To be black and beautiful means nothing in this world unless we are black and powerful. John Henrik Clarke More Quotes by John Henrik Clarke More Quotes From John Henrik Clarke ...education has but one honorable purpose, one alone, everything else is a waste of time......that is to train the student to be a proper handler of power. John Henrik Clarke waste purpose students Egypt gave birth to what later would become known as 'Western Civilization,' long before the greatness of Greece and Rome. John Henrik Clarke rome egypt greatness A people's relationship to their heritage is the same as the relationship of a child to its mother. John Henrik Clarke mother children people Nothing the European mind ever devised was meant to do anything but to facilitate the European's control over the world. John Henrik Clarke facilitate mind world Whoever is in control of the hell in your life, is your devil. John Henrik Clarke hell devil life-is Africa is our center of gravity, our cultural and spiritual mother and father, our beating heart, no matter where we live on the face of this earth. John Henrik Clarke spiritual mother father I will only debate with my equals. All others I teach. John Henrik Clarke debate teach It is not uncommon for ignorant and corrupt men to falsely charge others with doing what they imagine that they themselves, in their narrow minds and experience, would have done under the circumstances of a given case, and the surest check, often the only check, on such perjury, is to recognize the impossibility that men of larger instruction and resources and experience could have been guilty of such conduct. John Henrik Clarke ignorant justice men To hold a people in oppression you have to convince them first that they are supposed to be oppressed. John Henrik Clarke oppression people firsts Everything that touches YOUR life, must be an instrument of YOUR liberation or tossed into the trash cans of HISTORY John Henrik Clarke trash instruments experience You have to convince the adults that if a child is to learn his culture, he or she will have to see his mother and father reading about it, and explaining it to him. Then it gets a legitimacy it otherwise would never have. Until then, his learning is limited. John Henrik Clarke mother father children Our concept of beauty is taken from Hollywood, which is anti-black. We don't see ourselves as beautiful in most cases. Although we are naturally one of the most beautiful peoples out there, we don't see it. We don't get the point. Hollywood sets the standards. John Henrik Clarke black taken beautiful I'm one of the people who believes that our losses were greater than our gains. Because before the Civil Rights movement we had entrepreneurship in the black community. Right now, in Harlem, if I wanted to get a shoe repaired, I would have a hard time finding a black shoe repairman. On near about every third corner, you could find a decent black barber, decent black laundry, had restaurants in the neighborhood that were open 24 hours. The food was good at 3 o'clock in the morning as at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. John Henrik Clarke loss morning believe It is unfortunate that so much of the history of Africa has been written by conquerors, foreigners, missionaries and adventurers. The Egyptians left the best record of their history written by local writers. John Henrik Clarke foreigners records missionary I saw no African people in the printed and illustrated Sunday school lessons. I began to suspect at this early age that someone had distorted the image of my people. My long search for the true history of African people the world over began. John Henrik Clarke sunday long school Each generation must assume the responsibility of securing their manhood, their womanhood, the definition of their being on earth that in the final analysis is nationhood. John Henrik Clarke finals analysis responsibility I question the political judgement of those who would have the nerve to paint Christ white with his obvious African nose, lips and wooly hair. John Henrik Clarke political white hair In the African matrilineal society, the lineage of the bloodline comes down through the female side. The Arabs who invaded East Africa and other parts of Africa reversed it to the patrilineal where everything comes down through the male side and the woman has no basic rights except that which the male is willing to grant her. John Henrik Clarke east-africa lineage rights In order to have a charismatic leader, you have to have a charismatic program. Because if you have a charismatic program, then if you can read you can lead. When the leader gets killed while you're reading from page 13 of your charismatic program, you can bury the man with honors, then continue the plan by reading from page 14. Let's keep on. John Henrik Clarke reading men order People get overwhelmed with folklore as fact. Take the Exodus. The Exodus did not occur. It could not have occurred. Wasn't necessary for it to occur. The Jews walked into Africa over a 16-mile land until they built the Suez Canal - that land is still there. Why would they have to leave by the sea. They didn't come by the sea. Certain people think you are against their religion when you use common sense. John Henrik Clarke land sea thinking