₦airaland Forum

To be continued,

[b]the destruction of black civilization . For the migrations help to answer

the question : What happened to the African people? Or, what caused

them to descend from the highest place to the lowest among the people

of the world?

Even though the work was radically abridged, an innovation in

historical research was introduced by going beyond all questions of

doubt, the principal viewpoints of the work . This was the case-study

method by which a representative number of states from every region

of the continent was studied-North, East, West, Central and Southern

Africa .

In the "View from the Bridge" and in the final chapters, I make a

more definite break from the "old line" of historians . To be objective

and more scientific, this school insists, the research scholar should do no

more than present the comprehensive and fully documented results of

his investigations . There should be no "subjective" commentaries, no

editorializing . One should just present the factual data and leave

interpretation and evaluation to the reader .

This may not only be the correct viewpoint, but it is even beautiful for

historians who represent the already arrived people who control the

world . They can well afford the luxury of historical knowledge for

knowledge's sake-the great satisfaction that comes from just knowing

how things came to be .

But the black historican, member of a race under perpetual seige and

fighting an almost invisible war for survival, dare not follow in these

footsteps of the master . Quite the contrary, after faithfully researching

and piecing together the fragmented record of the race's history, the

task of critical analysis and interpretation should begin . What were our

strengths in the past? In what respects were we most vulnerable? Where

did we go wrong? And all this, like the study of history itself, must be

for the express purpose of determining what to do now . In short, the

black historian, if he is to serve his generation, must not hesitate to

declare what he thinks the results of these studies mean . For even when

our history shows us where we have been weak, it is also showing us

how, through our own efforts, we can become strong again .[/b]

[b]These questions, along with those stated earlier, constituted the core

problems for sixteen years of study . And while the outcome did not

eventuate in the more detailed work as planned, I think I succeeded in

summarizing the most significant highlights of my findings in the

chapters which follow this Preview .

ORIGIN. AND STEPS IN THE STUDY

I . Review of world history . Believing that the history of the race could

not be understood if studied in isolation, I began a slow and deliberately

review of European history, ancient and modern, and the

history of the Arabs and Islamic people . I say "review" because by 1950

I had already studied and taught in the three fields of American,

European and Arabic history-a most fortunate circumstances for the

task ahead .

2. Began the formal study of Africa in Europe . I did not know how

very wise this was when the decision was made . For I did not then know

that Europe and Asia had been hauling out of Africa, over the centuries,

just about all of the historical materials I needed to see and study at the

very outset . Certainly, I knew from reading all about the "violation of

Africa," but to know the scale on which this was done one must see at

least some of it in Europe with his own eyes, and be amazed . The

museums in various cities of the European colonial powers are the

repositories of much of African history .

3. Documentary sources . These are available in both Europe and

America . Reports of Colonial Administrators in Africa, parliamentary

debates, reports and letters from geographers, explorers, captains of

slave ships, and, especially rewarding, the reports and letters from

missionaries to their respective societies' home offices . For the earliest

records on ancient Africa in Europe, Greek and Roman sources were

the most useful (see Bibliographical Notes) .

4. Field Studies . The field studies covered two years of work in

Africa . Armed with a solid background in written documentaries, the

primary concern then turned to oral history and the developing methods

of historical criticism applicable to it . (Several chapters would be

required just to detail the methods and procedures in this relatively new

and rewarding field of oral tradition .) Every region of Black Africa was

covered : 26 nations in East, West, Central and Southern Africa, and 105

language groups .[/b]

[b]
I was convinced that what troubled me and what I wanted to know,

was what troubled the black masses and what they wanted to know . We

wanted to know the whole truth, good and bad . For it would be a continuing

degradation of the African people if we simply destroyed the

present system of racial lies embedded in world literature only to

replace it with glorified fiction based more on wishful thinking than on

the labors of historical research .

My inquiry, therefore, was concerned with Black Civilization alonewhat

the Blacks themselves achieved independently of either Europe or

Asia . This was an entirely new approach to the study of the history of

the Blacks . It meant, first of all, segregating traditional African institutions

from those later influenced by Islamic Asia and Christian Europe . In

this way, and in no other, we can determine what our heritage really was

and, instead of just talking about "identity," we shall know at last

precisely what purely African body of principles, value systems or

philosophy of life gradually evolved from our own forefathers over

countless ages, and we will be able to develop an African ideology to

guide us onward . In other words, there can be no real identity with our

heritage until we know what our heritage really is . It is all hidden in our

history, but we are ignorant of that history . We have been floating

alone, basking blissfully in the sunny heritage of other peoples!

My research was a quest for some specific answers to very, specific

questions . Some of these were : (1) How did all-black Egypt become allwhite

Egypt? (Note at this point that mulattoes were classified as white

in Egypt, all North Africa, and the Middle East-a fact that still confuses

Blacks in the United States where the very opposite policy was adopted .)

(2) What were some of the specific details in the process that so

completely blotted out the achievements of the African race from the

annals of history-just how could this he done on such a universal scale?

(3) How and under what circumstances did Africans, among the very

first people to invent writing, lose this art almost completely? (4) Is there

a single African race, one African people? (5) if we are one race or one

people, how do you explain the numerous languages, cultural varieties

and tribal groupings? (6) Since, as it seemed to me there is far more

disunity, self-hatred and mutual antagonisms among Blacks than any

other people, is there a historical explanation for this? (7) And how, in

puzzling contrast, is the undying love of Blacks for their Europeans and

Asian conquerors and enslavers explained?[/b]

[b]ORIGIN AND
DEVELOPMENT OF STUDY

In a small town surrounded by cotton fields in South Carolina, a little

black boy in the fifth grade began to harass teachers, preachers, parents

and grandparents with questions which none seemed able to answer :

How is it that white folks have everything and we have nothing?

Slavery-how and why did we become their slaves in the first place?

White children go to fine brick, stone and marble schools nine months a

year while we go to a ramshackle old barn-like building only five-and-ahalf

months, then to the cotton fields . Why?

In the sixth grade one of our teachers, Miss Alice Crossland, helped

me to become a sales agent for the Crisis and the Norfolk Journal and

Guide . This was like turning on the floodlights of heaven ; for the books

on our race, listed on the back pages of the Crisis, started me off on their

never-ending search, raising more questions as I progressed through

school, questions whose answers were even more perplexing . For,

having read everything about the African race that I could get my hands

on, I knew even before leaving high school that (1) The Land of the

Blacks was not only the "cradle of civilization" itself but that the Blacks

were once the leading people on earth ; (2) that Egypt once was not only

all-black, but the very name "Egypt" was derived from the Blacks ; (3)

and that the Blacks were the pioneers in the sciences, medicine, architecture,

writing, and were the first builders in stone, etc .

The big unanswered question, then, was what had happened? How

was this highly advanced Black Civilization so completely destroyed that

its people, in our times and for some centuries past, have found

themselves not only behind the other peoples of the world, but as well,

the color of their skin a sign of inferiority, bad luck, and the badge of the

slave whether bond or free? And, since I had learned that whites were

once enslaved as generally as any other race, how did it come about that

slavery was finally concentrated in Africa on Blacks only? In short, no

books or other studies in high school and college answered or gave clues

to answers to the problems that puzzled me the most . For no matter

what the factual data were, all the books written about Blacks by their

conquerors reflected the conquerors viewpoints . Nothing else should

have been expected . And, considering how thorough-going was the

capture of the minds of the Blacks, it is really not surprising that so many

Negro scholars still faithfully follow in the footsteps of their white

masters .[/b]

[b]THIS WORK IS A SUMMARY OF THE 16 YEARS OF RESEARCH

and field studies which were intended for a 2-volume history of the

African people . The writing plan for the two volumes would have

required at least another five years, even if the serious impairment of

my vision had not occurred . In the meantime there had developed an

urgent need for the results of my research which concentrated on crucial

areas in the history of the Blacks that had been either unknown, known

and misinterpreted, or known but deliberately ignored . My own history

classes were only a part of the rebellion against the only kind of textbooks

available . It was a general rebellion against the subtle message

from even the most "liberal" white authors (and their Negro disciples) :

"You belong to a race of nobodies . You have no worthwhile history to

point to with pride ."

The Destruction of Black Civilization, therefore, could not wait

another five years just to be more detailed, impressive, or massive in

scope, for a reinterpretation of the history of the African race could be

compressed into a small work for background reading, and so written

that black John Doe, cab driver or laborer, and Jane Doe, housemaid or

waitress, as well as college students and professors, could read and

understand the message from their forefathers and foremothers .
[/b]

Those that have contributed positively to this topic, I thank you greatly with utmost humility. I mean Amujale & Co. I Share your opinions and I support the idea of spreading the information to people around us,first and foremost.

We have to know our original history of Black Africa. History, full with great achievements that was destroyed or taken away and hidden or rewrote in history books. If we do not know our history, nothing will ever change. We all have to go back to the class rooms and I mean every one of us still alive to study our history.

''He who do not know true history is a lost one''.

Fools 4 life.

@ Cap 28,

You have said it all.

Double standard on the part of the International Community.

The bottomline is Africans should have a mind of their own.

I believe that there is no problem without a solution. The AU have a great role to play in the political situation in IC without the use of guns. It can be solved without sending troops there. It can really be done. It can be done amicably but the AU must and i insist have a mind of its own.

Whatever the International Community believed about Abiola who was then the winner of the election in Nigeria in the year 1993 was of absolute unimportance to the electorates residing in a sovereign State who came out enmasse to cast their support for him in order that he may carry   them into a better tommorrow.

If he was able and qualified to lead them into the promised land is not the issue here but that the people of Nigeria exercised that democratic Rights:
The tenets of democracy should and must uphold the interest of free men and women in a sovereign land before any other interest in the world.

Since the International community have assumed the role of being the preachers and  keepers of democracy why should it bother them most of how they see him (Abiola) rather than how the people of a sovereign land consider him.

At best this is what democracy is all about. The interest of a Nation is reflected in how and for whom they choose to vote for provided the environment was free and fair.

Africans!!!

Why don't we have a mind of our own for the continent sake.

I agree with Dede and Cap 28 absolutely. Military action is way too divisive at a time we should be forming alliances.

It seems no one have answered the question that was put forward by Cap28, and i rephrase it, what did the so called International community do in 1993 in an election that was credited  to be  free and  fair in the history of  Nigeria.

The International community was watching from the sideline as the election was annulled.

The International community was watching as the winner of that election was put in prison.

The International community was also watching from the sideline when he was poisoned to death. As  if the humilation was not enough, they were also watching when the dictator stepped aside and arranged for a sovereign National Government. This action was also not considered as at that time  to be undemocratic by the International Community.

And I still ask what was the International community doing when SNG was discarded after some couple of months by a military regime.

Ghana have publicly shown that they have a mind of their own and they have my utmost respect.

It is a political situation in IC and i believe that the AU should have a mind of their own in finding solutions by employing diplomacy by bringing two warring parties to the roundtable.

@ Akhenaten

Pictures sometimes describe what words cannot express. Pls continue posting. Thanks.

I will really like to see or hear the contents of the Aburi accord. Does anyone have a copy of the delibrations of what was said or discussed during the accord? I will appreciate it so much. Thanks.

I have read '' The Destruction Of Black Civilisation'' By Chancellor Williams and I must say it is a book that explains our history.
Thank you ROSSIKE.

I do not know what exactly they are expecting from our graduates. Thesame old story.

To_Chi,

You get liver o.

How can you ask An aspirants those kind of questions?

Dont you know in Nigeria its illegal to ask aspirants about their wealth, Source of income and finances,

I get your sarcasm. We cannot continue in the old ways of avoiding to demand answers to questions that borders on competence, honesty and transparency. For over 50 years we have failed and still failing to ask qualitative questions either for fear or favour and the result is a clear testimony of the Nigerian Society and it's ills.

@kobo

Not all is waiting . From the comments so far some are satisfied while some are not at all.
So the onus lies on DapoLam to create a bridging gap and harmonize all. True attributes of a stateman.
I am still waiting for his candid response

The questions are solely directed to the prospective would be candidate for The House of Reps DapoLam and am still waiting for his candid response.

Don't be lazy read 

@ dayokanu,

You are asking questions that boggles my mind too.

1. Ok let me assume that every Nigerian is corrupt including my very self in this particular moment in Nigerian history . I mean everyone as long as you are a Nigerian you are corrupt. It is an assumption. Just an assumption

2. From the corrupt entity called Nigeria comes DapoLam who gives us the impression that he has turned a new leaf and that he is able through honesty and qualitative programmes improve the welfare of Nigerians.

From my experience, the evil and corrupt politicians have always employed the tactics of placing the burden on Nigerians to provide evidence of their corrupt practices, which the polilooters know very well will be in vain, taking into consideration the poor or non existence of records and lack of access to desired information in Nigeria. 

DapoLam, you claim to be of a new generation with new ideas different from the ways of the old and evil politicians that have ruined this land. So please, you can start by placing the burden upon yourself showing outstanding proves and facts that you have a different mindsets from the polilooters of today.

A good way to start is by providing simple qualitative, quantitative, honest and accurate information to questions that are asked here. I repeat some of the questions raised by dayokanu because i am not satisfied with the anwers you earlier provided due to the fact that the answers you provide here will go a long way to clear my doubts about DapoLam

a.  Who are the owners of Skipet?
b.  Can you please state the source of capital for Skipet?
c.  When was Skipet established
d   What are the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company and finally;
e.  The names and address of members of the Board of Directors.

As regards question (b) you said ''gifts from friends of the family''. Please, if you can provide us with the names and address of the friends of the family who donated ''gifts'' to make it possible for you to establish Skipet and also the names of your Partners in Skipet who also provided a form of ''gift'' I assume, then you have not only taken transparency to another level but shown indeed that you are a new breed of politician setting new Ethical standards that is based on deeds far from what Nigeria have been used to in the last 50 years.

Does Skipet have a website? If it does please kindly provide me with a link which will provide anwers to the questions I and others are interested to know and of course it will  save you the pain of providing thesame answers to different seekers.
But if a website for Skipet is non-existent then I will be forced to question your competence and that of the Board.

Yes, a website is not a measure of how competent a company is but in our  own scenario  access to information about a company's activities through it's website should be a yardstick to measure capabilities and efficiency and also the mental state of the company and also the mentality of those behind the said company based on the premise that INFORMATION IS POWER and POWER IS INFORMATION.
Access to information denied is tantamount to denying me my right to expression as regards views and opnions to the information before me.

We the nigerian citizens for over 50 years have been denied this precious element of transparency that is the reason for over 50 years we have always been told by the polilooters ''provide evidence of corruption against me''. They (Polilooters) are always quick to use these line to defend themselves against us the masses because they have always denied us access to information.
DapoLam, be the first to prove me wrong.

Thank you as i await your response.

@ kobo,

Thanks for the insight. If u really have that energy and time you can break it down; kindergarten style for those finding it difficult to see the reasons behind your points. There are still grown up kids here.


Nigerians and their hypocrisy knows no limit  

If you really feel the way you express above, may I suggest you completely avoid this thread as the thread is for those who do not have WHITEMAN issues and are at least willing to address the fact that we do have an image problem that needs to be solved somehow. This has NOTHING to do with WHITEMAN or what you think of them. Instead, this is more about the state of life for millions of people who live in Nigeria.

   

Developing and cleaning up Nigeria is the inalienable, irreducible duty of Nigerian citizens. On the other hand it is also the patriotic duty of Nigerians to be law-abiding and to present a positive image of Nigeria to interested foreigners.

100 percent correct and no one is debating that fact. That is how it should be. You do not force your citizens to say good things about their country especially when all is well with the so called land. It reflects in their day to day life and the citizens will willingly say good things about their country without no one reminding them that they have to be patriotic and law abiding.

[are you 5 years old? why show you a report card? is it to mock you or to make you face your failings and challenge you to do better. But then again, if you have been lying to your parents about how fantastic you are, your report card will not lie.]

For those who do not understand the essence of the topic, pls see the quote above before making comments pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssseeeeeeeee.

Bidemi and kobo thx a lot including other like minds.

One day, I took a taxi, pls do not get me wrong. Not in a foreign country but right here in the contraceptive called Nigeria , Lagos to be precise. This little trip about 30 mins drive from one point to the other brougth out the best questions any taxi driver in  Nigeria could possibly ask. Let me cut it short. This are some of the questions.

1. Why are we killing ourselves   and yet claim we are warm and accommodating people

2. Why is there power outages or no power at all as if electricity has not been discovered.

3. Is there any reason in this world to explain  teachers/lecturers salaries not been paid and sometimes going upward for months and yet we claim that we have abundant resources.
4 Why are our educational institutions always on strike and yet we claim that Nigerians are intelligent and have leadership qualities.

5. why are our road networks so bad and yet those in power claim to release billions of money for road maintainance and development.

6. Why do our so called government functionaries always travel abroad to seek for medical help as if every Nigerian is entitled to do so .

7. Why are our best minds not in Nigeria. What is it that they find conducive in a foreign country that Nigeria cannot provide for them as a foundation to improve in their field of calling.

8. Why so much refuse dump that can lie uncatered for for months and sometimes years.

9. Why does our law enforcement agencies take laws into their own hands before someone is prounounced quilty as charged. ie Why do we have men in uniform that beat, whip, harass and intimidate  civilians .

10. Why is unemployment so high for young and inspiring minds after graduation.

In truth, i was not able to provide any answers to this questions. He could have gone on and on but fortunately or unfortunately i reached my destination, paid him more than his dues and found  way out of the taxi.

In the course of our acquaintance, i found out he was one of the numerous graduate (Yabatech) but fortunately and according to him '' had to do something negative to get money to buy me these taxi after so many years of hopelessness but will never do such a thing again in my life because i have something now to sustain a living''.

Nigeria 4 u.

I think it was a joke, my op

;d ;d

lack of confidence; no self believe

They lack absolute confidence. Unfortunately they worsened it,  being too greedy with the ball.
Except the one and only Eyeama

@ Kobojunkie and bk/babe97,

It's not Ibo but Igbo,