Further Afrocentric criticism dissected…
Again, I received a response regarding my thoughts on the topic of Afrocentrism. These were posted in the comment section of the essay titled They came before Columbus…and what?!? . Because these questions are valid and others may have them as well, I sought to respond via email as well as in essay form.
I read Van Sertima’s books, They came before Columbus and Early America Revisited. I not only read them, I studied them with a critical mind. I analyzed them with the desire to believe, but his words just didn’t hold up to scrutiny. Please notice that my disagreement with Van Sertima is not with regards to the idea of pre-Columbian intercontinental travel. That makes complete sense to me. Hawaii is about 3,800 miles from Guam and Guam is about 1,500 miles from the Philipines. The Maori (New Zeland/Aotearoa) have an oral history that links them to Hawai’i and these islands are over 4,000 miles apart. The indigenous population in these islands have been present for thousands of years before the Europeans even dared travel out of land-sight distance and I’m sure they didn’t swim there. Just because scientists don’t believe in ancient man’s intelligence and ingenuity doesn’t mean they didn’t have it; it’s what has brought us to the technological levels we enjoy today. (more…)
Filed under: Afrocentrism, All My Relations~Mitakuye Oyasin, Book review, Growing up, Indigenous American, Self determination, Taino, The Good Red Road | 4 Comments »
