Black Hebrew Israelites & the Origins of Afrocentrism

In this video I try to salvage something actually educational from the latest dumb celebrity drama involving Kanye West & Kyrie Irving by discussing Afrocentrism, the framework that is at the core of movements like the Black Hebrew Israelites who they have taken some of their ideas from.

Sources:
[2] Israel as Africa, Africa as Israel: "Divine Geography" in the Personal Narratives and Community Identity of the Black Hebrew Israelites, Fran Markowitz
[3] God's Chosen People? A Critical Investigation of Discourses in North American Black and Pan-African Theologies, André Potgieter.
[4] We Can’t Go Home Again: An Argument About Afrocentrism, Clarence E. Walker.
[5] Afrocentrism: Mystical Pasts and Imagined Homes, Stephen Howe.
[7] Egypt in America: Black Athena, Racism and Colonial Discourse, Robert J.C. Young.
[8] The Historical Origins of Afrocentrism, Mia Bay.
[11] Rosa Parks: Angry, Not Tired, Peter Dreier.
[12] Who Freed the Slaves? Emancipation and Its Meaning in American Life, Ira Berlin.
[14] Colorblind Colonialism? Lusotropicalismo and Portugal’s 20th Century Empire in Africa, Leah Fine.

[arson]

Technically Charlemagne is black he just leads a radio show and not an empire

[alexanderpurkis]

A practice during the birth and rise of Swedish nationalism in the 19th century was to claim that historical and mythological people/peoples – like Adam and Eve and the Greeks – were actually Swedes. Classic stuff.

[nathandrake]

It's unfortunate that these groups try to claim non-black cultures as their own when the history and contributions of actual black civilizations are overlooked

[FeastMajora]

As a black American who is always trying learn more about my history and culture, these BHI and Hotep types get on my last nerve. I still think 99% of the time non blacks hyper-fixating on “Afrocentrism” is just a plausibly deniable outlet for anti-blackness. Not that it shouldn’t be addressed at all though. Awesome video!

[jnyerere]

I’m not gonna lie. As a fan/subscriber of this channel and a former History undergrad, I was extremely nervous when I read the title of this video. Even contemplated skipping it altogether. Because historically I know how these conversations have been poorly mishandled by non-black people. By both those that mean well and those with malicious intent. But I’m glad I watched anyway despite my nerves. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen any History YouTuber put the amount of effort as you have on this topic specifically. Truly an exceptional video.

[ΑρτεμισίαΠλοκαμίδου]

"An anti-slavery anti-racism pamphlet that was considered so dangerous by white Americans that possessing it was grounds for arrest".

How based it has to be? I'm gonna read it!

[FriendlyMarks]

A 40-min video about Afrocentrism and no mention of Yakub!!

[cedricsankara]

As a black man who’ve pretty much given up talking about and or listening to white ppl about race I must say you’re a breathe of fresh air. You also give me hope when it comes to white leftists in general. Great video. Cannot express my appreciation enough

[AidanC]

To me it all stems from a historical trauma in Black Americans and extreme misinformation...

My Grandma is Biracial and so her family were Black Americans... my grandma was born in England and the Black American side was culturally cut off from my grandma so she never saw anything with a racial lense...

Enslaved Black americans would have their entire identity stripped away, their name and their language all gone, During bondage they embraced togetherness with other enslaved people who happened to be West and Central African creating a close bonded family during hard times to keep up morale.

This is also why Afrocentrists hate north Africans and demonise and call them invaders because North Africans doesn’t look like them...North Africans don't look like "their people"


When slavery was finally over this became a trauma as it passed on... jim crow happened which only made things just as worse allowing this trauma to continue even into the present...
So nowadays many black americans see themselves as all one people but with still no clue of their true roots..
Jim Crow would only push the racial divisive mindset into them because being "Black" is entirely made up but being "Black" became their identity.

With them inheriting this trauma, not knowing their heritage and being taught
"You are BLACK, we are WHITE"
It meant Black Americans created Pan Africanism despite knowing absolutely nothing about Africa except they were from there...

In reality Africa never had a racialized system... it was a huge continent mixed up of over 3000 different ethnic groups who had a very big history in slave trades... The Atlantic Slave trade itself is actually African, the trade existed before any european got there but Europeans only expanded it to the Atlantic hence why it's the Atlantic Slave trade.

The Hausa, Igbo, Fula, Yoruba and Nupe people were all different from eachother, they had different customs, beliefs and all were unique from one another genetically...
They all fought and raided eachother, burned down eachothers villages, Vassalized, took the women of their enemies as Concubines and sold off their prisoners of war to Europeans and in return Europeans would give them Cloth, Alcohol and Muskets..
Muskets being used to start more African wars which meant more prisoners of war which meant more slaves for the europeans...
Mansa Musa is the richest slave owner in the world but to many Afrocentrists they will only mention him being rich... but they won't mention he owned 1000s of slaves which is partly why he was so rich... but Afrocentrists glorify him..
Here is a quote from the King of Benin... this will show you the true mindset of native Africans before Pan Africanism crept in...

K i n g G e z o
"The slave trade is the ruling principle of MY PEOPLE. It is the source and the GLORY of their WEALTH"

A few things you can take from this quote alone.... his people were the ones he ruled over.. the word "Black" is never mentioned...

Secondly he admits of Glorifying the slave trade as it is what created prosperity for his kingdom.. it is what would have kept the economy going...

Yet Afrocentrists try and push how europeans cities were built from the profits of slavery but they always ignore that Africans did exactly the same thing...

No African ever dared think of themselves as being "one people" with their enemy...
This mindset only slightly changed when the Black American mindset which came about from trauma began getting pushed into Africa in the 1950s.

No African saw themselves as Black.. they identified as belonging to their tribe or kingdom... that was their people...
But black Americans had an identity made for them which was all down to the colour of their skin... so if you have dark skin but you're from Persia... you're Black according to the American racial system. This is why I hate the terms Black / White... not only is it outdated and has a racist backstory but it only refers to western Europeans and West & Central Africans.

So many American people can easily be misinformed when someone not from America describes someone who isn't from Africa by describing them as "Black" or "Dark"

Black Americans would instantly assume that person is one of them which is where all of these false claims stem from and other Americans brought up in a racialized society just slurp it up because they don't know any better.

Europeans would often describe people, even other europeans as having dark / black skin because any skin tone that wasn't pale was described as being "Black"

So many European labourers would have "Black" "dark" skin because they would work out in the sun all day and their skin would darken.

I have an ancestor who was in the Navy, his complexion is listed "dark"

But Black Americans with a racialized mindset would assume it means they were one of them..
But this mindset is completely foreign to Native Africans just like how the Native African mindset is entirely foreign to Black Americans..

Evidence of this is when Liberia was created and Black Americans moved to their new home. The native Africans who were supposed to be "their people"
were extremely resistant and hostile to the Black American migrations.. this has created issues that even to this day there is still problems between Liberians who were from America and Liberians who were native there before.

Black americans with this trauma would push this trauma onto Native Africans despite Native Africans being the reason why Black Americans are in America.

This trauma causes many black americans to believe ALL of Africa is their home... with Egypt being the most famous African civilization they create the belief that they must descemd from the Egyptians even though they just don't.

[pelegsap]

The ideas presented in this video remind me how people in the west tend to view the international boycott movement against Apartheid South Africa as the main reason for the regime's collapse, completely erasing the intense struggle of black South Africans (which was in part violent) as the major reason for the end of Apartheid there.

[JonahPleatherbooth]

I remember the first time I met a group of Black Hebrew Israelites. There was a group of them street preaching in Time Square at around midnight.
I was drunk and stopped to listen for almost an hour. Im the white child of a Baptist minister. So street preaching wasn't anything new to me but they caught my attention.

I couldn't just write off these guys. Ill never forget the pain in the eyes of one of them.
Can you blame a group of wounded young black folk for identifying with the story of an oppressed people being brought out of slavery into the promised land?

[jnyerere]

Not only did you actually put effort into the research for this video, but you humanized Black Americans and the BA experience. Which is something that cannot be said for the vast majority of non-black people that tackle such topics in video form.

[hastigehond]

I recently came across a TikTok with a Hispanic guy who claims the ancient Mayans were actually Israelites, that the Mayan language is related to 'paleo Hebrew', and that it was the Spanish colonisers who rewrote history to hide the fact that the native Americans were descendents of a lost Jewish tribe. I knew about the Hebrew Israelites and Afrocentric theories, but a Hispanic twist on the 'lost Jewish tribe' hypothesis was a new one for me.

[PeterEhik]

Its so interesting to hear a white dude with an accent like yours speak about these issues in a more sensible and nuanced way than any American YouTuber I’ve listened to and that includes both black and white. I almost didn’t click on this cause I didn’t wanna be disappointed in you but your research work here is truly incredible, thank you

Edit: omg you actually put your sources in the description, I think I’m in love with you bruh lol

[RubberRubes]

literally had a conversation with my friends about this today, can’t wait to see how wrong we were

[cookiemons]

Thank you thank you thank you

I legit almost cried halfway through when you brought up how all throughout our history, we get portrayed as mindless, unaware animals even when we’re put it a pitiful light. For years in school every time slavery was discussed we’d all go “why didn’t we do anything? Why didn’t we ki ll those bastards?” And the (always white) teacher wouldn’t even answer and give us a face that said “you just didn’t, of course you didn’t, you wouldn’t win if you tried”. And we would just KNOW what she meant. The hundreds of endless slave revolts to the point of creating social webs to forcefully oppress a people they knew had the strength to fight back; we don’t learn about those, EVER. We were crippling the slave industry decades before the civil war was won just from revolting so frequently. But, the teacher would walk in with a bright smile to teach me about John fucking Brown. I’d get so tired of writing papers praising a white dude for saving us from our struggles, that I didn’t even give a fuck about the grade, I’d insult the subject every time and make stupid mocking titles like.

“John Brown, the one in a trillion white guy who gave a third of a damn”

I felt really alone in this. Even my own people find discomfort in the topic because we all know what we’ve been taught and how we feel about ourselves after being taught that we were those animals in the charity donation ads; always helpless, unable to coordinate, too cowardly to make the sacrifices to really fight for yourself. But we all were taught about the brave and courageous soldiers of the revolutionary war or the world wars; they were just inhumanly altruistic and brave. For years I used to hate history. Now I love it, but the more I learn about it, especially in regards to me, I become drained and angry how psychotic you’d have to be to work to write history in a way that made us as kids feel like dogs under masters graces. And if I get openly angry, I’m “the real racist”. Stay quiet.

[marcingolab]

Great video, learned a lot and subscribed. I'm not Black or American but I see parallels with mentalities and behaviours I see every day where I live. This is a topic that touches on universal human ideas, the struggle for dignity and the shaping of role models through ideologically-motivated education.

[bajablastfreezetm]

your vids feel like a breath of fresh air in the cesspool of sewage that youtube history channels tends to be. comprehensive, educational, and straightforward. I always feel more informed after watching than I was before. hope voosh soils his diapey for this one lol

[fareedabdul-rahman]

Thank you for this video. The section on black people pressuring Lincoln to end slavery got me tearing up. I sincerely wish slavery and the emancipation had been taught like that.

[sundorgo]

I love how Eric Andre's skit of Black Scientologists (meant to poke fun at the Black Hebrew Israelites) came to mind at the start of the video and lo and behold, BE just so happened to have included it in the video. Such a pleasant and lovely surprise. Amazing video as always! <3