With the war waged on the ideology of the existence of ancient black Egyptians by the Egyptian government and some of the Arab citizens, it is essential that the whole of Africa participates in the celebration of ‘Nubian Heritage Month’.
There has been an ongoing attempt to whitewash ancient Egyptian history, and ever since the launch of Jada Pinkett’s ‘Cleopatra’s Docuseries’ the racism and anti-black rhetoric by Arabs in Egypt has heightened, all whilst the native black Africans of the land remain disenfranchised in many ways. Hence the need for the Nubian Heritage Month which existed prior to the docuseries.
WHY NUBIAN HERITAGE MONTH
According to Mohamed Kamal, founder of Nubian Geographic, a virtual museum on Nubian culture “We try to correct misconceptions about Nubians and Nubia that are unfortunately very common,” said Mohamed Kamal “It’s on us to address media misrepresentation, and offer our own perspectives on our own heritage, instead of others doing it for us.” What started for Kamal as a Facebook page in 2015 has since expanded into research coordination, outreach, and on-ground programming.
In 2018, they launched Nubian Heritage Month, which is commemorated every year in July by a large network of social media users, institutions, and initiatives dedicated to Nubian heritage conservation and revival.
RACISM DENYING REALITY
Despite all indications of history pointing to a dominant-black Egypt, from hieroglyphics coloring to hair to DNA lab results to skin descriptions by foreign entities to even just the nature of the heat of the country, the fact there is a pushback and false claims about the nature of the Egyptians is just going to show the fear white people have of black people discovering histories of their historical kingdoms.
Monuments and tombs of white Greek rulers who only settled after the civilization was built in 300BC are often used to dispute the nature of the ancient Egyptians. Also recently, the Egyptian government is banning archeologists that are proving the real nature of Ancient Egyptians.
Like most racially mixed nations, the fear and exploitation of African people has always resulted in their white counterparts executing policies and behaviors to limit the progress of black people, such as we have seen in South Africa, USA, Britain, Australia, and much more. This is similar to that of Egypt where most of the black natives are suppressed.
NUBIA IS WHERE EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION BEGAN
Nubia was the land accredited to the very dark skinned people in North Africa. Nubia is also was also where the ancient Egypt civilization began with temples much older than that of where the Greeks initially ruled and conquered.
When Khemet region was conquered and renamed to Egypt, the Greek conquerors will not only rename Khemet and call it Egypt, but will soon include rename the region Nubia and also make it part of Egypt, to the point Nubia was no longer a sovereign land.
To give it more context, despite Egyptians resembling the odd typical black-skinned man, with a range of various skin tones, from dark to light/yellow-skinned, depicted in their hieroglyphics with other white races, Nubia was predominantly known for hosting dark/black-skinned Africans, such of that of what we see in Southern Sudan of today.
CONTEXT ON WHY BLACK EGYPTIANS ARE CALLED NUBIANS
Where the racist occupying Arabs of today expose their hate is they have somehow managed to connect their skin tones with the brown-red depictions in the hieroglyphics, which is very delusional as it bares no resemblance to the beige skin they possess.
The even worst part is despite denying the reality of black-skinned presence in Egypt, they still refuse to call black Egyptians Egyptians and refer to them as Nubians, all whilst claiming their historical ancient civilization as Egypt and Egyptian.
MAKE NUBIAN HERITAGE MONTH A PRIORITY
The Nubian Heritage Month is a month to rectify these misconceptions and it was in existence before the Cleopatra Docuseries controversy. Since 2018, Black Egyptian Koma Waidi has organized the annual Guardians of the Nile festival, centered around this affinity with the river, where Nubian children learn about and race modern versions of traditional gereidy boats through the same waters that their ancestors paddled through.
Perhaps her most impactful activity has been a documentary film festival, where Amberkab brought in filmmakers from around Egypt to teach Nubian teenagers how to make documentaries about their heritage. The winning film, Ano (“grandfather” in Kenzi) by Merghany and Tarek’s team, features a young Nubian girl who discovers an old photo album. Curious, she goes down to the docks to ask her grandfather and his fellow boatmen about their community’s history of sailing the Nile.
Amberkab uses a traditional copper weight to explain the traditional barter economy to Tarek and Merghany (Credit: Mai Farouk)
But the work to project the truth is beyond a handful of people. “I can’t possibly document everything myself,” said Amberkab. “Even with 20 people, I could never know a fraction of the stories that can be told about Nubia. But when we invest in a generation or two like this one, they won’t need me. Every one of their phones turns into a camera.”
Nubia’s history and heritage is the oldest in the world. It is a slap in the face to the thousands of whites and Arabs that like to gloat over the insults of Africans being primitive and as the historical reference goes, 3/5ths of human beings.
WE CAN ALL BE PART OF NUBIAN HERITAGE MONTH
Nubian Heritage Month is not only a process for them to come to terms with and accept a reality they will forever deny but recognize the disenfranchised native black Egyptians and descendants of the royals that have been dispersed all over northern and Eastern parts of Africa after the Arab invasion in 700AD.
It is a chance for us to learn and understand the hidden beauties and culture of Nubians. From fashion to food to history and more. It is a chance for Africans from other parts of the continent to support and extend their voice, and social media platforms to acknowledge the existence of black Egyptians, Nubians, and their great contributions to history.
STAND WITH NUBIA
So for the very least, make time out to share something of relevance with the hashtag #NubianHeritageMonth, support and promote the activities. There will always be detractors from the white race when it comes to black achievements, but learn to stand strong, do research and keep an open mind.
And in this case, lend a voice to the disenfranchised black natives of Egypt to spread their culture, stories and more during this period.
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