Books

If there was no white supremacy, what would you build in its place? Of that world, what would you keep or discard? How would you truly know that it no longer exists? These are some of the questions that the book, Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell, attempts to answer. And though white supremacy is not gone, white people are. The beginning premise of the book is that some cataclysmic event erased white people from the face of the earth. And in its aftermath, we find Charlie Brunton who was imprisoned when the event first occurred. Charlie emerges free from prison to not only find a new world, but a new purpose to reconnect with his estranged daughter Sidney. Together, they embark on a journey to ostensibly find her mother’s side of the family. But really, Sidney is trying to find vestiges of the familiar, white dominated world, not knowing that the familiar was the original source of her father’s imprisonment and their estrangement. Along the way, Charlie and Sydney find Black people who could be the poster children of Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks. In doing so, Campbell shows the utter ridiculousness of Black people who are tethered to the old ways of doing things even when white people are not around. It harkens back to the famous Carter G. Woodson quote, “When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his 'proper place' and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit.” Campbell also illustrates Black people, who are in between worlds. A little more sane, they lack a road map to viable alternatives and thus add soul to existing European structures. And finally, Charlie and Sydney encounter a committed group of Black people who attempt to create a new world based on African traditions, seeking to purge themselves and society from all remnants of European taint, no matter the cost. To avoid any spoilers, the book forces readers to question their investment in whiteness and thus America, in addition to asking how Black you are when no one is looking. It also forces us to consider one of the more cruel aspects of white supremacy in that the very people who do not benefit from it, too often become its staunchest defenders. Sky Full of Elephants also suggests that the existential questions it raises are with us despite the occurrence of some cataclysmic event. We all will have to decide what kind of people we will be, what kind of society serves us, and the lengths we will go to make it so.  

Robin Walker, aka the “Black History Man” wrote the amazing book "When We Ruled, first published in 2006. When We Ruled by is a great addition to proving that African Our story (not his-story) starts thousands of years before our enslavement. Although many have shown and proved to us that ourstory  started long before enslavement.  Interestingly enough the author like many people of African descent heard about our enslavement so much and so often that he (along with many of us) came to believe that that’s all there is to us.  The book is one volume covering about 700 to 834 pages of ancient and not-so-ancient African civilizations going up to about the 1800s CE. It has 22 chapters, heavily illustrated photos, some full-colored, watercolors, chronologies, and bibliographies. It has a reference and a teaching text. The first edition came out in 2006, and the second edition in 2011. And our brother Runoko Rashidi does the introduction to the book. The author makes five claims about the book which reframes everything. Walker makes the point that Black history is not slavery. He rejects the equation of "Black history" starts with the transatlantic slave trade. He uses Maulana Karenga's definition — "history is the record and process of a people engaged in struggle to shape the world in their interests and images" — to argue that the 500 years of slavery are a "minuscule part" of a far longer story of African world-shaping. Professor Anthony Browder states it this way: “if a book of African history was a thousand pages, our enslavement would be just two pages and start on page 996.” Walker states that evidence of African ourstory is all over the continent. It’s not just in Kemet (which the Greeks call Egypt). You'll find evidence in Nubia, Aksum, the Swahili coast, Great Zimbabwe, Mali, the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire, the Ghana Empire, the Moors, and many others. He also demonstrates that the proof exists since many palaces, temples, mosques, churches still stands and that manuscripts and art have survived and can be verified, photographed, even Googled.  He has put it all in one place. Although he studied the works of Drs: Cheik Anta Diop, Ivan Van Sertima, Chancellor Williams, John G. Jackson, Yousef ben-Jochannan, John Hendrik Clarke and others. -  "...but no one has put all the stuff in one place before." When We Ruled is the attempt to gather the archaeology, documents, and historical linguistics into one accessible, illustrated volume. Finally, he argues that we could win the argument on any terms. African achievement holds up even judged by Eurocentric standards — e.g., the octagonal swimming pool at the Husuni Kubwa palace at Kilwa (Tanzania, c. 1300); glass windows and internal plumbing in African kingdoms; Mansa Musa of Mali as, by common estimate, among the richest individuals in human history. However, my understanding is that the African rulers (kings, queens, councils, etc.) don't personally own these resources. The resources belong to the people. The leaders(s) is the custodian of the resources on behalf of the society. Thus, Mansa Musa didn’t own the gold. He managed it and the Mali Empire's wealth for the people of the Mali Empire. Examples of our great civilizations are located in the Nile Valley, North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, and Southern and Central Africa. He also discuses The Moors in Spain, the slave trade, Black women's history, and the Pan-African movement round to it out.  The book has a number of strengths and only a couple of limits (certainly not weaknesses). It is very broad and has full-color illustrations. It can be used as a reference and teaching tool. It even has a companion study guide. It has something in it for everyone. Last but not least, it's Black/independently published—the second edition being by Black Classic Press. Its limitations are that it is dense. At 834 pages long it will take some time to read through it. Additionally, the reading can be rough. It was written for students, parents, homeschoolers, the general reader, anyone who wants the evidence in one place, and especially those who want to move beyond "Black history = slavery." When We Ruled is a great book. There's something in there for all of us, and it can be read by anyone at any level. The title of the book is more about when Black people ruled the planet, as opposed to when Black people were being ruled or were ruled. And to a large extent, the book exists because this one man refused to accept the education handed to him. All of us can do that. He has a standard of proof: know the truth and know the lies better than the liars. Read it, verify it, and reclaim us. This book helps with all of the above. View the book at Progressive Emporium & Education Center