Page 80 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 19

Health &
CommunityHealing

SOMETHING BROKE

WHAT HAPPENED TO AFRIKANS?
Samuel Phillips

omething broke. Yes you rhetorical questions first, just to shown on the media? Here is what I
heard me. Something defi- point you to where I am going with mean, and I will explain it using my
nitely broke in the deepest this article. own experiences as a writer, photog-
Spart of the mind of the rapher and video maker.
average Afrikan. It is hard to put a Have you ever wondered how it is
face to, or point a finger at it, but possible for an Afrikan to under- When I make videos for some of
the effect of this broken deep part mine something good that is coming our Msingi Afrika TV projects, or
of the Afrikan can be felt and seen out of Afrika, simply because it when I design this magazine, or the
everywhere you look. It is felt in does not carry an American or other design work that I do, I use
the religious system, in the edu- European label? Have you ever quite a lot of stock videos and imag-
cation sector, in business, family, been on a comments page on social es from websites that give these vid-
government, in medicine and in all media where someone posted some- eos and images for free. Imagine this
areas of global Afrikan life. And it thing that was supposed to create a with me for a moment. Would you
makes me sick that, even with all the meaningful discussion, and watched believe it if I told you that when we
noise about how educated Afrikans our Afrikan brothers and sisters first began this magazine and video
are globally, and with all the huge spew words and statements that you projects, it was very hard getting free
achievements they make, you still can only call “childish”, even when stock images and videos? Now, it
see that broken attitude in many. they are supposed to be matured? being hard was not simply because I
Have you ever wondered why it is could not find what I really wanted,
Some call it cognitive dissonance easy for some Afrikans to relate but that it was hard for me to use
and maybe they are right. I will talk with the poverty and deprivation some videos and images because, in
about this issue of cognitive disso- narrative of Afrika but not accept my head, they looked too good to
nance in a bit, but let me ask a few that Afrika is actually beyond what is be from Afrika. Did you get that?

80 | we tell the true afrikan story