A Talk with Natou Pedro Sakombi author of " Blue Blood in black ink"

The guest of the literary page of Flashmag this month is an author who has just committed a daring book, “Du Sang Bleu à l’encre noire” “blue blood in black ink.” a book that comes to change the history of the world as we knew it with sensational revelations about the black aristocracy of Europe. In an expatiated interview Natou Pedro Sakombi tells us more about herself and her work, which for sure will enter in the annals of contemporary history.

Flashmag: Hello Natou Pedro Sakombi

Natou Pedro Sakombi: Hello

Flashmag: You are a writer of Nigerian and Congolese origin resident in Belgium founder of the movement Queen and heroine of Africa, you just committed a major work blue blood in black ink.

First of all, I would like to know and the public probably is with me, who is Natou Pedro Sakombi? What is your background?

Natou Pedro Sakombi I am of Nigerian and Congolese origin, I was born in Kinshasa of a Nigerian father and a Congolese mother, I arrived in Belgium at the age of 6. I followed all my educational and academic curriculum here in Brussels, I did interpreting and translation studies, and this is where I learned a lot about European civilizations, without knowing that one day it would serve me in what is today my first release.

Later on I continued studies in language and modern literature, since I’ve always loved writing. Somewhere I was already aiming this writing profession, telling myself that, if it did not work, I would at least have a license to teach.

Well, when I finished my studies I didn’t work in literature nor in translation, but in international relations, in a Belgian public service for three years. During these three years I have discovered a lot about Africa, these discoveries have upset me so much that I decided to devote my life to Africa and to discover the past of Africa. thus in 2010 I decided to create the association Queens and heroines of Africa, to upgrade the African woman through history, we are ten Africans and afro descends women spread over several continent, we research on the role played by the black woman in the history of humanity, but also the role of the modern African woman in today's society

Flashmag: Becoming a writer was a logical choice given the trajectory of your life and in addition it was necessary for you to give your version of events isn’t it?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: yes of course, in any case writing is now a way to reach a large number of people it is true that with the Internet information is faster and people tend to receive less readings written on paper. In any case, writing always makes it possible to link several peoples for an effective exchange of ideas even when peoples read a lot through their computer screen, the book still has an exceptional power in the dissemination of Information and anyway I thought it was the ideal medium to transmit the discoveries I made, in the last three years, discoveries that led me to write this book.

Flashmag: in any case, even on the internet there are virtual versions of books and others ...

Natou Pedro Sakombi: yes, quite true.

Flashmag: Already very active in the Europe on African cultural environments, you have created a think tank group, queens and heroines of Africa a name that reminds me of the work of another proud black woman, Sylvia Serbin book that was denatured by her editor… like this author did you think it was important to rewrite African history by Africans? What is the motivation for your work?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: first about, to go back to Ms. Serbin, she was the driving force of this passion I have for the black woman, since I read her book Queens of Africa and heroines of the black diaspora, it’s from there, that I had the idea of ​​creating this association, we are inspired by the work she started to teach us.

I personally know Ms. Serbin, we often exchange and we also met often. She was the Guest of honor of the first Gala of African queens and heroines.

What happened to her is unfortunate therefore it is important that we Africans, we give a different view of history. As always we are taught in school erroneous human history, if it is true that the history of Africa has been falsified, the important role of the black man in the history of the humanity has also been obscured. The classical historiography that we are studying in schools is presented to us under a Western paradigm, it tends to highlight the white man and prove its preponderance on the black man, they say the black man has not entered into history as someone proclaimed loudly. A way for some to also prove that for the African to exist needs the Western man, as without the West, without the white man, the African would not had have access to civilization. Yet it’s now well-known at least by history and the written evidence that Africa, is the cradle of humanity and that the black man has given birth to all the other races, that the African civilization has spawned other civilizations. That is why it is now important to rewrite history under the black paradigm, this is precisely the meaning of the black ink, for truly the truth has to be revealed, because there are things that have been hidden in order to stifle the actions of the black man in humanity.

Flashmag: Do you think that the trauma suffered by the global black community with slavery and colonization is to blame? Because it seems that there was a cataclysm somewhere, that allowed the memory of an entire people to be almost erased. One has the impression that the black man has a story that is imposed and defined starting only from colonization and slavery, however, you enter the gap to put the record straight…

Natou Pedro Sakombi: yes, exactly as I stated, the objective is to correct erroneous historical facts, the book was not written to say what race is superior to some other races, but simply to say frankly what really happened. Taking an approach that leads us towards a historical truth.

And as you say, we have been marked by the scourges of slavery and colonization, we suffered a trauma, for many it is difficult to recover. But it's by going back in our history, by reading the unique role that the black man played in humanity, that many will find the strength to get up.

So we are somehow in the stage of reconstruction of this identity but we cannot rebuild on the lies and forgeries, so we need to access that truth which put us back, we Africans and Afro descendants, in the place we deserve in history. I quoted Malcolm X also last Saturday at the presentation of the book when he said: “if you were taught, you have never done anything, you will do nothing”. It is therefore important that we know who we were and what we have done in the past, so that we become aware of our potential.

Flashmag: How was done the craft of your book, that should not be categorized as novels because it is a historical and academic work. Did you travel to Africa to do research? Although the bulk of the story takes place precisely on the European continent?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: As I often say, I am from the internet generation, so today we don’t need to travel to the 4 corners of the world to search in libraries, consult the archives. Also be aware that I am not a historian but a literary, and I don’t pretend to be, but I believe that every person who has a historical quest, with an empirical approach, even if you cannot claim to be a historian you can still bring significant elements, that will force questioning, even on the minds of more established historians.

And ask right questions in relation to all these episodes in the history of humanity, which remain unclear, it’s what I did with this book.

To push readers to the questioning, putting at their disposal tangible and even spectacular elements, that prove that the black man, was the first to inhabit the European territory. These are elements which also show that a black elite existed in Europe, a black nobility which was at the top of society here in Europe, but that history was hidden from us. For there was a time in history when it was decided to eradicate the black race in Europe and especially at that time Oliver Cromwell deported forcibly to the Americas and the Caribbean, the black community of Europe, these people are called today the black Dutch and some can be found today in the United States of America. So be aware that all these blacks who are in the United States are not necessarily African Americans among them you can find Afro Europeans, these ancient inhabitants of Europe who were captured in Europe and sent in the Americas as slaves. There are all these parts of the little-known story of black still to discover and make available to the public.

So in this book I put at the disposal of all these facts, and I ask the readers to draw their own conclusion and I also invite experts and historians to help us understand better the facts to rewrite history from a different paradigm than what we experienced so far that gives precedence to the West. It is in a questioning approach that I designed this book.

Flashmag: even in Spain it well known that Cimarron (blacks) around the 16th century were expelled from the kingdom of Spain and sent to the Americas. It often stands a wall of incomprehension and rejection in the West. a lot of peoples there, have swallowed the official historiography, and they are highly allergic to everything else that might contradict what they have always been told. Some are afraid to see their world collapse and prefer to cling to the lie yet what has been done has been done for the benefit of an elite which uses racism to better control the masses, more needs to be done for some to comprehend that even as whites they deserve to know what really happened.

Natou Pedro Sakombi: yes, quite true…

Flashmag: when delving into an almost closed area and under close watch, you didn’t have any problems? Weren’t you afraid to offend the sensibilities because you question the official history?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: difficulties I had., necessarily one cannot decide to deal with a sulphurous topic like this one, and hope not to have some difficulties. There have been times when I almost gave up, I was discouraged by some people who told me that the topic I chose was totally wacky and whimsical. I had reactions from both Westerners and African descendants, an atypical reaction of Westerners was "we understand that you need to upgrade yourself why are you trying to piggyback yourself in a story that is not yours? Do you understand that these peoples even if they were blacks, they belong to the history of Europe? why you Africans, are trying to identify with these people in order to seek a certain hope, a kind of upgrading? When you hear things like that, you can be discouraged.

At the same time when it is said that Africa is the cradle of humanity, why enter the paradox that acknowledge a Western history where blacks should not intervene, even though there would have been black in Europe in ancient time? there is a history in which black Africans should feel more concerned. I think this view of history is truncated, it is a vision that take us away even more of the true history of mankind, they cannot say that Africa is the source of all other civilizations and simultaneously exclude African history of all these parts of the world. The European history does not belong to the white race it’s a history that belongs to all humanity. If humanity originated in Africa, it is also time that Africans start to be interested in that history.

The other reaction from Africans was: "What is our part of African identity in all this? All these people you mention as having been blacks, Beethoven, Alexander de Medici, you are citing black queens and so forth... but isn’t it true that these persons themselves did somehow participate in the slave trade? Were these people even concerned about Africa? Today as Africans why should we feel concerned?

For me it is still a negative way of seeing things, it's a way of excluding itself from human history and you cannot opt ​​out of history like that, unless you don’t consider yourself a human being. we must take world history as a whole. precisely it’s in these categorizations we do, African history, Western history, Asian history, that We exclude ourselves of the great human history. It is time that for us to start having an interest in this.

I've also had people say to me: "You are writing a historical essay but you do not qualify as historian. "But what I learned was so big that I do not know if anyone would had had the nerve to do it now, maybe someone would have done it later, since in the past those who have had that type of ideas have experienced discouragement from all sides, like Edmond Codfried, the Surinamese scholar, I talk about in the book. He worked in museums and found that some portraits of European major figures had been falsified, some layers of paint were added to the paintings to hide the fact that some of these high-ranking personalities were black, all over the internet today, that Mr. Codfried is insulted, he is treated as a black supremacist, just because he tries to show evidence of falsified historical facts. A scientific falsification which aims to hide the time that the black man was at its peak in the West. It is deplorable that we arrived there, but at the same time I'm happy not to have given up, historian or not, I mention the facts and I would like these facts to be known to the public, and I would even be very happy to confront historians on some issues that remain unresolved to this day.

Flashmag: one can only be happy that you had this audacity, because honestly I think a classic historian who builds its career in the system that defends some of these thesis would not have your patter, the knowledge and Truth win anyway, you do justice to those who seek the truth.

According to your book western kingship holds its power from Africa, a theory that since the Middle Ages seems to be whispered in the corridors of castles, and even archaeological excavations seemed to prove that the old Europe was multiracial as the remains of the Lady in ivory bracelets that was found in a metal coffin in England a few years ago, findings that testified that blacks in Europe at one time were part of the ruling class? Do you therefore have enough arguments in your book to convince readers?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: In any case I invite the public to read this book there are no facts that I testify in this book without citing relevant sources, you said something interesting earlier , even white have the right to know because they were lied at, and more some whites wrote in the past about some passage of history that attest that there were blacks in Europe, who led societies, that have led governments, that have led kingdoms therefor this is not stories I’m making up or some Afro centrist propaganda, most of the written sources come from Western writers and ancient texts that although they are not easily accessible to the large public, still exist. As of today we cannot deny that there have been black high dignitaries in Europe. In my book I quote an English spy who in his book describes unequivocally the characters of the English aristocracy of the time, and you will see it says in clear terms that they were black, you live in the US and I'm sure you speak very good English the term black or Fawzy complexion is strictly related to black skin, also one can trace the great Stuart family who reigned in the United Kingdom from the Germanic term Schwarz that means black.

Flashmag: In an article published in Flashmag a few years ago, we came back precisely on the fact that some members of the Western aristocracies asked painters to make pictures of them, which were not necessarily true to their real features This was the case with Beethoven who did it for commercial reasons to hid his true color, and it was also the case of Caesar Augustus who wanted to legitimize his power on the throne of Rome as the son of Julius Caesar, he ordered statues of him that looked strictly like his adoptive father Julius Caesar, because Augustus Caesar in reality was an African from Ethiopia he was adopted with his with sister, by the family of Octavia after losing their parents in a famine that struck Rome. A comment just to bring some water to your mill. Ancient Rome was already multiracial many facts attest it.

Africa remains at the heart of all concerns for the black diaspora worldwide and for Africans on the continent and unfortunately for those trying to turn it as usually as their operating ground. in a context like today when the continent is disputed how should behave African and African descendants?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: it's very important what you say, because I try to make a connection between the theme of this book and what we now live in society, with emphasis on the fact that the African must try to win back self-trust ; precisely because this Western paternalistic side that prone the fact that Africans had to leave the reins of managing their business to Westerners and Western oligarchy is the result of a long work ( brainwashing) that has been done at the level of the intellect, this was made to force them to understand that as Africans they were worthless and that they needed to be sponsored.

I think it is important to return to the true history to allow Africans to take a hold on their destiny and for this, work must be done at the level of mind and intellect; and this work cannot be done without historical knowledge. The preface to my work was done by Professor Dieudonné Gnamankou who was one of the first to make the world understand that Pushkin and Hannibal were of African origin. While he was a student in Russia, he made this statements, and he was attacked because for Russia it was an aberration to touch the sacred monsters of their history by giving them the African color. He was even physically attacked and it proves that Negrophobia is still very present in our societies.

Africa interest the greatest number it’s a rich continent this is well known to everybody. What we do not always understand is that this is not an attack against a continent but against the persons linked to this continent, as negrophobia is a very serious scourge that kills, before you even think about exploitation of the wealth of the continent, the black man is first hated, and this negrophobia extends across into the Arab and Muslim world, as in the United States with the infamous police blunders, what bothers is the black.

In the book I try to understand to what point the blacks have become public enemy number one, because before the color black, was noble and when one refers to the blue blood it addresses black dignitary, how the black color has become the color of shame, so that the great figures of the European monarchy who had black children felt compelled to hide them in convents throughout their lives? I thus talk about the Mauresse of Moret, the black daughter of Louis 14. It is important to learn that the black color, has not always been a color of shame.

Flashmag: Speaking precisely about the theme of negrophobia many agree that it is not hatred of the color simply, but what it implies ... those who started to spread this ideology knew who were really the blacks, one can seek to take down only what is already up, the psychologist would say that jealousy, lust and repressed desires can create hatred, and sometimes some hate what they cannot be. Strong You can be hated by the weak because you remember them what they lack.

Natou Pedro Sakombi: Absolutely

Flashmag: proud blacks are often accused to claim a glorious past, instead of focusing on the present and the future what do you say to that? even if someone said the past is present in our future?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: it is impossible to move forward when we do not know where we come from, and many blacks are unaware that the law of divide and rule has been defined for a long time. Tribalism and tribal wars are only the consequence of this policy which facilitated slavery and colonization in Africa. I think here about the scramble for Africa in the Berlin Conference. These same divisions are maintained today to perpetuate the domination of the West over Africans and Afro descendants. Many have difficulty understanding where do the conflicts we now live come from. That is why it is important to go back in history to understand it. Who established these boundaries. And for what purpose? what are the consequences of these actions today?

Flashmag: While Some find that in front nothing is negotiable with those who have committed all kinds of atrocities against their people, and would love to show them that hate is not the exclusive domain of Negrophobes, you seem to have a conciliatory approach in the fight that must lead the Africans and African descendants to regain their letter of nobility why?

Natou Sakombi Pedro: No, I think we cannot accuse a certain elite for having erased us from history, for having mistreated us, and simultaneously adopt the same attitude. I think it is important to get lifted higher, to rise above, and in the same way we should not use the real history we discover to prove the supremacy of one race over another, the approach is to recognize everyone's place in history and take full responsibility, but when one draft a story just to crush others, social peace is not possible. Only the truth must have authority, not the hegemonic intentions of some.

Flashmag: If there is no social justice there will be no social peace and constructive dialogue between the races. Don’t you think that policy makers should engage more in this direction rather than repeating derogatory stereotypes of a certain breed to their advantage to define their ideology; we saw people win elections in Europe on the basis of racist nationalism? And some getting landslide support in America talking the same talk?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: in fact, I think it’s important to shed light on the history elements to help decision-makers to take this into account in their different policies, it is also important that we make noise, we have to force these decision makers to understand, that we are aware of our past and of the role we played and that it should now be considered. I think in the end they will have to take it into account they will not have the choice before the irrefutable evidence. something sad, happened in my presentation, where there were white peoples attending. During the presentation of the book some felt hurt and left the room, it really saddened me, there are truths that need to be said even if our objective is not to offend sensitivities of each other. In addition, at some point we have to stop being in this power struggle relationship, these racial antagonisms will have to stop, history is and remains what it is, you have to accept the truth recognize the facts. Why not work together so that the African recover its dignity. I was saddened not because they walked out of the room but because they didn’t understand our need for justice and restoration by knowing our true history. But still there are westerners who would love to move things, who would like to reach this elite who censors swathes of history, there is hope that together we could come up with something.

Flashmag: this joins the fact that capitalism is racism, some invented slavery by lowering a race by racism to better maximize their profit by free labor and those peoples used as well other Westerners who until today still do not understand why racism exists, because the caste in question manages to maintain the lie and racial antagonisms which perpetuate its system of exploitation.

Last month we had an author who explained that it was important that Africa developed outside the prism of Negrophobia namely that a development in reaction of the hatred of others defines one through the eyes of the other. Yet some believe that the common history of black people can be a unifying, element a base on which they could build something solid for the future?

Blacks must build on their ancient history or build in reaction of the hatred of others by giving preponderance to the period of slavery and colonization?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: For me history must be taken in its entirety is a bit like a human life. One cannot be at the end of his life, as an old man and pick only the positive aspects of his life, we must also take the negative elements of life because you always learn from negative elements of life. You must have a full and complete historical consciousness. There are no items to erase because they are too hard or too demeaning. No everything has to be taken into account. I think it's time to reconsider history as a whole. Bruising of slavery and colonization should not be erased, they must inspire to help the rebirth. one must be aware of the glorious and painful episodes, we must not disregard some facts but rather ask ourselves how we got there, when we were a strong nation. How did we end up being directed by others?

Flashmag: while writing your book what did you have in mind you were expecting what?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: in any case when it was learned that Pharaonic Egypt was black we were thrilled; you had around you people who started taking names of ancient Egypt. In the absolute that's fine, it was also discovered thanks to the great historian Ronuko Rachidi that the first Inhabitants of Asia were black it’s ecstatic it’s always great. Today we learn that blacks have lived in Europe before and were the first people to have inhabited the European soil it’s always good. But now, in fact we must manage what next. We will also begin to adopt the aristocrats name? me anyway when I wrote Blue blood in black ink, it was to rewrite history in a paradigm different from the one of the West that we have known hitherto. What I want is to help the black man realizes the important role he has played throughout history, so that he can turn it into a driving force that will help him to rebuilt today. And everywhere the black man must now feel comfortable, nobody can no longer tell him you’re not here at home. And nobody can say any more you are stupid you have never accomplished anything.

Flashmag: The choice of Afro publishers, was it a way of protecting your story, or just a way of doing things?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: honestly when I initially wrote the book I did not even know that I would find a publisher I thought I don’t care if it will work or not, I will first propose my manuscript. And if that does not happen it will be a self-publishing and will read me, who will want to read me. And it is Mr. Gnamankou himself who came to me, while I was not expecting nor making any effort to find people like him, during the writing period I swung a few things on social networks this created many boils, holding the audience awestruck, and this is where Mr. Gnamankou came to me and told me that the subject was interesting and that he himself had written on it, and that he would read my manuscript and edit it, if it was good, I had my uncle read the manuscript as well, he had already written a book about my great uncle who was a prominent person in the past, the Minister Sakombi had worked with Senghor on the negritude movement , he saw my manuscript and told he’d like to have it edited by the publishing company Emergo and when Mr. Gnamankou came to me later I told him I had already promised my uncle, he said why not make a co-publishing because I want to help you a lot in publishing this book. That is why my book was Co-published by Dagan and Emergo. But it is true that if a Western publisher had offered to publish the book I would not have said no, because for me the main thing was to get this book out and make known the information contained therein. I'm really not into sectarianism. What matters is the restoration of history?

Flashmag: What is the target audience for this item? and while publishing this book have you set a goal to reach?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: the book is designed to inform first Africans, they are the ones who were reviled in the history of humanity, and Africans and Afro descendants, have the need to rebuild their identity. but in the book I address all those who would like to see taught in schools an history exempts of falsification, and not only blacks need this history to be told, many Westerners would also like to know the authentic history, there are also those who feel pain for us, seeing how we have been treated so far.

Flashmag: you kick into touch this quip that the black man is not enough into history. With your revelations it is understandable that the Gauls were not the ancestors of Africans, but rather the opposite. And even better with the latest discoveries if the white man did appear merely about 5000 year ago, Europe was already inhabited before for millennia by people who could only be Africans, Paris which means the city of Isis in Ancient Egyptian should concern us all, a bottle in the sea from the ancient who knows...

Natou Pedro Sakombi: An assertion which holds the absurd altogether. When placing the appearance of the white man around 5000 years ago, genetics teach us that its appearance is at a more recent period in the Iron Age, the first white mummy was dated approximately to 2000 years. Yes, Paris the fortress of Isis or city of Isis.

Flashmag: while the Iron Age is placed in Europe about 1000 BC, in Africa it is over 6000 years BC, in Cameroon blast furnaces of a period preceding the European iron age were found.

Before concluding this interview do you have a particular word to the public?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: my work was not done in order to set fire to the beams or to assert the supremacy of one race over another is not that. The goal is not to cause racial hatred or advocate black supremacy. I do not want people to be confined to basic instincts and epidermal reflexes, blacks must not say that, if I read this book I'll end up hating white, and white must not say I do not have to Read This Book since it accuses us and spit on us. In reading people will finally understand that I have a very objective view; I also evokes Afro centrist theories, those of albinism and melanin, I point the finger at some of the principles with which I do not agree. The race issue is addressed in a historical and philosophical context there is no desire to stir up racial hatred.

Flashmag: Where is your work available?

Natou Pedro Sakombi: My work is available on Amazon and on the website of the publisher Edition Dagan www.editionsdagan.com , for Parisians they can find it in Tamery bookshop. In Belgium early February it will be available at Fnac, for now, it is available in the premises of the BAM, Bel Africa Media, meanwhile readers can always write me via my Facebook page Natou Pedro Sakombi, or via the website Queens and Heroines of Africa www.rha-magazine.com

Flashmag: Frantz Fanon said, each generation must discover its mission, carry it out or betray it. with authors like you the fate of Africa is auspicious. Natou Pedro Sakombi, Flashmag and its readership thank you for this interview.

Natou Pedro Sakombi: it is I who thank you.

Interview by Hubert Marlin Elingui Jr.

Journalist - Writer

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