I want you to read this very carefully: This is about heritage.
Precisely, but how old is our Heritage? In the Mis-Education System, we're told that we are only as old as our Enslavement. This "Heritage" talk only adds a century to that statement. We're an Ancient people, so what's wrong with looking into our Ancient History?
I absolutely have no problem celebrating Pan Africanism.
So how do you celebrate Pan-Africanism claiming that there's a "West" and "East" Africa? That's the absolute antithesis of Pan-Africanism.
Is Pan-Europe "West" and "East" Europe? Is Pan-Asia, "West" and "East" Asia? Why promote "Pan-Africanism" with "West" and "East" Africa?
It's one thing to say "I'm Pan-Africanist" but it's another to be Pan-Africanist.
What I do have a problem with is people skipping over recent history in favor of something more ancient because they perceive it to be more dignified.
Self-Knowledge takes time. It should not be that those with more Self-Knowledge have problems with those with less. If one values a different historical period than you do more than you do, that's their prerogative. One can see one period as more dignified than another. That's no crime against our Race or Ancestry. Do you think our recent Ancestors looked upon themselves as more dignified than their Ancestors? Or our Ancient, more dignified than their Ancient?
It makes my blood boil when my ancestors are discussed only in the context of other African civilizations. We, as African Americans, are several thousands of years removed from Kush, KMT and Nubia. Those cultures are dead and gone. However, what is still alive, still relevant, is the culture of those who transitioned here via the Middle Passage. We should celebrate that. That's all I'm saying.
We know exactly what you are saying. But are you speaking Truth? Kush, KMT, Nubia are cultures that are dead and gone? Then how do you explain the Dogon? How do you explain the Pyramids in Niger? How do you explain the Yoruba? How do you explain us? Kush, KMT and Nubia trace their Ancestry to West and West Central Africa, for instance when the Sahara was green and lush and also from the beginning of the Nile (in Uganda.) We can raise the Mandinka and Ewe more, but we'd need to suppose no one from the Mandinka or Ewe ever came from anywhere else but West Africa. The Mandinka were not only found in the Gambia, but once upon a time were in the Mali EMPIRE, an Empire that traveled even into America! The Mandinka even have a reputation of being well-traveled; not just in Africa but well-traveled.
In other words, there's no such thing as West Africa. It's one thing to promote "recent history" it's another to promote an artificial boundary with no basis in our historical legacy.
But I guess there's little more that can be said.
Yes I am proud of my ancestry.