What is History

What is history? It should not be his story – the propaganda of the victors, but a record of true facts. But history is the record of the victorious. The oppressors paint themselves for future generations as the conquerors, discoverers and explorers. Will we remember Australia for the Aborigines or Home and Away and Kylie’s butt? I fear for the latter. When we think of America do we think of the Sioux and Pawnee, the Apache and the Navaho? Or do we think of John Wayne, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. It is strange that the first set of people have been written out of history and remain only in black and white films or 4 hour Oscar laden epics with half an hour profound acceptance speeches, while there directors count all the money to the bank and the subjects they talk about suffer on reservations. The suffering goes on.

And conversely when we think of Britain do we think of Churchill, Dickens, Shakespeare and Chaucer or do we think of Equiano, Soubise, Sancho, Cugano, Mary Prince, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Moody and Mr Marcus Mosiah Garvey. It appears that immigration-creating-exclusive- national- status, works only in one direction. Black to white not white to black. Black immigrants never acquire true national status. But white immigrants always do.

On the international level the collective amnesia is profound, past black civilisations like Kemet, Carthage, Timbuctoo, Nubia, Nok are forgotten. You think someone who doesn’t look you built them, but it was you. They say that black people have no history, but the books are full of black history, you’ve just need a translator to decipher the lies from the falsehood to get to it.