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Thursday, June 16, 2022

Should Aetas (Black & Brown Skinned People From The Philippines) Be Referred To As African? Part III - Comments

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series* on the Aeta [pronounced EYE tah] people of the Philippines.
This post presents selected comments that present clarification about, are critical of, or supportive of the use of  "African" as referent for Aetas (black or brown skinned people of the Philippines).   

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/06/should-aeta-black-brown-skinned-people.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases two YouTube videos
that are entitled "African Tribes of the Philippines (part 1)" and "African Tribes of the Philippines (part 2). These videos (vlogs) were published in 2019 by African American vlogger Travel and Truth

Part II also showcases a 2020 YouTube video from Papua New Guinean man entitled "Aetas from Philippines are Not Africans, they are Australo-Melanesians". That video (vlog) was published as a rebuttal to those two above mentioned videos.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and educational purposes. All copyrights remain with their owners. Thanks to all Aeta and thanks to all those who are featured in and are associated with this showcased video. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. -snip- *Additional pancocojams posts on this subject can be found using the tag "Aeta" in this blog's internal seach engine or by using Google's search engine for the words "pancocojams Aeta".
****
BACKGROUND The vlogger who published the YouTube video entitled "Aetas from Philippines are Not Africans, they are Australo-Melanesians" indicated that he published that video in response to a two part 2019 video series about the Aetas that was published by an African American. All three of these videos are embedded in Part II of this pancocojams series.

Here's information abou these videos:

Title: "Aetas from Philippines are Not Africans, they are Australo-Melanesians", published by Philemon Malennaka Nangu, Jan. 10, 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgqV3AGS93o&t=1s
This video is given as Video #3 that is showcased in Part II of this pancocojams series.
Philemon Malennaka Nangu identified himself as a being from Papua New Guinea. Statistics as of June 15, 2022 at 9:33 PM ET total # of views - 14,547 total # of comments- 919

****
Title for Video #1 that is showcased in Part I of the two part 2019 video series entitled "African Tribes of The Philippines (part I) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ghkgZSEOI published by Travel and Truth, March 5, 2019; Travel and Truth identified himself as an African American from Atlanta, Georgia.
Statistics as of June 15, 2022 at 10:03 PM ET: total # of views - 265,561 total # of comments- 2,292 ****
Title for Video #2 that is showcased in Part II: "African Tribes of The Philippines (part 2) Ihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd0yHM4nTlY, published by Travel and Truth, Sept. 8, 2019

Statistics as of June 15, 2022 at 10:06 PM ET total # of views - 319,399 total #of cmments -2,791

**** PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
I just learned about the Aetas on June 12, 2022 as a result of watching this video: "I Set On A Journey To Look For AFRO-Philipinos & This Happened (Part 1), . published by Dee Mwango, June 12, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-0SEtaof64&t=3s

Dee Mwango is a Kenya, East African vlogger. Here is her summary statement for that video: "I Set On A journey To look For Afro-Philipinas Who are actually the original Philininos Commonly known as the Ita ppl. It was just an amazing adventurous journey and I'm glad to share it with you."

Notice that Dee Mwango capitalized the word "Afro" in her video's title. Dee Mwango is a young woman who wears her hair in a short natural style with blond highlights. Throughout that video and in Part II of  that video*, Mwango was excited to see Aetas who had hair like hers. She made a point of singling out Aetas-regadless of their age- with naturally kinky "afro" hair/ [These are my words). Often she would touch their hair or ask them to touch hers and confirm that their hair textures were the same.

During her time in that Aeta village Dee Mwango also repeatedly mentioned that the skin colors of the people in that village was like hers (a point that she also emphasized by holding her arm near the arms of various Aetas.) Furthermore, Dee Wango often introduced herself as being from "Kenya in Africa" and repeatedly talked about how the Aetas' homes and their cooking methods, food, and other aspects of their lifestyle were the same as or very similar to her lifestyle as a village girl in Kenya.

Here's one of the comments in that video's discussion thread:
Fabulous-Aunt, June 12 2022
"Nice to see afro people with afro hair in Philipnes. So special to look at, I never imagine there is real afro people and in the Philipine`s village. Thanx for sharing."

*Here's a the title of and the link to Part II of Dee Mwango's vlog about the Aetas:
".
CRAZY How BLACK AFRO-PHILIPINOS Live !! RAW & UNCUT (Part 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j_en55EbYA, Dee Mwango, June 14, 2020
[summary: " The Black Philipinos known as the Aeta people are the original Philipinos that originated From Africa. I was humbled To Have met them after a long journey from Manila To Pampanga Village where they stay by themselves.
They have their own Schools and church where they go and I really appreciate them being very welcoming. I hope you enjoyed the video Let me know your thoughts. Lots of Love

** Watching Dee Mwango videos about her time in the Aeta village and reading the discussion threads of those videos prompted me to watch other YouTube videos about the Aetas and read those videos' discussion threads. Those videos and discussion threads also motivated me to search out other online information about the Aetas.

There are many more comments about the subject of whether Aetas and other Melanesians are African and/or should be referred to as Africans in the discussion thread that is the source for all of the comments that are quoted in this pancocojams post. There are also a large number of comments on the specific subject of whether Aetas should be referred to as Africans (and/or Afro-Filipinos) in the discussion thread for multiple YouTube videos (vlogs) on Aetas, particularly in those videos/vlogs that have been published since 2019. I chose to limit the selected comments in this pancocojams post to the discussion thread for one video because I was getting overwhelmed with the number of comments in other discussion threads which could have been featured. I've decided to present these selected comments without any editorical statements or clarifications, except for one note giving the meaning of the word "Pangaea" after comment #15.

In reading these selected comments, please keep in mind that the intention of the vlog from whom these comments come was to refute the statement that the African American vlogger "Travel and Truth" directly made in the titles of his vlog and in that vlog's content that Aetas were part of the pan-African family. As such, when some commenters write something like "What he meant was...", they are usually referring to that vlogger. That said, in comment #53, "the vlogger" refers to Philemon Malennaka Nangu from Papua New Guinea. 

I believe that it's important to correct the statement made by several commenters that African Americans are the only ones who are saying that Aetas are Africans. I've shared the information above about Dee Mwango from Kenya.  Praise Keanu  is another  African vlogger who referred to Aetas as African in at least one of his video. In one of his videos I came across, Praise Keanu self-identified as African, but I don't know which country he is from.  Here's the title/link to his video about the Aetas: "african tribe of the Philippines_ (austronesian, polynesian)", Praise Keanu, Dec. 19, 2019  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT9AQa4VcKA

****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR THE VIDEO THAT IS EMBEDDED IN THIS PANCOCOJAMS POST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgqV3AGS93o&t=1s Some of these selected comments refer to commenters whose comments are no longer included in this discussion thread.
Numbers are added for referencing purposes only. 2019 1. Faanēngaaw
"Peace & love brothah! Im frm Micronesia & im tired of these African people tellin me im frm Africa wen i know for sure my culture & my language is not even close to any african cultures!!!"

**
Reply
2. 
Ralph Montes
"Philemon Maiennaka Nangu thanks for sharing this and just know that the out of africa theory is not true it was made up that's why you don't hear Tamil people don't claim ever coming from there not even the Australian aboriginals mention anything about africa in they're dream time stories or the Torres islanders that theory was made up for political gain and identity theft not to pay us any homage or respect"

**
Reply
3. Mobidick Ahlam
"It is black American who talk like that, not African. African never claim any black people outside Africa. African is a huge continent with great history black Americans because of slavery and racism in America like to talk about color and race because racism came from white European especially does against black color"

**
Reply
4. S. C Jackson "Thank you for this video! 

This is the same thing done to so called "Blacks" in America saying we are all from Africa.  I think this is a slick way to remove the land rights from native, indigenous peoples - to say they are from somewhere else! ** Reply 5. Philemon Maiennaka Nangu @Peter Connell  70-20000 years is quite a very long time, the Appropriate word to use is to refer to us an natives inhabitants of that particular place or region, not to bring a completely different region and people whose cultures and environment is completely different, the creator of the original video is a confused individual who is trying his best to trace his roots but i guess he came to the wrong place, because not all Dark skinned people  are Africans. I still believe it is wrong to call Aetas sn african tribe, trust me if he did the video in PNG or Fiji, he will be told off straight on his mistakes."

** Reply 6. C Jackson "@Peter Connell  I'm sure no harm was intended but the language could be use as a political tool to separate the people from the land.  Logically, if all peopleoriginally came from Africa, then all people are "Africans" but why do Mongoloid Asians or Caucasoid Europeans not identify as African? Answer: Because they stake claim to aboriginal/indigenous rights to those lands and all resources and riches they hold (but we, AND THEY, know who were the first people there)!  You cannot be an "African" then claim aboriginal/indigenous rights to lands that are not in Africa, does that make sense? Commonly, the major problem is with context of terms such as "African", "Black", etc.  "Melanated","Eumelanated" or even "Negroid"  would be a more accurate description thatshows a close familial relationship these populations share. We are still family!" ** 7. Rosezanne Marcus "I am originally from the Philippines  and grew up in the Philippines until my family moved to the U.S. The U.S. despite being a melting pot still has a lot of racial issues and tensions. I think the black American is just trying to identify with the "blackness" of the Aetas. However, I do agree with you that it is important to come from a place of truth and accuracy. The truth is the Aetas are natives of the Philippines. Just like the Native Americans of North America. It is okay to celebrate people that look like you but it is important to celebrate it in the right context." ** 8. G c "Where did they come from? Did they magically appear there?..

Stop the hate bro! You’re ancestors are from Africa. Point blank. You sound so lost mentioning names and places that were created as part of the divide which has shaped your hateful mind... by the way, hello my brother, I love you! I’m from the Caribbean, but my people came from Africa.."

** Reply 9. Philemon Maiennaka Nangu "Gc we are not Africans, have some respect, im not lost. I am proud to belong to an independent nation and from a different part of the world and a different group of people. Thats the bottom line. There is no hate,

Africans or African Americans have and must accept that we are different, our language  and cultures and even DNA is unique to our own area. 70 000 years ago is a long time, who knows, science  might be misleading us all along.

There is no hate and i am not lost, you are the lost one dude.

****

2020 10. Faanēngaaw
"Britney L most of them who now realized there are colored people who also happened to have curly to afro hairs from around the world, claim we came from Africa as if we came directly from Africa.

As a Pacific islander we have been here in these islands for thousands of years before europeans knew the world was even round. So i have no idea how would we even think we came directly from Africa when we came from mainland Asia."

** 11. northtosouthph"Yeah!...I agree our AETAS are Melanesian...They migrated to

the Philippines Many Thousands years ago..." ** Reply 12. Aya I "Yes they migrated from Africa like every other modern human.

Africans are the only race of people that the world falsely tries to divide and reclassify. The guy doing this video is lost and doesnt realize his true origins." ** 13. Ayana Gray "Everyone migrated from Africa at one point or another, so what he was saying was not a lie. But I think he lacked a time frame of what he was talking about to help explain the migration that happened thousands of years ago for the Melanesian people.

Tell me something, what is so bad about being from Africa?

My ancestors were brought to America in the 1600's, this I know for a fact. I have records to prove my claims, but I don't deny my African roots because you can clearly see that I am of African descent. For me to see other brown people in the world who look like me, I take pride in that. We all struggle within the societies that we live in and we all have a connection because of our skin and physical features so I tend to embrace everyone who shares that similarity. Sure we have different cultures and such but no matter where we are on this planet we are one people with one struggle. Much love and respect everyone!" ** Reply 14. Paths2Business, 2022 "Thank you for this, so many people refuse to accept the fact that they are genetically Black because of colonialism and the plight of Black people as a whole. They love our music, talents and all the amazing qualities that come with being Black as well as the benefits that our struggle has brought to them but don't actually care to or want to love us, it's maddening." ** Reply 15. NellyRose, 2022 "Nobody said anything is wrong with being African. Melanesians and Indigenous Australiansmigrated from Africa between 50,000 and 100,000 years ego. As such, their DNAhas evolved/differentiated over that time, and despite their phenotype, they are genetically distinct from modern Sub-Saharan Africans. Modern Sub-Saharan Africans are genetically closer to Caucasians." ** 16. AbM " @Philemon Maiennaka Nangu  thank you very much for the explanation, I have always wondered.

Honestly speaking, when I first learned about Melanesian people (especially in PNG, Fiji, etc.), I was so excited and viewed you as our long lost cousins (since I also have dark skin and live in Africa). The young man (probably African American) who made the initial video about the Aeta people from Philippines, did not mean any harm by saying they (Aeta people) originate from Africa. We might find that he is happy to visit PNG  or other islands and learn more about the people.

I guess, it is how we (Africans and those who were taken as slaves to the Americas, Europe and Asia) view others who seem to look like us (we are excited to meet, speak and find similarities between us - since we have been devided and ruled for centuries). Rather than searching for differences (not that they are not there), we look for similarities between us (Africans, Malenesian peoples or anyone we meet who is welcoming).

I'm saddened by what is happening (watched a documentary) in West Papua and how you (as Malenesian people) are treated (I guess this is another example where we find and feel empathy and want to view Malenesians as from Africa - no disrespect meant).

Interesting fact, your last name "Nangu" may be translated to "Here is" or "that is him" in Zulu (i.e. "nangu uPhilemon" - "Here is Philemon").

I want to learn more about Malenesian people or the Pacific island people.I would be very happy if you can assist or point me to where I can learn more.

Thank you (again for responding to my question).

Regards

Richard"

** Reply 17.
factsoverfeelings
"Tbh we are looking at a recent time period there was a time the world was asia"

**
Reply
18. factsoverfeelings
"Pangea"
-snip-
Here’s the definition of Pangaea:
from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pangea
"Pangaea [ pan-jee-uh ]

noun Geology.

the hypothetical landmass that existed when all continents were joined, from about 300 to 200 million years ago"

**
Reply
19. Ralph Montes
"@AbM  that's because they're not Africans"

**
Reply
20. AbM
"@Ralph Montes  they have made that clear and nobody is disputing the facts."

**
Reply
21. Ralph Montes
"@AbM  my response wasn't directed to you it was to a few minded people are trying guilt shame for not claiming african but because of this long standing out of Africa nonsense they subscribed to are they still trying to make this a debate out of pride and emotion rather than logic because they don't understand  that the whole planet's our home"

**
Reply
22. AbM
"@Ralph Montes  I get u, thanks for clarifying.

 I think we (as Africans) feel for many others who are not treated well. It is so interesting when we see others who may look like us.

Most of us know that the darker the skin, the harder (most likely) it gets in life (yes, there are many success stories). I have watched documentaries about the conflicts between Papuans and the Indonesian government in West Papua, the Haitians and their leaders, and in many African lands. It is sad.

It also so interesting to see someone who may look African, yet, they are not (I.e. Torres Strait islanders, etc.).

I just hope humanity prevails in all the conflicts of the world."

**
Reply
23. 
Ralph Montes
"@AbM  and I get what your too but keep mind is the the island's are not the only place with so called blacks there's also India and Malaysia to that's seldom brought in the media and academia that's another reason why so many amongst us are still confused because they don't know enough about them or that so called Africa and Asia are really just one landmass"

**
Reply
24. misshulagirl05 "Aborigines descend from a single group of modern humans who swept out of Africa 50,000 to 60,000 years ago and then spread in different directions."

** Reply 25. Janinebelle Estrada "@misshulagirl05  like everybody else obviously, but they only have like 1% African in them because they are autraloids. I only have like 1% African in me despite being indigenous and my white boyfriend has 10% more african dna in him but he is as white as day and he is a light haired ginger.

That's why this race thing shouldn't be a thing because not everyone is pure and someone is bound to have a bit of dna from tgeir ancestors. In all honesty mainland western chinese have more african dna than the modern day aeta." ** 26. ASoul Ja 4Sho "Interesting...

How old are the oldest artifacts or proofs of Melanesian civilization? Most of these civilizations seem relatively young and most do speculate that the inhabitants migrated from somewhere else (Africa). People didn’t just pop up out of nowhere especially with short histories. If these civilizations had some type of proof that are as old as artifacts in Africa and the proof that Africans spread through out I could almost believe this. Enlighten me if you will."

** Reply 27.
mike askme, 2021
"@Asoul Ja 4Sho and that is what people are missing, he never said they were African, what he said they were part of the first tribe/clan or group that left Africa, its exactly how you said, but for some reason people fail to grasp that concept. The guy never said they were a African tribe (although technically he could), what he said they were some of the firstAfricans to leave."
** 28. Justin Torrence "I think you misunderstood the American.  He understands your not from an African tribe that migrated recently. I also understand that you do not want your culture to be associated with Africa culture, however scientists agree that humans originated in Africa and they migrated out 70-50 thousand years ago.  So what he is saying is that your people are the remnants of that migration.  And if you still don’t believe it,  the fact still remains the mitochondrial eve comes from Africa. Globally all peoples with African phenotypes that are not Africans want to disassociate themselves with Africa because of the negative portrayals people projected on to the continent. Black Hispanics do the same thing.  Even Ethiopians do it and the are on the continent. So chill out dude, because globally no one cares.  All they see is dark skin, wide nose, and nappy hair they will treat you with the same amount of contempt as the do as a native African." ** Reply 29. Ophanim Angel, 2022 "Okay so why doesn’t this American dude go around in China and also say “muh African bruddahs” since you think we all come from Africa?

Why was he being so specific to assign these people onto his assumptions when in fact, these Melanasians were the very first peoples to have even settled in these South East Asian islands before the Austronesians that followed after. So technically, that even makes them more Asiatic than many others now strongly associated with the continental labels."

** 30. TheDevine "@Philemon Maiennaka Nangu  I agree with you that you should not be called African, in fact only Africans should be called Africans similar features or not.  It would have been best if you'd left this to the Aetas though, as I think its also a problem when black nations speak on behalf of other black nations." ** 31.
W Musa
"@ZEI BEATZ  or maybe we just believe that we didn’t come from Africa and our ancestors could have even been on the islands the same time 100 000 years ago  or even before the
mass African migrationave obvious African phenotype. The Adamanese people are fully black looking people.  Anthropologist think they got there from the one of the early migrations from AFRICA, not the Philippines.  Black Dominicans in attempt to make the same claims under the same ignorance of country and or nationality does not = race.   I’m African American don’t make me not African.  Asians who have been living in South American are not Latinos no matter if they had been living there for eons.  Why is this so hard to accept. And no I would not do that to Chinese because why? That don’t have dark skin and curly hair.  This is not hard you all are in denial of your origins because they are black.  But your not alone this attempt from many cultures to distance themselves from there black origins is very common.  North Africans, South Americans, and southeast asians."
**** 2021

32. YungHandz706 "I see alot of ignorant misinformation in these comments and ignorant troll comments as usual about Black Americans. Most of us Black Americans don't call ourselves Africans and would prefer not to be called that bs "African American" name either. We are of mostly West/CentralAfrican descent as far as DNA while also mixed with West European and alot ofalso alot have a little Native American in us, but our more recent ancestors have been in America for over 400 years. The Black identity was popularized by multiple Black Americans to describe people with mostly African ancestors without calling ourselves Africans. We're our own thing now. The guy who made that video is one of the minority "pan africans" we have, which means he believes every Black person or dark skin person is an African and wants to use that as a way to push unity between each other. Most Black Americans don't know much about Melanesian or African people, but I respect y'all wanting to have your own identity same as people should with Black Americans.

All of that being said I don't think it's a coincidence that y'all have similar features to Africans and New Guinea is country in Africa, so maybe there's a connection to papua new guinea.Another thing to add on to what I said is if he Aeta people didn't believe they were Africans or Black people, then why didn't they mention that to him? I seen a Aeta girl even react to the video on youtube and she never disagreed with them."

** Reply 33. YungHandz706 "@Ralph Montes  I seen you responding to some other comments and you seem like you believe that we're aboriginal,native american or that black hebrew,etc bs. White Americans came to America from the UK, then kicked the native americans to the side and went to mainly West Africans countries like Ghana,Nigeria,etc to buy slaves to help them develop America's resources and economy with products from slave labour. Places like Ghana had the ashanti kingdom and they were known to sale slaves and the slave dungeon castle still exists to this day as a tourist destination with a sign in front of it saying how they hope the people affected from America will return again and there's even a video of a West African chief apologizing to Black Americans for part of our ancestors being sold We look similar to West Africans because that's where most of our DNA comes from(typically from 40-60%) and this can be verified by the multiple Black American ancestry tests on youtube or one you can take yourself. Papua New Guinea and the Papua in Indonesia isn't the same. I'm not looking to argue with you like you seem to want to do..all Imma say is you should study more Black American history because the conspiracy theories some Black American believe because they don't know they own history nor actually put in the serious effort to study it let alone African history or other histories in this world is sad."

** Reply 34. being meshach"AFRICANS AND MELANESIANS IS NOT THAT MUCH DIFFERENCE WE ARE ALL NATIVE PEOPLE AND HAVE VERY SIMILARITIES IN OUR PHYSICAL APPEARANCE AND OUR CULTURE. I KNOW YOU ARE FROM THE ISLANDS AND ARE NATIVE TO THOSE LANDS BUT WE ARE ALL THE SAME PEOPLE. (AFRICANS)

** Reply 35. easy money97 "No 🤣 that's like saying filipinos and cambodians are the same as native american and native canadians coz they look similar" ** 36. isreal wiltshire "Can you clarify to me on how they got their then please??" ** Reply 37. Philemon Maiennaka Nangu "Migration issue is way to old, people have change over so many thousand s of years, you cannot continue to use that as an excuse to call us Melanesian or dark skinned individuals Africans. We are not Africans." ** 38. Flowers4848 "@Evan O  Think you're missing the point … their skin

tone don't make them Africans, they have totally different haplogroups." ** 39. mike askme "@Philemon Maiennaka Nangu  so Mr Nangu, my great great grandparents are descendants from West Africa, Central Africa and my DNA shows the oldest line comes North East Africa, but i was born in the US. Scenario knowing the history of my family, exercise for everyone. If my parents took a cruise while my mom was pregnant, and i was born on a ship, would i stop being a African American and become a Ship American? Or better yet, a zoo has a two African lions, those two African lions have off springs, their off springs have off springs, and their off spring have babies, would the last lions born cease to be African lions, because they originators were so far back?" ** Reply 40. Flowers4848 "@mike askme  That's true but Melanesians have been separated from Africa so long,  in the

tens of thousands years … they no longer have genetic relation to Africa." ** Reply 41. Flowers4848 "@mike askme  Because of genetic drift, after fifty

thousands years …  they would  no longer be directly related." ** Reply 42.Flowers4848"@mike askme  At some point everyone is related to Africa

…  Europeans living today, in whatever country, are a varying mix of ancient bloodlines hailing from Africa, the Middle East, and the Russian steppe. The evidence comes from archaeological artifacts, from the analysis of ancient teeth and bones, and from linguistics" ** 43. qolspony "Reading these comments, the white man has done a wonderful job confusing out people. Melanesians were given this name to confuse them and disassociate themselves from their origins, which is Africa. They were the first people to leave Africa some thousand of years ago. How they look so identical to Africans, I don't know, but history does not lie. And thantheir the story that the white man kept telling us that the Black Man only exist in Africa unless he was brought over by the white man. I believe that until a Filipino told me out of his own mouth that people looked like me were in his country. And my brainwashed self told him, the white man must of brought them there. He quickly told me no. They were actually there before Filipinos as we know them. This was all strange for someone who wasn't 20 yet in 1989. Sowhen an actual person from this area tells me he's not connected to me because he comes from a different place. My mind goes back to this story of this Filipino guy telling me that "they are people who look just like me".

By the way I was 6'2 than and still 6'2 now. So obviously my height did not deter him." ** 44. Kai daKemes "The got afros for amen sake ** Reply 45. Mat Whute "And they are still labeled as black"

** Reply 46. Hua Sho Han "which is valid, as long as "black" is not synonymous with "african." there are non-black people who live in africa too, (edit) and black people in asia/the pacific who have little to no connection to africans." ** Reply 47. BellaSpivey "Yes, but they are not African.

** 48. Ab Zed "@ Philemon Maiennaka Nangu ; Wake up, and embrace yourself!

Aetas are of African!" ** Reply 49. Flowers4848 "@Ab Zed  LOL … you're looking on the surface … I don't blame you, because on the surface some Melanesians do look African to the average person, but a scientist or geneticist would know better, and would tell you they are the furthest genetically from Africans, and are closely related to Asians ... it's all about demographics and how long ago they have migrated from Africa just like other groups … the first Europeans that migrated from Africa had dark skin, but are not considered African, you can't go by skin color and hair texture."

** 50. Flowers4848 "@Ab Zed  The people of Melanesia have a distinctive ancestry. According to the Southern Dispersal theory, a number of human beings emigrated from Africa between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago and dispersed along the southern edge of Asia … modern day DNA test do not link them to Africa, like it does for Black Americans, and Caribbeans"

** 51. Señor A'Ngon "Useless and dumb controversy. What does that matter?

melanesia means land of the black people. That is all. Black people of the world, unite!" ** Reply 52. Philemon Maiennaka Nangu "Being black does not always mean we are all Africans, thats where you are all wrong."

** 53. Anthoniel JeanCharles"I know some of you racist on here are happy he said not African but melanation but this man clearly has West African features so my question is which West African group migrated to the melanesian islands and then to the Philippines because he's obviously of West African DNA"

** Reply 54. Philemon Maiennaka Nangu "Thats is how shallow minded you are, theres a big difference from African Americans and some of us dark skinned people from around the world, our ancestors were never part of the colonial slave trade but were original immigration. Our DNA has completely changed due to crosses over thousands of years.

Thats the difference, your answer proves how shallow minded yoir thought is Mr Eastcoastbrotha" ** 55. W Musa "@eastcoastbrotha-ONE OF JUDAH  get educated, dark skin and curly hair is just an adaptation to the hot environment and it’s not an African thing. The dark natives of Indonesia, Philippines and the Papuans lived on the islands for more than 30 000 years not from Africa lol. You can literally put a group of whites and leave them in Ghana where they go outside everyday and within 10 000 years they would look like your so called African" **

56. Soufiane סופיאן "@W Musa  This doesn’t make sense at all😂

If the hair and skin color is because of the “hot environment” why do (for example) the Amazigh which are living in North Africa for more than 10.000 years look so different than West Africans? Melanesians aren’t just from Africa, they are literally the same race as Ghanian people as example. I know Melanesians (nowadays) aren’t considered to be Africans because they left Africa about 50.000 years ago BUT you can’t deny your roots brother"

** 57. The Link "We know you are melanesian which means melanin which come from "black" people" 

** Reply 58. Truth Hurts365 "🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣"

**** 2022
59. Paths2Business "They are Blackity black black black no matter how any of you try to deflect from the truth. The first human originated in Africa period point black! Melanesians are Black!"

**** This concludes Part III of this three part pancocojams series.

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7 comments:

  1. I don't recall finding any comments in the discussion threads that I read about the Aetas about Black Africans being enslaved in the Philippines. However, I happened upon this YouTube vlog on that topic this morning:
    AFRO PHILIPPINES The African Diaspora In The Philippines
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ajvjm3_1U
    Freedom Is Mine Official, Mar 29, 2021

    [video summary] "How much do YOU know about black history in the Philippines? There have been black people in the Philippines since at least the 16th century when the Philippines was under Spanish colonial rule. During this time enslaved Africans were brought over to the Philippines to provide free labour in the construction and agriculture sectors."

    Have you heard of David Fagen? The legendary 'Capitan Insurrecto'! He was one of several African-American soliders who, during the Philippine-American War, defected from the US army and fought for Filipino independence."

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    1. Here's a quote from Wikipedia about slavery in colonial Philippines:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Spanish_slavery_in_the_Philippines
      ..."The king [King Phillip II of Spain] did not implement [rules he made against slavery of indios in the Philippines], however, [he] enforced further laws to punish the Spaniards who held Indio slaves. This opened for a new trend which was illegally importing foreigners, especially Africans. Since they were not under the king's subjection, they were not included in the laws and they were made slaves as a replacement for the Indios. Even some Filipinos acquired these foreign slaves and by 1621, Black people constituted around one third of the Intramuros population. These foreign slaves were mainly employed in Manila and not in the provinces. Some of them were also resold in Mexico during the time of the Manila Galleon Trade to cover transportation costs"...

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    2. There are a number of Quora [question and responses] pages about slavery in colonial Philippines. Here's a link and a quote from one of those pages:
      https://www.quora.com/Did-the-Spanish-ever-import-enslaved-Africans-to-the-Philippines Did the Spanish ever import enslaved Africans to the Philippines?
      Norman Owen, 2018
      "Yes, there were some African slaves in the Philippines, but there was no direct “slave trade” run by Spaniards from Africa to the islands. Instead, most of them seem to have been bought from Portuguese or other international (slave) traders, along with Asian slaves, particularly from India, Malaya, and Indonesia.

      The Spanish crown dictated that Spaniards could not enslave “indios,” a term which referred to Filipinos as well as natives of the Americas who fell under Spanish rule, but did not abolish slavery as such for well over a century after they conquered the Philippines. In the meantime the Spanish in Manila held a variety of slaves obtained in a variety of ways (and through a variety of loopholes), though they did not use them as plantation labor."...

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    3. I want to be very clear that I don't agree with any statement that the Aeta (and other Melanesian people] are descendants of enslaved Black African people who were brought to the Philippines in the 17th -19th centuries.

      Aetas had been in the Philippines for 40,000 years.

      Could some Aetas and other Melanesians have DNA from those Africans who were enslaved in the Philippines during that time? Sure. However, I don't think it's a high percentage of their DNA and that certainly doesn't account for the black and brown skin and "afro" curly ("kulot") hair texture that many Aetas had in the past and still have today.

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  2. Here are three comment sfrom a 2017 YouTube vlog that was published by a man from Papua New Guinea; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F-h73QDI4k"Being Black In The Philippines", published by Steven Banamu, Dec. 3, 2017

    MIQOI, 2019
    "Being called negro in the Philippines is not racist to some Filipinos because Filipinos once called negritos by spaniards and we have place called Negros. We're part in the hood bro 😌"

    **
    Ligeon Barnachea, 2020
    "Filipinos like me say NEGRO/NEGRA because we are pertaining to a black color or darker skin tone. And to those who dont know if you say BLACK... its literally the same but its more reffering to a black american person in US.

    For example.
    You are from african country with dark color and filipinos ask you
    Are you black?
    Dont be confused rather say " Im not Black-american" "
    **
    Ru Nine, 2019
    "The N word in the Philippines literally means dark color. Growing up as a kid i spent whole summer swimming so i get used to being called negra at home which is something that i dont really care cause its just color.... I didnt know that the N word is something racist or offensive until i went to university makes me feel bad."

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  3. I know that Aetas have much more urgent and important things to concern themselves with, but for the historical and socio-cultural record it would be interesting to learn whether any Aetas self-identify as Africans and/or Afro-Filipinos.

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  4. YungHandz706 wrote a comment that is given as #32 in this pancocojams post. That comment includes these statements:
    "I see alot of ignorant misinformation in these comments and ignorant troll comments as usual about Black Americans. Most of us Black Americans don't call ourselves Africans and would prefer not to be called that bs "African American" name either....The Black identity was popularized by multiple Black Americans to describe people with mostly African ancestors without calling ourselves Africans. We're our own thing now. The guy who made that video is one of the minority "pan africans" we have, which means he believes every Black person or dark skin person is an African and wants to use that as a way to push unity between each other. Most Black Americans don't know much about Melanesian or African people, but I respect y'all wanting to have your own identity same as people should with Black Americans."
    end of quote
    I don't agree with YungHandz706 that "Most [Black Americans] would prefer not to be called African Americans".

    Based on his complete comment, I gather that YungHandz706 ascribes to some or all of the ADOS (American Descendants Of Slaves) positions, particularly the position that Black Americans who are descendants of people who were enslaved in the United States are a distinct group of people from other Black people who have lived or who are living in the United States (and are descended from other populations. Based on this definition Afro-Caribbean people aren't ADOS.)

    People who hold that belief consider many non-ADOS people to be pan-Africans and take positions against the recognition of pan-Africanism in various matters such as reparation and Juneteenth. For example, the "official" red, white, and blue Juneteenth flag with its center star within a star (which was first created in 1997) is an ADOS design and people who ascribe to ADOS positions take issue with the use of what they call "pan-African" flags for that American (United States) holiday.

    My position* is that the "pan-African" flag most accurately refers to flags that are red, yellow [or gold], and green as these are considered to be pan-African colors (as found in the Ethiopian flag and other flags representing various other African nations.)

    Although some people refer to the red, black, and green" flag as "the pan-African flag", I believe it's more accurate to refer to that flag as the African American flag, or the Marcus Garvey designed flag, or the "Black liberation flag".
    .
    Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-history-meaning-of-red-black-and.html for a pancocojams post entitled The History & Meaning Of The African American Red, Black, And Green Flag". The link for a pancocojams post on the pan-African flag is included in that post.

    *Full disclosure: I refer to myself as "African American", "Black American", and "Black". My mother was born in the United States.However, my maternal grandparents were born and lived for a time in Barbados and in Trinidad-Tobago. My father was a light skinned Black man who was adopted from New York state and I know nothing about his biological family, although it's likely that some of them were enslaved in New York state or other Eastern United States at some time. Given my background, I don't necessarily consider myself to be ADOS, I'm much closer to the interests of pan-African people.

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