 2019 was declared as the year of return I'm not returning I'm from Ghana you've returned long time ago it's not 2019 that you need to return you're based in Ghana right now I want to know your opinion about the year of return you know first off I'd like to congratulate the government for at least doing something to try to reach out to Africans you know of the diaspora Africans who are born elsewhere so forth and so on now I've given a few talks about this they had a year of return conference and then also the heritage and cultural society association and for both of those you know what I dealt with was this whole idea 400 years and starting our count at 1619 is not accurate it's not accurate at all because when we look at the enslavement of black people and at least in terms of transatlantic you have to look at 1441 this went to Portuguese under the charge of Henry the Navigator came and started to enslave black people this guy and on towel Gonzales and Nuno Trestal so on towel Gonzales he enslaved a black man or black woman and then was later joined by Nuno Trestal and then they enslaved others and then they took them across the Atlantic this time to Portugal right now in 1444 1445 you had others lancero de frete's also enslaving over 200 black people and then again taking them to Portugal so I didn't walk there they of course that's transatlantic now if we now fast forward you can look at 1502 so this is the first time that you have an African who is shipped across to the so-called New World now for those who are counting 1502 is long before 1619 now you can also look at the very first revolt of enslaved Africans this is 1526 this was in what they call Spanish Florida it's thought to be around the Georgia South Carolina area so of course that's now what is part of the United States but what is going on with this so-called 400 years is that we're excluding all the half million Africans who enslaved before 1619 because where they were dropped off didn't just happen to be under British control at that point in time now what's significant about that particular colony called San Miguel de Guadalpe is that they not only had our revolution they were successful and they drove the Spanish out and they became the first African settlers in the modern era now say modern era because if you look at Nana Mansa Musa right he was known for giving an interview with Alomari among other things he was known for being rich for making a Hajj pilgrimage but on his way back he was interviewed by an Arab historian called Alomari and when he was asked how he became the Mansa which is the title he said that he became the Mansa because his maternal uncle had a whole fleet of ships made in order to cross the Atlantic the first time they almost got there but there was a storm they got caught up in a whirlpool but he and his ship were able to return from there he commissioned a whole larger fleet of ships to go across the Atlantic after a few years they realized that he wasn't coming back so he effectively abdicated the throne this is in 1311 right so here we have documented evidence written evidence of Africans sailing across the Atlantic in 1311 and this is how Mansa Musa himself is even saying that's how I became the ruler if not for that I wouldn't even be a ruler right so that's even longer for that but now to come back to transatlantic enslavement when I say the modern era that 1526 Samuel Gondalpe they ended up staying there and they became the very first permanent settlers if we want to say in the modern era now in that same year you had King Alfonso the first so here is an African in what is now referred to as Congo and he wrote a letter to King Jalof Portugal where he was basically begging them to stop enslaving all of his people he said they're even enslaving noblemen my my brothers and sisters they're being enslaved on Mars you understand because Portugal of course they went to you know what used to be the kingdom of Congo which spreads across Angola Congo Censhasa Congo Brazzaville Gabon all of that area was one kingdom before it's chopped up but they ended up being taken to Brazil which is why they're even more black people in Brazil than there are in the United Snakes or any of these other places because it was so much of a longer time again if we go to 1570 and I'm focusing not just on all the places I'm focusing on the revolutions so 1570 Nana Gaspar Young and I say Nana out of respect because this is an ancestor Nana Gaspar Young in Vera Cruz New Spain this is what they now referred to as Mexico so he had a revolution and he started his own free republic that still exists to this day you understand so you can actually go there so you have African people liberating themselves and for those who are keeping track 1570 is again what before 1619 again you can look at our Palmaras in the late 1500s early 1600s before 1619 this is a quilombo and that's what they were referred to in Brazil because it's coming from the Kimbundu language spoken in Angola and places contiguous to that also the same word exists in Kikongo so again you have Africans who are establishing their own free societies and when I say these are the first free societies because to date enslavement hasn't been abolished in the United Snicks if you look at the 13th Amendment it says slavery shall not exist except whereas the party has been punished for a crime this means that slavery exists all we have to do is say you're a criminal you don't have to be one you will be working for free so your HP or Dell all of them they fund this privatized prison complex and we can continue on if you look at 1605 here you have Palenque de San Basilio and this is Nana Bincos Bjojo and what's now modern day Colombia and they started their own Palenque which is again another free society and they found that treaty in 1605 because the Spaniards colonial settlers were not able to defeat them eventually that treaty was betrayed and then they you know hung Nana Bincos Bjojo and then they quartered him ripped his body up in the four parts which is what white people have been doing to us for quite some time now but what I'm driving at us all of these different cases are long before 1619 and there's an African understanding that a person is not dead until they're forgotten so what we do when we start at 1619 is we erase effectively the entire memory of over half a million African people who enslaved before that just on the basis of this fraud they call it Jamestown to Jamestown now first off the point of disembarkation wasn't Jamestown it was a place called Point Comfort you understand which is about 53 miles away from where Jamestown is and it you get to it long before you get to Jamestown if you're traveling you know up the river that's one so that's not the point of disembarkation but also the point of embarkation was not Jamestown here either it was actually what used to be the kingdom of Queen and Zinga you know our great ancestor so they were taken from what's now modern day Angola and they were taken to Point Comfort you understand so you have in don't go to Point Comfort apparently that doesn't have the same room to it as Jamestown the Jamestown but the thing is can we base what we're doing on truth rather than on you know catchy fraud so this is what we're getting at you mean that the year of return whole thing is a fraud I want to say you know if we want to just encapsulate it we couldn't say that I think the thing that's real about it is that you have African people who are actually trying to connect to Africa you know because of this thing which is you know some of the critiques have been that it's based on just tourism you're saying year of return as opposed to year of repatriation you know are we just supposed to come here and give money and then go back or are we going to get citizenship are we going to get something substance substantive you know from this so you know I think that it's a good initiative but I don't think it has to be based on this fraud of 400 years because even when people are doing that they're doing this on the basis of some biblical 400 years and wilderness or whatever the enslaved whatever the thing is and I actually gave a talk on what was Israel in relation to black people because you have so many people who you know they read this Bible and then they want to identify with the protagonist in the Bible now according to Nana Manetho quoted in Josephus Flavius that you had a group of Eurasians coming from the continent of Eurasia and they invaded into the land of black people they were called Hixos and they came in they raped they murdered they killed they destroyed and eventually they were driven out by Nana Seken and Retal by Nana Kamos and eventually Nana Yamos you can go and see his body right now in the museum at Waset what they now call Luxor the African who drove them out and he says that these Hixos when they were driven out they went on over 200,000 of them to found the town in Judea called Jerusalem you understand so what he's saying is based on historical documentation there was no exodus it was actually an expulsion they came as invaders and then they were driven out in the very first known war of black liberation in the entire world by our righteous ancestors but because we're not getting our side of the story as documented at that time you get after the fact these you know Hixos who now want to say oh look we were enslaved we were oppressed and when you know we're given this promised land but that's not what any historical texts and you can read the Stella of Nesubiti Kamos that documents what went on at that time you can read Nana Yamos son of Abana who documents how they prosecuted that war and since then there's actually been archaeological evidence uncovered that actually shows all the places that were mentioned in the text that you can actually find the silos that house the grain for the Khmer Tiu soldiers the black soldiers so when you actually look at how these Hixos they were called Amu have they actually depicted at that point in time they look exactly like the non-black who have been fighting against us and killing us and enslaving us for thousands and thousands of years so once we know this we'll stop identifying with our enemies of ancient times and rather identify with ourselves that's the Khmer Tiu that's the black people so nowadays you have black people who want to be these so-called Hebrews which are actually Hixos invaders and you have whites who are depicting themselves in Hollywood movies as Khmer Tiu which it doesn't make any sense that's the reason why they like to use the word ancient Egyptians because if they ever started using the word Khmer Tiu then you have to ask well what's that well they'll try to tell you oh Khmer just means the black soil the soil was black that's what it meant they say hold on we got you there too because if you read the mythology of the Khmer Tiu they say that they are made by Canum out of that black soil so the whole even mythology of being made out of soil is coming from this exact same black soil so we got you even when they try to perpetrate another fraud when you can read the text yourself you know it falls apart from whatever you've said today I will agree with you that the year of return is a fraud let's talk about African Americans repatriating back home they don't have visa free you have to pay for visa if you really want them to come back home you don't think they have to get visa free if it's really the year of return you don't think so well first off recently I was interviewed by BBC and they use the term African American and I spoke to the author in very harsh terms okay and actually issued a takedown notice I have you know my colleague issue a takedown notice to the BBC because there's there are few terms that I found more insulting than being called any type of American okay as Nana Malcolm X said if you are American you wouldn't be cracked upside your head you wouldn't be put into prison you wouldn't be second-class citizens you know all of these things that we understand so once we understand this then we understand that you know we're not Americans and we want we didn't land on Plymouth Rock Plymouth Rock landed on us you understand so for us we're Africans we may be born in America we may be based in America but we are Africans and this is even why you know I like to use the term commit to you not only in the ancient context but in the modern context or any word that means black people because once you understand that commit to you means black people this means that the commit to you and Haiti are also commit to you this means that commit to you in Jamaica are also commit to you so if we use our ancient terms our own terms you understand because even there's this controversy of you know where's the word Africa coming from you understand some say it comes from if run which are caves that are located there in the Sahara some say oh it comes from a preke you know Greek for sunny or Phoenician meaning without cold others say it comes from Leo africanis that doesn't make sense because they're lying of Africa that means you have to have something called Africa before you can say this is a line of Africa some say it comes from Scipio africanis which means the one who is victorious over Africa but what we do know regardless of the etymological controversy if some say it's Africa which is a Berber you know ethnic group there now regardless of that we know that it comes into the English language through Latin right yeah once we understand this and this is after the Second Punic Wars you have the Romans who are finally able to defeat Carthada what they call Cartage and Nana Hannibal and once they do this they refer to their new newly conquered province as Africa the province of Africa and this is how it comes to the English language now there's a proverb in Kiswahili they say okirithi Jinnah Riddina Mamboiaki it translates to one who adopts a name must also inherit it's a face this means that if we're adopting the name of a colony of Rome then we shouldn't be very surprised if we're behaving in ways that are quite anti- black you understand yeah in the sense of you know if Notre Dame Cathedral burns down you have all these traditional rulers and governments who are saying let's donate money to rebuild Notre Dame well this is what we'd expect from Roman provincialists to do because you consider yourself to be that's the mother country and we're a colony of them let's go contribute to the mother country but once we start using the word Kimit again in the deepest sense not as the narrow nation state but in the deepest sense of what it really means land of black people then where I'm standing right now is also Kimit you understand West Papua New Guinea is also Kimit you know Mekamui what they call Gu Bougainville is also Kimit Jamaica is also Kimit all the lands of black people have to come together and more so the black people have to come together so some people say Africa unite I don't say that I say Africans unite black people regardless of location have to come together in order to defeat our non-black enemies just as it's been ever since the very first recorded military document in the history of the world the autobiography of Nana Winnie where he says that they're bringing together all black people to take military action against these Eurasians so he mentions those in Kinsejeru, Wawaad, Irjet, Majai, all the Nubians upper and lower Kimit east and west of the Nile all black people are coming together to take military action against these same Eurasians so for those who think this is a modern thing it started after slavery so forth and so on they say we just became black as a reaction to whites calling themselves white well some of us are literate some of us can read the actual text and we can go back to the pyramid text and another 4,200 years ago it says that you stand as the apus bull in front of the Khmer to you which means black people so our understanding of being black people goes back to the most ancient times and even Usir they say that after you pass the judgment and your heart is weighed then Usir who's called Kim Ur which is the great black then you yourself will aspire to be also like Usir and call yourself one of the great blacks just like that so this is not necessarily where we are it's the ideal that blackness is seen as completion it's seen as perfection and that's in our African world view and in our African languages this is like a great lectures for me man like you know it's my first time learning so much was I'm doing a video so thank you so much Medasi in Swahili we say Asantisana and in Ethiopia we say Amasa Ganalo that's all I know Thank you so much Existing