Monday, February 16, 2009
THE DOMINO EFFECT: DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE
THE DOMINO EFFECT: DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE
By Fahim A. Knight-EL
Let me start this particular article off by being a little unorthodox by citing some of my sources and giving the readers right off the back, a glimpse into how this article was formulated, which these are some of the best available sources which allows us to assess and evaluate events and trends and to determine what is true and false, in particular during these most trying times. Moreover, without relying on the corporate controlled mediums to make that determination for us in matters like these. This writer used perhaps over fifty (50) different references, but these ten (10) have given shape to many of my articles and whenever I find myself in doubt about trying to understand the mind of the globalist and the New World Order advocates. I do not hesitate to call on these FREE THINKERS: 1).Reference: Gary Allen and Larry Abraham: “None Dare Call it Conspiracy.” 2). Reference Carroll Quigley: "Tragedy and Hope" 3). Reference: Henry Ford: “The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem" 4). Reference: David Icke: “The Biggest Secret" 5). Reference: John Coleman; Conspirators Hierarchy: The Committee of 300" 6). Reference: Andy Stern: “Oil: From Rockefeller to Iraq and Beyond” 7). Reference: William Cooper; “Behold A Pale Horse” 8). Russell S. Bowen; “The Immaculate Deception: The Bush Crime Family Exposed” 9). Reference: Terrance Jackson; “Putting it All Together: World Conquest, Global Genocide and African Liberation.” 10). (Reference: William Greider; “Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country”).
The propaganda machines have done a masterful job of giving the masses abstract and decoys in order to keep them confused and politically disorientated. They have sent the entire planet into panic mode relative to the international economic meltdown and the financial crisis facing the globe. The Dynastic Money Changers are working to further rearrange wealth and labor; thus, creating an economic depression to justify further empowering the world’s wealth holders by blaming labor for contributing to America's recent economic collapse. The Rockefellers, Rothschilds, Oppenhemiers, etc., are bent on greed, although they control over ninety-nine (99) percent of the world's wealth; they are dissatisfied that their modern slaves having access and somewhat control over a measly one (1) percent. The masses do not see or know that Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG, Chase Manhattan, Bear-Sterns, Bank of America, etc., are treasures (they use these front banks to services us peasants, but the real action is taking place on the Central Banks level) of these hidden families who have created an unequal economic, social and political playing field. (Reference: Eustace Mullins; "The Secrets of the Federal Reserve")
What is taking place, as far as the global economic crisis is not accidental history, but someone has the power and authority to create this economic domino affect (someone has the power to call the debt-in), but at the same time give the appearance that the Fortune 500 Companies due to poor management and bad investments have landed us in this economic predicament. Remember President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney deregulated Wall Street given Capitalist a free reign to set their own rules (as far as how the flow money was going to be engaged in the economic market and how it was going to be disseminated—this agenda would be centered around greed) with no governmental interference or accountability. In essence, this isn't about the failure of the subprime housing market and it isn't about American banking institutions collapsing. Their agenda is even far more sinister than the effects this economic phenomenon is having on the psyche and social stability of some of the most wealthiest developed societies in the world.
These vipers have come to the conclusion that even one (1) percent of the world's wealth being in the hands of the ignorant masses is to much and this induce panic is designed to forever destroy the present and future labor arrangement (they do not desire for human labor from this day forward to be a negotiating commodity under the new globalization rules) by steadily increasing the unemployment rate and by forcing the corporate and the business sector to continue to experience financial losses while we watch the Dow Jones and the Stock Exchange market continue to plummet; they will achieve this goal. They now want all the money and this induce crisis will put them even in a better position to get control over all the loose change. Thus, this crisis was also designed to position the people to become almost desperate and they themselves will start believing the hype. The Invisible Rulers throughout history have consistently and effectively used this same strategy and tactic of fear and ordinarily they get their intended results. We will begin to voluntarily and unconditionally accept their arrangement and proudly wear the chain and ball around our minds. (Reference: Dr. John Coleman: “Conspirators Hierarchy: The Story of the Committee of the 300”)
They dislike labor unions serving as an intercessor between production (capitalist interest) and labor (mass work force) and their ability to negotiate a little more financial crumbs in the interest of labor has become intolerable. For example, they do not want American autoworkers (blue collar workers) and wage earners to ever again to be in a position and/or demand higher wages for their labor. They know that in Mexico and Central and South America and East Asia, they can exploit labor and maximize Capitalist monetary interest. Labor and money have been devalued with little to no resistance in these societies and economic markets. This economic meltdown will forever weaken labor unions and alleviate some altogether and with a reactionary result turn the United States into a right to work nation; a slave state where all the power and authority rest in the hands of the corporate entities, which all of this fit quite nicely into agenda of the New World Order plan.
American businesses are closing their doors (since December 2008 almost over five hundred thousand jobs lost in the United States) and some of the biggest companies like IBM, General Motors, Glaxo Kline Smith, GE, etc., and other small and large conglomerates have felt the so-called economic crunch. President Obama is asking the poor taxpayers for another 800 billion dollar stimulus package to so-called ignite the United States economy and like his predecessor George W. Bush, he began to use fear base and scare tactic language; such as it would be catastrophic for the American people, if Congress did not pass the stimulus bill. What is a catastrophic is this New World Order front man who has agreed to the same agenda of President Bush and he too does not give a damn about wrecking the U.S. economy and global economy because those that put him in office is all powerful and unforgiving. They are now going to strategically use him and he has to make good on their investment (they raised over 500 million dollars for this operative—more than any other low level servant in the history of American politics in order to put him in office). Do the American people realize that these stimulus packages and bailout packages are not only going to enslave us today, but these trillions of dollars of debt has already been assigned to our great grandchildren and future unborn generations labor and wealth have already been mortgaged off? They will be forced to bear the economic brunt of this mess that the Invisible Rulers have created in 2008 and 2009.
The 2001 passing of the United States Patriot Act by the United States Congress rendered the United States Constitution as a legal impotent document and this act alone has led to the global rearrangement of the world's political, economic, and social systems. The U.S. Patriot Act was deemed to be all intrusive and it literally replaced the U.S. Constitution; this act destroyed "Rights" and "Civil Liberties" which the Americans and global community volunteered to surrender their little bit of "Freedoms" with no fight. They began believing and accepting the hype. We were setup by the events of 9/11 there were no external terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, but it was made to appear like the United States National Security was being compromised and tested by a foreign enemy. Reference Naomi Wolf given an address at Kane Hall at the University of Washington—Seattle delivered on October 11, 2007. She is the author of “The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc
The attack was to appear of having an objective of disrupting the world's financial capitol, but this was only the first step in the globalization process and it marked a global paradigm shift, which went directly over most people’s heads. Those who were awake witness the greatest political transition in the history of humanity and sadly to say most of people did not have a clue and still do not have a clue that 9/11 incident dismantled the old world as we knew it and it ushered in a New World Order. New York represents the belly of the beast, the venom sack of the snake and right after 9/11 the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and their partners in Tel Aviv were transferring Arab and Muslim funds, hard currency and assets that were deposited in U.S. and European banks anticipating (or really knowing) that the State Department and the U.S. Treasury Department working in conjunction with the United States Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon were going to declare certain nations and individuals as being involved in terrorist activity. This allowed the United States Government to freeze and steal billions of dollars from Islamic entities both public and private.
This writer was recently viewing BBC and they were reporting on the thirty (30) year Anniversary of the Iranian Islamic Revolution that was spearheaded by Imam Ayatollah Rullah Khomeini in 1979, which overthrew the reactionary regime of Shah Mohammed Pahlavi who was a U.S. Government agent provocateur and a betrayer of Islam. There was an Iranian Government official speaking and he said that the United States Government froze between 20-30 billion dollars in Iranian assets after the 1979 revolution and thirty (30) years later the U.S. Government still refuses to relinquish these assets back to the Iranian Government. How can President Barack Obama declare that he wants to open up diplomacy with Iran and did not even send an official low level government delegation to the Iranian Revolution commemoration celebration in Tehran?
If he had done so, it would have spoken volumes and it would have, at least assured President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that President Obama was serious about changing U.S. Foreign Policy course toward the nation of Iran and in addition, it would have provided a sense of political optimism for the entire Middle Eastern region. But he missed a golden opportunity to explore a positive diplomacy moment and to make his word his bond. Thus, for good measure and a start, why doesn’t the U.S. Government unfreeze this sovereign nation's assets? Bush declared certain nations as “Rogue Nations” and as part of the “Axis of Evil” and in doing so he could keep certain economic sanctions and embargoes on these nations and use this antagonistic U.S. Foreign Policy to justify keeping these foreign nations assets frozen and currency hidden in vaults of the United States.
President Obama has the entire world in his hands and he will either use his enormous popularity and power in a responsible manner or he will squander it away just like former President George Bush did after 9/11. The world embraced the United States after the 9/11 hoax and looked for moral guidance from the White House instead Bush isolated the world and took a course of imperialism. On one hand, many have a view of political optimism relative to President Obama’s ascension to power. But this view serves as a contradiction and as an oxymoron because if he is a low level operative for the Invisible Rulers then, why should we be anticipating anything from President Obama that would be adversely different from the policy agenda of President Bush or the other past forty-two (42) presidents that proceeded Bush? (Reference: David Sanger: “The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power”).
The script and the agenda have been written and set; President Barack Obama will just be executing their well defined New World Order and global agenda. So, one could ask, why should we in the United States, in particular and the world in general, be so excited over this pawn? Thus, during his inauguration on January 20, 2009 he drew over 1.5 million people to the Washington Mall and to the U.S. Capitol. I had an interesting conversation with one of my sons who asked me was I going to attend this so-called historical event. This writer emphatically said hell no because most of the African American population was being driven by raw emotions. They still do not realize he was just a black face, chosen to be in a high place and in one sense is more dangerous because this so-called historical moment has further lured the masses to sleep. The former Hip-Hop artist KRS-1 defines Barack Obama as New World Order in Blackface; please reference link this guy is a serious thinker http://happilynaturalday.com/blog/index.php/2009/02/video-krs-one-obama-is-new-world-order-in-blackface/
Many stood in chilling temperatures on the Capitol grounds surrounded by Masonic, esoteric and occult architecture and symbolism, but had no idea that it would be these signs and symbols at the root of the philosophical minds of those who control President Obama and that the Invisible Rulers had setup—Orders (hidden and secret societies that are only open to the Power Elite) from which almost every U.S. president and most foreign presidents have been apart of. The meaning of President Obama’s historical significance was more rooted in those hidden symbols displayed on the U.S. Capitol grounds (or really visible symbols) than America’s history of racism which has spanned over two hundred twenty two (222) years denying African Americans the right to be president. This writer saw this crowning of President Barack Obama and this occasion of having much more historical implications than the achievement of another Civil Rights accomplishments for African Americans.
These symbols, edifices, monuments and signs that engulf the U.S. Capitol were all around those who assembled at the U.S. Capitol on that day and very few had any knowledge to interpret their inner meanings because they have been made blind, deaf and dumb to the knowledge of self by the Prince of Darkness (the 10 percent the rulers of the world). Symbols are what makes up language and language allows us to communicate, but also, symbols have always had a duality in meaning (the visual message and the esoteric message). Many saw the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, as well as the Masonic cornerstones and many saw the signs coming into Washington DC from south to north that read Alexandria, Virginia (but very few had the ability to decode the symbolic language). President Obama is being guided by those masterminds who have built a world and a society that uses these symbolic lessons to confound and control the ignorant and to communicate on a higher level amongst themselves. The Invisible Rulers have invited President Obama into their internal world (although he lacks the Dynastic Family lineage and does not have powerful family name and more so than that he does not come from a history of money). But they will share some of the “Secret Book” with him and this writer is quite sure his initiation took place long before he became a candidate for the U.S. presidency. The Masonic lessons teach us that we travel from East to West in search of more light in Masonry. The U.S. Capitol (sits in the West—North America) is now the seat of world power and domination. (Reference: Manly P. Hall; “The Secret Teachings of All Ages”).
No, doubt all of what we know as Operative Masonry and Speculative Masonry goes back to Africans (Moors—Blacks) that were practicing this HIGH SCIENCE in Kemet (Egypt) long before the Europeans of Greece, Roman and the United States were on the scene; they too studied in Kemet (Egypt) and brought these principles back to Europe. The Egyptian Mystery Schools served as the center of enlightenment of the entire world. It was inscribed on all the most scared temples in Kemet (Egypt) "Man Know Thy Self”. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said out of all the knowledge you can acquire, there is none more valuable than the "KNOWLEDGE OF SELF". He also stated my teachings can be summed up in six words "accept your own and be yourself." Our revolutionary scholars such as John Henrik Clarke, Yosef Ben Jochannon, Asa Hilliard, Naim Akbar, Molefi Kete Asante, John G. Jackson, Chancellor Williams, Ivan VanSertima, Cheik Anta Diop, etc., have proving without a shadow of doubt that Kemet (Egypt) fed all of humanity—civilization. There is a Prince Hall Masonic brother who wrote a very good book detailing these facts his name is Zachery P. Gremillion; "African Origins of Freemasonry”
Freemasonry has always been one of those intriguing topics for me and in my study, I have traveled across many theoretical paths and Masonry was one of those paths, but each path could not totally confine nor define my thinking and my quest for greater truths always became evident and won out. I have two strong audiences that find my research attractive and appealing. I do not accept nor acknowledge the term "Conspiracy Theory" but there are others who freely use this term to define people and scholars like myself who pursue alternative history and neglected viewpoints, which do not receive proper attention from the corporate media. This audience like myself truly believe that there is some powerful hidden entities that operates in darkness and are hidden from humanity, but rule over humanity with an iron claw.
Some of my readers have asked for my take on Masonry having a so-called Jewish origin. There are several Islamic based theories that view the entire system of Freemasonry as a Zionist invention and an enemy against the religion of Islam. Thus, some of the Freemasonic theoretical teachings evolved form the Jewish Kabballah, Torah (Old Testament) and from the Jewish Talmud. However, the Ancient people of Kemet (Egypt) were practicing a sophisticated system of initiation with their neophytes, perhaps thousands of years prior to the teachings of the Kabballah, which is definitely correlated to the Masonic doctrine and worldview. Now! The original Jews were from Ethiopia called the Fulasha Jews and they were Black and of African origin. But later an imposter Jew called Khazars and the Ashkenazi Jew from Eastern Europe adopted the racial identity and the religion of Judaism, but who were master tricksters. (Reference: Jose V. Malcioln; “The African Origins of Modern Judaism: From Hebrews to Jews”).
We were taught that these Caucasian Jews were the most learned of all the Caucasians they received 33rd degrees (known as Shriners—Moslem Sons) of knowledge and were able to run circles around their non-initiated Caucasian brothers. But Masonry foundation rest on the SEVEN LIBERAL ARTS and the FIVE ARCHITURE schools of thought; we have proof positive that these high sciences evolved in Kemet (Egypt) and was practiced in the Egyptian Mystery Schools. However, some believe that a certain sector of Jews had a secret and clandestine agenda, which was written in the book titled, "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion." Some Masonic historians believe that the Three Ruffians that is so eloquently displayed and taught at the Master Mason levels were actually symbolic of a Jewish Conspiracy against the Grand Master Hiram Abiff (but this allegorical character run the gamut in symbolism). (Reference: Mustafa EI-Amin's books titled, "AI- Islam, Christianity, and "Freemasonry". "Ancient Egypt’ and “Ancient Egypt and the Islamic Destiny").
There are others who have recently asked me to describe who I think my audience may be and I must say; I attract a unique audience in that; the majority of those who show interest in my work from the perspective of solidarity is Caucasian and is willing to explore the possibilities. These audiences also cross over to those people who think Zionism is racist and view it as an enemy against the freedoms of all people. These anti-Zionist quite often point to the Zionist Money Changers as being a disrupted force in the lives of all humanity presently and historically. These anti-Zionist are very political in their thinking and worldview and they can appreciate my historical research relative to me exposing the invisible forces behind finance and banking and the Federal Reserve System, as well as my analysis on the Invisible Rulers. Although, I might not agree with the anti-Zionist political worldview step by step—there are some things that we do agree upon. I said two groups, but let me expand that number; this writer does receive a lot of correspondences from Freemasons because in one sense, I do not attack Freemasonry (not that I agree with all their teachings because I do not and I am often critical of Illuminati and other Orders that comes in the name of Freemasonry). But I desire to have a conversation with various schools of thought including Freemasonry and if people feel that you are being intellectually condescending or disrespectful they are not going to be willing to share in your dialogue and often becomes closed to your discussion. So, I use my Blog research to teach Freemasons because many of them are tied to lodge rituals and are very weak in the philosophical aspect of Masonic teachings. This is an ancient order and has been very influential in shaping the political, economic and social structure of the world. But the rank and file member after receiving the Master Mason (third degree) becomes stagnated.
The path of connecting the dots is a life long journey and I equally know that it is a difficult task because those who control the world seeks to be invisible (functioning with all sovereignty and invisible to the masses) and a lot of the ancient wisdom has been intentionally scattered, fragmented and dissected, which makes our job even more difficult. The more you seek, the more you shall find. But there does appear to be a central theme and the same faces and agenda keeps re-occurring throughout human history and they are responsible for deceiving humanity. They have corrupted the world's political, economic, social, and spiritual systems including organized religion—Judaism, Christianity and Islam. There is a war going on for the hearts and minds of humanity and the powers-that-be constantly feed us propaganda in order to further enslave humanity. Sometime I have to literally ask myself, why did the Creator allow me to think outside the box and why couldn't I have been one of the "walking dead" who lacks the knowledge of self and is not burden by the daily struggles to know? This position alone will create all types of personal havoc and often time render you unpopular and can even determine whether or not you will eat, work and/or live. But many are called, but there are few that are chosen and I have made the ultimate sacrifice to walk a true path. I believe Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius and countless others were led to this same conclusion and spiritual reality. I am not comparing myself to these Sages.
There are still others who wanted to specifically know what led me to this path; I started studying Esoteric, Freemasonry, Occult, Metaphysical science, world religions, etc., all this put me on the path that I am on today. This study process allowed me the ability to decode the symbolism because it is symbolism that continues to keep us in mental slavery and if I was going to get closer to the truth then I could no longer ignore the vast world of symbolism. The first book that deeply struck me, was a book written by Kersey Graves titled, "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors" in which Graves brought to my attention that there were so-called other world Saviors from which Christians borrowed the entire myth of the birth, death, resurrection and ascension from ancient societies in Egypt, Persia, India, China, Mexico, Greece, etc. In fact, the ancient story of Osiris (Asar), Isis (Aset), and Horus (Huru); (the Father, Son and Holy Ghost)—the birth, death, resurrection and ascension were an old story. Yeshua ben Josef (Jesus, the Christ) was actually predated by some thousands of years by the Osirian Myth, even before the advent of Isa bin Yusuf or Yeshua ben Yosef (better known in the West as Jesus Christ—the so-called Son of God) was ever a thought.
These legends are rooted in the Sun God and Solar God concepts. For example, right-minded historians and social scientists have traced these rituals and customs back to the worship of the Winter Solstice and Summer Solstice that were originally being practiced in Kemet (ancient Egypt). I found this knowledge intriguing and believable based on the standards that I applied to determine truth. I read the "Lost Books of the Bible" and many more like sources and most of it pointed to how Constantine and Bishops in 325 A.D. set-up Christianity and the Christian Creed. This type of knowledge set me on the path to know and it is empowering to see behind the symbols and decoys, which is where the naked truth lies.
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened 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-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
Saturday, February 7, 2009
BLACK HISTORY MONTH, IS IT STILL RELEVANT?
BLACK HISTORY MONTH, IS IT STILL RELEVANT?
By Fahim A. Knight-EL
Black History Month, why is it necessary? This writer could simply answer this question by referencing what the founder of Black History Month; Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) called "The Mis-Education of the Negro". No, the election of President Barack Obama does not signify that the celebration of Black History month has become insignificant, outdated or has out lived its purpose and relevance. The dominant society has elevated President Obama and his achievement as a means to silence the racial contradictions that exist in America both past and present. But this token promotion does not resolve all the past and present disparities which continue to factor into America's social dynamics. (Reference: C. Eric Lincoln; “Coming through the Fire: Surviving Race and Place in America”).
This writer and millions of other African Americans are proud of President Obama's monumental achievement and his reaching the highest political office in the world, but we know this does not begin to address the real social, political and economic issues effecting African American people. Thus, we should not put our guards down and become complacent and thinking that we have arrived and America has finally become a true melting pot where as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., preached that we are now being judged by the content of our character and not by the color of our skin. (Reference: Cornel West; “Race Matters”).
President Obama's appointment does not resolve race issues in America and we forever need the voices of Louis Farrakhan, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Father Phleger, Cornel West, Malik Zulu Shabazz, Michael Dyson, etc., to remind us and America that the struggle for liberation continues and we will not be duped nor deceived by a token appointment and we call that progress. Our revolutionary scholars and activist can not be lured to sleep and cease to fight for freedom, justice and equality just because President Obama has become the so-called first African American president of these United States of America. The struggle is continuum and we must not allow ourselves to be intentionally placed in a lax mode. (Reference: Michael Eric Dyson: “Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line”).
Dr. Carter G. Woodson stated: “When a Negro has finished his education in our schools, then he has been equipped to begin the life of an Americanized Europeanized white man, but before he steps from the threshold of his alma mater he is told by his teachers that he must go back to his own people from whom he has been estranged by vision of ideals which in his disillusionment he will realize he cannot attain. He goes forth to play his part in life, but he must be both social and bi-social at the same time. While he is part of the body politic, he is in addition to this a member of a particular race to which he must restrict himself in all matter social. While serving his country he must serve within a special group. While being a good American, he must above all things be a "good Negro"; and to perform this definite function he must learn to stay in a "Negro's place." “(Reference: Woodson; “The Mis-Education of the Negro” pg 4).
This writer detest the Black History month pimps who are paid handsome honorariums to crisscross America speaking at colleges and universities in which many of these tired 1960s armchair revolutionaries have sold out and are just hustling outdated theories and have lost the meaning of conviction. I have no respect for these intellectual pimps who live bourgeoisie life styles and are hidden in white America's ivory towers and have become part of the so-called privileged class. They only promote black history to make money; some of these Negroes make $10,000 to $20,000 per speech given these glorified and apolitical black cultural talks which are very safe and non-threaten and supports the status quo.
Thus, after Black History month these Negroes disappear and black history is left to languish in obscurity until next year. They chose the shortest month of the year to honor the oldest history and longest (African History) to ever be recorded; twenty-eight days (28) does not even begin to allow us to scratch the surface. The study of African history must be 365 days; this writer is very familiar with Woodson choosing February because of the 19th Century Black leader Fredrick Douglas was born in this month and the so-called great black emancipator Abraham Lincoln was also born in this month. February was chosen in honor of these two American icons.
My keeping it Real Think Tank has an African American base and it has always been my primary audience, but I would be foolish to deny or disregard like minds of other races and cultures that share and understand the struggle we are up against, which affects all of humanity. But the African American has always been in a precarious situation in America, which stems from their history under Chattel Slavery (1555-1865). This history has never been redeemed and atoned; it therefore, continues to pose a dichotomy and creates and antagonistic social contradiction inside of America. It easy for people to say, we should overlook the 310 years of subjugation and are not sensitive to one of most inhumane crimes ever recorded in human history. (Reference: Ida Hakim; “Reparations: The Cure for America’s Race Problem”).
Chattel Slavery literally devastated a people psychologically, socially and culturally and the present generations of African Americans were never allowed to heal and yet just 150 years removed from the brutality they are still dealing with this not so distant history. This is not a cry of victimization or seeking sympathy, but it is a reality, that this history haunts the psyche of most black people, if they are honest. The United States as a governmental entity has never had a serious conversation relative to race and racism and as a nation we have been in denial and the issue of race therefore remains unresolved even in 2009. So, this sense of cultural and historical duality automatically breeds a position of nationalism because here goes a people that have lost their names, religion, land and lost a cultural reference point and there will always be a need to remind them of the value of their history prior to Chattel Slavery. (Reference: Richard Williams; “They Stole it, But You Must Return it”).
This writer was drilled by his college professors at a small Liberal Arts university in North Carolina in the value of the study of Black History. Professors such as Dr. Earlie Thorpe, Dr. David W. Bishop, Dr. Stephen Fortune, Dr. Percy Murray, Dr. Beverly Washington-Jones, Dr. Sylvia Jacobs, Dr. Freddie Parker, etc., were some of the best traditional historians in the United States—the history department was prominent and a well respected department headed by qualified scholars. Thus, as much as, this writer could appreciate these professional historians’ perspectives, it was not enough to captivate my imagination. (Reference: Earl Thorpe; “The Central Theme of Black History”).
But, it wasn’t until this writer came in contact with the likes of Elijah Muhammad, J.A. Rogers, Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannon, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Chancellor Williams, Dr. John G. Jackson, Dr. Cheik Anta Diop, Dr. Ivan VanSertima, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Dr. Marimba Ani, Runoko Rashidi, Dr. Maulana Karenga, Dr. Naim Akbar, etc., that my thinking evolved, it was these scholars who took my thinking to next level as it pertains to the study of African history and no doubt their views were outside the box and it challenged the system of white supremacy. These above scholars are true Black History advocates who have not compromised the principles of truth. They have uprooted the lies, half-truths and the historical distortions giving to us by the dominant culture. (Reference: Kwaku Person-Lynn; “First Word, Black Scholars, Thinkers, Warriors”).
This curriculum that was taught gave me a greater appreciation for the struggle and accomplishments that African Americans had made in world history before their sojourn as slaves. This writer oftentimes finds himself differing with white social activist and liberals when it comes to issues relating to race and yet we share some commonality on other political, social and economic issues. They desire to downplay the effects of race and racism and this writer has to constantly remind them that an unbalance playing field was created due to Chattel Slavery (1555-1865) and thereafter with Jim Crow (legal segregation). Black History month evolved out of these social dynamics because America's race relations had denied people of African descendent their humanity and had systematically denigrated them to an inferior status for over four hundred (400) years. (Reference: C. Vann Woodard; “The strange Career of Jim Crow”).
Dr. Woodson stated: No systematic effort toward change has been possible, for, taught the same economics, history, philosophy, literature and religion which have established the present code of morals, the Negro's mind has been brought under the control of his oppressor. The problem of holding the Negro down, therefore, is easily solved. When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place" and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary. (Reference: Carter G. Woodson; "The Mis-Education of the Negro" pg. ix).
Africa was called the "Dark Continent" interpreted to meaning they gave nothing to human civilization and although the nations of Ethiopia (Cush) and Egypt (Kemet) had splendid histories in which these African societies arguably fed all of humanity and were the birth places of man. It has been recorded that students from around the world came to learn from the wise ancient Sages of Cush (Ethiopia) and Kemet (Egypt). The scholars and social scientist are still baffled of how the Nubian Egyptians constructed the Eighth Wonder of the world—the building of the pyramids; surely these Africans were not inferior in their intellectual capacity. The science of medicine, mathematics, astronomy, religion, art, science, geometry, hydraulics, engineering, philosophy, architect, etc., originated on the African continent. (Reference: John G. Jackson; “Introduction to African Civilization”).
This writer is often amused by European Bloggers who have delved into various dimensions of Kemet (Egypt) and have come up with geometric and physics based reasoning to explain our sacred temples and pyramids of Kemet (Egypt) and not mention that it was Africans who left this puzzle for humanity to resolve. The Scholars Wallis Budge, Sir Godfrey Higgins, Albert Churchward, George Frazer, Manly P. Hall, Madam Blavatsky, Gerald Massey, H.G. Wells, Will Durant, etc., recognized that builders of the Kemetic pyramid structures were Africans. These modern day Egyptian intellectuals talk around this fact and they desire to place Egypt (Kemet) in the Middle East (there is such no place called the Middle East; the only thing that separates this territory from Africa is a man made ditch called the Suez Canal; for those who still do not know Egypt is in Africa) or come up with some false mulattoe ethnic race in order to deny the Blackness of Egypt. (Reference: Cheik Anta Diop; “Civilization Or Barbarism”).
I think America grew to become an even more ethnocentric society between World War 11 and the Cold War (1941-1989) periods whereas subjects like world geography and world civilizations weren’t deemed important and our educational philosophy was not being formulated around where the world was headed (globalism and the global market of ideas). We had arrogantly, selfishly and ignorantly embraced what we deemed as Americanism or better yet Eurocentrism. This thought led us to believe that everything from ideas—cultures and human achievements evolved around America —a so-called “superior culture” that had in one sense become isolated and it was this idea that contributed to the dummying down of America.
The Afrocentric movement led by Dr. Molefi Kete Asante and other scholars challenged America and all Western Education to reconsider, in particular how Africa was being viewed and how blacks were being viewed stemmed more from cultural ignorance and the educational curriculums reflected this institutionalize ignorance and was contributing toward our cultural incompetence . Although, this argument had its political, social and economic limitations; nevertheless, it forced American educators in the mid 1980s and 1990s to adopt educational strategies that would reflect and encompass the pluralism and the cultural diversity of our society. (Reference: Molefi Kete Asante; Afrocentricity).
This was a step to correct a nation’s psyche and redirect an educational ideology that had gone off course; this led to the multi-cultural movement, a movement to correct and address global projections once it was finally realized where the rest of the world was headed. I just do not think past great educational philosophers had the foresight to look deep in the future and create social theories that could stand without the need of any new assessments and evaluations which to make them relevant to where we are in this space and time. But blacks were robbed of a knowledge of self in this process they lost their culture, names, religion, folkways, mores and by being kidnapped they even lost their land.
Slavery was the greatest criminal act ever committed against humanity; it divided black slaves who spoke the same tribal languages and shared an ethnic heritage (dividing of the families had tremendous everlasting impact on African Americans). Slavery worked to disconnect blacks from their history and destroyed their linkage to a past and justified all manners of oppression and subjugation by calling Blacks the biblical children of Ham and depicted Blacks as being cursed base on their interpretation of the Bible. This theological interpretation more than anything else justified racism and white supremacy; it led to a subsiding of moral and ethical criticism based on this so-called divine system of reasoning. Blacks were denied the right to read and write (other than the Bible); learning for them was outlawed and a crime. They could be killed if caught with a book during chattel slavery. (Reference: John Blassingame; “The Slave Community”).
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches that history builds the springs and motives of human actions, it empowers a people beyond dates and events to come to know the contribution their ancestors made on the stage of human civilization. Many do not know that a black man named Granville T. Woods invented the telephone system and apparatus; Phillip B. Downing invented the letter box; William B. Purvis invented the fountain pen; Joseph V. Nichols and Lewis H. Latimer invented the electric lamp; W.A. Lavalette; Robert F. Flemmings, Jr., invented the guitar; John Stanard invented the refrigerator; Norbert Rillieux improved the sugar making process; George W. Kelley invented the steam table; Willis Johnson invented the Egg Beater; John Albert Burr invented the Lawn Mower; J.H. Smith invented the Lawn Sprinkler; George F. Grant invented the golf tee; Oscar E. Brown invented the horseshoe; Jan E. Matzeliger invented the shoe lasting machine; M.C. Harney invented the lantern or lamp, etc. (Reference: Ivan VanSertima; “Blacks in Science”).
This writer can go on and on about the countless inventions that African Americans made in which many were stolen because they could not get a patent for their inventions based on racism. These Black unsung heroes have languished as the unknown contributors toward the advancement of our culture refinement. While others profited financially off the inventions of African Americans and racism allowed them to be exploited and even to this day they have not received any compensation. No, we can not just overlook this and every intelligent African American who has come into the knowledge of self has a job, duty and responsibility to expose America’s hypocrisy. Even in 2009 the above cited contributions have almost been totally written out of American history and our children are given a distorted view of history based on the practices of intellectual racism. So the establishment of Black History month serves as an attempt to correct the wrongs and to give people a truer perspective of African Americans historical accomplishments seen outside the visual realms of the former slave masters and their children. (Reference: Chip Smith; “The Cost of Privilege: Taking On The System of White Supremacy and Racism”).
American history has been tainted by 400 years of racial politics and it has unjustly denigrated other people who were not of European descendent as inferior and relegated them to an insignificant role within the scheme of American history. In 1925 Dr. Carter G. Woodson recognized that African Americans were sixty (60) years removed from slavery and had suffered a tremendous systematic disconnectedness from a glorious past. Woodson was a well trained scholar who had received a Ph.D in history from Harvard University in 1912 and was the second black behind W.E.B. Dubois to earn a Ph.D in history from Harvard 1895. Woodson was a contemporary of Marcus Garvey and use to write articles for Garvey's publication titled, "The Negro World.” Garvey advocated Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism—Garvey preached back to Africa and self-reliance. (Reference: J.A. Rogers; “The World’s Great Men of Color”).
Woodson may have shared in some of Garvey's political, economic and social philosophy, but I believed Woodson was entrapped by his own western education. He may have empathized with some of Garvey's views, but as an intellectual perhaps wasn't willing to embrace Garvey's hardcore Black Nationalism teachings on separation and his call for a Pan-African state. However, no black leader did more to inspire and connect Diaspora blacks to Africa and to create an African worldview than Garvey. His philosophy was steeped in African tradition and represented a symbolic fulfillment of the prodigal sons and daughters having an identified home being Africa. But more importantly in theory, it reaffirmed their traditional linkage to a long lost culture and heritage. (Reference: Harold Cruse; “The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual”).
The establishment of Negro History week (it was originally called Negro History week prior to becoming Black History Month in 1976 and it was co-founded by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity) was essentially a reaction to white American style racism. American history had precluded blacks and there wasn't too many positive black images being offered in the text books and often blacks contributions were minimized to a footnote or was just outright discarded. Dr. Woodsin in 1916 founded the Journal of Negro History (presently called the Journal of African American History) where he began to write and publish scholarly and scientific research articles on varying aspects of black history. Woodson used this periodical to prove to the world that blacks indeed had made a worthwhile contribution, in particular to American history and world history in general. Woodson served as its first editor from (1916-1950), Rayford Logan (1950-1951), William M. Brewer (1952-1970), W. August Low (1970-1974), Lorraine A. Williams (1974-1976), Alton Hornsby (1976- 2001), etc., these were some of the early editors of the Journal of Negro History.
Woodson stated: “A further examination of their curricula shows, too, that invariably these Negro colleges offer courses in Greek philosophy and in that of modern European thought, but they direct no attention to the philosophy of the African. Negroes of Africa have and always have had their own ideas about the nature of the universe, time, and space, about appearance and reality, and about freedom and necessity. The effort of the Negro to interpret man's relation to the universe shows just as much intelligence as we find in the philosophy of the Greeks. There were many Africans who were just as wise as Socrates.” (Woodson: “The Mis-Education of the Negro” pg 89).
Woodson in 1915 founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (presently called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History) all geared toward rectifying the intellectual damage caused by the brutal system of Chattel Slavery. Many historians have tried to piece the black experience together from remnants of scattered records because blacks were considered as the white man's property—vital statistics (family names, birthdays, siblings, tribal affiliation, etc.) were not kept on African slaves. Also, during early United States Census reports blacks were only listed as property. (Reference: Herbert G. Gutman; “The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom 1750-1925”).
Early on scholars such as W.E. B Dubois wrote extensively on varying aspects of African and African American history using his pen to reclaim the black man’s past. Dubois first book was titled, "Suppression of the African Slave Trade", "The Souls of Black Folk," The Philadelphia Negro," "The Autobiography of W.E.B. Dubois," "From Dust of Dawn" and perhaps his most celebrated work was titled, "Encyclopedia Africana" this writer does not think he ever completed this monumental project, but it was dedicated toward a pulling together of African people's history from around the world. But I believe Dr. Henry Louis Gates may have completed what Dubois started fifty (50) years ago. (Reference: W.E.B. Dubois and Herbert Aptheker (editor); “The Education of Black People: Ten Critiques, 1906-1960”).
Dr. Woodson also wrote and researched extensively and as a professional historian, he and Dubois took the study of African American history to the next level based on their use of empirical research methods, as for as scientifically approaching black history as a credible field of study.
Dubois stated: “The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach 'the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face." (Reference: W.E.B. Dubois; "The Souls of Black "Folk pg. 45-46).
Woodson perhaps authored one of the most definitive books examining the social, political and economic mindset of the African American titled, "The Mis-Education of the Negro" first published in 1933. This book answers the critics’ opposition to why African American still find it necessary to promote and advocate Black History Month every February. Racism is systemic and you can not reverse three hundred ten (310) years of human brutality which created certain attitudes and behavior as a result it became inculcated in the psychology of a nation.
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened 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-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
By Fahim A. Knight-EL
Black History Month, why is it necessary? This writer could simply answer this question by referencing what the founder of Black History Month; Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) called "The Mis-Education of the Negro". No, the election of President Barack Obama does not signify that the celebration of Black History month has become insignificant, outdated or has out lived its purpose and relevance. The dominant society has elevated President Obama and his achievement as a means to silence the racial contradictions that exist in America both past and present. But this token promotion does not resolve all the past and present disparities which continue to factor into America's social dynamics. (Reference: C. Eric Lincoln; “Coming through the Fire: Surviving Race and Place in America”).
This writer and millions of other African Americans are proud of President Obama's monumental achievement and his reaching the highest political office in the world, but we know this does not begin to address the real social, political and economic issues effecting African American people. Thus, we should not put our guards down and become complacent and thinking that we have arrived and America has finally become a true melting pot where as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., preached that we are now being judged by the content of our character and not by the color of our skin. (Reference: Cornel West; “Race Matters”).
President Obama's appointment does not resolve race issues in America and we forever need the voices of Louis Farrakhan, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Father Phleger, Cornel West, Malik Zulu Shabazz, Michael Dyson, etc., to remind us and America that the struggle for liberation continues and we will not be duped nor deceived by a token appointment and we call that progress. Our revolutionary scholars and activist can not be lured to sleep and cease to fight for freedom, justice and equality just because President Obama has become the so-called first African American president of these United States of America. The struggle is continuum and we must not allow ourselves to be intentionally placed in a lax mode. (Reference: Michael Eric Dyson: “Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line”).
Dr. Carter G. Woodson stated: “When a Negro has finished his education in our schools, then he has been equipped to begin the life of an Americanized Europeanized white man, but before he steps from the threshold of his alma mater he is told by his teachers that he must go back to his own people from whom he has been estranged by vision of ideals which in his disillusionment he will realize he cannot attain. He goes forth to play his part in life, but he must be both social and bi-social at the same time. While he is part of the body politic, he is in addition to this a member of a particular race to which he must restrict himself in all matter social. While serving his country he must serve within a special group. While being a good American, he must above all things be a "good Negro"; and to perform this definite function he must learn to stay in a "Negro's place." “(Reference: Woodson; “The Mis-Education of the Negro” pg 4).
This writer detest the Black History month pimps who are paid handsome honorariums to crisscross America speaking at colleges and universities in which many of these tired 1960s armchair revolutionaries have sold out and are just hustling outdated theories and have lost the meaning of conviction. I have no respect for these intellectual pimps who live bourgeoisie life styles and are hidden in white America's ivory towers and have become part of the so-called privileged class. They only promote black history to make money; some of these Negroes make $10,000 to $20,000 per speech given these glorified and apolitical black cultural talks which are very safe and non-threaten and supports the status quo.
Thus, after Black History month these Negroes disappear and black history is left to languish in obscurity until next year. They chose the shortest month of the year to honor the oldest history and longest (African History) to ever be recorded; twenty-eight days (28) does not even begin to allow us to scratch the surface. The study of African history must be 365 days; this writer is very familiar with Woodson choosing February because of the 19th Century Black leader Fredrick Douglas was born in this month and the so-called great black emancipator Abraham Lincoln was also born in this month. February was chosen in honor of these two American icons.
My keeping it Real Think Tank has an African American base and it has always been my primary audience, but I would be foolish to deny or disregard like minds of other races and cultures that share and understand the struggle we are up against, which affects all of humanity. But the African American has always been in a precarious situation in America, which stems from their history under Chattel Slavery (1555-1865). This history has never been redeemed and atoned; it therefore, continues to pose a dichotomy and creates and antagonistic social contradiction inside of America. It easy for people to say, we should overlook the 310 years of subjugation and are not sensitive to one of most inhumane crimes ever recorded in human history. (Reference: Ida Hakim; “Reparations: The Cure for America’s Race Problem”).
Chattel Slavery literally devastated a people psychologically, socially and culturally and the present generations of African Americans were never allowed to heal and yet just 150 years removed from the brutality they are still dealing with this not so distant history. This is not a cry of victimization or seeking sympathy, but it is a reality, that this history haunts the psyche of most black people, if they are honest. The United States as a governmental entity has never had a serious conversation relative to race and racism and as a nation we have been in denial and the issue of race therefore remains unresolved even in 2009. So, this sense of cultural and historical duality automatically breeds a position of nationalism because here goes a people that have lost their names, religion, land and lost a cultural reference point and there will always be a need to remind them of the value of their history prior to Chattel Slavery. (Reference: Richard Williams; “They Stole it, But You Must Return it”).
This writer was drilled by his college professors at a small Liberal Arts university in North Carolina in the value of the study of Black History. Professors such as Dr. Earlie Thorpe, Dr. David W. Bishop, Dr. Stephen Fortune, Dr. Percy Murray, Dr. Beverly Washington-Jones, Dr. Sylvia Jacobs, Dr. Freddie Parker, etc., were some of the best traditional historians in the United States—the history department was prominent and a well respected department headed by qualified scholars. Thus, as much as, this writer could appreciate these professional historians’ perspectives, it was not enough to captivate my imagination. (Reference: Earl Thorpe; “The Central Theme of Black History”).
But, it wasn’t until this writer came in contact with the likes of Elijah Muhammad, J.A. Rogers, Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannon, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Chancellor Williams, Dr. John G. Jackson, Dr. Cheik Anta Diop, Dr. Ivan VanSertima, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Dr. Marimba Ani, Runoko Rashidi, Dr. Maulana Karenga, Dr. Naim Akbar, etc., that my thinking evolved, it was these scholars who took my thinking to next level as it pertains to the study of African history and no doubt their views were outside the box and it challenged the system of white supremacy. These above scholars are true Black History advocates who have not compromised the principles of truth. They have uprooted the lies, half-truths and the historical distortions giving to us by the dominant culture. (Reference: Kwaku Person-Lynn; “First Word, Black Scholars, Thinkers, Warriors”).
This curriculum that was taught gave me a greater appreciation for the struggle and accomplishments that African Americans had made in world history before their sojourn as slaves. This writer oftentimes finds himself differing with white social activist and liberals when it comes to issues relating to race and yet we share some commonality on other political, social and economic issues. They desire to downplay the effects of race and racism and this writer has to constantly remind them that an unbalance playing field was created due to Chattel Slavery (1555-1865) and thereafter with Jim Crow (legal segregation). Black History month evolved out of these social dynamics because America's race relations had denied people of African descendent their humanity and had systematically denigrated them to an inferior status for over four hundred (400) years. (Reference: C. Vann Woodard; “The strange Career of Jim Crow”).
Dr. Woodson stated: No systematic effort toward change has been possible, for, taught the same economics, history, philosophy, literature and religion which have established the present code of morals, the Negro's mind has been brought under the control of his oppressor. The problem of holding the Negro down, therefore, is easily solved. When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place" and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary. (Reference: Carter G. Woodson; "The Mis-Education of the Negro" pg. ix).
Africa was called the "Dark Continent" interpreted to meaning they gave nothing to human civilization and although the nations of Ethiopia (Cush) and Egypt (Kemet) had splendid histories in which these African societies arguably fed all of humanity and were the birth places of man. It has been recorded that students from around the world came to learn from the wise ancient Sages of Cush (Ethiopia) and Kemet (Egypt). The scholars and social scientist are still baffled of how the Nubian Egyptians constructed the Eighth Wonder of the world—the building of the pyramids; surely these Africans were not inferior in their intellectual capacity. The science of medicine, mathematics, astronomy, religion, art, science, geometry, hydraulics, engineering, philosophy, architect, etc., originated on the African continent. (Reference: John G. Jackson; “Introduction to African Civilization”).
This writer is often amused by European Bloggers who have delved into various dimensions of Kemet (Egypt) and have come up with geometric and physics based reasoning to explain our sacred temples and pyramids of Kemet (Egypt) and not mention that it was Africans who left this puzzle for humanity to resolve. The Scholars Wallis Budge, Sir Godfrey Higgins, Albert Churchward, George Frazer, Manly P. Hall, Madam Blavatsky, Gerald Massey, H.G. Wells, Will Durant, etc., recognized that builders of the Kemetic pyramid structures were Africans. These modern day Egyptian intellectuals talk around this fact and they desire to place Egypt (Kemet) in the Middle East (there is such no place called the Middle East; the only thing that separates this territory from Africa is a man made ditch called the Suez Canal; for those who still do not know Egypt is in Africa) or come up with some false mulattoe ethnic race in order to deny the Blackness of Egypt. (Reference: Cheik Anta Diop; “Civilization Or Barbarism”).
I think America grew to become an even more ethnocentric society between World War 11 and the Cold War (1941-1989) periods whereas subjects like world geography and world civilizations weren’t deemed important and our educational philosophy was not being formulated around where the world was headed (globalism and the global market of ideas). We had arrogantly, selfishly and ignorantly embraced what we deemed as Americanism or better yet Eurocentrism. This thought led us to believe that everything from ideas—cultures and human achievements evolved around America —a so-called “superior culture” that had in one sense become isolated and it was this idea that contributed to the dummying down of America.
The Afrocentric movement led by Dr. Molefi Kete Asante and other scholars challenged America and all Western Education to reconsider, in particular how Africa was being viewed and how blacks were being viewed stemmed more from cultural ignorance and the educational curriculums reflected this institutionalize ignorance and was contributing toward our cultural incompetence . Although, this argument had its political, social and economic limitations; nevertheless, it forced American educators in the mid 1980s and 1990s to adopt educational strategies that would reflect and encompass the pluralism and the cultural diversity of our society. (Reference: Molefi Kete Asante; Afrocentricity).
This was a step to correct a nation’s psyche and redirect an educational ideology that had gone off course; this led to the multi-cultural movement, a movement to correct and address global projections once it was finally realized where the rest of the world was headed. I just do not think past great educational philosophers had the foresight to look deep in the future and create social theories that could stand without the need of any new assessments and evaluations which to make them relevant to where we are in this space and time. But blacks were robbed of a knowledge of self in this process they lost their culture, names, religion, folkways, mores and by being kidnapped they even lost their land.
Slavery was the greatest criminal act ever committed against humanity; it divided black slaves who spoke the same tribal languages and shared an ethnic heritage (dividing of the families had tremendous everlasting impact on African Americans). Slavery worked to disconnect blacks from their history and destroyed their linkage to a past and justified all manners of oppression and subjugation by calling Blacks the biblical children of Ham and depicted Blacks as being cursed base on their interpretation of the Bible. This theological interpretation more than anything else justified racism and white supremacy; it led to a subsiding of moral and ethical criticism based on this so-called divine system of reasoning. Blacks were denied the right to read and write (other than the Bible); learning for them was outlawed and a crime. They could be killed if caught with a book during chattel slavery. (Reference: John Blassingame; “The Slave Community”).
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches that history builds the springs and motives of human actions, it empowers a people beyond dates and events to come to know the contribution their ancestors made on the stage of human civilization. Many do not know that a black man named Granville T. Woods invented the telephone system and apparatus; Phillip B. Downing invented the letter box; William B. Purvis invented the fountain pen; Joseph V. Nichols and Lewis H. Latimer invented the electric lamp; W.A. Lavalette; Robert F. Flemmings, Jr., invented the guitar; John Stanard invented the refrigerator; Norbert Rillieux improved the sugar making process; George W. Kelley invented the steam table; Willis Johnson invented the Egg Beater; John Albert Burr invented the Lawn Mower; J.H. Smith invented the Lawn Sprinkler; George F. Grant invented the golf tee; Oscar E. Brown invented the horseshoe; Jan E. Matzeliger invented the shoe lasting machine; M.C. Harney invented the lantern or lamp, etc. (Reference: Ivan VanSertima; “Blacks in Science”).
This writer can go on and on about the countless inventions that African Americans made in which many were stolen because they could not get a patent for their inventions based on racism. These Black unsung heroes have languished as the unknown contributors toward the advancement of our culture refinement. While others profited financially off the inventions of African Americans and racism allowed them to be exploited and even to this day they have not received any compensation. No, we can not just overlook this and every intelligent African American who has come into the knowledge of self has a job, duty and responsibility to expose America’s hypocrisy. Even in 2009 the above cited contributions have almost been totally written out of American history and our children are given a distorted view of history based on the practices of intellectual racism. So the establishment of Black History month serves as an attempt to correct the wrongs and to give people a truer perspective of African Americans historical accomplishments seen outside the visual realms of the former slave masters and their children. (Reference: Chip Smith; “The Cost of Privilege: Taking On The System of White Supremacy and Racism”).
American history has been tainted by 400 years of racial politics and it has unjustly denigrated other people who were not of European descendent as inferior and relegated them to an insignificant role within the scheme of American history. In 1925 Dr. Carter G. Woodson recognized that African Americans were sixty (60) years removed from slavery and had suffered a tremendous systematic disconnectedness from a glorious past. Woodson was a well trained scholar who had received a Ph.D in history from Harvard University in 1912 and was the second black behind W.E.B. Dubois to earn a Ph.D in history from Harvard 1895. Woodson was a contemporary of Marcus Garvey and use to write articles for Garvey's publication titled, "The Negro World.” Garvey advocated Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism—Garvey preached back to Africa and self-reliance. (Reference: J.A. Rogers; “The World’s Great Men of Color”).
Woodson may have shared in some of Garvey's political, economic and social philosophy, but I believed Woodson was entrapped by his own western education. He may have empathized with some of Garvey's views, but as an intellectual perhaps wasn't willing to embrace Garvey's hardcore Black Nationalism teachings on separation and his call for a Pan-African state. However, no black leader did more to inspire and connect Diaspora blacks to Africa and to create an African worldview than Garvey. His philosophy was steeped in African tradition and represented a symbolic fulfillment of the prodigal sons and daughters having an identified home being Africa. But more importantly in theory, it reaffirmed their traditional linkage to a long lost culture and heritage. (Reference: Harold Cruse; “The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual”).
The establishment of Negro History week (it was originally called Negro History week prior to becoming Black History Month in 1976 and it was co-founded by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity) was essentially a reaction to white American style racism. American history had precluded blacks and there wasn't too many positive black images being offered in the text books and often blacks contributions were minimized to a footnote or was just outright discarded. Dr. Woodsin in 1916 founded the Journal of Negro History (presently called the Journal of African American History) where he began to write and publish scholarly and scientific research articles on varying aspects of black history. Woodson used this periodical to prove to the world that blacks indeed had made a worthwhile contribution, in particular to American history and world history in general. Woodson served as its first editor from (1916-1950), Rayford Logan (1950-1951), William M. Brewer (1952-1970), W. August Low (1970-1974), Lorraine A. Williams (1974-1976), Alton Hornsby (1976- 2001), etc., these were some of the early editors of the Journal of Negro History.
Woodson stated: “A further examination of their curricula shows, too, that invariably these Negro colleges offer courses in Greek philosophy and in that of modern European thought, but they direct no attention to the philosophy of the African. Negroes of Africa have and always have had their own ideas about the nature of the universe, time, and space, about appearance and reality, and about freedom and necessity. The effort of the Negro to interpret man's relation to the universe shows just as much intelligence as we find in the philosophy of the Greeks. There were many Africans who were just as wise as Socrates.” (Woodson: “The Mis-Education of the Negro” pg 89).
Woodson in 1915 founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (presently called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History) all geared toward rectifying the intellectual damage caused by the brutal system of Chattel Slavery. Many historians have tried to piece the black experience together from remnants of scattered records because blacks were considered as the white man's property—vital statistics (family names, birthdays, siblings, tribal affiliation, etc.) were not kept on African slaves. Also, during early United States Census reports blacks were only listed as property. (Reference: Herbert G. Gutman; “The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom 1750-1925”).
Early on scholars such as W.E. B Dubois wrote extensively on varying aspects of African and African American history using his pen to reclaim the black man’s past. Dubois first book was titled, "Suppression of the African Slave Trade", "The Souls of Black Folk," The Philadelphia Negro," "The Autobiography of W.E.B. Dubois," "From Dust of Dawn" and perhaps his most celebrated work was titled, "Encyclopedia Africana" this writer does not think he ever completed this monumental project, but it was dedicated toward a pulling together of African people's history from around the world. But I believe Dr. Henry Louis Gates may have completed what Dubois started fifty (50) years ago. (Reference: W.E.B. Dubois and Herbert Aptheker (editor); “The Education of Black People: Ten Critiques, 1906-1960”).
Dr. Woodson also wrote and researched extensively and as a professional historian, he and Dubois took the study of African American history to the next level based on their use of empirical research methods, as for as scientifically approaching black history as a credible field of study.
Dubois stated: “The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach 'the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face." (Reference: W.E.B. Dubois; "The Souls of Black "Folk pg. 45-46).
Woodson perhaps authored one of the most definitive books examining the social, political and economic mindset of the African American titled, "The Mis-Education of the Negro" first published in 1933. This book answers the critics’ opposition to why African American still find it necessary to promote and advocate Black History Month every February. Racism is systemic and you can not reverse three hundred ten (310) years of human brutality which created certain attitudes and behavior as a result it became inculcated in the psychology of a nation.
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened 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-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
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