Portland Advocate_1981-05

Page 4 . "Free Your Mind Return To The Source" By Rosemary Allen The people who gathered together Friday evening March 6, 1~Rl, at Mal– lory Christian Church mnnbered about 100, maybe 125. M:>st of than were Black, there were fathers, nnthers, quite a fev children and same el– derly folks, a real mixture of the Black community. Yet, there was a feeling of anticipation emanating throughout the roam. Same sisters in the baclt were hurriedly setting out homemade cakes and cookies and a big bowl of red punch. Everything seemed nicely organized, and old friends al)Qut greeting each other. But still there was an edge of eagerness in the air, as everyone waited for the pro– gram to start. The program, sponoored by the BLACK UNITED FJDNr, was a presentation on Black history by Dr. Asa Hillard, a former faculty member at San Francisco St. College, and presently a Distin– guished Chair at Georgia State Uni– versity. Hillard was brought to Port– land as a consultant by the Portland School District as a result of comm– unity pressure. BUF Oo-Chainnan Ron– nie Herndon, introduced Hillard, who opened his presentation with the Dr. Hillard answers question in impromptu session after hislecture/slide presentation. statanent , ''Free your mind, return to the source." What followed was rrore than t~ hours of straight fact, proof, and more facts ahout Black history that has been intentionally and systana– tically distorted, stolen, and hidden from the \~rld. A hush fell over the audience as Hillard clearly and con– cisely revealed the true origin of civilization. ''There are no primitives on the earth. Primitive is a '~rd used to steal land from others . " said Hill– ard. "We have been portrayed as the clowns of the '~rld. We always have to be funny to be accepted ....While our t alents are stolen and imitated by others, who beccme wealthy," Hill– ard said. Once in a while a baby cried or a child squirmed, but everyone else in the audience seemed mesmerized by the m:tensive documentation Hillard shared through the slide presentation of pic– tures and literature. Hillard's facts were astounding as he told about Black civilization two thousand years before Christ during the first seven dynas– ties in F.gypt. During this "nolden Age" Black Africans invented religion, num– bers, science, and physics. He explain– ed how praroters of the F·..inp: Tut ex– hibit had tried to make the Egyptians appear 2uropean in the pvanotional ad– vertising of the exhibit. Hillard said that Moses was I3lack, and referred to the l:xx>k by Sigmund Freud, ~bses and r,bnotheisn, which supJ)Qrted the fact. The publication was recently reprinted. "nreat canpo– sers Peetlx:>ven, Mozart , and Haydn \vere Black men," Hillard said, as he showed how names had been changed, Black fea– tures of statues and paintings des– troyed, and hooks put out of print. The audience was transformed into another world of a wise ancient Black civilization with Pharoahs, Oueens, architects, builders, scientists, artists and explorers who roamed the world thousands of years before Columbus came to America. A '~rld where the Greeks came to Africa for higher education . ''We did a lot rrore than peanuts and blood plasma, " Hillard said, as he brought his talk to a close. The audience stood, fathers, rrothers, children and some elderly folks, rrostly Black, and applauded. There were even s:xne cheers. Yet, the applause, the sniles, and the cheers sereled to be rrore out of a feeling of pride, than of gratitude , as though each peroon had received a precious gift. The Asa Hillard presentation on Blaclt History is a first of a series of programs featuring nationally accla~ Black historians and educators, that will be held in the COill11Uility free of charge throughout the year. It will be unfortunate if you and your family miss the next one.