Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass said that during one of his lectures in Los Angeles he was protested by people objecting to his refusal to consider Cleopatra being black. They carried banners with slogans against him, he said, adding that they had fallen for false information. During a phone interview with “Hadith al-Qahira” (Cairo Talk) talk show on the “al-Qahira wal Nas” (Cairo and the People) channel, Hawass stressed “We are not against blacks, and if the same situation happened with the continent of Asia, I would object to them.”He emphasized that Cleopatra was burgundy in color, and not dark-skinned, and this a fallacy bought into by African Americans. Hawass pointed out that “our film, which we released about Cleopatra, also received international attention, and this film responded strongly to the whole world.”“The paintings on the walls of temples confirm that the kings are not black,” he explained. ‘They are stealing my culture’!
