by Michael Imhotep, TheMichaelImhotepShow.com
Monday, January 11th, 2016, 1:21PM EST, Updated Wednesday, January 13th 3:42PM EST
On the Tuesday, January 5th, 2016 episode of The View, Academy Award Winning Actress, Whoopi Goldberg echoed sentiments similar to those expressed by Raven-Symoné in 2014 on “Where Are They Now” in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. During a conversation on “The View”, co-host Joy Behar said there would be a mass exodus of people from the U.S. if Donald Trump won the presidency. The comment came after the women discussed Donald Trump’s newest anti-immigration ad. Goldberg didn’t exactly see the funny in Behar’s statement.
“You know what? Unh-uh! This is my country,” Goldberg said at the 11:45 mark in the video. “My mother, my grandmother, my great-grand-folks, we busted ass to be here. I’m sorry. I’m an American. I’m not an African American, I’m not a chick American, I’m an American!” (I have no idea what a Chick American is by the way.)
Raven-Symone agreed. “I’m an American!” she said. “I’ve been here too long to not just hold American.”
Goldberg then concluded, “Since the 1700’s my people have been here. So I’m an American alongside of the Native Americans. That’s the bottom line.”
You know co-host Raven-Symoné couldn’t wait to agree with Goldberg, and they both received a round of applause from the audience which was mostly White by the way. This reminds me of Steve Harvey in February 2015 who said on his TV Show, “I don’t give a Damn about Slavery”. I hope he was joking when he said it but if he actually understood the history of Slavery in this country and what our African Ancestors went through we will see that it is not something to laugh at. Do you really think they cared for Slavery or had a choice?
Whoopi’s and Raven-Symone’s comments are wrong on so many levels if you understand history. By declaring they are American is something European Americans (White people) like to hear because the last thing they want to talk about is Race and Racism. When other ethnic groups identify with their ancestry and heritage it is fine. They may be Asian American, Hispanic American, Native American, Arab American, Irish American, etc. Many people of African descent have been taught to hate who they are and would rather identify with America than their own African Ancestry which is at least 300,000 years old.
If we study the history of Racism we will see how Europeans got rich in this country. It was through the exploitation of the mostly FREE LABOR of African people for 246 years, decades of the convict leasing system, sharecropping, discrimination, Jim Crow laws, redlining, unions, etc. Please read “How White Folks Got So Rich, The Untold Story of American White Supremacy.
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A Brief History Lesson
Contrary to popular belief African people are the Original People of North, Central and South America and came to the the territory we call The United States of America at least 51,700 years ago. Yes, that is not a typo. At least 51,700 years. Many of us have been taught that Africans first came to this territory, August 20th, 1619 when a Dutch warship brought 20 some odd Africans to Jamestown, VA. That did happen but there were already millions of Africans in this land.
Along the Savannah River in Allendale County, South Carolina, University of South Carolina archaeologist Dr. Albert Goodyear discovered overwhelming evidence of an African presence because of artifacts that were found that date back at least 50,000 years ago. Dr. David Imhotep author of the ground breaking book “The First Americans Were Africans Documented Evidence” deals with Dr. Albert Goodyear’s findings in his book. (www.HistoricTruth.Info)
In the 1828 Edition of Webster’s Dictionary the term “American” is defined as such:
AMER’ICAN, noun A native of America; originally applied to the aboriginals, or copper-colored races, found here by the Europeans; but now applied to the descendants of Europeans born in America.
In addition to this, Dr. David Imhotep in his book explains that about 70% of the people Cristobol Colon aka Christopher Columbus encountered on his 4 voyages in the Caribbean, Central and South America were African people. It was the Voyages of Columbus that helped to usher in the exploitation of the Indigenous people including African people and laid the foundation for Slavery, Racism and Capitalism.
It’s important for us to lay this historical foundation because we have been constantly lied to and don’t realize that African people were here in the U.S. before the people we call Native Americans or Indians. The people called Native Americans are actually the offspring of an intermixing of African people who were already here and Asians who came here about 3,000 B.C. There were also groups of African people who were reclassified by Europeans as Native Americans. This is one of the ways that our populations were absorbed. (Watch Video below of Dr. David Imhotep on WKRP Channel 5 in Cincinnati explaining why The First Americans Were Africans)
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Dr. David Imhotep author of “The First Americans Were Africans: Documented Evidence” explains the facts
Here is one of my first interviews with Dr. David Imhotep about his book “The First Americans Were Africans: Documented Evidence”
Historical Origins of the term “African American”. It’s not what you think.
Contrary to popular belief, Rev. Jesse Jackson did not introduce or coin the term “African American” in 1988. This term actually goes back to the 18th century in the U.S. The earliest recorded usage of the term African American that is known occurred in 1782.
If we go back and look through history we will see the term “Afro American” was not created in the 1960s either. The National Afro American League was founded in 1890 and The Afro American Council was founded in 1898 in Rochester, New York, in September by newspaper editor T. Thomas Fortune and Bishop Alexander Walters of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. They envisioned the organization as a revival of the earlier National Afro-American League (NAAL), which in 1890 became the first national black organization specifically created to challenge racial segregation and discrimination. The term Afro American has been documented as early as 1831.
When you look at some of the names that our organizations had during Slavery and even shortly after Slavery ends, they were connecting to Africa such as The Grand African Lodge founded in 1787 by Prince Hall, The African Methodist Episcopal Church founded in 1816, The Free African Society founded in 1787 in Philadelphia, etc. Also keep in mind that Pan-Africanism did not start in Africa but started in the U.S. in the 18th Century.
Are we to think that African people who are Indigenous to the United States just started calling ourselves African Americans in 1988? If you say NO you are correct.
We find the earliest, documented use of the term African American in 1782. An article from the New York Times on April 20, 2015 called “Use of ‘African American’ Dates to Nation’s Early Days” stated:
The O.E.D.’s entry, revised in 2012, traces the first known occurrence to 1835, in an abolitionist newspaper. But now, a researcher has discovered a printed reference in an anti-British sermon from 1782 credited to an anonymous “African American,” pushing the origins of the term back to the earliest days of independence.
“We think of it as a neutral alternative to older terms, one that resembles Italian-American or Irish-American,” said Fred Shapiro, an associate director at the Yale Law School Library, who found the reference. “It’s a very striking usage to see back in 1782.”
This time around, Mr. Shapiro had found something a bit more historically charged: a 1782 advertisement in a Philadelphia newspaper for two sermons written by an “African American.” That was a half-century before the earliest known written occurrence of the term, as listed in the Oxford English Dictionary.
This ad in The Pennsylvania Journal which was a Philadelphia newspaper from May 15, 1782, is the first known usage of the term “African-American”. Once again, Rev. Jesse Jackson did not create the term African American. He reintroduced it to a people who did not and still do not know their history.
In one of his most famous speeches, “The Ballot Or The Bullet” delivered on April 3, 1964 at Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland, OH, Malcolm X used the term “African American”. He said:
Right now, in this country, if you and I, 22 million African-Americans — that’s what we are — Africans who are in America. You’re nothing but Africans. Nothing but Africans. In fact, you’d get farther calling yourself African instead of Negro. Africans don’t catch hell. You’re the only one catching hell. They don’t have to pass civil-rights bills for Africans. An African can go anywhere he wants right now. All you’ve got to do is tie your head up. That’s right, go anywhere you want. Just stop being a Negro. Change your name to Hoogagagooba. That’ll show you how silly the white man is. You’re dealing with a silly man. A friend of mine who’s very dark put a turban on his head and went into a restaurant in Atlanta before they called themselves desegregated. He went into a white restaurant, he sat down, they served him, and he said, “What would happen if a Negro came in here? And there he’s sitting, black as night, but because he had his head wrapped up the waitress looked back at him and says, “Why, there wouldn’t no n****r dare come in here.” pg. 36, “Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements” Edited by George Breitman
Some people will say that the term “African American” is not a nationality. No one said that it was. It is a broad description of people of African descent who’s ancestors have been here for generations. They can still belong to nations just like the terms Asian American, Native American and Hispanic American refer to people who belong to various nations within the broad category.
As far as Whoopi Goldberg and Raven-Symone’ I hope they take some of the millions of dollars they have made in “Hollyweird”, a lot of it from the support of the African American community, and do a DNA test to find out their ancestry and find out just how much African Ancestry they actually have. They may also want to contact Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. for an episode of “Finding Your Roots” since the show focuses on celebrities. When we see people like this who are propped up in the media to say ignorant things about African Americans and serve European White Supremacy we have to call them out but do it in love.
Listen to the podcast, “Dr. David Imhotep – Whoopi Goldberg & Raven-Symone Are Wrong, Africans Are The Original Americans”
Selected Sources:
‘View’ Cast Fired Soon? Whoopi Goldberg, Raven-Symone Say They Are Not African-American, Leading To Twitter Backlash (VIDEO) http://www.hollywoodtake.com/view-cast-fired-soon-whoopi-goldberg-raven-symone-say-they-are-not-african-american-128386
“Prince Hall Masons 1784” http://www.blackpast.org/aaw/prince-hall-masons-1784
“Free African Society 1787” http://www.blackpast.org/aah/free-african-society-philadelphia-1787
“Pan-Africanism for Beginners” by Sid Lemelle
“African Methodist Episcopal Church Founded” http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/african-methodist-episcopal-church-founded
“Whoopi Goldberg Resurrects ‘African-American’ vs. ‘American’ Debate” http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/whoopi-goldberg-resurrects-african-american-vs-american-debate
“Negro, Black and African American” http://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/22/opinion/negro-black-and-african-american.html
“Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements” Edited by George Breitman
Michael Imhotep is a talk show host, researcher, lecturer, writer and founder of The African History Network. He is the host of The Michael Imhotep Show on The Empowerment Radio Network and can be heard Monday-Friday, 10pm-12midnight EST on www.TuneIn.com or the TuneIn Radio App and search for “Empowerment Radio Network”. Visit his website www.AfricanHistoryNetwork.com for more information about his lectures, DVDs, our history and podcasts of the show.
You can follow him on Twitter @MichaelImhotep and his Facebook FanPage, “The African History Network”. He is available for interviews and lectures. He is a strong advocate of African Americans reclaiming their history, culture and controlling the economics, education and politics in our community. He is featured in the upcoming documentary, “Black Friday” which deals with African Americans controlling our $1.2 Trillion economy and creating generational wealth. Visit www.AfricanHistoryNetwork.com for more information.
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