American Blacks and the Egypt-Israel peace conference
/n Mark Hyman
Black America should look closely
at ihe f ramework For Peace recently
signed by the heads o f the state o f
Israel and Egypt, First, o f course,
peace in the Middle East can well
mean w orld
peace. Second,
American Blacks are descendents of
both the Egyptians and the Israelites.
From three thousand years ago,
Blacks were in the fabric of Egyptian
and Arab lile. They were the Egyp
tians themselves. Later, they became
almost equally involved in the fabric
of Jewish life.
While touring the Middle East two
years ago, I saw concrete evidences
of full Black involvement in Egyp
tian life during antiquity. However,
the present day teeming crowds on
the streets o f Cairo look more like
Lenox Avenue than Fifth Avenue.
As for skin color, twenty years ago in
M ontgom ery, President Sadat o f
Egypt would have sat in the back of
the bus. Statues, relics, artifacts, ar,
pieces on the wall o f the pyramids
show Blackness; Blackness to the
point that the grandmother o f King
Tut, now on popular American tour,
was Queen T iy i, a coal Black
woman. Further, Greek historian
Herodotus visited Egypt in the sixth
century before Christ and described
the Egyptians as dark with wooly
hair. He also recorded eighteen
Black African kings who ruled mighty
Egypt during her glorious history.
I oday the works o f some early
racist European historians are being
overturned and the revelations o f
honest writers and researchers are
becoming more available. There are
the biased ones who tried to make
Caucasians out o f the Black and
brown Egyptians. It was in 1793
when Count Constantine Francois
Volney,
French skeptic and
historian, walked amid *he natives o f
Egypt in the shadows of the Great
Spinx and the Great Pyramids o f
Khul'u and Kizeh. He was amazed at
the people and their Black and
brown skins, broad flat noses and
flattened mouths. W ith heavy guilt
he wrote: “ How we are astonished
when we reflect that to the race o f
Negroes, at present our slaves, and
the object o f our contempt, we owe
are arts and sciences.”
Egyptian records also show the list
o f Black Cushite kings o f Egypt’ s
T w e n ty -F ifth Dynasty. Kashta
conquered the great nation as far as
Thebes. P iankhy completed the
conquest and ruled; follow ed by
Shabaka, Taharka and Tanutamon.
H U G H E S M E M O R IA L U N IT E D M E T H O D IS T C H U R C H
REV AUSTIN V RAY MINISTER
1,9
111 N.E. FAILING
D U I-A -P rsyer 2X4-06X4
Church School 9:45 a
Worship 11:0« a.m. Office 2X1-2332
Specializing In
Individual • Marriage and Family • Group Therapy
"The Church W here No Stranger Feels Strange”
Sixty-Third National Assembly
Convention
for the Church Of The Living God, Temple #3
The Pillar And Ground Of The Truth
on October 10-15, 1978
at Gethsemane Church Of God In Christ
810 N.E. Failing Street, Portland, Oregon
(We invite you to come be a part of —
this National Service)
Banquet will be held on October 10, 1978. At Jantzen Beach Thunderbird
Motor Inn, 1401 N. Hayden Island Drive, 7:30p.m.
A lovely dinner and wonderful entertainment, by Naomi Wrighten, and
the Gospel Lights, along with the Gospel Trumpets, a professional local
group, and others.
If you desire to come please call Naomi Wrighten, 287-7527 for your
reservation by October 7, 1978. No reservations will be taken after that
date I
King Tutankhamun as a child.
A ll were fighting pharoahs who had
to constantly defend Egypt against
the Assyrians from the east.
Numerous sources present an
equal number o f viewpoints about
the interrelationships o f Jews and
Blacks during a ntiquity. Rudolph
Windsor in his book “ From Babylon
To Tim buctu,” says Terah, father o f
the first Jew (Abraham) came from
the Land o f U r o f Chaldees. The
Chaldeans were one o f the Cushite
tribes, which means Black, and who
were descendents o f Cush, the son o f
Ham. Today in Ethiopia, Asia and in
Israel itself are populations o f Black
Jews called Falashas. They claim
absolute and direct lineage to
Abraham. They base their claim on
the fact that after M enlik, son o f
Solomon and Sheba, visited the king
in Judea, he sent back to Ethiopia
several sons o f prominent leaders o f
Jerusalem. The young men were to
teu?h the Ethiopians the tenets o f the
God o f Judah. These men inter
married and raised their families.
The second set o f claimants are the
descendents o f King Solomon o f
Judah and Queen Makeda of Sheba.
The late H aile Selassie was sup
posedly the last o f this line. The Lion
o f Judah and Kings o f Kings, as he
was titled, could trace his linage back
to this famous union.
Some researchers claim the line
was broken, but Selassie said no.
They are the descendents o f the
original Axum ite kingdom which
traced their kings back to Ori in 481
B.C. to Selassie in 1930 A.D .
To tread dangerously, we go to the
Bible where the wife o f Moses, Zip-
porah was the daughter o f a Black
African. O f course, throughout the
EXODUS
aru /
tea/m s-n / M entet
PORTLAND. OREGON 9721 1
284-7997
FACTS OF IMPORTANCE
OCTOBER 1978
ALLEN TEMPLE CME CHURCH
Corner ol Xth and Skidmore
Sunday School 9:30 a.m.
Sunday Worship 11:00 a.m.
Christian Youth Fellowship 6:1X1 p.m.
ISecond and Fourth Sundays)
Reverend Thomas L. Strayhand. Minister
ST. ANDREWS CATHOLIC CHURCH
MRi N .E . Alberta Street
Reverend Bertram Griffin, Pastor
2X1 4429
Masses:
5:00 p.m. Vigil -- Saturday
10:00 a.m. Choir -- Sunday
12:00 p.m. Folk - Sunday
ST. ANDREW C O M M U NITY SCHOOL
4919 N .E . 9th Ave.
Norita Kelly, Principal
Phone: 2X4-1620
Grades I through X
New Hope Missionary Baptist Church
REVEREND A. BERNARD DEVERS. PASTOR
THE CHURCH DESIGNED TO MEET YOUR NEED
Sunday School
Morning W orship
9:30 a.m.
10:30 a.m.
Evening Service 2nd, 4th and
5th Sundays
Communion 1st Sunday
Wed. - Family P rayer Meeting
and Bible Study
Friday - Brotherhood
Fellowship Service with
Morning Star 3rd Sunday
7:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
7:30 p.m.
7:00 p.m.
Prayer and Pastor Phone: 2X1-«476
Church Phone: 2X1-0163
3 7 2 5 N. Gantenbeln Avenue, Portland, Oregon 9 7 2 2 7
O N E PLANET
O N E PEOPLE
PLEASE
•••I
°Bahá’í
"Taith
>
4.
2 8 4 -4 7 4 6 or 281-7915
Cleaver describes
coaversion
1518 N E KILLINGSWORTH
VOLUME V
Bible, Blacks figured significantly . .
. until King James and his underlings
wrote out a lo t o f Black par
ticipation.
Blacks and Jews fought with each
other, against each other, and for
each other. In the la tte r case,
Taharka (we mentioned him earlier)
than Pharoah in E gypt, led an
E thiopian army in support o f
Hezikiah against Assyrian King Sen-
narcherib. Conversely pow erful
Ethiopian General Zerah stormed in
to Judah against the smaller army of
Asa, with a million men. However,
when they faced each other at
Mareshah, the Lord stepped in and
made it no contest. “ So the Lord
smote the Ethiopians before Asa,
and before Judah; and the
Ethiopeans fled.” Historians place
this engagement at 941 B.C.
When Joseph became prim e
minister o f Egypt, he took on an
Egyptian name and m arried the
daughter o f an African priest.
Scores of Black churches, schools
and colleges in America are named
after Simon the Black Cyrenian who
helped Jesus carry the cross.
The final connection to be men
tioned is the one o f trade. Solomon
sent his ships into Black A frican
countries to purchase the valuable
products o f the rich mines and lush
green forests. He met Sheba through
the famous E th io p ia n merchant
Tamrin from whom the king bought
some o f the “ green gold o f
Ethiopia.”
In view o f these facts, the logical
question is: What on earth happened
to bring the Black people o f America
from the respected world position
among the ancients and the Middle
Ages (we did not touch on that) to
the critical, struggling battle for sur
vival?
The most decisive act was the
willingness o f Ezana, a fourth cen
tury Ethiopian emperor, to make
Christianity the official religion o f
his country. In so doing, he gave the
white European Christians the first
foothold in Africa. The rest is awful
history.
Yet the meeting o f Anwar Sadat
and Menachin Begin and the signing
o f the fragile but hope-inspiring
Framework For Peace is not a casual
incident for American Blacks. It is
quite possible that if Ezana had not
accepted Christianity, had the desert
. not continued to shrink, choking the
African cities and villages, had not
the Mohammedans w ith superior
numbers and the Europeans with
superior firepower not come . . . the
fram ew ork m ight not have been
necessary.
Portland Observer Thursday, October 5, 1978 Page 7
SERIES I
Directly, Exodus is working hard to improve the
HEALTH, SAFETY and MENTAL OUTLOOK of
people living in our community.
One indirect result of our work in treating Alcoholism
is the reduction of crime and crime potential; while
increasing the overall productivity of our community
citizens.
Hunters! You can SEE, HEAR and THINK
clearer WITHOUT Alcohol and Drugs.
Eldridge Cleaver was a prominent
member o f the Black Panther
movement in the 1960s and now calls
him self an ardent C h ristia n . He
describes his newfound appreciation
for God, country and even Charles
Colson, on ABC News’ cultural-
religious series, “ Directions,” Sun
day, October 8th (1:00-1:30 p.m .,
EDT), on the ABC Television Net
work.
The program, titled “ From Ice to
Fire: A Conversation W ith Eldridge
Cleaver,” is hosted by ABC News
Correspondent H erbert K aplow .
Cleaver has w ritte n tw o books:
“ Soul on Ice,” which called fo r
militant social reform, and the recent
ly published “ Soul on Fire,” which
is the story o f Cleaver’s conversion
to Christianity.
Youth meet
The Open House o f Prayer, 27th
and N.E. Sumner, is holding its First
Annual Youth Roundup October 4th
through October 7th. Services are at
11:30 a.m. and dinner at 3:00 p.m.
Elder Paul Lawrence Green is the
featured speaker. Host Pastor Ealer
M artin invites the public to par
ticipate.
CALDWELLS
COLONIAL
You are W elcome to W orship at
THE ARK OF SAFETY CHURCH OF GOD PENTECOSTAL, INC.
“A warm spirit of fellowship always"
The Honorable Bishop U.V. Peterson, D.D. “The Holiness Preacher," Pastor
Sunday:
Sunday School
9:15 am
Morning Worship
11:15 am
“Showers of Blessings Broadcast"
KGAR1550
11:30 am 12:30 pm
YPBC
6:30 pm
Evangelistic W orship
X:00 pm
Tuesday-Friday
Noon Day Prayer
Tuesday:
Bible Band/Jr. Church
Wednesday:
Choir Rehearsal
Friday:
“The Pastor Speaks”
X4 NE Killingsworth
2X1-0499
Services
personalized
to your family's
lifestyle...
and finances
For complete details, call or stop at any of our
convenient locations You'll find that we are sensitive to your
needs— as we have been to Portland families for
more than 40 years. Credit terms and
trust planning available
M( )RTl ’ARY
.• jT . - '
REGISTER AT:
EXODUS
1518 N.E. Killingsworth
Portland, Oregon 97211
Our 50th year of
personal service
to families
of all faiths.
N.E. 14th <M SanJ\ Bhd. & Burnside-
Portland, OR 972 M
I > \ \ « »H M t . l l
232-4111
Mortuary • Crematory • Calcinatory
Gateway
N. Killingsworth
N.E. Halsey at 106th
430 N. Killingsworth
256-0606
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3018 N Lombard
2113-0525
283-1976
e ix id
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tutoial 10305 S.E 82nd Ave
Services.
777-1465
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