HAVE WE LOST THE PLOT?


Some of the things I have been hearing these days from fellow black people are really baffling and disturbing. I am so shocked that I am beginning to doubt if we(African and blacks generally) can experience true freedom. Many scholars have argued that we blacks are the architect of our own problem. This position for me is quite tricky. It relies on the premise that slavery was not an orchestration of the whiteman, and that it was already being practice before the arrival of the Portugese on the shores of Africa?

In this article I do not want to employ myself at discussing slavery as an issue on its own, instead, i wish to discuss the legitimacy and appropriateness to have discussion about slavery and issues bothering on race.

The reason for this is not far fetched. In the last few hours before writing this article, I have engaged myself in a heated conversation with a friend on this issues and beleive me, her position is thought provoking.

My dear Friend (who also is a black person) is of the opinion that we black people are not doing nothing in the world to help to progress in life. Instead we are always, in her words, "whipping up sentiments", which she is tired of. She also spoke of Barak Obama as not having any real policies for America, and that all His (Obama's) tactic is based on him being the son of a Kenyan.

My dear friend is also, of the view that black people are not likely to go into difficult field such as medicine and other science orientated courses. Instead, we go en masse into the entertainment industry and become rappers and singers. On this issue, I don't beleive this is entirely true. Even though Blacks (African Americans especially) are very successful in this field, I still think that the black people are also making wave elsewhere. In the field of medicine for example, Ben Carson is well reknown and the fact that other fields dont get the publicity that singers and rappers get does not mean there are not black people in these fields. However, lets even assume that there are not enough blacks in this field, how can we encourage blacks if there are not forums where this discussions can be heard.

The last straw for me is her view that black people waste their time talking about slavery which happened a long time ago. She strongly believes we must move on and do something worthwhile with ourselves, which is the question i wish to ask? Is it really true that discussions on slavery are a total waste of time?

For me, it is not at all a waste of time. I beleive that without this discussions, there is no way for people to truly reconcile themselves with the situations they find themselves post slavery. It is very easy for some of us (especially the African born Africans) to try and push slavery aside as if it didnt happen. But the truth is that slavery really happened and it has been impinge on the minds of some and we must recognise this and create veritable forums to have civilised discussions about this in order to profer solutions to the problems (which are associated with slavery) people face on a day to day basis. I don't think time is being wasted where millions of lives are concerned, and I certainly think the lives of the millions are at stake if these discussions are not created too. People deserve to know what really happened during transatlantic slave trade. People must be told about their roots, a person cannot fully exhibit their true nature if they don't know what their kind is like. It is not just whipping up sentiments like my dear friend claimed. It is education, it is association with others. People can learn about their culture and identity.

There should be no cover up! Slave trade was the responsibility of some people who though may not be alive today, their legacies and ideologies lives on in many western societies today. And if any persons or government tries to cover up the slave trade, this is tantamount to holding people in the dark and selling them on, which was the objective of the slavers.

I can't understand why we as a people should give in to pressures to become as white as possible. This is bitter, but no matter how proficient a person is in the English language, the true English man still know himself. Everyone who fights against their own flesh and blood fights against themselves. If black people keep fighting against one another because we think our identity and culture (and languages) are not good enough, then we will kill our essence. And when our essence is dead, then our presence will never be felt.

Our essence is in our culture and identity as black people. We are a valiant people. Proud and innovative. We are a strong nation that has been for a long time marginalised by the whim of some.

The greatest good we can do ourselves is to have true dialogue. Dialogue is the only way in which we can come to terms with things and find solutions to our own problems. We are not wasting our time when we discuss simply because without discussions the cant gain knowledge about the things that occurred whether in the distant past or what is occurring now.

Like my dear friend said, we must start finding solutions ie practical solutions to our issues. So I will continue to say that black history should be taught to everyone particularly black children in order to help them know where they are coming from and also to prepare them for the peculiar future which they are likely to have.

Gbenga Afolabi
Manchester
16th MAY 2008.