Nijel Binns, Avline Ava and Sam Huston interviewed by Carl Nelson about the Mother of Humanity Monument – AFRICA project.
Mother
In almost every language used by humanity, words close to “mama” will appear. “Mother”, “maman”, “mommy”, “amma”, “mama”, “em”, “mum”, “mamma”, “mutter”, “mare”, “maty”, and “ana” all have the same meaning. There is a theory that links the sounds of a baby made while breast feeding, to the development of the two syllable sound that becomes the word “mother”. While the word mother sounds similar in every language, what a mother represents is universal. She represents the same thing, not only for human kind, but for every sentient being on Earth.
The Mother is the most powerful symbol for the quality of kindness. A Mother’s kindness begins at conception. Then the Mother carries her child for many weeks, or as in the case of humans, for nine months. During this time she is constantly concerned for her child’s safety. The Mother avoids actions, foods, and circumstances that might endanger her child’s health and welfare. Even before birth the Mother thinks about her child’s benefit and makes every effort to prevent even the slightest suffering and difficulty. It is entirely from Mother’s efforts that one has opportunities in life. For us, all fortunate conditions originate from Mother’s kindness. She gives us a human body, then feeds us from her own body, clothes, protects, educates, and guides us. In a way, if you think about it, even one’s body is not truly one’s own. Are we not a part of our Mother’s body that she gave to us willingly through pain and sacrifice, but always with the greatest love and kindness?
Such kindness is immeasurable. It is also essential. A Mother’s kindness creates conditions for a child to grow in mental and physical health, in peace, and in an atmosphere free from anxiety.
The critical importance of this quality of selfless “loving kindness” is quickly lost as we grow older. We sometimes feel that our bodies are our own and that we alone have made our existence possible. We feel that our success is ours. It is as if we achieved it all by ourselves! In truth, it is the loving kindness of our Mother that has made our very existence even possible.
This expression of loving kindness that is embodied by the Mother is the most vitally important of all human qualities. It is the essential message that lies at the core of all major religions, while at the same time it transcends human activity and is possessed by all sentient beings. For humanity, the practice of loving kindness as exemplified by the Mother is the only means by which human beings can grow spiritually. It is the only possible real road to peace for humanity, because it is basic to our humanity.
If there is such a feeling of kindness and concern within the family, then there is peace in the family. If there is peace in the family, there will be peace in the community. If there is peace in the community, there will be peace in the nation. And if nations embody kindness and peace, then there can be peace in the world.
The idea behind the Mother of Humanity® monument is to remind us of a mother’s loving kindness by inspiring, informing, and uplifting mothers, women, and children. The Mother of Humanity® monument seeks to accomplish this by advancing seven principles that are represented in her design.
These principles are:
The Mother of Humanity® monument name, logo, and related images are Federally registered trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. All rights reserved.
The Mother of Humanity® 3″ inch figurine is a hand made bronze replica created by sculptor Nijel Binns from his 16 foot tall bronze monument.
The Mother of Humanity® was conceived after the Los Angeles rebellions of April 29,1992 and unveiled in Watts, California on May 11, 1996.
The Mother of Humanity® monument promotes loving kindness, harmony and reciprocity for all humanity by inspiring, informing, and uplifting the feminine principle.
On May 11, 1996 I unveiled my 16 foot tall bronze statue, the Mother of Humanity®. It was my statement of peace within the human family as well as a symbol of empowerment for mothers around the world. The face of the Mother of Humanity® has African, Asian, and European features. She is holding a feather of peace, truth and righteousness in her right hand. Her left hand is extended in a gesture of welcome, calling all peoples of the world together as one human family. Her right breast is bare to remind us that we have all nursed at the breast of the African woman. It also calls us to explore that as the cradle of civilization, nations around the world still continue to nurse on the raw and strategic minerals from the African continent. The left foot on the Mother of Humanity® monument steps forward on the globe of the world and indicates that with our heart being on the left side of the body, we should always step forward with “heart” and “righteous intent”. The dot on the forehead of the Mother of Humanity® reminds us of our “third eye” of inner vision and spiritual wisdom. The outline of the shape of the Mother of Humanity® is in the shape of the continent of Africa, birthplace of humanity.
The Mother of Humanity® monument name, logo, and image are federally registered trademarks of Nijart International.
All rights reserved.
Newsweek cover 1988 –
French Press Agency, Feb. 23, 1998, titled “Scientist Traces All DNA Roots to Africa,” the following was reported from Vatican City:
The first man and woman lived up to 200,000 years ago in an earthly paradise somewhere in southern or northeastern Africa, according to the Jesuit Father Angelo Serra, professor of genetics at Rome’s Catholic university.
Serra made the claim during a speech on the origins of man delivered to the general assembly of the pontifical academy on life, which began on Monday in the Vatican. The priest said his view was widely held as a result of research carried out in 1996 by academics in California and Arizona.Serra argued that this research supported the monogenist theory of only one “Adam” and one “Eve.”
He said the research had allowed the genetic origin of a single Eve to be discovered through DNA analysis of mitochondrions which are passed through the female line. Research carried out at last year allowed the genetic origin of a single Adam to be identified through analysis of Ychromosome DNA, he said.
“Eden, or earthly paradise, where man, with the biological structure of modern man, appeared for the first time some 100,000 or 200,000 years ago, would have been in the region of south or northeastern Africa,” Serra said.“From these regions, modern man would have developed towards Asia and Europe, where the ancestors of those alive today would have emerged between 30,000 and 50,000 years ago,” he added.On October 6, 1999, “Southern African Eve” was published by Daily Insight, a publication of The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the following was taken from that article.
Twelve years ago scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, concluded from DNA studies that “Eve,” an ancestor common to all modern humans, was an African. Now scientists in South Africa have tracked “Eve” to the Khosian peoples, who are the oldest indigenous group in southern Africa.The findings, presented at a recent human evolution meeting at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, complement data from the male side: Y chromosome studies had previously pegged the Khosian among a handful of groups with Y chromosomes most closely resembling those of a common ancestor who lived in Africa 145,000 years ago (Science, 31 October 1997, p. 804). Mike Hammer of the University of Arizona, Tucson, who took part in the Y chromosome study, says the latest mtDNA work provides “important confirmation” of the team’s work.
Remember what the evolutionary standard bearer Richard Leaky declared in 1977: “There is no single center where modern man was born.” But now geneticists are inclined to believe otherwise. In a report from Newsweek, January 11, 1988, Stephen Jay Gould, a Harvard paleontologist and essayist, is quoted as saying: “It makes us realize that all human beings, despite differences in external appearance, are really members of a single entity that’s had a very recent origin in one place. There is a kind of biological brotherhood that’s much more profound than we ever realized.”
Los Angeles, CA – In 1992, civil unrest and riots in Los Angeles left one of the most ethnically diverse cities in America in flames. Emotions boiled and exploded after the beating of African American citizen Rodney King at the hands of members of Los Angeles law enforcement. Out of the ashes of that conflict came a symbol of hope. It was the Mother of Humanity® monument.
On Mother’s Day, May 11, 1996 the 16 foot tall bronze Mother of Humanity® monument was unveiled. It is now on permanent exhibit at 10950 Central Avenue in Watts, California at a civic center, the Watts Labor Community Action Committee.
Mother of Humanity® Monument - AFRICA 