NO HISTORICAL RECORD Brief History : During the displacement of the African Holocaust people were disconnected from culture, language and identity, they went from Fulani, Hausa, Igbo to a relative color, aptly describing their status in European society-- Black. Now stuck with this name, and with no agency, no conscious of self outside of the chains of the Holocaust, being black became a source of reactionary pride. (especially in the 60s). This happened also because the involuntary Diaspora had a deep self-hatred for their African connection, and would prefer to be a empty color than connected to their Motherland--that was the dept of the self hatred. And this produced reactionary love because they had to be something, and they could not be European, so in the psyche reaffirming a negative name was in some sense a statement of ownership--a statement of being. In reality it was a statement of displacement and self-hatred. 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. When Africans, out of their own agency refer to themselves they do so with internal paradigms and self-affirmation. No where in Africa did Africans see the obvious, the natural skin color they had, as the most distinctive characteristic in defining them: Zulu - People of the sky Khoi Khoi - King of men Numunuu (Native Americans) - The people Mediterranean -- Our Sea Senegal - Our land Navajo -Diné meaning “The People” Bantu - human In this history of Swahili the people called themselves people no color attached. Attaching color is only done to refer to the other. In Zulu Kingdom again we see no record of a self-reference to a Black people they called themselves People of the Sky until White people showed up and called them blacks. It is true the term Ethiopia in ancient times meant burnt face but the modern name Ethiopia is a name not a Greek word. And the critical thing is name verses descriptive terms. The same is true for Sudan. The above verse is from the Muslim Quran, and while it is notable in the mention of the color of the mud from which Adam (the first human of the Abrahamic faiths) was created. But this does not prove that Africans are historically called black people. There has never been a dispute about the skin color of African people (a very wide range of colors including high yellow and jet black). So the above verse just confirms the first people were dark in color: but we knew this already.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 15:05:28 +0000