Abena Kwatemaa Offeh-Gyimah
I do not celebrate Black History Month. For a moment, let us ignore the fact that African Americans can celebrate their history only once in a year, and not in a school curriculum. After all, they are a part of American History but just not included in American history. For a moment, let us ignore that most of the history taught only goes as far back as slavery and not beyond. For a moment, let us ignore the fact that the history Blacks are celebrating in February is what white America allows them to celebrate. So, Black history does not include the history of people from Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Sudan or those from Jamaica, Trinidad, St. Vincent; I thought we were all black people. Maybe in this case, black history is defined as African American history of Black people in America.
Moreover, I find black history month, as a way of giving black people the, “I feel sorry for you present.” It is a way of restoring anger and hatred into the hearts of young Black people by presenting unclear facts about their history. The suffering and history of African American history has been romanticized in movies and textbooks, making it difficult to present the truth about their real history.
The history African Americans should be learning is African history. It should start with; there are only three relatively distinct races in the world, The Caucasoid found in Europe, The Negroid found in North Africa and Mongoloid from Middle East to North India. Every existing person in the world falls within these three categories of races. The Negroid inhabited North Africa and the Sahara desert but eventually settled over the face of Africa. They are also the aborigines in Indonesia, Australia, the Polynesia and so forth. The Negroid people are Black people, who have settled all over the place, they are you; this is where you should start studying your history if not beyond.
Often times in the media, the picture of the Negroid people are bush men with their sharp swords; however, they only make up less than 20% of Africa’s population. In pre-colonial times, they made up 1%. However over 90% of the time, that is the image often painted about the Negroid people in Africa as Bush, uneducated, savage, and uncivil. As far back as the 14th Century, there was a medieval king ruler of a Kingdom in West Africa, it was larger than Western Europe. There were about thirty million people, many universities and the inhabitants lived comfortably. Many have never heard of this kingdom, only few historians have written about it.
How about Timbuktu in the nation of Mali in the 15th and 16th century? It was prosperous, an intellectual and spiritual capital. How about ancient Ethiopia? It was called the Third most powerful Kingdom as recorded by the famous Persian philosopher Mani (3rd century AD). It was one of the first kingdoms that built stones castles, it wasn’t until after thousands year later did the Europeans learned about them.
How about the Kingdom of Kush? How about when King Taharqa from the Nubians conquered Egypt about the 7th Century B.C? So now, we know how much history of actual Black history is missing from Black History month. Education about the real Black history is the only hope of survival and unity for all Black people in the world. Our real history will tell you that we were intelligent, built pyramids, ruled kingdoms, were inventors, mathematicians, scientists but our intelligence has been challenged.
If you do not know your past, how will you know where you are going in the future? We have been deceived to think that only recently have we been able to catch up to the white society but our history will tell you that we were always ahead. Let us look at who we are, as Negroid, the people in Africa, before slavery. That is the real Black History.
