of the Potomac River were ceded for the creation of the new Federal City. George Washington was responsible for determining that the new city would be diamond shaped (ten miles on each side) and tipped so as to include as much of the port city of Alexandria as possible. The square shape of the city and the horizontal, vertical, perpendicular, and diagonal streets, along with its many circles, represent just a portion of the Masonic symbolism which went into its creation.”
The Declaration of Independence was inspired by Masonic Free thinkers and the jurisprudence system as well. Paul Foster Case authored the pamphlet titled, “The Great Seal of the United States” stated, “Seven signers of the Declaration of Independence are known to have been Freemasons.Probably there were more, but in those days lodge records were not so carefully kept as now, and research by competent Masonic Scholars has failed to produce adequate evidence to support the claim, sometime advanced, that a majority of the Continental Congress of 1776 were members of the Craft. Yet we know that the great leaders of the Revolution, civil and military, were Freemasons, and many were as prominent in the fraternity as they were in the affairs of the new nation.”
This perhaps got by a lot of people; moreover, at the swearing in of the 109TH United States Congress, Congressman Keith Ellison, Democrat from Minnesota who is Muslim and of the Islamic faith became a lighten rod for controversy. Congressman Ellison desired to be sworn in on the Islamic Holy Book which is the Holy Quran rather than the Christian Holy Bible. The neo-conservatives, Rightwing Christian Evangelist and the Israeli Lobby used media propaganda (electronic and print) to persuade the American people to view Congressman Ellison requested to be sworn-into public office on the Holy Quran as being sinister. He was immediately nabbed as being un-American and it created a false sense of patriotism and the question of First Amendment Rights along with debates relative to the separation of Church and State arose.
It was Congressman Virgil Goode out of 5th Congressional District of Virginia who was leading this charge against Congressman-Elect Ellison and openly condemning the religion of Islam for the problems we are experiencing in the United States. Congressman Goode showed very little religious tolerance for Islam and Ellison, in fact the majority of the Congressman Goode’s remarks were steeped in bigotry, ignorance and misconceptions. Goode’s position was the epitome of political hypocrisy because the majority of his Congressional constituents were Masons and was very familiar with the Holy Quran and they themselves had taken Masonic oaths on the Holy Quran at their Mystic Shrine Temples and the book sits on the alter as part of the GREAT LIGHT.
Also, Congressman Ellison in a sense was no better than his critics; they questioned him on his affiliation with the Nation of Islam as headed by Minister Louis Farrakhan which this writer believes that at some point he was affiliated with the Nation of Islam, but assured his enemies that he was never a part of Farrakhan’s organization. However, this writer thinks he lied about his involvement with Nation of Islam who the Zionist has characterized as an anti-Semitic organization; in order to appease the Zionist Jews who were hot on his political trail he categorically denied any relations to the Nation of Islam.
The majority of yesterday and today’s politicians were/are Freemasons and many of them are HIGH DEGREE MASONS which at the 32nd Degree styled as the Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret and the 33RD Degree styled Sovereign Grand Inspector-General and on the York Rite side the Knights Templar Degree can petition membership into the Mystic Shrine which is based entirely upon Islamic principles and theology. This writer is not going to go to far into this, but the readers can Blog Search an article this author wrote a few months back titled, “Freemasonry (Moslem Sons) and Islam: What do they Share?”
These politicians that condemned Congressman Ellison because he desired to take his private oath ceremony on the Holy Quran, but they were playing political games with the American people and saying what was politically expedient. The politicians understood that the majority of the American citizens had been duped by the 9-11 hoax and the radical Muslim Cleric Osama Bin Laden, along with Islam had been made a scapegoat for a criminal act they did not commit. Therefore, the political castigating of the Muslim Congressman Ellison was playing to fears of the ignorant American masses.
The majority of the United States politicians are very familiar with the Muslim’s Holy Book, the Holy Quran because they themselves had taking HIGH DEGREE MASONIC OATHS ON THE QURAN IN THEIR MASONIC LODGES AND SHRINE TEMPLES. We have had about 20 or so American presidents that have been Masons and as many vice presidents; either this is mere coincidental or these power symbols have found something compatible with the teachings of Freemasonry that compliments their quest for power and ruler ship over the uninitiated.
Masons may meet on the SQUARE AND DEPART UPON THE LEVEL and whatever those pristine lessons that encourages MORALITY, FRIENSHIP AND BROTHERLY LOVE, it has sparked so-called enlighten men to build and formulate the United States Capitol in messianic symbolism. The book, “Solomon Key” will not unlock the intent of these great hidden mysteries because behind the mysteries are DYNASTIC FAMILIES with real names and they have pulled the purse strings on all world events. This writer is quite sure that Dan Brown even writing as a novelist will be required to shield the names and identities of some of the faceless powerful players. The Bible in Luke 11 & 9 stated, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall opened”. POWER CONCEDS NOTHING WITHOUT A DEMAND. (Reference: “The Committee of 300” by John Coleman).
Tynetta Muhammad stated, “In the layout of the basic scheme of buildings and landmarks in the central part of the Capital, we can draw lines on a map connecting the Lincoln Memorial on the West to the Washington Monument in the center to the US Capitol Building on the East. This would represent the base line of a pyramid. If we were to draw a line East from the US Capitol Building to the White House, which is North of the Washington Monument, we would have drawn the Northeast side of the pyramid. Drawing a line from the Lincoln Memorial going North, again towards the White House, we would access the Northwest side of the pyramid. The position of the Jefferson Memorial in alignment with this pyramidal shape envisioned above would symbolize the position of the Sphinx acting as a guardian over the secret wisdom of all ages.”
Brown has chosen to title his book “Solomon Key” either he is going to go after the legend that King Solomon’s Temple was totally destroyed and rebuilt in Jerusalem (And The US Capitol is perhaps representative of King Solomon’s Temple). The present day Muslims and Jews are fighting over ownership of this sacred Temple that is coded in the Knights Templar Red House lessons , which is the steeped in the Masonic right to exist. It is all correlated to this un-collaborated illusion, legend and allegory that serve as the cement that has held this fraternal order together for centuries. Who will give the world THE REAL WORD (TRUTH)? (Reference: “Freemasonry Interpreted” by Martin L. Wagner).
Lastly, since the Dan Brown’s book “Solomon Key” has yet to be published and in one sense, it is totally unfair to render a critique of a book that you have yet to read, but the publicist has given the public some idea of what Brown is attempting to uncover. But the readers should know that it’s perhaps common knowledge that the United States Capitol was laid out by Freemasons and the gamut of Masonic influence runs deep in the Executive Branch, Legislative Branch and Judicial Branch of our government. Thus, everywhere you turn there is Masonic influence at the highest level.
Fahim A. Knight Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of good will of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpret the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlighten world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
JENA SIX PROTEST WAS JUST A FEEL GOOD DAY
“JENA SIX PROTEST WAS JUST A FEEL GOOD DAY”
by FAHIM A. KNIGHT
The small town of Jena, Louisiana back on September 2O, 2007 became a magnetic pole attracting over 50 thousand people mainly African Americans who had come to protest what they perceived as injustice and a heavy handed prosecutor that had tried and convicted six (6) black teenagers Mychal Bell, Robert Bailey Jr., Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, Theo Shaw and Jesse Ray Beard—were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy, according to LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters. The six young men allegedly attacked Justin Barker and three other white teenager for using racial epithets and hanging nooses from a tree (the tree was described as a meeting place for white students only) on public school property.
This is what led to an allege physical assault on the white teenager Justin Barker by black teenagers; it was described by many, as just an old schoolyard brawl and should have been resolved by the school administration, but the young white teenager and his parents filed criminal warrants against the allege six black assailants. This incident set the political and social stage for black leadership to revert back to the strategies and tactics that the “Big Six” Civil Rights leaders—Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Bunch, A. Phillip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, and Bayard Rustin used over forty years ago in their fight to end segregation, discrimination, racism, and injustice within American society. The political strategies ranged from picketing, sit-ins, boycotts and marching as forms of social protest against a vicious racist system in the United States with an objective of altering social, political, and economic change and with a long range goal of dismantling institutionalized racism.
The enemies of change and social progress overtly opposed the United States Supreme Court Decision of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which declared separate but equal as being unconstitutional. Violence and the threat of violence permeated this timeframe in history; this writer can mention two names Medgar Evers and Emmett Till who were innocent victims associated with the viciousness of Jim Crow. The Jena Six generation need to be introduced to some real Civil Rights history and as Malcolm X was stated, “The revolution will not be televised.”
Michael Eric Dyson is his book titled, “Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line” stated, “The anointing of a few to represent The Race is an old, abiding problem. For much of our history, blacks have had to rely on spokespersons to express our views and air our grievances to a white majority that controlled access to everything from education to employment. For the most part, powerful whites only wanted to see and hear a few blacks at a time, forcing us to choose a leader—when we could. Often a leader was selected for us by white elites. Predictably, blacks often disagreed with those selections, but since the white elites had the power and resources, their opinions counted.”
The Jena Six issue reached national prominence mainly due to an African American radio announcer named Michael Basiden who has a syndicated radio broadcast program out of Chicago that is very popular in large urban city markets. Basiden began to sound the alarm that an injustice had occurred in Jena. He pointed to racism as being the variable and factor which led to one of the black defendant’s Michael Bell, a juvenile that was charged and convicted as an adult. Basiden summoned the community to pay close attention to this issue and for months used his radio program to inform the black community, as well as agitate and in loose way organized the black community around the issue of racism and injustice.
Many listeners telephoned into the Basiden show to express their support for six black teenagers that came to be known as the Jena Six. Basiden unlike most black radio announcers used his programming in a constructive way other than clowning and “buffooning” but he used the airways as a two way communication and social apparatus as well as, a political and social instrument to foster meaningful dialog centered on the issue of injustice and racism. The Reverend Al Sharpton teamed up with Basiden and became the official voice of the Jena Six movement, Basiden gave Sharpton airtime three or four days a week leading up the March which to verbally editorialize and in Op-ed fashion build his case of why blacks needed to be in Jena.
Thus, Sharpton’s social activist record in New York as a post Civil Rights leader, established credibility to Basiden’s clarion call to bring national attention to what many become aware of as a highly racially charged environment in Jena, Louisiana. Jena in many ways appeared stereotypical of the “Old South” where segregation uses to rein under Jim Crow laws—norms, folkways, mores’, values, etc. The southern rural culture of the people, and the town in general, emerged to be a throwback in time when black and white relations were based on written and unwritten assigned social positions.
Sharpton is a season veteran post Civil Rights activist; however, he was not a contemporary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but he seems to give an unspoken inference that he was ignited by King to carry the Civil Rights torch in into 21st Century and even he knows the days of mass movements are over, but why do black people in 2007 think they need a handpick leader to serve as one monolithic voice for the entire black populous and overlook the political, economic and social diversity in the black community?
This writer often question the motives of these handpicked leaders that serve as black spokesperson because many of them are more about promoting self-interest over group interest. Cornel West in his book titled, “Race Matters” he stated, “In stark contrast, most present-day black political leaders appear too hungry for status to be angry, too eager for acceptance to be bold, too self-invested in advancement to be defiant. And when they do drop their masks and try to get mad (usually in the presences of black audiences), their bold rhetoric is more performance than personal, more play-acting than heartfelt . . . whereas most contemporary black political leaders’ oratory appeals to black people’s sense of the sentimental and sensational”
The Jena Six without a doubt heighten Sharpton’s level of visibility and gave more credibility to his organization National Action Network. Sharpton has use this new found visibility to echo and bring attention to the issue of the hangman’s noose and should the noose be viewed as a symbol of hate and those who are arrested with the intent and/or commission of criminal act relative a noose should be charged under federal Hate Crime Statues and he demanded the United States Justice Department aggressively pursue federal laws deeming the hangman’s noose as a symbol of hate. Sharpton and black leadership was asking this of George W. Bush, one of the most racist and reactionary presidents in the history of America. They did get ranking Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan) of The House Judiciary Committee to hold investigative hearings on Jena Six.
The white media give the impression to be promoting Sharpton and every time an issue arises relative to black life; it appears the media both electronic and print seemed to use him as a legitimize voice to determine the mood and the overall opinion of 35-45 million black people in America. Reverend Al Sharpton does not speak nor represent the masses of black people and blacks should be appalled that this is the overt and covert suggestion.
The Jena Six demonstration and protest lacked real strategies and tactics, beyond the “FEEL GOOD DAY on September 20, because the so-called national leadership of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson had no strategy. This was more of a mere photo-opt for Sharpton and Jackson than a seriously organized movement that was built on grassroots and young black intellectuals willingness to perhaps make a commitment to remained organized after THE FEEL GOOD DAY. The one day protest in Jena did not impact that community enough to foster social and political change. All the community of Jena had to endure was one day of a crowd of black people singing songs of redemption. For example, “we shall over come” and yelling “no justice no peace” but the affect of the rally did not impact the economic structure of the city of Jena in particular and State of Louisiana in general.
Boycotts in the 1960’s disrupted the major means of production and distribution; thus eventually forcing racist Entities to come to the table of political negotiation which to end the disruption of its flow of money (boycotts and protest were bad for business) and once the racist whites came to their senses and understood public accommodation would expand their wealth base--discrimination and segregation took a back seat.
The Jena Six Movement had no real political leverage because no one was in it for the long haul; it was a protest built on sentimental value of given these young privileged and black petite bourgeoisie—middle class Hip Hop (silver platter) generation a glimpse into the past (and believe me it was only a glimpse and it was far removed from the real deal). This should not be viewed as an attack upon young black people, but we have done them a grave disservice by being in complicit to their apathy and their overall social numbness that comes across as being ungrateful and ignorant to fact that they are standing the shoulders of others that have gone before them.
We gave them too much and did require them to appreciate the lessons of struggle and now we have created a generation of undisciplined “creampuffs” who are disconnected from a history just a little over 50 years old. We must take the blame for their socialization is only an extent of us doing everything in our power to safeguard them from the cruel outside world and required very little of them, which to show themselves approved. Frantz Fanon wrote about the importance of every generation defining history and struggle for themselves and carving out a meaningful destiny or they will betray history and struggle of prior generations.
This writer has two sons, in their twenties and are members of Hip-Hop and Generation X, it is from the perspective of a father and it is sad how little interest they have shown to the word commitment and critical thinking (this is probably atypical of 80% of those under 40 years of age). The study of history develops the springs and motives of human actions. History serves as much more than the studying of people, dates and events, but as a bridging of one generation to another, which valuable lessons are passed on. History instills inspiration, motivation, and self-esteem into a people; moreover, it connects a people to their contributions made towards human civilization. This is the discipline that builds the will of a people and encourages them to go forward. African people living in America had a brilliant and glorious history before and after chattel slavery. There are those that control institutions, recognize that they must forever hide the true past of African people in order to keep them asleep to the knowledge of self. History is like a trumpet when it is sounded, the asleep must rise.
But for the first time perhaps since the 1960’s young college age black students took interest and became mobilized on black and white college campuses around the Jena Six issue. Conceivably, we received a glimpse at the power of technology and how conversations about this issue were being posted on Myspace, Facebook, and personal Blogs pages and young African Americans began to take notice of a social and political issue. The majority of the mainstream media for the most part, had ignored the Jena Six issue. They organized, as well as articulated a voice of solidarity for six of their peers who were black and perhaps were victims of the criminal justice and judicial system.
The majority of the young black students who ventured to Jena were not born when Martin Luther King, Jr., led the freedom marches throughout the deep south during the 1950’s and 1960’s that advocated nonviolent social change via civil disobedience. These young ambitious students, as a perquisite should have been required and mandated to read King’s letter written on April 16, 1963 from the Birmingham Jail, which would have given them a perspective on the term of sacrifice and liberation struggle (not that King’s movement was revolutionary, but it is a good lessons in Reform politics).
King stated, “My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privilege groups seldom give up their unjust posture, but Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. We know the painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. . . Frankly, I have yet engaged in a direct-action campaign that ‘was well timed’ in view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word ‘wait!’ it rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice to long delayed is justice denied.’ ”
These elder Civil Rights leaders, leading the Jena protest had perhaps manipulated the innocence, naïve and vulnerability of these young black college students by making them think that the protest rally in Jena was equivalent to the 1965 March from Selma too Montgomery. This writer does not want to appear of coming across as being pessimistic and cynical of the Jena Six justice movement and the effort and work it took to galvanized that amount of people. But the reality is the March on Jena was for one day and after this so-called protest the students went back to their Ivory Towers and incubated campus life, as though they had accomplished something great and were instrumental in some aspect of social and political change.
They made a one day sacrifice to leave their Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), but the elder Civil Rights leaders did not tell these young lads that it would-be persistent and relentless protest that were needed to truly alter change and some symbolic march/protest only served as symbol without real substance. The Jena demonstration was strictly based on volunteerism and little conviction to the continuum struggles for justice; this would require a lot more than missing one day of class (some students for attending the march received extra credit from professors due to their attendance in Jena), it would have required a level of organizing beyond the “FEEL GOOD DAY”.
Many of these young black students probably were not familiar with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) of the 1960’s producing leaders like Kwame Ture (Stokley Carmichael) and Jamil Abdullah AL-Amin (H. Rapp Brown), etc., the former, a student at Howard University and the latter, and a student of Southern University who sacrificed their lives for the Civil Rights struggle. They were forced to move beyond the “Yard” and the “Hill” (most HBCU attendees and alumnus know what this writer mean) which to engage in the broader struggle for justice and human dignity.
James Forman in his book titled, “The Making of Black Revolutionaries” stated, “SNCC and other civil rights organizations had always been stormy because, from the beginning, SNCC developed as an antithesis to all the other civil rights groups. SNCC strove to be a group-centered or people-oriented organization while others were leader-centered. It constantly stood in opposition to the Republican and democratic parties while others sought favors from the two-party system. It vigorously attacked the Kennedy administration for its inaction in the field of civil rights while others thought that discussion and conciliation with the executive branch could win concessions. It fought against the American value system of making money and paid its staff only subsistence while others were seeking wages for civil rights works beyond the necessary living requirements. It believed in sending its staff to work with the most wretched of the earth while some of the organizations thought this a waste of time. It believed in the absolute right of freedom of association while other organizations acted as fearful as McCarthy of communism. It argued for a basic revolution in American society”
This is the kind of mindset and commitment these students of SNCC had that you did not see in the Jena protest because there was very little political education prior to the mass demonstration and students had no guidance after the “FEEL GOOD MARCH” and Elijah Muhammad use to say do not awaken the dead unless you have something for the dead to do. Sharpton and Jackson arouse the imagination of these young black people, but were not willing to move them into organization because this would require dirty work and no cameras to captivate these egotistical grandstanding racial leaders who always appear camera ready.
Fredrick Douglas once stated, “Those who profess to favor freedom yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. . . .Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blow, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
These young African Americans were partially motivated by nostalgia and they wanted to feel what it was like to be a part of a mass movement for Justice because they had read about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or heard about the significant of King’s activism from a parent or grandparent and many of them needed to affirm their legacy by being able to state “they were part of mass demonstration for justice”, just like the Civil Rights marchers of old.
No, one informed them that the environment of 1950’s and 1960’s were entirely different during Jim Crow segregation; thus, there were white only establishments and black only establishments and race truly affected and impacted every aspect of one’s life in the America. The 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act were won based on relentless boycotts and demonstrations, as well as social rebellion. These 1950’s and 1960’s fights were the real deal, it was not about making a statement of having over fifty thousand protesters assemble on Jena to hear the Old Guard Civil Rights leaders give these emotional drenched speeches and trying to imitate Dr. King in order to be recorded in the history books of leading a march which to affirm their places in history.
These students were not faced with the vicious racist (tobacco chewing rednecks) and white hostility, but racism in any time, is what it is, and there is no other way to characterize or relegate or diminish its intent or objective. However, this writer must say, there were no comparison between Jena Six protest and the Marches of the original Civil Rights Movement.
Lastly, these old guard Civil Rights leaders should have been honest with these young Jena Six activist and told them that the march on Jena was a piece of cake and they would never know what it was like to be faced with vicious racist who were armed with guns, nooses, canine dogs, water hoses, blackjacks and a relentless and vicious Jim Crow system that affected black’s political, economically, and socially. Someone paid the price to have integrated school systems and so-called equal access to the concept of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
These students left the Jean Six march still having no concept of what the word sacrifice mean and what good is it to have mobilization and no political education which is imperative to elevating one’s conscience level in order to develop a worldview perspective. These young students deserve better than being deceived by hustlers and conmen who had self-interest, ulterior motives and their own personal objectives. This is sought of ironic because this writer just recently saw a press conference of Al Sharpton announcing that the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Justice Department were investigating and auditing him and his organization based on monies associated with the Jean Six movement. If you lay down with dogs, you are going to get up with fleas. This writer knows that many are going to get-up set after reading my analysis and critique of the Jena Six movement and its leaders, BUT GUESS WHAT I DO NOT CARE SOMEBODY MUST TELL THE TRUTH
Fahim A. Knight Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of good will of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpret the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlighten world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight
by FAHIM A. KNIGHT
The small town of Jena, Louisiana back on September 2O, 2007 became a magnetic pole attracting over 50 thousand people mainly African Americans who had come to protest what they perceived as injustice and a heavy handed prosecutor that had tried and convicted six (6) black teenagers Mychal Bell, Robert Bailey Jr., Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, Theo Shaw and Jesse Ray Beard—were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy, according to LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters. The six young men allegedly attacked Justin Barker and three other white teenager for using racial epithets and hanging nooses from a tree (the tree was described as a meeting place for white students only) on public school property.
This is what led to an allege physical assault on the white teenager Justin Barker by black teenagers; it was described by many, as just an old schoolyard brawl and should have been resolved by the school administration, but the young white teenager and his parents filed criminal warrants against the allege six black assailants. This incident set the political and social stage for black leadership to revert back to the strategies and tactics that the “Big Six” Civil Rights leaders—Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Bunch, A. Phillip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, and Bayard Rustin used over forty years ago in their fight to end segregation, discrimination, racism, and injustice within American society. The political strategies ranged from picketing, sit-ins, boycotts and marching as forms of social protest against a vicious racist system in the United States with an objective of altering social, political, and economic change and with a long range goal of dismantling institutionalized racism.
The enemies of change and social progress overtly opposed the United States Supreme Court Decision of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which declared separate but equal as being unconstitutional. Violence and the threat of violence permeated this timeframe in history; this writer can mention two names Medgar Evers and Emmett Till who were innocent victims associated with the viciousness of Jim Crow. The Jena Six generation need to be introduced to some real Civil Rights history and as Malcolm X was stated, “The revolution will not be televised.”
Michael Eric Dyson is his book titled, “Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line” stated, “The anointing of a few to represent The Race is an old, abiding problem. For much of our history, blacks have had to rely on spokespersons to express our views and air our grievances to a white majority that controlled access to everything from education to employment. For the most part, powerful whites only wanted to see and hear a few blacks at a time, forcing us to choose a leader—when we could. Often a leader was selected for us by white elites. Predictably, blacks often disagreed with those selections, but since the white elites had the power and resources, their opinions counted.”
The Jena Six issue reached national prominence mainly due to an African American radio announcer named Michael Basiden who has a syndicated radio broadcast program out of Chicago that is very popular in large urban city markets. Basiden began to sound the alarm that an injustice had occurred in Jena. He pointed to racism as being the variable and factor which led to one of the black defendant’s Michael Bell, a juvenile that was charged and convicted as an adult. Basiden summoned the community to pay close attention to this issue and for months used his radio program to inform the black community, as well as agitate and in loose way organized the black community around the issue of racism and injustice.
Many listeners telephoned into the Basiden show to express their support for six black teenagers that came to be known as the Jena Six. Basiden unlike most black radio announcers used his programming in a constructive way other than clowning and “buffooning” but he used the airways as a two way communication and social apparatus as well as, a political and social instrument to foster meaningful dialog centered on the issue of injustice and racism. The Reverend Al Sharpton teamed up with Basiden and became the official voice of the Jena Six movement, Basiden gave Sharpton airtime three or four days a week leading up the March which to verbally editorialize and in Op-ed fashion build his case of why blacks needed to be in Jena.
Thus, Sharpton’s social activist record in New York as a post Civil Rights leader, established credibility to Basiden’s clarion call to bring national attention to what many become aware of as a highly racially charged environment in Jena, Louisiana. Jena in many ways appeared stereotypical of the “Old South” where segregation uses to rein under Jim Crow laws—norms, folkways, mores’, values, etc. The southern rural culture of the people, and the town in general, emerged to be a throwback in time when black and white relations were based on written and unwritten assigned social positions.
Sharpton is a season veteran post Civil Rights activist; however, he was not a contemporary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but he seems to give an unspoken inference that he was ignited by King to carry the Civil Rights torch in into 21st Century and even he knows the days of mass movements are over, but why do black people in 2007 think they need a handpick leader to serve as one monolithic voice for the entire black populous and overlook the political, economic and social diversity in the black community?
This writer often question the motives of these handpicked leaders that serve as black spokesperson because many of them are more about promoting self-interest over group interest. Cornel West in his book titled, “Race Matters” he stated, “In stark contrast, most present-day black political leaders appear too hungry for status to be angry, too eager for acceptance to be bold, too self-invested in advancement to be defiant. And when they do drop their masks and try to get mad (usually in the presences of black audiences), their bold rhetoric is more performance than personal, more play-acting than heartfelt . . . whereas most contemporary black political leaders’ oratory appeals to black people’s sense of the sentimental and sensational”
The Jena Six without a doubt heighten Sharpton’s level of visibility and gave more credibility to his organization National Action Network. Sharpton has use this new found visibility to echo and bring attention to the issue of the hangman’s noose and should the noose be viewed as a symbol of hate and those who are arrested with the intent and/or commission of criminal act relative a noose should be charged under federal Hate Crime Statues and he demanded the United States Justice Department aggressively pursue federal laws deeming the hangman’s noose as a symbol of hate. Sharpton and black leadership was asking this of George W. Bush, one of the most racist and reactionary presidents in the history of America. They did get ranking Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan) of The House Judiciary Committee to hold investigative hearings on Jena Six.
The white media give the impression to be promoting Sharpton and every time an issue arises relative to black life; it appears the media both electronic and print seemed to use him as a legitimize voice to determine the mood and the overall opinion of 35-45 million black people in America. Reverend Al Sharpton does not speak nor represent the masses of black people and blacks should be appalled that this is the overt and covert suggestion.
The Jena Six demonstration and protest lacked real strategies and tactics, beyond the “FEEL GOOD DAY on September 20, because the so-called national leadership of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson had no strategy. This was more of a mere photo-opt for Sharpton and Jackson than a seriously organized movement that was built on grassroots and young black intellectuals willingness to perhaps make a commitment to remained organized after THE FEEL GOOD DAY. The one day protest in Jena did not impact that community enough to foster social and political change. All the community of Jena had to endure was one day of a crowd of black people singing songs of redemption. For example, “we shall over come” and yelling “no justice no peace” but the affect of the rally did not impact the economic structure of the city of Jena in particular and State of Louisiana in general.
Boycotts in the 1960’s disrupted the major means of production and distribution; thus eventually forcing racist Entities to come to the table of political negotiation which to end the disruption of its flow of money (boycotts and protest were bad for business) and once the racist whites came to their senses and understood public accommodation would expand their wealth base--discrimination and segregation took a back seat.
The Jena Six Movement had no real political leverage because no one was in it for the long haul; it was a protest built on sentimental value of given these young privileged and black petite bourgeoisie—middle class Hip Hop (silver platter) generation a glimpse into the past (and believe me it was only a glimpse and it was far removed from the real deal). This should not be viewed as an attack upon young black people, but we have done them a grave disservice by being in complicit to their apathy and their overall social numbness that comes across as being ungrateful and ignorant to fact that they are standing the shoulders of others that have gone before them.
We gave them too much and did require them to appreciate the lessons of struggle and now we have created a generation of undisciplined “creampuffs” who are disconnected from a history just a little over 50 years old. We must take the blame for their socialization is only an extent of us doing everything in our power to safeguard them from the cruel outside world and required very little of them, which to show themselves approved. Frantz Fanon wrote about the importance of every generation defining history and struggle for themselves and carving out a meaningful destiny or they will betray history and struggle of prior generations.
This writer has two sons, in their twenties and are members of Hip-Hop and Generation X, it is from the perspective of a father and it is sad how little interest they have shown to the word commitment and critical thinking (this is probably atypical of 80% of those under 40 years of age). The study of history develops the springs and motives of human actions. History serves as much more than the studying of people, dates and events, but as a bridging of one generation to another, which valuable lessons are passed on. History instills inspiration, motivation, and self-esteem into a people; moreover, it connects a people to their contributions made towards human civilization. This is the discipline that builds the will of a people and encourages them to go forward. African people living in America had a brilliant and glorious history before and after chattel slavery. There are those that control institutions, recognize that they must forever hide the true past of African people in order to keep them asleep to the knowledge of self. History is like a trumpet when it is sounded, the asleep must rise.
But for the first time perhaps since the 1960’s young college age black students took interest and became mobilized on black and white college campuses around the Jena Six issue. Conceivably, we received a glimpse at the power of technology and how conversations about this issue were being posted on Myspace, Facebook, and personal Blogs pages and young African Americans began to take notice of a social and political issue. The majority of the mainstream media for the most part, had ignored the Jena Six issue. They organized, as well as articulated a voice of solidarity for six of their peers who were black and perhaps were victims of the criminal justice and judicial system.
The majority of the young black students who ventured to Jena were not born when Martin Luther King, Jr., led the freedom marches throughout the deep south during the 1950’s and 1960’s that advocated nonviolent social change via civil disobedience. These young ambitious students, as a perquisite should have been required and mandated to read King’s letter written on April 16, 1963 from the Birmingham Jail, which would have given them a perspective on the term of sacrifice and liberation struggle (not that King’s movement was revolutionary, but it is a good lessons in Reform politics).
King stated, “My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privilege groups seldom give up their unjust posture, but Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. We know the painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. . . Frankly, I have yet engaged in a direct-action campaign that ‘was well timed’ in view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word ‘wait!’ it rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice to long delayed is justice denied.’ ”
These elder Civil Rights leaders, leading the Jena protest had perhaps manipulated the innocence, naïve and vulnerability of these young black college students by making them think that the protest rally in Jena was equivalent to the 1965 March from Selma too Montgomery. This writer does not want to appear of coming across as being pessimistic and cynical of the Jena Six justice movement and the effort and work it took to galvanized that amount of people. But the reality is the March on Jena was for one day and after this so-called protest the students went back to their Ivory Towers and incubated campus life, as though they had accomplished something great and were instrumental in some aspect of social and political change.
They made a one day sacrifice to leave their Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), but the elder Civil Rights leaders did not tell these young lads that it would-be persistent and relentless protest that were needed to truly alter change and some symbolic march/protest only served as symbol without real substance. The Jena demonstration was strictly based on volunteerism and little conviction to the continuum struggles for justice; this would require a lot more than missing one day of class (some students for attending the march received extra credit from professors due to their attendance in Jena), it would have required a level of organizing beyond the “FEEL GOOD DAY”.
Many of these young black students probably were not familiar with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) of the 1960’s producing leaders like Kwame Ture (Stokley Carmichael) and Jamil Abdullah AL-Amin (H. Rapp Brown), etc., the former, a student at Howard University and the latter, and a student of Southern University who sacrificed their lives for the Civil Rights struggle. They were forced to move beyond the “Yard” and the “Hill” (most HBCU attendees and alumnus know what this writer mean) which to engage in the broader struggle for justice and human dignity.
James Forman in his book titled, “The Making of Black Revolutionaries” stated, “SNCC and other civil rights organizations had always been stormy because, from the beginning, SNCC developed as an antithesis to all the other civil rights groups. SNCC strove to be a group-centered or people-oriented organization while others were leader-centered. It constantly stood in opposition to the Republican and democratic parties while others sought favors from the two-party system. It vigorously attacked the Kennedy administration for its inaction in the field of civil rights while others thought that discussion and conciliation with the executive branch could win concessions. It fought against the American value system of making money and paid its staff only subsistence while others were seeking wages for civil rights works beyond the necessary living requirements. It believed in sending its staff to work with the most wretched of the earth while some of the organizations thought this a waste of time. It believed in the absolute right of freedom of association while other organizations acted as fearful as McCarthy of communism. It argued for a basic revolution in American society”
This is the kind of mindset and commitment these students of SNCC had that you did not see in the Jena protest because there was very little political education prior to the mass demonstration and students had no guidance after the “FEEL GOOD MARCH” and Elijah Muhammad use to say do not awaken the dead unless you have something for the dead to do. Sharpton and Jackson arouse the imagination of these young black people, but were not willing to move them into organization because this would require dirty work and no cameras to captivate these egotistical grandstanding racial leaders who always appear camera ready.
Fredrick Douglas once stated, “Those who profess to favor freedom yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. . . .Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blow, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
These young African Americans were partially motivated by nostalgia and they wanted to feel what it was like to be a part of a mass movement for Justice because they had read about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or heard about the significant of King’s activism from a parent or grandparent and many of them needed to affirm their legacy by being able to state “they were part of mass demonstration for justice”, just like the Civil Rights marchers of old.
No, one informed them that the environment of 1950’s and 1960’s were entirely different during Jim Crow segregation; thus, there were white only establishments and black only establishments and race truly affected and impacted every aspect of one’s life in the America. The 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act were won based on relentless boycotts and demonstrations, as well as social rebellion. These 1950’s and 1960’s fights were the real deal, it was not about making a statement of having over fifty thousand protesters assemble on Jena to hear the Old Guard Civil Rights leaders give these emotional drenched speeches and trying to imitate Dr. King in order to be recorded in the history books of leading a march which to affirm their places in history.
These students were not faced with the vicious racist (tobacco chewing rednecks) and white hostility, but racism in any time, is what it is, and there is no other way to characterize or relegate or diminish its intent or objective. However, this writer must say, there were no comparison between Jena Six protest and the Marches of the original Civil Rights Movement.
Lastly, these old guard Civil Rights leaders should have been honest with these young Jena Six activist and told them that the march on Jena was a piece of cake and they would never know what it was like to be faced with vicious racist who were armed with guns, nooses, canine dogs, water hoses, blackjacks and a relentless and vicious Jim Crow system that affected black’s political, economically, and socially. Someone paid the price to have integrated school systems and so-called equal access to the concept of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
These students left the Jean Six march still having no concept of what the word sacrifice mean and what good is it to have mobilization and no political education which is imperative to elevating one’s conscience level in order to develop a worldview perspective. These young students deserve better than being deceived by hustlers and conmen who had self-interest, ulterior motives and their own personal objectives. This is sought of ironic because this writer just recently saw a press conference of Al Sharpton announcing that the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Justice Department were investigating and auditing him and his organization based on monies associated with the Jean Six movement. If you lay down with dogs, you are going to get up with fleas. This writer knows that many are going to get-up set after reading my analysis and critique of the Jena Six movement and its leaders, BUT GUESS WHAT I DO NOT CARE SOMEBODY MUST TELL THE TRUTH
Fahim A. Knight Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of good will of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpret the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlighten world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight
“JENA SIX PROTEST WAS JUST A FEEL GOOD DAY”
“JENA SIX PROTEST WAS JUST A FEEL GOOD DAY”
The small town of Jena, Louisiana back on September 2O, 2007 became a magnetic pole attracting over 50 thousand people mainly African Americans who had come to protest what they perceived as injustice and a heavy handed prosecutor that had tried and convicted six (6) black teenagers Mychal Bell, Robert Bailey Jr., Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, Theo Shaw and Jesse Ray Beard—were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy, according to LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters. The six young men allegedly attacked Justin Barker and three other white teenager for using racial epithets and hanging nooses from a tree (the tree was described as a meeting place for white students only) on public school property.
This is what led to an allege physical assault on the white teenager Justin Barker by black teenagers; it was described by many, as just an old schoolyard brawl and should have been resolved by the school administration, but the young white teenager and his parents filed criminal warrants against the allege six black assailants. This incident set the political and social stage for black leadership to revert back to the strategies and tactics that the “Big Six” Civil Rights leaders—Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Bunch, A. Phillip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, and Bayard Rustin used over forty years ago in their fight to end segregation, discrimination, racism, and injustice within American society. The political strategies ranged from picketing, sit-ins, boycotts and marching as forms of social protest against a vicious racist system in the United States with an objective of altering social, political, and economic change and with a long range goal of dismantling institutionalized racism.
The enemies of change and social progress overtly opposed the United States Supreme Court Decision of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which declared separate but equal as being unconstitutional. Violence and the threat of violence permeated this timeframe in history; this writer can mention two names Medgar Evers and Emmett Till who were innocent victims associated with the viciousness of Jim Crow. The Jena Six generation need to be introduced to some real Civil Rights history and as Malcolm X was stated, “The revolution will not be televised.”
Michael Eric Dyson is his book titled, “Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line” stated, “The anointing of a few to represent The Race is an old, abiding problem. For much of our history, blacks have had to rely on spokespersons to express our views and air our grievances to a white majority that controlled access to everything from education to employment. For the most part, powerful whites only wanted to see and hear a few blacks at a time, forcing us to choose a leader—when we could. Often a leader was selected for us by white elites. Predictably, blacks often disagreed with those selections, but since the white elites had the power and resources, their opinions counted.”
The Jena Six issue reached national prominence mainly due to an African American radio announcer named Michael Basiden who has a syndicated radio broadcast program out of Chicago that is very popular in large urban city markets. Basiden began to sound the alarm that an injustice had occurred in Jena. He pointed to racism as being the variable and factor which led to one of the black defendant’s Michael Bell, a juvenile that was charged and convicted as an adult. Basiden summoned the community to pay close attention to this issue and for months used his radio program to inform the black community, as well as agitate and in loose way organized the black community around the issue of racism and injustice.
Many listeners telephoned into the Basiden show to express their support for six black teenagers that came to be known as the Jena Six. Basiden unlike most black radio announcers used his programming in a constructive way other than clowning and “buffooning” but he used the airways as a two way communication and social apparatus as well as, a political and social instrument to foster meaningful dialog centered on the issue of injustice and racism. The Reverend Al Sharpton teamed up with Basiden and became the official voice of the Jena Six movement, Basiden gave Sharpton airtime three or four days a week leading up the March which to verbally editorialize and in Op-ed fashion build his case of why blacks needed to be in Jena.
Thus, Sharpton’s social activist record in New York as a post Civil Rights leader, established credibility to Basiden’s clarion call to bring national attention to what many become aware of as a highly racially charged environment in Jena, Louisiana. Jena in many ways appeared stereotypical of the “Old South” where segregation uses to rein under Jim Crow laws—norms, folkways, mores’, values, etc. The southern rural culture of the people, and the town in general, emerged to be a throwback in time when black and white relations were based on written and unwritten assigned social positions.
Sharpton is a season veteran post Civil Rights activist; however, he was not a contemporary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but he seems to give an unspoken inference that he was ignited by King to carry the Civil Rights torch iinto 21st Century and even he knows that the days of mass movements are over, but why do black people in 2007 think they need a handpicked leader to serve as one monolithic voice for the entire black populous and overlook the political, economic and social diversity in the black community?
This writer often question, the motives of these handpicked leaders that serve as black spokespersons because many of them are more about promoting self-interest over group interest. Cornel West in his book titled, “Race Matters” he stated, “In stark contrast, most present-day black political leaders appear too hungry for status to be angry, too eager for acceptance to be bold, too self-invested in advancement to be defiant. And when they do drop their masks and try to get mad (usually in the presences of black audiences), their bold rhetoric is more performance than personal, more play-acting than heartfelt . . . whereas most contemporary black political leaders’ oratory appeals to black people’s sense of the sentimental and sensational”
The Jena Six without a doubt heighten Sharpton’s level of visibility and gave more credibility to his organization National Action Network. Sharpton has used this new found visibility to echo and bring attention to the issue of the hangman’s noose and should the noose be viewed as a symbol of hate and those who are arrested with the intent and/or commission of criminal act relative a noose should be charged under federal Hate Crime Statues and he demanded the United States Justice Department aggressively pursue federal laws deeming the hangman’s noose as a symbol of hate. Sharpton and black leadership was asking this of George W. Bush, one of the most racist and reactionary presidents in the history of America. They did get ranking Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan) of The House Judiciary Committee to hold investigative hearings on Jena Six.
The white media gives the impression to be promoting Sharpton and every time an issue arises relative to black life; it appears the media both electronic and print seemed to use him as a legitimize voice to determine the mood and the overall opinion of 35-45 million black people in America. Reverend Al Sharpton does not speak nor represent the masses of black people and blacks should be appalled that this is the overt and covert suggestion.
The Jena Six demonstration and protest lacked real strategies and tactics, beyond the “FEEL GOOD DAY on September 20, because the so-called national leadership of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson had no strategy. This was more of a mere photo-opt for Sharpton and Jackson than a seriously organized movement that was built on grassroots and young black intellectuals willingness to perhaps make a commitment to remained organized after THE FEEL GOOD DAY. The one day protest in Jena did not impact that community enough to foster social and political change. All the community of Jena had to endure was one day of a crowd of black people singing songs of redemption. For example, “we shall over come” and yelling “no justice no peace” but the affect of the rally did not impact the economic structure of the city of Jena in particular and State of Louisiana in general.
Boycotts in the 1960’s disrupted the major means of production and distribution; thus eventually forcing racist Entities to come to the table of political negotiation which to end the disruption of its flow of money (boycotts and protest were bad for business) and once the racist whites came to their senses and understood public accommodation would expand their wealth base--discrimination and segregation took a back seat.
The Jena Six Movement had no real political leverage because no one was in it for the long haul; it was a protest built on sentimental value of given these young privileged and black petite bourgeoisie—middle class Hip Hop (silver platter) generation a glimpse into the past (and believe me it was only a glimpse and it was far removed from the real deal). This should not be viewed as an attack upon young black people, but we have done them a grave disservice by being in complicit to their apathy and their overall social numbness that comes across as being ungrateful and ignorant to fact that they are standing the shoulders of others that have gone before them.
We gave them too much and did require them to appreciate the lessons of struggle and now we have created a generation of undisciplined “creampuffs” who are disconnected from a history just a little over 50 years old. We must take the blame for their socialization is only an extent of us doing everything in our power to safeguard them from the cruel outside world and required very little of them, which to show themselves approved. Frantz Fanon wrote about the importance of every generation defining history and struggle for themselves and carving out a meaningful destiny or they will betray history and struggle of prior generations.
This writer has two sons, in their twenties and are members of Hip-Hop and Generation X, it is from the perspective of a father and it is sad how little interest they have shown to the word commitment and critical thinking (this is probably atypical of 80% of those under 40 years of age). The study of history develops the springs and motives of human actions. History serves as much more than the studying of people, dates and events, but as a bridging of one generation to another, which valuable lessons are passed on. History instills inspiration, motivation, and self-esteem into a people; moreover, it connects a people to their contributions made towards human civilization. This is the discipline that builds the will of a people and encourages them to go forward. African people living in America had a brilliant and glorious history before and after chattel slavery. There are those that control institutions, recognize that they must forever hide the true past of African people in order to keep them asleep to the knowledge of self. History is like a trumpet when it is sounded, the asleep must rise.
But for the first time perhaps since the 1960’s young college age black students took interest and became mobilized on black and white college campuses around the Jena Six issue. Conceivably, we received a glimpse at the power of technology and how conversations about this issue were being posted on Myspace, Facebook, and personal Blogs pages and young African American began to take notice of a social and political issue. The majority of the mainstream media for the most part, had ignored the Jena Six issue. They organized, as well as articulated a voice of solidarity for six of their peers who were black and perhaps were victims of the criminal justice and judicial system.
The majority of the young black students who ventured to Jena were not born when Martin Luther King, Jr., led the freedom marches throughout the deep south during the 1950’s and 1960’s that advocated nonviolent social change via civil disobedience. These young ambitious students, as a perquisite should have been required and mandated to read King’s letter written on April 16, 1963 from the Birmingham Jail, which would have given them a perspective on the term of sacrifice and liberation struggle (not that King’s movement was revolutionary, but it is a good lessons in Reform politics).
King stated, “My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privilege groups seldom give up their unjust posture, but Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. We know the painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. . . Frankly, I have yet engaged in a direct-action campaign that ‘was well timed’ in view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word ‘wait!’ it rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice to long delayed is justice denied.’ ”
These elder Civil Rights leaders, leading the Jena protest had perhaps manipulated the innocence, naïve and vulnerability of these young black college students by making them think that the protest rally in Jena was equivalent to the 1965 March from Selma too Montgomery. This writer does not want to appear of coming across as being pessimistic and cynical of the Jena Six justice movement and the effort and work it took to galvanized that amount of people. But the reality is the March on Jena was for one day and after this so-called protest the students went back to their Ivory Towers and incubated campus life, as though they had accomplished something great and were instrumental in some aspect of social and political change.
They made a one day sacrifice to leave their Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), but the elder Civil Rights leaders did not tell these young lads that it would-be persistent and relentless protest that were needed to truly alter change and some symbolic march/protest only served as symbol without real substance. The Jena demonstration was strictly based on volunteerism and little conviction to the continuum struggles for justice; this would require a lot more than missing one day of class (some students for attending the march received extra credit from professors due to their attendance in Jena), it would have required a level of organizing beyond the “FEEL GOOD DAY”.
Many of these young black students probably were not familiar with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) of the 1960’s producing leaders like Kwame Ture (Stokley Carmichael) and Jamil Abdullah AL-Amin (H. Rapp Brown), etc., the former, a student at Howard University and the latter, and a student of Southern University who sacrificed their lives for the Civil Rights struggle. They were forced to move beyond the “Yard” and the “Hill” (most HBCU attendees and alumnus know what this writer mean) which to engage in the broader struggle for justice and human dignity.
James Forman in his book titled, “The Making of Black Revolutionaries” stated, “SNCC and other civil rights organizations had always been stormy because, from the beginning, SNCC developed as an antithesis to all the other civil rights groups. SNCC strove to be a group-centered or people-oriented organization while others were leader-centered. It constantly stood in opposition to the Republican and democratic parties while others sought favors from the two-party system. It vigorously attacked the Kennedy administration for its inaction in the field of civil rights while others thought that discussion and conciliation with the executive branch could win concessions. It fought against the American value system of making money and paid its staff only subsistence while others were seeking wages for civil rights works beyond the necessary living requirements. It believed in sending its staff to work with the most wretched of the earth while some of the organizations thought this a waste of time. It believed in the absolute right of freedom of association while other organizations acted as fearful as McCarthy of communism. It argued for a basic revolution in American society”
This is the kind of mindset and commitment these students of SNCC had that you did not see in the Jena protest because there was very little political education prior to the mass demonstration and students had no guidance after the “FEEL GOOD MARCH” and Elijah Muhammad use to say do not awaken the dead unless you have something for the dead to do. Sharpton and Jackson arouse the imagination of these young black people, but were not willing to move them into organization because this would require dirty work and no cameras to captivate these egotistical grandstanding racial leaders who always appear camera ready.
Fredrick Douglas once stated, “Those who profess to favor freedom yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. . . .Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blow, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
These young African Americans were partially motivated by nostalgia and they wanted to feel what it was like to be a part of a mass movement for Justice because they had read about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or heard about the significant of King’s activism from a parent or grandparent and many of them needed to affirm their legacy by being able to state “they were part of mass demonstration for justice”, just like the Civil Rights marchers of old.
No, one informed them that the environment of 1950’s and 1960’s were entirely different during Jim Crow segregation; thus, there were white only establishments and black only establishments and race truly affected and impacted every aspect of one’s life in the America. The 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act were won based on relentless boycotts and demonstrations, as well as social rebellion. These 1950’s and 1960’s fights were the real deal, it was not about making a statement of having over fifty thousand protesters assemble on Jena to hear the Old Guard Civil Rights leaders give these emotional drenched speeches and trying to imitate Dr. King in order to be recorded in the history books of leading a march which to affirm their places in history.
These students were not faced with the vicious racist (tobacco chewing rednecks) and white hostility, but racism in any time, is what it is, and there is no other way to characterize or relegate or diminish its intent or objective. However, this writer must say, there were no comparison between Jena Six protest and the Marches of the original Civil Rights Movement.
Lastly, these old guard Civil Rights leaders should have been honest with these young Jena Six activist and told them that the march on Jena was a piece of cake and they would never know what it was like to be faced with vicious racist who were armed guns, nooses, canine dogs, water hoses, blackjacks and a relentless and vicious Jim Crow system that affected black’s political, economically, and socially. Someone paid the price to have integrated school systems and so-called equal access to the concept of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
These students left the Jean Six march still having no concept of what the word sacrifice mean and what good is it to have mobilization and no political education which is imperative to elevating one’s conscience level in order to develop a worldview perspective. These young students deserve better than being deceived by hustlers and conmen who had self-interest, ulterior motives and their own personal objectives. This is sought of ironic because this writer just recently saw a press conference of Al Sharpton announcing that the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Justice Department was investigating and auditing him and his organization based on monies associated with the Jean Six movement. If you lay down with dogs, you are going to get up with fleas. This writer knows that many are going to get-up set after reading my analysis and critique of the Jena Six movement and its leaders, BUT GUESS WHAT I DO NOT CARE SOMEBODY MUST TELL THE TRUTH
Fahim A. Knight Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of good will of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpret the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlighten world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight
The small town of Jena, Louisiana back on September 2O, 2007 became a magnetic pole attracting over 50 thousand people mainly African Americans who had come to protest what they perceived as injustice and a heavy handed prosecutor that had tried and convicted six (6) black teenagers Mychal Bell, Robert Bailey Jr., Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, Theo Shaw and Jesse Ray Beard—were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy, according to LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters. The six young men allegedly attacked Justin Barker and three other white teenager for using racial epithets and hanging nooses from a tree (the tree was described as a meeting place for white students only) on public school property.
This is what led to an allege physical assault on the white teenager Justin Barker by black teenagers; it was described by many, as just an old schoolyard brawl and should have been resolved by the school administration, but the young white teenager and his parents filed criminal warrants against the allege six black assailants. This incident set the political and social stage for black leadership to revert back to the strategies and tactics that the “Big Six” Civil Rights leaders—Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Bunch, A. Phillip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, and Bayard Rustin used over forty years ago in their fight to end segregation, discrimination, racism, and injustice within American society. The political strategies ranged from picketing, sit-ins, boycotts and marching as forms of social protest against a vicious racist system in the United States with an objective of altering social, political, and economic change and with a long range goal of dismantling institutionalized racism.
The enemies of change and social progress overtly opposed the United States Supreme Court Decision of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which declared separate but equal as being unconstitutional. Violence and the threat of violence permeated this timeframe in history; this writer can mention two names Medgar Evers and Emmett Till who were innocent victims associated with the viciousness of Jim Crow. The Jena Six generation need to be introduced to some real Civil Rights history and as Malcolm X was stated, “The revolution will not be televised.”
Michael Eric Dyson is his book titled, “Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line” stated, “The anointing of a few to represent The Race is an old, abiding problem. For much of our history, blacks have had to rely on spokespersons to express our views and air our grievances to a white majority that controlled access to everything from education to employment. For the most part, powerful whites only wanted to see and hear a few blacks at a time, forcing us to choose a leader—when we could. Often a leader was selected for us by white elites. Predictably, blacks often disagreed with those selections, but since the white elites had the power and resources, their opinions counted.”
The Jena Six issue reached national prominence mainly due to an African American radio announcer named Michael Basiden who has a syndicated radio broadcast program out of Chicago that is very popular in large urban city markets. Basiden began to sound the alarm that an injustice had occurred in Jena. He pointed to racism as being the variable and factor which led to one of the black defendant’s Michael Bell, a juvenile that was charged and convicted as an adult. Basiden summoned the community to pay close attention to this issue and for months used his radio program to inform the black community, as well as agitate and in loose way organized the black community around the issue of racism and injustice.
Many listeners telephoned into the Basiden show to express their support for six black teenagers that came to be known as the Jena Six. Basiden unlike most black radio announcers used his programming in a constructive way other than clowning and “buffooning” but he used the airways as a two way communication and social apparatus as well as, a political and social instrument to foster meaningful dialog centered on the issue of injustice and racism. The Reverend Al Sharpton teamed up with Basiden and became the official voice of the Jena Six movement, Basiden gave Sharpton airtime three or four days a week leading up the March which to verbally editorialize and in Op-ed fashion build his case of why blacks needed to be in Jena.
Thus, Sharpton’s social activist record in New York as a post Civil Rights leader, established credibility to Basiden’s clarion call to bring national attention to what many become aware of as a highly racially charged environment in Jena, Louisiana. Jena in many ways appeared stereotypical of the “Old South” where segregation uses to rein under Jim Crow laws—norms, folkways, mores’, values, etc. The southern rural culture of the people, and the town in general, emerged to be a throwback in time when black and white relations were based on written and unwritten assigned social positions.
Sharpton is a season veteran post Civil Rights activist; however, he was not a contemporary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but he seems to give an unspoken inference that he was ignited by King to carry the Civil Rights torch iinto 21st Century and even he knows that the days of mass movements are over, but why do black people in 2007 think they need a handpicked leader to serve as one monolithic voice for the entire black populous and overlook the political, economic and social diversity in the black community?
This writer often question, the motives of these handpicked leaders that serve as black spokespersons because many of them are more about promoting self-interest over group interest. Cornel West in his book titled, “Race Matters” he stated, “In stark contrast, most present-day black political leaders appear too hungry for status to be angry, too eager for acceptance to be bold, too self-invested in advancement to be defiant. And when they do drop their masks and try to get mad (usually in the presences of black audiences), their bold rhetoric is more performance than personal, more play-acting than heartfelt . . . whereas most contemporary black political leaders’ oratory appeals to black people’s sense of the sentimental and sensational”
The Jena Six without a doubt heighten Sharpton’s level of visibility and gave more credibility to his organization National Action Network. Sharpton has used this new found visibility to echo and bring attention to the issue of the hangman’s noose and should the noose be viewed as a symbol of hate and those who are arrested with the intent and/or commission of criminal act relative a noose should be charged under federal Hate Crime Statues and he demanded the United States Justice Department aggressively pursue federal laws deeming the hangman’s noose as a symbol of hate. Sharpton and black leadership was asking this of George W. Bush, one of the most racist and reactionary presidents in the history of America. They did get ranking Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan) of The House Judiciary Committee to hold investigative hearings on Jena Six.
The white media gives the impression to be promoting Sharpton and every time an issue arises relative to black life; it appears the media both electronic and print seemed to use him as a legitimize voice to determine the mood and the overall opinion of 35-45 million black people in America. Reverend Al Sharpton does not speak nor represent the masses of black people and blacks should be appalled that this is the overt and covert suggestion.
The Jena Six demonstration and protest lacked real strategies and tactics, beyond the “FEEL GOOD DAY on September 20, because the so-called national leadership of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson had no strategy. This was more of a mere photo-opt for Sharpton and Jackson than a seriously organized movement that was built on grassroots and young black intellectuals willingness to perhaps make a commitment to remained organized after THE FEEL GOOD DAY. The one day protest in Jena did not impact that community enough to foster social and political change. All the community of Jena had to endure was one day of a crowd of black people singing songs of redemption. For example, “we shall over come” and yelling “no justice no peace” but the affect of the rally did not impact the economic structure of the city of Jena in particular and State of Louisiana in general.
Boycotts in the 1960’s disrupted the major means of production and distribution; thus eventually forcing racist Entities to come to the table of political negotiation which to end the disruption of its flow of money (boycotts and protest were bad for business) and once the racist whites came to their senses and understood public accommodation would expand their wealth base--discrimination and segregation took a back seat.
The Jena Six Movement had no real political leverage because no one was in it for the long haul; it was a protest built on sentimental value of given these young privileged and black petite bourgeoisie—middle class Hip Hop (silver platter) generation a glimpse into the past (and believe me it was only a glimpse and it was far removed from the real deal). This should not be viewed as an attack upon young black people, but we have done them a grave disservice by being in complicit to their apathy and their overall social numbness that comes across as being ungrateful and ignorant to fact that they are standing the shoulders of others that have gone before them.
We gave them too much and did require them to appreciate the lessons of struggle and now we have created a generation of undisciplined “creampuffs” who are disconnected from a history just a little over 50 years old. We must take the blame for their socialization is only an extent of us doing everything in our power to safeguard them from the cruel outside world and required very little of them, which to show themselves approved. Frantz Fanon wrote about the importance of every generation defining history and struggle for themselves and carving out a meaningful destiny or they will betray history and struggle of prior generations.
This writer has two sons, in their twenties and are members of Hip-Hop and Generation X, it is from the perspective of a father and it is sad how little interest they have shown to the word commitment and critical thinking (this is probably atypical of 80% of those under 40 years of age). The study of history develops the springs and motives of human actions. History serves as much more than the studying of people, dates and events, but as a bridging of one generation to another, which valuable lessons are passed on. History instills inspiration, motivation, and self-esteem into a people; moreover, it connects a people to their contributions made towards human civilization. This is the discipline that builds the will of a people and encourages them to go forward. African people living in America had a brilliant and glorious history before and after chattel slavery. There are those that control institutions, recognize that they must forever hide the true past of African people in order to keep them asleep to the knowledge of self. History is like a trumpet when it is sounded, the asleep must rise.
But for the first time perhaps since the 1960’s young college age black students took interest and became mobilized on black and white college campuses around the Jena Six issue. Conceivably, we received a glimpse at the power of technology and how conversations about this issue were being posted on Myspace, Facebook, and personal Blogs pages and young African American began to take notice of a social and political issue. The majority of the mainstream media for the most part, had ignored the Jena Six issue. They organized, as well as articulated a voice of solidarity for six of their peers who were black and perhaps were victims of the criminal justice and judicial system.
The majority of the young black students who ventured to Jena were not born when Martin Luther King, Jr., led the freedom marches throughout the deep south during the 1950’s and 1960’s that advocated nonviolent social change via civil disobedience. These young ambitious students, as a perquisite should have been required and mandated to read King’s letter written on April 16, 1963 from the Birmingham Jail, which would have given them a perspective on the term of sacrifice and liberation struggle (not that King’s movement was revolutionary, but it is a good lessons in Reform politics).
King stated, “My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privilege groups seldom give up their unjust posture, but Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. We know the painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. . . Frankly, I have yet engaged in a direct-action campaign that ‘was well timed’ in view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word ‘wait!’ it rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice to long delayed is justice denied.’ ”
These elder Civil Rights leaders, leading the Jena protest had perhaps manipulated the innocence, naïve and vulnerability of these young black college students by making them think that the protest rally in Jena was equivalent to the 1965 March from Selma too Montgomery. This writer does not want to appear of coming across as being pessimistic and cynical of the Jena Six justice movement and the effort and work it took to galvanized that amount of people. But the reality is the March on Jena was for one day and after this so-called protest the students went back to their Ivory Towers and incubated campus life, as though they had accomplished something great and were instrumental in some aspect of social and political change.
They made a one day sacrifice to leave their Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), but the elder Civil Rights leaders did not tell these young lads that it would-be persistent and relentless protest that were needed to truly alter change and some symbolic march/protest only served as symbol without real substance. The Jena demonstration was strictly based on volunteerism and little conviction to the continuum struggles for justice; this would require a lot more than missing one day of class (some students for attending the march received extra credit from professors due to their attendance in Jena), it would have required a level of organizing beyond the “FEEL GOOD DAY”.
Many of these young black students probably were not familiar with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) of the 1960’s producing leaders like Kwame Ture (Stokley Carmichael) and Jamil Abdullah AL-Amin (H. Rapp Brown), etc., the former, a student at Howard University and the latter, and a student of Southern University who sacrificed their lives for the Civil Rights struggle. They were forced to move beyond the “Yard” and the “Hill” (most HBCU attendees and alumnus know what this writer mean) which to engage in the broader struggle for justice and human dignity.
James Forman in his book titled, “The Making of Black Revolutionaries” stated, “SNCC and other civil rights organizations had always been stormy because, from the beginning, SNCC developed as an antithesis to all the other civil rights groups. SNCC strove to be a group-centered or people-oriented organization while others were leader-centered. It constantly stood in opposition to the Republican and democratic parties while others sought favors from the two-party system. It vigorously attacked the Kennedy administration for its inaction in the field of civil rights while others thought that discussion and conciliation with the executive branch could win concessions. It fought against the American value system of making money and paid its staff only subsistence while others were seeking wages for civil rights works beyond the necessary living requirements. It believed in sending its staff to work with the most wretched of the earth while some of the organizations thought this a waste of time. It believed in the absolute right of freedom of association while other organizations acted as fearful as McCarthy of communism. It argued for a basic revolution in American society”
This is the kind of mindset and commitment these students of SNCC had that you did not see in the Jena protest because there was very little political education prior to the mass demonstration and students had no guidance after the “FEEL GOOD MARCH” and Elijah Muhammad use to say do not awaken the dead unless you have something for the dead to do. Sharpton and Jackson arouse the imagination of these young black people, but were not willing to move them into organization because this would require dirty work and no cameras to captivate these egotistical grandstanding racial leaders who always appear camera ready.
Fredrick Douglas once stated, “Those who profess to favor freedom yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. . . .Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blow, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
These young African Americans were partially motivated by nostalgia and they wanted to feel what it was like to be a part of a mass movement for Justice because they had read about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or heard about the significant of King’s activism from a parent or grandparent and many of them needed to affirm their legacy by being able to state “they were part of mass demonstration for justice”, just like the Civil Rights marchers of old.
No, one informed them that the environment of 1950’s and 1960’s were entirely different during Jim Crow segregation; thus, there were white only establishments and black only establishments and race truly affected and impacted every aspect of one’s life in the America. The 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act were won based on relentless boycotts and demonstrations, as well as social rebellion. These 1950’s and 1960’s fights were the real deal, it was not about making a statement of having over fifty thousand protesters assemble on Jena to hear the Old Guard Civil Rights leaders give these emotional drenched speeches and trying to imitate Dr. King in order to be recorded in the history books of leading a march which to affirm their places in history.
These students were not faced with the vicious racist (tobacco chewing rednecks) and white hostility, but racism in any time, is what it is, and there is no other way to characterize or relegate or diminish its intent or objective. However, this writer must say, there were no comparison between Jena Six protest and the Marches of the original Civil Rights Movement.
Lastly, these old guard Civil Rights leaders should have been honest with these young Jena Six activist and told them that the march on Jena was a piece of cake and they would never know what it was like to be faced with vicious racist who were armed guns, nooses, canine dogs, water hoses, blackjacks and a relentless and vicious Jim Crow system that affected black’s political, economically, and socially. Someone paid the price to have integrated school systems and so-called equal access to the concept of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
These students left the Jean Six march still having no concept of what the word sacrifice mean and what good is it to have mobilization and no political education which is imperative to elevating one’s conscience level in order to develop a worldview perspective. These young students deserve better than being deceived by hustlers and conmen who had self-interest, ulterior motives and their own personal objectives. This is sought of ironic because this writer just recently saw a press conference of Al Sharpton announcing that the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Justice Department was investigating and auditing him and his organization based on monies associated with the Jean Six movement. If you lay down with dogs, you are going to get up with fleas. This writer knows that many are going to get-up set after reading my analysis and critique of the Jena Six movement and its leaders, BUT GUESS WHAT I DO NOT CARE SOMEBODY MUST TELL THE TRUTH
Fahim A. Knight Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of good will of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpret the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlighten world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight
Friday, December 7, 2007
“CHRISTMAS: JESUS—THE SUN--GOD, LIES, DECEPTIONS AND THE TRUTH”
“CHRISTMAS: JESUS—THE SUN--GOD, LIES, DECEPTIONS AND THE TRUTH”
By Fahim A. Knight-El
This brief article is on the origin of Christmas and its so-called correlation to the SUN GOD concept, which the western parables of Jesus originated; moreover, December 25 is the BIRTH OF THE SUN GOD and in reality, this fabrication and/or truth has nothing to do with the Historical and Prophetic man called Jesus (there are actually two Jesus, perhaps another subject for another time) and this propaganda is continually being perpetuated in the name of tradition. But the beneficiaries of the Christmas tradition have always been the merchant class in the United States of America and around the world, which accumulates over 75% of their annual gross sales and financial profits during the month of December.
Allauddin Shabazz in his book titled, Symbolism, Holidays, Myths and Signs, the word “Christmas” means “Mass of Christ,” or as it came to be shortened, ‘Christ—mas.’ It came to non—Christians and Protestant from the Roman Catholic Church. And where did they get it?---NOT from the New Testament---NOT from the Bible—NOT from the original apostles who were personally instructed by Christ—but it gravitated in the fourth century into the Roman Church from paganism”
Tradition reaps in huge monetary gains and that HIDDEN HAND who does not believe in Christmas or Jesus---THEIR GOD IS MONEY and WE SHOULD CALL THEIR HOLY ONE “PROFIT” AND GREED. This writer, wonders does the SUN—DAY School teachers admonishes that the worship of the SUN was replaced with the divinity and worship of the SON popular associated with the man named Jesus (or Yeshuaa Ben Yosef). This article should not be viewed as an attack on the faith--tradition of Christianity, but like the Reggae revolutionary artist Bob Marley’s used to sing “NONE CAN FREE OUR MINDS, BUT OURSELVES.”
Allauddin Shabazz book validates this contention relative to the commercialization and the nonreligious connection Christmas has with the birth of Jesus; in his small, but powerful book titled, Symbolism, Holidays, Myths and Signs he goes on to state, “Christmas has become a commercial season. It’s sponsored, kept alive, by the heaviest retail advertisement campaigns of the year. You see a masqueraded “Santa Claus” in many stores. Ads keep the masses deluded and deceived about the ‘beautiful Christmas spirit.’ The newspaper, who sells ads, print flowery editorials exalting and eulogizing the pagan season, and spirit. Gullible people have become so inoculated, many take offense when told the truth. But the ‘Christmas spirit’ is created each year, not to honor Christ, but to sell merchandise!” (reference: Symbolism, Holidays, Myths and Signs” by Allauddin Shabazz).
This writer understands and humbly admits and accepts that a 4,000 word Blog only places serious limitations on a subject of this magnitude where scholars such as: Gerald Massey, Albert Churchward, E.A. Wallis Budge, Josef Ben Jochannan, Alvin Boyd Kuhn, Godfrey Higgins, John G. Jackson, Kersey Graves, Cheikh Anta Diop, Manly P. Hall, John Henrik Clarke, Jacob Boehme, Arthur Edward Waite, G.R.S. Mead, Louis H. Spencer, H.G. Wells, H.P. Blavatsky, Ishakamusa Barashango, J.Van Rijckenborgh, Albert Pike, George Oliver, J.S.M. Ward, etc., have spent many years researching and writing scholarly treatise on the above subject.
This thumbnail sketch, is by no means, written to represent a definitive and exhaustive study on the this subject; there are to many links, which expands to the schools of thought of esoteric, religious, philosophical, occult, metaphysical science and the truth extends to many cultures, and far beyond the limitations of this research could ever begin to address. But it should not be viewed that the author perhaps does not understand the depth and complexity of this subject pertaining to Jesus, a god of the Sun and the origin of Christmas.
E. Curtis Alexander in an essay titled, African Foundations of Christendom he stated, “Christendom began as a Council of Bishops in Nicea, a city in Bithynia, in Asia Minor on the southside of the Black Sea. The Council was convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine. Many events took place at this Council and the formation of many theological and theosophical doctrines were established such as the Trinity, the name of JESUS, THE Virgin Birth and perhaps the biggest act was making of the Bible. The books that were not canonical at this Council are known to us today as “Lost Books of the Bible’ and the ‘Forgotten Books of Eden’ ” (Reference: “African Foundations of Christendom” by E. Curtis Alexander).
In a book compiled by William Josiah Sutton titled, The Illuminati 666 stated, “There is no scriptural evidence that supports the Birth of Christ as being December 25th; but history says December 25th was kept thousands of years before the Birth of Christ, in honor of the pagan Messiah. Another name for Tammuz, the pagan-child, was ‘Baal-bereth’ which means Lord of the Fir Tree.” (Reference: “The Illuminati 666” by William Josiah Sutton).
The majority of the scholarship on this subject totally contradicts the Christian version of the biblical man known as Jesus Christ, but reaffirms this story within the scheme of historical and mythological allegory, metaphors, symbolism, prototypes, similes, etc. There is a sizable amount of precedent evidence, which informs us, that the entire story of Jesus relative to his birth, death, resurrection, and ascension were not concepts indigenous to European cultures (although, it flourished in that region of the world after they came in contact with Ancient Egypt (Kemet).They borrowed the Solar God concept from Egypt. (Reference: “Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World” by Gerald Massey).
John G. Jackson in his enlighten book titled, Ethiopia and the Origin of Civilization stated, “A study of the images of ancient deities of both the Old and New Worlds reveals their Ethiopic origin. Thus is noted by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie in T.A. Buckley’s CITIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, p. 180:--‘From the wooly texture of the hair, I am inclined to assign to the Buddha of India, the Fuhi of China, the Sommonacom of the Siamese, Xaha of the Japanese, the Quetzalcoatl of the Mexicans, the same, and indeed an African, or rather Nubian, origin.’
Jackson continues on to state, “most of the black gods were regarded as crucified saviors who died to save mankind by being nailed to a cross, or tied to a tree with arms outstretched as if on a cross, or slain violently in some other manner. Of these Crucified SAVIORS, THE MOST PROMINENT WERE OSIRIS, AND HORUS OF EGYPT, KRISHNA OF INDIA, MITHRA OF PERSIA, QUETZALCOATL OF MEXICO, ADDONIS OF BABYLONIA AND ATTIS OF PHRYGIA. NEARLY ALL OF THESE SLAIN SAVIOR-GODS HAVE THE FOLLOWING STORIES RELATED ABOUT THEM:---THEY ARE BORN OF A VIRGIN, ON OR NEAR DEC.25TH (CHRISTMAS); THEIR BIRTH ARE HERALDED BY A STAR; THEY ARE BORN EITHER IN A CAVE OR STABLE; THEY ARE SLAIN, COMMONLY BY CRUCIFIXION; THEY DESCEND INTO HELL, AND RISE FROM THE DEAD AT THE BEGINNING OF SPRING (EASTER) AND FINALLY ASCEND INTO HEAVEN.” (Reference: “Ethiopia and the Origin of Civilization” by John G. Jackson).
There is overwhelming historical evidence that the worship of the SUN GOD (which was celebrated by many names and in many forms depending upon the culture and nation) Jesus was a story of antiquity, that had played out on the stage of human civilizations, perhaps some thousands of years before the actual birth of the man called Jesus who lived 2,000 years ago and before Constantine concocted and devised the Christian Creed (reference: Reza Aslan Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, which was designed to control how Christianity would be disseminated, as well as, theologically protect the half-truths, distortions, and outright lies. They lied about the historical details of the man called Jesus, the Christ. (Reference: “The Historical Origin of Christianity” by Walter Williams).
Wikipedia online research engine stated, “December 25 was also considered to be the date of the Winter Solstice, which the Romans called bruma. It was therefore the day the Sun proved itself to be "unconquered" despite the shortening of daylight hours. (When Julius Caesar introduced the Julian Calendar in 45 BC, December 25 was approximately the date of the solstice. In modern times, the solstice falls on December 21 or 22.) The Sol Invictus festival has a "strong claim on the responsibility" for the date of Christmas, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus (sun/Son). "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born . . . Christ should be born,"
Anthony Browder in his book titled, Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization he stated, “Auras, Aset, and Heru is the first story recorded in history of man of a holy royal family (the Trinity), immaculate conception, virgin birth and resurrection. Evidence of this Trinity is known to have exist.” (Reference: “Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization” by Anthony Browder).
H.P. Blavatsky in her monumental book titled, Isis Unveiled through meticulous research traces the original man’s history and culture back to Egypt (Kemet) which all philosophy, science, theology, and in essences human thought evolved. she stated, “What Egypt taught to others she certainly did not acquire by the international exchange of ideas and discoveries with her Semitic neighbors, NOR FROM THEM DID SHE RECEIVE HER STIMULUS. ‘The more we learn of the Egyptians,’ observes the writer of a recent article, ‘The Marvelous they seem!’ From whom could she have learned her wondrous arts, the secrets of which died with her? She sent no agents throughout the world to learn what others knew; but to her the wise men of neighboring nations resorted for knowledge. Proudly secluding herself within her enchanted domain, the fair queen of the desert created wonders as if by the sway of a magic staff. ‘Nothing” remarks the same writer, whom we shall elsewhere quote, ‘proves that civilization and knowledge rise and progress with her in the case of other peoples, but everything seems to be referable, in the same perfection, to the earliest dates. That no nation knew as much as herself, is a fact demonstrated by history.”
There is no doubt, that the story of Jesus was steeped in duality and shrouded in the mysteries, but the WICKLY WISE, the ten (10) percent who the Honorable Elijah Muhammad referred to as, “The rich, the slavemakers of the poor, who teach poor lies to believe that the almighty true and living God, is a spook and cannot be seen with the physical eye. Otherwise known as the bloodsuckers of the poor.”
Muhammad further maintained that December 25 was the birthday of Nimrod who was mentioned in the Bible (Old Testament) he is styled as a mighty hunter who is in opposition to God and he turned against the teachings of Moses (the law giver). Nimrod was born 300 years before Christ. Thus, he manipulated the teachings of Moses and set-up the early pagan empires such as Greece and Rome. According to the Bible he is the son of Cush. Nimrod killed his father and married his mother, whose name was Ester, and the Easter celebration is also tied to advent of Nimrod and the entire SUN GOD scheme. (Reference: The True History of Elijah Muhammad” Edited by Nasir Makr Hakim)
Moreover, when Nimrod’s wife (his mother) had their first child, he feared that people would lose respect for him, if they knew he was making babies through his own mother (it was a secret that they were married) therefore to fool the people Nimrod told people that the Holy Ghost had impregnated his mother. This was beginning of the GREAT LIE told about the birth of Jesus.” there is a lot in Muhammad’s lesson and was Christmas set-up by non-Christians who do not believe in Jesus Divinity, but has a stronger conviction to manipulate money and play on the theological ignorance of the people. (Reference: “The History of Nimrod” by Elijah Muhammad).
Manly P. Halls stated, “For reasons which they doubtless considered sufficient, those who chronicled the life and acts of Jesus found it advisable to metamorphose him into a solar deity. The HISTORICAL JESUS WAS FOR GOTTEN; nearly all the salient incidents recorded in the four Gospels have their correlations in the movement, phases, or functions of the heavenly bodies. Among other allegories borrowed by Christianity from pagan antiquity is the story of the beautiful, blue-eyed Sun God, with His golden hair falling upon his shoulders, robed from head to foot in spotless white and carrying in His arms the Lamb of God, symbolic of the vernal equinox. This handsome youth is a composite of Apollo, Osiris, Orpheus, Mithras, and Baccus, for HE has certain characteristics in common with each of these pagan deities.” Manly P. Hall whom this writer considers one of the foremost free thinkers in the history of mankind and he uncovers and interprets symbolism, signs and delved into ancient wisdom unlike any other this writer had read (Reference: “The Secret Teachings of All Ages” by Manly P. Hall).
We have been taught and perhaps more indoctrinated into believing that December 25, represented the birth of Jesus Christ of Nazareth who lived perhaps 2,000 years ago in around modern day Palestine. There is some evidence that points to Jesus birth place being in the ancient city of Bethlehem, but most Biblical historians have argued that Jesus was born in Nazareth. but there was a plot and a conspiracy orchestrated by King Herod to kill the first born male; reference: Hugh J. Schonfield; The Passover Plot, thus Mary’s pregnancy and Jesus birth became a top priority and secret, this cloaking and concealment was only necessary to protect Jesus from his conspirators. (Reference: The Jesus Scroll” by Donovan Joyce).
This next quote is from a book titled, The Lost Books of the Bible to Jesus Christ, His Apostles and Their Companions originally published in 1820 by William Hone. Most Christians do not know their were some lost books to the original Bible or perhaps this writer should say that a number of books were deliberate and intentionally removed from the Bible as an act of deception. Nevertheless, Hone stated, “Now Herod, perceived that the wise men did delay and not return to him, called together the priests and wise men and said, Tell me in what place the Christ should be born? And when they replied, in Bethlehem, a city of Judea, he began to contrive in his own mind the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. But an Angel appeared to Joseph in his sleep, and said, Arise take the child and his mother and go into Egypt as soon as the cock crows. So he arose, and went.” (Reference: “The Lost Books of the Bible to Jesus Christ” by William Hone).
December 25 had nothing to do with Jesus Birthday in fact his name was probably more like Yeshua Ben Yosef or Isa Bin Yusuf (Jesus the Son of Joseph) in accordance to the Amharic and/or Hebrew languages that were spoken in that region of the world, long before the English language was even a thought. Jesus was atypical of pagan tradition that evolved around the son god concept and there were many more world saviors who had similar histories of Jesus and many of the things we ascribed to Jesus were actually borrowed from more ancient cultures and civilizations. The birth, death, resurrection and ascension fables seemed to have been concocted by money changers and merchants which as stated above, many of them do not believe in Jesus divinity, but the commercialization and the exploitation of his name is their only motive. (Reference: “The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors” by Kersey Graves).
How then did December 25, become associated with the birth of Jesus Christ? John King in his monumental work titled, The Celtics Druids: Seasonal Cycles of the Ancient Celts stated, “In fact, Christ birth-date was deliberately and artificially set, during the third century AD, to coincide with, absorb and supersede the pagan festival dedicated to Saturn. It is not even certain that Christ was born in the winter: many legends speak of his being born in the spring. The controversy caused by the switch from the old Julian calendar to the Gregorian persists in the popular folk story that Christ was actually born on 6 January, and that at midnight on the eve of that day animals kneel in homage to the Christ child in mangers and stables. Many of the original customs of the Saturnalia have survived into the Christmas celebrations with remarkable persistence. The theme of the advent and the Virgin Births is, of course, not Celtic or Roman, although there are virgin births in other religions and mythologies.” (Reference: “The Celtics Druids: Seasonal Cycles of the Ancient Celts” by John King).
King’s research points to the fact, that the entire Christmas tradition, perhaps has it roots in pagan tradition (interpreted to mean Christmas is a non-Christian ritual), which ancient people had developed sophisticated customs and rituals that pre-dated the birth of Jesus. The Ancients charted the universe son, moon and stars, thus, developing agricultural rites that paid homage to the power of life and death as it was seen in nature (the Freemasons, Rosicrucian, Elks, Illuminati, Sun Gods of Kemet and quite naturally the Sun Gods of Ancient Greece and Rome understood these principles better than so-called Christians), as well as others have relied in an interdependent manner on the winter and summer solstice for ritual justification and theological explanation. Nature dies (winter months) and it resurrects itself every year (spring time) and all of the above Societies, as well as Christianity developed elaborate customs and theological rites giving to some aspect of death and resurrection that was observed in the natural creation. (Reference: “Secret Societies: Inside The World’s Most Notorious Organizations” by John Lawrence Reynolds).
Moreover, as the earth rotates on her axis the Ancients became infatuated with the mystique of the winter and summer solstice. The word Sol is a Latin word meaning Sun and word Stice mean to stand still and in scientific terms the winter solstice and the summer solstice are one of the ecliptic at which its distance from the celestial equator is greatest and which is reached by the Sun each year around June 22nd and December 22nd. In our hemisphere (North America) December 22, starts winter, in which days get shorter and nights get longer and it was believed by the Ancients that the Sun died during this time, but the manipulators of truth switched and presented us with the story of Jesus, the “Son God” and then concocted a story that is very much inconsistent with the Holy Bible about the events surrounding Jesus birth. (Reference: Recapturing the African Mind” by Bruce Bridges).
For example, in the book titled, The Book the Church Doesn’t Want You to Read, edited by Tim C. Leedom. Leedom maintains that, “It is also noteworthy that during the month of December, Bethlehem and its surroundings are subject to wintry cold weather, chilling rains, and sometime snow. One does not find shepherds with their flocks outside at night during that time. This is not a recent weather phenomenon… all of this indicates that weather conditions in Bethlehem in December do not fit the Bible’s description of the events connected with the birth of Jesus Christ---Luke 2:8-11.” (Reference: “The Book the Church Doesn’t Want You to Read” by Tim C. Leedom).
Kersey Graves in his book titled, The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors, wrote about the historical fact that there were at least Sixteen Saviors that resembled the story attributed to Jesus Christ. He maintained that all of these world Saviors were born of virgin birth (immaculate conception), wise men predicted their birth, the heavens roared, born on December 25, died, resurrected and ascended to heaven. These various Saviors born on December 25th could be found in Kemet (Egypt), India, Persia, China, Mexico, Greece, Rome, Germany and all of them represented aspects of the Sun Gods who were deified long before the man, we came know as Jesus ever walked upon this earth. It was at the Council of Nicaea (modern day Turkey) on May 20, 325 AD that Constantine and his Biblical scholars conveniently and systematically set-up Christianity (meaning the establish creed and doctrine) and in most instance it went contrary and was outright inconsistent with the original teachings of Jesus.
The two authors Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas in their book titled, The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secrets Scrolls of Jesus , describes some of the challenges that the non-Christian Constantine the Great and the Council of
Nicaea faced, “The result of the Council was the ‘Nicene Creed’, which sought to reconcile the differences between various Christian factions and to avoid doctrinal gulfs that had looked as though they might split the Eastern Church away completely. The rulings that emerged still provide the basis for most Church establishments today, covering many points of detail such as when congregations should stand and when they should sit during services. The central issue, however, was the problem of whether Jesus Christ was a man or a god, and if he were indeed a god, what was the precise nature of his divinity.” (Reference: “The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secrets Scrolls of Jesus” by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas).
Also, the entire system of Freemasonry is built on the on the Solar Deity hypothesis; thus, one can point to the allegorical story of Hiram Abiff (this story has no Biblical foundation) and he too was a prototype of the SUN GOD conjecture. Hiram Abiff was considered a Master Builder of King Solomon’s Temple and served as a symbolic duality in Operative Masonry (Guild Masonry—Trade Skills) and Speculative (philosophical) Freemasonry and He is equivalent to Jesus in fact and fiction. Shabazz once again in his book Symbols, Holidays, Myths and Signs stated, “In Masonry the sun has many symbols. One expression of the solar energy is Solomon, whose name Sol-om-on is the name for the supreme light in three different languages. Hiram, the Chiram (Hiram) of the Chalders, is also a color deity, and the story of his attack and murder by three Ruffians.”
The circumstances of Hiram Abiff’s death transcend earthly reality and moves into immortality (eternal life and the realm of infinity). Hiram Abiff was murdered at high noon by three Jewish Ruffians that conspired to steal his LIGHT (knowledge and wisdom). Death is viewed as temporary, no different than the changing of the seasons and Jesus life is styled as the zenith of the concept of immorality (Christians believe that Christ has ascended to heaven and is sitting on the right hand of the Father, but will return). Hiram Abiff’s fate is only temporary just as all the other SOLAR DEITIES, which life and death are charted by the sun, moon and stars. Hiram Abiff like Jesus suffered a cruel death and was resurrected (He was raised from a dead level) from the grave in which he eventually stood Ninety degrees upright as a LIVING PERPENDICULAR ON THE SQUARE.
The Worshipful Master stationed is in the East (there is where the Sun Rises) and HE is considered the light of the Masonic Lodge and as the physical sun gives light which to set the earth into rotation, the Worshipful Master is styled as Wisdom and the Craft should radiate from his illumination and enlighten coming out of the EAST. The sun as it crosses the meridian sets in the WEST and this is the station of the Senior Warden and HE is styled Strength and in the SOUTH stationed Junior Warden, he is styled as Beauty. (Reference: “Who is Hiram Abiff?” by JSM Ward)
John G. Jackson in his book titled, Man, God, and Civilization he stated, “Interesting relics of ancient sun worship may be observed in the ceremonies, symbols and ritual of modern Freemasonry. According to Masonic Tradition, the word of Freemason can be traced back to ancient Egypt. It was derived from two Egyptian words, ‘phee” (the sun) and ‘mas’ (a child), meaning children of the sun or sons of light; and from this combination we derived the word freemason. A Mason is advised to travel to the East in search of light, for the sun rises in the East. The Masonic initiation rites like those of the ancient mysteries of Egypt, are drama based on the astronomical allegory of the death and resurrection of the sun, and the doctrines of the unity of god and the immortality of man; and these tenets are learned from Dr. Oliver’s Dictionary of Symbolic Masonry , that a lodge has their lights situated in the East, the South and the West respectively.”
Jackson continues, “They are so placed in allusion to the sun rises in the East, cross the meridian by way of the south and sets in the West. There is no light in the North part of the lodge, since the sun directs no rays from that area. Every Masonic Lodge Should be oriented due East and sets in the West because the sun, the glory of the Lord, rises in the East and sets in the West and in the lodge, the Master stands in the East, the Junior Warden in the South and the Senior Warden in the West, which positions are representative of sunrise, noon, and sunset, respectively.” (Reference: “Man, God, and Civilization” by John G. Jackson).
Perhaps the most colorful of all the SUN GODS was Osiris of ancient Kemet and in reality, this writer could have started this topic off with Osiris ended with Osiris, because of all the SUN GODS, it was from his legend that all other legends sprung. The Christianity Trinity perhaps originated in ancient Egypt long before Jesus the Christ. Osiris, Isis and Heru—is the father, son, and the holy ghost. These ancients’ tales were derived from agriculture and fertility festival rites. Osiris had a jealous brother names Seth (Satan) who conspired against him in a vicious plot to take his life just as the Cain and Able story of your Christian Bible.
Seth succeeded in murdering his righteous and innocent brother moreover, cutting his body—up in 14 pieces and depressed the pieces in the river to be ever lost. But Osiris had a zealous sister named Nephthys who desired to search the river in order to find Osiris to reconstruct his body. She found Osiris’ body, some historians say that she found his body in pieces scattered throughout the vast river with the exception of his penis. Osiris’ sex organ was forever lost. The Egyptian started constructing the obelisk symbols as duplication of Osiris lost penis. Osiris being associated in the larger scheme of the sun. However, there are many different slants to the Osiris myth.
Fahim A. Knight Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of good will of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpret the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlighten world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com,
By Fahim A. Knight-El
This brief article is on the origin of Christmas and its so-called correlation to the SUN GOD concept, which the western parables of Jesus originated; moreover, December 25 is the BIRTH OF THE SUN GOD and in reality, this fabrication and/or truth has nothing to do with the Historical and Prophetic man called Jesus (there are actually two Jesus, perhaps another subject for another time) and this propaganda is continually being perpetuated in the name of tradition. But the beneficiaries of the Christmas tradition have always been the merchant class in the United States of America and around the world, which accumulates over 75% of their annual gross sales and financial profits during the month of December.
Allauddin Shabazz in his book titled, Symbolism, Holidays, Myths and Signs, the word “Christmas” means “Mass of Christ,” or as it came to be shortened, ‘Christ—mas.’ It came to non—Christians and Protestant from the Roman Catholic Church. And where did they get it?---NOT from the New Testament---NOT from the Bible—NOT from the original apostles who were personally instructed by Christ—but it gravitated in the fourth century into the Roman Church from paganism”
Tradition reaps in huge monetary gains and that HIDDEN HAND who does not believe in Christmas or Jesus---THEIR GOD IS MONEY and WE SHOULD CALL THEIR HOLY ONE “PROFIT” AND GREED. This writer, wonders does the SUN—DAY School teachers admonishes that the worship of the SUN was replaced with the divinity and worship of the SON popular associated with the man named Jesus (or Yeshuaa Ben Yosef). This article should not be viewed as an attack on the faith--tradition of Christianity, but like the Reggae revolutionary artist Bob Marley’s used to sing “NONE CAN FREE OUR MINDS, BUT OURSELVES.”
Allauddin Shabazz book validates this contention relative to the commercialization and the nonreligious connection Christmas has with the birth of Jesus; in his small, but powerful book titled, Symbolism, Holidays, Myths and Signs he goes on to state, “Christmas has become a commercial season. It’s sponsored, kept alive, by the heaviest retail advertisement campaigns of the year. You see a masqueraded “Santa Claus” in many stores. Ads keep the masses deluded and deceived about the ‘beautiful Christmas spirit.’ The newspaper, who sells ads, print flowery editorials exalting and eulogizing the pagan season, and spirit. Gullible people have become so inoculated, many take offense when told the truth. But the ‘Christmas spirit’ is created each year, not to honor Christ, but to sell merchandise!” (reference: Symbolism, Holidays, Myths and Signs” by Allauddin Shabazz).
This writer understands and humbly admits and accepts that a 4,000 word Blog only places serious limitations on a subject of this magnitude where scholars such as: Gerald Massey, Albert Churchward, E.A. Wallis Budge, Josef Ben Jochannan, Alvin Boyd Kuhn, Godfrey Higgins, John G. Jackson, Kersey Graves, Cheikh Anta Diop, Manly P. Hall, John Henrik Clarke, Jacob Boehme, Arthur Edward Waite, G.R.S. Mead, Louis H. Spencer, H.G. Wells, H.P. Blavatsky, Ishakamusa Barashango, J.Van Rijckenborgh, Albert Pike, George Oliver, J.S.M. Ward, etc., have spent many years researching and writing scholarly treatise on the above subject.
This thumbnail sketch, is by no means, written to represent a definitive and exhaustive study on the this subject; there are to many links, which expands to the schools of thought of esoteric, religious, philosophical, occult, metaphysical science and the truth extends to many cultures, and far beyond the limitations of this research could ever begin to address. But it should not be viewed that the author perhaps does not understand the depth and complexity of this subject pertaining to Jesus, a god of the Sun and the origin of Christmas.
E. Curtis Alexander in an essay titled, African Foundations of Christendom he stated, “Christendom began as a Council of Bishops in Nicea, a city in Bithynia, in Asia Minor on the southside of the Black Sea. The Council was convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine. Many events took place at this Council and the formation of many theological and theosophical doctrines were established such as the Trinity, the name of JESUS, THE Virgin Birth and perhaps the biggest act was making of the Bible. The books that were not canonical at this Council are known to us today as “Lost Books of the Bible’ and the ‘Forgotten Books of Eden’ ” (Reference: “African Foundations of Christendom” by E. Curtis Alexander).
In a book compiled by William Josiah Sutton titled, The Illuminati 666 stated, “There is no scriptural evidence that supports the Birth of Christ as being December 25th; but history says December 25th was kept thousands of years before the Birth of Christ, in honor of the pagan Messiah. Another name for Tammuz, the pagan-child, was ‘Baal-bereth’ which means Lord of the Fir Tree.” (Reference: “The Illuminati 666” by William Josiah Sutton).
The majority of the scholarship on this subject totally contradicts the Christian version of the biblical man known as Jesus Christ, but reaffirms this story within the scheme of historical and mythological allegory, metaphors, symbolism, prototypes, similes, etc. There is a sizable amount of precedent evidence, which informs us, that the entire story of Jesus relative to his birth, death, resurrection, and ascension were not concepts indigenous to European cultures (although, it flourished in that region of the world after they came in contact with Ancient Egypt (Kemet).They borrowed the Solar God concept from Egypt. (Reference: “Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World” by Gerald Massey).
John G. Jackson in his enlighten book titled, Ethiopia and the Origin of Civilization stated, “A study of the images of ancient deities of both the Old and New Worlds reveals their Ethiopic origin. Thus is noted by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie in T.A. Buckley’s CITIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, p. 180:--‘From the wooly texture of the hair, I am inclined to assign to the Buddha of India, the Fuhi of China, the Sommonacom of the Siamese, Xaha of the Japanese, the Quetzalcoatl of the Mexicans, the same, and indeed an African, or rather Nubian, origin.’
Jackson continues on to state, “most of the black gods were regarded as crucified saviors who died to save mankind by being nailed to a cross, or tied to a tree with arms outstretched as if on a cross, or slain violently in some other manner. Of these Crucified SAVIORS, THE MOST PROMINENT WERE OSIRIS, AND HORUS OF EGYPT, KRISHNA OF INDIA, MITHRA OF PERSIA, QUETZALCOATL OF MEXICO, ADDONIS OF BABYLONIA AND ATTIS OF PHRYGIA. NEARLY ALL OF THESE SLAIN SAVIOR-GODS HAVE THE FOLLOWING STORIES RELATED ABOUT THEM:---THEY ARE BORN OF A VIRGIN, ON OR NEAR DEC.25TH (CHRISTMAS); THEIR BIRTH ARE HERALDED BY A STAR; THEY ARE BORN EITHER IN A CAVE OR STABLE; THEY ARE SLAIN, COMMONLY BY CRUCIFIXION; THEY DESCEND INTO HELL, AND RISE FROM THE DEAD AT THE BEGINNING OF SPRING (EASTER) AND FINALLY ASCEND INTO HEAVEN.” (Reference: “Ethiopia and the Origin of Civilization” by John G. Jackson).
There is overwhelming historical evidence that the worship of the SUN GOD (which was celebrated by many names and in many forms depending upon the culture and nation) Jesus was a story of antiquity, that had played out on the stage of human civilizations, perhaps some thousands of years before the actual birth of the man called Jesus who lived 2,000 years ago and before Constantine concocted and devised the Christian Creed (reference: Reza Aslan Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, which was designed to control how Christianity would be disseminated, as well as, theologically protect the half-truths, distortions, and outright lies. They lied about the historical details of the man called Jesus, the Christ. (Reference: “The Historical Origin of Christianity” by Walter Williams).
Wikipedia online research engine stated, “December 25 was also considered to be the date of the Winter Solstice, which the Romans called bruma. It was therefore the day the Sun proved itself to be "unconquered" despite the shortening of daylight hours. (When Julius Caesar introduced the Julian Calendar in 45 BC, December 25 was approximately the date of the solstice. In modern times, the solstice falls on December 21 or 22.) The Sol Invictus festival has a "strong claim on the responsibility" for the date of Christmas, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus (sun/Son). "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born . . . Christ should be born,"
Anthony Browder in his book titled, Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization he stated, “Auras, Aset, and Heru is the first story recorded in history of man of a holy royal family (the Trinity), immaculate conception, virgin birth and resurrection. Evidence of this Trinity is known to have exist.” (Reference: “Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization” by Anthony Browder).
H.P. Blavatsky in her monumental book titled, Isis Unveiled through meticulous research traces the original man’s history and culture back to Egypt (Kemet) which all philosophy, science, theology, and in essences human thought evolved. she stated, “What Egypt taught to others she certainly did not acquire by the international exchange of ideas and discoveries with her Semitic neighbors, NOR FROM THEM DID SHE RECEIVE HER STIMULUS. ‘The more we learn of the Egyptians,’ observes the writer of a recent article, ‘The Marvelous they seem!’ From whom could she have learned her wondrous arts, the secrets of which died with her? She sent no agents throughout the world to learn what others knew; but to her the wise men of neighboring nations resorted for knowledge. Proudly secluding herself within her enchanted domain, the fair queen of the desert created wonders as if by the sway of a magic staff. ‘Nothing” remarks the same writer, whom we shall elsewhere quote, ‘proves that civilization and knowledge rise and progress with her in the case of other peoples, but everything seems to be referable, in the same perfection, to the earliest dates. That no nation knew as much as herself, is a fact demonstrated by history.”
There is no doubt, that the story of Jesus was steeped in duality and shrouded in the mysteries, but the WICKLY WISE, the ten (10) percent who the Honorable Elijah Muhammad referred to as, “The rich, the slavemakers of the poor, who teach poor lies to believe that the almighty true and living God, is a spook and cannot be seen with the physical eye. Otherwise known as the bloodsuckers of the poor.”
Muhammad further maintained that December 25 was the birthday of Nimrod who was mentioned in the Bible (Old Testament) he is styled as a mighty hunter who is in opposition to God and he turned against the teachings of Moses (the law giver). Nimrod was born 300 years before Christ. Thus, he manipulated the teachings of Moses and set-up the early pagan empires such as Greece and Rome. According to the Bible he is the son of Cush. Nimrod killed his father and married his mother, whose name was Ester, and the Easter celebration is also tied to advent of Nimrod and the entire SUN GOD scheme. (Reference: The True History of Elijah Muhammad” Edited by Nasir Makr Hakim)
Moreover, when Nimrod’s wife (his mother) had their first child, he feared that people would lose respect for him, if they knew he was making babies through his own mother (it was a secret that they were married) therefore to fool the people Nimrod told people that the Holy Ghost had impregnated his mother. This was beginning of the GREAT LIE told about the birth of Jesus.” there is a lot in Muhammad’s lesson and was Christmas set-up by non-Christians who do not believe in Jesus Divinity, but has a stronger conviction to manipulate money and play on the theological ignorance of the people. (Reference: “The History of Nimrod” by Elijah Muhammad).
Manly P. Halls stated, “For reasons which they doubtless considered sufficient, those who chronicled the life and acts of Jesus found it advisable to metamorphose him into a solar deity. The HISTORICAL JESUS WAS FOR GOTTEN; nearly all the salient incidents recorded in the four Gospels have their correlations in the movement, phases, or functions of the heavenly bodies. Among other allegories borrowed by Christianity from pagan antiquity is the story of the beautiful, blue-eyed Sun God, with His golden hair falling upon his shoulders, robed from head to foot in spotless white and carrying in His arms the Lamb of God, symbolic of the vernal equinox. This handsome youth is a composite of Apollo, Osiris, Orpheus, Mithras, and Baccus, for HE has certain characteristics in common with each of these pagan deities.” Manly P. Hall whom this writer considers one of the foremost free thinkers in the history of mankind and he uncovers and interprets symbolism, signs and delved into ancient wisdom unlike any other this writer had read (Reference: “The Secret Teachings of All Ages” by Manly P. Hall).
We have been taught and perhaps more indoctrinated into believing that December 25, represented the birth of Jesus Christ of Nazareth who lived perhaps 2,000 years ago in around modern day Palestine. There is some evidence that points to Jesus birth place being in the ancient city of Bethlehem, but most Biblical historians have argued that Jesus was born in Nazareth. but there was a plot and a conspiracy orchestrated by King Herod to kill the first born male; reference: Hugh J. Schonfield; The Passover Plot, thus Mary’s pregnancy and Jesus birth became a top priority and secret, this cloaking and concealment was only necessary to protect Jesus from his conspirators. (Reference: The Jesus Scroll” by Donovan Joyce).
This next quote is from a book titled, The Lost Books of the Bible to Jesus Christ, His Apostles and Their Companions originally published in 1820 by William Hone. Most Christians do not know their were some lost books to the original Bible or perhaps this writer should say that a number of books were deliberate and intentionally removed from the Bible as an act of deception. Nevertheless, Hone stated, “Now Herod, perceived that the wise men did delay and not return to him, called together the priests and wise men and said, Tell me in what place the Christ should be born? And when they replied, in Bethlehem, a city of Judea, he began to contrive in his own mind the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. But an Angel appeared to Joseph in his sleep, and said, Arise take the child and his mother and go into Egypt as soon as the cock crows. So he arose, and went.” (Reference: “The Lost Books of the Bible to Jesus Christ” by William Hone).
December 25 had nothing to do with Jesus Birthday in fact his name was probably more like Yeshua Ben Yosef or Isa Bin Yusuf (Jesus the Son of Joseph) in accordance to the Amharic and/or Hebrew languages that were spoken in that region of the world, long before the English language was even a thought. Jesus was atypical of pagan tradition that evolved around the son god concept and there were many more world saviors who had similar histories of Jesus and many of the things we ascribed to Jesus were actually borrowed from more ancient cultures and civilizations. The birth, death, resurrection and ascension fables seemed to have been concocted by money changers and merchants which as stated above, many of them do not believe in Jesus divinity, but the commercialization and the exploitation of his name is their only motive. (Reference: “The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors” by Kersey Graves).
How then did December 25, become associated with the birth of Jesus Christ? John King in his monumental work titled, The Celtics Druids: Seasonal Cycles of the Ancient Celts stated, “In fact, Christ birth-date was deliberately and artificially set, during the third century AD, to coincide with, absorb and supersede the pagan festival dedicated to Saturn. It is not even certain that Christ was born in the winter: many legends speak of his being born in the spring. The controversy caused by the switch from the old Julian calendar to the Gregorian persists in the popular folk story that Christ was actually born on 6 January, and that at midnight on the eve of that day animals kneel in homage to the Christ child in mangers and stables. Many of the original customs of the Saturnalia have survived into the Christmas celebrations with remarkable persistence. The theme of the advent and the Virgin Births is, of course, not Celtic or Roman, although there are virgin births in other religions and mythologies.” (Reference: “The Celtics Druids: Seasonal Cycles of the Ancient Celts” by John King).
King’s research points to the fact, that the entire Christmas tradition, perhaps has it roots in pagan tradition (interpreted to mean Christmas is a non-Christian ritual), which ancient people had developed sophisticated customs and rituals that pre-dated the birth of Jesus. The Ancients charted the universe son, moon and stars, thus, developing agricultural rites that paid homage to the power of life and death as it was seen in nature (the Freemasons, Rosicrucian, Elks, Illuminati, Sun Gods of Kemet and quite naturally the Sun Gods of Ancient Greece and Rome understood these principles better than so-called Christians), as well as others have relied in an interdependent manner on the winter and summer solstice for ritual justification and theological explanation. Nature dies (winter months) and it resurrects itself every year (spring time) and all of the above Societies, as well as Christianity developed elaborate customs and theological rites giving to some aspect of death and resurrection that was observed in the natural creation. (Reference: “Secret Societies: Inside The World’s Most Notorious Organizations” by John Lawrence Reynolds).
Moreover, as the earth rotates on her axis the Ancients became infatuated with the mystique of the winter and summer solstice. The word Sol is a Latin word meaning Sun and word Stice mean to stand still and in scientific terms the winter solstice and the summer solstice are one of the ecliptic at which its distance from the celestial equator is greatest and which is reached by the Sun each year around June 22nd and December 22nd. In our hemisphere (North America) December 22, starts winter, in which days get shorter and nights get longer and it was believed by the Ancients that the Sun died during this time, but the manipulators of truth switched and presented us with the story of Jesus, the “Son God” and then concocted a story that is very much inconsistent with the Holy Bible about the events surrounding Jesus birth. (Reference: Recapturing the African Mind” by Bruce Bridges).
For example, in the book titled, The Book the Church Doesn’t Want You to Read, edited by Tim C. Leedom. Leedom maintains that, “It is also noteworthy that during the month of December, Bethlehem and its surroundings are subject to wintry cold weather, chilling rains, and sometime snow. One does not find shepherds with their flocks outside at night during that time. This is not a recent weather phenomenon… all of this indicates that weather conditions in Bethlehem in December do not fit the Bible’s description of the events connected with the birth of Jesus Christ---Luke 2:8-11.” (Reference: “The Book the Church Doesn’t Want You to Read” by Tim C. Leedom).
Kersey Graves in his book titled, The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors, wrote about the historical fact that there were at least Sixteen Saviors that resembled the story attributed to Jesus Christ. He maintained that all of these world Saviors were born of virgin birth (immaculate conception), wise men predicted their birth, the heavens roared, born on December 25, died, resurrected and ascended to heaven. These various Saviors born on December 25th could be found in Kemet (Egypt), India, Persia, China, Mexico, Greece, Rome, Germany and all of them represented aspects of the Sun Gods who were deified long before the man, we came know as Jesus ever walked upon this earth. It was at the Council of Nicaea (modern day Turkey) on May 20, 325 AD that Constantine and his Biblical scholars conveniently and systematically set-up Christianity (meaning the establish creed and doctrine) and in most instance it went contrary and was outright inconsistent with the original teachings of Jesus.
The two authors Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas in their book titled, The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secrets Scrolls of Jesus , describes some of the challenges that the non-Christian Constantine the Great and the Council of
Nicaea faced, “The result of the Council was the ‘Nicene Creed’, which sought to reconcile the differences between various Christian factions and to avoid doctrinal gulfs that had looked as though they might split the Eastern Church away completely. The rulings that emerged still provide the basis for most Church establishments today, covering many points of detail such as when congregations should stand and when they should sit during services. The central issue, however, was the problem of whether Jesus Christ was a man or a god, and if he were indeed a god, what was the precise nature of his divinity.” (Reference: “The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secrets Scrolls of Jesus” by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas).
Also, the entire system of Freemasonry is built on the on the Solar Deity hypothesis; thus, one can point to the allegorical story of Hiram Abiff (this story has no Biblical foundation) and he too was a prototype of the SUN GOD conjecture. Hiram Abiff was considered a Master Builder of King Solomon’s Temple and served as a symbolic duality in Operative Masonry (Guild Masonry—Trade Skills) and Speculative (philosophical) Freemasonry and He is equivalent to Jesus in fact and fiction. Shabazz once again in his book Symbols, Holidays, Myths and Signs stated, “In Masonry the sun has many symbols. One expression of the solar energy is Solomon, whose name Sol-om-on is the name for the supreme light in three different languages. Hiram, the Chiram (Hiram) of the Chalders, is also a color deity, and the story of his attack and murder by three Ruffians.”
The circumstances of Hiram Abiff’s death transcend earthly reality and moves into immortality (eternal life and the realm of infinity). Hiram Abiff was murdered at high noon by three Jewish Ruffians that conspired to steal his LIGHT (knowledge and wisdom). Death is viewed as temporary, no different than the changing of the seasons and Jesus life is styled as the zenith of the concept of immorality (Christians believe that Christ has ascended to heaven and is sitting on the right hand of the Father, but will return). Hiram Abiff’s fate is only temporary just as all the other SOLAR DEITIES, which life and death are charted by the sun, moon and stars. Hiram Abiff like Jesus suffered a cruel death and was resurrected (He was raised from a dead level) from the grave in which he eventually stood Ninety degrees upright as a LIVING PERPENDICULAR ON THE SQUARE.
The Worshipful Master stationed is in the East (there is where the Sun Rises) and HE is considered the light of the Masonic Lodge and as the physical sun gives light which to set the earth into rotation, the Worshipful Master is styled as Wisdom and the Craft should radiate from his illumination and enlighten coming out of the EAST. The sun as it crosses the meridian sets in the WEST and this is the station of the Senior Warden and HE is styled Strength and in the SOUTH stationed Junior Warden, he is styled as Beauty. (Reference: “Who is Hiram Abiff?” by JSM Ward)
John G. Jackson in his book titled, Man, God, and Civilization he stated, “Interesting relics of ancient sun worship may be observed in the ceremonies, symbols and ritual of modern Freemasonry. According to Masonic Tradition, the word of Freemason can be traced back to ancient Egypt. It was derived from two Egyptian words, ‘phee” (the sun) and ‘mas’ (a child), meaning children of the sun or sons of light; and from this combination we derived the word freemason. A Mason is advised to travel to the East in search of light, for the sun rises in the East. The Masonic initiation rites like those of the ancient mysteries of Egypt, are drama based on the astronomical allegory of the death and resurrection of the sun, and the doctrines of the unity of god and the immortality of man; and these tenets are learned from Dr. Oliver’s Dictionary of Symbolic Masonry , that a lodge has their lights situated in the East, the South and the West respectively.”
Jackson continues, “They are so placed in allusion to the sun rises in the East, cross the meridian by way of the south and sets in the West. There is no light in the North part of the lodge, since the sun directs no rays from that area. Every Masonic Lodge Should be oriented due East and sets in the West because the sun, the glory of the Lord, rises in the East and sets in the West and in the lodge, the Master stands in the East, the Junior Warden in the South and the Senior Warden in the West, which positions are representative of sunrise, noon, and sunset, respectively.” (Reference: “Man, God, and Civilization” by John G. Jackson).
Perhaps the most colorful of all the SUN GODS was Osiris of ancient Kemet and in reality, this writer could have started this topic off with Osiris ended with Osiris, because of all the SUN GODS, it was from his legend that all other legends sprung. The Christianity Trinity perhaps originated in ancient Egypt long before Jesus the Christ. Osiris, Isis and Heru—is the father, son, and the holy ghost. These ancients’ tales were derived from agriculture and fertility festival rites. Osiris had a jealous brother names Seth (Satan) who conspired against him in a vicious plot to take his life just as the Cain and Able story of your Christian Bible.
Seth succeeded in murdering his righteous and innocent brother moreover, cutting his body—up in 14 pieces and depressed the pieces in the river to be ever lost. But Osiris had a zealous sister named Nephthys who desired to search the river in order to find Osiris to reconstruct his body. She found Osiris’ body, some historians say that she found his body in pieces scattered throughout the vast river with the exception of his penis. Osiris’ sex organ was forever lost. The Egyptian started constructing the obelisk symbols as duplication of Osiris lost penis. Osiris being associated in the larger scheme of the sun. However, there are many different slants to the Osiris myth.
Fahim A. Knight Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of good will of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpret the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlighten world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com,
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