Netflix and Jada Pinkett Smith are in deep do do right now because they cast a black actress in the role of Cleopatra. It seems that some of our native Egyptian friends are more comfortable with Cleopatra being depicted as Arab or European. Or something. Anything but black. It’s quite incredible when you think about it. For decades Zahi Hawass who oversaw all of the ancient Egyptian antiquities and other prominent Arab Egyptians have been trying to convince everyone who’ll listen that they are the descendants of ancient Egypt. I hate to rain on their parade but that’s like European settlers making claims on the antiquities of “North American” indigenous populations. It’s patently absurd. Someone needs to remind them that Arabs had NO appreciable presence in Kemet Egypt until 639 AD. Unless modern day Arab Egyptians are time travelers, it’s going to be awfully difficult for them to make a claim to a civilization that existed thousands of years before they overran Egypt. Also, tell ‘em the Greeks were there before them. So were the Romans and Assyrians! I think the best way to answer the skeptics about whether Cleopatra the 7th was African is ponder how the Ptolemy era began. More accurately — who preceded ALL seven of the Cleopatras. Was Hapshetsut black African? How about Queen Merneith, Queen Tiye, or Nefertiti? The best summation of how Egypt morphed from being a Black and Brown civilization to a European White or Arab one was given to me by an Egyptian!
DiopianStyle 