What Florestine Jones, a motivational speaker, said Wednesday night at the Frank W. Hale, Jr. Black Culture Center may raise some eyebrows.’The original Jews are jet black,’ Jones said. ‘we are Hebrew children from Africa. If your ancestry came in the belly of the slave ships, you are a Jew.’Jones’ remarks prompted discussion after the event. several students liked what she had to say. Tylon McGee, a junior majoring in business, said Jones backed up what she said.’I trust her,’ she said. ‘I am going to do research on my own. I want to gain knowledge.’on Thursday, Professor Cecil Magbaily Fyle, director of African Studies Center, said there is enough evidence to show that Christianity originated around the Nile River. There are links between black Jews in Ethiopia and Israel but the issue is complicated, Fyle said. ‘People tend to generalize without adequate evidence,’ he said.Michele Cushnie, a graduate student in human resource development who coordinated Jones’ speech, said that the Hale Center seeks different types of people nationwide to speak at the center. it is up to the individual to decide whether he or she accepts the view expressed or not.’It’s a learning process,’ Cushnie said. ‘The information is out there. whether I agree or disagree will not make any difference.’Jones said she started a research project called ‘my Brothers, who are we?’ 20 years ago. About six years ago she came to the conclusion that the Old Testament was about Africa.’everything begins in Africa,’ Jones said.Jones said that Christianity originated in Africa. Black people are Hebrew children taken from the west coast of Africa and its interior and scattered all over the world by slave trade. Jones, who lives in Columbus, said her research was based on the Bible as well as history and science. ‘we are Hebrew children according the Bible and history,’ she said. ‘Since all 12 original Israeli tribes are African tribes, where do you think I am from? None of them was born in Europe, not one. I don’t care what people think. ‘Everybody knows his history but our people,’ Jones said, ‘The reason why I have to do what I am doing, the way I am talking, the research I have done, the evidence I have found out is for our people.’Jones said she wanted to give blacks a sense of worth. ‘We(blacks) are the only people on the face of the earth that have been given so many names. why so many names? to keep us further confused,’ she said, ‘I’m here to identify the children of Israel and this through world history and Bible history. That’s my calling.’Professor Ruben Aharoni of Near Eastern, Judaic and Hellenic Languages and Literatures Department, who specializes in biblical studies, doubted that Jones based her studies on the Bible.’The Bible, as far as black people are concerned, says something about Moses being married to a Kushiet who is understood to be a black woman,’ Aharoni said. ‘Solomon was visited by the Queen of Sheba who is believed to come from South Arabia. Ethiopians believe that their royal family are descendants of the Union between Solomon and Queen of Sheba.’ Falasha, black Jews from Ethiopia, are a small minority of Africa, he added. Their pure Jewish origin was doubted in the past but they are an integral part of Israel today, Aharoni said.That biblical evidence ‘points to the land of Israel as the origin of Christianity and Judaism,’ he said.