"Blacks create and move on. Whites document and then recycle."- Miles Davis

[Samori Toure]

And what place was that? For most their history they decided to isolate themselves to a point it hurt them i.e not industrializing early.

I am referring to trade. They were not always isolated in terms of trade.

 

[Bawon Samedi]

I am referring to trade. They were not always isolated in terms of trade.

True. True. Forgot about that.

And speaking of that they seem to be regaining their position in trading with Africa which goes back to antiquity mind you.

 

[KOohbt]

Actually I would say that the Arabs were probably the fore runners of the co-opting and exploiting; in fact the Europeans only learned about the stuff that you mentioned because of the fact that the Arabs were co-opting and exploiting them. White people didn't sail any damn oceans going anywhere, before first learning navigation skills from the Arabs who utilized those skills to find their way through vast barren deserts to carry on trade and later yet to evangelize Islam. In fact Europeans knew nothing of India, Africa and beyond, except what they learned from the Arabs. In addition to navigation the Arabs advanced the concepts of accounting, banking, commercial law, and modern science. The Arabs picked up those seemingly isolated concepts and knowledge because trade and later religion bought them into contact with so many different cultures. The Arabs love of literacy later helped to spread those concepts.

What I find interesting is that but for the Arabs evangelistic zeal; White people and European societies would have remained in a similar state to many Sub-Saharan African societies.

If you read through history "Arabs" got their knowledge from translating Greek texts mostly when they were spreading their caliphates. That effort was based out of iraq The Greeks got that knowledge from Kemet.

 

[KOohbt]

Actually I would say that the Arabs were probably the fore runners of the co-opting and exploiting; in fact the Europeans only learned about the stuff that you mentioned because of the fact that the Arabs were co-opting and exploiting them. White people didn't sail any damn oceans going anywhere, before first learning navigation skills from the Arabs who utilized those skills to find their way through vast barren deserts to carry on trade and later yet to evangelize Islam. In fact Europeans knew nothing of India, Africa and beyond, except what they learned from the Arabs. In addition to navigation the Arabs advanced the concepts of accounting, banking, commercial law, and modern science. The Arabs picked up those seemingly isolated concepts and knowledge because trade and later religion bought them into contact with so many different cultures. The Arabs love of literacy later helped to spread those concepts.

What I find interesting is that but for the Arabs evangelistic zeal; White people and European societies would have remained in a similar state to many Sub-Saharan African societies.

If you read through history "Arabs" got their knowledge from translating Greek texts mostly when they were spreading their caliphates. That effort was based out of Iraq. Which ironically had a decent Black population at that time still. The Greeks got that knowledge from Kemet. What's interesting is that also in the early centuries AD West African societies along the Niger and Senegal river were experiencing a truly independent growth in information. Contrary to popular belief the Arabs and Islam didn't start this.

 

[Rick Fox at UNC]

A larger problem is that black people don't fully revere, recognize, and claim their geniuses.

Y'all only seem to bring up black brilliance and excellence in relation to what others are doing.

Again, this is a form of self-hatred unmatched by other ethnic groups.

 

[Samori Toure]

If you read through history "Arabs" got their knowledge from translating Greek texts mostly when they were spreading their caliphates. That effort was based out of Iraq. Which ironically had a decent Black population at that time still. The Greeks got that knowledge from Kemet. What's interesting is that also in the early centuries AD West African societies along the Niger and Senegal river were experiencing a truly independent growth in information. Contrary to popular belief the Arabs and Islam didn't start this.

I was not implying that the Arabs started the Kingdoms Ghana, Mali or Songhay. The Kingdoms started, because they controlled the trade routes between the Forest Belt people and the Mediterranean coast.

 

[Free White & 21]

A larger problem is that black people don't fully revere, recognize, and claim their geniuses.

Y'all only seem to bring up black brilliance and excellence in relation to what others are doing.

Again, this is a form of self-hatred unmatched by other ethnic groups.

It's not simply self hatred, although there's a LOT of that going on with us in many areas. When it comes to black creativity, we're very nonchalant about our talents. I think that comes from the fact that it's so easy for us to do a lot of things. We're not looking at what we do as special. This is a problem because EVERYBODY else recognizes that it is - and they're exploiting it.

 

[Versa]

Interesting that you mentioned Country music. Country music kind of ties into what Miles Davis was talking about. The slaves invented the music form. The Appalachian Whites added their folk songs. Now people think that White people created Country music.

Here are excerpts from a 1998 Chicago Tribune article about the history of Country:

"... The relationship between blacks and country music, however, began centuries ago. In fact, blacks in the rural South helped create country music and remain avid fans today, according to Pamela Foster, author of a new book, "My Country: The African Diaspora's Country Music Heritage."

"In the antebellum South, banjos, fiddles and harmonicas were the dominant instruments played in black culture. Unfortunately, history has distorted these facts to make people believe jazz, blues and spirituals were the staples of black culture at that time when, in fact, it was country," said Foster, who documented the contributions of more than 450 African-Americans involved in country music since the 1920s.

Historians acknowledge that country music is derived from a melting pot of cultures. Mountain or hillbilly music, in particular, combines the ballads and folksongs brought to the South by immigrants from the British Isles in the 18th and 19th Centuries and the rhythmic influences of African immigrants. The banjo, which mimics the banjar played in Africa, was invented by Southern blacks in the late 1690s. Slaves also played the fiddle, which was introduced to them by their white masters.

"The fiddle was the primary instrument for dance music among a lot of classes of people in the 18th and 19th Centuries," said Paul Wells, director of the Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University.

"If you had a bunch of guys getting rowdy in a tavern, they could have been dancing to a fiddle played by a black person. If there was a fancy dance on the plantation, the musicians likely were slaves.

"Blacks have contributed to the development of a lot of American popular music. It didn't start with Pat Boone copying Little Richard songs in the '50s. It's been going on much longer than that."

For years, country superstars have made No. 1 hits from songs created or first performed by African-Americans. Though some old-timers, including Chet Atkins, Hank Williams and Bill Monroe, acknowledge they learned their craft from black street-corner musicians, most African-American contributors have been ignored. Except for Charley Pride, no African-American has ever made it big in Nashville, a town with more than 25 record labels.

"Black artists feel like they have been left out of a whole industry for no reason other than color," said Cleve Francis, who had a brief country-music career during the early 1990s. "Country music has mirrored the racial divide in this country. Other forms, such as pop and opera, have integrated but, blacks have never been welcome in Nashville."


The Roots Of Country Music

So they don't even have country either

 

[Bawon Samedi]

So they don't even have country either

Almost all popular music in America traces its roots back to black communities in America. Fact.