Popol Vuh and the History of the Black Family

Paz! Tau!

Within the Nation of Gods and Earths, we advocate that the Original man is the Blackman, and that "black" comes in shades, which manifest into the various hues of brown, "red" and yellow. Thus, making all people of color- "Original people" and "of the Black family". While it may be the perspective of many in indigenous communities that they are 'not' Black. Likewise, those skeptical that there was indeed vary strong interaction between African and Native American peoples. There seems to be some evidence in the traditions of our people. Such as the Dine (Navajo) creation story of the "Black God" and his arranging of the stars, or as we may find in the Mayan "Popol Vuh", Voltan, who was said to have come East from across the ocean. While many in traditional tribal communities may dismiss the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earths and to a degree the Nation of Islam as politico-cultural-byproducts from the Civil Rights Movements, the spawn of Black Nationalism, our teachings actually draw from earlier traditions in many ways, irregardless to their more recent introduction into the mainstream America, via the 1960's search for identity and unity. The truth is the truth, and will only be seen by those who are pure of heart and open to embracing a clearer understanding of our history on this beautiful planet and more insight into our oneness. Below I have posted an article written by my brother Supreme Understanding Allah (of Bengali descent, for all those who claim that the Five Percenters are an exclusively "African-American" movement). It is very introductory and serves as a platform to begin approaching and exploring of the Popol Vuh.

Popol Vuh: The Community Book
By Supreme U. Allah
April 19, 1999

The “Popol Vuh” is known as “one of the rarest relics of aboriginal thought,” part of the richest mythological legacy of the Americas, that is, that of the Quiche Indians of Guatemala (Bancroft 42). It has been subtitled “The Sacred Book of the Ancient Quiche Maya” (Goetz IX), though a more accurate translation of the title would be “The Book of Community”, of the “Book of the People”. The Popol Vuh contains the popular traditions, mythology, religious beliefs, migrations, and development of the Indian tribes which populated the territory of the present Republic of Guatemala after the fall of the Maya Old Empire. For this reason, it is an invaluable resource to us now, as much so as it was in its antiquity.

The book itself is said to have existed “long ago; but its sight is (now) hidden from the searcher and the thinker (Goetz 18).” It is supposed to have descended from a long tradition of preservation by oral tradition (according to most western scholars), thought it’s inscription by the use of the Mayan hieroglyphs is also quite possible. We are told that the Popol Vuh is indeed an old book which ancient kings and lords would draw upon for inspiration as well as prophecy and divination. It was first transcribed in Latin script from the Quiche language sometime between 1554 and 1558, but the document was not found until 150 years later by Father Ximenez of the Dominican Order in a town the Spanish had renamed ‘Santo Tomas’.

Of the numerous puzzles related to this book, one is the question of the identity of its original author. It is suggested that he was a learned Quiche Indian who had memorized the traditions of his people and, upon learning Spanish from the missionaries, putting them in writing. Father Jimenez (to who we owe the translation of the title as “Book of the People”) came upon the Quiche document, most likely due to his benevolent treatment of the Indians in his attempts at converting them, and took it upon himself to single handedly translate it in whole. It is speculated that he then returned the original book to its owners, but whatever its fate, the original manuscript of the Popol Vuh is now lost to the world.

The mythology found within the Popol Vuh is of an interesting character. It describes the gods (who are clearly man-like, if not simply man) as very human characters, displaying tendencies to act in ways that can be summarized as similar to the Greek gods, and in much the same way, a conflict between man and God is ever-present. There have been numerous attempts to discredit the authenticity of the Popol Vuh by comparing its creation account and some of its later storytelling with that of the Old Testament. Some scholars claim that the native element was overridden by strong Christian influence, and even the narrator of the Popol Vuh himself states “we shall write now under the Law of God and Christianity,” and continues to say, “we shall bring it to light because now the Popol Vuh, as it is called, cannot be seen anymore, in which was clearly seen the coming from the other side of the sea and the narration of our obscurity, and our life was clearly seen (Goetz 79-80).” Was the tradition tainted by missionary influence? Possibly yes, but the creation account could just as easily have been borrowed from the Aztecs as from the Bible, and the Popol Vuh’s description of the waters from which the world emerged are authentically native, though a striking similarity may be evident.

Another problem comes up in the issue of translation. Scholars claim faulty translation as far back as Ximenez’s attempts to record, word-for-word, the Quiche story in Spanish. Numerous versions of the book exts now, each offering slight differences in wording and interpretation. The version I purchased in Mexico describes the creation of the first man as resulting in “a heap of black clay with a stiff, straight neck, a wide, crooked, toothless mouth, and blind, discolored vacant eyes poorly placed at different levels on each side of the face near the temples. (Gomez 9)” The account continues, “However, the new creature had the gift of speech and sounded more harmonious than any music that had ever been heard before under the heavens. (Gomez 9-10)” Though the gods would continue to make three more races of man before finally arriving at one which they were satisfied (the second and third were violently destroyed), the first, the Black race, was allowed to live and given time to multiply and improve their kind.

I have not found this in the other translations I have come across. Another significant fact to note is the repeated use of the color ‘black’. The first speaker at the Black Christ in the Americas symposium in Cosby Hall at Spelman College (November 20th, 1998) mentioned briefly that “Ritual use of the color black was widespread in the Mesoamericas,” and that there were sacred connotations associated with deities and the otherworldly. I have found ‘black’ to be the single most-used color found in the Popol Vuh, with no other color coming near its frequency in use. The first race described is Black, as are pots, stones, animals, and so on, however, the final race is created from yellow and white cornmeal dough, (Gomez 16) and this all may allude to the racial makeup and migrations of the Native Americans. The first two migrations (there is said to have been one 35-40,000 years ago, and another, more definite one 16,000 years ago) from Asia were “Diminutive Blacks” (Van Sertima 253), while a third migration approximately 2000 B.C. lending the Americas its Mongoloid strain. With the Spanish conquest, the white race of man is finally added to the picture. Could the yellow and white formation of man point to his most recent development in the Americas (or in the world)?

The Popol Vuh is full of mysteries and puzzles that lay unsolved; it has been designated the “Bible of the Americas” for all that it contains. One must study it with the same eye for profound insight and esoteric knowledge as any book of its caliber, in order to begin to grasp the spectacular cosmology of the Native American peoples.


Works cited:

1. Bancroft, Hubert Howe. The Native Races of the Pacific States. Vol. 3 San Francisco, 1883.

2. Goetz, Delia, and Sylvanus G. Goetz. The Popol Vuh. Trans. Adrian Racinos. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1950.

3. Gomez, Ermilo Abreu. The Popol Vuh. Yucatan: Dante, 1992.

4. Van Sertima, Ivan., ed. African Prescence in Early America. New Brunswick: Transaction

Racial Profiling: Traffic Stops and Tyranny

Paz! Tau!

Las matematicas de hoy es "poder". En Ingles.., "poder" is "power". It was once said that 'true power', only comes through the truth. It is through the power of truth do we see the essence of what it means to be "powerful". Not powerful in terms of money or material accumulation. Not "power" in terms of forcing your will upon others. Power, as in the ability to influence people, places and things and most importantly, ones' self. The "power" to bring change to our own lives. Unfortunately, we live in a society where power is abused. It is misconstrued as a privilege and not something that beings are endowed with from their creation. Thus, it is dangled in front of our faces and we are taunted and teased by the misconception that we "have no power" over the conditions in our lives, especially in regards to the government's influence in out lives. They create policy that allows them to excercise unnecessary displays of economic, social and cultural heirarchy and which further instigate tension amongst the masses. "Power" is very much in perception. If you are perceived as "powerless" then there is always someone seeking to have "power" over you. And those who think that they have "power" over you are, in the universal scheme of things, really the powerless, because they operate not on their own accord, but on someone else's. They operate under someone's influence and will. Just as the police do. Nevertheless, the disgusting display of abused power is nothing more than a tool or method of instilling paranoia and fear in the population. Can someone say terrorism?

"FIGHT THE POWER!"- Public Enemy, from the 'Apocalypse 91' album

So what power do we have against or over racial profiling? Let's build!

Traffic stops and race

Most traffic stops in Illinois end in a ticket or a warning and nothing more. But in a small percentage—about 1 in 100—the police ask to search the vehicle.

That's called a "consent search." New statistics show that about 9 out of 10 times, drivers—white, black or Hispanic—say OK.

The stats also show that these searches are impressively productive in turning up drugs and other contraband.

But the American Civil Liberties Union and others want these searches stopped because of a disparity revealed in those statistics: The cops ask Hispanics and blacks more frequently to consent to searches than they do whites.

You're three times more likely if you're black and more than twice as likely if you're Hispanic to be subjected to such a search during a traffic stop.

That is unfair and unwarranted, the advocates say. For that matter, police find contraband less often with black and Hispanic motorists than they do with whites.

But let's slow down here. These stats show that such searches are:

•Rare. The number of consent searches was small—slightly more than 23,000 out of the more than 2.4 million traffic stops conducted in the state last year. Police in the state searched 1.9 out of 100 black motorists who were stopped, 0.6 out of 100 whites and 1.5 out of 100 Hispanics.

•Valuable. The searches often find contraband like drugs in vehicles. Almost a quarter of the time, police find contraband in vehicles driven by white drivers. They find it about 14 percent of the time in cars with black drivers and 11 percent of the time with Hispanics. That is a significant success rate.

Racial profiling—stopping motorists because of race or ethnicity—is unjust and repugnant. It is toxic to public confidence in law enforcement and the cornerstone notion that we enjoy equal protection under the law.

We've supported the collection of statewide data on such stops, which began in 2003 at the urging of then-state Sen. Barack Obama and other lawmakers.

And we continue to support more scrutiny into whether police are making stops for reasons that involve race or ethnicity.

The answer, though, isn't to ban all cops from asking motorists to agree to a search. That's a valuable law enforcement tool. The better alternative: Train cops about when searches are warranted and ferret out cops who abuse the authority.

Article originally posted by "The Latin Americanist"; original source- http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0731edit3jul31,0,7794156.story

Africa in Mexico: Like It Or Not

Paz! Tau!

Below is a video and a brief article about the African influence in Mexico.
And while some Mexica continue the same propaganda, that Mexicans are not black, and that only certain towns and neighborhoods have "black blood", the truth continues to remain. These are the same people who give praises and exalt their "European" roots over their African and Indigenous roots. Why? Throughout so-called Latin America, we, the people, are 'Indios y Africanos'. The mindset that states otherwise is a mindset of colonialism. It is the product of 515 years of self-hatred and identity crisis', psychological and emotional rape and servitude. This is not a conspiracy theory and far from a political ploy to simply 'unite' the two groups of Original people under false bonds. It is the reclaiming of a rich and wonderful history shared by both and the re-bonding of those peoples whom who were taken away from that history. We are 'one' because we are Original peoples. Black, brown (red) and yellow....some may have more African or some may have more Indian. Understand that our legacy extends farther back than chattel slavery.





Black Oaxacans Demand Recognition

Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca - Seated in the dusty front yard of her ramshackle home in the El Ciruelo community of Pinotepa Nacional, Elena Ruiz's bright white blouse accents the deep ebony color of her skin. "We (Mexican) blacks are not even in the history books," she laments. "It's as if we were invisible in the eyes of the government."

Further down the road from El Ciruelo is Llano Grande, another predominantly black community of the municipality of Pinotepa Nacional where, says local farmer Fulmencio González Mariche, "there's not even anybody left to see us." A few children play in the street while their grandparents relax nearby in hammocks, but people of working age are noticeably absent. "The young folks have all gone to North Carolina," says González Mariche.

In Collantes, which like El Ciruelo and Llano Grande, is one of the "pueblos negros," or "black towns," of this southwestern corner of Oaxaca, resident doña Fidela Bernal Noyola regretfully admits that "the majority of us never went to school, and as a result, we don't know how to read or write." Trapped in poverty, Bernal Noyola has managed to eke out a meager living by shucking corn, making coconut oil, or hauling gravel from the nearby river.

Corralero is another riverside community of Pinotepa Nacional where "the fish are all gone and the earth is dry," say local residents. Corralero local Anastasio Colón Rodríguez, admits that "nobody really knows where my ancestors came from, although around here they say that our roots are in Africa, which, owing to the color of my skin, I don't deny."

Along the Costa Chica, or "Little Coast" of Oaxaca, lie dozens of small communities inhabited primarily by Mexicans of African descent. Exactly how many African-Mexicans live here, or in the rest of the country, is uncertain, because blacks are not counted as a distinct minority by the federal government. Instead, say community members and leaders, African-Mexicans are largely ignored by government services, marginalized by racist attitudes and, like doña Fidela Bernal Noyola, relegated to lives of poverty and illiteracy on the fringes of society. As a result, many black communities like Llano Grande are experiencing an exodus of young African-Mexicans who are leaving in search of better opportunities elsewhere.

DISCRIMINATION

With indignation, Elena Ruiz asks: "If our ancestors fought for the cause of independence, why is it that Mexican history does not recognize us in textbooks? It's just one more form of discrimination against blacks and it makes us feel bad to know that we have no place in history."

Ruiz is the granddaughter of Artemio Ruiz, one of a group of castaways from an African ship that reportedly made its way to Puerto Minizo, Oaxaca, in the early 20th century. The other members of the African-Mexican community here are descendents of 17th- and 18th-century slaves brought here by the Spanish.

Elena remembers that as a child, others would tease her with the name "negra vendepescado" or "black fishmonger." Sometimes she even used her fists to defend herself, she said, "because the color of my skin is a source of pride, not ridicule."

Gladis Arellanes Herrera, a teacher at the secondary school in the community of Llano Grande Tapextla, related how discrimination and racism has affected her. "My partner, with whom I lived in a common-law marriage, was getting a lot of flak from his family," she says. "They would tell him: 'Are you really going to marry a black? Those blacks have some really ugly customs, you know,' and so he left me with a child that he doesn't even know."

LOSS OF IDENTITY

Obdulio Serrano Morales, a 75-year-old fisherman from Corralero, said he has little idea of his ancestry. "I don't know anything; no one has ever told us the story about how our ancestors got here," he says. "All I know is that this is where I was born."

The organization Mexico Negro, or "Black Mexico," is now working to help African-Mexicans like Serrano Morales to learn about their heritage. Pedro Baños, director of the local cultural center and a researcher for Mexico Negro, says that the first Africans arrived at Costa Chica on the southwest corner of Oaxaca state 470 years ago as slaves who were brought to pick cotton. Many died from disease upon arrival, he says.

The Africans who came to this area were primarily from the Congo, Mozambique and Angola, says Baños. His organization is also working to help the black community recognize its rights and to embrace its cultural identity.

"The problem of the loss of cultural identity, along with that of racial discrimination, is that even some black people will deny their own racial heritage," said Elena Ruiz.

Gladis Arellanes Herrera, the Llano Grande teacher, recalled that when she finished her master's degree, her mother told her: "Now you are old enough to marry, but please don't marry another black. Just imagine what that would mean for your children."

POVERTY

According to Pedro Baños, the black population of the Costa Chica is slowly beginning to die out due to a poverty-driven exodus. "Since about four years ago, there has been a large migration of people trying to escape the bleak economic situation," he says. Today Baños estimates that there are little more than 5,000 people of direct African lineage left on the Costa Chica, and another 15,000 of mixed AfricanMexican descent.

"People are leaving because there's no work here," says Higinio Guillermo Verónica Cruz, a municipal representative from Tapextla who only recently returned from a five-year stint as a migrant laborer in North Carolina. "The cornfield is no longer producing, and so there's no money to be made here."

In the "pueblos negros," the lack of proper sanitation is alarming. "There's no sewage system nor waste treatment centers. The health clinics don't have doctors nor medicine. You have to drink from the wells because there's no other source of potable water, and the dusty roads and dusty floors of most homes make the children sick with bronchitis," says Verónica Cruz.

Surrounded by this scenario, Fulmencio González Mariche sits at his Llano Grande home beside his bed-ridden wife, waiting for the traveling doctor to make his visit to the town. He's at least 30 days late. "There's not even anybody left to see us," repeats the elderly farmer.

from: http://www.banderasnews.com/0506/edat-oaxacans.htm

Palante! Despite the Propaganda

The following article was originally posted by 'Vivirlatino' and then cross-posted by 'The Latin Americanist', I wanted to post it and share it as well. It is an interesting and important topic to be discussed.

It is an issue that reveals the propaganda that is used and can be used against us within this society. As the article states, a larger issue is the perpetuating of the stereotype as so-called Latina women as hyper-sexual, lustful baby-makers. A perspective that Anglos have long carried with them in their relationships with our people. We must only harken back to the days in Puerto Rico of forced sterilizations and experimenting of the birth control on Original women. Also, the large numbers of Native American women who were forcefully sterilized throughout the United States. We need to continue to educate our people and provide for them so that we can raise our babies in the best conditions possible. We should continue to reach out and aid our sisters in need. Not just to avoid being labeled or prevent an issue from being used as propaganda against us. But so that we can do what's right and what's best for our ninos. Of course we want to resist, and fight against the labels and stereotypes projected upon us. But it is better to have understanding then it is to be understood. First and foremost, our ways, words and actions should be concentrated on the progress of our families and our communities. So that we can show our children ways to be successful within this society, without sacrificing la cultura, and so that they do not simply repeat whatever efforts we have made in the struggle. We have to create avenues for this to be possible.

Those who seek to do so, will continue on teaching falsehoods about us and slandering our people on the world stage. They will continue to fabricate and formulate propaganda against us to mislead the masses. They will continue to be 'them'. We need to continue to be 'us'. And still, be wise. La matematica de hoy es 'sabiduria'.

Making Babies is The Cause of Latino Population Growth, Not Immigration (and no one else is concerned with this framing?)

We'll say it once and I'll say it again, all those new brown faces in your hood are not coming from across the border. They are being born here. A study done out of the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute shows that the growth in the Latino population has to do with births increasing, not immigration.

This natural increase — more births than deaths — is accelerating among Hispanics in the USA because they are younger than the U.S. population as a whole. Their median age is 27.4, compared with 37.9 overall, 40.8 for whites, 35.4 for Asians and 31.1 for blacks.

And while the blogosphere and the media is using this study as an opportunity to say, "I told you so" to anti-immigration activists, My concern is another direction that this information could be used in.

There is a growing resurgence of the stereotype of Latina women as prolific breeders, reducing the role and image of mujeres to animals concerned with feeding their hot blooded lust and then feeding the babies that follow. There is a growing concern in the anti-immigrant movement with "anchor-babies", a disgusting way of describing children born in the U.S to undocumented women with the idea that these children will allow the women to stay in the U.S. or to take the fucked up analogy, anchor them to the U.S.


For declining counties, many in the Great Plains, the growth in young Hispanics may be the only way out of a population spiral.

"Demographically, they can't recover unless something like this happens," Johnson says. "There's no way older white populations can replace themselves."

Because more than half of births to Hispanic immigrants are to low-income women who have no high school degree, a natural population increase challenges communities, says Steve Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, which promotes limits on immigration.

"It's a huge growth in low-income population and low tax payments," he says. "If the town is not viable economically, immigration is not going to fix that problem."


Along with the image of the perpetually hot, knocked up mami, comes the image of what people expect to happen after children are born. These Latina women and their children are assumed to go onto the welfare rolls, to overwhelm the public school system, the change the language and way people communicate.
Just read some of the comments under the original USA Today article (if you can keep from going off).

Immigration activists and all (hey feminists want a cause to get behind), need to be on point for a resurgence of eugenicist calls that only certain people, meeting certain requirements should have babies (these requirements of course based on the intersections of race and class). Be prepared for calls for mass sterilizations and forced birth control.

There is no analysis of what families consume more. Be prepared for so called environmentalist pointing their green fingers at brown mamis and their babies.