Afrika, for name's sake!

To be called an Afrikan when I was growing up in Alabama was much worse than being
called a "nigger." And to be called a "black Afrikan" was a sign of extreme derision.
--Andrew Billingsley, 1968

AFRIKA - the birthplace of all human beings and the MamaLand of Black People - is a
name that many fear being accepted by Blacks, and is a name that many Blacks are
ashamed to accept. Known by some and disbelieved by others, AFRIKA as a name holds
vast potential power, particularly if embraced by the nearly billion Blacks around the
world.

The term AFRIKA is surrounded with controversy among many Blacks. Many say that it
is not the original name for the 12 million square mile continent. Others claim that the
name came from a white man (Leo Johannes Africanus). While some others among us
simply believe the false history pushed by racist scholars about AFRIKA being a wild
jungle populated with cannibals and rock worshipping savages, and consequently shun
the name.

But, what's the truth about AFRIKA?

As far as AFRIKA being named after a white man, this is false. Leo Johannes Africanus,
the reputed white man, was actually a Moor (Black Muslim) whose birth name was Al-
Hassan ibn Muhammad al-Wizaz al-Fasi. This Black man was kidnapped and enslaved in
Italy where he was Christianized and re-named "John the Afrikan." (Remember they tried
to make Kunta Kinte identify as Toby?) Johannes, of course, escaped from slavery and
restored his birth name, and wrote a magnificent history of the Mali and Songhay empires
in West Afrika. He was born in 1493 and died around 1552.

Ethiopian-born scholar Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan, in his important book BLACK MAN
OF THE NILE, says he found evidence that the ancient Ethiopians and Moors referred to
the continent as Alkebulan. On the other hand, his close colleague Dr. John Henrik Clarke
points out that AFRIKA was coined by the Roman conquerors of North Afrika,
particularly the region of Carthage (Khart Haddas); the name is said to derive from
"Afri," the name of a small and obscure AFRIKAN tribe.

Finally, we have the testimony of the famed European Egyptologist, dr. Gerald Massey,
who claims that the term AFRIKA can be traced to "Af-rui-ka," which he says means
"birthplace" in the language of the Egyptians (Kemites).

Arriving at the truth about AFRIKA aint easy. But one thing that is certain is that
AFRIKA(N) aint the same as NIGGA. For all the negative attributes bestowed on the
term AFRIKA, nearly all of them resulted from a falsified history of Black People and
our MamaLand by white his-storians. Nigga, on the other hand, is a common synonym
for Slave. Why? Because the first Niggaz were Slaves. Moreover, "Nigga" come from a
European language with a European definition:
Nigga > Negro, the Spanish word for Black > Black in English means Death, evil,
Unlucky, Dirty, Outcast, etc.

Those who know the truth about AFRIKA spell it with a "k." Those who deride the term
and associate it with historical lies spell it with a "c" (Afrikca). The term need not be
abandoned, but embraced with an honest understanding of the Land, the History and the
People. We are AFRIKA!