Revision… Taking another look at history as it was never taught, always historically denied… The era of historic suffocation and denialism is slowly ending, defunct!
“Until lions learn how to write, tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
Apparently, this is an African proverb with multiple versions since it was spoken by an African generations ago.
Nevertheless it’s another opportune moment to borrow… extract from my mental bank what is believed to be, or quoted as being an “African proverb.”
And with the explosion of multiple information sources globally, it’s another opportune moment to borrow what some people believe to be an African proverb.
I first heard it many years ago when a gentleman with whom I had recurring conversations by phone, or in person, whenever we came in contact.
He was well travelled, making regular visits to the African continent to absorb as much information as any Black, or other person with an interest in Africa and its history would necessarily need, or have to do, in order to acquire and pass on as much information about the continent to as many people as he could when engaged in conversation about Black/African history.
There are various, indeed multiple versions of the saying/proverb, but in the final analysis, however interpreted, it ultimately means the same thing, and makes sense. And it has been embedded in my mind/memory for decades.
And as life continues to unfold there are moments when that statement comes to mind.
Recent history, and how society and our lives continue to play out are giving me cause to think of that proverb. Just because we’re living in interesting times, being bombarded with all sorts of information from multiple sources, all of which demand, or forces us to make decisions as to what is credible or false information.
In the end, one’s personal ideological leanings will determine what we regard to be legitimate or false (“fake news”) as some ideologically skewed consumers of multiple media sources and portions of media food throw… feed us for daily consumption.
As such, it’s a case of “consumer beware.”
Not being one to gobble up anything or everything I’m fed, regardless of how enticing it may appear, I simply try to contain my desire to be simply force-fed any… everything. I’m not a fish swimming in media waters with irresistible bits of bait cast by anglers to entice me. Thankfully I’m not gullible.
But full disclosure… Given my dearth of Black history in my formal years, I’m always awaiting new and more information to fill the gaping voids in my life and memory bank that were created years ago by the lack of historical material of African/Black import in academic institutions.
But time and many people who care about our Black history as it were have over emerged from the academic blankness/whiteness physically and academically as it were to gradually fill the void for whatever it has been worth — a once gaping literary and information/academic void — which twentieth and twenty-first multinational peoples of African descent have been expeditiously, albeit gradually and unreservedly addressing… with urgency.
We regularly see examples in media, bookstores, libraries or other literary emporiums (new Black publications… books, magazines, multiple periodicals, and various other recurring literary publications…
And given the historic unbridled and age of accessible technology, it’s another gift of unbridled access for learning… what in many cases have been deliberately denied (us) by the historic-powers-that-be that have controlled the medium/media and certain peoples’ access to (historic) truths…
But no longer in its totality as it was once believed or perceived, recorded and projected by a specious, but powerful minority suffocating once marginalized and gradually powerless majority (genocidally minimized by the new, extraneous and growing peoples…) for all they’re now worth, particularly to a more diverse society as Canada, for example is gradually becoming.
It’s the story of Europe and Europeans who now (want to rule the world, and their impact on it over centuries)
It is that history of how the world came to be and how Europe impacted that generational/historical reality and how it continues to impact the world for centuries that one RAOUL PECK examines in his 4-part historical documentary EXTERMINATE ALL THE BRUTES currently playing on HBO. Or wherever you can find it… CRAVE, etc.
I’ve managed to view three parts so far. Interesting, enlightening and in some instances painful is all I can say.
When all is said and done it will be six or so hours of history being played out, and how it impacted the lives of indigenous peoples across the globe. It will tell us and others impacted by Europeans and their progeny how it all played out for us, our place in the spaces we now occupy/inhabit by birth or migration… forced or otherwise.
It’s a history lesson for young and old alike to view and learn from.
Now we know and understand why US police for example are always hunting Black people, particularly Black males.
“Exterminate All the Brutes…” That’s how they see us.
RAOUL PECK you say? Just watch the documentary and decide. It’s a cinematographic look at some of the history didn’t learn in school.
