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It looks like the fury of those who detest the literal kneeling on the neck of George Floyd by officer Derek Chauvin, and the metaphorical kneeling of whites on the neck of Black people through slavery, in the past, and neocolonialism in modern days, won’t abate very soon.
And the white supremacist system, which rastafarians describe as the Babylon System, or international monopoly capital, by scholars of Marxist orientation, must check itself. The West, and China, must redefine their relationships with Black people in Africa and in the Diaspora.
It might be of interest to you that a lobby of Blacks, who were pupils of British private schools, wrote a petition, seeking a redress of racism against Black minors in the British school system. And the headmistress of Headington, one of the schools, has formally responded.
She writes: “Following the death of George Floyd in America, many of you have raised your voices in support of Black Lives Matter (campaign), and asked for more action against racism, not just in America, not just in our country (Great Britain), but here at Headington too.”
A very staunch supporter of this move, Idowu Ashiru, wife of Prof Oladapo Ashiru, a medical columnist with The PUNCH, attended Headington, in Oxford town. She however points out that she did not attend Oxford University, which took its name from the town.
Eton, another public school with a history of racism and the casting of racial slurs at Black pupils, is reported to have publicly apologised to Dilibe Onyeama, who narrated his experience at Eton in a book he titled, “Nigger at Eton.” By the way, Dilibe is the older brother of Minister for External Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.
Most likely, after Dr. Arikana Chiombori-Quao, who was unceremoniously relieved of her job as Permanent Representative of the African Union to the United States of America in shrouded circumstances, revealed that France held a stranglehold over the economic neck of Francophone African countries, even after their paper independence, a group, the African Diaspora Congress, became indignant.
In a petition, titled, the “End Colonial Bondage Now: France Must Leave Africa,” the 341 signatories to the ADC petition, observed that “the Communaute Financiere Africain (some kind of regional economic community, otherwise known as CFA), is an instrument of ‘monetary repression in Africa,’” and asked France, “to leave Africa now, and allow its former colonies to manage their own affairs.”
The obnoxious pact that the French Government, headed by General Charles de Gaulle, compelled Francophone African countries to sign, “granted the French, control over the economies of their former colonies; (and physical) possession of (their) foreign currency reserves.”
Other nauseating provisions of the pact are, “stationing of (French) troops in their territories with the right of passage; monopoly on procurement of their military equipment; training of the police and the army; and the granting of French business control over key areas of the economy, such as water, electricity, ports, transport, energy.”
To complete its show of strength, and level of control over Francophone Africa’s economy, “France, not only placed limits on the imports of many items from outside the franc zone, but also set minimum quantities of imports (by the Francophone African countries) from France.” Some people would say, what a cheek?
And, ahem, the Arab world, where people of the negroid race are being hawked and sold in souks, or traditional marketplaces of the Eastern culture, or are being tricked into modern slavery, deserves judicious notice of the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
Interestingly, the African Union has not deemed it urgent to rally the rage of Africans against this predatory Arab-on-Black crime that is happening right here, and now, in Libya, on the African continent.
If Libya is a member of the AU, why aren’t Africans engaging its government, or the rump of its government, over this evil? What most African countries, including Nigeria, seem to always do, is to retrieve their citizens, and then keep mum.
If Black nations on the African continent do not act like they value the lives of their people, they may not quite have the moral justification to caution racist whites, Arabs or Chinese, however strongly they may claim to abhor the wickedness visited on Black people all over the world.
Somebody suggests that Russian President, Vladimir Putin, thinks Africans are their own worst enemies, especially because they perennially fail to get it together, whilst also shamelessly promoting white people above themselves. Some people put that to “Colo-mentality.”
Putin is reported to have said, “A white man will commit crime in Africa, no action will be taken, because African authorities view (white people) as demi-gods… (But) a Black man can be abducted in Europe, get harassed, or even killed, but no African authorities will question.”
He continues: “When an African becomes rich, his bank accounts are in Switzerland, he travels to France for medical treatment, he invests in Germany, he buys from Dubai, he prays in Makkah and Rome, his children stay in Europe, he travels to Canada, the USA, and Europe for tourism.”
He reasons that if an African is only buried in Africa, Africa must then be only a cemetery for Africans, even as he concluded that “Africa is just a cemetery for Africans.” His question, “How can a cemetery be developed?” is begging for answers.
Africans, who migrate in droves to America, for instance, need to know that the invitation, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door,” inscribed on the Statue of Liberty on America’s Staten Island, was really not extended to Black people.
It was meant for white people of the Old World. And so, for Black people, all over the world, who feel shortchanged by the current world order, the counsel is in the immortal words of Robert Nesta Marley, better known in the reggae music firmament as Bob Marley, “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None, but ourselves, can free our mind.” However, Peter Tosh’s admonishment for those who are willing and ready to pick up the gauntlet: “Get up, stand up. Don’t give up the fight,” is apt.
To remove the white knee from their neck, Black people must develop group intelligence, the foundation to group-think, group-action, and group-good. Individual intelligence that Black folks are fond of displaying won’t liberate them.
It’s only in an enlightened common front that the best of the Black people of the world can be forged and realised. It’s okay to draw attention to systemic oppression against Black people, but it’s not okay to remain as winos, with ability only to complain.
Despite the heavy weight of the white man’s burden on their neck, Black people must accept responsibility for their fate and future, and take proactive steps to right whatever wrongs they perceive the white folks have inflicted on them.
Black folks, who think they have escaped the “scourge,” because they have made big economic scores, or are admitted into white people’s space, must realise that a chain is as strong as its weakest link.
As long as Black people will not cooperate with one another, it’s never going to be Uhuru.
Twitter @lekansote1
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