FRICAN COMMUNITY

L E C T U R E  N O T E S

Head of a Black man from Mohenjo-Daro

THE AFRICAN PRESENCE IN INDIA: A PHOTO ESSAY

By RUNOKO RASHIDI

PART 1

AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

One of the foremost tasks for contemporary African centered scholars is to provide an
historical overview of the global African community. This is a critical task that must be
completed in its entirety. This includes the history, culture and present condition of African
people both at home and abroad. We are already aware, it should be pointed out, based on
recent scientific studies of DNA, that modern humanity originated in Africa, that African
people are the world's aboriginal people and that all modern humans can ultimately trace their
ancestral roots back to Africa. If not for the primordial migrations of early African people,
humanity would have remained physically Africoid, and the rest of the world outside of the
African continent absent of human life. This is our starting point.

Since the first modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) were of African birth, the African
presence globally can be demonstrated through the history of the Black populations that have
inhabited the world within the span of recent humanity. Not only are African people the
aboriginal people of the planet, however, there is abundant evidence to show that Black
people created and sustained many of the world's earliest and most enduring civilizations.
Such was the case in India.
The questions we pose here are simply these: Who are the African people of India? What is
their significance in the annals of history? Precisely what have they done and what are they
doing now? These are extremely serious questions that warrant serious and fundamental
answers. This series of articles, "The African Presence in India: An Historical Overview," is
designed to provide some of those answers.

PART 2

Africoid figurine from the Indus Valley

photo credit: K.L.Kamat
Copyright © 1996-2002, Kamat's Potpourri.
All Rights Reserved

ANCIENT AFRICA AND EARLY INDIA

Exceptionally valuable writings reflecting close relationships between Africa and early India
have existed for more than two thousand years. In the first century B.C.E., for example, the
famous Greek historian Diodorus Siculus penned that, "From Ethiopia he (Osiris) passed
through Arabia, bordering upon the Red Sea as far as India.... He built many cities in India,
one of which he called Nysa, willing to have remembrance of that (Nysa) in Egypt, where he
was brought up."
Another important writer from antiquity, Apollonius of Tyana, who is said to have visited
India near the end of the first century C.E., was convinced that "The Ethiopians are colonists
sent from India, who follow their forefathers in matters of wisdom." The literary work of the
early Christian writer Eusebius preserves the tradition that, "In the reign of Amenophis III
[the mighty Dynasty XVIII Egyptian king] a body of Ethiopians migrated from the country
about the Indus, and settled in the valley of the Nile." And still another document from
ancient times, the Itinerarium Alexandri, says that "India, taken as a whole, beginning from
the north and embracing what of it is subject to Persia, is a continuation of Egypt and the
Ethiopians." 

PART 3

INDIA'S EARLIEST CIVILIZATION

In Greater India, more than a thousand years before the foundations of Greece and Rome,
proud and industrious Black men and women known as Dravidians erected a powerful
civilization. We are referring here to the Indus Valley civilization- -India's earliest high-
culture, with major cities spread out along the course of the Indus River. The Indus Valley
civilization was at its height from about 2200 B.C.E. to 1700 B.C.E. This phase of its history
is called the Harappan, the name being derived from Harappa, one of the earliest known
Indus Valley cities.

In 1922, about 350 miles northeast of Harappa, another large Indus city, Mohenjo-daro (the
Mound of the Dead) was identified. Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were apparently the chief
administrative centers of the Indus Valley complex, and since their identification, several
additional cities, including Chanhu-daro, Kalibangan, Quetta and Lothal have been
excavated.
The Indus cities possessed multiple level houses enhanced by sophisticated wells, drainage
systems and bathrooms with flushing toilets. A recognized scholar on the Indus Valley
civilization, Dr. Walter Fairservis, states that the "Harappans cultivated cotton and perhaps
rice, domesticated the chicken and may have invented the game of chess and one of the two
great early sources of nonmuscle power: the windmill."

The decline and fall of the Indus Valley civilization has been linked to several factors, the
most important of which were the increasingly frequent incursions of the White people
known in history as Aryans--violent Indo-European tribes initially from central Eurasia and
later Iran. Indeed, the name Iran means the "land of the Aryan."

PART 4

Durga Temple

DRAVIDIAN KINGDOMS OF SOUTH INDIA

It is safe to say that when we speak of the Dravidians as a people we are speaking of the
living descendants of the Harappan people of the ancient Indus Valley who were pushed into
South India as the result of the Aryan invasions.  This is certainly consistent with Dravidian
traditions which recall flourishing cities that were either lost or destroyed in antiquity.  The
term "Dravidian," however, encompasses both an ethnic group and a linguistic group.  The
ethnic group is characterized by straight to wavy hair textures, combined with Africoid
physical features.  In reference to this Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop stated that:

"There are two well-defined Black races: one has a black skin and woolly hair; the other also
has black skin, often exceptionally black, with straight hair, aquiline nose, thin lips, an acute
cheekbone angle. We find a prototype of this race in India: the Dravidian.  It is also known
that certain Nubians likewise belong to the same Negro type...Thus, it is inexact, anti-
scientific, to do anthropological research, encounter a Dravidian type, and then conclude that
the Negro type is absent."

Dravidian, in addition to its ethnic component, however, is an important family of languages

spoken by more than a hundred million people, primarily in South India.  These languages
include Tamil (the largest element), Kannada, Malayalam (from which the name of the Asian
country Malaya is derived), Telegu and Tulu.  The term "Dravidian" itself is apparently an
Aryan corruption of Tamil.
From at least the third century C.E. three major Dravidian kingdoms existed in South India:
the kingdoms of Pandya, Chera and Chola.  Pandya was the southernmost Dravidian
kingdom.  The major city of Pandya was Madurai, the location of the famous chapel of the
Tamil Sangam (Academy).  The Sangam, of which there were three, was initiated by a body
of forty-eight exceptionally learned scholars who established standards over all literary
productions.  The Pandyan rulers received these intellectuals with lavish honors.

It is also important to note that in the kingdom of the Pandyas women seem to have enjoyed a
high status. This is the exact opposite of the regions of India where the Whites ruled. In these
lands of Aryan domination it is said that a woman was never independent.  "When she is a
child she belongs to her father.  As an adult when she marries she belongs to her husband.  If
she outlives her husband she belongs to her sons."  An early queen of the Pandyas, on the
other hand, for example, is credited with controlling an army of 500 elephants, 4,000 cavalry
and 13,000 infantry.

In 1288 and again in 1293 the Venetian traveler Marco Polo visited the Pandyan kingdom
and left a vivid description of the land and its people.  Polo exclaimed that:

"The darkest man is here the most highly esteemed and considered better than the others who
are not so dark.  Let me add that in very truth these people portray and depict their gods and
their idols black and their devils white as snow.  For they say that God and all the saints are
black and the devils are all white.  That is why they portray them as I have described."

To the northwest of Pandya was the kingdom of Chera (present-day Kerala).  Northwest of
Pandya lay the kingdom of Chola, said to be the place where Saint Thomas the Apostle was
buried.  The same Marco Polo who visited Pandya referred to Chola as "the best province and
the most refined in all India."

The Dravidians were an unusually advanced seafaring people, with the Cholas, in particular,
distinguishing themselves amongst the dominant maritime powers of their era.  Through its
ports, the great kings of Chola traded with Ethiopia and Somalia, Iran and Arabia, Combodia
and China, Sumatra and Sri Lanka, exporting spices and camphor, ebony and ivory, quality
textiles and precious jewels.

It seems readily apparent that the Dravidian kingdoms and the Dravidian people were quite
well known internationally.  When Augustus became head of the Roman world, for example,
the Dravidian kingdoms sent him a congratulatory embassy.  Dravidian poets describe
Roman ships, which carried bodyguards of archers to ward off pirates, while the Dravidian
kings themselves employed bodyguards of Roman soldiers. In respect to the ancient East, at
least one author has identified a Dravidian presence in the Philippines, noting that: "From
India came civilized Indians, the Dravidians from whom the savage Aryans learned.  They
began at least 500 BC and soon controlled the coast."

PART 5
 Panya Woman in South India

Kanikar tribal man in South India

photos submitted by Horen Tudu

APARTHEID IN INDIA

The White tribes that invaded India and disrupted Black civilization there are known as
Aryans.  The Aryans were not necessarily superior warriors to the Blacks but they were
aggressive, developed sophisticated military technologies and glorified military virtues. 
After hundreds of years of intense martial conflict the Aryans succeeded in subjugating most
of northern India.  Throughout the vanquished territories a rigid, caste-segmented social order
was established with the masses of conquered Blacks (called Shudras) essentially reduced to
slaves to the Whites and imposed upon for service in any capacity required by their White
conquerors.  This vicious new world order was cold-bloodily racist, with the Whites on top,
the mixed races in the middle, and the overwhelming majority of Black people on the very
bottom.  In fact, the Aryan term varna, denoting one's societal status and used
interchangeably with caste, literally means color or complexion and reflects a prevalent racial
hierarchy. Truly, India is still a racist country.  White supremacist David Duke claimed "that
his 1970's visit to India was a turning point in his views on the superiority of the White race."

Caste law in India, based originally on race, regulated all aspects of life, including marriage,
diet, education, place of residence and occupation.  This is not to deny that there were certain
elements of the Black aristocracy that managed to gain prominence in the dominant White
social structure.  The masses of conquered Black people, however, were regarded by the
Whites as Untruth itself.  The Whites claimed to have emerged from the mouth of God; the
Blacks, on the other hand, were said to have emerged from the feet of God.  This was the
ugly reality for the Black masses in conquered India.  It was written that:

"A Sudra [Black] who intentionally reviles twice-born men [Whites] by criminal abuse, or
criminally assaults them with blows, shall be deprived of the limb with which he offends.  If
he has criminal intercourse with an Aryan woman, his organ shall be cut off, and all his
property confiscated.  If the woman has a protector, the Sudra shall be executed.  If he listens
intentionally to a recitation of the Veda [a traditional Hindu religious text], his tongue shall
be cut out.  If he commits them to memory his body shall be split in half."

Servitude to Whites became the basis of the lives of the Black people of India for generation
after generation after generation.  With the passage of time, this brutally harsh, color-
oriented, racially-based caste system became the foundation of the religion that is now
practiced throughout all India.  This is the religion known as Hinduism.

PART 6

THE BLACK UNTOUCHABLES OF INDIA: THE WORLD'S MOST OPPRESSED

PEOPLE

The greatest victims of Hinduism have been the Untouchables.  Indeed, probably the most
substantial percentage of all the Black people of Asia can be identified among India's 160
million Untouchables.  These people are the long-suffering descendants of Aryan-Sudra
unions and native Black populations who retreated into the hinterlands of India in their efforts
to escape the advancing Aryan sphere of influence to which they ultimately succumbed. 
India's Untouchables number more than the combined populations of England, France,
Belgium and Spain.

The existence of Untouchability has been justified within the context of Hindu religious
thought as the ultimate and logical extensions of Karma and rebirth. Indus believe that
persons are born Untouchables because of the accumulation of sins in previous lives.  Hindu
texts describe these people as foul and loathsome, and any physical contact with them was
regarded as polluting.

Untouchables were usually forced to live in pitiful little settlements on the outskirts of Hindu
communities.  During certain periods in Indian history Untouchables were only allowed to
enter the adjoining Hindu communities at night.  Indeed, the Untouchables' very shadows
were considered polluting, and they were required to beat drums and make loud noises to
announce their approach.  Untouchables had to attach brooms to their backs to erase any
evidence of their presence.  Cups were tied around their necks to capture any spittle that
might escape their lips and contaminate roads and streets.  Their meals were taken from
broken dishes.  Their clothing was taking from corpses.  They were forbidden to learn to read
and write, and were prohibited from listening to any of the traditional Hindu texts. 
Untouchables were denied access to public wells.  They could not use ornaments and were
not allowed to enter Hindu temples.  The primary work of Untouchables included scavenging
and street sweeping, emptying toilets, the public execution of criminals, the disposal of dead
animals and human corpses, and the clean-up of cremation grounds.  The daily life of the
Untouchable was filled with degradation, deprivation and humiliation. 

The basis status of India's Untouchables has changed little since ancient times, and it has
recently been observed that "Caste Hindus do not allow Untouchables to wear shoes, ride
bicycles, use umbrellas or hold their heads up while walking in the street."  Untouchables in
urban India are crowded together in squalid slums, while in rural India, where the vast
majority of Untouchables live, they are exploited as landless agricultural laborers and ruled
by terror and intimidation.  As evidence of this, several cases from 1991 can be cited:  On
June 23, 1991 fourteen Untouchables were slaughtered in the eastern state of Bihar.  On
August 10, 1991 six Untouchables were shot to death in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. 
On August 16, 1991, an Untouchable woman was stripped in public and savagely beaten in
the southern state of Andra Pradesh.  On September 6, 1991, in the western state of
Maharastra, an Untouchable policeman was killed for entering a Hindu temple.  Official
Indian figures on violent crimes by caste Hindus against Untouchables have averaged more
than 10,000 cases per year, with the figures continuing to rise.  The Indian government listed
14,269 cases of atrocities by caste Hindus against Untouchables in 1989 alone.  However,
Indian human rights workers report that a large number of atrocities against Untouchables,
including beatings, gang-rapes, arson and murders, are never recorded.  Even when charges
are formally filed, justice for Untouchables is rarely dispensed. 

PART 7

DALIT: THE BLACK UNTOUCHABLES OF INDIA

Possibly the most substantial percentage of Asia's Blacks can be identified among India's 160
million "Untouchables" or "Dalits." Frequently they are called "Outcastes."  Indian nationalist
leader and devout Hindu Mohandas K. Gandhi called them "Harijans," meaning "children of
god."  The official name given them in India's constitution (1951) is "Scheduled Castes." 
"Dalit," meaning "crushed and broken," is a name that has come into prominence only within
the last four decades. "Dalit" reflects a radically different response to oppression.

The Dalit are demonstrating a rapidly expanding awareness of their African ancestry and
their relationship to the struggle of Black people throughout the world. They seem
particularly enamored of African-Americans.  African-Americans, in general, seem almost
idolized by the Dalit, and the Black Panther Party, in particular, is virtually revered. In April
1972, for example, the Dalit Panther Party was formed in Bombay, India. This organization
takes its pride and inspiration directly from the Black Panther Party of the United States. 
This is a highly important development due to the fact that the Untouchables have historically
been so systematically terrorized that many of them, even today, live in a perpetual state of
extreme fear of their upper caste oppressors.  This is especially evident in the villages.  The
formation of the Dalit Panthers and the corresponding philosophy that accompanies it signals
a fundamental change in the annals of resistance, and  Dalit Panther organizations have
subsequently spread to other parts of India.  In August 1972, the Dalit Panthers announced
that the 25th anniversary of Indian independence would be celebrated as a day of mourning. 
In 1981, in Bangalore, India Dravidian journalist V.T. Rajshekar published the first issue of
Dalit Voice--the major English journal of the Black Untouchables.  In a 1987 publication
entitled the African Presence in Early Asia, Rajshekar stated that:

"The African-Americans also must know that their liberation struggle cannot be complete as
long as their own blood-brothers and sisters living in far off Asia are suffering.  It is true that
African-Americans are also suffering, but our people here today are where African-
Americans were two hundred years ago.

African-American leaders can give our struggle tremendous support by bringing forth
knowledge of the existence of such a huge chunk of Asian Blacks to the notice of both the
American Black masses and the Black masses who dwell within the African continent itself."

PART 8

THE BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM IN INDIA

Buddhism appeared in India during the sixth century B.C.E. and came in the form of a protest
against Hinduism.  Buddhism opposed the arrogance of caste, and preached tolerance.  It
should not be surprising, then, that it developed a large and rapid following in the regions of
India where the Blacks had survived in substantial numbers.  On the emergence of Buddhism
in India, Diop has suggested that:

"It would seem that Buddha was an Egyptian priest, chased from Memphis by the persecution
of Cambyses.  This tradition would justify the portrayal of Buddha with woolly hair. 
Historical documents do not invalidate this tradition...There is general agreement today on
placing in the sixth century not only Buddha but the whole religious and philosophical
movement in Asia with Confucius in China, Zoroaster in Iran.  This would confirm the
hypothesis of a dispersion of Egyptian priests at that time spreading their doctrine in Asia."

Dr. Vulindlela Wobogo, another African-centric scholar, has observed that:

"Manifestations of the Buddha in Asia are Black with woolly hair.  They all appear to be
Egypto-Nubian priests who fled Egypt...The priests carried their spiritual knowledge but lost
much of the scientific knowledge for obvious reasons.  The well-known aspects of Buddhism
and its companion, yoga, are all simply Egypto-Nubian priesthood practices, meditation,
and...the belief that one could attain a god-like state if the soul was liberated from the body
through knowledge and denial."
In a monumental two volume work entitled A Book of the Beginnings, originally published
in 1881, Gerald Massey recorded that:

"It is not necessary to show that the first colonisers of India were Black, but it is certain that
the Black Buddha of India was imaged in the Africoid type.  In the Black [African] god,
whether called Buddha or Sut-Nahsi, we have a datum.  they carry in their color the proof of
their origin.  The people who first fashioned and worshipped the divine image in the Africoid
mold of humanity must, according to all knowledge of human nature, have been Africans
themselves.  For the Blackness is not merely mystical, the features and the hair of Buddha
belong to the Black race."

In the first volume of his massive text Anacalypsis, Godfrey Higgins wrote that:

"The religion of Buddha, of India, is well known to have been very ancient.  In the most
ancient temples scattered through Asia, where his worship is yet continued, he is found black
as jet, with the flat face, thick lips and curly hair of the African."

PART 9

African Merchant
photo credit: K.L.Kamat
Copyright © 1996-2002, Kamat's Potpourri.
All Rights Reserved

HABSHIS AND SIDDIS: AFRICAN DYNASTIES IN INDIA

India also received its share of African bondsmen, of whom the most famous was the
celebrated Malik Ambar (1550-1626).  Ambar, like a number of Africans in medieval India,
elevated himself to a position of great authority.  Malik Ambar, whose original name was
Shambu, was born around 1550 in Harar, Ethiopia.  After his arrival in India Ambar was able
to raise a formidable army and achieve great power in the west Indian realm of Ahmadnagar. 
Ambar was a brilliant diplomat and administrator. He encouraged manufactures and built
canals and mosques.  He gave pensions to poets and scholars, established a postal service,
and ultimately became one of the most famous men in India. 

In a collective form, however, and in respect to long term influence, the African sailors
known as Siddis stand out.  Certainly, Siddi kingdoms were established in western India in
Janjira and Jaffrabad as early as 1100 AD.  After their conversion to Islam, the African
freedmen of India, originally called Habshi from the Arabic, called themselves Sayyad
(descendants of Muhammad) and were consequently called Siddis. Indeed, the island Janjira
was formerly called Habshan, meaning Habshan's or African's land.  Siddi signifies lord or
prince.  It is further said that Siddi is an expression of respectful address commonly used in
North Africa, like Sahib in India.  Specifically, it is said to be an honorific title given to the
descendants of African natives in the west of India, some of whom were distinguished
military officers and administrators of the Muslim princes of the Deccan.

In the second decade of the sixteenth century a European traveler named Armando Cortesao
noted that:

"The people who govern the kingdom [Bengal] are Abyssinians [Ethiopians].  These men are
looked upon as knights; they are greatly esteemed; they wait on the kings in their apartments. 
The chief among them are eunuchs and these come to be kings and great lords in the
kingdom.  Those who are not eunuchs are the fighting men.  After the king, it is to this people
that the kingdom is obedient from fear."

The Siddis were a tightly knit group, highly aggressive, and even ferocious in battle.  They
were employed largely as security forces for Muslim fleets in the Indian Ocean, a position
they maintained for centuries.  The Siddi commanders were titled Admirals of the Mughal
Empire, and received an annual salary of 300,000 rupees.  According to Ibn Battuta (1304-
1377), the noted Muslim writer who journeyed through both Africa and Asia, the Siddis "are
the guarantors of safety on the Indian Ocean; let there be but one of them on a ship and it will
be avoided by the Indian pirates and idolaters."
 A Smiling Siddi Girl
photo credit: K.L.Kamat
Copyright © 1996-2002, Kamat's Potpourri.
All Rights Reserved

THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY

HISTORY NOTES

Modern Dravidan girl, India

 THE AFRICAN PRESENCE IN INDIAN ANTIQUITY

By RUNOKO RASHIDI

DEDICATED TO DR. VELU ANNAMALAI

Exceptionally valuable writings reflecting close relationships between Africa and early India
have existed for more than two thousand years. In the first century B.C.E., for example, the
famous Greek historian Diodorus Siculus penned that, "From Ethiopia he (Osiris) passed
through Arabia, bordering upon the Red Sea as far as India.... He built many cities in India,
one of which he called Nysa, willing to have remembrance of that (Nysa) in Egypt, where he
was brought up."

Another important writer from antiquity, Apollonius of Tyana, who is said to have visited
India near the end of the first century C.E., was convinced that "The Ethiopians are colonists
sent from India, who follow their forefathers in matters of wisdom." The literary work of the
early Christian writer Eusebius preserves the tradition that, "In the reign of Amenophis III
[the mighty Dynasty XVIII Egyptian king] a body of Ethiopians migrated from the country
about the Indus, and settled in the valley of the Nile." And still another document from
ancient times, the Itinerarium Alexandri, says that "India, taken as a whole, beginning from
the north and embracing what of it is subject to Persia, is a continuation of Egypt and the
Ethiopians."

It is safe to say that when we speak of the Dravidians as a people we are speaking of the
living descendants of the Harappan people of the ancient Indus Valley who were pushed into
South India as the result of the Aryan invasions. This is certainly consistent with Dravidian
traditions which recall flourishing cities that were either lost or destroyed in antiquity. The
term "Dravidian," however, encompasses both an ethnic group and a linguistic group. The
ethnic group is characterized by straight to wavy hair textures, combined with Africoid
physical features. In reference to this Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop stated that:

"There are two well-defined Black races: one has a black skin and woolly hair; the other also
has black skin, often exceptionally black, with straight hair, aquiline nose, thin lips, an acute
cheekbone angle. We find a prototype of this race in India: the Dravidian. It is also known
that certain Nubians likewise belong to the same Negro type...Thus, it is inexact, anti-
scientific, to do anthropological research, encounter a Dravidian type, and then conclude that
the Negro type is absent."

Dravidian, in addition to its ethnic component, however, is an important family of languages

spoken by more than a hundred million people, primarily in South India. These languages
include Tamil (the largest element), Kannada, Malayalam (from which the name of the Asian
country Malaya is derived), Telegu and Tulu. The term "Dravidian" itself is apparently an
Aryan corruption of Tamil.
 Ancient Africoid statue of Hindu diety Vishnu

From at least the third century C.E. three major Dravidian kingdoms existed in South India:
the kingdoms of Pandya, Chera and Chola. Pandya was the southernmost Dravidian kingdom.
The major city of Pandya was Madurai, the location of the famous chapel of the Tamil
Sangam (Academy). The Sangam, of which there were three, was initiated by a body of forty-
eight exceptionally learned scholars who established standards over all literary productions.
The Pandyan rulers received these intellectuals with lavish honors.

It is also important to note that in the kingdom of the Pandyas women seem to have enjoyed a
high status. This is the exact opposite of the regions of India where the Aryans ruled. In these
lands of Aryan domination it is said that a woman was never independent. "When she is a
child she belongs to her father. As an adult when she marries she belongs to her husband. If
she outlives her husband she belongs to her sons." An early queen of the Pandyas, on the
other hand, for example, is credited with controlling an army of 500 elephants, 4,000 cavalry
and 13,000 infantry.

In 1288 and again in 1293 the Venetian traveler Marco Polo visited the Pandyan kingdom
and left a vivid description of the land and its people. Polo exclaimed that:

"The darkest man is here the most highly esteemed and considered better than the others who
are not so dark. Let me add that in very truth these people portray and depict their gods and
their idols black and their devils white as snow. For they say that God and all the saints are
black and the devils are all white. That is why they portray them as I have described."

To the northwest of Pandya was the kingdom of Chera (present-day Kerala). Northwest of
Pandya lay the kingdom of Chola, said to be the place where Saint Thomas the Apostle was
buried. The same Marco Polo who visited Pandya referred to Chola as "the best province and
the most refined in all India."

The Dravidians were an unsually advanced seafaring people, with the Cholas, in particular,
distinguishing themselves amongst the dominant maritime powers of their era. Through its
ports, the great kings of Chola traded with Ethiopia and Somalia, Iran and Arabia, Combodia
and China, Sumatra and Sri Lanka, exporting spices and camphor, ebony and ivory, quality
textiles and precious jewels.

It seems readily apparent that the Dravidian kingdoms and the Dravidian people were quite
well known internationally. When Augustus became head of the Roman world, for example,
the Dravidian kingdoms sent him a congratulatory embassy. Dravidian poets describe Roman
ships, which carried bodyguards of archers to ward off pirates, while the Dravidian kings
themselves employed bodyguards of Roman soldiers. In respect to the ancient East, at least
one author has identified a Dravidian presence in the Philippines, noting that: "From India
came civilized Indians, the Dravidians from whom the savage Aryans learned. They began at
least 500 BC and soon controlled the coast."

THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY

NOTES FROM A BROTHER IN INDIA:

HISTORY AND HERITAGE

By INIYAN ELANGO, M.D.

Edited and Posted by RUNOKO RASHIDI

The first thing those who enslaved the Black people did was to erase all records and
memories of our great heritage and history.  This is because a rootless people will always
wallow in self-pity and self-destruction.  For example, the first thing that was done by the
Sinhalese (the majority people in Sri Lanka who find kinship with the North Indian Hindus,
Sanskrit language and their Aryan heritage), when they started a civil war with Sri Lanka's
minority Tamil people two decades ago, was to burn down the centuries old library in a city
called Jaffna which housed priceless Tamil books which were hundreds of years old.  The
civil war still wages in Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), are fighting for "Tamil Eelam", a separate Tamil homeland for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

So that is why I consider it very important to make our people very proud of themselves
again because we are the owners of the richest and the oldest civilization and culture.  We
were civilized, cultured and humane when the Aryan hordes were plundering, killing and
amusing themselves in barbarism all over Europe and Central Asia.

I think you know about the erstwhile "Lemuria" continent which bridged the Indian sub-
continent and Australia, where the pre-historic Tamil (Black) people lived.  Much of Lemuria
was lost to the sea during a massive oceanic upheaval.  But the aborigines of Australia are
supposed to be the descendants of the pre-historic Tamils.  Much of the customs and the
language of the aborigines of Australia is similar to those of the rural Tamil folk.  Even the
facial features of the Australian aborigines and the Melanesian people is very similar to that
of Tamil "Pariah" (Dalit) people.

I am very interested in the visual media.  When I was in the USA I studied film for a short
time at the Los Angeles City College.  I feel the global visual media, including American
cinema, is extremely Euro-centric" culturally.  Movies are modern day cultural icons and we
don't have any motion pictures to preserve the glory of the global Black history and culture. 
Even disaster movies like the Titanic showcased European culture and manners.  Even
movies made with Black stars such as Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington or Will Smith are
made for the consumption of White audiences and  never deal with Black history or culture. 
Even Spike Lee is too obsessed with the negative side of the Black experience in America
and never bothers about showcasing Black history and culture, with the possible exception of
the motion picture Malcolm X.  I have a dream of making films that will be widely seen by
people all over the world which will deal with the positive side of Black life.

Even the media madness over the end of this millennium (as counted from the birth of Jesus
Christ) is being celebrated with European artistic and cultural flair with the total exclusion of
Black arts and culture.  I have formed a troupe to perform Dalit arts, folk music and street
theatre to keep the arts of the Indian Black people alive.  In India the arts and music of the
Hindus is passed off as the culture of India by totally excluding the native music and
performing arts of the Dalit people.

In America people usually associate "Black" with Africa while being oblivious to the fact that
Black people live in very large numbers in South Asia and Southeast Asia.  Gautama Buddha,
the Black revolutionary who founded the egalitarian religion of Buddhism to counter and
destroy the bigotry of Hinduism, was a Black prince.  But the Hindus highjacked Buddhism
and killed Buddhists in large numbers.  The Buddhist missionaries fled to other parts of Asia
and spread the message of the Buddha in China and other parts of Asia.  Those indigenous
Dravidians who were loyal to Buddha and resisted the caste system became the untouchable
outcastes (Dalits).  That is why Dr. Ambedkar called upon his people to embrace Buddhism. 
But unfortunately, the brand of Buddhism that is practiced by the Dalai Lama and other
Asians such as the Chinese, Japanese and Sinhalese are all corrupted forms of the real
Buddhism.  To learn about the original message of the Buddha one should read the works of
Dr. Ambedkar.

So long for now.  Let us make the new millennium the millennium of the Black human
beings of this World! Let us work towards that earnestly, intelligently and with unity.  Let
peace and prosperity rule over our people.  With love.
SOURCES:
Without Malice: The Truth About India, by Iniyan Elango

Iniyan Elango, M.D. graduated from the Madras Medical College in 1989 with a degree in
Medicine and Surgery.  He subsequently studied and traveled extensively in Europe and the
United States for three years.  He is the author of Without Malice: The Truth About India. 
Dr. Elango can be contacted at tamilhumanrights@hotmail.com

THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY

HISTORY NOTES
CASTE AND RACE IN INDIA

By RUNOKO RASHIDI

The White tribes that invaded India and disrupted Black civilization there are known as
Aryans. The Aryans were not necessarily superior warriors to the Blacks but they were
aggesssive, developed sophisticated military technologies and glorified military virtues. After
hundreds of years of intense martial conflict the Aryans succeeded in subjugating most of
northern India. Throughout the vanquished territories a rigid, caste-segmented social order
was established with the masses of conquered Blacks (called Shudras) essentially reduced to
slaves to the Whites and imposed upon for service in any capacity required by their White
conquerors. This vicious new world order was cold-bloodely racist, with the Whites on top,
the mixed races in the middle, and the overwhelming majority of Black people on the very
bottom. In fact, the Aryan term varna, denoting one's societal status and used interchangeably
with caste, literally means color or complexion and reflects a prevalent racial hierarchy.
Truly, India is still a racist country. White supremacist David Duke claimed "that his 1970's
visit to India was a turning point in his views on the superiority of the White race."

Caste law in India, based originally on race, regulated all aspects of life, including marriage,
diet, education, place of residence and occupation. This is not to deny that there were certain
elements of the Black aristocracy that managed to gain prominence in the dominant White
social structure. The masses of conquered Black people, however, were regarded by the
Whites as Untruth itself. The Whites claimed to have emerged from the mouth of God; the
Blacks, on the other hand, were said:

Servitude to Whites became the basis of the lives of the Black people of India for generation
after generation after generation. With the passage of time, this brutally harsh, color-oriented,
racially-based caste system became the foundation of the religion that is now practiced
throughout all India. This is the religion known as Hinduism.

The greatest victims of Hinduism have been the Untouchables. Indeed, probably the most
substantial percentage of all the Black people of Asia can be identified among India's 160
Untouchables. These people are the long-suffering descendants of Aryan-Sudra unions and
native Black populations who retreated into the hinterlands of India in their efforts to escape
the advancing Aryan sphere of influence to which they ultimately succumbed. India's
Untouchables number more than the combined populations of England, France, Belgium and
Spain.

The existence of Untouchability has been justified within the context of Hindu religious
thought as the ultimate and logical extensions of Karma and rebirth. Indus believe that
persons are born Untouchables because of the accumulation of sins in previous lives. Hindu
texts describe these people as foul and loathsome, and any physical contact with them was
regarded as polluting.

The basis status of India's Untouchables has changed littled since ancient times, and it has
recently been observed that "Caste Hindus donot allow Untouchables to wear shoes, ride
bicycles, use umbrellas or hold their heads up while walking in the street." Untouchables in
urban India are crowded together in squalid slums, while in rural India, where the vast
majority of Untouchables live, they are exploited as landless agricultural laborers and ruled
by terror and intimidation. As evidence of this, several cases from 1991 can be cited: On June
23, 1991 fourteen Untouchables were slaughtered in the estern state of Bihar. On August 10,
1991 six Untouchables were shot to death in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. On August
16, 1991, an Untouchable woman was stripped in public and savagely beaten in the southern
state of Andra Pradesh. On September 6, 1991, in the western state of Maharastra, an
Untouchable policeman was killed for entering a Hindu temple. Official Indian figures on
violent crimes by caste Hindus against Untouchables have averaged more than 10,000 cases
per year, with the figures continuing to rise. The Indian government listed 14,269 cases of
atrocities by caste Hindus against Untouchables in 1989 alone. However, Indian human rights
workers report that a large number of atrocities against Untouchables, including beatings,
gang-rapes, arson and murders, are never recorded. Even when charges are formally filed,
justice for Untouchables is rarely dispensed.

Possibly the most substantial percentage of Asia's Blacks can be identified among India's 160
million "Untouchables" or "Dalits." Frequently they are called "Outcastes." Indian nationalist
leader and devout Hindu Mohandas K. Gandhi called them "Harijans," meaning "children of
god." The official name given them in India's constitution (1951) is "Scheduled Castes."
"Dalit," meaning "crushed and broken," is a name that has come into prominence only within
the last four decades. "Dalit" reflects a radically different response to oppression.

The Dalit are demonstrating a rapidly expanding awareness of their African ancestry and
their relationship to the stuggle of Black people throughout the world. They seem particularly
enamored of African-Americans. African-Americans, in general, seem almost idolized by the
Dalit, and the Black Panther Party, in particular, is virtually revered. In April 1972, for
example, the Dalit Panther Party was formed in Bombay, India. This organization takes its
pride and inspiration directly from the Black Panther Party of the United States. This is a
highly important development due to the fact that the Untouchables have historically been so
systematically terrorized that many of them, even today, live in a perpetual state of extreme
fear of their upper caste oppressors. This is especially evident in the villages. The formation
of the Dalit Panthers and the corresponding philosophy that accompanies it signals a
fundamental change in the annals of resistance, and Dalit Panther oganizations have
subsequently spread to other parts of India. In August 1972, the Dalit Panthers announced
that the 25th anniversary of Indian independence would be celebrated as a day of mourning.
In 1981, in Bangalore, India Dravidian journalist V.T. Rajshekar published the first issue of
Dalit Voice--the major English journal of the Black Untouchables. In a 1987 publication
entitled the African Presence in Early Asia, Rajshekar stated that:

"The African-Americans also must know that their liberation struggle cannot be complete as
long as their own blood-brothers and sisters living in far off Asia are suffering. It is true that
African-Americans are also suffering, but our people here today are where African-
Americans were two hundred years ago. African-American leaders can give our struggle
tremendous support by bringing forth knowledge of the existence of such a huge chunk of
Asian Blacks to the notice of both the American Black masses and the Black masses who
dwell within the African continent itself."

THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY

NOTES FROM A BROTHER IN INDIA:

THE BIGOTRY OF HINDUS WITH REGARD TO SKIN COLOUR

By INIYAN ELANGO, M.D.

Edited and Posted by RUNOKO RASHIDI

I would like to add some observations to our previous exchange on the bigotry of Hindus
with regard to skin colour.

Most Hindus (whether upper or lower caste) are "brown" skinned (with shades from dark to
very fair) with "caucasoid" features.  Dalits all over India and a few lower caste Hindus in
South India are those with black skin and indigenous features.

Lower caste Hindus in South India (Tamil Nadu) tend to be black skinned because, unlike the
rest of India where the caste system was introduced by the Aryans by enslaving the
indigenous Dravidians, the caste system was introduced in Tamil Nadu by making the
Dravidians (Tamilians) accept the caste system under the garb of "religious conversion" by
making the black Tamil kings convert from Buddhism and Jainism to Hindu caste religion.

Tamil kings in the south successfully resisted Aryan invasion for centuries.  While the Tamils
(Dravidians) in the rest of India succumbed to the Aryan invasion, the Tamil kings in the
south held out against the Aryans for many centuries.  The Brahmans, the wily priestly caste
people of the Aryan Hindus, decided to quell the Tamil resistance through a cunning mixture
of spirituality and sex a millennium ago.  (The Aryan invasion is said to have occurred in
India 3,500 years ago around 1500 BC).  Tamil kings desiring Aryan princesses married them
and in the process bringing in the Brahmin priests and the bigoted Hindu caste religion in the
Tamil kingdoms of the Cholas, Pandyas and the Cheras in the South of India a millennium
ago.  Thus the Tamil kings were done in by their sexual desire and religious tolerance. 
Recorded Tamil history and literature is itself 2,500 years old.  The Tamil language is dated
to be several millenniums old.  Tamil is the language of the Black people and is considered as
the oldest language of India.

Therefore the Aryan castes of "Kshatriyas" (royals) and Vysyas (traders) are absent in Tamil
Nadu.  But the Aryan caste of Brahmans are present in Tamil Nadu.  These Tamil Nadu
Brahmans are a wily lot who are vehement in preserving the bigoted values of Hinduism. 
These Brahmans have been divided the Tamils into the touchable "Shudras" (the lower caste
Hindus who are landlords and traders) and the untouchable outcaste Panchamas (Dalits). 
Thus the lower caste Hindu Tamils who are also Dravidian have been made slaves of the
Hindu values and willingly accept the superiority of the Brahmans and the caste system.  In
the Tamil Nadu region it is mostly the Dravidian lower caste Hindus who attack and torment
Black Dalits.

Historian Romila Thapar, in volume one of A History of India, observes as follows:

"The main stress in the ordering of castes appears to have been the division of society into
brahmans and non-bramans (in Tamil Nadu).  Among the non-brahmans there is as compared
to north India, little mention of the `Kshatriyas' and the Vysyas' but the `shudras' are
prominent.  The `Shudras' were divided (in south India) into the clean Shudras whose touch
was not polluting and the unclean Shudras (Panchamas-Dalits) who were debarred from entry
into the temple.  The picture which emerges suggests that the Brahmans were in control of
powerful positions and that the non-Brahmans were more or less working for them.  The
Brahmans naturally emphasized caste loyalties and caste assemblies, since this would prevent
a wider basis of unity developing amongst the the non-brahmans (Tamils)."

The above phenomena is peculiar to the region of Tamil Nadu where the Dravidians have
been pitted against fellow Dravidians by the cunning and wily Brahmans who spearhead the
Hindu caste religion.  In the rest of India all caste Hindus, where upper or lower caste, are all
caucasoid and brown skinned.  Dalits are all starkly differentiated by their indigenous
features and black skin.  It is not uncommon to find fair skinned people among Dalits, just
like some fair skinned African-Americans.  But it should be observed that even fair skinned
Dalits are differentiated by their indigenous features, while Hindus whose colour varies from
dark brown to ivory are easily differentiated by their caucasoid features.

HISTORY NOTES

DR. CHEIKH ANTA DIOP AND THE CULTURAL

ROOTS OF THE DALITS: INDIA'S BLACK UNTOUCHABLES

By V.T. RAJSHEKAR

It is not generally appreciated that Blacks live all over the world, comprising the world's
largest oppressed group.  That Asia has a large Black population is also not well known. 
Indian Blacks themselves are not aware of this fact.  Lately, a strong Black identity has
emerged and the slogan, "Black is beautiful" is catching up fast, at least among militant
Blacks.  Such a feeling is putting pride back into the broken hearts of Black natives, also
uniting them with the struggle of their Black comrades in Africa and elsewhere.  The Black
liberation struggle against white racism, inequality and male domination is an international
struggle.

A distinguished Black physicist, historian and linguist, Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop was among the
first to establish that Egypt was the world's first civilization and that it was Black.  He
showed that humanity originated in Africa, and that the first human being, the first person,
was Black.  The Blacks migrated from Africa to other parts of the world.  The Blacks are also
the ancestors of Indian Untouchables (Dalits).  That is why the Blacks wherever they are,
belong to one single family.  Hence, the relevance of Diop's work, for India's Black Indus
Valley Civilization is now widely accepted.

Diop's discoveries, therefore, establish that India's Black Untouchables (with their African
origin) are the ancestors of all humankind.  Hence, they have to be proud of their Black
Untouchable origin and their glorious cultural past.  The whole world owes its origin to Black
people--our people.  African history laid the foundation of world history.

Collective historical consciousness is a means of survival.  If India's Black Untouchables are

today hiding their identity, ashamed to own their origin and admit that they are Untouchables,
it is because they are not aware of their glorious past. Diop says that the Blacks can regain
their personality, can become proud of their past if they are told "who they are," and "what
they are."  That means we have to discover our roots, our goddesses, our religion, our
ancestors, our history.

Cheikh Anta Diop has proven that the core of our problem is cultural rootlessness.  The most
important task facing us, therefore, is to reconstruct the links that tie us as communities. 
Humanity was born and developed in Africa.  The first human was Black, and Black is
beautiful.  The Blacks lost their historical memory because we were fed by false history
books.  The rule of oppression will soon end with the reconstruction of world history, taking
the aid of the tools provided to us by authorities like Diop, Runoko Rashidi, and Ivan Van
Sertima--all world famous Black scholars.

GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY

HISTORY NOTES

Santal;
Man of East Bengal

THE BLACKS OF EAST BENGAL: A NATIVE'S PERSPECTIVE

By HOREN TUDU*

posted by RUNOKO RASHIDI

A Native's Perspective: An Introduction

The Black race in its entirety has been the victim of subjugation and extermination by the
Caucasoid race from the dawning of modern humanity. However, it truly remarkable that this
unique community has survived and accomplished remarkable feats that have redefined the
world in every possible way. As the groundbreaking historian Runoko Rashidi has often used
the words "Black" and "African" interchangeably, I will remain loyal to his terminology and
define all members of the Black race to be of Austroloid and Negroid descent. This merger of
noble humanity is to include all the Aborigines of Australia, New Guinea, The Philippines,
and Indonesia. It embraces the proto-Austroloids of Bangladesh and eastern India, the lower
castes and tribal Dravidians of India, Sri-Lanka, the Andaman/Nicobar Islands, and
ultimately all members of the African continent and its far-reaching diasporas on the western
hemisphere of the Earth.

One of the most daunting tasks for a truth finder is to form an unbiased perspective in an era
where most historical documents are corrupted by Euro-centric bigotry and Indo-Aryan white
supremacy. There are few if any documents written truly from a native's perspective. I will
attempt to provide an account that exposes a truth, of which many in the world are simply not
ready to bring to light and internalize. Moreover, it forces us as human beings to genuinely
view the world for what it is. The truth hurts far more than the facade that allows so many in
the world to live comfortable lives.

It is the primary focus of this document to answer many serious questions: Who were the
inhabitants of East-Bengal before the arrival of the Muslims? Where are those people now?
How have the Arabs and the Hindus destroyed Bangladesh? Most importantly, how can Pan-
African politics help unite and possibly save the country?

Saotals women expressing their lives

The Original Inhabitants of Bengal

The word Bangladesh is derived from the term "Vangla", a word given by the Bodo
Aborigines of Assam to connote "wide plains." The original inhabitants of modern day
Bangladesh were the Proto-Austroloid Kols, otherwise known as Kolarians. The term Kol has
ubiquitously been corrupted by the Aryan-Sanskritic speakers to the word "kalu", meaning
both "black" and "ugly" in almost all of the 16 languages of the Indian Sub-Continent. The
Kolarians are a Dravidian sect, whose descendant communities can be found also in West
Bengal and elsewhere in the eastern belt of the Indian-Subcontinent. Most geological scholars
will contend that most of Bangladesh was fashioned 1 to 6.5 million years ago during the
tertiary era. Semi-recent excavations in the Deolpota village of western Bengal seem to
suggest that a Paleolithic civilization in the region existed about one hundred thousand years
ago. A 10,000 to 15,000 year old stone structure in Rangamati is the primary evidence of
Paleolithic civilization along with a hand axe found in the mountainous inclines of the Feni
district. This Neo-stone age began 3,000 B.C. lasting almost 1500 years. Similar tools were
found in Sitakunda of the eastern region Chittagong, and near Comilla district. The sparsely
forested hills in eastern Bengal strewn with fertile valleys imparted a hospitable location for
Neolithic settlements.1

Physically, the indigenous people were longheaded, dark skinned, broad-nosed, and short in
stature. Sometimes labeled as "Negritos" and "Negroids", their physical features are
unchanged today among the lowest castes of Bengal, mainly the peasants, as well as 95% of
population of Bangladesh today who derive from these lower castes and tribes.

The Aryan Invasion and Destruction of Ancient Bangladeshi Civilization

Most present day anthropologists and scholars will confirm that the people of the ancient
Indus Valley Civilization were of the same racial stock as the present day Bangladeshis and
lower castes of India. The Indus Valley Civilization marked a period of wealth and prosperity
in Indian history. Noted developments include the development of yoga, the erection of
ziggurats and the discovery of zero. All these inventions were later appropriated by the Aryan
priests in what must have been the greatest case of scientific theft on record. The golden
Harappan age came to an abrupt and brutal end when hordes of barbaric Aryans swept into
India in 1500 BC through the Khyber Pass. Most of these Caucasians were under the flexible
leadership of the moon worshipping Aryan named Indra. The 1000 years that followed
imparted irreversible destruction and darkness. During this Vedic Dark Age (1500 BC - 500
BC) no civilization survives, no writing, nor any trace of the existence of even a semi-
civilization. There is, even now in the late 21st century, complete ignorance concerning this
era of Indian history. It was a seemingly endless orgy of slaughters and massacres of native
Bangladeshis by the Caucasoid, barbaric invaders who considered it meritorious to butcher
those of a different race, a Black race.2

Bharata launched the second Aryan invasion from Afghanistan, and conquered much of the
upper Ganges valley. The mayhem and murder continued throughout this period, by the end
of which no trace of the Indus Valley civilization was left and the Aborigines had been
displaced from all of Northwest India. The massacres perpetuated by the Aryans in India
during the 1000 years of the Vedic Dark Ages are unparalleled in history, exceeding the
Holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis (which was inspired by the Vedic Aryans), and the
slaughter of the South American native populations by the invading Spaniards and
Portuguese. Almost all of the 5 million inhabitants of the Indus Valley civilization perished,
the rest being displaced east into Bangladesh and south into present day Tamil Nadu and Sri
Lanka. Thus, Bangladesh is a melting pot of various Black tribes with a separate Mongoloid
presence to the east in modern day Myanmar.3

The armies of `Lord' Ram initiated the Aryan invasion into Bengal during 600 BC.
Subsequently, the apartheid varna system was strictly imposed. Those Black Aborigines who
accepted Aryan enslavement were relegated to the `Clean Sudra' caste, and those who fought
the Aryans were relegated to the "Untouchable" outcastes of Dalits and Adivasis. The
worship of the Aryan religion of Vaishnavism was introduced and the aboriginal king of Kol
was promptly murdered. In contrast to north India, the number of Dravidian Blacks was much
higher and the number of Aryans low. Hence, extermination of the non-Aryan native
population was not possible here in Bengal, as it had been done in north India, but a
progressive agenda of Aryanization of the Kolerians and their assimilation into the varna
system of racial apartheid was undertaken by the Aryans. Today the natives of East-Bengal
speak Bengali or Bangla, a Sanskrit based Indo-European tongue hybridized with various
indigenous Dravidian elements.4

The Arabs Come to Bengal

The conversion of the native Bengalis to Islam began in the 8th century, when the Arabs
began invading north India and present day Pakistan. Additionally, other East African
Muslims were transplanted into India; most historians agree that 5-12% of the Muslims that
entered India were Ethiopian mercenaries. Because Brahmanical tyranny and oppression of
native Bengalis had reached a climax, the Muslims were hailed as liberators and saviors.
Islam gained much support by the lower caste and "untouchable" Bengalis because it allowed
them for the first time in their lives to reach upward mobility in society. Many indigenous
and Hindu worshipping sites were destroyed and transformed into mosques. Although many
Arabs freely mixed with the native Black population, the majority kept themselves racially
distinct, keeping various titles such as ADM (Abu D. Muhammed), Sheikh and Sayed. Many
Brahmans remained Hindu as well as a large number of low castes and "untouchables"
masquerading under the false identity of Brahmanism. The others that were forcibly
converted retained their caste names such as "Chowdhury", "Biswas", and "Das"5.
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
photo credit: K.L.Kamat
Copyright © 1996-2002, Kamat's Potpourri.  
All Rights Reserved
 

The Legacy of the Arabs and the Hindus

Hitherto, most Sheikhs and Sayeds boast of their light skin complexions and will not marry
into a Black Aboriginal family. Even though these descendants of Arabs and Caste Hindus
identify themselves as ethnic Bengalis, they have always looked down upon native Bengalis
as "Village Kalus"(another term for "nigger") and remain highly bigoted with regard to skin
color. In modern times, Arab Sayed landowners have collaborated with the Brahman
landowners to slaughter the tribal Santhals and Kols for financial gain via acquisition of tribal
land. Most Muslim Aborigines from the village are in destitute poverty and remain illiterate;
they typically work as housemaids and servants of the Arab Bangladeshis especially in places
like the Chittigong district. They have no concept of their Aboriginal/tribal ancestry and have
made no attempt to join hands with their tribal brothers that are raped and tortured every year
by Hindu landowners all throughout Bengal, east and west. Most Islamic scholars in
Bangladesh have written out the pre-Islamic past brainwashing the Black Bengalis into
believing that they are dark skinned Arabs and are racially distinct from the Austroloid
tribals. Today, the residual "untouchables" that did not convert to Islam perform the most
inhuman and menial forms of labor as sanctioned by the Bangladeshi government. They are
forced to work with human carcasses and clean human feces from the street gutters as their
ancestors have done for centuries under Hindu oppression.
The introduction of a Caucasoid racial element into Bangladeshi society has had one of the
most devastating effects on the development of the country. Most upwardly mobile and
successful men tend to marry tall, and lighter skin women with long noses. The influx of
India's openly racist film industry has done more to shatter whatever moral ethos the Black
Bengali women carried before the Aryans and Arabs came to Bengal, Black is not beautiful
in Bangladesh although 90-95% of the population is black Austroloid.

Following Bangladesh's independence in 1971, there has been a strong lack of political unity
within Bangladesh because most politicians and government leaders are bigoted Caucasoids
that only seek to better the financial standing of the Sayed and Sheikh elite rather than work
for the better welfare of the people. Persons such as Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina are
extremely corrupt and have done absolutely nothing in terms of social programs for the poor
and illiterate Black majority.

Baby Naznin, "The Black Diamond," a famous singer of

Bangladesh. She is one of the few modern Bangladeshi
women to embrace Pan-Africanism in South Asia 

The Need of The Hour: Pan-Africanism in Bangladesh and All of the Black World

During the African-American Holocaust of North-America, the Black descendants of slaves

were forced to engage the cruel Anglo-Caucasian oppressor without any assistance
whatsoever from the world at large, it was largely a local effort and a astonishing one indeed
for many victories were won and many intellectuals were produced to assist fellow Blacks
worldwide. In the coming decade the Black race as whole faces new and precarious
predicaments such as HIV, crime, illiteracy, and infant mortality. These are only but a few to
name, but the local populations on average cannot possibly solve them without help from
their blood brothers and sisters from across the globe. With the Aborigines of Australia, The
Philippines, and Andaman Islands nearing extinction along with massive proliferation of
AIDS in Africa, Pan-Africanism is the need of the hour! According to the article "Pan-
Negroism and the Tamil-Sinhala Conflict in Sri Lanka" written by Hadwa Dom of the
Dalitstan Journal, the collaboration between Blacks has been proven effective in the struggle
for humanity and the right to exist. In this effort, Nelson Mandela has provided military
manpower in aid of the indigenous Black LTTE rebels in Sri Lanka leading to several
important military successes. Only time can tell whether globally, the Black race will survive
into the next millennium.6 I am confident that it will.

*Horen Tudu is a Bangladeshi-Santhal born and raised in the United States. He is a staunch
Pan-Africanist and research specialist. His work emphasizes on the Dalit and tribal
historical/political situation of Bangladesh and India. He may be contacted at

NEGRO PRESENCE IN EAST ASIA AND THE AFRICAN/CHINESE RELATIONSHIP

This essay may be SHOCKING TO SOME, but Sudanese, Ethiopians, Negau-Punt

(Swahili Coasts), Zimbabweans, Congolese, Egyptians, South Mesopotamia,
West Africans, Somalis - SHOULD HAVE THE DOCUMENTATION on the subject at
hand.

FIRST 'CHINESE' WERE AFRICAN/NEGRO PEOPLE

That happens to be a fact based on Chinese research. About 50,000 years ago, a
group of Africans with features IDENTICAL TO THE KONG-SAN (BUSHMAN) AND
Bantu migrated to China and settled in the southern part of China. Eventually,
that group migrated to other parts of China all the way to Siberia. (See National
Geographic magazine on that issue). The prehistoric Africans came in two types
and two types of genes dominated these groups. One type of gene called the
Cde gene moved from South Africa to Sudan and to India, then southward into
SE Asia and China. That gene is found at over 80 percent in the Kong-San of
South Africa, the medium to short people with 'yellowish-brown' skins,
'epicantus fold' ( so-called 'slanting' eyes - a feature found among a very large
number of Africans incuding very blackish Africans of Sudan and the Sahara,
Nigeria and Congo/Angola), high cheekbones, small stature, very kinky hair.
Genetically, the Kong are 100 percent PURE NEGROES AND IT IS FROM THE
KONG BUSHMAN WHO WERE ONCE SPREAD FROM SOUTH AFRICA TO
GERMANY, EASTWARD TO SIBERIA AND INTO THE AMERICAS that all Asian
'Mongoloid' people originated.

KONG GENES IN THE NAVAJO AND OTHER AMERICAN INDIANS

The Kong-San and other Africans also entered the Americas as early as 75,000
to 30,000 years ago, says scientists (see THE GLADWIN THESIS, by C.S.
Gladwin "A History of the African-Olmecs,' pub. by http://www.AuthorHouse.com
http://www.blackplanet.com/Nubianem The Navajo Indians of Arizona/New
Mexico are racially of the MONGOLOID RACE, but their genes show about 20-30
percent Kong-San (South African 'Bushman' genes called Cde).

The Cde gene is also found in large amounts in Bantu Africans, West Africans,
Rwandan Hutus, Tutsis, East Africans, Congolese, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Indians
of India, Chinese, Japanese, Melanesians, Australian Aboriginals, Melanesians.
Some Europeans also have the Cde gene.
ANCIENT TRADE AND TRAVEL BETWEEN AFRICA AND CHINA

Africans similar to the Arignacian culture (advanced weapons, tools, clothing,

body red ocre, languages culture) migrated to Europe about 50,000 years ago
from the Sudan/Somalia region. They first passed into Arabia and moved into
Europe.

Another branch of Africans who had migrated into India about 60,000 B.C. (THE
ANDAMAN ISLANDERS ARE SOME OF THEIR DESCENDENTS
http://www.andaman.org )moved into Europe as soon as the ice melted - about
40,000 B.C. Others moved into Central Asia. The African gene mutated in
Central Asia near China and spred into northern China, Siberia and that region.
One group of genes moved into Southern China and upward into Northern China.
See http://members.tripod.com/pointingbi...rintl/id59.htm

The great mystry in this spread of African genes and people to China and East
Asia is that THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN CHRISTIANITY AND THE 'GREAT FLOOD'
also seem to match the genetic and physical spread of the descendants of the
Chinese and other Mongoloid and Negro-Australoid Asians from Africa and the
Levant.

According to the TABLE OF NATIONS http://www.soundchristian.com/man

AFTER THE GREAT FLOOD, NOAH (WHO WAS MOST LIKELY NEGROID) and his
sons populated the earth.

Noah's sons included:

Ham (Negroids, Mongoloids, Negro-Australoids)

Shem (Semites)
Japhet (Western Europeans, Eastern Europeans)

Ham's descendants included:

Cush- Sudan to South Africa, west to West Africa and the Americas, East to
India,

Punt: Somalia to South Africa - along the coasts;

Mizraim: Egypt

Canaan: Sinai to Turkey

According to some historians, Canaan or 'Chan-han' was the Negro son of Ham.
Canaan had two sons. One was called Heth (related to the Hittites; the other
was called Sin (Related to THE 'SINITES' OR CHINESE).

Heth settled from Turkey to Northern/Central China, Western China..

Sin settled Southern China, Central China, Northern China.

Similarities between Chinese, Japanese and Korean with African languages
http://www.stewartsynopsis.com/links...frican_la.html
Two sons of Cush called 'Hind' and 'Sind' settle from Arabia to India and all the
way to Indo-China.

Canaan's children and the FATHER OF THE MELANESIAN, AUSTRALIAN

ABORIGINES AND OTHER BLACKS OF EAST ASIA SETTLED IN THAT REGION
FROM CAMBODIA TO SOUTHERN CHINA TO AUSTRALIA. These include the
Oceanic Negroes.

Therefore, all the Asian peoples, whether Mongoloid, Negroid or Negro-Australoid

are descendants of Canaan. The present conditions of groups like the
Melanesians and Australian Aborigines are recent in history for the most part.
Many of these groups once lived in India and China and were driven into the
Islands by the catastrophic flooding of Southern China about 5000 B.C., as well
as the migration of very lightskinned Mongoloid nomads from Northern
China/Siberia and Northwestern China beginning with the Chou about 1100 B.C.
(see http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/runoko.html )

BLACK/MONGOLOID SHIA AND SHANG DYNASTIES

According to historians (Brodie, Van Sertima, Runoko, et al..), the first Chinese
Dyasties in China were not entirely Mongoloid. In fact, these dynasties were
composed of Southern Mongoloids and Oceanic/Africoid Negroids as well as
'Dimunitive' Negroids similar to the Agta, Semang and Negritoes. Such groups
remained powerful in SE Asia till the 10 century when the Mongol displacement
and pushing of Northern Mongoloids people began with the rise of the Khans.

Yet, in ancient times, the Blacks of Southern China, Melanesia and IndoChina
established a strong trading relationship with Africa's East and NorthEast coast.
In fact, apart from the prehistoric Africans who settled China and East Asia.
Africans between 10,000 B.C. to the Christian era traded with India, Cambodia,
SE Asia, China and Japan. Africans also traded in bananas with the people of
Papua-New Guinea, Fiji and the region thereof (see Archeology magazine,
September 2006, on the ancient trade between Melanesia and Africa about 5000
years ago.)

According to African historians, one of the more contemporary Africans to settle

China was Hu-Na-Kunte, a Mesopotamian Cushite with Sudanese/East African
roots. The ancient Mesopotamians were Cushites related to Sudanese and other
Africans. About 2800 B.C., Hu Na Kunte sailed to China and settled on the Loh
River Valley. From that period, trade between Africa and China has taken place.

African records (Egypt, Ethiopia, Cush) show that to be the case. Chinese
records show that about 600 B.C., shipping from China to the Ethiopian Port of
Myus Homus took place.

During the Negau-Punt culture - also called the 'Swahili" (3000 B.C. to 1700
A.D.)
There was also extensive trade between China and Africa. In fact, Chinese
pocelain is found scattered in ancient sites from Somalia to South
Africa/Zimbabwe. In all these regions - the world's longest, continuous urban
sea towns and cities were built BY AFRICANS LONG BEFORE THE SWAHILI
PERIOD. This is the area that the Egyptians called 'Punt' or 'God's Land' and it
was from that region that they claimed to have originated.

MORE ON THE ANCIENT CHINESE WEST AFRICAN TRADE THROUGH THE

AMERICAS
See, "A History of the African-Olmecs: Black Civilizations of America From
Prehistoric Times to the Present Era," pub. by http://www.AuthorHouse.com

Also see Susu Economics," pub. by http://www.AuthorHouse.com

More at http://www.myspace.com/bestsellersbooks

http://sexhistorynsoul.proboards102.com

http://www.blackplanet.com/Nubianem
http://www.blackplanet.com/nubianem

http://blackafricanworldhistory.forumsland.com

In retrospect, THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF TRADE, CONTACT AND RELATIONS

WITH CHINA EXISTED EVEN BEFORE ALL OF CHINA WAS PREDOMINANTLY
MONGOLOID. In fact, appearances may be deceiving. Today's Chinese may
actually be a people composed of three Black/Negroid races, one Mongoloid race
and one Caucasian race. When one looks at the Uiger, one sees some Caucasian
features. When one looks at Southern and Central/Eastern Chinese, one sees
lots of Negroid/Kong-San features. When one looks at Northern Chinese one
sees some Caucasian/Negroid/Mongoloid features. When one looks at South-
Eastern Chinese, one sees Negro-Australoid and Mongoloid features.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ANCIENT BLACK AND MONGOLOID 'SHANG DYNASTY'?

It is very possible that this dynasty exists today in the people we call the
Polynesians. In fact, about 5 years ago, the magazine Discovery or Scientific
American wrote a lengthy article on that very issue.

There are others who say that the Negro-Mongoloid Dynasty of Southern China
moved into Indo-China or to the remove parts of the South China/Vietnam
mountain region ( the Moi People, the Montagnards of Vietnam, the Semang and
other Negrito and Negrito-Mongoloid people).

The book, "African Presence in Early Asia," points out that the Black and the
Mongoloids of the Shang Dynasty fled in all directions after the overthrow of the
Chou. Some migrated as far as Mexico, WHERE THEY MET AN ALREADY
ESTABLISHED NEGRO-AMERICAN INDIAN CIVILIZATION CALLED THE 'OLMEC'
OR MANDING-SHI. The Manding-Shi are of West African/Sudanic origins.
See http://originalblacksoftheamericasbe...s.blogspot.com

Finally, THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AFRICANS AND CHINESE MUST BE

MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL, WITH MUTUAL RESPECT AND MUTUAL HUMAN
RECOGNITION OF EACH OTHER.
That has been the idea for over 10,000 years of trade between Africa and the
Melanesia/China/SE Asia region. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN TREATING THE OTHER
WITH RESPECT AND DIGNITY AND BEING FAIR AND HONEST IN OBJECTIVES.
It is important to note that some of the people who are staunchly Africanist and
support trade and commerce between Africa and China are Americans,
particulary African-Americans. Why? Because of the knowledge of history and
because of the fact that many American companies have moved to China. Some
of these companies used to be in the African-American community. As they
move to China, Chinese companies form JOINT VENTURES WITH AFRICANS AND
AFRICANS INVEST IN AMERICA AND ALSO IN BLACK AMERICA, BLACK
TECHNOLOGICAL AND EDUCATIONAL EXPERTS MOVE TO PARTS OF AFRICA AND
HELP TEACH OR PLAN AND COOPERATE WITH AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS.

So, this cycle CAN BE BENEFICIAL TO ALL. Let us hope it does some good, but at
the same time, WE MUST SUPPORT THE CHINESE AND UNDERSTAND IF THEY
FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE ABOUT CERTAIN THINGS...AFETR ALL, THE CHINESE
ARE TRADING WITH THE ENTIRE WORLD -- NOT JUST SOME OF IT. If the rest of
the world are not comfortable with a situation and want the Chinese to lend a
hand, we may have to realize that the world is smaller and whatever we do in
one part affects others in another part.
__________________
"Niger-Kongo-Kushi African Americas Nations United," Black, proud, conscious,
pure Black Negroist and dedicated to rebuilding the Holy Black Cushi Empire."