Roots African or American, El fin
Friday, July 3, 2009 at 06:13PM 
Indigenous Garifuna of Guatamala
Being Black in America is an interesting journey enhanced only by our perceptions of ourselves and the stories that accompany our lives as denizens in the western hemisphere. What and who we are is to be determined by us, and how we view ourselves. And our perceptions of ourselves can drive beliefs and actions about how we live our daily lives. In part one I mentioned reading several books and attending lectures on our historical greatness and accomplishments. One commenter noted “Eventually, I grew bored with all of that because it didn't move me any closer toward "doing for self." I and others read the books, attended the lectures, and then went back to our various jobs working for White-controlled entities. As a Nation of Islam minister put it, we WEREN'T learning the science of providing "food, clothing, or shelter" for ourselves, or for our people.”
This is an excellent and well taken point. Unfortunately, the science of providing food, clothing and shelter has been dissected and re-mixed to become “if it don’t make dollars it don’t make sense” thus the science has been removed from the concept. Now, we have a business world that has become devoid of reciprocal living and true social economics that can be expressed in the indigenous American term found in Louisiana, lagniappe, to give a little something extra, or in a sense to give something back. The science of providing food, clothing and shelter is to “want for your brother what you want for yourself“ and create business’s along the lines of this concept as taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. This one element, that’s now missing makes it an incomplete formula, without it, it becomes a tool for destruction. Part of my thought process in presenting this series is to impart some knowledge that’s being hidden and since being hidden when presented, appears to be “secret origins“ of Black people. See, we only believe these are secret origins of Black people because those that teach and those that accept the standard teachings will continue to view our indigenous origins in places other than Africa as “secret origins.” One commenter wrote “
Vasco Nuñez de Balboa crossed the isthmus of Panama in 1513,he came across both indigenous and black skinned people. He was so surprised when he saw tall black people that he asked the indigenous people who the blacks were or where they were from. The indigenous people in Quarequa, did not respond to Balboa's question.”
She notes that Balboa encountered “both indigenous and black skinned people…” drawing a distinction calling one group of people “indigenous” and another “black skinned” alluding that the “black skinned people were not indigenous to Panama. Yet, she goes on to say “when Balboa saw the tall black people he asked the indigenous people who the blacks were or where they came from. The indigenous people in Quarequa, did not respond to Balboa’s question.” I simply say, because the indigenous (lighter skinned people) thought Balboa’s question was ridiculous and not worthy of an answer. The people of Quarequa knew the “black skinned” people were right from the land they were standing, Panama. The belief that the black skinned people were not indigenous to the land is based on the European Balboa’s question and not the response or non response by the so called “indigenous” people. When we accept the belief that the black skinned people were not indigenous to the land we are accepting the view, and propagating the view of the European and not the people of color, the lighter skinned indigenous people of Panama! We are a diverse people and not just the descendents of slaves. Dr. Jose Pimienta Bey says, if you only think of yourself as descendents of slaves, you will view yourself as slaves, and act as a slave. We are actually, the descendents of prisoners of war and are forced into enslavement. A war that started in Al Andaluz, (Spain) and spread to Africa then to the Americas. If we look at our history as a 500 hundred year history as being showcased by Tavis Smiley and his America I Am exhibit, limited to his concept of American Slavery. This is far from where my history begins and ends, and I can no longer support such a theory. Dr. Ivan Van Sertima said it best when asked why he presented the Egypt Revisited lectures. Dr. Van Sertima entimated ’…our ancestors thought of themselves in a certain way and had an extraordinary sense of wholeness and incredible sense of spiritual powers, a sense of majesty of spirit. So they attempted things that seems beyond the imagination…they had a sense of wholeness and an awareness of consciousness…I do this so that we can get a sense of ourselves, so that we can reconstruct on the glorious past, to project ourselves into a new future.’ I concur. As we get a sense of ourselves and our greatness in the western hemisphere before and after the advent of Columbus, war and eventual enslavement we can grow, loosening the shackles placed on the mind. My wish is that we can come to accept ourselves in the various color, hues and tone that the Great Spirit saw fit to decorate us and stop the divisiveness among us. “I have met many blacks who claim to love the black race but as I listened to their views of other blacks they had a contempt for the diversity of the black race. The only loved blackness that met their own criteria! They only loved blackness that was packaged the way they preferred! They dismissed any categories that didn’t fit into their tiny box of what constitutes black identification. I believe that this is rooted in a contempt for blackness." Rev. Lisa Vasquez. I don’t know who she was referring too, but I do know it’s a lessen for us all.
Reader Comments (14)
This post is absolutely crucial for our discussions about self-definition.
Many thanks for your kindness in sharing my words with your audience!
Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
Lisa
Most people don't have a clue about our history and genetic makeup here in the Americas. I wonder how many people realize that the prefix Mex=Mix for Mexico? That this is not a coincidence of name? I wonder how many people that claim Black or African American understand that genetically we are the progenitors of all races? Thus we must create a new paradigm of thought to create a new pardigm.
The descendants of the Quarquas are still living in Panama in the Darien region, the border of Panama with Colombia.
The Mandingos and the Quareguas were always in a constant battle.
As a matter of fact upon Balboa's arrival, he noticed that the Qurequas had as prisoners these tall black men.
This information is all documented in archives in Madrid and Lisbon.
In no way I believe that the beginning of black people in the Americas is slavery.
The Mandingos are indigenous of the Senegambia region and not of Panama.
Let us be clear here . What I want to make clear here is that long before Colombus and the arrival of the Spaniards in the Americas in 1492, and the so called discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa in 1513, there were Africans traveling the oceans, along with the ancestors of the people of the Pacific Islands and the Chinese moving back and forth along the mighty oceans to the Americas.
Europeans, Africans, Chinese, Maoris, and the people of the Pacific are not indigenous of the Americas.
One last thing, the Garifunas are from Belize,Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. There is a large concentration of Garifunas in Honduras.
Saludos,
Ana
I know very well that you know nothing about the history of Panama or of the region. My beloved Panama has some of the most proud black people you can ever find anywhere on this planet.
You said; " When we accept the belief that black skinned people were not indigenous to the land we are accepting the view and propagating the view of the Eurpopan about the people of color, lighter skinned indigenous people of Panama".
Hey what is this light skinned,dark skinned mumbo jumbo here.
" Ese muerto no lo cargo yo, que lo carga el que lo mató. "
I am not carrying any dead body here. Let the murderer carry the dead body.
Let us be clear:
The indigenous people of Panama are the Kunas, Emberas,Ngobe Bugle Chibchas, and their complexioned is golden brown.
Europeans and Africans are not indigenous of Panama. Light skinned people? I do not know who you are refering to, but they are not indigenous of Panama. They may be the product of the coming together of many people.
They are not indigenous because they could exist anywhere,but are the byproduct of our American history.
There were Africans before Columbus. I do not believe they were all Muslims or were even linked to the Moors.
These Africans were mariners. They could have been colonizers themselves. They were not victims.
This is why the native people of Qarequa battled with them.
Now if the Quarequas do not exist anywhere else but in Panama, and the Mandingos, we now are froim Senegambia, why become confused when the Mandingos are labeled black skinned and not indigenous?
We know they were black skinned and from the Senegambia region
.
On the Atlantic Coast, Black Panamanians refer to themselves as Congos.
Yes, my people are very much aware that some of their ancestors are from the vast Congo region, not unlike some black people who always hail and proclaim blackness and do not know where their blackness emanate from.
And I do not need to claim the entire continent of Africa either. I only want part of it. I claim what is really mine along with the majestic American continent because I love it too.
Hey, I am an Americanista, along the line of Simon Bolivar.
Soy Bolivariana.
Un Abrazo Bolivariano,
Ana
The indigenous people of Mexico and Cental America are the Mayan, Aztecs,Embera(descendants of the Quareqas),Kuna,Ngobe Bugle, etc....
The indigenous people of the Caribbean are: Taino, Arawak, Carib, etc....
The indigenous people of South America are:Quechua,Aymara,Mapuche,Chibcha,etc....
President Evo Morales is the first indigenous president of the Republic of Bolivia Morales.He is Aymara.
The Africans who sailed here long before Columbus had intermarried and mixed in with Native people. Some of the people in Panama and Colombia have black skin with straight hair.
The Moors had intermarried into Spanish nobility. Many Moors became Christians.If you visit Granada, Cordoba,Jerez,, Andalucia, you will see the descendants of the Moors.
There is a beautiful song entitled "Granada" that speaks of the women of that region.
The Moors became "new Chriistians ". They converted to Christianity and went underground for their survival. It was because many still practiced their religion that the Spaniards instituted the Inquisition and thus later the expulsion of the Moors and Jews.
Referring to Native people as indigenous is in no way a disrespect to the Africans who sailed here before Columbus and the many people who live on this astonishingly beautiful American continent.
Let us give due credit where it belongs. And we need to accept that giving credit to where it belongs does not take way from African people.
I see too much of this foolishness. It stems from insecurity and a profound inferiority complex.
Native Americans were here first before everyone else. Whether they originated in Asia and cross the Bering or not, most of the groups that came later found them here and warred against them.
Europeans were the ones who destroyed Native civilizations but others tried as well in the past.
One of my favaorite Native people are the Incas.
Van Sertimas findings and many excavations in the region gives us evidence that Africans sailed here long before Columbus .
Too many people have filters and only hear their own insecurities sreaming at them, thus it is impossible to vanquish away the sorry belief that everyone is confused and hate black people. On this planet, hate is rampant.
Saludos,
Ana
I wrote this series not to take away from any people but to add on to the story of the Americas. There is nothing to take away from anyone, only to be rightfully included as I have never once said in all my writings that Black skinned American people did thus and so and the lighter skinned American people did not do such, as you entimate in your last comment about insecurities. Like you want to be included into the Congo region I want my people to be included as the indigenous North American Yamassee, Tuscarora, Paumunkee, Carib...you get the picture. I also want you note that Blackness does ot begin and end in Africa but it is world wide. I am also aware that the Americas was one place on Earth where for many many thousands of years all people mixed and intermarried with each other, that there have been discoveries of carvings on walls in Scotland of Maize and Agave plants as early as 1444.
Showing there was a time when the whole planet was peopled by dark skinned people Dr. Van Sertima quotes the Roman historian Pliny as he describes the native Britons in the 2nd century CE as "Ethiopians." My point, everytime a European sees black skins he always refers to them as Africans, when the natives themselves may not have called themselves African or Ethiopian at the time.
Peace, and Guidance!! I pray you come back and comment on other topics.
I am not interested in the Moors and in Islam to make a point. History is not about making anyone feel good.
Another thing,I know the history of Panama from the back of my hand. I attended prominent Panamanian educational institutions, therefore you are not talking to a fool.
I speaK four languages, studied French, Latin and Logic as a subject(not part of Mathematics in an elite high school), therefore I was well prepared in college to read manuscripts in their original languages.
You do not have to tell me that I believe Europeans version of histsory because I do not.
I do not believe that the Maoris are black skinned people or descendants of the Egyptians. Europeans have labeled the Maoris as black.
Just remember,most people are dark skinned or even black in terms of Europeans.
The descendants of the Egyptians still live in Arab invaded Egypt and Nubia today. They are well discriminated against because of their dark comnplexion in modern day Arab/Islamic Egypt which hates black people even if they are Muslims.
I am not impressed with Muslims" para nada"( for nothing). The Moors were just like the dark skinned Muslims you find around the world today. The Moors were anti-themselves. Spiritually one cannot be against one own self.
Europeans have labeled the Maoris as black. Just remember most people are dark in terms of Europeans.
We need to understand also that life began in Africa, therefore it is not confusing to find dark skinned people in many areas of the world. There are in the Philipines,Australia, India and in many other places.
One has to be able to place a distinct people in a specific region and group based on language, customs, etc.
Just because a person is dark, does not mean automatically anything. It is a matter of how far one can go back historically to prove who they are descendended from.
And if we cannot, what good is it to say they are all Africans because their complexion is dark?
Just remember Europeans are Africans too. Mankind originated in Africa. And the non- dark skinned people were not the only groups who trekked out of that region called Africa (today ) during the the early years to distant shores.
Un abrazo Bolivariano.
Ana
Black people need to free themselves and get over this love/ hate neurosis with light skinnned people.
There is no Superior race,no Pure race, or Beautiful race anywhere on this planet.
There are enough superior and beautiful individuals within each ethnic or national group, and that is about all of that.
I am just sick and tired of hearing black people make comments with all their anguish and agony seeping through about these so called mythic light skinned people,and then labeling everything" light skinned ",those who are just a tiny bit lighter than black people.
Por favor. Please get over the nonsense.
We identify a people based on their language, religious beliefs, place of origins, ethnic names, customs and last but not least, whatever contributions and achievements they present to History.
Saludos,
Ana
I also believe that at some point relations became strained and there were battles, etc.. I do not believe that Africans were living on the American continent before the arrival of native people who came from across the Bering Strait.
I believe that Africans , especially those who lived along the coast were excellent mariners and sailed the oceans as if it were their own built highways.
The longer Africans have been living away from the continent we always see stark change in their physical appearance, not always the result of intermingling with non-Africans.
Without our filters and subjective biases, let us analyze two dark skinnned ethnic groups: the people of Papua New Guinea ( Pacific) and the Uluru( the Aborigenes of Australia).
In appearance they both are dark skinned (but they carry no memory of Africa within their oral history).
We assumed by looking at them that they are of African origin, and also by the proven fact that mankind originated in Africa.
We would have to look at the time period in which their people left Africa and we have little of that.
But when we observe the Ulurus, we noticed that their complexion range from dark to light brown. And their hair texture is next to straight.
The Uluru children are often born with orange to blondish hair similar to dark haired European people.
The people of Papua New Guinea's hair texture consist of tight curls and their children sometimes are born with orange looking hair.
My observation just on looking at these two people would tell me that the Ulurus left Africa centuries ago and long before the ancestors of Papua New Guinea trekked out of Africa.
After just observing the physicality of the people , one would now have to get their entire oral history and then look at customs, language, religious beliefs, etc..
Saludos,
Ana
Ancient Egytians were conquered and pushed aside by the Arabs to the most inhospitable part of modern Egypt.
The Arabs are simple enough to claim Ancient Egypt as theirs when we all know that during this period, they were in the Arabian desert worshiping things.
And sadly enough, I find many newly converted Muslims in the States who coinsider Arabs to be brothers and sometimes even Africans.
They forget that we identify a people based on their language, place of origins, ethnic names and traditions.
Arabia is not Africa therefore Arabs and Africans have nothing in common. This is regardless of black people changing their names to Arab ones and screaming Asalam Malakum, whatever .
Even the Chaldeans and Asssyrians , people with very ancient histories are still living in today Iraq , once ancient Mesopotamia.
Despite vast forced and natural intermingling, and the fact that many of us speak different languages our ancestors did not utter, it is still not difficult to trace the origins of present day national groups.
Saludos,
Ana
You cannot say the Maoris are the descendants of the Egyptians without a genealogical chart to prove it.
In Modern Egypt, there are citizens who are not Arabs, whose ancestry date back on the continent much longer than the Arabs .
These people carry in their collective memory a history of Ancient Egypt.
Thse are the people to study.
En pocas palabras: Prove it.
Another thing, one of the reasons why I believe that Mandingos and other Africans were mere traders and not colonizers in early Americas is that there was never a large or sizeable settlement of them on American territory.
As I have explained clearly, it is not easy for people to disppear from the face of the earth. There are still remnant of people living in their places of origins.
It appears that Africans came and rerturned periodically, but at the same time forming alliances and unions(marriages), thus leaving enough evidence that there was African presence in the Americas long before the arrival of Christopher Columbus.
This is my last post on this topic.
Saludos,
Ana