Page 5 - Florida Sentinel 2-2-16

Editorials
White Kings Of Africa
Black History Month Serves Not Only To Educate, But To Inspire
Zika And Climate Warming
N ow that the Zika virus has caught the eye of world health officials as being a possible threat to every childbearing woman on earth, perhaps, global warming will take center stage as the possible reason for the spread of the Zika dis- ease. After all, the virus had previously been known to occur only within a narrow equatorial belt from Africa to Asia (the usual suspects). Then the disease began to spread eastward across the Pacific Ocean between 2014 and 2015 to Central America, the Caribbean, South America, and now North America where the Zika outbreak recently reached pan-
demic levels.
In fact, health officials claim a possible link between Zika
fever and microcephaly in newborn babies of infected moth- ers and to neurological conditions of other infected adults. For decades, environmental scientists have predicted the migration of disease-carrying mosquitoes and the transmis- sion of tropical and subtropical diseases into new geogra- phies and elevations.
Mosquitoes and bugs that carry disease such as the West Nile Virus, Malaria, Dengue Fever, Yellow Fever, Chagas, Zika, and other maladies have been able to move further north where rainfall, temperature increases, humidity, longer summers, and forestation changes provide suitable conditions for breeding. Health officials estimate that 300,167 Americans are infected with Chagas, have diag- nosed cases of Dengue Fever as far north as New York (20 cases in Florida), and have diagnosed 1500 cases of malaria in America each year.
As climate warming escalates, the transmission of these diseases will escalate as well. Therefore, the time is now for the world to seriously address global warming, a phenome- non that knows no race, color, religion, or gender.
Currently, at least 38 Euro- peans and Americans rule African tribes as chiefs or kings. Nearly 25 years ago (1991), there were approximately 100 tribal African kings, the last survivors of a former age, preserving tradi- tions and honoring the wisdom and power of their ancestors.
They no longer held absolute power, but rather they retained a traditional and often spiritual authority, representing the dy- nasties of Africa that existed through the 1950s. At that time, there were approximately 20 so- called “white chiefs,” most of who resided in Nigeria and Ghana.
According to various sources, there have been white kings and chiefs in Africa since at least the early 19th century. However, it is said to have become a growing trend among African kings in Ghana and Nigeria to have a “white chief” who was not in- volved in quarrels among Africans.”
In fact, there is African media coverage of an African king in- vestiture as late as 2012. Most of the “white chiefs” are business- men, missionaries, doctors, or other professionals who have contributed economically, med- ically, educationally, militarily, or financially to African villages and regions. So, let’s take a look at a few of Africa’s “white chiefs and kings.”
Marc H. Morial President and CEO National Urban League
Those who have no record of what their forebears have ac- complished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.
Carter G. Woodson
Carter G. Woodson was born in Virginia, 10 years after the fall of the Confederacy. Working as a sharecropper and a miner, he rarely had time to at- tend school until the age of 20. He would devote the rest of his life to study, becoming known as “The Father of African-American History.”
Through his studies, Wood- son found that African-Ameri- can contributions to history “were overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teach- ers who use them.” He con- cluded that racial prejudice “is merely the logical result of tradi- tion, the inevitable outcome of
In 1900, John Boyes, a Welsh soldier of fortune, pio- neer, trader, and hunter became the king of the ferocious warrior nation of Kikuyu. Within two years of entering Kikuyu (previ- ously closed to whites), Boyes was crowned king even though he did not speak the language. His fighting, negotiating, hunt- ing, and diplomacy-skills en- deared him to the people of Kikuyuland. Boyes wrote of his adventures in a book entitled, “How I Became King of Wa Kikuyu.”
In 1963, Jimmy Moxon was named Chief of the Aburi, a Ghanaian people. Moxon, a for- mer British colonial minister of information, was retained on contract by the Nkrumah gov- ernment upon Ghana’s inde- pendence from Britain.
A man with an infectious sense of humor and a charis- matic storyteller, Moxon was named Chief Nana Kofi Obonya for the Aburi people who rewarded him for his con- tinued, loyalty to the Aburi. He remained a part of their commu- nity as an ambassador, book- seller, publisher, poultry farmer, restaurateur, author, and histo- rian.
Fritz Pawetzik has ruled over 300,000 Ashanti people (Asantes of Konongo) for more than 15 years from Dusseldorf, Germany, more than 6,000
thorough instruction to the effect that the Negro has never con- tributed anything to the progress of mankind.”
Black History Month, which Woodson founded as Negro History Week in 1926, was his ef- fort to combat that tradition. Chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Dou- glas, considered heroes by most Black Americans, the second week in February was set aside to celebrate Black history.
The first year, education offi- cials of only three states and two cities recognized the event, but by 1929 it was being promoted in nearly every state in the nation. In 1970, Black students at Kent State University celebrated the first unofficial Black History Month and in 1976, President Gerald Ford officially recog- nized the event, saying,
The last quarter-century has finally witnessed significant strides in the full integration of Black people into every area of national life. In celebrating
miles away. Named King Nana Kofi Marfo, II, Pawetzik was rewarded by the Ashanti people for the services he provided to them as a missionary for seven years when he traveled through West Africa.
He established the first kindergarten in the largest Ashanti settlement of Konongo, built more than 40 child centers and opened a 200 bed hospital using funds donated by German businesses and donors.
After their marriage in 2011, British couple John and Elaine Lawler became Africa’s first white chief and queen. Already the village Chief of Shia, Ghana, Elaine Lawyer joined John as Queen. Eight years ear- lier, John had been made Chief Torbui Mottey after setting up a secondary school.
In 2011, Trace Goen, a Texas physician, was crowned king of the nomadic Fulani Tribe in Okinoki. A devout Christian, Goen worked six years at the Egbe Hospital Clinic before be- coming king of the largely Is- lamic cattle herder tribe.
Undoubtedly, Goen’s med- ical treatment of the Fulani’s cat- tle, children and hospital patients was rewarded by confer- ring the title of king.
The white kings and chiefs are enthroned with lavish coro- nations costing $2,500 to $7,500 that include dressing in elaborate robes and head-coverings.
Needless to say, the contin- ued practice of granting chief- tainship and titles of king to whites has drawn a firestorm of criticism and opposition from in- digenous Africans as well as African Americans. What do you think? History always has a sur- prise. Harrambee!
Black History Month, we can take satisfaction from this re- cent progress in the realization of the ideals envisioned by our Founding Fathers. But, even more than this, we can seize the opportunity to honor the too- often neglected accomplish- ments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor through- out our history.
In the intervening 40 years, we’ve seen remarkable progress in racial justice, and also heart- breaking setbacks. There are some in our own community who feel Black History Month is unnecessary – as there were in Woodson’s own day. And their essential point is valid: Black his- tory is American History, and its teaching should not be relegated to one month per year. But that isn’t the point of Black History Month.
The American Dream remains perilously out of reach for many people of color. The National Urban League Equality Index, a comprehensive comparison of Black America’s status in the areas of economics, health, edu- cation, social justice and civic en- gagement, stands at 72.2%.
Racial disparity won’t disap- pear if we simply ignore it. Jus- tice will not be achieved unless we actively seek it out. Black His- tory Month not only serves as a reminder of what our forbearers have achieved, but as an inspira- tion for the journey that remains before us.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5
Trump Stayed Home, But Who Cared?
D onald Trump – one of the Republican Party’s key players decided at the last minute to make good his threat not to show up on the final debate of Republican candidates for the Presidency of the United States of America Thursday night. But despite his absence, the most recent and final Repub- lican Party presidential debate received our vote and the vote of other observers as being “the most serious and sub-
stantive debate of the entire series.”
On the issues of immigration Texas’ Ted Cruz and
Miami’s Marco Rubio were pugnacious.
But Jeb Bush looked and sounded like someone who
could sit saddle on the most powerful bronco in the world. Meanwhile, to his credit, Ben Carson measured every sylla- ble with a golden ruler even though the measure of his words sometimes made him sound like he was on Ritalin.
New Jersey’s Chris Christie, saliva in the corners of his mouth, continued to remind some of a cross between HBO character Tony Soprano and boxer Jake Lamotta while Ohio’s John Kasich did his level best to convince whoever was watching that he deserved to be on the stage. But the an- swer to the question “who won the debate?” was caught up in the glitz of history and hysterics.
Facing an orderly Iowa audience was a line of actors, each one playing the greatest role of his life. Could playing for an Academy Award been any greater? We think not. And as for Trump who played his final ace, only the Iowa Pri- mary will prove whether he is a genius or the Republican Party (as we have known it) is a thing of the past.