The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams - Politics (4) - Nairaland
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| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 12:22am On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]expanded. Rebellions of various chiefdoms, seeking independence from weak and weaker rulers at Memphis, also spread . Decentralization became the order of the day-the day for which the Asians had been patiently waiting so long . Under weak rulers at Memphis and the breaking up of the country into small independent areas (nomarchies), Asian penetration and expansion in the "Black Land" became the norm. Earlier, I referred to the African failure to employ the essentials of real nation-building, and proposed certain criteria they generally fail to use . When this is done our black students often protest that the "same is also true of many non-African peoples ." They would like to take comfort in this fact (for it is a fact) and forget the whole thing . But I am not now dealing with these "other peoples ." I am concerned here only with African life and history . The failures of one people should serve as a warning of what to avoid, and not as a justification for similar failures by another . The glaring weakness in the unification of the Ethiopian empire was the absence of any national program for the development of a national solidarity and a sense of national community and belonging that aimed at overcoming the greater local or tribal loyalties . To begin with, there were too many tributary states within the empire . Their very reason for being a part of the empire was mainly for tribute, their regular contributions to the imperial treasury . Such states did not, and indeed, could not feel themselves to be integral parts of the empire . Blinded by the wealth that was pouring into the national treasury, the empire builders were unable to see or understand the requirements of the human heart and spirit for the formation of attitudes of love and devotion toward a national citizenship . We shall be discussing the traditional African constitution later because every expanding African kingdom and empire already had the guidelines which the leaders thought applied only to small states or they felt themselves to be so rich and powerful that the traditional constitutional safeguards could be safely ignored. In the smaller states or tribal societies the African constitutional system operated to promote and support equal justice, individual and group welfare or social security, and an undying loyalty to the group . The very scheme of social organization assured all this . Group solidarity became a natural development . An almost fierce spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood prevailed in all tribal states . The work of expanding this spirit as the nation expanded was rarely undertaken .[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 12:26am On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]Since there was no such program in the best of times, the "every- province-for-itself" spirit was chaff before the storms of invasions . The invaders had found it easy to establish another Asian capital, even at Heracleopolis . This move, in view of the general trend throughout Ethiopia, was thought to be taken at the most propitious time, when the empire was falling apart and no one was in command . But Asian assumption of imperial power and the establishment of their capital in the center of the black world aroused the disorganized and leaderless people to fury. And the Asians apparently had not take into account Thebes, the seat of the blacks' war god and the place from where the mightiest African armies always came . Of course, even with this knowledge neither the Asians or anyone else would expect any threat from Thebes in the present state of national chaos . But the Blacks had always looked to Thebes in times of crisis, leaders or no leaders . They did so now . Theben leaders emerged, and with them fighting men arose to battle the Asians again . Heracleopolis fell to the Blacks ; but Asian kings were able to hold Lower Egypt again and reestablish dynasties there under Kheti I and his successors . Western historians refer to this period as the First Intermediate Period, 2181-2040 B.C., and further confused an already too confused situation by mixing the Asian rulers of Lower Egypt with the African rulers of Upper Egypt, and then listing all the dynasties sequentially so that from such an arrangement one could not distinguish the white Asian dynasties, kings or pharaohs from the Black . So the eleven Asian kings of Lower Egypt who followed Kheti I appeared as "Kings of Egypt ." We should pause at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, 2133 B .C ., because during the long 1,500 years covered by my brief summary one of the most unusual socio-political phenomena occurred . It has been referred to numerous times before in terms of its development, but now the unexpected had happened. At this point we have passed fifteen centuries of African-Asian amalgamation, at first largely in Lower Egypt, but afterward more and more in black Upper Egypt . The Afro-Asian offsprings were called the "new breed," the distinguishing characteristics of which were devotion to Asians and hatred of Africans . Unless this point is grasped, we may as well drop the study of African history insofar as understanding fully the internal troubles of this race . First, the Afro-Asians, or "Coloureds," had far outnumbered the Asians in the northern population during the past 1,500 years . Second, the Coloureds had become sensitively aware that they were suspended[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 12:31am On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]between two worlds, the black and the white, and that they were not fully accepted in either. Nowhere did their Asian fathers and other white kinsmen regard or accept them as equals, while the Blacks had come to hate them as much as they hated the Blacks . Third, out of this situation developed a passionate and defiant nationalism that restricted the term "Egyptian" to Mulattoes alone . Henceforth, neither Asians or Africans were to be called Egyptians . Indeed, the new breed began to treat Asians as strangers and no longer welcomed them en masse even in Lower Egypt. The Afro-Asians had apparently resolved that since they could not belong to either the black or white race, they would be a race by themselves, and in their own right-the Egyptian race . It worked. Asians, if unmixed, were now called Asians, and Africans, if unmixed, were called Africans or Ethiopians. They alone (the new breed) would be called Egyptians, and the writers of the world would follow this classification from Homer's time to this day . I shall use the terms in the same way in all subsequent references . In the earliest period "Egyptian" would have meant the Blacks ; later on it would have meant Blacks and Afro-Asians . The white Asians were never called Egyptians even when they ruled all Egypt . (Even the present day rulers of the land are unhappy with the term and much prefer to be called what they are : Arabs ; hence, the change of the official name of the country from Egypt to the United Arab Republic .) However, the increasing hostility to the . Asians was due to their offsprings' resentment over being rejected as equals and having a lower status in the society whenever white Asians were in control . Their hostility to the Africans had been nurtured from birth and remained the same. Yet they never failed to seek alliances with the Blacks when it suited their purposes (just as they do today thru OAU), or to marry into ruling African families to enhance and perpetuate their rule . The Eleventh Dynasty was started with stronger black rulers, beginning with Mentuhotep and followed by three kings of the same name. Their rule was again limited to Upper Egypt, since the Asians had reestablished their rule in Lower Egypt during the period of nationwide turmoil and rebellions . Mentuhotep II, after restoring order in Upper Egypt and promoting a rapid economic program, had turned north to repeat Menes' great feat of conquering Lower Egypt again .[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 12:32am On Feb 24, 2012 |
ETHIOPIA SOUTH To be continued, |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:20pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]ETHIOPIA SOUTH But Ethiopia below the First Cataract did not return to the reunited imperial fold in the North . As we have seen, the southern kingdoms did not intend to return, Their defections had been going on, one right after another, long before the general disorganization and rebellions during the Sixth and Seventh Dynasties . Hostility to the Asian invasions was always greatest in the southern regions . Many of the people claimed the Asian-held areas as their ancestral home . They wanted Lower Egypt conquered and the Asians driven out . Menes had achieved the great victory, but the integration policies that followed were regarded as a betrayal of the Blacks . They had lost faith in the black kings ruling from Memphis, who not only favored integration, but promoted it . The steady movement of the whites from the Delta into Upper Egypt itself was proof enough for southern Blacks that the Asian aim was nothing less than ultimate control of all Ethiopia . As the Asian presence and influence spread in Upper Egypt, the withdrawal to the southern kingdoms appeared to keep pace . But why were the Blacks farthest away from the Asian threat so much more concerned (or appeared to be) than those who still lived next door to the enemy in Upper Egypt? Even the larger number of refugees from Lower Egypt must have settled in Upper Egypt because the biggest concentration of Blacks was there . This would have been the situation around 2400 B.C . The answer may be that since Napata was regarded as the unchanging capital and center of the black world, and not Nowe (Thebes) of glorious memory, any threat to this sacred area (Land of the Gods) was a threat to the survival of the race itself. The first great southern division of the Ethiopian empire was the kingdom of Wawat, and below that was the far greater kingdom of Nubia which, like many other vast areas, while nominally a part of the empire, was at various times independent . The age-old dream of all the great kings, black, white, or mixed, was the consolidation of the Northern and Southern regions; hence, the constant wars against Lower Egypt and, now, again, Mentuhotep's war against Nubia . In both cases, that of the Asians in the far North and the Blacks in the far South, economics was the driving force. The hold on the seacoasts not only blocked the Africans from world trade, but that fact enabled the Asians and Coloureds to control the domestic economy indirectly as well . The record shows that every time this Asian stranglehold was broken, African foreign trade again flourished and national prosperity began to[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:25pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]rise. On the other hand, no matter how black the pharaohs were, if only for economic reasons Southern Ethiopia (Nubia or Cush or Abyssinia) had to be more firmly integrated with the North . The South was the real source of Egypt's wealth as it had been for Egypt's civilization . The South actually had all Egypt at its mercy . The gold mines were there and it was where the vast stone quarrying, copper, and tin mining were conducted . From the South came most of the papyrus plants from which the Blacks invented paper and built the first and finest boats from the same tough leaves . The South had all the ivory and, at that time, was the only source of the highly-prized ostrich feathers, etc . In short, Egyptian foreign trade depended almost entirely on Southern Ethiopia . Added to these economic imperatives, there was an even greater danger felt in the North . This was the control of the Nile, almost all of which, over 3,000 miles, flowed through Southern Ethiopia . Black Upper Egypt, being in the middle, was forced by circumstances to play the leading role in the wars for unification in both directions and, considering the many centuries over which they were intermittently waged, they seemed destined to go on forever . It is noteworthy that all these long drawn-out efforts at unification of an empire under a centralized government were confined to the -directly indispensable economic regions which were contiguous to each other . Other "members" of the empire, even those who had long since stopped paying tribute, were not disturbed . In fact, as I have been indicating, "Ethiopian Empire" was often merely a geographical expression insofar as effective rule over all of its supposed parts was concerned . To keep the picture as clear as possible, we have to keep on remembering that at various periods in ancient times, the "Land of the Blacks" meant all Ethiopia, all Ethiopia meant all Africa, and all Blacks were Africans or Ethiopians or Thebans, etc . There were numerous independent states in the Western Land of the Blacks (Western Sudan) that may have claimed a membership alliance with the Ethiopian Empire as an expression of pride-nothing more than a symbolic gesture to the great state that was the "Mother of the Race" and which bore the race's name, Ethiopian .' In any event, the extent of the -------------------------------------------------- Notes 1. It is well known, of course, that "Ethiopian" is the Greek rendering of Black or the "sun-burnt people ."[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:28pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]territory claimed at times for the Empire was so vast that even if there had been efforts to consolidate states other than those directly north and south, it would have been impossible in the absence of administrative and communication systems for the task . The war to bring Nubia under control started near the end of the Eleventh Dynasty and went on for over four hundred years, ending in defeat for southern blacks in the next dynasty, 1991-1786 B.C . This period was notable for the further expansion of foreign trade, especially in Palestine, Syria, and Punt, the "Golden Age" of the arts and crafts, a vast program of land reclamation and marked improvements in irrigation . By repetition, one of the greatest of the "Great Issues" stands out . With each and every mass invasion of the whites the physical characteristics of the Egyptian people change more and more, becoming more and more "caucasoid" as more and more Blacks tended to move southward . When the white dynasties continued for several centuries, as in the case of the "Children of Israel," Semitic caucasianization was accelerated on an ever-widening scale . One of the signifiant ethnic changes was that the only people then recognized as Egyptians (the Afro-Asians) became more Asian-white in color, language and culture . Upper Egypt was becoming less "black" Egypt . Thebes under white rule was becoming a museum center for European and Asian collectors . So by the time Herodotus and other Greek historians arrived, Ethiopia, as an empire, extended only up to the First Cataract. THE THIRD PERIOD OF GREAT RULERS But that time was still far away when Kamose, the last Theban king in the Seventeenth Dynasty (1645-1567 B.C.), opened a full-scale War of Liberation against the Hebrews and the greatest of the dynasties since the Fourth had now arrived . This was the remarkable Eighteenth Dynasty with a line. of kings and queens who became immortal: Ahmose I, Nefertari, Amenhotep 11, Thutmose 1, Thutmose 11, Queen Hatshepsut the Great, Amenhotep 111, Ikhnaton, the "Great Reformer," and Tutankhamen . It was called the "New Empire," and so it was in fact. The Hyksos rule was broken and they were "expelled ." This, however, could only apply to the rulers and their immediate followers . The Hyksos masses were scattered over the country and permanently settled as "Egyptians." They had become integrated into Egyptian[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:31pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]society . Contributing to its development on all fronts, they were not disturbed when their leaders were expelled . There was the usual revival of domestic industry, agriculture and foreign trade, along with the expansions of imperial rule in Palestine and Syria to the Euphrates in Mesopotamia . This expansion of empire and its promise of great wealth from the accompanying expansion of trade meant renewal of the wars against their black brothers holding the economically indispensable South . This time the new and most powerful central government was able to extend its rule farther south than ever ; that is, to the Fourth cataract, almost to the Holy City of Napata itself. For Western writers to state that obvious truth that the black rulers of Egypt did not hesitate to wage wars against the black rulers of Southern Ethiopia, to state this would have destroyed their biggest myth that the Egyptians (white Asians or Coloureds) were always the conquering heroes over the Blacks in the South . In short, as previously stated, these wars did not always follow a racial pattern . As would be expected under black rulers, Thebes was again reorganized under the Eighteenth Dynasty and much of its ancient grandeur restored . Temple building in the grand style was resumed . The Eighteenth, like some of the previous African dynasties, was well integrated with "loyal Asians ." For there were, it should be needless to say, countless thousands of Asians who were wholeheartedly devoted to the Blacks, just as there were thousands of Afro-Asians (Egyptians) as loyal to the black race as any Black could possibly be . Therefore, when an overall picture is presented, such as in my discussion of the attitudes of Asians, Afro-Asians and Africans toward each other, one should keep the always big exceptions in mind . Nothing is ever all-white, all-black or, in this case, all half-white . In the case of the half-whites, the record overflows with those who, contrary to the rule, hated the fact of their white blood and stuck to the Blacks and their cause all the more tenaciously. These are the kinds of outcomes that reflect the complexities and variations of the human mind, and that make generalizations about a whole people, if anything, ridiculous . The "Great Eighteenth" had begun under the most favorable circumstances, for one of the great black queens of Egypt, Nefertari, and her equally famous husband, Ahmose 1, headed the dynasty. As was the custom, she had been named after some of the distinguished queens of similar name who had preceded her . None of them, however, ranked near Nefertari of the Eighteenth in active participation and leadersip in[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:33pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]national affairs . She helped her son, Amenhotep, in the great work of national reconstruction . If she did not reach the heights of the greatest black queen of Egypt, Hatshepsut, it was only because the latter was a queen absolute, ruling along as a king (to emphasize the point she often dressed in royal male attire, including the false beard and wig) . But the comparison is hardly fair because each was great in her field of work, and that work was largely predetermined, and the role to be played by each was clear . And that was why, in the end, both Nefertari and Amenhotep I were deified as the founders of one of the world's greatest line of rulers and some of the finest monuments were erected to their memory. Had the people forgotten Ahmose, her husband, who was the true founder? Queen Hatsheput, daughter of Thutmose 1, was indeed a "man" in many of her aggressive and unyielding characteristics as a ruler. As regent for Thutmose 111, she tended to be an absolute ruler and, by expertly relying on her feminine charms, she was able to have her own way without a real check by the Council, something few African kings could do successfully . But it was not all due to "feminine charms," perhaps not at all . For Hatshepsut was, in fact, one of the most brilliant minds that ever ascended the throne of a nation . Her reign was in two parts, one as regent and the other as reigning queen in her own right . There was actually no difference, for Thutmose III was too young to count . Even before becoming legal ruler, therefore, she was actively pushing the things dearest to the hearts of all great African leaders : the expansion of foreign trade, international diplomatic relations, perfection of national defenses, vast public building programs, securing the South and the North through either peace or war and, one of her "pet projects," building a great navy for both commerce and war . Her success on most of these fronts made her one of the giants of the race . Meanwhile, the next Thutmose was waiting with increasing impatience and frustration to succeed a woman who, to him at least, seemed destined to live forever. The fact that his wife was the Queen's daughter only increased the really morbid hatred of his royal mother-in-law . Consequently, when he finally became King Thutmose III at last, he himself did what Asians and Europeans were to do on a scale so grand that the history of ancient Egypt, as essentially black history, was almost completely obliterated . He undertook to erase her name from all the monuments and temples she had built, destroying all documents bearing her name, and smashing all sculptured likenesses, paintings and, indeed,[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:35pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]anything that might indicate that Hatshepsut ever lived . Also, as later Europeans and Asians were to do to all inscriptions reflecting the Blacks, Thutmose III had his own name and that of his brother engraved where Hatshepsut's had been chiselled out, thus taking credit for all of her achievements in addition to his own outstanding works . These were many, and need not be detailed since so much of it repeats the works of great leaders already discussed . Queen Tiy was also one of Egypt's remarkable queens . Amenhotep III and Queen Tiy gave a son to Egypt who was destined to be one of the greats in in the black world . This was Amenhotep IV, known to fame as Ikhnaton. He was different from all of his predecessors . He was more preacher than king, and the greatest single spiritual force to appear in the history of the Blacks . His great religious reform movement aimed at a greater focus on the One and Only Almighty God, Creater of the Universe . The numerous lesser gods had overshadowed the Almighty in involving people by causing them to worship the gods through the endless number of competing cults, all served by a too self-serving priesthood . Such an unheard-of stand by the leader of the nation meant revolution and certain rebellion by the powerful priesthoods all over the land . Yet the new doctrine did not reach the masses and the nonspiritual demands for leadership on pressing earthly fronts put the king in an unhappy situation . One was the continued Asian harassments on the eastern borders . Ikhnaton grew more indifferent as his religious movement declined . After 17 years of heroic efforts, he passed in 1362 B.C ., leaving the reins to Tutankhamen . This stepson's efforts to carry on the work of his father had only limited success . The old-time religions still prevailed . Ikhnaton'5 impact on the nation, however, was everlasting. His proposed reforms had more to do with a shift in emphasis than in faith . But even this seems to have been regarded as a direct threat to the powerful priesthood that, no matter how much divided into numerous cults, could unite in a common cause . The power of the priesthood rose as the kings of Egypt became more preoccupied with secular affairs than with their religious role as high priest of The Most High . It has been pointed out that the ruler's political influence stemmed not from the constitution but from his close relationship with the gods . The priests themselves had promoted the evolution of an idea of the ruler's role as chief priest and intermediary with the ancestral dead and the gods, to the idea of the ruler's kinship with the gods, thereby becoming divine himself, the son or daughter of a god, and, finally, a god himself .[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:37pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]As custodians of the temples, the priests were promoting and making their own positions more powerful and secure by promoting the divine kingship idea . It meant that each king would try to outdo his predecessors in building more bigger and finer temples and colossal burial structures (the pyramids) for the royal saints and the sons and daughters of Amon, Horus, Set, etc . etc . The priests were in the most strategic positions to acquire great economic and political power for themselves quite naturally and without any particular efforts to do so . They were the first men of learning : scribes, historians, scientists, architects, physicians, artists, mathematicians, astrologers, and especially chemists . Many temples, therefore, were colleges as well as places of worship . The temples were also places through which flowed much of the national revenue . We could go on and on, indicating how and why priests became so politically powerful in Egyptian life that even a great king like Ikhnaton could not overcome their opposition . It was too late for him to escape from the now traditional status of being "divine ." One might say it was the price a god has to pay for god-makers . In 1320 B.C., the Age of the Ramses began . This time, a line of great leaders was not followed by a line of weaklings . This was the Nineteenth Dynasty, 1320-1200 B .C . And while it did not equal the "Glorious Eighteenth," the Ramses kings stamped their periods as one of the most outstanding in the long history of the country . It was only near its end that the usual phenomenon of weakness and decline in the cycle began to set in as general social, economic and political disorganization . The Ramses rule continued through the Twentieth Dynasty, 1200-1085 B .C . The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second and Twenty-Third periods, 1085- 730 B.C ., again illustrated, as I had stated before, the fallacy of trying to chronicle African history in Egypt by dynasties . I had pointed out that at various times during the long, long struggles for power we find several different "dynasties" ruling at the same time from their respective capitals in various parts of the country . Every period of weak kings at Memphis or Thebes was a general breakdown during which exactly the same happened over and over again : The Asian Lower Egypt became independent again, and from its capital at Avaris or Sais pushed the expansion of Asian power in Upper Egypt . By 1085 B.C ., the Asian population was so vast there that new Asian dynasties were relatively easy to establish almost anywhere north of the First Cataract . During one of these periods, 70 kings in 70 days was reported .[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:41pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]The picture now was one of those confused scenes of black dynasties, Asian dynasties, Egyptian dynasties (Afro-Asian), combination dynasties, (those formed by alliances between two of the above groups), all ruling simultaneously in Egypt from various capitals . Many historians were further misled by the fact that while some of these so-called dynasties claimed to be the imperial government of all Egypt, others made no such claim and confined themselves to their local chiefdoms or nomarchies . Significantly, many of the latter were headed by priests . Our references to dynasties formed by alliances between two groups against a third could be misleading to those who failed to grasp what had been said about the changing ethnic character of the dynasties over many centuries. From the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties on, we have pointed out, Asian penetration through the "royal marriage route" caused the succeeding dynasties, with few exceptions to become increasingly mixed . Often they were only predominantly black, halfblack, less than half-black, or predominantly'Asian or Egyptian (Afro- Asian). The founders of the Eighteenth Dynasty, like many similar instances, illustrate the reality of the process . For it is well known that the famous Queen Nefertari was "all-black," while her equally great husband, Ahmose I, was mulatto (Egyptian) . So that the Eighteenth, like the great Nineteenth Dynasty of the Ramses, was predominantly black, not all-black . On the other hand, the long periods of all-white Asian and European dynasties were emphasized, and had to be emphasized, to set the record straight . There were also, for still another example, "Libyan dynasties," indicated by the Libyan names of the rulers . But who, now, were the Libyans? They were, first of all, Western Ethiopians, then heavily Berber, Mongolian, Arab, a sprinkling of Hebrews and other Asiatic peoples, and then, of course, the resulting Afro-Asians . The ethnic composition of Libya was about the same as that of early Egypt, with the exception that there were fewer Europeans and more Mongolians . Libya was once so nearly all-black that to be called a Libyan meant that one was Black . So the Libyan dynasties during this period could have been predominantly white, black, Afro-Asian or a combination of all three, depending upon what faction was in the ascendency at the time . It is also worth noting that not only the whites of Lower Egypt took advantage of every breakdown in the center (Upper Egypt), declaring its independence and attempting to extend their rule over the whole[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:43pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]land, Southern Ethiopia tried to do exactly the same thing . The truth is that the milleniums of contests over Egypt were never really over unification per se, but rather who should rule the land after unification was completed-the whites of the Delta or the Blacks of Southern Ethiopia, particularly those south of the First Cataract? Indeed, as the Asianization of Upper Egypt increased, migrations of the Blacks southward increased, hostility toward the North increased, and the resolve of the Blacks to reconquer all of their land all the way to the Mediterranean was renewed once more . The southern region, therefore, generally became independent as soon as Lower Egypt became independent . It began to threaten Upper Egypt at the same time the Asian threat was spreading . The Southern Ethiopians were even more bitter because they had to fight the "integrationist Blacks" of Egypt just as hard as they had to fight the whites from Lower Egypt and Libya . The South was no more prepared to accept all-white rule .' If anything, they trusted the mixed breeds less because of their ability to play either the white or black role as it suited their purposes . This may also be the reason so many blacks opposed large-scale amalgamation . It appeared as one of the white man's most effective weapons for the domination of the- race while at the same time slowly removing it from the face of the earth . As proof, the Ethiopians could ask, "From whence came our worst enemies, the Egyptians? Are they not half Ethiopian? And do they not now scorn the very Ethiopian name itself, proclaiming themselves to be `white'?" The Ethiopians, therefore, followed all developments to the north, northeast and west with the closest attention . The activities of the probably Libyan king of the Twenty-Second Dynasty, Sheshonk I, did not escape their notice and appraisal . From his capital at Bubastis in Lower Egypt, he pushed affairs on a number of fronts, including the usual stragey of marriage alliances of black ruling families with white males . These alliances, after worming their way to power through the African inheritance-through-female-line system (matrilineal), could then change to the Asian and Western patrilineal system . This invidious scheme for achieving power over the Blacks through the Blacks did not escape those on alert . The move of Sheshonk I to negotiate a marriage with the daughter of a king and gain legitimate control of Thebes, fitted the well-known pattern of expanding Caucasian power, never failed to create anotht°r stir in the still all-black areas . To make matters worse from the viewpoint of the Blacks, Sheshonk had another son made High[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:45pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]Priest of the African god, Amon . The significance of this should be obvious : The whites were systematically preempting the whole of Egypt, even adopting, as their own, black institutions they could not easily destroy. And they were wise enough to gain control of the African religion . So now, as the whites became priests and worshipers of the Supreme God and lesser gods of the Blacks in Egypt, the success of erasing every vestige of early African civilization was moving toward the absolute . As the white priesthoods became stronger and more widespread, they were not only able to secure control of Thebes, the most powerful stronghold of the Blacks in Egypt, but of equal importance, they were then in a position to gain followers in the rebelling nomarchies and persuade dissident chiefs to acknowledge the overlordship of Asian kings in various parts of the country . In short, they took over Africa's gods as their own as a means of taking over Africa as their own . There was nothing sudden or new about this . The process was as long and leisurely as Egyptian history itself, gaining rapid momentum only during the often-repeated decades of internal strife . Lower Egypt was always the area from which internal strife in black Upper Egypt was planned and promoted . Secret agents, as mentioned earlier, are not new inventions of modern states . The only thing new about Tefnakhte's penetrations of Upper Egypt between 730 and 715 B .C . was that this time, an Asian king (Libyan) from his Delta capital, now at Sais, had so inflamed Southern Ethiopia that all-out war was declared against both Asians and Egyptians (Afro-Asians) and the twenty-one year old king, Piankhi, was given supreme command of the black armies . ETHIOPIA RECAPTURES EGYPT In view of the extent of the expansion of Asian power in Upper Egypt, the Ethiopians' age-old dream of recovering their northern homelands now seemed to be, in the very truth, an impossible dream . In 715 B.C ., the strong situation of the Asians was such that the idea of the Blacks repeating Menes' feat of twenty-three centuries before, that of once again expanding the Ethiopian empire northward to the Mediterranean, now seemed fantastic . Both Asian kings, Tefnakhte and Bocchoria, were themselves great leaders and field commanders . And, of all things, they had already taken Thebes and practically had all Egypt under Asian control . (Some writers put it the other way and say[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:48pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]they had control of the Thebald-another name for Upper Egypt .) The great city of Heracleopolis alone held out until the arrival of Ethiopian forces. The immediate objective of Piankhi and the Ethiopian generals was the recapture of Thebes . Supported by his naval forces moving down the Nile and the thousands of black fighters who flocked to his standard as he moved northward through Upper Egypt, Piankhi's armies drove the Asians out of Thebes, reestablished it as the capital city of the North, put Tefnakhte and his court to flight and, apparently using tactics of Menes, pressed on to capture the once all-black capital city of Memphis . "The rightful rulers of our land have returned!" the oppressed Blacks cried as they flocked to his standard . Piankhi returned to the capital city of Napata in the "Heartland" before Lower Egypt was brought under control again . The task of reuniting the country under Ethiopian rule was left for his great successor, Shabaka . Shabaka firmly established the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, the only one Western writers generally recognized as Black! This dynasty, however, should be of special significance for the black world, not because it was African from the beginning, but because the end of this period, 730-656 B .C., marked the end of all-out efforts by the Blacks to retake Egypt . The African victory over the Asians did not lessen the danger from them, for they always had the advantage of striking either from within or from Asia itself. Now the new threat came from Asia . Assyria was fighting its way toward Egypt . The pathways had been made easy because the previous Egyptian conquest of Palestine and Syria had made these countries bastions of defense as long as they were properly governed. The later Egypt had been unable to do this . So Palestine and Syria, like Egypt itself, had become weak from internal disorganization . At first the Assyrian advance seemed to be concerned only with Syria and Palestine, not Egypt . Uneasiness spread as the Assyrian hosts approached the borders of Egypt . However, Shabaka first followed the pattern of modern diplomacy by loudly professing one thing while actively doing the very opposite . In this case, Shabaka, while actively cultivating the friendship of the Assyrian king, Sargon 11, was just as active in supporting the armies of the Syrians and Palestinians . "Modern," I say, because it was exactly the same kind of "commitment" and "special interests" policy that the United States maintains in East Asia and other places around the world . In 671 B.C., Esarhaddon led his Assyrian forces to victory near the Egyptian border and moved on to capture the city of Memphis, retaken[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:54pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]from one army of Asians only to be lost to another . Esarhaddon seemed to have thought that he had conquered Egypt when he took the ancient capital . He retired after appointing local princes to collect the usual tribute . Shabaka's nephew, Tarharqa, promptly marched up from the south again and massacred all of the Assyrian garrisons . Esarhaddon died leading a second expedition of vengeance in 699 B .C . His son, Ashurbanipa, assumed the leadership, invaded Egypt and put Taharqa to flight . The Egyptian governors were reinstated under a governor-general named Necho, also Egyptian . As was to be expected, the Blacks of Upper Egypt remained loyal to the African line . They shouted loud enough for posterity to hear that the Blacks were the "rightful rulers of Egypt ." Taharqa was succeeded by his nephew, Tanutamon . He renewed the war against the Assyrians and the Egyptians, the latter preferring, as usual, to support the Asians against native Africans . Tanutamon recaptured Memphis again, during which battle the Egyptian governor-general Necho was slain . This placed the Africans in a dominant position in Northern Egypt once again . But in 661 B.C., the outraged Ashurbanipal drove the African armed forces out of Northern Egypt . He pursued them up the Nile and burned their ancient city of Thebes, the stronghold of black power from times immemorial . The Africans, eventually barred from further rule in Egypt, continued Piankhi's line first from the capital at Napata and then at Meroe where they promoted a broad reconstruction program . There the remarkable Twenty-Fifth Dynasty ended in 656 B .C. The line of kings from Piankhi to Tanutamon were all buried in the great Pyramids they and their ancestors had built at Napata . Let us follow the Blacks from Egypt to there .[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:56pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]The First Cataract: The Black World's New Borderline HAVING LOST BOTH UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT, ETHIOPIA'S northern border had been pushed to the First Cataract at Assuan, and Necho II eventually became king of Egypt, beginning the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, 665-525 B .C. The Egyptian armies were increasingly made up of foreigners and enslaved Blacks . It was during this dynasty that the Assyrians were expelled again, this time by nationalistic Egyptians . The Blacks' loss of their beloved Memphis, Thebes, and even their Egyptian name now seemed to be final . Other invasions came . The Persians under Darius the Great took over, and their domination of Egypt lasted from 525 to 404 B.C., with the assistance of Greek mercenaries . They returned in 343 B .C. to reestablish their rule, but again for only a relatively short duration . Alexander reached Egypt in 332 B.C ., on his world conquering rampage . But one of the greatest generals in the ancient world was also the Empress of Ethiopia . This was the formidable black Queen Candace, world famous as a military tactician and field commander . Legend has it that Alexander could not entertain even the possibility of having his world fame and unbroken chain of victories marred by risking a defeat, at last, by a woman . He halted his armies at the borders of Ethiopia and did not invade to meet the waiting black armies with their Queen in personal command . Upon his death, one of his most outstanding generals became Pharaoh as Ptolemy I, thus beginning 300 years of Macedonian-Greek rule . Toward the end of Greek domination, the[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 8:59pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]expansion of the Roman Empire had transferred the real center of power to Rome . Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome-the continuing process of transforming a black civilization into a near-white civilization long before the Christian era . The Ptolemaic period had been largely one of confusion . The division of power among the Greeks, Macedonians and Egyptians, and intermarriages with the latter, joint rule, etc ., made the Ptolemies, at times, merely nominal rulers . There were times when a native Afro-Asian ruler gained the center of the stage as the star attraction, as in the case of Cleopatra . Upon her death, in 30 B .C, Romans assumed direct control, ruling the country for seven centuries, beginning their reign thirty years before Jesus Christ would be born in the same Palestine where Blacks had lived and ruled so long . After this long period of domination, the Arab general Amr-ibn-al- As, entered Alexandria in 642 A.D . with only 4,000 men . The conquest of Egypt by the Muslim armies, which had reached Pelusium two years earlier, was not only to change the character of Egyptian civilization radically, but it was to have a `disastrous impact on the dignity and destiny of Africans as a people . The Arab conquest had opened the floodgates wider and Arabs poured in . Colonization and Islamization progressed . As Egypt became a main center of Arab power, this fact found concrete expression in Arab-Islamic expansion over North Africa into Spain, and southward into what remained as "The Land of the Blacks ." THE NEW BORDERLINE OF THE BLACKS We have traced the ancient struggles between Africans, Mulattoes and Asians, where the Africans sought not only to resist conquest, but to retake the whole of Egypt . They succeeded at times, but finally lost all of Egypt, as we have seen . Ethiopia now began at the First Cataract in the north and extended south into present-day Ethiopia . It was now bounded by Upper Egypt, the Red Sea and the Libyan desert . These are rather general geographical designations without any precise meaning, for ancient Ethiopia had no precise southern boundaries . Ancient Ethiopians would say that their land included Egypt and was in fact without boundaries in Africa insofar as non-Africans were concerned . All of the European and Asian[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 9:21pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]doctrines about "unoccupied" regions of Africa at any given period in history are quite meaningless and unacceptable to Africans . For to them, it is just as senseless as it would be to say to a farmer anywhere, "See here now! There are large sections of your land unoccupied and untended. So we'll just come in and take it!" The Africans' area of great concentration was ancient Nubia between the First and the Sixth Cataracts . It was the land where they had developed the great civilization which they had extended over Egypt . Their work had been appropriated by the invaders as their own . The geography of Nubia is the geography of much of present-day Sudan and beyond . The Nile flows through its sand and rock deserts with a series of falls and a number of rapids . The country is almost rainless . It is the land of the great Nubian desert . West of the Nile towards the Red Sea was the mining area, rich in gold . It was, even within the concept of these geographical boundaries, the heartland of the black world . Already pushed by the invaders from the Mediterranean areas in the north, northeast and northwest, the Africans were to be further hedged in from the east and southeast as the Asian hordes continued to stream across the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean and, much later, as the Dutch Boers poured in from the southernmost tip of the continent . SCRAPS FROM PREHISTORY The stone age Africans lived about the same as stone age peoples all over the world . They were hunters, fishermen and craftsmen . Archaeologists have dug up some of their tools and other artifacts at Wadi Haifa, Wawa, Sai Island, Wadi Hudi, the Selima oasis, Tangasi, Tagiya and other places . These areas are between the Second and Fourth Cataracts . Our discussion of specific, concrete evidence of early black civilization up to this point has been confined to the Egyptian north . Most notable among the Neolithic finds in the south were the beautiful, highly burnished, black-topped and red potterly bowls, jars, etc . The pottery was artistically decorated in wavy ripples or squares . Their earliest writing was in pictures . So many hundreds of these rock "messages" were found along the Nile through Nubialand that one may well wonder if these prehistoric "historians" had posterity in mind . While many of the pictures portrayed wildlife and other objects of interest in the environment, others went beyond this role of the artist[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 9:27pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]and recorded such historic facts as the conquest of Northern Nubia by the Nubian Pharaoh of the Old Kingdom, Sneferu, in 2730 B.C.' This war left a vast wasteland and practically wiped out a civilization that had been developing before Neolithic times . THE "CHILDREN OF THE SUN" For one thing, the land to the south of Egypt had developed a strong economy that was continuously enriched by a thriving export trade in paper (from papyrus), ivory, gold, ebony, emeralds, copper, incense, ostrich feathers (always greatly in demand), and its famous decorated earthenware . A strong economy also meant a strong Ethiopian army, posing a threat even to an African-ruled Egypt . From the Egyptian viewpoint, the "Land of the Blacks" was a threefold threat . Historically, the Blacks who had fled below the First Cataract to escape the various, conquests never seemed to accept those conquests as final, and attempted to retake Egypt from time to time . (These repetitions are deliberate because nowhere in history is this very important fact clearly stated .) But it is clear that, having reconquered the Asian-dominated Lower Egypt, the black pharaohs sought integration with the Asians instead of driving them out of the country . This policy of moderation and accommodation was apparently anathema to the "extremist" Ethiopians, proud Blacks for whom the prospects of having their children come into the world with a color distinctly different from their own was at once an insult to their watching ancestors, and an offense to the Gods themselves. This attitude might also explain the hostility of the Southern Blacks toward the Afro-Asian . The latter were not "true" Africans because they were becoming Egyptians, a mixed breed of many races . They were, therefore, traitors in the eyes of "true" Africans whose badge of eternal honor was the blackness of their skin . This was color racism, deeply rooted, for it sprang from religion : They were "Children of the Sun" blessed with blackness by the Sun God himself and thus protected -------------------------------------------------------------- Notes 1 . There was a previous reference to Sneferu's "scorched earth" war in his own home to further illustrate the extreme Southern opposition to integration with the Asians even under black kings .[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 9:30pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]from his fiery rays. They were his children . Their very blackness, therefore, was religious, a blessing and an honor . The second already stated threat was economic . Egypt's own flourishing export trade, both by sea and caravans, depended heavily on her imports from the south . To cut these off would mean economic panic in an otherwise prosperous land . The third great fear concerned the mighty Nile river. Suppose the Ethiopians decided to bring Egypt to her knees and starve her to death by diverting the waters of the Nile? Belief in this possibility was ancient and ran deep . The Egyptian conquest of Nubia, therefore, might remove the military and economic threats, but, insofar as the Nile was concerned, it would settle nothing . Besides, these Blacks seemed to be unconquerable . A Sneferu might attempt total extermination of the population, burning every town and village, destroying farms and cattle, leaving the land in utter ruin . Yet, as soon as the armies of destruction withdrew, the surviving Africans would come out from their hiding places and began to rebuild once again . Like Upper Egypt, this was a land of cities and towns, of temples and pyramids. Africans were the great pyramid builders, the temple builders . They had built the great pyramids of Egypt during their rule . Renewed activity in temple-building came after Nubia was reoccupied by the Eighteenth Dynasty rulers . All this renewed zeal in building new towns and temples in the south was reconstruction . The Old Kingdom raiders could not destroy all of the temples and other monuments . The returning Egyptians, therefore, had found many fine temples still in use, others in ruins . All Ethiopian inscriptions on the temples and monuments were erased and Egyptian inscriptions substituted . All outstanding African creations that could not be converted and claimed as the work of Egyptians were destroyed, for now "Egyptian" meant "white"-Asian or European . This was done "to promote national unity." Ethiopian inscriptions, of course, recorded victories over Egypt . The Arabs were to carry out the work of eradication in a far more thoroughgoing manner at a later time . All of the South was never completely conquered . The reconquest we are now discussing extended forty or fifty miles below Abu Hamed . History continued to repeat itself . Below the area of conquest the Africans continued to rebuild, reorganizing their fighting forces, and watching an overextended Egypt become weaker and weaker under weak pharaohs who were unable to[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 9:33pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]cope with the interminable struggle for power among the Asians, Egyptians and other incursive groups . In these cycles of consolidation followed by fragmentation into numerous chiefdoms and principalities, Egypt mirrored the results of the human power craze not only in Africa but generally throughout the world . Yet in the long view of her history, Egypt's overall record was one of consolidation and unity that, at times, was not seriously broken for a thousand years . *** Napata was a beautiful city that was favored by surroundings that helped to make it so . It was located below the Fourth Cataract above the great curve where the Nile had turned southward and, as though changing its mind, turned north again . An imposing hill, the "Throne of the Sun God," was the site of temples . The city itself was regarded as the "Holy of Holies," ; the capital of what the Egyptians called "The Land of the Gods." But "Napata" referred not only to this central city, but included what today we would call a metropolitan area that covered towns and villages for miles in all directions from the present-day town of Karima . It was to this area that African leaders, including priests of the various cults, retreated when things got too hot in Egypt . Here also, certain African kings preferred to stay even when their position and power in Egypt were unchallenged . Most of the royal burials in pyramids were at Kurru . The largest pyramid in Ethiopia is that of King Taharqa at Nuri . After the Assyrian-Greek invasion in 590 B.C ., the city was again almost completely destroyed . The capital was moved to the other side of the river to Meroe, the historic industrial center . The Blacks apparently had been more concerned with the development of their copper industry than with iron . Iron ore was in abundance . The earlier failure to exploit it, especially for military weapons, was the reason Assyrians, with their superior iron weapons, were able to sweep the Blacks out of Egypt, invading the Heartland and destroying the Holy City of Napata . The Africans had long since learned the use of iron . They knew all about the smelting process . Why did they allow the Assyrians to get ahead of them? Granting that the ancients kept their military developments secret, as nations try to do today, it was also true that spies, including Africans, were active everywhere . The question is interesting because we are not discussing the period when the African[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 9:36pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]had ultimately surrendered to despair and retrogression, but a period of African power, high civilization and a greatness respected and feared by the ancient world . Even after the onslaught by the Assyrians and their allies, the Africans were to rebuild, from the new capital city of Meroe, a civilization greater than the one just destroyed . There were many lesser states and countless small chiefdoms in the vast land mass that began where the effective control by Ethiopia ended . Through all these milleniums of ups and downs, of trials and errors, of great victories and disastrous defeats, through it all the central drive of this once-black land was in the direction of consolidation and progress . Tribes were united into one nation either voluntarily or, that failing, by force . Strong armies were maintained to protect and expand their civilization . The retaking of that part of the homeland that extended north alone the Nile to the Mediterranean was at once the deathless dream, the impassioned goal, and the cornerstone of their foreign policy . These Africans battled the invading Asians decade after decade and century after century until their resistance to conquest and enslavement extended over four thousand years . From ancient days, therefore, the Africans had had, in the very center of the heartland on the continent, a history from which their posterity could learn how unity alone provided the condition for strength and progress, and that each one of a thousand little "independent" chiefdoms were but a standing invitation to the aggressors and the ultimate domination of all . Why did the Africans fail to take this message of salvation as a revealed truth from their own history? What dimmed civilization's light on Barkal Hill and caused an ultimate withdrawal to the bush and the scattering of people hither and yon like hunted beasts? Why did Africans begin to retire from the race with other advancing peoples and fall so far behind that even the memory of former greatness could not inspire a revival because that memory had been almost completely blotted out? I have been detailing some of the answers throughout, and in later chapters we shall explore further answers to questions raised . We now cross to the west bank of the Nile and journey farther south ~to the city of Meroe . It is the eighth century B .C., and the move to Meroe was simply a move to what was already the southern capital, only now, instead of having two capital cities in the South, there would be only one .[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 9:39pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]THE DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING A distinguished line of leaders followed Tanutamon to the throne in 653 B.C., Atlanersa, Senkamanseken, Anlaman, Aspalta, Amtalka and Malenakan-palace, temple, and pyramid builders all . Two of the greatest temples were built by King Aspalta at Meroe : the Sun Temple and the Temple of Amon .2 The imposing pyramids and rows of huge royal statues added to the majesty and magnificence of Meroe . The royal tombs, as in Egypt, were the repositories of the nation's history . From them archaeologists were able to determine a line of forty-one rulers after the conquest of Lower Nubia . These monuments were not only sources of early African history from within but, of the highest impottance, they were elaborately decorated outside with both the first form of writing, hieroglyphics, and the more advanced African inscriptions in their own invented writing . For the Africans themselves had invented writing, and all attempts to connect this ancient achievement with Egyptian or Asiatic influence have failed . Here the "external influence" school has suffered a major defeat, because the written records found on statues, altars, tombstones, graffiti, etc ., were so distinctly African that their native origin could not be successfully disputed . Moreover, the African system of writing was very different from the Egyptian . It was simpler and had vowels, whereas Egyptian had none . There were twenty-three characters or letters in the African alphabet, four vowel signs, seventeen consonants, and two signs of the syllable . New concepts and new or special words could be easily introduced by the old picture system . Clarity and easy reading was assured by measured spacing between words . A system of numerical symbols for mathematics was developed . The African inscriptions on monuments and such records as those found in royal tombs were in a special category . General writing was done on tablets ofwood and skins prepared for that purpose . Such things as rocks, walls, vases and broken bits and pieces of earthenware comprised other artifacts where ancient African writing was found . Again, how and why did all this disappear? How and why was it blotted out or hidden so completely for two thousand years that an ignorant world, with unprecedented research facilities in its universities, --------------------------------------------------- Notes 2 . It is believed that the temple to Amon was not completed during Aspalta's lifetime but by his successors .[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 9:45pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]still believes, teaches and proclaims that the black man had never developed a civilization of his own? It has been noted that the attractions of Ethiopia, "The Land of the Gods," were great not only because the Egyptians regarded it as the main source of their religion, but also because of its socio-political, economic and strategic importance . When African kings reconquered Egypt and became "Egyptian" pharaohs, they still longed for the motherland to the south, desiring to unite the whole of it with Egypt into one vast empire . They would often retire there, some wanting their final resting place to be in a pyramid below the First Cataract . To the south rested their ancestors whose company they were to join . Here was the capital city of both the black man's world and that of his heaven as well, the Holy City of Napata . During the different periods in which Napata came under a foreign yoke, the capital city of Meroe had to become somewhat holy in its own right, and many of the kings, queens, and other leaders were buried in pyramids there . These were constructed of stone outside of the city proper, sometimes at a visible distance of two or more miles . They were built to stand forever, an attempt that stemmed from the African's actual belief in immortality . This is why their faith included the natural assumption that those who had passed on, their ancestors, were living in the "Great Beyond," and were, therefore, in the most favorable position to represent the interests of their kinsmen below ; or, in short, to serve as mediators between God and man . The pyramids ringing the city not only added to the physical beauty of the surroundings, but they were also the silent sentinels, the ever watchful ancestral presence from which might come either a benediction or a curse . Earlier, you may recall, I was unsparing in my criticism of those African societies which seemed to be governed by fatalism and failed to counterattack against their natural and human enemies. As I read the record, it' seemed to me that these groups did not try to meet the awful challenges which confronted them . They gave up too readily and refused to ignore tribal lines or to unite for common survival strategies . They remained scattered here and there, like hunted animals, moving into barbarism and savagery . Such were my strictures and, obviously, I did not give the whole story, even about these groups . Now, however, and by a glorious contrast, we are in the midst of Blacks, the core group of all Africa, who met the challenge on all fronts[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 9:50pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]and from every direction ; and who fought on and on through the centuries, against the forces of man and nature until they, themselves, were completely overwhelmed . Three thousand years ago the desert, while slowly moving in on Africa, had not advanced to where it is today . There was more arable land in Ethiopia, although its agriculture did not match that of the rich delta region of Egypt . The Blacks were, however, mainly agriculturists like other Africans . Even with their remarkable industrial development, farming went on on both sides where the "two Niles" met in their land before continuing as one great river through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea . Nor should the importance of the Atbara river be overlooked . Even though the surrounding deserts were a problem insofar as agricultural expansion was desired, the more immediate problem was famine from drought . There were years during which no rain fell at all and not a hopeful cloud appeared in the sky . The Afrians met the challenge by constructing a national system of reservoirs . These were strategically located around the capital, at Musawarat, Naga, Hordan, Umm, Usuda, in the Gezira region, at Duanib, Basa, and doubtlessly at other sites not yet excavated . This master plan to defeat drought and famine by a system of reservoirs was more important than all of the architectural art that found expression in their beautiful statues, temples, palaces, columns and pyramids . The reservoirs were more significant than the monuments, important as these were in hiding the black man's intellectual achievements in the invention of writing deep under the sands . I rate the reservoirs as the supreme achievement because they reflect the real measure of African man as he met the challenge to survival head-on, with a constructive counter-attack against the adverse forces of earth, sun and sky . The irrigation system, made reasonably effective with their oxen-powered wheels, was a part of this challenge to adverse circumstances . ** Piankhi, following Kashta in 720 B.C ., began what was quickly to become again one of the greatest world powers of the time . Ethiopia was united with Afro-Asian Egypt under a single imperial rule that extended from the Mediterranean in the north to an undefined boundary in the south. Also unknown was how far its eastern boundary extended southward along the Indian Ocean coastland, how much of Uganda[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 9:53pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]and Abyssinia was included, or how far westward the empire extended .3 All this is not so important as the point that during this period of triumph, world fame, fear, and an unprecedented prosperity from a flourishing trade with about one-half of the world, African rulers continued to neglect the updating of their military and naval defenses . Iron was the basis of the technological revolution in warfare . That the Assyrians, Hittites, Persians and other Asiatic nations were equipping their armies with new types of iron weapons, and that these were devastatingly more effective than stone and copper weapons had to be well-known to the Africans . It was not news . As was mentioned before, they not only knew about the use of iron but they had long since developed the iron smelting processes . The trouble was the highly secretive royal monopoly . No secret was more zealously guarded than the smelting of iron . This meant rigidly limited production . Here.was fear out-matching both reason and the most elementary common sense . This over-secretiveness which inhibited the expansion of iron production was to contribute mightily to the success of Assyrian arms over them . Prosperity, too, may have blurred the African's vision . Too much success can be dangerous . In this case so much wealth was piled up from foreign trade, especially in gold, ivory and copper, that the question of iron, if raised, may have been dismissed as "economically unsound ." Whatever the reasons were, the fact is that the great iron industries which had developed in this center, spreading over Africa, could have started centuries before . Even as early as 300 B.C ., when iron smelting was employed for more useful purposes than ornaments, the royal monopoly still prevented widespread use . That they knew of the importance of iron is shown by the fact that kings and high priests were often heads of the guild, and the chief iron master would often gain the status of what a Prime Minister is today . Regardless of the delay, iron smelting and tool-making got underway on a vast scale in Ethiopia at a most crucial period for Africa . Its center was Meroe, and it appears that the biggest iron works were in and around this capital city . This development was at a crucial period because it was the period of increasing migrations from the -------------------------------------------------------- Notes 3. This whole period of black achievement is minimized by writers who substitute Meroe, the city, for Ethiopia, the empire . Ethiopian writing then becomes "some Meroetic inscriptions," etc .[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 9:55pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]heartland and the scattering of groups all over Africa . They carried their knowledge of this great technological revolution wherever they went, and they began the use of iron and the development of iron industries wherever they had had the opportunity to settle in iron ore areas and remain settled long enough to create a stable society . This spread of ironworking from the cradle of black civilization is just another example of how other fundamental African institutions spread over the continent, north as well as south, and remained basically . unchanged down through the centuries, no matter how numerous were the groups into which the original society became fragmented or how countless were the various languages and dialects that resulted from that segmentation . There were, as a matter of course, many variations and modifications by different survival groups . The most remarkable of the facts was that even those groups that were pushed back into a state of barbarism still held on (God only knows how) to some of the basic institutions of the society from which they descended from one to two thousand years before . Neither Christian Europe or Muslim Asia were able to completely destroy those institutions, even in the vast regions over which both had supreme control . And this is why, in a previous discussion, I had suggested a smile of compassion when you read or hear about "Egyptian influence" on this or that black society because, in general, all that could possibly be meant is the "influence of early black civilization on subsequent black societies .'' The expansion of the iron culture, however, was a revolution in technology that ushered in a new age and gave new hope to a despairing people . It meant the use of new instruments of production in agriculture, and the industrial crafts, and, of great importance for a refugee people, for a new kind of military organization and defense . It can be seen, then, that the "Motherland of the Blacks," centered on the Nile around the cataracts, provided her wandering sons and daughters with the instruments of survival, a knowledge that still served them well centuries after the Arabs and Turks had overran that Motherland . The memory of many things had been lost, however . Who remembered Thebes, Napata, Memphis, Elephantine, Heracleopolis or Nekheb? Indeed, who remembered even Meroe, the most advanced center not only of the African age, but also of writing? And what of the other important towns and cities in Southern Ethiopia (Nubia-Cush), Musawarat, Nuri, Panopolis, Kerma, Assuan, Soleb, Abu Simbel, Kurusku, Samnah, Philae, Kawa, Dongola, etc? Our constant references[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 9:57pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]to Napata and Meroe might lead those who do not look at the map to think that there were only two important cities in the land . Forgetting the names of ancient centers of importance was nothing compared to the tragedy of the Blacks in almost completely forgetting the very art of writing which they themselves invented! This was one of the most tragic losses, to repeat, that was ever suffered by a whole people . And in view of the anti-black course of subsequent history, the Blacks needed their written language and records more than any other people . Just how and why this people discontinued the use of writing has been set forth rather clearly and in some detail in the foregoing pages . However, the matter is of such transcendent importance that I hope some black scholar will devote an entire book detailing this one episode in the long history of Africans . The story would cover the periods of migrations and dispersions when writing was needless if not impossible, to the general loss of the art itself . I say "general loss" again because, of course, some African societies did not completely lose the art of writing even under conditions where its use seemed utterly futile . The most important fact to keep in mind, however, is that we are considering the early age when relatively few people could write, a small professional class, the scribes . All books, scrolls, inscriptions, letters, etc ., were written by them . Therefore, in any society where the scribes were either captured or, for whatever reason, disappeared, the art of writing in that society died . In view of the developments in Black Africa, the disappearance of writing is not a mystery at all . Conquest and domination tended to check migrations and bring a larger measure of iron-ruled stability to the invaded region . An integral part of that iron rule was the introduction of the conquerors' speech and writing, the first step in the process of conquering the soul and minds-of the Blacks along with their bodies . This was easy because the knowledge starved "key people" among the Blacks eagerly grasped Arabic, French, Portuguese, English, or German as the best route to status in a new civilization . Most of this developed later than the period we have been summarizing, the thousand years in Ethiopia after its last success in retaking Egypt and its defeat and withdrawal with the fall of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty . Here we speak of the period from sixth century B.C . to the fourth century of the Christian church in Ethiopia .[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 10:20pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]CHRISTIAN AFRICA Africa was naturally among the first areas to which Christianity spread . It was next door to Palestine, and from the earliest times there had been the closest relations between the Jews and the Blacks, both friendly and hostile . The exchange of pre-Christian religious concepts took place easily and, due to the residence of so many ancient Jewish leaders in Ethiopia -Abraham, Joseph and his brothers, Mary and Jesus . The great Lawgiver, Moses, was not only born in Africa but he was also married to the daughter of an African priest.4 The pathway for the early Christian church in the Land of the Blacks had been made smooth many centuries before . In a different work I suggested that a major reason why so many later Christian missionaries failed in Africa was because they were bringing refurbished religious doctrines that came from Africa in the first place . The religious belief in sacrifice for the remission of sins was an African belief and practice at least 2,000 years before Abraham . The results of a comparative study of the African, Jewish and Christian religions have amazed many who have undertaken the task . Practically all of the Ten Commandments were embedded in the African Constitution ages before Moses went up Mt . Sinai in Africa in 1491 B.C ., a rather late date in African history . We do not know how much significance should be read into the fact that Christianity began to spread in Ethiopia (Nubia or Cush) only after the destruction of the central Empire with the fall of Meroe . However, the most important development after the Empire passed was not the rise of Christianity, but the rise of the two Black states that picked up the mantle and staff of Ethiopia to carry on . These two states were Makuria and Alwa . ----------------------------------------------- Notes 4. Many accounts refer only to his marriage to the daughter of a Midianite priest . However, Aaron and his wife rebuked Moses for marrying a black woman .[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 10:23pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]The Two That Carried On FROM THE EARLY AFRICAN VIEWPOINT THERE WAS NOTHING earth-shaking or extraordinary about the establishment of still another cult, the cult of Christian churches . The only unusual thing about the new cults of Christians was that while they disclaimed being of the Jewish faith, they worshipped the Jewish tribal god, the God of Israel . The Christians seemed to be expanding the role of a god who had been concerned only with the Jews as his "Chosen People" to a God of the Universe, the Sun God . The Christians were not really different even in the central religious beliefs of the Africans and Jews of the period in sacrificing sheep, goats, bulls, (and sometimes humans) for the remission of sins . For, while the Christians had given up the slaughtering of animals for offerings, the very cornerstone of their faith was that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was sacrificed for the sins of man and that His blood was shed for this purpose alone . Drinking of the blood (wine) and eating of the body (bread) are all fundamental aspects of man's most ancient religion . The spread of Christianity in the land below the First Cataract gained momentum after the destruction of Ethiopia as an empire, and its world-famous capital, the city of Meroe . Such a decline and fall of a nation, empire or civilization is never as short or sudden as the date given for the event suggested, in this case, .350 (A.D.) . Many factors and forces operated over a long period of time before what can be called the "Great Age of Black Civilization" came to a close . How the black world was being adversely affected by both Asia and Europe may be better understood by a flashback to events following the[/b] |
| Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(m): 10:26pm On Feb 24, 2012 |
[b]end of black rule over Egypt with the close of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty in 656 B C. The victorious Assyrians, you may recall, made Necho, a king from Sais in Lower Egypt, the governor-general, supported by Assyrian garrisons . This Necho was an Asian, but by this time the practice of calling all non-African residents Egyptians had been so firmly established that it had the weight of customary law . The Afro-Asians had failed to win recognition as the only Egyptians. Whites of all nationalities, though a minority, were often the dominant groups, ruling from their power base in Lower Egypt . Hence the continuing crises between the white Egyptians and the now more populous "coloured" Egyptians .' The Black Egyptians no longer counted as a power group north of the First Cataract . When the Assyrians were finally expelled during the Twenty-Six Dynasty (664-525 B.C .), the foundations for permanent white Asian rule in Egypt had been firmly laid . From this period on, the wars for the control of Egypt were primarily wars of whites against whites . The internal corruption, jockeying for position compounded by the various partisan groups, reflected the weakness of the country in employing more and more foreign mercenary troops, especially Greeks . These large incursions of Greeks and their allies formed the same kind of advance base for a future Greek hegemony as did previous Asiatic peoples . The time was not yet . But it was the opportune time for the Persians to invade this much-invaded land and begin a rule in 525 B .C . that was to last 21 years . Since the administration of a conquered country by absentee kings is generally weak and open to revolt, the very long Persian rule in Egypt was doubtless due to an extraordinary line of strong kings and imperial administrators-Cambyses, Darius the Great and Darius 11 . The end of Persian rule came in 404 B.C . when the Egyptian Greeks joined with the Egyptian nationalists in a "War of Liberation ." The victory was short-lived . The Egyptians were in power only five years before the rebellion and independence were broken and Persian rule reestablished for another 64 years . -------------------------------------------------- Notes 1. The same development is now taking place in South Africa where the "Coloureds," once fanatically devoted to the whites, are now bitterly resentful because their privileged status vis-a-vis the Blacks is being steadily reduced .[/b] |
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