The Knowledge of Self: The Keys to Black and Human Liberation

Hotep!!!!

Let me first begin my lecture with giving thanks to the Creator of the heavens and the earth. A Creator that is called by many ancient names in this world, such as Yahweh, God, Allah, Dios, and Olodumare. But the oldest name for the Creator in human history is Amen-Ra. This word Amen-Ra for the Creator of the heavens and the earth comes from the Afrikan Nile Valley Civilization called ancient Kemet-known to the world as Egypt. Amen-Ra comes the world’s first writing system called the Medu Neter. Europeans and Arabs call it Hieroglyphics. Amen-Ra means the hidden one, the unseen one, the prime mover of the universe and all living things. That might be too deep for some people, but this is Black History Month. The world, and Black people, must know our contributions to all human civilizations and religions. And we as Black people have contributed greatly to all human societies and all faith traditions in the earth. Afrikan faith traditions were the first to organized beliefs in the existence and oneness of God. Our faith traditions, particularly our faith traditions coming from Kemet, were respected so much by all Abrahamic faith traditions that they pay homage to our ancient beliefs in Amen-Ra by ending their prays with Aaaaameen! But as our Black nationalist freedom fighter taught us, the great Malcolm X (Omowale El Hajj Malik El Shabazz), we must put aside our religious differences that divides our Afrikan world, to come together as one united Afrikan people. Therefore, I say that regardless of land, language, and culture there is but one God.

Secondly, I pay homage to all respected family and community ancestors by saying Ibaye Ase.’ The words Ibaye and Ase are two Yoruba words. Ibaye means blessings to the ancestors. Ase’ means it is so.

Now because we as Black people are from many walks of life, and political ideologies on the globe, I great you all with the Pan – Afrrikan greetings of Black Power, All Power to the People. Stop the Shooting, Stop the Killing, Stop the Violence, Peace in the Streets, No Justice No People, Uhuru, Free the Land, Hallelujah, praised the lord, As Salaamu Alaykum, Shay Alafia nee, Amandla, ankh udja seneb, what’s crackin, and what’s popin!

Hotep!!!! Come on we are an Afrikan people that come from a tradition of call and response. Therefore, when I say Hotep, I need you to respond by saying Hotep!!!

Hotep! Hotep! Hotep!

I am starting my speech off with the word Hotep. Saying Hotep is an Afrikan centered greeting that offers peace to someone or to the masses of people. It is an ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) word for peace. The word Hotep is the oldest written word for peace in human history. It predates the Hebrew word shalom for peace and the Arabic word Salaam for peace. Thousands of years ago Afrikan people in Kemet used Hotep to offer people peace in the secular world. But they also offered Hotep to people entering the spiritual realm. Thus, making the word Hotep a secular and spiritual word for peace. Hotep was found in the world's first writing system called the Medu Neter. Kemetic people called their system of writing Medu Neter, but the invading Europeans and Arabs changed the Afrikan name of the Medu Neter to hieroglyphics. All this great and awesome world history are the missing pages of Afrikan history and culture.

This leads me to a quote by Amílcar Cabral-a great Afrikan revolutionary. He said, "Culture is a weapon in the face of our enemies.” Brother Cabral spent his activist life fighting against the European colonial domination of Guinea-Bissau, and Cape Verde in Afrika, until he was assassinated by the Portuguese in 1973. He understood that the path of Black and human liberation starts with the knowledge of self.

Brother Cabral has inspired me to title my lecture the following: The Knowledge of Self: The Keys to Black and human Liberation.

Often, we begin Black history with slavery, colonialism, and apartheid. We do not start our history with the great Afrikans civilizations such as Ghana Mali, Songhay, Nubia, Kush, Ethiopia, or Kemet (Egypt).

We do not even begin our history with Afrika being the cradle of humanity, civilizations, and religions.

Master Fard Muhammad and the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad co-founded the Nation of Islam on July 4, 1930. The Nation of Islam is an Afrikan centered Black Islamic organization currently under the leadership the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. The very first lesson the membership in the Nation of Islam must learn is the following, "who is the original man." The membership masters the lesson by answering the question saying, "the original man is the Asiatic Blackman; the maker; the owner; the cream of the planet earth-God of the Universe." Clarence 13x founded the Nation of Gods and Earths in 1964, also known as the 5% Nation of Islam. The Nation of Gods and Earths is an Afrikan centered Black Islamic community-based organization. The lessons of the Nation of Gods and Earth centers on teaching Black people that the original man is the "Asiatic Black man-the Maker; the owner, the cream of the planet earth; the father of civilization; and God of the universe." Now some people may not want to believe, follow, or respect these lessons taught by both the Nation of Islam and the Nation of Gods and Earths on the true knowledge of Black people. (In the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was believed by some White scholars that the origins of humanity was in Asia, but not in Afrika. However, Master Fard Muhammad teachings argued that the Black man and Black women are the originators of humanity found in Asia, Afrika, and all over the planet earth. Thus, calling Black people the Asiatic Blackman and Black woman.

The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey created the UNIA – African Communities League on July 20, 1914 to the teach the knowledge of self to the oppressed Black man and Black Woman in the world. He taught, “up you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will.”

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, “radical scholars" such as Charles Darwin and Gerald Massey began their arguments with their strong theories that Afrika is the birthplace of humanity at this time. However, Darwin's and Massey's ideas were dismissed by academia.

But by the mid to the late 20th century, scientists such as Drs. Louis S.B. Leaky and Donald C. Johansen, proved that Afrika is the birthplace of humanity with their discoveries of the world's oldest human bones in Tanzania and Ethiopia in Afrika. Science now says that most likely humanity began in Afrika, and then spreads from Afrika to the entire planet earth).

However, all these lessons are rooted in what Dr. John Henrick Clarke, the great Afrikana Studies and history professor calls “the missing pages of history.”

In fact, many aspects of Afrika history and culture are intentionally whitened by racist historians to keep these facts hidden from the masses of humanity, particularly Black people. By intentionally perpetuating misinformation about Black people, our history, and our culture; racist historians continue on with racial myths white supremacy passes off to the world as facts.

For example, in Kemet (Egypt), Afrikan people created a school system called the Mystery School System. The schools taught students how to concentrate their Afrikan intellectual abilities, and their Afrikan spiritual beliefs of monotheism, into mastering the arts and sciences to shape the world into our own reality. The late and great Afrikan centered educator, Dr Asa G. Hilliard documented this extraordinary educational process in Kemet in his book called, The Maroon Within Us: Selected Essays on African American Community Socialization. He writes, "the process of education was not seen primarily as a process of acquiring knowledge. It was seen as process of the transformation of the letter that progressed though successive stages of rebirth to become more god-like. Disciplined study under the guidance of a master teacher was the single path to becoming a new person. Kemetic educators were the first and foremost serious students of natural phenomena, especially in the native African dynasties. It was the long, painstaking study of everything in nature that led kamites and other Africans to the belief in the essential unity of all things in the universe, and to a belief in one supreme God. This belief was held in KMT from earliest times. According to the great Egyptologist, E. A. Wallis Budge, who studied all the ancient Kemetic literature, the study of that literature reveals that there was never a time when kamites did not believe in one Great God (monotheism). This God was nameless, incomprehensible, and self-created."

In today's world, many people marvel at white folks’ ability to shape and bend the world into their reality. Many white people are looked on as being Gods on earth. But to achieve this power, whites received their knowledge a long time ago from the lessons of ancient Afrikan people in Kemet's (Egypt's) Mystery School System.

When Ancient Afrikan people created schools called the Mystery School System, the students learned the ability to master spirituality and the arts and the sciences to become a God on earth. Our ancestors learned these things before white people came to dominate the planet earth. And there were Afrikan civilizations that dominated the planted earth.

According to Afrikan history, and world history, Kemet was that dominate civilization in the world for over 3000 years.

But Kemet, in its last days, grew weak. Kemet's disunity open itself up to being conquered. Unfortunately, non-Black people (i.e., Greeks, Romans, Persians, Arabs, Hebrews, Christians, Muslims, etc.) invaded ancient Kemet (Egypt). In 332 B.C.E.(Before the Christian Era), the Greeks conquered Kemet (Egypt). Then came the Roman conquerors in 30 B.C.E. Then came the Arabs conquerors in 640 A.D.

After the invasion of Kemet (Egypt), the invaders began a campaign of stealing from her libraries, copying her monotheistic spiritual ideology, and all her cultural treasures. The invaders discovered Kemet's (Egypt's) Mystery School System. They became students of the Kemetic (Egyptian) Mystery School System. Unfortunately, instead of giving credit to Afrikan intellectual greatness, the invaders claimed the knowledge of the Kemetic (Egyptian) Mystery School's curriculum on spirituality, philosophy, mathematics, the arts, and sciences for themselves. Some of these people mastered the lessons of the Kemetic people (Egyptians), they became the gods of philosophy and mathematics on earth known as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras.

Some people may have issues with this phrase God on earth. Some people may want to just call it mastering knowledge. And that is fine. But whatever folks call it, some people, mainly some very elite White people, tapped into this knowledge of Afrikan culture, to help empower themselves, and created a western (White) world that empowers them to bend it in their direction. That is a fact!

Therefore, we as Black people must revisit our Afrikan history and Afrikan culture. This is where we will develop the Afrikan centered conscious to bend the world in our direction for Black liberation.

I challenge everyone to please read Dr. George G. M. James' classic book called Stolen Legacy. He digs deeply into the theft of Afrikan culture by Europeans. James’ argues that Greek Philosophy is stolen Kemetic (Egyptian) Philosophy from Afrikan schools called the Mystery Schools. In the book's introduction, professor James writes, "the term Greek philosophy, to begin with is a misnomer, for there is no such philosophy in existence. The ancient Egyptians had developed a very complex religious system, called the Mysteries, which was also the first system of salvation. As such, it regarded the human body as a prison house of the soul, which could be liberated from its bodily impediments, through the disciplines of the Arts and Sciences, and advanced from the level of a mortal to that of a God. This was the notion of the summum bonum or greatest good, to which all men must aspire, and it also became the basis of all ethical concepts. The Egyptian Mystery System was also a Secret Order, and membership was gained by initiation and a pledge to secrecy. The teaching was graded and delivered orally to the Neophyte; and under these circumstances of secrecy, the Egyptians developed secret systems of writing and teaching, and forbade their Initiates from writing what they had learnt. After nearly five thousand years of prohibition against the Greeks, they were permitted to enter Egypt for the purpose of their education. First through the Persian invasion and secondly through the invasion of Alexander the Great. From the sixth century B.C. therefore to the death of Aristotle (322 B.C.) the Greeks made the best of their chance to learn all they could about Egyptian culture; most students received instructions directly from the Egyptian Priests, but after the invasion by Alexander the Great, the Royal temples and libraries were plundered and pillaged, and Aristotle's school converted the library at Alexandria into a research centre. There is no wonder then, that the production of the unusually large number of books ascribed to Aristotle has proved a physical impossibility, for any single man within a lifetime."

Therefore, we must an acquire a factual knowledge of Afrikan history and culture. This will deeply help us understand ourselves and humanity. Most importantly, we as a people of Afrikan descent will realize that the pathway to real Black and human liberation begins with the knowledge of self.

The systems of oppression, such as slavery, colonialism, apartheid, and segregation; made Black people believe that we had no history, culture, or spirituality before the coming of Europeans and Arabs. In fact, white hegemony, using white supremacy, taught us and the world, that we contributed absolutely nothing to the world's civilizations and religions. Fortunately, in reaction to white hegemony (domination) falsifying information about the Afrika since the 1800s, Black people have created organizations and movements to rescue our history, culture, and spirituality.

Many of us acquire the knowledge of self (Black consciousness) by fighting back systematic racism. Unfortunately, many of us limit our search for our blackness to one level of Black consciousness. We do not realize that Mother Afrika sparked civilizations and religions all over the planet earth.

To all my young homies (Black and Brown youth), the concept of “stay woke” is the very first stage of Black consciousness. However, you must keep reading, studying, and researching on Afrikan history, culture, and spirituality to get to the higher stages of Afrikan centered Black consciousness. Once this stage of Afrikan centered consciousness is achieved, a stronger level of Black pride fills our souls with a purpose for Black liberation. But all stages of our development in Black consciousness starts with the knowledge of self.

In the history of nations, a people are sometimes blessed to have a great mind come their way. In this instance, the Afrikan world community was blessed with the great scholarship of Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop. He was one Afrika’s most brilliant historians, Egyptologists, scientists, and Pan Afrikanists. Dr. Diop lived from December 29, 1923 to February 7, 1986 in Dakar, Senegal. He was raised in a Senegalese Muslim family in Afrika. Dr. Diop spent his elementary and secondary years in Islamic schools. In his youth, Dr. Diop received both his master’s and Doctorate graduate degrees from the University of Paris in France. He even did some of his graduate work at the prestigious Sorbonne. However, when he reached adulthood, Dr. Diop committed himself to reclaiming, rescuing , and restoring Afrikan history and culture from the falsehoods of White supremacy and systematic racism. Dr. Diop had a complete love for the facts on historical events, especially on the history of Black people. He believed that a corrected written history of Afrika will help lead to an end to racial oppression, promote human dignity, and put Afrikan people on the road to Black liberation. Although there are many aspects of his scholarship on Afrikan history, Dr. Diop’s primary focused was centered on Kemet (Egypt) belonging to Black people in Afrika. He not only argued that Kemet was a Black civilization, but Dr.Diop also said that Kemet influenced the world’s civilizations (i.e., Greece, Rome, the Middle East, China, India, etc) and religions (i.e., Judaism, Christianity, Al-Islam, etc). (The word Kemet means land of the Blacks).

Dr. Diop wrote many books, but one of his most important texts is The African Origins of Civilizations: Myth or Reality, Published in 1976, Dr. Diop documents with sound data, evidence, and research on Afrika’s contributions to the world’s civilizations and religions. But he begins his arguments on Afrika’s role in the development of the world’s civilizations and religions starting with Kemet. In Kemet, the world found its pathway to civilization and religiosity.

In the preface of the book on pages XIV-XV, Dr. Diop writes, “The ancient Egyptians were Negroes. The moral fruit of their civilization is to be counted among the assets of the Black world. Instead of presenting itself to history as an insolvent debtor, that the Black world is the very initiator of the “western” civilization flaunted before our eyes today. Pythagorean mathematics, the theory of the four elements of Thales of Miletus, Epicurean materialism, Platonic idealism, Judaism, Islam, and modern science are rooted in Egyptian cosmogony and science. One need only to mediate on Osiris, the redeemer-god, who sacrifices himself, dies, and is resurrected to save mankind, a figure essentially identifiable with Christ.

A visitor to Thebes in the Valley of the Kings can view the Moslem inferno in detail (in the tomb of Seti I, of the Nineteenth Dynasty), 1700 years before the Koran. Osiris at the tribunal of the dead is indeed the “lord” of revealed religions, sitting enthroned on Judgement Day, and we know that certain biblical passages are practically copies of Egyptian moral text.”

Profound research coming from Dr. Diop.

In conclusion, I mention the scholarship Dr. Diop because he reflects various movements of Black people in recent times dedicated to the struggle to rebuild our history torn to shreds by white supremacy.

Movements like Kawaida. Dr Maulana Karenga, professor of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach, created a revolutionary cultural and political philosophy for Black empowerment. But he co-founded the Us Organization-a revolutionary cultural nationalist Black Power movement established on September 7, 1965 in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Karenga says that Kawaida is a Kiswahili word meaning "tradition" and "reason." It is pronounced ka-wa-EE-da. He defines Kawaida as, "a communitarian African (Afrikan) philosophy created in the context of the African (Afrikan) American liberation struggle and developed as an ongoing synthesis of the best of African (Afrikan) thought and practice in constant exchange with the world." Kawaida is the foundation for Kwanzaa - a Pan Afrikan centered holiday celebrated from December 26 to January 1.

Movements like ASCAC. The Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC) is an independent study group organization founded in 1984 by Drs. John Henrik Clark, Jacob H. Carruthers, Yosef Ben-Jochannan, 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 peoples to educate other Afrikan peoples about our culture." It was founded by scholars deeply rooted Afrikan American communities in Newark, New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. It derives its membership from Afrikans / Afrikan Americans across class and occupational social classes. 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 an annual conference, operates a youth enrichment program, and is editing a comprehensive history of Afrika.

Movements like Afrocentricity. The movement of Afrocentricity is an Afrikan centered intellectual movement challenging white supremacist and racist notions about Black people, Afrika, Afrikan History, Afrikan culture, Afrikan spirituality, World History, Caribbean History, western religions, and American history. Some of Its leaders consists of the following scholars: Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop, Dr. John Henrick Clarke, Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannan, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, Dr. Asa Hilliard, Dr. Jacob Carruthers, Professor Ashra Kwesi, Professor Tony Browder, Dr. Runoko Rashidi, Professor James Smalls, Dr. Naim Akbar, Dr. Lenard Jeffries, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, Dr. Marimba Ani, Dr. Charshee McIntyre, Dr. Amos Wilson, Dr. Maulana Karenga, and Dr. Molefe Kete Asante. Their commitment to Afrikan centered scholarship has led to the re-awaking of the Black mind in America and in the world in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Afrocentricity inspired Black people to acquire the knowledge of self and Hip Hop to become conscious. But most importantly, ASCAC helps Black people develop an Afrikan centered world view for Black liberation.

But before both Afrocentricity and Kawaida movements, the struggle to re-center Black people on the knowledge of self, came through the critical study of world, American, Caribbean, Asian, Arab, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu histories by pioneering Black scholars like Dr. W.E.B DuBois, Arthur Schomburg, and Dr. Carter G Woodson. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Black scholars and Black historians argued that Afrikan history, culture, and religions were hidden behind the pages of other people’s history in the world.

In the streets, leaders such as Noble Drew Ali, the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Master Fard Muhammad, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Steve Biko, Charles 13 X, Huey P. Newton, Kwame Ture, Queen Mother Moore, Sonia Sanchez struggled with our people to teach the knowledge of self. Some of their students went on to teach the next generation the knowledge of self, such as the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhans, the Dr. Khalid Abdul Muhammads, the Sister Souljahs, the Baba Zayid Muhammads, the Dr. Mario Beattys, Dr. Greg Carrs, and the many Black Lives Matter social justice activists.

The struggle continues in the millennium to teach Black people the knowledge of self for Black and human liberation.

Happy Black History Month!

Hotep!

Bashir Muhammad Akinyele is a History and Africana Studies teacher. He is also the co-coordinator for ASCAC's (the Association for Study of Classical African Civilizations) Study Group Chapter in Newark, NJ. (https://ascac.org/)

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 Africa. Kiswahili is the language used in Kwanzaa. The holiday of Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26 to January 1.