Colorism In Africa: ‘Racism Is About The Color Of Your Mind Not Your Skin’ – OpEd |
The name Ethiopia comes from the Greek words “athio” / burn and “ops” face. It therefore means land of scorched faces. The former name of Ethiopia was Abyssinia possibly from the Arabic word “habeshi” Ethiopia refers to people whose faces have been darkened by the sun, Ethiopians have always been black. In Hebrew version of the Old Testament (torah)it is named as Cush (Genesis 2:13, Kings 19:9, Esther 1:1, Job 28:19) “Princes shall come out of Egypt, Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.” (Psalms 68.3,87.4) From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. My worshippers, my disperse ones, will bring my offerings (Zephaniah 3:10).
This is the name, (Ethiopia) reverberates in the bible either as’ Cush’ and translated version ‘Ethiopia.’ The English version of Cush has been replaced by Ethiopia but the Hebrew remains with the Cush. It was renamed as Ethiopic in the 4th century. In the New Testament, the Greek term Anthiopic (Ethiopic) does occur many times, referring to a servant of Candice or Kentakes.
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin or leopard his spots “asked Jeremiah (38:7-14), Moses who was born and educated in Egypt married an Ethiopian. “And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian women whom he had married for he had married an Ethiopian women (Numbers 12:11-16)
“Few other nations are mentioned in ancient European literature as much as Ethiopia and even fewer as highly esteemed. Ethiopians are first esteemed in the oldest Greek texts, Homers Iliad (circa 800 Bc ) as a place frequented by the Greek gods. Homer states “twelve for Jupiters stay with the Ethiopians, at whose ruin Thetis prefers her petition “and “Zeus is at Oceans River with Ethiopians feasting, he and all the heaven-dwellers.”
Homer also says “Tithonus was the son of Laemodon, King of Troy and the Nymph Strymo . He was and extremely handsome youth and when Eos (Dawn) first saw him she fell in love with him and brought him to her palace by the stream of Ocean in Ethiopia. They had two children. … one became king of Arabia … he took a force of Ethiopians to Troy and died while fighting the Greeks 1 “To wash an Ethiopian white” was a common expression in the Greek and roman world used to describe gentile labors or to illustrate unchangeable nature. The Greek historian Herodes used Ethiopia to refer to all the physical characteristics and provide great detail about traditions of Ethiopians: “the men are taller, handsomer, burnt skin curly haired and longer lived than anywhere else. The Ethiopians were clothed in the skins of leopards and lions.” The King Solomon’s version of the Songs of Solomon (1.6) says “Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.”
The biblical and early B.C history shows that there were Ethiopians, and they were black and were part of the holy scripture and the bloodline of the holy people, the foundation of the three major religions. Black people were holy, blessed, respected and part of the biblical and early history. Black was beauty: they were pharaohs, they were prophets, they were people of wisdom and they were blessed divinely by God. The history of Ethiopians, Aettiopic, Cush proves that irrevocably. The fundamental principle of Islam is that all human beings are equal. In the sight of Allah. Bilal ibn Rabah a black Abyssinian (Ethiopian) was one of the most beloved and significant companions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who became the first Muezzin (caller to prayer) in Islam. The Prophet is said to have heard Bilal’s footsteps in paradise. The story of Bilal’s Footsteps in Paradise is rooted in Islamic tradition, particularly in the hadith narrated by Abu Huraira (Hurairah) one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Not from the ancient world. “Few other nations are mentioned in ancient European literature as much as Ethiopia, and even fewer are as highly esteemed. Ethiopia is first mentioned with honor in the oldest Greek texts, Homer’s Iliad (circa 800 BC), as a place frequented by the Greek gods.” 1 Even though there were symbols of black demons, and black was associated with death and darkness, there was no anti-Black sentiment either in ancient Greece or among the early Christians. 2 There were long-term contacts with Blacks, and an appreciation of the beauty of Blackness. Both Whites and Blacks were slaves in the Middle East and in the Greek and Roman civilizations. Blacks and slaves were not synonymous. Black immigrants were welcomed in any society. In every aspect of life, both material and spiritual, they were assimilated. Color was never the reason for exclusion. The ancient world was free of the “curse of acute color-consciousness, attended by all the raw passion and social problems that cluster around it.” 3 It is difficult to pinpoint a timeline when color prejudice grew, but whenever that was, it wasn’t in the ancient world. “The Christian vision of the world in which ‘there is no question of Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman’ owes not a little to earlier views of man in which color played no significant role.” 4
White racism is supported by and entrenched in the belief that Jesus Christ was White. This has affected the Black psyche in some significant ways and contributed to the lack of a Black sense of pride, confidence, self-image, and esteem to the extent that some sincerely believe that White people as a race are better and being White is better than being Black. In a 1971 interview, heavyweight champion Mohammed Ali describes how he fell into this thinking as a boy: And I always asked my mother, I said, “Mother, how come is everything white? Why is Jesus’ white with blonde hair and blue eyes? Why is the Lord’s Supper all-white men? The angels are white and, oh, Mary, and even the angels? … I said, “Oh, I know, if the white folks were in heaven, too, then the black angels were in the kitchen preparing the milk and honey.5… Black people have been brainwashed. How we’ve been taught to love........