“Mother, I do not understand; to be part of a Nation you must fulfill a role. Was there really a time when people considered themselves to be part of a Race but did not do anything to further it?” — Onitaset Kumat (as Alm Hiel)
Continuing on this month’s theme of exalting John Edward Bruce, I write a short story incorporating his ideas on “The Making of a Race.” There he contended that it is in the home that the race is made. With this in mind I look into the distant future after all the activity of the African Blood Siblings when our current era is known as the “Pre-Liberation Era” to those future Africans who benefit from today’s activities. We visit our Literary Family in a Prosperous, Independent African Community and see at least figuratively what Liberation means. Witness, the African Blood Siblings is a Race Organization to create Race Civilization. Many will read this call to action, few will respond. Please let it be you. Our Future can be worthwhile or worthless. The choice is yours. The consequences are your descendants’. Try to understand everything written. Then help realize this dream. Many say they are Black Nationalist, yet have no vision or activity toward a Black Nation. Others, Pan-Africanist but no vision or activity toward a united Africa. Here’s the vision and the system of activity. The choice is yours. Future Liberation or Future Enslavement? Join. Subscribe, share, love.
Short Story: “The Starting Point in the Making of a Race is the Home”
By Onitaset Kumat
So a citizen is more than a resident, a woman is more than an aged girl and an African is more than a person. In every group there are roles, and Alm Hiel along with a class of fifty-nine other girls were preparing to be transported to initiation school. It’s here where they become African women.
Her mother Rebibu Katsha memoralized the moment, sharing with Alm a pendant of her grandmother’s and preparing Alm with the reality of education, “Alm, you will leave here a thirteen-year-old girl, and return a twenty-year-old woman.”
Eight-years of training finalized by initiation rites transform girls into women, people into Africans, residents into citizens. Thereafter Alm was a member of a typical number of organizations: of a Sisterhood, of a Race, of a Nation and soon to have a new role in her Family. Elders, with the approval of Rebibu Katsha and Rebibu’s brother Hakani Matin paired Pathaza Adini and Alm Hiel together. The two, now adults–Organized Prosperous, Independent Communal Africans–wed one another consummating their marriage shortly after. As both were trained on how to pleasingly consummate, the experience was fluid and promptly induced a few more.
Alm sat comfortably in her lover’s arms on a rest day when she noticed her smiling mother and blushed. Rebibu spoke up, “Busy night?” All laughed. “Or was it a busy morning?” This question made Alm sit up, though Pathaza could not help himself from playing with her full, soft locks. He played unconcerned about the mother-daughter dialogue.
“Mother, I hope that we did not wake you.”
“Well I don’t sleep while I’m cooking.” Rebibu elicited more blushing. “But you know your younger siblings don’t need to hear your . . .,” she paused and Alm, understanding, hoped her mother would finish there, but hoping is not always enough, “‘experience.’”
Pathaza lightly chuckled, but a flush of imperceptible blood stayed on Alm’s cheeks. Were she less melanated, her face would look as red as the very blood there; but hers is a beautiful black where all of her embarrassment is kept in her expression. It was then that Rebibu herself burst out laughing.
“My mother,” she taught, “did the same thing to me. Oh I thought it was cruel! But I know you are my daughter; not only in how expertly you make Pathaza dote, but also in how flushed you become. My lovely first-born, my mother’s grand-daughter, my line, I am so happy that you are home, but my, learn to take a joke.”
Then Alm could not help from smiling. Her mother must have waited many years to catch her first-born with that playful joke and Alm figured she must tell her grandmother that the family still had a sense of humor. However realizing now how her mother could hear her ‘experience,’ Alm told her, “I promise to quiet down, Mother.”
Rebibu, feeling jolly for her daughter’s return suggested, “You’ll need Pathaza to promise that he won’t make you too loud.”
Pathaza gloatingly added, “I can’t make any such promises.”
When Rebibu snapped, “Well you were the louder party so Alm’s promise is enough.” They all laughed and Pathaza pleaded how he loved Alm’s mother.
In seriousness Rebibu reminded Alm how a new house on their property was being made available. Rebibu sent Pathaza to look it over with her Brother. Alone with her mother, Alm, ever scholastic, began a discussion on home decoration which eventually related to race.
“Mother, I come from school. I am so happy for my success. Let me quiz you.” Her mother assented. Alm continued, “Who said, ‘The mothers and fathers of the Race have a duty which they cannot evade nor avoid; it is to teach their children to love their Race; to study its history; to honor its great men, and to be true to its traditions.’”
Rebibu answered that many of us agree with or have said that sentiment. Though she continued, “If I had to guess who you mean ‘John Edward Bruce.’” Alm was impressed, so Rebibu continued, “In my years with the Sisterhood, we have many times reviewed what it means to be a woman. But I also remember Bruce from my schooling.”
“Well, I’ll give you a harder quotation, ‘there has never been a white historian who ever wrote with any true love or feeling for the Negro.’”
“Onitaset Kumat?” Rebibu asked, “No, no, Marcus Garvey!” Alm affirmed. Rebibu continued, “Alm, you know better than to memorize quotations and names from the Pre-Liberation era. ‘We mustn’t confuse mastery with mimicry, knowledge with superstitious ignorance.’”
“Oh the ancients!!! But yes, mother. I’m just excited is all. I won’t quiz you anymore today.”
“I don’t mind, but if you want to say something, please.”
Alm lives in a Prosperous, Independent African Community. From birth to her twelfth year she lived in the safe part of the community where no Europeans or Asians were allowed to tread. Now coming from school, she had learned that there was a race of people different from hers, hostile even, and she learned more about her upbringing in the process.
Alm spoke, “John Edward Bruce has been on my mind.” Her mother sat on the floor beside her. Alm continued, “He had said, “‘The difference between a Race and a Nation is one of degree.’ Mother, I do not understand; to be part of a Nation you must fulfill a role. Was there really a time when people considered themselves to be part of a Race but did not do anything to further it?” Her mother affirmed. Alm asked more, “And Marcus Garvey, he had warned against European propaganda and how never should an African decorate her own home with European propaganda or anything to glorify other races, did Africans really do contrary?” Rebibu affirmed assenting that she had read distant history to that effect. Alm asked again, “And John Edward Bruce said, ‘The starting point in the making of a race is the home’ and ‘A Race, then, is a family’ and he said this early on, how did Africans have broken homes, broken families and an absence of race consciousness and organization even afterward?”
Rebibu answered, “We only need to be grateful to those before us, who addressed the cruelties in an effective and intelligent manner so that we don’t have to. Those whom sought to recreate Civilization and whose shoulders our Civilization lay.”
“Onitaset Kumat,” Alm said. “He must have been a kind man to have struggled for Race Organization and Race Civilization.”
“He struggled because many heard but few listened. If more had listened, it would not have been a struggle. The few, the African Blood Siblings, those were our race, those were the Africans, those are who we are. But that’s ancient history now. We are grateful to our ancestry, without them who knows how we’ll be or if we’d be. Quite a few dis-organized were killed off. But we rescued many more.”
“Yes, were I in that time. I would have organized behind that Philosopher.”
“You never know dear. But certainly, the starting point in the making of a race is in the home. So you are now an African Woman, think on how you’ll decorate your home and prepare for my grandchildren a living arrangement befitting another generation of Liberated Africans. A Race brings about a Race Civilization. What you do in your home, your family, your life, that creates or destroys your Race. Never waver in your knowledge. Never waver in your wisdom. Never waver in your love.”
Pathaza called out to the two. Looking to him, then winking at her mother, “I won’t,” promised Alm.
“It is certain that dependence is poverty is slavery. But all is according the Creator’s justice. So, can we say that dependence, poverty, and slavery are just?” — Knobeco
One of the most exciting aspects of international organization are the people with whom one can interact. I have an assortment of pleasurable contacts, and hope to include you amongst them, but Knobeco is amongst the most unforgettable. He’s very charitable, very well-read and very, very loyal. In the past week, he approached me with the above question and he and I had a time delving into the wisdom of our ancestors in order to flesh out first the question of justice then the mission of the African Blood Siblings. Read our conversation and Write to help create Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise Africans through African Blood Siblings Community Centers. When you Rally for such justice, we can have Prosperous, Independent, African Communities at home and abroad. This post will have the highlighting tradition. There is no Red bold; but Black represents Ancient Truth and Greenrepresents My Truth (follow the links; some are Collected Quotations.) Purchase literature. Subscribe, share, love.
What is Responsibility?
By Onitaset Kumat
Knobeco: Em Hotep (I come in peace.) It is certain that dependence is poverty is slavery. But all is according the Creator’s justice. So, can we say that dependence, poverty, and slavery are just?
Onitaset Kumat: Very interesting question, Knobeco. Hotep (Peace.) Do you think that it is true advice to “Always watch and follow nature”?
Knobeco: It is from Wa’set: Where our Ancestors recorded their wisdom. I would hope so.
Onitaset Kumat: Then supposing we immersed ourselves into a visit upon nature. Could we there see Wildebeests?
Knobeco: Very much so. You were once a Wildebeest yourself, Onitaset Kumat.
Onitaset Kumat: Or it was a Fable. But wouldn’t you say that as all is according the Creator’s justice, the Wildebeest lives by the Creator’s justice?
Knobeco: Very naturally.
Onitaset Kumat: And isn’t it the Wildebeest’s justice to hide from the Crocodile?
Knobeco: Yes.
Onitasat Kumat: Similarly, as all is according the Creator’s justice, and as we observe the Crocodile seeking the Wildebeest, can not it be stated that the Crocodile lives by the Creator’s justice too?
Knobeco: We would need to.
Onitaset Kumat: But when one hides and one seeks, the two oppose one another but both are just, doesn’t this mean that ‘justice’ is necessarily specific to the spirit of things?
Knobeco: Necessarily. That is what is meant by Spiritual Capital; that spirit determines morality. You rediscovered this Onitaset Kumat.
Onitaset Kumat: Yes. And do you find truth in “Leave him in error who loves his error”?
Knobeco: Another from Wa’set: Where our ancestors recorded their wisdom. It is truth. It is wasteful to will to correct those who love their errors.
Onitaset Kumat: Let me ask you something personal then. Which between these two choices would you wish upon yourself: “Independence, Prosperity and Liberty” or “Dependence, Poverty and Slavery?”
Knobeco: A silly question if I ever heard one. I would prefer the former.
Onitaset Kumat: Very much so and according your spirit. But looking around at how your condition fits the latter wherever you interact with Asians or Europeans, which of these do these Asians and Europeans prefer upon you?
Knobeco: Dependence, Poverty and Slavery.
Onitaset Kumat: And this is according their spirit. Hence, by the Asian and European, your Dependence, Poverty and Slavery is just. However, as the Wildebeest’s justice is her opposition to the Crocodile’s; your Independence, Prosperity and Liberty, the preference your spirit chose, comes only through separation from the other races.
Knobeco: What about through prayer? Can I pray away the misery?
Onitaset Kumat: Would you be the first?
Knobeco: I do not suppose so.
Onitaset Kumat: Then what makes you think that the prayers have not already been answered? For instance, isn’t it the case that you will for Independence, Prosperity and Liberty?
Knobeco: Yes.
Onitaset Kumat: And isn’t it the case that you have the necessary physical, mental and spiritual endowments?
Knobeco: Of course! Our anatomy is superb, our intellect unquestionable and our spirit instructive.
Onitaset Kumat: Then you’re perfectly capable of separation. After all, your superb anatomy tends to your escape, your unquestionable intellect manages your route, and your instructive spirit teaches you this undeniable truth: The problem with Europeans and Asians is Europeans and Asians; the solution for Africans is Africans!
Knobeco: Very much so. Yet undeniable as it is, it does not appear self-evident. Mostly because if our solution is African people, how do we account for Africans who have done against Africans?
Onitaset Kumat: Do you find truth in “One foot isn’t enough to walk with.”
Knobeco: Another from Wa’set: Where our ancestors recorded their wisdom. Of course it is true. Walking requires two feet. But what’s the relation?
Onitaset Kumat: Aren’t there countless examples of Africans doing against Africans?
Knobeco: I could not count it. But how is this to your point?
Onitaset Kumat: Well, we can not judge all of them, but we can judge common examples, right?
Knobeco: No less than a million would be common. But I suppose that we can judge them. I seek the point.
Onitaset Kumat: Well, think on these many millions, Knobeco, was the perpetrator of wrong “Dependent, Poor, and Enslaved” or “Independent, Prosperous, and Liberated?”
Knobeco: I see. These were one footed perpetrators. “One foot isn’t enough to walk with.” Though Africans do against Africans, the perpetrators are dependent, poor and enslaved. But why does this make Europeans and Asians problems?
Onitaset Kumat: They have no excuse. Don’t their independent, prosperous and liberated do wrong against us?
Knobeco: Universally! Still, it remains to be seen how Africans are the solution and Europeans and Asians are the problem. I understand spiritual differences and yet I feel that there’s more.
Onitaset Kumat: Do you find truth in “The seed includes all the possibilities of the tree. The seed will develop these possibilities, however, only if it receives corresponding energies from the sky.”
Knobeco: Another from Wa’set: Where our ancestors recorded their wisdom. Of course I find truth therein. Within a seed is both a barren and fruitful tree. Sufficient nurturing will yield the latter; insufficient, the former.
Onitaset Kumat: Well do you remember our conversation on “The Science of Struggle?”
Knobeco: Absolutely. I learned a lot then.
Onitaset Kumat: So you remember the creation story?
Knobeco: From the uncreated the Creator created.
Onitaset Kumat: And you remember how struggle here parallels?
Knobeco: Struggle is creating from the uncreated.
Onitaset Kumat: Very Good! It’s no wonder you are an Ethical Philosopher in the African Blood Siblings! But now we will discuss very seriously, tell me if you are prepared to really see the truth of the phrase.
Knobeco: I am prepared.
Onitaset Kumat: Which is the highest aspiration which all ought strive, a moral expression in and of itself: “Love, Knowledge and Wisdom” or “Hate, Ignorance and Error?”
Knobeco: Love, Knowledge and Wisdom.
Onitaset Kumat: Then, in the deepest recesses of your heart, do you believe that everyone can be loving, knowledgeable and wise?
Knobeco: I do not know if you would agree with me, but Onitaset Kumat, I do conceive that all can be loving, knowledgeable and wise.
Onitaset Kumat: As do I. So if all can be loving, knowledgeable and wise, isn’t there within all of us an uncreated or created Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise Person?
Knobeco: Necessarily. “The seed includes all the possibilities of the tree.”
Onitaset Kumat: But here’s where we get serious. For tell me aren’t the Popes, Caliphates, Politicians, and Professors considered loving, knowledgeable and wise amongst their Independent, Prosperous and Liberated constituents: Asians and Europeans?
Knobeco: Absolutely. So it is known that those of such distinctions are widely regarded as loving, knowledgeable and wise!
Onitaset Kumat: Then pay close attention. Aren’t these professions responsible for sanctioning and ordering genocides, jihads, physical and mental enslavement; injuries, insults and injustices against African people?
Knobeco: I concede.
Onitaset Kumat: Then it is established, that the highest aspiration of the European or Asian, to be Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise Europeans and Asians, is in fact a status of Hate, Ignorance and Error against African people. Ergo, Europeans and Asians are inherently, in their highest aspirations, problems against African people. Erstwhile, the Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise African is guilty of no trespasses against African people. Hence she is the solution.
Knobeco: I can see that a Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise European or Asian can be against African people. But as it is true that “The seed includes all the possibilities of the tree” can not the European or Asian be nurtured to be akin to the Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise African who conducts no trespasses against African people?
Onitaset Kumat: Have not we agreed upon “Always watch and follow nature”?
Knobeco: Yes we have.
Onitaset Kumat: So is it alright if we returned to the Wildebeest and the Crocodile?
Knobeco: I recommend as much.
Onitaset Kumat: Well, spirit is a central aspect of morality.
Knobeco: Of course. This is what is meant by Spiritual Capital. It’s your own Philosophical rediscovery, Philosopher-King.
Onitaset Kumat: Then isn’t it so that the Wildebeest can not make a just Crocodile, but can be a just Wildebeest?
Knobeco: Of course. A Wildebeest of a Crocodile’s morals would wait in water to pull its brethren within and feast on its siblings flesh, such a Wildebeest would be immoral by both Crocodile and Wildebeest standards. It could not even survive.
Onitaset Kumat: Well, isn’t it the case that a Crocodile can not make a just Wildebeest, but can make a just Crocodile?
Knobeco: Naturally. A Crocodile which spent its time out of water, galloping, eating grass and so forth could not wait for the judgment of her peers: she’d be dead before adulthood.
Onitaset Kumat: But isn’t it so that you can try to raise the Wildebeest or the Crocodile to be like the other?
Knobeco: Very much so. Though the exercise may be fruitless.
Onitaset Kumat: Yes, and isn’t it fruitless because that Wildebeest or Crocodile possesses a spirit toward their respective moralities?
Knobeco: Yes. A Crocodile who tastes flesh and the joy of the water will be less inclined to gallop and eat grass; just as the Wildebeest, whose appetite is spoiled by his brethren or whose wet body is a hindrance, would prefer galloping and the fields.
Onitaset Kumat: Then if Love, Knowledge and Wisdom are the highest aspiration, being moral expressions in and of themselves, isn’t it just as fruitless to deter the Europeans or Asians from this height.
Knobeco: I see! And I do not want you to belabor the point, yet I find the point rather dismal. I would prefer to think that so-called “Free Will” would allow for a European or Asian who does good by African people. “The seed includes all the possibilities of the tree!”
Onitaset Kumat: Knobeco, no one denies that the Crocodile can emulate the Wildebeest or vise-versa, just as no one denies that the European or Asian can emulate the Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise African; after all we see the reverse in Dependent, Poor and Enslaved Africans all the while whom emulate Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise Europeans and Asians who do against African people. But it’s upon you to understand your name. Knobeco means “The Instructions of Life”or more particularly “Know Thyself, Be Thyself, Complete Thyself.”
Knobeco: And I am thankful to you for the name.
Onitaset Kumat: I am thankful to you for receiving it. But Knobeco, consider the animals above, if the Crocodile emulates the Wildebeest, or the Wildebeest the Crocodile, neither are satisfying Life’s Second Instruction: “Be Thyself.” But as the Crocodile above who finds his home on the fields and the Wildebeest above who finds his home in the water, fail the First Instruction–“Know Thyself”–you know, upon the former’s discovery of water and the latter’s the field, their upbringing will be tossed aside and, as Aesop had said,“Nature will out.” For isn’t it true “To teach one must know the nature of those whom one is teaching.”
Knobeco: Another from Wa’set: Where our ancestors recorded their wisdom. It is so that nothing is learned that is discordant to the spirit. But it looks to me that this separation means that there’s no redemption for the European or Asian. That no matter if they are educated as Africans, that European or Asian will be a problem. Is this what is to be meant?
Onitaset Kumat: It is so. An African Education for Europeans or Asians is Mis-Education: Education discordant to their internal spirit and life’s instructions; because Africans possess a different morality from Europeans and Asians and Nature will out. This has been consistently shown.
Knobeco: It has. The European and Asian emulating the Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise African will not find Knowledge of Self. This is evident wherein the African emulating Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise Europeans and Asians are ignorant of self, aptly called “Mis-Educated.” But I do not understand, is it not better to try and fail than to leave?
Onitaset Kumat: Knobeco, have you ever heard of the Circus acts involving Lions or Tigers?
Knobeco: I have. What comes to mind is where a trainer goes into a cage with a Lion with only a chair and whip, or a trainer place his head into a Tiger’s mouth.
Onitaset Kumat: Good examples. With the second. Would you put your head in a Tiger’s mouth?
Knobeco: I hope that I never do.
Onitaset Kumat: What if the Tiger were well trained.
Knobeco: I do not look forward to such a circumstance. I heard of men who died due their faith in the Tiger’s discipline.
Onitaset Kumat: Then isn’t it better to leave the Tiger untrained then to try to train the Tiger?
Knobeco: So it is. A trained Tiger does not “Know herself,” but when she discovers the taste of flesh is to her liking, it’s only a matter of time before she will “be herself,” from then she’s better off in a community of Tigers and man-killers, rather than trainers and men–the stage for which she “completes herself.”
Onitaset Kumat: It is so. For wasn’t Greece the most Africanized European state of its time? And had not Greece conquered Egypt with a brutality unknown to the African world? Isn’t it so that “Nature will out”?
Knobeco: Yes. It becomes more evident as to why our Ancient Temples, like Wa’set, originally prohibited Europeans and Asians and why when they forcibly admitted themselves they were never able to complete the African education. I see it now. Separation is the greatest gesture that we can do for ourselves and for others. But as you make the point that we have an inherent ambition toward becoming Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise, to complete our uncreated selves. Why is there a need to rally for African Blood Siblings Community Centers when we long to be created all our own?
Onitaset Kumat: For this we can be brief. Remember “The seed includes all the possibilities of the tree. The seed will develop these possibilities, however, only if it receives corresponding energies from the sky.” This means that the uncreated Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise African must be actively created. For many this aspect remains uncreated because Life is the culmination of consequences but not all consequences lend to this positive creation. Said otherwise, All experiences are consequences of consequences, yet not all consequences befit the spirit.
Knobeco: That is truth.
Onitaset Kumat: Do you think that it is also true that Man must learn to increase his sense of responsibility and of the fact that everything he does will have its consequences.
Knobeco: It is from Wa’set: Where our ancestors recorded their wisdom. Of course it is true. Though it begs the question, “What is Responsibility?”
Onitaset Kumat: “All speech comes from all listening, but all wise from where is wise.”
Knobeco: That is from “Maroon and Build For Self.” I love the collection and I purchase another one every week and happily distribute the purchase amongst our people.
Onitaset Kumat: I know this Knobeco. You help sustain me and spread the word of our organization and mission. But let’s evaluate this. Isn’t it so that speech communicates thought?
Knobeco: It has to.
Onitaset Kumat: And isn’t it so that one who listens to a foreign language enough can begin to speak and think in that language?
Knobeco: That is how we learn languages.
Onitaset Kumat: So all that is listened to has an effect on one’s mind.
Knobeco: Naturally.
Onitaset Kumat: Then all negativity has a negative impact, correct?
Knobeco: Yes.
Onitaset Kumat: And all positivity has a positive impact, right?
Knobeco: This was shared in the Fable of the Fit Squirrel.
Onitaset Kumat: Then as all sensed has an impact, isn’t it responsible to ensure good consequences and irresponsible to allow bad consequences?
Knobeco: Necessarily.
Onitaset Kumat: Then responsibility is ensuring good consequences.
Knobeco: So it appears.
Onitaset Kumat: But if Life has one instruction, your name, “Know Thyself, Be Thyself, and Complete Thyself,” doesn’t that mean that a Good Consequence sets one to the path of Completing oneself?
Knobeco: Very excellent and true!
Onitaset Kumat: Then this is the necessity of the African Blood Siblings Community Centers. For it is our responsibility to create of our people Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise Africans, a step toward Prosperous, Independent African Communities at home and abroad.
Knobeco: Such a worthy mission!
Onitaset Kumat: And it’s upon all who would call themselves responsible to devote themselves to the African Blood Siblings, the only organization willing to create the uncreated Loving, Knowledgeable and Wise African amongst our people.
Knobeco: Necessarily.
Onitaset Kumat: Then Knobeco, you are on the right path. Please continue to share our organization. And continue to purchase our literature. You’re indispensible to our success. We will for the Independence, Prosperity and Liberty of African people and you are a reliable aid.
Knobeco: I shall continue. In fact I will purchase some literature right now.
Onitaset Kumat: I am gracious. Have we answered your question?
Knobeco: Yes and my conviction is renewed. I trust you will guide our race to restoration. I am thankful to the conversation and I will go on to spread more news of the African Blood Siblings and Onitaset Kumat the Philosopher-King! Shem Hotep (I go in peace!)
Onitaset Kumat: Shem Hotep, African Blood Sibling Knobeco Knobeco!
“I grew up like a neglected weed, ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it. Now that I’ve been free, I know what a dreadful condition slavery is.” — Harriet Tubman
By our eyes, it seems to surprise that something so dreadful as enslavement wasn’t deemed as dreadful when it was the life experiences of our people. This is partly because we do not understand that there are four needs of survival: food, clothing, shelter, and lastly, unknowingly, consciousness. In an Asian consciousness or European consciousness, enslavement or domination, respectively, is the order of the day. In the position of being enslaved or dominated, as long as one’s mind is conditioned to accept it, it’s ‘bad’ but not ‘dreadful.’ The same can be said about our people today, enslaved and dominated but taking it with a smile. The following letter from a Sister of the African Blood Siblings attests to this. Please read her letter, and other letters, then commit yourself to this organization, the only organization promoting African consciousness. Write to help build an African Blood Siblings Community Center. This letter attests to why with insight into real community. Subscribe, share, love.
Letter from Kuraja: Why create Communities?
Sent to Onitaset Kumat under a different title
Crowned One,
I once thought that I started my life five years ago, but I started it much more recently. Five years ago marks the day that my ex-boyfriend and I, in Prospect Park on a Sunday, heard the drumming circle beat the booming beats that remained with me for many years.
“I am African” I learned at twenty-five years of age.
It felt like no experience I ever had, yet it seemed that I alone felt that way. We passed by after standing for only ten minutes. I wanted to stay forever. As we left, I struggled to not look back, pretending like I wasn’t leaving myself behind.
After my outing, I sat in my apartment confused. I collected music, but nothing ever touched me like those drums. I go to clubs, but it’s as if I never saw dancing in my life. I watch BET, but how could I be so unaware of who I am?
Whatever I was experiencing, I needed more. I asked around, looked around, researched around, and found Malcolm.
I engaged even distant cousins on the need and necessity for the Black man and Black woman to rise!
“In every society in this world, Black people are on the lowest rung,” I would inform.
Even my employer, a tall, gray-haired White man, heard from me how necessary a Black struggle is.
I would stop young boys on the streets, “Do you love yourself?” They would answer”Yes” despite their manner of dress and language. Self-love looked a lot like self-hate to me.
I remember standing in front of a bodega, and insisting that Community members stop patronizing their oppression. It actually worked. But the bodega was replaced by another store. Boycotts work, but you need more strategy to change a community.
And with successes were many failures. It wasn’t an entirely cheerful experience. Ask a man on the streets, “Do you like Malcolm?” and chances are he’ll say “No.” Ask them of Imhotep, Shaka, Nanny, or Piankhy and they just plain don’t know.
This is a world of music and the streets, where women hear a car honk and turn around, and men see a pair of legs as a green light.
I’ve stood in neighborhoods where dogs “decorate” the thoroughfares and people happily walk in this “decoration.” Their conditions are that of dependents. Kelly Miller wrote “The Negro pays for what he wants and begs for what he needs.” This I saw as Black people with $300 Louie Vuitton Bags used food stamps to get subpar groceries, like “Seedless Watermellons” and “Boneless Whole Chicken.”
I was ready to give up–on life.
During this time, some three years, I studied a great deal of our history. It dawned on me that we created so many amazing structures, we lived so many fruitful years, we expressed ourselves so majestically, we were consulted the world over for our wisdom.
But now, we’re in a nation of almost total non-productivity. We are mostly consumers. We are mostly materialists. We do not even eat properly. We dress like we work in a prison or a brothel. We live in small apartments without working temperature control. We fell far from our legacy.
The more I tried to awaken people, the less I saw the point. How could one live so bad and smile as we do. Are we lying with that smiling? I asked a Bookstore owner what’s the real problem.
The owner and I spoke long hours, sometimes as many as eleven other people joined in the discussions. We didn’t all agree. We were stubborn. But after deep personal contemplation of the conversation that passed, ranging from the destruction of African civilizations, to the promotion of African degradation, I came upon one definite truth:
The problem is White people.
I needed to get away and get away quickly.
I took an extended vacation from work; this, one year ago, is when I really begun my life.
Walking around Brooklyn, knowing White people as the problem, I walked into the deepest, darkest neighborhoods, where Black men stood on corners and young Black girls walked with fishnet stockings.
I never been to this part of Brooklyn and I looked the part. The mindless walking made men come to surround me. They looked like mirror reflections of what television calls danger. A whole ten men surrounded my person and one very animated one gestured for another ten. I was surrounded and ill-intent marked the ambiance. I looked one deeply in the eyes and spoke, “Man, know thyself . . . and thou shalt know the gods.” He sprung toward me.
I didn’t flinch. He held me in his arms and whispered in my ear. Releasing me, he held up his hand and the crowd dispersed. He had told me to continue North seven blocks and I shall find what I sought.
I thanked him and moved northward. As I moved, deep in Black territory, I heard, centering this section, drums. My life began.
Rapid, repeating drums and loud, rhythmic bellows rushed into my spirit and spoke feelings I never had. I cried, a rush of tears that just fell from my eyes without a care. I saw an Elder, called her “Mama,” and ran for her embrace. This woman I never knew held me close and kissed my forehead. She welcomed me to the town. My tears kept running.
Here was Black Community. Home grown vegetables and fruits. Knitting and weaving circles. Open kitchens and spaces. Over five-hundred Black people living together peacefully, providing for themselves and family. Every woman was a mother, every man a father, every child cared for. We danced with our feets, sang with our voices and produced with our hands. Smiles were authentic. Young men and young women easily connected. Here was Black Community.
I was there for nearly a month, never wanting to leave, when you came in. “Onitaset Kumat, the Crowned One.” You set down the flag of Africa, the Red, Black and Green, and flanked by Elders, paraded into the largest temple. I followed. There a gathering stood in a circle with many of the Community, though mostly the Elders.
“Onitaset Kumat,” one spoke, “We have a daughter to become a Sister.”
“I see her.”
“Step forward,” the Elder called. No one turned around to me but I felt a push from behind. Looking back, seeing no one, I knew I needed to move.
I came upon you. “Aunatset Kebat” I fumbled your name.
You only smiled. “Young lady,” you started, “we need to learn your name.”
I didn’t understand. I always introduced myself. But somehow no one ever called me by my name. I remembered Malcolm and “slave names” but it didn’t connect to me if this was the reason.
An Elder shouted “Kuraja.” Other Elders nodded their heads. Then you asked, “Do you like this name, Kuraja?”
I didnt know what it meant but it resonated. I nodded my head.
“Kuraja, the Community learned who you are. We shall call you heretofore ‘Kuraja.’ Visit any time, but I understand that you must go.”
I wasn’t aware that a month was soon to pass. Time is a different concept when every morning centers around doing better for the race, and every night is a celebration of the results.
Since we spoke I slipped in and out of town. I was all the more effective rallying people. I see some in town and I wish I saw more. But I never strayed from your request. I read the African Blood Siblings and I am helping to build African Blood Siblings Community Centers. We need more Communities like that town.
But I write you mostly, as per your request, that at 30, I am truly, genuinely happy. And I attest that you are Maa Kheru–True of Voice.
“People bring about their own undoing through their tongues.” — KMT Proverb
I used to self-aggrandize with a Sister then nominally apologize. She forgave me pointing out how it’s alright to toot one’s own horn. It seems detestable to boast of one’s own wisdom, yet unlike many readers, I engage in actual struggle. It’s incredibly important for African people to realize that there exists an African man, Onitaset Kumat, more wise than every European ever (and every Asian for that matter), since he was twenty-one no less.
The following post showcases why I can claim this. But it’s also relevant to explore where our people are to see why this self-aggrandizement is necessary to promote. On the streets, I speak with young and old, and more often than not, one can elicit the wisdom of our people and see that we are educated to be highly erroneous and highly ignorant. A thirteen-year-old for instance was proudly placed into a Jewish school by her mother, she also conceived that Ancient Egyptians look like the Arabs who sell fake meat in our neighborhoods; a seventeen-year-old would vaunt his intellectual prowess at claiming Europeans his extended Brothers, though this young man’s life expectancy was incredibly low due these Europeans; a fifteen-year-old would resist giving me her email address though she would never resist a school’s (a collective of less wise and less knowledgeable Europeans); other youth found signing up for a newsletter edited by myself more threatening than attending a library stocked by a collective of less wise and less knowledgeable Europeans; a man of forty would tell a boy of thirteen “I’m tired of cleaning up shit, walk your fucking dog,” not understanding the effects that will have on the child; a man of fifty would boast how he intentionally supports the Arab for keeping us afloat unknowing of how deeply they enslaved us; a youth of sixteen would walk from me and laugh at the thought of organization, whereas three blocks away, youth of nineteen are illegally being interrogated by the Police who have their hands on their guns; few of us understood the wisdom I had written: “No European is qualified to educate African people,” the list can go on.
The “why” of making the claim of being wiser than their wisest is displayed. The “how” will be showcased. First, I will shortly explain “how” by comparing myself to the wisest European. Then I will show you two other wise Europeans, their debate, and how they are both Erroneous. Finally, I will show you the musings of the “Superstar Philosopher.” With this the point should be made. Beyond understanding that an African youth is wiser than every European ever, you should realize that forming a African Blood Siblings Community Center, a Community Center independent of these less wise, less knowledgeable Europeans is in order. Write for more information. Subscribe, share, love.
Onitaset Kumat is Wiser than the Wisest Europeans
By Onitaset Kumat
Wisdom is not a trait from Occidentalism, the behaviors and mannerisms of Europeans. Historically, wisdom has come from Originalism, the behaviors and mannerism of Africans. This is evinced in the historical fact that there are only two eras of European Wisdom (in the entirety of Europe’s 50,000+ years of occupancy, both of which are non-indigenous. Namely, there is the “Ancient Civilizations” and the “Classical Civilizations” of which the modern age is a continuation. The “Ancient Civilizations” are Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The “Classical Civilizations” represents the Renaissance period of Western Europe. Neither of these are indigenous (initiated by Europeans), the former occurred after Europeans destroyed Minoa and began interactions with Ancient Egypt, which was already thousands of years strong; the latter occurred after the invading Moors (Africans and Asians) and their expulsion. In between these two periods was the Dark Ages, the European’s natural state, where warfare was their only mastery. It’s known that before the Ancient Period, “the Dark Ages” were sustained.
I, Onitaset Kumat, have already exhibited in a multitude of ways that I am wiser than Socrates, the wisest European ever. Recently I wrote “Plato’s Philosopher King, our Cosmic Wisdom and Onitaset Kumat” and a long time back I wrote “The Law of Morality.” The former directly links a passage in the Republic to the Wisdom of our ancestors, though I point out error, which showcases my greater Wisdom; the latter shows the wisdom which Socrates sought but could not fathom, also showcasing my greater Wisdom. Seeing how Socrates is the Wisest European ever, which are his own words after thorough research but also a true fact accepted by all Europeans; as I am wiser than Socrates, I am wiser than every European.
To leave the topic like that would be a disservice to the task, because many of us are unfamiliar with the wisdom of Socrates, thus we are unfamiliar with how definitive that proof is. So I present two other Europeans which you may not be familiar with but are unquestionably accepted as top-rank thinkers: Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault. The former has been for over fifty-years an MIT–the most prestigious school in America–Professor of Philosophy and Linguistics, who is noted to have “revolutionized” the latter field; the latter is of the same prestige, noted as a Philosopher and Professor, and has been shown to be the most cited person in the Humanities in 2007; his books being cited over 2500 times in that year alone[1]. The two, in 1971, met on the stage of “The International Philosopher’s Project,” debating Philosophy and Politics, for a large audience, questioning most importantly “human nature” and “morality.” The following videos are clips to the full debate (the transcripts can be seen below):
The transcript for the video and commentary thereupon is available below. See in my commentary (as usual the non-italicized writing) how the wisdom of these Europeans are actual, factual errors despite the accolades and esteem of the competitors; the symbol “[ . . .]” represents that the video skipped from the official transcript:
First Video Transcript
[ . . .]
CHOMSKY:
Let me begin by referring to something that we have already discussed, that is, if it is correct, as I believe it is, that a fundamental element of human nature is the need for creative work, for creative inquiry, for free creation without the arbitrary limiting effect of coercive institutions, then, of course, it will follow that a decent society should maximise the possibilities for this fundamental human characteristic to be realised. That means trying to overcome the elements of repression and oppression and destruction and coercion that exist in any existing society, ours for example, as a historical residue.
[ . . . ]
Right off the bat, Chomsky is wrong. As pointed out above, there are only two periods of “European Wisdom,” both of which remain violent and coercive institutions like their predecessors and successors. What he calls “human nature” is “African Nature” or Originalism, and its inapplicable to Occidental people. So to speak, this historical residue is “European Nature” and the only creative people in history are African people. To make it clear, the world has its Pyramids and Statues, but each reflect African creativity, every Great Wall reflects African ingenuity, see China’s and Zimbabwe’s larger wall, finally there’s Nigeria’s rampart, the largest pre-modern structure in the world. Europe has at best cave drawings and Stone Henge in England, and the latter is not clearly European.
Now a federated, decentralised system of free associations, incorporating economic as well as other social institutions, would be what I refer to as anarcho-syndicalism; and it seems to me that this is the appropriate form of social organisation for an advanced technological society, in which human beings do not have to be forced into the position of tools, of cogs in the machine. There is no longer any social necessity for human beings to be treated as mechanical elements in the productive process; that can be overcome and we must overcome it by a society of freedom and free association, in which the creative urge that I consider intrinsic to human nature, will in fact be able to realise itself in whatever way it will.
[ . . .]
Chomsky is erroneous again for the above reasons. It’s worth noting that Chomsky is unwittingly praising African societies, just like most every other European “Thinker” because “thinking” originated with African people, and all that we study has a root in Africa, ergo our claim as Originals. To make it clearer, indigenous African civilizations fostered the creative urge; what were the Yoruba, for instance, doing when Europeans attacked? Creating beautiful works. But indigenous European civilizations have not fostered the creative urge, instead they were the warriors which currently characterize even modern societies. The theme of my wisdom is revisited upon because Chomsky erroneously misunderstands “human nature” as, in European fashion, see “Notes on Marimba Ani’s “Yurugu” Lecture,” universal though I have shown that each race has a different nature, see the complete dialogue on race.
FOUCAULT:
I go much less far than Mr. Chomsky. That is to say that I admit to not being able to define, nor for even stronger reasons to propose, an ideal social model for the functioning of our scientific or technological society.
On the other hand, one of the tasks that seems immediate and urgent to me, over and above anything else, is this: that we should indicate and show up, even where they are hidden, all the relationships of political power which actually control the social body and oppress or repress it.
What I want to say is this: it is the custom, at least in European society, to consider that power is localised in the hands of the government and that it is exercised through a certain number of particular institutions, such as the administration, the police, the army, and the apparatus of the state. One knows that all these institutions are made to elaborate and to transmit a certain number of decisions, in the name of the nation or of the state, to have them applied and to punish those who don’t obey. But I believe that political power also exercises itself through the mediation of a certain number of institutions which look as if they have nothing in common with the political power, and as if they are independent of it, while they are not.
One knows this in relation to the family; and one knows that the university and in a general way, all teaching systems, which appear simply to disseminate knowledge, are made to maintain a certain social class in power; and to exclude the instruments of power of another social class.
Institutions of knowledge, of foresight and care, such as medicine, also help to support the political power. It’s also obvious, even to the point of scandal, in certain cases related to psychiatry.
It seems to me that the real political task in a society such as ours is to criticise the workings of institutions, which appear to be both neutral and independent; to criticise and attack them in such a manner that the political violence which has always exercised itself obscurely through them will be unmasked, so that one can fight against them.
This critique and this fight seem essential to me for different reasons: firstly, because political power goes much deeper than one suspects; there are centres and invisible, little-known points of support; its true resistance, its true solidity is perhaps where one doesn’t expect it. Probably it’s insufficient to say that behind the governments, behind the apparatus of the State, there is the dominant class; one must locate the point of activity, the places and forms in which its domination is exercised. And because this domination is not simply the expression in political terms of economic exploitation, it is its instrument and, to a large extent, the condition which makes it possible; the suppression of the one is achieved through the exhaustive discernment of the other. Well, if one fails to recognise these points of support of class power, one risks allowing them to continue to exist; and to see this class power reconstitute itself even after an apparent revolutionary process.
This one may need some rereading, but it’s also straightforward when you realize that what he’s saying is my quotation, “The Problem with Europeans and Asians is Europeans and Asians.” In essence, the goal to those who are students of Wisdom is to attain African Society, something Just and with a Purpose. Yet, the nature of Europeans is to dominate and be tribal. So, Foucault says in so many words that in many unsuspected and “invisible” social institutions, the need to be dominant and tribal is inexplicably sought. He says that we should be able to expose the localized points. I am wiser than he because I point out the localized point in one word: Europeans. He’s scratching his head.
Second Video Transcript
CHOMSKY:
Yes, I would certainly agree with that, not only in theory but also in action. That is, there are two intellectual tasks: one, and the one that I was discussing, is to try to create the vision of a future just society; that is to create, if you like, a humanistic social theory that is based, if possible, on some firm and humane concept of the human essence or human nature. That’s one task.
Another task is to understand very clearly the nature of power and oppression and terror and destruction in our own society. And that certainly includes the institutions you mentioned, as well as the central institutions of any industrial society, namely the economic, commercial and financial institutions and in particular, in the coming period, the great multi-national corporations, which are not very far from us physically tonight [i.e. Philips at Eindhoven]. Those are the basic institutions of oppression and coercion and autocratic rule that appear to be neutral despite everything they say: well, we’re subject to the democracy of the market place,
[ . . .]
Chomsky here concedes that there exists a nature of idealism and a nature of realism. That is there exists a conception of African society and a reality of European society. That is there is an African nature and a European nature. But this I know (and you know) while Chomsky doesn’t. Ergo his error and our greater wisdom.
Still, I think it would be a great shame to put aside entirely the somewhat more abstract and philosophical task of trying to draw the connections between a concept of human nature that gives full scope to freedom and dignity and creativity and other fundamental human characteristics, and to relate that to some notion of social structure in which those properties could be realised and in which meaningful human life could take place.
And in fact, if we are thinking of social transformation or social revolution, though it would be absurd, of course, to try to sketch out in detail the goal that we are hoping to reach, still we should know something about where we think we are going, and such a theory may tell it to us.
Chomsky remains unaware that the European has a nature of death and destruction. He entirely ignores that no creativity is a result of an indigenous European effort. He seems to delude himself that, for instance, the Europeans who lynched Lee Walker or Jesse Washington were not doing it out of their natural inclinations, though, in the case of Lee Walker, the institutions he critiques, like the Police, were nominally adverse to the killing. See in this the wisdom of this newsletter and the error of the Wisest Europeans–as this is acceptable ‘intellectual genius’ among Europeans.
FOUCAULT:
Yes, but then isn’t there a danger here? If you say that a certain human nature exists, that this human nature has not been given in actual society the rights and the possibilities which allow it to realise itself…that’s really what you have said, I believe.
Foucault points out the silliness of attributing European Nature as distinct from European society. Why, if Europeans are in power, would they not organize according to their nature? This is what “Whitewashing” does to scholarship, you read African societies as if they were European societies and make the mistake that African Nature is according European nature (this is the meaning of Atlantis). In not understanding this “Whitewashing,” neither Chomsky nor Foucault are wiser than Onitaset Kumat or the African Blood Siblings.
CHOMSKY:
Yes.
FOUCAULT:
And if one admits that, doesn’t one risk defining this human nature which is at the same time ideal and real, and has been hidden and repressed until now – in terms borrowed from our society, from our civilisation, from our culture?
[ . . .]
Here’s where Foucault errs badly. He sees that Chomsky erred in attaching Europeans to African nature, but he doesn’t jump on it as “We’re mis-attaching ourselves to an African past,” instead he fabricates that the two must be contextually wrong because context influences truth. This isn’t true, “Truth is Truth.” Again, this is a clear sign of us being more wise than these wise Europeans.
The result is that you too realised, I think, that it is difficult to say exactly what human nature is.
Isn’t there a risk that we will be led into error? Mao Tse-Tung spoke of bourgeois human nature and proletarian human nature, and he considers that they are not the same thing.
Truly Human nature is subjective, but only racially subjective. For instance, all Africans have African nature, Europeans, European nature, Asians, Asian nature. Just like all seeds have requirements for growth, but different types of seeds take different times to grow, need different nutrients, need different sunlight and so forth. All people are fundamentally moral, but that morality is different for each race: The African restores, the European tribalizes, and the Asian contracts; see Originalism, Occidentalism and Orientalism respectively.
CHOMSKY:
Well, you see, I think that in the intellectual domain of political action, that is the domain of trying to construct a vision of a just and free society on the basis of some notion of human nature, we face the very same problem that we face in immediate political action,
[ . . . ]
To explain the above commentary in light of Chomsky’s addition: when Europe was under feudal rule, with peons working day in and day out with low life-spans and continual wars, Europeans were free and just according to European nature. So while we Africans would have been miserable in that position, the European wasn’t, not unless they were influenced by Africans. This is the explanation of the phrase “Ignorance is Bliss.” The European was happily blissful with their ignorant lives, so long as their tribes were reported dominant. News for instance, of France winning a battle, would delight the Frenchman despite the daily toils of an indigent life. This same analogy can fast forward to our enslavement which was ‘free and just’ to Europeans and ‘unjust’ to Africans. Even recently with the decimation caused by Hurricane Katrina, destroyed Europeans were happy that Africans were wounded. Chomsky doesn’t realize that this is European nature and this is freedom and justice for Europeans.
For example, to be quite concrete, a lot of my own activity really has to do with the Vietnam War, and some of my own energy goes into civil disobedience. Well, civil disobedience in the U.S. is an action undertaken in the face of considerable uncertainties about its effects. For example, it threatens the social order in ways which might, one might argue, bring about fascism; and that would be a very bad thing for America, for Vietnam, for Holland and for everyone else.
[ . . .]
Chomsky again neglects to realize that “Fascism” is just another name for “Tribalism:” like all European ideologies, seeing how “Tribalism” is the only European ideology. Everything that the European does, according to a natural calling, is toward Tribalism. It’s only that Chomsky and Foucault are confused to the idealism of African “Restorism” that they don’t realize what they are debating.
[S]o that is one danger in undertaking this concrete act.
On the other hand there is a great danger in not undertaking it, namely, if you don’t undertake it, the society of Indo-China will be torn to shreds by American power. In the face of these uncertainties one has to choose a course of action.
Well, similarly in the intellectual domain, one is faced with the uncertainties that you correctly pose. Our concept of human nature is certainly limited; it’s partially socially conditioned, constrained by our own character defects and the limitations of the intellectual culture in which we exist. Yet at the same time it is of critical importance that we know what impossible goals we’re trying to achieve, if we hope to achieve some of the possible goals. And that means that we have to be bold enough to speculate and create social theories on the basis of partial knowledge, while remaining very open to the strong possibility, and in fact overwhelming probability, that at least in some respects we’re very far off the mark.
[ . . . ]
The mark of European nature is Occidentalism. This I write boldly and clearly. This, two intellectual titans of European thought, can not remotely fathom. This is why Onitaset Kumat is wiser than the wisest Europeans.
FOUCAULT:
But it seems to me that, in any case, the notion of justice itself functions within a society of classes as a claim made by the oppressed class and as justification for it.
And in a classless society, I am not sure that we would still use this notion of justice.
“Classless Society” can be attained by Europeans surely, but as Europeans are tribal, it would not be according their nature, and as they progress, ‘classes’ will re-emerge. This is the tale of the Soviet Union. This is also the tale of all of their ‘socialist’ gestures. This is more the tale of the socialists in America, who were just as ready to beat up and batter our ancestors because we were not of their tribe. It doesn’t end there; states within this union war and compete with one another despite being arguably the same people. You know this from “State’s Rights” debates wherein one state accuses another state of not understanding–these people are tribal.
CHOMSKY:
Well, here I really disagree. I think there is some sort of an absolute basis–if you press me too hard I’ll be in trouble, because I can’t sketch it out-ultimately residing in fundamental human qualities, in terms of which a “real” notion of justice is grounded.
I think it’s too hasty to characterise our existing systems of justice as merely systems of class oppression; I don’t think that they are that. I think that they embody systems of class oppression and elements of other kinds of oppression, but they also embody a kind of groping towards the true humanly, valuable concepts of justice and decency and love and kindness and sympathy, which I think are real.
But I would say that that is unjust. [Everybody laughs.]
CHOMSKY:
Absolutely, yes.
FOUCAULT:
No, but I don’t want to answer in so little time. I would simply say this,
[ . . . ]
And contrary to what you think, you can’t prevent me from believing that these notions of human nature, of justice, of the realisation of the essence of human beings, are all notions and concepts which have been formed within our civilisation, within our type of knowledge and our form of philosophy, and that as a result form part of our class system; and one can’t, however regrettable it may be, put forward these notions to describe or justify a fight which should-and shall in principle–overthrow the very fundaments of our society. This is an extrapolation for which I can’t find the historical justification.
[ . . .]
In short, Foucault didn’t realize that there was an absolute Morality above and beyond “Civilization.” He ended with this idea of overthrowing society not realizing that our moral compasses are intrinsic and inherent. So to speak, one can not overthrow a society, for a society is just a collection of people. The people are intrinsically and inherently what the society makes up. As such, it’s an ignorant fantasy to condemn European society. As people say, “it is what it is” but I’ll add “because of what it is.” In other words, in knowing this, I am wiser than both Foucault and Chomsky, part of the Wisest Europeans.
I can look at one last European, known as a Superstar Philosopher, Slavoj Zizek. He’s a theorist held in great esteem by European people. Most would recognize him as wiser than they are. Yet, it’s self-evident from listening to him that he’s not wiser than myself–he seems a bit off his rockers too; but recognize in him a European attempting an African art: Philosophy; then he makes perfect sense in one word: mimicry:
Enough said. Onitaset Kumat is Wiser than the Wisest Europeans. We took that long tangent for good cause. Write the African Blood Siblings about helping to build African Blood Siblings Community Centers, where we can endeavor to make every African more wise than every European. And recognize that Europeans recognize their wise.
“[He is the one] whose heart is informed about these things which would be otherwise ignored, the one who is clear-sighted when he is deep into a problem, the one who is moderate in his actions, who penetrates ancient writings, whose advice is [sought] to unravel complications, who is really wise, who instructed his own heart, who stays awake at night as he looks for the right paths, who surpasses what he accomplished yesterday, who is wiser than a sage, who brought himself to wisdom, who asks for advice and sees to it that he is asked advice.” — Inscription of Antef (12th Dynasty KMT)
Plato’s Philosopher King, our Cosmic Wisdom and Onitaset Kumat
By Onitaset Kumat
To claim oneself a Philosopher-King isn’t unreasonable. A Philosopher-King is he who defined “Goodness.” I am the first to do so in the English language. Below is an excerpt from “The Republic” by Plato. I intersperse it with quotations from our ancient temple. I also hint at when Plato teaches errors in recopying our ancient wisdom and instead corrupts it with his Occidentalism–tribalism. I do this because “If the Master teaches what is error, the disciple’s submission is slavery; if he teaches truth, this submission is ennoblement.” This quotation along with all bold quotations below are from the Temple of Wa’set. The italicized quotations are from “The Republic” by Plato as seen here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htm. See how closely and deliberately Socrates parallels our wisdom. This stolen knowledge can be returned to our people through your actively building African Blood Siblings Community Centers, for “Peace is the fruit of activity, not of sleep.” See below.
Inasmuch as philosophers only are able to grasp the eternal and unchangeable, and those who wander in the region of the many and variable are not philosophers, I must ask you which of the two classes should be the rulers of our State?
Two tendencies govern human choice and effort, the search after quantity and the search after quality. They classify mankind. Some follow Maat, others seek the way of animal instinct.
Whichever of the two are best able to guard the laws and institutions of our State—let them be our guardians.
Very good.
Neither, I said, can there be any question that the guardian who is to keep anything should have eyes rather than no eyes?
There can be no question of that.
And are not those who are verily and indeed wanting in the knowledge of the true being of each thing, and who have in their souls no clear pattern, and are unable as with a painter’s eye to look at the absolute truth and to that original to repair, and having perfect vision of the other world to order the laws about beauty, goodness, justice in this, if not already ordered, and to guard and preserve the order of them—are not such persons, I ask, simply blind?
Our senses serve to affirm, not to know.
Truly, he replied, they are much in that condition.
And shall they be our guardians when there are others who, besides being their equals in experience and falling short of them in no particular of virtue, also know the very truth of each thing?
There can be no reason, he said, for rejecting those who have this greatest of all great qualities; they must always have the first place unless they fail in some other respect.
Suppose then, I said, that we determine how far they can unite this and the other excellences.
By all means.
In the first place, as we began by observing, the nature of the philosopher has to be ascertained. We must come to an understanding about him, and, when we have done so, then, if I am not mistaken, we shall also acknowledge that such an union of qualities is possible, and that those in whom they are united, and those only, should be rulers in the State.
What do you mean?
Let us suppose that philosophical minds always love knowledge of a sort which shows them the eternal nature not varying from generation and corruption.
Knowledge is consciousness of reality. Reality is the sum of the laws that govern nature and of the causes from which they flow.
Agreed.
And further, I said, let us agree that they are lovers of all true being; there is no part whether greater or less, or more or less honourable, which they are willing to renounce; as we said before of the lover and the man of ambition.
Envious greed must govern to possess and ambition must possess to govern.
True.
And if they are to be what we were describing, is there not another quality which they should also possess?
What quality?
Truthfulness: they will never intentionally receive into their mind falsehood, which is their detestation, and they will love the truth.
Yes, that may be safely affirmed of them.
‘May be,’ my friend, I replied, is not the word; say rather ‘must be affirmed:’ for he whose nature is amorous of anything cannot help loving all that belongs or is akin to the object of his affections.
Right, he said.
And is there anything more akin to wisdom than truth?
How can there be?
Can the same nature be a lover of wisdom and a lover of falsehood?
Never.
The true lover of learning then must from his earliest youth, as far as in him lies, desire all truth?
The seed cannot sprout upwards without simultaneously sending roots into the ground.
Assuredly.
But then again, as we know by experience, he whose desires are strong in one direction will have them weaker in others; they will be like a stream which has been drawn off into another channel.
The seed includes all the possibilities of the tree.
The seed will develop these possibilities, however, only if it receives corresponding energies from the sky.
True.
He whose desires are drawn towards knowledge in every form will be absorbed in the pleasures of the soul, and will hardly feel bodily pleasure—I mean, if he be a true philosopher and not a sham one.
Physical consciousness is indispensable for the achievement of knowledge.
Such an one is sure to be temperate and the reverse of covetous; for the motives which make another man desirous of having and spending, have no place in his character.
For every joy there is a price to be paid.
You will free yourself when you learn to be neutral and follow the instructions of your heart without letting things perturb you. This is the way of Maat.
Another criterion of the philosophical nature has also to be considered.
What is that?
There should be no secret corner of illiberality; nothing can be more antagonistic than meanness to a soul which is ever longing after the whole of things both divine and human.
True sages are those who give what they have, without meanness and without secret!
Altruism is the mark of a superior being.
Most true, he replied.
Then how can he who has magnificence of mind and is the spectator of all time and all existence, think much of human life?
Then the cowardly and mean nature has no part in true philosophy?
Certainly not.
Or again: can he who is harmoniously constituted, who is not covetous or mean, or a boaster, or a coward—can he, I say, ever be unjust or hard in his dealings?
Organization is impossible unless those who know the laws of harmony lay the foundation.
Then you will soon observe whether a man is just and gentle, or rude and unsociable; these are the signs which distinguish even in youth the philosophical nature from the unphilosophical.
To teach one must know the nature of those whom one is teaching.
Whether he has or has not a pleasure in learning; for no one will love that which gives him pain, and in which after much toil he makes little progress.
To know means to record in one’s memory; but to understand means to blend with the thing and to assimilate it oneself.
[Plato here slips in Error again]
Certainly not.
And again, if he is forgetful and retains nothing of what he learns, will he not be an empty vessel?
That is certain.
Labouring in vain, he must end in hating himself and his fruitless occupation? Yes.
Then a soul which forgets cannot be ranked among genuine philosophic natures; we must insist that the philosopher should have a good memory?
Certainly.
And once more, the inharmonious and unseemly nature can only tend to disproportion?
Undoubtedly.
And do you consider truth to be akin to proportion or to disproportion?
To proportion.
Then, besides other qualities, we must try to find a naturally well-proportioned and gracious mind, which will move spontaneously towards the true being of everything.
Certainly.
Well, and do not all these qualities, which we have been enumerating, go together, and are they not, in a manner, necessary to a soul, which is to have a full and perfect participation of being?
They are absolutely necessary, he replied.
And must not that be a blameless study which he only can pursue who has the gift of a good memory, and is quick to learn,—noble, gracious, the friend of truth, justice, courage, temperance, who are his kindred?
You will free yourself when you learn to be neutral and follow the instructions of your heart without letting things perturb you. This is the way of Maat.
[Plato slips the word "Blameless" the ancient title of our ancestors, "The Blameless Ethiopians." To read more see The 10 Codes of the Blameless ]
The god of jealousy himself, he said, could find no fault with such a study.
And to men like him, I said, when perfected by years and education, and to these only you will entrust the State.
When the governing class isn’t chosen for quality it is chosen for material wealth: this always means decadence, the lowest stage a society can reach.
