Page 85 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 5
P. 85
AFRIKA IS GOD’S
ReFlections of
an AFRIKAN
Chioma Phillips
magine with me, if you once roamed free, now barely They don’t say first return those
would, a man whose having enough to sustain their who you stole from us. No.
wife and children were weakened bodies. Their herds They say, “Ok! We’re game.
imprisoned in a camp, driven off and harvests carted We will ignore the shouts of
Isurrounded by a pit off to fatten their captors. Their our brothers who are asking us
filled with long sharp-edged crime? They had what the to consolidate our power and
poles, and barbed wire fence all oppressors wanted and had wealth across the continent.
around the encampment offer- been willing to trade with them We will ignore their desire to
ing no way of escape. Guarded as equals – but the oppressors work together as one people to
and harassed by their brothers wanted it all. dictate terms to you. We will,
who have been hired by their Then suddenly, these people once again, do as you say. No
oppressor. Imagine what is are set free and informed they consequences to you. Have a
going through the mind of the are now part of a collective nice day!”
husband and father who watch- called a ‘country’ with bound- Does that seem an odd re-
es his family from outside the aries, where before they had sponse to anyone else? But
camp where he and others are roamed free. And their former that’s the story of Afrika. So
living like animals in the forest, oppressors turn around and what happened here? And why
sustained only by a defiant few, offer the ‘hand of friendship’ does Afrika continue in these
or items they plunder while on saying ‘no hard feelings, let’s old repressive patterns till to-
the run. Fighting, and some trade with each other now as day? Cutting deals that put their
dying daily, to free their people. equals – but on our terms since people into the slavery of debt.
In their memories, fresh images you know nothing.’ And these Refusing them free access to
of relatives and friends who had people say “Yes.” Just like that. wisdom pathways across the
been sold off into slavery, never After decades of mental and continent, which could actually
to be seen again. physical torment and injustice. help transform Afrika for the
Imagine a people, tortured and They don’t say; make repara- better.
imprisoned, captives in their tions you murderers, thieves
own land. Forced into hard and rapists. They don’t say Why?
labor in fields in which they give us time to grieve our dead.
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