New Directions

Volume 2 | Issue 2 Article 10

4-1-1975

Book Review:The Destruction of Black CivilizationJohn Oliver Killens

Follow this and additional works at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Howard @ Howard University. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Directions byan authorized administrator of Digital Howard @ Howard University. For more information, please contact lopez.matthews@howard.edu.

Recommended CitationKillens, John Oliver (1975) "Book Review:The Destruction of Black Civilization," New Directions: Vol. 2: Iss. 2, Article 10.Available at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections/vol2/iss2/10

THf ARTS

Books

32 The Destruction of BlackCivilization(Great Issues of A Race, from 4000 B.C.to 2000 AD.)By Chancellor WilliamsThird World Press, Chicago398 pp., $5.95

. Reviewed by [ohn Oliver Killens

THE ETHIOPIAN EMPIRE8"_ , •.•• Unlflcatlon of th4' -Two Land."

'--'[~";~--:.e.-_____ H_l ••••p;o.o ••••••.

""••.••• __ En'·. _ .. _c.....r.iIIL_EWpl

• ""'"IOICI~""' ••••....t (;1!Io,,,,••• c-

M<_["~'

NUBIA(Sout'-"EttIIop/G)

!

o r ..,.....(~...,-

Illustrations fromBook - Courtesyof Third World Press.

This book represents a great historicachievement. In this work, Dr.Chancellor Williams has made a majorcontribution to the understanding ofwhere we Black folk are, in time andspace, how we got here and whathistory and circumstance demand of usto be done to get us to another place,to a higher level of survival. That otherplace is Black liberation, unequivocal,complete and everlasting, so that wecan go about the business of making thekind of contribution to humankind it isour destiny to make. In this book,Dr. Williams makes it clear that weare a great people of indomitable courageand invincible spirit, for we have with-stood the bitterest of chastening rods,have trod the stoniest of roads of anypeople in the entire history of the humanrace.

One thing Dr. Williams makes blazinglyclear very early in the game is: Thereis no such thing as pre-history. Whereveron this planet mankind gets up on hishind legs and stands and walks erect, itis at that moment that his history hasbegun. Wherever men and women are,they make history. People are themakers of history, not the special menwho keep the records. And this is a bookin depth, beginning, as is suggested inits subtitle, 4000 years B.C. and project-ing the future to the 21st Century. As astudent in a class at Howard Universitystated in a review of the book, "This isa teaching book."

Though Dr. Williams is a scholar whopaid his dues in research in the Euro-pean archives where he encountered allthe myths, lies and distortions aboutthe history of Black people, and thoughhe researched many years in Africa atthe ancient sources, at the diggingsthemselves, and although this iscertainly a scholarly work, this isnevertheless a highly readable book, itsmeaning through the author's skill andclarity is made available to the massesof Black people. And we must work to

get this book into their hands. For theauthor states in the beginning that hehas written this book to be read "byBlack John Doe, cab driver or laborer,and Jane Doe, housemaid or waitress."

Another thing to be said about thisbook, it is a truthful and courageouswork. But none should fear its painfultruth but those who have prospered andstill prosper from the millions of "littlewhite lies" this book exposes. So truth-ful is this book that both the white andBlack press have, with a few exceptions,formed a "gentleman's agreement" togive this book the silent treatment.For example: The New York Times haddiscussed with me on a couple ofoccasions my doing book reviews forthe Times. The two times I offered toreview a book, I was put off, politelyand with courteous remarks. Thosetwo books were Paul Robeson's HereI Stand and Chancellor Williams' TheDestruction of Black Civilization. Somuch for white objectivity and theaugust New York Times.

The book begins with a "preview." Inthis preview the author tells us that itis a summary of 16 years of research.A summary, he states modestly, insteadof an extensive work, because the needof the book was now and urgent andcould no longer be delayed. He wouldlay a firm foundation and leave it tothose who would come after him toextend the work he had begun. He tellsus that he was also engaged in battlewith time and the loss of vision on hispart. But the vision and perspective ofthis great Black man is wide and broadand deep and monumental.

In the preview, he begins with himselfas a boy in the fifth grade in NorthCarolina. Even then he perceived thatwhite folk were the "haves," and Blackswere the "have-nots." And he wantedto know, "How come?" By the time hewas in the sixth grade, he was fortunateenough to have a dedicated teacher who

1

Killens: Book Review:The Destruction of Black Civilization

Published by Digital Howard @ Howard University,

introduced him to the Crisis magazineand the Norfolk [oumal and Guidenewspaper, where somehow he learnedof the "Land of the Blacks" that wasthe Cradle of Civilization and thatBlack people had once been the leadingpeople of the earth. And he wanted toknow the answer to these questions:How did this terrible fall in worldstatus come about? How come we're atthe bottom? How come we're holdingup the earth? I believe it was at thistime in the young days of his yearsthat he made a commitment to himselfand to his people to come up withsome answers. Perhaps it was at thesemoments that the great historian wasborn.

Dr. Williams begins with the cradle ofcivilization itself, Ancient Ethiopia,the northeastern part of which wasEgypt and all of which was Black, orwhat the white anthropologists havedesignated as "Negroid." There was nosuch thing as white Africa and BlackAfrica. All of Africa was Black. Andthriving until the white man came,first from Asia. This then was a newconcept for me, that the first white menwho brought this thriving Black civiliza-tion under attack were from Asia.Whoever heard of white Asians? It is a

concept one has to face and deal with.White Asians. The first despoilers ofMother Africa. What does that do toFrantz Fanon's theory of the "ThirdWorld?" All along some of us hadthought the words white and Europeanwere exclusively synonymous. Teach us,Dr. Williams. These white Asians camewith three and four-hundred-year plansto turn Black Egypt into white. And todestroy all the evidence of its once greatBlackness. How was this done? One ofthe ploys was "integration." Does ithave a familiar ring? It seems you'veheard that song before? Integrationthrough intermarriage with the Blackwomen who were part of a matrilinealline of Egyptian royalty. This was thesurest route to the aristocracy andseizure of Egyptian power. Integratedmarriages did not restrict themselvesto the African royalty, however. Thisway they ultimately created a generationof mulattos most of whom identifiedwith their white fathers and despised'their Black mothers. (My wife's parentsare from Barbados. After we returnedfrom a visit there in the summer of1972, she observed, "The 'colored'Barbadians will be able to put it together,if ever, only when they begin to identifywith their Black mothers instead ofwith their white fathers." Strange howcultural similarities persist in placesso distant from one another.)

As time went on, the nation becamewhiter and whiter. The mulattos weregiven more privileges and were con-sidered superior to the Blacks, but notas superior as the whites whose causethey were committed to serve. Not allmulattos took this course. There weresome who chose to identify with theirmother's people, but not enough tomake a qualitative difference. Moreoften than not they were the enemywithin the ranks of the African people.

So here were a white people committedto a course of action the benefits ofwhich would not be reaped in their time

nor even in their children's time, noreven in their children's children's time.But ultimately white power wouldprevail in Egypt and in northeasternEthiopia. So much so that modemhistorians through some sleight of handof self deception try to make us believethat Egypt is a part of Europe. They gothrough such strange changes thatsometimes it is described vaguely as a"Mediterranean" country. If onlythrough some legerdemain the top ofAfrica could be lopped off and stuckon to Europe!

But the Black Egyptians fought back,conquered, lost and reconquered andlost again the great civilization alongthe Nile. The fight went on back andforth for centuries, as Egypt was bledwhite of all her Blackness. The Blacksthat remained were usually forced intothe role of slaves. Another strong pointthat Dr. Williams makes, if I readhim correctly, is that, in contradistinc-tion to the white man who came withthree and four-hundred year plans, theBlack man lived from day-to-day andspent much wealth and human re-sources in building pyramids andmonuments to the dead, but very littlefor his posterity. This seems to be anAfrican trait with which many of usare still afflicted. An hostility toplanning.

I remember talking to some militant"revolutionary" brothers once on theWest Coast. They were telling me aboutthe guns they were collecting for openwarfare and revolution. And I said,"Yeah, brothers, that's cool. But what'sthe plan? I mean, you've gotta have aplan." The brothers shook their headsat me in deep disgust. "Plan! Plan! Whoin the hell needs a plan. Just get outthere on the streets and do it! Damn,Brother John, the white man's messedup your head with some of thatbourgeois ... ! From all those booksyou wrote, Brother John, we thoughtyou were really with it." And of

33

2

New Directions, Vol. 2 [], Iss. 2, Art. 10

http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections/vol2/iss2/10

34 course, as I have written elsewhere,we Blacks are in desperate need of somegreat long distance runners-longdistance running, which requiresplanning, pacing, discipline, timingand a faith that we can win the race(the human race that is) in the long run(future).

Dr. Williams explodes another myth.Some of us Blacks, in a feeble attemptto explain away the technologicaldiscrepency between Europe and Africahave romantically pictured the entirecontinent of Africa as the "originalGarden of Eden" where Blacks had noneed to work hard. Nature had providedeverything so easily for the taking. Onecould just lie outside one's hut, snorewith one's mouth open and the fruitwould fall in from the tree. All one hadto do was chew. Not so, says Dr.Williams. In fact just the opposite wastrue. African civilization was crushedby a conspiracy between the whiteinvading forces and the forces of avicious nature which tumed riverbedsand lakes and fertile earth into oceanwaves of devastating sand, ever on themarch against the beleaguered Blackpeople. In one of the most movingparagraphs in the book he talks aboutthe months in each year that werecalled the "Starving Times." Every timeI read this passage it brings tears ofanger to my eyes. I shall quote him:" ... the period when children ate dirtand the bark from the trees; when itwas a great occasion if food enoughcould be found for two or three mealsa week; when to find a water hole or alittle stream that had not completelydried up was even more joyful thanfinding something to eat, and a timewhen some mothers would steal awayinto the bush with their little skeleton-like children with swollen bellies to diequietly in the shade- this was StarvingTimes." And the most ironic metaphorof all is that the ... Sahara Desertis a blazing blinding white monsterever on the move. Our Black brothers

We have come over a path that with tears have been wateredWe have come treading our way through the blood of the slaughtered

are victims of a conspiracy of two greatwhite monsters. Nature and the natureof the white man. And again of courseto realize that the "Starving Times"are with us in Mother Africa.

This undoubtedly explains the lack ofplanning for the future on our part. Forit is not possible to be concerned withthe future when you're in a life anddeath struggle for mere survival. Blackfolk throughout this earth live a hand-to-mouth existence so that our planningtends to be from day-to-day andhand-to-mouth. But Blacks were oncethe most progressive people on earth.How to explain this turnabout? Dr.Williams sets out for us the "pre-conditions for progress."

They include: "(1) The people mustbecome famine-free, and be able to endtheir perennial roaming from place toplace in search of food and water andsettle down. (2) Having found suitableterritory, the leaders must proceedthrough negotiations with other neigh-boring societies and fragmented groups,to nation-building. (3) There mustbe developed - and this is a crucialpre-condition-a sense of national

community among the various languagegroups that make up the country. Thisis so important that it cannot be leftto wishful thinking or chance. It mustbe programmed in such a way that asense of loyalty and of being animportant part of a great united brother-hood, which is the nation itself, willdevelop naturally. (4) A strong army ofdefense. (5) The reign of law andjustice, applying equally to all classesin the society. The people must feelabsolutely secure as individuals, andthat in their country there is equaljustice for all.

"In short, certain conditions in acountry can bring about internal peace,stability, and confidence which un-shackle the mind. There is now timeto think. No more trekking with bleed-ing feet for hundreds of miles acrossrocky deserts. No more seeing yourkinsmen fall out and welcome deathalong the way. A home at last, betterfarms, plenty of food, And now ...Time to think."

This book traces the migration of a greatpeople forced to give ground by natureand the white invaders; they sought for

3

Killens: Book Review:The Destruction of Black Civilization

Published by Digital Howard @ Howard University,

"Africa's greatest daughter," Queen Nzinga of Angola, leading her troopsagainst the Portuguese armies against which she fought for forty years.

places to settle and oftentimes theyconstructed great civilizations and setup African constitutions and institu-tions. This book tells us that we neednot look to Europe or to Asia for anideology, that states were set up inAfrica based on the purest form ofdemocracy long before the term washeard of in Europe or in Asia. Dr.Williams tells us of the kingdoms andempires of Ethiopia and around Meroeand Memphis then further west hetakes us to places like Mali and Ghanaand Songhay with seats of world learn-ing at Timbuktu, all of this a testimonyto the glory that was once Africa's, atime when Black was not a term ofscom but a term of approbation, whenmen recognized the great worth of theBlack man and Black woman.

He gives us a close-up view of Mossi,the kingdom with a typical Africanconstitution ruled (served) by a Councilof Elders with a King or Emperor whowas elected not to rule over but toserve his people. There were "absolute"rulers who became despotic and com-plained about the complacency of thepeople who failed to check them ontheir despotism. Even Shaka of the

great Zulu Empire complained becausethe Council of Elders failed to checkhim and his excesses. This was typicalof many African nations and theirconstitutions. Dr. Williams tells usthat we don't need to adopt Capitalismor Communism as a way of life, butthat we can take something from bothand synthesize a system based primarilyon African traditions, a system moresuitable to our own needs and ourtraditions. This book tells us that theMossi nation, with its capital atWagaduga (now Ouagadougou in UpperVolta) saw Islam and Christianity asthe white man's vehicle of conquest. Itwas the only Black nation to see this-in time. Indeed Mossi prophesy heldthat "when the first white man appearedin the land the nation would die." Fora long time white men were not allowedinside the country. Therefore, thenation flourished and prospered. Buttrading was, and still is, an absolutenecessity for a nation with a thrivingeconomy, and the Mossi nation ulti-mately allowed a few Muslim tradersinside their borders who went aboutsetting up trading posts. The Mossination set up a "Ministry of Muslims"

to supervise the traders. All Muslim 35activity was restricted to trade. Theteaching of or conversion to Islam wasstrictly forbidden. The Mossi heldsteadfastly to their own religion andAfrican institutions for 500 years tillthey were finally overrun by Francewell into the 20th Century.

This book tells us of the African Queen,Ann Nzinga of Angola, who waged aferocious and successful war of attritionagainst the Portuguese. She declaredopen warefare against the slave trade.She outsmarted the Portugese at everyturn, raiding slave camps and liberatingslaves. She issued a proclamation offer-ing sanctuary to runaway slaves, wel-coming them to her country where theywould be forever free. They flocked toher ranks by the hundreds and joinedwith her in the struggle against slavery.There was a reward out for her capturedead or alive. It was never collected.She fought them till the day she wentinto the everlasting sleep. Like HarrietTubman who was a great enemy ofAmerican slavery, Queen Nzinga wasthe greatest enemy of the slave tradeon the African continent. How differentwould be the impact if Black filmsgave us the story of the great Tubmanand Nzinga, instead of "Foxy Brown"and "Cleopatra Jones." But we standin line to see these flicks and therebysubsidize our own degradation. Howlong? How Long? Wake up, Blackpeople! Those long lines should bepicket lines.

The story of white destruction repeatsitself from place to place throughoutthe African continent with a terriblemonotony. Driven from place to placeby nature and the great invading tideof white men, if fortune serves them,they construct a viable civilizationbased on African democratic tradition,enter the white man, then comes ourinevitable destruction as a people andsociety. Meanwhile, the originalpeople have divided into separate

4

New Directions, Vol. 2 [], Iss. 2, Art. 10

http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections/vol2/iss2/10

36 languages and tribes, then the changingof African names to Christian andIslamic names, and ultimately losingmemory of your heritage and growingto distrust and despise your own Blackbrothers and sisters, while welcomingthe white man who will inevitablybr~ng you death and vast destruction.

Ultimately also we see the Africancaught in a vicious trap between themen from the East with their jihads(holy wars) as they conquer, kill anddevastate in the name of the Prophet,and the men from the West with the"Christian brotherhood and civilizingmissions" and their missionaries whoconstruct harems to satisfy their in-satiable lust in the name of Jesus Christ.Rape, murder and destruction were theend results. It was the same in the daysof American slavery. This is how webecame the most multi-colored raceof people on this earth. As I havestated elsewhere, "It did not happenbecause Uncle Tom raped Little Eva."

Dr. Williams makes another tellingpoint: "Caucasians will wage frightfulwars against other Caucasians, but willquickly unite, as though by instinct,against non-whites, not only in warsbut in international policies. They havedeveloped a kind of built-in solidarity-in their relations with non-Caucasianpeoples. This fact, as much as anythingelse, helps to explain their positionsas masters of the world."

With this nightmare of recorded facts,even if only half of them were true,there is an inevitable conclusion thatone must face up to. And Dr. Williamsdoes not back away from it. He says:"The whites are the implacable foe andeverlasting enemy of the Blacks." Hestates further in the same paragraph:"-and a possible solution of racialcrises can begin, strangely enough,only when Blacks fully realize this cen-tral fact in their lives, the white man istheir bitter enemy. For this is not the

ranting of wild-eyed militancy, but thecalm and unmistakable verdict ofseveral thousand years of documentedhistory."

We are already into the final portion ofthe book which the author calls "TheView from the Bridge," a summing upand a bold plan for Black struggle, whichmust get underway at once, for "we areat the crossroads."

His plan is bold but a practical one. Andboldness and practicality are called forat this very crucial moment. He makesit clear that his statement that thewhite man is the implacable enemy isnot a call for "honky" chants andhate-the-white man incantations.Screaming hatred will not cut it.Action, based on a realistic plan, isthe thing. To build Black unity, notBlack disunity; in the words of poetMari Evans, to build "Black impreg-nability." An impregnability that lovesand respects its own. Dr. Williamsspeaks of how some of us get positionssuch as clerks in department stores,etc., how we show wide grinning smilesto the white customers but contemptand disrespect for our own people.

In his plan he places a principal stresson cooperative economics in which all,the well-off and the poor, will shareand share alike. A national organizationserved as per the African tradition, notruled, by a Council of Leaders. TheNational Council gets its strength andsustenance from regional councils onthe grass roots level. Each council onall levels is responsive and responsibleto its grass roots constituency whichmay recall a particular leader at time,for cause. Repeat, the leader is aservant of the people, not a ruler.

There is not enough time and space tooutline for the reader the intricacies ofthis bold elaborate plan. You must getthis book and read it for yourself. Forthis is a book that begged to be written,

a book that all serious Black folk,young and old must read and take toheart, and implement. The message isclear; Unite, Black folk, or perish! Forwe are at the Crossroads, and it's laterthan we think. 0

5

Killens: Book Review:The Destruction of Black Civilization

Published by Digital Howard @ Howard University,

H€WDI~CTIOH5Department of University RelationsAnd PublicationsHoward UniversityWashington, D. C. 20059

6

New Directions, Vol. 2 [], Iss. 2, Art. 10

http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections/vol2/iss2/10