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BLACK HISTORY SPOTLIGHT: SUNNI ALI-The FIRST EMPEROR OF THE SONGHAI EMPIRE β€πŸ–€πŸ’š

By: Leon Kwasi Kuntuo-Asare

EARLY LIFE

Sunni Ali (sometimes spelled Sonni Ali), was born in Ali Kolon. Ali’s regal reign would last about 28 years (1464-1492). Ali was the 15th ruler of the medieval West African Sunni dynasty and the first ruler of the Songhai empire.

THE CONQUEROR

Under the command of emperor Sunni Ali, a plethora of regions and cities were conquered and then fortified, like Timbuktu, and Djenne. The newly captured territories would be subjected to Ali’s repressive policies. Timbuktu had their scholars targeted and in some cases, they were expelled from the city, particularly those scholars associated with the Taureg people (an ethnic Berber people) from the Sankore region. Under his authority a massive naval fleet that traveled through the Niger River was organized. Ali’s fleet was sucessful in winning him territories that formerly belonged to the Mali Empire and the Empire of Ghana.

HIS DEATH

According to some researchers Ali died on November 6, 1492. Some Muslim scholars believed Ali drowned while crossing the Niger River, while others believe that he was killed by his sister’s son, Askia Muhammad Ture. Ali’s son, Sunni Baru would take the throne formerly held by his imperial minded father. However, Baru would be successful challenged for the throne by, Askia, because Baru was not believed to of been a devoted Muslim, therefore not a moral leader of a predominantly Muslim country.

External Education Resources





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BLACK HISTORY SPOTLIGHT:KING OSEI TUTU I: THE FATHER OF THE ASANTE EMPIRE

By:Leon Kwasi Kuntuo-Asare

Young King

Osei Tutu I was born in what is modern-day Ghana in 1660. When Osei Tutu I inherited the title of Kumasihene (king of Kumasi). Tutu would use this new influence to get the other Akan city-states to unite against the regional African hegemonic power,who were also an Akan people known as the Denkyira.

GOLDEN STOOL

Osei Tutu I and his traditional African priest Okomfo Anokye motivated many Akan city-states to unite because of a traditional African belief that the Golden Stool came from heaven and held the soul of the new Asante kingdom.

Once unified of what was the newly formed Asante kingdom, of which Osei Tutu I was now the new the Asantehene (Asante king), Tutu and his new forces would go on to defeat the the Denkyira, and then they would use the pincer formation to turn the new kingdom into a West African Empire. This was achieved by welcoming small African kingdoms who were willing to join the Asante confederation and by conquering other West African city-states who refused to submit to the power of the Asante empire. By 1701 the European powers on the coast of Ghana began take notice of the military brillance and growing power of the Asante.

Death OF THE KING

In 1717, Osei Tutu I would be killed in a war of conquest against the Akyem. He was allegedly shot by a sharpshooter who was hiding in the forest. He died crossing the River Pra.

LEGACY

Osei Kofi Tutu I with his loyal priest and advisor, Okomfo Anokye, united several Akan city-states to form the Asante kingdom, which later became the Asante empire.Osei Tutu II, currently sits on the thrown of Asante (Golden Stool), and even though like the Queen of England, his role is more ceremonial than political, the Asantehene is still one of the most powerful, respected and influntial people in Ghana today. The Asante kingdom is alive and well today in the Asante region of Ghana, even thougn it has shrunk in size since the birth of modern-day Ghana, the territory of Asante is still slightly larger than the nation of Israel and it’s influence is felt all over the nation of Ghana and is respected all over the world, especially within the African diaspora.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE USE THIS LINK

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65 PEOPLE IN NIGERIA WERE KILLED IN SUSPECTED TERRORIST ATTACK BY BOKO HARAM

By: Leon Kwasi Kuntuo-Asare

This past weekend in the northern Nigeria, 65 people were killed in a terrorist attack that occurred during a funeral.

That happened this past Saturday at a burial ceremony in the Nganzai district, which is near the Borno state capitol of Maiduguri.

Reportedly, 21 people were killed in the initial attack, and 44 were killed when local villagers attempted to capture the terrorist.

For additional information use the link below:

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/07/28/africa/boko-haram-attack-nigeria/index.html

african diaspora 0

Kanye was Kind of Right About The 13th Amendment

By: Leon Kwasi Kuntuo-Asare

It may be hard for many left-leaning liberals, or African-Americans to admit, but Kanye west, was kind of right about the 13th amendment.

Now, he was wasn’t right in saying the 13th amendment should be abolished, but it should be amendment or rewritten. Because contrary to popular belief the 13th amendment did not end slavery; in fact it only ended antebellum slavery, but it permitted slavery as long as it was in prison, as a form of hard labor to people convicted of a crime.

The 13th amendment states:

“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

Once the 13th amendment was passed, southern states began to immediately pass white supremacist laws, known as “Black Codes” and later “Jim Crow”, that were meant to disproportionately punish and incarcerate the black community, for minor infractions that most white people of that time wouldn’t get punished for. Like attempting to eat at a “Whites Only” counter or sitting in the “Whites Section” of a bus, even though whites could freely sit at any black section without fear of
persecution or prosecution.

Even today the 13th amendment is still be used in a harmful way against black people. Especially in a time of over policing in poor and economically disenfranchised, ethnic minority neighborhoods, and mass incarcerating those very same people for in most cases non-violent drug offenses that many white citizens get rehab for.

One example of this is San Francisco, a liberal city that has gentrified most of its black and many of its Latino residents out of the city, while at the same the time it has programs that give many drug addicts (most of whom are white), new, so-called clean needles to shoot up their drugs, which unfortunately they then leave where the average person could sit or step on, and possibly be infected with a harmful disease.

Now, I am not here advocating that prosecutors, jurors and judges start handing down harsh punishments for drug offenses to whites as the do to ethnic minorities to make up for past injustices in the justice system, rather I am saying people who commit drug offenses and other minor infractions, should be treated, in rehab or receive some form of therapy, rather than be sent to corporate prison somewhere to be a modern day slave.

For additional information use links below:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/kanye-west-explains-13th-amendment-comment-slavery-involuntary-servitude/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Codes_(United_States)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws

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MASSIVE FLOOD KILLS SEVERAL IN GHANA (PRAY4GHANA)

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By: Leon Kwasi Kuntuo-Asare

In the past four days huge amount of rainfall has flooded the streets of Accra, the capital city of Ghana, west Africa. Reportedly killing between 10-12 people, so far in the southern regions of The small nation.

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Rescue workers in the Ghanaian capital of Accra.

It has been reported that 185mm of rainfall dropped on the capital on sunday, which is about the annual average for June.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION USE LINK BELOW :

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/floods-leave-dead-southern-ghana-160616104330811.html

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HISTORY ON The Ancient City Of 🌍 Timbuktu (SECRET ANCIENT HISTORY )

Timbuktu (pron.: /ˌtΙͺmbʌkˈtuː/), also spelled as Tinbuktu, Timbuctoo and Timbuktoo (Tamazight:β΅œβ΅‰β΅β΄±β΅“β΄½β΅œβ΅“ (Tinbuktu); French: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu), is a historical and still-inhabited city in the West African nation of Mali, situated 20 km (12 mi) north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali. It had a population of 54,453 in the 2009 census.

Starting out as a seasonal settlement, Timbuktu became a permanent settlement early in the 12th century. After a shift in trading routes, Timbuktu flourished from the trade in salt, gold, ivory and slaves. It became part of the Mali Empire early in the 14th century. In the first half of the 15th century the Tuareg tribes took control of the city for a short period until the expanding Songhai Empire absorbed the city in 1468. A Moroccan army defeated the Songhai in 1591, and made Timbuktu, rather than Gao, their capital.

The invaders established a new ruling class, the Arma, who after 1612 became virtually independent of Morocco. However, the golden age of the city was over, during which it was a major learning and cultural center of the Mali empire, and it entered a long period of decline. Different tribes governed until the French took over in 1893, a situation that lasted until it became part of the current Republic of Mali in 1960. Presently, Timbuktu is impoverished and suffers from desertification.

In its Golden Age, the town’s numerous Islamic scholars and extensive trading network made possible an important book trade: together with the campuses of the Sankore Madrasah, an Islamic university, this established Timbuktu as a scholarly centre in Africa. Several notable historic writers, such as Shabeni and Leo Africanus, have described Timbuktu. These stories fueled speculation in Europe, where the city’s reputation shifted from being extremely rich to being mysterious. This reputation overshadows the town itself in modern times, to the point where it is best known in Western culture as an expression for a distant or outlandish place. Timbuktu was also renowned for being the living quarters of Mansa Musa.

NOTES FROM WIKIPEDIA :

PICTURES OF TIMBUKTU :

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african diaspora 0

MOTHER’S DEED, FATHER’S SEED! (POEM)

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MOTHER’S GREATEST DEED TO MY BROTHER AND ME WAS THE GIFT OF OUR FATHER’S WEST AFRICAN SEED

THAT ONE DEED GAVE US A RICH HISTORY

MORE VALUABLE THAN OIL AND GOLD

SHE DID THIS BECAUSE BY EVIL PALE MEN, HER HISTORY WAS SOLD TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER

LEAVING A BITTER TASTE IN HER AND MOST BLACK AMERICANS MOUTH OF CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL SELF-DOUBT!

-LEON KWASI KUNTUO-ASARE
AMERICA: DIVIDED WE STAND ?!
VOLUME 2: POETRY OF THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE!
NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON KINDLE AND SCRIBD:

http://leonkwasichronicles.com/my-books/

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LANGUAGE OF MY FOREFATHERS! (TWI IN GHANA)

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DON’T BOTHER GIVING ME A NATIONAL LANGUAGE

IF IT’S NOT THE LANGUAGE OF TWI, THE LANGUAGE OF OUR FOREFATHERS

KWAME NKRUMAH, JERRY RAWLINGS, OSEI TUTU, 1 AND 2

THAT’S THE ONLY LANGUAGE I WANT TO HEAR BEING SPOKEN TO THE GHANAIAN YOUTH

NOT THE LANGUAGE OF OUR INVADERS AND ENSLAVERS!

LEON KWASI KUNTUO-ASARE
AMERICA :DIVIDED WE STAND? !
VOLUME #2 : POETRY OF WE THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE!
NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON KINDLE AND SCRIBD :

http://leonkwasikuntuoasareblog.com/my-books/