Page 70 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 9

MY AFRIKA
American-ish

Chioma Phillips

have never seen a man so isolated, abused, browbeaten, attacked,
torn down, accused, yet still take to the microphone and speak
positively of the greatness of his nation, the power of the po-
I tential of his people and his determination to lead the charge to-
wards the restoration of the country. Anyone would have given up
and said, forget the job, forget the title, forget the drama, but Donald
J. Trump – somehow – keeps persisting and persevering through it all.

The Democrats have mobilized against him and given him no rest for
his entire first term and you have to know that there must be those in
his party who have doubted him and worked to undermine him, the lo-
cal and international ‘mainstream’ media have thrown everything they can
at him, social media 'pundits' have hammered him left, right and centre,
people of various faiths have gone at him, people from different countries
have disparaged him... even self-professed Satanists and witches have had
their go at him... as has COVID-19. But, this guy somehow picks up and
keeps on going. I know that people are praying for him, I know he has
millions of supporters, but you have to imagine what toll this role takes
on him. He’s even donating his salary – and still, he gets slammed... and
keeps on going. That is heart and I pray he will find the mercy, grace and
favor he needs to complete his journey well. He needs it. What he’s going
through – and on all fronts – is not easy. I didn’t say he’s perfect, but I
know the condition of my heart so I’m not throwing any stones today.
But we need to talk about something very critical.

All across the world, it is extremely difficult to find a nation that has influ-
enced or impacted the world in the way that the United States of America
has. I’m not praising or criticizing here, merely stating facts. From slavery
to movies, to books, to music, to fashion, to business, to architecture, to
politics and yes, even war, the USA has been at the forefront of various
moves and cultural trends for centuries; influencing, impacting, directing,
overshadowing, dominating or giving the appearance of dominating. In
their movies, the only time it seems that an American gets shot by the bad
guy (who is said to be from a Middle Eastern, Asian, European or Afrikan
nation, or intergalactic forces – or the occasional rogue US agent) is when
it is the tool that is used to forcing the hand of the US to retaliate for such
‘injustice’! At least those are the images left in my mind from my days of
watching Rambo, Delta Force, Commando, Die Hard, Predator and on
and on. The storyline was that the Americans always came out on top. It
didn’t matter who came against them, they always rose to triumph over
their foes. United as one! The message was that you could not touch them.

They would even depict themselves coming to the aid of the ‘hapless’ Brits,
Afrikans, Europeans, Asians etc and so the image of America as the Big
Brother, the world’s policeman, the world’s hero, superior in all ways, the
land of opportunity etc was sown in the minds of generations across the
world. That was some powerful brainwashing they were putting out there.
So, it’s a little odd to see the America of today where the reality doesn’t
appear to match the decades of propaganda about them. Where positiv-
ity and optimism seem to have almost been overshadowed by negative

70 | Heal . restore . rebirth . Afrika