The month of February is being celebrated every year as “Black History Month”. All kinds of functions are organized to remember our great heroes of the past predominantly from the United States of America (and I say this tongue in cheek) in reference to the word “united”, because there has never been such a thing as united where most importantly and visibly the builders of America the black man is concerned.
I will not get into the discussion of who was in the Americas because it has been discovered that the black man was in America even before the Indians. I know this statement will make for a great debate. However, to prove that Africans were in the Americas before Columbus, read the book by Guayanese-born Ivan Van Sertima entitled They came before Columbus and many others on this subject.
We should be taught on how Africans brought civilization to America. Artifacts to substantiate the fact that Africans arrived in America before Columbus were dug up by archaeologists. Don’t take my word for it, do your own research. I think it is time we start teaching about African History. All we have been and are being taught for centuries came from Euro-centric archaeologists, is the history of the colonizers/Europeans which is expected.
Probably they fear if we unite it would be to their demise. This is far removed from the truth. If such was our mentality, we would have conquered the world.
The myth that our history started with slavery is a farce and devoid of truth. The continuous indoctrination of the black man will not stop unless we in the words of the late Lester Bob Marley “emancipate ourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds.” Those words are prophetic and still applicable today.
The black man/African must be told his real history. In the words of Garikai Chengu, ancient African historian and author wrote, and I quote, “Contrary to popular belief, African American history did not start with slavery in the New World.”
An overwhelming body of new evidence is emerging which proves that Africans had frequently sailed across the Atlantic to the Americas, thousands of years before Columbus and indeed before Christ. The great ancient civilizations of Egypt and West Africa travelled to the Americas, contributing immensely to American civilization by importing the art of pyramid-building, political systems and religious practices as well as mathematics, writing and a sophisticated calendar.
The strongest evidence of African presence in the Americas came from the pen of Columbus himself. In 1920, a renowned American historian and linguist, Leo Weiner of Harvard University, in his book Africa and the Discovery of America” explained how Columbus noted in his journal that Native Americans had confirmed that “black-skinned people had come from the south-east in boats, trading in gold-tipped spears” end of quote.
This is not even the tip of the iceberg of our contribution to this world. As time goes by the truth is emerging, it can no longer be hidden. It was not allowed to be repeated. But as someone said, “time is a great healer and a great revealer.” It is said that researchers who dared to bring out new finds that were against the accepted history were intimidated, funding terminated and in some cases jobs and careers put in jeopardy.
I don’t want to only hear about Black History Month, I want to be taught about our African History. Tell the truth.
George Pantophlet
