Dr. Runoko Rashidi on the National Geographic Deception

Dr. Rashidi writes the following:

"A milestone was seemingly achieved this February of 2008 when National Geographic Magazine did a front cover story entitled 'The Black Pharaohs: Conquerors of Ancient Egypt'.

"It was a milestone in the sense that this was the first time ever that National Geographic Magazine had admitted that there were ever any Black Pharaohs in Egypt at all. I refer to it as 'seemingly' in that the article title is misleading and the context of the story is deceptive to say the least.

"1. The title says 'The Black Pharaohs' as if to imply that there were White Pharaohs or a Pharaoh other than an Egyptian. Egyptians, during the time of 'Pharaohs,' were Black people. Black not in the sense of all of them being the literal color, but of the many shades of people as experienced here in America amongst African-Americans or the many shades of people in Ethiopia.

"Now, there were different non-Egyptian conquerors who had temporarily taken over Egypt, but no one nationally accepted enough to be called the Egyptians native leader or 'Pharaoh'. They were simply a conqueror. The writer of the article himself states that Egypt was "ruled by Libyan chiefs who put on the trappings of pharaonic traditions"; they were not Pharaoh and they were not native.

"2. The subtitle goes on to say that these Black Pharaohs (who were Nubians) conquered Ancient Egypt. You don't conquer places--you conquer people! So the article implies that Nubians (Blacks), who had the same culture and form of dress, I might add, attacked and conquered these other Blacks (Egyptians).

"Now is that impossible, that Blacks attacked and conquered other Blacks? No, not at all. But, as you read further into the article you´ll find that the writer says that - after the Libyans (who were not Black) had taken over and toned down the devotion to Amun (Egyptian God), the Priests feared a godless end.

"'Who was in a position to return Egypt to its former state of might and sanctity?' The Egyptian Priests 'looked south and found their answer'. Now wait a minute! The title said that the 'Black Pharaohs' (Nubians) were conquerors of Ancient Egypt. In truth the "Black Pharaohs" were invited to get rid of the real invader, the Libyans, and return Egypt to its former glory and ways.

"The above deals with just the misleading title of the article, but the story goes even further in error and or deception by implying that the 25th Dynasty is the only Dynasty that was Black or Nubian, when in fact the 1st through 6th Dynasties, the 12th and 18th and then the 25th Dynasty were Nubian (Black).

"I believe that by saying that only the 25th Dynasty is Black saves Eurocentric scholars and writers from admitting that one of the most significant birthplaces of writing, science, philosophy and the arts was originated by Black people! There is a timeline displayed in the article that doesn't even mention the 1st - 3rd Dynasties at all! Why not? This is when the Great Pyramid and possibly the Sphinx (maybe earlier) were created!

"The article implies that Nubians, after being subjected (or conquered) by Egyptians in the 18th Dynasty, became the first 'Egyptomanics'; meaning they fell head over heels in love with the culture of their Conquerors. Their Egyptian conquerors 'installed Nubian Chiefs as administrators' and schooled the children of favorite Nubians at Thebes.

"The article says that the 'elite Nubians' embraced the Egyptian culture which included worshiping Amun, building pyramids, and using the Egyptian language. So, when Egypt, in the 8th century, started to fall apart, their solution was in their subjects to the South, the Nubians.

"What's wrong with this picture? Remember, in the minds of the Eurocentric, Egyptians are White Caucasian people, or at least Indo-European. So in their minds and the mind of the writer of this article, Whites created Egypt and all its grandeur, went down south and subjected the Blacks and taught them how to read and write.

"The 'elite Blacks' fell in love with the culture of the Whites and preserved it better than they did. Once it started to fall, they went back down south and got their Black subjects to come fight for them and return Egypt to what it once was. Then after all the rebuilding, these Blacks went back home.

"Now this might wash if it were not for facts established by Black and White archaeologists, Egyptologists, anthropologists, linguists and historians to the contrary of this racist spin. Egyptians called their home 'Kemit' - The Land of the Blacks. Eurocentric scholars translate the name as 'The Black Land' after the color of the soil.

"No other people anywhere named themselves after the color of the dirt in their land. The head of the Sphinx is of a Black person.

"The bust or carving of the head of the 1st Pharaoh Menes, is of a Black Man. The statues of people living in Egypt reflect the features of Black people. In art, the Egyptians displayed their skin color exactly the same as that of Nubians--Black--which they differentiated from other peoples such as the Libyans, Assyrians, etc.

"The birthright always passed through the woman or mother (matriarchal society) amongst Blacks vs. how it now passes through the father (patriarchal society) amongst Indo-Europeans. The Egyptian and Nubian culture were both matriarchal. Yes there were Pharaohs and they were Black. They were not conquerors of Egypt but of the people of the Nubian/Cushite/ Kemite/Ethiopian kingdom which included all of Egypt, Ethiopia, Arabia, Sudan and more.

"Last, there are a great many Eurocentric scholars who do not respect Black scholars and scientists. Not because the Black scholars are ill-trained, because many went to the same schools, but because the conclusions they draw on Black history are not in alignment with their own.

"The last insult or snub before the article closes is to display a picture of the head of Queen Tiye, the grandmother of King Tut. The caption by the image says that it 'is made of wood that has darkened with age" and because of that darkened wood, the writer claims that many have been inspired to think that she had Nubian Ancestry.

"In other words, that's the only reason that she is believed to be Black. Not that her facial features reflect that or that anthropological and archaeological evidence conclude that the ancient Egyptians were Black. Below are works by both Black and White scholars whose research speaks for itself:

• The Destruction of Black Civilisation by Chancellor Williams
• The African Origin of Civilisation by Cheikh A. Diop
• Ruins of Empires by C. F.Volney
• Egypt: Child of Africa edited by Ivan Van Sertima
• Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire by Drusilla D. Houston
• Ancient Egypt: Light of the World by Gerald Massey
• Black Man of the Nile and His Family by Yosef Ben Jochannon
• Echoes of the Old Darkland by Charles S. Finch III
• African Philosophy by Theophile Obenga
• Maat: The Moral Idea in Ancient Egypt by Maulana Karenga."