Control, ownership of Prof. Gates' documentary raise need for 'real' Encyclopedia Africana
By SAMUEL LEE BURNHAM
Special
to USAfricaonline.com
As a Pan-Africanist and person who has studied the research of Cheik Anta Diop, Chancellor Williams, and Ronuko Rashidi, I must say that Prof. Henry Gates told much truth, but omitted much. For starters, the 'real' Encyclopedia Africana is being published in Ghana where it was the final wish of W. E. B. DuBois and a handful of African people from the motherland. How can we expect to hear the most important points of our true history if it is financed and controlled by Harvard University and Microsoft corporation?
In my view, Prof. Gates betrayed the wishes of the DuBois family, especially DuBois himself who wanted to of keep such a project to be owned, and controlled economically and politically by cultural Africans. Recently, I was informed that that gates has tried to explain this to the family of the great one mentioned above. DuBois realized his mistake of taking on the " talented tenth" mentality shortly before his death. This Eurocentric approach will not liberate a mentally-enslaved people. This explains one of the reasons DuBois moved to Ghana.
Next on the Prof. Gates-PBS-Microsoft project/agenda: the Sudan. Was Gates only allowed to visit the Arab-dominated northern portion of the Sudan?. Leaders of the Arab world have been oppressing our African brothers for over 1400 years in this part of Africa. Although, many "colored" Arabs dominated the area, they enjoy a standard of living higher than that of the unmixed blacks in Southern Sudan. The Kammaasi guide page has input from the True people of Sudan. (Uuse your search engine for more information on the Kammaasi).
The next hot topic focused on continental Africans and their role in the slave trade. It is true. If you don't believe it, take a look at the lack of unity of the global Black community. Our lack of unity, relative to that of non-African people, is the foundation of White Supremacists distortions of our lives and realities. The truth hurts -but we must face it so we can globally move forward as a people and remove our sellout leaders from power. We can not afford to gloss over the truth just because it is uncomfortable to us. Let's move to the original Egyptians. Herodotus, the "father of history" according to most European historians, proudly proclaimed that the original Egyptians were Black and had "wooly" Hair. Not "brown", "colored" , "all shades", or any other 'Politically Correct ' color designed to please the Eurocentric historical community.
In summary, if we want such projects as the
Africa history encyclopedia/PBS documentary done right, we have to do
it ourselves. It should not be done by Microsoft, Harvard, or, in my
view, a man who seems too afraid to admit the original color of the
Egyptians to a scientific community dominated by ethnocentric-based
Anthropology and history. We need to honor the garbage collectors,
the striving workers, the servants and the common people. These
people need our help to tell the truth. We need to live the truth, in
order to help lift them above the poverty line. They need us to fight
for them in Sudan, like Queen Dahia Al-Kahina did in Mauritania. They
need our help globally before the divide and conquer tactics destroy
us before the third millennium arrives.
Burnham's e-mail is samres@hotmail.com. Saturday February 19,
2000
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Gates' report stirs important dialogue about Africans
and our relations with ourselves and others.
By Seibert L. Murphy
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USAfrica
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