7 ways in which we are enemies of our own progress

Are we the enemies of our own progress? We do seem intent on sabotaging ourselves while blaming others argues regular contributor. Here are some of the ways in which we impede our progress. 


Why is our continent still dependent on any aid at all (besides humanitarian aid)? Why do companies like Nike still get to show their “support” for Africa by creating RED laces, the proceeds of which go towards helping to “fight AIDS in Africa”? What idea of Africa does this continue to represent in everyone’s mind?

1. We still depend on our colonisers to be our liberators. 

Following “independence”, one would have thought that we’d have all used the opportunity of our colonisers’ departure to indigenise our cultures and societies. However, what we found was that their departure left the continent psychologically traumatised, economically destabilised and struggling to catch up with the industrialisation of societies that other parts of the world were already benefiting from on our account. On paper, Africa was ‘free’, but with the colonial powers still in the picture dictating behind the scenes we soon realised that they never intended to let Africa go and the assassination of pan African leaders from 1961-1973 was a clear message to anybody else who wanted to resist this.

With the resulting political instability and our countries heavily assimilated with the metropolis ways of our former colonial rulers, many Africans began to develop a dependence mentality rather than steering towards an African Renaissance as we began to believe that we couldn’t help ourselves. We began to believe that with so much interruption in our developmental history, we needed them to ‘guide us’ as they did when they led us into ‘civilization’.

 

However, whether it was due to fear or ignorance or a combination of both, our resistance to, or procrastinated belief in, the African Renaissance meant we created a culture where we came to rely on foreign aid rather than maximising the productivity and efficiency of our economies with the proceeds from our natural wealth. Billions of Dollars in development aid with more being campaigned for, yet nothing to show for it. In some countries it even made things worse (read Dambiso Moyo’s Dead Aid, 2010). On top of which the more we believed we couldn’t do without aid from the west, the more our belief blinded us to the billions more headed in the other direction.

It’s not the white man, it’s not the government and it’s not witchcraft

While the dependency on development aid always varied from country to country, and in general has fallen significantly in the last few years as it is supplanted by private capital flows and revenues from the domestic private sector, why are any of our economies still dependent on aid at all? Why do we still depend on handouts from those who used our hands to labour for their own benefit? Why is Nigeria – the African Giant – still receiving development assistance? Why is South Africa, which will continue to receive aid from the UK until 2015? As Mugabe told the 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) in August, “Our continued over-reliance on the goodwill of our co-operation partners compromises our ownership of SADC.” The same applies to the rest of the continent. Dependency on aid keeps us as slaves and if Africa cannot be autonomous, it will never be free from colonialism.

2. We seldom teach our young people their African history 

‘It takes a whole village to raise a child’ (which means raising a child is the responsibility of society) is probably one of the most well known African proverbs. The current education system in Africa predominantly emanates from Western ideologies and accounts of history or schools of thought from European colonialism. Meanwhile young Africans in the Diaspora (in the UK, for instance) are taught history as far back as the Greco-Roman tradition and Judeo-Christian tradition. They learn about the contributions of Asian and Arab civilisations, but the history of Africa, if taught at all, will begin with slavery or post-colonial Africa. So whose responsibility is it to teach them our history?

 
 Nyimi Kok Mmabiintosh III, the King of Kuba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo: Daniel Laine 

When our children are fed European versions of history but taught very little about their own heritage and history, it creates and perpetuates an inferiority complex and awakens a desire to embrace other cultures at the expense of their own.
For young Africans in the Diaspora, one month a year in the form of black history month is not enough for them to understand or appreciate their history and culture. 

3. We leave everything in God’s hands 

For many Africans, religion is the solution for everything that is wrong with Africa. So we turn to the supernatural to help us reclaim our lands, because we feel inadequate to do so in the natural realm when in fact religion played a pivotal role in Africa’s oppression, and continues to play a role in the maintenance of the subjugation of African people (Steve Biko, I Write What I Like, 1996), as we crowd inside religious institutions seeking solace whilst outside is still plagued with poverty and extortion amongst other things. Many have become complacent and accept the current state of their country as ‘God’s will’.

My question is why is this: Has our passive resistance towards our indigenous beliefs, traditions and spirituality made it harder for us to completely grasp the concept of a ‘free Africa’ because the so called world religion puts us at the mercy of something that was brought to us by those who subdued and dominated us? What happened to the warriors and kings?

It’s only a matter of time before we are so blinded and distracted by religion that we will no longer have any claim on Africa.

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 Everything is in God’s hands.

4. We seldom understand each other's cultures 

Ignorance is bliss, but only until you know better. Africa is brimming with a rich mix of cultures and traditions that are yet to be discovered by Africans themselves. Many Africans – especially those in the Diaspora – still fail to understand each other’s cultures as they don’t often mix with Africans from other cultures, be that in church or in the local communities, and have consequently recreated mini versions of their countries in their country of abode. This opens the door to prejudices, myths and erroneous views that foster pointless competition between Africans.

Why is Nigeria – the African Giant – still receiving development assistance? Why is South Africa?

Some of the Africans in the Diaspora bought the “American Dream” vision before moving to the “land of milk and honey”, only to find on arrival that we were lactose-intolerant. However, due to the lack of communication between Africans from different cultures, we were unable to share these experiences with other Africans and our progress abroad became much slower in comparison to, say, our Asian counterparts. Cultural cohesion amongst Africans in the Diaspora is what will strengthen the social organization of the African community and enable us move forward as one while cooperating with those back home to build a united Africa. The African Union does not have to consist only of those who sit at the round table on our behalf; it could also be a metaphor for us all embracing, learning about and cooperating with one another across all cultural boundaries.

 5. We’ve bought into the international media  

The revolution will not be televised, but it will be tweeted and on Facebook. Despite our best intentions, the image that many people outside of Africa have of it is still that of a skeletal child with a swollen stomach being fed biscuits by a white aid worker.

For years the Western controlled media gave us a perception of the Africa that they wanted us to see: poor, helpless, in constant conflict with one another and in need of outside intervention. The media also caused much division as they sensationalised the notions invented by the West such as the Belgian creation of the ‘hutus’ and ‘tutsis’ in Rwanda which led to the 1994 genocide. TV documentaries such as the BBC’s Branded a Witch don’t help either when they present this as a depiction of Africa. The current reporting on the outbreak of Ebola has also shown just how far the media can distort our perception of Africa. When a white person is shown in Africa, it is always to do with offering some aid or solution to the ‘African problem’; the white man saving Africa.

Fortunately, the rise of social media has meant that we can show the world the beautiful continent we know it to be. However, years of this negativity have created an image even in the minds of Africans themselves. I’ve spoken to some, especially those born in the Diaspora, who refuse to go back home because of what they’ve seen in the media. They find it primitive, backwards and unstable when in fact most of the continent is peaceful, and many of our economies are booming. It is our responsibility to change the face of Africa in the media and influence the portrayal of our own people.

Africa can only be changed in the ways we desire by Africans, and if we all share a passion for our continent, then we need to change our thought patterns on the above, because there is no excuse for being enemies of our own progress.

Hollywood Gives African Women 12 Minutes of Fame

Was 12 Years a Slave, Lupita N’yongo’s 12 Minute of Fame? As beautiful as she is, the over sensualisation of her in the media is becoming quite suffocating.  Has the mainstream media never seen a beautiful dark African woman?  They’ve always existed and will continue to exist before and after Lupita N’yongo.  Her sudden rise to fame has made her become a product of the media’s ploy.

This sudden frenzy with Lupita seems as if maybe, just maybe she may have broken into the Hollywood status quo and has paved the way for darker skinned (or African) actresses who are so underrepresented in Hollywood to be in its limelight which suggests to us that the mainstream media are beginning to embrace dark skinned sisters and they can now be equal in winning awards for their outstanding performances.

Sadly, this is not entirely true because being equal and equality is not the same thing in the mainstream media. Equality has that we are all given the same opportunities to fulfil our potential but we are not all actually equal (whether that be biologically or socially) in doing so. In other words being black or African has limited so many great actresses  in winning awards such as the Oscars or Golden Globes compared to their white counterpart because there is not a demand of roles for dark skinned actresses in Hollywood and those that have won (i.e Halle Berry) have some form of whiteness to them. 

‘We need to celebrate Lupita because it is very rare we find dark skinned women in the media who are comfortable in their skins. Let us shout her praises from the rooftop because she brings a change from the Beyonce’s and the Rhianna’s’.  These were the words of a fellow dark skinned sister when I expressed to her my exasperation with seeing Lupita everywhere. It wasn’t so much to do with her skin colour but more to do with the motives of why every Western media all wanted a part of her.

The irony of her role as Patsy in Steve McQueen’s ’12 Years a Slave’ movie and the reception she received from it is a stark contrast to the reality of what other black African women go through and seems as if the media saw her as a temporary smoke screen to cover up and distract us away from the real issues of what that movie is about or other issues facing black people and Africa such as poverty, western extortion in Africa and racism. It was if the media was saying, ‘Look we love Africa, we’re not racist. Look how we’ve esteemed Lupita so highly!’ That’s almost like saying ‘I’m not a racist because I have a black boyfriend’ and we all know how outdated that statement is.  The way she is over sensualized appears as if the media has used her as compensation for certain violations. The recent murders of Mark Duggan in the UK and Trayvon Martin in the US caused a lot of racial tension because in both cases many felt that justice was not served and blamed racism as a factor, so Lupita’s sudden rise to fame and her appearance on so many western media just after these events could be said that it has come just at the right time to pacify the situation because she’s not just black, she’s African, therefore it can’t be that bad can it?

Let me clarify that I truly do respect Lupita as an actor and she is beautiful indeed, and by all means let her be an inspiration for other African young girls. Her beauty is exquisite, refreshing and not the typical booty shaking ones we see in the media everyday  that has no connection to the motherland  and she has no trace of ‘whiteness’. Her dark exotic complexion and natural hair for all to see should be an encouragement to other African women who feel insecure in their skin to embrace themselves.  Yes, let us celebrate her, but is it Hollywood or the Western media that will give us our status before we celebrate being black or African? If it’s the same media we accuse of failing in their portrayal of black people, whose responsibility is it to uphold our image?

We all thought Alek Wek ‘paved the way’ for other African women  in modelling but how many women with distinct African features since AleK have reached her status in the mainstream? AleK was token and sadly I see Lupita will be also if we acclaim a wholesomely African figure so highly only when the West gives their nods.  

Is Lupita set to become token African in Hollywood like Alek Wek in modelling?

 There is not a high demand for dark skinned African women in Hollywood so what will happen to Lupita? Her next feature films looks limited in regards to playing a range of characters unless she is typecasted into similar roles.

 Does the name Gabourey Sidibe ring a bell? She was the lead actress in the movie ‘Precious’ with her dark skinned features weighing at over 300 pounds. We all applauded her for walking the red carpet and doing it for all the ‘big girls’ , however, after all that praise, where is she now in regards to starring in movies as big as Precious? It seems as if, if you don’t fit in to the typical light/fair skinned or white complexion the media will esteem you and credit you for your outstanding performance then drop you back down again once you’ve ‘served your purpose’ and I fear Lupita could go down that same role.

                                      Typical image of black women in Hollywood                            

 Can this be the face of black Hollywood

 ‘The Western media controls the world and sadly to be able to be as big as Lupita is, you have to go through to their media’, a friend told me. I couldn’t have disagreed more with this because it seems to me that black people are the only ones who strive so hard to fit in with the Western media’s perception of success and beauty. Asians seem to be doing just fine without having to rely on the West’s perception of what is deemed ‘successful’ or beautiful.  They’ve gained their right to stand equal with them within themselves without having to change their image or culture but yet we black people have.

It’s sad to see that our self perception is still governed by what the West deems to be acceptable, hence the fascination with skin bleaching, having the long European hair etc. For many black people slavery is still prevalent in their minds because of western ideologies. We have a very distorted view of ourselves; we want to be out of the fields and accepted into the master’s house but fail to see that like Lupita’s character Patsy in ‘12 Years a Slave’ discovered, no matter how many cottons we pick, it will only be good for a while, but never good enough because of the way we look so we could never come into the ‘massa’s’ house unless we begin to look like them.

Is Culture Preeminent in African Churches?

Why is it called a Nigerian church? Why a Kenyan church? Wherever you are in the Diaspora, you will find many African churches are full of one particular nationality or another. It almost seems that they choose not to integrate with other Africans. Perhaps it is a question of retaining their identity which leads me to believe that there could possibly be a fear of losing cultural cohesion.

Depending on the type of church you attend will determine the type of God you serve. If you go to an all African black church you might serve a God who enjoys sending down Holy Ghost fires and roasting your enemies. You might even go to a church where God cannot possibly hear you by praying in your heart and only vociferous prayers will do because he wants us to ‘have dominion and fight our way into his Kingdom’. Perhaps you might go to a church that if you didn’t know you would think God only understood Swahili or they ate chin chin after service to commemorate him. So I ask you, what (if you do) type of church do you go to?

               

I find that too much of the same cultured churches risks the danger of mixing other factors to it such as politics, traditions and cultural stereotypes which takes away the essence of what church is and makes it more than just a place of worship, but a place of business, a place to find your national identity and a place to begin your political campaign.  Just recently, a well-known Congolese church in the UK had been caught in the centre of a political tension to the point where a protest and petition was held from others members of the Congolese community to shut the church down and was successful. Would this still have happened if it had been mixed?

A question I often ask is why do many Africans in the diaspora not mix with other countries outside of Africa or even within Africa when it comes to churches? Could this not reduce the amount of intercultural differences?

When we immerse within ourselves and do not integrate with other nationalities, it limits us from experiencing the richness of other cultures and appreciating what they have to offer (even in church) so this may still lead us to hold onto certain biased view about others.

 In my view, certain church ‘standards’ stems from whichever background that church derives from and if you are someone like me who is on the periphery of being stuck between two cultures (your native country and where you are in the diaspora), then you might possibly question or even challenge the eligibility of the church’s way of doing something, having been exposed to other ways.  However because it’s preached behind the pulpit, these views then resonate amongst the members in agreement which has somehow been taken for ‘the Word of God’. It almost makes the African church become a cultural institution with religious affirmations.  They become the driving force behind some African churches motives or even vision. For example, a lot of prosperity preaching churches derives from certain cultures where they are known to be lovers of money. 

                                            

                                  

I’ve heard people say things like ‘if it’s such and such church, I won’t go’. The problem isn’t church itself, but that it’s a particular African church which already carries its own stigma amongst some people because of the type of culture associated with it, e.g, they only speak a certain language, women should be seen and not heard, they don’t start on time. The mentality of Africans never being on time has filtered into the church to the point that some services won’t even start until they have a good amount of people in the service. Some people will miss the Kingdom of God by being late. We’ve normalised certain parts of our culture and brought it into the church and people get on with it as if it’s a part of the gospel.

Church is also the foundation for many in regards to relationships and building a community, however, when everyone there is connected because they are all from the same community, it comes with risks such as labelling a teenage girl,  if she was to be found pregnant in church, as the ‘bad apple’ because she ‘sinned’. This not only goes out in the church but it won’t be long before her reputation is spread throughout the rest of her community hence why it’s good to have diverse mixture of people.

                                                       

Am I saying that it’s wrong for different African communities in the diaspora to have church exclusively for themselves? Certainly not if people feel that is best for them. However, I feel as though if we continue to do this in the diaspora considering that we are few compared to our counterparts in Africa, then it will be very difficult to have a united Africa where we all support each other, abroad and at home.  We who are abroad can set the example of mixing amongst each other as many back home are separated because of borders. 

Let us not use the Bible to justify our culture or to enforce our own beliefs of ‘this is the way things must because it is in the Word of God’, because we need to remember that same Bible was used to keep black people oppressed as slaves for many years.  We can only get the perfect picture of things when we look outside of the box otherwise we keep ourselves bound and limit ourselves from moving forward. Mixing cultures particularly in churches can help to enrich and empower one another. However I put this question out, is church a crucial element for the survival of the different African culture(s) in the Diaspora?