—Barrington Williams, B1Daily

Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan, known lovingly as Dr. Ben, was not simply an academic. He was a frontline freedom fighter armed with truth, language, and memory. In a world invested in erasing African presence from history, Dr. Ben stood unflinching, insisting that Black people reclaim the authorship of their own story. His life’s work was a refusal to accept intellectual colonization, and his scholarship was an act of resistance.

Dr. Ben taught generations of Black people to question what we were told about ancient civilizations, religion, and ourselves. He exposed how Western narratives distorted African history and stripped it of Black identity, particularly in Egypt and the Nile Valley. For activists, this wasn’t abstract theory—it was fuel. Knowing who we were before enslavement, before conquest, before imposed inferiority became a political act. Dr. Ben understood that liberation begins in the mind, and he dedicated his life to decolonizing it.

What made Dr. Ben indispensable to Black movements was his accessibility. He didn’t hoard knowledge behind university walls; he brought it to street corners, community centers, churches, and classrooms full of hungry minds. He spoke plainly, urgently, and without apology. He challenged us not just to feel pride, but to do the work—study, organize, teach, and pass knowledge forward. For him, history was not nostalgia; it was a weapon against oppression.

As activists, we honor Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan because he reminded us that struggle without consciousness is easily redirected, and identity without history is easily stolen. His legacy lives in every Black educator who centers Africa, every organizer who understands culture as power, and every young person who refuses to accept a narrative that begins in chains. Dr. Ben gave us roots deep enough to stand firm and vision broad enough to imagine freedom on our own terms.

This dedication is not a farewell, but a commitment. To study harder. To teach louder. To challenge lies wherever they appear. Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan walked so that Black people could remember who we are—and remembering, in itself, remains a radical act.

—Barrington Williams, B1Daily