Dr. Yosef “Dr. Ben” Ben-Jochannan

 

Born in Gondar, Ethiopia, Dr. Yosef Alfredo Antonio ben-Jochannan, or “Dr. Ben”(December 31, 1918 - March 19, 2015), as he is affectionately known) has devoted the better part of his life to the illumination of the indigenous origins of African civilizations. By profession, he is a trained lawyer, engineer, historian and Egyptologist. Ben-Jochannan went to Egypt for the first time in 1939, and moved to Harlem, New York in 1945. Dr. Ben knew Malcolm X personally, and was a student and colleague of George G.M. James. He was exceptionally close to the late Dr. John Henrik Clarke.  Since 1957, he has coordinated regular study tours and pilgrimages to the Nile Valley, directly exposing thousands of African people to the still visible splendors of ancient Egypt. Formerly adjunct professor at Cornell University's Africana Studies Department, Dr. ben-Jochannan has also been a professor-at-large at Al Azar University in Cairo. Learn more about this great man.

 

 

If is funny how much that Blue-Dress-Gold-Dress controversy has effected my world view.  It is just so much easier for me to accept that people are simply wired differently.  Reason can not change their minds, their biology makes this so.

 

What does this have to do with Dr. Ben?  Well I always viewed people like Dr. Ben as heroes.  People who should be revered, not worshipped, but respected and held up as people we can learn from.  Instead we devote time, efforts, and money promoting and elevating the uninformed opinions of Black celebrities, simply because they are celebrities.

 

I now understand why others simply can not understand why elevating the words of a Kanye West and overlooking the words of a Dr. Ben is a profound mistake on the part of the Black media.