We get introspective when things come to their end, don’t we? So today, introspection it is.
I spent the last eight months or so, writing each week, on a variety of topics, only to find today, as I am wrapping up, myself short for words. It was on Thursday mornings I wrote these articles, you know. And even this Friday issue you’re reading, I wrote it today, Thursday (well, my today, your tomorrow). I am not proud of that. The editors, by custom, need to get articles early, but Thursday mornings seem to be my sweet spot. But that is beside the point. The thing is, I am experiencing some form of writer’s block as I attempt summarising the various issues I have touched on in these past months. I am overwhelmed — is a better phrasing, I guess. I am too hungry to think, so I am going to skim through my laptop, copy and paste some of the things I wrote — because I meant every word of it.
I am not sure where to begin — but patriotism. That is always a good start, is it not? And patriotism it has been. Each and every week’s topic has been my attempt to lure you into the existential crises I experience when I contemplate our temperament as a people. It bothers me that in this very day and age, Ghanaian children (and adults, eh?) chase White folks around, jubilantly calling, ‘obroni’. Obroni in itself is not a compliment, no? Because at the end of the day the word just means ‘foreigner’, does it not? But it is the implication we attach to it — that is where the real problem is. That which dismisses everything local, that which dismisses our own likeness in favour of everything that proceeds from elsewhere — abroad, specifically from the White folks. It is a shame that at this stage in our national lives, in our continental lives, this is still a conversation that needs to be had. It is an even greater shame that we choose to sweep it under the carpet, and treat it as normal. So much so that, you, as liberated as you are, may, at the back of your mind, right now be thinking, “But of course, White is better.”
Because you see, you and I hear this a lot, ‘Kwesi Broni’. We attribute human advancements and knowledge, scientific innovations, and technologies, etc. that inspire awe to this man, ‘Kwesi Broni’. And maybe, in actuality, the facts have been against us, the ‘Bibinii’.
Many nations of the developed world, in their then incipient development journeys had just tangible developmental burdens to contend with — arguably. We, as Black people, must know that we carry an even greater burden in our respective development journeys — ours come with an ideological burden. There has been grave psychological harm done to us Black folks, one that we must endeavour, in our respective nations, homes, occupations — preachers, politicians, writers, teachers, etc. — seek to undo. Mental slavery — that is still true to our lives. Each and every day, in all aspects of our national lives, when one looks closely, one sees mental slavery popping up here and there, in quick successions.
It is still a problem — one that has found its way, all the way from slavery, colonialism, to this neocolonialistic African age of ours. So much so that in our individual estimations — Black folks, Ghanaians — find ourselves measuring our sense of personal developments to how closely we get to the likeness of White people. Sad, isn’t it? — that a people with such a rich heritage, have such low sense of self-worth, that we are too quick to jettison our sense of self, and take on another’s likeness; ‘another’ who had, just centuries past, subjected us to the most torturous of treatments. They had been ravenous animals, and we,prey for the taking.
But that is all in the past now. At least, we hope. But the neo-colonialism of the present (coming in diverse forms), the Stockholm syndrome the African suffers, the mental slavery the Black folk still suffer, suggest otherwise.
We pray for Africa a brain. That as we navigate this development journey of ours; as we create and maintain for ourselves governments to help steer this development process, we do so with a clear sense of self — of what we have, and what we want, what we seek to achieve and how we endeavour to get there. As our politicians parade about begging for votes, may they have in their minds, clear visions and goals, and unwavering national, continental and Black patriotism.
Because you see, if it is stealing you want to do, you do not need to be a politician to do that. There is an entirely different vocation for that: Robbery, Thievery, Burglary — the nouns are endless.
There is a lot more at stake when it comes to Africa’s development. We have an entire world of people to prove wrong.We have our own selves to prove wrong. Because, historically, no complexions of people have faced more degradation, disrespect than us, Blacks.
Trump kept on saying this of his own country, “The world is laughing at us, America!” Granted, that is true. But Trump, not as much as they have, at Black folks. If America has been subject to ridicule for the past decade(s), Black people, you must know, have worldwide been the butt of the joke for centuries. We have been preys for beasts, reduced to servanthood, reduced from the ranks of humans, deprived of pride.
But then, there was Emancipation for the Black race interspersed worldwide — independence for the African continent. With Liberation came a challenge for Restoration. It has been a responsibility upon all of us, Blacks — in Ghana, in Africa, in the Diaspora — to prove the past wrong. We spent centuries subject to cruelty, oppression, brainwashed to believe that we belong at the bottom of human ranking. But with independence came a duty upon us, each and every one of us — our ancestors, the present you and I, our generations to come — to prove the past wrong.
USA could spend a big portion of its history involved in a Civil War; Ghana/Africa cannot afford to toy with such internal beastliness — for that would be adding to the glossary of ‘Black inferiority’.
American politicians can engage in the most overt and covert of corruptions, Ghanaian leaders must be impeccable. Because with us, corruption isn’t just stealing meat from the pot — national pot; corruption is adding to the glossary of the narrativeof an inferior race, incapable of managing their own affairs. Ghanaian and African political leaders ought to be perfect — they must have the makings of Plato’s Philosopher King. Greedy thieves looking to fill their potbellies, senseless people who think they have gained popularity enough to venture into leadership, useless/failed fathers, husbands, mothers, and wives who think they somehow can make good national leaders, etc. — such people should desist from our Black governances.
The Ghanaian educational system needs a redo. It must be made with the intention of creating future citizens and leaders very much aware of their past as a people, very much aware of this duty upon self and country to undo the damages of the past, while steadfastly building a developed nation. A nation-wide, continent-wide resocialisation is necessary, so that the Ghanaian child, adult, old man/woman, does not tail behind the White man/woman singing, ‘Obroni’, intending it an ode to Whiteness.
[Pause. Uncanny. I just heard a colleague comment that she was on diet — that she’s trying to lose stomach weight. Another colleague just quipped, “Eii when did you turn into an Obroni.” Laughter. So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the virtue of watching what one eats, that is attributed to Whiteness]
Reading and writing is necessary for development. It is one great way to call our individual attentions to key issues, to re-educate, re-conscientise and re-socialise ourselves. I, for one, know I have benefited from the writings of others, I hope you have too. I wished we took our Black voices — writings — more seriously though.
In the end, this isn’t the end, but just part of a longline of beginnings. Each day, we ought to start from somewhere in this Black, African, Ghanaian re-socialisation. And that has been the sum total of everything I have written here so far. See you next year — elsewhere, under a different name perhaps. I understand I can be quite the difficult read, but I believe I have put things in simple terms — enough. I have used simple words such as ‘is’, ‘to’, ‘me’, ‘you’ in my articles —it doesn’t get simpler than that.
I couldn’t even go with the copy and paste approach I intended for today’s write-up.
This has been ‘History & Now’.
BY YAO AFRA YAO