I am sick and tired of hearing Black Americans clinging on to this distortion of Africa for the sake of identity. I really want to know which dogmatic Afrocentrist developed this fantasy that Blacks are the descendants of Egyptians. This has really been blowing my mind since middle because one would think by now that people would realize that the Transatlantic Slave Trade didn't pass through Egypt.
Besides this logic, I decided to look a little deeper. Media has definitely played a role in why many Blacks adopt this way of thinking. For one, Africa is illustrated as one homogeneous country filled with poverty, war, and despair. Although this is not completely correct, this is the way the majority of Americans view Africa.
Moreover, since slavery Blacks have separated themselves from any type of negative portrayal of being "African". They were stripped of their culture and taught that being African was wrong, backwards, and less than. Fast forward to the Civil Rights Era. During this time period you see many Blacks attempting to get back to their "roots". In this strong effort, Blacks attempted to reclaim Africa but at that time Egypt was the only positive image of Africa. The idea that Blacks were descendants from "pharaohs" and "kings and queens" were passed down to this generation in an effort to boost the self esteem of Blacks.
I feel that most of my frustrations come from the fact that I'm West African. I'll admit, it hurts my ego a bit to see the descendant of an Ashanti warrior claim he was a "pharaoh" or to see the descendant of a Yoruba princess shout to the high heavens that she is a "Nubian queen". Ask yourself- what is wrong with being Sub-Saharan African? Why is it cool to be Egyptian but not Ghanaian or Congolese? We as conscious Black people claim to uncondition ourselves from a colonial mentality but how far have we actually come?~