Page 105 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 11

COMMUNITY

not just some brand style to make make better choices. really the end of that story in the
us sound good or even attractive.. Are stories that powerful? mind of the person that watched it?
It's way more than that. The truth is, Absolute yes. Not at all. The story simply be-
even before we ever knew we were comes another seed planted in the
to go into online magazine publish- Where did you learn to see your- mind of that person which in turn
ing, we had always known there was self an Afrikan as inferior to the creates doubt about what it means
something wrong with the Afrikan white man? I bet its largely from the to be an Afrikan and if the watch-
story, the way it has been told and is stories that have been told about er is a child, a tree of inferiority
still being told. So we decided, from the Afrikan ancestors. About how complex and hate for the Afrikan
the onset of the magazine, that we the white man came and took their narrative begins to grow. Then a
are going to tell the Afrikan story lands by the bullets and 'superior' few years down the line, that child
from a different place of hope, love, military skills. But what you were who has now become a young man
beauty, compassion, kindness and not told is that not all battles against "suddenly" has this hatred for Afrika
the Afrikan Ubuntu principle. This the invading white men were won and everything that comes from her.
is the foundation of this magazine by the white men. For example, But was it really a sudden thing? Big
and we are not about to change it Ethiopia was never conquered by NO. The seed of Anti-Afrika was
anytime soon. Does this mean we the invaders. Queen Yaa Asantewaa sown many years ago through a sto-
only tell the good stories of Afrika of the Ashanti Kingdom of ancient ry, watered by more negative stories,
while closing our eyes to the bad? Ghana defeated the British army. pruned by the hands of the garden-
Not at all. In fact, we make sure we Such stories you certainly won't ers of wickedness and BOOM, you
balance both the bad with the good, hear in the narrative of the Afrikan have an Afrikan heart that does not
by telling the bad with the intention people. want to have anything to do with
to correct and make changes while Afrika.
celebrating the good and giving it a Again, how did you learn to think
bigger voice of expression. that the Afrikan narrative is that of It's time to grow up
perpetual poverty, terrorism, wars, Imagine all the havoc that negative
Several times we have turned down militias, rape, malnourishment etc? I stories have done against Afrika,
articles from various Afrikan writers. am sure it's from the western propa- Afrikans and the Afrikan narrative.
And this we did not because they ganda machine called Hollywood. But what about if we flip the coin to
are not good writers, but because Have you ever wondered why the telling more of our positive strories?
most of their stories come with only thing you see in Hollywood How much would we change within
much negativity and almost all the movies about Afrika is mostly this current generation who can't
time, without the intention to cor- Somalia and Al-shabaab, Nigeria seem to make any connection to the
rect or make changes in the people and Boko Haram, South Africa goodness of Afrika, if we all de-
they write about, we decline such and Drugs, Kenya and Zebras, liberately begin to re-look, re-view,
articles. Why do we have to do that Zimbabwe and illegal gold mines re-imagine and even re-engineer our
when we are constantly in need of etc. But is that all there is to our personal and collective orientation
content? The reason is simple. Afrikan stories? Heaven's NO. about ourselves and our poeple?
What we accept as articles in our Notice that when you watch such And I am not saying this to create
magazine becomes what we have movies, you see something of this a bunch of people who hide their
said yes to and because we have kind: An American expatriate has heads in the sand when it comes to
authority in the spiritual space called been kidnapped in Somalia and the dealing with the negative things in
Afrika, giving such yes to negative kidnappers are asking for a 5Million our comuunities, but to call upon
articles is like giving power to the dollar ransom. Then the American those who have clearly seen what
continuity of the very evil that we millitary sends in their Seal Team our challenges are, have analyzed
are fighting to remove from Afrika. to Mogadishu or a remote village in what it will take to deal with them
It's that simple. Somalia for a rescue operation. The and then by being positive about the
And in doing what we do and how kidnappers are killed by the 'superior possible outcome, now go ahead to
we do it, we are not excusing or miltary skills' of the US Seal Team deal. We must stop telling one-sided
turning a blind eye to the nega- and the captive was set free and tak- stories and start to tell complete
tives in our people, but to become en back home to his or her family. stories of the truth about who we
the lamps that shed light on their End of the movie. really are as Afrikans.
minds in order to help them see the First, is that really the only story of We just need to really GROW
accurate Afrikan reality and by that, the Somali people? No. Two, is that UP!

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