THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY
T R A V E L N O T E S
A LONDON SUCCESS STORY WITH RUNOKO RASHIDI 18 October 2005
Greetings Family,
How is everybody? Brother Runoko is great and London was fantastic! I mean that I had a really successful journey. The Berlin trip itself was a very good one and the momentum carried over to London. Indeed, in order to get to London I flew on October 9 from Berlin to Amsterdam to Paris, back to Amsterdam and finally to the London Heathrow Airport, and then took a train ride and a taxi to my hotel. So that was a long day right there but it turned out to be worth all of the effort.
I was in London from Sunday 9 October to Monday morning 17 October. During my stay I did twenty separate slide presentations, one lecture and four radio interviews, and still had time to get my tourist visa to enter Brazil next month. I also went to three museums (the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Museum of London located near Moor Gate), Westminster Abbey Cathedral (to see the statues of the African martyrs that adorn the main entrance) and paid two visits to the obelisk of the mighty Eighteenth Dynasty Kamite monarch Thutmose III (ca. 1450 BCE) on the Thames River Embankment. I was also taken to an area called Black Friars where I saw a kind of metal sculpture on the side of a large building with a Black man dressed in old religious garb riding a horse. The first visit to the sculpture was with three other brothers in the early evening in the middle of the week. I came back a few days later to photograph it but unfortunately I could not find the sculpture on my own.
Most of my presentations were in the local public schools, primarily in Brixton. In an earlier e-mail I said that Brixton was outside London but apparently I was wrong and it was explained to me that Brixton is actually in the London district of Lambeth, and seems to be one of London's heavily African areas. It has a very rich mix of Africans from the Caribbean (especially Jamaica) and the African Continent, quite a number of Asians, along with what seemed like all kinds of Europeans, and even some South Americans.
My programs were organized by one of the most distinguished residents of Brixton--brother Jah B aka Bobbie Forrester--who turned out to be one of most hard working brothers that I have ever encountered. Jah B was a breath of fresh air in that he was not only a hard worker but a perfectionist (just as I try to be) with a beautiful spirit and an air of great humility. We could use a million more Africans just like him.
Well, from the beginning Jah B made it clear to me that I did not come to England to have a London holiday vacation! I was there to work and work I did. Now here is how the programs were structured. Each morning I would meet Jah B at a local subway station. London locals call what most Americans refer to as the “subway” the “tube." I rode on the tube a lot. From the tube station we would either walk or take a car to the school that I was going to speak at.
We then went to the school administration office where someone was always expecting us. Jah B’s ground work was excellent. Then we generally went into a gymnasium and set up our slide projector and screen.
In came the children, sometimes a couple of hundred of them or more. Their ages would range from about five to twelve years old. These children would then sit on the floor and wait for me to begin. Sometimes some of the parents would come with the children and there was always a group of teachers.
Based on a lot of experience, and especially that accumulated during similar work in the Philadelphia Public Schools, I have learned that what works for me is to engage the children. Quite often in London I picked a bunch of them to help me operate the slide projector. They really liked that! And so after selecting my slide projector volunteers and a brief introduction I started by asking them, "What kinds of things do you think about when you think of Africa and African people?" This was a good way to break the ice and involve them from the very beginning, and I was able to manage to be both firm and informal all at the same time.
More often than not, I did not speak from a stage but sat down right with the children. I told them that they could call me Dr. Rashidi or sir or either of my two new nicknames, "the picture man" or "history dude." They really got a kick out of that and I made it clear to them that we were going to respect each other. I told them that to get respect they must give respect. That was our arrangement. I made sure that they knew that I really cared about them and that I was there to teach them something important. It all worked out remarkably well.
October is celebrated as "Black History Month" in Britain and so we had a kind of mandate to engage in instruction. I told everybody that what they were calling "Black History" I call "African History" and we all agreed that we should not limit our celebration and discussion to only one month.
When I asked them what they thought about Africa they generally told me “wild animals and poverty.” I got a few other answers also but I almost always got those two. And so I started by trying to destroy the modern mythology and common perceptions of Africa that so many people have. I told them the basics: that Africa is not a country but a continent in possession of a great deal of natural resources and much diversity.
In addition to the history and people and culture I told them some things about the natural beauty of Africa, her mountains and deserts and rainforests and rivers and waterfalls. I told them that Africans were the first people to build houses and cities and libraries, to wear clothes and shoes, to count and to farm, to write, to play music and bury the dead, to have calendars and clocks, to practice religion and have science and chart the stars in the heavens. When I finished with that it always got real quiet and when I knew that I had their full attention the "picture man" went to work.
The first picture I showed them was of an Ethiopian scientist holding the bones of Denknesh--the 3.5 million year female Ancestor. And then I went straight to the Nile Valley. I showed them kings and queens and children and monuments. I told them about the philosophical concepts, cultural patterns and spiritual beliefs of the ancient people of the Nile Valley. I talked about Imhotep and pyramids and mummies. They ate it up!
Then I showed them images from other parts of Africa including Ethiopia. Nigeria, Ghana, and Zimbabwe. They were actively absorbed in it by then. Rather than wait until the end of the talk I let them ask questions and make comments during the course of the presentation. I insisted that they not blurt out questions and comments and demanded that they first raise their hands. I told them that the only bad question was the one that they didn't ask. I practiced all of the things that I learned during my rites of passage work in the Philadelphia Public System in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Everything considered, I think that I ended up having more fun than the children did! I told them about all of my travels and what I had seen and the people that I had met and all of the interesting foods that I had eaten. By that time they were having a ball. And then we went around the world.
I showed them images, ancient and modern, reflecting the African presence in Asia, Australia, the Pacific Islands, Europe and the Americas. And the children would beam when I showed photos of the African presence in the countries of their birth. I have to confess that I was impressed with the view that school children in England are generally much more disciplined and polite than U.S. school children. Whereas in the U.S. I am sometimes tempted to throw an unruly kid out of a three story school window, these kids in London were essentially pretty sweet. And I think that they liked me too.
So the presentations went well. Even the white teachers would usually get up and tell me what a wonderful job I did. I think that a lot of them were sincere in their comments but I have to tell you that they usually looked pretty unsettled when I talked about ancient Egypt and were downright astounded when I showed the picture of the ancient Coptic Christ with black skin and woolly hair.
So that is how the school presentations went. Both Jah B and I and apparently all concerned were quite pleased with our accomplishments and certain that we had done a good job. There were congratulations all around.
In addition to the school presentations, I did four slide presentations in community centers for children and parents and local residents. These presentations were even more powerful than the school presentations as there were mostly African people in the audience. I felt that I did not have to watch every word that I said like I did at the schools and that I could be a little more "raw." On these occasions I added some new pictures and took more time with my explanations.
And then I did two presentations just for "us." These presentations for just for the family, just for us Africans. These were good for me as I found myself in both London and Berlin speaking to largely ethnically mixed audiences. But at the end of the day I regarded all of it as a kind of good exercise that only added to my versatility. I don't have a real problem speaking in front of mixed audiences anyway because I am not going to change the essence of my message no matter who the audience is. And that message is that Africa has a magnificent history and a lineage second to one. That message is that we have the greatest story that has never been told. That message is that we have a history before slavery and colonization, and that African people traveled all over the world without shackles and chains on their ankles and wrists.
My last three presentations were over the weekend--Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Friday night I spoke in West Norwood. The place was packed and people had to be turned away. We got some good radio coverage and, combined with word of mouth, people really turned out. My Friday night topic was the Global African Presence.
The Saturday night presentation was in a small African bookstore in Hackney. I spoke on the African presence in Australia, Tasmania, and the South Seas. The book store was small and we filled it to capacity.
Sunday's presentation was my last in London. I believe that the venue was in Stockwell. I dealt with the African presence in Asia and Europe. We had a good crowd (including a lot of Rastas) and the presentation was as splendid and as well received as all of the others.
So London was a really big success and one of my most gratifying travel experiences. I even managed to escort a small group through the British Museum on Saturday morning. By the way, it was on this trip to the British Museum that I noticed that they have a large fragment of the face or beard of the Great Sphinx on display! Either they just put it on display or I never noticed it before. I took some photos and we will see how they come out.
Early in this letter I thanked brother Jah B for his relentless and tireless efforts to make the London tour a success. But no one person does it all. So let me also thank Julie Roberts (the Head Teacher at Ritchard Atkins School, Brixton Hill), Shaun Danguah and brother Wallace from the Clapham Park Project, brother Leslie Mitchell with the Lambeth Youth Inclusion Program, Leroy and Paul Maddix of Save Our Souls, Mauatta Books, New Initiatives, brother Abu of Galaxy Radio, sister Christine (who hosted one of the most successful of the presentations), Saba (a sister from Guadeloupe who helped drive Jah B and I around London), brother Kwame (of Nekhebet Productions), Prophet Kwaku Bonsu (the "Radio Man"), brother Colin (who made the initial introduction of me to Jah B and who helped set up the last radio interview), and everybody whose name does not immediately come to mind.
Sisters and brothers, I had a great time in London and I am looking forward to a return engagement. So don’t forget about me. I’ll be back. Now I’ve got eleven days in Paris to enjoy my family, do some writing and rest up a bit as it won’t be long before distant horizons are once again calling my name.
In love of Africa,
Runoko Rashidi
Copyright © 1998 Runoko Rashidi. All rights reserved.
Posted/Revised: November 29, 2005
Webpage design: Kenneth Ritchards