THE STATE OF MIND OF THE BLACK MAN
There are some issues about life in general that often get me thinking. Some have to do with the nature of the human being in respect of good and bad for instance, the concept of society and its values and also the mystery of life after death among others. Lately, my mind has been occupied with one thing or issue, the black human being and his state of mind. I mean the normal black human person that you know. If you want examples, black human beings like me who is your friend or maybe not, your black mother or father, black siblings, black friends and also your black self. I want to get to understand us right from nature and how we relate to our environment, our ability to see what is around us and to read deeper meanings into them. How basic or deep is our thoughts in this 21st Century? I got what I call a fascinating answer from none other than a bosom friend of mine, Courage Kofi Danquah,a.k.a Classic, he said ‘’ to understand the state of mind of the black man, go to the village’’.
He did not leave me to decipher for myself what he meant by his comment even though I would have loved to do some thinking to that effect, but he went ahead to expatiate and this was his explanation: when you visit a typical village where the inhabitants are not exposed to modern day cable TV and all the other forms of gadgets that come to mind, that gives us some peep into the other world, all you need is to ask how long the folks have inhabited the land, once you get an answer, quickly get back in your mind, to the present and then see what the black man on his own has been able to do in the form of whatever technology, to better his lot and also to leave a better land or society for his or her children. In his opinion, he can credit the black man with only one thing and that is, a thatch house. If you think this is too simplistic an analysis to do, I will be prepared to engage you on some commentary to that effect.
So, that was his brief explanation but as you can read and understand there is more to it. I began to do some thinking and things began to fall into good places. I ended up agreeing to his take on what has occupied my mind for this while, where or how should we see ourselves in this era of the world. My reason is as simple as the assertion above, where is the evidence to the contrary? I try to look but I can not find one. You could try and help me out with some explanation and examples, I would love that but do not commit the mistake of mentioning stuff like banks that have been started and built by black men and women, some big companies among others. That is not the point, but if you think it is a strong point to argue on, just find out the big names in that particular industry and find out when they began operation, that will give you an idea of what could possibly have been on the minds of your forebears. Of course, the argument is not about what we currently are able to do in which ever field but rather the foresight of that and that how one was able to think such a thing into being to solve and improve the livelihood of society and has therefore become the system of operation one way or the other. The Barclays Brothers case is an example, they were in Ghana, looted all they could of our mineral resources and ended up leaving a better place than they came to meet it. Their handiwork now sponsors the most watched football league in the world. The examples abound.
The point you should not miss though is that, it is not what some black men are in-charge-of today; it is about the originality in terms of idea, and what solution it was crafted for. Can you point to anything we have done and sustained over the years? I mean anything, it could be clothing, engineering, oil and gas, the list is endless. What is any African country known for? Please do not mention Kenyan Coffee, I know about that.
It gets more disheartening when you try to point at some Black African countries that could be shining examples. In my opinion, that is the biggest mistake to ever make. Which names could you come up with? Is it South Africa? I say that is an apology of a country because for me, all those kids and persons who died fighting against apartheid died for nothing. Yes you heard me right, they died for nothing, South Africa was two worlds apart, a world divided by economic power where the wealth of the country was in the hands of the whites, ask me if that has changed today. The change now is that, black persons hold political power all because they make majority of the population. Zimbabwe a few years back was called the food basket of Africa; I can tell from all accounts that, Black Zimbabweans did not contribute to that fete. The same land is now in the hands of the black man and the story is different, just a few years down the line is enough to re-write history. Nigeria is a disappointment, need I say more? Ghana lost it more than 50 years ago and is yet to rediscover herself.
Let us go to my village, where I was born and where my father continues to live, the story is a confirmation of the assertion above. The borehole technology is a 14th century one, sent there by the Government of Ghana which was either copied or thought us by our colonial masters, the small bridge across the ‘Alabo’ River was constructed by Japanese, and the people stand in awe to watch. If you wish to draw my attention to the fact that Ghanaians could construct bridges, and all such similar things that might come to mind, it will amount to begging the argument.
We can not re-invent the wheel so what must we do? I believe there is something we can do but am not too sure what, but am sure that thing could only be something that is true to us, something that is very much us, maybe our dance, our clothing, and our food etc. let us begin to invest the crumb we earn from our oil and mineral reserves in these areas so that our true beauty can come to light. Compare a black woman dressed in a Kente cloth to a white woman dressed in similar faction, you won’t need to be told, would you? This is not about being racist, is about being true to yourself, these are things we have started originally and can build on, how can you build on a foundation whose plan you do not understand? We do not have any excuse because the world is a global village, just do your real thing, love it enough and I tell you what, you need not do more.
Think about these:
When you think of Reggae music, which country comes to mind?
If you think about good shoes and leather works…..
What about fashion?...
Come to Ghana, when you think about Fugu…., Adowa and Fufu….., Agbadza and Akple…., Kenkey and Kpanlogo etc.
No right thinking human being would go to Bahamas to invest in Kpanlogo drama performances because history won’t support it and the goodwill won’t be there.
This might seem simple, and yet I insist that, what makes the difference in our world today is the little things you are good at and not the complex things you are not good at but are trying to show of with.
We have the energy in some good respects, LET US TARGET OUR INVESTMENTS THERE, MONEY IS READY TO DO ITS PART OF THE BARGAIN I.E MOVE RIGHT TOWARDS OUR DIRECTION.
There is so much money in the world but Somalia is famished to the point of starvation, think about it.
Troubleshuta
No comments:
Post a Comment