#how does the arab slave trade factor in?

[nashvillethotchicken]

And when I get my all black interview with the vampire remake ala the wiz then what

[slightly-radical-universe]

Indaba, My Children- Review

Indaba, My Children, is a book that compels you to reimagine Africa ,it’s history and the origins of the black man. No- he is not the missing link between ape and humanity ,as previously suggested by “respectable” men of science. Throughout the book, the author emphasizes that little is known about the Black man’s culture ,customs, traditions and religion. This can be attributed to all the strict laws which govern the  accessibility , dissemination and acquisition of knowledge in Africa. Very few wise men and women are chosen as “Custodians of tribal history”. These individuals are then tasked with the grave responsibility of being guardians and repositories of all of Africa’s secrets and wonderful mysteries. 

Custodians of Tribal History are sown to secrecy through intense rituals and blood oaths. They are never to reveal some of the sacred wisdom which has now been passed down to them- to the average Tom, Dick and Sipho. “Vey little knowledge is passed on to common people and nothing is ever disclosed to strangers” (p.654). The author believes that  this impeccable shroud of secrecy surrounding Indigenous African Knowledge  is a major contributing factor to inequality and to the racism that has caused much havoc and heartache in the past. He believes that if there were a better understanding between black and white, much bloodshed could’ve been avoided. (He uses Dingana and the death of Piet Retief to illustrate this point). Credo Mutwa, therefore implores the white man to exterminate his ignorance and arrogance and for once learn and understand the black man for what he truly is- How he thinks , the beliefs and philosophies that guide his thinking, his actions and much more. “The African can only be understood in terms of the strange workings of his own mind and those who do not appreciate this may as well refrain from studying the African” (p.655).

Indaba, My Children is thus an attempt to paint a portrait of Africa that the world has never seen before. To demystify the notion that the black man of Africa is a Kaffir- (“ A man without a soul , an unbeliever and a person who can never see the paradise of Allah” - Arab definition as detailed in p.656  ) who has contributed nothing to the advancement and development of humanity at large. This is achieved by taking the reader on a captivating and thrilling adventure through the annals of time. From the very beginning of time when a great nothingness engulfed the earth. To the very first goddess , Ninavanhu-Ma who created the very stars, mountains and oceans and then went on to give birth the human race. We get a glimpse of tribal life in precolonial Africa - the good the great and the not so good. 

Women play a very significant role in this great piece of literature. Throughout the story we have many great heroines and rounded female characters. Women can be seen in positions of leadership ,as chieftains and emperors. They are presented as wise , strong and authoritative. There is a synergy and cooperative spirit that governs the men and women. Force and violence against the female body are extremely frowned upon and even punishable by death. Women can therefore practice autonomy over their own bodies and even choose to turn down suitors and marriage proposals. 

Tribal law  governs the people and absolutely no one is above it. For the preservation of all the laws, customs and traditions of the tribes- everyone must obey all the laws that have been clearly  set out. The laws are very strict and they pertain to matters such as- Behavior,  rituals , adultery, sex before marriage, theft , murder , abortion ,rape and overall conduct. There are about one hundred such laws and they often contradict those which have been superimposed on Africans by foreigners. When a law is broken a suitable punishment is carried out by the “Tribal avengers”. The punishments are very crude and unforgiving, they are the grimmest part of life pre-colonial life. According to Tribal Law, anyone under 25 years of age is still considered a child and is strictly forbidden to marry or to partake in any form of sexual activities. Failure to adhere to this law is punishable by death. 

Polygamy is shown as a normal part of life. Most men take more than two wife's and chiefs really have no limit. The author states that : “ A fallacy dear to many people is that polygamy is practiced as a sign of wealth and prestige” (p. xviii). He cautions that that is very far from the truth. According to the coveted high Tribal Law “ A  man must have no relations with his wife during her periods of menstruation or during the entire period while she breastfeeds a baby... Opposition to polygamy encourages extensive immorality and  destruction of Bantu family life and traditions. p.633” . It is believed that the males semen poisons the baby's  milk. Thus polygamy is crucial in these situations, it ensures that these sacred laws will not be broken. It is also worthy to note that polygamy is not only practiced by males. Yes, a female who goes up the ranks and becomes chieftainess , gets a whopping three husbands all to herself! To top it off , she has to ask for their hand in marriage! 

Hair plays a very important symbolism. The “sicolo” hairstyle is worn by married women, usually of royal blood. Different tribes can be identified by their unique hairstyles. “The Strange Ones” are said to have “hair that looks as yellow as corn” and they are identified by their strangely silky , long and shiny hair. The Arabs or  “The Feared Ones” are identified as having “fuzzy hair and long beards”.

Slavery , something that was almost alien to Africans , becomes very rampant shortly after the arrival of the first ship. Life as we know it takes a horrid and bitter turn. Suddenly , human beings are sold and traded off like cattle. Fear and terror reign supreme and it seems that the very gods have turned their backs on the black man and woman of Africa. Men and women are made to fight and slaughter each other as a very eccentric and sadistic means of entertainment for the Strange Ones. Human beings are farmed and breed like pigs, to ensure an overflow of good quality slaves. At times, just for fun or experimentation. This dark period in the history of Africa, make the harsh punishments under Tribal Law seem very merciful and humane. The Strange Ones had traditions that were very macabre and blood-chilling. For instance, when their emperors died, he was buried along with his living wife and half of his slaves!  There is also mention of traitor tribes, who betrayed the black race by banding together with the Strange Ones as well as the slave-raiding Arabi and sold off millions of African men and women to save their own backs. And also for gaining wealth and favors from the straight-haired foreigners. 

Christianity is first introduced by the arrival of the  “Potugeesa” in page 521. It is a completely foreign and alien concept and only symbolized by the statuette carried by the foreigners. “ ...ten more of the aliens emerged from the forest led by the one wearing a dark-brown  robe reaching to his ankles. He was carrying a staff on the top of which was a bronze statuette of a man of some race, nailed to a cross of wood by his hands and feet ”. Africans lived a life in harmony with nature and were guided by their gods , and various traditions and customs. They could discern right from wrong and governed themselves accordingly.

Vusamazulu Mutwa breaks his sacral oath of silence as a high witchdoctor and chosen custodian as a last and desperate attempt to save the dying knowledge and customs of his people. “Why are we expected to abandon our way of life- our culture and traditions- and suddenly adopt others which are extremely strange to us? p.691 ” . In fear of Africa being turned into “a soul-less carbon copy” of her colonizers, Mutwa bears it all. “Oh! my indolent and gullible Africa- the superior aliens glibly talk of bringing “the light of civilization” to your shores. And yet the only civilization they can bring is one infected with physical,  moral and spiritual decay p.691”. Mutwa, believes that by bringing forth Africa's not-yet- forgotten past , we can weave a better understanding and corporation between Black and White, and dispel blatant mistruths and strongly held beliefs such as the one published in the Sunday Times “...The White man is superior to the Black, because apart from a few crude drawings in crude caves, nothing cultural, scientific and social has ever been achieved by a black...” (E. Morris,  Johannesburg, on August, 1962 ).

Indaba My Children is truly a work of genius. Its written in a compelling and enchanting style that is on a league of it’s own. The reader is thoroughly entertained and goes through a whirlwind of emotions ranging from amazement , pity , fear and anger to name a few. “A person  who is not familiar to Africa and its people might find it difficult to understand this story, let alone read between the lines p.529” It does not follow the “classic”, western three-act structure of story-telling and the perspective of the story-teller jumps back and forth between the main characters, the author and even animals! Parts of the story are told from the point of view of the animals. This draws the reader in the mind of these beasts and it is a powerful way of showing that animals have a mind and consciousness of their own. It also signifies the sacred relationship between the pre-colonial African and the animals in his environment. This story is said to be “...a strange mixture of historical fact and legendary fantasy, a strange mixture of truth and nonsense”. This story is not intended only as a means of entertainment, but is also educational in that it is said to embody tribal history and law. It is written in a way that it can be enjoyed by both old and young. 

[thelexlucifer]

Multiculti - Just another Wet Dream of the Left?

As you might have already found out from previous postings, I do not like “the Left” too much. To me they promote illusions and blame the achievers when their dreams bust. I do my best to debunk their illusions and help people to achieve their individual goals, far from following the herd.

Multiculti is one of their illusions because they neglect that it’s not just about culture but also about language and stratification. But let’s work on it step by step.

Culture can be seen as a backpack one carries. It contains values, patterns of behavior, norms - in fact a lot of parameters influencing how we handle things, see and thus handle others and much more. To some extent that backpack is passed on to you while you grow-up; you need not reinvent the weel as you learn how to cope with challenges in the society you grow up in.

The thing is that people originating from different cultures, or if you like carry a backpack of a different brand might feel “intercultural stress” due to a phenomenon called “culture clash”. Distance between cultures differ (there is scientific evidence for that, no matter what the left tells you). Hence, one might feel comfortable with people from different countries / regions, while disliking those from other regions in the world. Due to that people tend to form groups. Other people being perceived as members of the “in-group” appear more sympathetic than those seen as members of an “out-group”. 

So why mixing folks in a so called multi cultural society, if that tends to induce intercultural stress (that can escalate even to civil war)? 

One pro-argument is diversity. This means increasing a group’s capacity when it comes to solving complex tasks. It’s not just limited to economy, but that’s one of the major fields of application (money makes the world go round).

Another argument in favor of the concept is peace keeping and mitigating the risk of social unrest. The idea is that if borderlines between in-group(s) and out-group(s) vanish, there won’t be any inter-group conflicts anymore. There would be rather a highly-diverse group collaborating to co-create a compelling future.

Doesn’t that sound good? - Yes it does. Will it work out? - Probably not. Please read on.

Diversity. And overcoming cross-cultural stress.

First the good news: Diversity can really improve things. You can observe that at the World Bank, in the trading room of Goldman Sachs, during board meetings of international enterprises and so forth. Smart people, working on complex problems they are interested in. Properly educated (Master degrees and higher), all of them fluent in English or having access to high class translation services and according facilities.

That is backed by science: There is scientific evidence that people collaborating to jointly achieve common goals will overcome prejudices and therefore reduce cross-cultural stress. That is also what the left is telling you. So far so good. What they won’t tell you is that those studies were mainly done with international studies in the US. They have in common that they posses an IQ over the average and they are fluent in English. Otherwise they would not pass the tests necessary to be granted access to US universities. And where we are at it: They maintain a good financial standing, which is necessary to get access to student loans and/or the cash to pay the tuition fee. In other words what research is telling you in particular is that if wealthy individuals with an IQ above the average and advanced skills in a language common to them collaborate in resolving issues they share mutual interest in, then cross-cultural stress will decline. 

This is what the left regularly neglects in public discourse when they try to convince you that immigration of non-educated, broken illiterates is a great deal for the society you live in. And the only factor preventing the success from taking place is the fact that you are a Nazi. 

Please do not believe that bullshit. The herd however does.

The picture above illustrates the babel tower. You can read about it in the “holy bible”. I chose a metaphor from that book as many Europhiles refer to it. In brief the story is about a decadent nation that was punished by God in the way, that many language arose among its inhabitants. Co-creation was no longer possible due to this and the great nation disappeared - because it became decadent. 

That is what I foresee for Europe and more and more also for the US: The decadent left imposes its utopia on the nations, increasing cross-cultural stress, abandoning co-creation ... thus, leading society closer to civil war. 

Incidents that some sociologists denote as molecular civil war already took and take place. 

The left however comes up with weird examples were they think “multiculti” works. Recently one of them pointed me to Dubai. She spent her holidays there and saw ladies wearing mini skirts next to women wearing a hidschab. That’s great example for mixing up different layers one needs to take into account when studying mechanics of a society. She just referred to obvious things, the symbol layer which is just the tip of the cultural iceberg. Dubai provides a space for high-networth individuals (and those pretending to be such for some days) to go shopping together. Outside downtown you will meet illiterates being exploited like slaves needed too accomplish that. All that under the constant rigorous surveillance of the secret service, protecting Arabic aristocracy. In fact Dubai is the city opposing the ideals of the left the most. In Dubai you can find slavery, surveillance, injustice and inequality. 

In other words: The left praises its utopia while neglecting facts. Instead they just invent more and more weird concepts of backing their wet dreams (I chose that term as it will provoke leftist feminists the most). At some conferences the discuss the usage of genetics and nano technology to discover genes causing xenophobia and “curing” it. In other words they seek to streamline the gene pool. They are the real Nazis.

Satanism on the other hand promotes Pentagonal Revisionism: A Five-Point Program. The fifth point shall be cited here as it provides a better goal:

The opportunity for anyone to live within a total environment of his or her choice, with mandatory adherence to the aesthetic and behavioral standards of same Privately owned, operated and controlled environments as an alternative to homogenized and polyglot ones. The freedom to insularize oneself within a social milieu of personal well-being. An opportunity to feel, see, and hear that which is most aesthetically pleasing, without interference from those who would pollute or detract from that option.

I think no more comments are needed at this stage. Hail Satan!

[danyahel]

The technotronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities.”

“Society dominated by an elite whose claim to political power would rest on allegedly superior scientific know-how. Unhindered by the restraints of traditional liberal values, this elite would not hesitate to achieve its political ends by using the latest modern techniques for influencing public behavior and keeping society under close surveillance and control.” Zbignew Brzezinski

“In the technotronic society the trend would seem to be towards the aggregation of the individual support of millions of uncoordinated citizens, easily within the reach of magnetic and attractive personalities effectively exploiting the latest communications techniques to manipulate emotions and control reason.” – Zbignew Brzezinski (Between Two Ages : America’s Role in the Technotronic Era, 1970)

This is the electronic witchcraft (modern television/computer media/celluar phone, etc.) that is used on the Israelites, and the world at large, in order to achieve the goals planned in the crafty counsel of all nations against the Israelites (Psalms 83). However, now that the Most High is lifting the curses and sending his spirit back into the Earth to call forth the remnants of the Israelites and gentiles who desire to follow his voice, these witchcrafts no longer have power over God’s Elect.

“I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.” – Isaiah 47:6-13

“Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion…” – Numbers 23:23-24

HEBREWISM OF WEST AFRICA MAP: HE ALSO PROVIDES AN INTERESTING MAP OUTLINING JEWISH MIGRATION FROM PALESTINE, SPECIFICALLY FROM JERUSALEM TO MEMPHIS IN EGYPT TO ELEPHANTINE THROUGH DARFUR TO LAKE CHAD, RIGHT INTO NIGERIA ON THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA

“And from West Africa the Hebrews made their way to the Americas in slave ships, a point Williams does not bring out. However Dr. Allen Godbey does in his book The Lost Tribes a Myth: “These facts have peculiar significance when the presence of Judaism among American Negroes is to be considered. Hundreds of thousands of slaves were brought to America from this Western Africa during the days of the traffic, beginning nearly four hundred years ago.” He also says: “How much more of Judaism survived among West African Negroes in that earlier time? As persecuted communities, they were rather more in danger than other Negroes of being raided by war parties and sold as slaves. It may be considered certain that many partially (why not fully?, is my question) Judaized Negroes were among the slaves in America. How many of them might still hold some Jewish customs here is another question.” – (Godbey, p. 246)

Leo Africanus As a young man accompanied his uncle on a diplomatic mission to the Maghreb, reaching as far as the city of Timbuktu (c. 1510), then part of the Songhai Empire. In his book entitled, Descrittione dell’ Africa (Description of Africa), Leo Africanus wrote about the HATRED that the Native Africans had against HEBREWS that lived in West Africa about 500 yrs ago. This is what he wrote while on his travels into WEST AFRICA in 1526:

“Jews of the Bilad al-Sudan describes West African Jewish communities who were connected to known Jewish communities from the Middle East, North Africa, or Spain and Portugal. Various historical records attest to their presence at one time in the Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires, then called the Bilad as-Sudan from the Arabic meaning Land of the Blacks. Jews from Spain, Portugal, and Morocco in later years also formed communities off the coast of Senegal and on the Islands of Cape Verde.” – Jews of Bilad el Sudan, Wikipedia

Bilad as-Sudan from the Arabic meaning Land of the Blacks = Negroland

“In Garura there were some very rich Jews. The intervention of the preacher (Muhammid al-Maghili) of Tlemcen set up the pillage of their goods, and most of them have been killed by the population. This event took place during the same year when the Jews had been expelled from Spain and Sicily by the Catholic King(1492- 16th Century).” – Jews of Bilad el Sudan, Wikipedia

“Maghili led a campaign to expel the city’s Jewish community, which had migrated there after the Roman Sack of Jerusalem, and was successful. Many of the Jews were indeed expelled from Tlemcen and their synagogue was destroyed.” – Muhammad al Maghili, Wikipedia

Leo Africanus further wrote:

“The king (Askia) is a declared enemy of the Jews. He will not allow any to live in the city. If he hears it said that a Berber merchant frequents them or does business with them, he confiscates his goods.” – Truthhitman

“For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee” – Psalms 83:2-5

This confederate against the Israelites created the scenario that established the Trans-Atlantic and Arab Slave trades. One of the most interesting factors of this slave trade was the Door of No Return.

The door of no return was a doorway that the enslaved Israelites walked through before entering onto the cargo-slave ships. I believe that the Door of No Return served as a portal/gateway that would strip the Israelites of any spiritual connection with their history prior to slavery and colonialism. By cutting the Israelites off even further from their connection with Holy Spirit which brings things of the knowledge of the Most High to our remembrance (John 14:26), and knowing that the scriptures say that if one draws near to God then he will draw near to them (James 4:8), the enemies of Israel could assure that the Israelites would never remember how to return to seek the Most High God. For this reason, many Israelites (specifically the House of Judah) walked through the Do

[michaelsmediablog-blog]

Final Blog: Representation’s Role in Equality

      The most fundamental part of Human society is the Family unit. Childhood has always been seen as the most influential part of life on the formation of an identity. Why then do we not teach our children about cultures that are different from the Western idea of life? Maybe because we’ve been taught through our childhoods that these peoples are so different that our children may not understand. Maybe it’s because we try and hide the atrocities committed by our ancestors that allow most of Europe, and our country to thrive in the way we have.

      I don’t know what makes the Western, predominantly White groups of people believe that they are superior to the world, but a common message sent out by them is that it was for the sake of “progress”. This is very circular logic; if a culture tells itself that it is somehow better than any culture less developed it is simply ignoring its own development cycle and then validating its opinions and prejudices towards their culture, their knowledge, and physical differences under the guise of objective comparison based on innovation. This ignores the context of these cultures, their geographic location, their available resources, surrounding cultures, and so many more factors that may tie into development.

      I will preface my discussion about The Thing Around Your Neck with some history, and a statement that I do not go that deep into the stories of The Thing Around Your Neck in order to help make a point.

      The use of Africans as slaves was started by the Portuguese in 1526, and continued for hundreds of years after, with the British, the French, the Spanish, and the Dutch Empire joining in. The early practice of bringing them over as indentured servants and “apprentices for life” (as if they needed one) devolved into chattel slavery (slaves as property) by the mid 1600s. The “demand” for slaves was created by the booming plantations, their continued abuse, and the inhuman living conditions afforded to them. This increase in demand and thus, supply of slaves led to a very harsh racial caste throughout the world, as the Arab World had their own blossoming trade of slaves from Africa. We even tell stories about how most of the slaves in the Atlantic slave trade were sold to us by other Africans who had taken captives in wars despite the wars being supported and fought in by the countries that were buying the slaves. The European countries won both world influence and human lives that they were happy to destroy. The slaves were slaves forever, and their children were slaves from the minute they were born, their only culture and knowledge being that of a plantation or other workplace.

      The identity of these slaves was taken away and their cultures destroyed, not to be mentioned throughout history except for the few great empires like Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. It is interesting to look at the power vacuum created by the strife before and after the collapse of Songhai in 1591 and the way Europeans used that to solidify their hold on the African continent as a source of slaves and goods. We celebrate these empires as great, yet swooped in to gobble up the remaining previously conquered countries that were already trying to rebuild their identity. Historically, the reasons these empires were seen as great are quite shallow but telling. They were valued not only for their gold, salt, and other resources, but because they were told stories about these great civilizations, the empires were heard of as far as the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean then writing these stories down and allowing these stories of grandness to be divulged throughout history.

      These stories forced us to acknowledge the fact that there were African civilizations that had grand aspirations, that had large regional trade hubs, intelligence and culture. Since the arrival of Europeans to the continent we see a stark change in history about Africa. The nations that remained after the fall of the empires had no story told in the West other than the ones they invented for those countries, stories of international slavery and a focus on color of skin as a factor in that slavery. The modern stories told to us about Africa are drastically different, yet still have the same stigma. We talk about these nations we’ve as if they are worse now because of environmental factors, loss of resources due to their own trade, civil wars and constant fighting with other groups nearby; yet the stigma of their skin and genetics, as well as the toxic control by Europe poisons the pot with racial undertones and a constant feeling of condescending rhetoric and avoiding our own guilt.

      These stories of civil wars and other fighting, and warlords only serve to make us feel better about ourselves. We say that they are struggling because of their own faults much like we deflect the questions about the police brutality towards and murder of black people by bringing up irrelevant statistics about black on black crime. Or the way we still talk about the “ways that black children are worse behaved”, using statistics that may be true, but are completely influenced by racist practices in discipline, from preschool all the way to the Supreme Court.

      The Thing Around Your Neck is a collection of twelve stories that takes place in Nigeria and the United States, the use of both settings has a lasting impact on the reader, with the United States being used to show that the oppression and identity loss caused by colonization never ends. There is very long lasting damage from the modern racism that started from the Atlantic slave trade. Adichie’s stories don’t seem to want to criticize and belittle Americans or our culture, instead they serve as a sullen reminder that these people we oppressed are just the same as us at heart. They have dreams, family life, curiosity, technology, love, hatred, fear, sadness, politics, universities. It forces us to acknowledge these people as people, and as great civilizations (let’s face it, if you’ve lasted this long you’re a great civilization) just like the stories of the kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, kingdoms I was taught were “ancient” despite them being a progression of civilizations that lasted from around 300 CE until 1591 CE. Maybe ancient at first, but the distinction of them as ancient is a fuzzy lie that seems to be used to amplify the idea that these countries were less developed than the European countries at the time.

      What we need is more stories. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck is the kind of stories we need. Not ones that focus on what the West thinks of African countries, but authentic and genuine stories that focus on what African countries think of themselves and the West, and that let them showcase their unique cultures, that let them be the heroes, that let them be whomever they want. Their culture has been suppressed for so many hundreds of years, why shouldn’t we let them teach us about their culture and how they feel about our oppression of it, we’ve certainly caused enough pain for them to get that liberty. Instead, these stories of civil wars and other fighting, and warlords only serve to make us feel better about ourselves. We say that they are struggling because of their own faults much like we deflect the questions about the police brutality towards and murder of black people by bringing up irrelevant statistics about black on black crime. Or the way we still talk about the “ways that black children are worse behaved”, using statistics that may be true, but are completely influenced by racist practices in discipline, from preschool all the way to the Supreme Court.

      The truth is, it doesn’t matter what these stories are about, the stories in The Thing Around Your Neck are not special stories because of special events happening or some incredible hero, they are special because they are exactly not these things. They tell stories of common people, of everyday experiences, even things that some of us can relate to. Stories about a son/brother in jail, of an immigrant nanny who falls in love, about two women stuck and scared during a riot, and many more. It doesn’t matter what these individual stories from the book are about (it does, but bear with me), it matters that this collection of short stories feel like it has identity/ies. It feels like a conversation with people from the country. You feel personally connected to them. In fact, the short story form is crucial to the book’s representation of Nigeria as a very different but very relatable country. The representation of these people, not as something ultra unique or anything special, is the kind of representation that leads to inclusion and understanding. They make us relate to people who we have possibly not even thought about before. That is an important realization for people to come to, and I believe that it is at the base of stopping racial prejudice that these stories of oppressed or even simply different people are told to our children along with true and non-covered-up history. It would much easier to create equality, understanding, and healthy communication if everyone had these concepts given to them in their formative years. If not exposed to the cultures enough in that time one might end up being the most powerful man in the world and still believing the childhood prejudices given to him by his parents, notably his father (along with that sweet “small loan of $1,000,000).

References:

Ghana, Mali, and Songhai - a lesson from a GMU professor I know - http://chnm.gmu.edu/fairfaxtah/lessons/documents/africaPOSinfo.pdf

Atlantic slave trade -

Deborah Gray White, Mia Bay, and Waldo E. Martin, Jr., Freedom on My Mind: A History of African Americans (New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013), 11.

Weber, Greta (June 5, 2015). "Shipwreck Shines Light on Historic Shift in Slave Trade". National Geographic Society. Retrieved February 22, 2017.

[bhuva23]

'The Tempest' as a Postcolonial Text

The Tempest as a Postcolonial Text

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the word ‘colonialism’ emerges out of the Roman ‘colonia’ which translates to ‘farm’ or ‘settlement’. It was a reference to Romans who settled down in other lands while retaining their citizenship. The OED definition of colonialism as Ania Loomba points out in her book Colonialism/Postcolonialism, does not make any reference to the natives, people who might have been living in places where colonies were established. This essay will consider The Tempest in the light of postcolonialism using Loomba’s theories and the relationship between the natives of the island and Prospero, Stephano and Trinculo.

William Shakespeare draws inspiration for The Tempest from William Strachey’s account of a ship that ran into a storm. It was on its way to Jamestown, Virginia. The passengers surprisingly were safe and it resulted in the first colony which was set up in 1607. The play was written in 1611. Loomba states that Shakespeare adds a major component to the play, which was absent in the account. This is the idea of the island being inhabited prior to Prospero’s arrival. It renders the play into an allegory of a colonial encounter, more than a romance. In order for Prospero to sustain his power, there was a certain “re-forming” and “un-forming” (Loomba, 8) that had to be done. It includes practices such as “trade, plunder, negotiation, warfare, genocide, enslavement and rebellions.” (Loomba, 8).

These are some of the factors that distinguish between colonialism in the Genghis Khan era and the modern colonialism. Modern colonialism made sure that there was a link between the economy of the colonized lands and the colonizers’ land. There was a flow of human and natural resources between the colonized and colonial countries. This was in the form of slaves and raw materials. The profits were obtained by the colonial powers. In The Tempest, Prospero uses Ariel and Caliban for their services claiming that he rescued one and raised the other. Ariel and Caliban are not only used for labor, but also are “educated” with the European ideology. Having established the colonized as the ‘other’, the Europeans felt the need to educate what they thought were savages. This idea is talked about by Edward Said in Orientalism where he notes how Arabs were seen as exotic, backward, uncivilized and dangerous. This idea is carried out in the case of Caliban who is described in an animal-like fashion. Prospero accuses him of attempting to rape Miranda in the past, a reason he uses to impose control on him.

Similarly, the idea of the cannibal was used by Columbus and by Spanish colonists later on to justify their brutal practices. Loomba talks about a Martin Frobisher who used an Eskimo for display in England. This idea resonates in The Tempest where Trinculo thinks about the money he could earn by doing the same with Caliban. He muses how people “will lay out ten (coins) to see a dead Indian” (1, ii, 32-33). This is a stereotype. Sander Gilman says that stereotypes promote an “artificial sense of difference between ‘self’ and ‘other’” (Loomba, 55). Prospero, Trinculo and Stephano clearly use this technique to degrade the position of Caliban.

On the other hand, the colonized people, as mentioned earlier with reference to Orientalism, were considered exotic, yet inferior, while the latter considered the former as enviable, and corrupt. This instance can be seen in The Tempest when Prospero refers to Ariel as “delicate” (4, i, 49) and as a “fine apparition” (1, ii, 319) but also reminds Ariel that he is a “malignant thing’ (1, ii, 259). Caliban views Prospero as powerful and desires to overthrow him. This highlights the ambivalent relationship that the two parties share. The idea of the colonized being “exotic” is carried out across the geography of the colonized land. This results in the colonizer using the colonized as a medium to access resources and ‘secrets’ of the land and culture. It shows how the colonizer considers it necessary to tame not only the natives, but also the land itself. Another factor used to create the binary of the European and non-European is the language.

Peter Hulme refers to two words which were derived from Native American languages. The words ‘cannibal’ and ‘hurricane’ were used to widen the gap between the colonizer and the colonized. Hurricane was referred to as a tempest, unique to the Caribbean and suggested the supposed violence and savage condition of the place. Similarly, cannibalism was not merely a synonym for ‘anthropophagi’ (savages who eat their own kind). Cannibalism was a marker for the threat the savages posed against Europeans, as Loomba points out. As a natural phenomenon and a cultural practice, the terms designated anything that was situated outside Europe. ‘Canis’ is a Latin word referring to dog, and the view was that the people of the Caribbean treated their victims in a ferocious, predatory manner. It is no surprise that Caliban is an anagram for cannibal (negating the ‘n’) and also explains why Prospero uses dogs to attack the rebels as Hulme points out. Cannibalism was also used as a pretext to justify the taking over the American lands.

Apart from the image of the cannibal, the image of the colonized as a dark-skinned rapist is established. Prior to this, the colonizers were seen as the rapists who plundered countries. The narrative changed with time. Caliban, too is alleged of an attempt to rape Miranda. The notion of the savage rapist, as Loomba argues, “…deflects the violence of the colonial encounter from the colonizer to the colonized” (Loomba, 70). Jenny Sharpe in her book Allegories of Empire: The Figure of Women in the Colonial Text demonstrates how Indians were seen as mild and meek until the 1857 revolt. Following this, the ‘mild Hindoo’ became a sexual predator who raped British women. Sharpe suggests that the rebellion left the British “without a script on which they could rely” (Sharpe, 67). Caliban is the more rebellious of the slaves. Ariel is mild and soft spoken. Caliban’s rebelliousness ears him the place of a savage rapist.

This brings up the need for civilizing the ‘savage’. The phrase ‘white man’s burden’ was used as an ideology to denote the duty of the white colonizers to educate the colonized with western ideologies in order to ‘help them out’. In the play, Prospero educates Caliban and teaches him the former’s language. Caliban exclaims “You taught me language, and my profit on’t / Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you / For learning me your language!” (1, ii, 365-367). It is similar to the ‘subaltern’, a term coined by Antonio Gramsci to identify people excluded from society’s established institutions. Gayathri Spivak notes how the subaltern, in order to be heard, must adopt the Western language. Caliban, similarly, uses Prospero’s language to insult him and express his discontentment. Through his language, the colonizer creates narratives to explain the local history of the colonized land. These narratives overwrite and silence the local narratives. Prospero repeatedly tells Caliban and Ariel about how he rescued them. The story of Caliban’s childhood and Ariel’s imprisonment is continually repeated by Prospero. Joseph Goebbels says “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” So the questions one needs to consider while looking at The Tempest as a colonial text are – Did Caliban really try to rape Miranda, or could it possibly be a narrative used to oppress him, and one also needs to consider how much of the native perspective is highlighted. However, one does see Caliban claiming his authority over the island, as he is the true inhabitant and considers Prospero as an outsider. It is visible in the lines where Caliban says “This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou takest from me.” (1, ii, 333-334). This leads to the representations of the play as a depiction of colonial oppression. In the 1960s and 1970s, de-colonization movements began in Africa, Caribbean and Latin America. The anti-colonial writers challenged the notion of Prospero’s ‘art’ being considered as a part of the civil world, while Sycorax’s natural black magic is considered evil. Writers began defending Caliban’s right to the island. The lines quoted at the end of the preceding paragraph highlights this. Aimé Césaire, a black writer from Martinique rewrote the play to celebrate Caliban’s verbal attacks on Prospero and questions his claim to the island. In Jonathan Miller’s 1988 production of The Tempest, Prospero is a white colonizer and Caliban is a black slave. In David Thacker’s 1995 production, Ariel was played by a woman with face paint of a Native American Indian. Hence it is evident how the text was interpreted from an anti-colonial point of view, recognizing the postcolonial ideologies and representations in the original text.

On a similar note, Joanne Drayton in her article talks about how chess is seen as a metaphor for the “postcolonial relationship between Maori (indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand) and Pakeha (New Zealander of European descent) in Aotearoa New Zealand.” (Drayton, Researchgate). It brings about questions of diaspora and the idea of the carrying of culture, since chess has been attributed to Viking culture. In the play, one finds Ferdinand and Miranda playing a game of chess. This symbolizes how Prospero’s every move is calculated and used to manipulate the rest of the characters in in the play.

With regard to a counter-view when studying the play as a postcolonial text, Meredith Anne Skura suggests that the parallels to colonial discourse are unintentional and cannot be taken seriously. She claims that the exploitation of people has been dealt with in several other plays of Shakespeare, and that it was too early for the colonial ideology to set in, since the play was written merely four years after the setting up of a colony in Virginia. She further explains how the characters can be seen as manifestations of human personalities. Caliban could be a representation of Prospero’s evil side. The latter acknowledges this at the end of the play when he says “This thing of darkness I / Acknowledge mine.’ (5, i, 277-278). Skura makes several important points including the fact that Caliban is not a representation of the cannibal, since he does not eat meat, instead “confining himself more delicately to roots, berries and an occasional fish” (Skura, 59).

However, as pointed out by Loomba, the fact that the playwright added the presence of inhabitants, slavery, narratives, and a subjugation and exploitation of the inhabitants renders the play as a portrayal of colonialism, whether or not the writer intended to represent it in that light. In popular culture, one sees colonial ideas and attitudes, for instance, in the Tintin comics, the artist depicts gypsies, native Americans, and Indians in a racist and stereotypical light, and the same can be said about the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Professor Yvette Rosser comments on how the film is a racist portrayal of Indians. Kayleigh Donaldson in her article Problematic Faves: Indiana Jones talks about the blatant racist outlook on Indians and South Asians, as the Hindus are represented as blood drinking, demon worshiping savages with odd and revolting food habits. Hadley Freeman highlights the racism in the movie in her article Blacking up, wacky Asians and the Libyans: the worst of 80s movie racism, where she makes references to the racist representations of Blacks and Asians. Hadley Freeman hardly finishes pointing at how the films have shown to be racist, when the stark irony is revealed, when she exclaims “Ha ha ha, Asian people are GROSS” (Freeman, The Guardian) .This goes on to show how racism and stereotypical notions along coupled with the white man’s superior attitude still permeate the society today, as a result of colonization.

To conclude, The Tempest has been considered from a postcolonial critical viewpoint, since it embodies the attitudes, practices and ideologies of the European colonizer. It has also been observed how colonization has led to racism and stereotypes that still exist in today’s society.

WORKS CITED:

Books

Loomba, Ania. (2005). Colonialism/Postcolonialism. Routledge, 2005.

Shakespeare, William, and John Crowther. The Tempest. Sparknotes, 2003.

Speaight, Robert. Shakespeare On The Stage. Little, Brown, 1973.

Sharpe, Jenny. Allegories Of Empire. University Of Minnesota Press, 1993.

Gilman, Sander. Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sexuality, Race and Madness. Cornell University Press, 1985.

Websites

Donaldson, Kayleigh. "Problematic Faves: Indiana Jones". SYFY WIRE, 2019, https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/problematic-faves-indiana-jones. Accessed 2 Apr 2019.

Freeman, Hadley. "Blacking Up, Wacky Asians And The Libyans: The Worst Of 80S Movie Racism". The Guardian, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/10/wacky-asians-blacking-up-and-the-libyans-the-worst-of-80s-movie-racism. Accessed 2 Apr 2019.

"Joseph Goebbels On The "Big Lie"". Org, 2019, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/joseph-goebbels-on-the-quot-big-lie-quot. Accessed 2 Apr 2019.

"Production History | The Tempest | Royal Shakespeare Company". Org.Uk, 2019, https://www.rsc.org.uk/the-tempest/past-productions/production-history. Accessed 2 Apr 2019.

Anne Skura, Meredith. Discourse And The Individual: The Case Of Colonialism In "The Tempest". 1989, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2870753. Accessed 2 Apr 2019.

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Today’s Recommendation: James Forman, Locking Up Our Own

If any of you are interested in criminal justice-type readings, this is a great one to add to the collection. It's also very timely given the current narrative against Kamala Harris citing her history of tenaciously locking up black men in California.

I don't know much about Kamala's history as a DA or Attorney General, so I don't intend to absolve or condemn her. I would, however, like to give some context in the form of this book, "Locking Up Own."

James Forman outlines our contributions to tough on crime policies within our own cities, starting with the first cohort of black elected officials and law enforcement leadership to come out of the Civil Rights Movement. Mandatory minimums, the way we prosecute drug offenders, aggressive policing and more were enacted and supported by us at the municipal level (us as in black people, but more specifically the black middle class) and were a significant contribution to the wave of the wars on drugs, crime, etc and what is now the prison-industrial complex. We invented the term “Black on Black crime” two generations ago. Kamala Harris and many other black decision makers working now are a part of that lineage. Look at any judge show or news program where a black person in power refers to someone committing a crime as a traitor to our people, or blaming the individual without holding systemic factors such as poverty or urban decline into their invocation of punishment.

By all means this book DOES NOT place all (or even half) the burden on those black folk we have elected or our neighbors who generally want to live in a safe city. In fact, Forman does a pretty good job of showing how supporting legislation in the form of wraparound services and innovative ways to tackle poverty were often tabled or just plain not funded. It frames how our own people have pitched in. On a personal note, our “pitching in” is a subject I’m not ready to talk to white people about. Given how many are fixated on our ancestors’ contribution-relatively minor compared to the Arabs and colonizers-to the African slave trade and can’t let that shit go, I feel bringing this up is another chance for many members of white America I know to continue to deflect ownership of racism.