“And surely this is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds. The Faithful Spirit has brought it On thy heart that thou mayest be a warner, In Plain Arabic language. And surely the same is in the Scriptures of the ancients.” —Holy Qur’an, Surah 26, verses 192-196
On Memorial Day, May 25th of this year, one month prior to the passing of Michael Jackson, on June 25th, the renowned Black historian, scholar, linguist and professor, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, passed away quietly at his home in New Jersey at the age of 74. Black historians, teachers and lecturers give credit to his profound research effort and studies as one of the most imminent Black scholars pursuing the African origin of civilization in the Americas. Particularly focused upon the identification of the excavation of the Black sculptured head and other findings of the Olmec mother culture of Central America and Mexico. This ancient civilization predates the Mayan culture and their calendric system of recording history.
Ever since the European nations have dominated the world, they have forced “White Superiority and Racism” upon its inhabitants. The knowledge of the original man and people has been nearly obliterated and destroyed. Their presence and evil domination has now come to an end forcing the truth of the diabolical rule to be revealed. Their so-called racial superiority has been based upon the manipulation of the truth, making falsehood to prevail forcing their evil system or world control to be established around the globe. Almighty God, Allah, knowing that they were made for a limited time to deceive the nation; our scientists would not interfere with their 6,000-year reign of tyranny until the proper time. Around the latter part of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, God has been making Himself Known and is returning truth to the people and nations of the earth who have been deceived during this period of time. Particularly, the revival and restoration of the Black man has taken precedence in this spiritual resurrection of the afflicted and long-suffering victims of this evil reign of terror.
During these last two centuries, we as a people have begun to give birth to dedicated generations of scholars and historians who began to unravel the truth of the Black man’s true identity and their spiritual consciousness with links to Mother Africa and to the Americas, Caribbean and the rest of the world revealing our roles in the onward march of civilization. Ivan Van Sertima was born on January 26, 1935 in Guyana while still a British colony and subsequently retained his British citizenship up to the time of his death. He pursued his education and training in London as a linguist, historian and anthropologist and studied at the University of London in the School of Oriental and African Studies, completing his undergraduate work in 1969. He transferred to the United States in 1970 to become a professor at the University of Rutgers in Brunswick, New Jersey, and immersed himself into African Studies, a master of the Swahili language and other dialects, including Hungarian. He began his research into the African presence in America through the reading of a three-volume work of a Professor Leo Wiener at Princeton University. Professor Wiener had discovered in his study of American languages African and Arabic words, which lead him to an early comprehension that Africans had visited America before the Europeans. His book was written at the turn of the 20th century.
In 1970 he came to learn of another German scholar, Professor Alexander Bon Wuthanau, an art scholar and researcher and professor at the University of the Americas, Mexico City, where he had excavated and unearthed astounding evidence of the African Sculpture head of the Olmec Mother Culture of Mexico. In Ivan Van Sertima’s popular book “They Came Before America,” he follows the discovery of the trade winds and routes of the ocean currents moving out of West Africa ultimately landing in the Mexican gulf coastal waters as well as touching further south into Brazil and the Andes of South America. There are records that have been recorded by the Indigenous people of these lands that Black people had made contact with them prior to the period of Slavery and before the coming of Christopher Columbus.
Michael Jackson and Ivan Van Sertima have touched each other in spirit of accomplishments and have left a legacy to be shared with ongoing generations of a life long struggle, trial and tribulation to bring humanity to a greater understanding of self and the eternal quality of being one with God. Both passed on the 25th day of the month of May “Memorial Day” and the 25th day of June leading to a memorial service held on July 7th. Ivan Van Sertima stands out as an outstanding citizen of the world by coming before a United States Congressional Committee to challenge giving credit for the discovery of America to Christopher Columbus. Both men are brothers who had to overcome the exceeding indignant life experiences to speak the truth, to sing the truth, to preach the truth and to write the truth. May our lives reflect their strength, power, and assertiveness of character when our time of transition comes.
“Seest thou, if We let them enjoy themselves for years, Then that which they are promised comes to them — That which they were made to enjoy will not avail them? And We destroyed no town but it had (its) warners — “—Holy Qur’an, Surah 26, verses 205-208
To be continued.
