ASCAC’s Eastern Region to Host Its Annual Conference

In the continued struggle to free Afrikan people from the vestiges of white supremacy and systematic racism, ASCAC’s Eastern Region will be hosting its annual conference on Saturday, October 16, 2021 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm eastern standard time. The theme is the following: “LIBERATING OUR HEARTS AND MINDS THROUGH THE WISDOM OF OUR ANCESTORS: BUILDING FOR ETERNITY.” ASCAC’s Eastern Regional Conference will fall on a historic day in the struggle for Black liberation. Twenty-six years ago, on October 16, 1995, the largest gathering of Afrikan people took place in the history of America. It was called the Million Man March. The event was organized by the leader of the Nation of Islam-the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

Due the coronavirus pandemic, ASCAC’s Eastern Regional Conference will be completely on zoom. The link to use to participate in the conference is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3483...

The conference will feature ASCAC’s committed and consist members such as the following leaders: Eastern Regional President Nana Modell Gault; Dr. Rosalind Jefferies; Debra Johnson; La Trella Thornton; Dr. Nteri Nelson; Dale Larkhart; and its local Newark, NJ’s study group coordinator Bashir Muhammad Ptah Akinyele, who is also a history and Africana Studies teacher at the historic Weequachic High School in Newark, NJ. But the conference will have Dr. Mario Beatty as its keynote speaker. Dr. Beatty is currently the President of ASCAC and a professor of Africana Studies at Howard University.

The conference will also hear presentations from its various study groups throughout its eastern region such as, Buffalo, NY, New York City, Rochester, NY, and Newark, NJ.

ASCAC will also host a special commemoration for the late anthropologist and historian Dr. Runoko Rashidi. This section of the program will be directed by Dr. Leonard Jeffries-the legendary Africana Studies Professor from City College of New York (CUNY).

Dr. Rashidi was a respected Afrikan centered scholar and Pan Africanist. He traveled to 124 countries, spoken in 67 countries and written 22 books about the presence of Afrikan people on the African continent and around the world in the centuries before and following enslavement. Dr. Rashidi passed onto the ancestor’s realm on August 2, 2021 while leading an educational tour of ancient Egypt.

Nana Modell Gault, the Eastern Regional President, says our conference is absolutely necessary for our path towards Afrikan empowerment. He says, “moving forward as Afrikan people we must establish our own reality in the world based on the wisdom of ancestors for us to secure self-determination.”

The Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC) is an independent study group organization founded in 1984 by Drs. John Henrik Clarke, Jacob H. Carruthers, Yosef Ben-Jochannan, Rkhty Amen, and Maulana Karenga (https://ascac.org/). It is devoted to the rescue, reconstruction, and restoration of Afrikan history and culture. But most importantly, ASCAC helps Black people develop an Afrikan centered world view for Black liberation. ASCAC is an organization that provides the opportunity for Afrikan people to educate other Afrikan people about their history, culture, and spirituality. It was founded by scholars deeply rooted in Afrikan American communities in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Newark, and Los Angeles. It derives its membership from Afrikan / Afrikan Americans across social classes and occupational fields. It has many local study groups and regions around United States. The ASCAC organization has since expanded into an international organization with membership regions and representatives from the Caribbean, Afrika, and Europe. ASCAC has four commissions which advance this agenda: education, research, spiritual development, and creative production. Along with creating study groups throughout the world, ASCAC holds annual conferences, operates a youth enrichment program, and is editing a comprehensive history of Afrika.

Bashir Muhammad Ptah Akinyele, says, "ASCAC is a great opportunity for all people to learn about Afrika being the birthplace of humanity, the progenitor of civilization, and the root of the world's major religions (i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Al-Islam). On the world stage of human progress, civilizations began in the Nile Valley, and there were many major civilizations in that area of Afrika. However, ancient Egypt reflected humanity's march toward creating the world's first highly advanced civilization in times of antiquity. It played a central role in the development of mathematics, philosophy, medicine, science, government, architecture, a written language, art, monotheism, education, ethics, morals, and religion. Many cultures and nations borrowed from the knowledge and wisdom of the ancient Egyptians, who called their nation Kemet, to push their civilization forward towards the foundations of modern society. The word Kemet means the land of the Blacks. Akinyele added, "unfortunately, white supremacy has made ancient Egypt a European or an Arab civilization. When in fact, Egypt began as a Black civilization. This is because racists cannot accept the genius of Egypt coming from Black people. They had to put a non-Afrikan face on Egypt to justify its greatness being white or Arab. Although white supremacist scholars deny Egypt as a Black civilization, many of them still promote Egypt as the foundation of western and modern civilization. However, many hard core racist still will not accept Egypt as the foundation of western civilization and religions. Therefore, we as anti-racist scholars, educators and activists must work to create curricula and history departments that include Egypt as the cornerstone of ancient and modern-day civilization and religions. And must also tell the truth about the original Egyptians being Black. However, getting back to the struggle of ASCAC, we are not just educating our people on knowledge Afrikan history for knowledge's sake. We want to help Black people connect this knowledge of Afrikan history to Black liberation.”

This past July of 2021, Akinyele spent three weeks in Afrika studying the history and culture of ancient Kemet with master teachers Ashra and Merira Kwesi’s Kemet Nu Educational Tour. He spends a great deal of his time educating Afrikan people, and humanity, on Kemet’s role in the development of the world’s civilizations and religions.

For more information for ASCAC’s Eastern Regional Conference, please call (716) 715-6559.

-Bashir Muhammad Ptah Akinyele is the Coordinator for ASCAC’s Study Group in Newark, NJ. He is also a writer, community activist, and history teacher

-Doshon Farad co-authored this article. He is also respected journalist and the Co-Coordinator for ASCAC’s Study Group in Newark, NJ

Note: Spelling Afrika with a k is not a typo. Using the k in Afrika is the Kiswahili way of writing Africa. Kiswahili is a Pan -Afrikan language. It is spoken in many countries in Afrika. Kiswahili is the language used in Kwanzaa. The holiday of Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26 to January
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For More information on ASCAC, please click here: (https://ascac.org/).

For More information on Ashra and Merira Kwesi's annual trip to Kemet the information can be found on their website at this link: (https://www.kemetnu.com/egypt_... ).