Pan-Africanism : We Are African not Black

ocacia

Well-Known Member
REGISTERED MEMBER
Mar 14, 2010
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Black is a construction which articulates a recent social-political reality of people of color (pigmented people). Black is not a racial family, an ethnic group or a super-ethnic group. Political blackness is thus not an identity but moreover a social-political consequence of a world which after colonialism and slavery existed in those color terms.

An identity is generally geographical and ties the people to their native environment or their core doctrine (Jews of Judaism, Muslims of Islam, Chinese of China). African and black are not interchangeable just as Dark continent and Africa are not. Self-determination allows a people to re-examine definitions and sculpt them to their reality. Black, like Negro is facing linguistic extinction, especially in academic circles, due to its poor foundation in speaking about the oldest and most diverse people on the planet.

The word “Black” has no historical or cultural association, it was a name born when Africans were broken down in to transferable labor units and transported as chattel to the Americas. The re-labeling of the Mandika, Fulani, Igbo, Asante, into one bland color label- black, was part of the greater process of absolute removal of African identity; a color epithet that Europe believed to be the lowest color on Earth, thus reflecting the social designation of African people in European psyche.

KEMET DOESNT MEAN BLACK PEOPLE









There is an urban myth that the Ancient Egyptians called themselves Black based upon KMT (Kemet) which in some circles is mistakenly translated as "Black people." Now at the end of the word KMT is an ideogram which can only mean physical place (the cross road sign above). The ideogram indicates the context in which the word applies. An ideogram for humans would always be used 2 represent a word that applied to people. However Kemet can only mean Black Land since the ideogram indicates it is describing a built or non-human environment. But none of this discredits the founders of Kemet as being African people, just like the Fulani or the Amhara. "Black" in the North American context. The "social "construction of race in America does not rely on skin color. "African Americans," as Asante notes, " constitute the most heterogeneous group in the United States biologically, but perhaps one of the most homogeneous socially." The issue is color is used against African interest, for example:
 
smh....really???...The game of trying to cause identity confusion among the BLACK global collective is old, and its remaining days are numbered. It would surely seem like folks would try something new. The Mendes, Yorubas, African Americans, Zulus, Oromos, Akan, etc. are BLACK people---no psycho-political game playing will EVER change that!





Black is a construction which articulates a recent social-political reality of people of color (pigmented people). Black is not a racial family, an ethnic group or a super-ethnic group. Political blackness is thus not an identity but moreover a social-political consequence of a world which after colonialism and slavery existed in those color terms.

An identity is generally geographical and ties the people to their native environment or their core doctrine (Jews of Judaism, Muslims of Islam, Chinese of China). African and black are not interchangeable just as Dark continent and Africa are not. Self-determination allows a people to re-examine definitions and sculpt them to their reality. Black, like Negro is facing linguistic extinction, especially in academic circles, due to its poor foundation in speaking about the oldest and most diverse people on the planet.

The word “Black” has no historical or cultural association, it was a name born when Africans were broken down in to transferable labor units and transported as chattel to the Americas. The re-labeling of the Mandika, Fulani, Igbo, Asante, into one bland color label- black, was part of the greater process of absolute removal of African identity; a color epithet that Europe believed to be the lowest color on Earth, thus reflecting the social designation of African people in European psyche.

KEMET DOESNT MEAN BLACK PEOPLE









There is an urban myth that the Ancient Egyptians called themselves Black based upon KMT (Kemet) which in some circles is mistakenly translated as "Black people." Now at the end of the word KMT is an ideogram which can only mean physical place (the cross road sign above). The ideogram indicates the context in which the word applies. An ideogram for humans would always be used 2 represent a word that applied to people. However Kemet can only mean Black Land since the ideogram indicates it is describing a built or non-human environment. But none of this discredits the founders of Kemet as being African people, just like the Fulani or the Amhara. "Black" in the North American context. The "social "construction of race in America does not rely on skin color. "African Americans," as Asante notes, " constitute the most heterogeneous group in the United States biologically, but perhaps one of the most homogeneous socially." The issue is color is used against African interest, for example:
 
Black is a construction which articulates a recent social-political reality of people of color (pigmented people). Black is not a racial family, an ethnic group or a super-ethnic group. Political blackness is thus not an identity but moreover a social-political consequence of a world which after colonialism and slavery existed in those color terms.

An identity is generally geographical and ties the people to their native environment or their core doctrine (Jews of Judaism, Muslims of Islam, Chinese of China). African and black are not interchangeable just as Dark continent and Africa are not. Self-determination allows a people to re-examine definitions and sculpt them to their reality. Black, like Negro is facing linguistic extinction, especially in academic circles, due to its poor foundation in speaking about the oldest and most diverse people on the planet.

The word “Black” has no historical or cultural association, it was a name born when Africans were broken down in to transferable labor units and transported as chattel to the Americas. The re-labeling of the Mandika, Fulani, Igbo, Asante, into one bland color label- black, was part of the greater process of absolute removal of African identity; a color epithet that Europe believed to be the lowest color on Earth, thus reflecting the social designation of African people in European psyche.

I agree with the above.

And yet, I still use the term "black", for as you've said, it is "a social-political
consequence of a world which after colonialism and slavery existed in those color
terms".

It is also through that experience that many (not all), of us have a hard time seeing
ourselves as an afrikan people. I am not blaming us, given our experience. We've been
through 'quite a bit' as that history bares itself. There are even afrikans on the
continent shedding their afrikan-ness, culturally to some degree and to their own detriment.

In short, we got our work cut out for us.
 
In the Spriti of Sankofa and Real Truth!

We Are African not Black...?

Black is not a racial family, an ethnic group or a super-ethnic group. Political blackness is thus not an identity but moreover a social-political consequence of a world which after colonialism and slavery existed in those color terms.

An identity is generally geographical and ties the people to their native environment or their core doctrine (Jews of Judaism, Muslims of Islam, Chinese of China). African and black are not interchangeable just as Dark continent and Africa are not.

The word “Black” has no historical or cultural association, it was a name born when Africans were broken down in to transferable labor units and transported as chattel to the Americas. The re-labeling of the Mandika, Fulani, Igbo, Asante, into one bland color label- black, was part of the greater process of absolute removal of African identity; a color epithet that Europe believed to be the lowest color on Earth, thus reflecting the social designation of African people in European psyche.

KEMET DOESNT MEAN BLACK PEOPLE

However Kemet can only mean Black Land since the ideogram indicates it is describing a built or non-human environment. But none of this discredits the founders of Kemet as being African people, just like the Fulani or the Amhara. "Black" in the North American context. The "social "construction of race in America does not rely on skin color.




ocacia,

Welcome to Destee.com and please enjoy your stay here. I thanked your post because of its attempt to bring to the table the discussion of who we are as people of color. I can only assume you are black, are you?

We acknowledge that Egypt, later referred to as Kemet is the Black Land:

http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Egypt.html

What's confusing for me, as another poster points out, is this statement from you: An identity is generally geographical and ties the people to their native environment or their core doctrine.

Help me to understand why this same logic cannot be used when it comes to the word Black referring to a People. The land was called Black, the indigenous people are very dark-skinned, geographically, Kemet or Egypt is located in the heart of Africa, which is to say Alkebu-lan, the continent of those same dark-skinned people; and your position is that identity is generally geographical and ties the people to their native environment, yet you say we are African not black, I'm confused ocacia.

 
ocacia,

Welcome to Destee.com and please enjoy your stay here. I thanked your post because of its attempt to bring to table the discussion of who we are as people of color. I can only assume you are black, are you?

We acknowledge that Egypt, later referred to as Kemet is the Black Land:

http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Egypt.html

What's confusing for me, as another poster points out, is this statement from you: An identity is generally geographical and ties the people to their native environment or their core doctrine.

Help me to understand why this same logic cannot be used when it comes to the word Black referring to a People. The land was called Black, the indigenous people are very dark-skinned, geographically, Kemet or Egypt is located in the heart of Africa, which is to say Alkebu-lan, the continent of those same dark-skinned people; and your position is that identity is generally geographical and ties the people to their native environment, yet you say we are African not black, I'm confused ocacia.


The term "black" speaks to race which is a European invention. It opens us up to all kinds of confusion and manipulation by the enemy. For instance, brwon skin Africans are played against dark skin Africans and vice versa. That is the enemy's most effective weapon agiants us: divide and conquer. They tell the Arabs and Berbers that black Africans do not like them, blah, blah, blah. Then they tell black Africans that Arabs and Berbers do not like them, blah, blah, blah. The onl;y one to benefit from thsi color games is....yoy guessed right: the white man.

So, from a smart perspective we need to learn to think of ourselves in geo-political terms and not racial terms or skin color. When thast happens, we will not be tripping when an African from Morocco or Algeria marries and African from Mozambique od Zimbabwe. We will correctly see this as building better ties and stronger Unity among Africans. Like Abdel-Nasser and Nkrumah, the offspring from succ marriages will serve African Unity well for generations to come. Consider H.E. Samia Nkrumah, for instance (
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=176856 and http://www.samiankrumah.org/) Her dad is Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. Her granddad is Gamal Abdel-Nasser (http://images.google.com/images?hl=...esult_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCEQsAQwAw) So, she emans a lot to Egyptian Arabs and to black Ghanaians and the rest of us as well. The same is true of Dr. Gamal Nkrumah who lives and works in Cairo. Both have made and continue to make immense contributions towards African Unity. It simply is not about race or skin color.

This is why I have come to see Islam as such a Unifying force in Africa. Islam is not Christianity in this regards. Christianity has such a racist culture and racist reality. Blacks congregate in one church while whites congrgate in a different church. So, Christians come to think that that is the natural order of things. It is hard for a Christian to visulize people from different skin colors socialing tohgether and sharing the same cultures and every day life. but, Islam is not like that. All Muslims from different cultures and races congregate together. Everybody is simply a Muslim, not a white Muslim or a black Muslim. So, if an Arab marries a Bantu, the kids are mixed and simply Africans Muslims. There is no issue involved. In this sense, Islam promotes Unity, not divide and conquer.

In places like Somalia, for insance, many families have both Arab and Bantu culture and race. This is true in all Muountries in Africa. So, I think the Muslim countries have always done more for African Unity than have Christian countries. This is not being said to put down Christians. But, I think Christians need to come to understand this and sop dissing Muslims for having a different attitude on race and culture.
 

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