Dr. Leonard Jeffries Speaks to ASCAC's Study Group in Newark, NJ

Newark, NJ – In response to a high demand from Black people to get involved in an intense study of African history and culture, ASCAC (the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations) has established a study group chapter in Newark, NJ. The two community leaders directing ASCAC’s efforts to reaffirm its presence in the city of Newark are veteran history teacher Bashir Muhammad Akinyele and journalist Doshon Farad. ASCAC will be hosting a public study group meeting on Saturday, March 20, 2021 at 2:00 pm on Zoom and social media. ASCAC’s Study Group Chapter in the city of Newark will have the legendary history and Africana Studies Professor Dr. Leonard Jeffries as its guest speaker. He will give a Pan African analysis on the necessity of the development of an African cemented worldview for Black liberation.

On Thursday, August 27, 2020, a preliminary ASCAC study group meeting took place with the community on Avon Avenue and 12th Street. That study group meeting was extremely successful. From that initial meeting, the ASCAC organizers dew the interests of people joining ASCAC’s Newark study group chapter in the city. ASCAC’s study group will be focused on the scientific and scholarly research documents that argue Afrika is the mother of civilizations and religions (i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Al-Islam). Our first lesson unit will focus on the importance of developing an African centered worldview for Black liberation. We will be discussing and analyzing Dr. Molefe Kete Asante’s Afrocentricity, Dr. Maulana Karenga’s Kawaida: And Questions of Life and Struggle, Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop’s African Origins of Civilization: Myth or Reality, Dr. Rkhty Amen’s A Life Centered Life Living Maat, and Dr. Khalid Abdul Muhammad’s speech called the Meeting of the Masters (Khalid’s Last Speech) to help Black people establish an African centered consciousness. In every ASCAC study group meeting, there will be an examination of the origins of the world’s Abrahamic faith traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Al-Islam) in the ancient spiritual traditions found in Kemet, Yoruba, and in many other African spiritual traditions. The methodology of presenting scholarly material and arguments on history will be centered on epistemology and sankofa.

In the 1980s, and early 1990s, there was an ASCAC study group chapter in the city. In time, ASCAC ceased to exist in Newark. Now in the millennium, the call for ASCAC's resurgence is again echoing in the streets.

The Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC) is an independent study group organization founded in 1984 by Drs. John Henrik Clark, Yosef Ben-Jochannan, Jacob Carruthers, and Maulana Karenga (https://ascac.org/). ASCAC's national President is Dr. Mario Beatty. He is an associate professor of Afro-American Studies at Howard University in Washington D. C. ASCAC is devoted to the rescue, reconstruction, and restoration of African history and culture. But most importantly, ASCAC helps Black people develop an African centered worldview to make Black Lives Matter. But ASCAC is not just seeking knowledge for knowledge’s sake. ASCAC wants to help African people connect knowledge to Black liberation.

Dr. John Henrick Clarke, the late and great Africana studies historian, Pan-African nationalist, community activist, and co-founder of ASCAC committed his adult life and scholarship to working to rebuild the Black mind. An African mind that was almost destroyed by White supremacy and systematic racism. In his book, Notes for An African World Revolution: Africans At the Crossroads, he said, "we need an internal cultural revolution, and it's going to have to start inside of our minds." Akinyele and Farad says, “we will use the wisdom and resources of ASCAC as a vehicle to help liberate our minds from the grips of European and Arab domination in Black America and in the African world community.

The murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Blackman killed by the Minneapolis, Minnesota police department on May 25, 2020, has angered but inspired masses of Black people in America to fight for social justice. Mass rallies have taken place under the banner of Black Lives Matter to demand America and the world to respect and value Black humanity. The struggle to make the world recognize Black people as human beings has been in existence for centuries. That fight has not ended. Unfortunately, the struggle against White supremacy and systematic racism continues for Black people.

But the killing of George Floyd has also sparked something else in African people. Akinyele and Farad, says, “it has opened the door for some of our people seeking to develop an Afrikan centered consciousness, particularly Black youth.”

Therefore, according to Akinyele and Farad, “we decided to step up to accommodate our people's interests in blackness. Although we started working on ASCAC over a year ago, the continued struggle for racial justice in America has forced us to quickly establish an ASCAC study group chapter now to help give our people an African centered historical, political and cultural education in the Newark and surrounding New Jersey area for Black liberation.”

They also added, “since the co-operation and repression of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements by the power structure in America, and in the world, the Black Freedom Struggle has been left in chaos. We have witnessed the ongoing disunity and disorientation of the African / African American community.

We have lost our way with learning the lessons in history from our African ancestors to help us have a clear analysis on Black Freedom Struggles. And because of this situation, many of us lost our commitment to the struggle for Black liberation.

But the murder of George Floyd is forcing us to learn from our African ancestors the many lessons on the necessity for African history, Afrocentric culture, social justice, Black empowerment, and human rights. And apply these lessons to seize Black political power.”

For more information about the ASCAC Study Group Chapter in Newark, NJ, contact (908) 956-3523 or (347) 898-5556. You can email us at (bashir.akinyele@gmail.com).

https://patch.com/new-jersey/newarknj/necessity-ascac-newark-nj-area