Please take a closer look at Africa, and tell me what comes to mind? You could say that there is no cultural cohesion between member states. There is a lack of synergy between us, for we hate each other internally based on our tribal affiliations, and externally, we benchmark each other’s success for supremacy. From the east, south, north to the western part of Africa, the same story is prevalent, disunity among us. We have refused to learn from history because we have no knowledge of it and this is why it’s repeating itself again. We had no boundaries back then until the colonial entities came and purposefully separated us for their own economic benefit. How is it that as Africans, we look like strangers to each other? How did this all begin?
During the post-pre-colonial era, there was so much cohesion between Africans, and this can be attributed to the spread of colonial interference throughout the continent. We sang only one anthem and that was “freedom,” for example, what was going on in Zimbabwe could be heard in Ghana. Africa still nursed the scars of colonial domination, and this succeeded in bringing us together because we began to understand the need for mutual care and brotherly love. Government military coups became a norm as this created underdevelopment. It could have diverted our attention, but instead, we became more aware of each other because we faced the same problem called abuse of power. Then not all African countries had freedom yet, we had to wait for South Africa to be free from the shackles of the white Afrikaner’s stronghold when Nelson Mandela was jailed. It brought us together because Mandela’s struggle became that of every other African. Africa decided to stand in one voice against the tyranny of white supremacy government of South Africa. Due to this struggle, we were able to learn about each other, if anything the apartheid did was to give other African nations’ knowledge of the black South Africans culture because Africans decided to keep them in their thoughts while the struggle was ongoing.
Today, we view each other as foreigners and have lost touch with each other’s cultures and values. Try running an interview on at least ten young people in different African countries, let the questions be about African history pre-colonial era, you would hear references to Nollywood for Nigeria, and perhaps Marathon for Kenyans. This is shameful because this is not related to history but tied to mere popularity. We have zero knowledge of each other’s language or history. I took a close look at the African educational curriculum, and African history has been removed in literally all member states. Is it not ironic to still find French, English and Religious studies, but then African history is excluded?
As a matter of urgency, African history must be included in educational curricula all over Africa, as this could help us to develop an idea of each other’s rich cultures. The reason why you hear of this generation of black South Africans who harbour hatred towards Nigerians and other Africans is that they have no knowledge of their history. If this was part of their curriculum right from kindergarten, then maybe they would think differently. The “born-free” generation has no idea of the role every African country played in their freedom. They seek no interest when you try educating them about it because you can’t expect a mentally enslaved mind to accept things that are unfamiliar to them. How can one turn a blind eye to the atrocities of their oppressors so quickly? This makes me wonder why Africans love to forgive and forget so easily. In the case of South Africa, it is a country that is managed and run by the white Afrikaners using a proxy in leadership.
How can one ignore the real enemies and then go after other people who had no hand in your underdevelopment? Nigeria was at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid, but what did they get in return? No more than abject hatred. Still, until now, they say the Nigerians sell drugs and commit all vices of evil. I begin to wonder if South Africa was once crime-free before Nigerians moved in? There was already rampant crime and lawlessness in the slums, and drugs were also in demand.
Imagine if we can start putting African history in schools towards the stage of the university level. We can forge an alliance that would make other continents envy us, but instead, we are being laughed at because we have decided to borrow other people’s culture. We must all have full knowledge of not only our own internal history but that of Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana etc. We need to educate our younger generations about the rich African royal heritage. Our lineages are that of royalty and not just slavery, this knowledge would put Africa in a better narrative as against the pitiable story told by the Europeans.
We have so much embraced the Western ideology that we are now witnessing the influx of African women applying various methods of enlightening their skin colour. This is because of the wrong narrative they have been thought, meaning that black skin is less desirable. In addition, Africans have developed a habit of making fun of those who cannot speak the colonial language, such as English.
We need to save the next generation from going insane if this generation is this bad, then what becomes of the following? Every African government needs to start acting on this, I propose we include African history in our curriculum all the way from kindergarten to university level. Africans must learn about each other because mankind did not begin in Europe, it started in Africa, and the Bible is an African hidden history book. We can diffuse this ticking time bomb by acting early before it becomes too late. As always, it’s my opinion.
Photo by James Wiseman on Unsplash
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