Both Menelik II and Haile Selassie despised Africans/blacks and their Image and prominence was due to being client and sub-subservient to the west

CanoGeel

"Show respect to all people, but grovel to none"
:wow:Even Marcus Garvey called out the Tyrant Selassie for being coward and slave owner but Rastafarians and others misinterpretted his prophecy of a savior King and ran with it.









February 4th, 2019​


The romantic rewriting of Haile Selassie’s legacy must stop​


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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes






Yohannes Woldemariam trawls through the history books to expose the truths of Haile Selassie’s 44-year reign over Ethiopia.
Emperor Haile Selassie, who ruled Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, died in 1975, but he lives on through the romantic lyrics of the late Jamaican reggae star Bob Marley and Ethiopian pop star, Tewedros Kassahun, better known as Teddy Afro.
Yet there is a wide range of views of the man whose full official title was: “His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings and Elect of God.” Some remember him as a benevolent ruler who resisted Italian colonisation. For others, he is a god, yet others view him as a tyrant.
Marley’s portrayal of Selassie is strongly influenced by the Rastafarian belief that he is God incarnate, as allegedly “prophesied” by Marcus Garvey. On the other hand, Teddy Afro, an Ethiopian, is promoting his version of Ethiopianism (Ethiopiawinet).
The Kebra Nagast (also known as the Glory of Kings) is the ancient text from which Selassie’s mythology stems. It narrates the relationship between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and their son Menelik I, who allegedly hid the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia. Like Menelik II (1889-1913), Haile Selassie, a distant relation, claimed descent from the Solomonic dynasty. Inspired by this ideology, Ethiopian kings and emperors have conquered lands and enslaved ethnic groups. In this sense, the Kebra Nagast can fairly be compared to the 19th century expansionist white American ideology of the Manifest Destiny.
Haile Selassie circa 1923
Those who have solely learned about Selassie through the music of reggae stars and Teddy Afro may well have developed the impression that Selassie was a fatherly benevolent ruler and a champion of blacks. However, this portrayal of Selassie and his predecessor, Emperor Menelik II, is grossly distorted. Clearly, even though the last Ethiopian monarch was overthrown in 1974, undercurrents of the Kebra Negast still reverberate in the discourse of Ethiopian nationalism. While the majority of the Ethiopian people do not subscribe to this belief system, some Ethiopians look for aspects of the Kebra Nagast narrative for Ethiopiawinet. Yet this mythology, or elements of it, creates huge divisions through its implicit expectation that Ethiopians accept this version of identity politics.

Rastafarian representation of Selassie​

For Rastafarians, Ethiopia is Zion and the Promised Land and in 1948 Selassie granted them land in the Rift Valley for a settlement in Shashemane. The settlement has never been big, with no more than a thousand Rastas at its peak and now about 400. There was never a mass exodus of Rastas to Ethiopia, and they never assimilated. They live in isolation much like the Amish in the United States.
The Rastafarian connection with Selassie is made with a tenuous understanding of Jamaican Pan Africanist Marcus Garvey’s famous prophecy: “Look to Africa, when a black king shall be crowned for the day of deliverance is near!” This reference to “Africa” was reinterpreted to mean Ethiopia and the link to “a black king” was the coronation of Selassie in 1930. The travel writer Bill Wiatrak claims that the Rasta movement originated in Ethiopia but it actually began in Jamaica through the misinterpretation of Garvey’s message.
Garvey exhibited no admiration for Selassie. He condemned him as a “great coward” for fleeing Mussolini’s troops in 1935, when Italy invaded Ethiopia. He also criticised Selassie’s practice of slavery, which was not abolished in Ethiopia until 1942. In Garvey’s own words:
It is preferable for the Abyssinian Negroes and the Negroes of the world to work for the restoration and freedom of the country without the assistance of Selassie, because at best he is but a slave master. The Negroes of the Western World whose forefathers suffered for three hundred years under the terrors of slavery ought to be able to appreciate what freedom means. Surely they cannot feel justified in supporting any system that would hold their brothers in slavery in another country whilst they are enjoying the benefits of freedom elsewhere. The Africans who are free can also appreciate the position of slaves in Abyssinia [Ethiopia]. What right has the Emperor to keep slaves when all the democratic sections of the world were free, when men had the right to live, to develop, to expand, to enjoy all the benefits of human liberty? (1937, p.741)
While few reggae aficionados realise the wide gulf between Selassie’s mythological representations in popular culture and the reality of his tyrannical reign, the perception that Selassie was a proud African and a champion for black people is not supported by the facts. He only reluctantly later embraced the Rastafarians because he understood their public relations value for his cult of personality. Some of his dedicated followers would be dismayed to learn that Selassie revered not his “own people” but the Ferenjochu (Europeans) and Americans, who were routinely invited to his lavish parties in his palace.
His overthrow in 1974 and subsequent death caused “a crisis of faith” in Jamaica amo
 
His political maneuvering, prestige and image have secured the Amhara empire a huge territory called Ethiopia (including Eritrea) post WW2.


Add the fact they never been colonized and it's easy to see why AA's and Africans in general hold him in high regard as symbol of African resistance. The only head of state to have a religion dedicated to him.


Genocidal Oromo/Amhara half breed is being paraded all the time as the father of modern Ethiopia
 

Qeelbax

East Africa UNUKA LEH
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His political maneuvering, prestige and image have secured the Amhara empire a huge territory called Ethiopia (including Eritrea) post WW2.


Add the fact they never been colonized and it's easy to see why AA's and Africans in general hold him in high regard as symbol of African resistance. The only head of state to have a religion dedicated to him.


Genocidal Oromo/Amhara half breed is being paraded all the time as the father of modern Ethiopia
He’s the nigga that cried to the british queen asking for assistance to get rid of the pagans (aka somalis and other muslims) and to assimilate them. But mfs act like he was some pro african leader
 

Apollo

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All groups in Africa with a lot of MENA ancestry tend to have some anti-black racists among them.

Even with the Fulani, there are some racist Fulanis who don't like mixing with pure West Africans.
 

Aurelian

Forza Somalia!
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All groups in Africa with a lot of MENA ancestry tend to have some anti-black racists among them.

Even with the Fulani, there are some racist Fulanis who don't like mixing with pure West Africans.
Zanjibaris?
 
All groups in Africa with a lot of MENA ancestry tend to have some anti-black racists among them.

Even with the Fulani, there are some racist Fulanis who don't like mixing with pure West Africans.

I've definitively noticed this -- even at an individual level.

My uncle (father's youngest brother) married a half Arab woman and his son is nauseatingly proud of his light skin and constantly dedicates 'team light skin' posts on Facebook; my brothers and I had to save him from being assaulted by another Dinka guy after he compared the poor man to one of those Orcs from 'Lord of the Rings'.
:drakelaugh::mjlol:
 
All groups in Africa with a lot of MENA ancestry tend to have some anti-black racists among them.

Even with the Fulani, there are some racist Fulanis who don't like mixing with pure West Africans.

Its embarrassing, because they're in turn looked down upon by people with full MENA ancestry. It's a case of the more Sub-Saharan ancestry you have, the more you're looked down upon.
 
To put a little nuance to this.. most of the Arabized Arabs were racially kind of close to the original Arabs.

Canaanites, Phoenicians, Mesopotamians, Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Lybians/Berbers were all kind of close racially to the original Arabs (in a global context).

It is mainly the Sudanese and to a lesser degree Somalis who get questioned about their Arabness due to the larger racial distance and it being more obvious.

Its embarrassing, because they're in turn looked down upon by people with full MENA ancestry. It's a case of the more Sub-Saharan ancestry you have, the more you're looked down upon.
Racism is definitely irrational and backwards, you do it out of pride and to elevate you but you end up in a viscous abstract hierarchy, and ultimately someone will topple you
 
Racism is definitely irrational and backwards, you do it out of pride and to elevate you but you end up in a viscous abstract hierarchy, and ultimately someone will topple you
Only the most foolish and ignorant people are racists even if they seem intelligent. It's just a sad fact that most of us are fools and ignorant in one way or another.
 

Yahya

2020 GRANDMASTER
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And many Europeans (not all, but many) in turn look down on Arabs. :dead:
Hell even some Europeans are looked down upon by pure europeans for having arab and bantu blood. There is a pecking order. Albanians get mugged off for having E haplogroups.

:damedamn:
 
All groups in Africa with a lot of MENA ancestry tend to have some anti-black racists among them.

Even with the Fulani, there are some racist Fulanis who don't like mixing with pure West Africans.
The Malagasy are pretty anti black and often don't like being attached with Africa, they wanna be like Mauritius.

They seem to be viewed as less black than even Somalis, maybe its lack of exposure.
 

Apollo

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Hell even some Europeans are looked down upon by pure europeans for having arab and bantu blood. There is a pecking order. Albanians get mugged off for having E haplogroups.

:damedamn:

Lol, the people who are the least European in Europe are South Italians, Sicilians and Greeks (they have high Middle Eastern affinities).

And when it comes to who has the most Sub-Saharan African in Europe, it is the Portuguese and then Spaniards.
 

World

VIP
Its embarrassing, because they're in turn looked down upon by people with full MENA ancestry. It's a case of the more Sub-Saharan ancestry you have, the more you're looked down upon.
It’s group preservation. They don’t border any ethnicities with full MENA ancestry, only other SSAs. If they weren’t racist then their ethnicity would not exist.
 
I was actually racist toward my cousin as a child (teenager) and initially rejected him for being 'tainted'; my father ordered me to stop being such an irrational fool.
 
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Lol, the people who are the least European in Europe are South Italians, Sicilians and Greeks (they have high Middle Eastern affinities).

And when it comes to who has the most Sub-Saharan African in Europe, it is the Portuguese and then Spaniards.

It's funny because it's an inversion of how it was in antiquity; the Mediterraneans used to look down on the 'barbarian' Germanics in the North.
 
Question to forum:

Would you treat a mixed cousin differently? 🤔

And would the sort of admixture effect your behaviour toward them?
 
It’s group preservation. They don’t border any ethnicities with full MENA ancestry, only other SSAs. If they weren’t racist then their ethnicity would not exist.

They're a product of mixture. But its a simple case of prefering their MENA ancestors over their fully Sub-Saharan ones. Which is why, they tend to not have much issues with mixing with full MENA people as much.
 

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