On the rare occasion that I watch a TV show, I make an earnest effort to view something stimulating. Harvard Prof. Henry Louis Gates, narrated a trip to Timbuktu. If you're not familiar the rich history of this Sub-Saharan city, I encourage you to do a bit of research. It was the educational center for world scholars, unfortunately, it was sacked during the onslaught of European imperialism. Nonetheless, there is still a very large archive of scholarly texts that survived the fires.
Gates visited many villages and communities on his quest to uncover the mystery behind Timbuktu. The intent of his journey was to dispel several myths relative to early-Africa, and its rich legacy and contributions to modern world progress.
As an aside, I too struggled with this idea in question, during my days in undergrad. In fact, I'm clear that I had to check a history professor. I clearly recall his arrogance when he uttered, "Most scholars believed that the Egyptians were not of African descent." I had to blast him in local campus papers, and quote several texts to the contrary (ie. "Black in Science" Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, "Destruction of Black Civilization" Dr. Chancellor Williams, "They Came Before Columbus" Dr. Chancellor Williams), just to name a few.
Not surprisingly, I was not one the prof's favorite students, and I earned a 'C' in that Global Civilizations course.
Gates took a special interest in South Africa, specifically Johannesburg and some of the more lavish tourist attractions in Pretoria. Of particular interest was the re-telling of the history from the African and _not_ the European perspective. According to Gates, some of the European prospectors took great pride in building make-believe tourist attractions, which described their concept of early-Africa. Re-writing history to suit their needs and also burying in realistic opportunity to set the record straight and give the indigenous people the chance to shine. It also appeared as though many of the tourist have accepted these false images as gospel. Quite sad indeed.
How do we stop this foolishness? Well, it begins by having knowledge of self and recognizing that the legacy of great people can never be quelled.
One aspect of this Gates narrative that rubbed me the wrong way was a response he'd given to a young South African student. Apparently, the student was living in the Soweto townships, which have been provided by the new government. The conditions were certainly deplorable, even Gates remarked, "It would take 1000 years for them to catch up." This student indicated that he was planning to attend college, and that money to fund his education was a concern. Gates replied, "If you're grades are good, you shouldn't have any problem getting funding." At this moment I figured Gates was having a proverbial out of body experience. His tone dripped of arrogance. This Ivy League, prof certainly should use his ability to help this young man. Hell, bring him to your beloved Harvard if you choose, but to assume that the system will work as designed is misguided at best. Once Mandela was freed and apartheid was crushed, the government was supposed provide for the indigenous people. That is housing, electricity, and the necessities were to be provided. Judging from the footage, none of of this happened. What makes you think, getting good grades will help this man eject from this desperate situation? Clearly everyone cannot be saved, but you can help at least one person. This student was your best opportunity to reach down and grab someone. Wasn't the purpose of the visit to reveal truth?
Outside of that exchange, I thought Gates did a decent job. Actually, there has been much goodness on PBS this month. It's a shame that we can only get our culture freedom once a year..
Update : Great addition to this conversation at Kintespace.
Hey Al I am glad you enjoyed the show. You actually watch TV?
In any case you are right, Mr. Gates on the surface may appear to be shallow, but he is excellent at depicting African History. He may be a bit conservative but he is on point. In terms of our history I celebrate it everyday of every month. Also not everyone can appreciate our Rich African History. We have been (USA society) brainwashed about Africa and it's contributions to society and our some of our young people have bought in to it and have accepted the White Racist Stereo type that all we can do is play sports, do rap music, and kill each other. The truth is that we are the reason that this world is Civilized, We taught the world how to read and write and pray to God, any God. Christianity, Islam, Budism, all of the religions were created or was based on African concepts. The sad part is that White and Black folks don't realized that while we are destroying this country, by buying into and acting out stereotypes, China, South America, and certain European Countries are poised to take over and be the next super powers!
Hopefully we can turn it around quickly. A first would be to acknowledge the strength and history of African Americans. Next you have a huge list, maybe a Black President could be next : )!
Obama for President!!!
Al,
I was fortunate enough to catch parts of this show. I am pleased to know you had a chance to watch the entire show. Hopefully all of America will get a chance to view this treasure. Too many of us still know nothing about our history and many, many non-Black US citizens know about our rich history but refuse to acknowledge it.
Dad
Nubian:
I can appreciate depth and breadth that our people have manifested for this civilization. I would only hope that others would eventually pay homage to it too.
Dad:
Welcome! Glad that you were able to catch a snippet. It was very gratifying to see some of the artifacts of Timbuktu. Knowledge can only be suppressed for finite period of time.
AG: HLG is one of my favorite historians. I really liked his documentary where he had genetic tests conducted on celebrities, to trace their genetic roots. He did Oprah, who had previously proclaimed when visiting South Africa that she sensed for sure that she had Zulu ancestors. Turns out that no Zulus were ever involved in the Euro slave trade (only intra-Africa slavery), and coincidently her genetic material contained 0% Zulu. Also of course Oprah had some honkey genes.
AG's professor who claimed that the Egyptians weren't Africans is nuts. I've never heard or read of any professor before yours making that claim. The paintings and sculptures from that time -- including the sphinx -- clearly show black African features. And surely every African historian, even crackers, knows that the Egyptian pharaohs conquered the Nubians of present-day Sudan. I have only heard the racial identity of Cleopatra disputed. Most historians certainly believe that she was 100% Greek, though some surmise that she had one black Egyptian in her lineage (images of her from her time are consistent with a cracker ho).
My daughter attends a cracker-majority jr high. It appears that any "hiding" of black history has disappeared from the official education curricula; AG, you might be fighting now an already won war. She is learning about all sorts of astonishingly horrible things that honkies have done over the years to non-honkies. One thing she is not learning in her history classes is that honkies have also committed these horrible acts to other honkies (exception: WWII); and non-honkey civilizations have committed these acts as well, both to other non-honkies and even to honkies.
Check out that cultural imperialist, enslaver, and genocidal maniac Shaka Zulu. He could have taught that wicked Christopher Columbus a few things. And one can hardly imagine Britain's Cromwell doing any worse to the Irish (or the Romans doing any worse to the Brits!).
Hey, Nubian: Do you think it's any more accurate to claim that blacks are the reason that that the world is civilized than it is to claim this achievement for honkies? Might it be that both peoples (and even others) have contributed, perhaps some to different extents at different times?
And you use the word "we"; do you lack any honkey genetic material? Does "we" for you only mean blacks? How would you feel about honkies using this word in that way? I for one despise its use by anyone in this way. Surely racial pride is one of the world's greatest sources of evil. Hitler had race pride; so did the confederates. And the Romans. I can think of nothing worse to be proud of than the accident of your racial categorization. Where does it lead?
Is it possible, Nubian, that any of your black ancestors might have been rapists, murderers, enslavers? For example, perhaps the Ethiopian conquerers of Nubia? (Though it is unlikely that black Americans have any Nubian, Egyptian, Sudanese, or Ethiopian genetic material, as HLG's studies have demonstrated.) How do you feel about the Ethiopian conquest of Nubia? Or the Egyptian conquest of Nubia? Or does it only anger you when honkies behave like brutes, and only when their brutality is directed at non-honkies?
AG: How do you feel about the various black and Arab groups who conquered Timbuktu? How do you feel about these people enslaving black folks in that area, selling them not just to evil honkies, but to other blacks (black slave-owners?), and Arabs? Is this history hidden? Does it enrage you as much as white folks committing these horrible acts? Some of the Timbuktu conquerers and slavers were Moroccans. Are you aware of Moroccan piracy and slavery on the Libyan shores during the 1700s? Some really horrible people I would say. Do you know whom they enslaved, in addition to black folks? The answer is not Arabs, but rather some other group of people.
For me, I am equally appalled by the raping, murdering, genociding, and enslaving committed by all so-called races of people, and equally astonished by (and proud of, and identify with) all constructive achievements by all so-called races of people.
It seems to me that for a long time in the US, all official history consisted of praising white folks and either ignoring or ridiculing other people. But on this page I see not a righting of that inaccurate view, but rather a reversing of it into an equally appalling and inaccurate perspective.