THIS BLACK SKINNED BEAUTY LEARNED TO LOVE HER GOD-GIVEN BLaCK BEAUTY!-FROM BUZZFEED.COM

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mackenziekruvant/lupita-nyongo-essence-speech-black-
beauty?s=mobile

Lupita Nyong’o Delivers Moving Speech About How She Learned To Love The Color Of Her Skin

The Oscar nominated actress spoke candidly in her Black Women in Hollywood acceptance speech about her struggle to understand her own beauty.

posted on February 28, 2014 at 12:58


Yesterday, Lupita Nyong’o won the Essence Magazine Black Women In Hollywood Breakthrough Performance Award.

And while she has fast become one of the most idolized women on the red carpet in years…Lupita told the audience that she has not always felt that comfortable with the color of her skin.

Here is the full transcript of her beautifully honest speech.

I wrote down this speech that I had no time to practice so this will be the practicing session. Thank you Alfre, for such an amazing, amazing introduction and celebration of my work. And thank you very much for inviting me to be a part of such an extraordinary community. I am surrounded by people who have inspired me, women in particular whose presence on screen made me feel a little more seen and heard and understood. That it is ESSENCE that holds this event celebrating our professional gains of the year is significant, a beauty magazine that recognizes the beauty that we not just possess but also produce.

I want to take this opportunity to talk about beauty, Black beauty, dark beauty. I received a letter from a girl and I’d like to share just a small part of it with you: “Dear Lupita,” it reads, “I think you’re really lucky to be this Black but yet this successful in Hollywood overnight. I was just about to buy Dencia’s Whitenicious cream to lighten my skin when you appeared on the world map and saved me.”

My heart bled a little when I read those words, I could never have guessed that my first job out of school would be so powerful in and of itself and that it would propel me to be such an image of hope in the same way that the women of The Color Purple were to me.

I remember a time when I too felt unbeautiful. I put on the TV and only saw pale skin, I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin. And my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned. The morning would come and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of a mirror because I wanted to see my fair face first. And every day I experienced the same disappointment of being just as dark as I was the day before. I tried to negotiate with God, I told him I would stop stealing sugar cubes at night if he gave me what I wanted, I would listen to my mother’s every word and never lose my school sweater again if he just made me a little lighter. But I guess God was unimpressed with my bargaining chips because He never listened.

And when I was a teenager my self-hate grew worse, as you can imagine happens with adolescence. My mother reminded me often that she thought that I was beautiful but that was no conservation, she’s my mother, of course she’s supposed to think I am beautiful. And then Alek Wek came on the international scene. A celebrated model, she was dark as night, she was on all of the runways and in every magazine and everyone was talking about how beautiful she was. Even Oprah called her beautiful and that made it a fact. I couldn’t believe that people were embracing a woman who looked so much like me, as beautiful. My complexion had always been an obstacle to overcome and all of a sudden Oprah was telling me it wasn’t. It was perplexing and I wanted to reject it because I had begun to enjoy the seduction of inadequacy. But a flower couldn’t help but bloom inside of me, when I saw Alek I inadvertently saw a reflection of myself that I could not deny. Now, I had a spring in my step because I felt more seen, more appreciated by the far away gatekeepers of beauty. But around me the preference for light skin prevailed, to the beholders that I thought mattered I was still unbeautiful. And my mother again would say to me you can’t eat beauty, it doesn’t feed you and these words plagued and bothered me; I didn’t really understand them until finally I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume, it was something that I just had to be.

And what my mother meant when she said you can’t eat beauty was that you can’t rely on how you look to sustain you. What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul. It is what got Patsey in so much trouble with her master, but it is also what has kept her story alive to this day. We remember the beauty of her spirit even after the beauty of her body has faded away.

And so I hope that my presence on your screens and in the magazines may lead you, young girl, on a similar journey. That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside, that there is no shade in that beauty.

”

Confirmed: Lupita could not be more beautiful.



MANDELA! – SUN RE O! BABA RERE!

Joshua P. Olatunde
“Ohun tán bá ñ je l’órun ni kóo máa báwon je o”

“KI ELEDUMARE TE MADIBA SI AFEFE -ODIGBA Ooooo”
Adeleye Olujide

BLACK MEN UNITE and PROTECT THE BLACK NATION!

http://blacktown.net/videos_menus_for_websites_forblacktown_server.jpg

MODERN AFRICAN WOMEN PREPARE FOR MARRIAGE IN ThE TRADITiONAL CALABAR FATTENING ROOM On AFRICAN REALITY TV! -FROM THE PUNCH NEWSPAPER,NIGERIA

Modern babes in fattening room

2013-04-17 00:15:03



In a fresh and ambitious re-enactment of the Efik pre-marriage tradition, Fattening Room, six ladies drawn from different parts of Africa land in seclusion, writes AKEEM LASISI

 At a time many people fear that the country’s many cultural practices are on the extinction plane, Fattening Room, a major bridal practice of the Efik People of Cross River, appears to have got a new lease of life. It will soon become a spectacle to be watched on the screen, through the acts of six modern ladies who have just experienced it.

The producer, EbonyLife, which has come up with some powerful reality shows in recent times, describes  Fattening Room as an authentic experience set in the historically significant city of Calabar, also home to the famous Calabar Cultural Festival.

“The Fattening Room is unique to the Efik culture of Nigeria and is practised when young women enter a house of seclusion to learn everything a woman needs to know about running an honourable home, raising children that are as good as gold and managing to keep her husband happy and at home,” the company’s Director of Reality Programmes, Pamela Ofoegbu, notes.

The organisation believes that the time has come to discover the inner chambers of tradition that have always been reserved for women only, when six young ladies from across Africa enter the Fattening Room for the very first time.

She adds, “The ladies start the series in the strict Efik tradition and journey towards modern invention while always honouring their African roots.  It has been an incredible journey back to time as we celebrate our rich African heritage on a beautiful trado-modern backdrop. Our ladies from Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya emerged from the Fattening Room with a better appreciation of the Efik culture and tradition and also of themselves as strong African women full of value and worth.”

Just ‘escaping’ from the room are Roselyn Ashkar, a fashion model and journalist from Ghana; Sally Berold, an adventurer and freelance experiential marketing specialist from South Africa; Stephanie Unachukwu, a Nigerian designer and Patricia Kihoto, a singer, actress and radio personality from Kenya.

Others are Thsepo Maphanyanye,  a publicity and public relations executive from Botswana,  and Limpo Funjika, a business development manager and aspiring TV presenter from Zambia.

While the Series Producer at EbonyLife, founded by Mo Abudu,  Priscilia Nzimiro, says producing the Fattening Room has been a wonderful and enlightening experience,  with Content Director, Kenneth Gyang, lauding the treat as being engaging, the cast generally say the experience has been revealing.

Says Tshepo, “Participating in the fattening room has certainly been a surge of all kinds of emotions but best of all it has been without a doubt an incredible journey of discovery and a once in a lifetime opportunity of exposure to such a rich culture experienced alongside an amazing circle of young women from nations across Africa.Certainly one of my best experiences.”

For Limpo, it has provided her an opportunity to learn; and for Patricia, it has been a lot of fun although she concedes she has learnt a lot, even about herself.

Also says Stephanie, “I have had the opportunity to learn new skills in the short amount of time I’ve been here and look forward to the rest of the show and what it holds.”

Abudu congratulates all the participants and salutes the crew for the feat at producing Fattening Room. She notes, “It is a true testimony of ‘If you can think it, you can do it.’ As a team, during one of our strategy sessions about a year ago inTinapa, we wanted to develop and produce a reality show that showcased the rich culture of Calabar that is now home to EbonyLife TV and we thought what better way to do that, than the Efik tradition of The Fattening Room! And with the genius minds of the EbonyLifeTV team at work, we gave it a treatment that will simply wow everyone when it airs! We simply took an old Efik culture and gave it a modern twist. “

BLACK VIRGINITY!–This Yoruba GIRL STANDS UP for VIRGINITY!–FROM THE NATION NEWSPAPER,NIGERIA

A vote for chastity
These South African Virgins Are Celebrating Their after being TESTED!

From thenationonline.com
Posted by: Adebisi Adeniji

on April 18, 2013

in Campus Life

The term “virginity” has returned to be the discourse in certain circles. Coming in an age when obnoxious words reign supreme, of course, it could not have come at a better time.

Nowadays, it is hard to define who is a virgin in the real meaning of the word. The general meaning of the word “virgin” refers to a girl who keeps her chastity. Such a girl can be said not to have slept with the opposite sex at the time of being called a virgin.

However, people believe that such a girl is scarce in today’s world. Much emphasis is not placed on male virginity because the gender does not have hymen. The attention is on women.

According to an online statistics, 95 per cent of Nigerian teenagers cannot boast of being virgins. In an era where premarital and casual sex abound, girls who are as young as 14 have started experimenting with the forbidden fruit, causing an upsurge in teen pregnancies and abortions. Such act has also resulted in psychological breakdowns with the rejection of unwanted children.

There are many factors that contribute to the sexual decadence in our society. It should be noted that the mass media, which has, over the years, served as a source of socialisation, also has its negative effect on the society and the people. The media’s portrayal of sexual images to an already vulnerable audience has helped to increase the level of decadence.

Corporate advertisers are particularly guilty of this; bits of sensuality are infused into every advert they place or show on television. Even when it is not necessary, they employ skimpily dressed girls to advertise their products, passing a wrong message to the audience.

Peer pressure is also a factor. Teenagers, who do not indulge in the practice, are seen as greenhorns by their peers, who have had the experience. In order not to be the butt of jokes among their friends, some teenagers make wrong decisions.

Today’s forms of entertainment are also to blame. Songs with weird lyrics are the favourites of the young. Some of them would say: “We only love the beat; we don’t practise the message”. But, in reality, the songs are like radioactive wastes; they slowly destroy whoever listens to them. There is no way a 14-year-old girl would listen to songs, such as Lay on me, without having certain thoughts.

Some people have argued that virginity is not important in this globalisation age, claiming that in the olden days, girls married relatively early as soon as they reached puberty. Such early marriages, they argued, kept promiscuity at bay.

However, times and civilisation have changed the practice. Nowadays, the first 20 years of any girl are spent in the classroom. But, by that age, her features would have developed. It is reasonable for an unmarried 25-year -old woman to be sexually active.

It is so bad that many teenagers know some things about sex, which their parents probably might never know. A newspaper cartoon was circulated sometime ago, where a man was seen telling his teenage son that it was time for sex education. The boy answered: “Sure, what part do you want to know, daddy?”

Everyone has a reason for making certain decisions but it would be advantageous if such decisions are not based on external influence. Abstinence is the surest way of preventing sexually-transmitted diseases. The slogan “abstinence is the best method to prevent diseases” attests to this fact.

My advice to teenagers and the youth is that they must abstain from premarital sex. And those who are still chaste, should maintain this status. We must not allow ourselves to be the butt of jokes in the society.

There is a Yoruba adage that says anything that is protected doesn’t lose its value. We must not be deceived by the argument that virginity is an outdated value. It is not; it is a value we must nurture to ensure our society is free of decadence.

 (

JAMES Randall-A Righteous BLACK BROTHER Fights For OUR BLACK Rights!

http://www.blackiowa.org/education/childrens-oral-history-project/stories/james-randall/. 

 

James Randall, Stead Family Professor of English
B.S., North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University
M.A., Carnegie Mellon University

Professor Randall’s offerings include courses in African-American and African literature; he also teaches African-American history. He has been a participant in the project of establishing the African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa (opening in Cedar Rapids in September 2003)
ames Randall

Interviewed by Living Waters History Makers
Region: Central Iowa
Category: Civil Rights

The store people also didn’t want us there sitting in either, and they would try to do things to force us away like pretend that they were spraying for flies and insects and spray on us on that occasion. Some of the rowdy people in the crowd would threaten us, threaten to fight us in some ways, too. But, we had gone through some training before we actually did that. And so it was overall a very useful experience. — James Randall

Biography

James (Samm) Randall, Professor of English and African American Studies at Coe College, taught at Coe from 1969 to 2010. He grew up in Bolton, North Carolina, working in the fields and attending segregated schools. He has studied at North Carolina A&T State University, Carnegie-Mellon University, Indiana University, Washington State University, and he has participated in summer-study programs at other universities over the years. He holds a Master’s degree from Carnegie-Mellon and is a published author. He has also taught African American literature courses at the University of Iowa. His teaching areas include African American Literature, African Literature, American Literature, English Literature, Caribbean Literature, and African American History.

Transcript

Shawndell: Hello my name is Shawndell Young and it is May 4th, 2009. And today I will be interviewing Professor Randall. So let’s get it started. So where were you born?

James Randall: I was born in North Carolina, a little town called Bolton, which is in the southeastern corner of the state of North Carolina. It’s about twenty miles up from the South Carolina border and about twenty-three miles in from the Atlantic Ocean, in an area that is known as the Green Swamp of North Carolina.

Shawndell: Where is home now?

James Randall: Home is here in Cedar Rapids.

Shawndell: How long have you lived in Cedar Rapids?

James Randall: I’ve lived in Cedar Rapids for forty years. I came here in 1969 to teach at Coe College. And I’ve been here for most of that time, although, I did take a leave at one point. I lived for a few years in Marion and now back in Cedar Rapids. Some years ago, I took a leave for three years and went out to the state of Washington, at Washington State, where I was doing some work at Washington State University.

Shawndell: So what brought you here?

James Randall: I came here to teach literature at Coe. My initial plan was to teach here for one year. So I came up here in 1969, I was going to be here for one year and it turned out that I was here just for one year on that first occasion. Then I went out and spent a year at University of Colorado working out there. And then following year I was invited to come back here to teach at Coe. So I’ve been here since that time.

Shawndell: Moving! So where did you go for school?

James Randall: Well, my school experiences have been varied. My, course my elementary school experience was in Bolton, North Carolina, which was at a sort of an ancient wooden school that had no running water and had outdoor toilets and had no central heating. But something began to happen, I am sure you and people of your generation have studied about the Brown Vs Board of Education school case which of course was finished in 1954. And around that time suddenly North Carolina began refurbishing schools for African Americans-it was a segregated system- because the idea, as I felt at the time and also felt later, was they, what they wanted to try to show that we did have separate but equal facilities. So we suddenly got a new school with central heating, with running water, built out of bricks, most of the, even a cafeteria, most of the amenities that were needed at that time. So I finished that school and then I went to high school, sort of a consolidated high school, also a segregated school for the black students. And I went to high school there and eventually I went to college at North Carolina A & E State University, which at that time was an all black school, too. All the teachers black, all the students black, all the administrators black, and I graduated from that, from that college. This was the college where the modern sit-in movement started. They started there a year before I became a student there. But when I went there, activity was still taking place.

Shawndell: So what did you do for entertainment back then?

James Randall: Well when I was very small. We did, I guess you would call it inexpensive games. We played a lot of stickball. We played softball. We played, when someone got a bicycle; we would ride the bicycle to death. In the winter we would make bows and arrows, and which we called ourselves hunting. And now it might not be considered not the nicest thing to do but our target would be birds which we would hunt and sometimes get and sometimes dress and have them prepared for eating. But, we did other kinds of things, too. One of the things that happened in that area was, we began to work at a very young age and so even small children had certain kinds of farm related jobs to do: hoeing crops, harvesting crops, chores that were assigned to us in a number of ways. So a lot of the summer activity and often after school activity was associated with work. When I was very small even attending my first grades, cotton was still grown in that area and after school we would sometimes pick cotton and turn it in and weigh it and get paid a certain amount, a certain, few cents per pound and so that took a good deal of the activity as well.

Shawndell: How was the Civil Rights Movement helped you and affected you?

James Randall: Well the Civil Rights Movement affected me a great deal. I say sometimes that people of my generation and a little bit after me, we were sort of born in the Civil Rights Movement, born in a civil rights situation. You have to remember that this was strict segregation at that time. And North Carolina was also a strict segregationist state which meant that African Americans did not have equal rights, which also meant that most of the politicians were against democracy for African Americans. So there was a lot of work to be done in order to get some things changed. Civil Rights Movement meant that I went to not equal schools, that our parents didn’t have equal job opportunities, that the state conspired to keep us poor and conspired to keep us not as well educated. We couldn’t attend University of North Carolina, nor Duke University, nor Wake Forrest University, nor North Carolina State for which our tax money supported in a lot of ways. So we were really being done in a very bad way by the authorities at the time. So the Civil Rights Movement meant a lot to me. When we began to get wind of how things were changing and needed to be changed. I mentioned the Brown versus Board of Education case. I remember when the public buses were integrated in North Carolina for the first time, for example. I remember, when of course, I remember, people my age remember, too, the presidential election of 1960, between President Kennedy and the challenger, and the other candidate for the Republicans, Richard Nixon and in the introduction of Civil Rights support becomes more common in the political sphere of things. So it meant a great deal. It meant a lot.

Shawndell: Can you explain what was segregation for the African American person back then?

James Randall: Well, the situation was really based on a Supreme Court case that took place much earlier, in 1896, the so-called Plessy vs Ferguson case, which the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was OK as long as there were equal facilities for African Americans-the so-called separate but equal doctrine. And we saw very quickly that things were separate, but they never were equal. Equal facilities were not really provided for and it meant that by law, African Americans got a raw deal from the state government and also from the national government because the national government supported the state governments in their discrimination against us in many ways. And again, education-didn’t have equal education opportunity, for jobs- couldn’t have equal jobs opportunity. In my home county, I couldn’t even go to the county library because it was only for whites. Blacks could not go the county library. And so that’s a blatant example of this discrimination in that way as well, which meant that we couldn’t get certain kinds of jobs, even state jobs we could not get. There were some more menial jobs that were designated for African Americans, but top flight jobs were out of the question at that time. And it meant that therefore, more people were waiting for these changes to occur and we were increasingly aware of them, and that made us more determined to become active, too. And for example the students, the college students who lead and who began the sit-in movement, they were also fed up with a good deal of this activity and they were motivated to do something about it and other students in other places and an increasing number of adults also began to participate directly as well.

Shawndell: So can you describe the role of the African American church back in your day?

James Randell: When I was small, I was involved in church activity especially. My parents were active in the church, especially my father, who was a very active churchman in the AME Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in my hometown. My hometown was very small, about 600 people. But as I think about it there were a lot of churches in that town a lot of African American Churches, maybe seven or eight African American Churches in a very small town. So I participated in Sunday School. When I was very young I became Sunday School secretary, state Sunday School secretary, I guess until I finished high school and went away to college. I remember attending Sunday School conventions that took place yearly. One of my cousins was the pianist. She had a talent for playing piano. And she became the director of the junior choir. So naturally I was a member of junior choir for a number of years as well. There were some other activities that took place, too, some special holiday activities that occurred in the church as well. I remember also some Vacation Bible School experiences began and it was a new idea at the time for our area of the country. But nevertheless, that took place as well.

Shawndell: Have you been involved in any Civil Rights organizations or any like of the NAACP stuff or anything like that?

James Randall: Yes again, because of the area of the country where I lived, practically it couldn’t be avoided just out of natural behavior. But when the sit-in movements began, I was still in high school. And so we decided that, some people in my town decided, that we should participate directly in some of these activates. Well, maybe I was a junior in high school at that time. Our town was so small, that we didn’t have any real facilities to integrate because we just had a little regular General Store. But we did most of our shopping in a town about twenty-five miles away, the town of Wilmington, North Carolina. Most of our big shopping occurred there. So we decided to organize and to join the demonstrations that were taking place in Wilmington. So we organized and we decided that we needed a formal organization. So it was formal organized and I was elected president of the group. So before dinner time each Saturday we would go to Wilmington and we would join in the sit-ins that were taking place in Wilmington. We had some varied experiences there, some not so nice experiences, of course some people in the crowd didn’t want us there. The store people also didn’t want us there sitting in either and they would try to do things to force us away like pretend that they were spraying for flies and insects and spray on us on that occasion. Some of the rowdy people in the crowd would threaten us, threaten to fight us in some ways, too. But, we had gone through some training before we actually did that. And so it was overall a very useful experience. Later in college, I also participated in some civil rights demonstrations. And even after I finished my undergraduate work at North Carolina A&T, I moved to Pittsburgh to attend a college there. And activity was taking place in that city. Even in that northern industrial city, some things needed to be changed there as well. And James King had even later, for example when I went to another university, ____University, and later to Washington State University, one organization that I became involved with was the organization concerned with liberation in South Africa, so in effect, civil rights for South Africa on more of a global scale. And so I think that part of that interest and activity generated in my case early from participating in the sit-ins back in North Carolina.

Shawndell: What would you say is one of your best…like your best accomplishments?

James Randall: Well I think working in education for forty years. I think that, to endure that and still fill enthused about it. And I’ve had some good students who have come through the process. And so I think very, very, very positively on that. Sometimes I hear from former students and they are doing progressive things. And so I count that as one of the best things.

Shawndell: What has been one of your happiest time, memories?

James Randall: Happiest memories. I guess there are some standard ones, such as some of my memories with my wife, with my family, with my North Carolina relatives, with visiting some other places. Living in Colorado was nice for a year. Visiting the West Indies was also good. Taking a trip to Africa was good. And so those are fond memories.

Shawndell: What would you change about the outcome of your life right now?

James Randall: That’s a big question. I’m not sure what I would change about the outcome of my life. I think that in so many ways, of course, life is still being engaged. And so we go through it, and try to do positive things that we can. But sometimes in finagling with the past a little bit it would change so many other things as well. In some ways, I think I would, I would have liked to have been more productive, more steadily at some times. I think I have been relatively productive over time. But maybe if I had gotten, maybe even started earlier, maybe if I had been able to, I don’t know, get though college a couple of years earlier then so much more might have been done. But this is, you know, fantasy. I would like to have traveled in more places than I have. I‘ve done a lot of travel across the states. I would like to have done more world travel.

Shawndell: I also have one more question. You’ve talked about one of your happiest times. Which would be one of your worst times of your life?

James Randall: A very painful time would have been the year 1972. In that year my father died in February; my grandmother died in May; my mother died in September. So within a relatively short period of time, these are the people who have sort of molded me, and that was naturally a painful time not just for me, but for my brothers and sisters as well. So that stands out.

Shawndell: So do you have any questions that you think I have not answered that you think we should know?

James Randall: I suppose we could ramble a long time about a lot of different things. I think that over my years, I’ve seen a lot of positive changes occur in society in general. And now which gives me some, more than just hope, but some belief that things are likely to continue to improve in some positive ways. As a world and as a society we have dirtied our hands with a lot of things. I’m glad to see now that we seem to be more determined to clean up behind ourselves more than we have done in the past, more accountably, than we have done the past. So, I hope that that trend will continue.

Shawndell: Alright, well, thank you for letting me interview you.

James Randall: Alright, thank you.

GOMINA AREGBESOLA IS UPLIFTING YOUTH IN THE STATE OF OSUN,NIGERIA-HE IS TRULY A PEOPL’S GOMINA!-FROM THE GUARDIAN Newspaper,NIGERIA

FRESH VISAS for youth empowerment, entrepreneurship

Thursday, 31 January 2013 00:00 By 





.

SIREN blaring ambulances, skip eaters in the toe while a state chief executive is sealed!

The natural thing is to do a panoramic view of such a place, look for a possible exit route and possibly beat it. Not even at this time of adverse security challenge in the country.

Just when you are trying to get out of the flux, behold, amid a hail of dust ambulances and compactors came to a halt. One after the other, to the surprise of onlookers, women drivers started alighting from the vehicle and heading straight to the dais to salute Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola.

Indeed, Bimbo Olasoji, a female driver of one of the ambulances started out with the ambition of securing white-collar job in the state having graduated at the Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, with lower credit in Business Administration.

Having sat at home waiting for the elusive job, with hope almost fading, she reluctantly opted to join the then newly created Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES), at least, according to her, “to give a semblance of dignity.”

Today, Bimbo, like the others who joined this scheme, has been transformed to a paramedic with a full-time job as driver and caregivers in case of emergency.

When asked what motivated her to venture into a job usually meant for men folks, Bimbo said: “I joined O-ambulance because I have passion for driving and saving lives. Though I did not study health-related course, I have been trained to attend to emergencies.”

“Bimbo is not the only OYES cadet that has been transformed. Abdul-Azeez Yusuf from Egbedore Local Government, hitherto unemployed is today by all standards, an entrepreneur.

Indeed, watch closely the jungle boot when you see a military, paramilitary and voluntary organisations, you are likely to see one made by Yusuf among varieties he is producing.  Also, if you see Aregbesola kitted in football jersey for a novelty match, his soccer boot is made in Nigeria, courtesy Yusuf. Reason: He actually presented a customized pair to the governor at the OYES parade on Tuesday.

A part from being an entrepreneur, Yusuf is today training about 20 apprentices and, according to him, if the resources are available, he hopes to accommodate up to 80 or 100 more.

What could be more fulfilling than seeing your baby nurtured to adulthood? This captures the mood of the governor at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Orientation Camp, Ede, when he set aside protocol, sang and danced to the admiration of the cadets dignitaries and other well wishers.

A programme written off by Cynics at inception is today the toast of other governors and even the World Bank could not but commend its replication in other states as antidote to poverty and employment.

The big question, however, is if other state governors could let go N200 million on monthly basis from their security votes to support such programme, what will become of unemployment in Nigeria?

But that has been the forte of Aregbesola in the last two years and he is not relenting, as according to the Chairman, OYES Implementation Committee, Femi Ifaturoti, said another batch of 20, 000 will take their turn in February.

While Governor Aregbesola presided over a colourful programme to mark their engagement, the state government disclosed that no fewer than 18,000 of them had found one form of job or the other to keep them out of the unemployment market.

The Governor, who spoke before a crowd of stakeholders and visitors from the Federal Capital Territory, members of the Course 35 of Command and Staff College, Jaji, and others, observed that the OYES has become the foundation of the development and revolution started two years ago in the state.

Aregbesola said that the scheme has in a short period of time become an astounding success, saying the government has the evidence of its success when the World Bank recommended the scheme for study and adoption by other states for public sector mass job creation and youth engagement.

In an address he titled “We are Simply Unstoppable,” Aregbesola said “We are happy to announce that this effort is already yielding positives fruits in numerous areas where about 18,000 of the cadets passing out today have found permanent job placements.

“At the newly established Oloba Farm, OYES volunteers are engaged in cattle and ram fattening and in the broiler out-grower scheme.”

He disclosed that OYES is a programme like no other, which instead of being a white-collar or blue-collar job scheme, was uniquely conceived and designed to take the youths in the state off the streets, give them an orientation about public service and the need to contribute to the development of their society.

According to him, skill trainings for the cadets were also incorporated which involves partnerships and collaborations with the private sector and academic institutions, such as Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State University, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Fountain University, Adeleke University and some other private training and development organisations.

The governor said this is why the scheme is a stop-gap scheme to train the youth and imbue them with positive work orientation and ethics such as self-sustenance, resourcefulness, character and competence, and to give them the self-confidence to forge ahead and overcome life’s numerous challenges after they must have spent two years and be ready for disengagement.

Aregbesola continued: “Two years after, we can now proudly say that our dream has been realised. After the orientation and passing out, the cadets were deployed into various areas of public needs such as public works, sanitation monitoring, paramedics, sheriff corps and traffic marshals.

“Along the line, they were also trained in entrepreneurship and in different vocations of their choices so as to give them what it takes to be on their own and be the masters of their own destiny.

“I must also let you know that OYES is not about youth employment alone. It is also about re-inflating the economy of the State.

“Every month, the N200 million allowances paid to the cadets sink into the economy of the State. Our backward integration policy requires that all the uniform, kits and equipment used by OYES be obtained from the markets spread round all the local governments in the State.

“This has created value chain, improved the economy of the State, empowered families and created wealth.”

He described the passing-out parade as a defining moment towards development and progress as the first batch of OYES volunteer cadets disengaged.

He noted that his administration is certain that the cadets are marching onto greatness, self-fulfillment and self-actualisation, adding that they are another testimony to the fact that the march of progress the state embarked upon last two years is unstoppable because it is backed up by vision, passion and action.

At the event on Tuesday were the Governor’s wife, Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola; Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti; Chief of Staff, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola; members of the Executive Council, traditional rulers, religious leaders, leaders and members of various trade organisations and others.

Ifaturoti added that 200 of the cadets had been selected to travel to Germany for a two-year intensive training on agriculture and soil management adding that three others have been trained and participating in the manufacture of the first locally manufactured hydro turbine for generation of electricity under a partnership by UNIDO /NASENI/the state government.

He also said that 74 are currently in Leventis Foundation School for training in modern Agricultural practices while 610 are in OREAP Agriculture training facilities for training in modern agriculture, cultivating farms under a profit- sharing scheme.

He said,“500 are in Odua farmers’ academy for training in modern agricultural practices and 2100 were trained under OYES-TECH public private partnership with RLG to manufacture mobile telephones and laptop computers at their factory currently being set –up and to provide after sales support and services.

“OYES cadets are currently engaged on the largest apiary farm for honeybee production in Africa. 600 are currently engaged in red bricks production under the O- brick partnership and tannery of O’LEADS. 100 are engaged in fish farming through a PPP fish farm at Okuku and other fish farmers.

“182 OYES trained paramedics, 173 are deployed to O-Ambulance scheme and 2 are call-tracking personnel in the Min of Health. 1501 with teaching qualifications are about to be engaged by SUBEB and being posted to primary schools while more than 600 OYES are to be trained and engaged through the state’s Emergency Call Service operations as call operators, emergency service providers and system engineers.

“More than 300 are being supported under a Public Private Partnership driven Farmers Input Supply Shops and 5000 are being supported to provide mobile money, e-payment and allied services through various Schemes adding that more than 10,000 entrepreneurs are undergoing incubation.

Ifaturoti noted that more opportunities abound for the volunteers, who apply diligently adding that successful service in OYES is a demonstration of readiness for greater calling.

MALCOLM X-OUR GREAT BLACK LEADER PRESENTED THIS TO AFRICAN HEADS OF STATE -AN HISTORIC BLACK FIRST !-WE NEED TO GET BACK TO OUR AFRICAN CULTURE AND STOP BEING 21ST CENTURY SLAVES IN AMERIKKKA!-FROM NATHANIELTURNER.COM

MALCOLM X IN IBADAN NIGERIA 1964

FROM nathanielturner.com

Appeal to African Heads of State

Speech by Malcolm X

Chairman, Organization of Afro-American Unity

Throughout June, 1964, MALCOLM X spoke, agitated, educated and organized to create a new, non-religious movement to promote black unity and work for freedom “by any means necessary.” On June 28, this new movement was born under the name of the Organization of Afro-American Unit, its “statement of basic aims and objectives” was released to the public, and Malcolm was designated chairman.

Shortly thereafter, on July 9, Malcolm again left the United States for Africa and the Middle East. His immediate objective was to attend the “African Summit”—the second meeting of the Organization of African Unity, which had been formed in 1963 to bring about joint action by the independent African governments.

The OAU conference was held in Cairo July 17–21, and was attended by nearly all the heads of the thirty-four member states. The welcoming address was made by President Gamal Abdel Nasser of the United Arab Republic who, while reviewing the events of the previous year, hailed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that had recently been enacted in the United States.

Malcolm was accepted as an observer at the conference. In this capacity he was permitted to submit to the delegates an eight-page memorandum urging their support of the Negro struggle in the United States and their help in bring the plight of the American Negro before the United Nations. The memorandum, which follows, was delivered to the delegates on July 17, one day before the events that came to be called “the Harlem riots.”

Your Excellencies:

The Organization of Afro-American Unity has sent me to attend this historic African summit conferences as an observer to represent the interests of 22 million African-American whose human rights are being violated daily by the racism of American imperialists.

The Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) has been formed by a cross-section of America’s African-American community, and is patterned after the letter and spirit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

Just as the Organization of African Unity has called upon all African leaders to submerge their differences and unite on common objectives for the common good of all Africans—in America the Organization of Afro-American Unity has called upon Afro-American leaders to submerge their differences and find areas of agreement wherein we can work in unity for the good of the entire 22 million African-Americans.

Since the 22 million of us were originally Africans, who are now in America, not by choice but only by a cruel accident in our history, we strongly believe that African problems are our problems and our problems are African problems.

Your Excellencies:

We also believe that as heads of the Independent African states you are the shepherd of all African peoples everywhere, whether they are still at home on the mother continent or have been scattered abroad.

Some African leaders at this conference have implied that they have enough problems here on the mother continent without adding the Afro-American problem.

With all due respect to your esteemed positions, I must remind all of you that the good shepherd will leave ninety-nine sheep, who are safe at home, to go to the aid of the one who is lost and has fallen into the clutches of the imperialist wolf.

We, in America, are your long-lost brothers and sisters, and I am here only to remind you that our problems are your problems. As the African-Americans “awaken” today, we find ourselves in a strange land that has rejected us, and, like the prodigal son, we are turning to our elder brothers for help. We pray our pleas will not fall upon deaf ears.

We were taken forcibly in chains from this mother continent and have now spend over 300 years in America, suffering the most inhuman forms of physical and psychological tortures imaginable.

During the past ten years the entire world has witnessed our men, women, and children being attacked and bitten by vicious police dogs, brutally beaten by police clubs, and washed down the sewers by high-pressure water hoses that would rip the clothes from our bodies and the flesh from our limbs.

And all of these inhuman atrocities have been inflicted upon us by the American governmental authorities, the police themselves, for no reason other than we seek the recognition and respect granted our human beings in America.

Your Excellencies:

The American government is either unable or unwilling to protect the lives and property of your 22 million African-American brothers and sisters. We stand defenseless, at the mercy of American racists who murder us at will for no reason other than we are black and of African descent.

Two black bodies were found in the Mississippi River this week; last week an unarmed African-American educator was murdered in cold blood in Georgia; a few days before that three civil-rights workers disappeared completely, perhaps murdered also, only because they were teaching our people in Mississippi how to vote and how to secure their political rights.

Our problems are your problems We have lived for over 300 years in that American den of racist wolves in constant fear of losing life and limb. Recently, three students from Kenya were mistaken for American Negroes and were brutally beaten by New York police. Shortly after that, two diplomats from Uganda were also beaten by the New York City police, who mistook them for American Negroes.

If Africans are brutally beaten while only visiting in America, imagine the physical and psychological suffering received by your brothers and sisters who have lived there for over 300 years.

Our problem is your problem. No matter how much independence Africans get here on the mother continent, unless you wear your national dress at all times, when you visit America, you may be mistaken for one of us and suffer the same psychological humiliation and physical mutilation that is an everyday occurrence in our lives.

Your problems will never be fully solved until and unless ours are solved. You will never be fully respected until and unless we are also respected. You will never be recognized as free human beings until and unless we are also recognized and treated as human beings.

Our problem is your problem. It is not a Negro problem, nor an American problem. This is a world problem; a problem for humanity. It is not a problem of civil rights but a problem of human rights.

If the United States Supreme Court justice, Arthur Goldberg, a few weeks ago, could find legal grounds to threaten to bring Russia before the United Nations and charge her with violating the human rights of less than three million Russian Jews, what makes our African brothers hesitate to bring the Untied States government before the United Nations and charge her with violating the human rights of 22 million African-Americans?

We pray that our African brothers have not freed themselves of European colonialism only to be overcome and held in check now by American dollarism. Don’t let American racism be “legalized” by American dollarism.

America is worse than South Africa, because not only is America racist, but she also is deceitful and hypocritical. South Africa preaches segregation and practices segregation. She, at least, practices what she preaches. American preaches integration and practices segregation. She preaches one thing while deceitfully practicing another.

South Africa is like a vicious wolf, openly hostile towards black humanity. But America is cunning like a fox, friendly and smiling, but even more vicious and deadly than the wolf.

The wolf and the fox are both enemies of humanity; both are canine; both humiliate and mutilate their victims. Both have the same objectives, but differ only in methods.

If South Africa is guilty of violating the human rights of Africans here on the mother continent, then America is guilty of worse violations of 22 million Africans on the American continent. And if South Africa racism is not a domestic issue, then American racism also is not a domestic issue.

Many of you have been led to believe that the much publicized, recently passed civil-rights bill is a sign that America is making a sincere effort to correct the injustices we have suffered there. This propaganda maneuver is part of her deceit and trickery to keep the African nations from condemning her racist practices before the United Nations, as you are now doing as regards the same practices of South Africa.

The United States Supreme Court passed a law ten years ago making America’s segregated school system illegal. But the federal government has yet to enforce this law even in the North. If the federal government cannot enforce the law of the highest court in the land when it comes to nothing but equal rights to education for African Americans, how can anyone be so naïve as to think all the additional laws brought into being by the civil-rights bill will be enforced?

These are nothing but tricks of the century’s leading neo-colonialist power. Surely, our intellectually mature African brothers will not fall for this trickery.

The Organization of Afro-American Unity, in cooperation with a coalition of other Negro leaders and organizations, has decided to elevate our freedom struggle above the domestic level of civil rights. We intend to “internationalize” it by placing it at the level of human rights. Our freedom struggle for human dignity is no longer confined to the domestic jurisdiction of the United States government.

We beseech the independent African states to help us bring our problem before the United Nations, on the grounds that the United States government is morally incapable of protecting the lives and the property of 22 million African-Americans. And on the grounds that our deteriorating plight is definitely becoming a threat to world peace.

Out of frustration and hopelessness our young people have reached the point of no return. We no longer endorse patience and turning-the-other-cheek. We assert the right of self-defense by whatever means necessary, and reserve the right of maximum retaliation against our racist oppressors, no matter what the odds against us are.

From here on in, if we must die anyway, we will die fighting back and we will not die alone. We intend to see that our racist oppressors also get a taste of death.

We are well aware that our future efforts to defend ourselves by retaliating—by meeting violence with violence, eye for eye and tooth for tooth—could create the type of racial conflict in America that could easily escalate into a violent, world-wide, bloody race war.

In the interests of world peace and security, we beseech the heads of the independent African states to recommend an immediate investigation into our problem by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

If this humble plea that I am voicing at this conference is not properly worded, then let our elder brothers, who know the legal language, come to our aid and word our plea in the proper language necessary for it to be heard.

One last word, my beloved brothers at this African summit:

“No one knows the master better than his servant.” We have been servants in America for over 300 years. We have a thorough, inside knowledge of this man who calls himself “Uncle Sam.” Therefore, you must heed our warning: Don’t escape from European colonialism only to become even more enslaved by deceitful, “friendly” American dollarism.

May Allah’s blessings of good health and wisdom be upon you all. Salaam Alaikum.

* * * * *

Malcolm X Speaks • George Breitman, editor • © Copyright 1965 by Merit Publishers and Betty Shabazz • Grove Press • New York, NY 10003 Remembering Malcolm Malcolm X Videos

posted 21 February 2006

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Feb. 21, 2006–41 years ago

Malcolm X was gunned down at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem

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Spectres of 1919: Class and Nation in the Making of the New Negro

By Barbara Foley

A carefully argued, nuanced presentation of the genesis of the Harlem Renaissance. Foley’s breadth of knowledge in American radical history is impressive.—American Literature

Foley’s book is a lucid and useful one… A heavyweight intervention, it prompts significant rethinking of the ideological and representational strategies structuring the era.—Journal of American Studies

Foley does a masterful job of analyzing the racial and political theories of a wide range of black and white figures, from the radical Left to the racist Right… Students of African American political and cultural history in the early twentieth century cannot ignore this book. Essential.—Choice

In our current time of crisis, when ruling classes busily promote nationalism and racism to conceal the class nature of their inter-imperialist rivalries, one can only hope that readers will not be daunted by Foley’s dedication to analyzing the ideological milieu of the 1920s that contributed to the eclipse of New Negro radicalism by New Negro nationalism.—Science & Society

With the New Negro movement and the Harlem Renaissance, the 1920s was a landmark decade in African American political and cultural history, characterized by an upsurge in racial awareness and artistic creativity. In Spectres of 1919 Barbara Foley traces the origins of this revolutionary era to the turbulent year 1919, identifying the events and trends in American society that spurred the black community to action and examining the forms that action took as it evolved.

Unlike prior studies of the Harlem Renaissance, which see 1919 as significant mostly because of the geographic migrations of blacks to the North, Spectres of 1919 looks at that year as the political crucible from which the radicalism of the 1920s emerged. Foley draws from a wealth of primary sources, taking a bold new approach to the origins of African American radicalism and adding nuance and complexity to the understanding of a fascinating and vibrant era.—amazon.com

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Ancient African Nations

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If you like this page consider making a donation
online through PayPal

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Negro Digest / Black World

Browse all issues

1950 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 ____ 2005

Enjoy!

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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan / The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll / Only a Pawn in Their Game

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for Slavery

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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg

The Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804 / January 1, 1804 — The Founding of Haiti

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BLACK CLASSIC BOOKS

BCP Digital Printing

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updated 19 October 2007

IFAYEMI ELEBURIBON-A GREAT BABALAWO -BECOMES THE ‘ARABA AWO’ OF OSOGBOLAND!

FROM yeyeolade.blogspot.com
originally from ngrguardiannews.com

er 19, 2010
IFAYEMI ELEBURIBON-GREAT BABALAWO BECOMES THE ARABA OF ALL BABALAWOS IN OSUN STATE!-E KU ORI RE O!
FROM ngrguardiannews.com

The Making Of Ifa ArchBishop, Elebuibon
Saturday, 16 October 2010 00:00 By Ajibola Amzat Saturday Magazine – Saturday Magazine

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RECENTLY, the renowned traditionalist, High Priest Ifayemi Osundagbonu Elebuibon ascended to the highest rank of Ifa prieshood in Osogbo, Osun State. His coronation as the 11th Araba Awo of Osogboland at the palace of the Ataoja of Osogbo, which drew visitors from Nigeria and overseas was celebrated with pomp and pageantry. AJIBOLA AMZAT was at the event.
It was a huge crowd for such event. But like people on pilgrimage to holy ground, the natives and guests turned out in large number, thronging towards the palace of Ataoja of Osogbo to witness the coronation of High Priest Ifayemi Elebuibon as the 11th Araba Awo of Osogboland.
It is the highest office in the hierarchy of Ifa priesthood, the equivalent of archbishop in Catholic order. Therefore, no one wanted to miss the historic event, it appeared.
At the palace, men, women, old and young, were dressed in variety of Aso Ebi. Some were sitting, many standing all waiting, eager to see the Araba-elect emerge from the sanctuary where he had been sheltered for a while. Yet, he is the same man they have been seen for decades. His popular TV programme, ‘Ifa Olookun Asorodayo’ has made him a household name. He is probably the most famous son of the soil that lives among them. Yet, they are eager to see him again.
But the Ataoja, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji, Larooye II was not in a hurry.
While the short wait lasted, the king’s praise singer’s voice rent the air. His rendition was as sonorous as it was informative. Oba Oyetunji whose recent coronation as the new Ataoja is of Larooye lineage. His ancestor, one of the patriarchs of the ancient town was the first king to reign. He and his bosom friend Timehin, the hunter had once led a live elephant into town, tamed. Their subsequent encounter with water deity mother, Osun, brought great fortunes to Osogbo, the town now proudly known as a settlement of indigo dye, and a refuge for victims of war. The is why natives of Osogbo celebrate Osun festival every year. The king’s praise-singer knows this history and more. He knows about the deeds and times of various royalties.
And at occasions like this, he is allowed to display his knowledge.
Finally, when it pleased Ataoja to stop him, he waived his horsetail, and the man went quiet instantly.
It was the time for Abese, the palace messengers to bring the candidate for coronation.
High priest Elebuibon, dressed in flowing silk materials, the colour of cow milk, was ushered in. Eesa, another titled chief introduced the Araba-elect to the king and the people:
“Kabiyesi and dear people of Osogbo, here is the man the community has chosen as the new Araba of Osogboland. Yes or No?” And the people chorused ‘yes!. Such applause! It reverberated throughout the area.
The king then took Akoko leaves, tucked it inside the dog-ears cap of the new chief; handed him a brass machete on the right hand and a horse tail on the left hand. Then after invoking blessings on him, he declared him the head of all priests in Oshogboland. And the people applause accompanied with several gunshots thundered through the town. The rites completed, Chief Elebuibon stood, staring ahead perhaps at the challenges that await him, for the title of Araba is the most revered, most influential position in Ifa priesthood.
As Araba, he explained, the spiritual welfare of the town is now his primary responsibility. “Araba Awo is not only the head of all priests, but also the head of all herbalists, diviners and all kinds of traditional spiritual consultants in the land. He is the representative of Orunmila (the patron saint of the Ifa School) father of mystery and keeper of secrets.
It is the duty of the Araba to reveal messages of Olodumare to the community through the king and prescribes solutions to problems. In fact, no king can administer his domain in Yorubaland successfully without his priest in residence. Usually, the priest is both the spiritual adviser to the king and the friend of the royalty. “When the town is in chaos, Ifa priests must be consulted to prescribe propitiation to end the calamity and cause the progress to return.”
An Ifa chapter (Odu) Iretengbe gives the account of an Ifa priest, Olongbojigolo who was a popular diviner in the ancient town of Apa. A small town, it was yet prosperous. And because of its prosperity, the rulers of Oyo Kingdom usually targeted it for raids. The king of Alapa sought the spiritual help of his friend, Olongbojigolo who used his spiritual power to defend the town. But the principalities of Oyo Kingdom were not only experienced military men, they were also schooled in stratagem. When they discovered that Olongbojigolo, the great diviner was the force behind the town of Apa, they sent one of Alafin’s daughters, Princess Isokunronke to lure the priest out of town. Isokunronke, a lady of irresistible beauty was the cynosure of all eyes anywhere she went. Many young men of Oyo were ready to worship at her feet or go to battle for her.
To get her quarry, Isokunronke disguised as a kolanut seller and headed for Ologbojigolo’s house in Apa. Expectedly, the priest fell in love and agreed to follow the princess to live in Oyo as her term for marriage.
When Olongbojigolo was out of the way, the Oyo army invaded Apa, killed the king and sacked the town.
This tragic incident in history made kings in Yorubaland keep close relationship with their priest. As the principal administrators of the town, the two normally swear an oath of trust and friendship in the interest of the community. The secret oath between the king and his chief priest is said to be stronger than oath taking among Ogboni cult. It was forbidden for the priest to reveal any confidential matter of the town to the public, or worse still, to the enemy of the town. Wiwo lenu awo o wo, the lips of the priest must be sealed. This is how important a priest is in the administration of traditional Yoruba community.
But giving a priest the title of Araba Awo puts a stamp of authority on such a priest. “It is the equivalent of archbishop in the Catholic order. Even before a king is selected, the Ifa priest must be consulted for advice.” Elebuibon said.
In Yoruba worldview, the living, the dead, the unborn and the spiritual beings – all cohabit in a community. And interactivity must be smooth for harmony and peace to reign. It is the duty of the Araba also to ensure cordial relations among all members of the community.
In the past, according to Chief Elebuibon, the Oluawo was regarded as the head of all priests in Osogbo, until Ikujenyo Ikujenlowo, a sojourner in Ibadan town came back to Osogbo with the title of Araba.
Ikujenyo, a native of Osogbo used his knowledge and skill to help the Ibadan people during Kutuje and Atadi wars. And he was made Araba. It was after him that others like Bashorun Ogunmola of Ibadan and Ibikunle were also made Araba.
When he came back to Osogbo with his title, he became the head of all priests in the land. Henceforth, Araba became the highest title for priesthood in Osogbo.
After him was Araba Awonoyi Adeyemi Kehinde of Amubiorogun Compound who was the maternal grand father of Yemi Elebuibon. He was the longest serving Araba.
Other Araba after him were Araba Oyelade of Arewekoro Compound, Araba Falade of Aleshiloye Compound, Araba Oyafemi of Adelakun Compound, Araba Ifaniyi of Aleegun Compound, Araba Ifatoki of Otuyo Compound, Araba Oyagoke Adisa of Eleye Compound, Araba Fabunmi Afolabi of Aboyede Fetuata Compound, Araba Ifagbemi Akani Omotosho of Onipon Compound. Araba Ifayemi Elebuibon is of Oluode Aturuku Compound.
Chief ifayemi explained that Araba is not a hereditary title (Ajewo), rather it is rotational (Oye ori-Odo) . This means that anyone who meets all the requirements for the office could be so honoured. But it is no mean task for any hopeful to rise through the ranks. The hierarchy includes Awise, Ojugbona, Alara, Olojowu, Erinmi, Lagbongbon, Aseda, Akoda and Araba.
According to Baba Awo, as Elebuibon is fondly called by his spiritual children, many of whom came from America and Europe to celebrate with him, the knowledge of Ifa, the character and the contribution of an individual in the town are the criteria that qualify a person for the title of Araba.
In all these, Chief Elebuibon is distinguished. First, he is of the lineage recognised as authorities on Yoruba tradition. He is a direct descendant of Olutimehin, one of the co-founders of the ancient town. From age four, he had been learning at the feet of “the masters”, including his father and his father’s friends who were also priests. While Chief Elebuibon did not attend formal school, he went through correspondence courses, which put him in a better stead among his contemporaries.
Today, Chief Elebuibon is a poet, performing artiste, playwright, herbalist and practicing Ifa priest. He has published several books and scholarly papers on various aspects of Yoruba traditional religion and culture.
His traditional morality drama, Ifa Olokun Asorodayo culled from Odu Ifa ran on Nigeria National Televison Network for years.
Chief Elebuibon is an international scholar in-residence at San Francisco State University, California USA where he lectures on African Traditional religion and philosophy.
He has been on lecture tour in United States at Wajumba Cultural Institution and national Black theatre in Harlem.
In 1973, he traveled with Duro Ladipo to Paris to perform at festival mudial du theatre; went with him to Brazil for the performance of Obakoso.
He is the founder of Ancient Philosophy International in Osogbo, a centre dedicated to teaching African Traditional Religion and performing arts. He has also been honoured with a doctorate degree of the Brandice University, USA. He was appointed the Vice Chairman of Board of Traditional Medicine, Osun State, and he is presently the President of International Congress of Orisa Tradition and culture, Nigeria Chapter.
Elebuibon is of the view that the post modern African states have lost the essence of their being when they threw away their traditions for western civilization. He said the place of Ifa in African society is as significant today as it was in the past. “The president, the governor and even the local council chairmen could achieve better administration if they consult Ifa Oracle from time to time before taking decisions.”
The high priest likened many of the political leaders to blind men leading a community of the blind.
“Many of them are spiritually blind, and a society ruled by the blind cannot progress.” He therefore advised leaders to retrace their steps to the path toed by their forebears.
Chief Ifayemi has never left that path. This is the reason he is regarded as one the most distinguished traditionalists that ever came out of Africa. No wonder, he was made the Araba. It was indeed an exultant Elebuibon that rode back home on a black horse from the Ataoja’s palace with his kith and kin and well wishers in his wake. It was a day when the rumble of drums mixed with the boom of guns on a crowded road where many thousands of feet met in ecstatic dance. It was a day an Ifa Archbishop was installed in the town popularly known as the centre of arts and culture in Nigeria.

“THE BIBLE AS BEST BLACK HISTORY BOOK-THE GLORY OF HAM-WAS ABRAHAM BLACK?” FROM JOELAND7.WORDPRESS.COM-PROVES THAT THE JEWS,JESUS CHRIST,EGYPTIANS WERE ALL BLACK THEN!

FROM joeland7.wordpress.com

The Bible As Best Black History Book – The Glory of Ham – Was Abraham Black?
Posted on February, 26, 2010 by joeland7
The Sons of Ham–Cush (Ethiopians) & Mizraim (Egyptians)
& Phut (ancient Lybians or Somilians) & Canaan – “Genesis 10:6″

For years scholars, theologians, and archaeologists have debated the answer to the question, “How did the Israelites look physically?” Although the Bible and other historical documents have left much proof of the physical appearance of the biblical Israelites, much of this information is still unknown to the masses.The popular belief today among Christians, scholars and theologians, is that the people known as “Ashkenazi Jews” are the direct descendants of the biblical Israelites. Can this be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt? The answer to that is NO. The Bible, which will be used here as the main source, supported by history and archaeology proves that the Ashkenazi Jews are not the physical descendants of the biblical Hebrews. In addition, it reveals who the true descendants are. The answer may leave you in shock.Israel is mentioned in the bible over 2,500 times. The scriptures contain the Hebrews’ entire history. In fact, no other people on the face of the Earth have such an extensive recorded history, not even the ancient Egyptians. Every thing we need to know about the ancient Hebrews is contained in Scripture. So, let’s examine these facts, information that to this day remains unknown or hidden to many bible readers.
Gen.10:6 Ham’s descendants were Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.
7 Cush’s descendants were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. Raamah’s descendants were Sheba and Dedan.
8 Cush was the father of Nimrod, the first mighty warrior on the earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter whom the LORD blessed.
(God’s Word Translation)
10 The first cities in his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in Shinar Babylonia. 11 He went from that land to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,
The history of the Israelite nation began in Egypt, the Land of Ham. They entered Egypt 66 in number, (not including Joseph, his wife and two sons who were already in Egypt), and left numbering over two million people. Ancient Israel spent 430 years in Egypt. For half that time they enjoyed good favor with the Egyptians, but for the remainder of those years they were enslaved and horribly mistreated by them.
One of the first facts the Bible gives us about Israel (Ysrayl in the Hebrew tongue) is in regard to their physical appearance. Throughout scripture Israel is described as looking like the sons of Ham (Khawm in the Hebrew tongue).
Ham was one of Noah’s three sons, Shem and Japhet were the other two. Noah’s descendants repopulated the Earth after the Great Flood. Ham’s descendants are traced to the families of Africa. Ham (Khawm) in Hebrew means BLACK, HOT AND BURNT.
Ham had four sons,
CUSH (Ethiopians / Cushites),
MIZRAIM (Egyptians / Khemet),
PHUT (Ancient Libyans or Somalian),
and CANAAN (Canaanite, the original inhabitants of the Land of Israel) Genesis 10:6-19.All four of Ham’s sons and their descendants settled in and around the Continent of Africa. This includes the so called “Middle East” that is also a part of the Continent of Africa. Let us begin with the story of Jacob’s second Youngest son Joseph, and his time in Egypt. Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Jacob (Yaaqob in Hebrew). Jacob sired Joseph in his old age, and he was clearly his favorite son. This caused Joseph’s brothers to become jealous of him. Ultimately, their jealousy resulted in Joseph being sold by Arab merchants as a slave to Egyptians.
The foundations of ancient Chaldea, were laid as early as those of Egypt. In fact they were the sister colonies of a parent state. The earliest civilized inhabitants were Sumerians. 5000 B. C. the land was full of city-states. The Sanskrit books of India, called Chaldea one of the divisions of Cusha-Dwipa, the first organized government of the world. These Sumerians were the inventors of the cuneiform system of writing, which was later adopted by their Semitic conquerors.
The northern division of Babylon was called Accad, comprehending Babylon, the southern Sumer, including Erech and Ur. North of Accad were the Semitic (Hamitic) tribes which so largely made up the blood of Assyria in later days.
Gen.10:8 Cush was the father of Nimrod, the first mighty warrior on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter whom the LORD blessed. (God’s Word Translation)
10 The first cities in his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in Shinar Babylonia. 11 He went from that land to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,
We know that Nimrod was the son of Cush. Babylon had two elements in her population in the beginning. The northern Accadians and the southern Sumerians were both Cushites. The finds of recent explorations in the Mesopotamian valley reveal that these ancient inhabitants were black, with the cranial formation of Ethiopians.
nThe art, science and culture of the earlier unmixed Chaldeans was Cushite.
Rawlinson speaking in his Ancient Monarchies decided that the ruins of Chaldea show Cushite origin. The names of Chaldea and Ethiopia are linked in a way to render any other interpretation impossible. The great city of the earlier period was Niffer a corruption of Nimrod. The language of the ruins is radically different from the Semitic tongue of the Assyrian empire.
Rawlinson said concerning the Babylonians said, “Though not possessed of many natural advantages, the Chaldean people exhibited a fertility of invention, a genius of energy which places them high in the scale of nations and most especially those descended from Hamitic stock.”
The Chaldean Noah entered the ark with his wife and children. Upon the recession of the waters he sent out three birds three times. He built an altar and offered sacrifice.
nThe life of the Semitic and Hamitic races must have been closely associated after the deluge. So close is the apparent relationship, that some authorities have looked upon Abraham as Hamitic. Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldees. But he descended by direct line front a Semitic father. His mother may have been Hamitic for Abraham was spoken of as a Chaldean.
Over the course of time Joseph became Viceroy of Egypt and was second in command to Pharaoh in authority. There was a famine in Canaan, where Jacob and his sons lived. (Pharaoh had a dream which Joseph interpreted. His dream told of the forthcoming famine and gave Egypt an opportunity to prepare by storing food.) So, Jacob sent his ten sons to Egypt to buy bread. When Joseph’s ten brothers came into Egypt they were brought before him. Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn’t recognize him (Genesis 42:1-8).
Since the biblical Egyptians were a black-skinned people, Joseph had to be black-skinned also. If he were white skinned, as over half the world’s Jews are today, his brothers would have recognized him easily among the black- skinned Egyptians, or they would have been very curious as to why this white-skinned Hebrew was ruling in Egypt. But his brothers just thought Joseph was another Egyptian.
The ancient Egyptians of Joseph time were indeed what we know today as black skinned. This is a fact attested to by many.
Gerald Massey, English writer and author of the book, Egypt the Light of the World wrote, “The dignity is so ancient that the insignia of the Pharaoh evidently belonged to the time when Egyptians wore nothing but the girdle of the Negro.” (p 251)
Sir Richard Francis Burton, a 19th century English explorer, writer and linguist in 1883 wrote to Gerald Massey, “You are quite right about the “AFRICAN” origin of the Egyptians. I have 100 human skulls to prove it.”
Scientist, R. T. Prittchett, states in his book The Natural History of Man, “In their complex and many of the complexions and in physical peculiarities the Egyptians were an “AFRICAN” race (p 124-125).
The Ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who visited Egypt in the 5th century B.C.E., saw the Egyptians face-to-face and described them as black-skinned with woolly hair.
Anthropologist, Count Constatin de Volney (1727-1820), spoke about the race of the Egyptians that produced the Pharaohs. He later paid tribute to Herodotus’ discovery when he said:
“The ancient Egyptians were true Negroes of the same type as all native born Africans. That being so, we can see how their blood mixed for several centuries with that of the Romans and Greeks, must have lost the intensity of it’s original color, while retaining none the less the imprint of its original mold. We can even state as a general principle that the face (referring to The Sphinx) is a kind of monument able, in many cases, to attest to or shed light on historical evidence on the origins of the people.”
The fact that the ancient Egyptians were black-skinned prompted Volney to make the following statement:

“What a subject for meditation, just think that the race of black men today our slaves and the object of our scorn, is the very race to which we owe our arts, science and even the use of our speech.”
The testimony of the ancients, the Bible, many Egyptologists, along with archaeology confirms that the Egyptians during biblical times were a BLACK-SKINNED PEOPLE. This is important to know, as we continue, we will see that the bible on multiple occasions describes the ancient Hebrews as looking like the Egyptians.
Next, in Genesis chapter 50 verses 7-11, scripture will describes ALL the Hebrews as looking like the ancient Egyptians.
After Jacob (who’s name was changed to Ysrayl – Israel) died in the Land of Egypt, all the Hebrews and Egyptians went down to the Land of Canaan to bury him (He asked his son to bury him in the Land of Canaan with his forefathers Genesis 49:29-30).
Verses 7-8 state that all the elders of Pharaoh’s house and all the elders of the Land of Egypt along with all the Hebrews (except for their small children) went down.
VERSE 9 says, “It was a very great company.”
VERSE 11 says, that the Canaanite saw the funeral procession and said “THIS IS A GRIEVOUS MOURNING TO THE EGYPTIANS”.
But remember this was a mixed multitude of Hebrews and Egyptians going to bury a HEBREW, and the Canaanite identified them both as Egyptians. WHY? Because the Canaanites saw a great company of black-skinned people who were all probably dressed according to the customs and fashions of Egypt, and they all looked liked native (black) Egyptians.
If the Hebrews were a white-skinned people, as we have been led to believe, the Canaanite who were familiar with both the Hebrews and Egyptians would have acknowledged them both by saying, “THIS IS A GRIEVOUS MOURNING TO THE EGYPTIANS AND HEBREWS.” The scripture goes on to say that the Canaanite named the place where they saw this great mourning for a HEBREW Abel Mizraim which means the meadow of Egypt/Mizraim or Mourning of the Egyptians.
Now let’s go to the most famous story, of the Hebrews sojourn in Egypt, which would be the story of Moses. Many years after the death of Joseph, His brothers and all that generation that entered Egypt during the time he was viceroy. The Hebrew population in Egypt grew tremendously. Because of this, they were no longer looked upon as friendly neighbors. In fact, the Egyptians considered them hostile enemies and enslaved them. (Other ethnic groups were enslaved by the Egyptians during this time also.)
Because of the Hebrews’ population growth the Egyptians decided they would impose upon them their own form of birth control. Pharaoh decreed that all Hebrew males are killed at birth (Exodus 1), this brings us directly to the story of Moses.
Moses was born a Hebrew – Israelite from the tribe of Levi (Exodus 2:1-3). He spent 40 years in the House of Pharaoh (Acts 7:23) and from the time he was an infant, passed as the Pharaoh’s grandson (Exodus 2: 6, 10). This was during the same time that Pharaoh ordered all Hebrew males under the age of two to be killed. So, if Pharaoh, was a black-skinned descendant of Khawm / Ham, which he was, it would of course follow that Moses was black-skinned also.
Many Scholars say the Pharaoh who was on the throne of Egypt at the time of Moses’ birth, was Pharaoh Seti I. He was the father of Rameses II, the Pharaoh of the oppression, also known as Rameses the Great.
George Rawlinson, an English author wrote a book entitled History of Egypt. On page 252, he gives a description of Seti I. He states: “SETI’S FACE WAS THOROUGHLY AFRICAN. HE HAD A STORMY FACE WITH A DEPRESSED FLAT NOSE, THICK LIPS AND HEAVY CHIN.”
Moses had to have the same physical characteristics because again, he was raised in the house of Pharaoh, as the grandson of Pharaoh, when Pharaoh ordered all other Hebrew males to be killed at birth. If the Israelites were a white-skinned people, how could Moses the Hebrew survive (secretly) in the house of Pharaoh among black-skinned Egyptians for 40 years, and not be noticed.
Furthermore, after giving the decree (himself) to kill all Hebrew males, how could Pharaoh face and rule over his people, if he knowingly had one living in his house with all the rights and privileges of his own family? Moses survived 40 years in the palace of Pharaoh because he was a black-skinned man just as the Egyptians were. Just as the Canaanite couldn’t tell the Hebrews from the Egyptians. Pharaoh couldn’t either, or Moses would have been killed instantly.

Temple Drawing Of Pharoah Seti I 1306 B.C.E – 1290 B.C.E.

This is an actual temple drawing of Pharaoh Seti I, taken from a temple in Egypt. This is the Pharaoh who scholars identify as being on the throne of Egypt at the time of Moses’ birth. It is believed that Seti I was Moses’ “foster grandfather”.
Ancient Egyptian Queen Tiye 1391 B.C.E – 1353 B.C.E.

This is a bust of the ancient Egyptian Queen Tiye. She was the wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and the mother of the Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (Akenaton). She was also the grandmother of the boy, King Tutankhamen, more commonly known as King Tut. Below is a statue of him. This is how the Egyptians looked during biblical times.
STATUE OF KING TUT 1334 – 1325 B.C.E.

This is a statue of the boy king (King Tut), this statue was found in his tomb, among many of his treasures in Egypt, during an archaeological excavation in 1922. Scholars say king Tut was on the throne of Egypt, a few years before the Israelites’ Exodus.
One of the newly reconstructed images of King Tut

Above is one of the pictures of the reconstructed image of King Tut. This image comes from the Discovery.com website, it is from a soon to be aired program called the “Assassination of King Tut”. The image was put together from the skeleton of the King by using forensic science and sophisticated computer programs. King Tut and the Egyptians of biblical times were a black skinned people. Let the pictures tell the story. The Truth is beginning to come forth, Praise Yah.

Scripture tells us that Moses killed an Egyptian, after he saw him mistreating a Hebrew. So Moses had to flee from Egypt for his life because Pharaoh found out and sought to kill him (Exodus 2:12-15).
Moses fled to the land of Midian where he helped seven daughters of the priest of Midian water their flock, after chasing away some bully shepherds. The girls went home to their father, Reuel and told him what happened.
They told him that an EGYPTIAN saved them and watered their flock (Exodus 2:16-19). Notice they didn’t say a Hebrew in Egyptian clothing saved us, and they described Moses as a black-skinned descendant of Ham (Egyptian). Further proof that Moses was black-skinned can be found in Exodus 4:6-7.
In this passage YHWH, (The Creator’s name in Hebrew) is showing Moses miracles so that he can prove to the children of Israel who sent him. YHWH or the abbreviated Yah tells Moses to put his hand into his bosom, which he does. When he takes his hand out, it is LEPROUS (White) as snow. If Moses was already white-skinned, what would have been the miracle in turning his hand white?
But, since Moses and the rest of the Hebrews were a black skinned people, this would have been a very powerful miracle, to turn his hand (skin) the opposite color of the rest of his flesh.
Verse 7 says, Yah told Moses to put his hand back into his bosom, and it turned as his other flesh. Meaning that the rest of his body (skin) was other than white or the opposite of white, which is black.
In the book of Numbers, chapter 12 verse 1, Moses’ sister and brother, Miriam and Aaron spoke out against him because he married an Ethiopian woman, (not because she was black skinned, but because she was of another culture. / Nation) their behavior angered Yah. Verse 10 says, He TURNED MIRIAM LEPROUS, WHITE AS SNOW. Once again if Miriam, who was a Hebrew, was white to begin with, what would have been the curse of turning a white-skinned person white?
HOLLYWOOD VERSION OF
MOSES AND THE PHARAOH RAMESES II

From what history has taught us concerning the Hebrews Physical appearance, it is apparent that the Hollywood depiction of Moses is at the very least inaccurate, and at the most could be viewed as a racist misrepresentation.

Donnelly affirms that Egypt, Chaldea, India, Greece and Rome passed the torch of civilization from one to another. They added nothing to the arts that existed at the earliest period of Egyptian history. These arts continued without material change until two or three hundred years ago. For all these years men did not improve, but perpetuated. The age of Columbus possessed only printing that was unknown to the Egyptians. Egyptian civilization was highest at its first appearance showing that they drew from a fountain higher than themselves. In that day Egypt worshipped only one supreme being. At the time of Menes, this race had long been architects, sculptors, painters, mythologists and theologians. What king of modern times ever
ndevoted himself to medicine and the writing of medical books to benefit mankind, as did the son of Menes? For six thousand years men did not advance beyond the arts of Egypt.
Imhotep lived during the reign of King Djoser (2630-2611BC) and was the architect of the step pyramid at Saqquara, the first pyramid ever built in Egypt. Born a commoner, he quickly rose through the ranks of the temple and court to become a vizier and high priest. As a member of the Pharaoh’s court he was an architect, scribe, priest and physician. He pioneered the building of pyramids and was later deified.
Acts 21:37-38 states that Paul, (Shaul in Hebrew) the apostle, was being led into a castle by a chief captain. Paul spoke to the chief in Greek, asking permission to speak with him. The chief captain was surprised that Paul could speak Greek and in Verse 38, asks Paul, “Are not you that EGYPTIAN?” Paul responded, (Verse 39) “I am a man of Israel (Hebrew).”
In order for this chief captain to mistake Paul (the Hebrew) for a black-skinned Egyptian, Paul had to look like an Egyptian, as scripture tells us the whole nation of Israel did. This is why in the book of Matthew 2:13, the angel of Yah told Joseph to arise and take the young child Yahshua, (The Messiah’s true Hebrew name is Yahshua) and his mother Mary (Miriam in Hebrew) and FLEE INTO EGYPT. He was told to stay there until he received further instruction, because Herod would seek the young child to destroy him.
Joseph, Miriam and Yahshua were told to flee into Egypt, (Africa) not for military protection, because during this time, Egypt was a Roman province under Roman control. They fled into Egypt because Egypt was still a “black” country, populated by a majority of black-skinned people (Egyptians). Joseph, Miriam and Yahshua would have been just another black-skinned family among many. Remember, they fled into Egypt to HIDE from Herod who was seeking to kill Yahshua.
If Yahshua and the rest of the Hebrews looked like those pictures of the “Christian Christ”, it would have been hard for him to hide in Egypt and not be noticed. NOTE: the above fact about Yahshua hiding in Egypt was attested to by a biblical scholar on a BBC produced program last year (2001).
The Program was called ‘THE COMPLETE JESUS’. The scholar stated that it would have been hard for Yahshua to hide among the Egyptians, if he didn’t look like the Egyptians, he was saying that Yahshua could not have been white skinned. He admitted in the program that Yahshua was a dark /black-skinned man.
Now back to our lesson.
He also made mention that the Israelites of the first to third centuries wore their hair in Afro’s. This is only the tip of the iceberg, you can’t hold down the truth.
Herod was put on the throne of Israel by the Romans, and Egypt was under Roman dominion. All Herod had to do was check with the Roman officials in Egypt to find out if there were any Hebrews with baby boys around. But, since the Hebrews and the Egyptians looked the same physically, it would have been hard to single out a Hebrew family among the Egyptians.
Ancient Egyptians

When Joseph, Miriam and Yahshua fled into Egypt, they were among people who look like the couple in the above picture. As was mentioned, the ancient Egyptians were the descendants of Noah’s son, Khawm, or Ham in English. Khawm means black, hot and burnt. The ancient Egyptians of biblical times called their land and themselves Khemet, which in their tongue means “THE LAND OF BLACKS.” The word Khemet is nothing but a variation on the word Khawm in the language of ancient Egypt.
In Psalm 78:51, Egypt is called “The House of Ham (Khawm).”
“…AND SMOTE ALL THE FIRSTBORN IN EGYPT; THE TABERNACLES (HOUSE) OF HAM (KHAWM).”
Psalm 105:23,27 calls Egypt the land of Khawm (Ham),
Verse 23 “ISRAEL ALSO CAME INTO EGYPT; AND SOJOURNED IN THE LAND OF HAM (KHAWM).”
Verse 27 “THEY SHOWED HIS SIGNS AMONG THEM, AND WONDERS IN THE LAND OF HAM (KHAWM).”
The Bible calls Egypt the land of Khawm, and remember one of the meanings of Khawm is black, so The Bible is calling Egypt “The Land of Black” which is what Khemet means. Egypt is called the land of Khawm because the Egyptians were descendants of Noah’s son Khawm. This is more than likely the reason they called themselves Khemet. The Bible supports the fact that the Egyptians were a black-skinned people.
Statue Of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II 2040 B.C.E.

Pictured above is a statue of Mentuhotep II, found in his tomb in Egypt. He unified Egypt / Khemet and relocated the capitol to Waset (Thebes / Luxor). He is the father of the princess captioned below. By now it should be clear what color the Egyptians were. Don’t forget, this is what THE BIBLE says the children of Israel looked like.

Tomb Drawing of an Ancient Egyptian Princess

Above is a tomb drawing of the ancient Egyptian Princess AU-Shead (This may not be the correct spelling, but it is how her name is pronounced). She was the daughter of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II (above). This painting was taken from the wall of her father’s tomb.