Are all Africans slaves?

When I look at Africa today, many questions come to mind. I ask myself this; what will Imhotep of Egypt, Shaka the Zulu, Tenkamenin of Ghana, Samore Toure of Sudan, Mansa Kankan Musaof Mali, Candace of Ethiopia, Makeda of Sheba, Nefertiti of Kermet, Yaa Asantewaa of Asante, Amina of Zaria, Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba say if they were to rise from the grave today?

They will be confronted with an Africa which is far different from the Africa they knew. They will be confronted with an Africa which has been broken, raped, looted and abused. They will be confronted with an Africa which is at war with itself. They will be confronted with an Africa that does not know herself.

Today African are fighting Africans and hundreds of thousands are losing their lives every day but no African coughs about it. None of this sad news of wars are on any news channel in Africa. Not in our discussions, not in print media, not in academia and certainly not in our hijacked African minds. As I write this, there is war in Democratic Republic of Congo. There is war in South Sudan. There is war in Somalia. There is war in Central African Republic. There is war in Nigeria. Eritrea is unsettled. Egypt and Libya are uneasy. Senegal is Jittery. Niger is unsettled. Rwanda is edgy.

Ivory Coast is jittery. Diseases have found their ways into Africa via experiments on the shores of Liberia and Sierra Leone. The patents of Ebola is now ripe for massa to make gains. We cannot play our biannual soccer tourneys without screening anyone that enters our stadium. Hunger is killing Africans daily from all these sad situations is killing mother Africa slowly but no one is speaking about it. And there is no sane news outlet echoing this simple truth.

Oh my fellow Africans, don’t you see what is going on? Can’t you discern the winds blowing over mother Africa? Can you hear the screams and feel the pangs of mother Africa? All for what? The statisticians will tell us Africa is growing but is it true? Can we not see that Africa is suffering from schizophrenia and we don’t not know our selves or our state? Can we not see an Africa where our young men and women have no interests about Africa and are preoccupied with other continents?

Can we not see an Africa where our young men and young women are constantly humiliated at the embassies of western countries? Can we not see an Africa where our young men from Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Chad, drown in the Mediterranean as they seek to be enslaved in Europe, America, and even dry desert in the Mideast? Can we not see that this time Africans are not being sought to be enslaved but rather Africa are running away from mother Africa seeking to be enslaved elsewhere? How many Africans are abroad enslaved with titles?

If our fathers and mothers in the past were to emerge on us today, they will be confronted with an Africa where Africans are not proud of their things. An Africa where people have lost their self-pride. An Africa where the Africans obtain their pride from how much of another culture and language they have mastered. They will be confronted with an Africa which does not sell her story. They will be confronted with an Africa, where others from outside Africa sell her story to her.

They will be confronted with an Africa where even food grown and prepared here has to have western connotations to have value. When we fry potatoes grown here we call it French fries. They will be confronted with an Africa where the young are not proud of Africa. Even when they want enjoy themselves they sing the praises of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, AC Milan, Bayern FC, Redskins, New York Jets, LA.

They will be confronted with an Africa which does not enjoy African theatre and drama, but rather celebrate European theatre and drama. They will be confronted with an Africa that will rather enjoy Hollywood than Kumawood, or Nollywood, or Bongowood. They will be confronted with African women who enjoy cheap soap opera from Mexico, they will be confronted with African woman whose source of joy is cheap hair from India, Brazil, Thailand, China and any other corner and not her own hair. They will be confronted with an Africa whose identity is defined by western standards.

Why must we remind ourselves of these realities? Because throughout the ages the battle has been a battle of the minds. As one thinker named Rene said ‘I think therefore I am’.

The question is; are we thinking? Are we thinking who we are? Are we thinking of what our environment is, and how to tap into it for a better future? Are we thinking about the things that matter to an African? We have institutions, Universities, but are they thinking via African thought? We have engineers, doctors and so called intellectuals but how many are engineering African thought, African things, African buildings which is suitable for African conditions, African medicine and African things. How many are finding out what the real problems of Africa are? How many of us are trading with each other like our forebears? How many are nurturing the soils of mother Africa to return and yield her fruits to them?

How many Africans are thinking aloud? How many my brothers and sisters? How many are yearning to travel to through Africa to obtain a nugget of truth about themselves? How many…