Dr. Ivan Van Sertima
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
When the new Nas album first dropped I was listening to the song “We are not alone” and this line caught my attention:
I used to worship a certain Queens police murderer
‘Til I read the words of Ivan van Sertima
He inserted something in me
That made me feel worthier
Now I spit revolution
I’m his hood interpreter
That line hit me in the head and made me wonder, who was Nas talking about?
So I did some research and as it turns out Ivan van Sertima is a Guyanese historian, linguist and anthropologist at Rutgers University. He also has some interesting studies on the achievements of Africans in science and wrote They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America. I like what he
I got schooled by Nas so now I’m schoolin you to it… Check out some of his discussions to learn more.
Afrikans in Science: Ancient and Modern
They came before Columbus