Why not Afrikans? Let Love Lead
What does it really takes for Afrikans to see themselves through the right lenses and in the right light? Is it really rocket science for a people to know that they are actually not different from each other and that what they call differences in ideology, culture, tradition, art, language, shade of black color, geographical location within Afrika, are actually the very things that give beauty and originality to their oneness as Afrikans? And such should be appreciated and celebrated. I hope for the day that Afrikan nations will learn to celebrate together our common ancestry and bask in the beauty of what it means to be Afrikans, that is, the descendants of the first humans that graced this home called the cradle of humanity.
I have quite a lot of things to say about the way Afrikans relate with themselves, but I will speak from the place of how we deal with ourselves in relation to how we deal with white foreigners.
To love the white man as an Afrikan, it is a great thing that we sincerely encourage and advocate. But if you as an Afrikan love the white man but undermine and hate your Afrikan brother and sister, then we need to really check if your love for the white man is genuine or if you are just a sycophant looking for the white man’s favors or if you are still a slave in your mentality. Why? How can the same heart that produces love for the white man, produce hate and disdain for the black man? How does it work?
It’s like a single spring of water that is producing both sweet and bitter waters. It’s just not possible.
What I think is possible is that Afrikans too can live as brothers, sisters and as one big family, even with our differences. Who says we cannot and why should we not?
I have personally been a victim of hate and oppression at the hands of fellow Afrikans and I was not pleased with it at all. And to think that the reason for such hate and acts of bile was as stupid as the act itself… the fact that I am a Nigerian. I have asked myself several times, what is it with Afrikans hating Afrikans? To narrow it down, let me say, what is with Kenyans hating Nigerians? What is it with South Afrikans hating Kenyans and Nigerians? What is it with a full-brained right-thinking Kenyan man claiming that the reason they hate Nigerians is because Nigerian men are snatching their Kenyan women? I can’t seem to wrap my head around the ability to even think such a thing. Mind you, I am not saying these things to call anyone out, neither am I saying them to pour any form of shade on my Kenyan family, my wife is Kenyan. I am saying these things because it’s high time we as Afrikans stop undermining the very reason why we are Afrikans, that is, the people who are the wombs of the spirit of creation.
Great and wonderful things are happening globally among people of the same race and creed, but what about Afrika?
I read an article a while ago, written by Professor XN Iraki, an associate professor at the University of Nairobi. In that article titled: NIGERIANS ARE NOT COMING, THEY’VE ALREADY ARRIVED, he talked about the sale of Kenya’s Transnational Bank to Access Bank of Nigeria. He touched on a few other things but here is one major thing he said that I want to pull out of the article.
“From my interactions, Nigerians are serious and focused. That focus and single-mindedness is often mistaken for pride and arrogance. Once they set their goals on something, they normally get it. The means can be contested, excluding juju.
For every Nigerian caught on the wrong side of the law, there are nine others doing the right thing, not just in their country, but somewhere in the world. One of them supervised my dissertation.”
Yes, as a Nigerian by birth I am proud of these words he said about Nigerians, but as an Afrikan, I am looking for something much more Pan-Afrikan and wholesome which can be attributed to all Afrikans and for which I will be prouder to associate with. Here is what I mean. In as much as I love and appreciate the reality of a hardworking and focused Nigerian, the same thing also goes to every nationality in Afrika. Meaning that for every one Kenyan, Malawian, South African, Togolese, Liberian, Egyptian, Somali, or any Afrikan nationality caught on the wrong side of the law, there are nine others doing the right thing, not just in their country, but somewhere in the world. And I mean this with all sincerity. It means that if I can be proud of any good thing that Nigerians are doing, I must also be proud of what other Afrikans are doing. It should be natural for us. The time has come for Afrikans to stop bullying themselves, stop beating themselves, stop hating on themselves, stop castigating themselves, stop allowing this whole crab in the bucket mentality. We can start to build ourselves up and you can do it starting right now even as you are reading this article. We were Afrikans before we ever were divided to become citizens of any Afrikan nation and our ancestral connections run deep and it’s no joke at all that we are all brothers. So we can’t continue to live like gladiators whose only knowledge is the sword and whose only purpose is to draw blood. Gladiators are trained to fight and to kill, fuelled by hate, but we are not gladiators and hate for other Afrikans should not be our trademark. We should have risen above that like yesterday.
Why not Afrikans?
If the white race knows how to support itself, even though sometimes selfishly, why can’t Afrikans support Afrikans without the selfishness? If the European Union makes it easy for every citizen within that Union to have almost free access to every nation under that union, why not in Afrika? Why have the Afrikan Union as an organization but the Afrikans themselves are as far apart as sunrise is from sunset? Why can’t Afrikans have access to their beloved Afrika, without the foolishness of visa and passport problems?
If other nations of the world are self-sufficient, even though in reality they are not, why can’t Afrika strive to be self-sufficient?
If Afrika is the home where life on earth began, why can’t Afrikans turn away from this corruption called GMOs that we are allowing on our tables as food and go back to producing and consuming life-giving organic foods?
Afrikans are not coming, they have already arrived
What every Afrikan must know and understand is that the reality of Afrika being the cradle of humanity is not a title that was given by a committee of friends who think Afrika deserved it for some good works they did. Not at all. The reality of Afrika as the cradle of humanity is as true and original as sunrise, but it is a useless reality if each Afrikan cannot live and relate with other Afrikans as humans who should be loved, respected and accepted. Love is always the leading factor for any expected changes in the society. We as Afrikans must love enough to the point of allowing ourselves to rise above our differences and by that give room for growth even when there are unavoidable mistakes found in the process of that growth.
Why should the first thing you see in me, as a Nigerian, be crime even without you ever meeting me before? Or why should the first thing I see in you as a citizen of another Afrikan country be laziness, crime, illiteracy or any other foolish thing that unkind and untrained minds see in others even before they meet them?
If others are trying to grow together, why not Afrikans?
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