Petition to have the University of Pennsylvania recall Dr. Zahi Hawass Doctorate.
Petition to have the University of Pennsylvania recall Dr. Zahi Hawass Doctorate.
Why this petition matters
Petition to have the University of Pennsylvania recall Dr. Zahi Hawass Doctorate.
Dr. Zahi Hawass was awarded a Doctorate Degree from the University of Pennsylvania, School Graduate Program in Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World (AAMW) in 1987.
After leaving as the Head of Antiquities of Egypt, Dr. Hawass heads the science committee overseeing the Scan pyramids project and is independently a press spokesman. In this capacity, he has made several false, unscientific claims and racist claims attempting to rewrite history without disclaimer. More specifically he has made many unscientific claims denying the African Origin of Civilization in the Nile Valley. More specifically:
1) In an interview with al-Masry al-Youm newspaper, Hawass stated that Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light-skinned, not Black. He added that the only rulers of Egypt known to have been black were the Kushite kings of the 25th Dynasty (747-656 BC). https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/the-row-over-a-black-cleopatra-why-egypt-is-fuming-12581902.html
Comment: Dr. Hawass completely ignores the African Pharoah's and African wisdom literature of the Old Kingdom. The African artifacts of King Djoser, King Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiye, King Mentuhotep II who are distinctly African and have artifacts reflecting their darker complexion. The Metropolitan Museum of Art even has a display “The Origin Of African Civilization” acknowledging the excellent scholarship of Cheik Ante Diop who identified the African Origin of Civilization. (https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/african-origin-of-civilization
2) In an interview with Daily News Egypt, Dr. Hawass stated : “If we look at Ancient Egypt, there are two theories, with one theory being that their origin was either from Semites (descendants of Shem, son of Noah) or Hamites (descendants of Ham, son of Noah), with input from Palestine and from Africa based on the faces of the people from the Delta and Upper Egypt,” he explained. https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2021/04/14/claims-that-ancient-egyptians-were-african-untrue-zahi-hawass/
Comment: This is scientifically false since we know that life started in African and migrated north into the Nile Valley with the oldest artifacts of pottery, architecture and writing, moving North along the Nile River coming out of central Africa.
3) In a column about Queen Cleopatra, Hawass lists several pieces of “overwhelming” evidence that Cleopatra was white. He cites some of his own excavations, in which he found that the queen’s family members had light skin and red or blonde hair. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2290486/middle-east
A quote is below.
In his column, Hawass lists several pieces of “overwhelming” evidence that Cleopatra was white. He cites some of his own excavations, in which statues, coins and temple facades depicting the queen were discovered, none of which depict her as black.
In the opinion of the world-renowned archaeologist, the Netflix series has been made to “take advantage of the current contention among some in the black American community that their origins lie in ancient Egypt,” of which he sees no evidence.
Hawass added “anyone with even a little education” would not be able to take the series seriously.
“Cleopatra was many things, and well deserving of having her story told to modern audiences, but one thing she most definitely was not was black,” he said.
Comment: During the time of ancient Egypt, Europe did not exist. No one described themselves as white or European. People of all shades have always existed in Africa from very dark skin to very light skinned Albinos without pigment. All had African Origin until the Greeks, Persians and others came into Africa. Not all of Cleopatra's ancestors are known and some may have been African.
4) “Zahi Hawass, former antiquities minister, told the al-Masry al-Youm newspaper: “This is completely fake. Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light-skinned, not Black.” Hawass added that the only rulers of Egypt known to have been black were the Kushite kings of the 25th Dynasty (747-656 BC).
Comment: How does Dr. Hawass know this Cleopatra was light skinned with Hellenistic features? Does he have her body? How irresponsible to make factual claims with no evidence in the name of Whiteness. Dr. Hawass goes on the lie further once again stating that the only rules of Egypt known to have been black were the Kushite kings of the 25th Dynasty. He completely ignores the visible evidence of Mentuhotep and many others before with his lies and misrepresentations. There are many images and artifacts of Africans with darker complexion shades contributing to the origin of civilization.
5) Zahi Hawass, TV personality, declares that "Tutankhamun was not black, and the portrayal of ancient Egyptian civilization as black has no element of truth to it." Emphasizing Egyptian uniqueness, Hawass further states that "Egyptians are not Arabs and are not Africans, despite the fact that Egypt is in Africa." – (https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/ngier/tut.htm When pressed on the issue by American activists in September 2007, Hawass stated "Tutankhamun was not black. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_race_controversy
Comment. King Tutankhamen’s mummy is distinctly darker complexion and and African. So was his grandmother Queen Tiye. A melanin test would confirm this.
6) At the same time Dr. Hawass has made a career of appropriating the look and attributes of the film character Indiana Jones portrayed by an American Actor. From GoldenGlobe.com. “He says he is one of the most famous names in the history of cinema. “Indiana Jones it's me”, he claims when meeting people.
Comment: He has delusions of grandeur believing that Indiana Jones is really him.
7) In the Daily News Egypt, Hawass speculated that “the origin of Ancient Egyptians was purely Egyptian based on the discovery made by British Egyptologist Flinders Petrie at Naqada, and this is why the Ancient Egyptian civilization did not occur in Africa, it occurred only here.”
Comment: His unscientific conclusions are based upon anti-Black biases and are contradicted by DNA evidence, eyewitness accounts and self-depictions by Egyptians themselves. Around 430 B.C., for example, Herodotus described the Egyptians as “dark skinned with woolly-hair” like their neighbors to the South, the Kushites. The Kingdom of Kush is primarily located in modern day Sudan. Unlike many European and Middle Eastern historians, Herodotus’s observations were not corrupted by racial superiority. That is, this Greek historian had no agenda other than to describe what he saw during his visit to the Nile Valley at that time.
8) Dr. Hawass goes on to repeat the same mistruths throughout the media in several publications below:- In this article https://cloudflare.egyptindependent.com/hawass-criticizes-depicting-cleopatra-as-black-in-netflix-film/
Dr. Hawass goes on to say ““This is completely fake. Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was blonde, not black.”
Comment: Once again how does he know this? Was he there? No he is just race baiting and using his position and degree to claim expertise in his pseudoscience.
- In this article : https://www.blackenterprise.com/egyptians-accuse-netflix-of-blackwashing-queen-cleopatra-in-docuseries-she-was-light-skinned-not-black/ Dr. Hawass continues his racist rants : Egyptologist and archaeologist Zahi Hawass and other Egyptians have been speaking out about the “completely fake” portrayal of Queen Cleopatra in African Queens: Queen Cleopatra,”
- In this article: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-65322821 Dr. Hawass goes on to comment:Zahi Hawass, a prominent Egyptologist and former antiquities minister, told the al-Masry al-Youm newspaper: "This is completely fake. Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light-skinned, not black."
Dr. Hawass said the only rulers of Egypt known to have been black were the Kushite kings of the 25th Dynasty (747-656 BC).
-Dr. Hawass is quote saying the same things in this article: https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/the-row-over-a-black-cleopatra-why-egypt-is-fuming-12581902.html
-Dr. Hawass is quoted saying the same things in this articlehttps://www.indiewire.com/features/general/netflix-cleopatra-doc-slammed-blackwashing-egyptian-scholars-1234830531/
9) The false unsubstantiated scientific claims by Dr. Hawass have mislead many people to create petitions against Netflix. Please see below:
On change.org there are the following petitions on Netflix entitled "Stop Cleopatra on Netflix", "Ban Black Cleopatra in the Netflix documentary". "Cancel Cleopatra Netflix for falsifying history", "Cancel 'Queen Cleopatra' on Netflix for falsifying the history", "Stop Netflix from faking history, Cleopatra is white"," CANCEL QUEEN CLEOPATRA MOVIE BY JADA SMITH" to name a few. Do you have quotes from Hawass supporting this? If so then we have also have present evidence that Cleopatra was mostly likely mixed.
https://www.change.org/p/stop-netflix-from-faking-history-cleopatra-is-white?source_location=search
https://www.change.org/p/ban-black-cleopatra-in-the-netflix-documentary?source_location=search
https://www.change.org/p/cancel-cleopatra-netflix-for-falsifying-history?source_location=search
https://www.change.org/p/cancel-queen-cleopatra-movie-by-jada-smith?source_location=search
10) Dr. Hawass is fueling additional racial tension in on a variety of issues including the social construct of “Race” between its lighter and darker skin color groups and the Coptic People and Religion and the Islamic Religion and some Egyptian peoples and African American tourist. Dr. Hawass creating a hostile environment for both indigenous Africans and those from the diaspora. This can lead to injury or death due to his ongoing racism and pseudoscience.
The above is a violation of the Principles of Responsible Conduct and Ethics of The University of Pennsylvania ethics guideline.
Specifically, failure to conduct himself with the highest integrity. Dr. Hawass has been unfair in all aspects of his work. Dr. Hawass has been unfair and unprincipled and not acting in good faith with the global public. Dr. Hawass has failed to conduct himself with trust and loyalty with respect. Dr. Hawass has demonstrated a complete lack of respect and veracity of teaching and research and respect for African culture. His comments are discriminatory and should not be tolerated due to his significant racial bias and harassment. Dr. Hawass is also unethical in his research and discriminatory in his reporting and claims.
The University of Pennsylvania has a responsibility since it gave Dr. Zahi Hawass his doctorate the responsibility to repeal it in light of Dr. Hawass racist and pseudoscience when it comes to the Old kingdom of the Nile Valley.
Dr. Hawass statements have fueled a group of Egyptians called the "Young Egyptians" to create attacks against Africans in Egypt and in the Diaspora attempting to visit Egypt.
This is a petition for the Board of the University of Pennsylvania who granted him the rights and privileges of his Doctorate to rescind his doctorate based on the above evidence. To review his statements based on the guidelines of the Degree that that you awarded him. We are also asking the University to call for an International Conference because of Dr. Hawass inviting a diverse group of top experts in the field such as the Max Planck Institute, Dr. Bruce Williams, E. Christiana Kohler, Dr. S.O Keita, Nina Jablonski, Dr. Maulana Karenga, Dr. Salim Fariji (list in formation).
What Dr. Hawass has said in public is not academic but race baiting. He has chosen to make his statements in the press and in public forums but not in academic settings to be peer reviewed.
Hawass has embraced an extreme form of de-Africanization of ancient Egypt. He has distorted the ancient cultures of the Nile and has set for himself an impossible task of dissociating from the diversity of people with melanin and the African origin of ancient Egypt.
Based on the above statements by Dr. Zahi Hawass that are unscientific and racist we ask that the University of Pennsylvania (exact school needed) rescind the PhD degree awarded to Dr. Hawass. His racist comments and complete lack of scientific integrity do not deserve the acknowledgement of the University Pennsylvania.
Dr. Hawass racist comments are a disgrace to science, history and ethics.
Sincerely
The Concerned Global Public (petitions with signature growing every day)
PS Here are some additional facts:
Zahi Hawass, former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs of Egypt, is a proud Arab from Egypt. Although Egypt is in Africa, he does not consider himself to be an African. Muslim Arabs are not lineal descendants of the ancient Egyptians. They conquered the country in 641 A.D. On numerous occasions Mr. Hawass has vehemently denied that the indigenous ancient Egyptians, who laid the foundation of civilization, were a diverse people with various amounts of melanin and African. We disagree.
Below we present evidence confirming that the indigenous ancient Egyptians were indeed melinated Africans:
1. Ancient Egypt was in Northeast Africa—not in the Middle East, the Mediterranean, the Fertile Crescent or the Orient.
2. The ancient Egyptians referred to their nation as Kemet, the “Black Land” or “Land of the Blacks,” not in reference to the soil, but to the country’s inhabitants that were identified by their culture and language.
3. According to geologist Robert Shoch, the great Egyptian Sphinx--one of the oldest monuments in the world--which bears the unmistakable face of an African ruler, dates back at least 12,000 years. Proving once again that the earliest inhabitants of Egypt were African.
4. Narmer’s palette--which records the ancient battle that marked the unification of Egypt by the Pharaoh Narmer, during the First Dynasty--depicts the African Pharaoh and his African soldiers with wooly hair, slaying invaders with straight hair and aquiline noses.
5. The Egyptian word for “right” is the same as the word for “west,” which indicates that they were oriented toward the African south as their place of origin, and that the south had special meaning in their society.
6. The ancient Egyptians traced their ancestral roots to the south--the Land of Punt, present day Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and northeast Sudan.
7. The Pharaonic imagery of the Qustul incense burner, which was found in the ancient city of Ta-Seti, Nubia, pre-dates similar artifacts found in Egypt by several hundred years, confirming the ancient tradition that Egypt was a colony of Nubia (i.e., Ethiopia).
8. The ancient Egyptian language was African.
9. The hieroglyphic images and symbols were of native African origin.
10. Studies have been conducted on some ancient Egyptian mummies, including those of King Tutankhamun and his extended family of the 18th Dynasty. From their investigation, the scientists have concluded that 96% of King Tut’s genetic markers, 92% of his father, Akhenaton’s, genetic markers and 82% of his mother, Nefertiti’s, genetic markers, reveal a genetic affinity to the people of sub-Saharan Africa. Similar results have been derived from the mummies of the 19th Dynasty Pharaoh, Rameses II, and his family.
11. The blood type and physical remains of the general ancient Egyptian population are consistent with that of other Nile Valley Africans.
12. The culture of the ancient Egyptians (i.e. religion, family structure, music, law, etc.) was typically, African.
13. Ancient Hebrew, Greek and Roman eyewitnesses overwhelmingly described the ancient Egyptians as darker complexion people of various shades and African.
Some critics of Afrocentric scholars have claimed that the ancient Egyptians did not generally depict themselves in their wall paintings as Black people. This is true. They often painted men reddish brown and women yellow. This was clearly symbolic. That is why the mummies serve as the best evidence of the race of the ancient Egyptians. For example, King Tutankhamun of the 18th Dynasty is often depicted as reddish brown, but his mummy is coal black and its DNA results, as we have seen, prove that he was a dark complexion man with melanin and African!
Finally, around 1086 B.C. the Libyan conquest of Egypt ended its existence as a sovereign nation. Thereafter, the country was invaded and dominated by the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans and finally the Arabs in 641 A.D. Over time, the multiple conquerors of Egypt gradually changed its racial characteristics. Since Egypt was founded and united at least five thousand years ago, the Arabs of today cannot lay claim to her heritage. For modern Arabs to claim that they are descended from the ancient Egyptians would be equivalent to White Americans, who began settling the New World in the 15th and 16th centuries, claiming that they are descended from the Olmecs, Mayans, Aztec, Toltecs, etc. of the ancient Americas. Clearly modern white Americans cannot trace their ancestry to ancient native Americans. With all due respect, it is inappropriate for people who are not of African descent, such as Zahi Hawass, to attempt to define for African people their familial roots and history.