Discussing Afrocentrism as a white

[FBM]

I grew up in Mississippi hearing all sorts of White Supremist crap at home and Afrocentrist crap at school. Didn't take long to figure out that both sides were pushing different flavors of the same poison. After school, I played with friends. Sometimes they were black, sometimes they were white, sometimes they were Choctaw. My family would criticize me when I played with non-whites, but it didn't stop me. I wasn't going to give up a friend just to satisfy my family's narrow-mindness. I don't see any reason not to call Afrocentrist revisionism on its bullshit, just as I don't see any reason to call skinheads on their bullshit. Of course, the Afrocentrists will call you a cracker and the Neo-Nazis will call you a nigger-lover. But who cares what they think, anyway? They're the ones pushing the poison. Fugg e'm...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I got into a serious tiff at Purdue one time by pointing out two things.

1. About 90% of slaves sold to white traffickers in Africa were sold to them by African blacks.
2. Most of the tribes who captured and sold people in Africa were followers of the Koran.

I was told by the Dean of Students to not bring that up again. I told her to suspend me right there if that was to be the punishment for doing so, because it was part of the paper I was going to turn in tomorrow for class.

Did you, and if you did, did she? I suspect the answers are respectively "yes" and "no" ...

I was bullet-proof. I got the information from a book written by a black professor, who was on the staff at Purdue.

[charlou]

Must find that Morgan Freeman clip baa posted a while back.

Found it, and for those who missed it first time round ...

[Red Katie]

Heard a story about an American black woman ranting about "Mother Africa." The white guy she was talking to disagreed with her, and she told him he didn't know what he was talking about. Turned out he was from South Africa, and he read her mojo in a major manner. Wish I could have seen that.

Really bugs me to see people as American as I am cracking their gum and ranting about how African they are.

[Rum]

Heard a story about an American black woman ranting about "Mother Africa." The white guy she was talking to disagreed with her, and she told him he didn't know what he was talking about. Turned out he was from South Africa, and he read her mojo in a major manner. Wish I could have seen that.

Really bugs me to see people as American as I am cracking their gum and ranting about how African they are.

I miss mother Scandinavia myself, where my roots are...or was it Ireland?

[Animavore]

A lot of rappers fall into this category.
I think its bollox. The major centres of cultural development in the world all fell in and around the Silk Roads. That includes China, India, Persia and Greco-Roman. The other fifth culture was Maya/Aztec although not relevant here. Africa fell behind mainly because of the livestock and crops needed for agriculture could be transported along lines of similar latitude but didn't fair so well along the longitude. Nor did much people who followed the Silk Road travel into Africa for similar reasons.
I think its an American thing anyway. Glad I don't have to put up with it.

[lofuji]

In a previous incarnation as a freelance book editor for Routledge, I was once given the task of proofreading a huge tome on the history of Africa. I dutifully did so [needed the cash], but when I sent the proofs back, I also enclosed my comments on a large number of points made by the author, who I think was a US college professor. I can't remember much detail now, but it was full of ludicrous statements like "no other continent has so many great rivers". I ended by writing "in my opinion, this book is not fit for publication." To their credit, after reading my detailed comments, Routledge pulled the book.

lofuji