By Kwaku Person-Lynn
On the Internet, there was a debate between Martin Bernal, author of "Black
Athena," which alleges that Greek civilization was influenced by an
Afrikan civilization from the Nile Valley, and Mary Lefkowitz, author of
"Not Out Of Africa" and editor of The reason these discussions and programs are so pervasive, most Western
scholars and educational institutions teach and promote the idea that
civilization began in Greece. Part of this belief is due to lack of knowledge.
Part is due to a position that Western civilization must be held up as the
supreme human endeavor that ever existed, at all cost. And part is simply due to
the philosophy and metal illness of white supremacy, that will give global
Afrikans credit for absolutely nothing.
Many of the commentaries, editorials, documentaries, reports, and so forth,
argue that many so-called Afrocentric scholars promote their ideas through
shabby scholarship and inconclusive evidence. Fine. I won't debate that. I
agree. There are some "off the top of the head" so-called academic
soothsayers out there who are giving serious global Afrikan scholarship a bad
name. I condemn them also; probably one of the only points I agree with the
anxious Western scholars. But that just represents a surface pot-shot
discussion.
What the Western scholars, many of them, particularly the white
supremacist-types, seem to neglect are those serious global Afrikan, and
European scholars who have done very substantial and credible work to advance
the view of civilization beginning in Afrika, particularly the Nile Valley, and
there was a clear Afrikan presence and influence on Greek civilization.
First, let's defuse one of the oldest myths in European history, at least
among the student population. The foundation of European civilization was not
found in Greece, but on an island south of Greece called Crete. It's culture was
known as the Minoan civilization, named after King Minos, who was said to have
paved the way for a sound and stable culture, which had a strong influence in
the development of Greek civilization.
Doubt and suspicion has always been raised about classical (ancient) writers
who even hinted at his possibility, such as: Homer, Herodotus, Hesiod, Ovid,
Diodorus Siculus, Josephus, and several others. It was not until the
revolutionary excavations of the German, Henrich Schliemann, in 1871, did the
scholastic world begin to consider that there was any hard evidence to support
the new Afrikan contact and/ or influence in the early European world. But as
expected, the denials continued.
Another gentleman, Sir Arthur Evans, in 1894, embellished this work through
his excavations in Crete, demonstrating that there were Afrikan contacts and
influence in Minoan civilization which had a direct influence on Greek
civilization.
We do not have all the time we would like to discuss all of the arguments
related to this discussion, but let me at least mention some areas that need to
be explored, if one is serious. It is essential to look at the writings of William
Leo Hansberry, knows as the "father of Afrikan studies," and his
"Africa and Africans As Seen By Classical Writers." His work clarifies
the role classical writers play in this whole discussion, as well as presents
their evidence and sources: something some writers in this area are unwilling to
do. He was a very meticulous scholar who worked out of Howard University. It is
also mandatory to look at the works of Cheikh
Anta Diop, "African
Origin Of Civilization" and his :"Civilization
Or Barbarism." Dr. Diop is considered the most authoritative Afrikan
scholar in the world in the area of Nile Valley civilizations and its
influences, particularly on Greek civilization. Or maybe it is because his
research is so exact and conclusive that white supremacist scholars are
relentless in attempting to discredit him and his work. A task unfulfilled.
Drs. Hansberry, Diop, and several others, are not romanticists or feel-good
scholars, but serious scientists who take their work in the most serious manner.
They knew full well that the correcting of world history, particularly from the
Afrikan perspective, would be under intense scrutiny.
Now we already know that the white supremacist Western scholars are going to
object and oppose any evidence that shows an Afrikan influence on Greek
civilization, or any other part of Europe. Their basic premise is to give
Afrikan people credit for nothing. We understand this as they shoot off their
pop guns, and we answer with nuclear canons.
Before concluding, let me mention a few more items for those Western scholars
who are in constant denial. When they look at the first human beings in Europe,
they must investigate the Grimaldes, a people that were never taught about in
school; those small prehistoric Afrikans who were the first inhabitants of
Europe. Their remains have been found all over the planet. They were the worlds
first Homo Sapiens Sapiens' inhabitants. Also, they must look up the history of
the Moors, those Muslim
Afrikans who conquered much of Europe, around 700AD, for almost 800 years, and
brought civilization, science, art, universities, libraries, paved and lighted
streets, chess, the windmill, and a host of other objects that elevated Europe
out of the dark ages. Just for added interest, they must also investigate Septimus
Severus, the Afrikan who was one of the greatest rulers of the Roman Empire,
as well as Isis, the Afrikan
deity, antecedent to Mary of Jesus, who was worshipped so strongly that the city
of Paris, France was named after her.
I could go on for the rest of the day and night on this topic, but the point
that is being illustrated, there is solid and hard influence to demonstrate that
there was an Afrikan influence on European civilization, in more than just one
era. I suggest that for those who continue to remain in denial, before you jump
up and down to criticize and oppose, you must read global Afrikan scholastic
literature, as well as European, not generally included in traditional
(European) curriculums in our educational institutions. This is imperative if a
balanced and fair view is to be debated and understood. If not, only a narrow
perspective can be expected, never allowing anyone to get at what we are all
search for, we hope, unbiased truth in scholarship.