Knowledge of Self By Akeel J. St.Vil
Akeel St.Vil
Mr. Wells
October 23- November 6, 2006
K.O.S.
Knowledge of Self
I’ve always had it pretty good. I did not grow up in a gang, and drug infested area, my family was never on Well-Fare, and I am not what most people would call ghetto. Akeel St.Vil is and has been a sheltered person for all of his life. Yet I do know what is going on in the world. I do know the history of my people, the people of Africa and their descendents, well at least as much as my school, media, and book publishers let me know.
My life has been a turntable of emotions also. When I was younger living in Seattle Washington I did not see much of the African culture. I can say that I was blind. I find it funny though, living in the northwest I learned so much about Asian and Asian-American history, and that is very good, but I always thought I was missing something, not knowing something. What I was missing was the knowledge of African history. I will always have that feeling though, since I will never know everything, but I will slowly feed the curiosity.
To learn about African history is a very hard thing to do. Certain things the media and this country just don’t want people to know. That’s why it has been so hard for me to learn about Africa’s history, and hopefully the truth. I thank my mom and dad for giving me the path to knowledge. For they are the ones that gave me the books, they are the ones that brought me to the museums, and they are the ones that brought me to the cities and countries. It seems as if my only way of finding the true history of Africa is through books. Educational channels such as The National Geographic Channel, The History Channel, and The Discovery Channel tell and show the history, but it is distorted, they do not tell the entire story.
Some of the history that people try and not talk about or try to distort are such things as, the original Hebrews were from Ethiopia and Somalia and were as dark or darker than most people in that region, or other things such as how the Greek empire which influenced the Roman empire learned a lot of the astronomy, building, and irrigation techniques from Africa’s most northeastern country, Egypt. All those and many more are facts that most people don’t like to emphasize. That is why it is an important issue to me, that I learn the history, along with my other African descendants so that our history will not be rewritten or changed.
Now don’t get me wrong, I still have much to learn, but the fact that I have started to learn about my people’s history has been a deciding factor in my life so far, and I believe it will be for the rest of my life. I am not totally naïve to my people in Africa and abroad in Europe where my French-Africans, British-Africans, German-Africans and much more live. Because of this knowledge, I believe I am a different person. My parents have helped me take my first step, now I must continue walking towards the open door of knowledge.
Mr. Wells
October 23- November 6, 2006
K.O.S.
Knowledge of Self
I’ve always had it pretty good. I did not grow up in a gang, and drug infested area, my family was never on Well-Fare, and I am not what most people would call ghetto. Akeel St.Vil is and has been a sheltered person for all of his life. Yet I do know what is going on in the world. I do know the history of my people, the people of Africa and their descendents, well at least as much as my school, media, and book publishers let me know.
My life has been a turntable of emotions also. When I was younger living in Seattle Washington I did not see much of the African culture. I can say that I was blind. I find it funny though, living in the northwest I learned so much about Asian and Asian-American history, and that is very good, but I always thought I was missing something, not knowing something. What I was missing was the knowledge of African history. I will always have that feeling though, since I will never know everything, but I will slowly feed the curiosity.
To learn about African history is a very hard thing to do. Certain things the media and this country just don’t want people to know. That’s why it has been so hard for me to learn about Africa’s history, and hopefully the truth. I thank my mom and dad for giving me the path to knowledge. For they are the ones that gave me the books, they are the ones that brought me to the museums, and they are the ones that brought me to the cities and countries. It seems as if my only way of finding the true history of Africa is through books. Educational channels such as The National Geographic Channel, The History Channel, and The Discovery Channel tell and show the history, but it is distorted, they do not tell the entire story.
Some of the history that people try and not talk about or try to distort are such things as, the original Hebrews were from Ethiopia and Somalia and were as dark or darker than most people in that region, or other things such as how the Greek empire which influenced the Roman empire learned a lot of the astronomy, building, and irrigation techniques from Africa’s most northeastern country, Egypt. All those and many more are facts that most people don’t like to emphasize. That is why it is an important issue to me, that I learn the history, along with my other African descendants so that our history will not be rewritten or changed.
Now don’t get me wrong, I still have much to learn, but the fact that I have started to learn about my people’s history has been a deciding factor in my life so far, and I believe it will be for the rest of my life. I am not totally naïve to my people in Africa and abroad in Europe where my French-Africans, British-Africans, German-Africans and much more live. Because of this knowledge, I believe I am a different person. My parents have helped me take my first step, now I must continue walking towards the open door of knowledge.
posted by Ajibri at 4:10 PM
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